This video is especially for Carol, MaryAnn and Ed. This guy really could get it on. He had 4 drums and got faster as he went along. He even had dancers later on. I think you would have enjoyed it.

Margaret, you did want to trade? I did trade even up, not including the $50 bucks wrecker fee to get it towed to Lori's place. It is a 1984 Dolphin with the big axle and the fellow guaranteed no leaks. You'll love it.

Today is another one of the Goerig family birthdays. Grandnephew Jan - Gaby's grandson - has turned 14. Happy Birthday Jan.

Finally, based on the Weebly log I am averaging 40 views a day. Thank you for following my blog and always feel free to post your comments. I love to get them and it helps me keep going. The time zone range is 19 hours apart with Raphael posting from New Zealand next week.

Among a lot of things today it is my brother's birthday. Happy Birthday, Gaby! I hope he and Tanja received the card I especially mailed from Ft Bragg for them.

When it comes to a handy-man project I give it number based on the trips to the hardware store.

Consequently, when Lori said the toilet was very slow in refilling I viewed it as a challenge. Little did I know after getting her permission to try to fix it, it would become a P3 job. Also I think I treaded heavily on our understanding that I would not wreck the place. What do you think after looking at the pix below?

Yep, the bowl had to be separated as the streaks indicated by literally cutting off the nuts as the rubber grommet had started to disintegrate and caused the flush valve become clogged. Even replacing the flush valve (and I struggled with my plumber's honor there for a moment to let it be) the grommet residue would have quickly gummed up the new valve.

In short the toilet was completely overhauled and has now the latest a two stage flush. One button, for #1 and the second button you know what. It is supposed to save a whole lot of water in a given year. No more jiggling a handle even.

Incidentally, I will install this at all of our toilets (with Carol's permission of course). Yet, I have not seen the part at our local Home Depot and it may be offered only in California.

Lori in the event you don't like it or prefer to jiggle I can very easily convert it back to the handle attached to a rubber float.

Bud strikes baaaaack!

I knew the old cat was smarter and as he saw that he was being cheated out of his bonus meal that he had conned from Sofie, he left his dish and followed me instead. I quickly locked Sofie into the bedroom and left her with her food. Then returning to the kitchen Bud followed me and finished his meal.

When I checked on Sofie her food was untouched. I think the old game had been invoked. Oh well, no time to give up. So I picked up her dish and held it under her like you would feed a child. Guess what? She finished every bite. Tomorrow I may have to hum a nursery ryhme and go "this bite is for Bud, this bite is for Lori and so on.

I can't believe I missed posting this video.

Lori, he we have at least one unhappy customer here regarding fixing the dripping faucet. Just can't please everybody, huh?

Anticipation is what Bud seems be saying. He thinks every hour of the day should be "feed me" time. He can't sit still when it comes to preparing his food. He will try to coax me to speed up the process and points the way to the pantry where the can food is stored, then bats at me to hurry up.

Sofie meanwhile acts totally interested and at the beginning just gave her offering a few cursory licks and then ceded her leftovers to Bud. I felt sorry for Sofie and might as well just don't bother to give her any food. I tried different tacks, ranging from giving her smaller portions to feeding her at separate times. Did not work and Bud would be ready to nose in. For the past three days another ruse worked. I feed Bud at his regular place and Sofie in the hallway with door closed. She has taken to that maneuver and has licked her dish clean each time. I guess they had worked out a solution whereby Sofie gave access to Bud to the wet food and vice versa as I observed Bud ceded access to the dry food to Sofie at a later time.

Sofie seems to be saying "I am coming with you, I am packed"! Sofie is always ready for another game and follows me to whatever activity I am involved in. For example, she just crowds me now while I am trying to write this blog and purrs contently. You should have seen her while a performed a few maintenance items, especially the plumbing repairs. She was all over each item and batted it around. Each tool had to be investigated. She loves to snuggle as well.

Bud on the other hand loves to play as well; but on his own terms. He is the definitely the king of this house.

Oh, did I forget to tell you they love to play. I think they feel Lori hired me to entertain them continuously, especially right after dinner. We have invented a host of different games, .i.e leaving paper shopping bags on the floor and flicking little balls into them. You should see them dive after those toys. Or you just have to built them a fort from dialysis solution cartons as you can see below.

It has been a joy to these delightful cats. They are inquisitive, playful and entertaining. Lori has done a great job of providing me with the supplies and her kitty litter device simply rocks. It makes this job so much easier. First she has trained her cat to enter that tub filled Tidy Cats Scoop Away kitty litter.

Then you scoop it into this technological marvel called a Litter Locker.

You just scoop, deposit and turn the wheel and everything is contained in that blue plastic bag. I just pray that the colored dotted will not appear signaling that the unit is full and a replacement has to be installed. Miss Lori gave me a few cursory instructions and left me the detailed manufacturer information on the dreaded subject, but this is a task I would rather leave to Lori. If it comes to the colored line appearing, I will just do it the old fashioned way and scoop it in a plastic bag manually. I was encouraged to read that the unit holds a capacity in two weeks terms. Lori will be gone 10 days, so pray for me.

Needless to say I feel I have the much better bargain here. I am staying in a grand apartment, in a grand neighborhood and surrounded by loving animals in Bud, Sofie and Rennie! Would you trade with me?

Finally, why do cars love to smell our shoes? I can barely get my tennis shoes or sandals off my feet and then both cars are over them as if the scent is the latest product from the house of Dior. Dogs don't do that, except to shred them to bits and pieces. People don't do that, except to say "ugh, would you mind and take them outside"! So what is up cats?

