September 2015

9-7-15

The month started not very good for Doris. She has pain in her shoulder muscles and is seeing a chiropractor.

I did not do much better. I went to the dentist because I had an abscess on my lower right tooth. He sent me to a specialist. This guy sent me to a maxillofacial surgeon who removed the tooth. It could not be saved because it had a fracture.  

On one of my morning walks I saw a city crew fix a water pipe problem. They cut through the asphalt of the road and sucked up the soil with a giant vacuum cleaner.

  

I walk often to the boardwalk. There is always action. People were boarding the Madaket for a harbor cruise.

  

Since Doris does not feel good we stayed home for the long Labor Day weekend. We were dog sitting. Doris’s grandson and his wife went out of town and brought their two dogs over. Leila is a black Labrador and very smart. 

  

The other dog is a puppy and she ripped out the feeder lines for the sprinkler system and chewed up the plastic sprinkler heads. I had them installed a few months ago.

  

We had to put her on a leash to avoid more damage.

  

Mr. Big does not like the new house guests. When they come close to him and want to rub noses he only looks at them. He makes no sounds. He likes to sleep on top of Leila’s cage.

9-12-15.

Doris went to the Humboldt County Botanical Garden where she volunteered for the first shift to make the root beer floats. She had to be there before the Garden Gala event opened to the public. It was a fund raiser for the garden.

I drove to Victorian Ferndale where the whole town had a garage sale. I never saw something like this before. People must have brought out all their old stuff from every corner of their houses and garages.

It was difficult to find parking since this is a popular event.

At 2:00 PM I was at the Botanical Garden. I sampled all the foods local Eureka restaurants provided.

There was pizza and other delicious food.

Doris was finished with her work at 2:30 PM and we made the rounds.

We did not see any sun today but it did not rain.

9-13-15.

The Humboldt County Swiss Club in Loleta had an Old Fashioned Hootenanny today.

There were two bands.

The Real Country Band

And the Humboldt Accordionaires.

Admission was by donation and bringing finger food to share.

Rebecca took videos for her TV show.

Hans was singing and yodeling a Tirolean Song.

We had fun dancing and nibbling on the food people brought.

9-18-15.

Mr. Big knows how to get on Doris’s good site. He lays on the desk when she works on the computer and when she reads he jumps on the counter to be close to her.

When Doris is not around and he is on the counter he jumps off when I come into the kitchen. He knows he is not supposed to be on the table or counter. He gets away with a lot with Doris. Mr. Big is her baby.

This evening we went to the Elks Lodge for dinner. We cooked our own steaks. It is a social affair and people cook the steaks on a giant BBQ the way they like them.

Doris’s son and his wife and her grandson and his wife where there too. We celebrated Thomas’s birthday.

After dinner we went home and had cake.

9-19-15.

Today was my turn. We celebrated my birthday. I had cooked beef rouladen, red cabbage and mashed potatoes. Doris baked a Bavarian Chocolate Cake.

Claudia and her family could not come because Nicolette and Jacob were sick. School has started and they picked up a bug there. I made same rouladen for them and will bring them to their house.

Doris and I are busy getting the house ready for Open House. Doris’s house is one of seven houses who will be shown. People will pay $ 25.00 to go through those old houses. It is a fund raiser for the Heritage Society. Doris’s house was built in 1909. Most of the houses are from the1880’s.

Doris bought a new toy, a high pressure washer, and she lets me play with it. I cleaned the wooden fence, the patio and the front porch. The water took off the moss on the wood fence and made it look almost like new.

I repainted the patio with epoxy paint. It is difficult to apply but it sticks real well.

The house could be shown anytime because Doris has a clean house. Nothing is laying around in the house or the garage. Boxes go right away in the recycle box, and when we need one we have to go to the store. I used to keep a couple of boxes or pieces of wood but Mrs. Superclean does not go for that.

9-23-15.

Sometimes it does not pay to get up in the morning. I did not have a good day.

After painting the patio with epoxy paint yesterday I noticed spots I had missed. I should have painted the concrete steps leading to the side door of the house first and then the patio, and then left through the garden gate to go to the front door of the house.

When I painted the steps and got to the last step the screen door was in the way and I missed a large spot. The next day the paint in the can had hardened and I had no more paint and hardener to mix.

I took the wooden mixing stick, with dried paint on it, and figured the paint store can match and mix me a quart of regular concrete paint for covering the spots I missed.

When I went to the store I missed the entrance to the parking lot and hit the curb. The air bag out of the steering wheel hit me and knocked me out for a few seconds. The smell of the gas from the two bags was terrible. It took me a while to figure out what happened.

  

I was able to start the car again and drive in the parking lot. I got the paint and when I got home I finished the job. While the paint was wet it was a beautiful match. As soon as it dried I had a mismatch again.

In the afternoon I drove to the body shop and got more bad news. To replace the two airbags and the module in the computer it would cost me $ 3,200.00.

It is not worth to spend that much money on this car. The body is now in perfect condition and I had bought new tires last year. If I would have known I would not have spent all that money.

I looked at the Autotrader website and found a 2009 Saturn Aura in Shingletown. It has all the equipment for towing.

9-24-15.

After debating whether I should buy a four wheel drive vehicle instead of another Saturn I drove the 156 miles to Shingletown and looked at the car. The car has been garaged and has only 54,000 miles on the odometer. It is a top of the line model with all the whistles.

The base plate on the car is for a Demco towbar. It does not match my Roadmaster towbar. I have to call Roadmaster whether they have an adapter.

I like the Demco baseplate. It is hardly noticeable, not like the one on my car, which looks like a police car ram equipment.

I bought the car. The owner accepted a personal check. We will pick up the car on our way back from our Utah trip. 
In the mean time I will drive my car with the duck tape covered steering wheel and the duck tape covered hole over the clove department.

On the way home I stopped at Whiskytown Lake.

And a little Rest Area.

This is beautiful country but highway 299 is not to my liking. There are too many curves and up and downs. The state tries to improve the situation and there are several construction sites. At two of the sites I had to wait over thirty minutes.

When I got home I called Roadmaster and they have an adapter.  It replaces the fittings on the end of the stainless steel rods.

9-26-15.

Today we went to the Oktoberfest in Fortuna.

The Accordionairs were the first band to provide the music.

Doris and I took Polka dancing lessons. We know now the basic steps.

We ate bratwurst, red cabbage and potatoes which looked like scalloped potatoes. It was not German Potato Salad, but it tasted good. For dessert we had apple strudel.

We also participated in one of the games. People had to put a stein on their head and walk to their partner on the other side of the field.

Walking with a stein full of water was not easy. Besides speed, how much water was left in the stein counted.

Later the Scotia band took over.

Yesterday we went to the theater and saw Rumors, a play by Neil Simon. It was very funny.

We are still working hard to get the house ready for showing. Doris’s house is the leading house. There will be a band on the front lawn and at the side lawn coffee, cookies and other things will be served. Doris baked a ton of cookies.

Artists will be painting pictures.

Unfortunately we will not be here. We have to leave tomorrow morning for Salt Lake City. Doris’s daughter Lana and her family will be flying in from Brooklyn, New York to visit Doris’s granddaughter who goes to school there. Doris’s son Clay and his wife will take care of the house while we are gone.

From Salt Lake City we will be going to Doris’s other home in Utah and winterize it.