It would have been helpful if I had taken a picture of the neighborhood, but I didn’t.
We took a walk this afternoon along the drive that fronts the house. It’s about one to two miles, so not overly ambitious. There were hills involved. And there were frequent stops where we did take pictures.
The rest of the day was spent listening to liquidators. More on this another day.
Adjacent to the Pebble Beach Golf course, we walked a portion of the beach.
Misidentification of anything is on me.
We wandered the town for a while too, and had a good lunch. On the way back home we stopped for groceries to make a coconut curry with cod. We got everything on our list and were checking out when Pooh noticed that we hadn’t gotten any cod 🙄. Finished checking out, and then went back for the cod. At least we had not driven home. Cod was not on the list because it was so obvious.
Dinner is done, over 10,000 steps, time to relax.
The Monterey version. It was warm, if you were in the sun, and more importantly, out of the wind. I was comfortable with a jacket.
The flora. Patterns abound.
And some fauna
We also saw a sea otter. There were lots of water birds too, but nothing that I could successfully photograph.
A lovely lunch of clam chowder, garlic bread, and caprese salad.
Dinner of leftover spaghetti and a salad rounded out a successful day.
I started the day by sleeping in. As I was in the last few hours of yesterday’s drive I kept thinking, “The closer I get, the further away it is.” The last 60 miles took longer than the prior 100 miles.
Once we finally got ourselves (myself) together, we headed towards Pacific Grove. First up was lunch at Hops and Fog. Luckily it was not foggy.
We headed next for a walk along the cost. The tide was just starting to return so we could look into a few tidepools.
A bit of the fauna
All for today
This is the time I spent on the road today.
The first stop was the airport to drop off the boys for their flight to Phoenix for Spring Training. Actually the first stop was picking up Mark, Kevin spent the night at our house so he boarded the car there.
The stops along the way included 3 gas stations and 2 rest areas. The final stop is at my sister’s husband’s parent’s house, in Monterey, California.
A few pictures from the interior
More tomorrow, my brain is fried.
Carl and the boys are heading to Spring Training tomorrow. Some glorious days in the sun. Sunscreen has been packed. The only issue with this version of the trip, that has occurred for many years, is Carl’s lifting and movement limitations. The other guys will step up. He’s not even taking his mitt. It was in the to-go pile, but the medical personnel at his post-op appointment yesterday flinched at the mention of the glove. Reactions are sometimes hard to stop.
The toy project is pretty complete and moved to the basement waiting for the garage giveaway. There are more already in the garage. The stuffed animal review is on hold until after spring training.
I glanced into Carl’s suitcase and he did pack a small old timers mitt. 🙄
Just a few of the multitude of toys that will be leaving our collection. Two kids and over 30 years of providing daycare. These capture the sorting of 3 or 4 boxes of odds and ends. There are others already assigned and in the basement.
I am very proud of Carl working through these. It is a bit emotional and he would recall which toys grabbed the attention of certain kids. They are well used. These are not pristine barely out of the box.
I think I should provide bags and let the neighborhood kids fill them with those that strike their fancy.
To be sure, the house will not be empty of toys. Just fewer.
And we haven’t even looked at the boxes of stuffed animals yet.
Does OCD occur to anybody else?
I did complete this task along with a few others. Gathered Lego kit boxes, some with directions, more directions without boxes, and only one of the boxes had significant number of pieces inside. The various Lego sets have all been intermingled. This includes over 60-year old Lego from Carl’s youth, up through our kids (especially Ashlan) growing, and some for various kids Carl cared for. There has not been a decision made on whether to retain the boxes or instructions. It is unlikely that we will try to sort through all of the Lego to gather the pieces for a specific set back together. This makes me think the boxes could go, but we’re taking it step by step.
We know we are keeping the Lego. I am more interested in going through the boxes of toys that may stay or go, and making those decisions. And what about the 4 or 5 good sized bins of stuffed animals. Those may be more delicate decisions. And these are not the special animals, just the surrounding menagerie.
The cleaning up, and sometimes out, continues.
Progress
Not quite finished, but much closer. Most of the things remaining on the workbench are nails. Varying sizes from brads to 3″ or more. I wanted to finish sorting these today but it was time to make dinner.
I have put many extra tools and supplies into the giveaway pile, but at this point kept the, now organized, wood screws (flat head and round head), machine screws, nuts, hex bolts, and washers that live in the grey organizer on the left side of the workbench. I haven’t had cause to look for much out of here recently. I guess I’m not in a creating or fixing stage as much anymore. And yet, they may get to live in our house for a while longer.
But not all. The coffee can is more than half full of nails. I’ll keep some, but the hardware store isn’t too far away if we start another big project. And those we don’t keep will be given away. I do have a pail of metal recycling going as well.
Actually can check a few things off the list today.
The taxes were the biggest accomplishment, and finishing will let me move on to other tasks. I only did a small percentage of this puzzle. I separated the heron pieces, but Carl put it together. And I did a fair number of clouds this afternoon, this was challenging. The suitcases are the clue to get laundry done and start gathering items that will be helpful. The egg bites were initially made to help increase my iron levels, and have become a welcome part of breakfast.
And now I am tired, so off to bed.
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