At Ikarus restaurant for my 4th of July dinner. I just had the taste for some Greek food and the sign said it was authentic prepared food from Ikaria. Some of you will remember Ikarus flying with wings made out of wax too close to the sun and crashing down on the island of Ikaria out according to Greek mythology. I had a little problem deciding between Spanokopita and fresh baked traditional Mousaka. I decided tradition and it had started to become chilly. After all what tastes good in Paris on a chilly evening? French onion soup, right? What tastes good in Austin when a "northwest blue" takes the warmth out of you? A great bowl of chili, right. Same with Mousaka for me. This was the perfect meal and Rennie kept sniffing the air when the hot bowl was being served. For desert, I chose a concoction called Galakaboureko over Baklava and I was not disappointed. Not quite as sweet and the filo being filled with custard and finished off with a lemon syrup. I finished every bit, but was still wide awake at 3. Of course, there were other reasons mainly that fireworks still went off after 2 am in the neighborhood.

Hillary I also got a glimpse of a biker zipping by in a chartreuse shirt emblazoned with "Keep Austin Weird"!

A Happy 4th of July to all. The above tastes as good as it looks let me assure you. My daughter Hillary created her first 4th of July fruit pizza in Jacksonville, I think she was 10 or 11 at the time. She had taken notice of the dessert at a TGIF and set out to create her own. Ever since then this became her traditional contribution to our 4th of July festivities as well as her own. Although, I will not be in Austin to actually taste it this year, I have the scent and special taste locked away in my taste buds.

As for my 4th of July, Rennie and I went in search for a typical 4th of July lunch for me and witnessed many gatherings such as the above. I was in the mood for a hot dog. Keep in mind I am not supposed to eat them. Lo and behold I came to a hot dog stand that served hot dogs in 12 different ethnical variants. There were the Brats, the Wieners and Weisswurst making my German heart dance with joy; however heeding my nutritionist I opted for a Lemon Chicken hot dog, ever as good tasting as the others. Coupled with a delicious macaroni salad that sated me to perfection.

I just could not walk past this superb alignment. I apologize for the poor quality; but the I-touch has it's limitations. To give you an idea, the sky was a true blue, the cypresses (at least I think they are) are a forest green and the Bouganvilla's were a cacophony of different colors. Quite a nice setting on Wesley Dr (the latter is for Lori and Margaret).

Then it was off in search of this gadget below. No, I have not lost my mind and adopted a baby nor do I need to monitor the beasts; however my current cycler arrangement dictates that I close the bathroom door as well as the bedroom door. Everything went alarm free the first 4 days, but last night an alarm came and went unanswered for a couple of hours and I hope it did not disturb anyone within the neighborhood. Of course, fireworks have been going off for the past three nights and people did not notice. So for the benefit of my dialysis followers here is something else to consider. I will see if it works out.

Once again, a colorful- at least the tricolors - Happy 4th of July to you all. Tomorrows blog entry will be for cat lovers. Sofie and Bud, my current foster cats will be front and center.
Stay tuned! These two, especially Sofie are mischievous brats and I love them.

Yes this long awaited day is finally here. I have used and reused every piece of clothing I packed for the trip and basically had three choices:

a.) use Lori's in-house facilities and gather a zillion quarters before hand

b.) seek out a public laundry and still have to gather quarters as well as in option a.), have some common sense in sorting out the various wash cycles and soap/bleach additives. I did not desire the painted look on my whites.

c.) see Miss Lottie down the street and for a flat charge of 8 bucks have her do all the work and fold it as well.

Well I do hope that I did not let any doubt in my readers minds as I chose with full gusto option c. That was that! Two hour later nice fluffy clothing all neatly folded in a bag. Even Rennie was impressed as he sniffed the bag every inch. So did the cats back at the flat, but I think for different reasons.

Some of you may have seen California's great seal before. It reflects a lot what I have seen so far on my travel through this state. Perhaps, not he helmeted warriors.

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Yes, Penny you have earned a gold star with the answer regarding the mystery lock. The lock is indeed part of an alert system. Did you ever try it out? According to the Impala owner, in the event it was active and someone tried to open the hood unauthorized a bell would ring. I thought that was quaint. Imagine, no high pitched siren. Just a bell. How nostalgic!

I found this tree amazing. If you look closely you will see all kind of soft colors on the skin of the tree.anybody it find anybody to identify the tree. I will have to look into this app which supposedly does that for you.

Wishing you a great 4th of July tomorrow.

I have always admired people who like Dan Weggeland will buy a new car and then keep the cars in pristine shape for the next 50+ years. The above car belongs to a Vietnam Vet who bought the car in 1964 and even though they have raided it on three occasions, including during an Oakland Raiders game he keeps this Impala in fantastic condition. Yet, what got my attention was this little lock near the front driver side. Does anyone venture to guess what secret that little lock guarded?

Oakland seems to have a number of "Oldies" on the road. I am showcasing this beauty for Carol. I think her family had a 1962 Nova in their possession. I have seen Ford Rancheros, Chevy El Caminos and I am on the lookout for my first Edsel.

Oakland has a beautiful Chinatown section. As a result if you happen to get up at 6 am on a Sunday morning (or any morning) you may come across these Asians performing their morning rituals. The lake in the background is Lake Merritt which is about one mile from downtown and draws a variety of activities. For example, Sunday was Regatta Day and all day long there were races. Rennie and I walked around the entire lake (Margaret the long way) and were entertained by the lovely warm up chatter of the rowers and hearing last commands given by the cox swains.

We passed the Catholic Diocese's Cathedral. See if you can pick it out.

Oakland was recently picked as the fifth most desired town to move to which surprised me. After a short stay here, I can see why. It seems that the city is placing a high value on improving the quality of life for its citizen. The place I am staying is built on hills and the architecture of its buildings sometimes takes 4-5 terraced levels each uniquel in character. Because the climate is so moderate the plants are exotic. I have seen Jade plants they had to be one foot in diameter.