One would wonder why the big basket of Hostess products. Then again it could be a clue . . .
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I just received a text message with the finished mask. I think the painting crew came through. It looks like Jacob and the two young ladies will have a complete Puerto Rico festival mask to turn in tomorrow. Blogging has been light the past few weeks because I have spent a lot of time preparing one of your rooms for our daughter and her husband. Emily is preparing for nursing school and wants to lighten her work load a couple of days a week. SO with that said, there was a lot of fixing up to do. Take a house that is almost a hundred years old and let teenage boys live in the room for the past 10 years and there may be a hole in the wall or some other rough boy type use. I have several photos of the process as I updated my daughter on the progress. One of the last ones had some touch up like cleaning the windows. None the less, it is a photo. In a matter of minutes – my blog will be on strike against SOPA and PIPA. My web page –www.gdpalmer.com is blank with a small description. I will be back on the 19th. Nothing like sunshine and some sunflower blooms on Friday the 13th to test blogging from my phone. This tall sunflower blew over several weeks ago. I staked it back up a few days later and it never straightened out. Crooked but blooming is good.
May you all have a great 2012. I have had hiking to the top of Mt. San Jacinto on my list of things to do for 2011. The idea was to get to the three tallest peaks, which are in three different mountain ranges in the year of my 50th birthday. Mt. San Jacinto was the last. Yesterday I committed myself to going today. It was the last day of the year and New Year’s Eve. The weather had been warm and I was hoping that all the snow we received a couple of weeks ago would be manageable. Jacob and I left the house at 6:30 AM and departed for the Palm Springs Tram. We arrived in time to be on the first car to the top.
The ride up was nice. It has been years since I have been on the tram. As we got closer you could star to see patches of snow. From the tram station at the top, we could see that there was snow everywhere. We spent about 20 minutes letting our bodies’ acclimate to the higher elevation. It was probably purely a psychological thing. We decided to hit the trail. As we descended from the tam station to the floor of long valley, I thought, we are going to have to climb back up this when we get back. It was a steep path. As we made our way towards the peak it was obvious that we would see snow the whole way there.
People with snowshoes had compacted the snow to form a trail on top of the snow.
However, it was a fairly common occurrence for me to post hole, that is where by foot breaks through the crust of the snow and sinks a foot or more.
We continued on and happen to follow someone that had been to the peak before. They were faster than us and we soon found ourselves off the trail and in some deep snow. We made our way down the side of the mountain to the trail, sometimes sinking two feet or more in the snow. Jacob stepped off a rock, sank about three feet and fell forward. His imprint in the snow did not look much like a snow angel. In fact he was stuck and needed a hand getting back up. Nothing like plopping into two plus feet of powder snow with your head pointed downhill. Jacob took a nice photo at the top. You can see some of the holes from people’s feet in the snow.
We also got a good picture of Mt. San Gorgonio across the valley below. That was the peak I hiked for my 50th birthday.
We also took a picture showing Diamond Valley Lake. It looks like I need a little more practice in making sure the horizon is level. The reality is that it was so bright, I could not see the LCD display on the camera on my phone.
I got a good picture of Jacob resting at the top.
I had to get the obligatory picture of myself on the top. The wind was blowing and it was somewhat cold.
We went around the other side of the rock on the top and got something to eat before we raced back down to beat the crowd waiting to go down the tram. We still did take time to get some pictures in. Jacob liked the picture of the stream.
As it was, we made it back to Long Valley about 4:15. We were told that after 4:30 there is about an hour wait to get on a tram back down the hill. We marched up the pathway to the tram passing people with the last bits of energy we had. We got in the line and soon it was growing behind us. We were lucky that we only had to wait for a couple of trams to get back down to the truck. Overall, it was a beautiful day. The hike was great. Jacob realized on the way home that it was New Years Eve. He told me that he thought the only reason that we went hiking was to wear him out so that he would not stay up to midnight. Nine o’clock is sounding great for a bedtime. Today one of my coworkers and I decided that we needed to have an afternoon meeting out of the office. Goals, technique and staying on target were some of the topics of discussion. Relaxing and breathing along with squeezing of the trigger were important topics as well. For this outing we had Jacob, my youngest son come along. He started out with the Browning 22 Semi-Auto while I worked out some long range planning with the Remington VTR. Jacob then tried his hand with the Ruger Mark III Hunter while I took in a little practice with the Smith and Wesson M&P 45. We both took a few shots of nostalgia with the Ruger New Vaquero in 45 Colt.
