halfoz-Moving On

One room school

2008-10-06T09:27:00.001-07:00

After getting up and watching the market go down more than 500 points I thought I would write about more fun times.

When I started school I went to a one room school house in Iowa. It seemed like a big place as a five year old kid. But it was about the size of our current living room, kitchen, and family room. It had a enclosed porch, and a coal room in the back to store large black chunks of coal for heating. And two out houses one for girls and one for boys. Complete with the latest Sears catalog for you know what. A swing set with three swings for recces. In the back of the main room was a large round stove for heating. In the front was a raised platform a recitation bench, black broad and the teachers desk. There were several rows of desks starting with small ones on the right when facing the classes to progressively larger ones to the left.

The single picture of me was when I was in first grade I could not find my kindergarten picture. The picture above right was taken outside of the school when I was in second grade. And the one below was when I was in fifth grade. The school was for kids from Kindergarten through 8th grade. We had one teacher for the whole school. She did everything needed, lighting the stove in winter for heat or opening the windows in Spring and Fall for cooling. Cleaning, and of course teaching all the grades. I had the same teacher Mrs A for years k - 4th. We got a new teacher when I was in 5th grade. I think Mrs A retired.

Getting to school was accomplished by walking. It was not too far about 3/4 of a mile. I walked with the neighbor kids from the farm down the road. You carried your lunch in a lunch pail. It could be kind of cold in the winter but my mom always bundled me up very well. As a farm kid one of the things that showed the difference between being a little kid and a big kid in school was your overshoes. As a little kid you wore three buckle black overshoes. And when you got to be a big kid, it meant your dad let you drive the tractor by yourself like around ten and five buckle overshoes. Don't ask why that was such a big deal but I can tell you I was so happy when mom said I could get five buckle overshoes, I had arrived. The other big thing was jeans vs overalls. As you can see in my second grade class I was in overalls. And I hated it. We were the class on our knees in the first row. By fifth I had graduated to jeans with a belt and of course those precious overshoes.

I did not think much about being the largest class in the school until the other day while riding the bike. I was born in 1946 the start of the Baby Boom.

My earliest memory of school was Kindergarten and the little play area in the corner behind our desks. All I remember was it was enclosed with a low wall and had a great toy tractor with a front loader that could you could pick up the shelled field corn and put it in a little toy wagon. The girls had some dolls to play with. Boys did not play with dolls.

The other big memory was learning to read and math. The first book we read from was the Dick and Jane books and I was fairly good. But I still remember setting on the long recitation bench and looking ahead as we went down the line reading our page. And just hoping that Mrs A did not change the order of who she called on. Hated when that happened. The other big thing was doing math on the black board. That one you could not make a good guess of what you would be doing and practice while awaiting your turn. You just had to set there and watch your friends do well or struggle as Mrs A wrote an addition, subtraction, multiplication or fraction problem on the board.
And called some poor kid in your class to come up and solve it. I can still remember going over those multiplication tables in my head 6*6 = 36 etc. How do I carry a number. Do I turn that fraction over to multiply or is that dividing fractions. It was stressful as a kid. But math and reading I did OK. Spelling was another story.

Enough for now. Maybe I should do a Recess blog. Later the bike is calling.

Bike Rides

2008-09-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

The picture has nothing to do with riding my bicycle. But on my ride today I was thinking I had not added to my Blog lately. I had said I would update what I did last week. So here goes the last two weeks.
1. Rode the bike a lot like 300 miles.
2. Bought a new computer. No not an I-MAC but a Gateway. Six hundred bucks cheaper and more features. No issues but I did learn some of my old software and my scanner will not work on the latest technology. Vista works great. And I did not have to teach WB anything new.
3. Went to the State Fair with Biscuit.
4. Went to the movies. Traitor fair flick.
5. Watched the Olympics. I don't want to see any more Gymnastics, or Beach Volley Ball.
6. Watched the Democrats convention. Was impressed. Obama has my vote.

When I got my new machine I had to bring in all my photos like 9,000. And somehow I copied two of almost everyone. So after 3 part time days I got all the duplicates removed. But while on my bike ride it got me thinking I should write about things I remember as a kid. I have a few photos of that. So here goes a partial list.
1. Kindergarten.
2. One room school house.
3. Sunday School.
4. Farm chores.
5. Tractor driving.
6. Horses.
And more but that should get me to like 6th grade.

Later. Off to watch the Republicans try to convince me a Gov from Alaska makes a good VP.

What I did on my Summer Vac

2008-08-12T10:20:00.001-07:00

I just looked at the last time I actually posted something and realized it was before summer vacation. And it reminded me of when I was a kid and had just gone back to school in the fall and the teacher had us write the essay, what did you do on your summer vacation. Being a kid who lived on a farm it was milked the cows, made hay, cultivated corn, weeded corn, vacation bible school, and swimming lessons.

This summer as you can see started out with another hike up Half Dome in Yosemite. I did it with my old Navy buddy his wife and a close friend of his wife. For me it was the third time I had done the hike so I knew what to prepare for. It was a good hike and we all had fun.

After returning from Yosemite it was get ready for our first real road trip since I retired. WB was done for the summer so we loaded the Camry up with all our stuff and headed out. The main goal of the trip was Banff National Park in Canada. We started the trip by going to Glacier National Park in the US. A must see place if you have not been there. There was still lots of snow so we could not take the going to the Sun highway across the park. But the waterfalls, wildlife were out in full force. After three days of camping it was off to Canada and the town of Banff. The Canadian Rockies again are a must see. We stayed in Canada for seven days and did all of the tourist stuff. Took the Ice field tour on the big bus that drive on the Glacier. Drove the full length of the Ice fields parkway like three times. Stayed in Jasper at the North end of the Park. Lots and lots of stuff to see. In total we took almost 700 pictures. Much more than I could ever upload.
There was lots of animals to see, Elk, black Bears, Grizzly bears, Big Horn Sheep, Mountain Goats, Moose, and even a Wolverine. A very rare event. The guy standing next to us told us after seeing it he had lived and worked in the woods in the Canadian Rockies for 20 years and had only seen one other Wolverine. But the photo that best describes what happens when someone sees and animal along the drive is the one of of the folks taking photos. Almost more entertaining than the animal itself. I don't think in the 1800's people would have taken the same approach to see a bear, elk, etc.

With so many pictures, it is now time for a new computer. Stay tuned for what I get. I think I will try to post once a week with a review of the previous week of what a retired guy does.

23.3 OZ

2008-05-22T09:29:00.001-07:00

After much thinking and help from Mrs H. on seam selection my new backpacking tent is done. Well almost I still have one small piece of netting to put in by the door. And it is a tent with no floor so I have to find a small piece of Tyvek house wrap. I found the drawings on line and made the pattern out of newspaper. The material came from Seattle Fabrics the only place I could find the material I wanted. I did not pick the lightest nylon called for since my cheap side kicked in and could not cough up the extra $5.oo per yard to save 0.7 ounces. It turned out a little longer than I like. The person who designed it made it long so you would have some shelter to eat inside and not get in the way of your sleeping area. It takes six stakes and uses my hiking poles for poles. I might make a couple of additions like a sewn in floor and maybe a couple of side pull outs. If I made it over I would make it two feet shorter.

Next step try it out. And keep the total weight with floor and stakes under 32 ounces. A savings of almost two pounds from the tent I used before.

Raw

2008-04-03T09:15:00.001-07:00

I wanted to post a picture taken with my new camera. But the files are bigger than this site allows. So hence the photo of my latest idea. A clothes line for drying clothes. WB got the line for $.50 at garage sale so I thought I would try it out. In Southern Ca we always used a clothes line.

Last week WB and I went to Yosemite for four days of camping. While we were there I decided to take a few pictures using the RAW file format with my new camera. I took about 10 using the RAW format and about 80 using the JPEG format. Using the RAW format you get every pixel just like when using film nothing is deleted when the file is saved. When I got home and was done downloading into Photoshop I could not find the RAW files. I had thought Photoshop would convert them. I checked the camera and they were still there. So I loaded the software that came with the camera which can download and open the files. After about 30 minutes of downloading, registering, and rebooting the computer I hooked up the camera and started. I had 10 pictures using the RAW format. The 80 JPEG files downloaded like in 2 minutes or less. After 5 Min's of work I finally had 10 RAW photos downloaded. And my hard drive space was noticeably smaller. But everything is there. The other thing I learned was that I cannot run any other program while it is converting the files. I usually stay on-line and maybe had a Spreadsheet or two open. But when working with those files I found if I am running anything else just go away and have a cup of coffee while the computer grinds away computing all those little pixel changes you just made. So now I just run the one program and it works OK. Still I have only gotten one file to Photoshop. I guess today I go into help section and see what I am doing wrong. Last thing 80 more RAW files and my hard drive is full. Next stop a new machine with 500 G of hard drive vs 40 and a faster engine.

After much thinking...

2008-03-20T16:18:00.001-07:00

After much thinking like more than a year I finally bought a DSLR. I read all the reviews for the Sony Alpha 100 which did quite well but had a few short comings. I waited for Sony to release there Pro model the 700 which also came with a Pro price. I watched as they came out with live view for their next generation DSLR's. But in the end the 200 seemed to fit my needs. I saved enough money by not buying the 700 to buy a nice lens soon. Digital Camera Review just completed a review of the kit lenses which comes with my purchase which said good lens to learn with, than upgrade. Something I plan on doing. So off to open the box to make sure there really is a camera in their. Later....

Spring is coming

2008-03-11T12:13:00.001-07:00

Spring is here which means the REI dividend check arrived in the mail last week. With the great 20% off coupon and my dividend it only cost $14.00 to get the new day pack I have had my eye on for at least six months. The weather is also been getting warmer lately meaning no more winter bike riding gear. And the trees in the neighborhood are starting to bloom. Still working on that new DSLR. I thought Best Buy had a great price on the one I have been thinking about but turned out it was no better than the price at Sony.com. I think now I will wait until the Sony Alpha 300 with live view is available and than buy.

Off for a bike ride:)

It Snooooooowed...

2008-02-27T15:30:00.001-08:00

This last weekend I went to Yosemite to ski to Glacier Point with some old MDT friends and stay in the lodge for two nights. As you can tell by the pictures it snowed. Driving in at zero dark thirty on Friday I think I was the second car over Highway 120 through the park to the valley. It was snowing and about six inches of snow was on the road and no plow in sight. Needless to say the WRX with all wheel drive did great. We all meet at 9:00 at the Cross Country shop at Badger pass. By 9:30 everyone was ready to go and it was snowing very hard. Our guide Rick said it normally would take about 5 hours to ski the 10.25 miles to Glacier Point. Boy was he wrong. The last three people came in about 6:15 pm. Or almost 9 hours. In the summer Glacier Point is a zoo. Lots of people looking at the view of Half Dome and down into the valley. As you can see we had it to ourselves just 8 people, most of Saturday. Saturday morning was clear and cold when I got up. Only one other person got up as early as me. Rick our guide said he usually gets up and breaks a trail to the overlook but Kathy and I beat him to it. He did warn us that to not to get too close to the edge since he usually marked the line of death as he called it. In the winter there is a cornice on the point. As he told us go to far and the next stop is Curry village. But once we snow shoed out there you could see a faint line where the snow settled by the stone wall that in the summer is jammed with people.

Food was good and the other group that came up Saturday was nice so we had 17 in the lodge for Saturday. It snowed all night and when we got up Rick and the other guide were not sure we could get out. Highway 41 and the road to Badger pass were closed due to snow. But around 8:30 he got a call that they were going to groom the road to Glacier and that 41 was going to open in a couple of hours. So, off we went. Once the trail was groomed we had some perfect skiing until the storm filled in the track. A couple of us just put our heads down and pushed hard. Only 4 1/2 hours to ski out. Only to find the car buried up to the door handles with snow. About 1 1/4 hours later it was dug out with some help from a park ranger, a couple of guys from the ski area, and the snow cat with its nice big blade to move snow. We even got the other peoples cars dug out who were still on the trail. Hopefully I can stay in good shape etc so in 10 to 12 years I can do a Grandpa and Granddaughter trip. Time will tell.

