Pro Football and the Denver Broncos

HI!

People ask me if I've become a Denver Broncos fan. I haven't been much of a pro football fan in the past .... maybe a little bit of a fan at the collegiate football level, especially rooting for U of W and any team playing Texas!

When we were in Oakland, the Raiders weren't easy to love. Rowdy fans and a string of bad teams lead to loyalties with teams like the SF 49ers. And even the Niners aren't loyal to their roots ..... moving to San Jose! Really? The San Jose 49ers?

I had a love of the Los Angeles Rams back in the days of Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch and the "Fearsome Foursome" (Rosie Greer, Lamar Lundy, Merlin Olsen, and Deacon Jones). It was, and still is, easy to get behind a charismatic player; but getting behind and staying with a team through thick and thin ..... another story.

But Denver is a different kind of football city. During the season, when you are invited someplace, people are quick to point out that the invitation won't conflict with the Broncos' game! Good thing Christmas isn't on a Monday, Thursday or Sunday! Good friends invited us over for wings, brews and "the Game" almost the same day we got here. And who wouldn't root for a team with the comeback kid on it? Manning broke the single-season touchdown passing record last night; he's on the road to breaking the single-season passing yards record; they are champions; the defense is playing better, ........ so there's lots to like. It's hard to go anywhere without getting into a conversation that includes discussion of the Broncos.

OK, going with the flow and enjoying it!

Wow! Another Saturday. Even when retired, Saturdays are somehow different than most work days. I think it's that while Deb and I are still going full blast, many businesses are on short hours or are short staffed. Whazzup with that? I'm still here; why wouldn't they be?

We picked lighting devices for the home today. I almost choked looking at the prices! A chandelier for $1,500? Three pendant lights for over the island in the kitchen for $400 each? I'm having a small amount of heartburn with that. Luckily, our contractor is "grandfathered," so our discount is in the >50% range. What about the folks who have to pay retail??

Deb is a jewel! We were talking, as we always do, about the house and specifically about the laundry room. Last talk ended in rearranging the interior walls of the room, adding cabinets and a platform over the washer and dryer to use as a folding table. The cabinets we are getting are a little on the expensive side, so Deb was wondering about another way to do the same thing.

After a few hours of looking on Craig's list, she had located an armoir that fit perfectly and had shelves for laundry products and an open space for brooms, vacuum cleaner, etc.








In addition, she found a cast iron deep well utility sink, so now we have a sink in the laundry room too. And, it's such a good idea to use furniture instead of custom cabinets for storage, we're re-thinking all the storage areas (except the kitchen!)



Cheers!

The Home Building Saga

HI!

Weeks have past and we haven't redesigned anything! That's a first for us after designing and redesigning the house for the past 3 months.

Monday, we submitted for a "building envelope adjustment." In short, at the final review session before the HOA Design Review Committee, they asked us to move the house five feet to the West so that we'd have more separation between us and our neighbor to the East. In order for us to move the house, we had to encroach on the platted setbacks ...... jargon for "you can't do that without County permission." So, we're in that process now.

All of the construction drawings are complete, so we're ready to pull the building permits, and then we can break ground. Estimates have us in the house by late July or early August.

But, the activity doesn't stop as we wait approval from the County. Deb has spearheaded the drive to eliminate what builders call "allowances." Allowances are pots of money put aside in the budget for groups of purchases like hard surfaces (flooring, tile, counter tops), plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, interior doors and trim, exterior doors, etc. These pots of money are included in the construction budget and are "to be specified later." That means that at some point, the homeowner will be asked to choose all the light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, types of tile, etc. to go in the home, all the while staying within the "allowance." The problem is that it's really easy to estimate the allowances low (to show the budget in a favorable light) when the reality of our choices goes well over the allowance (increasing the cost of the home).

So, Deb and I are on a mission to eliminate as much as possible, all of the allowances. That means trip after trip to the showrooms to make all of the million and one choices that go into building the house. It's an iterative process ..... each decision affects all the other decisions and as the quotations come in from the different vendors, there's always a need to go back for clarification and change. No telling how long this process will take - probably until the house is completed and we're in it!

Irish Snug

Fáilte!

Tis the season for sure! Our good friends are including us in all sorts of celebrations of the final days of 2013. 

Wednesday night we were close to home on Colfax Avenue, listening to the music of the Gypsy Swing Review. Comprising the Review a violin, lead guitar, standup bass, and rhythm, guitar, the guys played "Hot Jazz" in the style of the Parisian clubs of the 1920's. 

Two sets of Hot Jazz and the youngsters started pouring in for the third set - of hot swing music! Deb and I took a swing dance class a few years ago and we enjoy the one or two steps that we can put together, but the kids at The Irish Snug make my head spin. I can't describe how fast and frenetic they dance, all the while the band playing the flapper music from the speakeasies of the 1920s. What a fun time!

Last night went to a small (100 seat) local theater to see "Santa's Big Red Sack." Yep, it's exactly what you think it is ....... a bawdy treatment of venerated seasonal traditions. Hilarious made more so because we've all lived at least a few of the sketches from the show. No spoiler here. You'll have to see it for yourself! 

