Marking Time

The LeRoys are currently marking time at the Thousand Trails park south of Hollister, CA. The big event is still over a week away, Deb's big birthday bash with the whole family. In the meantime, we are working on some maintenance projects, selecting pictures for our other blog (One Shot Leads to Another), and making plans for the SKP Chapter 21 rally in October.

But before we left the Morgan Hill Thousand Trails park, daughter Deb and pal Albert visited once again, this time bringing cousin Carol with them. We had a restaurants.com discount certificate ($25 value that cost us just $2!) at Giancarlo's, a local Italian restaurant, so the five of us took advantage of that.

Giancarlo himself came out to greet us and keep us entertained. Carol loved it!

Giancarlo even took our picture.

When I asked him whether he had run out of orange paint, Giancarlo explained they are trying out different color combinations for the restaurant. The blue stripe is painter's tape and will be removed.

If you are interested in those restaurants.com certificates, take a look at their website. Right now they seem to have a special going -- usually a $25 certificate costs $10, but with the promotion going on, a $25 certificate goes for $2. We frequently get that offer through AARP, but this one is open to anyone. Just type the word SAVE in the promo code box at the "checkstand."

Our two projects are the result of wear and tear. First is the under sink cabinet in our kitchen. Nine years of wear and tear, plus a serious leak last winter, left the cabinet floor looking like this. It was badly worn from sliding the garbage can, trays of pots and pans, etc. in and out. Then last winter it got soaked and stained.

On a trip to Lowe's we bought some sheets of a thin clear acrylic, along with a cutting tool, a long straight edge and some clamps. Suzy had some leftover nonslip shelf lining. A little judicious measuring and cutting on both materials resulted in two better looking, clean and hard surfaced cabinet shelves!

First the nonslip had to be cut at the proper angle.

So glad the acrylic was bendable to fit inside the door frame.

Somebody help me up!

Job is finished. We didn't put the nonslip all the way to the back. Just enough to cover the damaged shelving.

The next project is to re-cover our two outdoor folding chairs. A few years of exposure to both Arizona sunshine and our own bottoms has resulted in torn fabric and nervous sitters.

We bought this nice heavy duck material, and Suzy will soon be cutting and sewing.

Not all is work, however. At a nearby fruit packing company we found these trays of apricots drying in the summer sun. I suppose they know what they are doing with this very open process, but will the birds flying over the place show the proper respect? And local rodents? And what about the dust from the cars rolling along the highway!

We may never eat another dried apricot as we continue ... Our Life on Wheels!