2025 Miscellaneous

 1/1/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Happy New Year! Blood pressure after 香功: 127/79/74-125/73/74-122/75/73.

1/2/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one hand banana, one pack Mediterranean salad kit, one pack Chobani yogurt, and one Areds 2, swing by 99 Ranch Market and got one pack small Gai Choy, two Broccoli crown, and one pack 2-pound carrot.  {Last EJ on 12/30/2024}.  Called Kaiser at 1:35 trying to resolve One Pass member code issue, had to give up after on hold for over two hours. After finding out Robert and his wife were able to to get member codes from your one pass.com, I decided to try it one more time, for some reason, it worked this time.

1/3/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 136/82/78-122/81/78-127/79/78.  Swept most Oak leaves away from the driveway (onto the lawn and under the Oak trees).  Booked SAS flights for Baltic cruise trip.

Booked another SAS flight from ARN (Stockholm) to OSL (Oslo).

Had 10 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.

1/4/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 130/81/80-134/77/79-111/79/82-121/81/80.  Cleaned up most leaves from our backdoor neighbor, loaded them in the garbage bin.  

1/5/2025: Got up at 7:15.  Blood pressure after 香功: 118/76/82-115/71/83-111/67/83.  Visited Valleyfair with Anita, since neither Macys nor Nordstrom opened at 10:00 as indicated on Google map, we had to visit Crate & Barrel first, came back around 11:00, Anita stopped by Anthropologie but did not get anything, headed home after getting Ahi Tuna salad and Umami fries.  Booked two of four Slovenia optional tours.

1/6/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 128/81/83-111/77/82-124/76/80.  Decides to dig up the soil near the sticking up brick edge as it was getting worse, turned out my suspicion that the tree of our back door neighbor was the cause.

Went to Kaiser with Anita, had my right eye fitted with new (larger model) non-power contact lens, putting on and taking it off was a bit different but the result appeared much better and I did not feel discomfortable at all, it may take up to two weeks for my contact lens to be ready, hopefully I’ll have it before trip to Taiwan.

1/7/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 136/76/76-125/76/78-125/76/76.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one pack organic Cherry Tomatoes, one pouch 3.0 L Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon, two dozen pasture egg, one Rustic Italian bread, two bag Pistachio, one box baked tarts, and one bag organic dried strawberry.  Had 10 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ (one of the best).  Cut off several tree roots, the old chainsaw was working ok until 10 minutes into cutting, sharpening it proved useless, need to find some other means to continue.

With the reciprocating saw, I was able to removed last few roots, hopefully there wouldn’t more such intrusive ones in the near future.

1/8/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 133/78/75-125/80/78-123/73/74.  Cleaned up and restored wood cover panels on the soil with over grown roots removed, cleaned up leaves in the backyard.  

1/9/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 119/79/81-121/71/83-115/74/78.  Walked 51 minutes in the backyard.

Paid LS400 registration renewal fee online per received e-mail notification, no smog test required this time.

1/10/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 135/77/80-122/74/78-117/74/76.  Spent 30 minutes cleaning up leftover garden waste in the street, also removed weeds in between concrete flats.

1/11/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 117/74/76-124/82/81-116/85/81.  Dropped off Anita at City Sports while I visited Lowe’s and purchased one can Easyoff, swing by H Mart, got one hand banana, one Chinese Radish, 4 Sugarbee Apple, one pack Bok Choy, one pack (x2) big green onion, one string garlic, one fish cake Sushi, and one Bibimbap.  Renewed my City Sports membership, had to create another account, not sure why though.  Used Easyoff 3 times to clean the frying pan, the result was disappointing as only the bottom showed its original color.  

1/12/2025: Got up at 7:11.  Blood pressure after 香功: 121/77/79-123/74/79-121/77/77.  Visited IKEA with Anita, purchased one small bowl for Molly, one picture frame, and one pack (x10) clothes hanger.  Trimmed some Wisteria withered stems until my right hand started cramping.  Topped several high Wisteria branches.  

1/13/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 131/76/78-142/78/73-121/75/71-128/78/71.  Walked to 99 Ranch Market, purchased 4 carrot (they do not have bagged ones), one Cauliflower, one pack green onion, two red onion, one pack Chicken thigh, one pack cat fish fillet (Swai Basa), two pack clam meat, and one bag regular flour.

By

Trimming off some withered Wisteria stems, the remaining task was getting tougher as most of them were in hard to reach areas.  Kaiser informed contact lens is ready, scheduled for 10:00 am Wednesday, 10/15/2025.  Trimmed off more Wisteria stems.  Ordered a 1000W portable power station from Amazon for house emergency.

1/14/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one pack Grape Tomato, one bottle Coffeemate Hazelnut creamer, one pack short rib, two dozen cage free egg (missing pasture egg today), one box veggie spring roll, and one pack (x12) corn in cans.  Filled 5 gallon 91 Octane gas for LS400 at $4.199/gal at Costco gas station.  Not sure why but the eggs I boiled lately became extremely hard to peel, most if not all peeled eggs were terrible as a good portion of the whites also came off, this made me angry and frustrated……  Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.

1/15/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 119/83/77-113/77/77-133/79/76-123/77/72.  Anita accompanied me to Kaiser Optical Center to have my contact lens fitted, the result was nice, my right eye appeared to have better vision than my left eye now, it’s a bit challenging to use the new lens, putting it on as well as taking it off will take at least 5 minutes plus keeping it cleaned, I’ll need to refill the solutions every 3 months.

Found most contact lens solution and related gadgets on Amazon, will purchase them all except the wetting solution there.  Finished Wisteria trimming, looks much smoother now.

Received floss pick and gum soft pick from Amazon at 7:02 (picked up at 7:25).

1/16/2025: Got up at 7:08.  Had problem putting on my new contact lens, since this is the first time without help, I tried but failed 6 times before asking Anita to help it went on the first time with her direction, looks like I’ll need her to help several times for me to feel the right angle and location.  Blood pressure after 香功: 125/86/82-129/80/81-122/79/80.  Loaded all Wisteria trimmings into the garbage bin, also carefully shortened the garden waste in the utility bin to load them into the garbage bin.  Almost missed the portable power station ordered from Amazon when our doorbell rang a couple of times which we usually ignore, caught the truck just in time just as it was leaving (checked security video and saw who was there), FedEx won’t simply leave shipments at the door, they need signature for this delivery, I guess another reason I did not pay attention was the scheduled delivery was tomorrow.  Removed my contact lens at 2:00 after ~6 hours of wearing.  

1/17/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 138/79/79-119/77/79-120/78/78-129/76/79.  Played 50 minutes table tennis with Robert at Berryessa Community Center, the duty staff was mistaken to let us in as a special event was arranged to start at around 2:00, we finished removing all equipments back to the storage room at 1:40.  Ordered a new hose to replace the one in the front yard as the leakage turned worse.  Received the new hose from Amazon at 8:48 (picked up at 8:49).

1/18/2025: Got up at 7:05:  Blood pressure after 香功: 134/82/83-131/81/83-123/79/80-123/74/80.  Visited H Mart by myself, purchased one Taiwanese cabbage, one hand banana, 4 Sugarbee apple (the casher charged them as Fuji which is $1.49 instead of $2.99 per pound), two crown Broccoli, one bag bean sprouts, one fish cake Sushi, and one fried rice.  Received new LS400 license plate sticker.  Visited Great Mall with Anita, went in through Marshall’s and walked half of the mall before getting one pack clips and one 8 oz Manuka honey, stopped by Trader Joe’s and purchased one pack small Sugarbee apple, one pack organic carrot, one bag of pitted Prune, and one bag organic Thompson seedless Raisin.  

1/19/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 132/81/81-132/76/81-128/79/80 (had to change batteries during the tests).  

1/20/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 121/79/83-119/74/79-118/76/80.  Started removing saw chain from the Remington chainsaw after watching a video on YouTube, brushed off dirt/oil from the screw/nut assembly area.

Ordered 4 led tube lights from Amazon.  Received Remington replacement saw chain and oil cap from Amazon at 7:21.

1/21/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 143/83/78-127/83/78-125/82/76.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one pack Mediterranean salad kit, one rustic Italian bread, two dozen pasture egg, one pouch 3.0 L Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon, one pack Colgate tooth brush, one bottle Oyster sauce, one pack Strawberry, and one pack Spinach.  Installed new chain and oil cap for the old Remington RM1015P chainsaw.

Had 20 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ (so-so).  Received 4 led tube lights from Amazon at 5:49.

1/22/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 132/81/77-128/81/76-130/80/76-125/83/74.  Filled feeder-only a handful remained.  Went have my eye doctor at 10:45 after filling up RX300 at Costco gas station, my contact lens wasn’t giving me as nice vision as the last time I was here, it was 20/30 and barely 20/40 this time, the doctor suspected there was more tear in my eye that helped the vision, she’s going to order another lens for me and mail it to me, hopefully it’s before my trip to Taiwan.  Visited Costco with Anita after lunch to see Chinese New Year style products, got one pack Chicken breast strips, one tub creamy Almond butter, and one bag Walnut & Date candy.  

1/23/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 130/80/85-125/79/83-119/78/83.  Visited Marina Grocery, purchased two pack sausage, one pack smoked bacon, one pack dried shrimp, one pack sesame pan cake, one pack green onion pan cake, one iodized salt, 4 tomato, one bottle Kimlan soy sauce, one lean pork loin, 2 green Bell Pepper, two pack boneless beef  Shank, one pack Neoguri spicy seafood noodle, one pack Nissan Demae Ramen, and one pack Chili Bamboo shoot.  Stewed the boneless beef shank.  Had 15 minutes MB with legs, EJ.

1/24/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 132/86/79-134/81/78-126/82/77-128/80/76.  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street.  Replaced the last two fluorescent light bulbs in the garage with newly purchased Feit led lights, crashed all 4 fluorescent light tubes and dumped the in the garbage bin.

1/25/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Tokyo Central (originaly Marukai), purchased one pack Tokyo Negi, one tube Wasabi, one bag bean sprout, one Salmón steak, two Avocado ($2.39 dacha), Karaage (fried chicken), one Pork Katsu be to, one Unagi Futomaki, one Maruchan Nama Yakisoba, and one hand organic banana ($5.14 at $1.59/lb).  Made photo copies of all deeds and certificates, added them to new Google drive folder 008-Home plus.

1/26/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Walked 34 minutes in the backyard.

Ordered one 6.3 lb Meow Mix and 2-pack Clear Care Plus contact lens cleaning solution for Amazon.

1/27/2025: woke up at 1:30 and could not fall asleep for the next 30 minutes, had some watered Johnnie Walker Red and went back to bed around 2:40.  Got up at 7:04.  Received Meow Mix and cleaning solution from Amazon at 4:34 (picked up at 7.15).  Ordered one pack contact lens inserted and remover from Amazon.  Blood pressure after 香功: 158/92/77-145/90/76-149/93/74 (extremely high possibly due to lack of normal sleep).  Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.  Made two contact lens insertion and remover stands.

1/28/2025:Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one bottle 750ml Hanna Sauvignon Blanc, two dozen pasture egg, one box Japanese Gyoza, one pack organic Grape Tomato, one jar of Kimchi, one bag snake Squid, and one bag sweet & spicy jerky.  Stopped by 99 Ranch Market intending to get some green Onion and vegetables but gave up the idea as soon as I walked in the store, too many people in line.  The refrigerator is leaking water again, the same as yesterday, it came to me that the exact situation occurred many years ago, need to clean up lower part of the freezer to allow proper water drain.  After examining the freezer, I discovered a pool of icy water along with big chunks of ice were sitting at the bottom, it appeared that the freezer setting was not high enough to keep the large amount of food in there frozen, when water from melting food reached a certain level, out came the water, some water got frozen at the bottom as well, Freezer setting could have been altered when I moved stuff on the top shelf around, I’ll make sure the setting stay where it should be-at D.  Received contact lens inserters and removers from Amazon at 4:06.  Had a simple New Year’s Eve dinner plus the Kirkland XO Cognac we purchased 5 years back.

1/29/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure (high) after 香功: 145/85/85-143/82/85-139/79/82-129/79/80.  Started painting garage side door, discovered the paint I bought many years ago was primer and base, unlike the ones I had used, this one is very watery, had to apply several coats to cover water marks on the door, finished the task by 1:15.

Before:

After:

1/30/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 140/86/80-137/72/78-128/79/78-134/79/77.  Ishin and Robert arrived at 1:56 and 2:05 respectively for an afternoon tea snack and chat, we (mostly IShin and Robert) shared past experiences and old photos until 6:15.  Ordered AO Office Pro for $19.99 from App Store, installed it on Anita’s iPad Air, printing appeared to work, made a copy (first copied it to my Google Drive, uploaded from my iPad Air <from Google Drive> to Airdrop destination it to Anita’s iPad Air) of current version balance sheet, opening it appeared OK, Anita will try editing the file tomorrow, hope it goes smoothly.

1/31/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 125/82/81-121/73/82-114/75/80.  Played one hour and 10 minutes table tennis with Anita at Berryessa Community Center.  Set AO Office Pro pw to “xxxxacyyyy!?”.

2/1/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after香功: 125/79/82-121/75/87-113/78/88.  Stopped by H Mart, purchased 4 Sugarbee apple (looks like they have a fresh delivery), 4 Carrots, one pack (x4) pork dumplings, one pack Bok Choy, one pack mini Peppers, one spicy rice cake, and one hand bananas.  Cleaned up backyard loose leaves (mostly from back door neighbor).

2/2/2025: Got up at 7:00.  met IShin and Robert at iHop Milpitas for 9:00 breakfast, I did not order anything but shared some IShin’s pancake, ended up taking the remaining appetizer Chicken Quesadilla home, I paid with credit card but they insisted sharing and gave me $30 each.

Replaced yellow toner for Brother, it had stopped printing completely.  Reserved Uber ride for 2/11 flight back to Taiwan.

2/3/2025: Got up at 7:15.  Blood pressure after 香功: 132/83/85-127/77/86-121/74/83.  Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.  Ordered one set Egyptian Magic cream on Costco.com for Anita, it will be delivered on 11/7/2025.

2/4/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one Rosemary Parmesan Cheese loaf, one pack (x4) Colgate Optic White Platinum toothpaste, one pack Tyson Chicken strips, one pack organic Cauliflower stir-fry rice, one pack (x12) Noosa Yogurt, and two dozen pasture egg, tried but could not find  Sports Measure Omega-3 fish oil.

2/5/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Filled RX300 at Costco gas station at $3.899/gal, picked up one bag Macadamia nut from Costco, swing by Post Office and dropped off the used “compatible” toner cartridge-free return.

  

Trimmed off several Duranta Erecta (金露花) branches to clear porch camera view, also view to our Korean neighbor driveway.  Cleaned up backyard leaves.  The Daffodil Anita transplanted to the front porch shined its vibrancy.

2/6/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 127/82/90-121/73/87-109/73/86.  Finished reading “The Drowning Game” by Barbara Nickless.

2/7/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 134/84/88-140/76/87-128/75/86-115/75/82.  Played one hour table tennis with Anita, Robert, and one other guy (Kim or King) at Berryessa Community Center.  Ordered 2 year NordVPN for introduction price of $81.36 ($139.08 per year is current regular price).

2/8/2025: Got up at 7:00.  The toilet downstairs had another pool of water near the back wall, turned out one of the screws securing the tank was loose, tightening it below with wrench made it worse, finally realized I had to use a screw driver to turn it from inside the tank while clamping the nut below to tighten it, it seemed to work for now, need to monitor it closely.  Visited H Mart by myself, purchased 4 Sugarbee apple, 4 carrot, one hand banana, and one Fish cake Maki.  Cleaned up backyard leaves, tidied up Passion Fruit vines for undisrupted walking underneath.  

2/9/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 133/83/80-141/79/78-119/79/76.  Filled feeder even though it was 2/3 full.  Cleaned up the small rug we purchased from Macys 40 years ago, wiped it with steel rod then vacuumed it thoroughly.  Disconnected LS400 batería and locked the car.  Blocked garage side door with Mobile table saw.

2/10/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 141/84/80-136/81/79-127/79/76-134/79/78.  Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.  Had to reset and remove the Tapo camera as it was recording…., could not reconnect it back on, giving up and moved the one in the guest bedroom to replace it.  Mánaged deleting all files (al through I could not find any of the specific files I was on) on the micro SD card with memory card reader connected through iPad power port.  Received Anita’s Egyptian Magic crema from Costco through UPS at 1:01.  Finished checking in at 1:53.

A good quote:

2/11/2025-2/12/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 132/78/88-123/77/87-127/79/86.  Uber picked me up at 9:55, got to SFO at 10:38, went through security check at 10:54.  Decided not to have lunch at the restaurantes, insté and had a couple of soda biscuits to easy my hunger.  Boarded flight 871 at 12:55.  Flight UA871 took off at 1:47, 12 minutes behind schedule.  Had 3 bottle (small~200ml) white wine with the first two meals (two for late lunch and one for mis-fligh snack), meals were more gaste than before.  Arriving TPE at 7:28, 22 minutes ahead of schedule, zip through e-passport check point but waited 15 minutes for my lugareñas there were 3 concurrent flights on each of the 8 carousels.  Peine picked me up just outside the exit gate, it rained all through the drive to Neihu.  Chatted with Anita by drop-in to “bedroom” echo.  Turned in around 10:50.

2/13/2025: Go up at 5:30.  Called Anita with “drop-in” from the Echo Dot to Patrick’s Echo at 9:50.  The efe galss store was not open for business today, had to come back another day. Turned in around 8:40.

2/14/2025: Called (drop-in) Anita at 6:10.  Got up at 6:20.  Washed socks, 32° underwear, and boxer in Peilee’s new washer, took nearly one hour, need to find out a much shorter cycle selection.  Had my haircut by the same lady (Peilee always go to her for haircut) I had been going on and off the last 10 years, possibly as a result of my own bad trimings, se had to cut it short to make it presentable, I paíd her NT$600 (tip NT$200 included).

Stopped by PX Mart and purchased one pack cucú her, one pack Apple, one pack Cherry, half a loan of all wheat bread, one tub cream cheese, and one pack ham.  Peilee accompanied me to get a new pair of glasses at 小林眼鏡行, it turned out I am far sighted (no wonder my old pair with far sightness correction bears opposite effect) with some astigmatism on my right eye and near sighted with some astigmatism on my left eye, I choose the least expensive frame with zero special glass features, the total was NT$2480, ready by Monday evening.  Swing by Bihu post office and transfieres NT$3000 to 玉明 for Tzu Chi charity.  Stopped by Carrefour market and purchased one bootle 750ml Smirnoff Vodka.  玉明acknowledged receiving NT$3000.  Turned in around 9:40.  To my surprise, the balance was over NT$300000.

2/15/2025: Woke up at 4:30, called (drop-in) Anita at 5:34, got up at 5:47.  Walked through 湖光市場but día not but anything as I wasn’t sure hoy to buy there, insté and swing by PX Mart and purchased one Chinese Radish, one pack carros, two pack pork shoulder bone, one pack Bonito favor MSG, one can Kelp favor MSG, one pack Sugar Cane sugar, and one bag Soda.  Walked toward Dani Park but turned around at the junction of section 4 and section 5, stopped by 楓采bakery and purchased 5 buns before heading back, total walk exercise was 77 minutes.

Rode bus with Peilee, Ahfen, and Sharon to 麵匡匡拉麵食堂in 東湖.

Final walk exercise for the day.

2/16/2025: Got up at 7:15.  Called (drop-in) Anita at 9:05.  Went with Peilee, Ahfen, Tina, and Sharon to 統一時代百貨, had lunch at 涓豆腐韓國料理.

Sis called at 3:13 for 7 minutes, will find time to get together.

2/18/2025: Got up at 6:30.  Called (drop-in) Anita at 7:05 briefly, will call her when I got to 博愛街.  Arriving at 10:05, examined the two cans of paint and evaluated how and what to tackle.  Called (LINE call) Anita at 10:22 for 25 minutes.  Headed out to 博愛街at 9:40, got there at 10:45, called Anita at 10:23 for 25 minutes, Kwang Hua came to show me the directions to 頂溪菜市場on behalf of my request, purchased two bento before coming back to 博愛街, she also tipped me on some of the necesites living there.  Left there at 2:05 and got back to Neihu at 3:10.  Stopped by 百利金and got several paint brushes.  

