Monthly Archives: May 2022

Hello from beautiful Nevada Beach in Zephyr Cove, Nevada.

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We left home at 9:45am and arrived at 11:50 am. The drive up on I-80 was great. Eastbound traffic was horrendous though for Memorial Day travelers. We really lucked out. Now it’s always a rap shoot whether you can actually go to your reserved spot at a state beach or any campground as technically check-in is 2 pm. But we’ve always been fortunate to have friendly camp hosts who let us in if the spot is empty. Ours was so we were set up in no time. Getting Rubi parked went very easy and unhitched too. Barclay really has it down now and is proficient at it.

This time we’re in the upper loop which is our favorite. The campground is fairly empty I guess because it was very cold here and I think there might have been rain or showers the day before. We don’t have anyone in the spots in front of us so that gives us a small view of Lake Tahoe. It’s just lovely here, the air is bright and clear.

This is from our

walk this morning and looking East toward Emerald Bay. There’s snow on the mountains which we haven’t seen in a while so that’s a good thing.

Here we are on the beach looking quite wind burnt. I guess I better put some sunscreen on today.

Last night I made a delicious Staub dinner with baby potatoes, fennel and garlic plant-based sausage, onions, and then topped with mozzarella cheese. I cooked on low for almost an hour. It was delicious. This morning I plan on making some french toast and the leftover potatoes.

Today we’re only going down to Zephyr Cove to check out where the dump station is and then into Safeway for a few things. I thought I do a foil-wrapped dinner of salmon so I’ll see what they have.

We picked a great time to come up here. I wouldn’t come here in the summer that’s for sure. Too many people everywhere. It can take an hour to get down to the Y in South Lake where now it’ll be maybe 15 minutes at best.

Frugal Friday

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It was a frugal week overall. All of June’s bills are in for the month with the exception of the DMV for the truck which is due at the end of June. The DMV seems really high but maybe trucks cost more. We bought the truck a year ago so DMV fees were included and we didn’t probably notice.

This past week was 2 grocery shops. Winco for @ $100 and Costco for @$120. So not too bad. Most of those things will last the month of June and were some pantry refills. I plan on going to the store tomorrow for some camping food things we will need like half and half, some bananas, and at least one salad pack.

We’re leaving Monday and I don’t think were going to hit traffic going up to Tahoe as most of it will be coming down going west. Tahoe itself will probably be busy but we’re not planning on doing anything extra except a lunch out. We also need to go check the dump station in Zephyr Cove as Nevada Beach campground does not have a dump station. We’re only there 4 nights so it shouldn’t be a problem. Still, we will want to use a dump station before coming home.

Other expenses this week were the birthday present for my daughter, stuff from Home Depot, and some things from Amazon. I needed some black-out curtains to hang as the sun is pretty intense in the bedroom and the entryway this time of year. I also bought a Hario pour-over set for Rubi. We usually do the coffee press first thing but then after we walk we’ve felt like a coffee so this will give us 2 cups more. It’s a small pour-over carafe. Hario is supposed to be an excellent product so I’m excited to try it.

Tomorrow is a swim day and I’m hoping the pool is somewhat empty. The other day it was absolutely packed with people even waiting which does not happen very often. I also thought to go check out the gym over by the library for using weights. I’ve seen the building but haven’t gone in and I’m not sure what the set up is but it’s included in my monthly fee so it’s worth checking out.

I don’t have much on the schedule today except work out in the garden shed some. Tonight is pizza night and I think we’ll order one.

Post Script

After 6 months of glorious walking without the AH, he showed up yesterday. I almost fell over:(

So here’s the whole story, I decided a while ago that if he came back, which honestly I didn’t think was going to happen after 6 months, I would make an overture to him. So as he passed by I said ” Hey, Welcome back! Where’ve ya been??” Nicely… So he turns around( he a very dark sunglasses on so I couldn’t see his eyes) and looks at me and says ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and then turns and keeps walking. I was floored. I really was totally floored by this. But he was here this morning and we just ignored him and he looked the other way when he saw us. I’m convinced he has some sort of social issue or a mental issue or both.

There. Are. NO. Words.

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Well, actually, I have plenty of 4 letter words but the pain of seeing 19 children and 2 teachers murdered in a classroom is just too much. When will it end? How about when some politician’s child is murdered in a classroom or an NRA bastard gets his/her children blown away by an AK rifle. Maybe then. Probably NOT.

Our country is so fucked up. Just keep saying thoughts and prayers but don’t try and at least do something about our gun laws. NO ONE needs an assault rifle. NO. ONE.

So fucked up.

Grateful Monday

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I have been thinking about doing a weekly or biweekly blog on Gratitude. Mostly just write down things I’m grateful for.

  1. I’m extremely grateful to have a loving husband and two amazing adult children.
  2. We have a roof over our heads. Even though this house was built in 1949 as a summer cabin we have made it a better place by insulating, changing to energy-efficient windows, and more.
  3. I am so grateful that we both have good health as of right now. Both of us having blood cancer is certainly a weird thing, but we got thru it and now are on the other side for the time being.
  4. The present is truly a present and I’m grateful for the awareness of that.
  5. That I wake up each morning and feel joy. The news is certainly very depressing but when I don’t focus on it I still feel joy in the day.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, decluttering, Flylady, minimalism, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

A very pretty morning in the park and no one there but us and the Canada Geese.

