Red rock and black rubber 05-12-14

Okay, I screwed up.
Yesterday was Patti’s birthday as well as Mother’s Day and I didn’t mention either event on the yesterdays blog.

We didn’t do much about Patti’s birthday. Since it was Mothers Day, we didn’t want to go out to dinner because of the crowds.
This evening we are going to the OutBack Steak House (one of Patti’s favorites) for her birthday dinner. Joanne and Dave are coming with us.   

We did some last minute shopping for my trip to the cabin. I’ll be heading up there tomorrow morning and will be back on the following Monday.

No blogs for 6 days.

Okay here are some random shots from Moab.

Black rubber on red rock.

Going up?

Some of the switchbacks on the Elephant hill trail.

There are many more.

Okay that should hold you for a couple of days. Talk to you next Tuesday.

More Random Photos 05-11-14

We didn’t do much yesterday, just a little shopping.

Here are some more pictures.

These are some Bighorn Sheep in Arizona.

Standoff at the bird block.

A Chipmunk living under the shed.

Okay that’s it for now.

Van results and some random pictures 05-10-14

I picked up the van the other day and got a long list of things that need fixing. The thing that I was the most concerned with; the ball joints, are okay.

The rear drive shaft needs to be rebuilt. I have been thinking about trying to have a CV joint put on the rear driveshaft so this is a good chance to do so.

All the spring bushings are worn out. The passenger side front axel joint is bad and the front bearings need to be packed.
I will also have to replace the front tie rod (which is bent) and will have to rebuild the drag link, as both ends are bad. The output seal on the transfer case is leaking and will need to be replaced.

The plan is to go to the cabin next Tuesday. I will be there until the following Monday.  I will need the van to haul some stuff to the cabin; but when I get back the van will go up on blocks and I will be working on it for most of the summer.

I have been thinking that I have a lot of pictures that never make it to the blog.
With this in mind I am going to post random pictures on the blog when I have not been doing anything to take pictures of.
Some of the pictures will have captions but some won’t.

The Abajo mountains.

Some where along the Elephant Hill trail.

Canyonlands NP Needles District.

Long Canyon (Moab Utah)

View of the La Sal mtns. 

More of the La Sal Mountains in the distance.

Playing on the slick rock.

The Wedgie.

Snow on the red rock.

Nothing to write home about 05-08-14

 

I feel a little guilty for not posting a blog in the last five days. There just hasn’t been anything to write home about.

Joanne and Dave came by on Friday for a visit. They were here most of the day and we went to dinner at El Charro.

On Saturday I took a ride to Guerneville to visit with Bob. While we were there we went over to Bob’s brother’s garden to raid his strawberry patch. Bob’s brother has a couple acres of garden; he grows organic vegetables and sells to restaurants and at the farmers market.

On Sunday, Jerry and Loraine came by for a visit.

Yesterday, I went to 4wheel parts to talk to them about checking out the front end on my van. I keep hearing a clunking noise that seems like it could be the ball joints but I haven’t been able to find anything that is loose so I think it is time to let the pros take a look at it. I am going to leave the van with them today.

Patti has been running her taxi service for Dina since we got home.

My finger is still locking up so I am beginning to think that the injection didn’t work.

 

 

Doctor’s visit and new toilette 05-03-14

Okay I went to the hand doctor Thursday He gave me an injection of cortisone in the palm of my hand. The cortisone is supposed to shrink the inflammation on the tendon that is causing the trigger finger. The doctor said that it would take about 10 days to work. Right now my hand is a little swollen at the injection site and it is a little sore.

We installed the new toilette yesterday it went well so now maybe the leak is fixed.

Joanne and Dave came by yesterday and we went to El Charo Mexican restaurant for dinner. 

A few days at the cabin 05-01-14

We spent a few days at the cabin. We hadn’t planned to do any work while we were there so it was a relaxing time.

It rained most of the day Saturday so we stayed in the cabin, had a fire in the wood stove and read our books. One of the first things that we realized when we moved into the cabin was that we forgot to bring the radio.  
For dinner we had some penne pasta with Italian sausage, marinara sauce, warm sour dough bread and individual bottles of wine.

  
Sunday was cooler without much rain.
We took a ride to Ukiah and bought a radio and some other stuff at Walmart. We had lunch at the Be-Bop’s diner in Ukiah. It was okay. 
We got back to the cabin around 3:00. and after a while we took walk up the road to the first bench.

Here I am inspecting the plumb trees that we planted two years ago. They seem to be surviving.

Patti got some pictures of the wild Iris’s along the road.

The next morning we walked down to the old home site and dug up some bulbs to transplant to the hill side by the cabin.

We had Picante chicken and rice. We also each had a premixed Margarita.

 
On Tuesday morning we planted the bulbs.

We took a walk up the road toward the Bear spring but only went half way because the mosquito’s were so thick that we figured they would be worse closer to the spring.
Patti got some more pictures of iris’s.

and other flowers.

We only needed a fire in the wood stove on Saturday and Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were warm; over 80 degrees. and by the time we left on Wednesday around 1:00 the temp was almost 90.

It sure was nice to be in the woods at the cabin for a while.

Joanne and Dave did a real nice job of mowing the grasses around the area. The park bench that Jo and Dave put on the hill is in the perfect spot.

Okay we are home now and I have a doctor’s appointment in about an hour so I am going to stop here.

    

Off to the cabin 04-26-14

We went to Home Depot and bought a new toilette. But when we were trying to get it into the back of Patti’s I tweaked my shoulder.
That is as good an excuse as I could find to put off changing the toilette and taking a trip to the cabin. 
We are leaving this morning and will be back home on Wednesday so there there won’t be any posts until we get back.

Talk to you next week.