Went to pick up my new eye glasses at 小林眼鏡, but was told it hadn’t come in, will call when it did.  Stopped PX Mart and picked up Apple, 蓮霧, orange, one other fruit, two can of beer, 5 different kinds of crackers/snacks.  小林眼鏡called to notify the glass won’t come in until 12:15 tomorrow noon.

2/19/2025: Got up at 6:30.  Called Anita at 9:22 for 21 minutes.  Visited 慈恩園with Peilee, went in Peilee’s car as it was drizzling, paid respect to Dad and Mom.  Peilee dropped me off near 小林眼鏡, picked up my glasses before walking home.  Had lunch with Peilee at 涼盛吉食just around the corner, stopped by 歡田包子and purchased 10 plus 2 free ones, will bring 6 包子over to 博愛街tomorrow.  Turned in around 10:15.

2/19/2025: Got up at 6:15.  Headed out at 9:15, arriving 博愛街at 10:15.  Called Anita at 10:21 for 21 minutes.  Visited 小北百貨, got one peeler, one pair of rubber glove, and one spray paint, the shortcut to most of the stores was closed, had to take long route.  Tried but failed to find newspaper in convenient stores, had to find other ways to protect the floor while painting.  Picked up 4 cooked eggs at 美而社.  Started with the cabinet below the kitchen sink, not sure if want to paint the side panel since there were door hinges.  The white paint which felt full but was actually slightly used, some of the moisture must have escaped as I had to add some water to fully stir it to smooth texture.

Finished sink cabinet bottom plus its front trimmings.

Visited PX Mart, purchased one bottle 750 ml Yellowtail Moscato, one bottle Kinmen 58° liquor, and two breakfast buns, got one Chicken bento from 竹林雞肉.  

2/20/2025: Got up at 6:30.  Started painting kitchen walls.  Called Anita at 9:41 for 30 minutes.  Started painting family room walls, it appeared that the new paint blends well with existing wall color, no apparent difference.  Attempted to spray paint toilet seat cover, the odor and the bleeding of paint made the task impossible, so I gave up.  Took a break walking toward 石河濱公園but not sure where to enter and gave up.  Finished kitchen and family room paint job-at least the part I could handle, will start small bedroom next.  Will have lunch with Kwang Hua, Kwang Yao, and Showmen tomorrow, my treat.  Finished small bedroom.  Started master bedroom, most work will be on the left side wall.  Picked up small order chicken drum and porched vegetable from 竹林雞肉.  Finished master bedroom painting.  Finalized all painting tasks.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.

2/21/2025: Got up at 6:00.  Cleaned up tools, paints, and recycle items.

Master bedroom:

Small bedroom:

Kitchen:

Family room: 

Called Anita at 9:20 for one hour and 8 minutes.  Had 10 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Had lunch with Kwang Hua, Kwang Yao, and Showmen at 薩莉亞, my treat ($1655).

Left 薩莉亞at 1:20, got back to Neihu at 2:40.  

2/22/2025: Got up at 6:45.  Called Anita at 8:47 for 13 minutes.  Visited PX Mart and purchased two small  Kinmen Kaoliang, one pack cucumber, one Chinese Radish, and one Big Green Onion.  Walked one circle Bihu park, a total of 57 minutes including the trip to PX Mart this morning.

2/23/2025: Got up at 8:45.  Called Anita at 9:46 for 10 minutes.  Visited Costco with Peilee and Ahfen, I got two packs of rice cracker snacks, a total of 60 bags.  Had dinner at 壽司郎 (Sushiro), 南港Citylink, about NT$1240 for 4 people.

2/24/2025: Got up at 6:15.  Called Anita at 7:17 for 17 minutes.  Stopped by a bag store in Neihu market, found one shoulder bag that’s thicker than the one I have, but wasn’t sure if iPads can be easily fitted, decided to come back this afternoon with iPad to try it out, later decided against it as the empty bag is already very heavy.  Visited PX Mart and purchased one pack pork, one can XO sauce, one Croissant (they ran out), and one pack 南僑水晶肥皂, swing by Carrefour and got 4 buns.  

2/25/2025: Got up at 6:25.  Called Anita at 9:22 for 23 minutes.  Stopped by 百利金and purchased one pack range hood filter and one pack ear wax picks.  Walked 2 circles around Bihu park, including morning visit to 百利金, a total of 71 minutes.

2/26/2025: Got up at 6:40.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Walked to Dahu park and back, good exercise.

Kwang Hua arranged a trip to Kaohsiung by high speed rail tomorrow.

2/27/2025: Got up at 6:30.  Called Anita at 8:25 for 12 minutes.  Headed out to 台北車站at 8:50, got to 台北車站高鐵B3入口at 9:36, Kwang Hua arrived at 10:25.  Train 1217 left the station on time at 10:51.

It stopped at 板橋, 台中 and 台南 before reaching 左營 at 12:30.  After 3 stops Metro plus 3 stops light rail, we arrived at Kwang Hui’s house at 1:25.  Had late afternoon lunch at 金色三麥 with Kwang Huey, his wife, Kwang Hua, and Kwang Hui, had 800cc beer along with some delicious snacks.

Walked near 駁二大義港頭 for 40 minutes.

Purchased two bottle red wine from Carrefour nearby, finished 2/3 of them with Kwang Hua and Kwang Hui.

2/28/2025: Got up at 6:15.  Called (drop-in) Anita at 6:40 for 5 minutes.  Headed out to 衛武營國家藝術文化中心 at 9:15, several bus stops and 3 Metro stops and we got there at 10:02.  It is a huge performing art center with 4 major event halls-歌劇院, 戲劇院, 音樂廳, 以及表演廳.

㨗運站出口

歌劇院

戲劇院

音樂廳

表演廳

Headed back around 11:35, had lunch at 老爺美食館before getting back to Kwang Hui’s house at 1:25.  Headed out to 高鐵左營車站 at 2:50.  Got there at 3:30 after 3 stops of light rail and 3 stops of Metro.  Got on train 140 at 3:38.

Arriving Taipei train station at 5:29.  Got back to Neihu around 6:30.

3/1/2025: Called (Pixel drop-in) Anita at 6:14 for 21 minutes.  Got up at 6:36.  Headed out to 大安森林公園 with Peilee driving, took a while to find a parking space 10 minutes away from the park, walked 30 minutes then visited flower market nearby, arriving 鼎泰豐around 12:50, waited another 40 minutes before getting in, the dishes here are more tasty than what we had in the States.

Lots of Hydrangea (繡球花) on display in the park.

Got back to Neihu around 2:45.  Sis and Slash stopped by and brought along a lot of snacks.

3/2/2025: Got up at 6:30.  Called Anita at 8:33 for 20 minutes.  Walked toward 大湖公園 and turned around at the old 松青grocery store, stopped by PX Mart and purchased one head Celery and one pack sausage.  

3/3/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Called Anita at 9:42 for 13 minutes.  Dropped off two Kaoliang bottle in the recycle can downstairs.

3/4/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Stopped by 歡田包子 and purchased 24 dumplings (12 椒麻, 8 蘿蔔絲, and 4 原味) with 4 of them free.  Called Anita at 9:44 for 25 minutes.  Visited PX Mart, purchased one bottle 300 ml 38° 金門高粱, 4 buns, and two bag deep fry mix (Karaage-chicken).  Tested packaging all vegetable dumplings, it’s way below allowable weight but too bulky to handle, decided to leave the sweater and the vest plus my sandals behind.

Checked in UA852 at 4:09pm.

Cleaned up my drawer and put away most daily necessities.

3/5/2025: Got up at 6:40.  Called Anita at 9:21 for 9 minutes.  Stuffed all vegetable dumplings into my luggage, the decision to left behind a couple of clothes and the sandals was correct, my luggage weight was just below 22 KG.  Peilee provided ride for me to the airport, left the house at 12:45, got to TPE terminal 2 at 1:25.  Dropped off luggage, went through security check and passport control, had a bowl of spare rib noodle (NT$250) before waiting at gate D7 for boarding.  Boarded flight UA852 at 3:10.  Flight 852 left the gate at 3:38, took off at 4:02.  Did not watch any movies, just read, on and off, book 7 of Detective Sophie Allen box set “Shadow Crimes”. arriving SFO at 11:12, went through boarder control smoothly, ordered Uber, it was driven by a young Asian, possibly new to this job since he went to some other places before getting to where I was waiting, he drove fast and changed lanes wildly, I wasn’t comfortable when he did this, got home at 12:31.  Turned in around 8:30pm.

3/6/2025: Got up several times during the night, finally went back to sleep around 4:30, got up at 8:30.  Sail internet outage at 12:15, sent service request and wait for their investigation.  Network access restored around 2:20.  Had 20 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Ordered one silicone flexible cutting board from Amazon, delivery was scheduled for Saturday.  Received the sandals from Amazon at 6:08pm (picked up at 6:10pm, it appeared to be one size smaller??????

3/7/2025: Woke up at 4:00, went back to bed at 6:05.  Got up at 7:15.  Cleaned up backyard leaves.  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, surprised to find just some loose stuff, a very first time.  

3/8/2025: Got up at 7:20.  Hand pulled weeds from the brick gaps in the backyard.  Ordered a tripod for my phone.

Had 10 minutes MB, had to quit when I felt irregular heart beat coming up.  Received new silicone cutting board from Amazon at 5:06 (picked up at 5:12).  Visited Costco with Anita, purchased 2 Uber discount cards (value of $50x2 + $50x2=$200.00, costing $79.99x2=$159.98), one pack Blue Berry, one pack Prawn Hacao, one Cranberry Walnut bread, one pack spicy chicken strips, two bag Pistachio, one pack Cherry Tomatoes, one pack Spring mix, one bag unsalted mixed nuts, one ROC Hydrate+Plump Eye cream, and one Perricone MD Face Finishing&Firming Moisturizer, there were no egg in the dairy room, not even a single one.  Tried to add Uber discount card through its app but failed entering any of the numbers on the cards, turned out I need to open the cards to reveal actual gift cards inside, scratch off the code cover and apply the codes under, stupid me.

3/9/2025: Got up at 8:30.  Changed feeder batteries.  Walked to 99 Ranch Market, purchased one pack (x2) big green onion (Daepa), one pack Clam meat, one pack fish tofu, one pack cat fish fillet (Swai Basa), one string garlic, and 4 Sugarbee apple.

Received phone tripod from Amazon delivered by USPS at 1:07 (picked up at 2:05).

3/10/2025: Got up at 9:15.  Walked 44 minutes in the backyard.

Had 10 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.

3/11/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one pouch 3.0 L Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon, one hand banana, one pack rainbow carrots, one bag organic Pumpkin seeds, and two dozen pasture egg (so the empty egg shelf in their dairy section was just temporary).  Dropped off Anita at 文教中心before visiting Marina Grocery, purchased one pack 出前一丁fast noodle, one jar chili sauce, one pack pickled mustard green, one pack sweet radish, one pack smoked bacon, two firm tofu, one bag chili bamboo shoot, two white onion, one pack small Gai Choy, one Chinese Radish, one pack beef tendon, two bag HFH spicy peanut, one pack bean thread, one pack beef shank, one pack lean pork loin, one pack chicken thigh, and two bunch green onion.  Got 2 spring rolls from their deli department with $3 coupon plus some change I found in the car.  Waited 20 minutes in culture center parking lot before picking up Anita at 1:07.  

3/12/2025: Got up at 7:25.  Processed pork, and chicken thighs, stored most of them in the freezer except some threaded pork and a ready to cook chicken thighs in the cold storage section.  Cooked beef tendon and shank, a total of 3 hours and 15 minutes.  

3/13/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Slow jog in the family room for 20 minutes after warmup routines.  Had 10 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.

3/14/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Went with Anita and played 2 hours table tennis at Berryessa Community Center, second hour was spent playing doubles with mostly piss balls, but still got some exercise.

3/15/2025: Got up at 7:10.  Visited 99 Ranch Market by myself, purchased one bento, one pack clam meat, one Taiwanese cabbage, one pack You Choy, three Sugarbee apple, two Broccoli crown, and two Avocado.  Cleaned up backyard leaves and debris (from recent rains)-nearly one hour.  Managed to login National Geographic magazine from my Pixel 6 Pro, login from my iPad was alive (previous tries could not bring up the keyboard to type anything, still not sure why though).  

3/16/2025: Got up at 7:50.  Ordered 4 pairs of sandals and one pack (x15) CR1225 battery from Amazon.  

3/17/2025: Got up at 7:15.  Had 15 minutes MB with legs, no EJ.  Rode 15 minutes bike in the garage.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, no EJ.

3/18/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased two dozen uncaged eggs (there were nopasture egg), one Rosemary Parmesan cheese loaf, one pack sweet mini Pepper, one hand banana, one pack Cherry Tomato, one bottle Lee Kim Kee’s Oyster sauce, one pack Bibigo beef Mandu, one bag Macadamia nut, one bottle Hazelnut creamer, one pack Blueberry, one pack Spring Mix, and one pack Rainbow carrot.  There was an unusually large shoppers for early Tuesday.  Received Amazon delivery at 

11:34, keeping CR1225 battery and Flarut sandals, returning Dr. Scholl’s and Dream Pairs sandals as they did not fit too well, completed online return procedure, will send them to UPS store on Berryessa later.  

Dropped off Dr. Scholl’s and Dream Pairs sandals at UPS store (2530 Berryessa road) at 1:14.  

3/19/2025: Got up at 7:13.  Rode 20 minutes bike in the garage.

3/20/2025: Woke up at 4:05, spent nearly one hour downstairs drinking diluted Johnnie Walker Red before going back to bed.  Got up at 7:50.  Dry run 20 minutes in the family room.  Sliced the Rosemary Parmesan cheese loaf and Anita loaded them in the plastic container, a perfect match.

Installed new NCL app on Anita’s iPad Air, her iPhone had already been updated a while ago.  Had 10 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.

3/21/2025: Got up at 7:20.  Blood pressure after 香功: 132/83/76-125/76/75-126/74/74.  Spent nearly one hour cleaning up leftover garden waste in the street as well as removing weeds in between concrete slats and bricks on the sidewalk and driveway.  Played nearly 2 hours table tennis with Anita and other players at Berryessa Community Center.  Received Sketchers hands free slip-ins from Amazon at 12:52 (picked up at 3:21 right after coming back).

3/22/2025: Got up at 7:12.  Visited Costco gas station by myself, filled up RX300 at $4.249/gal.  Stopped by 99 Ranch Market and purchased one pack fish tofu, one pack cat fish fillet (Swai Basa), one Pork spare rib, one firm tofu, one pack Chives, one pack Okra, 3 green Bell Pepper, one pack big green Onion (Daepa), two Avocado, one pack Squid ring, one pack bamboo shoot, and 3 Sugarbee apple.  

3/23/2025: Got up at 7:30.  Stopped by 99 Ranch Market with Anita, where she went in and got a small order of  fried rice noodle (合粉) for $4.25+tax  ($3 coupon plus $1.65).  Trimmed off most low hanging (the ones affecting walking beneath them) as well as over grown (the ones sneaking onto the eaves) vines.  Cleaned loose leaves in the backyard hidden in between plants and shrubs.

3/24/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Filled feeder and adjusted time of day, it was behind actual time by 6 minutes.  Removed feeder and bench rain shields, cleaned the bench with spray bottle vinegar/baking soda mix and spray bottle water, also cleaned the feeder protecting container.  Washed feeder and bench rain shield panels, cleaned and washed the mobile tool box.  Received Meow Mix (2x6.3 lbs bag) from Amazon at 4:22 (picked up at 4:32).

3/25/2025: Got up at 7:02.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased hand banana, one pack Cherry Tomato, one pack Rainbow Carrot, one Cranberry Walnut bread, two dozen cage-free egg, one pack Noosa Yogurt, one pouch Kirkland 3.0L Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle Kirkland 750 ml Malbec (product of Argentina), one pack Blueberry, one tub cream cheese, and one pack Spring mix.  Had 15 minutes MB with mini, EJ.  

3/26/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Removed and glued one of the support wood strips on the swing bench.  Cleaned up all the wild mushrooms near the fake Cherry tree, cleaned up leaves in the backyard.  Anita saw our next door neighbor Farley sitting on the sidewalk and could not get up, She came to ask me to help, I was able to help her up with the technique video I watched yesterday, found her phone and she called her husband for help, I was able to come back home within 18 minutes.  Reattached the fixed wood strip back to the swing bench.

3/27/2025: Got up at 7:10.  Wiped clean both cars with damp sheepskin.  Decided to throw away the sun shield on RX300 after I tried to reassemble the detached suction cup but one of the shield part fell off and I could not find it.  Drilled two shallow holes in the Ulanzi tri-pod remote and glued a small steel wire to it.

Had 15 minutes MB with legs, EJ.  

3/28/2025: Got up at 7:10.  Played 2 hours table tennis with Anita, Robert and Frank at Berryessa Community Center.  Removed electric blanket from our bed.

3/29/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Received contact cleaner and soaking solution from Amazon at 6:24.  Stopped by Marukai by myself (haven’t been there a couple of months), purchased one small Pumpkin, one Cauliflower, one pack (x3) Natto, one pack extra lean ground Pork, one tube Wasabi, one Yakisoba, one Unagi Futomaki, one Karaage, and one cut dried Wakame seaweed.  Received messenger bag from Amazon at 1:04 (picked up at 2:01).

Cleaned up backyard leaves.  Visited Trader Joe’s near Great Mall and purchased one pack Pepper Jack cheese, 4 Sugarbee apple, two bag pitted Prune, one organic Cranberry, one bag Thompson seedless raisin, and one Avocado.

3/30/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Dropped off Anita at City Sports before visiting Lowe’s, purchased one garden faucet, one two-way restricted flow water shutoff, and one spray pesticide in my first checkout, went back in and purchased 6 small bricks and 6 long bricks.

There was a huge downpour while I sat waiting for Anita at City Sports parking lot, circled around several times before picking up Anita.  Walked about 30 minutes in the backyard, a total of 75 minutes walking today including Lowe’s and front walkway brick trench’s near the fence gate.

Received Taza chocolate from Amazon at 5:05 (picked up at 5:07).

4/1/2025: Got up at 7:10.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one pack Cherry Tomato, one pack rainbow Carrot, one Cranberry Walnut bread, two dozen pasture egg, one box Hacao, one pouch Kirkland 3.0L Cabernet Sauvignon, and one bag unsalted mixed nut.  From iMac upstairs, uploaded the latest (20250331 version) balance sheet file to my Google drive (007-backup).  Had 20 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.

4/2/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Cleaned up backyard leaves.  Made two 韮菜盒子for lunch.  Picked out some withered Oleander flower stems.  Found out I still have the 7-1/4” masonry saw blade attached to the saw, will try to trim off 1/4” from the extruding brick on the side walkway tomorrow.

4/3/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Walked to 99 Ranch Market, purchased one pack Spinach, one hand banana, one pack Soy bean sprout, one pack Oyster mushroom, one bottle stinky fermented tofu, one Korean Radish, one pack clam meat, one pack cat fish (Swai Basa) fillet, one string garlic, one firm tofu, one pack fish cake, and two egg plant.

Removed our garden waste pile in the street (which I forgot to load them in the garbage bin) in the garbage bin, also swept up the lawn trimmings pile that was near our Korean neighbor’s driveway and loaded them in the garbage bin, this will save me some time tomorrow cleaning them as for sure they will be all over the street.  

4/4/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Blood pressure after 香功: 122/81/75-120/78/75-125/81/77.  Visited Valley Fairwith Anita, as usual: Nordstrom->Macys->Anthropologie->Koja Kitchen->home.  Anita purchased one pair of shoes at Nordstrom and 3 ceramic coaster from Anthropologie.  Trimmed off several Birds of Paradise flowers and leaves.  Adjusted gaps between bricks and wood fillers in between, the side extension now looked nicer, need to replace the wood fillers with wider ones soon.

4/5/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Cleaned up backyard leaves and bird drops on the deck.  Came up with an idea using the existing wood gap fillers by turning them side ways, fill the gap with dirt/sand to level the setting as the reused wood fillers will be shallower, made one replacement gap filler as one of them was a bit too long.

Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  

4/6/2025: Got up at 7:30.  Finished fence gate outside walkway repair.

Leveled repaired walkway edge with dirt and stones.

Charged our backup power station and charged a couple of devices with it-this is scheduled every 3 month.  

4/7/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Blood pressure after 香功: 138/76/80-119/79/79-125/79/78.  Walked to 99 Ranch Market, purchased one pack Korean sticky rice cake, one pack beef tendon ball, and 4 Sugarbee apple, also purchased (with $2 coupon plus cash) one small order fried thick noodles.

Scraped several fading walkway gap wood filler and applied solid brown seal to them.

The wine glasses delivery was postponed to tomorrow by USPS, again.

4/8/2025: Got up at 7:04.  Visited Costco by myself, the door wasn’t open when I got there at 8:50 but there have been two long lines forming already, almost like when Covid-19 was active, there were people talking about egg supply shortage…… got in at 9:05, purchased one pack Spring mix, one pack mini Pepper, one pack Cherry Tomato, one pouch Kirkland 3.0 L Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Black (since the Red had been missing for a while, I suspect their deal with Johnnie Walker had ended, better get one while it’s still available), two dozen cage-free egg, one bottle Kirkland Extra virgin Olive oil, one pack large Tortilla, and one pack organic Blueberry.  Received the wine glasses from Amazon at 10:16, delivered by USPS-one day behind schedule.  Had 20 minutes MB with hands, legs, and mini, EJ.

4/9/2025: Got up at 7:04.  Cleaned up backyard leaves, trimmed off some withered small Oleander branches.

4/10/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself (there were more people than when I visited this past Tuesday, mostly crowded in the egg shelf area), purchased one Rosemary Parmesan cheese bread, one hand banana, two pack Hacao, and one pack (x12) small pizza.  Also added 3 gallon gas to LS400 at $5.079/gal.  Cleaned up backyard leaves.  

4/11/2025: Got up at 7:04.  Cleaned up backyard leaves.  Walked to CVS on Berryessa near the flea market with Anita, decided to buy hair dye for Anita on Amazon instead.

Ordered hair dye from Amazon for Anita.

4/12/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Cleaned up backyard leaves.  Dropped off Anita at City Sports before heading to H Mart, purchased 4 Sugarbee apple, one Celery, one pack Bok Choy, two Broccoli, and one Avocado.  Picked up Anita at 2:00.  Trimmed a lot of Oleander withered flower stems on the tree.

4/13/2025: Got up at 7:25.  Started digging up near the fence where our backdoor neighbor’s huge tree were, the brick/concrete boarder was edging up more even after I removed several their roots.  Did not find any new intruding roots that could have raised the concrete/brick flats near the fence, the only possible cause was the old one that I cut off, the ending roots still provide water to the more mature root and made it grow bigger and continued raising the brick/concrete flat, need to find a way to undo this……

The newly purchased wine glass was broken after just several days’ use, switched to the second one.  Received hair dye and type F adapter from Amazon at 4:55 (picked up at 6:00).

4/14/2025: Got up at 7:10.  Blood pressure after 香功: 136/82/80-140/79/83-120/74/78-122/76/76.  Dug a hole on the other side of the raised brick/concrete boarder right next to the weak looking rose, discovered two extending roots, will cut them off later.  Had 20 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Cut off all (at least the ones visible) extending roots in the new hole, need to figure out how to remove the remaining stumps below the brick/concrete boarder.

Reserved Uber ride for Ljubljana trip.

4/15/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one pack Cherry Tomato, one pack rainbow carrot, two dozen pasture egg, one Areds 2, one pack (x12) personal pizza, one pouch Kirkland 3.0 L Cabernet Sauvignon, and one bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Black.  Had 10 minutes MB with mini and legs, no EJ.  Trimmed off one inch main root with chainsaw, this is the section visible from above, still not sure how to deal with the portion underneath the brick/concrete boarder.

4/16/2025: Got up at 7:10.  Walked to 99 Ranch Market, purchased two pack (x5 each) 出前一丁fast noodle-one chicken flavor and one pork flavor.

Found and trimmed off several smaller but still annoying roots, no solution for the root beneath the brick/concrete boarder.  Had 15 minutes MB with legs, EJ.  Cleaned up backyard leaves.  With the help of the Forster bit, I was able to break the roots apart and took them out.

4/17/2025: Got up at 7:20.  Forgot to cover the hole on the rose side, so as a result, there were quite a few poops buried in there by Miley.  Worked on the soil underneath the brick/concrete boarder, trying to remove soil that was holding the brick/concrete boarder raised, cut off several smaller roots during which, cover the open area with boards and tools.

4/18/2025: Got up at 6:50.  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, it took much longer than I planned as most leftovers were small including a lot of dust.  Hand cleaned dead as well as withered Lily of the Niles leaves.  Went to Berryessa Community Center with Anita to play some table tennis, surprised to find out all (24) tickets were taken and it was only 12:45-maybe being Good Friday created the situation since schools were closed today??????  

4/19/2025: Got up at 6:50.  Cleaned up backyard brick/concrete boarder re-level area, cleaned and put away all tools.  With Gorilla glue and glued two chipped brick corners back.  Decided to bring “old” contact lens with me during the trip because the carrying case that currently housed the “old” one seemed to be leak free, will wear the “new” one tomorrow and Monday, will not wear let my right eye rest throughout the flights.

4/20/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 124/74/81-118/75/81-116/77/81.  With mixed sand and cement, I managed to fill the cracks in the brick/concrete boarder, Anita used the remaining mix to tidy up her garden artworks.

The mixture of sand and cement may not be accurate as the result did not look nice, need to research it more.  Disconnected LS400 battery and locked both cars, stored car keys next to the dryer.  的忌日是4/21.

4/21/2025: Got up at 6:05, bowel movement #1 (lots of blood), went back to bed at 6:15.  Got up at 6:55, bowel movement #2.  Bowel movement #3 after breakfast.  Turned off furnace-switched to pilot, turned off gas supply, and shut off activation switch.  Changed feeder volume setting from 4-3-2 to 5-3-2, filled feeder.  Watered backyard roses, trimmed several over growing bushes near the fence.  Watered front yard plants, roses, and lawn, pulled some weeds as well.  Started checking in United flights at 1:11, finished by 1:20.

Seat maps: United and Cityjet

HHad 10 minutes MB with hands and legs, no EJ.  Put most tablets in the box in the attic, old phones and oone old iPad are under the attic flap.

4/22/2025-4/23/2025: Got up at 6:05.  Had 4 bowel movements before and after breakfast.  Had everything ready by 8:50.  Uber picked us up at 9:20, got to the airport (SFO) at 10:21 (lots of commute traffic), dropped off luggage and passed security check at 10:50.  Headed to United Club at domestic as the one at gate G was full-again.  We struggled to access our pass to enter, took us over 10 minutes to find passwords to login our accounts, finally got in at 11:05.  Had a small salad and a sandwich plus one cup of pure green tea (tried their coffee<Americano> but gave up as it was too strong for me even though it was good).  Since the United club we rested at was in terminal 3 for domestic flights, we walked back to gate G area for our flight only to find out it is at F13 where the usual domestic flights were, had to walk back to where we started.  Boarded (we were the first two in group 2) flight UA58 at 12:40.  UA58 left gate at 1:09, took off at 1:24.  We landed at Frankfurt at 8:38am.  Shuttled to the terminal at 9:00, went through passport check area, walk 10 minutes before arriving at gate A4 for our connecting flight LH1460 at 9:15.  The flight was late arriving, we did not get to shuttle ride until 12:30, finally boarded the flight at 12:40.  Departure was at 1:06, one hour late.  Arriving Ljubljana at 2:07.  Got on a taxi at 2:32, everything about the taxi looks ok until we got to the hotel when the driver charged us €66, twice as much as online info indicated, curses……. Met our guide Ales and checked in the hotel, room 614.  There was a problem with Wi-Fi, no internet service even though connection was ok, after some hassle I realized it is an issue with NordVPN, after several tries connecting and disconnecting various vpn location, all device were able to get online.  Attended the group meeting at 6:30, there were 30 people in the group, three pairs are Asian, no black people though, had white and red wine plus lots of delicious hors d’oeuvre, also took some back to our room.

4/24/2025: Woke up at midnight, wasn’t able to sleep through.  Got up at 5:50.  Went for breakfast at 6:30, it was possibly the best breakfast in a hotel in recent years.  Joined the group for a two-hour Ljubljana city walking tour.  Had lunch in hotel room with leftover flight bread and sandwich.  Revisited the sites we were this morning, Anita got some magnets and some small ceramic houses there.  Stopped by the Mercator next to our hotel, purchased one pack sliced ham, one pack salad, and one bottle 750ml Yellowtail Cabernet Sauvignon.  Dinner was one bowl of fast noodle, plus the stuff we got from the grocery store, finished the whole bottle wine.  Turned in around 9:00, woke up at 12:00, did not sleep much the next 5 hours.

4/25/2025: Got up at 5:15.  Had breakfast at 6:30, we are leaving for Bled at 8:30.  Arriving Bled around 9:40, visited Bled castle, took ferry boat to Bled island, visited Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, took the same ferry boat back, Ales treated everyone a huge cream cake which helped us skipped lunch, wondered at nearby stores in the rain then sat down on a brick boarder to do some photo editing before taking the tour bus at 3:00 and got back to our hotel, stopped by Mercator after getting the shopping bag from our room, purchased one can Heineken beer, one bottle 750 ml Yellowtail Cabernet Sauvignon, one box salad, one box corn salad, and one pack Salami.  Neighbor Grace borrowed our driveway for half a day to have their house worked on.

4/26/2025: Finished red wine and Heineken beer through the night.  Got up at 6:00.  Went to have breakfast at 6:20, only to find out they won’t open until 7:00.  Anita had problem with her bowel movements.  Headed out to Maribor at 8:15, arriving At 10:20, started local tour at 10:32, had a brief wine tasting at 11:40, stopped for lunch (included in this option tour) at 12:00.  Walked at nearby streets after lunch and purchased one pack salad, one can Heineken beer, and one bottle 750 ml Vinakoper Cabernet Sauvignon at a local grocery store.  Got on bus and heading back to Ljubljana at 2:30, got back at 4:40, met Ales’s family and enjoyed the tiramisu his wife made.

4/27/2025: Got up at 6:00.  Had breakfast at 7:00.  Headed out to Postojna at 8:30, arriving Postojna castle at 9:48.  Left the castle at 11:10, arriving Postojna cave at 11:45, it was possibly the biggest we’ve ever seen, it even has a train taken visitors in and out of the cave, each takes about 10 minutes, it has a river flowing underneath the caves, the river can only be seen close to the exit train station.  Since Mercator was closed due to holiday, we had to consume whatever was left in our possession, namely last fast noodle, remaining 1/3 of the Salami, one can of Heineken, and the nuts.  Turned in at 9:00.  

4/28/2025: Got up at 5:50.  Had breakfast at 6:30.  Headed out to Trieste at 9:00, we were delayed 30 minutes on the freeway caused by a 3-car accident.  Had lunch at Eataly.  Got back to the hotel at 5:40, stopped by Mercator and purchased one pack salad, one pack salame, one can Heineken, and one bottle 750 ml Yellowtail Merlot.

4/29/2025: Got up at 6:15.  Had breakfast at 6:45.  Walked to Ljubljana castle, took only 25 minutes but the uphill climb took nearly 20 minutes, we did not get into the castle as ticket cost €15 each.   Visited Mercator by myself, purchased three chicken drum/thigh and two Heineken beer.  Checked in both flights from Lufthansa app (could not do the first flight from United), check in also reflected on United app.

Had farewell dinner at our usual breakfast restaurant.

4/30/2025: Got up at 5:55.  Had breakfast at 6:30.  Got on reserved taxi at 10:25, got to the airport at 10:55 (taxi from hotel was a flat €45, we added €5 for his service),  dropped off luggage at 11:00, passed security check at 11:10.  The Ljubljana airport appeared to be the smallest international airport we’ve visited.  Shared a sandwich with Anita for lunch, Bob&Cat saw us as they were looking for charging station, Bob’s charging cable appeared to not functioning so I offered my power bank with built-in USB-3 cable, his phone was charged from %39 to %55 before we had to prepare for boarding, learned that LH1461 was late for 15 Minutes.  We boarded the plane at 2:00, departed gate A1 at 2:11, took off at 2:17, arrived Frankfurt at 3:24, just 4 minutes behind schedule.  Bob&Cat were on the same flight and their connecting flight, although different, was also at gate Z23……Shared one hot dog with Anita, pretty tasty (possibly because we hadn’t had one since Costco stopped selling their Polish sausages.  Boarded UA927 at 4:55.  We departed gate Z23 at 5:38, took off at 5:54, landed at SFO at 7:23, 37 minutes ahead of schedule.  Deplaned at 7:40, got through BCE (Boarder & Customs Enforcement) at 7:55, got on Uber at 8:07, got home at 8:46.

5/1/2025: Got up at 5:20.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one hand banana, one pack Cherry Tomatoes, one bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Black, one pack rainbow carrots, one pack Blueberry, one pack Spring mix, two pack Hacao, one seaweed salad, two dozen uncaged egg, and one pack mini Peppers.  Swing by 99 Ranch Market, got two pack clam meat, one pack fish tofu, one string garlic, one pack big green Onion (Daepa), and 5 Sugarbee apple.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.

5/2/2025:  Got up at 6:50.  Stopped by Costco by myself to pick up one Rosemary Parmesan bread, there were too many people when I got there at 8:50, long lines on both sides, the long lines were still there even after I waited in my car for 10 minutes.  Cleaned up leftover garden in the street, took me 25 minutes to finish the whole scattered debris.  

5/3/2025: Got up at 6:15.  Trimmed a good number of withered Wisteria flower stems.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ-not as promising……. 

5/4/2025: Got up at 6:32.  Somewhat cleaned up the bench stained with Moley’s blood.  Trimmed off most yellow leaves from the roses, trimmed off over growing Passion Fruit vines over the kitchen window shade and under the eaves of the kitchen sliding door, cleaned up backyard leaves.  Received light jacket from Amazon at 5:25 (picked up at 5:27).

5/5/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Rode 30 minutes bike in the garage.  Trimmed off a good number of withered Wisteria flower stems.

5/6/2025: Got up at 6:30.  Visited Costco by myself, arriving there earlier at 8:40, for some reason the crowd that showed up the last few weeks disappeared, go figure……. Purchased one bottle 750ml Bound Cabernet Sauvignon, one pack Cherry Tomatoes, one pack rainbow carrots, one pack Sonoma Jack cheese, one jar soy sauce, one pack lamb rib roast (rack), two dozen pasture egg, and two pack Prosciutto.  Swing by 99 Ranch Market and got one pack small Gai Choy, three Bell Pepper, one pack clam meat, one pack cat fish (Swai Basa) fillet, two Broccoli crowns, two Sugarbee apple, and three Avocados.  Trimmed withered Wisteria flower stems for 20 minutes.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Received mist nozzle from Amazon at 3:41 (picked up at 3:42).  Almost accidentally used an app to apply for UK ETA, it turned out to be a service company charging over $240, luckily I hesitated going through the payment stage, downloaded UK official app and finished the applications-not straight forward but kind of smoothly, we have the applications submitted AND approved within a few minutes, the ETAs are linked to the last four digits of our passport so no need to bring along anything but our passports.

5/7/2025: Got up at 6:40.  Blood pressure after 香功: 130/80/83-131/78/83-127/77/79.  Walked 39 minutes in the backyard, dumped Wisteria trimming in the garbage bin.  

5/8/2025: Got up at 6:30.  Filled up RX300 at Costco gas station at $4.399/gal.  Cleaned up backyard leaves, watered backyard roses.  Received garden faucet and the tape from Amazon at 12:44 (picked up at 12:48).  Installed the new faucet, will monitor leakage.  Watered front yard lawn and all plants.  

5/9/2025: Got up at 6:05.  Swing by 99 Ranch Market and purchased half loaf of bread, also got one bento from their deli department.  Added photos from Anita’s iPhone to 20250422 Slovenia album-airdrop for iPhone to my iPad Air, go to Google photo album, “add” from Google photo section, luckily all the iPhone photos were already there with and unmarked circles, simply select them with swipe and it worked.

5/10/2025: Got up at 6:52.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.

5/11/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Stopped by H Mart, purchased 2 Sugarbee apple, one Chinese Radish, two bunch Spinach, one hand Banana, one fish cake Sushi, and one Bibimbap.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander leaves.  Trimmed some Passion Fruit vines and withered leaves.  Trimmed off backyard withered roses.  

5/12/2025: Got up at 7:08.  Blood pressure after 香功: 134/80/75-129/79/74-125/75/73.  Had 10 minutes MB with legs, no EJ-need better stimulation.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander leaves and withered flower stems knocked off by surprise morning rain (about 30 minutes).  

5/13/2025: Got up at 7:08.  Visited Costco by myself, it took me 20 minutes to actual got to Costco parking as the right lanes of the left turn lanes was closed due to road work, I had to go around to find a better route but unfortunately lost my track and thus circled around before getting back, purchased one pack Cherry Tomatoes, one Rosemary Parmesan bread, one pack Spring Mix, one pack rainbow carrot, two bag shelled Pistachio, two dozen pasture egg, one tub plain Yogurt (could not find Noosa), and one bottle Jack Daniel Whisky.  Had 15 minutes MB with legs, EJ.  

5/14/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 125/77/81-116/80/80-115/75/80.  Trimmed all withered Birds of Paradise flowers and leave stems, also removed most Oak leaves tucked in the bush.  Had dinner at a Korean restaurant Jang Su Jang in Milpitas, a treat by 小丹and Jerry, Evi was also present,  we haven’t seen them for a long time (could be 10 years or longer).  Had them over to our house after dinner and chatted for a couple of hours.

5/15/2025: Got up at 7:08.  Blood pressure after 香功: 136/76/79-136/79/81-120/76/77.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander leaves.  Sifted through the small rose lot near fence gate, picked up most Oak leaves, also sifted through Birds of Paradise and removed most Oak leaves, loaded some of them in the garbage bin until it’s full.  Removed another round of wild mushrooms under the fake Cherry tree.  Found out the OpenOffice App on iMac can edit/draw arrows, looks like the only device that can accomplish the task.  The Ireland file edited with iMac Open Office did not save back to Google drive, instead a different one is saved locally, so I make it save on the desktop then ask Google drive to add a new file from the Desktop, kept both them for comparison.  

Had 15 minutes MB with RM and legs, EJ.  While looking for photos taken at Milan, I found out that all photos between 4/6/2016 and 5/1/2016 were missing, looked everywhere-SD cards, backup disks, all traces of them must have gotten lost when my MacBook Pro first crashed several years ago.  Found some relating photos from Anita’s old iPhone 6 Plus, there were about 80 some photos that sit between those dates, will upload them onto 2016 album.

5/16/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street.  Airdrop photos from Anita’s old iPhone 6 Plus to my iPad Air, added them to our 2016 Italy free style and NCL cruise album.  Played one hour table tennis at Berryessa Community Center-25 minutes with Anita and 35 minutes with a lady who played really well.  

5/17/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Stopped by Marukai by myself, purchased one Napa cabbage, 3 pack Natto, one pack Gindara (black cod), one Hamachi Kama, one pork cutlet, one Karaage, one Futomaki, one Yakisoba, and one Salmon Shioyaki & chicken bento.  Trimmed off withered Wisteria flower stems, trimmed off new vines as well.  Walked 38 minutes in the backyard.

5/18/2025: Got up at 7:20.  Cleaned up spider webs in the backyard.  Started cucumber seedling work, a total of 16 seeds in 5 Yogurt cups.

Started setting up cucumber watering timer, hose, and mist sprayer.  

Visited Trader Joe’s with Anita after dinner, there were more people this time as we came after 8:00 the previous time, purchased 5 Sugarbee apple (at $1.29 each), one hand banana, one pack (x4) Avocado, three bag pitted prune, one bag organic Thompson seedless raisins, one bag freeze dried Strawberries, and one bag freeze dried Blueberry.

