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Happy almost November, Dia De Los Muertos and Halloween! 

Sal's Tacos in West Sacramento

Reading: All Together Now by Mike Carter, which is a book about a man who decides to walk from Liverpool to London in honor of the 1981 People's March For Jobs which his Dad participated in. The original march was a protest to the Thacher government and the high unemployment it brought. I am learning a lot about the little towns in England as well as some of the politics. 

Loving: Collagen (I use this one). I put some in my coffee every morning and my fingernails grow so fast! I can't say that I have noticed other changes, but maybe the lack of certain changes is enough for me! 

Thinking: About traveling. I took the Amtrak on Friday to go to my parent's house and it was so fun. I mentioned it to my coworker and he started looking into longer trips and the conversation made me want to book a train vacation! 

Frustrated: With people who play their music out loud in public places or trails etc. This happened a few times this weekend. One was on the Amtrak when the guy next to me put his music on out loud on his phone. The other times were on a bike path and the street. I just find that rude and am not sure why they don't feel the need to use headphones (the same applies for out loud phone calls). 

Feeling: Unmotivated to start working on my Christmas cards. I know once I get started and get in a groove it will be fine, but getting started is evading me. 

Anticipating: This weekend when I will be auntie to A. I will take her to her soccer game on Saturday but before that we will also do some fun things like watch an old movie (maybe Spaceballs, which she has not seen), bake some things and play games. 

Watching: Anne With An E on Netflix. It is very cute and is bringing back memories of the books, which I have not read in ages. In fact, it is making me want to go back and read them again! 

Working: NOT on my Christmas card! 

Grateful: That my family is all happy and healthy and that everyone can still do (and wants to do) our annual Thanksgiving hike before dinner. 

Listening: To the audiobook The Perfect Marriage as well as the Adventure Sports Podcast. 

Wishing: There were more summer weekends still, so I could go out for one last Sierra backpacking trip! 

What are you listening to? What are you anticipating? Have you started your holiday cards yet? 

My Last To Do List: In Case of Emergencies

As I mentioned in my 2022 recap post, one of the things I completed last year was what I call my last to do list.  Actually it is more of a file with a bunch of documents and a to do list in it, so let's just call it the In Case Of Emergencies (ICOE) file. If you have not read my first post of this series about trust and estate planning, you can read it here. 

This is basically a file that you can tell your emergency contact the location of so if something happens to you, they can go and get it and have a one stop shop of where things are and what they may need to handle for you. This is something that my grandmother had and after she passed away, it was so easy to arrange her affairs, since she had already done most of the work for us. After that, I decided to hone and combine a couple of the lists that I already keep for myself and update my file so that my loved ones would have a roadmap for me. Obviously this changes over time, so I have put it on my yearly purge and organize task list as something I revisit and update once a year. 

Important Docs: I basically have a big thick plastic ziplock bag (like this one) that I keep all of my grab and go important documents in. This includes the lists I will reference below, but it also has things like my trust documents, birth certificate, passport, deed to my house, title for the car etc. I also keep a paper copy of each of my bills so that the account number and phone number to contact are handy. Obviously this could be found online but I like to take the "belt and suspenders" approach. 

Vaccinations! (this can be uploaded online now too)

Other Important Items: This is also not on a list, but I keep any old memory cards or external hard drives with photos etc. in the same bag. I know most things are in the cloud now, but I have a lot of older photos that I have not put in the cloud so those are kept on hard drives for the time being. 

List of bills: This is a printout of an Excel spreadsheet of what bills I have, how they are paid, when they are due, and how much they normally are. Most of my bills are on autopay, so I have also noted whether it comes from my bank account (like the mortgage) or the credit card that I use for autopay. I only use one credit card for anything I have autopay on and use a different card for any online purchases and a third card for brick and mortar purchases. This way if the card that I carry around with me gets lost or stolen, I do not have to go back and update all of my online and/or autopay details. I also have this list saved in a Google drive folder that I share with my emergency contact so that it can be accessed online as well. 

List of bank accounts, retirement accounts etc.: This is also an Excel spreadsheet; I do not put account numbers on this, but it is a list of where the account is, what type it is, and who is the beneficiary. This includes my loan for my mortgage. 

List of properties: the deed or deeds should be in the file anyway, but it could also help to keep a list of the address(es) of any properties in the file too. I have also noted who my mortgage is with and approximately how much I have left on my loan (to be updated once per year). 

List of email address and passwords: this is also up to you and can be stored electronically and shared instead. You can also get a password vault app that can be shared. However, my list is not long; it only includes sites that I think people would want to have access to, such as my Google account, which is where all of my photos and such are. Also this can be retrieved in some cases after your death, although I did read that the Apple iCloud data is not transferrable. To be safe, I would share your login with someone if the information is important! 

Where is this file? Most importantly, tell someone where this file is and how to access it if it is in a safe or somewhere locked. 

Just a side note, as I have mentioned in the past, this file is also the very same one that I would grab if there were a fire heading my way, and because of this, it also has cash in it. I also have a box of photos (hard copies) and a go bag with a change of clothes and some food as part of my emergency prep kit, but if the fire were coming fast, I would just grab the ICOE file and skedaddle. So it satisfies two different purposes. 

Do you have a ICOE file or a Go Bag? Is there anything that I do not have on my list that you have on yours? 

A Scale of Loose to Clenched

A few months ago, my car got broken into. Unbeknownst to me, there was a viral TikTok video about how to hotwire my particular brand of car, which caused a rash of break-ins across the US. I do not watch TikTok, nor would I have watched a "how to hotwire a car in 5 seconds" video, nor did my car dealer send me anything warning me that this was an issue, so I was caught very unaware when it happened. I won't get into all of the details; the short story is that it was inconvenient and expensive and I was without a car for about 10 days. However, the good news is that four of those days were weekends and I had group trips planned so I did not need the car then. 

For the other days, I went back to my pre-pandemic method of biking to the train station! I used to do this every day but when the pandemic hit, first I drove to work and then when I started taking public transit again, there was no early train from my station so I had to drive to a further one to get to work, and then there were earlier trains but I was out of the habit. So the vandalism was a blessing in disguise and since then, I have ridden my bike to work about 99% of the time that I have gone into the office! This increases my weekly riding by about 12 -15 miles per week. 