Just goes to show how local theater can be both entertaining and successful!

New Address(es)

HI!

It's been sorta hectic the last few months, and as we get ready to send out cards for the Holidays (by the way Happy Holidays!!) we realized that we'd moved and failed to tell everyone. So here are our new addresses .....

For the next 8 months or so we'll be living in the Capitol Hill area of Denver near the downtown. The address there is:

Phil & Deb Storch
789 Clarkson Street
#605
Denver, CO 80218

When our new home is completed, our address will be:

Phil & Deb Storch
10647 Brown Fox Trail
Roxborough Park, CO 80125


We have mail boxes at each address, so it doesn't matter which you use (and we hope you'll use at least one!).

Happy Holidays and Good Cheer to all,

Phil & Deb

Garden of the Gods - Colorado Springs

Deb and I had a Saturday morning free, so we decided to day trip to Colorado Springs (70 miles South of Denver) to have a nice breakfast and visit to the Garden of the Gods. 

The outstanding geologic features of the park are the ancient sedimentary beds of deep-red, pink, and white sandstones, conglomerates, and limestone that were deposited horizontally, but have now been tilted vertically and faulted by the immense mountain building forces caused by the uplift of the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak. Erosion and glaciation of the rock, created the present rock formations. Evidence of past ages; ancient seas, eroded remains of ancestral mountain ranges, sandy beaches and great sand dune fields can be seen in the rocks.

The rock formations that form Garden of the Gods are also prevalent in the ridges and hogbacks around Roxborough Park where we be living, and a little farther North at the famous concert venue, Red Rocks Amphitheater. 

Here's a picture of Pike's Peak, one of the Colorado "Fourteeners" and a place that Deb and I would like to visit soon. There's a tie to Roxborough Park here too, since Roxborough Park backs on the Pike National Forest. 

First Snowy Trip to DIA

We learned a few things about going to the airport this morning. We are on our way to Rochester, NY to visit with Kelli, Jake, Claire and Evan this week and next week the Milner and McNeil families join us for Thanksgiving celebrations.

Our plane was scheduled to get off the ground this morning at 6:00 AM. Deb convinced me that getting up at 3:30 AM and leaving by 4:00 AM would be just fine. DIA (Denver International Airport) is about 25 miles East of downtown Denver, and without traffic, it takes about 35 minutes or so to get to the departures area.

Up at 3:30, brush my teeth, comb my hair, do a couple of other last minute adjustments, pick up the packed bags at the front door, elevator down to the parking lot and lo and behold, there’s 3” of new snow on my car! WTF?? (In Colorado, that means “What the Frack?” because of the current controversy over fracking to get at oil and natural gas deosits.) I’m from CA. Do you think I was smart enough to by a snow sweeper offer or an ice scraper or something else to clean the windows off with? Nooooooooo. Seems last time I scraped ice off my windshield was at Shaver Lake in the Sierras and I used my credit card.

So, standing there freezing my thumbs in 21 degree cold, scraping the ice and snow off with bare hands, wishing I had 5 gallons of steaming hot water ……

Finally off to the airport at 4:15. Now we have around 30 miles to go to long term parking, parking, shuttle to airport, checking bags, security to go through, trolley to take to the C gate area, and boarding to go through to get airborne.  I-70 East is snow covered, there are blinking lights of the snow plows everywhere, the car aren’t actually driving in any particular lane because the lines aren’t visible, and my windshield gets dirtier and harder to see out of with each swipe of the wiper blades.

Flight’s at 6:00 AM. We are right on time! As they shut the door in the boarding area, we make eye contact with the SWA rep who checks the boarding passes. He’s shaking his head, but opens the door to the gangway so we could board.

And, the flight is full – to capacity. There are two center aisle seats left. Deb gets the one up front; I get the one next to a contestant on “The Biggest Loser!”

So goes our first experience with DIA.  Hope I can remember where we parked the car.

Update on the Home Construction (or lack thereof)!

Since last we talked about the house, we've made a few changes. Some of the changes were driven by the Roxborough Park Design Review Committee and some we chose to make.

This is the perspective view looking at the house as if you were coming up the driveway. The biggest change we've made recently is to take off the third garage which we had intended to use for storage of our trailer.

Several things drove that decision. The rental for storage place for the trailer is half as expensive here as it was in Alameda. We negotiated a longer term contract with the storage location that gets us a free month each year, so the price dropped even further. Another consideration is the road configuration in Roxborough Park. While the main road is large, the side roads and cul-de-sac roads are narrow and turn at right angles. I measured some of the turns, and found that it would be near impossible to get the trailer into the driveway! I'd really be mad if I built a house with three garages and then couldn't get the trailer into one of them!

Deleting the garage simplified the drainage and excavation plan ($$), reduced the amount of concrete to be poured ($$), eliminated the need for 70 feet of retaining wall ($$$$), shortened the length of the steel I beam roof supports ($$$), etc. All in all, probably a pretty good decision.

