Burning Sh*t in the Fire Pit

Tonight was chilly here, so we decided to burn some stuff in the fire pit on the patio.  Before we had the patio built, we used to burn large items, such as dressers, in our large homemade fire pit. 

Elly & Evan enjoying the fire

 This pit is smaller, but we managed to burn an old wicker chair anyway.  Lots of fun with fire!

Bonfire time with wicker chair ablaze!

Is this what they mean by  the "Hot Seat"?

Update:  Had another fire on Labor Day.

Burning more stuff

Sterling Antique Auction

Every Tuesday night at 6:30PM,  John Powers conducts an auction of "stuff".  These are his words as there is a mish-mash of merchandise, some of which may be antiques, some may be household items and some may be just "stuff".  The auction is conducted at the First Church Hall located on the town green where the "Mary had a Little Lamb" statue is located.  You can read more on Wikipedia here.

Bronze Statue commemorating "Mary had a Little Lamb"

It is also location right across the street from the "Old Town Hall", also on the town green.

The Old Town Hall

Walking up the sidewalk to the auction hall

The auction preview starts at 5:00 sharp.  There is usually a line outside waiting to get in.  We arrived right after the doors were opened and immediately started mingling and catching up with old friends and acquaintances while previewing the auction.   A lot of our auction friends were glad to see us again and some were wondering where we were for the last 6 months!  We explained our California adventures and experiences to them, then we had to take our seats for the auction to begin

Elly checking out the merchandise

Auction about to begin

We got our bidder number, grabbed a seat and watched the auction begin. You can watch a sample of the bidding from the auction below.

We bought two items and left early because there was nothing else that we wanted.  We are cleaning out the house after all!  It was nice to see old friends again!

Things Getting Fixed

Thing are looking much better today!.  We got our van back from the garage.  The bearings on the idler pulleys were toast, plus the belt was about to snap.  We now have a vehicle again!

Our van is fixed!

I was also working on the tractor, putting all the pieces back together.  Once it was all together, I tested the rear hydraulics.  No Go, it still leaked.  One look at the schematics showed that I forgot one "O" ring that wasn't there when I took it apart.  Drain the hydraulic fluid, dismantle, add "O" ring, re-assemble, add hydraulic fluid and test.  Success!
 

The tractor is fixed!

Now I am just waiting for the filter that I ordered before I put the seat on seat on and the Brush Hog gets attached to mow the fields.  Time to clean up and get ready for our local Tuesday auction.

Working on the Tractor & Lobster Dinner

Since we need to mow down all the fields and overgrown areas, I figured that I should get started on fixing the tractor.  The lift hydraulics broke last fall when I was chipping all the damage from the Halloween snowstorm.  Its been sitting idle since then.  One crank and it started right up, so we used the front-end loader to haul away garden debris.  Since it was the rear that was broken, I couldn't put anything on the Power-Take-Off (PTO), but the tractor and loader worked fine.  As I was hauling debris, the PTO lever got stuck on a branch which caused hydraulic fluid to be spraying everywhere.  Time to fix the tractor.

Pulling off the main gear box cover

The culprit, dirty hydraulic fluid on the filter.  New filter is on order

Rear hydraulic lift box

Since the new filter won't be here until Thursday, I will reassemble everything tomorrow except the filter.  Time for a break and to go shopping for supper.

On the way to pickup Evan from work, we stopped at our favorite seafood store West Boylston Seafood to buy some lobsters.

West Boylston Seafood

Store Interior

Lobsters waiting to be bought

Lobsters bought, cooked, and ready to be eaten

We ate them and they were yummy!

Van Broke Down

As Roseanne Roseannadanna would say: "Well, Jane, it just goes to show you, it's always something! If it's not one thing, it's another! ".

 Today I got in the van to go to the Post office & the Sterling recycling Center.  As I drove down the driveway I heard a noise that sounded like a branch underneath the van.  But as I pulled onto the road, I noticed that the battery check light was on & that I had lost power steering.  Oh NO!

I pulled into the  Sterling Recycle Center to see old friends and check the swap shed.  I opened the hood and had found that the fan belt was off.  Upon further inspection, I found that the idler pulley was frozen. A quick call home to Elly to see if our usual repair garage was open on Saturday.

Sterling Recycling Swap Shed

As luck would have it,  the repair garage was open, and I managed to limp there without overheating the engine.  It needs the idler pulleys replaced.  They were frozen from sitting idle for 6 months in the winter.  Should be an easy fix once the parts are available.