Marina Green, San Francisco

This also spurred me to ride sometimes on the weekends, or do a longer loop after work on my way home. However, riding in a city is sometimes more of an adventure than you bargain for and there are some things that cause my butt cheeks to clench a little bit and I thought I would share with you my clench scale. Think of it like a normal scale of 1 - 5, with one being loose and comfortable and five being clenched and tense. Here are a few examples. 

1 - Loose and comfortable. Riding along on a nice bike path, or very smooth street, road or trail with no cars, the weather is good, the birds are singing and everyone is in the lane they are supposed to be in, going the direction they are supposed to be going, calling out etc. 

2 - Small pucker. Bike path or lane where cars are using their turn signals and giving me at least three feet of room, if not more. But there are groups of people taking up the whole path, or that have dogs with a leash that covers the entire space or with kids that are unsure of which way they are walking, so I have to take it slow and be careful. Or getting to a four way stop where everyone is stopped, but now that I am there, even though they were first, they wait and then they wave at me to go first and my armpits start to sweat from the pressure of having to get going from a stop in front of everyone, even though I am the slowest vehicle, and I grunt my way across, hoping that nobody gets impatient and just decides to gun it through the intersection. 

3. - Sweaty and tight. Google tells me to turn left at the next intersection when I am on a five lane street in the far right lane and it is rush hour. I contemplate veering left across four lanes to get to the far left lane but when I look up ahead you realize that the left lane takes me onto the freeway. I do not get into the left lane; instead I drop an F bomb at Google and go find the grocery store to buy ice cream. 

4 - You could bounce a quarter off of it. Dude comes from the left turning lane, across three lanes to turn right on a green light with no blinker or any warning, as I am attempting to go straight at said green light. I literally stop myself by putting my hand on his jeep as I nearly careen into him. He does not stop or give one of those "I'm so sorry, I did not see you" hand waves. Luckily I was just getting going on the green, so I was not going too fast yet. After this I ride through a tunnel on a street that Google told me to take, and there is not only no shoulder, but this is also the main thoroughfare for the semi trucks going to unload in the Oakland shipping yards, so I am passed by several of them while I am in the tunnel. I put all my energy into pedaling through as fast as possible and hoping that my little red blinking light is bright and these semi drivers are patient and awake. 

5 - Clenched and tense. Dude opens his car door without looking first, almost sending me ass over teakettle in the middle of a busy pothole laden street with no bike lane, causing me to swerve into traffic. Then I narrowly miss getting hit by a bus that is pulling over to pick up passengers. The bus clearly did not see me, nor did they use their blinker so I would know they were getting over. I get ahead of the bus and 30 seconds later they are passing me again, and I feel the wind from their bulk as they speed by, about six inches from my left elbow. Add pouring rain to this and I may need to make an appointment with a proctologist. 

So yes, some days are kind of fun and others can be a litany of near misses, sweaty armpits and holy-crap-what-did-I-just-dos. Yesterday I saw three cars run red lights on my two mile commute home. These were not turning from yellow to red lights; they were fully red and the people just decided to ignore the rules. Having said that, I just learned that the following states have a law called the "stop as yield" law, which means that bikes do NOT have to stop at the stop signs, but can instead yield (it seems many Oakland car drivers follow this premise too), and in some cases, can even treat red lights as stop signs, and can go when it's safe/clear. FYI, as you can see, California is not one of them. I do wonder how well these states do with educating car drivers of these rules. I also wish that I knew this before I rode across Washington! 

So...next time I tell you that today was a five, you will know exactly what I mean! 

Have you ever ridden a bike in an urban area? Do you have any pucker stories? Do you live in a stop as yield state and if so, did you know about this rule? Do people follow traffic rules where you are from? 

The Joke Is On Me: ATM Cards

Last time I was an idiot, it was travelers checks that almost did me in. As I grew up and got smarter and more with the times, I stopped carrying traveler's checks and almost exclusively used my ATM card. A lot of countries take credit cards now, but there are still some countries where having cash is a necessary thing and sometime the rate is better through the ATM (unless you get charged ATM fees, but we can talk about how to avoid that in a different post). So I always take an ATM card and a credit card with me when I travel, no matter where I am going. 

Gratuitous Slovenian mountain scene. 

Last year I went to Slovenia. The plan was that I was going to be in a city probably four or five of the fourteen days and would be hiking a point to point hike for the other ten days. This meant that I would not be able to leave things somewhere to pick up; I would have to carry everything I needed for the entire fourteen days on my back. Needless to say, I wanted to pack light. So I carried a lot of items that I could use for both trail and city and I pared down a lot of things, like my toiletries and my wallet, so that I would not be carrying extra stuff. I got rid of my work badge, my extra credit card, my AAA card. I brought bar shampoo. I brought my multi adapter charging station. I was ready and I was excited and I took my pack to work the day before so I could ride my bike to work the next day without the huge pack on my back. I was prepared! 

Then I left the office, got on the BART to the airport, and realized that in paring down my wallet, I had taken out my ATM card. I had only wanted to carry one credit card and I do not think I screwed my head on all the way when I visualized what this meant. I always use a list but this time it was a bit of a hybrid backpacking/city exploring and I did not think about both of them fully. 

You may think that I was headed to Europe, which is not a third world country; why would I even need cash? Well, mon ami, I was going to be backpacking in the remote Alps and there are huts where you can sleep but in my prior experience those huts only took cash. Many of them had no online reservation system, so I could not even reserve them in advance with my credit card. You may think that I could just get out cash with my credit card. That would be true if I knew my pin, which I don't because I have never ever used my credit card to get cash. 

So I sat on the BART as it hurtled towards SFO, wondering how I was going to solve this issue. I did not have time to go home and get the card; I had my emergency $20 with me, but that would not get me far. I knew there were solutions, but what would be the best one, given I was going to be on a plane for twelve hours and then out of the country soon!? I noodled for a minute while sweating slightly due to my own stupidity. 

