My summer vacation

I have been inventorying things in boxes here at my mother's house this week. Now I have a new collection of boxes for my siblings to review when they pass this way again. Some are on the table, some are on the floor. I have also made inventory lists for the teak buffet in the dining room and the cupboards in the bathroom upstairs just in case any of you needed something to keep you busy when you are here.

The neighbors have been busy too. They have taken out some walls and the pool, but the workers said that they are leaving all the walls that are still up. They are moving the front of the house closer to the street, and they are not building a second story.It has not been all work this week. I perused another photo album, and look I put my sister first. Even though that is my old poncho, that is my daughter wondering at all the calendar pages on the ground. You should be able to recognize her by the stylish boots.

I took a drive down to see my older brother's new digs. This shot does not give a proper impression of the hillside into which the house is built, so trust me, it is steep.

We went to see some trees at Big Basin Redwoods State Park, because he does not have enough growing around his house.We took a short walk on the nature trail.
Redwoods are amazingly resiliant. This one is still living despite the fire scar.I have been out on my bike to explore places I once frequented. I remember more water and a dock in front of the old Sea Scout base. I see pilings where the dock once floated.When the tide goes out, it is easy to find the channel. I guess that has not changed, however the launch ramp that was once here is now gone.Where they retire phone poles? Modern art never ceases to amuse me.I am glad to see the pelicans are happy here. I remember when one was a rare sighting. This is just a small part of the flock.I was never alone out there by the bay. I saw lots of joggers and other cyclists on this part of the trail. On the paved sections, I even saw skaters.

This morning, I saw an egret snacking in Adobe Creek by the bike path that ducks under the freeway with the creek.

The good old days?

Either diapers hold things in better today or we change them more often, because I have not seen anything like this on the market for a while. I believe they are designed to provide a barrier between the cute little darling and the adult lap. I especially like the instructions to give to the professional laundry (take them out of the dryer promptly.)Mom had half a dozen, so I guess she must have needed them. I need to go for a ride now.

Bring back the good old days

Are we doing this all over again this year? Wear the right clothes, tell old people to vote? I remember this one, and Nixon did not win the Weekly Reader ballot in my (liberal) classroom in 5th grade. Let's bring back the bubble umbrellas though, they will keep our iPod headphones dry as we each live in our own little bubbles of sound. May the best man win, let's just hope he knows how to use a computer. I remember going to this place just after it opened. My siblings were quick to point out the water buffalo that shared my name, while nothing else in the world did.
Oh, the horror, TV ads targeted at children. This young lady made quite a difference in all our lives, alerting Congress to the danger of ads targeted at the young, so they banned them from the airwaves. Oh, I forgot they promised to do something. Now we have whole shows that feature product tie-ins to nag parents to buy. (Gotta have those Dora the Explorer shoes.)
I obviously need more to do than wander through these old Weekly Readers looking for news.

The state of the Golden State

This is a couple of days old, but it gives one an idea of why there is so much smoke in the air around here. This came from the Redding Record Searchlight, which has the best coverage so far, probably because they are in the middle of it all.

My sister wants her pictures

Car safety was not the issue that it is now. We often rode in this part of the car, the one that is parked in the garage as I speak. Of course, a proper tailgate has many uses, which are lost today.
I think that is my sister in the cage in the back.
Picking on the little brother.
I am not the only one who stops and takes pictures of my car.Of course, if she really wanted to see them, she could pull the albums down herself when she is here. They are where they have always been in her mother's closet.

What works where?

In my old backwoods home, I stayed with a friend with DSL and a wireless modem and connected without difficulty. Now that I am in the city house where I grew up, the Internet is back on again after an extended outage. For some reason, all the neighbors have locks on their networks, so I can't use them. The nice man from the phone company came out today and spent quite a while trying to find the problem. It seems that someone doing construction (or something like that) pulled on some wires and pulled ours too hard.



Now that I am back on the net, I can look up the fires near my daughter's camp. I can see how much burned on San Bruno Mountain just west of what we once called Candlestick and all sorts of other things.Here she is with two of her friends at camp. I took one of them with her yesterday. I have never heard such delighted screams as these girls and more let out when they say that their friend who left them for the cold north was back with them for a week. How nice for them that they are all in the same cabin. I feel for the counselor.Yet more fires along the road between camp and Redding.I can share what I have been doing too. On my way south yesterday afternoon, I realized that I was within a mile of one of my favorite places. I have always wanted to ride a bike on the trails there, and suddenly there I was with a bike and nobody to hurry me off to the next place and plenty of time. I realized as I cruised along (nobody would mistake me for a serious rider) that I have done a lot of rivers lately. Last week at home, I rode along our eponymous river. Saturday I rode along the Susan River (sorry, no camera), yesterday featured the Sacramento River, and today found me by what once was San Francisquito Creek. I do not think there will be a mosquito problem there this summer. I meandered around by the place where Stanford reserves their academics, and found my way to my parent's final resting place. I did not add to the decorations today, but I will freshen them up later this week. My last two notes for the day are about things for which one can honestly blame one's paternal unit. In the first instance my siblings and I are not responsible for what we do in front of cameras, our father was up to it before we were born. This is my parent's first thanksgiving after they were married (about 20 days after.) Everyone looked so young then.In the second instance, I see a striking resemblance between my brother's and his son's behavior. I am not sure about 3B and the twirly thing, but I have seen that thumb securely protected by his mouth many times.

On the road again

I know I drive a small car. In the parking lot of Wendy's in Bend, Oregon I found a spot next to this beast. My daughter assures me it is a fashion faux pas to drive anything that is not fuel efficient these days. I am sure the owner of the truck was properly embarrassed by the little car next to him.Is it necessary to rub it it? Please note that not just the bottom of the windows, but also the door handles are above the top of my car. We found this guy right by the car at a rest area. He was more afraid of me than I was of him. He ran away when I tried to take his picture, so I had to come back more slowly. Note the shadow in the upper right. He proceeded to slither under a door on the back of the outhouse. When I looked again, his nose was sticking out. I pity the mouse that runs along the building.
Now we are getting somewhere.
Both of us.

Now I feel loved

I have more unkind words to say about the post office, but I know my sister in law loves me as much as my sister. When we were at graduation last week, everyone was showing off what she sent them when she came home from Uganda. My brother posted pictures of his new bike on his website. I felt a little left out, but like the check, I figured something might be in the mail. I guess the post office liked our package enough to open it and savor it for a while. Everything arrived unscathed by postal equipment inside. Thank you for the gifts and the packaging job. In other news, Border Collies can read. How else do you explain this behavior? We visited this lake yesterday and walked around it with the dog. Someday soon (like when I return from California) I will go back and swim in it too. I figure the buoy line is a good start for an open water course.