Nathaniel and I, after reading most of the menus on Broadway in search of a hot dog, stopped at The Patty Shack [Yelp] on Main St. Having enjoyed Tijuana Dogs at Fremont’s now-defunct Juan More Taco, I was pretty excited to have a local source for bacon-wrapped hot dogs. Nathaniel enjoyed his corn dog; he’s [...]

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Had a nice lunch off California Ave today. [Yelp: Birch St]

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Kumquats, originally uploaded by schahn. When Dina and I moved to California, the first plant we bought was a dwarf kumquat. We planted it in an oak half-barrel, which, as an alleged byproduct of the wine industry, was another novelty. It survived years on our apartment’s porch, the move to our small house, and years [...]

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We went on the Marine Science Institute‘s cruise today, which was in part to celebrate World Oceans Day 2010. Part of the cruise involved sampling the bay floor and a short trawl with a net. (All animals caught are returned to the bay later in the day.) Ben got to hold a juvenile leopard shark.

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This morning, the pipe segments began to arrive for the section of Bay Division Pipeline No. 5 nearest us. The pipes are a distinct dark blue-green, with the ends capped with paper.

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They assembled this machine this week, but haven’t fired it up. The pipeline runs right behind our property, so I expect we’ll hear the crunching of treads and a large motor (or more than one) fire up early in the morning soon. When you’re digging a miles-long trench, there’s a clear axis of work. And [...]

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There are a couple of major construction projects in Redwood City. On El Camino Real, the block between Broadway and Brewster is being updated, as part of the multi-county Grand Boulevard project. This excavator was standing sentry on the Broadway end. Closer to our house, a new high-pressure water line–part of the Hetch Hetchy system [...]

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We got to this year’s Maker Faire fairly early, and saw the many cool things people have built. (It was our first Maker Faire, and we underestimated the event’s popularity.) Benjamin, who’s recently become an enthusiastic chess player, got to face off against the chess playing robot: Ben attempted a Scholar’s Mate, was stymied, and [...]

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I think we’ve had two evenings with short snow—without accumulation—and one significant hailstorm—with accumulation—in eleven years here. Intriguing.

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For the Thanksgiving holiday this year, we decided to explore San Mateo County’s section of the Pacific Coast. Dina settled on Butano State Park as our base, which is mostly made of a redwoods-forested canyon, south of Pescadero and on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. We arrived in the late afternoon, having [...]

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