Hey Minnesota, we've got snow too

View of Mt. Jacinto over the back fence of Hotel California. Lots of snow in the mountains. Drying out on mainland.

It rains is southern California, man it pours

At least now we know the pond will hold water.

Bridge Over the River Hai? -- The Ranger

Here’s November’s project at Hotel California, finished ahead of schedule and over budget. Eight sturdy redwood 2x4s were ripped, bent and glued to form the backbone and railings of this bridge, squeezed between matched sidewalk edges, that had been exposed with a borrowed cement saw and jackhammer. Why did the old retired guy build a bridge over the future fish pond? Boredom? Stroke therapy? Life fulfillment? No. He built it to get to the other side.

Stoned

We took delivery today on five pallets of porous natural stone for the future fish pond and garden project in the backyard. Driver knew what he was doing, unloaded in 15 minutes. Two-wheeling  them around back will take a little longer.

Jack Hammer

Cutting his way through the sidewalk to make a seven-foot wide trench for the stream, Hai discovered the brute force of a jackhammer was more effective than a concrete saw. The trench will clear the way for a bridge and stream feature on this year's project: connecting koi ponds and waterfall. Meanwhile, arches for the supporting bridgework are being laminated from redwood strips, below.

Just ten

Does this look like a disappointed fisherman? Well, despite the nice catch of  vacuum-packed booty he’s weighing up for tomorrow’s flight back home, Jay was disappointed with the ten specimens he boated. No blue fin. He and Hai had joined a fleet of 10 ocean-going craft for a three-day trip 100 miles off-shore in search of the legendary prize. They were close too, but the entire cadre of 200 hunters was skunked. The weather had changed, the bait fish skedadled and the blue fin followed, leaving empty waters and broken dreams in their wake. So his relatively meagre catch of 10 rockfish and poor man’s lobster will have to do for now. Next time, Jay. Back to work as a flight controller in Texas. At least you have stories to tell the gang.

Emily, 13. October 2019