We went to Stanley Park today. Walked and drove the park a little before having lunch at the Teahouse which was lovely. I had Fish and Chips, Libbie had a crab eggs Benedict. I had a Stanley amber beer with my meal. We then went to the Rose garden and were amazed at the flower beds. A girl was getting married in the park via a horse drawn carriage. Slowly made our way back to Richmond since we had to leave early for the harbor cruise. We sat with Vladimir and a Canadian lady. The food was good and the scenery was great. What a way to see Vancouver, the Gesneriad dinner cruise. We got back to pack for our early morning takeoff home.

This morning we did our usual McDonalds breakfast. It's a sunny warmer day. We
came back to the hotel, met Jacquie walking with her husband and invited them to
join us at VanDusen botanical gardens. We got the senior rate which was 7.25
each. It was a sunny day in the garden. We enjoyed the many, many flowers on a
walk around the garden. At one point we took a walk into a fern glade under tall
trees which was wonderful. I hope our garden turns out like this someday. We
came back to the hotel for Vladimir's talk but had time for a nice lunch sandwich
at Tim Hortons. Before Tim Hortons we went to the Bank of Montreal to exchange
money and ofund out they charge 2.50 fee for exchanges. Tim Horton said they
accept US dollars so it wasn't worth it. Vladimirs talk was a little hard to
understand but his slides were excellent. I enjoyed the stark contrast of his
before and after violet pictures, before and after the Soviet Union went to an
open society. Next up was Dr John Clark from the Univ of Alabama. He had a
detailed and technical talk of his trip to Cuba collecting Gesneriads and what
he found and how they all relate to previous Hans Wehler findings via DNA
typing. It was a fascinating lecture. For the evening we went to Steveston
Village for a nice dinner on the waterfront then had some fish and chips at a
takeout down the wharf followed by Gelato which was $9 for 2 cones. I have
developed a love for Gelato. When we got back to the hotel the dinner was over
and awards were present on the winning Gesneriads. We spent some time wandering
around and photographing the winning plants before going back up to our room and
falling asleep. We enjoyed watching the nightime trains going and coming to
Vancouver. We took some pictures and also timed their arrival and departures.
One train came about every 7 minutes.

Did yard work this morning blowing off the driveway, picking up sticks in the driveway and putting away the nail gun and compressor. When Libbie came home I was servicing the pressure washer. I put fresh gas into it, pumped up the tires and started it up. She took the wand and cleaned the front porch, the stairs and the sidewalk. I can't believe how good it all looks. Heard from Kathy Lahti. She wanted the convention reports so I spent an hour collating everything into a large document and sent the link to Kathy and Ron Davidson. We went to Trader Joes and the new Ace Hardware on Kildaire Farm Rd. Ace was very nice. I bought a metal garbage can and read the labels for the bug sprays. Can't find Orthene anymore but I found the ingredient online. It is Acephate. Dinner was leftover Eggplant Parmesan with Trader Joe's Shiraz. Earlier today I did more trip planning and booked some choice hotel rooms in Nashville, OK City and Amarillo. Choice has a deal where two hotels will earn a $50 Chili's gift card.

I planned my going West drive this morning. It's ending up to be a museum tour starting with Cheekwood and Chilhuly in Nashville, Brooks in Memphis, Beale St Sat night, the Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City and ending with a Turner to Cezanne exhibit in Albuquerque. I'm looking forward to this trip. Went outside and weeded the flower garden, watered the tomatoes and scraped and caulked the soffit and fascia boards. The back is now complete except for paint. I was too lazy to paint today. Watched an exile on Main St film by the Rolling stones. It was quite good about the recording of the Exile on main St album in 1972. Dinner was eggplant parmesan with Shiraz wine from Rex Goliath winery in Woodbridge, CA. I picked this stuff up in Kroger because I didn't feel like going to Trader Joes.

It's supposed to be hot today, pretty near 100. The temp went to 101. I got burned out doing some caulking and weeding of the tomatoes.came in and spent the rest of the day indoors. Dinner was corn and bean burger. Yummy.

Good tips on GMA this morning. Eat real food, only what your body needs and eat mostly plants. Walking is a great easy exercise.]
We went to the Farmers market and got corn and watermelon and peaches and eggplant. We had the corn with bean burgers for dinner. Didn't do too much else today except for a walk. I was tired when I came back from the lake.

More trip planning. Bought a plane ticket for Libbie to fly to Santa Fe. Then over the course of the afternoon I booked hotel rooms in Santa Fe, Kayenta, and Bryce Canyon. I'm also looking at where to stay in Death Valley. We will end up in Huntington Beach on July 26. Joe offered a one week Hertz coupon. I could fly plus add 400 for another week making the total cost $800 plus Joe's coupon. Compare that to the cost of driving cross country. Some more work to do! I fixed up one corner of the soffit and caulked it then started sanding and scraping the old caulk. I have half of it done. I may paint some of the soffit this week or at least power wash the back for painting prep. Today I also hooked up the hoses and timer for the grow boxes. This is in anticipation of our Vancouver trip next week.
Dinner was BLT with Fiesta Grillin beans.

