DJ Takes a Break

I'm sitting in my hotel room at Zion National Park while my wife, The Hotelier and Janet tour the park. My legs are a bit leaden today, so I took the day off.  I saw Zion yesterday during our drive through and I'll get to check it out further tomorrow.

Our first destination was Moab, which will be the most hopping place we'll be until we arrive in Vegas on Saturday. We made a stop at the Utah state liquor store before arriving at our B and B. They spare expense by not refrigerating the beer. The place was busy and some patrons had caked mud on their Jeeps. The B and B was comfy and all rooms had an Italian name. I believe ours was Cielo something, but you already know I'm a lousy blog note taker. I just referred to ours as number three. I was able to memorize the access code however, so I'm sometimes useful.

Our first mistake was going to the Moab Brewery for dinner that night. The Hotelier got the steak sandwich special, which was not special at all. I got the pulled pork. Besides for being room temperature, it reminded me of dirty mop head. I also felt the ABV of their house IPAs was a tad low. The ladies fared better with fish choices. 

The next day was Arches. We did some hiking and saw many arches, including Double Arch and Sand Dune Arch, which was my favorite. I had to scoot through a small crevice at Sand Dune. It took this geezer some effort, but I made it. Once in there, you feel like you are on another planet.

We hit the road Monday to Capital Reef Resort in Torrey, with a stop at Canyondlands on the way. That place made me feel real small. The various colors and the towering monoliths tend to run together in my head, but all are impressive. What was not impressive was the level of service we recived at the Capitol Reef Resort. My wife called to see if we might get in around 2pm, as opposed to their 4pm check-in, and got a non-committal response. We got more of the same when we arrived. After sitting by the pool for a bit, we brought out the big guns: The Hotelier. He patiently explained he had a little experience in their business and suggested they touch base with housekeeping to move things along, to no avail. We ended up getting into our room around 4:30, for which we received a 10% discount.

Torrey was a pretty small place but we managed to get some pretty good meals. We walked into the Broken Spur the first night and were told the wait was two hours, so we headed to the Rock Reef Cafe. I did not expect much but my enchiladas were good and the two waitresses with a ton of tables did and excellent job. I'd be pulling my hair out if I was in their shoes. The next night we planned better and hit the Broken Spur at 5pm and only waited 20 minutes. It would have been nice to have a bigger table but many were occupied by two people. The food was good though. We also patronized the Wild Rabbit Cafe for breakfast and lunch, which were great, the Shooke coffee roastery for our morning joe, and the Chuck Wagon to get our traveling sandwiches.

Tuesday was Capital Reef, which is described as "a hidden treasure filled with cliffs, canyons, domes, and bridges in the Waterpocket Fold, a geologic monocline (a wrinkle on the earth) extending almost 100 miles." I couldn't have said it better myself. We did a bit of driving there, including a few miles on a dirt road. I sat with a group of Japanese tourists as the others took a hike. We encountered tourists from many countries at all the parks. I feel that welcoming people from other nations is a good idea. We also stopped at the Gifford House, which is famous for their pies. We snagged a couple right before they ran out. On the down side, we couldn't locate the Capitol Dome, which The Hotelier was hoping to see.

We spent a bit of time on the road yesterday, with a stop at Bryce. It was pretty crowded, but we got to see a lot. One of the benefits of traveling with DJ, and probably the main reason The Hotelier and Janet joined us on this trip, is that I have a handicap parking placard. Even those spots were filled at our first swing through Sunset Point, but we found a parking place on our second time through. My fear of heights kicked in there and at times at the other parks.

OK, I'm off to grab a sandwich and do a brief walking tour of Springdale. Don't be too harsh when reading this post as I do not have access to my Word editor.

 

The Reviews Are In

I got a lot of input from my high school buds via our WhatsApp chat group regarding my blog.  I really appreciate their feedback.

UK: I never miss a post.

TK: I have DJ’s Detritus bookmarked on my iPad

Dream: DJ’s writing, while inferior, is his unique creation.

4M: radio silence

JB also chimed in.  She is not part of the WhatsApp group, because we don’t allow girls, but she said “You are hilarious.  Can I borrow $5,000?”

Cinema icon Robert Redford has passed away.  My favorite movie as a kid was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Redford and Newman teamed up on The Sting as well. Two super dreamy dudes. In those pre-internet days, you didn’t see stupid articles like the one below because a savvy newspaper editor would say “You want me to waste space on that?”  I didn’t click but the only detail you need to know is that he was elderly.

We had big fun in FC last night at Tina’s surprise birthday party.  This was not the type of surprise where you gather in a room and the guest of honor is ushered in.  It was more like a series of friends showing up unannounced at the door type of surprise. The Banker pulled this one off expertly.  As people often are, he was concerned about his chimichurri, but there was no need. It was an excellent blend of herbs, garlic and red pepper flakes and paired well with the precision-grilled medium rare steak and tasty sides. After the plonk that #1 and I came with ran out, he brought out the good stuff. The whole affair was enlivened by the presence of their two adorable grandchildren.