But, I didn't go softly! Deb and I decided to trade the reduction in garage size plus the elimination of a soaking tub in the master bathroom for a built in wet sauna in the bathroom! Sounds to me like a great trade!








The sauna is accessed through a glass door in the shower of the Master Bathroom. The shower is tile with glass door to the bathroom. We're really looking forward to saunaing (sp?) in the winter after a hard day of snowshoeing or cross country skiing!










The other change was forced on us by the Roxborough Foundation Design Review Committee. Our lot, and the one directly to the East of us, have zero lot lines (meaning there's no setback). The original intention of the developer was to have a shared driveway between the two houses. The land to the East of us was built out with no driveway, and when we placed our house on our lot, there was only 5 feet to the property line and another 10 feet to the neighbor's front porch. The East wall of our house is about 20 feet high, and relatively unbroken - few windows and not many architectural details.

RFDRC thought that arrangement might overwhelm the neighbors, so they asked that we move the house 5 feet West and 3 feet North on the lot. Of course, that meant we had to re-compute all of the drainage and erosion control measures for the lot - an expensive process - and ask for a variance from Douglas County to build outside of our setbacks for the lot. That's maybe not very interesting to you, but in a nutshell, that cost $2,000 and two weeks time delay. But, it's done now and we expect to have  final approval by Thursday this week.

So that's where we are. Next steps are to finalize approval through RFDRC and Douglas County, get an firm quote on construction costs for the house, submit for building permits, and dig dirt. Hopefully we'll see the dirt fly in six weeks or so.

Cheers!

Eating Our Way Through Denver

We're beginning to eat our way through Denver. Last night we went with friends to True Food Kitchen in Cherry Creek. This is one of Dr. Anthony Weil's restaurants and specializes in following the anti-inflammatory food pyramid. From that description, you'd think the food would be bland and relatively uninteresting, but not the case. I had three sea bass tacos with beans and they were delicious.

I was tempted to compare the food at True Food Kitchen with Alice Water's food at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, but there's no real comparison. The food at True Food Kitchen is cut-as-you-go meaning everything is prepared from garden fresh produce and the prep table is right in the middle of the restaurant. I'd go there again but I'd order something else just to get a variety.

Sunday morning we walked to Cherry Creek to have breakfast at The Eggshell. Cherry Creek is a very busy area of Denver, rather upscale, and one of the larger malls. Around the mall are lots of smaller boutique stores. Deb and I walked from the condo to Cherry Creek - about 1.8 miles or so one way - to have breakfast at a place friends recommended.

Perhaps we didn't catch the Eggshell on one of its better days. The servers seemed overwhelmed, and the Denver Omelette that Deb and I shared was unimaginative. It consisted of scrambled eggs with a little ham, some green pepper chunks covered with two round slices (pre-sliced no less!) of cheddar cheese. It was bland and not at all interesting. The Texas Toast was good, as were the chunks of potatoes (home fries?). All-in-all, I'd probably go there again, but if it looks busy when we arrive, I'll move on.

Cheers!

Green Mountain Open Space

From time-to-time I'll use the is space to make notes on hikes we've particularly enjoyed.

Green Mountain Open Space is approximately 10 miles West of downtown Denver. There are a great many trails to the top where one can get a great view of downtown Denver. The route shown in black in this graphic is the trail I chose. Called Rooney Valley Trail, the route winds along the lower portion of the open space and then heads uphill (!) through Rooney Valley.

Most people choose one of the more travelled routes (shown in red). The route I chose took me about 2 hours from parking lot to top and back. 

HI!

Another beautiful, sunny day on tap for today. Supposed to be around 60 degrees. But, there's a storm coming in soon and we're probably going to see snow on Saturday and Sunday. Not enough though for us to get out the snowshoes.

Kitties go to the vet for the first time today. We have to board them while we travel to Rochester for Thanksgiving, so they have to have shots to keep from getting sick from other animals. Thankfully, the car carrier we have will work great to transport them to the vet and back.

Deb's birthday is coming up, so I thought I'd take her out to dinner. We chose Le Central, a small French restaurant close by on 8th street. It's been voted the best French restaurant in Denver for since 2008. Deb likes patty de froi gras; hopefully they'll have it on the menu.








Deb took some cute shots of Simon and Milana while on her trip back to the Bay Area. Simon is himself - smiling and happy. He very seldom is out-of-sorts and enjoys most everything he does!

Milana didn't feel good. She got over her blues pretty quickly and she's back to being herself and looking forward to flying to Rochester for Thanksgiving!

Update on What's Happening

Since last we spoke, we've settled into Denver pretty well. We purchased a condominium in the Capitol Hill Area very near downtown. It's a smallish two-bedroom on the 6th floor with a good view to the west of Denver and the foothills. We completely cleaned the unit, replaced the microwave and the garbage disposal, repainted crown moulding and baseboard, and painted all the walls in new colors. We've put up pictures and the TV works, most of the stuff we hauled directly to Denver has is here and we're pretty comfortable. The bulk of our goods are in storage in Antioch awaiting the start and completion of the new house.

