The Empty Cabinets of my Mind

Running Hot and Cold

So we are up in the San Francisco Bay Area for the summer because the Palm Desert, like much of the nation is HOT, HOT, HOT.  Up here, on the other hand, we cannot put our jackets too far away:

 

Here my friend is relaxing a bit before we took out our sandwiches and became overrun by hungry seagull...and those delightful little squirrel-like things that we need to remember to keep at a distance, as they can transmit all sorts of germs, it is said. 

Well, we did keep them a ways off, but shared our food with them just the same.  This is near Asilomar on the Monterrey Penninsula. 

Just Listed Beautiful Holiday Rambler Motor Home with Tow Car

My friend is selling this beautiful clean and luxurious 1995 Holiday Rambler motor home.

Only 11036 miles!

I'm tempted to buy it myself, but I already have enough toys. 

Speaking of toys, the seller is offering this coach for $25,000 or you can buy it together with a hot purple Plymouth Breeze tow car that has almost no miles on it for $30,000.  That price includes the motor home, tow car, and custom made tow package.  I haven't checked the odometer on the Breeze yet, but he thinks it is around 2K.  

Here is the eBay listing for this motor home:

eBay Listing for Holiday Rambler Motor Home

 

 

More on this terrific offer...

 

Who You Callin' a Turkey?

OK, the last fuzzies that I photographed on the golf course were baby Canada geese, but were other birds too.  Bigger birds.  Wild turkeys to be exact, and do they ever make a racket.  

Yes, those are sand traps in the background, and I know some two-legged critters that make quite a racket, too, when their golf balls land in those. 

How many turkeys have I hit with my own ball so far?  Not telling.

I Wonder If

I wonder if anyone besides me grows sprouts any more.  A lot of people did it in the 50's and then quit.  I wonder why!  Sprouting is inexpensive, portable, and the result is food that is highly nutritious, but also yummy. 

My favorite sprouts are fenugreek and they are not only tasty, but said to help control blood sugar.  I don't just grow them at home, but I also take them with me when I travel.  Out here in the desert it is just common sense to carry a few gallons of water in the car, so having that on hand it is not difficult to find something to use to rinse the sprouts along the way. 

Am I the only one who stops at McDonald's to get a $1 cheeseburger to go and then opens it up and puts a handful of sprouts in there to healthy it up?  Hmmm, too bad you cannot sprout a nice fat slice of tomato. 

Can You Cover Me?

I mentioned that my friend's dad is selling his immaculate motorhome and that I helped with the eBay listing. That brought up some questions about how one would go about delivering a big item like that. Actually, it looks as though he might have a buyer already from the local classified listing I put up for him. But if that falls through we might have to broaden our market. Then what if somebody on the East Coast wanted to buy it. How would we ever arrange delivery and what would happen if there were some mishap along the way. I thought that if that came up, the best thing would be for my friend and I to drive it ourselves and then fly home. But I wouldn't want that to go on my car insurance. After doing some research, I learned that they have something called temporary cover insurance that you can buy to use for just a few days for just about any kind of vehicle.

I had a car stored in California in non-op status for a few years and as I left it too long without driving it, the battery went bad.  It was very confusing trying to figure out how to get that fixed because the vehicle was supposed to be licensed before it was moved, even if it was towed.   But to get it licensed required a smog check.  How in the world do you do that.  I wish that the people who write these laws would read what they have written and ask themselves, "Is that even possible?"

 

 

 

 

My Little Cottage

When I flew into the Dulles Airport near Washington DC last summer, I did not realize that it is situated in Virginia.  The flight had been quite interesting even though it was dark when I left Las Vegas.  Shortly after dawn the rather sparsely inhabited landscape started filling up with great big houses of a design unfamiliar on the west coast.  They were homes that would have made better sense had they been set out one at a time on some large estate with lots of acreage.  What I saw, however, looked like some sort of suburban homes,  but packed in together and with not much else nearby.  Kind of like a trailer park for mansions.

Some of my neighbors get mad at me for calling my vacation home a trailer park.  What I have is euphemistically called a "Park Model" which is a manufactured home set in a gated community.   Of course, the first time I ever heard that term I laughed and had no idea what it meant.  Usually, though, I call it my little cottage because to me my little get-away hideout is as close to country cottage as is possible in the area.  In addition to providing me with privacy, there are great amenities just outside the door.  They include two pools and a spa, billiards and exercise rooms, and all sorts of craft and social rooms.  There is even a group that goes bowling together once a week at a nearby resort.

I really like my inexpensive manufactured home community and I don't think they have anything quite like that in Europe.  Maybe someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I think it would be nice if they did.  Maybe this sort of housing would not winter well in Northern Europe where the winters get cold.  But I should think they would be great for tourists visiting Spain and Portugal or Southern France. 

In England, though, I think there is nothing better than a country cottage. 

 

Bling from Yelp

I was sort of turned off by the name the first time I checked out Yelp, but now that I'm taking my Google phone everywhere, Yelp is starting to come in handy.

It finds your location and then proceeds to give you reviews for attractions in that area.  When you go someplace neat you can "check in" there on Yelp and see what other people are saying about it or write your own review.

Recent reviews by Janet J.

What's this?

 

Stay a While

The hardest part about taking a vacation trip somewhere is leaving to come back home again.  Especially if the destination is an interesting town where you just want to eat at that terrific restaurant one more time or visit the zoo or botanical gardens.  So if I went on a trip to some other continent I would probably want to plan of staying at least a month and renting a flat of some sort instead of booking a hotel room.   So if I get the urge to eat steak and kidney pie again, I'd better do some research on  london apartments.  

Actually, the last time I felt like steak and kidney pie I made my own and it was scrumptious, but a lot of work.  I make good menudo, too, but have always wanted to try authentic Tripes à la mode de Caen. Alas, the world is such a big place and so many things to eat.  

This morning I made applesauce pancakes with whole grain oat flour.  I use the Magic Bullet to grind my own out of oatmeal.  Naturally, I throw in a handful of flaxseed, too.  The batter keeps a day or two in the refrigerator, so probably I'll have that again tomorrow, too. 

 

 

Playing in the Snow

The second tallest mountain in Southern California is just minutes from my home and for the longest time I have been wanting to drive up and take a look around.  So I finally did:

Guess what?  There was snow up there!

Yes, it was visible from my place down below, but for some reason I did not think it would be possible to drive up into it.

 

I bought truffles at this shop. 

They were hand made, but not on location. 

 There were kids making snowpersons in the park.  At sunset I started back down the mountain and was delighted to be able to look down at the tops of some clouds.  The next time it is overcast and I want to see the sun, I guess I will know where to go. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stone Maze Park

Unknown to many people in the small town of Hemet, CA, there is a treasure in the foothills just out of town.  Preserved by the Riverside County Wildlife Conservation folks, a plot of about five acres of land houses a prehistoric artifact called a stone maze.  I hiked up and took this photo the other day:

According to a Wikipedia article, the artifact, along with some five acres of land surrounding it, was donated by private citizens. 

When I first stumbled across this park, I had no idea that it contained a prehistoric treasure.  I was drawn by the lovely scenery, and intrigued by the name of the park, which appeared on my Garmin Nuvi as a point of interest.  I had bought a slice of pizza and a smoothie from the local Winco store and was looking for a sunny and green place to sit down and eat it. 

I was not tall enough to photograph the maze without showing part of the wire fence, but here is a closer look.

 

 

 

 

The short hike up to this enclosure passes a beautiful view of some nearby snow covered mountain tops.