5/19/2025: Got up at 7:10.  Trimmed off most withered Lily of the Niles leaves, also cleaned up front porch flower stems of various flowers-a 40 minutes effort.  Had 30 minutes MB with mini and legs, EJ.  

5/20/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 116/71/81-126/73/82-117/72/82.  Visited Costco (it was already open when I arrived at 8:50, no crowd) by myself, purchased one dozen 2023 Milestone Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle 1.75L Maker’s Mark Kentucky Bourbon whiskey, one pack Sunkist orange, one Cranberry Walnut bread, one pack Spring Mix, one pack rainbow carrots, one pack Blueberry, one pack cooked Korean style ribs, two dozen pasture egg, one pack Turkey egg-which, and one seaweed salad.  Walked 52 minutes in the backyard.

5/21/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco (there were more people than yesterday but not as bad as a few weeks back) by myself, purchased one Hair Growth Vitamin, one Kirkland 1400mg fish oil, and 2 dozen 2023 Milestone Cabernet Sauvignon-did not see the 3.0L Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon.  Headed out to IKEA in Palo Alto, there was a traffic accident on 101, took us nearly 50 minutes to get there, shared 2 scones for snack before strolling down their displays, purchased one picture frame, one frying pan, one set (x6) wine glass, and 6 bunch artificial flowers.  

5/22/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 126/79/82-120/77/82-114/72/82.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander leaves and flowers-the garbage bin is completely full.  Had 5 minutes MBwith legs, no EJ.  

5/23/2025: Got up at 7:04.  Played 70 minutes table tennis at Berryessa Community Center (25 minutes with Anita, 15 minutes with Frank and 35 minutes with picky man-he had to put up curtains, close all window blinds).

5/24/2025: Got up at 7:04.  Visited 99 Ranch Market by myself, purchased one pack small Gai Choy, one pack King Oyster mushroom, one Cauliflower, two brown onion, one pack garlic, one pack Chives, and 3 Sugarbee apple, also got one bento from their deli department.  Trimmed off most accessible Oleander withered flower stems still on the trees.

5/25/2025: Got up at 7:04.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Cleaned up some wild flowers near by the fence near the Double Delight rose, preparing for planting Leek (or similar Allium plants).

5/26/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Walked 60 minutes in the backyard.

Watered backyard Roses, cleaned up an unknown smear on the granite slab over Monica’s garden.  Received senior nail clipper from Amazon at 12:41 (picked up at 12:42).  Watered front yard lawn and flowers for one hour and 15 minutes.  Our Korean neighbor’s white van was ticketed ($50) by a parking patrol this morning because it was parked against the street traffic.

Reserved excursion on Limerick.

5/27/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, although there weren’t lines waiting at the time before opening, the parking lot was full with many cars searching for empty then it occurred to me that this was a long weekend (but it ended yesterday……), purchased one dozen 2023 Milestone Cabernet Sauvignon, one pouch 3.0 L Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Black, one Rosemary Parmesan cheese bread, one pack Sunkist Orange, one pack chicken sausage, one bottle Hazelnut creamer, two dozen pasture egg, one pack Egg-which, and one hand banana.  Trimmed off withered flower stems from those mini ones.  Trimmed off withered Birds of Paradise flower stems.

Decided to replace LS400 battery, it is over 12 years old where Lexus warranty last only 7 er removing all holding parts, I wasn’t able to lift the battery as it was really heavy, the idea of replacing it just went out the door, after searching online, a simple solution would be to add distilled water to battery cells which were all low to the metal plates, added cooked water instead as I do not have distilled one, put everything back and started charging it, see if this help restore the aging battery somewhat.

5/28/2025: Got up at 7:04.  Cleaned up (with blower) backyard Oleander leaves and flowers.  Planted the Atrilum from Grace.

5/29/2025:  Got up at 7:00.  moved the garden waste in the round bucket to the curbside.  Had 15 minutes MB with legs, silicone wraps and hands, no EJ.

5/30/2025:  Got up at 7:06.  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street-took 30 minutes.  The postman took the prepaid Brother cartridge I placed below our letter drop opening.  Played 80 minutes table tennis at Berryessa Community Center, 30 minutes with Anita, 25 minutes with Picky, and 25 minutes with Jason.  Received Frank’s RedHot Wings sauce from Amazon at 12:44 (picked up at 3:30).  

5/31/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited 99 Ranch Market, got one small order of fried noodle (干炒牛河) from their deli department, purchased one pack green Onion, one pack beef shanks, one pack cut squid, and one pack pork baby back rib.

6/1/2025: Got up at 7:10.  Trimmed off a good number of Wisteria new shoots, mostly were reaching over backyard neighbor’s fence.  Secured the extensible hose with 2 steel wires, reassembled all remaining parts, it failed the first test, the wired secured head broke off after the hose was extended by the water pressure, oh well, I tried.  Trimmed off more Wisteria new shoots, also trimmed off new branches from the bushes near the fence to open my walk path in the backyard.  Had 25 minutes MB with mini and legs, EJ-good one.  

6/2/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Made a pot of fried rice with onion , egg, and chicken sausage, good for two maybe three lunches.  Walked 40 minutes in the backyard, cleaned up Oleander leaves and flowers before that-a total of 55 minutes.  

6/3/2025: Got up at 7:04.  Visited Costco by myself, added $30 octane 91 to LS400 at $4.699/gal before entering the store (waited about 5 minutes), purchased one hand banana, one bottle Kirkland Moscato Dasti, one pack Blueberry, one pack Spring Mix, one pack Kirkland Salami, one bottle Kirkland 100% Italian Extra Virgin Oil, one dozen Michelin Ultra, one Kirkland Super B-Complex, one bag shelled Pistachio, one bag unsalted mixed nuts, one pack Rainbow carrot, and one bag small raw shrimp.  Tried to reserve dinner for our July cruise, but most La Bistro dinner time slots were gone, after some struggling, I reserved 5:30 for 7/9 and 9:30 for 7/15, need to reserve much much earlier for future cruises-make a note of that!  Reserved 5:30 pm 9/23 and 5:30 pm 9/26 for La Bistro on September NCL cruise.

6/4/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Visited Costco with Anita, filled up RX300 at $4.299, we each purchased 2 Uber discount cards at $74.99 each, my perception of only two cards per membership seemed to defy me.

Added all 8 cards ($400) to my Uber wallet, task completed.

Watered front yard flowers and part of the lawn, removed much of the long spider weeds, removed most Lily of the Niles withered leaves.  

6/5/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves-after shaking off loose ones on the trees first.  Kaiser sent a registered mail to Anita urging her to take Colonoscopy.  Cleaned up backyard spider webs everywhere-trees, fences, in between storage containers……. Had 30 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ-not bad.

6/6/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Anita has a luncheon with her TFGH classmates so I planned to go to Berryessa Community Center to play table tennis, but the LS400 battery died on me, had to scrub the plan and try charging the battery, may have to put my nose to the grindstone and try finding scarce but still available battery.

6/7/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Stopped by H Mart, got 4 Sugarbee apple, one pack white beech mushroom, one pack organic beech mushroom, and one Chinese Radish.  Walked 61 minutes with Anita after lunch-dropping off donation at the receptive box near Chevron station before heading to 99 Ranch Market, it now has cooked beef tendon as well as raw ones, they are about 30% more expensive than Marina Grocery, too bad Marina is permanently closed.

6/8/2025: Woke up at 3:10, went down stairs and had a drink of JWB hoping to help me fell asleep, while checking e-mail noticed I should check our UK ETA status but could not, found both of our e-mail and uploaded to Google Drive for reference.  Went back to sleep at 4:30.  Got up at 7:25.  Processed Anita’s birthday dinner ingredients.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves after shaking all branches.  

Started cooking dinner at 4:15, finished by 5:00.  Lamb rib roast and seafood combination (shrimp, scallop, squid, seaweed, bamboo shoot, and beech mushroom).  

6/9/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves (no shaking of the branches today).  Had 15 minutes MB with legs, EJ.  Transplanted 8 of 12 cucumber seedlings, also transplanted the  surprise Passion Fruit seedling to the planter box under the fake Cherry tree-I might have damaged its root during the process as it doesn’t look good……

6/10/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, checked and found out they do have 1991 LS400 replacement battery, thank God, I come back tomorrow with the old one (hopefully I can lift it out of the car), purchased two bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Black (on sale with $6 off), one pack Golden Kiwi, one pack rainbow Carrot, one Hacao, two pack pasture egg (four dozen), one Cranberry Walnut bread, one pack corn in can, and one pack (x2) Skippy Extra chunky peanut butter.  Managed to remove to old battery from LS400.  Had lunch with IShin and Robert at KoKoRo (a Japanese Ramen restaurant, our original plan for Phő Nguyên), they each paid $20, I paid $70.79 with my Explorer card.  We chatted for almost 2 hours at Septembersong as IShin wasn’t quite done with talking.  

6/11/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Stopped by Costco by myself to get battery for LS400, there was a really long line on the left side of the entrance, wondering if Covid era has returned and as I was about to leave, someone in the line asked if I am Costco shoppers and she incited that they are  for certain event (not sure what though), the regular Costco shoppers line in on the right side which only a few people there, waited until 8:5g before it opened, got the battery and headed to Robert’s house, played 90 minutes table tennis with him in his garage.

Installed the battery on LS400, but when I try to start the engine, nothing happened, in fact there was no power to the car at all, no of the display (door open, or any other instrument light was on), measured the battery and it showed full 12V power, removed and reattached terminals, there were some light on the display this time, and the car started perfectly, made sure it was still functional after fully replaced covers, thank God!  Still don’t understand why it did not pass power to the car??????

6/12/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Spent one hour cleaning up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, loaded them along with Wisteria trimmings into the garbage bin, also hand removed other leaves tucked in between fence and bushes.  Had 25 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  

6/13/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, it was not too bad as our Korean neighbor did clean up his share (most of it) of the garden waste.  Played one hour and 35 minutes table tennis at Berryessa Community Center with Anita and Robert.

6/14/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited 99 Ranch Market with Anita, purchased 3 pack Spinach, two brown onion, 4 Sugarbee apple, one pack Bok Choy, one small Cabbage, two beef shank, one pack beef tendon, one pack fish tofu, one pack clam meat, one pack Swazi Basa fillet, and one hand banana.  Stopped by Lowe’s and purchased one bag Rose fertilizer, one bag general purpose sand, one bag 10 lbs Mortar, and one bag Miracle-Gro vegetable fertilizer.  Received Vinegar and cramp relief from Amazon at 5:48. Watered front lawn for one hour.

6/15/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Trimmed off  a good number of Wisteria withered flower stems, cleaned up most spider webs in the backyard with those stems.  Made 9 stewed eggs for breakfast.  Made stewed beef tendon and shank.  

6/16/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Walked to 99 Ranch Market, purchased 4 Roma Tomato, 3 Avacado, one pack pork spare rib, one pack small Gai Choy, one pack carved squid, and one pack thick bean curd.

Ishin called at 1:36, he’s going back home today, he’ll need to charge his 2017 Tesla model X 3 times during the drive.  Watered backyard Roses.  

6/17/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased 2 bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Black (still on sale -$6 until 7/6/2025), one pack rainbow carrot, one pack Sunkist Orange, one tub cream cheese, two dozen pasture egg, one Rosemary Parmesan bread, and one tub organic Greek plain Yogurt.  Had 25 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Checked in NCL July Ireland cruise, also reserved shuttle from Southampton cruise port to London Heathrow airport.  

6/18/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Played one hour and 30 minutes table tennis with Robert at his garage.

Downloaded and printed NCL 11-Day Ireland eDocs, also made relevant images and saved in Google Drive.

6/19/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, loaded them into the garbage bin, also unloaded the garden waste bin, the garbage bin is now completely full.  

6/20/2025: Got up at 6:45.  Blood pressure after 香功: 118/75/77-105/69/76-116/71/77.  Applied some Epsom salt to several spots on the front lawn hoping it will help restore dying grasses, sprinkled some water to help the effect.  Trimmed most withered Roses.  Played one hour and 40 minutes table tennis at Berryessa Community Center, with Robert, Anita, and 3 other players.  

6/21/2025: Received wine opener and contact lens Clear Care from Amazon (it’s an overnight 4:00am-8:00am delivery) at 5:12 (picked up at 5:18).

Visited Marina Grocery with Anita, the news that it is closed wasn’t true, for it is still operating with fewer shelf items, most likely will stay open until most inventories were gone before the new Japanese grocery store remodel and open, purchased 4 出前一丁beef flavor fast noodle, one pack (x4) Neoguri seafood fast noodle, two pack beef shank, two pack beef tendon, one pack thin Somen, two pack smoked bacon, one bag dried shrimp, one tub 愛玉, and 3 bag HFH spicy and crunchy chili.  Stopped by Walmart and purchased 5 bottle Barefoot 1.5L Riesling, one bottle Barefoot 1.5L Moscato, 4 Aloe Vera gel, one Oatmeal, and one hand banana.

6/22/2025: Got up at 7:15.  Made a big load of stewed beef shank and tendon.

6/23/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Applied rose fertilizer to needy roses in the backyard, watered them down to begin their release cycle.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Played one hour and 45 minutes table tennis with Robert at his garage.  Finished reading Amazon First Reads “Bald-faced Liar” by Victoria Hellen Stone.

6/24/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one hand banana, one Cranberry Walnut bread, one pack rainbow carrot, one pack Cherry, one pack Blueberry, two dozen pasture egg, one pack Jack cheese, one pack Bounty paper towel, one pack Tyson chick strip, one pack Spring mix, and one pack mini Pepper.  

6/25/2025: Got up at 7:08.  Booked Flixbus bus from Heathrow airport to Southampton.

Reserved Uber for July 6.

6/26/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited 99 Ranch Market by myself, purchased one pack Swai Basa Fillet (cat fish), one pack Clam meat, one pack fish cake tofu, one pack green onion, two red onion, one bunch Daepa, one bunch Chives, 4 Sugarbee apple, one bunch On Choi, one string garlic, and one Celery.  With $3 coupon, got a small order tofu skin from their deli department.  Uploaded jap0-jap10 files to Google photo album Zmb.  

6/27/2025: Got up at 7:15.  Spent nearly half an hour leveling one backyard walkway brick, it was the most difficult one to tackle.  Played one hour and 20 minutes table tennis at Berryessa Community Center, 20 minutes with Anita, 20 minutes with one other guy, 20 minutes double, and 20 minutes with another guy.  cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took only 15 minutes.

6/28/2025: Got up at 7:30.  Leveled 2 bricks for the walkway.  Trimmed off several overshoots of the 金露花 that were creating unnecessary motion triggers for the camera.  Knocked off a lot of withered Passion Fruit flowers.  Dropped off Anita at City Sports before heading toward Marina Grocery, purchased two Broccoli crown, one fried fish cake, two bottle 17 Oz Sriracha Chili Summersauce, two can Pork Sung, one bottle Kimlan Soy sauce light, one bottle Kimlan Soy sauce dark, one pack (x5) green onion pancake, one pack (x5) sesame pancake, and one pack Neoguri seafood noodle.  As I dropped off the purchase in the car and heading back to the store to get some roast duck, I realized it’s already 2:05 and had to give up the idea, arriving City Sports at 2:17 where Anita’s already waiting, purchasing the duck might last 10 minutes or more and I’ll miss Anita’s picking up time at 2:20.  Ordered one pair of Wyoming cargo pants and one shorts from Amazon.

 6/29/2025: Got up at 7:25.  Dug up 3 bricks ready for leveling.  Finished repaving the repaved backyard walkway-near the family room.  Received my new shorts and pants from Amazon at 3:19 (picked up at 3:21).

6/30/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 136/83/63-125/82/65-122/79/65.  Played one hour and 50 minutes table tennis with Robert’s at his garage, sweated a lot.  Adjusted cucumber watering mist head to have a better coverage, tied loose sticks for proper growth supports.  

Watered front lawn for 40 minutes.

7/1/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased two bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Black (each $6 off), one pack Prawn Hacao, and one pack pizza.  Had 20 minutes MB with RM and legs, EJ.  Helped Anita dye her hair.  Watered front yard flowers.  

7/2/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Trimmed off a couple of front yard Duranta erecta (金露花) branches to allow better security camera view.  Watered backyard flowers.  Trimmed off the none-fruit-bearing Grape vines in the planter box under the fake Cherry tree.  Changed feeder volume settings from 5-3-2 to 4-3-1, filled feeder.  Stored iMac in the attic, also stored old iPhone, old Pixel phone, small Seagate disk, iMac keyboard plus mouse pad as well as Amazon tablet in the box one the attic.  The large size Seagate hard disk is in the drawer in the study.  Watered front lawn for one hour.

7/3/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, loaded them in the garbage bin, dumped garden waste in the bucket into the bin as well-37 minutes.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ-probably should not have this one.  Watered front yard plants.  

7/4/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Changed my return flight seat from 35B (middle seat) to 35 C for $59.99 even though the seat legend says included, not sure why I was charged the fee.  Ordered 4 discount Uber gift cards from Costco online, received order confirmation.  Walked 50 minutes in the backyard listening/watching videos/videos.

N

Received redemption codes at 9:38, added all of the 8 cards ($50 each in value) to my Uber account, we now have $809.62 in Uber Wallet.  Watered backyard roses.  Watered front lawn for 40 minutes.

7/5/2025x7/6/2025: Got up at 6:30.  Got ready for our trip at 9:00, Uber picked us up at 9:37 (8 minutes early), arriving SFO at 10:14, tipped 15% (~$10) for his service.  A long wait (about 20 minutes) to get through security check point, got to domestic United Club around 10:50), there was a sign at the entrance saying “One Time Pass” carrier not allowed to use this facility, Anita went checked with the counter and got ok but not sure why the sign??????  Headed out to gate G1 at 11:55, boarding was delayed for 35 minutes but we finally got to our seats 38 and 38B at 12:50.  Flight UA901 took off at 1:45, 45 minutes behind schedule but we landed at LHR at 7:22, 3 minutes ahead of schedule, it was a long walk in the Heathrow airport before getting to passport check point.  Got our luggage’s real fast, found seats just outside the exit at 8:04, a long time to wait for our 11:55 bus to Southampton.  Had a dry run on getting to Heathrow Central Bus Station, it took me a good deal of effort to find, not what I perceived……headed out to the station at 11:55, got there at 12:10, our bus #061 had a status “wait in the lounge” displayed on the info board, this did not change all the way through it’s departure time 11:55am, this made every passenger waiting nervous, after a long overdue, it finally arrived at12:25, after another slow luggage loading and people boarding, Flixbus 061finally headed out at 12:44.  Unfortunately the driver made a wrong turn exiting the station and could not get back on track, he had to turn around going back to the station then start over.  The bus stopped at Heathrow airport terminal 5 to pickup more passengers at 1:07 before getting on the road at 1:16.  Bus 061 arrived at Southampton Central Bus Station at 3:00, got Uber at 3:08 and arriving Premier Inn at 3:12.  Walked to IKEA nearby and had early dinner, the taste of this IKEA was possibly the worst we had at all the IKEAs we had visited.  Reserved Uber ride for cruise port tomorrow.  Had a couple instances of leg cramps today, the first time was when we were at the IKEA restaurant, it lasted nearly 10 minutes and was painful, the second time was after we got back to the hotel and I had a hot shower hoping the hot water could relax my leg muscles but apparently did not work.  Turned in early at around 7:00 pm.

7/8/2025: Got up at 6:50.  Had breakfast on the first floor of Premier Inn at 7:45.  Checked out at 10:15, our Uber arrived at 10:35, got to Horizon Cruise Terminal at 10:40, dropped off luggage’s and went through registration then got on Norwegian Dawn at 11:05.  For some reason, the Uber app did not show completed ride as it used to, need to verify this…… Uber ride status has been updated, added £2 for tip.  Checked in our muster station at J8, deck 7, just below our stateroom.  Sat down at O’Sheehan, I ordered 1/2 dozen Buffalo wings plus one Old Fashioned cocktail while Anita ordered one Red Bubbles cocktails.  

