Category Archives: Home & Family

October 31, 2010 · 3:55 pm

Smart Car Wrap

Since I bought my Smart car, I have been accessorizing it. So far, I have added

A dealer-installed iPhone 3 holder, charger, and microphone – resulting in much better sound quality for both phone calls and audio books
Smart’s “Smart Drive US v1.01” iPhone application – almost a complete waste of $9.99 – this software is in need of serious work by a competent usability engineer
Rubber floor mats
A red plastic crate to hold small stuff so that it does not slide around behind the seats
The “Kite Flight” design car wrap

I very much enjoy driving this car. The negatives are that it does not have much power and going over speed bumps or uneven pavement in a tiny car is rough. But my Smart Car is fun to drive – especially with the top down. It parks in tiny spots (like the half parking space otherwise taken up by someone’s trailer, and in the corners of lots with diagonal parking), and drives about 35 miles per gallon. There is enough room behind the two seats for the amount of stuff I usually carry to work (or two large bags of dog food). My 6′ 3″ tall husband (who bought me the wrap for my birthday) fits into the Smart Car comfortably. My teenage son Paul says my car embarrasses him.

Here are pictures of my car being wrapped this week:

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Tagged as John, Paul

October 30, 2010 · 10:50 am

Our Own Personal Flood

After my several blogs about not wanting flood insurance, it would be ironic if my home were flooded now that I finally don’t have to buy it. Our “flood” was only in the back yard, fortunately, and resulted from a cracked garden pipe. This was not the flood of Gilgamesh…

Like pieces of a broken pot lay the pieces of land among the spreading water.
So high did the water go that even the gods scrambled for mountain so high
And cringed like rain whipped dogs in the storm.

This was not the flood of Noah…

The waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters.
And the waters prevailed so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered;
the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.

But it did make a big mess and cost us $500 to fix. What you see in the photo at the left above are the roots and pipe that caused the problem. We think a root from one of our big ash trees cracked the PVC pipe which connects to the hose bib or water spigot. I noticed that there was mud for several days in the walkway near WP 668, our backyard caboose where I have my office. My husband looked at it, dug a hole from which shot up a spout of water, found he could not turn it off, then called Polo’s Landscaping (408-597-5214) to come help.

It turns out that a previous owner of our Willow Glen house had put in a garden water line upstream of the house and garden water shut off valves. So, the only way we could turn off that particular pipe was to turn off the water service to the whole property. We ended up with two large muddy holes – one near the caboose, and the other near the valves in the front yard. After much digging around in my (former) iris bed, Polo found the pipe that should have had the shut off valve on it, buried two feet down. He and his team did a good job. By the end of the day, we had a new shut off valve and a fixed water pipe. The brick walkway sank a little but once the ground dries out some, I will lift the bricks and add some more sand.

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Tagged as garden, San Jose, Willow Glen, WP668

October 26, 2010 · 5:37 pm

Birthday at Eliza’s, San Francisco

On Sunday, John and Paul and I took my parents to Eliza’s Chinese Restaurant to celebrate my father’s 84th birthday. (Eliza’s is his favorite.) I am not sure if he likes the modern art glass displays or the food better. Eliza’s food is very good and fresh (but not traditional-Chinese style). Be sure to check out the glass fish swimming up the walls of the bathroom when you visit.

Eliza’s
2877 California Street
(between Broderick St & Divisadero Streets)
San Francisco, CA

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Tagged as John, Paul, San Francisco

October 24, 2010 · 4:22 pm

Camp Clay

One of our annual August activities at the Lair of the Golden Bear family camp is playing with clay. Most of the family ends up in the Lair’s Art Grove sooner or later, either to keep my mother (Eleanor Dickinson) company while she is drawing and painting, or to do art of our own. This year, I bought four bisqueware plates at the camp store. (Bisqueware is once-fired clay.) Recruiting Jessica, Matt, Paul, and John, I traced one of each of our hands on a plate. I painted in between the lines in colored glaze, then covered the whole with clear glaze.* I fired the plates once at camp and then painted over the hands for deeper color and fired them again after vacation at Clay Planet (Santa Clara, California).