I did some trip planning today. Started out by buying Opera tickets for Santa Fe. Next step was to look at possible venues in the surrounding states. I want to visit either Bryce or Zion. Finished up the soffits today. Now I have to sand and caulk. Dinner was pasta with some of the broccoli salad I made this afternoon.

I got up early this morning and went to get a paper at 6:24. Libbie made peach pancakes with the leftover peaches then I had a slice of zucchini bread for desert. It was warm out but I got 24 feet of fascia boards installed. I realized that I don't have enough 6 inch wide fascia boards so I went to Lowes after RLT to get another piece. Put it in the Corolla hanging out the back.

The Light on the Piazza was another fine RLT production. I was surprised to find it was a musical. I wasn't expecting this. It was very enjoyable. Beforehand we walked around the Raleigh rose Garden admiring roses at their peak before summer takes it's toll. I took a few pictures. At home Libbie made her yummy pizza for dinner. In the evening Joe called for Fathers Day. He and Christa were at Cory's house since it's his first Father's Day. We talked about coming to California to help with house remodeling. There is an opera at the end of July in Santa Fe that we can get tickets to, Tales of Hoffman with Kate Lindsey who did the Met HD performance. Dinner was Libbie's nice pizza. She had a frozen one she was able to whip out since this afternoon we weren't home.

I finished putting up the soffits today over the back porch. They came out pretty good. In the PM Libbie and I went over to BB and trimmed the holly bushes and chain sawed some tree branches overhanging the grass. When I came home hot and sweaty I mixed the last of the Orthene and sprayed Japanese beetles on the Hibiscus and roses until the 1/2 gal of mix ran out. I got cleaned up then Libbie and I did a Trader Joes' trip to pick up wine and nuts. Libbie made a banana zucchini bread from the AV cookbook. Dinner was eggplant parmesan, shiraz and banana zucchini bread by Kathy Lahti.

I took down the rest of the old soffit over the back porch then went to Lowes with the trailer and picked up 2 more pieces of the stuff. Painted it all then got cleaned up, ending my day. Tom Herner came over to recharge the AC. It didn't need any freon. The problem was a blown fuse on the downstairs compressor. I felt dumb since I could have fixed this a year ago myself. Dinner was eggplant parmesan.

The first attempt at installing a 12 foot soffit was a failure. Five feet of it snapped off on the ladder trying to put it on the two brackets I fabricated. The next 2 were 8 foot sections which were much more manageable. I had to trim the boxwood and the myrtle on the corner before going further. Finished removing the fascia before I got tired for the day. I now need two more soffit pieces. We went to the Credit Union and signed our new loan agreement. The old one ran out after 10 years. This one is good for 20 years.

After breakfast I hooked up the trailer with the ladder on it and went to Lowes to get 4 more 12 foot pieces of soffitt. I painted them on the side of the house before it rained then took down more of the old wood. When Libbie came home we were going to go to take a walk but it started raining. Went over to Litmus to get my sculpture instead then we stopped at the Farmers Market for fruit and veggies. I like the cute Farmers Daughters over there in tight tee shirts and short shorts.
Dinner was corn on the cob and bean burger with vidalia. Desert was canteloupe. Yum.

Put up one panel of the hardiboard soffitt and also took some more of the old stuff down. Picked up Libbie at 3:10, her plane was on time. I then hooked up the trailer and we went over to the greenhouse to get the ladder. Found out that Jennifer's Stuart finally got a job. He starts a week from Monday. Even though I had fresh pasta from Trader Joes today we went out to La Cosina for Margaritas and a Quesadilla, our favorite.

Watched a creepy movie that I liked, The Quiet One. Cut the soffitt into an 8 foot long piece after looking at my options at both Home Depot and Lowes. I'll end up buying 12 foot lengths and cutting them into 8 foot pieces. We'll see how this works with the first one. Went over to the greenhouse at 7 with Libbie's car to charge it up. I also ran the greenhouse generator. It was dead 2 days ago so I put water in the battery and now all is well. There was an accident in front of the golf course so I came home via Kildair to Penny Rd. Drove over to Kroger for ice cream that I said wasn't get anymore but I have no will power. They were setting up the lights on Old Raleigh Rd for paving again when I returned from the greenhouse.

Read the paper this morning then went out to work on the fascia boards. Tooks some more down before taking a break to spray the dam. Since it's
Sunday morning I thought it would be good to spray the dam when nobody's around. Only mixed up 2 gals but it went a long ways. Dinner was a bean burger with Vidallia.

I spent a lot of time messing with Uniserver and blog software today. Went outside and mowed the entire back lawn. Did a greenhouse trip and found the generator battery dead. Put water in it and will try tomorrow. The thermostats were set to 70 which means they ran all night long. Set them back to 90, hopefully the fans will turn off tonight. Set up the second ladder as well as a step ladder and took down some more fascia board. The 2x8 underneath looks OK except it's a little weather worn. Dinner was bean burger with Vidalia and ice cream. No more ice cream!!!! It's fattening as hell.
Now I need to mow the front lawn and also, since it's the weekend, take some roundup up onto the dam.

