Wyoming's Tetons

Beginning of Road Trip

Salt Lake City

Mount Saint Helens - Washington

Tour of the Gorge

Vacay day 3 - Portland, OR

Q

Mother's Day 2011

Sunday, Mother's Day was started with finishing the second primer coating of the house. Left for Stockton a little after 15:00. Once again we took the scenic route from Apple Hill to Stockton. Always enjoy the beauty offered by nature.  Started at Pleasant Valley Road where we passed a meadow with a bed of yellow wild flowers. Oh, so beautiful.

Made a right turn on County Road E16, Highway 49 to Highway 124 Plymouth Highway. Along the highway was fabulous hills lined with grapevines and series of wineries. There are wine tasting cellars but, we do not drink. Wine anyone?

Aside from the wineries are green meadows with horses, sheep, lamas, and cattle grazing. Passed through Ione with the top view of a landmark: Preston Castle. Hubby said it is a prison. which I Googled and it was a bbuilt to accommodate the Preston School of Industry in 1894, this building is the most significant example of Romanesque Revival architecture in the gold country. The School of Industry was an attempt to rehabilitate juvenile offenders. It closed in 1960 when the school built a new building. The castle appears to be too grandeur in a little foothill town.

As we descend to Central Valley the sun was peeking through the white Cumulus clouds. Beautiful and dramatic.

Stockton finally. My nephew's white Chevy Denali was in front of my parent's house which means my twin grandnieces are here. I finally can see them again - been missing them. I saw them last in October. They are now 10 moths old. They are so cute!. Visited with them for a while. My Mom and sister are still cooking so I geared up - apron and helped. Cooked three of the main entries. My other sister brought seafood and sister-in-law pasta. Dinner is ready!

Rae, my 11 year old niece baked the cake. It is a pineapple upside down cake. I am really impressed. She is eleven. My sister-in-law is raising her well.

One of the thing I love on Filipino Parties are rice delicacies. It is the "Suman" and "tupig" - just cannot get enough of them. I overate again - Gluttony. Please do not tell my husband for I know I will have tummy ache later.  Happy Mother's Day!

DIY house painting, weekend 2

DIY house painting weekend 2. Friday morning hubby decided to continue on cutting the brush at the back of the property and I continued on the priming the side of the house. It was a hot day and hubby came back up early and helped me. Below is our progress. It is all white? That is just primer.

After the weekend we are ready to apply the top coat. I am going to post the progress. Work on Saturday afternoon was wrapped up early. Rain in the forecast.

DIY house painting, Day 1

We are ready to paint. Hubby and I brought the scaffolding to the side of the house from the garage. We have to assemble the upper section so I will be able to reach the highest overhang ( I do not know what you call it but it is the under part of the roof) I have to prime it first maybe 2 coats and the top coat. We also add one railing. I have a slight fear of heights and let me tell you, if I look down my knees tremble and feel sick in my stomach.

I spent all day Saturday painting. Those crevices are so hard to get. I have to use 1/2 inch brush to get into them. By the end of the day I am so tired. My right shoulder is hurting really bad. I have been bothered with an ache when I raise my right arm for weeks now. It all started when I used the leaf blower for more than eight hours straight. Before we went to bed I iced it and took ibuprofen. When I woke up in the morning it felt much better.

Sunday did the same thing. It is warmer and about 15:00 I have to move to another side of the house. The sun's heat is so intense and I did not want to burn.

Hubby is still cutting brush at the back of the property. He said he have maybe a couple more days till he finish clearing the trail.

Hubby and I left for Sacramento about 20:45, Sunday night.  When we walked in and picked all the bags from the truck I booted my laptop as usual and hubby teasing me about it. I saw some FB friends posted that Osama Bin Laden is dead. I right away Googled it to confirm and turned on the TV. Yes indeed he is dead.