Taking it Easy

Well, I better get with it because now my "adorable" daughter in Belgium is putting on the pressure. Seems pretty hum-drum around here lately. Especially after all the excitement around the Los Molinos tournament. However, it is about to pick up again starting this coming Tuesday with the beginning of the Governor Nominee Advanced Training Seminar (GNATS) up in Bellvue Washington. Kim and I are pretty excited to get started on our biggest, most exciting (and scariest) Rotary adventure yet.

The Horse Whisperer studying!

We fly out Monday, so late last week we packed our bags. Wanted to get everything organized because we are spending the weekend at the River's Edge RV park in beautiful Clio (only 15+ minutes from the house). It is a Rotary camp out, and we are having a ball! Kim is relaxing in the trailer reading about horse training methods (really). We just got back from a 3 mile plus walk, and I am feeling like I got a good workout.

I have been doing better and better lately. Walking pretty serious mileage (3-4 mi) everyday. ALSO, last Wednesday, I went and loaded and unloaded a cord of fire wood (no cutting or splitting thank goodness). The best news was that I was able to get out of bed the next day without much difficulty. In contrast, in August I was layed up for a couple of days because I barbecued, sold hoagie sandwiches, and went to a wedding all in one week. Seems like a piece of cake now!

Our home away from home.

So last night we had a delicious dinner graciously provided by Gail "Virus" Ellingwood, and Dan "X-man" Greenway. Some folks didn't show so were were "pinch hitters". Probably more like "pinch eaters"! Anyway, after dinner, we sat around the campfire telling stories and sipping a little wine. Very little in my case :( . Lucy is spending the weekend in Sutter with "Hay-sone" so since there is nobody at home, I ran in to feed the menagerie this morning, then got back just in time for breakfast. Kim prepared breakfast burritos for everyone, and we pretty much finished it all off!

Tonight is barbecue night. Kind of a potluck deal where everyone contributes. We are grilling corn on the cob. If you've never done this you should some day. It is my favorite way to prepare corn OTC. Just leave the husks on and throw it over the coals. Turn it regularly, and when the husks are pretty burned looking, take it off. Let it cool (so you don't burn yourself) then shuck the corn and enjoy ;) .

Moe calls this my
 "Captain Morgan"  pose!

We will head out of here on Sunday morning and put the finishing touches on our packing. Then on Monday it's off to GNATS! I will give you a full report on our experiences there later. By the way, I got my Tux back from the shop and tried it on. Kind of weird for me, getting so formal and dressy, but I guess that's the drill some of the time!

So for now, just sitting here relaxing and enjoying the last of the summer weather. Beautiful clear sky, no wind, and about 80 degrees F. Life is good!

That's All!

Road Warrior

What a week! I think I set a record for miles driven over Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Here's how it went.

Wednesday afternoon I was dispatched to be in Lake Isabella, with my incident management team, on Thursday at noon. The Canyon Fire was about 5,000 acres and growing so I was expecting to be gone at least 10 days. It is an 8 and 1/2 hour drive, so I spent the rest of Wednesday finishing up some projects I was working on, and preparing for the trip. This would be my first deployment with my Team  since last year (I missed two earlier this year due to my surgery). I was excited as usual, but also a little bummed about leaving Kim and Lucy. The Los Molinos Volleyball tournament (Lucy's last!) was scheduled for Friday and Saturday. My road time started with a trip to Reno Wednesday evening to pick up a rental pick-up. I needed to leave at least two hours before the rental agency opened up on Thursday morning, so had to make the round trip. By the time I was packed and loaded it was nearly midnight.

So, I hit the road at 4:45 the next morning and headed south. It was a long day behind the wheel, and when I got to Lake Isabella it looked like the fire had "laid down", as they in firefighter slang, and we might not be needed after all. So, we waited until about 19:00 (that's 7:00 PM for you non-military time types). We were standing around chatting wondering what our fate would be when someone next to me said "What do you think they will decide?" My friend replied: "They'll probably say 'Thanks for coming!'"  Not one minute later, here comes the Forest Supervisor and as she walks by, she says "Thanks for coming guys!" So much for a 10 day assignment. After dinner, I curled up across the front seat of my rented truck (to cheap to find a motel, and too lazy to screw with my tent) and went to sleep.