The falls will be great come spring. I am headed back with WB on Mar 26 for some camping. Guests welcome.

Photos and Computers

2008-02-12T09:16:00.000-08:00

I try and write on my Blog once a week but it seems to work out to once a month. Anyway this year I decided to organize my photos. I finally completed loading all the photo CD's I had into Photoshop. I now have almost 6,000 picutres on my hard drive. And they are all backed up on an external drive. WB was nice enough to let me use the dinning room table to short out the boxes of photos, negatives etc that I have. Still not sure how best to arange and store everything. This does not include 20 plus years of taking slides that are in slide boxes and those round trays for showing. That will be another day.

On to computers. Over Christmas I know three families who got new I-Macs for presents. Including Mr and Mrs H. Now that it has been a couple of months I have had a chance to use Mrs H's I-Mac and talk with the other users. It has been and interesting conversation. I think everyone including myself was taken in by the adds that I-Mac's are easy to use. But when I ask they all start with there is a learning curve. But once you learn it is nice. And than they say except for example the key board could be better (three comments), internet browser, loading drivers. For me I noticed there are no slots for your camera memory cards. A feature I really wanted.

So, is it really better? This weekend I went Sking with a couple who were one of the three. The Husband said yes some learning but great, the wife said Ok but a little hard to get used to. And when she commented that Turbo Tax did not work as well as on a Windows system I think that made up my mind that I will stick with Microsoft. I use Turbo Tax and it's brother Quciken. And if Turbo Tax does not work well Quicken will be a problem I fear. Plus being a really cheap guy I had a hard time coughing up an extra $500 to $700 to get a smaller hard drive and less memory the two things you really need these days. So it is off to Costco to look at a machine that is rated one of the top five by by cnet.com. And it has TV included.

Stay tuned a new machine is not in the budget for another month. Which is when I need to buy Quicken 2008, since they no longer will support Quicken 2005 and I will not beable to download to that old program. Something I do every week.

A new Year

2008-01-23T15:24:00.001-08:00

Last year I rode my bike 6,278 miles or a little over 17 miles a day. I rode more miles than I drove my WRX. I think I can say I did my part to help Global Warming. At the beginning of each year I drive WB crazy by doing the annual budget. We are fairly cheap as anyone would tell you but WB hates thinking that we should budget things. So this year I decided I would budget some things I had been wanting. My bike had something like 15,000 miles on it since it's last really good tune up. So I went all out. When I went to pay my annual Gym bill I asked if I could save some money by coming at off peak hours. I pay once a year and you get 12 months for the price of 11 months. She said sure you can only come between 11:00am and 4:00pm. for a savings of $200.00 per year. Everything else stayed the same even the free coffee. I get a cup each time I go. At Starbucks that would be $1.35 I think. When I checked on how my bike was going the mechanic showed me the completely worn out bearing races on the old front wheel. He thought maybe he could still find those parts but not sure. Having just saved $200.00 I said how about a whole new wheel. $154.00. But it is soooo nice. I had been riding on the REI special $13.00 tires not bad but they are sized small and when installed they are not quite round so it made for a bumpy ride all the time. But I got over 4,000 miles on them. Still having some extra cash I opted for new tires the most expensive I have ever bought $39.95 each. It is so nice to have wheels that are now round and trued perfectly. Last but not least I wanted a new stem and bars. All the new bikes have black bars. I went to the Ritchey web site and picked out a ergonomically designed bar and new stem. Now that everything is installed and paid for today was my first ride with all the new parts, tune up including a new chain and brake pads. Rode like a brand new bike. The bars are great they are angled back to match the angle of your wrist when you ride with your hands on top, and the drops have an extra curve to match your palm to help relieve pressure. Oh so sweet.

I also budgeted for a new I-Mac. Mrs H received one from Santa and my two good friends that I still see got I-Mac's for Christmas. Now I need to decide which one. I know it will be the 20" screen but not sure if I want the $1,100 or the $1,400 one. Any suggestions? The main difference seems to be in the clock speed of the chip that runs the thing and some extra memory that I think runs the screen. Lastly I am going to get a good Digital SLR, I have finally decided on the Sony Alpha 700 body and have just started researching which lens to buy with it. And knowing me it will take a while. Given the melt down of the stock market mainly my good old employer MDT things could change.

Visiting Yosemite every month of the year was also on the list. So far that one is not being meet.

Enough for now off to fix dinner for WB.

Thirty Eight and counting...

2007-12-20T10:43:00.000-08:00

Thirty eight years and counting. That is how long as of today WB and I have been married. Last year at year 37 I took in the paper to WB as I do each morning so she can read it in bed when she awakes. Last year when she woke up she looked at the paper and did not mention anything. So I took her card and present and than she realized she had completely forgotten our anniversary. This year she mentioned last week that she had a surprise for us on the Saturday before our anniversary and to not plan anything. Well we ended up having Biscuit and Mrs H visit. So WB said we would do our little trip on Sunday. On Sunday the weather was bad so we postponed our event until after Christmas. So this year I was sure WB would remember our anniversary. I even asked her if she wanted the good gift on our anniversary or at Christmas. As usual no answer. So when this morning arrived I got up first, got the paper put it on the pillow next to a sleeping WB. Found my card and gift and put it on the floor next to the bed. About an hour later I heard the sound of the paper being read so I went in to the bedroom. WB proceeded to say good morning and tell me about something in the paper. I made light conversation awaiting my happy anniversary and card. After a couple of minutes I produced my card and present. And WB looked puzzled for a moment and than realized she had forgotten for the second year in a row. I did get taken out for breakfast and we are going to a movies at the end of the day. We will see how next year goes.

Never to Old....

2007-12-10T10:12:00.000-08:00

Now that the rainy season is here it is nice to have the window washer on the car to work. Just after the last rain the car ahead of me drove through a puddle and splashed dirt etc on my windshield. As you can see the little control arm says Pull Mist. I pulled, the wiper worked no mist. So when I got home I cleaned the windshield. And thought must be bad fuse. I checked all the fuses and they were good. So I came inside and went to www.Kragen.com knowing the the local Subaru dealer would get a small fortune for a washer pump. When I checked it asked do you need the pump for the rear or front wiper. Oh did not know there were two. Went out to the car and lifted the hood and looked. Low and behold two pumps. So I thought does the back washer work. So I got my keys turned the ignition to ACC. and pushed on the button at the end of the control arm. See the little symbol that looks like a wiper and says rear. And what happens the front washer sprays the window and the wipers wipe and clean off the water. So now I look in the glove box and check the owners manual. Never to Old to learn.

Off to arrange the new tricycle addition for Biscuit. We now have four trikes...

The Christmas Letter...

2007-11-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

The Fall leaves are gone and in the compost pile in the backyard. Which means it is about time to start the annual Christmas Letter. Since I retired I have been assigned this task for the last couple of years. I have spent part of the day sorting through all the photos I took during the last year and putting them in one collection. I needed to do this so WB could select the best one or two photos to put on the top of the letter. The next task will be to make the first rough draft. I need to insure that all the highlights of the year are covered and that nothing important is omitted. Than comes the reviews by WB and a couple of rewrites. And than off to the kids for a final edit and comments. And than hopefully I can publish. Than comes the big decision should we include a sheet of pictures showing what we did all year. Usually that is omitted but each year we think about it. And finally the big, who gets the letter. It goes to all brothers and sisters, kids, cousins, and some selected friends. A couple of copies are always held in reserve to send to that person who sent us their letter so off goes our letter. Each year I hear comments from folks who do not like the annual Christmas letter since it is mostly about look at what we did. But it is kind of fun to see what other folks do and to keep up on things.

Next on the agenda is the Christmas wish list. WB said only two presents per person. We will see how long that lasts.

My Wish list:
Bike Gloves, Med My old ones are becoming mostly holes.
Bike inner tubes 25*700c Presta value, short. Used my last one last Saturday.
Picture Mat making kit. maybe some mat board also.
Steamer for cooking vegetables etc.
Fabric cutter thing that looks like a pizza cutter.
Sony Alpha 700 DSLR with 18-70mm zoom. If MDT does better I may get this one from Santa. (or me)

I just new...

2007-11-19T10:13:00.000-08:00

This weekend we went over to Mrs H's and helped clean the Craft Room. I just knew when I saw it. That when I was done helping I would find 5 yards of orange 1.3 oz sil nylon somewhere in there. But after being assigned color sorting and folding I came up empty handed. Oh well. I an fairly good at organizing and cleaning and we did make a great difference. The youngest will have a place to sleep when she goes over on Wed for Turkey day at Mr and Mrs H's. And Grandma and Grandpa had a good time with Biscuit.

As you can see the leaves on the tree are almost gone. I found this tractor for sale while on one of my rides last week. If Mr and Mrs H had more land it would make a great fun thing to drive around with Biscuit. I could teach her how to plow. I did ride by and old barn being torn down. I told Mr and Mrs H that I could load up Mr H's truck with some fine old barn boards. I did not find too much interest there.

MDT reports earnings today I hope it is good. Later

Battle of the Hats

2007-11-14T10:06:00.001-08:00

In my effort to post at least once a week here goes. I have two favorite hats. One is a UC Davis hat, and the other is a Cal Poly SLO hat. So each day I have to think about which one to wear when I go out. The reason is I have one daughter who went to one school and one who went to the other. When I am only visiting one daughter I wear their school hat. The problem comes when both are home or we are together somewhere else. Which hat do I wear. Do I bring both and split the time. Or do I wear one one time and than at the next get together the other. Such a problem. Oh well yesterday I wore the Cal Poly hat to the Gym so today it is the UC Davis hat when I go to lunch with some old work friends.

The tree is turning a nice color of red.

More often

2007-11-08T09:49:00.001-08:00

Mrs H said it was national write in your Blog month. Since I have not posted anything for like two months. I thought I would try once a week as a good place to start over.

Mrs H suggested taking a picture each day and post it. I decided I would take a picture of the Maple tree out front once a week and post. As you can see it is changing color quite nicely.

I might also take a picture of the new stuff that grows in the garage from WB's garage sale adventures. We now have a baby cooler, and a new tall trash can full of stuff. I am not sure what is all in there. And I had just cleaned the garage last week for my sisters visit and could finally get to my weed whacker and blower without having to climb over stuff. Oh well.

My sister and brother-in-law from Florida visited and it was a good time. Mr an Mrs H, Biscuit and the youngest were home for a Sat of wine tasting and dinner. WB watched Biscuit during the outing and I cooked. I think a good time was had by all.

Was rather surprised how far my sister was to the right in the Republican party. Must be the water in Florida. Enough for this week.

I did it...

2007-09-23T08:58:00.000-07:00

I did it as Biscuit says. I finished my camping quilt. The seams are not as nice and straight as Mrs H could do but they worked. Here I am trying it out on the floor of the living room. I must say I think it will work very well. It also fits in with the time of the year being orange with black ties for the quilting part. Now I think I can make my tarp tent. Off to see how much the materials will cost.

I did not know...

2007-09-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

Two days ago before heading off to the gym I decided I needed to hard boil some eggs. I took a couple out of the container and put them in water and turned on the stove. I decided to go on line and read the news etc. I did that for a while and than started putting my stuff in my gym bag when I heard a muffled pop. I went into the kitchen and my hard boiled eggs had boiled dry. I did not know they could make such a mess when they pop from the heat. It took about an hour to clean the kitchen. I even mopped the floor. I guess I had always better set the timer.