Now we have only Evan's car to get around in until the van is repaired. 

Real Ice Cream, Finally!

In one of my earlier posts I bemoaned the fact that there were no roadside Ice Cream stands in California, but they seem to be everywhere here in New England.  So today after dinner, I just had to go get a New England style ice cream cone!  I took a ride down to Rota Springs here in Sterling to get my fix.

Rota Spring Ice cream stand

The cows at Rota Springs Farm

I ordered a hand packed quart of Cappuccino Chip ice cream to take home and a small caramel cashew nut cone to eat there.

This is the small cone!

The caramel cashew nut was their new flavor today, so I just had to try it.  Loved it!

Taking a vacation from a Vacation?

Can you take a vacation from a vacation?  We will be vacationing in Sterling for the next four weeks. But first we had to gt there!  It started out OK, we drove to Debbie's house, and she took us to the airport with plenty of time to spare.  We checked our bags, got our boarding passes, passed though security (we opted out for the pat-down) and proceeded to the gate.  Were we were waiting, my phone rang with a text update saying out flight is being delayed 40 minute because our plane is in a "ground stop" in Las Vegas due to thunderstorms.  Not a big deal because we had a 2 hour layover in Chicago.

40 minutes became an hour and finally our plane arrived with a scheduled two hour delay. We were now scheduled to land in Chicago at 9:00 just 15 minutes before our connecting flight leaves, plus we had to walk from gate A9 to gate B9. (can we do that in 10 minutes)?  This is the flying stress that  I do not cherish.

Our plane just arrived from Vegas

We finally boarded, took off and headed for Chicago. During the flight I was ablw to track our progress on the in-plane WiFi.  We were now scheduled to land at 9:05.  Giving us very little time to de-plane and get to the next gate in 10 minutes. There goes time for dinner.!

Well it all worked out except the dinner part.  There were a lot of connecting flights for the passengers on-board with us and Southwest delayed all the flights a little. We made our connecting flight to Boston with 5 minutes to spare but no time to pick up a bite to eat as we had planned.  We landed in Boston at 1:00AM, got our luggage at 1:30AM.  The limo got us home at 2:30AM and we were in bed by 3:00M.  I set my alarm for 7:00AM to be able to drive Evan to work so I could use his car for my Doctor's appointment at 9:30AM

This morning, I got our first glance at Elly's perennial gardens.  Looks like Evan didn't weed!

The weedy gardens and Kiwi!

All went as planned, the doctor's visit was fine but I think I need a nap! Doesn't sound like a vacation to me!

Elly looks exhausted also

Evan took us out to dinner tonite.  I think he was trying to atone for not weeding! LOL We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Leominster called "Mezcal". It was great as usual; we love their food.

Mezcal mexican restaurant in Leominster

Elly & Evan at the restaurant

After dinner, we went to BJ's to scope out a new phone for Elly(for texting) and a new TV.  No decision on a new phone that Elly can actually text with (Michelle!!)

Wow, I just noticed the previous blog entry.  We are definitely a long way from "Beaching It".

Beaching It

Since it was so hot we decided to go to the beach.  We decided to go to Torry Pines State Beach since it was more rural like the beaches on the outer Cape Cod.  The weather here was over 100, but the weather at the beach promised to be in the 80s.  The was plenty of parking, but a longer walk to the beach down the staircases on the cliffs.  Good thing there were stairs.

Beach from the Parking Lot

Elly Walking down the steps to the beach

More Steps

Beautiful Day at the Beach

We got to the beach around 10:30.  We brought plenty of water, lunch sandwiches that we had made for us at Stater's, cantaloupe slices, nuts cheese & crackers.  We were set for the day.  We relaxed, went swimming, read our paperbacks and relaxed until about 3:30.  The walk back up the stairs was a chore, but thats the price you pay for going to this great beach.  Great beach day!

Irish Soda Bread

Mom sent her Irish Soda Bread recipe in the mail today,  So I decided to give it a try.  This recipe is originally  from the Devore's Doughnut Shop in Fairfield, CT.  It was published in the Bridgeport Post after the closure of Devore's.   After hitting the grocery store for some cake flour and Crisco, I attempted the recipe.  The batter was really "gooey", but the breads look good as they came out of the oven.  Haven't tasted them yet.

Mom just called to tell me to make them round.  The call came a little too late. Maybe next time.

My first attempt at the Devore's Soda Bread right out of the oven

Late night update:  They are scrumptious but probably fattening!  We will be giving one of these to our neighbor.  I still have 1/3 of the dough in the fridge.  Will probably make it this weekend.  I want to see how it comes out after being in the fridge for a few days and I will try it round instead of football shaped.