Anita booked Belfast Giant Causeway excursion as it is now available plus $50 discount.  After long wait, our stateroom 8510 finally was ready by 2:30, the room was old, many of its furnitures were damaged or broken, even though it went through two (most recent one being 2024) upgrade, they mostly focus in public areas, leaving staterooms basically untouched.  Had dinner at Garden Cafe at 5:05, stopped by Atrium to get Latitude party schedule, it’ll be 11:00am tomorrow, there’ll be a behind-the-scene tour of Dawn at 7:30am tomorrow which we will try to make it, got two Latitude Reward Safire pins.  Watched “Welcome Aboard Show” in Stardust theatre, it’s an introduction of all the dancing, singing, magic shows coming to us during the cruise, good one!  Reserved dinner at Le Bistro at 6:15, 7/12/2025 to replace the one at 5:30, tomorrow as the trip to Waterford will not be easily completed, need to cancel that one with reservation desk tomorrow morning!

7/9/2025: Got up at 6:50.  Had breakfast at Garden Cafe at 7:00.  Cancelled our 5:30 pm dinner reservation at the “Restaurant Reservation Desk”.  Got back to our stateroom after attending the Latitude welcome party and took our passports to turn them in at the service desk, there was probably an announcement requesting people without EU passport to turn in passport for streamlining the verification process, we missed the announcement but was alerted by the long line there.  Got on Waterford port Dunmore East tender at 1:15.  Strolled through Dunmore East, the small city likely exhibited what a true Ireland city was, we could not find taxi or bus to Waterford, after almost giving up going to Waterford, Anita found out that there are a lot of buses waiting at the tender station, €50 round trip for two people, gladly paid for and got on.  Anita was tired from jet lag as well as the heat she got from the hot sun during the bus ride so we had some snack at the Palace Cafe which is next to Bishop Palace Museum then walked around the close by neighborhood before getting on the return bus and went back to the tender station, tender ride was another 10 minutes, got back to NCL Dawn around 6:15.  Dinner at Garden Cafe at 6:45.

7/10/2025: Got up at 7:15.  Left the ship around 8:20, got to Cobh train station, which was just opposite the docking pier, train ticket was €6.9 round trip per person, got on 9:00 am Cork bound train, arriving Cork Kent station at 9:24, we only visited one recommended visita point “Shannon Bells&Tower” after walking and searching nearly 30 minutes, paid €12 for climbing the bell tower & visit the church, had a good view of the entire city, we headed back to catch 11:00 train afterward as the climbing had exhausted most of our energy.  We caught 11:00 train just before door closing and got back to the ship by 11:30, went directly to Garden Cafe for lunch.  Went out to see Cobh around 12:20 as the stateroom maid came to clean the room.  Another hard walk visiting St. Colman Cathedral.  Got back to NCL Dawn around 2:10 exhausted.

7/11/2025: Got up at 6:30.  Had breakfast at Garden Cafe around 7:40.  Dingle is a newly adopted port of call by NCL, there wasn’t any great vista point worth mentioning, even the tender service seemed to be slow as not too many people are eagle to get onshore, we are taking it easy as well.  Went onshore on tender at 9:08, took 20 minutes.  Dingle is a small but charming town, visited gift shops, church, and farmer’s market, went back to Dawn on tender at 11:04, took 18 minutes-2 minutes faster possibly because there were fewer than 10 people as opposed to a full load coming onshore.  Had lunch at Garden Cafe, the “fish finger” was really good.  Stayed in the cabin until breakfast at “Sushi”, no reservation taken at this restaurant, 4 menu items of any combination (can be all 4 of the the same item), Anita ordered Edamame, seaweed salad, and two Sashimi while I had seaweed salad, crispy Salmon roll, and two Sashimi, Carona Extra for her and Heineken for me.

7/12/2025: Got up at 5:00.  Had breakfast at 5:50, Garden Cafe opened early by 10 minutes.  NCL Dawn anchored at 6:45 near Fones.  Headed to Stardust at 8:15 for our first excursion this trip-Ancient Lough Gur.  Got to Stardust at 8:20, turned out we needed to exit the theatre and join others to board tender right away, got to tender at 8:24 and took off at 8:32, arriving Foynes at 8:45.  Got on our bus (#11) at 8:54, started our excursion at 8:57, had a bathroom break at 9:47.  Arriving Stone Circle at 10:15.  It is a small one compared to Stone Heng.  Finished this part by 11:05.  Lunch at 12:35, the crispy chicken was ok but the quantity was a bit too big.  Stopped by Adare Heritage Center after lunch at 2:25.  Headed back to NCL Dawn at 3:10, arriving tender station by 3:58, returned to Dawn by 4:22.  Had dinner at Le Bistro, Anita nd myself have exactly the same order: Escargots, Salade d’Endive, and Braised Shank and roasted Lamb Chop with a bottle of Francis Coppola Cabernet Sauvignon, a great meal and we did not need to sign anything-meaning no decision to add more tips.

7/13/2025: Got up at 6:15-the ship dropped anchor around 5:50.  Rode tender and got onshore Galway at 8:55, started our self-guided tour of the city.  Major vista point was Galway Cathedral.  Took 10:57 tender and back to Dawn at 11:18.  Decided not to go back to Galway this afternoon as one hour is needed for tender ride.  Had dinner at Garden Cafe at 5:05.  Watched magic show by Joseph Réohm at Stardust at 7:00.

7/14/2025: Got up at 6:35.  Headed out to Killybegs around 8:50, had to come back to Dawn to get my jacket as it was pretty chilly with strong wind.  Strolled along the town a bit, Anita was very interested in taking bus to Donegal and see the town, found some information on bus info, will decide what to do later.  It started to rain (heavily at times) just as we were heading back, luckily we brought one umbrella which helped quite a lot.  Took another stroll in Killybegs, visited St. Catherine’s Well and graveyards.  Retrieved passports from NCL at Kuala Lumper meeting room on deck 12.  Watched “Elements” in Stardust, it’s a mix of magic show, dancing, singing, and acrobatics, a very high quality production, better than any of previous ones we’ve watched on previous NCL cruises.

7/15/2025: Got up at 6:24.  Had breakfast at Garden Cafe at 6:50, there was a big crowd.  Waited at Stardust at 8:50 for our excursion.  Boarded bus #14 at 9:08, bus headed out on time at 9:15.  Arriving Giant Causeway at 10:20.  Returned to Dawn around 2:48.  Had dinner at Le Bistro, ordered baked onion soup, Blelgium salad, and braised shank and roasted lamb chop, also ordered one bottle Francis Coppola Cabernet Sauvignon ($32+20% gratuity).  Anita added $20 for our wat as he’s been very helpful, I added $5 for our sommelier for his assistance.

7/16/2025: Got up at 6:15.  Had breakfast at Garden Cafe at.  Headed out for tender at .  Waited 30 minutes before getting on one.  Tender ride was about ? minutes.  Had a restroom break at a nearby DLR building.  Decided not to go to Dublin, instead rode train (€5.20 per person round trip) to Daley, a heritage town about 10 minutes away.  Turned out it was a good decision visiting Dalkey.  Visited several churches and castles, purchased sandwich and potato wedges from a grocery store for lunch.  Hiked to James Joyce’s (the famous Irish writer) Castle on the coast.  Got back to tender station at ?.

7/16/2025: Got up at 6:15.  Had breakfast at Garden Cafe at 8:30.  Headed out for tender at 10:27.  Waited 30 minutes before getting on at 10:57.  Tender ride was about 20 minutes.  Had a restroom break at a nearby DLR building after getting off the tender.  Decided not to go to Dublin, instead rode train (€5.20 per person round trip) to Dalkey, a heritage town about 10 minutes away.  Turned out it was a good decision visiting Dalkey instead.  Visited several churches and castles, purchased sandwich and potato wedges from a grocery store for lunch.  Hiked to James Joyce’s (the famous Irish writer) Castle on the coast.  Got back to tender station at 3:24.

7/17/2025: Got up at 6:30-the only at sea day for this cruise.  Had breakfast at 7:45 Garden Cafe open at 7:00).  Started packing after lunch.  Checked in United flight 939 at 4:15, finished by 4:27.  Placed tagged luggage’s outside our stateroom at 9:15.  Turned in at 11:00.

7/18/2025: Got up at 5:00. Had breakfast at Garden Cafe at 5:30.  Relaxed and waited in our stateroom until called to disembark at 7:30.  Got on the Heathrow airport bound bus at 7:56.  Bus headed out to Heathrow at 8:05 and got to the airport at 9:33.  Found seats in level 2 (arrival exit) and started a the long wait process (4;15pm flight).  Had lunch at “Naturally Fast Food”, sharing a beer and one order of Thai rice chicken.  It’s a long walk (over 15 minutes) to gate B35.  Our plane was late arriving LHR (it’s also from SFO) by one hour and 21 minutes, this inevitably affected our flight schedule.  It’s was first changed to 5:00 as new schedule, but after further delay, we finally boarded flight UA939 at 4:53, the seat (53B) between Anita and myself stayed empty throughout the boarding process, meaning we have the whole row 53 to ourselves, thank God.  More delay was imposed by traffic control (a lot of planes in queue to take off), UA939 finally took off at 5:55.  We landed at SFO at 7:39.  Due to gate shortage, we did not reach gate until 7:56.  Went through customs at 8:30.  Got our luggage’s and went to departure (level 3) and ordered Uber ride at 8:37, got on the Uber at 8:40, arriving home at 9:30, home sweet home!

7/19/2025: Got up at 4:15.  Unpacked most items but need to take breaks from time to time.  There were two cucumbers harvested, first of the season.

7/20/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Played 100 minutes table tennis with Robert at his garage.

Finished reading “Silent Crimes” - Book 8 of The Complete Detective Sophie Allen Box Set by Michael Hambling.  Amazon First Reads provides two free books to read this month, I downloaded “The Fourth Daughter” and “The Women of Arlington Hall”.

7/21/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Had 20 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ-not enjoyable……. Watered front yard plants.  Shaken down Oleander dry flowers and leaves, cleaned up stacked flowers and leaves around the trees somewhat, will do the rest tomorrow or Wednesday.  Charged and used our power station as a quarterly maintenance.

7/22/2025: Got up at 5:40.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one pack organic grape Tomato, one pouch 3.0L Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon, one pack Spring mix, one pack rainbow Carrot, two dozen egg, one Roasted Garlic Parmesan loaf, one pack Blueberry, two bag Kirkland shelled Pistachio, one pack beef short ribs, and one bottle Coffemate Hazelnut creamer.  Swing by 99 Ranch Market, got one pack Clam meat, one pack Swai Basa Fillet, one pack small Gai Choy, one string Garlic, 4 Sugarbee apple, one pack Pork leg roast, one Cauliflower, and 3 Avacado.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ-better than yesterday.  Trimmed most of the withered plants in the front porch square.  

7/23/2025: Got up at 6:30.  Received Cerave Serum, Boston contact lens cleaner, and Underarmour t-shirt from Amazon at 9:30 (picked up at 9:40).  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, loaded half of them in the garbage bin, the other half was used covering the planter boxes.  

7/24/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Trimmed 金露花overshoots that were blocking Tapo camera view.  Trimmed off one Wisteria branch that was in my exercise walk path.  Had 20 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.

7/25/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, there were a lot of fine power (not exactly sure what they were) and/or small flowers making it challenging to sweep.  Played one hour and 40 minutes table tennis at Berryessa Community Center, 15 minutes with Anita, 50 minutes with Robert, and 25 minutes double.  

7:26/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Went to 99 Ranch Market and purchased one small order fried rice noodle and one small order fried fish fillet, it turned out the fish was a not a good buy as I could not squeeze more than 4 pieces into the box because of their hard to bend.  Found an old monitor cardboard box in the attic, big enough to house the CD player to be recycled Monday, also collected a good amount of other electronics equipments, old leave blower……, will probably find some more in the attic later.  Finished editing Ireland trip photo album.

7/27/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Trimmed all low hanging Wisteria branches to clear my walk routes, also trimmed off over shooting branches to make the top even.  Unloaded a good amount of OLD electronic stuffs (circuit boards, electrical study devices…..) onto the pile to be recycled tomorrow, 

7/28/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Walked 52 minutes in the backyard.

Fixed Anita’s exercise/dance shoes.

Watered backyard Roses and Passion Fruits.  Harvested two Cucumbers (current total = 5).

7/29/2025: Got up at 6:50.  Filled up RX300 at Costco gas station around 8:05 for $3.869/gal, very few people.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one pouch 1.75L Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle 1.75L Blanco Tequila, one pack rainbow Carrot, one pack Spring Mix, one box seaweed salad, two dozen pasture egg, one Hacao, one Rustic Italian Loaf, one tub Kirkland Greek Yogurt, one pack Grape Tomato, and one pack Kirkland Prosciutto.  Swing by 99 Ranch Market and got two red onion, one pack Okra, 4 Sugarbee apple, and one hand banana.  Called Yolly for 5 minutes.  Had 20 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.

7/30/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Trimmed me Oak ranches that were blocking Tapo camera D-L, trimmed off a number of Oleander branches that were too close to the birds of Paradise, also it off couple of dozen Birds of Paradise branches..  

7/31/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flower and loves, loaded all of them into the garbage bin.  Harvested 2 Cucumbers (current total = 7).  

8/1/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested one Cucumber (current total = 8).  Played one hour and 30 minutes table tennis at Berryessa Community Center, 15 minutes with Anita, 30 minutes double with several Cantonese, and 45 minutes with Jason.

8/2/2025: Got up at 7:10.  Harvested one Cucumber (current total = 9).  Watered backyard roses and Passion fruit trees.  Trimmed a good amount of Passion fruit vines near the kitchen window and sliding door, they were a bit too thick to allow sunlight through.  

8/3/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Walked 47 minutes in the backyard.  Had one minutes MB with legs in the shed, no EJ.  

Updated my iPad Air to iPadOS 18.6.  Anita had luncheon with her old Arms colleagues today.  Had 30 minutes MB with mini and legs, EJ.

8/4/2025: Got up at 6:45.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, loaded them in the garbage bin.  Anita’s friends Judy and Helen visiting at 10:45, Helen was extremely interested in the Cucumbers I grew, which happened to be my best over the years.  They left around 12:25.  I managed to draw our Baltic cruise map based on NCL’s route map.

8/5/2025: Visited Costco by myself, purchased one pack rainbow carrot, one pack baby Stella mushroom, two dozen pasture egg, one Just Bare Chicken breast chunks, one pack Cherry Tomato, one bag Macadamia nuts, one bottle 1800 Pineapple Magrita, and ?.  Stopped by 99 Ranch Market and purchased one pack Swai Basa fillet, two bunch Spinach, 4 Sugarbee apple, one Taiwanese cabbage, one pack small Gai Choy, and one pack snow pea.  Harvested one Cucumber (current total = 10).  Had 10 minutes MB with hand and legs, EJ.

8/6/2025: Trimmed off over shooting as well as intruding 金露花 branches.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves.  Harvested two Cucumbers (current total = 12).

8/7/2025: Got up at 6:45.  Played one hour table tennis with Robert at his garage.

8/8/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 3 more Cucumbers (current total = 15).  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street.  Played one hour table tennis at Berryessa Community Center-35 minutes with Robert and 25 minutes double.  

8/9/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 2 more Cucumbers (current total = 17).  Watered front yard Roses plus other plants.

8/10/2025: Got up at 7:08.  Harvested one Cucumber (current total = 18).  Had 20 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Received stainless steel garden hose from Amazon at 3:50 (picked up at 3:52).

8/11/2025: Got up at 6:45.  Walked 60 minutes in the backyard.

8/12/2025: Got up at 6:50.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one pack Spring mix, one pack Blueberry, two bag shelled Pistachio, two can MoveFree Ultra, two dozen Michelob Ultra, one pack Chicken Melt, one pack Just Bare Chicken, one pack Hacao, one Cranberry Walnut bread, one pack Tuna, and two dozen pasture egg.  Swing by 99 Ranch Market and got one pack Clam meat, one pack Swai basa fillet, one string garlic, and one hand banana.  Harvested two more Cucumbers (smaller but pretty) (current total = 20).  Applied fertilizer to Cucumber plants and Roses.  Watered backyard Roses.

8/13/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 2 Cucumbers (current total = 22).  Trimmed off a lot of the Oleander new shoots, left them on the brick flat as there were simply too big a pile for the garbage bin, cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, dumped them into the garbage bin.  Finished reading Amazon First Reads “The Women of Arlington Hall” by Jane Healey.

8/14/2025: Got up at 7:00.

8/15/2025: Played one hour and 30 minutes table tennis at Berryessa Community Center, 25 minutes with Anita, 35 minutes other single and 30 minutes double.

(Most 8/14…8/15 scripts were lost due to Google blogger unable to update and did not warn before I closed the blogger

8/16/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Marukai by myself, purchased one can pickled ginger, one pack Nama Yakisoba, one Yakisoba, one pork cutlet, one Salmon Shioyaki&chicken, one Unagi Futomaki, and one Saba fillet.  Harvested 2 more Cucumber (current total = 28).  Our neighbor Grace couple got up really early to take Uber ride to the airport at 4:45, figured they must have used Gate 1 Land&Air package.

8/17/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 2 Cucumbers (current total = 30).  Screwed down 80% of the gap boards after drilling holes in the center, a lot of them had hidden concrete just one inch below the surface, had to use concrete drills to punch through before inserting screws.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Finished securing the remaining walkway gap leveling task.

Received Meow Mix from Amazon at 3:36 (picked up at 3:58).

8/18/2025: Got up at 7:08.  Pollinated one Pumpkin flower in the compost bin.  Adjusted feeder volume settings from 4-3-1 to 3-2-0, filled up the feeder.  Raised two of the large rectangular bricks to level them with the newly installed gap boards, this will make walking along smoother.  Harvested one Cucumber (current total = 31).

8/19/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Trimmed off several small Cucumbers as they were too close to the adjacent ones.  Visited Costco by myself, it was already open when I got there at 8:50, purchased one pack Gold Kiwi, one pack Kirkland dry Salami, two dozen pasture egg, one bottle Kirkland Extra virgin olive oil, one pack (x6) Sardine can, one pack (x2) Strivectin eye serum, and two bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Red (-$4 each).  Swing by 99 Ranch Market and got one pack small Gai Choy, 4 Sugarbee apple, one bunch Chives, one pack pork sirloin tip, and one hand (x4) organic banana, also got one bento from their deli department-there was an old gentleman (respond slowly and has many age spots on his face) just ahead of me on both the grocery and deli checkout lines, looking at him made me wonder what would I look like if I live to be as old……. Walked 61 minutes in the backyard, with the newly added/leveled gap filler, walking is now more swift and safe.

8/20/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 3 Cucumbers (current total = 34).  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, loaded them into the garbage bin.  Ran Time Machine on iMac, backup is in the white 1.5T Seagate drive.  Copied ns30 jap11-jap15 from the black 1T Seagate SSD drive to Google Photo zmb.  Had 5 minutes MB with legs, no EJ.  Watered front yard lawn for one hour.  

8/21/2025: Got up at 7:00.   Harvested one Cucumber (current total = 35).  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, also cleaned up dry leaves of many kinds from between the water buckets lined near the fence to our Filipino neighbor-doing all these to make Francisco’s job easier today as it’s going to be very hot.  Had 20 minutes MB with mini and legs, EJ.

8/22/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, just realized why there was so much dirt and small plant cuts in them because our Grace neighbor was on cruise this week and did not collect lawn trimmings.  Watered front yard plants.

8/23/2025: Got up at 6:30.  Harvested 4 Cucumbers (current total = 39).  Watered backyard Roses and Thanksgiving/crab cactus (螃蟹蘭).  Visited Walmart with Anita, purchased 3 bottle Aloe Vera, one bottle 750 ml Barefoot Pinot Grigio, one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Moscato, and 4 bottle 1.5L Barefoot Riesling Lively Sweet, stopped by Marina Grocery and got one pack Leek pancake, one pack green onion pancake, two lbs lean ground pork, two pack beef tendon, two pack beef shank, one pack pork spareribs, two bag Chia seed jelly Cassia, one bag dry shrimp, 16 Avocado, and two bag sweet turnip, also got three rice wrap from their deli department, Marina Grocery will close operation at this location on 8/30/2025 and move to a new but yet disclosed location.  Called Peilee at 5:58 for 15 minutes.

