A nice li'l ride, Wed, 5/25/22

 

Today was a, whew, get-outa-town kinda day.  With a forecast high of 90 this afternoon at our house, we knew where we wanted to go with our new E-bikes:  Up to the high country, where it would be cooler, or at least somewhat cooler.  Jimmy hooked up the bike rack, inserted the bike tires into the grooves and secured the bikes (clamped 'em in).

Jimmy's on first.

Both on, ready to hit the highway.

(pic taken at Squaw Valley)

We encountered lots of construction on Hwy 20 where crews are "straightening" some of the S curves, and it appears this will be ongoing for a couple of years.  Cutting down mountains to fill in valleys doesn't happen overnight!  Though it took us longer than usual to drive the 65 miles to Squaw Valley (now known as Palisades Tahoe, to be P.C.), we still had plenty of time to park, hop on our bikes and ride to and beyond Tahoe City.

At Dollar Point.

Riding the bike trail beside the Truckee River, whose origin is Lake Tahoe (think: cold water) is a favorite.  We've done it a number of times in the past ten years, but this is our first with E-bikes.  With our new comfy, cushy bike seats and proper (padded seat) bike shorts, we did just fine.

This blue lake is so beautiful, surrounded as it is by the rugged Sierra Nevada mtns, still wearing a little snow.  We continued north, past Dollar Point, uphill nearly the entire way from Tahoe City, using the max pedal assist on steep sections, and we were really happy that the E-bike did what it was designed to do:  get ya up a hill w/o having to walk your bike!  Or w/o exhausting you.  

We kept the pedal assist on "low" much of the way (as the bike salesman suggested) and riding like this is so easy and so much fun.  You just go.  I didn't get many pictures 'cause I forgot my camera and I was using my phone to record our mileage.  We rode 21 miles, not epic, but respectable in 80° temps, and for two people reacquainting riding with new bikes.

Dollar Point is at the red x.

Jimmy and I've been talking since buying these E-bikes, about how cool it would be to revisit some of the bike trails we've ridden in the past.  We've hit bike trails in at least 26 states, from Maine to California, and four Canadian provinces.  There's plenty of great trails in the west alone, so we wouldn't have to drive TOO far in our Tergel (with six dollar gas prices!).  We may spend a couple of nights at Cal Expo in Sacramento next week, which is located right on the American River Parkway -- we could spend two glorious days just riding our bikes.  Plus, it's supposed to be cooler next week.

So far so good.  We are happy campers!

You did what? Thursday, 5/12/22

 

Son, Matt, and his wife, Jen, flew to Cabo San Lucas early, early Wednesday morning.  Matt was to be Best Man in his friend's destination wedding, so the kids decided to make it a week of fun in the sun.  Both sets of grandparents were tapped for babysitting duty, which is no hardship for any of the four grands involved.  Jimmy and I took first stage, Tues-Sat, and Alice and Tom took the second leg, Sat-Wed.  Because Evie is enrolled in preschool, Jimmy and I did our stint in Fair Oaks at the kids' house, so we could get her to school.  Works for us -- we get to explore that area while Evie is in school.

They live close to the American River Parkway, a paved multi-use pathway that runs for 32 miles alongside the American River between Discovery Park in Old Sacramento and Folsom Lake.  On Wednesday we hiked a section -- there's always lots of wildlife to see.  Turkeys and such (above).  On Thursday morning, we stopped at Bob's Cycle Center around the corner from their house to see if we could rent E-bikes to ride the Parkway.  Nope.  Bob's Cycle Center didn't rent E-bikes.  They sell them.

Okay, so four years ago, getting rid of our bicycles seemed like "the right decision."  We sold both of them in August 2018.  We were 74 years old and pedaling was getting harder and harder.  But I really missed riding my bike.  Hiking became our main exercise, and it still is.

Bob's Cycle Center offered us the option of a test run on Giant (brand) E-bikes.  Woohoo -- we gave them an acid test run, riding down to the river and then back UP to their shop, a steep uphill that I don't even like walking.  And the bikes performed perfectly, carrying us up that hill using the electric assist, without us even breathing hard.  Wowzers!  We looked at each other.  SOLD.  We bought two!

Jimmy stands in front of a Horsechestnut tree in full flower, with purple Hairy Vetch all a-bloom below.  Very pretty!  More scenes along the way in the photos below.

On Friday, we picked up the bikes and a new bike rack, and hit the Parkway, heading toward Sacramento.  These bikes are easy to use (a necessity) and a joy to be on.  We rode approximately 12 miles, which isn't a lot, but if your heinie isn't used to sitting on those skinny unpadded seats, that's a long enough time.  We flew like the wind on brief down hills and coped nicely on the uphills.  Two items we need to purchase are helmets and padded seats!