Off to finish my project.

A new Project...

2007-09-19T08:15:00.001-07:00

I started a new project making a camping quilt for backpacking. I also purchased the stuff bag kit for a project to do first. The stuff bag was fairly easy to do but the silicon coated nylon was really slick and a little hard to sew. But it came out OK and should function just fine. I have been going slow on the quilt so I don't goof up. I have only had to rip out one seam so far. Down to the last big step sewing it all together and turning it correct side out. I will do that later today.

I am looking forward to trying it out. The idea makes sense you crush the bottom part of the bag anyway and the pad insulates you from the ground. So why not do away with the bottom. Plus it gives you a little more wiggle room. Plus I like making my own stuff. My Pepsi can stove works great. Only weights 1/2 oz and the complete cook set only weights 7 oz. Over a pound saved off my old stove and cook set. If this project works well my next one is a tarp tent weighting in at about 12 oz.

Off to do some pinning and sewing:) I won't show any close up of my seams since I can't seem to sew as straight as Mrs H.

I can't every make up my mind...

2007-09-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

I have been looking at the Sony Alpha 100 and the Nikon 40X for months just trying to get myself to buy one. I have after tooooooooo much thinking decided digital is the way to go.

But as my kids will tell you I take a long time to buy anything over $5.00. Went to Borders yesterday to get a magazine to help me decide on which camera. It was $6.95 so it is still at the store. Now today Sony now has a new DSLR the Alpha 700. It is soooooooo nice. And soooooooo pricey. Someday!!!! www.dpreview.com/ Click on link to see....

But on another note my next project arrived in the mail today. A little company called Ray-
Way has kits for ultralight backpackers. Well I decided to try his quilt kit as a replacement for a normal sleeping bag. Again I have been reading about this for, oh about a year and half. And finally decided to buy. So here it is still in kit form. I used to make Frostline kits all the time. They came with all the parts cut out. This came as a pattern, material, thread, and directions. With hand written corrections. Mrs H may get a few calls for advice.

In order to get to the sewing machine I had to clean out Biscuits room. I did not know she had that much stuff at our house. The hall way is full. Another project. She does have a nice little new bed. WB even found a new mattress for it a another garage sale. Along with a new kitchen batteries not included. And a neat trike with a push handle. Mrs and Mr H need to come and take home what you want......

I guess I was wrong...

2007-09-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

I guess I was wrong about the garage starting to get cleaned out. On Saturday WB was off to her weekly garage sales. She is very good at finding things to buy at a good price. She had been gone about 30 minutes when she called and said she had found a great day bed for Biscuit. I told her I didn't think that we needed it. So an hour or so later she came home with the new trike. A good buy, I think Biscuit will enjoy riding it. A complete toy kitchen which needed batteries. In the trunk lots of plastic cooking, things and plastic food. Which we washed but I do not know where it is. For most of the day she kept telling me how great this bed was. Well around two I gave in and told her if if was still there to go get it. Well here it is. No mattress, the owner was keeping it for the $700.00 crib they had just bought. I would think for $700.00 you would get a mattress. Off to do some Biscuit room cleaning to make it all fit. Mr and Mrs H you are welcome to any of these great finds. We added the batteries and the kitchen works great even has sounds.

Don't try this at home....

2007-08-31T09:47:00.001-07:00

Don't try this at home. You know those things that you see on TV when people do dumb things. Well two days ago after WB went to work and I was looking at all my files. I decided it was time to shred a few old things. So I made my pile which was quite large and started to shred away. The shredder I have is not known for doing large jobs so it slows down and and has to rest. It even stops if it gets to hot. Which did happen I let it cool while I cruised the Internet. After a while I thought that lube that I use on my bike cleats should help things run smoother. So I sprayed some in and it worked great. When the machine slowed down again I decided to spray some while it was going to spread the lube around better. I did and it worked much better but about a minute later flash, boom, and a large bit of hair on my forearm and leg disappeared in a flash. I thought just my luck now I have ruined the shredder. After having a car towed, now one more expense due to dumbness. But after pulling the machine apart finding nothing burnt, not even the shredded paper it came back to life. Now, I read the label on this great silicon based lube. Highly flammable!!!!! Don't try this at home.

JMT... People are Honest

2007-08-28T09:40:00.001-07:00

I just returned on Saturday from another trip to Yosemite. Still my favorite place to go. With this Backpack trip I have now completed the High Sierra loop in Yosemite. It was a good four day trip. I did learn a couple of things on this trip. One people are very honest in the back country. On the first day after driving to Yosemite and hiking six miles I made it to Sunrise High Sierra camp. I was backpacking so I started to look for a good spot to camp for the night. I took off my pack and put my camera and hiking poles down on a stump. After looking around I found where I wanted to camp for the night. I went back picked up my pack, poles, and thought I had my camera. After starting to set up camp I noticed my camera was not there. As Panic started to over come me I remembered I had put it on the stump back where I sat my pack down. I went back about 20 yards to the stump no camera. Now panic did set in $300 bucks gone. I had just seen the bill on my CC for parking in a no parking zone if SF and having the car towed. It was becoming a bad month. I thought I must have not picked it up after my last rest stop about a mile up the trail I mean up. With no pack off I went covered that mile in less than 20 mins. Found the stump no camera. Now it was setting in no camera the rest of the trip someone had picked it up and it was now theirs. One last idea maybe someone turned it into the High Sierra camp office. Back down the trail to the lodge office. Really just a canvas covered frame. All there supplies, etc come in by Mule train each day. I asked the guy getting dinner ready for the guest and he said was that it on the shelf?? Yes it was the nice folks in tent #9 turned it in. I found tent 9 and thanked them. The lady thought it was a cell phone. She hated electronic things and did own a cell or digital camera. They had seen it on the stump and thought one of the guests had forgotten it. So people in the back country are honest.

Most people on this loop hike from HS camp to camp and stay in the tent cabins complete with food, bed, water and maybe a shower at two of the five camps. Each camp has a backpackers area so you can backpack the loop and stay for free. People told me if you volunteered to do breakfast dishes some of the camps would feed you breakfast. I stuck with my instant oatmeal. This year being so dry Sunrise was short of water and would not share with the backpackers their supply. So it took a little hunting up the dry stream to find a pool of water but it was only about a 150 feet up the hill.

I have been thinking about doing the JMT ( John Muir Trail ) sometime. At Sunrise camp I talked to a young guy from Ohio who had just completed the JMT a week faster than he planned. He did the 220 miles in 12 days. As he said once you get going all you really have to do is walk unless you bring a lot of books. After the four days not sure I could do 20 miles a day. I may have to rethink how I do it. I do need to make my own tarp tent. I have a plan off the Internet I just need to get the materials and sew it. That plus a couple of other changes should save about 3 more pounds out of my pack. My Pepsi can stove performed great again I can get by on 2.5 oz of fuel a day. And the REI pack I purchased with my saved pocket change and REI Dividend worked great. It is about 4 pound lighter than my Gregory. And with some planning has the needed room.

Enough for now I need to get out on the bike again.

Been a long time...

2007-08-21T08:35:00.001-07:00

It has been a long time since I have written in my Blog so it is time to do a post. Summer has gone by very quickly with only a couple short camping trips. Two to Yosemite one with the youngest and one with WB's sister who does not camp but had never been there. Both were lots of fun. The tour guide thing was fun. I still don't know how folks think they can see Yosemite in a few hours. Did see two bears on the last trip. WB and her sister were excited along with lots of other folks in the valley.

The latest big event is the youngest has moved out after her brief stay she is moving to the city. I will miss my bike riding pal. Mr and Mrs H brought their truck over to help with the move and WB and myself watched Biscuit. When Biscuit is here she basically gets her way. As you can see it tired both her and WB out after and afternoon of playing and counting sprinklers.

Enough for my first long time post. Off to trim bushes and finish packing for a four day backpack in Yosemite!!!!

Only Hit my Thumb Once

2007-05-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

I only hit my thumb once while the youngest and I finished the new fence. We were going to have Mr and Mrs H come over and help but after Mrs H OK'd our posts for straightness we decided to continue. I must say I think we did a fairly good job. As you can see the WRX made a good truck. We were able to get all of the lumber home. We had to make a couple of trips but that was OK. We still have the Trellis to build. I have most of the lumber except for the lattce for that we need Mr and Mrs H's truck. So I guess the trellis will be my B-day project. I think I can get most of it done except for the lattice and placement since it will take a few folks to hold while someone drills and bolts it in place.

By the looks of Biscuit's garden we should have our first harvest next week of garden fresh radishes.
I have also replaced the barbecue with a new gas fired one. As you can see I have placed it near nothing that will catch on fire like the fence or house.

When WB gets home today we just need to pick out the new kitchen window and get it ordered. Lowes' sells Pella windows which look they will work quite well. They even make a garden window that will fit.

Off to clean house since WB is coming home today.

I am never.....

2007-05-21T06:50:00.000-07:00

I am never going to barbecue again. Last night I barbecued chicken and Salmon for dinner. After finishing I close the vent to the top onWeber. And about 4 am we woke up to this cracking sound WB got up and looked out the window. We had set the fence on fire. Not a huge amount of damage but it looks like a new kitchen window, fence and some plants and pond pump for the neighbor. Off to call the insurance company. So much for thinking the coals had gone out. :(

Biscuit's Garden

2007-05-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

When Biscuit was over the last time we took some time and planted a garden together. She helped plant the radishes, beans, and squash. As you can see her little garden is doing quite well. We will not have radishes in time for Mothers day but close. She also has two tomatoes plants, Grandpa planted those. I must say her garden is doing better than mine. When I had the landscaping done seven years ago I remember trying to convince the landscaper to put my garden spot where Biscuit's is. But he did not want to ruin his design so it is on the other side of the lawn where there is less sun. Oh well.

I have always been around gardens. Growing up on a farm in Iowa you had a garden. A big garden. Sweat corn was planted in the end rows of a corn field close to the house. Needless to say there was lots of sweat corn. One of my first jobs I remember was shelling peas with my mom for canning. Let's just say it takes a lot of shelling to get enough peas to can. And when we canned it wasn't just a jar or two. There was always the local talk of who did the most quarts, pints and of what. And the always ever present warning from my dad to my mom do not to overheat the pressure cooker and blow it up. Which meant melt the safety plug out which I am sure would have made quite the noise.

As an adult I don't plant peas. And I can't grow sweat corn like we had in Iowa. My sister can, she has a garden that must cover and acre. And she still cans and freezes those peas. She still lives in Iowa.

Back From India

2007-04-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

I have now been back from India for two weeks. I must say it was an interesting trip. India is quite the place to visit. As my friends from there had told me there are going to be more people than you are use to. That turned out to be so true. Most of the people spoke good English and even the newspapers and magazines were in English. So it was easy to communicate and figure out how to get around. But the number of people was overwhelming. And in the big cities like Mumbai and Delhi there was just so many people, cars and noise. Driving there was a trip. They all have their mirrors turned back against the car so as not to have them knocked off. They get within inches or less and just honk their horn. The first two nights we stayed with my friend's brother and his family in Mumbai. It was a good way to start they helped us with getting use to the food and showed us around.

We did get to see a lot of India. We saw the Taj Mahal, many shopping areas, the Himalayas and lots of poor people. The little girl in the picture is begging in front of the biggest mosque in India. I don't think you would see that at a major tourist attraction in America.

Once we got to the countryside in the town of Darjeeling there were still lots of people, but it was much more laid back. You could actually look, ask questions, and shop without being hassled to buy right now. It turned out the the fall is when it is best to see the Himalayas but we did have one sort of clear morning after a rain the previous evening. This time of year the haze from the valley just moves up the slopes of the mountains and makes it very hazy and overcast most of the time. The picture of the mountain is the third highest peak in the world Kanchenjunga at 8585 meters.

Darjeeling is well known for it's tea. The picture is of the youngest picking tea and putting it in the basket. Only women are allowed to pick tea. They claim the smaller hands of a women do not damage the tea plant. They need to pick 7 to8 baskets of tea a day for 53 rupees. About $1.05. When the basket is full they walk down the road to the station where it is weighted and they are given credit for what they picked. The tea shops in town are kind of like visiting a winery here in America. They tell you about the various grades and show you how to properly smell the difference. The youngest purchased some Darjeeling tea, in bags. Which the owner told us was tea dust. I did bring home some good tea but have not tried it yet.

I would like to go back again and see the mountains after the monsoon season. I think if I stay in any of the big cities I would stay in the more expensive hotels and take a tour to see the sites. Out in the country it is much more relaxed and easier to feel at ease.

The country does have very good cell phone coverage, Internet and good local airlines. But is has very bad air pollution, you only drink bottled water, and lots of trash. But they do keep things fairly clean they have plenty of people to clean the streets etc. Just not a good system to get rid of the trash. So they burn a lot of it which adds to the bad air. However Darjeeling had outlawed plastic bags and were attempting to work on the plastic waste problem. Everyday they had a small group of folks who swept the streets by hand and put the trash in a wagon. However the trash was just burned or dumped down some hill side outside of town.

I took 360 pictures so this is just a very few.

Later.

Going for Walks

2007-03-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

As a kid on the farm I always enjoyed going for a walk or riding my bike. I got the cows everyday so there was one walk or two. And I usually always walked down to the creek and ponds to check out the frogs and toads. When I was about 8 I really liked walking through the hay field with my dad. The hay would come up to like my waist and his knee. But Clover hay sure works great at putting a shine on your work shoes.

Anyway Biscuit was over and we always take a short walk. After saying good bye to Mom and a kiss we were off. She likes walking in the grass, maybe I have passed something along. But we live in a neighbor hood that has all under ground utilities. So there are lots of boxes in the ground with lids. Biscuit had the best time stomping on each and listening for the returning sound. Some sounded hollow others quite full. It was interesting how a 17 month old kid could tell the difference. Smart kid. As I told my sister who has like 30+ grand kids. World's cutest and smartest.

Off for my haircut.

Fun at REI

2007-03-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

The photo at the left is of myself and my friend Art. I used the tripod Mrs H made me for Christmas. It works great and Art was impressed with how simple and effective it was.

Well a couple of weeks ago I counted all that lose chain I had. And last week my REI dividend check arrived. So yesterday I headed to the bank with all my rolled change. Deposited some of my savings and took the rest in cash. Than off to REI with my cash and dividend check in hand. I had done my homework for like six months so I had it down to two packs. One from REI and a Gregory. After loading both up with 30 pounds and walking with each around the store the REI pack won. Must say I was a bit surprised, but I think it is going to be a great pack for those less than a week trips. And the best of all I used my 20% off coupon. Of course I did not stop there, new pair of shorts, first aid kit, water purification tablets (for trip), and a new wallet. I think my old one I used for about 20 years.

The new wallet seems good. I have been cleaning house today Biscuit coming Saturday. So I put my wallet Passport and money in my security pouch put it around my neck and have been seeing how it works. Seems OK, I guess if I get totally ripped off in India I will have my C-cards Passport, some money and a ticket home.

Kids and Getting Older

2007-03-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

Now that I am retired I can go out with my kayak whenever I want. Like a nice sunset paddle a couple of weeks ago on the Napa River. Going again tomorrow when everyone is at work.
Also now that I am retired I enjoyed reading a couple of blogs everyday. Underconstruction, and Waiting for Naptime. I enjoy reading about the trials of having young kids around the house. It makes me think back to when WB and me had all those responsibilities, like diapers, going for walks to the park, Preschool, soccer and on so on. And of course giving advice. Now we get to do some of those same things with Biscuit. But if I don't want to Mr or Mrs H can change the diaper.

But now I find myself calling Mrs H for advice on cooking, sewing, yard work etc. I am using Mr H's advice on the new lawn mower and how to fertilize my lawn. And the youngest who I am off to see in India in 10 days helps me with the travel end of thing. The youngest has me convinced that I can travel to India with no problem she will take care of me.

I must say I enjoy hearing their advice on things it has made several decisions much easier.

Christmas in Feb.

2007-02-28T14:36:00.000-08:00

Picture of Biscuit at the Amgen Tour of California in Santa Rosa.

Anyway, as a kid my first allowance was ten cents a week. Growing up on a farm I remember my mom always saying the best things in life are free, and good things come to those who wait. So, I computed that in a year I would have $5.00. I waited and worked that whole year for the dime a week and thinking about what would I buy. My job was to collect the eggs with my older sister. Don't remember what I purchased but I am sure it was great.
Anyway in college I wanted a TV so I saved my pocket change for the TV. I think it took about 1 1/2 years to get the Eighty Bucks. And I still had that TV when Mrs H was the age of Biscuit.

So now as a retired person I still save that pocket change. I have been collecting now in the Oat Meal box for a little over a year. I cash it in about every two years. So last week I counted it let's just say there was more than $200 in change. I went to the bank and got coin wrappers and now I am all set. But today was just like Christmas my REI Dividend check came. Now I can buy that new pack. I have it narrowed down to two after a year plus of thinking. The REI store will be glad to see me finally buy it. I tend to try things out a bit. I think I will use it on my trip to India.

The other thing about being retired is you don't get a pay check. But I also just finished and filed my taxes and GW will be sending me a refund. Most years I had to pay a little or just let them keep it for next year. The best news was I did not have to pay the state of California. First time in maybe 15 years.

Well off to the REI website for a little more comparison shopping.

Free Stuff and an Angel at the Top

2007-02-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday and today the Tour of California made it's way for a finish yesterday in downtown Santa Rosa. And today was the race start for the ride to Sacramento. Mrs H and Biscuit came over for the race yesterday which was a great surprise since we had just been at Mr and Mrs H's two days earlier to watch Biscuit for the day. It was a fun event and I think everyone had a good time. Biscuit enjoyed watching the helicopter fly over taking pictures of the racers coming into town. There were two big screens set up to watch the race. We did however miss the big crash at the end since we were on the other side of the course through downtown. I will put pictures of Biscuit on my blog tomorrow having issues uploading.

Anyway today the tour departed Santa Rosa and made it's first big climb over Trinity Road. I departed the house on my bike about 1 1/2 hours before the start since it is about 20 miles to the top of the climb using the route I took. It is a three mile climb which took me 30 minutes to complete which I felt was a good time for me. There were lots of folks setting up to wait for the Tour so it was fun riding up the hill they rang there cows bells and cheered you on. But at the top was the Specialized Angel. Quite the sight!! You can see her in the background as the first racer crests the hill about 90 seconds ahead of the pack. I felt sorry for her because it was so cold... I had my winter bike stuff on and I was still very chilled with the wind blowing. But I did get some nice free stuff over the two days. If you ever need bike repairs in Santa Rosa I would go to Santa Rosa Cyclery. They were giving out free water bottles. Great little shop in this hole in the wall location.

More photos tomorrow when the upload works better I hope.

You could have chickens

2007-02-14T14:46:00.000-08:00

I ride my bike almost everyday and today I decided to take my camera with. I used the youngest daughter's idea of putting the camera in a sock to protect it. It actually worked very well. Having grown up on a farm I have always liked barns and still would like a place where I would have a barn. Mrs H is always talking about wanting to have chickens. So while I was riding I took a couple of pictures of places that if her and Mr H lived there they could have chickens. And a horse, cow, goats, pigs etc. The barn at the top I think would work great. And Grandpa could buy a John Deere tractor to store there and do tractor things. Like give Biscuit a ride.

I was actually very pleased WB remembered it was valentines day. I think all the TV ads helped.

Started getting ready for my next big adventure. I am off to India to travel with the youngest. Must admit I am nervous. The travel nurse at Kaiser turned me into a pin cushion and gave me 30 minutes worth of good advice of how not to get some dreaded disease. Only one more visit in two weeks for the last shot.

Stay tuned. Off to make dinner for WB.

New Cooking

2007-01-30T09:05:00.000-08:00

After looking through the cupboards I came across our old bread maker. I think we have had it for quite some time. So I read the directions and checked to see if we had all the ingredients to make simple white bread. We did, so I made my first loaf of bread. Not too bad. I now have all the stuff to make whole wheat bread my next try. It's not too hard just put in all the stuff and turn it on. And about 3 hours later nice hot bread. I am also going to make my first soup this week.

First I am off to get all my shots for my trip to India. By 1:00 pm I will know how Biscuit feels after her shots. I think I am getting four shots plus two prescriptions. And a list of helpful hints from the Kaiser travel nurse. I bought my ticket so it looks like I am for sure off on the next adventure. I found this little hotel in National Geographic Adventure magazine in a town in India where you can see Everest. I emailed the hotel and the owner e-mailed me back wanting to know how I found him and how to make a reservation. I e-mailed back that his hotel was in Adventure magazine. He e-mailed back that he would like the article so I am off to copy and mail it to him. Later.

New Toy

2007-01-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

After much thinking, like six months. I finally broke down and purchased a new photo printer. The free shipping and $40.00 instant rebate got me. I must say I am very pleased. Printed two 5*7 prints of Yosemite today and they came out quite nice. Started working with that Histogram stuff in Photo Shop Elements. I must say I find it rather fun. Nice to learn new photo stuff. My little Sony camera has more features than I had thought.

The other big event of the day is I finally decided to go and visit the youngest in India. Should be an adventure. My good friend from MDT who grew up in India had several good suggestions of where to go plus his brother lives in Bombay and he may help us get around. So it should be a good adventure.

Off to make nice vacuum lines for WB and Mac and Cheese. Not out of a box.

My Disneyland

2007-01-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

The week after New Years is the time to go to Yosemite. It had the fewest people I have ever seen. At 9:00 am on Tuesday I only saw one person on the trail to Lower Yosemite falls which is right by Yosemite Lodge. Quite nice. But also quite chilly. We even got our act together and made reservations a whole year in advance for next year. As you can see by the picture of WB the Cross Country Skiing was good.
Not a lot of snow for this time of year but a good ski for the first time this year. On this trip I tried to work on using my digital camera. Fairly early Tuesday morning I went out with my film camera and my digital to take some pictures as the sun was coming on over the mountains. It not real clear but upper Yosemite falls has a faint rainbow in it. My film camera's exposure is better but not by much. I still need to learn more about how to get the correct exposure using the histogram thingy. I checked out some photos being sold in the Ansel Adams Gallery $38.00 for a matted 8*10 and $28.00 for a 5*7. So I came home and ordered a new photo printer from Epson.com. It was on sale with free shipping. I had been looking at it for about a year. It also will work for WB since you can put your memory card right in the front.

Still working on am I going to visit the youngest in Asia somewhere. Yosemite has a sister park in China. The name of the park is Huanqshan National Park. And my new National Geographic Adventure magazine came it had an interesting trip in India to the foothills of the Himalaya's. I think I made the youngest mad when she called because I could not be more definite about any plans. Hopefully I will get my act together and figure it out soon.

It's finally starting to warm up so time for a bike ride. WB is in San Francisco today with her friends.

Christmas in a Box and Great Presents

2007-01-03T15:29:00.000-08:00

On Christmas day this year it was just WB and myself. So when we were at the local Safeway a couple of days before Christmas WB noticed that they had a complete Turkey dinner with all the trimming's for a good price. Just pop it in the oven and in less than two hours it would be done. So, we departed Safeway that day with Christmas dinner in a box. Needless to say on Christmas day we followed the directions put the Turkey in the oven and an hour later the mash potatoes and dressing. When it was all done I must say it was very good. The Turkey was nice and moist and done to perfection. The mash potatoes were great but the dressing left a little to be desired. Dessert was pumpkin pie and quite tasty.

