To Napa for the day

Looking for an excuse to get out of the house, we made a reservation for a tasting at Donum Estates. We rolled from Carmichael about 11:15 am and pulled up to the gate at Donum at 12:50 pm.

Donun is remodeling their tasting room that they only opened a couple of years ago. We had a nice tasting in the winery amongst the tanks. Our host (Alex?) has actually hosted Sharon and I twice before [December 2018, January 2019] as well as the book club [March 2019]. Alex played division two tennis in college at Ferris State University in Big Rapids. After the tasting, we wandered the property, including visiting the spider house.

From there, we headed to Napa. After Sharon did some shopping at the Cabi outlet store, we drove through Yountville to the Napa River Ecological Reserve on the Yountville Cross Road. Working in the Napa Valley in 2015 and 2016, I probably drove by this spot hundreds of times, but never stopped. We took a short hike along the banks of the Napa River.

We wandered back to Yountville after the hike. We had a 5 pm reservation at Ad Hoc. This has always been one of Sharon's favorite resturants. Getting seated outside early, we split a family style dinner of Mixed Greens Lettuce Salad [castelvatrano olives, cucumbers, pickled red onions, brioche croutons, italian dressing], Grilled 1855 Black Angus Ribeye [roasted brussels sprouts, garlic & spinach orzo, red wine sauce], Cowgirl Creamery Devil’s Gulch [focaccia, tomato marmalade] and Ice Cream Sundaes [vanilla ice cream, chocolate, butterscotch & strawberry sauces, pearson farm pecans, whipped chantilly]. It was a very nice dinner.

The traffic wasn't bad on the way home. It took about an hour and twenty-five minute to get home. We were home just before 7:50 pm.

More Adventures with Lee

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Nomadland

Friday night, Sharon and I watched Nomandland on the AppleTV on Hulu. We are continuing to make guesses about what movies might be nominated for Oscars. This film is on a number of lists as a candidate in the best picture and leading actress categories. Several sites have it as the favorite for best picture.

Nomadland is a drama directed, written, and edited by Chloé Zhao. It is based on the 2017 non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder.

The film was named one of the ten best films of 2020 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. It received four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Motion Picture – Drama at the 78th Golden Globe Awards.

It stars Frances McDormand as a woman in her sixties who, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad. It also features David Strathairn in a supporting role, as well as real-life nomads Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells as fictionalized versions of themselves.

About halfway through the movie, Sharon said "if this wins Best Picture, I am going to kill myself." I liked the picture a lot more than she did. I enjoyed the scenery; we need to visit the Badlands. Visually, it would have been a nice movie to see in the theater. I think that it could win best picture. Whenever Sharon and I debate the possibility of a film winning best picture, I always point back to examples of Moonlight and The Shape of Water as films that I didn't particularly like, but won the Oscar.

Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America

My book for January was Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America by by Walter R. Borneman. Drew give me the book for Christmas in 2019. It fits into my long term project to read books about all of the presidents.

A protégé of Andrew Jackson, Polk was a member of the Democratic Party and an advocate of Jacksonian democracy. After attending the University of North Carolina, he settled in Nashville Tennesse to study law. Polk was elected clerk of the Tennessee State Senate and then to the state house of representatives. Within two years of being elected as a state house representative, he was elected to Congress.

Polk spent fourteen years in Congress representing Tennesse, including four years as Speaker of the House. He is the only president to have served as Speaker of the House.

Leaving Congress, Polk was elected Governor of Tennesse. After serving one term, he was defeated in two subsequent attempts to hold the office. Although he was angling to gain the Vice President position, Polk ended up as a compromise candidate at the 1844 Democratic Convention.

As president, Polk had four principal goals: reestablish the Independent Treasury System [the Whigs had abolished the one created under Van Buren]; reduce tariffs; acquire some or all of the Oregon Country; and, acquire California and its harbors from Mexico. He accomplished all of these goals. Polk's presidency is chiefly known for extending the territory of the United States through the Mexican–American War.

When he ran for president, Polk pledged that he would only serve one term; he kept that promise. His ex-presidency of 103 days remains the shortest in history. Cholera was the likely cause of his death at age 53. His wife (Sarah) lived for forty-two more years; the longest widowhood of any first lady.

I enjoyed the book. This is one of those biographies where the author adds a fair amount of his views rather than just telling the story; I prefer a more straightforward story. I have read very little about the period between Andrew Jackson (1837) to Lincoln (1861). This book starts to fill in that period.

At Shasta Ski Park

Using RunKeeper on my iPhone, I built a map and a couple of views in Google Earth of our ski runs at Shasta Ski Park. If it had been a clear day, I think that we could have gotten an interesting group photo with Mount Shasta in the background.

One Night in Miami

On Saturday night, Sharon and I watched One Night in Miami. We are making some guesses about what movies might be nominated for Oscars. This film is on a number of lists as a candidate for best picture and in several acting categories.

One Night in Miami is directed by Regina King in her feature film directorial debut. The screenplay was written Kemp Powers based on his stage play of the same name.

