Shoeless

New Costco shoes for the car. This is a dangerous situation since I am forced to shop inside during the time my car is held hostage. But I can limit the time I can do damage by sitting down for a $1.62 Costco hotdog and soda meal before I go inside.

Roast olive oil and lemon chicken. With fingerling potatoes. The lemon tree just keeps going and going this year. The chicken could use some new shoes too.

Foot in mouth

While in the area, I drop by Hannah's for a visit. Her shoe collection is very pink. I'm a bit jealous as I do not own any pink shoes.

Awesome booth upholstery at the Apricot Tree Restaurant.

Corn beef hash, eggs over easy, hash browns, and their signature apricot muffin. Breakfast was um.... well, the vintage lunchboxes hanging from the ceilings are nice.

Back to my roots

In the Bay Area for a short little schmidge. This combination microwave/mini-fridge looks like a movie space robot from the 50's. I knew I should have packed my silver lamé overalls. Darn it!

Intimidated by the microwave robot, I decide to forage for food in the neighborhood. GPS brought me to sesame tofu salad and plum tea.

And Szechwan beef noodle soup with thick cut noodles.

Palty hair dye. Because blonde is my natural hair color.

Gold interest

Topping off on fish again. Inflation means the fishies are now 12 cents each instead of 10 cents last year. That's a 20% jump in price. If that's not reason enough for Ben Bernake to lower interest rates, I don't know what is.

Sprung

A most phallic looking mushroom erect under the meyer lemon tree. It's happy to see me.

Bam boooo!

Woody wagon paneling was looking a bit faded. It's time to start fresh with something new. In light of the current eco-chic trends, I may put up bamboo panels next. Faux vinyl bamboo panels to be exact. In this country, most of us embrace environmentalism only if it's convenient and makes us look good. And we only do it half assed.

Heavy handed

The bucket line commences again today.

Moving 30 bags of 50 kilo cement bags? Like carrying marshmallow peeps for manly men like us.

We head home a bit sun burned, quite a lot dirtier, and aching head to toe- hopefully with fuller hearts knowing that we laid a new foundation for the family, literally.

Dumping loads

Rick surveys this afternoon's handiwork. Them concrete buckets are heavy. And I had a hand in carrying every bucket. I was thoughtful enough to also bring a Costco sized bottle of Advil for everyone to share.

Don't let the picture fool you. I single-handedly pushed the cement mixer uphill with my manly man strength and buns of steel. The others are only there for moral support. (Note that my purple and orange wardrobe matches both the mixer and the Posada where we're staying.)

Real life Peeps!

Packing the rear

It's time for the twice annual Tijuana volunteer house building trip. Costco has colonized my refrigerator with Sunday breakfast for 30. Fitting all this into the back of the car may prove to be a challenge. My Tetris skills are a bit rusty these days.

The Posada at La Gloria Mexico sports an orange and purple color scheme this year. I'm glad I brought my matching hat.

Thistle while you work

The first of this year's artichokes. Purple of Romania variety.

Tying Cardoon stalks together to blanch the interior.

Watching all this harvesting and tying and digging and trimming and plucking makes Preston tired.

Herbal tonic

Ed's rosemary limoncello bottled and ready to ship to unsuspecting friends. Will it be you?

Bottling moonshine

Original recipe Kentucky Davy bourbon rib sauce. Reconstructed based upon the ingredients list on a bottle of bourbon sauce at the distillery gift shop. The profit margins on these sauces are incredible. The basic ingredients are relatively cheap. And virtually no labor costs. My blender full of sauce would retail for $50. Mine sauce is even more delicious than store bought bourbon sauce because it's made with Davy Lurve. Lurve!

And delicious ribs ensue. Roasted garlic potatoes are bonus items. Dog sitter Terry says, "Yum."

House boy

Goodbye to the insanely large house in Kentucky. Abraham Lincoln's house would fit inside the master bathroom with room to spare for an alligator moat. 5000 square feet is pretty much insane for any family with less than 30 people. Such a short trip. We never did get to visit those bourbon fudge packing monks.

It's impossible to resist things like "Boy Bawang" and "Ppushu Ppushu" at the store.

Descending into hell

Visiting the Mammoth Caves this morning. I saw no wooly mammoths anywhere underground. Photos of the underground caverns are all going to look the same. So my cave tour recap will feature cave accessories!

Lights! Camera! Action!

I'm sure this first aid kit is OSHA approved. But you'd think that there'd be reflectors or some flashing lights around this. If there really was a problem, how the heck would you find this?

They probably have miles and miles and miles of extension cords.

Tempted to pilfer.

We could totally use these tools in Mexico. But how to smuggle these topside?

Acetylene torch! I have blow torch envy. Think of the giant creme brulée you can make with this thing.

Little pools like Fraggle Rock. Cave crickets do kind of look like Doozers.

One can't be in Kentucky without a visit to the Colonel.

The horse might produce more greenhouse gasses than the Toyota Prius.

I see a red door and I want to paint it black.

Some poor fool has to polish these copper stills so us city slicker tourists can see our reflection.

Abraham Lincoln lived in this house with his entire family. This shack will fit inside my bedroom with enough room left over for an alligator moat.

Fiery depths of hell

Hell is real. And it is Kentucky.

There's a reason why most nostalgia candies like Necco wafers and candy cigarettes are found only at gas stations in the middle of nowhere and not at the supermarkets. Ick! Gross. Nasty. Lemonheads are still good for the 21st century though. (I'm such a nerd that I knew that Necco was short for New England Confectionary Company.)

Asian people caravanning through the bowels of Kentucky in a Toyota Prius with Illinois plates may not have been one of our wiser decisions.

The smell of fermenting yeasty corn mash reminds me of my failures in bread making. Perhaps I may be successful at making moonshine.

Whirling blades of death.

Copper stills look like I Dream of Jeannie bottles.

Barrels of bourbon. It may be possible to get drunk just by spending a lot of time in the bourbon warehouse. Probably a bad idea to smoke around here. Woodford Distillery must have happy termites.

Werd, yo.

Clamming up

Clams and black bean sauce. Even when I try cooking asian, it doesn't really come out asian.



The sad empty corner where Preston's bed normally sits. So very quiet and lonely around the house. Preston's staying at Terry's for a few days. Because I'm off to Kentucky!