Mama Merganser and her brood of 12 swimming down the American River.  In the upper right pic, two ducklings climbed on her back for a ride.  We dodged quite a few caterpillars on the trail, bottom right photo, which I looked up when I got home:  Pipevine Swallowtail (Blue Swallowtail).

On goes the new bike rack.

New bikes in front of Matt and Jen's house.

I didn't get any great shots of Evie this time, but here we are at Carmelita's in Fair Oaks on Friday evening.  I caught Jimmy with a mouthful of chips and Evie is saying, "cheese."  Good food, but it was too noisy.

Evie on Saturday morning, swirling a long, multicolored scarf.

One of the Iris varieties in our front flower bed.

It's gorgeous.

Well, it appears Jimmy and I are too young (wild and crazy) to give up bike riding.  We did buy helmets, and cushioned bike seats are next.  Not sure if we should thank Matt and Jen for the opportunity, but there you have it.  We'll be out riding as often as we can.  We're thrilled to be "back in the saddle again."  

Back home, here we are with our new E-bikes.  We had to clean the garage to find a clear space to park them, so we not only have new bikes, we have a clean garage!

At last! -- May 6, 2022

I mentioned a while back that Jimmy and I were having our kitchen remodeled ... and that I'd have a show-and-tell photo blog for you ... a before and after study, plus a few in-between shots of how it looked for a couple of weeks.  The kitchen has been finished for quite a while now, but I've either been too busy or too lazy to a) take the after pics and b) write this post.  At last, the time has come to show it off!  Before I go any further, I'll say this up front:  I love my new kitchen.  Love, love, love!

The first pic below shows the sink-end of the kitchen before.  Serviceable, yes, but dark, dated and showing its age.  The next pic shows how it looks now from the same angle.  

When Jimmy and I decided to "go for it," we tapped a contractor we'd used several years earlier.  He quoted us a price neither of us wanted to pay, but son, Matt, stepped up with a cost-only price and we said, "let's go!"  He knew the subcontractors to use, the way to get new appliances, all of that jazz.  And it all worked out well.

The stove area is transformed!

So much brighter and lighter and cleaner and less cluttered.  We purchased an LG freestanding range/oven, fridge, and microwave that were all in stock, with no waiting!  Had to get a GE dishwasher 'cause LG brand wasn't available.

We had different crews -- the demo crew, followed the very NEXT day by the cabinet crew, and then the drywall fixer, and finally the backsplash guy.  The dust and crud generated by the demo was awful.  They taped up one end of the kitchen, but the other end was semi-open, allowing a lot of that "crap" to filter into the rest of the house.  Oh well, stuff happens.  It's all good now.  But, everything moved along handily, with no great gaps between successive phases.

The (shallow) sink is removed, along with the garbage disposal and our water filter system!  I wasn't watching, so I didn't see those two things go.  We have a new disposal 😊 and are now using a Brita filter.  BTW, we kept our faucet, as we'd replaced that not long ago.

This area needed to be remediated by the plumber we hired -- a hole was discovered in the old copper pipe, and it's now tidy, dry, and soooo nice under the sink.

The different crews worked around the existing fridge, which we appreciated.  Our microwave moved to the dining room table and we used that quite a lot while we had no stove.  I also used the stove in the RV a couple of times.  You see the original oak wood flooring wasn't installed under the cabinets. 

Old termite damage was also discovered on the back wall above.  Jonathan, the cabinet guy, had already begun installing new cabinets.  Gray for the bottom, white on top.

Matt drove up one day to check the progress, and here he's talking with Jonathan the cabinet guy, left, while Jimmy measures the vent hood area.  This was the end of February.

Below:  We really liked our 3 x 5 Boos Block table at the far end of the kitchen, opposite the pantry, but it sucked up a lot of room and just didn't allow for much storage.  Great place for clutter!  Boo hiss on the trash can.

Ah, but look at it now!  The new six-and-a-half feet (by 2+ ft) bank of drawers is ideal.  The room feels much roomier and IS a lot roomier!  And so much lighter.  We replaced the light fixtures, too, because, well, it's a new kitchen!

You can definitely see the difference in the above two photos!

I hadn't realized how dark the kitchen was ... till THIS (below)!

When I first saw this 10" deep two-holer sink, I thought, "why did Matt order this thing!"  So deep and with grating, too.  Oh my, I guess 'cause he's smart.  This sink is wonderful.  Jimmy, the dishwasher in our family, thinks so, too.  Just one more goodie to love in the new kitchen.

I took a lot more photos of the various stages of remodel, but you get the idea.  We'd thought to paint an "accent" wall, maybe a red or yellow/ish, but we were hooked early on with the brightness of our kitchen and decided to keep it that way.  Jimmy and I did the painting ourselves, and our shoulders let us know we didn't need to do the rest of the house!  We chose Swiss Coffee for the walls and Bone for the trim, in case you were wondering.

There you have it.  Our 1965-era house now has a 2022 workable and lovely kitchen.  We are happy!