There was also a little action from my coworkers 410 shotgun. The one his grandfather once owned. Lots of lead was sent down range and we had a great day at the range. Jacob had a good smile on his face. We will need to set some new goals for continued relaxation sessions.
Today I made the trek to Disneyland to meet my three brothers and their families. It was a cool and windy day by usual standards. However, it had to be warmer than Oregon, where Eric travel from and Utah, where Alan traveled from. Wayne hopped up from Oceanside, so it was not much different for him. For me the day started at the Pirates of the Caribbean where I met Alan and Eric and their families. Next up was Splash Mountain. Because I brought my waterproof jacket, I made the sacrifice to sit in front of the log. Silly me. The jacked kept my upper body dry. However, my paints absorbed every drop that my jacket shed off of my. I was wet down to the insides of my shoes. With a little wind and sun and I was slowly dried out as the day went on. Next up was Thunder Mountain, the Matterhorn and Space Mountain as well as a few other rides. As of now, the only picture presentable is of me standing in front of the giant Christmas Tree. I will add photos to this post as I receive them.
As for the whole group, a photo has become available. Today Jacob and I went on a hike to the top of Mt. San Antonio, also known as Mt. Baldy with a group of eight others. It was the same hike I did on October 1st (Link Here) . Today was a little different as there was snow at the trailhead in the shade. After were were on the trail a short time we took a break. Jacob was not very awake, but I took his picture anyway.
We continued and could see the snow higher up on the mountain. In the shade there was some icy patches of snow that we had to pass. If you want to see a larger version of the pictures, just click on them.
Another advantage of hiking in a group is that there are other people taking pictures. That helps so that I get into a few pictures.
We arrived at the Ski Hut for a break and to eat some snacks. The wind had picked up and it was cold. Jacob decided that a nap was in store so he found a sunny place protected from the wind.
As we moved on from the Ski Hut, we began to cross the front part of Baldy Bowl. It became apparent it was time to break out the traction aids. I used the Kahtoola MICROspikes Footwear Traction and Jacob used the Yaktrax XTR Extreeme Outdoor Traction. Jacob quickly put on Yaktrx which left him a few extra seconds to take advantage of me while I was making final adjustments. Teenagers and snow with a parent close by.
We got on the trail. Boy the MICROspikes made a difference. Before I put them on I was slipping on the crusty snow and ice that made up the trail. I said to myself, I spent 60 dollars on Microspikes and it would be foolish if I slipped and fell when I have them in my day pack. Jacob felt the same way with the Yaktrax on his feet so off we were, climbing up the trail.
The terrain got fairly steep as we made our way up the the top of the ridge.
We soon arrived at the top, elevation 10,064. Off in the east you could see Mt. San Gorgonio at 11,499 with snow on top in the middle of the horizon and and Mt San Jacinto at 10,834 to the right or south of Mt. San Gorgonio. Nestled in the pass between the two peaks are the communities of Beaumont and Banning.  Mt. San Gorgonio and Mt. San Jacinto from Mt. San Antonio Jacob started taking pictures at the top. I took a picture of Jacob at the top taking pictures.
We sat down and had some lunch at the top. The wind was moving and it was cold. A little protection helped with the lunch activities.
Of course we could not miss out on a photo opportunity at the top.
In due time, we headed off the summit to make our way back down the mountain. We headed in a southern direction. You could see Santiago and Modjeska peaks in the distance towards the south. They are at and elevation of 5,689 feet 5,496 respectively We dashed down the hill with the faster part of our group. Jacob was quick to take up his favorite resting spot.
He waited there about a half hour for the others to get back to the Ski Hut. From there Jakob an I speed down the hill and made it home for showers and some pizza. Tonight was the Festival of Lights presented by the Mission Inn. There are lots of lights and fireworks. This year there was also a surprise. After dinner, Jacob and I ran downtown to see the fireworks. It was not like “running” to the store. We literally ran. Nothing like a little after dinner exercise. As we got closer the fireworks started. As we got closer the throngs of people became thicker and thicker. The light were amazing as they have been in the past 18 years.