The Denver area is pretty interesting. Not a big town population-wise (630,000), Denver metro area is very spread out and has about 2.6 million people in it. So if we are willing to do some searching and a little traveling, we can find what we need. When we move to Roxborough Park we'll be closest to the suburb of Denver called Littleton so we're locating services in that area so we'll be close when we move.

I'd like to tell you all about the hiking trails in this area, but there are so many of them that we haven't even scratched the surface! I hiked Green Mountain the other day; it's a trail to a peak of about 6900 feet located West of downtown about 10 miles. Beautiful place and a challenging hike for me. I'm not used to the altitude and I've sort of slacked off a strict training regimen like I had in the past (but I'm back in the swing of exercising each day).

Our good friends Sue and Anthony have invited us a hike this coming weekend to something called "Devil's Head" (!). It's south of Roxborough Park and the trail leads to the only active forest fire lookout in Colorado. The trail goes up 950 feet in 1.4 miles to a resting area where you gather the strength to go up 143 stairs to the lookout! We may not get to go this Sunday - it's going to snow and the lookout tower is a magnet for lightning strikes.

One of the strangest things I've experienced here is the weather. I remember being in Portland, OR and having the temperature go down to the mid-40s and being so cold and uncomfortable that I wanted to stay inside all the time. And, we've been in Burlington, VT with the same sort of temperatures and the same kind of discomfort. But here, if the sun's out, you may be wearing only a T-shirt when the temperature is 45 degrees! I'm guessing that the low humidity, the high altitude and the cloudless skies contribute to the comfort. We're looking forward to what we think is a more traditional winter - snow and lower temps, skiing, etc. We bought snowshoes so we could go out onto Arrowhead Golf Course in Roxborough Park. (Not my pic - I'll put in ours when the snow comes!)

So much for today. Now that we've begun to get settled, I'll hopefully do this more often.

Phil

Homeless and Renting Again!

HI!

I haven't written much since, whoa!, last April. At that time, we had a pretty well organized life that went on predictably from day-to-day. Sure, new things happened every once in a while, but eventually what was became what is.

Recently, good friends Anthony and Sue invited us to come to Estes Park Colorado to help them celebrate their son Ryan's graduation from the US Merchant Marine Academy and the marriages of their two lovely daughters, Kat and Diane. We dragged the trailer 1300 miles one way, stopping at the beautiful Overlook Ranch just outside of Estes Park, settling in for a week of fun and frivolity.

That time passed well, so well in fact that I commented to Deb on the way home that "I could live here." Prophetic. Two days travel, 48 hours of "Why do it?" and "Why not do it?" discussions in a car, not more than two feet from each other, we'd decided to move to Denver.

Snap decision? Some people think that's the case, but they are wrong. If you look at the list of places we go for visits and vacations, you'll see names and places like Alaska, Las vegas, Sedona, La Placitas, Sante Fe, Burlington, Cabo San Lucas, Grand Tetons, Yosemite Valley, Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, Glacier Park, Cape Cod, ....... and it goes on and on. Everywhere we went, the common element was the enjoyment of the presence of great friends and family. And, a common thread was the question "Is this the place?"

The week in Denver, the presence of old friends (only in the sense that we've known these friends for a long time), meeting new friends, seeing the mountains, the plains, the City, the trees, the water, the lights, the darkness and silence ....... caused us to answer, "Yes, this is the place."

Why leave Alameda?

Being brutally honest, there are things I love and things I don't love about this area. Alameda is an island and has been isolated from the mainstream of the Bay Area since the days of World War II. People who live here might not want to admit that, but it's true. It's very close to Oakland, a city of many faces. The worst face of Oakland is the violence that occurs too close to Alameda - less than a mile from our house. In the summer, at night I can lie awake, listening and not knowing whether the noise I hear is celebratory fireworks at the A's game or gunfire from International Boulevard. I don't like being so close to that. The only thing that keeps us apart from spillover is the slough.

Graffiti is epidemic nearby. Tagging is evidence that someone is saying "This is mine!" When applied to freeway signs and concrete barriers, overpasses, buildings, bridge columns, cars, trucks, construction vehicles ..... everywhere there's a spare square inch of open space, someone is saying "What was yours is now mine." I don't like that.

Traffic congestion is one price paid for being in the Bay Area. We have freeways that are 6 lanes wide and bumper-to-bumper at 20 miles per hour during rush hours. On Fridays, it takes more time to go 15 miles ("out of town") than it does to go 90 miles to get to Sacramento.

And, there are questions about the ability of California to govern itself in a way that produces progress and a better life for its citizens in the future than they have now.

A double-edged sword is our home. It's a work of art, created with love and care over a period of 14 years. It had good bones - a great starting point for artists to begin creating. Now, the creation is complete - there's no more to do except maintain. Nothing to create, no projects to do. How does one just stop creating? Doesn't everyone need a new canvas now and then?

