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Got Junk?

Wow, December 2nd already. We’re into the last month of the second decade of the millennium. It doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago when we were warned of impending doom when Y2K would cause everything to crash. Well, we got through it and now here we are, two decades later.

Donna and I have continued to whittle away at the task of preparing my step-dad’s house for sale. We went up to Menifee and had a charity called God’s Helping Hands take everything they could as a donation. They were very picky and left behind way more than we expected. My brother Eddie and his wife Rachel had already moved some of the larger pieces of furniture out and also cleaned many of the cabinets. This was much appreciated, but we were still left with way too much stuff for us to handle.

The answer was 1-800-Got-Junk. I set up an appointment for them to come to the house last Wednesday, survey what was left and give me an estimate for removal. We were running out of time as we expected to close escrow on Monday, December 2nd. On Tuesday while we were up in Menifee, I spent a full hour at the escrow office reviewing and signing a pile of documents. I really didn’t want to make the drive back up there on Wednesday when the Got Junk people were scheduled to come. My brother took on that task for me. They kept delaying their estimated time of arrival – it was raining and traffic was terrible.

Their estimate was quite a bit higher than I expected. Admittedly, we had more stuff left in the house than I anticipated. We went for it – they removed everything for a cost of $415 and were out of there around 7pm.

Speaking of rain, the weather changed drastically last week. Well, maybe not that drastic compared to many parts of the country, but it’s cooler and rained Tuesday night through Friday morning. The rain was quite heavy at times with gusty winds. I’m sure this spoiled many Thanksgiving plans for people – Thanksgiving is usually a very busy time here at Mission Bay RV Park with most sites occupied. Not so much this year – cancellations left a lot of open sites.

We spent Thanksgiving with Donna’s sister Sheila and her significant other, Dr. Jeff Sandler at Jeff’s house in La Jolla along with a friend of theirs and Jeff’s son and his family. Sheila prepared a 19-lb. turkey and we had a traditional Thanksgiving meal and watched NFL football.

Donna and I have been getting a little pickleball in, though not as much as we would like with all the travel we’ve been doing up and down the freeway. We’ve only been playing a couple of times per week. Donna’s keeping up with her strength training and bicycling.

The skies cleared up over the weekend, but the temperatures only reached the low 60s. It’s a little early for the rainy season to start – San Diego usually gets the majority of its rainfall in late December through February.

Friday night, after the rain stopped, the wind died down. We’ve had large tidal swings in the bay. The tide was high, the wind calm and the bay was glassy. I shot a nighttime photo looking east at the Bay Park neighborhood. The lights from the houses reflected off the dark, glassy bay water.

This morning, I learned that the closing is delayed. The buyer’s agent failed to update the sales agreement to reflect the latest changes and the settlement statement was incorrect. Grrr. Apparently, the agent put off updating the documents before giving them to the escrow company, then disappeared over the Thanksgiving weekend. It irritates me because the buyer insisted on a quick escrow and we’ve scrambled to close the deal.

As a seller, I was happy with a quick closing. Real estate transactions are never complete until escrow closes and, in my experience, the longer that’s delayed, the more issues tend to arise. As a buyer, I wouldn’t want to close this fast though. I would’ve wanted 30 to 45 days to allow me time for due diligence. This buyer was shooting for a 21-day close.

I’ll close again with a couple of dinner plates Donna prepared last week. First up Chicken Gabriella, which is a skillet dish with lots of onions, fresh sage, and lemon juice.

Chicken Gabriella with green beans and sweet potato

And Sylvie’s Chicken, another skillet dish made with a cut-up chicken and a yummy sauce. It took over an hour to cook, so Donna said she’ll just use chicken thighs next time to cut the cooking time in half.

Sylvie’s chicken with garlic cauliflower mash and fresh spinach

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

I Can See Clearly Now

I haven’t been posting much lately as much of my time is spent dealing with the estate of my late step-dad, Ken Keller. Donna and I traveled up to his house to box stuff up for donation. We met my brother, Eddie and his wife, Rachel, there last Saturday and got much done. The house is in escrow and the buyer wants to close quickly, but also wants to negotiate along the way. I’ve made a couple of concessions, but now it’s time to move forward.

I was stymied for a while because I didn’t have the certified death certificates. The funeral home that ordered them for me from Riverside County just put them in an envelope and dropped them in the mail with regular postage. No tracking or priority. If I’d known they were going to do that, I would have gladly paid the $8 or so for a trackable Priority Mail delivery. After 10 days, they finally agreed that these documents were lost in the mail. They ordered four more certificates.

They called me on Tuesday and said they had the certificates and were sending them via courier to their San Diego County location in east El Cajon. I drove there on Wednesday and finally had the certificates in hand. Now I could move forward.

I had an Affidavit of Death of Trustee drawn up to allow me, as successor trustee, to handle the sale of the house. I couldn’t file the affidavit without a certified death certificate. Here’s what I find a little crazy about that. The certified death certificates are issued (at a cost to the estate) by Riverside County. The affidavit needs to be filed and registered by Riverside County. So, I pay them to issue me the certificate, then I submit an affidavit with the certificate back to them and they register it for another fee. Typical government racket.

Next I had to go to Wells Fargo Bank where Ken had his account. Again, I needed a certified death certificate to take over the trust bank account. This was a lengthy process and I spent nearly two hours with a banker. With that done, I can fund the trust with the proceeds from the sale of the house. Hopefully, things will get simpler from this point.

I also took care of a couple of projects over the past week. I mentioned before about the alternator on Midget-San overcharging the battery. The alternator is internally regulated, so it had to be replaced. Parts for the Nissan A15 engine in our Midget are easy to find and relatively cheap. I was surprised to find an AC-Delco remanufactured (in the USA) alternator at RockAuto for only $36!