So fast forward to New Years Eve day. Mr and Mrs H plus Biscuit came over to celebrate Christmas at our house. As I had said earlier it was the year of socks. Everyone got socks. I did need them however. I was given four pair of biking socks. Very nice ones to boot. Two pair of low cut hiking socks, and six pair of Costco white athletic socks. Plus some handlebar tape, new bike inner tube, Nalgene Water bottle, plus splash guard. And two books one on bike touring, and one from National Geographic on Digital Photography.

But the best present was this ingenues device pictured above. Just the day before on my last bike ride of 2006 I was wishing that someone would get me this little tripod that you can hook on things using these Velcro straps. But Mrs H out did that with this little wonder. It is a bolt, some electrical tape, and three strands of copper wiring. As you can see it makes a great little tripod for a digital camera. And very versatile notice how you can wrap the wire around an object such as this chair to steady the camera. Needless to say I was very pleased. WB also got a great gym bag made by Mrs H. Also very nice. I checked it our thinking I could make one. Bags of that size come in very handy when going camping. Maybe I can get some clues on where to find a pattern.

It was a great Christmas lots of great useful gifts and lots of quality time with Mr, Mrs H and Biscuit plus lots of photos of the events.

We had ham for dinner, but not out of a box.

Thirty Seven and Counting

2006-12-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

Well as of today WB and I have been married thirty seven years. And as usual I remembered it was our anniversary. WB usually remembers when she wakes up or the night before, but not this year. She was printing pictures of Biscuit and watching Gilmore girls last night and not a word about our up coming anniversary. So this morning while she was in the shower I put the card with the ear rings on her hair dryer. When she went to dry her hair it hit her. She had forgotten. It is kind of fun since I have always remembered. But this is the first year that I think WB really forgot. But I am sure she will take me out to dinner tonight.

My friend and her eight year old daughter make the ear rings. There little craft company is Bumble Beads. I bought them at a craft fair a couple of weeks ago. She makes nice stuff just Google her business name and it should find her Web Site.

Adverbs and such...

2006-12-19T12:33:00.000-08:00

Did I ever tell you that I had to pass this essay exam thing to graduate from college. Well writing has never been my thing. And at Iowa State you had to write a 500 word essay in on of those little blue books with no more than 5 errors. Well I started as soon as I could the first Quarter of my Jr year and finished the last Quarter of my two years as senior. I took every stupid study class for writing Iowa State had, but I made it finally. Needless to say writing is not my thing. WB let's me know the errors I have made in the Blog but nothing to big. Just spelling and dangling this or that. I think I was around forty when I figured out what, too, really meant. I just used it where ever, spelling was correct not big deal.

But I did it this year I wrote the Christmas letter. That's me holding the result. Not bad uh. It took me a couple of edits, Mrs H one edit and WB around four or five. The last on being just before printing so it was on the computer. WB loves Word and computers a couple of minutes into the final edit. There was the I hit something and it's formatted all wrong. I had told WB miss it up and you have to fix it. Oh well a couple of clicks here and there and things were OK. Thank God I can do a few things.

So if you struggle figuring out what I am saying. Just deal with it.

I think Christmas is finally figured out. Party at Mr and Mrs H on Sat. Get to stay over night. Fun with Biscuit on Sat, stocking shopping, and Party at Mr H's parents house on Christmas eve. Than home.

Our Christmas with Biscuit and Mr and Mrs H the next week on New Years eve day or New Years day just need to hear from Mrs H. Could stay overnight and celebrate New Years eve with two (too) old folks. I pointed out to WB that any last minute gifts could be bought at the after Christmas sales.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. And if things work out I may do the letter again next year.

Cleaning Pays Off

2006-12-15T12:51:00.000-08:00

The middle of the month is when I pay the bills. Well today I while balancing the checkbook I decided I should clean out the envelope I keep the ATM receipts. After slowing going through the thick envelope, reviewing old gift receipts from Christmas's past. It happen a $100 bill wow. I wonder how long that had been hiding in there. Now what to do with it. Save it. Buy that Epson printer I have looking at. I will have to think very carefully. Nice touch to the day off to make nice vacuum lines.

The Year of Socks

2006-12-12T19:34:00.000-08:00

The Christmas tree is up and complete. I put on about 30 ornaments this year. A record for me usually WB does all the decorating. I finished putting all the decoration boxes back out in the garage. The garage is getting very full and not in a very neat and orderly.

I did write the Christmas letter this year.

This year just about everyone asked for socks. WB did not but she wanted new red pots and pans from Walmart. They are just waiting to be wrapped and put under the tree. Everyone else wanted socks, son-in-law, oldest daughter, and me. So there are now lots of socks under the tree. With the youngest in Asia she just wanted money which she got just before she departed at the end of November.

I finally backed up all my photos on my early Christmas present and external hard drive. Which I bought on sale the day after Turkey Day. I just have an empty wrapped box under the tree. I thought this will be a quick 10 minute back up. Well I guess I had a few more photos than I had imagined. Photo Shop kept asking me to back them up every time I opened the program. So, today I did, 1 hour and 30 minutes later all the photos were backed up on my new 250 gig external drive. All Two thousand and four hundred and forty one photos. Not sure but I would bet about 50% are of Biscuit.

Not sure how many retailers are doing this Christmas but I will say Apple should have a good year. I wandered in the local Apple store in the mall two weeks ago and was looking at a new Mac computer when the sales guy came over. We talked and I had quite a few questions so he suggested I use there new program where I could make an appointment on line for a future date with the stores Mac specialist. So I did. Yesterday was my appointment. Off to the mall after my workout at the Gym. Memory stick in hand with those PC files, photos and a few other files for fun. The guy's name was Chris. Very helpful, that new Mac read all those PC files and could make them open. After about an hour I have to say my next machine will be a Mac. They do seem to be easier to use and more intuitive. Just a few odd things like on a PC the little red X is in the upper right on a Mac it is on the upper Left and it's a little Red circle. But he claims only four known virus out there on the net to worry about. But they are a little pricey. But was that store busy, i-pods were flying off the shelf. But I did notice a couple of unhappy i-pod folks back trying to solve problems. But they are ready to sell each sales guy has his little ear phone and wireless reader just waiting for your Credit Card. But they were very helpful. Best Buy now sells Mac and the guy in the local store was also very up beat about the Mac. Oh well next year. Really hoping WB will buy me an i-pod.

That's all for now.

Christmas

2006-12-04T09:35:00.000-08:00

Every year we struggle with doing the annual Christmas (brag) letter. Well this I am going to do it for the first time. That should be interesting. It will be fun to see how many edits WB decides are needed.
I also have decided I need to post on my blog on a more regular basis. I noticed I have not put anything on it since October. I am using Google's new beta version on e-blogger they said it was improved but I do not see any difference yet. But I can restrict who sees it which would make WB happy.

This should be a less expensive Christmas than last. The youngest is in Cambodia, and has her Christmas checks deposited. I put in for socks, and to have my external hard drive, box and National Geographic book wrapped and put under the tree. WB wants new pots and pans from Walmart. Oldest daughter wants socks. And Biscuit I am sure will get a large amount of WB finds. Just need a list from my son-in-law and we should be set.

Well it's off to start the letter.

Done and Old Guy Arms

2006-10-05T16:26:00.000-07:00

I took the ladies advice at the sewing machine repair store and bought some new thread. She commented when I took the machine in and read the label on the thread that it had been a long time since thread cost 30 cents. I guess she was correct the two spools pictured cost $7.31. The machine runs like new. I can't sew very straight but the machine works great. As you can see I have finished my Camelbak water holder for my backpacking adventures. It is true I could have actually saved money by purchasing the Camelbak version for 40 bucks. But I had fun and I feel it turned out fairly well all things considered. My own design complete with velcro attachment points on the back.

Now on to the other discovery today. When I helped with the Russian River clean up I shared a canoe with my friend who is 65 and retired about 4 months ahead of me. He is a guy who use to run the Western states 100 and other ultra distance events. So to say the least he is still in very good shape. While we were paddling I kept thinking I wonder if I will start to wrinkle that much over the next five years. Gravity seems to move everything downward. Since retiring I have almost hit the same weight I was when I graduated from High School just .8 pounds more to go. But low and behold while doing my weight routine at the Gym today I noticed that when I bent my arms wrinkles appeared just above the elbow. Old Guy arms are here. I wonder what the next five years have in store. Oh well I feel great had my best ride in a long time up to Sugar Loaf Ridge state park last week. So I guess all the exercise etc is paying off.

I got to watch Biscuit this week. I must admit I was fairly nervous since 11 month olds can be very active. WB was going to come with and get me started on the day but when she determined that she had to drive herself home she backed out. But, Biscuit and I had a good time. I told my oldest sister this summer that Biscuit was the world's cutest Granddaughter. She has 22 plus grandkids. She said she had a couple she thought could compete. Now I think I need to tell her Biscuit is the world's smartest Granddaughter. She could really get me to do what she wanted. I did not know we could make so many trips between the family room and the other end of the house. When we were eating lunch anytime she heard a plane fly over she would point outside and up the in the air. On our walk all of a sudden she leaned way out of her stroller and was watching her shadow. She had discovered that she could make her shadow move by wiggling her feet. I thought that was pretty smart for an 11 month old kid. At least it impressed Grandpa. We had a good time and she kept me so busy I did not get any pictures of her for WB.

I need to get on to the next project, presents for Biscuit's b-day. And WB's b-day four days later.

We own nothing sharp

2006-09-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

As Mr and Mrs H would tell anyone this house has no sharp knifes. And I found out this am that it also has no sharp scissors. I made my pattern for my water bladder holder out of fine newspaper. After ironing the nylon fabric and tracing my pattern on to the fabric with a piece of chalk WB found I attempted to cut the fabric. And guess what the scissors would not cut at all. After a couple more pairs were tried I finally found a scissors that was up to the job. After getting all the parts cut out I fired up the old sewing machine and it sort of sewed on my test piece of fabric. After and hour of tension hell and all I was getting was broken thread I decided to go on a ride. As I had mentioned in the last post I have started looking at touring bikes. After visiting Biscuit and Mr and Mrs H yesterday which put WB in a very happy mood. We stopped at REI and I looked at the REI touring bike. One my size in Berkeley. So I decided today to visit Santa Rosa Cycle during my ride since they sell Cannondale bikes and Cannondale has a sweet looking touring bike. Since touring bikes are not big sellers I was sure the shop (It is a little out of the way hole in the wall place. ) would not have the T-2000 top of the line Cannodale touring model. I should have more faith, they had my bolt I needed last spring when everyone else said three weeks to get after ordering. The young lady said we do have that bike right here. But it was too large of a frame. However their other store down the road has one my size and it can be here on Tuesday just a phone call away. It was a pretty sweet bike. Just like the young lady said a nice piece of eye candy and hard to put back. So I guess it is a bike ride to the next town tomorrow to check out the correct size. Being the cheap person that I am the REI bike is half the price. But the components are a step down. It took me 2 years to buy my current bike so I don't think I will do anything too brash. On the way home from the bike store I stopped at the local sewing and vacuum repair store. I am sure not too many old guys stop by on their bike and ask about sewing machine tune ups. The nice lady said $60.00 to tune it up and make it work like new. So I guess the machine goes in the WRX on Tuesday for a ride to the repair shop. Came home had lunch and joined Adventure Cycling a place to get all the maps etc. for the up coming 07 halfoz bike tour. Got a deal for being 60+. Comes with a magazine subscription. The bike is Black. What color panniers should I get to go with that???? If I buy red WB's family will never let me live it down. How about yellow??

