June 26th: Trying to plan the summer given the latest COVID restrictions

I am hoping to be able to get in to Canada at the end of July. That would give me a month to spend on Guppy with friends. Hard to say if it will open up but I think it's possible. San Juan Capistrano Craig will join me for a while if we can enter Canada. We'll meet up with our Canadian boating friends. Keeping our hopes up. 

When I returned home from San Juan Capistrano the last time, I received a text from Craig saying there was an oil spot in his driveway where I was parked. Yikes! I felt bad. I looked under the car and sure enough something was leaking. Took it in to the car repair place and found it was transmission fluid leaking out of the axle seals. They needed to keep the car overnight. I had physical therapy the next morning and Matt was meeting a friend for a major bike ride. Fortunately, my physical therapy was not far from where he was riding. I checked it out and found I could drop him off, hike for an hour, get to my PT and return to pick Matt up afterward. 

Live oak and a nice creek

It ended up working out great. It was yet another nice place to hike. Canyonside Community Park. Info and pics of the park There were numerous live oaks along a stream that actually had water in it. Unusual in most places this time of year. I was surprised to come across a grave site just off the main path. Here is the history.

If you enlarge and look closely at the top
 of the cliff over the water you'll see people

Fortunately, California is doing very well with vaccinations. That means things are starting to open up. Craig came to Encinitas to join me for a hike at Torrey Pines State Park. I love hiking there. The hike starts with a climb to the top of the cliffs, quite a hike, but then it is mostly downhill to the ocean. We walk back along the beach for the final leg of the journey. I know I've had pictures on the blog before but it has been a while so here are some more.  

This erosion reminds me
of Bryce Canyon National Park

Rockslide at TorreyPines Beach

There have been many signs I've seen over the years warning people to stay away from the cliffs when hiking back along the beach. This time I saw a real good reason to take it seriously. I had not seen the results of this landslide previously. Notice the slight green at the top of the cliffs on the right. That is tall pine trees. It gives you a perspective of how high the cliffs are.

I have been going up to Rebecca's to catch up on projects. Things are moving along nicely but the list seems to keep growing! A new white shade screen over the patio was ordered and installed. The white screen makes the patio much brighter and still blocks the sun. Plus we readjusted the cables so it covered the patio more effectively.

The next morning, I of course took the dogs for a walk. I went past the local rabbit in a neighbor's front yard.. It doesn't do much but does look at me when I stop. I'm waiting to see if it ever plays with the ball. I tend to doubt it.

Rebecca's Roses

This time of year the flowers are gorgeous. Roses seem to do particularly well here, or the homeowners know what they're doing. Here are some "Spring flowers" pictures. There really are seasons here, they just aren't very obvious.

We next worked on some scratches on Rebecca's Grand Jeep Cherokee, which she was selling now that her Jeep Liberty Limited is up to top condition and running. She described the scratches in the description she sent to Carvana, but we wanted to feel comfortable that they wouldn't kill the deal when they saw the car. After doing some research she found Carvana had excellent reviews and the highest offers. Plus they come to your house, load up the car and haul it away. Everything went very smoothly! The car has low mileage and is in great condition so someone will be very happy to get it.

An ongoing project was Rebecca's doorbell. She had purchased a Nest doorbell with camera so she could see who was at the door on her phone. During the construction project it was installed but never worked correctly. First the camera worked but not the chimes. Then the chimes worked but not the camera. Eventually she had had it with construction workers in the house and decided we could fix it ourselves. I agreed. How hard can it be? It's just a doorbell. I removed the doorbell to see what was behind it. No help there. I didn't have the correct key to open it and had to duct tape it back together after checking it out. I checked the power at the chimes. I couldn't find any. Rebecca said "Can't we just replace the wires?" I said theoretically yes. I was close to leaving so we left going into the attic to find the power source for another day. Now nothing worked. That was many months ago.

Attic crawlspace

So I decided to finally check it out. I climbed the ladder into the attic crawlspace and decided it was time to hire someone. There is only partial flooring so you need to crawl along the joists and not fall through the drywall ceiling. I spotted the wiring and it looked shaky. The roof came down at a very sharp angle where the wires would go to the doorbell and I knew I didn't want to crawl in there. Plus the largest issue was I didn't know what I was doing. I learned there is a transformer to make the ancient doorbell work but that it probably wouldn't work in the new situation. 

