A Walk around the Park II

Posted on November 17, 2020 by vanbraman

Back in April I shared some pictures of A Walk around the Park near my house.

I usually do not walk around the park in the daytime this year, but will sometimes after dark. Especially if I have not walked much during the day.

park, gazebo, autumn, fall, clouds, rainToday has been overcast and gloomy and I had a bit of trouble thinking how to structure a presentation in the late morning. I decided that a walk was what I needed to clear my thoughts.

Here you can see the rain clouds passing overhead, but at this time they were just missing us.

fall leaves, park, leaf scatterThere were several places in the park where there was some nice leaf scatter.

park, fall, autumn, leaves, cloudy skyMost of the trees had some nice color which was contrasted against the darkening sky.

trees, park, red leaves, palmI though that this was in interesting picture with the palm tree rising behind the tree with the colorful red leaves.

park, lilies, orange flowersThere were also some lilies still blooming in the flower beds in the park.

An hour or so after I took my walk we started to get some intermittent rain, but not too much. It would have been nice to have a little more rain, but there is still chance for more rain this evening.

We then get dry weather in the low 60’s for the next 10 days. I will need to get some yard work done this weekend.

Steven

Posted in Local, Nature, Seasons | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

First Year for Bluey

Posted on November 16, 2020 by vanbraman

Today I received an e-mail from the Ford dealership letting me know that it was one year ago when I purchased Bluey.

New Car, Ford Fusion, Plug-in hybrid, Blue Car, BlueyIt has definitely not been a normal first year for a car, as I have only driven 4,430 miles.

first fill up, bluey, gas station, gas tankI have also only filled up Bluey twice.

plug in hybrid, car, gas, fill-upThe last time I filled up was on March 6, and I still have 3/4 of a tank of gas left.

My Avg MPG has now risen to over 114 since I have only used gas a few times since the middle of March.

grocery shoping, small trunk, bags, hyveeI am enjoying driving Bluey, and the trunk is big enough for my grocery trips even though I am buying more during each visit to the store.

recycle, bottles, CRV, cleaning Garage, recycle centerI had to fill the back seat of the car when I cashed in my recyclables. But, in the future I just need to take them back more often.

It was also nice that my insurance went down as I moved to a different rate since I haven’t been driving as much.

I am hoping that I will start driving more, as that will mean that the COVID-19 situation will be better. However, there is a good possibility that I will continue to work at home part time even once we are in a new normal, so I will most likely continue to drive less than before.

I now need to put the new year sticker on my license plate. I am still holding off on applying the car pool stickers. They are not much use now and it is a good thing they didn’t cost too much.

Have you driven less in the past year?

Steven

 

Posted in California, Culture, Local, transportation | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment