Another STEAL!!!

Sah-weet Score!

Today, I decided to hang around the neighborhood in Sacto and do a little local thrifting. The master plan was to hit a few of the stores I normally skip and then head out to discover Discovery Park.

I found the little gem of a bolo above at Thrift Town on El Camino.  It must've slipped by the pricers and they should be kicking themselves:  'cuz it is real silver and real turquoise!  Yesterday in Folsom I saw similar pieces priced 120.00 and more.  This one was marked 5.99.  I did not hesitate.  I just said, "Ring it up!" Yes a STEAL!!!!

It really is quite sweet.  Small but very finely crafted.  Perfect.  My new favorite bolo.

I also found a nice hand engraved solid nickel silver belt buckle from a rodeo in 1979.  Price: 7.99.  Funny thing about this buckle:  when you look at it one way it reads "2nd Place."  But when the light hits it just right, it clearly says "3rd Place." So I wonder, was this a mistake by the engraver, or was somebody trying to upgrade their position???  Hmmmm.  Guess we'll never know.  But, all-in-all, a great weekend of thrifting.  Some great deals on some quality pieces.

I then hit the road out to Discovery Park, a nice stretch of green along the river.  When I got there, I found there was a 5.00 charge to use the park.  Being by myself, and just on an exploratory adventure, I declined to pay the fee and headed back to my Arden and Howe Neighborhood.   On the way, I saw a previously unknown thrift store and I pulled into the parking lot to explore.  Nothing of interest in the store, but as I was leaving, I found 5.00 in the parking lot.  Was it a sign? Should I go back to the park?  Maybe it was.  Maybe the adventure of my life was there.  I'll never know.  I stashed the bill in my shirt.

The rest of the day has been a bit annoying - so what else is new?  I couldn't find any fully shaded spot and really I just wanted to practice my instruments, but where?  I explored a new (to me) park just up Howe past the Home Depot.  While there, I found that the cabin door on the Dolphin was having problems again.  So a trip over to Home Depot was in order.  I had repaired this once before, but this time I came up with a better solution by adding a couple of "L" brackets to reinforce the corner.  The door now works better than ever before.  Phew.  I am holding this thing together with spit a glue, and that is half the fun.

Throughout the day, I have been fantasizing about starting a band: a psychedelic cabaret, dada vaudeville, space age bachelor pad orchestra.  Psycheglamaret.  VaudeDaDaVille.  The DaDaVille Frolic Orchestra.  That's it.  That's the name!  Okay, let's make it happen!

A Day In Folsom: "I Hear That Train A'Comin'"

I spent the day (Bastille Day, Saturday July 14th, 2012) frolicking in Folsom, the town, thankfully not the prison.

But unfortunately the day did not start with a frolic.  Yet another annoying incident. Ok here it is:  The dashboard AC in the Dolphin had gone out when I was returning from the Keenan Winery gig in June. When I had started the trip, the AC was blowing ice cold, but by the end of the trip it was merely cool.  A few days later, nothing but hot air.  As the Dolphin is built on an '86 Toyota truck chassis, I figured the AC must use the now banned R12 freon.  On Craig's List, I located a guy in Sac who was selling some R12 at 20 bucks per can, and made arrangements to meet him Saturday morning.  He had also offered to install the freon.

Well, I showed up at his house at the appointed time.  His driveway was a moderately steep slope, and I could not pull the RV up the hill due to the overhang behind the rear wheels. I decided to jockey the Dolphin into the driveway at an angle to get the nose a little closer to the garage where his tools were. As I was backing up, I heard an awful "KRUNCH." Oy, my heart sank.

I had backed into his mailbox and taken the box off the stand.  Except for the separation, the box was undamaged.  But the stand, one of those welded ess-shaped anchor chain affairs, was bent - ever so slightly - so now the box would not be level with the street.  The box would be at a bit of a tilt. The owner, Mr. R12 guy, explained the pains he had endured to ensure the cement would set right for the box to be level.  Try as we might, neither of us could level the platform.  Damage to the Dolphin was minimal, but it added a nice new 4 inch gash to the fiberglass siding.

Begrudgingly and grumbling, he suggested we move on to the task at hand - adding the R12 to the Dolphin.  We popped the hood, and lo and behold, the system hand been upgraded to the more modern and environmentally safe R134a.  I didn't even need his R12!!!!

I expressed my sincere regret at messing up his mailbox, offered him 40 bucks for his trouble and I hightailed out of there.  I pulled into the first parking lot I could find with some shade so I could lick my wounds and fill the new gash with silicone caulk.  As I reflected on my ordeal, I decided to call Justine to commiserate.  BUT...  no phone!!! I had lost my phone somewhere during the morning.  I had had it when I called Mr R12 at 9 am, but not now.  Had I lost it when I tried to right the mailbox post?  Oh god I hoped not.  I was not about to go back there looking for it.  My phone was so old, I would rather upgrade to a new one than subject myself to the embarrassment of returning to the scene of the crime.

So I retraced my steps back to the Starbucks where I had started my day.  Still no phone.  I went online to see if I had an upgrade due and, sho 'nuff, I did - so it looked like time to finally upgrade.  As a last ditch effort, I asked the barista if anyone had turned in a phone and lo and again behold, yes, there it was behind the counter.  I can't tell you how many times I've lost this phone at a Starbucks and it has been turned in to the lost and found.  Nobody wants this old thing!  So... it looked like I would stick with the old flip phone for the time being.

But (yes another "but"),  as I tried to charge the phone, the socket would not make a solid connection and therefor I could not charge the phone.  Soon it would die.  I could not do anything to save her, so finally the decision was made, I MUST get a new phone. I did and it is done.

