Another Week

The image on The South 40 post, the one right before this one shows the South 40 as it appears this morning May 1st,2010. Tomatoes (some of what I will eventually have planted) are in along with beets, yellow squash, artichokes, leeks and seeds of various others yet unsprouted. Lots of room left for the stuff from Oregon whenever it arrives. There's no drip system installed so all watering is done either by watering can and shared hose from the public tap. It rained Thursday a little so I skipped Friday and watered this morning hoping against hope that I don't over do it.

The sun shines well today and the usual breeze has not started (yet!) and we are going out to Winterhawk Winery to the music/wine tasting/pizza eating activity that we so happily attended last Saturday. It was a ball and well worth the time. Tomorrow we'll attend Dimitri's Lounge once again for our version of Sunday Service...the Blues! TV and his wonderful, long suffering 8-), wife have said they will be there so we will have to have a big table ready as B&M said they're coming too! Should be a blast!

Had our first formal dinner at the Gypsy Kitchen as I call these events, last night with B&M and Audrey. I made Osso Buco using beef shanks cooked in a tomato, beef stock and white wine braising liquid which was then reduced after 4 hours of a low simmer, as the sauce. This over a bed of risotto with asperagus. A crisp Romaine lettuce salad with avacado and a dessert of Banana Sorbet. The appetizes were Sicilian Olives and Castelveltrano olives wrapped in prosciutto and broiled for 10 minutes. All came out well and was much appreciated. Lots of wine flowed as is the custom too. Next one in a week or so...

A Brighter Light / A Shorter Tunnel

So we WILL be moving into 311 Thursday, THIS Thursday! Hooray! It's been 3 1/2 months since we began the renewal of the old girl, all 1700 sq. feet of her. The floors are done, the kitchen is nearly so, the back bathroom is complete now except for paint and one bedroom is ready as is the upstairs office. The cat, Furry, is ready too...she has been without us during the daytime this whole time too and is staying close lest we disappear again for a time longer or to a place further away.
She has been ill, throwing up, cat style, for the last couple of weeks as we get closer to having this house's contents across town...not in their familiar locations as she would like it. The BIG jobs left are the moving of our refrigerator, the breakfront, and our beds and some of our clothes. Paul, my brother-in-law, is coming over Thursday to give me a hand with the heavy things and whatever else we can cram into the back of the pickups. I have yet a lot of tools in the garage that will be moved afterwards as I don't need them right away and we will need some here to complete the tiling work here upstairs and down as well as other miscellany, new lights, removal of odd bookcases etc. though we may leave some for the new renters.
Ah life goes on.

We visited Dimitri's Lounge as has been our habit since they openned in January, great blues, good drinks and great people watching. Had us bouncing in our seats again and again, great musicians come in from all over the Bay area and Sacramento to play on Sunday evenings, such a great scene! We love Dimitri's! I sent Catfish Keith, (the travelling blues musician we met years ago) (1996 I think) in Scotland at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh Dimitri's web site so he could schedule an appearance on his next California Tour. Hope he can make it! One fabulous show he does! http://www.catfishkeith.com/ is his web site, go listen and pick up some of his fab CD's! And by the way, here's some REAL Blues for you to study. Take care!

Mr. R. L. Burnside's delicious version of "Long Way From Home" 1984 Session

A Dim Light At The End Of A very Long, Dark Tunnel

Today was supposed to de dedicated to finishing the grouting of the countertops and backsplashes...supposed is the key word here. Instead I visited ACE Hardware in Suisun City for the 4th time yesterday...yes...4 times! AND...got the final (I thought) 1/2 inch compression pipe fittings for the installation of the dishwasher next to the big sink. I got as far as moving the dishwasher back out from the cabinet and attempting to install the pipe fitting it needed to hook up the intake water. Sure...not a fit this attempt 3/8th's inch compression was NOT the RIGHT one. So back to ACE and got a 1/2" pipe thread fitting and sure enough...wrong again! Then Bob of Bob and Marsha fame came by to see how we were progressing (me..NOT!) and he pronounced the fitting on the dishwasher as a 3/8ths pipe thread. So back to ACE once again (!) and exchanged the error pieces (hose was wrong too!) for the correct (according to Bob...and he was RIGHT!) So I took everything to the house and began the installation in earnest. After installing the CORRECT fitting and the CORRECT connecting hose I plumbed in the new coppy 1/2" T fitting and the old valve that I saved from the 15 yr old installation from this same kitchen. The dishwasher was pushed back into it's cabinet space and fastened to the countertop. Of course doing this unceremoniously removed by force the 4 face tiles in the 24" wide cabinet due to interferance with the top of the dishwasher. Shit! I'll put them back when I've determined this whole install is not leaking or failing in some other way. 'Til then it is IN without the tiles in place.

I was done at 311 for the day. Then I went next door to Audrey's house and repaired the fallen down clothing rod in her closet. Then home to watch "Street Thief" on Netflix online. Riveting!

Then we ate dinner...I made a Beef stew with carrots, camerlized mushrooms, veal stock, red wine, roasted potatoes. Delicious if I do say so myself. Then we were off to Dinitri's Lounge for the Sunday night Blues jam sessions that start at 6. What a show! Terrific bunch of musicians and a friendly, lively crowd all anxious to dance, dance, dance. It was great fun as always and made we want more! Dimitri's does a great job! Here's three videos to show you what I mean! You may need quicktime from Apple to play these, get it, it's free! http://www.apple.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVDUKkF4yLg

A Great Music Scene! The Beginning of...

First...The Blood Pressure Drug...Metoprolol is back in my stable of drugs-that-keep-me-here. Finally thru great effort Kaiser FINALLY got the mess around my prescription sorted out and I have a three month supply in hand. BP is looking VASTLY better these last few days. Enough.
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The Kitchen in the Big House that we are going to move into real-soon-now has now it's first coat of Min Wax Polyurethane water-based gloss top coat over Pecan Stain on the old vertical-grained fir...it is supposed to cure/dry/be ready for another coat/can be walked upon...in 2 hours. Sure...at what temp? Humidity? Application thickness? So though it was done at 1pm today I will wait til I get our Duck Confit dinner well underway before I venture back there to check the floor.
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On the 15th...the evening of...we attended a music evening at Dimitri's Lounge By The Bay in downtown Suisun. 22 bucks brought a night of great music supplied by Tony Lindsay, Santana's Lead Singer. He brought the house down! People dancing, bouncing in their chairs, singing along, he was spectacularly talented and his band was equal to the task as well. We won't miss ANY of the events at Dimitri's agter that demonstration, that's for sure. In fact...we went back Sunday for an Open Mike Blues session that wound up going overtime! 4pm to 7pm...they close Sunday's at 8pm.
5 bands formed from the audience full of Blues men and women just ready to jam. Soooo very good! We drank our beers and enjoyed watching the audience and dancing in our chairs. One fantastic good time was had by all! Dimitri's is The Place for Blues! Tomorrow we go back to the Jam Session at 4pm, come join us! Great fun to be had by all! Here's their great web site...turn down your speakers first!
http://www.dimitrislounge.com