Snow and Germination

Basil at Tahoe Donner

Today is Friday.  On Monday of this week the boys and i went up to the snow.  Anselm and  did most of the driving on the way there.  We stayed at Tahoe Biltmore for two nights.  The room only had two beds so Anselm paid Basil $10 to sleep on the floor.  It's a good thing I packed three wool army blankets. 

We didn't eat out on the trip.  Instead, I packed a

Anselm at Boreal

Molinari salami (I used to live a block away from them in North Beach back in the mid 1990s) half a boiled ham, some sour dough bread, some dry jack, brie, mustard, turkey salad, 12 bottles of San Pellegrino and a box of navel oranges.  Clearly, I packed too much food.

On Tuesday we went to Boreal where Anselm skied and Basil and I rode down the mountain on giant inner tubes.  I was a lot of fun.  After a couple of hours Anselm was still skiing but Basil and I were tired so we went to Tahoe Donner (Kathleen is a member and made a reservation for us) to use the pool/hot tub/steam room.  But there is Covid and the hot tub and steam room were closed.  So were the showers and lockers.  About Covid:  It has turned the north sore of Lake Tahoe into a ghost town.  There were only 4 occupied rooms in our hotel and Boreal was almost empty; my guess is there were fewer than 150 people on the slopes..  Hardly anyone is up there.  The boys were asleep by 7 that night and didn't wake up until 7 on Wednesday morning.  Then we drove home.

On Thursday Kathleen and I replanted about 32 of the little 168 pots in the our green houses.  For some
reason those 32 never germinated.  Something else about the garden: Kathleen advertised our seedlings for sale and demand is more than 10 times what we have planted.  Everyone wants the heirloom tomatoes.  I think we might have stumbled into a business!

Late January and Early February

Anselm, San Francisco Bay

Duck season Don Edwards ended on January 31.  Before the end of the season my son Anslem and I went out shooting a couple of times.  I lost my license and federal duck stamp so the last couple of times I didn't shoot.  But Anselm did and he had fun.  He cooked one pintail breast but but didn't like it.

duck breast

My birthday was fun.  Kathleen, her kids, and my kids threw me a surprise party with liver from Original Joe's and  carrot cake from Nothing Bund't Cakes.

Work is still not great.  Because of the government's covid response I am getting very few hours at Bass Pro Shops and I've only had one substitute assignment since October.  I've been applying for other jobs but not getting them.  So, I've gone back to school. I think I mentioned taking a waste water management class from Evergreen Valley College this time last year.  This year I decided to jump in with both feet and enroll at Gavilan College full-time.  Their waste water program is much better than Evergreen's and it is, because of Covid, all on online.  

The green houses Kathleen put on the front porch are doing amazing.  We will have to start transplanting soon.