So, for all of those reasons and a few more, we are between opportunities. We've seized the opportunity to build a life in Alameda; we leave satisfied and move to the next opportunity - creating something extraordinary in Roxborough Park, Colorado.

Joaquin Miller Park Hike

We enjoyed the hike last week with Clay and Carol, so we thought we'd head out to do a similar one close to home. The East Bay Regional Park District has over 500 miles of trails within 30 minutes drive of our house. Today's hike was into the Joaquin Miller Park area only 5 miles from our house.

We park at the entrance to the dog park area, walk up the road only a few feet, get on the trail and drop immediately down to the creek. You can see the loop we took in the picture to the left. What a nice hike through the redwoods!







The trail is absolutely beautiful, open trail and sunshine followed by travel through dense redwood forests. The whole hike too around 2 hours and was up and down the whole way. Deb and I were both thankful that we brought our hiking poles along as the downhill / steeper parts of the trail are also covered by pine needles, loose gravel and rocks.

One watch out for this trail is the steepest downhill part, Cinderella Trail, is also a favorite mountain bike trail. It's steep, narrow, rutted, rooted, and rocked and the mountain bikers are barely under control as they come down. It's a challenge to stay out of their way without getting into poison oak, stinging nettles, or other nasties. Al-in-all, a great way to start a Sunday.

Spring is Definitely Here

Spring is definitely here. It seems like every year there gets to be a little less distinction between the seasons. That has the odd effect of making annuals (flowers and so on) into perennials and getting plants to bloom in more vibrant colors and at earlier times in the year. All that's really nice and the Spring is welcomed, but the early warm weather also has a less welcome side effect.

As an example, Maple trees need cold weather to allow seeds to go through the germination process. It has to be around 40 degrees F for about 70 days before the seeds are ready to sprout. Just think - if the weather isn't cold enough for long enough, there won't be any maple seedlings produced! That's not too much of a problem since we have all kinds of nurseries here that produce maple seedlings, but it leads one to wonder what other unforeseen consequences there might be.

We ventured into the world of tech again, purchasing an "Apple TV" box. It's an amazing little gadget, truly a "black box." The box synchs with one of the house computers, allows all of that computer's music to be streamed through the surround sound system, has movies available for rent or purchase, has something called "mirroring" which allows you to project what's on your computer screen onto your TV screen, and has apps installed for Netflix and a bunch of other commercial sites.

I don't know if I've told you, but I absolutely hate Comcast. Seems to me that they are ripping me off, charging me to watch TV channels like CBS, NBC, and ABC when I used to get them for free. TV was always free; all you had to do was put up with a couple of commercials every now and again. Now we have to pay to get any channels, and we still have to watch all of the commercials. Enough of that whining for now.

Since I've retired, one of the major worries I have is not being able to keep up. When working, I was always up on the latest technologies because they were used to advantage by my employers. Without an employer, I am on my own dime and have to stay abreast of the newest technologies by myself. Thank Him or Her for my iPhone 4 and apps like USA Today which has a Tech section that I can download every day to get the latest and the greatest innovations! (Did I just say that?)

Reservoir Canyon and Bowden Ranch

We visited Clay and Carol in Arroyo Grande this past weekend and enjoyed their hospitality and a hike at Reservoir Canyon. It's 6+/- miles long and climbs from 400 feet to around 1,800 feet, with most of the climbing in the last mile. 

Carol has a new addition to her family. Benjamin came along last year; he's a Golden Retriever mix. The latest addition is Bernadette, an Shepherd / Great Dane mix. Both dogs love the trail and pulled Carol up the hill most of the day. Lucky her!

We drove the Lexus down and back and both Deb and I were surprised by the gas mileage - right at 47 miles per gallon! It's a comfortable car; it might be a little on the small side for a trip of any length of time. It's got 134 horsepower combined in the electric and gas engines, but even at that low HP level it seems to handle freeway driving, merging and hill climbs just fine. 

We're back into our third round of the Cleanse starting today (Monday). We do it every so often when we feel like we need to reset our bodies. It gets out the acids, coffee, alcohol we've been eating and drinking and resets our eating habits around better food choices. The first time was difficult, second time was easier, and this time should be quite easy as we know what to expect and how to prepare for upcoming meals. Downside for the regimen is that it takes quite a bit of time and effort to keep up with the preparing, cleaning, chopping of the vegetables and grains. I'm not sure someone working full time would be able to keep up with the prep work. 

This time around I'm going to try to keep track of the daily calories for the regimen, and I will continue to exercise as I have been even though the people who put the regimen together don't recommend exercising at high effort levels. 

Bro Comes to Visit

My brother came to visit us from the Pacific Northwest. He's the kind of guy who, if you don't see him or talk to him for a couple of years, will still remember you and pick up the conversation right where it left off last time. It's like we see and talk to each other every day!

He has a penchant for scuba diving. He's used to the cold waters of the Puget Sound, so anytime he has the opportunity, he likes to get into warmer waters. The quest for warmer waters brought him down to California, specifically to the Monterey Bay area. This trip he brought along his wife and two sons. The boys also dive, so they brought along a ton - literally - of diving gear. It was a chore to get them all loaded up at the airport and trucked over to the house.