The alternator charges the battery while the engine is running. The charging voltage will vary depending on the state of charge of the battery. As the battery becomes fully charged, the internal resistance of the battery rises and the charging voltage will drop. The old alternator was charging between 15.5-volts and 16.0 volts. This is too high regardless of the state of the battery charge. The new alternator charges between 13.6-volts and 14.5-volts. Much better.

The other project was something that only required me to write a check. The front side windows on our coach were fogged. These are double-pane windows. When the seal between the glass panes is compromised, moisture can condense between the panes. When the windows warm in the sun, fog forms and obstructs the view through the glass. A company called Auto Glass Boss came out to our site here at Mission Bay RV Resort and resealed the glass. They removed the windows, separated the panes, cleaned the glass thoroughly and installed new sealant. The glass is so clear now, it looks like there’s no glass there at all!

We had a major change in the weather here. On Tuesday night, rain moved in with a cold front. We had a blustery day Wednesday with periods of rain all day. The temperature only reached 60 degrees. Yesterday was partly cloudy and cool – in the mid 60s. We should have clear skies and mid to upper 60s for the weekend, but more rain is forecast to arrive by Thanksgiving.

I’ll close this post with a couple of dinner plates Donna prepared. First up is a coconut curry salmon dish with cashews that she made last week. It was spicy and very good – a keeper for sure.

Last night, Donna made baked lemon chicken. It was a simple single sheet pan meal and very tasty.

Cool Stuff at Gillespie Field

In my last post, I mentioned an issue I had with Midget-San’s oil pressure. The replacement oil pump I ordered came from RockAuto on Tuesday afternoon. I’d been in touch with Bill Masquellier about doing the work at his place in El Cajon. I met Bill when he was working at British Auto Repair and replaced the rear hub/axle seal on the Midget. I later found out he was only filling in there temporarily while another mechanic was on an extended vacation. Bill is very knowledgeable on British cars and also has experience with engine swaps. He knows the Datsun/Nissan line of engines.

I was to meet Bill at the Gillespie Field Cafe – a small cafe at the airport in El Cajon – at 10am on Thursday. I arrived early as I had made allowances for traffic but managed to have smooth sailing eastbound on CA52. I parked in front of the cafe at 9:30am and took a walk. I saw an interesting car in front of a hangar and met the guy working on it. It was an Intermeccanica Omega – an Italian car made in the late ’60s with a Ford 289 V8 engine. They only made 33 of these. While I was talking to the guy, I saw Bill drive his Austin-Healey Sprite in. Bill phoned me and directed me to another hangar on the west side of the airport.

He opened one of the hangar doors and I parked Midget-San inside. I immediately noticed a number of covered cars along with and airplane and lots of parts in the hangar. We opened the hood (bonnet) on Midget-San and while the engine cooled, Bill gave a me a tour. First off, he showed me a 1928 Hudson. He explained that the hangar and the cars inside belonged to his brother-in-law, John. John bought the Hudson when he was in high school and it was his daily driver in the 1960s.

John has a fascination with cars designed and built by Ettore Bugatti. Bugatti’s first design was a small car. He drew up plans for every piece of the car and the engine as well. But he didn’t have the money to actually build the car. So, he sold the plans to Peugeot who then manufactured the car from 1905 to 1916 and called it Bebe. There were two 1913 Bebes in the hangar. Then Bill pulled back a car cover to reveal a mint condition 1935 Bugatti. It’s one of the top examples in the world and has to be valued around a million bucks!

There was another Bugatti – an all-aluminum 1938 that was in pieces being restored. This car only weighed around 2,200 lbs and had 200 horsepower making it one the fastest cars on the road at that time. Cool stuff.

Bill quickly pulled the alternator and oil pump from the Nissan A15 engine in Midget-San. I remarked how surprised I was to find the pump in stock at RockAuto. Bill told me this oil pump is used in at least three Nissan engine families and is a fairly common part. That made sense. We primed the pump and reassembled everything with a new oil filter and fired it up. The oil pressure came up within a couple of seconds. Much better!

Bill put a volt meter on the battery to make sure nothing went awry when the alternator was removed and discovered it was over-charging. The alternator was supplying over 15.5 volts. It has an internal regulator that must be bad. This will eventually fry the battery – the charging voltage should never exceed 15-volts and ideally would be around 14.2 to 14.4-volts. I’ll have to replace that next. This is what happens when you have a 48-year-old car with a 39-year-old engine.

Across from the hangar is the Allen Airways Flying Museum. The museum is owned by Bill Allen – a good friend of Bill M. Bill asked me if I was interested in a private tour of the museum. He had the keys and we entered the closed museum. There are a lot of interesting pieces of aeronautical history there. I saw a couple of Stearman Biplanes in the museum hangar and told Bill I frequently see two Stearmans fly over Mission Bay Park, almost daily. I described them and he told me one of them was in the corner of the hangar and the other – a orange-yellow one was a rental plane that sees almost daily use.

The other Boeing Stearman in the hangar was a beautifully restored silver plane with a blue stripe down the side and blue wing bottoms. It had tail number N-3188. This was the last plane owned and flown by Steve McQueen!

Steve McQueen requested number 3188 – it was his ID number when he was at reform school in Chino. Bill Allen bought the plane and completely restored it.

On Friday, Donna and I drove up to Sun City and cleared some items from Ken’s house. I also met with a realtor and we discussed marketing the property and a realistic valuation. The realtor is Sherry Dodson and she has a track record for the gated community Ken’s house is in. She’s sold around 10 homes per year there for several years. She had good comps to establish a realistic value. Setting the price too high could result in problems with a buyer obtaining financing. We needed a number that would appraise without leaving money on the table. After an hour or so, we came up with a price and a plan.

