Researching hot water heaters

Most of the houses in our development were built about the same time plus or minus 2 years. As I've walked around the neighborhood I've noticed many homes replacing their water heaters. In talking to the neighbors the water heaters follow a pattern of developing minor leaks or just out and out flooding! I started to research tankless water heaters or on demand water heaters. We've always been curious about them. They supposedly save you heating all that water and as a result could also save water.

The ODWHs require soft water or the warranties are voided. Also if you tend to turn water on and off e.g. to wash dishes by hand, the water doesn't stay hot the whole time. It kind of has little gaps of hot and cold. It doesn't work well with a circulating pump for the same reason. We have gas for our heating so the ODWHs requires a 1 inch pipe and a 4 inch exhaust. Our house currently has a 3/4 inch gas pipe and a 3 inch exhaust. There is currently a pretty high government rebate for installing an energy efficient ODWH. The cost of a ODWH is about $1000 to $1400 and the total with installation is coming in between $2,500 and $2,800. A regular water heater comes in at about $800 to $1200 installed.

I think we are going with the standard water heater and we're planning on replacing it before it shows signs of failing (hopefully).

Emergency in the neighborhood

We live in such a beautiful area and life has been so good. Every once in a while I get a wake up call that sometimes things can go awry and that we are so blessed to live the life we lead. We have an assisted living home (houses up to 6 people) in the neighborhood. The residents are very quiet, as you can imagine and we hardly ever see or hear anything. The one downside is there are emergency calls there more frequently than in the rest of the neighborhood. It is good to get that reminder of the reality of things can change in an instant.

Lots going on

We ushered at the Clark Center last night for the Gold Coast Barbershop Concert. The show was much improved from past years and a great showcase for these singers. Unfortunately only 84 people showed up! That could be because of all the competing events in the area over the weekend.
First it was Father's Day weekend.

Secondly- The Classic at Pismo Beach took place from June 16 to 19 and is one of the largest classic car and street rod shows on the West Coast and "one of the finest." Pismo Beach, California, is the host city for this classic car show, now coming up on its 25th year. This show, held annually on the 3rd full weekend of June, pulls in 1000 classic cars and street rods and over 125,000 spectators over three days http://www.thepismobeachclassic.com/home.html

Third there was the Live Oak Music Festival Santa Barbara, California June 17 - 19
Live Oak, as it has become affectionately known, is more than just a music festival - it is an experience rooted in music and community. These two elements together create a three-day journey into a timeless place that is far removed from ties and clocks, suits and schedules. The festival features an aural collage of live music ranging from traditional, folk, bluegrass and gospel, to blues, jazz, classical and world music.

Fourth, I believe there was a local wine festival taking place over the weekend. It was very busy around here!

Busy couple of days

We went for "an explore" on Wednesday. I'd heard some good things about a new supermarket chain that opened in Santa Maria. It's called Vallarta Supermarket and it caters to the Mexican/Hispanic population. It is best known for it's fresh produce amazing prices eg. 6 cucumbers for $1 or 4 lbs apples for $1 or 2 lbs of tomatoes for $1 you get the picture. Here is a link to their website: http://www.vallartasupermarkets.com/ It's worth a trip through the site or at least watch the pictures in the header. We walked around gaping in disbelief at the prices and the nice environment and displays. Pretty impressive.

We then went to a newly opened Joann's Fabrics. I haven't been to one since we left WeHa. The store just opened in a closed Circuit City building and it's a pretty big store. It was really fun to prowl around the aisles and aisles of fabrics and have so many choices. Very fun.

After that we went to a potluck supper at the Clark Center. After participating in these potlucks for 3 years now at various venues, I've come to the conclusion that it's not the quality of your potluck offering but the quantity and the comfort of the dish. I decided to make barbecued meatballs and the entire dish disappeared!

On Thursday we ventured down to Santa Barbara for the afternoon. It was a cloudy day with little wind which made the driving quite pleasant. We walked the beach and noted all the "transients" in the city. They are everywhere. There were many sights to see including this incredibly decorated van which was a real cliche of California dreaming - hey cool man! We walked up and down State Street, visited the mall in the city, ran into some neighbors and ended up at Moby Dick Restaurant on the wharf where I snapped this picture of T in his Moby Dick's t-shirt from Wellfleet, Ma. The food at the Wellfleet one far outshines the food in Santa Barbara. We returned the way our GPS guided us which took us way up into the mountains and we came out on top right when the sun was breaking through before sunset. The mountain and valley views were impressive and the driving was fierce!

Anniversary

We celebrated our 39th anniversary with a very nice dinner at Ventana Grill in Pismo Beach. It is situated right over the ocean and every seat has a window view. Our anniversary was actual on the Friday before but we decided to delay celebrating because after working at the Thrift Shop for the afternoon and all the "drama" that entails, I was pretty pooped. Then we discovered CalPoly was graduating a few thousand students this past weekend with over 40,000 more people in town than normal. Even by Sunday night it was still pretty busy. The food was excellent and the company outstanding!

Fumigation

We got a notice that the guard house has termites and they were going to be fumigating it. This is how they do that here. They tent the entire building! The keypad access was still accessible and the poor guard had to stay in his truck all night and tend to visitors from his mobile office. Should be done in a couple of days.