The solution ended up being the following: luckily (or stupidly, you choose) I had taken a photo of my ATM card, which I kept in a travel folder on the cloud. I would like to say that it was a protected folder, but it wasn't. However, I did use this photo to get the number off of the card, which I then typed into Google wallet. Then, when I got to the airport, I used the tap to pay from Google wallet to get money out of the ATM! Can you believe the technology today? Sometimes when I am wishing that we did not spend so much time on our phones, I think of hacks like this and am so glad that our phones are so dang handy. 

But wait, the story is not to the happily ever after stage yet! I arrived in Amsterdam and went straight to the money exchange counter. A slight side note, I like to cram as much as I can into my vacations, so had booked a flight to Vienna with a layover in Amsterdam. Once arriving in Vienna, I would need to get on the first train out to get to my destination. However, my flight into Vienna was kind of late at night and if I missed the first train, I only had one other option, so I probably would not have time to get money out there. I love to live on the edge, people. 

I work in finance so I know what the exchange rates are and let me tell you, the kiosk at the airport in Amsterdam was NOT a good rate. Of course, what options did I have, given I would be basically going straight up into the mountains as soon as I got to Slovenia. So I got completely ripped off and my dollars barely got me enough to pay for my estimated cost for ten nights at a hut in the mountains. So I knew I was going to have to be frugal. 

Fast forward to day ten of my fourteen day vacation and you will find me at the end of my hike, ensconced in a small guesthouse in the hills near lake Bohinj, one that I booked using Booking.com. Little did I realize, since I booked it from the one spot that had cell service on my way down the mountain, that I did NOT read the fine print and this place...you guessed it...only took cash! Luckily, some of the mountain huts had taken credit cards and I had taken advantage of that to use my card instead, just in case I needed the cash later. However, I had used most of my cash and I literally had to pay the last lady with all of my pocket change, leaving me with about 2 euros to my name. I hoped that when I was in Lublijana I would not need ANY cash or I would be screwed! 

Literally the last of my cash!

Luckily I did not need cash, but this experience made me realize that we have become way too dependent on our phones, upon being able to get things easily at any time and to having the convenience of tap to pay pretty much everywhere in the US (even the street vendors sometimes have a credit card pay option!) As I may have mentioned, my trail name is Prepper because I am generally overprepared, but even I have my moments. So, bottom line is, make a list and always have an emergency stash of cash!! 

Do you use cash when you travel? If so, what is your procedure for getting it? If not, have you ever run into any issues due to not having cash? 

Looking Back: Purging Progress Report Q3

And just like that, the third quarter of the year has come to a close! As you know, earlier this year I talked about doing some purging and it's already time for the accountability check in again! My three areas I wanted to work on for the months of July, August and September were bedroom/shoes, kitchen/dishes and living room/hall/spare room. 

Bedroom/Shoes: As you know from my story about my unsuccessful side hustle, I have tried to sell some of my more expensive shoes online and have had only okay luck. However, I sent a batch of them to ThredUp and had some success! For four pairs of shoes, I made $80.00! Yay. 

How am I doing? Since I am trying to sell some, many of them are still in my house, so there is a large pile of shoes that I will get rid of one way or the other. I am going to call this a win. I am not in any danger of going back through them and them making their way back into my closet, believe me. I am now down to a couple of pairs of running shoes, a couple of sandals, a couple of boots and a couple of fancy dress shoes. I will probably cull it even more, but you know how it is; when you find a nice pair of knee length black boots that fits you well, you sometimes just have to keep them! 

What is next? I am going to still try to sell some more online; if those don't sell by the end of the year, they will either go to ThredUp or to Salvation Army. My goal is to have them all out of my house by the end of this year. 

Kitchen/Dishes: Two things I had too many of...vessels to drink from and baking dishes! 

How am I doing? I went through my glasses, mugs and water bottles and pared it down to only about four of each. I think I was keeping some just in case I had a party or a bunch of people over or something, but if and when that does end up happening, people can drink wine from a coffee cup; I do not need to have a full set of 12 wine glasses just taking up space. The baking dishes were a similar story; will I ever need to make 48 muffins at once? Will that even fit in my oven at the same time? The answer to both of those questions is likely no, so I got rid of my old muffin tins and baking sheets, several casserole dishes and a few bread pans. I also culled my plates, bowls and serving dishes. How many things do we keep for "just in case" but we never use? For me, it was a lot. 

I feel like Old Mother Hubbard.

Don't worry; I have two more coffee cups but they are in use.

What is next? I would also like to simplify my cleaning products (these live under the kitchen sink). I bought a gallon of Simple Green when I first moved in almost 9 years ago and it is still probably half full. I bought bleach at Costco (sucker!!) and it is a three pack and I have a LOT of dish soap (and vinegar and hand soap and Windex and Bronners etc.) I would really like to pare these down to just a few items under the sink if possible. 

Living Room/Hall/Spare Room: I don't have a lot in the living room or hall, but my goal was to clear out any shelves or drawers in these rooms. For my spare room, that is where I keep my linens, so I wanted to also clear out that dresser. 

How am I doing? I feel pretty good about this. In the living room, I have a catch all by the door which his supposed to only be for my purse and whatever leaves each day with me, but it tends to gather items. I cleared this out, as well as my coffee table drawer and the shelves near my living room fireplace. In the hall, I went through the linen closet, which also houses extra cleaning supplies and toiletries, hair stuff, jewelry and travel items. I gave a bunch of the jewelry to my friend's daughter and it is so cute because she actually wears the earrings a lot! I took inventory of my cleaning products and toiletries (shampoo, lotion etc.) and my goal is to NOT buy any more until they are completely used up. For the spare room, I got rid of all but one extra set of sheets and blankets.

Don't judge - Bertha lives in my living room.

What is next? I am currently still in the middle of cleaning out the spare room closet, which is a jumble of my work clothes, bags, stuff to go to the thrift store/sell online/send to ThredUp/give away, old electronics (these will also go to the thrift store), did I say bags (so many bags! bags full of bags!), my vacuum, etc. As I mentioned above, I would like to have all of my thrift/sell items out of there by the end of the year, so this will be much improved by then! 

My last three months will be the reading nook, health check ups and plants...and then the year will be over (again)! I would say that three quarters of the way in, I am feeling very good about what I have done so far and after doing it this way for years, I also really think that a monthly purge is so much less daunting than a once a year one! 