After all that annoying stuff I decided to head out to explore Folsom which is about 30 minutes outside of Sacto.  I had heard nice things about the area and that the Folsom 24 hr fitness was the best in the land.  So I researched some of the local thrift stores and headed out.  The olde towne area is quite quaint, with a number of Native American shops and galleries.  Betty's House of Turquoise is phenomenal. I was able to reassure myself that a number of the thrift store purchases I've made recently are actually quite valuable.  I found Yei Bi Che rugs similar to the one that I found for 8 bucks going for 800 dollars and up (thanks for the info S.G.!).  8 inch square sand paintings were going for 80 bucks.  I recently bought 2 of identical quality for 3 bucks each. A clock identical to one I picked up for 7.95 was going for 264.95.  I think I am doing well in the collection. Antique Road Show here I come.

I did find one bargain that I could not resist:  a Native American rug for 20 bucks.  I found this in one of those "antique collectives" where individual sellers have their own space, and I could not believe my eyes when I saw the price.  This one is VERY similar in quality to others I had seen earlier in some of the Native American "Galleries" going for 1200.00 and more.  I think I got a steal at 20 bucks.

And yes the 24 hr Fitness IS the best in the land.  Uncrowded (well it WAS Saturday night) lap pool with 5 lanes (most have only 3) a separate pool for water exercise, and single sex sauna and steam rooms.  The best in all the land.

Here's some pix:

The New Rug, folded in half....

Picnic at Folsom Lake

Gotta love this...

Lake Fun

Betty's House of Turquoise:  Not to be Missed!

I always wondered where Hop Sing ended up after the Ponderosa

Charming Olde Towne Folsom

Day is Done

Two Weeks Hard Labor, or How I Spent My Summer Vacation.

Before

After

It finally happened; I took a two-week vacation.   Since beginning with the DMV in 2009, I have not had any extended time off, so this was the first opportunity to tackle some home maintenance/improvement projects that have been piling up over the years.  The biggest project was repairing and rebuilding the deck.  I am not an experienced carpenter, so while I was confident I could come up with a solution that would – at the very least - be an improvement, I was not sure how it would really turn out.  Fortunately, with the help of some borrowed tools, the project came out better than expected.  It looks great, Justine is happy with the work and… I still have all ten fingers.  Project accomplished.

Handiwork Detail

Carpenter's LUnch

This vacation was also an opportunity to spend time with Mia who was returning from 9 months abroad at Oxford University.  We had a great time, squeezing in a few fun outings in between my chores.  With Julie and Raf, we spent a day at the beach in Santa Barbara then had dinner with my Mom at Harry’s Plaza Café.  The “Omaha”  (an open-face prime rib sandwich) was as good as ever, but the price is now up to 15.95.  I can remember when it was a mere 3.95, and that my friends in an economics lesson in the time-value of money.  

And surprise, surprise – wonder of wonders; Julie took us to a beach unknown to me in all my 51 years of SB experience!  This is an amazing beach – secluded yet relatively easy to access, not overcrowded, beautiful cliffs, a moderately wide sandy beach, smooth bottom for wading/body surfing, and we even found a spot of shade that lasted all day.  How did I not know of this spot before?  It is my new favorite beach!  The only drawback is that there is not much in the way of surf – but that is a blessing in disguise as it makes the spot unattractive to REAL surfers.  On the other hand, they do allow horses on the beach so we returned a week later with Justine and her Mare.  That is the only way I have ever gotten Justine to the beach!  I am not going publish the name of this beach on the Internet, because - even though I know nobody is reading this blog  - I don’t want to be accused of letting the secret out.  But… if you have a burning desire to know, contact me directly and I will clue you in to the location of this wonderful – secret - spot.  Hush!

The highlight of the vacation was a Musical Saw Lesson from David Weiss, the premier saw-ist in LA.  Mia has wanted to learn to play the saw for some time. While in England, she bought one and attempted to get some sounds out of it, but it proved difficult.  Through a mutual friend I had known of David Weiss, who besides playing saw, is the principal oboist with The LA Philharmonic – quite an accomplished musician.   We were able to arrange a lesson for Mia and I was allowed to sit in (yay!).  It was really a kick!  The lesson lit a spark for Mia and she is now diligently practicing.  She is committed to learning this instrument but it really is quite difficult to get a musical tone and accurate pitches.   But I DO hope she continues to master this – because I would really like to record some duets!

During this vacation time, I had parked the RV in a State parking lot where I have a monthly pass.  The lot is under the freeway and it is where I normally park my commuter car, the Subaru.  I was concerned that the RV, parked continuously in one spot for two weeks, might draw some unwanted attention and be ticketed or towed. However, the parking supervisor assured me it would be OK as long as the parking pass was properly displayed.  Still I was a bit wary – who knows who you can trust at the DMV (where so much inaccurate information abounds)? 

I also had some concern when a security guard told me that homeless people camp out in the lot on the weekends.  It is nice and shady and otherwise protected from the elements under the freeway.  Also, I suppose that since it is State property, the Sacto City Police do not have jurisdiction there.  All-in-all, a nice spot to hang out if you have nowhere else to go.  Because of all this, I was afraid someone might be hanging out and just decide to break into the camper.  After all, it would be even nicer to hang out in a nice cozy RV… But luckily, all was well when I returned.  Dolphin Manor had not been vandalized nor otherwise accosted.  Phew.  Honor among thieves, I guess.  “One of us, one of us.”

Yes, I am one of them.

Home sweet home.  Now, back to work!

Home 1, Calabasas

Home 2, under the Cap City Fwy, near DMV HQ.