Off RV'ing

2006-09-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have done a post. Have been working on chalking the front window. Took the advice of a guy I meet on the bus in Yosemite valley that once you retire you take three days to do a project you use to do in one. Day one look it over and think about what needs to be bought. Day two plan some more, start the clean up etc buy parts, paint, chalk etc. Day three finish off the project. Worked OK still needed to make an extra Ace hardware stop.

Today off to Sacramento to look to go to the RV show at the fairgrounds. Really don't want a big RV but a small easy to pull fold out trailer may be OK.

Wanted to go to Yosemite this coming week but the Campground in Tuolumne meadows closes after today. So I guess I will wait and go when WB goes to New Orleans to do her Jr League volunteer thing. Need to get fall pictures.

Did my first volunteer thing yesterday. One of my paddling friends from work always helps with the Russian River clean up day. So he called and asked if I was interested so I said yes. Another friend who retired before me also helped so we shared a canoe. It was interesting to compare retirement notes. It was fun seeing all the junk we pulled out of the river. Two air conditioners, dish wisher, dining table chairs. Lots of plastic out of trees, bear bottles full and empty, soda, water bottles etc. And lots of t-pee paper on the beaches from those I just need to visit the bushes. We saw the kitchen sink and living room couch frame but were out of room. Will do again next year nice to help plus it was a beautiful day on the river.

Well off to the RV show. Next big project Touring bike. Started looking, more later. Plus I need to finish my sewing project. Went to the fabric store and they were very helpful with my dumb guy questions. Learned a fair bit about sewing machine needles.

The Parts are found...

2006-09-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

The parts are found for the sewing machine. WB found them last night in the closest. Started looking through my old sewing stuff this afternoon and discovered that REI use to sell sewing paterns. Check out the photo on the left. I doubt you can find sewing kits on REI.com. I also found an old Frostline Kit catalog in with a kit I did not finish. A pair of knickers for cross country skiing. They use to be what you would want to be seen in. About 30 years ago. I put some thread in the machine and it seemed to make an OK seam on my test piece of nylon fabric that I found. I think I have enough to make my holder for my Camelbak. I also found some velcro so when I get the stiffening stuff in the mail from Mrs H. I will sew away.

Off to look at my old catalog from 1976.

Toys are put away and missing parts.....

2006-09-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

We had a great Labor day weekend. The youngest came home from So Cal. She in her heart is still a Nor Cal girl. Yeah, I do not miss Southern California. Not sure why Mrs H complained about Biscuit not sleeping while camping . She fell sound asleep in the most uncomfortable position at our house. Picture explains all. I am sure Mrs H. Does not remember having to be driven around the campground in our 1972 WV hippy bus until she stopped crying and went to sleep. I think it runs in the family. Better luck next trip. While Biscuit and Mr and Mrs H were over Mrs H took pictures of all her projects and I burned the pics to a CD for later posting. This got me thinking I should show some of the stuff I have made over the years. So I dug through the closest and found WB's original outdoor jacket my down vest. Used just two weeks ago backpacking in Yosemite. My 1/2 oz stove, windscreen and a photo. I sewed lots of other stuff but I believe Garage Sales and Goodwill have removed most of it from the house. Wanted to start some outdoor sewing projects again after my backpacking trip. The first thing I needed to make was a holder for my Camelbak water bladder. Mrs H is sending some stiffing material via snail mail. Cleared off the old sewing machine today and opened it up. Low and behold missing parts most importantly the power cord and foot pedal. Hope WB knows where it is.

Anyway stay posted I will ask tonight when she gets home. Oh by the way the toys are all put away at the side of the house and garage. All ready for the next visit. I think Biscuit like pulling pedals off of the flowers the best.

Miles Of No Roads...

2006-08-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

and very few people. Well after a 145 photos taken I decided on these three of the trip. The top one is of a very nice swimming hole just below California falls on the Tuolumne River. Nice and chilly I went for a short dip. The middle one is a view into the back country of Yosemite just north of Tioga Pass Road. Three miles from the road and I saw two folks. The last one is a close up of flowers by Water Wheel falls.

It was a great trip three nights, four days. I wanted to do some of the Trail that connects the five High Sierra camps. So the trail had a fair amount of people but not bad. Most of them were hiking camp to camp and very friendly. I asked each group which camp was the best. The favorite answer was they are all great each one showing a different slice of the Sierra back country. I saw two of the camps. May Lake and and Glen Aulin. May lake being a beautiful high sierra lake and Glen Aulin at the base of the White Cascade. The goal of the hike was to see Water Wheel Falls. I have been wanting to go there for 20 years and it was worth the wait. It has to be just fantastic in early July just when Tioga Pass opens. I hope I can get WB to do at least one or two of the High Sierra camps next year. I am going to put in for the lottery next year and see. Got many hints from hikers along the way. Maybe Biscuit, Mr and Mrs H would like May lake only 1.2 miles from the trail head. Great hiking, swimming, views and nightly fun I could hear from my camp at Raisin lake 1.5 miles away. Complete with showers, and flush johns. WB liked hearing that.

I did all my cooking on my halfoz Pepsi can stove. Worked like a charm. I was very pleased at how it performed. I thought I would need 24 oz of fuel came home with 8.35 oz remaining. And I did not conserve. The only problem I ran out of coffee.

It was interesting once I was within 1 mile of the Tuolumne meadows campground, visitor center etc. Folks looked cleaner and in a much bigger hurry. By the time I got there I was tired, (funny my feet hurt on the bottom first two days and on the top last two days) hungry and ready for a sandwich. Walked right into the store pack and all. Asked where are the sandwiches the clerk pointed me to the cooler. Picked out a nice $6.00 turkey and cheese. When I went to pay the nice young lady said this is expired let me get you a fresh one. Wonder if she would have done that for the other folks. Went next door and got a large fresh Seattle coffee. ($1.85). Went outside and set on the picnic table and started to eat. Looked at the guy at the next table. On his leg was this very large knife in a holster at the ready to protect the family from those Yosemite Bears. The crowd was so different from two miles up the trail I thought as I sat there and watched the RV's go by I had a great trip with 37 pounds of stuff on my back and these folks need a $100,000.00 RV to see 1/10 what I was able to see. Oh well, they just don't know what they are missing. Hope the guy kept the fam protected.

Off to Yosemite

2006-08-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

Off to Yosemite in the morning. Hoping to get a permit to start at Tenaya lake. First night camp at Polly Dome lakes. Short day hike to May lake to see High Sierra camp on Wed and than off to McGee Lake for two nights. Day hiking on Thursday to see the many falls on the Tuolumne River and than out to Tuolumne meadows on Friday bus back to car and home.

Should be fun. Hope WB gets along OK by herself. Blogger would not upload my pic :(

You are Getting Older When...

2006-08-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

the aircraft you learned to fly in are now in a museum. I went to the Sonoma county airshow yesterday. It is a good small town airshow put on by the Pacific Air Museum. A nice local Air museum. It was interesting all the planes that were on the Kitty Hawk and the ones I learned to fly in are now antique. They had the latest military primary trainer. It did a demo with the AT-6 the primary trainer for WW II. I learned to flew in the second generation of trainers the T-34. The newest trainer the is the fourth Generation of military trainer. I guess time marches on.

Getting ready for another backpack trip. This time the halfoz stove is it for cooking. Also need to update the toy additions that keep showing up in the Garage. Should make for an interesting entry.

Off to Costco.

Pictures of Desolation Wilderness

2006-08-14T09:11:00.001-07:00

A few pictures from my trip to the Desolation Wilderness by lake Tahoe. It was just a one night trip. But, it proved to be a good tune up for my next trip to Yosemite.

The weather was great not too hot or cold. I went in the middle of the week and was surprised at the number of people at the trail head. Most likely since I picked one of the most popular places to enter the wilderness. And there were lots of vacation cabins around. So parking was a bit of a hassle.

Once I got off the main trail this is the only person I saw on the trail. At the lake there were two guys fishing but they departed at the end of the day. So I had the lake all to myself and the mosquitoes.

My little Sony camera still works great the more I use it the more I like it. Trying to make my load lighter for the next trip. I think I will go back to my biviy instead of a tent and maybe my lighter Therm-a-rest, and my UL pack that will save about 5 - 6 pounds. Stay tuned.

Campsite, lake and flower pictures.

Lake Tahoe

Pictures of Desolation Wilderness

2006-08-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

Halfoz Works

2006-08-13T07:43:00.000-07:00

I had this all done last night when I went to spell check and it would not work. So I hit the back arrow and away went my draft.

So here is try number two. Anyway after retiring; car camping; trip to Europe; and trip to Iowa. I finally made it out on an overnight backpack. WB wanted to watch Biscuit before returning to work. And I wanted to backpack up by Tahoe. So I dropped WB off at Mr and Mrs H's house. And I drove to the Desolation wilderness for and overnight.

While loading my pack I noticed my halfoz Pepsi can stove just setting there. Since I gave them as Christmas presents I figured I should see if the thing really works. So I packed it in my Bear Canister and took about 5 oz of Denatured Alcohol for fuel in and empty water bottle. WB made sure she put the skull and cross bones on with a Sharpe pen so I would not mistake it for water.

The one error I made was my windscreen. Even though it was made for my pot it was not finished. I had not put the holes in for the stakes to go through to hold the pot. So I put halfoz on a rock and turned the wind screen over and put the stakes through the vent holes. See picture. As you can tell it works. Better than I had hoped. With that small amount of fuel I made two meals and six cups of coffee plus some dish washing. I did take my regular backpack stove as a back up but did not need it.

I will publish some other photos next time. It was a good tune up. I had forgotten it takes a trip or two to get used to the pack and break the feet into the boots. Next trip Yosemite.

Iowa and Gardens

2006-08-07T19:24:00.000-07:00

When I go back to Iowa I go and visit my sister in Ross, Iowa. It is a very small collection of maybe 20 houses the loacal church and more dogs than people. It is a great little place. When I was in Grade school I use to get to go the two miles to my sisters house for vacation. Usually lasting about two to three days. I always had a fun time playing with my newhews and neices who are about my age. The one thing as my sister and her husband always had was a large garden. As you can tell by the picture it is nice and green with many vegtables doing very well. They grew just about everything plus, apples and several types of berries. And they canned and froze everything in very large quantities since they have a bunch of kids. But when I got older I have always had a garden but it does not compare to my sister and her husband who are 79 and 82. But I keep trying. The other photo is the Grain Elevator we use to play in. It must be almost 100 years old. They should make it into some kind of historcal monument. It has been around a long time and still looks fair from the outside. The inside is not a place I would let my kids play. But I am sure the kids in Ross still visit the place.

We went to Iowa to attend WB's moms funeral. Nice event she was 92 almost 93 hope I last that long. Now that we are back in sunny California it is time to do some outdoor stuff.

I finally got the new gears put on my bike that Mr and Mrs H gave me for my B-day. It was a great addition to the bike. Finally going to do a one night backpack. I need a tune up before doing something longer. I am taking what halfoz is all about will report back how things worked in another post.

100,000 mile tune up

2006-07-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

Well after turning 60 it was time to get an old guy check up. After we went on Kaiser they called and told WB you need a Doctor and here is a good one. So WB set up check up for herself and me after the family trip to Europe. Something that I did not look forward to. But I know I needed to do.