Today I plan to do some reorganizing in the pantry, closet, and the Heywood in the kitchen. There’s not a great deal to do but a few things I want to rearrange. The closet( our only closet and my nemesis) is almost where I want it. I don’t want food storage in there anymore just clothes and seasonal things. So I know there’s a bag of coffee to move out and a bag of flour. Otherwise, I’m finally getting the closet to a space that’s not so crowded with EVERYTHING.

B got the patio shade cover up and it’s very nice and really covers the whole area. It’s 13×13 so bigger than most patio shade covers. We had some serious wind the other day and it was well anchored.

This week is quiet with not much going on except the normal things like swimming, walking, some grocery shopping( not much), and just house stuff. I’d like to do a library run maybe Thursday. Next Sunday is my darling daughter’s birthday so I need to ask her(again) what she wants to do. It’s hard to believe she is 37 YO and 37 years ago we were waiting for her to arrive. It was one of the happiest times of my life. I loved being pregnant both times. I did have a miscarriage 2 years after she was born as we were trying to have another baby. I was 16 weeks. That didn’t work out and after that, we just gave up on any infertility treatment. But of course, then the miracle child(my son) showed up 9 years later.

This week is Flylady bedroom zone but I did that this week as I had B move the bed and I vacuumed and cleaned under and around the bed. This week I’d like to change the curtains out to some light fabric but I’m not sure what I have around. I might need to go down for a quick trip to Ikea.

Five on Friday

Posted in budgets, California, camping, cancer, Gardening, home stuff, travel by

I decided to not go with Frugal Friday today as it seems this has been an expensive week. It’s not daily stuff but more like the bigger things. Both DMV’s for the Rubicon and Chevy are due and it sure seems as if they are almost double what they were last year. Then our AAA membership will be due next week and that’s gone up. There is one other bill but I can’t remember right now. Oh, wait, it’s not a bill but I added on the camping trip to SeaCLiff in the fall on the CC and that was almost $500. SeaCLiff is the campground right down the beach from New Brighton but it is right on the ocean and double what New Brighton is. It does have full hookups so that’ll be nice. Anyway, that took the credit card up I’ll pay that in a few days. So lots of bills. The regular groceries, gas, etc is all okay.

I had my doctor’s visit yesterday and all is good. I’ll see him again in 2 months. There is nothing too much to discuss, but he’s always very attentive and asks about my issues( diarrhea, sleep, etc). After that, I headed up to the new Trader Joe’s.

I went to Trader Joe’s to get some snacks like corn chips, crackers, and salad stuff. I picked some wine, half and half, juice, some frozen things, and frozen fish. Last time I bought a piece of frozen salmon and it was really good so this time I picked up some ahi tuna to try. B went to Costco because they had a patio cover on sale. It was normally $159 and it was $40 off , so a very good deal. We have to have something over the patio as the sun in the summer blasts that area and we can’t eat outside unless there’s a cover. In the past, we’ve used the shade triangles but after a while, it just looks tacky. So this is a good thing.

We’re on a high wind alert and high fire danger today. It’s warm out @ 80 but it’s the dry wind that is potentially a problem. B did anchor the new patio cover with stakes but we might need to do some sandbags as well. Everything is drying out due to the wind. We try to keep the areas around the house green as a fire block but that means watering the yard.

Today is a home day with pottering around the house and yard. I want o clip the herbs and get started with drying. In our climate, oregano, and thyme are year-round plants but parsley, cilantro, basil, and tarragon are annuals. So I want to dry a good amount of each.

Here’s one of the cool rocks we picked from the beach. Lots of fossils and two cool holes. I try to always look for rocks with holes in them, not sure why.

Back to our routines.

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Since Sunday we’ve been slowly getting back to our daily routines. B has been outside nonstop with cleaning out Rubi( the RV) and cleaning it (which it doesn’t need much). He’s getting the pool ready to fill which is always a process and he’s doing endless outdoor chores.

I’ve been catching up with my Flylady routines and seems like today I’m mostly done with everything. I might do a kitchen deep clean later this week.

I like routines and I do better with daily lists and that sort of thing. I always prioritize what is most important to do and get that done first. Today, I have on my list to get out the dehydrator and start drying herbs that are in the garden like oregano, lemon thyme, regular thyme, and tarragon. I think there is some parsley too that can be harvested. We are going to have a bumper crop of garlic and that’s exciting. I guess planting in containers works best for some things and then the earwigs and other things don’t eat the seedlings so they have a chance to grow. The garlic is in 4 barrels so that’ll be a big harvest. I planted the onions around them so once the garlic is done I’m hoping the onions take off. In the 2 big galvanized tubs( they are 2×6), we have tomatoes, peppers, dill, parsley, fennel and I’m not sure what else.

