Here and There Blog

I bought this house in 2006, expecting to live in it for 5 years and then sell at a nice profit. 2008 market crash happened and cut that plan off for a decade. It's taken my part of Carlsbad nearly 10 years to recover and see housing prices rise enough that I can make a small bit of money to put away for retirement. Don't know where I'll move to next but it will still be San Diego County. The house goes on the market in March and it should sell fast so I'm packing up now to be ready! Ready to place in storage. Room #1 Empty! Room #2 Empty! (Room #3 currently has everything in it I need so it's a total mess)

A perfect beach morning to exercise and enjoy Carlsbad. Not crowded, early enough before the Super Bowl that you don't have to rush. No one trying to sell you anything, panhandle, and the biggest obstacle to avoid are dogs getting tangled up in their leashes.

Leo Carrillo Ranch was a place that I'd wanted to visit for years. As the way it is with these things, the closer you live to a place, the less likely you are to see it. A short 10 minute drive from my house is a 27 acre, historic, public, free, Historical Landmark in California. Parking is plentiful and free. The walking trails are fun and the guided tour on weekends not only reveals who Leo Carrillo was but also the history of Carlsbad's early families and when there really were ranches and not tract homes. Who was Leo Carrillo and what were his movies? Many! - check IMDb Looking out the hacienda courtyard to the gate The pool isn't open and is only for show. It must have been fun for parties back in the day of Leo and his movie pals. The "red carpet" going down the stairs was something Leo put in for entertaining. And peacocks! They were all sleeping on this visit. I had no idea peacocks were roaming freely in Carlsbad! Looking across to t...

Happy Februray indeed! The last few weeks were Australia work load intensive and nothing going on. I'm back home and the most important to-do was see the dentist and finish up Invisalign! End of the line items of note: Tray 16 of the refinements, I felt pretty much that my teeth were done and in place. Even with that feeling, they were still moving daily. Tray 17 and final, I noticed that the tooth directly opposite the troublesome #14 had shifted and when I had the tray out, my upper and lower teeth bumped together in this area. On both of these trays, I went 10 days each instead of the 7, otherwise Tray 17 would have been in for about 3 weeks and I wanted to have even movement. I don't know if that would have made any difference.  This was due to my travel schedule and not being able to get to the dentist. On Monday I went in and everything looked good. The attachments came off and the dentist did a quick file of the two teeth that were bumping together and that was...

Today brings a 20F drop in temp from 100 to 80. It almost feels like a winter chill without the snow.  It's possible to eat an ice cream cone without having it all melt down your hands within seconds. This also brings about the day where I go into full work mode for a while. Last night we had dinner at the Summit Restaurant where you have a great view of Brisbane.  The Lookout has a formal restaurant, an informal cafe, a gift shop and the picture are. It's worth a drive and when the city is hot, you can count on a cool breeze up in the trees. This was close to 6pm. Not sure if there was a fire burning or if it was hazy from the high temps for the last couple of days.

In the last week I've wrapped up working in Adelaide and moved on to Brisbane. My window of opportunity for getting out and about is best at 6am when it's only hot and not super hot. This is my walk this Sunday morning from 6-7 am. Cathedral There were several different works. This looked like an Apollo landing capsule. Brisbane River Art on electrical box Fun at Government building Botanic Gardens

The pigs on the street are pretty amusing and the most popular photo op on the pedestrian street. The Art Gallery is free to enter and has visually interesting exhibits but they don't want you taking photos. Here's a couple that I took anyway.