Anyway, with everything on line now you can see everything about your Doc and health records. So, I took a look, the Doc enjoyed riding so that was a good thing. Showed up for the appointment and of course was put in the little room and told to take everything off. The Doc showed up. Now he can just set in front of the computer and type away. Had a nice chat about bikes and riding. He even had done a double. Little did I know in all that typing he was doing I was going to donate many things. It was a nice chat until I saw the famous glove and lube being applied. But, I knew from previous experience to make sure the bladder was empty ahead of the appointment. Nothing new correct size for and old guy and no extra bumps. Whew, that's over. Report to the lab since you did not eat and I will see you if I need to. Bye Doc, nice meeting you total time 15 minutes.

Off to the lab where I got to talk to some clerk who I don't think liked her job. Started off with I don't know why all these Docs order urine tests. As if she has the education to know. Hands me the let's check for blood in your poop. ( Great invention later for that one. ) In a paper bag and asks me if I know what to do. I say yes and proceed to the bathroom. Having made sure I was not well hydrated I did not over flow anything. Than off to be drained of blood.

Fast forward 24 hours. Did you know you can have 0 - 2 Red blood cells in your urine. I had 5 -10 and of course high Cholesterol. With everything on line the Doc writes in all caps. Re do urine test don't ride the bike for 3 days and make sure you are hydrated. Would have been the first time but I knew the glove was coming. And your Cholesterol is too high set up phone appointment. PSA pending. Great, so I set up the appointment. Took the bike to REI for a tune up and started to hydrate.

Of course with the power of the net you can work yourself up that the next step is the dirt nap. Keep checking for the PSA results. Oh no he is going to give me crappy news when I call and the next step in miniature hedge clippers to take samples from areas I would rather not have sampled.

Fast forward, went in well hydrated, same clerk but in a much better mood, gave the sample. Did you know they have directions on line of how to pee. Followed them to a tee. Came home and the mail was here. I PASSED the PSA oh happy days are here again.

The Doc called me at the appointed hour, said Cholesterol was too high diet along would not do it, here is your first life long prescription. Fasting Glucose a little higher than normal. Funny five years ago that was an OK number. Take the Kaiser nutrition class. Good thing I believe. Have a blood test in three months. Can cause muscle weakness or soreness. And DON'T take with Grapefruit. Mail or do you want to pick up. I'll pick up. That took under 5 minutes.

So, now WB and I set down to eat and take our medicine's. Old age is here. But I must say I have had only one other prescription in 60 years and that was to get rid of an intestinal bug from bad water. So I guess not to bad.

Invention sample as soon as the cereal box is empty. Off to ride before the thermometer hits the century mark.

Sierra vs. Alps

2006-07-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

During the trip there was some discussion which is better the Alps or the Sierra around Yosemite. Mr H, the youngest and myself made many comments. I must say I was the hold out that Yosemite was the best. But after the cable car ride up Mont Blanc I was starting to agree the Alps had an edge. But I must note that when the youngest and I were shopping for those European hiking pants for men we ran into a sales clerk in Chamonix that had traveled in the US for six months and said the Eastern Sierra around Bishop Ca was by far the best mountains in the world. She had hoped to get to immigrate to the US but found it almost impossible. So she resigned herself to be a US citizen in her next life.

Anyway yesterday I took a drive up towards Tahoe on highway 50 for a short hike out of Wright's Lake into the Desolation Wilderness.

So here are a couple of Sierra pictures from yesterday and a couple from the Alps. You can decide for yourself. I must say the Sierra's only cost $35.00 for gas. The Alps came in at a bit more.

The Sierra pictures on top. Alps below. Mountains and wildflowers from each area.

Back Home

2006-07-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

I have now been working on this post for two days. Each time I get a good start I goof up and need to start over. So I think I will break it down into a couple of shorter posts.

Enough of problems. We are back from the trip to Switzerland and France. It was a great trip. I believe everyone had a good time. I know I did. Traveling with the whole family does take a bit of give and take.

For me it was the first time I did not take a film camera. I only took my Sony Cyber Shot DSC-P200. See www.sony.com for more details. Mrs H took her film camera and digital so I am looking forward to comparing photos.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip. The trip started in Adelboden Switzerland and ended in Chamonix France. Home of Mont-Blanc highest peak in Europe. That's it in the upper right corner of the ice tunnel.

As you can see Biscuit was a good traveler. She did not complain a bit and seemed to enjoy her carrier.

I think I will stop here for today and not push my luck.

2212

2006-06-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

Last bike ride for June today. Two Thousand Two Hundred and Twelve miles year to date. Not bad for and old guy. All packed up for Switzerland. Luggage weighted 48.2 pounds. Moved the Trail mix to WB's suitcase should save 3 pounds. Things much better today. This time tomorrow the youngest and I will be on the plane to London. Starting to get excited about the trip should be fun. I will take notes and do a big post when back with pictures.

Looked up Lassen National park in preparation for in the Footsteps of Mom. They still have about 15 to 20 miles of park road to plow. August looks good. Hope Switzerland gets the old legs ready for the climb. Saw a picture of Mr H with the Granddaughter in the Carrier. Everyone looks ready to go both had big smiles. WB says babies can't go that high. Need to check it out. All for now. Need a cold beer and dinner.

Wish us luck on the Trip.

Packing Up

2006-06-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

Well in less than 48 hours the youngest daughter and I will be well on our way to Switzerland. As you can tell by the picture we shouldn't starve once we are there. Just need to get it all packed up and go now. Last minute things were done today. Trip to the magic money machine (ATM); haircut; gassed the car up; added to the calling card etc.

Starting to look forward to the trip. Hope the fam finds it relaxing. Today was a bit stressful. Not as well planned as WB would like. But it should work out. Copied and pasted all the idea's into word so folks can talk over. Taking several books.

So wish us luck. And I will report back. That's all for now. Need to go iron.

Six Zero and other events

2006-06-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy two weeks since my last post. The old guy on the right turned 60. Another decade down the drain.

And two days ago the good looking gal on the left Graduated from college. Way to go. So one almost done and one just starting out.

My other daughter will be getting her MBA next Saturday which will be neat.

WB had a surprise B-day party for me which was a complete surprise. Got to see some of my good friends from where I use to work. And my old friend that moved south a couple of years ago came up for my B-day that was great. From my oldest daughter and son-in-law got a great gift. A new cluster for the my trusty bicycle. Have not put it on yet but will this week along with a new chain.

Next big event is the family trip to Europe. Must say I am very nervous about the trip. Still need one more reservation which I will do tomorrow. I am hoping everyone can relax and have fun. I will be just satisfied to drink coffee, take pictures and see the Alps.

In the Foot Steps of Mom

2006-05-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

Just finished buying the train tickets for the big European family vacation. The trip is all planned and paid for except for one nights lodging. Now off to the next big adventure. In the picture on the bottom, the guy with the sunglasses is my old friend Bob S. The little person in the middle of the picture is my oldest daughter when she was about 18 months give or take a few sound asleep at the top of Mt Lassen. The good looking guy in the picture on the top is me with my oldest daughter on a hike to the top of Mt Lassen.

This picture is me 30 years later still a good looking guy with no hair. The little person on my back is the our Granddaughter also very cute. Now for the next moving on project.

I checked the Lassen National Park website yesterday and they hope to have the road plowed to my favorite campground by mid July. They had 170 - 190% of average snowfall this year. So by early August I think it will be time for the Granddaughter to follow in her moms footsteps and make that climb up Mt Lassen. As grandparents we now have 2 baby carriers. One is a present for Mr H's B-day. But this one is for me. Oh it has a great sun shade. WB found it at a garage sale for only $20.00 such a deal. I do think for the hike the honor of carrying will go to Mr H. What does Mrs H think?? I can carry water and maybe a diaper or two. I will need to work on WB to get her in shape. Did the hike about five years ago. WB made to the tip so I know it can be done.

I did break WB's rule I have now posted pictures of people. Oh well. No names.

Enough for now off on a short bike ride to see if the legs still work after the Dais Double.

#291

2006-05-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Number 291 will be a significant number from now on. I can now check off the Davis Double from my to do list. Being just two weeks short of another decade under the belt, ie sixty. I finished the Davis Double 205.49 miles by bike computer 203 by the Davis Bike club map.

Now for a short run down of the day. Mile 0 -23. The forecast was for rain but when I got out of bed at 3:45 am I could see the stars. Started the ride 5:15 am. Started out fine dark, cold and did not go hard. At about mile 10 this lady hooks up and starts to follow. I asked her if she had done a double century before, oh yes many. She was not in a hurry and liked my pace doing about 17 mph. She had a rather Hippy look so I asked her what she did. Oh, I live in Burbank and make movies. Funny I never saw you on the red carpet with Mary Hart. Did not see her after the first rest stop at mile 23.

Mile 24 - 45.5 feeling good finished first short climb.

Mile 46 - 64 still feeling good climbed Cardiac hill not a bad climb did not even hit the set limits on my HR monitor.

Mile 65 - 95.4 feeling like crap. Feet starting to hurt. Not so sure this is a good idea. Still have that big climb up Cobb mountain. Will take a nice break at the rest stop at mile 95.4.

Mile 96 to 104.5 the big climb is over. Actually passed people on the way up about two miles of 10% grade and four of 4 to 9%. Wish I had one more lower gear. Being at this rest stop feels so good. Potato chips and Fritoes never tasted so good. Rest stop theme was a Hawaiian paradise. It's cloudy and about fifty degrees putting on warm clothes again for the desent. As I got ready to start out again the rest stop lady said only one more mile to the top of the hill. YUCK.

Mile 105.6 - 117.2 and lunch. Great down hills after that last mile of climb. Topped out at just over 40 mph coming down beats the 4 mph going up. Lunch was great good conversation with some kid working on his PHD in Chemistry at UC Davis and his Girl (friend) from Santa Rosa. They were perky and not tired. My legs and feet feel like, well they hurt.

Mile 117.3 - 139.8 Resurrection Hill complete, last big climb done. Starting to come back to life I guess they named the hill correctly. Saw the couple from lunch at this stop. They did not look resurrected the young lady was happy to see it is all down hill to the next rest stop. Never saw them again I think I will go over to the Bikepedler here in town the girl works there and see if they made it.

Mile 139.9 - 162.8 great down hill only one little climb. Starting to feel better passing people again.

Mile 162.9 - 181.1 Tail wind yeah. Going 20 mph on the flat. Cache Creek Casino lots of cars hope not too many drunks.

Mile 181.2 - 196 Starting to get dark. Turned on my lights again. Not much light but hope the cars can see me. Missed a turn but thanks to the tandem behind me they whistled and pointed out my mistake and got me back on course.

Mile 196.2 to 203. Last rest stop at 196.2 rubbed my feet, finished off the Citomax and got on the bike to finish in the dark. At last Davis and street lights Pulled in at 9:13 pm fifteen hours and fifty eight minutes after starting. I did it!!

After getting my tee-shirt as proof I finished. Changed into real shoes and hit the Restroom. While standing at those guy fixtures I told the guy next to me it feels great to finally stop. He said this is just like what Jim Fix the runner said. "What do running and hitting your head against the wall have in common?" "It feels so good when you stop."

Thanks to my daughter in Sacramento had a great couple of beers and a good pasta dinner.

By for now. Tomorrow in the foot steps of mom.

Enough Toys

2006-05-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

The Granddaughter is coming over for a visit on Monday. She and her mom are staying over night. Mom has to work so Grandpa and Grandma are taking care of the baby. I decided that I should get out all of the play structures, toys, etc and make sure we have enough to keep her entertained. As you can see from the photo I think we are ready. Since the baby is just short of seven months old I feel the play structures will not get much use this visit. But hope to try out the baby jogger and maybe the swing. Might even play in the tee pee a bit. And by the way it is not quite all the toys. I think there is another swing in the garage.
Good final long training ride yesterday for the Davis Double. One hundred and thirty one miles.
Off for a short ride.