Saturday was a fine day. Donna and I rode our bikes along the Bayside Walk to Mission Beach. Along the way at Crown Point, we saw a large number of row boats for crew racing. It appeared to be a large event for mostly junior rowers. The crew teams looked to be high school age or maybe college. I’m not very good at guessing ages anymore – they all look young.

We made a loop from Mission Beach to Pacific Beach Drive and back to Mission Bay RV Resort.

Saturday night, Donna marinated a flank steak and served it with baked potato and roasted brussels sprouts. Delicious!

Monday was Veterans Day and another fine day. We took a drive in Midget-San out to Cabrillo Monument on Point Loma. We made a stop at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

From the cemetery looking toward Naval Air Station North Island

Looking at San Diego Bay toward downtown

Last night, Donna tried a new recipe for a baked pasta dish with Italian sausage crumbles and broccolini. She’s used garbanzo bean rotini which has more protein than regular pastas. It was very good, though not something we would have often because of all the cheese and cream!

This morning I finalized a counter-offer on Ken’s house and it looks like we are moving forward on the sale. We ended up within $2,000 of the asking price and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that we get a favorable inspection result and appraisal.

The weather forecast for the week ahead looks great. It might be slightly cooler with highs in the upper 60s to low 70s and overnight lows in the mid 50s. That’s November in San Diego!

Stuck in the Middle

I feel like I’ve been spinning my wheels without gaining any traction lately. The death of my step-dad threw me for a loop and as successor trustee, I have much to do. But, there’s a hitch. I had durable power of attorney (POA) for his financial affairs. However, the POA is only applicable while he was living. The POA would allow me to make financial moves on his behalf if he was incapacitated. Now that he’s no longer with us, the POA is meaningless. That’s where the trust comes into play. The thing is, I cannot make a move as successor trustee until a death certificate is recorded with the county and I have certified copies. That’s the sticking point – I don’t have copies yet.

Once I have the certificate, I’ll open a new bank account for the trust. I’ve already obtained an EIN for the account. Then we can start converting assets and fund the trust and also resolve any debts. Some things that should be easy aren’t so easy. For example, I’ve tried to cancel his cable TV service. The cable company, Frontier, won’t do it unless I have his secret four-digit PIN. I don’t have his PIN and have no way of getting it. They’re happy to keep receiving the automated payment he set up. I’ll get it figured out.

Meanwhile Donna and I have been getting back into a more usual routine. The weather has been unusually warm for this time of year. The week before last, we rode our bicycles to Pacific Beach. After cruising up the boardwalk and making a stop at the bike shop, we went to Kono’s Cafe for lunch. Kono’s is right across from Crystal Pier – it was Tug’s Tavern back in the day. They have a patio deck across Ocean Boulevard on the north side of the pier overlooking the beach and ocean. We dined alfresco and watched the surfers while we enjoyed our lunch.

On such a warm day – the temperature reached 90 degrees – I expected the beach to be crowded. But, as you can see in the photos, the beach crowd was light. On the way back to Mission Bay RV Resort, I snapped a picture on the north side of Mission Bay – called Sail Bay – looking southeast toward Riviera Drive. There weren’t many people there either.

A week ago Saturday, we drove Midget-San up to the Cuyamaca Mountains and the town of Julian. We went to an event called Belly Rumble. It was at the Menghini Winery and was put on by a group of San Diego British Car Clubs. They had food and drink, an informal car show for British marques and belly dancers!

The winery was a few miles outside of town. On the way back, we stopped in Julian – a small town with a population of around 1,500 people. Julian is known for apples – specifically apple pie. We found the usual throngs of weekend tourists in town and long lines for apple pies at the bakery.

Midget-San in front of the Julian Mercantile

When I started the Midget to leave the winery, the oil pressure was very slow to build. In fact, the gauge showed zero PSI for over a minute before it built pressure. I was about to give up and call for an expensive tow, then it suddenly came up. It’s usually a little slow, but climbs within 10 seconds or so. I suspect an oil pump or pressure relief issue. This is not good. Left unchecked, it will eventually lead to bearing damage.

I talked to Bill from British Auto Repair – he’s the mechanic who replaced my hub/axle seal. He’s familiar with the Nissan A15 engine swap in Midgets and knows our car. He told me something I didn’t know. The Nissan A15 engine has an external oil pump. The pump is built into the oil filter flange on the side of the engine and can be easily replaced without pulling the engine or dropping the oil pan. This is good news! Outside of engines with dry-sump oil systems, I can’t think of another application with an external oil pump. Usually they’re located at the bottom of the engine block near one end of the crankshaft and, at minimum, the oil pan needs to be removed to access it.

I ordered a new oil pump from Rock Auto – an amazing online parts store. The had oil pumps in stock for this obscure 38-year-old engine. I’ll take the car to Bill’s place out in El Cajon once I have the part and replace the pump. We have Ken’s car still, so we’ve been using his Kia Soul for transportation and Midget-San has been parked in the trailer for the past two weeks.

The hot, dry weather spell has passed and we are experiencing a more “normal” San Diego climate. The daily highs are in the low to mid 60s with overnight lows in the upper 50s. The 10-day forecast calls for more of the same with little chance of rain. The cool nights are just right for sleeping with a window open and a down comforter on the bed.

As we are getting back to our routine, I’ll close this post with a couple of dinner plate pictures.

