Frivolous Flip Flops

I started this quilt before Dad died. After everyone went back home it saved my life. Who could be depressed working on something like this? I got the pattern from one of my quilting magazines and used left-over scraps from my stash. Now it's hard to find another project that looks like half as much fun.

I'll be on my way to California by the end of this week, and Dara has already scouted out a quilting show to attend in S.F. while I'm there. Lots of good ideas at those shows but most of them are miles above my skill level and artistic abilities. Inspirational, though.

I've decided to keep this one.

Colorado Snowboarding

Kyla was geeking out at a forensic science conference in Denver last week and managed to twist our arms to join her for some snowboarding. We picked her up Friday night and drove through a snowstorm to base camp in Breckinridge. On Saturday, Kyla and I explored the fresh snow on the Breckinridge slopes. Dara was not up for snowboarding, but explored the cute, old town. Sunday we had a beautiful day snowboarding at Vail, and then we rounded out day three in an all-day snowfall at Copper Mountain. After all that resort-hopping, I'd have to say I liked Breckinridge the best of the three. More pictures on Flickr, but be warned: pictures of Kyla and me in helmet and goggles predominate.

I'm Back

Some recent changes in my life may afford me with the time I once had to participate in the family blog. I won't bore you with the details but I was offered a 40 hr a week job. At first I laughed then I looked at the dismal trend of business over the last 2 years, the time I have dedicated, and the outlook for 09-10 and it looked like a no brainer so I accepted. I start tomorrow. I find myself looking forward to it and the changes it will present, on the surface it looks like a vacation compared to the last few years of Harris Builders but we will see. Other recent news is during a recent wind storm 65mph+ the entire roof blew off my 1 story barn, it is completely flattened with the exception of the masonry walls. It blew so hard at some point that it lifted the entire roof structure off and into a violent collision with the silo which was damaged as well, the parts that didn't hit the silo crashed into a phone pole which caused a chain reaction of pole failures all the way to my house. Fortunately the house and the 2 story barn were not damaged and no one was hurt. The aftermath looks like the footage of the trailer park after the tornado story seen on TV. I intend to see to it someone lives up to that "Like a good neighbor" slogan but that remains to be seen as well. I may have a rough couple of months with a job transition and repairing my barn but I hope to regain my spot on the blog and contribute more regularly.

More California Wildlife

Can't wait to see this guy's vacation videos. The human's side of the story came from the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Fun with Plumbing

I never heard of losing the gas to your house before, short of not paying your bill, a major gas leak, or being on the bad end of a Gazprom contract. But, that's what happened to us yesterday when the saturated ground apparently leaked water into a natural gas pipe between our meter and the house. The water is sitting in there at a low spot acting like a plug that the .25 psi gas cannot get by. It's not PG&E's problem, naturally. Nothing that four days of trenching, cutting through a driveway, running new pipe, pressure testing, and inspections won't cure, along with a wheelbarrow of cash. Great timing, too.

I'm off to the confines of our family room now, to huddle by the space heater. No hot water, prepping for our trip, and with Mom's visit coming up. Could be worse, could be raining. Oh, wait...

Dog Day Morning

D'Or looks out at the pouring rain today and contemplates the sacrifices we all have to make in the interests of replenishing the water supply.

Healthy Political Discourse

From a blog I read comes the story of two North Carolina brothers on opposite ends of the political spectrum. One brother, Brad, is a key player in left-leaning organization, Americans United for Change. The other brother, Dallas, runs a conservative organization, Americans for Prosperity.

Dallas, in an email, tells me that his brother is a “raging leftist,” adding: “While I love my brother, I am committed to trying to defeat everything he ever works for.”

Brad, for his part, jokes that his brother is “just a nasty, angry, mean spirited backwards looking wingnut.”

“He’s been an unrepentant right winger for as long as I can remember,” Brad says. “Of course, my wife is, too, so I’m somewhat surrounded.”

I wonder if they have the no-politics rule on their family blog.

Random Ramblings

Dara told me the other day that she did not know what I was thinking, because I'm not blogging as much. Hmmm. Mostly we have been taking advantage of the warm and unseasonably dry weather to work in the garden. I got in my first mowing of the year last weekend, which should get us thru the long weekend with Kyla in the Rockies. I'm looking forward to that. Colorado claims to have had the best snow season in eight years.

It's been so warm here lately that many things are blooming early. (Even some irises, Mom!) Finally this week we've had a little rain, but not enough to make much of a dent. Here in northern California we're talking about severe water rationing, since the snowfall is something like 61% of normal, a pattern that has been in place for three years now. If you've ever seen the central valley of California, marketplace to the world, you know that the only reason it is so productive is because the deep soil and copious sunshine get coupled with lots of irrigation. This year they're talking about entire groves of trees just being left to die.

Working in the garden gives me lots of time to crawl on my hands and knees and contemplate world events. I thought I'd be able to shake my political obsessions now that we have a new president, but they seem to be even more relevant today than they were toward the tail end of the campaign season. For example, I found this chart to be incredibly scary.

Of course, California is in its own special kind of hell. The governator, who rode into office on a recall election by excoriating his predecessor for letting a vehicle tax exemption expire, is scrambling to figure out how to sort things out. Surprise, the "car tax" is a big part of the problem. Oh, along with the increase in spending he's presided over. We have a terrific prison system, though!

Which One Is the Real Me?

Here I am doing my watchstander duty in the radio room. I've put in about 20 hours altogether, mostly on Saturdays when we have patrol boats out on the Gulf or nearby inland waterways. Once one of our own patrol boats went aground (oh shame, shame) and another had to pull him off. That's the most exciting day I've had in the radio room, so you see it's not all Search and Rescue.

Mike sent me the photo below with an encouraging message aimed at getting me to try it. I was hoping you would think that's me with the helicopter. Heck, I don't even get to talk to the helicopter on the radio. Maybe I need to take another training course.