Memorial

San Luis Obispo, CA

March 19, 2022

After too long a hiatus it’s time to get back to work on this blog.  Saturday, March 19, was the day of the memorial.  This was the location of the memorial.

This was a dairy or a milk processing facility years ago.  The memorial wasn’t in here it was in what looked to me to be a milking barn or the processing facility.  This is the interior of the octagonal barn.  No idea why it was built in that shape or what its purpose was.

More interior of the octagonal barn.

More interior.

Some history.  I wish it were more readable.  The memorial was in the rectangular building to the left.

Cal Poly, a cow in spandex and a bike helmet.  Of course.

The rectangular barn and some other outbuildings on the left.  Restrooms and offices in there.

This is Virginia, we will miss her terribly.

This is from the Okawville Times in Okawville, Illinois.

Sightseeing

Solvang, CA

March 18, 2022

We took a long drive on Friday, the Santa Ynez Valley, Los Olivos, and Solvang.  Los Olivos was crowded as could be.  I had never been there before.  Nice but touristy.  Here’s Lynn and Chris.

The Santa Ynez Valley is about 60 miles south of Morro Bay.  We stopped here for a bloody mary but the bar had no bloody mary mix.

We could not find a bar in Los Olivos, the town is totally given over to wine tasting.  Lots of grapes in the valley.  So we drove on to Solvang.  I had never been there before either.  Here’s a small park with a statue and a tour bike.

I did not read the inscription on the statue, I wish I had.  I would have learned something.

Solvang is even cuter than Los Olivos.

We walked around looking for a bar, got to get those bloody marys.  We could have taken the bus.

Finally found the bar.  I had a diet coke.

The outside of the bar/restaurant.  It was kind of a high end steak house.

Here’s Dolly.

It was a great day.  We barbecued oysters when we got home.

Virginia’s Memorial

San Luis Obispo, CA

March 17, 2022

Today was a travel day.  We are headed to the Robinson’s in Morro Bay.  They have graciously allowed us to stay with them while we are here to attend a memorial for Virginia Shubert.  More about that later.  We left Davis about nine and made our first stop at the Casa de Fruta.  It’s sort of a little less refined version of what the Nut Tree used to be.  It’s on highway 156 about two and a half hours from Davis.

Succulents for sale along with restaurant, gift shop, merry go round, and little train just like the Nut Tree had.

We packed our own lunch so we ate in the parking lot while this gentleman watched us and waved.

Next stop Paso Robles about two hours later.  The drive from Davis to Morro Bay is about five and a half hours if you don’t stop for too long anywhere.

If you’re going to stop why not make it a Starbucks?  Lynn has an app on her phone that vectors us right in.

Almost to Morro Bay.  We are just north of Cayucos, about six miles from the town of Morro Bay.  There is Morro Rock in the distance.

Here we are on the Robinson’s front porch in Morro Bay.  With the lunch stop it took us six and a half hours.  We are looking down the street and at the Pacific Ocean.  We’re here.

It was a great day cruisin’ down the freeway.

Back on the Bike

March 16, 2022

Davis, CA

I am riding my bike today.  Testing my knee.  I had to promise my in-house doctor that I would go slow and stop if there was discomfort.  I am happy to say all went well.  So as the picture shows, the road beckons.

Made it into town with stops for coffee, the hardware store, the co-op, and the library.  Made the turn around to head home.  Here is the bike path that connects Fifth and Second streets.  The north wind was a little stronger than was predicted.  If I ever get an electric bike it will be because of the north wind.

Off to the left is a Davis hill, an overpass.  This is the Pelz over crossing, bikes and pedestrians only.  I need to use it to get to the south side of I80, or the eighty if you’re from Southern California.

Made it home.

What a great day, my knee feels fine.

Another Day for Knee to Heal and Trip to the Oral Surgeon and It Rained This Morning

Davis, CA

March 15, 2022

It started raining about two this morning. What a great sound when the area is in a drought.  It rained steadily until about seven.  I checked the rain gauge I have in our side yard and we got 2/8 of an inch.  Not bad.  It won’t end the drought but we’ll take it.  My weather monitor at my desk said .18 inches so they were close.  Here’s the rain gauge.

I didn’t do much today.  Staying off the knee but hope to ride tomorrow.  Only scheduled event today was a trip to the oral surgeon for an inspection prior to getting another implant.  I should have taken better care of my teeth earlier, maybe, or maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference at all.  Oh well, I will avail myself of the miracles of modern medicine.

Waiting, waiting.

Still another great day.  New tooth.

Trip to Find the Old Gordon Cemetery

Esparto, CA

March 14, 2022

I have been off of the bicycle for the last week resting a sore knee.  I probably should have stopped sooner than I did but I pressed on trying to ignore it.  Oh well, it’ll heal in time.  So this afternoon I got in my car and set out to find the monument and old family cemetery of a Yolo County land grant recipient back in 1842.  It was two square leagues between Woodland and Esparto and straddled Cache Creek.  The book I am using as a reference, Historic Spots in California, puts it on County Road 19.  I drove the length of Road 19 and did not see anything.  I was hoping it would be by the roadside but no luck.  Turns out it’s on private property which I learned later.  I got on Road 20 and stopped to take pictures of the super high density olive groves.  There are a lot of them planted in the rolling, rocky soil out there.