8/24/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 3 Cucumbers (current total = 42).  Made another batch of stewed beef tendon and beef shank (boil both for several minutes each, cook beef tendon in original but filtered water for one hour and 40 minutes, add beef shanks, old sauce, additional soy sauce, sugar, fresh grind of black pepper, cook one hour and 10 minutes-tendon is a bit overcooked and salty, left shanks in the sauce alone for another two hours).  Had 20 minutes mB with hands and legs, EJ.  

8/25/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested one Cucumber (current total = 43).  Walked 60 minutes in the backyard.

8/26/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested one Cucumber (current total = 44).  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one bottle Pineapple Margarita, two bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Red (each $4 off), one pack Spring Mix, one pack rainbow carrot, two pack Hacao, one  pack Jimmy Dean croissant, and two dozen pasture egg, stopped by 99 Ranch Market and got one bag white crystal sugar, one bag cane sugar, one string garlic, 4 Tangerine, one pack clam meat, one pack imitation crab meat, one can Iodized salt, and 3 Sugarbee apple.

8/27/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, loaded them into the garbage bin.  Visited Marina Grocery with Anita, purchased one pack dried sweet turnip, two pack Chive pancake, one bag dried shrimp, one pack Neoguri spicy seafood noodle, and two pack 出前一丁fast noodle, swing by CVS next door and got one hair dye for Anita.

8/28/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 4 Cucumbers (only one is in normal size, two 2/3 the size, and one thumb size, current total = 48).  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, loaded them into the garbage bin.  Watered backyard Roses.  Had 15 minutes MB with legs, EJ.

8/29/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Blood pressure after 香功: 116/71/85-124/76/82-113/78/86.  Harvested 3 Cucumbers (current total = 51).  Checked in NCL, as always, I wasn’t able to provide photos with my iPad, will have to take it at the registration desk on 9/19/2025).  Played one hour and 10 minutes table tennis at Berryessa Community Center-played only doubles (picky, his white student, and one skinny girl).  Sail Internet stopped working around 8:18pm, sent a service request, the informed they will dispatch techs I’d to the problem area to fix it, a remote reset of some kind did not work this time. 

8/30/2025: Got up at 6:50.  Filled up RX300 at Costco gas station at $3.999/gal.  Dropped off Anita at City Sports before heading to Marina Grocery the last time (it closes by the end of today), purchased 10 bag HFH spicy peanuts, two pack Leek pancake, 4 Tangerines, and 3 green Bell Peppers.  Picked up Anita from City Sports at 1:40.  Dug a hole under one of the old trellis, getting ready to bury Moly as she’s on her last breaths.  Moly passed away at 4:10, wrapped her in our last garbage bag and buried her in the hole I dug just half an hour ago, RIP Moly!  Set all feeder volumes to zero, need to ponder what to do with the feeder.  Tried to book transfer from Stockholm cruise port to Arlanda  (ARN) airport, but wasn’t able to do so online.

Anita called the 800 number they provided in the “failed” attempt message and was able to book it.  The Sail Internet was back online at 7:50pm, possibly the longest service disruption so far.

8/31/2025: Got up at 7:04.  Harvested 3 Cucumbers (current total = 54).  Planning to make cover boards for Moly’s garden, it should also hold the water buckets next to.  Took RX300 to Smog Check Plus on Berryessa road, got a “PASSED” result after 20 minute's test, cost $128, I was the first one there at 9:45, the owner arrived at 9:55 which made me the first customer, there were continuous incoming cars for the test, must be a good business.  Dismantled feeder and its supporting wood panel/boards.

Renewed RX300 registration online around 3:30 after the first failed try around 2:29 because the smog check certificate hadn’t been submitted by Smog Check Plus.

9/1/2025: Got up at 7:06.  Cleaned the mobile garden utility box, moved the semi-washed bench back to a somewhat shifted location.  

Will wash/clean up the bench more later.  

9/2/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, there were a lot of shoppers mainly because of the long weekend which made today a virtual Monday, purchased one Rustic Italian loaf, one pack rainbow carrot, one pack Gold Kiwi, one bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Red ($3 Off), one pouch Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon, 4 Nature Bounty Fish Oil, two bag shelled Pistachio, two dozen pasture egg, one pack Chicken sausage, one pack Pepper Jack cheese, and one soy sauce, swing by 99 Ranch Market, got one Cauliflower, 4 Sugarbee apple, two red Onion, and one pack baby Bok Choy.  Received my contact lens cleaner and soaking solution from Amazon at 11:27 (picked up at 11:29).  Had 20 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.

9/3/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested one Cucumber (current total = 55).  Walked 35 minutes in the backyard.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves.  Reserved Uber ride to SFO for Baltic cruise trip.

9/4/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 3 Cucumbers (current total = 58).  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves.  

9/5/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 5 Cucumbers (current total = 63).  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, it was especially challenging as the lawn cuts plus unknown stones and sand were smeared all over the court, took me nearly half an hour to finish.  Played one hour table tennis at Berryessa Community Center-20 minutes double and 40 minutes single with Picky.  Upgraded Google one storage from 100G ($19.99 per year) to 200G ($29.99 per year)-through web site, not Google One app.

9/6/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 2 Cucumbers (current total = 65).  Dan arrived at 9:08, started working on RX300 idle valve at 9:25.  Dan finished by 11:20, informed me of a new air filter is needed, observation of oil leak near the timing chain enclosure, total charge is $685.  Finished replacing the rectangular bricks to eliminate gaps on the side walkway.

Had 20 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  

9/7/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited 99 Ranch Market by myself, purchased 4 Roma Tomato, one string garlic, 5 Tangerine, 2 Sugarbee apple, and one pack You-Choy, also got one bento from their deli department.  Received RX300 engine air filter from Amazon at 6:17 (picked up at 6:18), collected the item delivered to Grace’s home just to make sure it stay safe until get back from their trip on 9/10.  Replaced RX300 engine air filter.

9/8/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Walked 61 minutes in the backyard.

Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers, leaves, as well as flower stems, loaded them into the garbage bin, also shortened trimmed off Oleander branches into the garbage bin.  

9/9/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one pack rainbow carrot, one Cranberry Walnut bread, one pack Gold Kiwi, one pack Michelob Ultra, one bag Bibigo Beef Mandu, one Kirkland D3, one pack HFH spicy peanut (even cheaper that the $1.69 110g from Marina Grocery), two dozen cage free egg, one pack Hacao, one bag Pischio, and Coffemate Hazelnut creamer, swing by 99 Ranch Market and got one bottle 紹興酒, one pack rice paper, and one pack Chicken thighs.  Harvested 3 Cucumbers (current total = 68).

9/10/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested one Cucumber (current total = 69).  Put away scrap boards (from the feeder enclosure) in the shed.  

9/11/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 3 Cucumbers (current total = 72).  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, loaded them into the garbage bin.  Received new RX300 license plate sticker.  Had 25 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Once again I have no recollection of how dinner with drunk chicken and Tomato fried egg tasted……

9/12/2025: Got up at 6:50.  Harvested 3 Cucumbers (current total = 75).

9/13/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 3 Cucumbers (current total = 78).  Visited Valley Fair with Anita, Nordstrom->Macys->Anthropologie->Koja, as usual, Anita bought a top from Anthropologie with deep discount ($68 dropped to $17.97), nonreturnable though.  Put iMac and its keyboard plus track pad in the attic.  Trimmed off several extruding Wisteria new shoots.  Added our passport info on SAS, this should make checking in easier, there was a problem trying to join Eurobonus, the message was my yahoo email address has already been used but it is what I have……

9/14/2025: Got up at 7:02.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased two pack HFH spicy peanuts.  Harvested 3 Cucumbers (current total = 81).  Trimmed front porch Jasmine vines to clear up security camera view.  Watered front yard plants, cut off old flower leaves in the front porch flower lot.  Watered backyard flowers.

9/15/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Harvested 6 Cucumbers (current total = 87).  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, loaded them into the garbage bin.  

9/16/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Checked in SAS flights for tomorrow.

9/17/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Prepared AREDS 2 and fish oil for the trip.  Harvested one Cucumber (current total = 88).  Attended Chiming’s funeral service at 11:00 am, only Julie, Han, Alicia, their son and daughter were there.  Uber picked us up at 4:00, arriving SFO at 4:44, went through luggage drop off, security check and got to gate A at 5:20, had home made chicken sausage wrap for dinner at gate A3A4A5 area before going to gate A13 to wait for our flight SK936.  Boarded the flight at 7:10.  SK936 took off at 7:55, 15 minutes behind schedule.  The meal on SAS was much better than that of United.  We landed at Copenhagen (CPH) at 3:12, 8 minutes ahead of schedule.  Went through passport control before heading toward connecting gate area, but the SK462 gate number was not available as we were told the flight was kind of delayed from previous route.  Finally realized that SAS already sent notification to my app informing A15 being the gate, since this is a domestic flight, all seats are economy, we boarded SK462 at 5:40-2C and 2D.  Since the flight was fully booked, boarding took longer and wasn’t finished until 6:00 pm, SK462 took off at 6:27, 22 minutes behind schedule.  We landed at Oslo at 7:24, only 9 minutes behind schedule.  Got our luggage’s real fast-being on priority list helps, got to bus stop 40 and got on bus #44 at 8:00, got to Clarion Hotel Oslo airport at 8:08, I was a bit too concerned about getting off at the right location, turned out there were at least half a dozen people got off right in front of Clarion Hotel Oslo airport, thank God!  Our room is 4429, a small room with limited accommodations-and tolerable.

9/19/2025: Got up at 6:30, had breakfast downstairs, it was pretty decent which made up the room shortcoming.  Checked out at 10:50, a bit early for 12:00 Uber ride but either way we had to wait-in the hotel room, or hotel lobby, or at the cruise terminal.  The Uber driver not helping load our luggage’s which was a first, plus he took us to the wrong location, after convincing him that he’s made a mistake, he spent 5 minutes trying to get out of the wrong location, he finally got us to the correct pier after 10 more minutes, it’s the first time I did not add ANY tip to the Uber driver.  The check-in process was not pleasant as we had to wait nearly 40 minutes before allowed to get on Dawn to get our key cards, our stateroom was surprisingly ready by 2:30 after we had something to eat in Garden Cafe.  Had dinner with Ishin and Lucy in Aqua restaurant.  Our luggage’s were sent to us after we finished watching “Welcome aboard” show in Stardust (which is only 15 seconds away from or stateroom-the closest stateroom on the entire ship).

9/20/2025: Got up at 3:00, had breakfast at Garden Cafe at 5:30.  Headed out to Kristiansand at 8:15, went back to Dawn to take break at 8:50, headed out again at 10:00, visited Kristiansand Cathedral and nearby store before returning to Dawn at 10:50.  Had lunch at Garden Cafe at 11:30.  Slept through most of the afternoon, decided not to go back to the city again.

9/21/2025: Got up at 5:30.  Had breakfast at Garden Cafe at 6:15.  Headed out to the pier to meet hop-on hop-off driver at 8:15, picked the first bus which happed to be Stromma, more options but also more expensive (found out only after paying for the tickets), their Cruise Express bus (this is the Black line which has only 5 stops on regular base but the first one starting from Cruise port only takes passengers to stop 12) took us to stop 12 around 8:55, which is close to city center, also a hub for all their lines (red, green, purple, and black), got off the Black line at stop 12 and got on the Red line bus, started our hop-on hop-off tour of Copenhagen at 9:00.  Got off the Red line bus at the same (#12) station 

, after a pit stop at the tourist info center and a quick lunch in there, we started exploring the neighborhood, Central train station, Tivoli, as well as City Hall Square are all in the same vicinity, since City Hall won’t open until 1:00, we went back to the Tourist info center to keep warm until 12:45, the City Hall was open early when we got there at 12:50, finished exploring it and got back on the Black line bus (they have a web page where you can track each operational bus which I notice the bus we need is coming) and headed back to NCL Dawn at 2:40.

9/23/2025: Got up at 4:45, had breakfast at Garden Cafe at 5:25.  Headed out to Kiel city at 8:50, took a while to figure directions to tourist info office, the people here, tourist info office personnel included, are not very friendly.  Returned to NCL Dawn around 10:20, had a light meal (breakfast style) at O’Sheehan’s before getting some rest in the stateroom.  Headed out again at 11:45, revisited St. Nicholas church again as it wasn’t open earlier in the morning.  Visited Kiel City Hall, not impressed as the one in Copenhagen was much much better.  Anita purchased about a dozen Chasmere Hair treatment gel from DM market near the church.  Had dinner with Ishin and Lucy at Le Bistro.

9/24/2025: Got up at 6:15 (jet lag is gone), there was a huge crowd in Garden Cafe, figured a lot of them must be going to Berlin, we had to settle for a table outside the cafeteria.  Headed out to Warnemünde train station, got tickets and rode the 8:31 am train to Rostock Hbf, found out we had to take another train (#5: more local) to Rostock Old Town with the same tickets (they were purchased as “All Day” pass), we got there without further issue.  Anita bought more Cashmere hair treatment gel from another DM store.  Took the #5 train back to Rostock Hbf, waited at platform 3, got on 12:08 pm train (which arrived at 11:55) back to Warnemünde, the train ride was 23 minutes.  Had lunch at Garden Cafe right after getting on NCL Dawn.  Headed out to see Warnemünde at 3:00, it did not take long as it’s a fairly small town-refreshed some of the old memories from 2009.

9/25/2025: Got up at 6:20.  Had breakfast at Garden Cafe at 6:45.  Had lunch with Ishin & Lucy at Garden Cafe, Lucy is joining an excursion along while Ishin will go to Gdansk with us.Met Ishin on the pier, it was chaos as it was crowded with ship passenger as well as taxi drivers, the shuttle bus described online did not show up, we decided to take a taxi (cost €60 split three way) to Gdansk, the ride was about an hour, we were dropped off at old town but they don’t look like anything we remembered from 2009 TFGH reunion cruise, it turned out we were at the river side area the last time, after some research, we walked and arrived at the more interesting place where “Crane Gate” is and spent half an hour there, some struggle getting to Gdansk Central station, more struggle finding ticket office even with multiple consultations from passerby as well as station security, finally got on an 6:08 train heading Gdynia, got off at Gdynia Glowna (the central station of Gdynia) after 29 minutes ride, followed one of the fellow NDL Dawn passenger to bus stop and got on bus #133, the bus actually stopped rings in front of the pier which had no idea exited due to the huge number of people there, thank God we safely returned to our ship-this is probably the most challenging self guided port visit.

9/26/2025: Finished reading Amazon First Read “Cold Island” by Peter Colt.  Got up at 6:20, had breakfast at Garden Cafe at 7:10.  Headed out to Klaipeda at 10:00, Ishin joined us for this walk at the beginning but decided to go along after 5 minutes, this town is the only place we did not see any church or cathedral, it also does not have historical sites, but it does have its own charm.  Went back to the ship at 11:40 for lunch, set out again at 2:05, visited several vista points before stopping at Theatre Square where Anita purchased some souvenir, got back to the ship at 3:35.  Had dinner at Sushi, ordered two Tuna Poke Bowl, one Sesame Seaweed Salad, one Crispy Salmon Sushi Roll, one Rainbow Sushi Roll, one Ahi (yellowfin Tuna) Sashimi, one Kanpachi (Yellowtail) Sashimi, and one Sake (Salmon) Sashimi {Recommen the following order the next time: two Sesame Seaweed Salad, one Tuna Poke Bowl, two Crispy Salmon Sushi Roll, one Ahi Sashimi, one Kanpachi Sashimi, and one Sake Sashimi}.  Watched “Magician Joseph Réohm” in Stardust, this is exactly the same as the one we saw in our July cruise.

9/27/2025: Got up at 6:20, had breakfast at 7:05, there weren’t many people there as we will not dock at Riga until 10:30 am. Headed out at 10:30, went directly to Riga old town, there were a lot of people and farmers market style gathering, possibly the most crowded old town we’ve visited during this cruise, returned to the ship at 12:20, had lunch at Garden Cafe after getting on the ship.  Watched “Element” again, it was somewhat modified with more highs, it’s now an ensamble of singing, dancing, magic, and Cirque du Soleil, a extremely high end production, hats to NCL.

9/28/2025: Got up at 6:40, had breakfast at Garden Cafe at 6:55 (it opens at 7:00 due to late arrival at Tallinn at 11:30 am).  Headed out to Tallinn at 12:30 and came back at 3:20, the highlight was climbing the St Olaf’s Church bell tower, a steep 258 steps circular stairs, very challenging in for us, but the view on the top was spectacular.  Started packing after dinner.

9/29/2025: Got up at 6:45.  Headed out to see Helsinki at 9:30, got on 9:30, got on the €12 all-day shuttle at 9:45, arriving Helsinki city center at 10:03, it was very cold without beani or gloves, we managed visiting Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, City Hall, Senate Square, Helsinki Cathedral, Uspensky Cathedral, and Market Square, none of the cathedral were open though.  Returned to shuttle bus stop at 11:50, got on the bus at 11.52, bus started at 12:03, got back to the ship at 12:18.  Anita visited the souvenir shop on the pier next to NCL Dawn, she came back and told me about on sale jackets, went with her to check out, bought one Duck Down jacket for €50, a good deal.  Checked in SK867 at 2:30.  The ship was due to depart at 4:00, because of some excursion passengers shopped at the Souvenirs store on the pier approaching 4:00pm, likely the cause of the late departure.  Had dinner with Ishin and Lucy at Aqua at 5:30 (started waiting as #2 customer in front of Aqua at 5:00).  Finished packing at 8:00, placed luggage’s outside the stateroom waiting for pickup.

9/30/2025: Got up at 5:30, waited in Garden Cafe at 5:20, had breakfast at 6:30 when it opened.  Waited until ship docked at 9:45, waited on the stairs between deck 5 and deck 4, finally got off the ship at 10:06, got our luggage’s at 10:16, got on the bus at 10:21, the bus did not leave until 10:48.  Tried checking in flights for 10/1/2025, but somehow lost all data entries after typing in passport info, will have to start over after finishing all necessary tasks at ARN and got to flight gate.  Bus arriving terminal 4 (as the bus was not allowed to stop at terminal 5) 11:24.  Anita’s backpack was sent for inspection, her iPad was examined and let go, could not figure out why.  Tried checking in the flights but failed 3 more time, decided to use iPad to checkin, failed one more time but was ok the next time, possible causes: country code of emergency contact was improper and network connection was lost, the thing is no message was given assuming user will eventually figure out……. Boarded t flight SK867 (Embraer 195) at 2:07, flight took off at 2:30 (5 minutes behind schedule), since this flight was booked separately from our SFO/OSL flights, it is 100% economy, meaning anything other than water/tea/coffee require additional charge (the flight alone was $65）.  Our flight arrived Oslo at 3:11, arriving gate at 3:16.  Bought one bottle Cabernet Sauvignon from one of the duty free store, Anita suggested we buy something for dinner at one of the stores we pass by, luckily we did and found out the particular tax free store we intended to buy food from simply did not have any read food.  Got our luggage’s and boarded bus 44 at bus stop 40 just outside the airport, with Anita’s insistence, the bus driver let us use the unused round-trip ticket we were wrongfully charged with, the 4:00 pm bus #44 took us to Clarion hotel by 4:08, checked in to room 3101.  Had the sandwich, HFH spicy peanut, and Cabernet Sauvignon for dinner.  Turned in around 8:30.

10/1/2025: Got up at 5:45.  Had buffett breakfast downstairs.  Boarded bus 44 at 8:38, arriving Oslo airport t 8:50 (a bit longer as the bus need to pick up more passengers at a nearby hotel.  Went through self assisted luggage tag and boarding pass process station, dropped off luggages at a self helped station.  My backpack was (likely randomly selected) examined without pen by a machine but released right away., got to gate E2 within 5 minutes at 9:25.  Boarded flight at 10:50, seats 2C and 2D (so-called Business class with exactly the same seats as economy, the middle seat on my row was empty where as Anita’s row was all hers).  SK1467 left the gate at 11:02, took off at 11:11-scheduled at 11:05.  Lunch was served at 11:30, forgot to ask for wine.  We landed at Copenhagen at 12:05 (scheduled at 12:15).  Passed Copenhagen passport control at 12:38.  Got to gate C34 waiting for flight SK935 at 12:50.  Boarded the flight at 1:35 at seats 21H and 21G (premium).  SK935 left the gate at 2:13 (scheduled for 2:10), took off at 2:32.  A pre-meal drink was served, Anita had 2 small bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, I had 2 small bottle of Shiraz plus a small 46° Whisky, SAS was, no doubt, much more generous than United. We landed at SFO at 4:56 pm, taxiing to gate at 5:15.  Our flight was the only arrival at the time, going through passport control was a breeze, got on Uber at 5:43, got home at 6:34.

