Tuesday

The weather is cooler today, and that is good. I'm in South San Francisco today where it is around 71 with 21 mph winds. It's almost 79 with 6 - 8 mph winds at home. It's always windy in "south City" but 21 mph seems extreme. It should be fun when I walk the block to the shuttle stop trying not to get blown about.

Diann's blog showed a very disturbing photo of recent gas prices. I decided to take it one step further and see what else I could find in the way of stock photos on the internet:

Was 1998 that long ago? Remember these prices? It looks funny, doesn't it? This was back when you didn't need to win Lotto to fill your tank.
Remember when we thought this was expensive? When was that, about a month ago?

Here's what the gas signs should say today - then they wouldn't have to change them every night.

Too bad we can't see the gas price on this very old gas pump. Or on this not as old gas pump. This was 1957.
So given that gas prices have jumped so dramatically and quickly, who in their right mind would drive a Hummer? I wonder if this police is pulling the Hummer driver over just for being stupid? What do Hummer drivers think when they buy that piece of ______ (fill in the blank with whatever makes you happy). Do they think "I'm rich, so I can do anything I want, and to hell with you, the plant, the gas prices, the ecological system, and everything else"???? When I see a driver in a Hummer, it tells me a lot about that person, and NONE of it is good. I found some great pictures of people giving the finger to Hummers, but now my Mom and Dad read this blog, so I didn't post them. Use your imagination!


This picture nicely says it all:Aren't Hummer dealers great? (Sarcasm). They'd be doing everyone a favor if they just destroyed every unsold Hummer. Wow! Hummer is giving $20 to a good cause for every Hummer test driven - will that even cover the gas it takes to do the test drive?

I've given enough space to these losers. Sadly, this T-Shirt applies to many I encounter in my daily travels:


Here are some pictures of beauty. I didn't want to clog my blog with only junk (above):

This one is about 1.5 blocks from where we live! Dorothy was right - there's no place like home!

I have to check tonight to see if I have jury duty. At least it's in Fremont, but the instructions say no knitting needles. What am I supposed to do while waiting around if I can't knit?

Monday, Monday, Monday

Yesterday it felt like summer (read: hot) and today it seems will be the same since it's not quite 8:00 am and it's already 63 degrees.

The whole town is up in arms because there was yet another crashed wedding at the town's banquet hall that ended up in violence, this time 5 stabbings and a head wound. It's scary stuff, but I don't agree with some of the people on our neighborhood email group - one emailed the mayor demanding the business license be revoked, another posted what amounted to whining with no real answers. My suggestion of a required security guard met with mixed responses. One person said "if I was told I had to pay for a security guard, I'd go to another venue". There was a security guard at my niece's wedding because the law (surely enacted because of unfortunate situations such as this) required that once you exceeded a specific number of guests you had to have a guard. Period. End of story. They did not need a guard at my niece's wedding, but laws are usually a result of bad, stupid, inconsiderate, criminal, etc. etc. people.

Of course everyone is upset about this, and we all want the same thing - to be safe, and for the criminal element to stay out of our town, but some people seem to have such a sense of entitlement expecting that it's the mayor's job or the police's job, or the property owner's responsibility to make sure they are safe, while they don't have to do anything. One local resident actually talked to the owner of the banquet hall and while their first post to the email group seemed like everyone else's, after talking to the owner, it seemed the owner wanted to hear suggestions from the community, and this person reposted describing it as a good beginning of a discussion to find resolution.

Speaking of bad behavior, what's up with Mowry on the table? Don't cats realize that when we are NOT home they can do this and actually get away with it?

My cilantro is growing! I have it growing in a few different places. I have to remember to use it when I cook! For some reason, I completely forget I have it!Will's sock #2 is coming along after a few fits and starts that I had to do some ripping, etc. etc. This isn't a great picture but the one taken on a wood background had a really annoying glare.I'm working at home today. I didn't want to schlepp to So. SF and not have enough to do. My computer is not working today, but I am using one of Will's. It got hung up when I turned it on and didn't get past the welcome page. He is going to call support so that should be fun for everyone. Last time that happened, I had to get a whole new computer. Let's hope that doesn't happen this time.