Hard to get a sense of the  acreage standing on the ground but, as mentioned, there are lots of olives out there.

Olives every way you look.   You can see too that Road 20 is paved, barely.

Get the water out of the ground by wind power.

Not sure what this would have carried but these tires will never go flat.

I stopped here to take a picture of the sign and read that they were open so I drove in thinking they might have some information about the cemetery.  They did.  They told me it was on private property and that I was not the first person to ask about it.  They had a person named Gordon from Fresno who drove up to trace her family lineage and they were able to connect her with the landowner.  They took my information and said they would get back to me.  My book says a monument we erected at the site in 1948 by the Native Daughters of the Golden West.  I hope they call as I would really like to see the site.

Part of the nature preserve.

So, more to come.  Great day.

Exercise the Ponies

Davis, CA

March 9, 2022

More OCD this morning. In the process of building a studio above the garage a lot work had to be done to support the weight of the studio. This was done totally in the garage. It was emptied and parts of the concrete floor cut out so extra footings could be poured. It created an opportunity to clean up the garage and get rid of a lot of stuff we no longer needed. With all the saw marks and new concrete we decided to epoxy the floor to cover all that up. The end result is, as you can see, a spare look and finished as though it were a room. Something that needs to be kept clean. No spider webs then. And the floor needs to be mopped. Which I did this morning. OCD.

This morning I was also waiting for a delivery of a new refrigerator for the studio. The original, delivered last June, was delivered defective and they were unable to fix it hence the replacement. Once that was done I rode across town to the UC Clinic to pick up a prescription. Here’s the entry to the clinic.

Then to return some library books and pick up some more.

Then to the Co-op for supplies for vegetable mashed potatoes. This is sort of like the story of the pot of stew that never gets finished. They just keep adding to it. In my version I get something to add to leftovers to create something new. It never ends. I don’t mind so much but I think Lynn tires of it sometimes. Especially if there are potatoes. Or rice.

After I got home and created my mashed potato gumbo I took the car out to keep the battery charged. It was such a beautiful day I put the top down. I stopped here to walk back along the road where there were many blackbirds singing in the trees.

Here we go again, trying to get good bird pictures. Just like in Hawaii. Hard to get close enough to get good distinct photos. And the pictures you do get don’t always convey the beauty of the scene as you see it in person. I thought I was getting a redwing blackbird here.

And here.

I know there are three in this picture. I’ll get better at this I hope.

Time to head home, running down those thin white lines putting the hammer down.

Back at the house. Time for dinner.

What a beautiful day.

Leftover Rice

Davis, CA

March 8, 2022

After taking care of many back and forth emails regarding setting up future hospice committee meetings I finally got started this morning. A beautiful morning, hardly any wind, and bright and sunny.  Too bad it’s been another dry winter.  We will learn to conserve water this summer.  So, once in town, I decided to stop by the Village Bakery.  They had their tables out so I stopped for coffee, first time this year.  Here’s our local train station.  As I was taking this picture I heard the station master announce, “California Zephyr now boarding for Reno, Denver”, and some points east I couldn’t make out.  Exciting or what/

Here’s the view from my table looking north at the Tres Hermanas restaurant.

I got home then got back on my bike and brought a package to Postmark’s that had to be mailed.

My ride into town this morning was to get a few items necessary to make fried rice out of leftover rice from a dish Lynn made last week.  I left out of this picture the eggs and ground turkey that will be added.  I have to learn to think these photo essays through.  So, I got started on the fried rice about 3 in the afternoon after I finished some accounting work that needed to be done and de-webbing the front of the house.  Since we painted the house white I’ve gone OCD on this.

Here’s dinner.  For me anyway.  Lynn might avoid this because it has rice in it.  But not too much, relative to all the other ingredients.

Time to clean the kitchen.

Oyster sauce and soy sauce, our seasonings.

What a great day.

Weekend Visit

March 7, 2022

Guerneville, CA

We’re leaving for the River.  Goodbye Davis.

We arrive at Guerneville in two hours.

And the occupants are gaming.

Great weekend.

Chowder for the Weekend

Davis, CA

March 4, 2022

We’re headed to Guerneville tomorrow.  Drake is there and his friend since kindergarten George is there with his girlfriend, Stephania.  Stephania is from Germany.  We are anxious to meet her.  All we have done, it seems, is plan for meals.  Lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast Sunday.  We have to return Sunday.  We are preparing red and white chowders for Saturday lunch and plan roast chicken and pasta carbonara for dinner.  Sunday morning will be eggs Kejriwal.  So a trip to the Co-op is in order to get supplies.

In the kitchen ready to begin.

The food processor does the chopping of the carrots and celery.  When I was little we would get vegetable soup from my mother with big chunks of vegetables.  I started, years ago, making anything that had carrots or celery with the vegetables chopped into small bite sized pieces.  Lynn likes hers almost pureed.  So guess which way we do it now?  The food processor makes it much easier and quicker and it doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.

White chowder, potatoes for the white, and red chowder.

Great day.