We did a little walking around and I tried to catch Jacob with a smile, but I got the normal “why the heck are you taking my picture” pose.
We were following the parade. Yes there was a surprise parade. The Occupy Riverside crowd decided to have a little parade through the throngs of people. At the head to the parade was a tent that was carried high above the people. Then there was a line of people walking with some of them carrying signs. As they walked they were chanting some slogan. I had to get a picture of the “Festival of Rights” sign so we followed the parade into their encampment.
We then decided to take a tour around the Mission Inn. We came to an area thick with people. It was where the band was playing. As we got close they started playing the Doors. I was trying to get how “Light my Fire” was themed for a the Festival of Lights. Then again the have “Light” in common.
So we continued to make our way around the Mission Inn and found a fence with the Riverside Police Department (RPD) on the other side. I had to think to myself, the public cannot get close to the Mission Inn lights because they are protected by RPD. However, we have the Occupy Riverside crowd camping on the downtown mall.
Well there was only two things to do, either go home and get my tent and sleeping bag and protest not being able to get as close as I wanted to the lights or go home and turn on our lights. Sleeping at home seems so much more a rational thing to do. Jacob did the honors and plugged in the lights.
This year the lights were easy. Perhaps I should take them down at the end of this Christmas season . . . Scott turned 21 today so Janet and I took him out to diner. It was fun and we all ate too much. It is amazing how the children keep getting older.
Tonight is Janet’s birthday. Emily took the day off for Janet’s birthday so she could come along. Janet wanted a steak so we started our evening by going to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Dinner was good and for desert we ate the birthday Sunday. Of course this was the first round of desert as we traveled to Claim Jumper to look at their desert. Janet picked the raspberry cheesecake and Emily and I had the brownie with ice cream. We were still to full so we got the desert to go and started to eat it when we got home. It was a great evening and a good celebration for Janet’s Birthday. Eric stopped by yesterday and we talked about his birthday. We offered a birthday breakfast. He decided that he wanted orange juice, bacon, waffles and my biscuits. (pictures and recipe here) We got up early and started preparing. The shortening was not good and we forgot to purchase the orange juice so I was off to the store. Upon my return, Janet had the kitchen ready for me to start. Knowing 2 pounds of bacon takes time to fix I started heating the pan for the bacon and measuring the dry ingredients for the biscuits. Then it was off to cooking bacon and getting the biscuits ready for the oven. I thought I was in a good position and I asked if there was anything else Eric wanted for breakfast and Janet told me waffles. I plugged in the two waffle irons and started heating them up while mixing the batter and turning the bacon. The fun started when Eric arrived. We were ready to go. Emily was also on hand to wish Eric a happy 19th birthday. After breakfast there was lemon cake to be eaten. Soon enough, we were all stuffed and it was time for Eric to leave for work. He grabbed four biscuits and put them in a bag for his lunch. Eric is learning that when you get older, work and other thing are just part of life, even if it is your birthday.  Eric turns 19 We have a sink that drains slow. I fix it and it is back to draining slow again within a few months. The solution is to replace the drain pipe in the wall. The current drain pipe, galvanized pipe that was very rusty was a tee in the wall with the drain pipe running down and the vent pipe running up. Step one was to remove the siding from the house and remove the tee and the pipe above and below the tee. Inspection of the offending tee can be seen below.
Once the siding was removed another problem was found. The vent pipe had a section of black iron pipe that had rusted. To remove that section, which rested on some blocking to support the pipe, I had to support the pipe in the attic. As for the rusted out 4″ section of pipe, it had to be replaced.
Once in the attic, a couple of 2×6’s were used to support the pipe as it ran parallel to the roof. Additional support was put under the pipe as it entered the wall headed down to the place the pipe was cut. With the support coming from above, I could take the pipe fitting off the threads so that I could put a new ABS fitting on. To take the fitting off, I needed to use a ratcheting strap from the pipe to a tree to pull it away from the house enough to get a pipe wrench on the fitting.
After a trip to Home Depot to pick up the parts I put the section back together with a new sanitary tee going into the house. Of course that cannot be seen because it is being the siding and trim that I did not remove.
From there wit was off to connecting the sink back up in the house. Of course I took time to install the new faucet that I purchase some time ago. Fancy that, no more dripping and a sink that can drain. Just another day with This Old House. |
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