I was reminded of Rebecca's grandfather Drouhard. He was preparing to call a plumber, when I offered to fix an issue in his bathroom. He said, "If you can afford to hire someone to fix something you should hire someone. They need the work." Works for me! We got online and found a Nest Doorbell installer. He could come Sunday, Father's Day. We were surprised but said great.

I had envisioned this slim, fit electrician who could crawl around the attic like a monkey. The electrician, Mike, arrived. He was very, very heavy and anything but fit and trim. Probably in his late fifties. Very nice guy but I thought, "If I wouldn't crawl in there, there is no way he is going to." He said "Well let me take a look." He checked out the power to the bell and confirmed there was none. He climbed the ladder and went into the crawl space. We looked at the wires running across the roof to the back doorbell and found they were completely shot. The insulation had dried out and crumbled off when you touched it. He confirmed all the wiring would need to be replaced. 

He also said, "I don't think I can fit in there where the wires go down into the wall!" 

Old transformer and corroded wiring

Rebecca to the rescue. She said, "I can get in there and do the work, just tell me what to do." We gave Mike a lot of credit. He went into the now quite warm attic to find the old transformer and see if we needed to replace it. He needed to test it. Definitely needed a new transformer. 

Rebecca and I were genuinely concerned about his well being. His face was very red and he was clearly struggling. (Afterward, Rebecca said she had visions of the EMTs cutting a hole in her kitchen ceiling to get Mike out!" But everything ended well. Mike said it was the most interesting installation he ever did and again complimented Rebecca. He worked through several issues for several hours while Rebecca was in the attic trying to feed the wires to us below. Mike told Rebecca that she has a career as an electrician if she wants one. Bottom line, after cutting several new holes in the wall and Rebecca and Mike Facetiming so Rebecca could install the new transformer, Rebecca expertly feed to wires to us and we got everything working. 

Doorbell chimes, working well

Nest camera Doorbell top right,
I think London is looking for me

Mike even fixed the camera doorbell so it no longer had to be duct taped.

I had a very enjoyable Father's Day at Rebecca's. Matt and Wendy joined us on their way home from a trip to Bear Mountain Lake. Also, Jill joined us Saturday and Sunday for dinner. Jill likes my salmon with dill sauce so I made that Saturday night. (Not Matt and Wendy's favorite.) Then we had barbecued chicken on Father's day. And as usual, Jill brought some of her fabulous cookies.

This is the first time we were able to get together to play with Rebecca's Oculus Quest 2, a virtual reality game. It is truly amazing. When you put the headset on you believe you are in another world. It is so realistic you would swear the scenarios are real. Here are a couple videos of Matt playing. 

Sunday night we watched the new Pixar movie Lucas on the big screen. It was a perfect night and our fire felt good.

Monday morning I suggested we go out for breakfast. It had been a year and a half since we were able to do that. There are a couple great breakfast places within walking distance. I didn't think to take pictures but here is a link that has plenty. We sat in the little courtyard on the side. The food was very good. Aroma breakfast place

I have been swimming at the YMCA and just started playing pickle ball also. A very nice group of people. They are patient in teaching me how to play as well as the rules. Not the same as tennis. the ball hardly bounces! I kept missing it, waiting for the ball to come to me. After a while I got the hang of it, sort of.

My succulents are doing pretty well. I've recognized that they don't grow very fast, but here is a before and after, of the ones I rescued from Rebecca's. (Of course the real credit goes to San Juan Capistrano Karen who helped me replant them and gave me obviously "expert" instructions for care because they are doing well.)

Succulents day 1 rescued

Happy succulents

I was shopping at Lazy Acres, a very good grocery store with a lot of organic and healthy options. These onion rings caught my eye so I tried them. They are excellent. I highly recommend them.

I am still riding my bike but not as often. I am still working on getting my shoulder back in shape, (No, not the one I broke, it's fine) I don't know what I did to my left shoulder to cause the original problem but thanks to great physical therapy advice twice a week I'm almost back to normal. (Okay, I hear all the comments about "Normal?" My shoulder anyway! I know swimming helps so I am swimming almost every day. I went for a nice ride along the ocean a few days ago after swimming. It was a beautiful day and I knew there is a taco place where I typically turn around. I thought about stopping once but didn't have my wallet. This time I was prepared. I had a great fish burrito lunch in this very nice little park. I'm often very appreciative of the efforts of Californians to preserve natural spaces for all of us. This plaque is just one more example. It's difficult to read but if you enlarge it you should be able to make it out.

I think this has potential for my next t-shirt.