Now Bro didn't have a car, having flown down from the PNW and in order to dive at Monterey Bay he needed to borrow my truck. No problem; I had another car for work. The caveat was he had to buy his own gas.

I wasn't off work, so Bro and the Boys were going to load up the truck with their gear and drive down to Monterey by themselves. Bro needed to fill the truck up with gas, so I sent him downtown to a station I knew would be open. Alameda is a relatively small town, even smaller if you know that it's basically broken into the areas around Park Street and the area around Webster Street. These areas are mini-cities, and the residents stay pretty much in a 15 square block area where all the services are located. To give you an idea of how close the Park Street area is to our house, Deb and I regularly walk downtown to take in a movie, to shop at the market or to have dinner. The walk takes about 15 minutes.

Now Bro took off in the truck to get gas. He had directions to the gas station. About 20 minutes after he left I got a call - Bro. He had purchased the gas and started out from home and gotten lost - he couldn't get back. Remember, the truck's vintage was such that it wasn't equipped with GPS. Bro was agitated - his cell phone was running out of juice and this was the last call he was likely going to be able to make.

I gave Bro directions home - a right and a left and a straight and he would be home. We signed off the call and I went back to conversation with the Boys. Twenty minutes went by and we noticed that Bro wasn't back. We weren't worried though because after all, he couldn't get lost in such a small area.

The phone rang. Guess who? Yep. Bro on the phone. Calling from a pay phone. His cell phone had expired and he'd used all his paper and coins to get gas (who doesn't use a credit card to get gas nowadays?). He'd driven around for 20 minutes, and gotten lost; couldn't get home. I asked him to look at the street name signs at the intersection and I'd give him directions home. He read off the name of the intersection, I gave him directions, made him repeat them back to me - which he did - and wishing him well, signed off the phone call.

Twenty minutes later. Guess what? Bro calling. Lost again. Had to borrow money for the pay phone since his cell was out of juice and he'd spent all the cash money he had with him and didn't have any credit cards. Where was he? He told me what intersection; I said wait for me, I'll come and lead you back home. He said OK.

I set out from the house, went directly to the intersection he'd named. No one there. If Bro had actually been there, he'd left. I went back home. The whole trip to the intersection and back home took maybe 15 minutes.

Another twenty minutes. Bro calling. "Where'd you get the money for a phone call" I asked. "Weren't you ever a Boy Scout? Didn't they teach you to stay put in one place if you got lost?" I could hear his sheepish grin through the phone. I'm trying to decide what to do now - should I try another rescue? Would the Boys like to take a shot at finding him? Would his Wife mind if I didn't go get him? If he runs out of gas dodging me when I try to rescue him, would he stay with the truck?

I can't call him because he's at a pay phone and there's no caller ID for pay phones. I wait and sure enough, he calls again. "One more rescue attempt Bro and if you mess this one up, I'll rent the Boys a truck and they can go scuba diving without you! Got that?"

Early next day, off they went to Monterey to scuba dive. Late in the evening the phone rings. I know who it is and what he's going to say. But, I'm wrong. This time he's calling to tell me that on the way back the truck's engine blew up and he's stuck by the side of the road. Wants to know what to do. I ask him "What's the name of the intersection you're at; I'll come get you." He tells me.

I wonder if he actually thinks I'll fall for that trick again?

Coleonema pulchellum - Sunset Gold or Gold Breath of Heaven

I think I said that I bought two new plants today for my new endeavors into bonsaiing. The second one is a Coleonema Pulchellum, called either Sunset Gold or Gold Breath of Heaven. It's a non-native plant, coming to the US from New Zealand in the 1980s. It's a hardy plant with needle-like yellow-green foliage and small white or pink 5-petal flowers that bloom in the winter through the spring. The plant attracts bees, butterflies and birds, and is relatively drought tolerant. Most people grow these as low hedges, placing many plants fairly close together and letting them grow to a height of 2 - 3 feet and a width twice that.

I'm going to experiment with this hedge-type shrub as my experimental plant. I hope I can learn some of the tricks of the hobby without killing too many trees and shrubs!!

I'm starting slow, doing a pruning (branch removal) rather than  pinching back the new growth on the ends of the branches. That'll allow me to see the shape of the trunk and the distribution of the limbs with little or no risk of killing the shrub. Deb bought me a pair of Bonsai trimming scissors at Hidai Japanese Gardening store across the street from REI on San Pablo. Using them, I trimmed and cut and snipped and plucked until much of the undergrowth was gone and only the top knot (see "bad hair day" before picture) was left. Here's a pic of the shrub soon after the haircut. 

I'm going to let the plant rest for a while. I think I could get carried away in the pruning, and I don't want to harm the plant. In addition, I don't want to prune it so far that it looks terrible nd takes a long time to recover.