Aids Lifecycle Ride

The 10th annual AIDS Lifecycle Ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles started a few days ago. Its route goes by very close to our house and I slowly passed about 50 of the riders on my way home from getting my car service (nothing serious just an oil change and wheel alignment). The riders went by all day long - there were hundreds of them. Check out some of the pictures posted of the event. http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2007/06/05/59741/slideshow-aidslifecycle-ride-photos.html#http://media.sanluisobispo.com/smedia/2007/06/05/19/915-Aids020.standalone.prod_affiliate.76.JPG

update on unseasonable rain

I spoke too soon the other day - after only getting less than 1/2 inch, that night it rained an additional 3/4 inch. The farmers are scrambling because rain in June is almost unheard of and 1 1/4 inches can do some real damage to crops like strawberries (mold) and grapes which need hot dry weather. Now the June gloom has finally arrived. This year it waited until this morning to appear. I hope it clears out much sooner than last year where it stuck around until almost October! I still would rather have fog for part of the day than hot hot temperatures and humidity!

Insurance

We have been keeping the insurance industry going of late. I started teaching a T'ai Chi class outside of the local gym and got concerned about liability, so I added an umbrella policy for protection. Then after our experience with the water coming into the house through the conduit pipes last winter from the big storms, I started worrying about could that happen again. If our house weren't under warranty, we would have had to foot the bill as our insurance policy doesn't cover "acts of God" etc. and this was from the rain. So although we live on a mesa at about 400 feet above sea level, I bought a flood insurance policy. For less than a dollar a day at least I have peace of mind!

A little unseasonal rain

Our rainy season typically runs from December through March. Our area on average gets about 12 inches of rain a year. The weather forecasters have been screaming about rain from the rooftops for the last week with stories of impending washed out parades, outdoor concerts and the like. The skies did cloud up starting on Friday evening but the big rodeo in Santa Maria started as scheduled and you know those cowboys - nothing was going to stop them. We heard that Cambria (about 1 hour north of us) got over an inch of rain on Saturday while we got .02 of an inch! By midnight Saturday we had received about 1/4 inch and another 1/4 inch today. So it was at least measurable. The farmers actually don't like rain at this time because it does things to the wine grapes (mold) and the strawberries (mold). The sun is struggling to come out and stay out with heavy dark clouds to the north lingering. I think we escaped the worst of it while up north it was a true rain event especially for this time of the year.

New shoes

T has small and wide feet and it's difficult for him to find shoes that fit. He had a pair of Sperry's that have served him well but when I did a search for the style/model it turns out it's been discontinued - natch! We have been looking for a second pair for his "dress" pair of top siders but as I said earlier he has a small wide foot and we haven't found any in the local shoe stores. I wrote to Sperry and asked what they recommended to replace the model that was discontinued. To my amazement they actually got back to me with apologies that they had discontinued that model and with a suggestion of what might work. So naturally I went to Zappos and there it was with his size even! So I ordered a pair and in due course (actually less than 5 days) they arrived and voila he says they fit! Hooray!

A New Gym Bag

I've been using the same gym bag since I came out here and to say the least it's gotten pretty skanky! When we go to SLO I always like to have a couple of things that we can keep an eye out for. Right now I have a new gym bag, a new front door mat and a new comforter for my bed. We "always" go to Ross's when we are in SLO and go on our hunt. We found this Liz Clairborne tote bag - actually it's like this but is open at the top. You can't imagine what the list price was ----$160! Man, who in their right mind would pay that much for a tote bag!! Anyway, good old Ross's had it for $17.99 and it comes with a 10 year warranty:) I love my new gym bag even if it was only $17.99.

Parlor concert

Last night we attended a parlor concert in the neighborhood. Dmitry Rachmanoff presented an All Russian Program. He was in Russia adjudicating the first International Youth Competition for Amateur Pianists to be held in Moscow. Here is the information: www.claviarium.com/ While he was there he was invited to perform in China the latter part of June performing recitals in southern China as well as being a visiting artist at the Shanghai Normal University. They asked for an All Russian Program. Dmitry and our neighbor Mark have been friends since Dmitry arrived from Russia to attend Julliard and Mark was at medical school. Mark is an accomplished pianist in his own right as well as an opthamologist. They had spoken of having a parlor concert for quite a while. I think Dmitry played this concert as a kind of dress rehearsal for the China trip and what a performance it was. He is a skilled and gifted performer. His program included:
Tchiakovsky's - Two Morceaux, Op. 10, Nocturne in F Major and Humoresque;
Rachmaninoff's - barcarolle, Op. 10 No., Prelude in B-Flat Major, Op.23 No.2, Prelude in G major, Op. 32 No.5, Prelude in G Major, Op. 32 No. 5 and Prelude in G-Sharp Minor, Op. 32 No. 11
Medtner;s Two Fairy Tales, Op. 26, No. 2 in E- flat major and No. 3 in F Minor
Scriabin's Etude in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 9 No. 2, Etude in B-Major, Op. 8 No. 4, Prelude in G-Sharp Minor, Op. 22 No.1, Etude in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 42 No.5, Sonata No. 4 in F-Sharp Major, Op. 30
Prokofiev's Sonata No. 6 in A Major, Op. 82

He played it all from memory and at times almost appeared to be in a trance. It was a very entertaining evening. There were about 50 guests in Mark's house and everyone brought a treat and they had wine and other beverages. A great time was had by all.