The asparagus we planted last year don’t seem to be doing very well. Only 10 have come up and we planted at least 24. Maybe the soil conditions aren’t quite right. B has already harvested some radishes that he’s growing in an old clawfoot tub that he’s converted to a planter.

I haven’t done any decluttering as of late because where the house is now, seems good. I’m still debating getting rid of some canning jars but since canning season is just starting I think I’ll wait and see what I actually use. I plan on canning salsa, pickles, tomato sauce, and, a few other things. No jams this year as we don’t eat a lot of jam and I still have some marmalade and pepper jelly to use.

Tomorrow I go down to Sacramento to see Dr. L. My numbers came back just slightly over high normal at 19.9mg/L high is 19.4mg/L. last month I was at 18.3/L so a fairly big jump. 1.6, but I’m not too worried yet.

Simple Sunday

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We are home after a week at New Brighton SB. The weather really was outstanding and we left with temperatures expected to be in the 70s. That’s a perfect temperature for the Santa Cruz area. Sunday is always the and we whizzed thru San Jose and all the surrounding areas with very little traffic. Getting ready to go and putting stuff away takes about an hour and a half. We could probably streamline that a bit but overall stuff needs to follow a specific course: close the awning, close the slide-out, etc. We used the camp dump station for the first time and we did pretty good considering.

Everything looked great upon arriving home except it is much warmer. Temperatures are supposed to be in the 80’s all week. Still, the yard and house looked good and my daughter did a great job taking care of the stuff and she still worked all week.

So here are some pictures.

This is along the lighthouse trail in Santa Cruz. The rock formation was once a bridge.

This is looking back at the light house.

California poppies.

These trees are part of the Henry Cowell Redwood Park. Some of these giant sequoia are 2,000 years old.

Always good to be home.

Hello from New Brighton State Beach

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We’ve been here since Sunday and it’s very nice. Our drive down went well trailering and going thru SanJose. I’m sure that being Sunday makes a difference. We found a Costco in Tracy to get gas so that saved us quite a bit on gas.

A lovely spot but I think I still like 62 and 63 better. if you’re lucky you are on the bluff side overlooking the ocean. Some of the spots weren’t even occupied but the website says everything is sold out. Go figure. Still new Brighton is a nice campground.

We did a nice beach walk yesterday

The weather is warming up and I suspect the campground will be fuller by Friday. Yesterday when I walked around half the spots were empty.

We’ve had great food so far, a Staub dinner of stuffed peppers and sauce, burgers on the Weber, and a quesadilla night. Tonight is another BBQ with some chicken for me and tofu for B. I have some potato salad I bought to have with that. We also stopped at Gayles which is a must in Capitola.

My daughter says the kitties are fine and all is good at home although it has been quite cold. Did I mention last week we lost a chicken to either a fox or coyote. We think a fox because we never heard anything. B lets them out to free range and generally they stay together and don’t go to far. But clearly one of them did. It’s always a little sad to lose one of the girls.

Today we’re taking a drive to see some Redwoods so that’ll be nice and then a beach walk later.

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, books, bread, budgets, California, camping, cooking, library, swimming, travel, Uncategorized by

It’s been an okay frugal week. Nothing great but just ok. Most of our big bills for the month are out and just a few more are scattered later in the month.

I had a good swim on Tuesday and the pool was very unbusy which is very unusual. I came straight home afterward. Then Thursday B and I decided to do Winco for a few camping things and at the last minute added in Costco for some camping food as well. I needed Raos to bring and Costco has the best price for the 2 pack. I also got some WW bread for sandwiches. I spent about $175 between the two stores. We also filled up the truck with Costco gas which is the cheapest around. We’re definitely looking at traveling with gas prices. Next week, going to Capitola shouldn’t be more than 2 tanks of gas and the same with Nevada Beach in June. But we’re definitely reconsidering Refugio because that is much farther away. For now, we’ll keep the reservation but still think about it. Then I went to library and got a nice selection of books. Oh, and then we had a lunch date at Celestino’s pizza, which is the best New York pizza around in my opinion.

I went to the nursery with my daughter and bought all our tomato and pepper plants and a few ornamentals for her back garden area. That was her birthday present. We were trying to get a birdbath for her but they didn’t have any affordable ones. The cheapest they had was $110. The last time we were there they had a nice one for $80. I guess we should have bought it then.

I had my labs this morning so I should get results next week. Fingers crossed. I’ve been having some pain in my right leg but I think I over-stretched it doing some yoga. It was better this morning but then the ache comes back ( kind of in the hip and upper thigh area) by afternoon. It’s always something.

After we’re back our next big expense will be having the septic pumped. We’ll call once we’re back. As far as expenses for Capitola, it’ll be a few stops at Gayles bakery and probably one grocery store shop. We generally do not eat out but I thought maybe we’d find some place for a lunch near the Santa Cruz boardwalk. We’ll see. I know we’ll go walk the beach trail so that might be a good day to do that.

Oh, the tree guys came and ground out the stump so now there’s no issue with going out or coming in with Rubi. Yay! He didn’t charge us which was really nice.