Chicken feta sausage with sauteed spinach, peppers and mushrooms and garlic cauliflower mash on the side

Shrimp with a feta-tomato sauce and green beans – more garlic cauliflower mash on the side

A Quiet Passing

My step-dad, Kenneth Keller, passed quietly Friday morning. He was 88 years old. We’ve learned a few details about the final months of his life over the past few weeks. He had been complaining about shortness of breath for a few months. His primary care physician examined him in August and again in September. He didn’t order any diagnostic procedures (i.e. chest X-ray). On September 28th, he was gasping for air and his neighbor, Helen, called 911 after talking to Ken’s primary care physician. He was transported to Loma Linda Hospital in Murrieta.

Ken was born in 1931 but we don’t know anything about his biological parents – he was put up for adoption and was adopted by the Keller family. I think he was born in Connecticut, but the family moved to Iowa.

He joined the United States Marine Corps in 1950 at the age of 19. He was shipped out to Korea. He fought the Chinese Peoples Volunteer Army (PVA) at Chosin Reservoir in December of 1950. This was a pivotal battle in the Korean war and huge casualties were suffered by all involved. The marines were surrounded by an overwhelming force of Chinese PVA. The marines broke through and marched to the port of Hungnam, about 70 miles away for evacuation.

Ken was about five and a half feet tall and weighed all of 150 pounds at the time. But he carried and operated a Browning Machine Gun which had to be a heavy load to hump through the snow covered mountains around the reservoir.

Ken married and settled in San Diego, California. I don’t know anything about his first wife and children. After the divorce, they were completely estranged. Ken went to work for the City of San Diego as an electrician – a job he held for over twenty years.

In 1972, he married my mother. I grew to respect the man, especially for the way he always took care of my mother. As I came of age, he helped me purchase my first car (and second and third). They lived in a few places around San Diego before mom and Ken both retired. I think it was 1994 when they bought a house in Sun City – which is now a community of the city of Menifee in Riverside County. My mom passed away in 2012. Ken continued to live alone in their house for the remainder of his life.

At Loma Linda Hospital, he was treated for fluid in his lungs. Diagnostic x-rays revealed a tumor in his left lung. After a week, he was transported to Ramona Rehabilitation and Post Acute Care Center in Hemet. He was attended by skilled nursing staff 24 hours a day there. However, the place is somewhat crowded and the staff appears to be overworked.

Our goal was to move him into a boarding care home where he would have attendants 24/7 in a much quieter environment and more personal attention. After some research, Donna and I toured a couple of facilities. We decided that a new boarding care home in a recently developed residential area of Winchester was the best choice. New Hope Residential Elder Care is owned and operated by Jane Mikenas. She provides personal attention daily and has two attendants on duty at all times to care for up to six patients – a 3 to 1 ratio of patients to caregivers.

Unfortunately, our was plan to move Ken on October 15th was dashed when he was diagnosed with an infectious bacterial infection. We weren’t able to get him into the boarding care home until Wednesday, October 23rd. By then, his health had declined dramatically. Hospice care evaluated him and assigned a nurse. Jane made him her priority as she was certain he was in his final stages.

My phone rang at 6:03am Friday morning. At first I thought it must be an East Coast telemarketer as I slumbered. Then I realized there could be another reason for an early morning call. It was Jane. She told me Ken passed moments earlier. She was at his bedside and held his hand as he slipped away. She had come in early because one of the caregivers told her Ken was struggling. He had been on atavan and morphine and passed away in peace.

Last January, I had Ken’s trust reviewed and updated by an attorney. I was named successor trustee and now I have the fiduciary responsibility to settle his estate. I met with Ken and my brother, Eddie, at Ken’s house in January to go over his wishes. I made copies of all documents and distributed them to my brother and sister to avoid any misunderstandings. This is a big responsibility and I wanted to be transparent with what would happen under these circumstances. I’ll be busy in the weeks ahead. I’ll try to update with a post or two covering happier stuff Donna and I are sure to find. Ken’s last words to us were, “You two have fun!”

Engineering or Art?

I’ve been finding it hard to motivate myself to post to this blog lately. I’m busy keeping affairs in order for my step-dad, Ken. He’s still at the skilled nursing facility in Hemet. He is currently scheduled to be transported to the boarding home care facility in Winchester tomorrow. We will be able to employ hospice care there.

We got out and did a few things in the last week. Donna’s fighting a sinus infection, so that limited some of her normal activities. I went out and played pickleball a couple of times. On Thursday, we went to the UCSD campus to check out an unusual attraction Donna heard about. It’s located at the top of Jacobs Hall on the campus. The UCSD campus covers over 2,100 acres in La Jolla near Torrey Pines.

The attraction is an engineering/art exercise called Fallen Star. It’s a weird building cantilevered off of the roof of Jacobs Hall.

The hall is a seven-story building near the Ted Geisel library. It houses the Jacobs School of Engineering.

The building was designed by an engineer named Suh Do Ho. Everything inside the building from the floor to furnishings is set at crazy angles. It’s not like the floor is tilted and everything inside tilts with it. Some furnishings tilt one way while windows and other furnishings are tilted in different directions. It’s all very dis-orienting.

The Ted Geisel library building is another interesting bit of architecture on the campus. It was built in 1970 and renovated and renamed after local author Theodor Geisel – better known as Dr. Suess – in the 1990s. The building looks like something that landed from outer space. At night when it’s lit up inside, it really looks even more outer-spacey.

Ted Geisel Library viewed from the top of the Jacobs Hall – the construction cranes are far away in the background

Another view of the library from ground level

My friend Gary Stemple invited me to join him Friday night for the San Diego Music Hall of Fame induction show. There are a few organizations claiming to be San Diego Hall of Fame – this one is fairly recent with this being their second induction ceremony.

We took an Uber to Ocean Beach where the ceremony was held in a church hall. The musicians were each limited to just one or two songs during the presentation. I would have liked to have more music and fewer speeches, but that’s how these things go.