A Little Too Soon For Christmas

Elly and I were out doing errands today, grocery shopping, Post Office, Trader Joes, etc, .  We decided to stop into a decorating store called "Hobby Lobby".  We have been there before and bought the replacement knobs for our dining room hutch.

Well today at one end of the store we ran into employees stocking the store with Christmas decorations!  We normally complain back in New England when the decorations come out in October.  In the middle of August the store was fully stocked!  Talk about jumping the gun.  Christmas must be real popular out here.

The Santa Display

Tree Ornaments & Santas

Of Course, the Christmas Trees

Aisles of Tree Ornaments

The wall of wreaths

This is not a Christmas only store, it is just a decorating store.  I am sure that even the Christmas Tree Shop back in New England doesn't have this amount of merchandise out yet!   Of course, they also have Halloween decor for sale now also.

Some of the Halloween merchandise

We just thought this was funny and strange.  They don't even get snow here!  Maybe they just long for a White Christmas that they can never experience.  So sad!

San Diego Flea Market & Hotel Del Coronado

Yesterday we had planned to go to the Kobey's Swap Meet in San Diego with our friends Michele & Larry.  We packed up and left about 9:30, it was a treat because Larry drove and he knows his way around Southern California very well!.  The Kobey Swap Meet is one of the best in the area and is held every Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Parking is free and it costs only $1 (Senior Discount) to get in.

Kobey Swap Meet

It was a lot better than the one we went to at Oceanside because it seemed that the swap meet had more "antique" dealers as opposed to tee-shirt, perfume, pile of clothes, boxes of store overstock and tool dealers that seem in abundance at the lower quality swap meets (flea markets). It was a real hot day, but the ocean breeze from the shore nearby kept us comfortable.  Elly bought a few things for re-sale, tried to negotiate the purchase of a "loaded" Victorian scrap book (negotiations fell through), and I scored another Sodastream machine for only $20 for Evan back home.  (see my earlier posts about my sodastream).

Elly Inspecting the Merchandise

My New Sodastream

We shopped for about three hours before we packed up Larry's truck and headed out for lunch/dinner.
We went to eat at Anthony's Fish Grotto. This restaurant is right on the Water in San Diego harbor, very close to the battleship Midway Aircraft Carrier. The Midway is on the must visit list for later in the year.

Front of Anthony's

Anthony's from the Pier

 The seafood was excellent, we even had raw oysters and it was a pleasure to sit and chat and to cool off from the hours in the sun and watch the boats in the harbor.  There was even a mock battle between two pirate ships with canon blasts right outside our window.

This is where we sat ..

View from our table

After dinner, Larry wanted to show us some of the sites of San Diego. He decided to head out to Coronado Island as we hadn't been there yet. Wow, we were in for a treat!  As we crossed over the large bridge that brings you to the island, we got a real good view of the San Diego skyline.

Bridge to Coronado Island

Photo I took while we were crossing the Bridge

After a short drive around the cute little town and tourist area, we headed over to Hotel Del Coronado for a drink.  Check out their website here.   You can read the history of "The Del" here on wikipedia.     It is one of the Grand Old Resorts much like the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, NH.
 

Hotel Del Coronado

   This place was fabulous.  There were tons of people here, but it was large enough not to seem crowded.

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Larry & Michele walking up to the Hotel

Me & Elly in front of the Hotel

We decided to take take a walk around the place, it is massive, with many bars, restaurants and shops.  Everything was very pricey. Just to stay in the hotel without any special featured room will cost about $400+ per night.  In addition to the rooms in the hotel itself, there were larger villas right on the beach, each with its own pool and individual jacuzzis with a glass wall surround.  These rooms at the Beach Villas will run you from $800 to $3,600 per night.

How about dinner for two on your own private veranda at a beach villa!

Looking back at the hotel from the beach

 There were a few "private events" happening including two weddings, one on the beach.

A Wedding happening at the beach

Me and my new car. ;)

The Pool area for Hotel Guests

 After our leisurely stoll around the grounds we settled into the B&S Bar with a beach view to imbibe and chat with our friends for the evening. A very enjoyable evening!

On the way off the island and on the way home, I snapped this picture of an ice cream store that I thought was cute called "Mootime".

Mootime Creamery.  I liked the art deco style sign

We had a great fun filled day shopping and dining with our friends.  This might qualify for a repeat visit later in the year.