Do you have a go-to all in one cleaning product? How often do you do a home purge? What kitchen item do you have multiples of but you rarely use more than one or two? 

Looking Back: Books

Now that the third quarter is drawing to a close, I thought I would do a quick review on some of my favorite books for the quarter! In the third quarter I read a lot since I did a lot of hiking and bikepacking and driving. However, because of this, most of them were audiobooks. I also DNFed a lot of books, maybe because they were (mostly) audiobooks, and I don't always get hooked at the beginning and I tend to then lose focus and so I end up just giving it up. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. As most of you know, we reread this book as part of Engie's book club, and it was great to not only read it again, but do to so with a group of people who had so many different views. I had a great time getting into the details and discussions of this book and it was just as good this time as it was when I first read it when I was a child. (5/5)

Good For a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleishman. To be honest, I did not know much about Lauren except that she was behind Picky Bars, but I really enjoyed this inside peek into the world of elite running. Lauren not only talks about the difficulty of being a woman in a mostly male sport (or at least one where the males are more prized), but she also gets into some of the eating disorders that the young runners had and it was very eye opening. I also read The Longest Race by Kara Goucher recently and was appalled at some of the things that were done to some of the elite running women.  (5/5)

I Feel Bad About My Neck, And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron. This book was recommended by Nicole and Elisabeth (<---new blog link here!) and it did not disappoint! Thanks ladies! Ephron talks a little about her past in a very funny way, but a lot of what drew me to this book is that it is a very real glimpse into the things we (women) experience as we get older. She talks about menopause and how she feels about her purse, how she depends on coconut oil, and the conversations with her sister about combatting hair thinning. I know that some of these things are on deck for me and I appreciate being able to giggle about them rather than dread them! (4.5/5)

The Likeness by Tana French. I am trying to read and give away books on my bookshelf (as always) and this was one of them. Some of them are pretty crap (random thrift store buys or Little Free Library finds or free on the street finds - I can't resist) but this one was good. French writes detective novels and this is #2 of the Dublin Murder Squad series. I thought I had read another book by her and liked it, but I don't see proof of that on Goodreads, so it appears that I did not read #1 of the series, but this did not make me like the book any less! (4/5)

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makaii. I went into this book highly doubtful, as I DNFed her other book The Great Believers. However, I really enjoyed this one. I would call it a cold case type of book, which I do think is right up my alley, so maybe that is why this one drew me in when the other didn't. Basically it is about a grown woman who goes back to her alma matter to teach a course and ends up getting tangled up in trying to solve a murder case that happened when she was at school there. It is similar to the show Serial, where they convicted one person but are now going back to review the details to see if perhaps the person they blamed is innocent. (4/5)

The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett. My favorite Patchett books are her essays: This is The Story of a Happy Marriage and These Precious Days. Similar to Ephron, she talks frankly but humorously about her life and how she got to where she is now. However, her fiction is sometimes not bad too! I do find her a bit hit and miss; I liked State of Wonder and The Dutch House but did not love the Magicians Assistant or Run. The Patron Saint of Liars is about a woman who goes to a home for unwed mothers with the plans to give up her baby, but after living there for a while starts to think of things differently. (4/5)

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth. Oh man, this one will make you cringe! It is about a woman who I would say is on the spectrum, Fern and her sister Rose, who is not. Fern's sister has been taking care of her for years due to having a difficult mother growing up. Fern is happy doing her daily routine, working out, working at the library etc. When Rose is having trouble getting pregnant, Fern decides to help her by getting pregnant for her. Things do not go as planned and we learn that a relationship between sisters is not always what it seems on the surface. (4.5/5)

Stealing by Margaret Verble. This book was highly praised by Lisa, and it was a good one! It is about a Cherokee girl growing up in the 50s (?) in the Louisiana bayou. Things were difficult for Native Americans then (even more so than now) and she was taken away from her family and sent to live in a Christian boarding school, where things were not better than they would have been had she stayed with her family. It is disturbing and it will make you mad. One thing I did not like about this book was the abrupt ending. I wanted a resolution or a solution, and I did not get it. For that, I am docking .5 stars. (4.5/5)

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin. This one is all about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Okay, maybe more like drugs, jail and redemption. I am not going to lie; I had no idea who this woman is, but she was the ghostwriter for Desmond Tutu's book and The Sun Always Shines, which I enjoyed. The first chapter had me railing against her, as she dragged her three year old from place to place in an effort to score drugs. I wanted to slap her! Then she gets arrested, and chronicles life in jail, which I do find fascinating. When she finally gets out, it is a struggle to manage life, try to find a job, not break parole, find housing, and stay clean. She finally does all of this, becomes a successful writer and even gets to meet Oprah and the Dali Lama in the end! So yes, it is a feelgood "rags to riches" kind of story, but I enjoyed hearing the ins and outs and some of the struggles that people face in a world that I am not part of. (recommended by Beckett - thanks!) (5/5)

DNFed books -- China Rich Girl by Kevin Kwan (paper), The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy (audio), The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham (audio), The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates (paper). 

What were your favorite books of the third quarter? What books have you DNFed lately? 

Rants About Trees & Neighbors

Last Saturday was an important day; it was the first day of fall, it was free entry day to the national parks in the US and it marked the point where we have 100 days left of this year. Woohoo! We don't really see a huge change in the weather here due to the change in seasons, although this week we are supposed to get rain (and possible snow in the Sierra) for the first time in a while. I have a maple tree in my front yard and while beautiful in the fall, it has a lot of leaves and all of those leaves need to be raked. It also has a lot of seeds and they are those little round spiky balls shaped ones and they can really hurt you if you step on them, due to both their spikiness and the possibility of rolling an ankle. My neighbor calls them ankle breakers. 

It's a constant battle!

Speaking of neighbors, she hates the tree and would probably be happy if I chopped the entire thing down, but I am not going to do that. In my area, there are rules for who is responsible for what when it comes t trees. This is something I learned the semi-hard way, as I have had tree issues with the neighbors on all three sides. The one on the side of the maple had branches touching her power lines. Technically if the branch is over the property line, the neighbor can cut the branch as long as it does not harm the tree (i.e. cutting an entire side of the tree off). However, as a good tree owner, I not only paid for the work to be done but had to coordinate with PG&E to have the power shut off and the lines taken down for the day while the arborist cut the tree. 

