September 4th: Trying to keep up to date with the blog.

In one way it feels like Ground Hog Day, but then it seems like I keep finding something to do.

Old gate - vertical boards

Planning the board removal,
making certain we didn't ruin the frame

I talked with Craig and Karen in San Juan Capistrano and discovered Craig was ready to rebuild his gate to the back yard. Not a big project, but it would include an overnight stay and a following morning hike.

New vertical boards in place

The first task was to remove the old boards. Easy to do. Craig had prepared new vertical boards on which we could attach horizontal boards that would match the front door.

New Gate

Gaining on it

There was a lot of countersinking and a few "Redo"s," but in the end all went well.




And it matched the new front door! Horizontal Boards on both.

Front Door

I had volunteered to make my crab corn chowder for dinner and heard no disagreement! Karen provided the "Docktails," snacks and side dishes. Karen planted some cherry tomato bushes that are taking over the garden, literally. I should have taken a picture! Next time. The cherry tomatoes are delicious and beyond plentiful. We enjoyed another very enjoyable evening with great weather.

Craig climbing past a horse corral.

The hike started early the next morning quite close to the house. When some newer properties were developed, it was required to have hiking/horseback riding trails included. There are many miles of trails that go up, down and back up and down the mountains. So we got a good bit of exercise while enjoying the scenery and quite unbelievable homes. We even saw a few horses in a corral, but not many! The horses even came over to greet us. Sorry, no pictures. Too tired to think of it after climbing the mountain!

Front of a three story mansion
that extends down the mountain in back.

The homes are built on the side of a mountain, so the fronts look big but not all that huge. When seeing them from the back they are much larger.

Bee hives

There were some properties that were environmentally conscious. Most open spaces preserved the natural local landscapes. We passed this row of very active bee hives. Open spaces preserved the natural local landscapes. Very nice to see and the bees sure seemed to love their hives! There were also quite a few very diverse flowers/plants gardens.

View of San Juan Capistrano from the top of the ridge

 When we finally arrived at the top of the ridge, we had a beautiful view! There was a group of approximately 30 buzzards circling just before  we got to the top. Unfortunately, they were camera shy. I told Craig we better keep moving!

We arrived back at the house and had a great lunch. I then headed to Studio City with enough cherry tomatoes to keep Rebecca, Wendy, Matt and me well supplied with cherry tomatoes.




Typically I go to visit Rebecca at Studio City on the week ends because she works from home during the week. However, when she heard I was going to be in San Juan Capistrano Thursday morning, she said I might as well just continue on to her place. Good idea since it saved about three hours of driving.


As I arrived at Rebecca's, I was as always, greeted at the door by two super excited dogs. Nice to be missed! There were plenty of projects for me to work on by myself while Rebecca was working.



The first priority was to lower two electrical outlets on the wall. You can see them in the picture on the left.  Rebecca is having a wrap around bench seat installed in her window breakfast nook and they would have been right where the bench seat will go.







The project went pretty smoothly. Unfortunately, I had to cut a larger holes in the walls than we anticipated because of the way the electrical boxes had been installed. Not a big deal, just took a little longer. I left the finishing work with the dry wall for Rebecca. She'll probably do a better job!

Taking down old blocks

The next project was yet another iteration of the outdoor screen. We've been trying to get it more smooth. I came up with a new plan. Use a steel cable to hold up the screen. That way the grommets in the screen would be all on exactly the same straight line. I'd use turn buckles to tighten the cable so it doesn't sag.

First I took off the three wooden blocks I had previously installed to hold up the screen. Then I repaired the holes in the stucco.

Repaired stucco

It seems like the project list always grows while we're working. Because I already had the stucco patch out to repair the holes, I decided I might as well patch the cracks in the exercise room wall at the same time. You can see the door to the exercise room in a picture below to the left of the movie screen.

The exercise room was added to the garage and it had settled. Clearly it happened a long time ago, cracking the stucco all along the vertical seam and there were a few horizontal cracks also. Painting will be left for Rebecca. Only so much time and energy for projects. Had to save some for dog walking, relaxing, watching TV and playing with the dogs. Not to mention cooking some good meals. It's fun to cook in Rebecca's nice new well equipped kitchen as well as her outside barbecue grill. (And of course she cleans up, unless I get ambitious first.)

Attaching the steel cable

Rebecca had decided she'd like the screen a little higher since we were working on it anyway. That meant I couldn't attach it directly to the roof line. So I attached two 2 x 4's to the wall for the steel cable. They had to be moved out beyond the roof overhanging the wall, so it took longer than expected. Nothing new there! You can see the attachment in the picture on the left. Note the two boards behind the 2 x 4 for spacing.

2 x 4's attached

Sliding the screen across the cable

We threaded the screen through the grommets at the top of the screen onto the steel cable. Once the screen was threaded on to the steel cable, and attached, I discovered I couldn't tighten the turnbuckles enough to hold the weight of the screen up without it sagging. The cable clamps prevented me from sliding the screen off the end of the cable to easily shorten it. Clearly a design flaw to be corrected at a later date. The turnbuckles tighten only a couple inches. That meant I had to take everything apart to shorten the steel cable. It was after 5 PM. Our rule from years ago working with Matt and Wendy was, "No cutting after 5 PM." Too many errors!

Linda the first time we met Trevi

So we quit working for the day. We had a very good salmon with dill sauce dinner, played with the dogs and relaxed.

I always enjoy Rebecca's pictures. She is an excellent photographer. She shared some as usual. Here is great picture of Linda with Trevi from the first visit when we met that cutest little puppy! Trevi is still way too cute for her own good! Even now she is less than 1/2 the size of London. Doesn't bother Trevi, they play very well together, despite the size difference.

London and Steve
on Rebecca's love seat

London is a very affectionate dog. Kind of large to be a lap dog, but she doesn't know it and I enjoy her company. She is very soft and enjoys just laying next to me, after she has given me a few hello licks! Here is also a great picture from 2018. London had just arrived at Rebecca's. Also super cute!

Rebecca and London, January, 2018

Tree frog in Rebecca's hand

This picture on the left is one of my all time favorites. This tree frog jumped on Rebecca and she didn't know what it was. Fortunately, she didn't swat it and was able to get this fantastic picture with the frog in her hand.







The next morning I took the dogs for a long walk. It's fun to walk around the neighborhood as there are many side streets, several with dead ends, so no traffic. The dogs know I will take them for a walk every morning I am there, giving Rebecca a break! As soon as I am up, they start pestering me!


While walking the dogs I contemplated our screen issue. I knew I had to cut the cable clamps off and shorten the cable, but could we get it tight enough? With the cable shortened, I tried to pull it tight with rope, but I couldn't quite hook the cables on the hooks. Fortunately, Rebecca had a ten foot piece of railing to hold the cable up in the middle and take enough weight off of it. It would have made a good picture but there was no one to take it! That worked and I was then able to pull the cable straight with the turnbuckles.

The high heat had diminished Saturday so that night we were able to continue watching The Game of Thrones on the big screen outside. We even used throw blankets! Very nice.

I had planned to go home Sunday afternoon since Rebecca works from home during the week.  However, upon thinking about several projects that were waiting for completion, I thought maybe I ought to stay longer. Ran it past Rebecca and she said, "I was thinking maybe you would stay a couple more days!" No problem. Started making a new list for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning.


I left the next day with enough to keep me, Rebecca and Wendy and Matt supplied with cherry tomatoes.