One of the inductees was Robin Henkel – a long time San Diego musician. Back in the ’70s, he was a member of a popular local band called Jambalaya. He plays blues and jazz now and has opened shows for many stars such as B.B. King, Dizzy Gillespie, Bonnie Raitt and many others.

Angelo Pizzaro is a young up-and-coming star on the music scene in San Diego and he performed an original composition on keyboards, accompanied by a horn.

The Candye Kane Alumni Band played a tribute to her as she is a San Diego Hall of Famer. Candye originally started in the porn industry in the early ’80s and her music career took hold in the mid-’80s. She passed away in 2016 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 54.

The show was fun and the atmosphere was very laid back.

We’ve had more great weather here although things are heating up again. We have a mild Santa Ana condition – I’ve written about it before. Santa Ana occurs when high pressure develops inland over the desert. This creates wind that blows across the mountains to the west, lowering humidity and raising temperature. The hot, dry wind is a big fire danger. Yesterday the high temperature reached 89 degrees and we’re expecting upper 80s today. The next few days should be upper 70s to low 80s, then we’ll settle down to a more “normal” high of around 70 degrees.

Mexican Boarding Pass

I haven’t written a post in over a week. It’s not just due to laziness on my part – I’ve been busy and family matters have me out of my usual routines. My step-dad, Ken, is still at Ramona Rehab Center in Hemet. It’s a little under two hours of driving time to get there if the traffic is flowing well. With a traffic jam or two, it can take three hours each way. His condition seemed to be improving, but then things changed. I finally got a report on the doctor’s findings.

He has a lung tumor of about 3.3cm in the left lobe. This is why he has fluid in his lung. I suspect he may also have additional tumors in his abdomen. At his age, 88 years old, no doctor is willing to risk surgical procedures – he probably wouldn’t survive an operation.

I’ve made several trips up to Hemet over the past week and half. The plan was to move Ken out of the rehab center on Tuesday, October 15th – tomorrow. Donna returned from her trip to Vermont last Wednesday night and she drove up with me on Saturday. We made a couple of stops to check out boarding care facilities. We found one we liked in Winchester – about 15 or 20 minutes away from the neighborhood Ken lived in. The boarding care facility is a normal looking residential house in a newly constructed neighborhood. They can accommodate up to six patients and have two attendants on duty 24 hours a day. After looking at the home, we drove up to the rehab center and faced some bad news.

Ken’s condition had worsened. He has a bacterial infection commonly called C. diff. It’s contagious and they won’t be releasing him until it clears up. I didn’t know this on Saturday – the test results came in on Sunday. I paid the admission fee and pro-rated care fee for October at the boarding care home on Saturday to make sure he had a private room available when he’s discharged from the rehab center. It won’t be happening tomorrow though.

Meanwhile life goes on and I had a few interesting days. On Thursday, my friend Gary Stemple invited me to go fishing with him and another friend of his named Duane. I bought a one-day California fishing license at Dana Landing at 3pm on Wednesday afternoon after returning from a trip to Hemet. I told the girl at the counter I needed a one-day license for tomorrow. I also needed a one-day Mexican fishing permit in case we crossed into Mexican waters. She told me I had to get the Mexican permit online.

When I got back to the park and started to search for the Mexican permit, I noticed the California license she issued me was for one-day but it was for Wednesday! Who would buy a license at 3pm and have it expire at midnight? I told her it was for tomorrow. I went back and she issued a new license without any further hassle.

Donna came home from the airport close to midnight Wednesday night. It was a long travel day from Vermont. I was up at 4am to go fishing. We left Harbor Island in a 24-foot center console fishing boat at sunrise. The first stop was at the bait barge where we filled the live-well with live anchovies.

The fishing turned out to be a bust. We got skunked, although we fished hard at the nine-mile bank and also near the Coronado Islands of Mexico. There was a lot of naval activity outside of San Diego along a couple of shipping lanes. We saw a few Littoral-class combat ships. These stealth warships are futuristic looking and a bit scary.

Another ship passed by us and I couldn’t figure out what it was. I think it was some kind of support ship for underwater research. It had two submersibles – the orange shapes you can see in the photo – and a weird open two-level deck.

When we headed south toward the Coronado Islands, we rigged three lines for trolling. I drove the boat as we trolled slowly – about 4mph. Gary napped on the bow seats while Duane took a nap on the aft bench. As we approached the islands, I saw what looked like a powerful go-fast boat come around one of the islands and head toward us. Something about it made me think this wasn’t good. It was speeding on a heading to come directly to us. When it was about 500 yards out, I could see a number of men on board – at least a dozen. And they had guns.

As they came closer, I told Gary to wake up – we have armed Federales coming. I put the boat in neutral and wound my line in. I told Duane to wake up and start reeling his line in – we were going to be boarded. As their boat came alongside about 10 yards, I could see they were Mexican Federal agents with automatic weapons and body armor. They came around behind us and ran over two of our fishing lines, cutting one of them.

One of the men on board started yelling at the boat driver and had him back away. They floated about 30 yards beside us with all eyes on us. Duane asked me if he should get his passport and permit out. I told him to keep reeling his line in and keep his hands in their view. I didn’t want him to reach inside his backpack.

Once Duane had his line and lure in, they seemed satisfied that we were merely gringo fisherman. The guy that yelled at the boat driver seemed to be in charge. He gave us a thumbs up and called out, “Okay?” Gary replied, “Bueno.” They drove away without boarding our boat! How weird is that?

As we headed toward the islands, I spied a fin cutting the water about 100 yards away. Gary drove toward it. It was a large shark – we think it was a mako based on the color and it was about eight feet long. We gave up fishing around 3pm and headed back to San Diego Bay.