My mother mostly painted tiles and sketched in her traveling journal. This year, she painted a special bowl in honor of my son Paul’s 18th birthday. It features images of rock crystals and a large beetle.

* actually, John painted on the clear glaze for me because he smudges less than I do

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Tagged as Eleanor, Jessica, John, Lair of the Bear, Matthew, Paul, University of California

October 21, 2010 · 12:15 am

Cockatiel Dust and Health

Cockatiels are the smallest member of the Cacatuidae (or Cockatoo family), originally from Australia. These birds come from dry country and they are very dusty themselves. When they fly or ruffle their feathers, puffs of dust come off. These delightful and friendly charmers do require regular housework to keep their cage area tidy.

We are happy to have two male cockatiels, named Sparky and Guapo, recently adopted from Mickaboo – Companion Bird Rescue. We have had three other cockatiels over the years, two of them also adopted from Mickaboo.

Soon after our family adopts a new bird, we take it for a veterinary checkup. We have noticed similar health problems identified in birds coming to us from someplace which keeps several birds in one closed, dusty room. These include: red mouth and throat, sore tongue, damp ears, and lower weight. Our vet’s advice has been consistent:

Feed them only:
- Washed greens and vegetables (especially cilantro)
- LaFeber’s Nutri-an Cakes – Foraging and Weight Maintenance – Premium Bird Food for Parakeets, Cockatiels, Lovebirds, & Conures (in the Blue Package)
- Ample fresh clean water
Keep chemicals away –
- Offer only natural fiber untreated safe toys
- Keep birds from nibbling on synthetic fibers (like many curtains and rugs) or chemically treated objects (like furniture)
- Have a safe cage of stainless or powder coated steel or other safe material
- Get rid of Teflon pans which produce fumes which can kill birds
Spritz birds with clean water several times a day or let them take a bath – to keep down the dust and encourage grooming
Birds need to be in the sun daily – our boys’ cage is up against a sunny window
Have the cage by an open window – fresh air flow blows away bird dust. Our window has a bug screen which needs to be sprayed clean of bird dust from time-to-time.
Encourage exercise

After a few months of following this simple advice, our birds are healthier, at a good weight, and they seem happier too.

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October 15, 2010 · 8:06 pm

Two Dogs, One Cat (Taking Pet Pictures)

The animals in our family include two 8 year old birds, a 15 year old cat, a 14 year old dog, and a large wiggly 1-1/2 year old puppy. They are all rescue animals or adopted strays. The birds are cockatiels; the others are mutts. From time to time, I take photos of everybody. I recently attempted the near-impossible task of getting both dogs and the cat in one picture. A fast camera and much patience is required. I have a Canon S90 PowerShot, which is not fast enough. A dog’s tail can wag faster than almost any camera. Also, our dogs and cat like each other fine but each is watchfully jealous that someone else might get more attention than they.

I tried first to get the dogs to pose outside of the screen door of John’s office but finally had to enlist John to get everyone in one place. I ended up with several great portraits of each animal but never all three looking good in the same shot. At least everyone had fun.

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Tagged as birds, cats, Dogs, John

October 13, 2010 · 9:47 pm

Mochi Balls

My 18-year-old son Paul is enjoying his first quarter at Foothill College. Today, he went to his clay art class. Paul is creating a large sculpture of Hedwig the owl. He took his first college math test yesterday. We celebrated by going out to Yuki Sushi on Lincoln Avenue in Willow Glen. Paul ordered gyoza and California rolls, with strawberry Mochi ice cream for dessert. One of his favorite meals!

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Tagged as Foothill College, Paul, Willow Glen

Category Archives: Home & Family

Smart Car Wrap

Our Own Personal Flood

Birthday at Eliza’s, San Francisco

Camp Clay

Cockatiel Dust and Health

Two Dogs, One Cat (Taking Pet Pictures)

Mochi Balls

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