The film is about a fictionalized meeting of Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke in a room at the Hampton House in February 1964. The group is celebrating Ali's surprise title win over Sonny Liston. The men were friends in real life. Cassius Clay is on the cusp of transforming into Muhammad Ali.

It stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcom X, Eli Goree as Cassius Clay, Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown, and Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke. Lance Reddick, Joaquina Kalukango, Nicolette Robinson, and Beau Bridges appear in supporting roles.

Sharon liked the film more than she thought she would. For both of us, it raised a number of questions about Malcolm X. I really don't know anything about his life. I recommend the movie, but don't think that it will win the best picture Oscar.

Old Aggies Zoom

With the Chabriers moving to Florida, they organzied a physical and virtual meet up on Saturday afternoon. Juggling a number of things, I joined the Zoom for the first twenty minutes or so.

Lincoln Hills Club Hills Course

On Sunday, Sharon and I played golf with Holly and Van. We played with them on the Lincoln Hills Club Orchard Course in December. After playing a lot of golf in 2020, this is the first time we have played in two and a half months. It showed.

After feeling like I was getting a little more consistent last year, I was very inconsistent. In particular, I am really struggling on Par 5s. Starting to get a little momentum on the back nine, I completely fell apart on the Par 5 15th. It is probably the worst hole of golf that I have played in 45 years; I got very frustrated.

I ended up shooting a liberally scored 116. There were a couple of greens on the back nine that I completely misread.

The four of us ended the day at Citizen Vine. Sharon and I spilt a Vine’s Chop Salad [Romaine, Smoked Bacon, Cherry Tomatoes, Chicken, Balsamic Dressing and Goat Cheese] and Chicken Potstickers [Five Lightly Fried, Sesame Oil, Spicy Plum Sauce].

More Adventures with Lee plus Zooms, Curbside and a Movie

Morgan asked us to babysit Lee for the day while she studied.

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Late in the day, we ended up doing two Zooms. With the Chabriers moving to Auburndale, Florida, they pulled together a virtual get together of Old Aggies. I popped in and out for the first twenty minutes.

In the evening, we joined a Zoom celebrating Sharon's brother Tim and nephew Eric's birthdays. I am looking forward to the day when we can have large family gatherings safely...

We finished the day with curbside takeout from Cafe Bernardo. Sharon had a Thai Noodle and Mushroom and Jartsberg salad, while I had Penne Pasta. Eating dinner, we watched One Night in Miami.

Man Down Redux (Shasta Ski Park)

I took a quick walk from the Sheraton to the Sundial Bridge in the morning. Afterwards, I met Tomasin at his mom's house at 7:30 am. Snipes rolled up a few minutes later. Tomasin drove the three of us to the Mt. Shasta Ski Park; it was a little over an hour.

After some initial turmoil, I had a nice day skiing with Tomasin and his neighbor Glenn. It wasn't cold or rainy. The runs were covered with a fair amount of heavy powder. Turning in this kind of snow is hard on my right knee. It was foggy most of the day.

We stopped for lunch about 1245 pm. With the visiblity getting worse and worse, we called it a day about 3 pm.

Now for the rest of the story. Snipes didn't make it into any of the pictures...

Shasta has triple lift chairs. In Snipes defense, they are moving pretty fast. I had the chair sneak up on me a couple of times over the course of the day, including getting hit on the helmet pretty hard as I turned my head to look back.

Getting on the chair for the first run, I was with Tomasin and didn’t see what happened. Snipes was with Glenn.

Talking to Snipes later, he said that as he turned to look back for the chair, he got dizzy and lost his balance. Snipes then got plowed over and knocked down by the chair. They had to stop the lift, help him get up and put him on the chair. Glenn said later that Snipes really struggled to stand up.

At the top of the chair lift, it was a pretty steep ramp down, When you haven’t skied in a while getting off the chair on to a drop off can be daunting. Again, I didn’t see what happened, but Snipes crashed getting off the chair. He had a hard time getting up again; he to be helped.

I was down the hill screwing around with my boots, The first time I saw Snipes he was lying on the ground wrapped around a pole. Apparently, he had skied down a short distance and slide into the pole. He was on the ground saying that he was having some trouble breathing, shortness of breathe.

Fairly quickly, the ski patrol came up and started talking to him. Both the ski patrol and Tomasin were concerned that it was a cardiac event.

They ended up putting him in a sled and taking him back to the lodge. Once he was there, they put him in an ambulance and sent him to the local hospital. Snipes spent the rest of the day having tests run on him. He joked that everything came back fine except for {redacted}.

The hospital released him about 3 pm and Tomasin and I scooped him up and headed back to Redding. Leaving Redding in separate cars, we met briefly at Louie Cario's. After checking out the restaurant, we all decided to just head home.

It was January of 2009 when Larkin and I were with Hunter and he had to be carried off the mountain...

To Redding

After working all day, having dinner with Sharon and walking Tiber, I took off for Redding. It was 170 miles in just over two and a half hours.