It was overreaction Thursday on Laurel Ave. in San Carlos today. I was early for my acupuncture appointment, so I was sitting in my car when I heard an F bomb go off.  A lanky middle-aged dude was having a conniption because somebody backed into him.  The last thing I heard him say was “there’s no damage but I’m still f@#%ing pissed”. Calm down bro! Maybe he was a high-strung Silicon Valley executive, but The Exec would never act like that. On a side note, I told my WhatsApp boys that my acupuncturist sometimes plays this song when I’m on the table. Gosh, what a joker I am!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugDXpdjmpgw&list=RDugDXpdjmpgw&start_radio=1

As I’ve mentioned previously, I sometimes get heat from readers if more than a week goes by without a post. I understand that I brighten their day, but I need to let them know it may be a while before my next one. DJ, aka Nature Boy, will be exploring the national parks of Utah for the rest of the month, along with the wife and the Hoteliers. We wrap the trip up with a couple nights in Vegas. I have to double check with The Hotelier, but I believe he said our ridiculously overpriced Vegas dinners will be his treat. And yes, I did post during my France trip, but we need to acknowledge that was a Herculean feat, given I had to spend a great deal of time partaking of French food and wine, enjoy the countryside and sleep 10 hours a night. Take heart, October is not that far away.

In my absence, you can make some dough with my week 3 picks.

Buf Atl GB Jax Cin Pit Phi TB Ind Was LAC Sea Dal SF KC Bal

CHARGE!

My wife and I are a great team.  We have established a good record doing the Connections and Sports Connections puzzles in the Times. More importantly, we recently collaborated on getting her new EV charged. It is amazing what two utterly clueless humans can do when they put their heads together. We first plugged into a regular outlet at home and figured out a full charge would take about a week. We then went to the Tesla chargers by Target.  We fumbled around trying to figure it out until a Tesla employee who happened to be there explained that the V2 chargers there were not compatible with other makes. We downloaded the Tesla app to figure out other places. We went to an apartment building but couldn’t make it work.  Then we went to large complex on Bounty and drove around for quite a while.  If the cops were there, they would have thought we were casing the joint.  We finally located the charger but should have taken a hint when the sign said EV parking vs. EV charging.  We plugged in and the charging time showed up as 7 hours plus.  We gave up for the day.  After some research we found V4 chargers by Piazza and got from 50% to 100% in about 20 minutes.  Monday morning the electrician is coming to install a new 50-amp outlet in our garage. We just finished clearing space for him, which led us to throwing out some junk and putting other stuff on Facebook Buy Nothing.

We headed up to the city Thursday afternoon in the new Hyundai. #1 let us stay at his duplex on Corbett, since we had several activities into Friday afternoon.  I’m repaying him by posting this blog. We took the Wig kids #2 and #4 out to dinner at La Ciccia.  The white anchovies, grilled calamari and tomato appetizers were all a knockout. I went with the gnocchetti for the entrée and was not disappointed.

Friday morning we went to the Presidio to pick up our girl. She is in town for the wedding of her brother-in-law.  It was a bit foggy, so we are hoping for better weather for the big event today. We had the opportunity to chat with AG, her dad and her aunts before we headed over to breakfast at Home Plate on Lombard. After a few sips of my $6.50 cappuccino, I dipped my toast into my over easy eggs. I clearly went at it ham-handedly, as a jet of egg yolk landed in a two-inch circumference on my black jeans. I was dismayed, as we still had to go to the DeYoung for the Paul McCartney photo exhibit. I managed to make myself look presentable, we dropped the girl back at the Presidio and I didn’t see anyone pointing and snickering at the DeYoung.

Since it has been close to two weeks since my last post, I guess I should go back a bit.  On the 4th, we went into the city to see the Valkyries at the Chase Center.  I was unaware of the complex of restaurants and bars there, but we picked a winner with Kayah, a Burmese place. The place was hopping, and the service and food hit the mark.  When we got to our seats to see the game, it did not seem crowded, but by tipoff it was packed. We bailed about halfway through the last quarter because I didn’t want to be one of 10,000 trying to get on the T after the game. We made it easily to the Caltrain station and heard that the Valkyries pulled out a victory become the first expansion team to make the playoffs.

Back home, on Sunday, we took in the Plaza Suite matinee with lots of other seniors at the Hillbarn Theater. We thought the actors did a good job, but the material was dated. We therefore bailed out after act two.  They tried reviving it on Broadway, but the reviews were not great.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/theater/plaza-suite-review.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

I’m sending out good vibes to a couple pals that had bike accidents recently. One of our Belmont friends had to have surgery and is currently in rehab.  We’ll visit him tomorrow. I also got word that Dr. Joe spent some time at the ER on his birthday after going over the handlebars, injuring his shoulder. Best wishes to both for a speedy recovery.