Acer Palmatum - Japanese Maple

Deb made a major discovery in the garden last week - two Japanese Maple (Acer Palmatum) seedlings just peeking their heads up. I'm not sure if it is a Japanese Maple seedling, but we have that tree in the front yard, the seed pods for the Japanese Maple have 6 to 8 seeds in them, the pods are winged, and there are lots of squirrels around the neighborhood that get really busy in Fall planting nuts for the Winter. More than a few of the nuts have sprouted in flower pots and beds come Springtime.

We watched the seedlings for a couple of days, and then I decided it would be perfect for a new bonsai plant, so I dug it up and transferred it to a 4" ceramic pot. As you can see in the photo, the largest seedling is about 2" high and has been out of the ground for about 8 - 10 days.

We visited the Golden State Bonsai Federation Collection in Oakland today. That collection has somewhere around 100 plants on display, and one is a particularly unique specimen. The Daimyo bonsai was given to the US Envoy to China when he was passing through Japan as a present for sitting President Abraham Lincoln in 1847.

The Docent at the Bonsai Collection agrees with my plan to let the seedling stay in the 4" pot for a year or more, then to transplant it into a larger pot for trunk growth and later into a bonsai pot for development as a bonsai plant. We'll see how it goes. The Docent also said that if the seedling grows too fast, some of the new growth should be taken off.

The older bonsai Japanese Maples are around 30" high, so this seedling has a ways to go. Here's a picture, again from the Federation Collection, of a grove of Japanese Maples. Deb likes the grove look, so I'm hoping to get at least 4 or five seedlings in this pot so I can develop these seedlings as a grove.

Easter Bunny Arrives!

Milana and Simon were here this weekend since the Easter Bunny made deliveries for them! This year Milana gets the idea of looking for eggs and Simon gets the idea of chocolate!

Easter Sunday ends a three-day run with the Gkids. First, at our house over night for clean up and reorganization of the apartment, then to Sacramento in the afternoon to celebrate Sarah's 16th birthday. She's quite the young lady, a great hostess and socially very adept at making people feel welcome and comfortable.




After the party, back to home for sleep and getting ready for Easter's coming.

Sprucing up the Flower Beds

Deb and I have been worrying about the flower beds under the Redwood tree for a while now. The Redwood produces a mat of very fine roots that spread out to the end of the tree canopy - in this case, probably something like a 20 foot diameter circle. In addition to the mat of roots, the tree takes up most of the moisture both from rain and from the wet air, so the plants underneath don't get much natural moisture. Since the soil here in Alameda is mostly sand, it compacts to a hard crust and virtually all the water runs off and none of it soaks in.

A while ago we changed over to a soaker hose arrangement for watering around the base of the tree, and that has improved things. The azaleas were not getting enough water, so they bloomed poorly, but this year they are getting ready to put on a show! Water at the roots makes a difference.

We've gone through a couple of iterations for the flower bed in front of the tree. Last year we rescued a fuschia and dropped in two new hydrangeas. In order to make a place for them, we added pre-formed concrete wall blocks, but the slope from the base of the tree to the edge of the deck was still so great that most of the water ran off the hill and under the deck.

Today we had the bright idea of building a brick wall at the edge of the deck that would be high enough to level out the soil, forming a relatively flat planting area! We dug out the old concrete blocks, cleaned out the trench that the blocks were set in, added a 4 x 4 piece of wood coming just to the level of the bottom of the deck boards, added two courses of clay used brick and voila! a wall to hold back the dirt!

I suppose we might have come up with the idea for the brick wall from watching Marishka and John replace their driveway next door, but we changed it up a bit. Our wall is glued together using "liquid nails" instead of being cemented together. We'll see how long that glue lasts in the rain and the UV light.

Dark Star Wild Lilac - Day 1

I'm starting into a new hobby - bonsai. At this point, I don't even know if bonsai is a noun, verb, adverb, etc. but I intend to find out. The first thing learned is that it's pretty unlikely that bonsaiing (is that a word??) is going to be pretty unsatisfying with only one plant. Every year or so, usually in the spring time, the plant is brought in and trimmed. Once in a while you "wire" the plant to get the growth going in the direction you want. Every so often you repot the plant to ensure it's getting the right nutrients. So, maybe you work on it for a month out of a year. The rest of the time, it's a very serene hobby, like watching grass grow!

Since I might want my hobby to be a little more active than that, I went to Home Depot and chose a couple of shrubs for my first adventure into bonsaiing. It's a Dark Star Wild Lilac, Ceanothus Dark Star by it's botanical name, characterized by being a California native species, both a "honey" and a "butterfly" plant with dense, small leaved, purple buds and blue flowers. It prefers full sun, lean soil and little or no water. It's deer and drought resistant. Sounds like a pretty hardy plant, and that may be just what I need for my first foray into bonsaiing.

So first step plans for the Dark Star are to repot it to get most of the trunk above the soil and get the main roots exposed. After that I may ask Deb's help in thinking through the aesthetics of the tree and begin the trimming process.

Stay tuned!!

Bonsai - Revisiting

A few years ago, Kirsten gifted me a beautiful Juniper Bonsai. Despite what others might think, this is a genuine Bonsai. The definition of "bonsai" includes ....... 