As we entered the bay, two go-fast boats came toward us and passed off the port side about 50 yards out. They had flashing lights and each held eight or 10 special forces troops – probably Navy SEALS from the Coronado North Island base. Then two more flew by followed by two more pairs – making a total of eight boats.

Gary continued cruising at about 25mph toward the gas dock and Harbor Island when we noticed a go-fast boat with flashing lights coming up on us from behind. We thought one of the special forces boat had turned around to follow us. Then we heard the whoop-whoop of its siren and we slowed to a stop. It was a Coast Guard Patrol Boat with three, 300-horsepower outboard engines! Two officers boarded our boat. It was a routine safety check. It went smoothly – we had all of our gear and paperwork in order. This was the first time any of us had been boarded by the Coast Guard.

On Saturday morning, Donna and I drove Midget-San to the British Car Day show at Spanish Landing Park on San Diego Bay across from the airport. It was a nice show with the cars organized by marque representing various car clubs in the area.

There were several Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprites. My first car was a Bugeye that I bought when I was 15 years old.

The original Mini was a very small car sold under the Austin or Morris nameplate. The current versions are much larger cars. In the photo above, you can partially see a Clubman wagon with wood trim in the background.

There were several DeLoreans on display. Although DeLorean Motor Company was an American company, the cars were built in North Ireland, making them British cars.

This old MG was interesting. The bonnet not only covered the motor, it extended beyond the firewall to expose the steering column and control pedals. It looks like it might have been a bit drafty on the legs and feet.

We saw Paul Konkle’s 1962 MGB racecar. Paul is the owner of British Car Repair where I had the axle/hub seal replaced on our Midget.

Donna looking good in Paul’s MGB racecar

Paul raced the previous weekend at the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) Nationals at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. He brought home a gold medal!

We had to leave by 11am to go north to look at boarding care facilities which brings me back to the start of this post.

Gary invited us to join him on Sunday and drive up to Carson for the Chargers game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football. Gary has season tickets and Donna was our designated driver. There were so many Steeler fans visiting southern California at the game, the vibe in the tailgating area was hostile. I’ve never experienced such a negative atmosphere inside the stadium at a Chargers game before.

The weather here in San Diego continues to be outstanding. Last week was a little warmer than usual with highs reaching the mid-80s. The week ahead should have highs in the low-to-mid-70s and overnight lows around 60 degrees.

Wheels, Tires and Surf

I’m staying busy here in San Diego. In my last post I mentioned dropping the Midget off for repairs at British Auto Repair near the Sports Arena. I also had ordered new wheels and tires on Monday. The current tires had good tread but they were five years old and seemed like the rubber had hardened.

I was also getting a vibration that was worse at 55-58 MPH. Usually when you feel a vibration at a speed in 50 – 60 MPH range, it indicates a wheel balance problem. But this vibration would be more pronounced intermittently. It seemed like an imbalance or out-of-round condition of two or more wheels would align in phase at times and the steering wheel and shift lever would shake. The wheels on Midget-San are the original Rostyle stamped steel wheels – nearly 40 years old. Cosmetically they looked brand new, but I had no idea if they had suffered previous damage and had been straightened.

Back in the 1960s and early 70s, the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) had a number of classes to race British cars in. Back then it seemed like every British race car was shod with eight-spoke cast alloy wheels called minilites. When I was a teenager driving an Austin-Healey Sprite I lusted after a set of minilites, but they were out of my budget. Those wheels not only looked sharp, they were also lightweight. Wheel weight is an important factor in a vehicles handling characteristics. Wheels are what auto engineers call “unsprung” weight. Unsprung weight is any weight that’s not supported by the vehicles suspension, such as wheels, brake discs and axles. These components are more or less hung from the suspension springs and shocks.

Nowadays minilite style wheels are available from a few manufacturers. I ordered a set of Minator minilite style alloy wheels from Moss Motors with free shipping on Monday. I also ordered a set of Toyo tires from Amazon Prime to mount on the new wheels. I was pleasantly surprised when the wheels and tires were delivered together from UPS Wednesday afternoon!

Wednesday evening Donna took a flight to Albany, New York enroute to her parents house in Bennington, Vermont. She’ll be there for a week helping her dad rehab from a broken hip. So, I’m a bachelor for the week.

Thursday morning I called Discount Tire to see how much they would charge to mount and balance the new tires and find out when they could it. When I told the guy I had the new wheels and tires already, he put me on hold and didn’t pick up in the next five minutes. Obviously they weren’t interested in doing the job. I hung up. Next I called Victor’s Tire and Auto Detail shop up the hill from here on Clairemont Drive. They said they would do it for a total of $60 out-the-door and to come in anytime. I drove up there – two guys on two tire machines mounted the tires then balanced them and I was on my way within 15 minutes!

New tire and Minator minilite style eight spoke alloy wheel

I put the wheels away in the trailer, then my phone rang. It was British Auto Repair. They had finished the axle/hub seal repair. I wasn’t expecting it for another day or two. They also told me that the gasket and O-ring was all that was needed – I had caught the leak early enough to avoid damage to the brake shoes and there was no hub damage. So a repair that could have cost as much as $600 only came to $200. Good news indeed.

I took an Uber to the shop and drove Midget-San back to Mission Bay RV Resort and parked next to the trailer in the overflow lot. I was able to change the wheels and had the car ready to go in no time.

I took a test drive up to Torrey Pines and back. Smooth. No sign of the vibration I could feel before. The car drives better and I think it looks better too!