On a completely different topic, I’ve been having bad dreams about the Secretary of the Treasury kicking my ass.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/scott-bessent-threatened-to-punch-colleague-bill-pulte-in-the-f-face/

Blog I Must

How does one blog without much of anything meaningful to say?  I do not know, but it has not stopped me in my previous 768 posts. I mostly drown out the exhortations of #1 when I have not posted for a while. I’m more prone to write when I get the nudge from JB. But when Dr. Joe says to blog, I blog. I hope I can give him a quick chuckle in these dark days when his peers at CDC are being driven out. He sent me the article below, about Neil Young’s latest protest song. Young has been at it for decades. Joe and I used to crank up American Stars 'n Bars among his other albums during our days on Cleveland Ave. in Binghamton. This weekend the wife and I saw our bud The Poughkeepsie Kid and his band play Ohio up in Santa Rosa.  It still holds up.

https://tinyurl.com/2pf9vdwk

We took the overnight trip to Santa Rosa with Unc and Mashie in their new Hyundai EV. We also went to Tahoe in it for several days at the abode of TCG and Katie. We had big fun, even if it rained and hailed during our boat trip.  The bimini came in particularly handy. Unc and I agreed that it would be best for us not to hang out for a few months after the double dip socializing. We did fall in love with their car and it looks like we are going to go to the dealership to get our own.  A $7500 rebate - if still available – and an HOV sticker will make for an easy decision.  We will ship my wife’s Subaru off to SB1 and LGMG, which will make transporting the babies a little easier.

I’m trying, but failing, to keep my news intake limited.  I was happy to see that a court shot down Trump’s tariffs. I’m not sure that anything is going to change, but I can dream. The big news recently is that Trump had not been seen until this weekend after Tuesday’s Dear Leader cabinet meeting.  Luminaries such as Nick Fuentes and Alex Jones are up in arms about the state of Trump’s health, but I still see a tangerine glow. If he does shuffle off this mortal coil, I have a strange hope that Vance will revert to his 2016 stance on Trump, reverse some of his more nauseating policies, and get rid of gargoyles like RFK Jr. and ICE Barbie.

It is a new month and time for more activity. We have dinner with The Hotelier and Janet tonight at #1’s house, our first Valkyries game Thursday and driveway cocktails Saturday. Next week we take a couple of the younger Wigs out to dinner at La Ciccia. If you haven’t been there, rectify that oversight. The Wig just sent me a couple pics of him with his three siblings, all looking hale and hearty.  I hope to see my bud during my baby tending and cooking duties in DC, which will probably come after our 10-day Utah national park tour later this month with The Hotelier and Janet. We finish that off in Vegas, where we will see The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere and enjoy a few tasty, overpriced meals.

For some reason, I’ve saved this blurb from Yvonne Elliman’s Wikipedia page.

On August 16, 2017, Elliman was slated to sing for a Catholic school charity in Guam when she was stopped by customs for possession of marijuana and methamphetamine.

I’ve done my share of charity activities for my kids’ Catholic high schools. I always told myself “don’t bring the reefer, don’t bring the meth”

There’s been an uproar over the cover of Sabrina Carpenter’s new album, but she’s telling people to chill out. This got me thinking about the hundreds of names that have been assigned to music genres. I’ve decided to coin lingerie pop for her music.  I googled that and found nothing on the first page of results, so I’m claiming it.  It will go into the pantheon of my favorite genres, including yacht rock, country rock, glam metal, speed metal, and death metal. I don’t care for Christian metal however, as it confuses me.

Wish You Were Here

My bud 4M used to blast this 1975 album during his graveyard shift at the 7-11 in Middletown. I’m sure his older customers appreciated it.  It was just his way of saying “welcome to the machine”. He got robbed at gunpoint there one night, earning every bit of that $2.50 per hour.

I picked the wife up Friday night at SFO. On the ride home she told me she was heading up to the Hotelier’s pied-à-terre today to meet their grandson.  If we truly had an open and honest marriage, she would just flat out tell me she can only take me in small doses.

How does one handle 300 pounds of poop a day? First off, I’d say very carefully.  Foster City has settled on several non-lethal means of mitigation, much to the chagrin of #1. In other poop news, Putin’s team ensures that no turd is left behind.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/foster-city-goose-geese-20814760.php

https://www.thedailybeast.com/putins-magical-poop-briefcase-finally-breaks-its-silence/

We went to Foster City’s Summer Days yesterday, mainly because I had not chatted with any carneys for quite some time. My wife and I played the game where you shoot the water gun into the clown’s mouth to burst the balloon.  She won a pink baby dolphin.  I paid $10 for cuteness that goes for about 22 cents wholesale. There was a section with businesses hawking their wares.  I was going to go up to the chiropractor’s table and say “Boy do I have a story for you!” but thought the better of it.  We also looked on as some of the scarier rides were operating, but we saw no streams of puke.