"A bonsai is created beginning with a specimen of source material. This may be a cutting, seedling, or small tree of a species suitable for bonsai development. Bonsai can be created from nearly any perennial woody-stemmed tree or shrub species that produces true branches and can be cultivated to remain small through pot confinement with crown and root pruning. Some species are popular as bonsai material because they have characteristics, such as small leaves or needles, that make them appropriate for the compact visual scope of bonsai."

The Juniper that Kirsten gave me fits the definition. I have to admit that when I got the Juniper, I didn't know what to do with it. Deb was adamant - it had to stay outdoors! I might not have agreed with that then, but I do now. Reading about the Juniper bonsai, I find that the tree needs the seasons, and especially important is the colder weather that allows the Juniper to "rest" and go dormant. 

It's been outside for close to two years now, and it survived the construction that created our upstairs suite. Since the completion of construction it's rested comfortably at the base of the water feature we have in the backyard. Each day it gets morning sun, a little water, shade for the mid-day and full sun in the afternoon. It's healthy and growing and nearing the time when it needs to be pruned!

We went to the Home and Garden Show in Menlo Park today, and I got the chance to talk with a Bonsai pro who has more than one Juniper on display at the Show. It sounds like leaving the tree alone and leaving it outside for a couple of years was exactly the right thing to do (thanks Deb!!). The gentleman said to keep it watered, keep it in the sun, and groom it the way it tells you to groom it! We need to listen to the Juniper. Hmmmmm .... I wonder how I listen to the Juniper. 

More later. Deb and I are going to look at the tree, listen to what it's saying, trim a little here and a little there, stand back, relax, watch and trim a little more until the tree says "This is a perfect treecut for me! Leave me alone for a while," 

Quarters On End

I was born in a small logging community called Granite Falls. Dad was a logger, and having a difficult time making ends meet, so you know we didn't have a lot of money as a family, especially for the non-essentials of life.

I wanted some money to spend - you know, for the finer things in life - so I decided to sell Christmas cards. In the day one could buy a comic book and look at the last couple of pages to find "business opportunities." The ad I had my eye on was one where all I had to do was sell a box of 24 Christmas cards, get payment from my clients, send in the order form, receive and distribute the boxes of cards, and collect my share of the money. The whole enterprise worked very well: I sold enough boxes to fund my dream - a 22 caliber rifle!

It took quite a while to amass the fortune I needed for the rifle, so I had a lot of money laying around the house. I had other odd jobs like picking and selling quarts and gallons of blackberries, helping with the haying at Oscar Sandman's place, and fighting with Rick Ross across the street. Pretty soon I had lots and lots of coins collected in a cardboard cigar box hidden under my bed.

I loved the coins. I converted all of the pennies, nickels and dimes to quarters and I stacked them up, polished them with the stub eraser from the end of a pencil, stood them on end like dominoes and knocked them down only to start all over again.

Dad happened to walk into my bedroom one day as I was standing quarters on their edges. If you haven't tried doing that, you'll find it's not easy to do, it takes a lot of time, and you have to have a steady hand to do it. Try it for yourself!

Dad asked how many of the quarters I could stand on edge, and I replied I thought I might be able to stand near 200 of them on edge. Dad said "I've never seen anyone stand that many quarters on edge before. I tell you what I'll do. I'll give you a dime for every quarter you can stand on edge."

Eager to add 200 dimes to my stash of coins, I started furiously standing quarters on edge. I managed nearly 200 when I had to quit. Some quarters are so warn that they just won't be stood up.

I called Dad in to collect my dimes. He asked for a count, and I gave him one. He congratulated me on doing something he'd never seen done before, counted out the right number of dimes, handed them to me ......... and swept all of the quarters and put them in his pocket.

I was dumbfounded! I spluttered ..... "Those are MY quarters! What are YOU doing?"

He laughed that laugh he does when he's truly amused, and said " If you remember, I said 'I'll give you a quarter for each dime you can stand on edge.' If I'm right, that's exactly what I've done." Turning, he took a smile that might have been a smirk with him as he walked from the room.

I was still frustrated beyond words; it took many years for me to really appreciate the lesson I'd been taught!

Carquinez Strait Recreational Area

Deb and I decided to hike in an area of the East Bay that we hadn't visited before - the southern shore of the Sacramento River near the town of Crockett. We parked at the trailhead at the end of the regional shoreline road and started up the Franklin Ridge Trail, a 3.8 mile loop. Because of a few steep parts, I'd rate this trail as moderate.

At the top of the main fire road, at about the 1.5 mile point, the trail T's with a trail to the right leading to the west and the park boundary. From the high spot in that trail, the view upriver is beautiful, with a full view of the Carquinez Strait, and the Benicia-Martinez bridge.

Back where the trail T's, taking the left fork leads back to the original fire road via a loop that overlooks the river.

Along the trail we were fortunate enough to see spring wildflowers, cows, turkeys, and birds of all sorts along with enjoying a beautiful spring day with temperatures in the 70s!