On the back of my house, I have a huge incense cedar, which has needles. The neighbor in the back came over and complained to me that "the leaves were dropping on his property" and he would like me to cut off the entire side that hangs over his property so he did not have to clean up the leaves. He also said that he was afraid that a branch was going to fall on a car parked under the tree. In this case, I had the arborist trim any dead looking or dangerous or extra long branches off and do maintenance for the health of the tree, but I was not about to lop off one entire side of the tree. 

The rules are that the person with the trunk on their property is responsible for regular maintenance of the tree. It should be trimmed in order to get rid of any dead, dangerous or dying limbs to keep it safe, but if a hurricane or natural event comes and knocks off a healthy branch and it damages the neighbor's property, technically they should have their insurance pay for it. If there is a branch hanging over their property and they want to trim it, technically they can; like I said, as long as it does not damage the health of the tree, it is allowed. They do not even need to ask for permission, although as a good neighbor I think that it is only polite. 

The guy in the back did not like that I did not lop off the entire tree, so when I asked him politely a couple of years later to stop leaning heavy things on our shared fence because it was starting to buckle under the weight, he gave me a "I will remove the items if you chop off the tree" retort. Sigh! Not to make this rant too long, but technically the fence is shared and if it needs to be fixed, we should share the cost. Now, if the one neighbor is a pain, you would have to go to court to request payment for half, which of course nobody wants to do, so you may just be SOL. 

The neighbor on the third side asked if he could trim a bit of the tree (the incense cedar) since it was hanging over his garage a little and I said sure and he cut off that entire side of the tree, which was much more than a "trim." In this case, I was not happy, he did not do what he said he was going to do, but the action had been taken and there was nothing I could do really at that point, so I opted to do nothing. Who knew that a simple things such as trees could cause so many discussions, issues and conflicts in the hood!? 

Enjoy the new season! Good luck with the raking! 

Have you ever had a conflict with a neighbor and if so, what did you do about it? What are the rules about shared trees and fences in your neighborhood? Is the weather changing where you are? 

Buses, Boats and Bicycles

Normally each year I pick a fun international destination and spend a couple of weeks there for my annual vacation. This year, I decided to stay local and instead of eating my way through France, I opted to instead torture myself for two weeks by pedaling Bob (the mountain bike) across the state of Washington. Not only that, but I wanted to do it on dirt, so it was not a straight shot. Instead I wound my way around the state and up and down some mountains before getting to the end. After that, I still had to get back to my car, so the adventure was not done. Then I was like John Candy in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, except my adventure was Buses, Boats and Bicycles. 

The adventure started by driving from California to the Olympic Peninsula and the tiny town of Forks, Washington. This may be familiar to you if you are a Twilight fan, as it is the setting that the author used for the series, and also one of the rainiest places in the US, according to Wiki. Luckily it did not rain when I was there, nor did I see any vampires. I parked my car there and got a ride to La Push, which has the westernmost zip code in the contiguous US, and also many beautiful beaches. As is customary, I dipped my back tire in the water and then started my journey. 

Sign outside of Forks, WA

I will not bore those of you who don't care much for a play by play of my entire bikepacking trip. However, there were a few highlights that I think everyone can appreciate! 

The Olympic Peninsula is beautiful. There are huge ocean beaches with enormous waves that remind me of the crashing waves of the Pacific where I live, but that doesn't make them any less intriguing. I could sit and watch them for hours! There are also tons of hiking trails, many tiny towns where you can get a coffee or a breakfast, and lots of places to stop and just take in the view. 

The lovely Pacific coast

Bob hanging out near Port Angeles

But the thing I utilized the most was the Olympic Discovery Trail. This is a mostly flattish bike trail that goes all the way from La Push to Port Townsend, which I think is about 135 miles. Right now, some sections are on the road, but you could easily find a 20 mile stretch that is mostly bike paths and quiet streets. There were a ton of blackberries along the sides and I think I spent more time eating them than I did riding. The other highlight was an alternative section called the Olympic Adventure Trail, which was a really smooth and fun single-track section that I really enjoyed, especially when it started raining and the canopy kept me halfway dry! They have a great set of maps on their website that you can even download to your phone and get turn by turn directions if you want. 

Olympic Discovery Trail near Forks

Bob and the ODT near Lake Crescent

The next fun thing was taking the ferry across the Puget Sound. Did you know that if you do not have a vehicle, riding the ferries eastbound is free? You have to pay $10 for the westbound trip but unless you have a car, you only pay one way! I have taken the ferries in the San Juans before, but I have never done it with a bike, so that was a first for me! It's quite exciting to zip in (and out!) before all of the cars come rushing up behind you and you have to get your bike out of the way and tied up before they run you over. Also, just like in San Francisco, taking the commuter ferry is a great way to see the bay (or the sound in this case) without paying for an expensive "bay cruise." For $10 I got to see the Seattle skyline and watch the sailboats in the Puget Sound. I call that a win! 

View of Seattle from the ferry

I also rode for a long time on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, which I started on in the town of Carnation, which is east of Seattle. It goes along the Snoqualmie River into the mountain towns of Snoqualmie and North Bend. This was a steady uphill but it was shaded and cool and since it was an old rail trail, it was not very steep. I would really recommend going there; you can camp at the campground near Carnation and ride east to North Bend and get a hamburger at Twede's cafe. For those of you who are fans of the show Twin Peaks, this is the location of the famous cherry pie diner. I found it a bit kitschy of course, but I got a seat right away, my food came out fast, and they had bottomless French fries, so yay! After gorging yourself on fries, you have a downhill ride back to your camp. By the time you get back you will be ready for a swim in the river right next to your campsite! For me there is nothing better than a swim in the river on a hot day. 

