Tag: At Home With Jeff
At Home With Jeff: The importance of maintenance
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist A recent visitor commented on our kitchen coffee pot and I was proud to point out the details. Our Coffeematic Universal 10 Cup Coffee Percolator was manufactured in the 1950s by Landers, Frary & Clark Company at their factory in New Britain, Connecticut and still makes a great cup […]
At Home with Jeff: What are you up to?
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist “What are you up to?” my wife inquired as I headed out the front door after breakfast. “I am going to put the garbage cans away,” I replied. My wife often asks what I am up to. She sometimes complains that I disappear for hours then return without explanation. […]
At Home With Jeff: Lime surprise
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist Vivian and I take great joy in our garden. We love to try new plants and new arrangements. It is a Darwinian garden. If some of the new plants fail, that’s because they were not meant to be. It is all about survival of the fittest. Sometimes weeds are […]
At Home With Vivian: Wheeler dealer
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist I always thought that I would own a small business someday just like my father. Dad worked as a hairdresser for forty years. Most of the time he worked alone. Once, he built a thirteen operator shop and managed it for seven years. That turned out to be more […]
At Home With Jeff: Crop Swap tonight
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist From time to time, Vivian and I end up with an excess of produce. I have written in past columns about our sudden abundance of apricots, peaches, artichokes, lemons, and walnuts. One never knows when a windfall of something delicious will blow one’s way. When I was growing up […]
At Home With Jeff: Landmarks
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist Vivian and I like to travel. Every place that we visit seems to have a special landmark. That got me thinking about landmarks. Webster’s defines a landmark as “an object or feature of a landscape or town that is easily seen and recognized from a distance, especially one that […]
At Home With Jeff: Walnuts
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist Life is always exciting for us retirees. Yesterday morning after breakfast I went to the garage to put the pliers away and got sucked into a project that took up most of my morning. I cracked walnuts! Vivian bought them in Galt last week and left them in the […]
At Home With Jeff: A moving experience
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist I was walking around my neighborhood yesterday and noticed three different families moving. One house had a Pods container in the driveway. People were carrying boxes from the house to the container like ants carrying food to their nest. Four doors down I saw a house with a 26 […]
At Home With Jeff: Fruit of our labors
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist Still in my pajamas, savoring a first cup of coffee, I surveyed our backyard out the kitchen window. It was only 7 a.m. but the sun was already bright. Because of the wet winter, our plants are going crazy this year, especially the flowers. Gladiolas, verbena, lavender, and roses […]
At Home With Jeff: New technology
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist Like other curmudgeons, I complain about many things, especially all the new technologies. Every few days I am forced to learn how to use another new electronic program or gadget. So far, I have learned to check myself out at the grocery store and pump my own gas using […]