I am spending one night at the Sheraton Hotel at the Sundial Bridge. It is an odd feeling; although we have been to Sea Ranch a couple of times in the last eleven months, it is the first time that I have stayed in a hotel in almost a year.

The plan for Friday is to ski with Tomasin and Snipes at Shasta Ski Park.

Lee

Avery Pond and Mormon Ravine Hike

Using RunKeeper on my iPhone, I built a map of our hike from Rattlesnake Bar on Saturday.

President's Day

My company took away President's day as a holiday, but added Martin Lurther King Day. Discussing the change at a townhall, a senior business leader noted that no one knew which Presidents were being celebrated or when they died.

Presidents Day is celebrated on the third Monday of February. The federal holiday has traditionally honored George Washington who was born on February 22, 1732. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971 moved this holiday to the third Monday in February which can fall from February 15 to 21.

When I was a kid, both Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays were celebrated as separate holidays. Lincoln's birthday on February 12th was never a federal holiday; it was a California state holiday. California still lists Lincoln's Birthday as a holiday, but as of 2009 no longer gives State employees a paid holiday.

Valentine's Day 2021

We did a Valentine's Day hike with the Gainsleys starting at the Rattlesnake Bar boat ramp. We hiked up the lake past Avery's pond and PGE's Newcastle Power Plant and around Mormon Ravine. Turning back, we stopped at Avery's pond for lunch. In total, we covered just over 5.4 miles in just under two and a half hours. A map of the hike is here.

I ran this section of the trail during the American River 50. I have been talking to Sharon about coming back for a hike for some time. I was shocked at how low the water level in Lake Folsom was.

Like last year, our goal is going to be hiking at least once a month. In January, we hiked Cronan Ranch with the Larkins.

In the late afternoon, Sharon and I picked up dinner from Selland's Market-Cafe. Aferwards, we dropped off Valentine's Day presents for Morgan and Lee.

We finished the night with dinner and presents. We split a shrimp cocktail, a salad, mashed potatoes and salmon wellingtons. I got Sharon a nocrumbsleft MAGIC ELIXIRS™ Marinated Red Onion Bowl and a Withings blood pressure monitor, while she got me a new beard trimmer.

A Hearty Farewell to Kathy, Rod and Maggie - Virtual Dinner

I have said over the years how much I like our neighborhood. We have gotten to know our neighbors in a way that never happened in the twelve years that we lived in Elk Grove.

Friday night, we attended a farewill dinner for one of the couples that we have gotten to know. Rod is retiring from Dignity Health and they are moving to Arizona [Cave Creek/Tatum Ranch Golf Club].

I helped Sharon make and bottle some Greyhound cocktails for the dinner. The dinner was salmon, polenta and brussel sprouts from Selland's Market-Cafe.

[Note to self], I need to get people to pose for screen grabs during Zoom get-togethers!

Lunch with Morgan and Lee

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MacBook Air

My home computer has been a Mac Pro that I purchased in early 2009, while my personal laptop is a Macbook Air that I purchased in September 2011 just before the New Zealand trip. Both devices have been work horses; the laptop has been all over the world. Unfortunately, both devices are getting a little long in the tooth. The inability to continue to upgrade the OS and their slower speed (cant' run Catan!?!) started to become a problem.

In December, I bought a new MacBook Air with the Apple M1 chip to replace both devices. I decided to consolidate down to one device. I am plugging the laptop into a big monitor with a keyboard, mouse, webcam and jabra speaker.

I am ecstatic about the performance of the device. Additionally, the tight integration between the MacBook Air, my new iPad and my iPhone is incredible!

Tiger

Sharon and I watched the documentary miniseries Tiger. It aired in two episodes on HBO on January 10, 2021 and January 17, 2021.

The documentary is based on the 2018 biography Tiger Woods. It examines Woods’ relationship with his father, Earl, and what impact that may have had on his development as a man, his rise, fall, and return in the world of golf. It is clear that both of Tiger's parent played a huge role in shaping his strengths and flaws.

The documentary ends with Tiger winning the 2019 Masters. It was his first major win in 11 years. Sitting in an Omaha hotel having an adult beverage and watching Tiger in the 2012 US Open, I bet Rod that Tiger would not win another major before Jack and Cooper graduated from Jesuit.

This documentary is worth searching out and watching. It includes some remarkable home movie footage of Tiger both as a teenager and an adult. I never really knew much about Earl Woods. I knew that Tiger had dabbled with the Navy Seals, but I didn't realize Earl was a green beret in Vietnam.

Peloton 2020

I use five different applications as part of my ongoing fitness routines. These include Apple Activity, Peloton, RunKeeper, Pedometer++ and Withings.

We bought a Peloton Bike in late 2108. I made a regular part of my workout in 2019 cycling once a week and covering 875 miles. Working from work and sheltering in place, I took this to a whole new level starting in March of 2020. I started riding two or three times a week and pedaled for more than 1,600 miles. I also started using the Peloton app for strength training, power walks with Tiber and a rare yoga class.