We had a sushi extravaganza at #1’s house last night. It featured several house special rolls loaded with crab, tuna, shrimp and salmon. There were a few rough years in FC between the time Tokie’s left and MJ’s opened, when you had to go all the way into San Mateo for your raw fish fix. MJ’s is a great addition to town and their BBQ eel tasted just like what my mom used to make.

In celeb news, I’m sure all of you are as verklempt as I am about the Liam Neeson / Pamela Anderson romance but, on the downside, we’re looking at a double whammy.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/end-near-megadeth-release-final-214100029.html

However, we should all be happy that Ms. Zeta-Jones is very comfortable in her four homes.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/catherine-zeta-jones-calls-life-215208051.html

I am praying for progress in today’s Zelensky/Trump meet and I am heartened by all the support he will have with him from European leaders. However, I have to temper my hopes given the fact that Trump had American soldiers roll out a red carpet for a war criminal this past Friday.

Get Blogging

Those were #1’s parting words to me when he dropped me off after our rigorous 1 mile walk today.  I had braced myself for a possible philippic, but he is a gentle soul. He expressed some disappointment that there was nothing to read when he got off the Missouri River after his canoe trip with #2 and TCG, but that is just his way of telling me I’m a fantastic blogger.  JB had chimed in a few days ago telling me it had been 19 days. Today is three full weeks, so it is indeed time to get blogging.

My wife has been in DC and VA for the past two weeks.  The first week she was helping SB1 and LGMG set up their home for the arrival of the twins. She will return in October to provide some hands-on help. We will be spending Christmas there this year so Gampy DJ will need to re-learn the art of holding an infant. The wife’s second week was spent with her pal Charlie at Shenandoah National Park and Charlottesville. She gets back tomorrow night.  She’ll hop right back into the social whirl with a bridal shower Saturday morning.  After that both of us will attend a one-year birthday party for The Banker’s granddaughter. 

I’ve kept myself relatively busy in her absence.  I jotted a few blog ideas down but clearly did not act on them.  For several days I achieved the trifecta of stretching, walking and swimming. I gotta get at least two out of three on a daily basis to keep this balky body going. My brother visited last week and spent the night. We got some sushi at MJ’s and a beer at Fieldworks before I made him a sumptuous salmon dinner.  He is fresh off hernia surgery, and we learned our sister had to have her gall bladder removed.  Both surgically repaired siblings are doing well. My brother and I did hit a rough patch back in the late 70’s when we were both at Binghamton.  It is eerie how this recent article paralleled our difficulties back then.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/dear-abby-girlfriend-cheated-brother-070000521.html

I’m going to stay away from politics and celeb news this go-round and close with this obit. Dr. Altchek grew up in my hometown. His father was also a noted orthopedic surgeon whom I was fortunately referred to. He removed a tumor in my knee in September 1973. I was ready to go out for basketball that November, but he put the kibosh on that.  I was dejected then but eternally grateful now. His flawless work allowed me to continue to be a mediocre basketball player into my mid-30s.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45764042/dr-david-altchek-mets-doctor-tommy-john-surgeon-dies-68

Shredding It

I already tore it up in my lane at the posh club, so now it is time to communicate with the base. I know the question on the minds of many at poolside today was “Was this guy an Olympian? That slow, half-assed backstroke looks so familiar”. It turns out that folks were too shy to pose their query to me.

I saw my personable trainer yesterday.  He tells me my hammies are tight, so I’ll do double duty on those in my stretch routine today, which will be followed by a walk at the dog park on 3rd Ave. in San Mateo, during which I will take the hill.  You don’t get a body like mine if you don’t put in the work.

The Epstein wildfire is still out of control, which fills me with glee. After decades of slimy behavior, could this be the thing that finally takes Trump down? I don’t like being ashamed of the leader of my country. He just got roasted in the season premiere of South Park, with the creators sticking their thumb in the eye of Paramount just after inking a $1.5B deal with them. They tossed in some tiny dick jokes for good measure.

I turned my kitchen into a mac and cheese factory yesterday. My driveway cocktail buddy up the street just had a hip replacement, so I went up for a visit and dropped my wares. Another friend in SF took a tumble so my wife dropped off his portion after visiting one of her girlfriends up there.  I had planned to freeze some for my brother, but I’ll work up another batch for my visit next week. My mac and cheese has received many a plaudit, and I’m going to let the cat out of the bag.  You gotta us Tillamook extra sharp cheddar.

Anything else you’d like to hear about? Leave a comment, ya bums.