Blue Collar Workers

I know its been a long time between blogs this month. It actually took us a lot longer to recover than we thought. But we made it to the City of Vallejo, California. We just haven't been doing a lot of up and down hill walking. Nor any biking or hiking. But manual labour? Yup, that we've done.

This is a picture of Vallejo (pronounced "vall-AY-ho"), just outside of San Francisco. Our sister lives in the hills behind the downtown. The roads up are steep, and most of the houses are built on slanted land. We were asked to help her build a retaining wall on the high side of her yard, as this will give a little more level area in the backyard and create a nice space for a garden. We hired a fellow to help with the trenching - this is all dried clay we are working in. Nephew has been a great help in moving the required topsoil, gravel and wall bricks. The weather has been cooperating too,staying dry and warm. And we are not necessarily in a big hurry to finish the work this time. No planes to catch at the end of this holiday!

As volunteer workers, we have been able to take the time to see the beautiful scenic views from these hilltops. We have been visiting nearby relatives, and having others come to visit us. We were grateful to have a sister from Halifax fly over to spend a week and feed us her famous meat buns. Energy food, indeed!

We decided to stay in our own home while we are here. So this is our trailer, parked in a mobile home park downtown. The residents are very friendly, and it is surprisingly quiet. I expect we are going to be here for most of February. Once the wall is done, there are places to enjoy nearby - Yosemite National Park and San Francisco await. We also have been invited to do a wine tour by a couple we met in Alaska. Who am I to say no to that?

W