Friday I drove Ken’s car up to Hemet to visit him and check on his progress at Ramona Rehab Center. It’s a little over a 90-minute drive without any traffic tie-ups. He seemed to be doing better and was in fine spirits. But, they had taken another chest x-ray that morning and were waiting for the results. The doctor thinks he’s getting fluid in his lungs again. I still haven’t heard anything but I intend to follow-up this afternoon.

At happy hour at the Offshore Tavern and Grill last night I heard about a surfing contest at La Jolla Shores this morning. I headed up there at 10am to check it out. The Windansea Surf Club had their Menehune Juniors contest. I hung out on the beach and watched for a while – some of the kids are pretty good!

An ensemble with two guitars and a bass played surf music. They had a van with their amps and a generator in the parking behind an EZ-up canopy. They sounded good and played a lot of surf classics from the 60s.

The surf sound – Fender Jaguar guitars and Reverb amps

The weather has been fantastic and we can expect more of the same in the coming week. Today will be the last day I can say I’m 62 years old. My 63rd birthday is tomorrow.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

No More 24-Hour Shuffle

The short drive from Oceanside to Mission Bay was uneventful Friday morning. The day before, I had called Mission Bay RV Resort to inquire if they were still using the e-mail Fast Track check-in process – I hadn’t received the e-mail. The guy I talked to didn’t seem to know – I could hear him asking someone else in the office – then he said I would get an e-mail. I didn’t. Mission Bay RV Resort is under new management. I won’t go into the details in this post – it’s been a political football – but now the RV park is being run by the same people that operate Campland – an RV resort on the bay across Rose Inlet from Mission Bay RV Resort.

Not much has changed so far, but there was one positive at check-in. When we first started coming to Mission Bay, we were required to leave the park for at least 24 hours after one month – what we called the 24-hour shuffle. One month was defined as 31 consecutive days. Then they changed the policy to allow two consecutive months – 62 days. Now three months are allowed before you have to leave the park, so we’re checked in for 93 consecutive days. This is great – packing up and getting out of the park for 24 hours when you want to have an extended stay here was always a pain. We unloaded Midget-San and dropped the trailer in the overflow lot, then set up in site 111.

As usual we found many activities going on in Mission Bay Park. The RV park also filled up for the weekend. This is the normal pattern here at this time of year – lots of weekend warriors but generally quiet with many empty sites during the weekdays.

We’ve been having king tides with the high tide over six-feet above the normal sea level. The tides should be back to a more normal level after today – the high tide will be about four feet above mean sea level.

I have my outdoor TV set up again – I hook it up to the park’s cable TV. It allows me to sit outside in the evenings and puff a cigar while I watch football. Sunday night, that’s what I did.

I’ve been trying to stay on top of my step-dad’s healthcare at Loma Linda Hospital in Murrieta. When I visited him last week, I went to the nurses’ station on his floor and gave them my contact information and told them I was next-of-kin and had power of attorney for his healthcare decisions. I thought we were clear that I was the contact person. They didn’t contact me. They kept calling Ken’s neighbor, Helen with updates. Ken’s good friend, Ray, and his wife, Helen, live across the street from Ken in Sun City (Menifee). Ray is 90 years old. I think Helen is well into her 70s and she’s had her hands full taking care of Ray and looking after Ken. Helen is sharp as a tack and really on top of things. We finally got it straightened out with the hospital so I would be contacted if needed.

Ken is doing better, but he’s not able to fend for himself just yet. Monday we had him transferred to a skilled nursing facility for rehabilitation. Hopefully he’ll regain enough strength to be able to go home soon. Donna and I borrowed her sister, Sheila’s car on Tuesday and drove it up to Menifee to get some things from Ken’s house. I took Ken’s car – a 2015 Kia Soul – and we drove to Hemet to admit Ken to the rehab facility. I figured it was best if I kept his car in case I needed to take him anywhere else. I couldn’t get him into or out of the Midget. I also picked up his mail and took care of some financial matters for him.

I made a Costco run on Monday morning in Midget-San. I’ve written about the Costco on Morena Boulevard here before. It’s the original Price Club location. I’ve also written about the high end liquor they offer there. When I saw a bottle of Russian Beluga Vodka, I was dumbfounded.

I don’t understand how any vodka could command a price of $6,999 – but it does come in a Lalique Crystal bottle. The 50-year old Scotch Whisky from The Glenlivet tops all though.

This morning, we dropped off Midget-San at British Auto Repair near the Sports Arena. The right rear axle/hub seal is leaking. I don’t have the work space or all of the tools needed for the job so I found what are probably the best British car mechanics in the area for the job. Since I have Ken’s car right now, it was a good time to get the repair done.

Tonight, Donna will fly out of Lindbergh Field to Albany, New York. She’s going to Bennington, Vermont to visit her parents for the next week. She’ll be helping her dad with his rehab – he broke his hip a few weeks ago.

The weather here has been great – daily highs in the 70s and overnight lows around 60 degrees. I can expect more blue skies and fine weather in the week ahead with a slight warming trend after the weekend. I’ll probably make a trip or two to Hemet – about 90 miles from here – to visit Ken and check on his progress.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Family Matters

I closed my last post saying we had eight nights to fill before we could check in at Mission Bay RV Park in San Diego and needed a plan. What we came up with may not have been the most exciting plan, but it was practical. We left Bishop and headed south on US395 for about 140 miles to Ridgecrest, California.

The Elks Lodge in Ridgecrest has about a dozen sites with full hook-ups – five are 50amp service. Ridgecrest isn’t the most glamorous destination, but at $20/night it would work for the first four nights we needed to fill.

Ridgecrest has been in the news recently due to earthquakes centered near the town. In July, quakes with magnitudes of 6.4, 5.4 and 7.1 happened. In the last week, several smaller quakes occurred including a a magnitude 3.2 on Saturday morning, which was recorded by geologists, but we didn’t even notice it.

Ridgecrest’s other claim to fame is the China Lake Naval Station nearby. China Lake is mainly a research and evaluation facility for the US Navy – and it’s also the largest landholding in the navy’s inventory.

When we arrived, there were a few other RVs there, but after two days, we had the place to ourselves. We didn’t do anything exciting while we were there. Donna caught up on a couple of assignments while we took advantage of the 50-amp service to keep the air conditioners running during the day. The high temperature hovered around 90 each day, but quickly cooled off after sundown to overnight lows in the upper 50s. We also had excellent satellite reception and I recorded Formula One and Moto-GP races.

We dropped the trailer across from our site by the lodge

The Ridgecrest Elks Lodge has an RV club and they’ve done a great job with the RV sites, but the lodge doesn’t seem to be very active. They do have Bingo on Thursday nights and Donna went over to play. On Friday evening I went in for a cold one around 5pm and found only two people there. The bartender told me Fridays are usually quiet as so many people get out of town for the weekend. The lodge is closed Saturday and Sunday!

By the time I had the Midget secured in the trailer and hooked up, it was 10:30am when we pulled out of Ridgecrest on Monday morning. We followed US395 south to I-15 and went over Cajon Summit. Cajon Summit is followed by six miles of steep downgrade dropping into San Bernadino. The traffic was harrowing on this stretch as expected. Cars dart from lane to lane trying to take advantage of any opening without much regard for tractor-trailer and big-rig RVs.

We took I-215 down through Riverside and continued our trek southward. We made a stop at Ethanac Road in Menifee where I knew there was a travel center. Finding truck stops in southern California isn’t as easy as some places. I filled our tank with diesel #2 at $3.75/gallon. Not bad considering California fuel prices – we’ve seen much higher prices.

My step-dad, Ken, lives nearby but we didn’t see him. There isn’t anyplace nearby to legally park an RV. We would have to go several miles, then unload the Midget for a visit and load back up to get on the road. I really wanted to get past the afternoon rush through Temecula and get off the road. Our destination was another four-night stay at an Elks Lodge – in Oceanside this time. We’ve wanted to stay there for a while but weren’t able to get a reservation in the past. This time we got lucky and snagged a site for four nights – only a 30-amp service this time. The 30-amp service isn’t a big deal since we have cooler breezes here coming off the Pacific Ocean and don’t need to run air conditioners.

Tuesday morning Donna and I took a ride down the Coast Highway to Saint Michaels By-The-Sea just after crossing into Carlsbad. We met Debbie Bednarski – a friend from my high school days – there and played pickleball. They have two outdoor courts and 12-15 people showed up to play. It was great to see Debbie again and also get back on the pickleball courts.

While we were there, I received a phone call from the my step-dad, Ken’s neighbor, Helen. She told me Ken had just been taken away in an ambulance for transport to Loma Linda Hospital in Murrieta. I knew he was complaining about shortness of breath and it seems like it’s gotten bad enough that he needed attention.

This created a little tension for me – I had to figure out how to handle the situation. Donna’s dad had taken a fall a few weeks ago and broke his hip. He had successful surgery but now needs rehabilitation. He spent two weeks in a facility before Donna’s sisters decided to take over. Linda is a nurse and Sheila is a physical therapist. Sheila flew from San Diego to Vermont to get him going on rehab.

Meanwhile, Sheila’s 15 year-old son, Connor, was invited to play with a band made up of local middle and high schoolers opening up the Padres MLB game with the national anthem at Petco Park on Tuesday night. I needed to drop Donna off at Sheila’s place in La Jolla so she could use Sheila’s car to drive Connor to the ballgame and back.

I called the hospital and talked to an ER nurse. She told me they were taking Ken to X-ray, he was coherent, his vitals were good and I should wait and check back later. So I carried on and drove Donna to La Jolla. I called the hospital again and the nurse told me nothing had really changed and she advised me to sit tight and wait until the doctor came up with something. She didn’t seem overly concerned at this point. I notified my sister and brother and also my daughters of the situation. They admitted Ken to the hospital for more tests and observation.

Yesterday I drove the Midget up to Murrieta. It’s a blast up the interstate most of the way – not a fun drive in a small British sports car. At the hospital, I found Ken’s room and he seemed much better. They had discovered a large amount of fluid in one lung and drained 1.5 liters from it! With the liquid removed, he could breathe much better.

I’m concerned though. The thing is, his heart rate, blood pressure and temperature were all fine. He just couldn’t breathe. To me, I’m thinking this isn’t pneumonia or some kind of infection – he would’ve been ill. So why was there fluid in his lung? The only thing I can come up with is congestive heart failure or cancer. He’s 88 years old, so I’m hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

Meanwhile, Donna has plans to fly to Varmont next week. She’ll spend a day with Sheila learning what needs to be done to assist with her dad’s physical therapy. Sheila will return home while Donna stays there for a week or more. Family matters matter. I’ll be at Mission Bay RV Resort – we check in tomorrow.

A rain shower passed through here this morning. We skipped pickleball, but drove down to the Oceanside Farmers’ Market near the pier. There were some unique vendors and we bought more than usual.

Oceanside Farmers Market – and the back of Donna’s head

It’s cloudy and cool – the high might reach 70 degrees. We expect pleasant weather at Mission Bay – daytime highs in the low 70s and overnight lows in the 60s. Hard to beat that.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Got Junk?

I Can See Clearly Now

Cool Stuff at Gillespie Field

Stuck in the Middle

A Quiet Passing

Engineering or Art?

Mexican Boarding Pass

Wheels, Tires and Surf

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

No More 24-Hour Shuffle

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Family Matters

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*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

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*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

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