10/2/2025: Got up at 6:45.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one hand banana, one pack Spring Mix, one Jalapeños Cheddar loaf with roasted Peppers, one pack Gala Orange, 4 AREDS 2, one bag Lindt Linder assorted chocolate, two dozen pasture egg, one pack Bibigo dumpling, one pack French pizza, and one pack Avocado.  Updated LS400 and RX300 odometer readings on Geico, there will be a small reduction in insurance fee.

Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Harvested all remaining Cucumbers (17, making 2025 total = 105), most of them are jumbos.

10/3/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Made pickled cucumbers from 4 large jumbos, trying to give out the remaining of them if possible.  Cleaned up Cucumber plants.  Had 30 minutes MB with hands and legs, no EJ.

10/4/2025: Woke up at 12:15, had Whiskey and stewed beef and tendon before going back to bed at 1:50.  Got up at 7:00.  Our Korean sent us 35 Persimmons, prepared 18 for Elle, 17 for ourself, dropped off final 4 Cucumbers to Korean neighbor’s front door.  Disassembled Keurig K-Supreme Plus coffee maker, screened some of the tubes and I was able to start the descale process, 2 steps: one full tank of vinegar then one full tank of water.

10/5/2025: Got up at 4:50.  Descaled the coffee maker one more time.  

Brewed one cup of coffee for me, it looked good, will put the covers back tomorrow.

10/6/2025: Got up at 7:10.  Reattached coffee maker coverings and tested run one brew, it worked.

Put iMac back to the attic after Anita’s done with month end report.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers, leaves and flower stems.  Reserved Uber for Canada trip.

10/7/2025: Got up at 5:50.  Visited Costco with Anita, purchased two box st. Michael French butter cookie, one pack (x2) chunk peanut butter, one bottle Nature’s Bounty B12, one pack Tortilla wrap, one pouch Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon, and one tub cream cheese, stopped by customer service and inquired our reward check issue, info will be sent to their corporate, a possible credit will be issued if they confirm the check was not cashed.  Finished editing Baltic trip photo album, sent link to Anita.  Had 10 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.

10/8/2025: Got up at 6:05.  Trimmed off several 金露花 (Duranta erecta) branches that were obstructing Tapo camera view.  Finished checking in United flight 436 to Toronto at 11:18, it’s a full flight.

10/9/2025-10/10/2025: Got up at 6:00.  Watered backyard flowers.  Put iPads and wallets in the attic under the floor cover panel.  Locked both cars.  Uber picked us up at 8:29, arrived at SFO at 8:11, luggage drop off was at terminal 3 while security check was at terminal 2, went through all these and got to gate D15 at 8:40.  UA436 was totally full as it asked volunteers to relent their seats for another flight.  Boarded UA436 at 10:25, flight left the gate at 11:02, after a long taxiing, it finally took off at 11:24.  We landed at Toronto airport at 6:44, went through passport control (through a kiosk) at 7:15 after a really long walk.  Got our luggage and ordered an Uber at 7:46, arrived Sheraton Centre hotel Toronto at 8:28.  We were lucky when Anita went to the reception desk and met a nice gentleman from HK, he kindly checked us in after finding a ready room 1039 instead of the originally assigned 914 as it is not ready yet, we were able to get in our room at 8:50.  Had breakfast at the “group breakfast” which was meant for an earlier Gate 1 group.  Anita was having some issue with her left thigh, a hot water tub soak helped somewhat.

This extra half day stay in our hotel room was the best we’ve had ever, relaxing and enjoyable.

10/11/2025: Got up at 5:00.  Breakfast at TMM room 2 at 6:20.  Departed the hotel at 8:00 on AYR bus for the Niagara Falls cruise.  It was worthwhile even though my shoes and socks were socked with splashing water.  Niagara-on-the-Lake town was beautiful even though it is crowded with tourists.  Welcome dinner at Hothouse Mediterranean, not great but OK.

10/12/2025: Got up at 5:20.  Went to have breakfast at TMM room2 for breakfast at 6:20 but it did not open early like yesterday, it did open on time at 6:30.  Bus left the hotel at 8:00 heading to Ottawa.  Stopped at The Big Apple for anything Apple stuff.  Had lunch at A&W in Kingston.  Arriving Rockport at 1:40 for the “1000 Islands Cruise”, it was surprisingly great experience, for fear of cold winds on the upper deck, we sat in the second deck with better wind shields, with the help of bright sunlight, we caught site of many beautiful houses, the Boldt Castle was most spectacular structure of the cruise.  Arriving Courtyard Marriott at 4:55.  Our room 451 is about 1/3 smaller than Sheraton Centre Hotel Toronto, no safe to keep our passports, iPads, and other valuables, will have bring alone on our tour tomorrow.

Visited  Fat Biy in nearby mall, they have plenty of ready made food and they open tomorrow from 10 to 7 on Canadian’s Thanksgiving Day, got two bottle red wine from LCBO liquor store close by because they will be closed tomorrow.  Had dinner in hotel room with salad, sandwich, and potato chips procured during the day plus the Merlot purchased from LCBO.

10/13/2025: Got up at 6:15.  Started Ottawa city tour at 8:30.  Arriving National War Memorial to see their Honor Guard Changing process, different but not impressed.  Visited Centennial Flame in Parliament Hill.  Bought 2 paninis at a coffee shop in Byward market, consumed them in our hotel room before joining the others near Bookstore of Sunlight, visited Canadian Museum of History for a taste of their indigenous history.  Got salad, chicken finger, and ham from Farmboy for dinner.

10/14/2025: Got up at 6:00.  Placed luggage’s outside our hotel room at 6:25 waiting to be delivered to our bus.  Our bus left the hotel at 7:56, restroom Brest at Walmart at 9:30, they do not sell alcoholic beverage here, hmm…….  Lunch break at Farmboy, it’s a popular eatery in a small upscale town, it provides Québéois brunch with Maple syrup on almost everything, tried smaller portion on every possible way since we’l have a sit down dinner tonight.  Arriving Hilton Honors hotel at 4:20, surprisingly our luggage’s were already in the room (701) when we got in, our driver must have been busy getting them here while we took a small walk near the lower town area.  Had dinner at Ľentrecôte Saint-Jean, red wine, nice daily soup, good salad, great rib, bad steak, nice dessert.

10/15/2025: Got up at 6:00.  Had breakfast at Cabu at 7:00, vouchers were required..  A walking tour was lead by Mary at the lower town area, stopped by The Joan of Arc Garden before heading to Parliment, we stayed on the bus since we had visited it before, stopped by Montmorency falls, it’s of course mush smaller than Niagara Falls but still a nice local attraction.  Lunch was at Le Moulin de Saint-Laurent, stopped by Chocolateríe de Llle d’Orleans and got some chocolate.  Swing by Saint-Anne-de:Beaupré before heading back to Hilton Honers hotel.

10/16/2025: Got up at 6:00, finished packing and left luggage inside the room waiting for pickup.  Had breakfast at Cabu with vouchers at 7:00, the same waiter lead us to our table (a very polite person), I made a bagel with smoked salmon, ham, pickled onion, and cheese, it was likely the best I’ve had.  Got on the bus at 7:50, bus left the hotel at 8:04.  Had a pit stop at Rose Drummond.  Stopped by Magog for lunch where Anita bought a knitted wool pumpkin from a pasta store after we had lunch at Subway.  Had a enjoyable wine tasting experience at Avignon Le Cep d’Argent, Anita bought one bottle (500ml) Lárcher after a satisfying experience.  Arriving Le Centre Sheraton at 3:40, as Betty was unloading luggage, we picked up ours and brought them with us to our room 1202, another convenient room just off the elevators.  Had dinner at 5:25, the leftover Subway was better than the Panini, but overall the cheddar cheese was the best along with the Cabernet Sauvignon purchased yesterday plus the Milestone we brought with us from home.

10/17/2025: Got up at 6:10.  Had breakfast at Victoria Restaurant (level A, 1 floor below reception), selection was poor compared to Hilton Québec.  Got on the bus at 8:55, headed out t 9:04, our local guide was Lisa/Lee.  Visited Montreal underground city, an amazingly large mall style underground structure that houses concert hall, art museum, and shopping centers, it also serves as convenient pedestrian corridors.  Stopped by Notre-Dame Cathedral, a unique Cathedral (without a Bishop) with a lot of interior decors.  Had lunch at a nearby strip mall.  Headed back to our hotel at 1:30, arriving at Le Centre Sheraton

Hotel at 2:00.  Rode our bus to dinner area and walked 5 minutes to get to Vieux-Port Steakhouse, their steak was just a bit better than the one from Ľentrecôte Saint-Jean, the place was packed with people mostly tourist group, the service was as expected-close to bad, we did not get our dessert when Mickey called to leave, got them to go wrapped but the image was tarnished further.  Returned to hotel at 8;10.  Checked in United flight 2016 at 7:40 waiting for our dessert.  

10/18/2025: Got up at 7:00, had breakfast at Victoria restaurant at 7:30, bid farewell to fellow Gate 1 team members present there.  Decided to use Uber instead of taxi to Yul airport even though curbside (an option vs. express-dropoff with free shuttle) maybe slow due to heavy traffic at departure ramp.

Stopped by Provigo just two blocks away from Le Centre Sheraton hotel at 10:00, picked up two pack sandwiches (one for lunch and one for dinner), unlike most grocery stores in Canada, they also have alcohol beverages.  

Checked out at 12:40, waited in the lobby for our Uber, the Korean couple (Yuoh, Hungsup and Yuoh, Insook) happened to be there, their flight was 7:30 to Washington D. C.  Got on Uber at 2:22 (it’s early by 8 minutes), arriving YUL (Montreal airport) at 2:46, dropped off luggage and passed Canada security check by 3:08, passed US passport check (only facial scan was needed) at 3:12, arriving gate 79 (our gate was 80 but 79 appeared to have more seats to relax) to rest at 3:18.  Waited in line at gate 80 at 5:30.  Boarded flight 2016 at 6:18 as the flight was 11 minutes late arrivingYUL, it was hoped and confirmed that seat 7B stayed unoccupied meaning Anita and myself can be more comfortable throughout the flight.  UA2016 left the gate at 6:43 and took off at 7:08.  It landed at SFO at 9:43.  Turned out it was at terminal 2 meaning we go directly to luggage claim, no passport check needed.  Uber at terminal 2 was at level 5 of the parking garage, Uber picked us up at terminal 2 zone D, D3 stop at 10:26, got home at 11:07.

10/19/2025: Got up at 5:15.  Cleaned up luggage, retrieved wallets, iPads, old phones from their respective storage.  Costco has a new sale arrangement, there used to be one week or longer gap between catalog sales, now their next one follows (starts on 10/20 right after the previous ending on the 19th), just not sure if this is for holiday season or year round……

10/20/2025: Got up at 6:05.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Still suffering from sore throat.

10/21/2025: Got up at 7:10.  Visited Costco with Anita, purchased one pack Orange, one pack Spring Mix, one pack rainbow carrot, one Cranberry Walnut bread, two dozen pasture egg, one pack Starbucks coffee, one pack (x8) Chicken pot pie, one pack (x2) RoC Serum, one Kirkland European Cookies with Belgian Chocolate, two Kirkland Belgian chocolate, and 5 MoveFree Ultra.  Swing by 99 Ranch Market, got one fried fish cake, one pack Bok Choy, one pack small Gai Choy, one pack Swai Basa fillet, two red onion, and 3 Sugarbee apple.

10/22/2025: Got up at 6:35.  Cleaned up backyard Oleander flowers and leaves, also trimmed some new shoots, need to cut off several large branches to give them a better growing environment.  Received Palmolive dish liquid soap from Amazon at 3:52 (picked up at 3:59).

10/23/2025: Got up at 7:06.  Loaded all garden trimmings in the collection bucket into the garbage bin.  Had 20 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  

10/24/2025: Got up at 7:04.  Played nearly 2 hour table tennis at Berryessa Community Center, 20 minutes singles (Jason and Alan) and the rest doubles (Janis…), did not sweat at all while playing doubles but anticipating sore muscles tomorrow.

10/25/2025: Got up at 6:55.  Setup Uber app on my old iPad with Anita’s phone number, now I can see her reservations and ride status the same as her iPhone-hopefully.  Took out one section of the down spout next to 金露花, making the remaining assembly high enough to fit a large 27 gallon bucket to collect rain water.  

10/26/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Visited Marina Grocery (Hashi Market) by myself, purchased two bag HFH spicy peanuts, one pack pickled mustard green, two pack beef tendon, and one pack boneless beef D Shank, the market is gradually changing with on going remodeling but still remained about 70% of what Marina Grocery used to be.

10/27/2025: Got up at 7:00.  

10/28/2025: Got up at 6:45.  Uber picked up Anita at 9:42, got to SFO terminal G at 10:43-pretty bad commute traffic.  Anita called twice, once on her way to United Club and once on her way to the departing gate, her flight UA871 was delayed for 11 minutes to resolve a technical issue, took off at 1:46-business class and premium economy plus class were both full, there were 99 empty seats in the economy class though, that’s 99 out of 380 total seats.  Shakedown close to %50 of dried Passion fruit leaves from the fake Cherry tree, loaded them into the garbage bin.  Had 40 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ.

10/29/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Shakedown more dry Passion fruit leaves from the fake Cherry tree.  Had 30 minutes MB with RMs and hands, no EJ.  Shakedown more dry Passion fruit leaves from the fake Cherry tree, loaded all of them plus some old dry vines into the garbage bin.  Had 25 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ-stimulation is now vital.  

10/30/2025: Got up at 7:05.  Walked to 99 Ranch Market and purchased one Tainese cabbage, one string garlic, and 3 Sugarbee apple, also got a bento from their deli department.

Received mint tea bags from Amazon at 12:24 (picked up at 1:02).  Had 40 minutes MB with RMs, EJ.

10/31/2025: Had 20 minutes MB in bed with RM, no EJ.  Got up at 6:55.  Played 2 hours table tennis at Berryessa Community Center-one hour and 30 minutes double (Goulan, Ki, and one other lady), 30 minutes singles (Ki and a nameless guy).  Called Anita at 5:00 for 12 minutes.  Anita informed me that United has changed flight and there is no premium economy seats at all, this will be very challenging to endure, should we cancel the entire cruise trip……

11/1/2025: Got up at 6:45, had 15 minutes MB with RMs and legs, EJ.  Grace’s husband (Kent?) placed 2 佛手瓜 on the porch, I picked it up at 9:06.  Visited H Mart, purchased one Radish, one Kimchi fried rice, one pack (x6) pork dumpling, and one spicy sweet rice cake with Kimbap.  Trimmed off several branches from the big tree of our backdoor neighbor, need to deploy my tall ladder in order to reach higher branches.  Ordered two Gorilla caulk and one caulk remover/applicator from Amazon.  Received Costco reward check of $65.42.

Called Anita at 5:00 for 12 minutes.  Filled up RX300 at Costco gas station for $3.949/gal.

11/2/2025: Woke up at 2:25, called Anita at 2:32 for 6 minutes.  Got up at 6:35.  Visited Marukai, purchased one can pickled ginger slice, one pack lean ground pork, one pork cutlet, and one pork Katsu bento.  Received caulk remover/applicator and white caulk from Amazon at 1:08 (picked up at 1:17).  Shakedown the remain8ng dry Passion fruit leaves from the fake Cherry tree, loaded them 8g to the garbage bin, also trimmed some low hanging Passion fruit vines just above the deck stairs, used one steel wire and managed to raise the same spot easier to walk under.  Called Anita at 4:00 for 33 minutes.  

11/3/2024: Got up at 7:00.  Trimmed off one large tree branch of one of our back door neighbor’s trees with extended chain saw, cut the batch into shorter pieces and loaded them 8g to the wheel barrel, to be dumped on the sidewalk coming Thursday.

Received massage balls from Amazon at  12:34( picked up at 1:35).  Called Anita at 4:00 for 14 minutes, she’s going to Kaohsiung with Kwang Hua today.

11/4/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco, filled LS400 with 5.05 gallon Octane 91 at $4.279/gal, purchased one bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Red, one pouch 3.0L Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon, two dozen pasture egg, one pack (x8) Chicken Pot Pie, one pack (x2) Skippy Super Chunk peanut butter, one pack rainbow carrot, one bottle Kirkland extra virgin olive oil, and one Roasted Garlic Parmesan loaf, I’ll have to deposit the reward check in GBC as Costco does not accept checks.  Started repairing grouts in bathrooms upstairs.

11/5/2025: Got up at 7:30.  It rained a bit in the morning but turned most cloudy the rest of the day.  Applied grout sealer to the new master bathroom floor grouts.  Trimmed off several more Oleander branches, cut them into shorter pieces, will dump them on the sidewalk tomorrow.  Applied white caulking  to master bathroom shower base.

The newly acquired applicator helped but not perfect.  The guest bathroom floor is a challenge because I did not realize the new grout is really white compared to the original, pondering how to fix this.

Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ.

11/6/2025: Got up at 7:30.  Processed the large circular bucket (originally from Kung Shih many years ago), loaded the dismantled pieces into recycle bin as it is labeled #2.

Cleaned up peach leaves from next door neighbor with blower, hands, and leaf rake (which took me a while to find), loaded them into the garbage bin, also cleaned up Oleander trimmings done yesterday and loaded them into the garbage bin-over an hour’s effort.  While working on cleaning the leaves I discovered our relatively new fence to Korean neighbor appeared to be leaning to our side, careful examination confirmed that, also realized the guy we hired did a lousy job, the fence wasn’t even straight across-our fault hiring him, he may be good at tree cutting (the Oak trees) but was totally new at fence work.  I managed adding two wood pieces to help strengthen it, since the original job was terrible, many of the lumbers weren’t attached properly making my effort less effective.

Had one hour MB with RMs, hands, and legs, EJ.

11/7/2025: Got up at 7:25.  Took care of a big (over one foot long) dead bird in the backyard, not sure what was the cause.  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, with the dead bird addition, the garbage bin was filled to the top, had to press down to fit the leftovers.  Cleaned up the blood stains from the dead bird with water.  Played one hour and 45 minutes table tennis at Berryessa Community Center-mostly doubles with different people.  Called Anita at 4:00 for 17 minutes.

11/8/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited H Mart, purchased one hand banana, one pack pork dumpling, one fried rice, three Broccoli, and one Bibimbap.  Walked 42 minutes in the backyard.

Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ.  Called Anita at 4:00 for 23 minutes.

11/9/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Had 30 minutes MB with RM, no EJ.  Re-caulked bathtub and wall joints, the applicators were not as handy as expected but the result looks ok.

Had 50 minutes MB with RMs, hands, and legs, EJ.  Called Anita at 4:00 for 21 minutes.  

11/10/2025: Got up at 7:50.  Watered backyard roses, trimmed some yellow leaves from the roses.  Had 10 minutes MB with RM, no EJ.  Started fixing guest bathroom floor tile grouts joints, it’s a tough job as I had to either kneel or on my knees.

Called Anita at 4:00 for 31 minutes.  

11/11/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco, purchased two dozen pasture egg, one pack Lamb rib rack, one pack large shrimp, and one bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Red.  Had 15 minutes MB with RM, no EJ.  Worked on the floor grouts for 20 minutes.  had 15 minutes MB with RM, no EJ.  Worked on the bathroom floor grout again.  Called Anita at 4:00 for 30 minutes.

11/12/2025: For up at 7:00.  Shook and cleaned up Wisteria leaves, loaded them into the garbage bin.  Processed the last two rows of the guest bathroom floor tile grout joints, will start applying new grout to the few joints that I missed, also need to touch up those joints with inadequate amount of grout.  Had 40 minutes MB with RM, hands, and legs, no EJ.   Finished (I hope) touching up the guest bathroom floor tile joints, final step will be applying grout sealer after scrape off residues, also need to wipe clean the tile floor thoroughly.