Snoqualmie Valley Trail

Twede's Cafe in North Bend

Last but not least, the Snoqualmie Valley Trail links up to the John Wayne Trail, now known as the Palouse to Cascades trail. This is also a rail trail that has been converted to a bike trail, and is again all dirt and slightly uphill for the first 20 miles. I ended up loosely following this trail almost all the way to the Idaho border. The highlight of the first section of this trail is a more than two mile ride through the Snoqualmie tunnel! If you do not want to ride all the way up the hill from the start, you can also start at the town of Hyak and then it is less than a mile from the tunnel from there. It was very dark and kind of damp and chilly but pretty fun and was a new experience for me! We used to run through the train tunnels when we were kids; it was such a thrill to see if we could get through before a train came. I don't think the Snoqualmie tunnel had that same element of danger, but it was eerie being alone in the dark for several minutes, and you literally cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel!!!

Snoqualmie Pass Tunnel

Camping along the PTCT with the Enchantments in the background

In the end, it was a grand adventure! There were many hard days; I rode my longest ride ever so far (80 miles) in one day, and one day it was about 100 degrees out and of course this was in eastern Washington where there are no trees, so I think I baked my brain a little bit that day. However, I rewarded myself with a lot of ice cream when I could, and had fun seeing the small towns (and I do mean small! One was about 500 people) and farmland along the way. I saw a lot of dead animals, banana peels and trash, specifically aluminum cans. On one stretch of highway, I counted over 100 cans in a one mile stretch!! I ended up getting to Idaho via Spokane, where I then took my buses, boats and bikes back to my car before driving home. 

This photo was taken on the hottest day

Made it to the border!

Hottest temperature:     100 degrees

Longest day (miles):      80 miles

Total elevation gain:      31,784 feet

Total mileage:                688 miles

Have you ever been to Washington state? If so, what is your favorite place/thing to do there? Are there any fun bike paths or rail trails where you live? What did you do for your vacation this year? 

The Not So Successful Side Hustle

Most years, I do a purge of all of my things, but this year I decided to ramp it up and try to get down to the bare bones. I am doing a pretty good job for the most part. I have whittled my work clothes down to about three pairs of slacks and seven sweaters (one for each day of the week plus a couple of backups since a couple of them are well loved). I only have two pairs of running shoes (if you are a runner, you know how these can collect, and it is very common to buy several pairs of the same style if it fits you well). I am getting there slowly. 

The thing that I decided to do this time which I have not done before is to sell some of the things online. Much of my work clothes and shoes were purchased when I worked at Nordstrom (in the late 90s / early 2000s and yes some of them even still fit!) and I spent a lot of money building up my work wardrobe. After that, I bought some extras from thrift stores, but I always pick through and find the good brands (BCBG, Ann Taylor, Tahari, Diane Von Furstenburg etc.) So I thought that maybe I could get some of my money back by selling these items. 

It took me a long time to get started. You know how you have good intentions but that box of "sell online" items sits in your closet for months because you are not sure how the shipping works and you are too lazy/scared/unmotivated to find out what to do? That is what I did. I purged, I segregated, the box sat in the closet. Finally, I looked up shipping procedures, got flat rate boxes from the PO and started taking photos of things. But then, I was not sure how much to charge and I waited again, pondering. Finally I put my first item on eBay. 

And then...nothing happened. Nothing happened for a long, long time. This was my first time and I had no idea what to expect or what to do if nothing happened, so I let it refresh (it does this every 30 days) for a long time before I finally took the listing down. Then, about six months later, I decided to try again. This time I put several listings up and I decreased the price if they did not sell after a certain time period. For a long time, nothing happened. 

And then...someone bought something! Hurray! Then I muddled through printing a label and putting it in the right box and getting it to the post office, but I did it. In the end, it was not that hard. I don't know why I waited so long to start. After that, I enthusiastically posted a half dozen other items, and...nothing happened. 

You can see where this is going! However, after about a year and a half of listing items, I have sold probably five items. So clearly I am not going to quit my day job! However, it is very satisfying to get even $20.00 for an item that I paid a lot for, as the alternative is to get nothing! HOWEVER, I do not think that the buck is worth the bang unless you are at home full time and you have free time. Let's say I probably spent five hours collecting, photographing and posting listings (and revising) and I have made....drumroll please...about $70.00. This puts me at $14.00 per hour, which is less than the $18.07 minimum wage in San Francisco. Bottom line: I should probably go get a job at a coffeeshop and give all the items to Goodwill! 

When the items do not sell on eBay, I send them to thredUp, which is an online consignment store. I have sent about 12 items to them and made $64.00, so my per hour on this is probably about $18.00-$20.00 per hour, but my per item is only $5.00 vs about $14.00 per item on eBay. I did look into taking my things to a local consignment shop but they are VERY picky, i.e. it has to be current season, certain brands etc. and most of my things are not current season (they are classics!) 

Next up is a big Goodwill/Salvation Army run, or maybe I can try one more platform, but first... 

I need advice! Have you ever sold things online? If so, what platform do you use and how successful have you been? If you have been successful, what tips can you give me? Has anyone tried or had luck with Facebook Marketplace? If so, do you let people come to your house or do you meet them somewhere? How exactly does that work!? 

Urgently Hiring: Personal Assistant

You know how we all have jobs that are not that hard but that we just hate doing? I have a few for sure! For some of the ones I have, it would be easy to hire someone but they are things that I CAN do myself but just procrastinate starting. My brother and I were discussing this and we decided to swap tasks; I would help him do the things he hates doing and he would help me do the things that keep getting put on next week's to do list. Here are a few that made the cut. 

Broski was/is seeking someone to to the following: 

Rollover his 401k to an IRA. DONE. This is one of those things a lot of people put off but in reality, it is not as hard as it seems. It does involve a bit of paperwork and can be anxiety inducing due to the fact that they have to liquidate one account and then you have to use those funds to buy something in the new account, but for most of us, we have enough time until retirement that we don't need to worry about timing the market. Just do it. 

Clean out and organize his garage. DONE. Luckily, I love doing this kind of thing. However, I know it can be daunting, especially if you have any big items that you are not sure what to do with, or memories/mementos that you are on the fence about keeping (or that you need to look at as you sort). However, having a third party come in and be less emotional about your stuff can be freeing. The other hard thing is getting started! For Broski, he had one big item that he needed to get out of the way before the rest could be accessed, but that one thing was causing weeks of delay. I went up there and pulled that thing out, helped him reorganize, sort and label things and put the big item back. However, he just finally got rid of it so now we can commence with the second phase!! 

