Another Day in...Suisun City?

Beautiful outside weather,  66 degrees, clear skies, maybe a bit of a drizzle overnight but it wasn't much.  Up and at 'em at 7am, the KINDLE of kitties asleep at my feet and legs and Mucca at his assigned position on my chest and UNDER the cover!  That's a bit worrisome but no damage to me at all so far.  Coffee on, empty the damned slightly used grounds, pour in more H2O, hit the 2 cup button and wait.  Cup fill, go to door, let our Abigale for her morning walk through the
neighborhood.  All is well.

We went to CC last night for the 2nd time in a row after our Hiatus of the last few months since we got back from our USA trip.  Naomi was there and sang like the fine bird she is a number of blues tunes, the usual suspects were there too including Delhart the bass player who is my inspiration.  A new guy on the lead guitar who was into some other style of music...it was NOT the usual R&B or 12 beat structure...more like Metal or ???? anyway, it didn't fit though he gave it a college try.  Some nice work by the Bay Area Blues Society and the Judge on the saxophone, very cool sounds indeed!

The Ham I cooked yesterday with the Apricot/Cognac glaze was a very tasty thing, at least when it was fresh off the fire.  Took over 6 1/2 hours to cook from a near frozen (but not quite) state to 155 interior.  Had to finish it in the last 90 minutes through putting it in the oven at 375 degrees as the BBQ wasn't getting there as it should have, bad coals I guess, the regular chunked mesquite but still...where was the heat I expected?  It just didn't light properly at all.  Odd.  I carved it into 2 parts and took the biggest piece down to Mary with whom I was to share this bounty.  Hope she likes it, I put it in her mailbox as she wasn't home at the time.  Yes, Mailbox.

I vacuumed the floors downstairs too...exciting life I lead.  Looked over airfares for the trip across the water coming up and have decide to do a NON STOP even if it is a bit more expensive.  11.5 hrs is what they show, must be backing off the engine thrust to save fuel.  Used to be 10.5 hrs from SFO to CDG in Paris.  Hmmmmm.

See you tomorrow!

I'm Baaaaaack!

Yes, awakened at last from my  2 1/2 month hiatus.  I stopped for no particular reason, just ran out of words.  November flew by with a bit of rain, some really cold days and little else.  We shelved our plans, slim though they were, for a week or so trip to Death Valley (again) to coincide with the outing to San Diego for the Mosquito Abatement Conference in the end of February.  That's when the words ran out.  Now what.  The big IGNORE XMAS AT ALL COSTS was upon us non-believers, I baked bread like always, cooked as always, watched movies as I like to do and drank whiskey and 7-Up instead of beer.  Beer used to be a big thing in our lives, now...not so much.  The money saved and the calories too have been positively affected.  That's good news for both of us.  Need the money, don't need the calories.  December blew through, again with some really cold, cold weather for a week or so near Xmas with lows in the 20's and daily highs reaching 45-50 degrees.  Not nice. 

The project of the winter, the front bathroom got ma huge boost with the addition of help from my brother-in-law Paul and my nephew Connor.  They did yeoman service and helped me begin the demo of the bathroom and the removal of the 400 lb bathtub.  What a job!  I feared for my health afterwards I tell you, I worry about such more than I let on sometimes.  I've had two hernias in my life and a damaged heart to boot so I couldn't help with much of the needed heavy lifting, they did all of that and then some!  Easy to work with Paul too, he's a hard worker and knows his construction stuff so was a big help as the demo reached into the damaged-by-rot bedroom wall and the adjacent floor.   Thank you from the bottom of my heart Paul and Connor, you MADE it happen!

Then in the first week of January IT happened.  Our wonderful renters who have been in the Swamphouse since last April told us they were MOVING!  The lovely gentleman, a bit older than I, had lost his job at Tesla Motors and they were asking to be let out of their lease.  "Of course" was the answer, we love them,  I'm so sorry this has befallen them at this stage of their lives.  They are headed north to either Oregon or Washington to be closer to their adult kids and their families.  It's a planned move and they took off earlier this week to begin the search for a place to live there.  This brought on a flurry of email, Craigslist postings and photo organizing for the ads.  Lots of activity ensued, many interested parties but no one presenting their paperwork until TODAY!  Yes we have a winner!  He brought by all manner of butchered hog meat, a huge ham to be shared with a neighbor per his instructions, bacon, pork chops to die for, a tenderloin, sausage too!   Wonderful!  His paperwork was all good and proper and he's anxious to move in ASAP which will happen sometime in late February or early March.  Oh are we happy!  Here's pics of the ham cooking in my BBQ.