Had 30 minutes MB with RM, no EJ.  Called Anita at 4:00 several times but could not get through, turned out she was watching “The Movie Maker” intently and did not notice the call, finally she called at 4:14 for 23 minutes.  Processed first two rows of the grout joints.

11/13/2025: Got up at 6:55.  Anita called to inform me about the email from United requesting call to them.  Called United and pretty much got the same information about flight changes, nothing new.  Ordered non-stick egg poachers from Amazon.  Processed the 3rd and 4th rows of grout joints-the effect is still not good, sigh……. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ.  Filled up the large round bucket with collected rain water, filled 1/2 of the rectangular bucket with the rain water collected near the faucet on the other side, all three rectangular buckets (two in the backyard, one in the front yard) were all full when I started the task.  Filled the 1/2 full bucket completely, filled the bucket just over Molly’s garden to 1/2 full.  Had 20 minutes MB with RM and legs, no EJ.  Processed the last rows of the tile grout joints, the portion behind the door is pending.  All large buckets are now filled.  Called Anita at 4:00 for 32 minutes.

11/14/2025: Got up at 6:55.  Touched up several chipped off grouts in the guest bathroom floor, suspecting the surface grouts would not last too long.  Cleaned up most leftover garden waste in the street.  Covered the rectangular bucket in the front porch with its lid.  Had one hour MB with RM, hand, and legs, no EJ.  There was a power outage for 15 minutes, I setup our backup power station in the study, connected the Sail Internet devices and was able to get online, power came back at 1:00.  Called Anita at 4:00 for 23 minutes.  Had 30 minutes MB with mini RM and legs, no EJ.  Received egg poacher from Amazon at 6:50 (picked up at 6:52).  Ordered one 32oz Miracle grout sealer from Amazon, to be delivered on Monday (11/17/2025).  Had 30 minutes MB with hands, mini RM, RM, and legs, no EJ.

11/15/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Had 20 minutes MB with mini RM, no EJ.  Placed cat litter buckets at various locations to store rain water.  Visited H Mart, purchased 4 Sugarbee apple, one pack Chinese a mustard, one hand banana, one pack Beef Sushi, and one pack Kimchi dumpling.  Had 35 minutes MB with mini RM, no EJ.  Played one hour and 20 minutes table tennis with Robert at his garage.  Called Anita at 4:00 without response, she called back at 4:01 as there was no ring tone at all, chatted for 22 minutes.

11/16/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Had 40 minutes MB with mini RM, no EJ.  Had 25 minutes MB with RM and mini RMs, no EJ.  Filled 7 litter buckets with rain water (both collecting buckets were full again).  Had one hour MB with RMs, mini RMs, and legs, EJ.  Anita called at 3:59 for 25 minutes.

11/17/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned master bathroom floor.  Washed one load of clothes and towels, filled 7 litter buckets (4 in the backyard, 3 outside the fence gate) with rain water-it rained again during the night.  Had 15 minutes MB with RM, no EJ.  Played one hour and 30 minutes table tennis with Robert at his garage.  Call Anita at 4:00 for 29 minutes.  Received grout sealer from Amazon at 4:28 (picked up at 4:31).

11/18/2025: Got up at 7:25.  Visited Costco (more people than normal, possibly getting ready for Thanksgiving), purchased one Roasted garlic Parmesan loaf, one bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Red, one pack Hacao, one pack (x5) Avocado, and one pack Bibigo Pork Mandu, swing by 99 Ranch Market and got one pack Swai Basa fillet, one pack Gai LAN, 4 honey Tangerine, one seafood medley, one pack Chicken thigh bone in skin on, and one bunch Spanish.  Had 30 minutes MB with mini RMs, no EJ.  Prepared and washed Spinach, Gai LAN, as well as Chinese Mustards.  Had 40 minutes MB with mini RMs and legs, EJ.  Called Anita at 4:00 for 29 minutes.

11/19/2025: Got up at 7:25.  Installed the Heatdish in the family room, laid one exercise mat in front of the sofa in the family room.  Had 15 minutes MB with RM and mini RM, no EJ.  Cleaned up backyard thoroughly-Oleander flowers and leaves, Wisteria leaves and flower stems, Peach tree leaves of next door neighbor, other leaves from backyard neighbor, loaded them all in the garbage bin, filled the last litter bucket with rain water-this was a one hour and 20 minutes task.  Tried MB with RMs and mini RMs, had to stop almost immediately because I could not feel anything, cleaned up and put away all RMs as well as mini RMs.  Called Anita at 4:00 for 21 minutes, she’s coming home tomorrow, she already reserved Uber to Taoyuan airport at 11:45am.

11/20/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Applied the remaining blue grass seeds on the front lawn. Changed central heater filter, tested  on the heater.  Removed Oak leaves from the litter box under the downspout near the fence gate.  Anita’s flight 852 landed at SFO at 10:45am, got to gate 6 at 11:09.  After a small hiccup, Uber driver picked up Anita at zone 17 (he was waiting at zone 14 when the app clearly says zone 17).  Anita got home at 12:33.

Registered at Berryessa Community Center, got on table tennis level 2 class (1/5/2026-3/9/2026) waiting list.

11/21/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Played one hour single with the same guy but was timed at 30 minutes each time as Goulan used timer to enforce single plays.

11/22/2025: Got up at 5:30.  Trimmed off low hanging Passion fruit vines near the family room as well as over the deck.

11/23/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Played one hour and 30 minutes table tennis with Robert at his garage.

11/24/2025: Got up at 7:20.  Moved lamb rib and shrimp from freezer to refrigerator section, preparing for Thanksgiving dinner.  Stoped by 99 Ranch Market, purchased one pack white mushroom, one Taiwanese cabbage, 4 SugarBee apple, 5 Honey Tangerine, 3 green Bell Pepper, one hand banana, and one pack Enoki mushroom.  Had a serious hemorrhage with diarrhea after dinner, the swelling won’t subside no matter what I do, went to bed around 8:00, suffered throughout the night without any relief.

11/25/2025: Got up at 8:00.  Tried soaking in warm water after breakfast, felt a little better but the swelling still persisted.  The RX300 would not start when Anita was leaving for City Sports, I tried connecting the battery charger and was able to start it, will get new battery!

11/26/2025: Got up at 7:08.  Stopped by Costco at 8:35, it opened at 8:50, got RX300 replacement battery at 8:55, there was a crowd as this is the day before Thanksgiving day.  RX300 started ok after new battery was installed.  Informed Robert that I won’t be able to attend his table tennis class as assistant coach this afternoon.  

11/27/2025: Got up at 6:15.  Received contact lens solution and toilet seat soaking bath from Amazon at 6:49 (picked up at 7:23).  Used the toilet bath several times, tried hard to push the hemorrhoid inside but the best I could do was 90%, but it fell out once I started moving around, the swelling did not reduce a bit even after I applied Preparation H.  Made three dishes for Thanksgiving dinner, Seafood Medley, Lamb ribs, and poached Gai LAN.  Ordered another Preparation H with emphasis on inflammation reduction alone with a pair of thin tongs from Amazon.

11/28/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Used Sitz bath twice without any effect (the swelling remained), tried to break the swelling with a sanitized needle, but only caused more pain without collapsing it-was hoping to cause the blood to break loose and reduce the swelling.  Walked 61 minutes in the backyard.

Delivered chocolate package to our Korean neighbor.  Received Preparation H and a pair of thin and long tongs from Amazon at 5:37 (picked up at 5:55).

11/29/2025: Got up at 7:12.  Applied new Preparation H cream to the swellings, waited 15 minutes before forcing them back in, it’s %95 in place, consciously tighten the open and actually sit on it, it maintained %75 in place until I started cleaning up leftover garden waste in the street, the large swelling resumed its size, applied more cream to it afterward, not satisfactory but quite some improvement.  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street.  Power cycled camera D-L as it was pointing below for some reason, it’s ok after.  Had to lay down for a while after lunch as I was tired and the swellings was very uncomfortable.  

11/30/2025: Got up at 7:10.  I have a serious constipation this morning, the stool becomes dry (possibly due to leakage) and would not come out no matter how hard I tried, haven’t had this problem a long long time, this along with hemorrhoids is killing me……. Received my hemorrhoids donut seat from Amazon at 9:11 (picked up at 9:12).  3 hours after taking one Probiotic and two prunes, I was able to resume normal bowel movement, thank God!  Took another Probiotic after dinner, had another bowel movement after 90 minutes.

12/1/2025: Got up at 7:00.  With the blower, I moved most Oak leaves (including some on our neighbor side) onto the front lawn.  Soaked in the Sitz bath, applied cream, pushed most of the swellings inside, tried hold my open as much, but it fell loose after just 20 minutes, plus the pain persisted most of the morning.  Took a hot shower, applied cream, left the swellings as they are, lay on my stomach and rest, it seemed to help the swellings, at least the pain subsided.  Received Keurig coffee maker from Amazon at 8:24 (picked up at 8:27)-I have been checking delivery for over 4 hours, their Black orders must have been huge.  Soaked in the Sitz bath, applied cream, left the swellings as they were.

12/2/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco with Anita, purchased one hand banana, one pouch 3.0L Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle 750ml Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon, two bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Red, one bottle 750 ml Kirkland Moscato, four dozen pasture egg, one pack Jack pepper cheese, one Cranberry Walnut bread, one pack Spring mix, one pack rainbow carrot, one pack (x3) English cucumber, one Kirkland Belgian Luxury Chocolates, one Kirkland European Cookies (Christmas gift for Francisco), one Sukhi’s chicken coconut curry, one bottle 6h oz Hazelnut creamer, and one pack Avocado, stopped by guest service and discovered I have already used the $103.9 reward check in April…..  Removed the J plant near the recycle bin as it was not healthy plus affecting the roses next to it.

12/3/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Trimmed off a good amount of Passion fruit vines over the deck just outside the kitchen sliding door as well as window.  Played (as Roberts’ assistant) one hour and 40 minutes table tennis (level I class) at Berryessa Community Center.

12/4/2025: Got up at 7:10.  Spent nearly one hour cleaning up backyard-hand picking up peach leaves from next door neighbor, Passion fruit buds, Oak leaves near the recycle bin.  Had 15 minutes mB with mini rM and legs, EJ.

12/5/2025: Got up at 7:15.  Removed all weeds from between bricks and concrete blocks.  Received driver license renewal notice from DMV on 11/18, need to start working on that.

Walked 57 minutes in the backyard wearing the new pair of slipper.

Backed up iMac (Time Machine) to Seagate drive (stored in the box in the attic).

12/6/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Trimmed off more Passion fruit vines over the deck.  Trimmed off Passion fruit vines plus several fake Cherry branches near the master bedroom window.  Trimmed off even more Passion fruit vines over the deck just outside the kitchen sliding door, adjusted several steel wires and zip ties to raise some low hanging vines for more comfortable passage.  Applied online for my driver’s license renewal, luckily I did as the earliest appoint is in January, 2026.

12/7/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Received 2 sets (2 each) rechargeable led lights for Christmas decorations at 8:40, Anita picked them up right away.  Visited 99 Ranch Market by myself, purchased one Daikon, one pack small Gai Choy, one string garlic, 4 SugarBee apple, 2 red onion, one Taiwanese cabbage, one pack pork baby back rib, two pack beef tendon, one pack beef shank, one pack Enoki mushroom, and one pack fried fish tofu.  Anita and Elle attending an art performance at De Anza college.  Received Amazon basic AA batteries at 7:28 (picked up at 8:00).

12/8/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Stewed beef tendon (first three hours) and beef shank (last one hour and 20 minutes) for 3 hours and 20 minutes.  Had 20 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  

12/9/2025: Got up at 7:06.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one hand banana, one bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Black, one pouch 3.0L Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon, one pack (x6) water Lobster tails, one Madi Gran Panettone, two dozen pasture egg, two pack chicken coconut curry, one tub Kirkland Greek Yogurt, one pack Traditional Madeleines, and one pack (x3) English cucumber, added 5.04 gallon Octane 91 gas at $3.999 at Costco gas station.  Cleaned up backyard leaves, loaded them into the garbage bin, washed away white bird poops as well.  Trimmed off a number of Passion fruit vines just outside the kitchen sliding door, hoping to allow more sunlight.  

12/10/2025: Got up at 7:11.  While soaking in Sitz bath, my contact seemed to have disappeared, I thought it fell off, looked around with flashlight to no avail, maybe it fell into the toilet and washed away, with Anita’s help, she found it still in my right eye, thank God……. Played one hour and 30 minutes table tennis with Anita (10 minutes) and Robert at Berryessa Community Center, there was a snack party time while this is going as an end of both level one and two for the year.  Anita ordered t-shirts for us, number. 10 and 30.

12/11/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Spent one hour cleaning up leaves (50 minutes backyard Wisteria leaves and 10 minutes Oak leaves just outside the fence gate and behind the roses, plus Oak leaves tucked in between next door neighbors dumps).  

12/12/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, heavy fog in the morning painting the street watery.  Walked one hour in the backyard.

Anita booked Wyndham Grand Costa Del Sol Lima Airport for 3 days (3/8/2026-3/10/2026) through bookings.com.  

12/13/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Filled up RX300 at Costco gas station at $3.499/gal, ready for trip to Valley Fair.  Left for the mall at 9:35, there was an accident not far from the 880 on ramp, finally eased off after 6 minutes, got to the mall at 9:56.  Anita got a cashmere sweater and one pairs of shoes from Nordstrom, she also purchased 3 small Christmas ornaments at Macys, came home after the usual meal takeout (Umami fries and Ahi Tuna bowl) at Koja Kitchen.  

12/14/2025: Got up at 7:00.  The old coffee maker reached its final day, not only it’s challenging to set volume/temperature/strength, the resulting brews were uncontrollable, so out it goes.

Went through the cleaning and setup process of the new Keurig coffee maker, also made one 12 oz cup for breakfast tomorrow for Anita.  Had to trim off the power plug edges to fit the narrow receptacle gap.  Received super glue pack (x12) and liquid concrete filler from Amazon at 6:00 (picked up at 6:03).

12/15/2025: Got up at 7:06.  Played one hour and 40 minutes table tennis with Robert at his garage.

12/16/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco by myself, purchased one hand banana, one pack rainbow carrot, one bottle 1.75L Johnnie Walker Black, one bottle A-Z Oregon Riesling, one bottle 1.75L Kirkland Margarita, two dozen pasture egg, one pack Avocado, one pack raw shrimp, one Rustic Italian bread, and one pack mixed Peppers.  Stopped by 99 Ranch Market, got 2-pound ground pork, one pack Gai Lan, 4 SugarBee apple, one Cauliflower, one pack Bok Choy, one Daikon, and one pack Curled squid chunk.  Had 15 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ-soso.

12/17/2025: Got up at 8:00.  Visited Walmart with Anita, purchased 5 bottles 1.5L Barefoot Riesling, 2 bottle 1.5L Barefoot Moscato, and one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Pinot Grigio, swing by Hashi Market (the old Marina Grocery) and got one pack Chive pan cake, three pack beef tendon, and one pack thick bean curd.

12/18/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned up Wisteria leaves after knocked down many of them from the tree, also cleaned up fake Cherry tree leaves after shaking some off the tree.  Blew all Oak leaves in the front yard, including the ones near our Filipino neighbor’s fence gate, onto the area under the Oak trees and the front lawn, leaving driveway and sidewalks clean.  Had 20 minutes MB with mini RM, hand, and legs, EJ.

12/19/2025: Got up at 7:00.  There were a couple of traffic issues on our way to IKEA, just as we got on 101, there was a police car zigzagging slowing down cars on all lanes, this lasted for about 5 minutes before traffic resumed, as we approached Mountain View, the traffic slowed down and eventually stopped, this lasted nearly 20 minutes before we decided to exit 101 at Old Middlefield road and headed back home, a whole one hour was spent just to raise the average mile/gal to 19.5.  Cleaned up backyard Wisteria leaves, loaded them in the garbage bin.  Applied grout to the broken off cement patches at the bottom of the family room sliding door, hope they dry before the rain.

12/20/2025: Got up at 7:30.  Swept away, with blower, most Oak leaves to the front lawn, did the same for Wisteria leaves.  Played one hour and 30 minutes table tennis with Robert at his garage.

12/21/2025: Got up at 7:56.  Stopped by 99 Ranch Market, got one pack red bean, one pack red bean large rice ball, and one pack mini rice ball for Winter Solstice.  With blower, swept most Oak leaves onto the front lawn, also swept most Wisteria leaves and loaded them into the garbage bin, forgot to shake the Wisteria tree as the ground was covered with yet more of its leaves.  Shook and cleaned up most of Wisteria leaves, distributed them in compost bin, garbage bin and planter box. 小丹, Jerry, and their daughter Evie arrived at 4:15, we chatted until 5:15 when we depart to Ma’s Resturant, we enjoyed 酸菜牛肉鍋 (our order was 羊肉), 芝麻薄餅, 乾扁四季豆, 鍋塌豆腐, and sliced fish of some kind, still took home nearly half of.  Continued chatting until 8:25, mostly on health subjects.

12/22/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Swept most Oak leaves onto the front lawn and the area below the Oak trees, swept most Wisteria leaves after shook them off the tree, I only kept them near the fence since it started raining before I had chance to load them in the garbage bin.  Walked 31 minutes in the backyard.

12/23/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Had 25 minutes MB with hands and legs, EJ.  Knocked off about half of the Wisteria leaves onto stems.  Removed %99 of the Wisteria leave stems as well seed pods, strong wind had knocked down many of our back door neighbor’s tree leaves/stems, the amount is too much for me to handle.

12/24/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Made 4 dishes for Christmas dinner-Lobster with sauce, poached Gai LAN, seafood bowl (shrimp, mussels, squids, 醉雞flavored), and ground pork/mashed shrimp stuffed Peppers.  Finished only 1/3 of the dishes.

12/25/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Swept some of the backyard leaves (Wisteria, back door neighbor’s) into several piles, there were too many of them.

12/26/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Swept several more piles of leaves in the backyard.  Handed $100 (double week pay) and one can of European cookies to Francisco when he arrived at 1:00 pm.  Played one hour and 20 minutes table tennis with Robert at his garage.  Francisco left at 3:45, the amount of leaves he had to take care of was huge.

12/27/2025: Got up at 7:31.  Visited 99 Ranch Market by myself, purchased one hand banana, 4 SugarBee apple, one Taiwanese cabbage, one pack pork spare rib, one bottle 750ml 陳年紹興花雕, and one Daikon.  Cleaned up most leftover garden waste in the street, many leaves stuck on the ground by the rain water.  Tried to login Anita’s SS account from her iPad, it went through with her Gmail/pw at login.gov and her iPhone verification but displayed “can not process my request” at the end, she tried again after 2 hours and was able to get in and saw the info but unlike mine, there was no “2025 initial 1099” message, have to try sometime later.

12/28/2025: Got up at 7:30.  Played one hour and 30 minutes table tennis with Robert at his garage.  

12/29/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Had 15 minutes MB with hand and legs, EJ.  Walked 40 minutes in the backyard.

12/30/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Turned down Robert’s invitation for a table tennis match.  Anita had another fatigue after bowel movement event, a recurring issue recently, need to observe carefully.  Trimmed another 1/4 of the Wisteria dried stems as well as those too tall or too close to the back door neighbor.  Did the same trimming again, %30 remaining to finish.  Finished trimming Wistreia, loaded all trimmings into the garbage bin.

12/31/2025: Got up at 7:00.  Visited Costco with Anita, there was a big crowd most likely due to New Year’s Day closure, purchased one pack (x2) Super Chunk Peanut butter, one hand banana, two dozen cage free egg, two box chicken melt, one box Bibigo soup dumpling, one pack Mount comfort coffee bean, one Cranberry Walnut bread, one pack rainbow carrot, one bottle Manuka honey, one pack Charmin bathroom tissue, one pack Avocado, one Avocado mesh, one pack (x12) chicken broth, one bag unsalted mixed nuts, one bag JoJo’s chocolate snack (pistachio, almond….), one bag coconut roll, and one bag Undercover chocolate Quinoa crisps.