I was/am seeking someone to do the following: 

Fix the water pressure in my shower. NOT DONE. Broski took a look at this and it looks to be a bigger job than I want to do myself and I don't really care enough to hire someone to do it. It seems like the hot pressure is just lower in general than the cold, so there is probably some corrosion in the line or something and I don't really want to pay someone to do a huge job. I will just deal with the trickle. 

Weed the yard. DONE. Broski came over this weekend and we got so much weeding done! He is a beast with a weedwacker and a fork looking tool that he uses to dig up the weeds by the roots. I worked alongside him, but it sure was nice to have someone enthusiastic by my side. Be gone ye weeds! 

Install the bike rack on my car roof. NOT DONE. Broski got on this task and it was determined that before putting the rack on my car, I would have to buy other racks to put on my car. Hm. So I am mulling this over, but may just buy a different rack since some of the trunk mounted racks are the same price as the racks I need to buy for the top. Plus then I started thinking about it and will I really be able to lift my entire mountain bike above my head and put it on the roof? Anybody have any tips here? For context, my bike weighs about 32 pounds without anything on it and the rack does not require you to remove the front wheel. 

Power wash my deck. DONE! Broski brought over the washer and not only did the back deck, but the side porch and front porch and all of my flagstone and paving stone. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I forgot that the wood is red/tan instead of grey/black/dusty. It looks so good. 

So, I guess the moral of the story is, having a friend really helps when the jobs are crappy and/or one man's trashy job is another man's pleasure!? 

What job do you hate doing? What job do you love doing and would happily swap with someone to do? Have you ever pressure washed anything? 

The Last Frontier

Alaska has been on my list for years; it is wild and untamed. It is dark and cold. It is  full of large creatures. It has very few roads. It is literally in the middle of nowhere. Well, I guess supposedly you can see Russia from some parts of the state, but I did not experience that myself. 

What I did experience were adventures, beautiful scenery and some challenging backcountry hikes. Here are some of the highlights from the trip. For context, I flew into Anchorage and planned most of the outings within a few hours drive of the city. I have noted the driving times below.

Denali NP – it is worth taking a bus on the Denali road (you can do an audio tour or just take the normal park bus depending on what you like. We just took the simple one, and you can see lots of animals and possibly Mt. Denali if the weather cooperates, which it did not do ☹). This is 3 hours north of Anchorage by car or you can take the train.  

There are a couple of short hiking options near the visitor’s center or you can get a permit and a (free) bear canister from the building by the bus depot and tromp around the back country (no trails), fording rivers, whacking bushes and fleeing bears, which is what we did (minus the bears). The park road is about 100 miles long and currently it is closed due to a landslide at mile 42 (supposedly to be fixed in 2025), but there are still plenty of hiking zones to choose from. 

Teklanika River

Hatcher Pass – great views and lots of hiking opportunities with different lengths depending on fitness level. This is about 1 hour north of Anchorage by car.  Note: it is a dirt road part of the way, but it is very smooth and we had no issues whatsoever. We also did the Bomber Traverse, a hike starting from the Gold Mint Trailhead and continuing past the Mint hut, the backdoor gap, the Bomber hut and the Snowbird hut (and many glaciers!). This hike is about 25 miles in total, with about 7 or 8 of them off trail, so we ended up doing it in two days. If you want to sleep in the huts, you can join the Mountaineering Club of Alaska (MCA), or you can just camp near the huts (or anywhere) for free. 

Pennyroyal Glacier -- Backdoor Gap -- Bomber Traverse

Seward – port city, gateway to Kenai Fjords and the start of the Iditarod trail; Great place for hiking, eating, and lots of walking along the water. Lowell point walk (about 2 miles each way), Sweet Darlings for ice cream and Firebrand BBQ for their pork belly are a must. We also hiked up the famous Mt. Marathon, which is a 3,000 foot climb in 1.5 miles if you use the official race trail or about 2.5 miles if you go via the hiker route. The views from the top are fabulous! 3 hours south of Anchorage by car.

View from Mt. Marathon

Kenai Fjords NP – The Exit glacier and Harding icefield are beautiful. The Harding Icefield trail is a 4.1 mile each way out and back which is about 3,000 feet of climbing, but the views of the glacier along the way as well as the icefield at the top are stunning. It is well worth the climb, but I suggest you start early as we were the first ones to the top and had the view to ourselves (around 8:30 am) but there were a lot of people heading up when we were headed down. 20 minutes from Seward by car. 

Harding Icefield

Anchorage – you can rent bikes and ride (or walk) along the coastal trail which goes from downtown to Kincade point, about 10 miles each way. It is a very pleasant and flat bike trail along the mud flats. I would recommend Snow City Café for breakfast/lunch, but be prepared to wait a little while (you can put your name in and walk around while you are waiting or you can grab a mug of coffee and sit outside and enjoy the weather). 

Chugach National Forest – there are so many hikes and so little time, but two that we did that I would recommend are the Lost Lake trail and Crows Pass. The Lost Lake trail is about 20 minutes from Seward and is about 7 miles each way, but it is only about 2,200 feet of gain, so it is uphill but not too strenuous. Again, I suggest starting early, as there were a lot of people on the trail on our way down. The Crows Pass trail is a 21 mile trail each way, but if you start on the south end near Girdwood (about one hour south of Anchorage), you only need to go about 4 or 5 miles before you see all of the good stuff (the Crows Pass cabin, the Raven glacier, great views) and can turn around and go back. After that it is very brushy, so save your energy for something else. Part of this trail follows the famous Ididerod trail too! 

Lost Lake

And just like that, the one week trip was sadly over. 

Have you ever been to Alaska? What was your favorite thing that you did? Have you been to any of the places on my list? 

Then Versus Now

Now that summer is officially underway, I thought this would be a great time to talk about what summer means to us all. I have written before about what summer was like when I was a kid, so I thought that today I would talk about the then vs. now. 

Then: We used to have a campfire every weekend. We would roast marshmallows and hot dogs and just stand there, flipping from front to back to keep both sides of us warm after a cold river swim. Now: I might whip out the backpacking stove on a trip to make coffee or rehydrate my dinner, but I am not really a big campfire person. I guess part of it is that it smells and I am going to be wearing the same clothes for several days and they are already going to be smelly enough, so I don't really want to walk around smelling like a forest fire on top of it all. The other part is that sometimes there are a ton of mosquitoes and I would rather just chill in the tent and read. In other words, I am a party pooper. 

