Knights Ferry Civil War Reenactment

Knights Ferry Civil War Reenactment
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

This past weekend we got to check out a reenactment of the Civil War at Knights Ferry put on by the American Civil War Association. It was an amazing sight to see. It was free admission with donations requested. We got to follow up with a great lunch in old-skool Knights Ferry, ice cream, and a tour through their museum. Fun stuff!

Las Vegas: Saturday

Our Bride and Groom
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

Day two. We get up, get cleaned up and jam over Mervyns to get Justin some new duds for the wedding. With 20 minutes to spare to make it to the wedding at the Little Chappel of the West, and... we were late, but only a couple minutes. We slipped in and got to enjoy their very quick but quaint wedding ceremony before going out side for photos and mingling.

Within 30 minutes, we were our way to Cathy's house in Pahrump, about an hour away, for the reception. We enjoyed some good Port of Subs eats, and dancing to karaoke before we took off.

Saturday evening, Justin got to hang with his grandpa while Lisa and I headed to the Venetian for see the Phantom of the Opera. We had golden circle, front row seats for an amazing, yet abridged version of the Phantom. Afterwich we had an amazing dinner at the restaurant that hangs over the river that run through the second floor of the Venetian. It was fantastic food, and wine. Once we were done there, we had just enough time to get tickets for a private gondola boat ride down the river and back while being sung to. It really was a magical evening.

Lisa and Grandma

Lisa and Grandma
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

So this past weekend we had an amazing trip to Las Vegas.

Day one. We leave Lodi and pick up Lisa's grandma in Stockton around 6 am and hit the road. Lis and I switch off on driving and make it just past Fresno when the check engine light comes on in the Pilot. I check the fluid levels and everything looks cool. Wtf. I can't go into the desert with Justin and grandma with a check engine light on right?! So I use the navi to find the closest Honda dealership only a mile away. Woot. The staff there was super cool and got us right in. It's supposed to be $100 just find out what the diagnositc code is, but I figure what-the-hay, at least I'll know if we're cool to make the trip or not. We wait around for just over an hour and are just starting to get antsy when they come back in:

"Well we found your problem. Your EGR valve was basically jacked. But the good news is there's a service bulletin for it, so we've gone ahead and replaced it, retested it, and it good to go. Free of charge." That was the best feeling ever!

So we're back on the road. We pickup some Subway grub, where I snapped this pic and did the long haul through the desert arriving in Vegas tired as hell around 6pm.

We check into our mediocre room, in our mediocre hotel, the Plaza in downtown Vegas. And took a taxi to New York New York to hook up with Stacie and Jason and the kids at their EFFING PLAYERS SUITE, an absoluely amazing room I might add complete with a view of the roller coaster. We enjoyed some room service horns, and then hit-it for dinner.

We had dinner at the ESPN Zone for great grub and great entertainment. Both before and after dinner we enjoyed their killer arcade upstairs and played many games of air hockey, Daytona USA, etc. to finish off one very very long day!

The Wine Lovers Birthday Bash

One Helluva Birthday Bash
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

Stacie's birthday (shhh) bash started with a killer breakfast at Wine & Roses, technically their Sunday brunch buffet, afterwhich we were chauffeured around to four winerys throughout Lodi and Woodbridge including Michael Davids, home of the killer Phillips Farms pies, Van Reuiten Family winery, Jewel, and Robert Mondavi Woodbridge winery where we spent a good amount of time and enjoyed great conversation with the pourers there. Thoroughlly inebriated we headed for the humble abode where we played some Apples to Apples (unequivicably one of the best party games ever made) and some great snackin'. Hope you had a great birthday Stace, we sure enjoyed it!

Score 1 for Georgie Flowers!

Score 1 for Georgie Flowers!
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

I don't have much time; heading to the grandparents for an early St. Patty's Day party for the traditional corned beef and cabbage, and Lisa has to work today, but earlier this morning I came across this in our backyard... and as gross as it is, our up-to-now completely indoor cat, Georgie Flowers, is now officially bad ass. :o)

Fire near Lodi Lake

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

So this past Sunday Justin and I had a cool afternoon out together. We hit the swings at Candy Cane park, and then walked / razored up to Lodi Lake to kill an hour. Justin got muddy as hell and we played some catch with a waterlogged tennis ball we found in the lake.

We soon noticed people were acting weird and all walking toward the nature trail area of the park; our attention soon turned to the huge plume of smoke covering the lake and slightly darkening the skies.

We didn't stay and never went any close though Jusin really wanted to. LodiNews.com reported the next day that it was caused by a brush fire along the Mokelumne River. And as close as it seemed, it said it was closer to Woodbridge. All I can say is with the south-blowing winds, I'm glad fire workers nailed it before it got any bigger. Well done.

RainBird ESP-6TM - Fuses Suck

RainBird ESP-6TM - Fuses Suck
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

I'm loving the challenges of home ownership. Here's my latest adventure: I go out into the garage last week and the computer for my automatic sprinklers, a RainBird ESP-6TM just says "PR OFF". Wonderful. So I test the outlet: good. Pull out the trusty manual and go to the troubleshooting portion which suggests the fuse has blown. I pull off the lower panel and pop-out the fuse and sure enough it's shot.

Further reading suggests this typically occurs when either the solenoid has gone bad in a particular zone. and to replace the fuse and test each zone separately until the fuse blows and further research tells me the newer computers are fuseless and just tell you "Zone 1 is bad".

So I go through a pack of fuses before I figure out zone 1 is bad. Note to others. If your fuses blow as soon as you pop them in: you must first remove the COM wires, install the fuse, plug it in, then reinstall the COM wire before testing a zone. (Talk about a pain in the ass).

So long story short. I found the latest RainBird computer at Lowes for $55, and it was a VERY easy install and no more fuse madness.

So the issues that ended up causing the short was both a bad solenoid (the jackets on the wire leads were cracked and easily broke), AND a shot diaphragm in my Richdel 711A valves. You can tell if your diaphragm is shot if you can't even turn them on manually.

So this was all very educational and I got my 1954 house a bit more modernized in the process. Good times.