Bike Cleaning Day

2006-05-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

As you can see today was take the bike apart and clean. Things went very well. The chain various other parts were cleaned in Orange Degreaser using the poor mans parts washer. Which is an old coffee can. Which the parts are put in the bottom, covered with the Orange Degreaser and set on top of the Washing machines while doing a load of laundry. The vibration of the washing machine going through it's various cycles does a great job of removing all the old dirt grease etc. After working for about 2.5 hours getting the bike all shiny it was time to put it back together. All went well until assembling the rear derailler. The pulleys have to be put in correctly or it does not shift well. As you can guess the first try the pulleys were not in correctly. One was turned backwards. No worry just remove the bolt and turn it around. While lessening the bolt the hex stripped out. No worry I can get that tight again. Famous last words. Could not get the bolt tight. No worry hop in the car and buy and new bolt. At the bike store, that is a Campy derailler, correct. Yes, we don't have that bolt. Could sell you a new derailler $150.00 plus $25 to install. Or order the bolt 2 - 3 weeks delivery. I decided call around. Went home fixed a sandwich wanted a beer but decided to open the phone book. Called Santa Rosa Cyclery. Guy that answered said this is the best shop in town bring the bike down let's have a look. Must have driven, ridden by this place 100 times. Took about 20 minutes to find. It was behind, youngest daughters favorite Mexican restaurants. Took the bike into this hole in the wall place. Mechanic looked at the problem took the old bolt out said that would have fallen out soon. Great, do you have Campy deraillers. No, oh great no bolt no bike. He brings out this plastic box labeled derailler parts. After 30 seconds out comes the perfect bolt. Not a Campy bolt but a bolt. Five minutes later fixed as good as new and only $5.00. Asked how much to do new bar tape. Ten bucks if you have the tape. I said I do give me 15 mins and I will be back. Needless to say my bike is now outfitted with Specialized Bar Phat tape nice gell filled stuff my oldest daughter got me last year for B-day. And I have a new favorite bike store. Good prices on tires.

Life if Good again

Training and house prices

2006-05-08T15:51:00.000-07:00

Training for the Davis Double has been going well. Rode from Santa Rosa to Sacramento on Friday May 5, 2006. A total of 127.59 miles from my front door to my daughters front door. Went well, but I must say about mile 80 I was not sure the double was a good idea. But a short break, cliff bar, some water an on to Davis where my daughter had a great sandwich waiting. A short rest there and the sandwich kicked in about mile 105 and it was OK the rest of the way. Short ride Saturday 25 miles. My legs were shot. Sunday off day under the Oaks at SRJC fun time bought some plants and have the observatory schedule for the observatory in Sugar Loaf Ridge State Park.

Speaking of house prices on my way home Saturday rode by this house about 1.5 miles from home. Great little 903 square feet home for only $599,950.00, wow. My house in a Subdivision with a great school I did not feel would fetch that kind of money. Will be interesting to see how long it takes to sell.

Good ride today 51 miles felt strong. Legs still not there 100% but maybe 85%. One more long training ride Friday shooting for around 130 - 150 miles and short rides and rest until the double.

Enough for now. Tomatoes are planted along with the new plants I purchased at SRJC.

Good Dirt

2006-05-04T15:07:00.000-07:00

The garden is now planted. What I use to do in one day I spread over three. It did include a lot of trimming filling the green bin. I now have an 06 garden in progress. Planted beans, (bush), beets, and corn. Have tried to raise corn in Ca. Over the last 36 years and must say the corn we raised in Iowa on the farm has been the best. But, I am giving it one more try. Need to plant my tomatoes yet. My daughter in Sac got us tomatoes at UC Davis Picnic day.

After a stop at the bike store this am for a final new seat adjustment my ride went well. Was a little worried when the young gal with several interesting tattoos needed a little help in remembering which way tightens a bolt and which way makes it looser. But I must say she did a fine job in making the final small adjustments. My backside was much happier this ride than two days ago when I thought I might return the new seat.

With that done tomorrow is the ride to Sac. Should be double last weeks long ride. But did experiment with food on today's ride. Cliff power shot (chocolate) was quite tasty and gave a nice burst of go power. Gartoade seemed to hold off the old leg cramps. So with an early start and not too hot it should be a good ride. Nice pace, use the HR monitor to keep the ticker in line and hopefully I make it. I hope WB let's me borrow the cell phone.

And if I make it pick up my tomatoes.

Enough for now. Will report on how the ride went.

Old vs. New

2006-05-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

As you can tell by the old bike seat it was time for a new one. Well my training log said I should do 31 miles today. But thinking more is better after 45 miles I decided to ride to the bike shop and buy a new seat. Check it out. Silicon Gel pads cuts outs so things don't go numb. Still needs some adjusting but tomorrows ride will tell if if was worth the money. Oh more money spent.

Came back to do a little yard work after a nice lunch. Trimmed the bushes around the yard. As you can tell from the photo power tools maybe aren't my thing. I think it is time for some safety training from my Son-in-law. I don't believe he has cut the power cord while trimming away. Thank goodness for the dry weather and leather gloves. Not even a tingle as the 120 volts stopped flowing.

Not much else to report today. Gas is up $44.01 for 14.4 gallons. MDT went down again I hope they make there earnings only 23 more days until earnings release.

Off to watch Deal or No Deal.

Good Training Day

2006-04-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the community garage sale. Had fifty houses signed up for the big event and seventy participated. I manned our Garage sale while WB went to as many as she could in about two hours. We are now the proud owners of three toddler slides. Two are attached to large plastic play structures. The granddaughter should be old enough in about a year to enjoy. Did fairly well. Sold stuff for both my daughters they did OK. The left overs are all packed and cataloged awaiting Good Will on Tuesday and a tax deduction next April 15th. Did not get in a training ride. Good thing several places are sore. I started to worry the Double was out of reach. But today sun was out did a good ride at my hopeful pace and had energy to spare hope the rest of the week goes as well. Ony two hundred and seventy more miles this week to go for training. WB and I packed a lunch and went to the beach for a picnic. Very nice. Check out the photo.

Enough for now.

Training for the Double

2006-04-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

The weather has finally improved. Yesterday was nice and sunny. Great training ride 62.2 miles. The flowers are coming out I need to get out with the camera soon. Only three more weeks to train. Not sure it is enough time. Have read all the advice I can find through Google searches. Today will be around 30 miles no hills, recovery ride.

At last MDT stock is moving up hope they hit thier earnings for the year. A lot rides on that stock for the next five years. But so far all my projections have worked out. Excel is such a great tool. The equal sign and some assumptions and you can make anything look great.

Off to ride.

First Trip

2006-04-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

As you can see the trip got off to a very cold and snowy start. I did confirm a couple of my old rules on this trip. How hard it rains is directly proportional to how familiar you are with setting up your tent. Let's just say I had only set this tent up once in the garage before the trip. When we arrived it was raining. Checked in and found our site. The rain stopped so WB and I started to put up the tent. And of course it did not go up the first time and than the heavens opened and the rain came down hard. Thanks to our neighbors and a very good absorbent towel from REI we got the tent up and somewhat dry. After a couple of hours at the lodge in Curry village we were somewhat dry and full since we decided to eat at the cafeteria. During the first night it decided to get cold and snow. And the guy across the way in a large RV decided he needed electricity all night by running his generator. But I had made the correct choice of sleeping bags and WB was warm and cozy but upset about the generator.

The morning however was beautiful.

After the storm cleared it was great. Each day the weather improved and the temps warmed up.

After the weather improved it was time for a bike ride. During which I confirmed my other theory. Bike problems are directly proportional to the distance back home. Or in this case camp. On the way in we passed a waterfall I had not seen before a mile or so past the 140 entrance to the park. It looked like it would be a great ride. Down through the valley down hill to the falls turn around and back up the hill and home. It started out just fine, pumped up the tires put on my warm bike stuff. Realized my helment and gloves were still on the work bench at home. Oh well red hat and some thin gloves had to do. Great ride down to the falls stopped enjoyed the views along the way with the rest of America. After viewing the fall turned around at the small parking lot, looked down. A FLAT TIRE. No problem I have all the stuff. Carefully changed the tube. Found the problem a small piece of glass.. Started to pump up the tire with my trusty 20 year old pump. Which, when tire was somewhat inflated BROKE. Great. Climbed on the bike the tire a little low was OK to ride. So needless to say it was a careful ride back to camp trying to avoid any pinch flats. But all in all a great ride. Pumping the tire up at camp with my floor pump made the next day's ride great.

We had a couple of good day hikes one to mirror lake picture above as proof.

Overall great first retirement trip. The WRX got 25MPG overall. Saw gas for over $4.00 for regular. Needless to say waited until interstate five to fill up on the way home. Ended the trip with a weekend in SLO visiting the college daughter and seeing some friends from SoCal.

Enough for now off for a bike ride. Davis Double coming up. Must train.

One Week

2006-04-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

I have now been retired one full week. I must say I am starting to get the hang of it, I think. Today was a big day. Paid the bills. I had to spend some of those savings I worked on for thirty years. I must say it took awhile to pay WB's credit card bill since it had all of the airfare for the big European Family vacation. But than I thought hey it's Good Friday banks are closed this won't post till next week. So I clicked pay in full. I hope WB enjoys the air miles. Went to the magic money at Safeway where there is a branch and guess what the bank was open. Oh well, checked ML account and one of my stocks paid a dividend. Thanks Merrill Lynch. Life is good.

Went for another great bike ride. Yesterday's ride was full of old guy aches and pains. But today was great ride up my favorite hill did not get rained on and had a great sandwich when I got home.

Lined up with the all the folks this am from the local retirement community down the road. Waiting for the local hair cutting place to open. A new gal cut my hair. It is easy just buzz off the little I have. Things were going great until she asked if she could trim my eyebrows. Visions of those folks in line flashed before my eyes and than I said OK go ahead. I just thought those were extra trees in my Peripheral vision. Wow the world is more clear now.

Have the bed covered with items for the great camping trip to Yosemite. I am convinced we could camp for a week on less when we had two little kids at home. Trying to decide if I should take my new REI down bag. Purchased it just before I retired. It took me almost three years of saving my pocket change to get the money. Did well though had a nice dividend check and got 20% off the most expensive item which was the bag. Of course the Governor needs his 8% sales tax based on the non discounted price.

The timer is going off which means my beer is cold. More later after the trip.

Retired

2006-04-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

Well it was one week ago today that was my last day at work. I must say the last two weeks at work went faster than I thought they would. Had some good lunches, beers and a great party at the house to celebrate. Made out on retirement gifts. Almost $200 at REI. Well think very carefully on how to spend.

I must say adjusting has been harder than I thought it would be. I have not worked out a good routine for the day yet. The weather has been very rainy so I have not gotten out on the bike much until today. Finally nice and sunny.

We did do the first retired thing. We went to the local RV show. Wow are those things expensive. I'm sticking with the tent. First trip next week to my favorite place Yosemite. Camping for four nights. Hope all goes well. Trying to make sure WB is warm and happy. Than it is off to the yongest daughter's college for parents for the weekend and home on Sunday. Should be fun.

Tried out the new ditigal camera this am in the macro mode.

I hope the photo uploaded.

I must say the hardest part so far is spending money. I had read an article that it would be. After several excel cash flow models I knew it would all work out. But I must say it is hard after saving every month for 30 years.

All for now off to buy groceries for camping and cooking dinner tonight. My other new thing, cooking.

March 20, 2006

2006-03-20T19:57:00.000-08:00

My first Blog. Thanks to my daughter and my impending retirement here goes nothing. Well only 17 more days of work wow. Not sure what to think about it yet.

I think the purpose of this will be to trace my thoughts and feelings on Retirement starting in 17 days. Enough for my first Blog. Thank goodness it has spell check