Then: We used to sleep outside in the backyard in the summertime. All of my cousins would be there and we would be lined up, sleeping bag to sleeping bag, under the stars. Now: While I have never slept in my current backyard, I definitely still sleep outside on a regular basis! A modern summer usually involves at least two weekends and and at least two weeks of camping and backpacking each year! I don't cowboy camp (sleep with no tent) as much as I did then, but I do like to sleep in the tent without the rainfly on it and gaze at the stars through the mesh! Another big change is that I use a sleeping pad now, whereas we used to sleep right on the ground. 

Then: I would spend a couple of weeks each summer with my aunt and uncle, who live in the Bay Area. I could eat what I liked, watch MTV all day, hang out with my baby cousins, and go watch the Giants with my uncle. Now: I live in the Bay Area; I usually go to at least one Giants game per year, and I eat what I like, although I guess now I should be providing my aunt and uncle with their favorite foods instead! Also, my baby cousins all now have babies themselves! 

Then: We used to spend endless hours at the river, swimming, chasing white rocks, having contests of who can stay under the water the longest, or swim across the river the fastest, or throw a rock the furthest. We could entertain ourselves for hours. We used to do endless loops of floating down the rapids in a tube and then walking a half mile back up the river and floating down again. Now: I still jump in a body of water any time I get the chance, but I don't spend the same amount of time in the water. Last year we did have a cousins weekend and we all went to the old swimming hole and swam and jumped off the rocks and it was almost like old times, except we are all more careful not to hurt ourselves these days (sigh, getting older is hard sometimes). On the flip side, we had better snacks! 

Hanging at the beach with Broski

Then: I had to work every summer because my parents owned their own business and summer was the busy time. Many weekends had events and this is where I could really make and save some money, which I would then use to buy my own school clothes later in the summer. Now: I still have to work every summer but now I try to take a week off for each of the summer months and go somewhere and get outside! Unfortunately, I also still have to buy my own school clothes. 

What were summers like when you were younger? What things do you still do now that you did back then (or how have things changed if they have)?

The Joke Is On Me: Traveler's Checks

The first time I traveled abroad, I went equipped with several hundreds of dollars worth of traveler's checks. In case you have no idea what I am talking about, or forgot about these (it has been a while!) they are a check that you pay cash for and when you get them from the bank, you sign them once. Then when you want to exchange money, you give the teller in a foreign country the check, you countersign and date and they give you foreign currency in exchange. If I recall, they were a little safer than cash because they had a serial number so if you lost one or it got stolen, you may have been able to get your money back. I think this is true. 

Anyway, I did not use all of my travelers checks and I came back to the US and put them somewhere safe and then proceeded to move a few times, travel for work, move again and travel more until finally I bought my house and unpacked some boxes that had been sitting in storage for well over a dozen years and guess what I found? Two hundred dollars worth of travelers checks. So I put them in the "paperwork that needs attention eventually" pile and they sat there for about seven more years. I would look at them from time to time and think that I should probably just take them to the bank, but I was not in a rush, since they were issued by my bank where I still bank and hey, they are the equivalent of cash, right? 

Finally I decided to cross some of those long standing tasks off my eight year old to do list (there are still some things on it. I am looking at you, front yard drip system) and I put the checks in my purse with the intention of taking them into the bank as soon as I had the chance. First I tried the bank near my house, which I found out had been closed down about six months ago, which goes to show how often I go to the bank. Then I decided to take the checks to work with me with the intention of taking a lunch break and finally depositing them. You are probably not surprised to hear that they sat in my purse for another week before I finally made my way down to the bank. By the way, do you know how hard it is to find an actual bank that you can walk inside of and talk to a person in San Francisco/Oakland? It is hard. There are tons of ATMs but an actual person is rare! However, I had to take these to an real human, as they had to be countersigned in front of a person in order to be deposited. 

The first time I went down and got in line (where there were no people) I was told by the teller that their systems were down and they could not do any transactions. I felt like maybe someone was plotting against me. I went back the next day and wonder of wonder, the systems were working, the line was short and I was at the teller before you knew it. And then I deposited the checks and walked away whistling Dixie. As Borat would say, this story is NOT true. First of all, the teller had never seen a travelers check. No joke. Never. So she had to get her coworker to come over and explain the process. Then she had me countersign them. 

Then she looked at the two signatures and said that they did not match. I did not disagree with her. One was signed when I was not even legally allowed to drink yet and one was signed....a few...years...or decades....later. My signature is not the same as it was. I used to perfectly swoop every letter and write in perfect cursive; now my signature looks like I am a harried MD with a hot date. So she brought the coworker over again and the coworker said that they could not take the checks. I asked if they could look up the serial number and then verify it against my ID and she said that they do not keep records that long. She finally said that she would check my signature on file and would compare that. Unfortunately, the signature on file (from when I opened my account, which was opened before I could legally vote, or maybe even before I could drive) also did not match. 

She went into this big spiel about how she is doing this for my protection and I was thinking in my head, "lady, I work in finance; you are using MY LINE!" and I made affirmations about how I totally and completely understand, I work in the same industry, I have to tell people the same thing all of the time etc. We finally got around to a point where she said that she would attempt to deposit them if I crossed off and initialed the co-signature I had just done and then signed again but tried to copy the original one, BUT she was not making any guarantees that it would go through, she said. I thanked her profusely, signed again and left the building. 

I know that $200 is not chump change, and I know that I was an idiot and I should not have waited so long to deposit the checks and I know that now I need to go into the bank to sign a new signature card because my signature has changed a lot from the time I was 14. I also really had no expectations that they would get successfully deposited. However, imagine my surprise and glee when the next day I saw that I was $200 richer! 

Verdict: Don't be an idiot. Deposit your checks on time. BUT if you happen to be an idiot, but things end up working out in the end anyway, enjoy the small victories, because they are awfully sweet. 

Have you ever done something silly like this? If so, what was the outcome? Did you end up being successful in the end?