Saturday Pictures

The wind finally stopped gusting, and it warmed up, at least temporarily. Right now it is 2:10 pm and it's 76 degrees with 5 mph winds. It's really nice, if not about 4 degrees above my vote for perfect temperature. And I just looked again and it's 75 with 1 mph winds, so that's even better!

I don't think the wind had anything to do with this, but the bird's nest fell down sometime after last evening. It's very sad - Will took this large portion that fell on the ground, and put it back in and tried to secure it, but I'm guessing the birds won't be back. I looked at the hardware store and the pet store for a nest pocked recommended by a friend, but didn't see anything that would work.

Mowry came in our room at around 12:30 am after we were asleep and started meowing. I went out to see what he wanted, and he ran into the living room and onto one of the chair backs, but I wonder if he could see either thru the sheers by his cat tree, or by sitting on the window, that the nest had fallen and was trying to tell us? Unlike a dog, he doesn't lead us to the well where Timmy fell in (ala Lassie) - he gets us and gets distracted. Or maybe he just got bored and wanted to play. It's hard to tell.

Will found the wooden drum on the left today for $5 at a garage sale. It's really nice. And who knew you couldn't have too many drums?

Here come the Clampetts again! We found this plastic Adirondack chair for $3 at a garage sale.

Alex really likes those socks Diann knitted that Will now has! OK, I threw them on his sleeping area when putting clean clothes away, but he was very happy to snuggle on them. That's Cinders in the background. The poor old bat spends most of her time on this cat bed. She's about 15 now and showing her age. She's mellowed from her old bitchy days!

Thursday - Commuting and Knitting

I've whined about the drive to and from Redwood City, and I finally decided to check out the bus schedule. There's a big bus that goes from the Union City BART Station right near where I need to go. I called on my way home yesterday (using my hands free device, of course) because I couldn't find a bus stop for the trip home. The bus stop in the morning would leave me with a walk equal to about two blocks, but I must get home! The person on the phone put me on hold, asked questions, put me on hold again, and finally told me to get on the bus where I get off - it's a loop. This can't be since there is an eastbound schedule, and a westbound schedule. I finally decided to look at the website map CLOSER, and guess what? There is a bus stop around the corner. So today, I took this big green bus.




I expect the fares to go up, what with the price of gas over $4.25 a gallon for regular, but right now for $3.50 each way, I get to ride the bus. It takes a little longer, but when I drive, I drive the van, and there is a bridge toll of $4.00, so for $3.00 more, I can knit or read or daydream and not be dodging crazy drivers who think it's okay to pass with barely enough room while going 80 mph on the bridge.

So I read the newspaper on the in, and knitted for about a half hour on the way home! And there aren't that many people who take the bus. One guy told me he thinks his company (Sun Microsystems) subsidizes the bus, which is probaby true, since it has a stop in the Sun complex. So what if my Sun stock is way below what I bought it for, I don't have to drive to Redwood City any more!

On the ride home, for the last few stops there were only two of us, and for the final stop, it was just me. I just told someone I need my own driver, but it appears I had it! And then Will picked me up at BART, as he always does, and he is my very own driver!

So the sock I made fits Will. Here's proof!
Now the pressure is on to finish sock #2. I started it at Open Mic, but while it may not be the exact same pattern as sock #1, the very top was the cream color, and this one is the gray color, so I ripped it out, and started over, but it took about 4 or 5 starts to get it right. First I dropped a stitch, and couldn't fix it because it was the first row, then I did that again...anyway, here it is!
Now it's time to watch the Celtics-Lakers basketball finals! I was a Lakers fan when I lived in L.A. until 1971, but now we follow a player and not a team (except the Golden State Warriors, of course) so it's odd being a Celtics fan since I remember watching the Celtics-Lakers games in the 1980s with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. The announcer just told us that the last time Boston was in the playoffs, Boston player Rajon Rondo was 3 1/2 months old!

Go Celtics! Sorry, Mom, I know you're a big Lakers fan.

Mowry just jumped up on my desk and decided to lick my wrist as I was typing! Silly cat!

What a difference a day makes....

The birds were very busy Tuesday making their nest, just one day after they started. You can still see the alyssum at the bottom. This was all under the watchful eye of Mowry who chattered in that special tone cats use when "talking" to birds. He's done watching now. The birds are gone for the evening.
We went to open mic at The Essanay Cafe. Will read a story, and then played bongos with his guitarist friend, Eddie, and then another guitarist joined them, while Diann and I were knitting. I started Will's second sock - I gave him the first of the pair for his birthday and had him try it on before even thinking of starting the second one. Of course I didn't finish the first until the night before his birthday, so there's that, too! I actually switched to a scarf when this photo was taken. We knit with different styles - me - Continental with my yarn in my left hand, and Diann the other way (can't remember what it's called) with the yarn in her right hand. I think we're both amused by each other's style since we can only knit the way we learned! Mine is faster and tighter, and hers is more even.
I have two more days (today and tomorrow) driving to Redwood City, but in the words of Jerry Seinfeld, today doesn't count, and it's almost tomorrow, so it's really only a half day .....have I mentioned that I HATE driving to Redwood City? It would actually be a beautiful drive if people weren't such unsafe morons.

My favorite are the ones going 80 mph and making unsafe lane changes to pass in the right-hand slow lane, only to reach the end of the bridge when I do. I guess the posted speed limit sign is just a suggestion. One person wrote a letter to the editor of our newspaper stating that it's a waste for highway patrol to give tickets on the bridge. Funny, because I never see any highway patrol on the bridge. I wish I would see them giving tickets.

Not to worry - I didn't take this while driving across the bridge. If I did, I'd be one of those unsafe morons!

My favorite sign on the Dumbarton Bridge tells me I'm almost home. I wonder why they put an elevation sign. Wouldn't a square mileage sign be more useful? 210,000 people (probably an understatement) live 57 feet above sea level. OR, you could post that 210,000 people (still an understatement) live in an 87.1 square mile area (thank you Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremont,_ca).

For the birds....

I guess the nest in the apple tree isn't the only nest we have. The birds who built a nest last year by the awning in our backyard are back! Or maybe it's new birds who can tell a nest was there last year, or maybe they discovered the spot on their own! Will discovered them tonight starting a new nest. Mowry and Alex both spotted them and were "talking" to them.

The birds started their nest with Alyssum - I have a lot of that growing out front where I dumped a packet of Alyssum seeds and they have taken over! I'm told they self-seed, so there's not getting rid of it - but at least now they can be used by the birds for their nest!


Mowry is ready for dinner, but he's hiding by looking away from the camera. Why do cats love to have their backs to you?Cinders is always ready for dinner, and doesn't care about hiding!

Sunday Pictures and Things

This morning we volunteered for the Niles Canyon Railway Golden Spikers. It was a beautiful day - not overcast like yesterday, but when the wind picked up, it was chilly.


I noticed we have a bird nest in our apple tree, along with apples. Our air plant has flowers! It didn't have any last year. It's hanging from the lemon tree, so those are lemon tree leaves you see.
The purple plant in the back that is the same as the one in the front that was photographed for an earlier blog has flowers! I didn't bloom last year!
My cilantro is growing. Now if I could just remember to clip it AND use it when I cook!Notice all the brown leaves by the planter. Unfortunately, we have lots of leaves in our yard. Between the neighbor's magnolia tree and our non-producing avocado tree (we have one that produces avocadoes, but very few this year, and this one that doesn't), we can't keep up with them even when we rake. I'm trying to find out if this is normal for the avocado tree, or if these yellow leaves that will soon fall to the ground indicates that we are not watering enough, or some other problem.

Maybe the tomato plant out front will make it thru the trauma of trying to change out the tomato cages.
I can't remember where I got these funky shoelaces, but my biggest complaint with the laces that came with the shoes before they broke was that they always untied. These do NOT ever untie, so I don't care what they look like!
And last, but not least, because this is a knitting blog, here is the scarf I started with yarn from the big bag of yarn I scored six weeks ago.
I did a little knitting with Diann today, and speaking of gardens and things, her raised beds of vegetables are growing like crazy. I think it was 5 weeks ago I was there when she first planted them and they are amazing!