The art book came today. I want to experiment with making colors with oil paints, something I've been having trouble doing. Went to Lowes and bought the materials for the back porch soffit and fascias. Took down the old rotted wood and painted the new wood before installing it. For some reason Lib called twice today from RI. Dinner was Broccoli salad. I downloaded Its Complicated with Alex Baldwin and Mery Streep and watched half of it. It's funny but a long movie.

I installed Xampp on my computer and tried a php socket server but it didn't work too well. Jennifer called that she smelled propane. I went over and found a small leak around the valve on tank 3. Fixed it then weeded the landscape plants and spread Jennifers bark around. The plants seem to be thriving nicely. Dinner was a fish Lean Cuisisne.

Took Libbie to the airport leaving at 8 am. Traffic was surprisingly light the back way through the Cary Pkwy. On the way back I stopped in Brueggers and picked up a bagel with cream cheese. Spent the rest of the day reading about sockets and 485 to IP Wiznet hardware. Dinner tonight was the Broccoli salad which I made this afternoon.

Assembled the second Pisces card this morning then went to Krogers to get gas at 2.56 per gal. Went to the greenhouse at 10:45 where I picked up Libbie and JoAnne Hoover for the drive to Fayetteville. Sheilas home is lovely. I loved the garden and pond that Fred put in, complete with Waterfalls. Absolutely lovely! She had a nice lunch buffet setup with salads and chopped barbecue. We left there around 2 and I drove everyone to the greenhouse to get their cars, including Libbie. At home the mail contained my Wiznet IP to 485 bridge module as well as our State refund check of almost $600. I filed the taxes April 4 and this is June 8. I also went out and got a minimal amount of groceries since today is Tuesday. We forgot to get the garbage to the street this morning. Dinner tonight was BLT with Southern Pit BBQ baked beans.

Went out and worked pretty hard on the fallen tree. I cleared it all and even picked up some of the branches from other trees. Made a large pile next to the fence along the dam. The weather is cool and humidity is low. For dinner we had ribs with sweet potato and cor, all of it leftovers. We walked into Seagrove Farms on the newly opened path after dinner. It's satisfying to see how far the clearing I have done in the woods has come.

No newspaper this morning. Too much to do. We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast then I packaged and installed the fish feeder. We have it set for 6 seconds which Libbie says is an ample amount of food. This is great, the fish feeder was my priority. I put out the MAAVS Memo today and had to update the MAAVS website to include the Raleigh convention. I also worked on clearing the fallen Beech tree in the back by the pond and bird house. It was pretty hot but satisfying work. About another day or two of chain saw work and I'll have a path cleared. I want to be able to take my sprayer to the dam and clear some more of a path with the roundup but the path is blocked. I took my camera to the back and took more pictures in Seagrove Farms. Quite a few more homes are sold. It's very surprising.

Saturday Morning
Worked on a cable for the Pisces controller. Hooked it up to the Fish feeder and it works as expected. I'm happy!!! Next step is to package this thing up, my least favorite job. At noon Libbie came home. We had lunch on the back porch - I had watermelon then we went to the Farmers Market for Fresh peaches, blueberries, corn, zucchini and a trailing gardenia. Stopped at BJ's on the way home and got ribs and milk. Couldn't make the turn back onto Lake Pine at Wendy's because they closed the intersection for paving. We went home via Laura Duncan. We encountered the same situation last night after First Friday. Dinner was ribs, Shiraz and peach pie!!!! We had the corn with the ribs - it was the best of the season.

This morning I finished the Memo article and touched up 4 photos to go with the Convention article for the MAAVS Memo and sent them to Ken for publication. I earlier finished up a short blurb about the MAAVS website and sent it to Ken also. I wrote both articles last night during the opera on WCPE but revised them this morning. I did not want to do anything else until this was done and it is!!! The article references the MAAVS website which needs to be updated before publication this weekend. At noon I went outside and sprayed 4 more gallons of Roundup as a touchup on my previous job. Lib came up the hill when I was about out and piddling the remaining around the edges of the septic field. After a watermelon lunch I went to work on the Pisces Fish Feeder controller. I wired up a cable for control and then built a second cable for my power supply. I found the regulator was installed backwards by me. Reversed it and now I have good 5 volt power from an 8 volt source. I made reservations at Caffe Luna for this evening since it's First Friday.
I checked today to see if my State tax refund has been issued. The State website says that it has.
We left at 6:15 for downtown Raleigh and parked in the Moore Square parking lot at the bus transfer station. We first went to the bank where Nicole had a contemporary show and reception. Our next stop was Artspace where there was a 70th birthday party going on for Judy Crane. We had wine there as well as at Nicoles bank show. On the way out we listened to a young band playing mostly Beatle music and other 60s music. At Caffe Luna I had the chefs special which was scallops, shrimp and other seafood cooked into a slice of bread with a filet of Mahi Mahi. It was very good. I had a glass of Rodney strong Merlot with the meal. We went and listened to more Beatles music until Libbie got dizzy and had to leave.