October 2019

Car maintenance month as both van and car went to the mechanic for oil changes. The car needed a repair on a leaking seal as well. She was smelling quite poorly for a while there.

This is also high fire danger month for California, and PG&E has decided to show what they think of being held financially responsible for last year’s Camp Fire that devastated the Paradise area. They staged a number of power outages based on wind speed. We were given 2 days warning so filled the vehicles with gas and made some ice blocks to keep the fridge cool. Luckily, we never lost power but many were out of power for up to 5 days, and more than once! There is no rain in the forecast so not sure when this madness will end.

One of the outages was the week before Karatefest, the big annual event that Rog’s dojo puts on every October. They have a senior godan from Southern Ca come up for a weekend of training and other students from all over No Ca attend.. Because of the outage, we moved the Friday pre-event dinner down to our place. Luckily, power came on Friday morning for Auburn so the event went on without any problems.

For Max’s date this month, we went to California Caverns. This one was a bit more adventurous than the caves we saw a couple of months ago. More climbing and rough terrain. The miners had used the caves for a number of years, actually providing visitors with a nail so they could carve their names on the walls. Needless to say, lots of graffiti and damage to the formations in the front rooms, but further back was less damage. Fascinating nevertheless.

Instead of taking Michelle out to breakfast to celebrate the end of another term, she came over to our place and I helped her map out their trip to Yellowstone. It changed from a camping trip to using hotels, but we at least got her started. Reservations all made and they are set for an adventure next May.

Rog had a test in Aikido and successfully advanced to 3rd kyu. Well done!!!

The patio project continues. Making really good progress, we got the main deck area completely done which left only the edges which require a lot of cutting and fitting. Rog bit the bullet and bought a tile cutter which made the job quite a bit easier. It took him a few days but he seemed to find a rhythm and just about finished by the end of the month. He plans to wait until spring for the roof. We go sit out in the sun enjoying our crisp Fall weather. LOVE IT!!!

Rog joined the kids on Halloween for trick or treating. Michelle made an adorable outfit for Karissa who wanted to be a hedgehog. Max went as Slappy the dummy from Goosebumps. They looked great. I stayed home but got no takers.