Friday morning I headed for home. I left at a more civilized time (8:00) and settled in for the long drive. Since Kim was in Los Molinos for Lucy"s volleyball tournament, she couldn't pick me up in Reno after turning in my rental. So it was emergency plan "B". Kim remembered that our good friend Dr. Chris Stanton worked in Reno. She called Laura (his wife) and arranged for him to pick me up at 19:00 (you should remember what time that is but you can cheat by checking the previous reference above) at the Reno airport. Since he drives a Prius, and I had the rental pick-up stuffed with all my needs for a ten days assignment away from home, I drove on home to empty the truck prior to turning it in. After changing clothes I left home and drove back to Reno to await my ride to come back to home (sounds twisted doesn't it?). Got home (for the second time) at about 21:00 (thanks Chris!!) and went to bed buzzing from so much time on the road.

Saturday morning, I awoke at 6:00, showered, and hit the road for Los Molinos (only a 3 hour drive). With luck I could catch most of the second day's games. Turned out I could have slept in because Lu's first game was at 8:30. No way I could make that without Scotty to "beam" me down there! Their second contest wasn't until 12:00! Oh well, I got to see a few JV games while I waited. Finally, it was game time and they crushed the other Team (Biggs HS) in about 20 minutes....next game scheduled for 14:30 (work on it, you can figure it out).

A happy Lucy!

Without going into too much detail, Portola won the championship! They beat the hosting high school, Los Molinos, in three games! I was very proud (as were the girls) since Los Molinos had defeated them in two straight on Friday, and won the first game of the championship match to boot. It was very close with all the girls contributing. Lucy did some great work at the net including smashing an "overpass" into the back corner for a big point in game three. The three game match went 22-25, 25-20, and 15-13! The girls were ecstatic. I have never seen Lucy so happy and excited.

Then it was a 3 hour drive back to the Sierra Valley. I crawled into the sack at about 00:30. Are you getting the hang of military time yet? It was a long road trip, but in the end, I was very fortunate to witness one of Lucy's high school  high points. That is, after all, what being a Dad is all about! I am a lucky man!!

That's All!

Playing Dress Up

Well, my new Rotary assignment (District Governor in 2012-2013) has some unexpected consequences. There will be several "black tie" events over the next three years. That means wearing a tuxedo. Of course those that know me understand I am a "jeans and T-shirt" kind of guy. In fact sleeves on the T-shirts are usually optional! So, I am looking at renting a tux several times (at probably near $100 bucks a pop) or (shudder) buying one.

Enter Kim. She makes a phone call or two and finds out there is a big sale at the Men's Wearhouse. The store specializes in dress and business wear for men. Well it sounds like a good sale...buy one, get one free. My Scott's blood is attracted to this idea.  Hmmmm, sounds like I could save some money here. Ok, so we hop in the car and head to Reno on Sunday the sale ends Monday, so we gotta hurry! I should have known this wouldn't be my kind of shopping when Kim brought along my three sport coats. Hmmmm, why do we need those?

Things started innocently enough. We met a nice lady sales person, and she measured me: 44 long.  She checked the racks, and I couldn't believe my good luck. There was only ONE tuxedo in my size, and it was on sale! "This is going to go fast" I thought. Perhaps we could go browse around Pep Boys Auto Supply Store to fill out the rest of the day. This thought was going through my head as I gazed out the window at Pep Boys (in the same strip mall as Men's Wearhouse). "Ok, now we need a suit" Kim exclaimed happily. Remember, buy one get one free? Sure, how bad could it be? The sales woman waved at the rack, "your size goes from here to here." She indicated a length of rack that seemingly ran the length of the store. Kim's eyes lit up, and she joyously started examining every suit on the rack. I stood there thinking "stay calm, stay calm". After about 10 minutes, she had selected about 7 or 8 suits and was holding them out to me expectantly. I must have had a puzzled look on my face because she said "try these on"!

Visions of auto parts and accessories quickly vanished from my mind. "Steady now. Keep it together" I said to myself. And then, a reprieve. "How much are these" queried my wife. The sales woman reluctantly indicated the tags on the sleeves. "$500, $450, $650!" I had to admit, my woman had good taste! Much to my relief, she quickly put the selected suits back on the rack like they were contaminated. Then she started on one end of the rack and checked the price of every single suit, pulling out the ones under $300.

Fifteen minutes later she had narrowed it down to four suits for me to try on. I dutifully headed for the dressing room. about a half hour later we had decided on a very nice blue suit that was marked down from $500 to $230. "A tux and a suit for $230, pretty good deal" I thought, furtively checking my watch (Pep Boys here I come). "Ok, now we need to accessorize" Kim happily exclaimed. "Huh", I managed to grunt. "Shoes, shirts, ties, cuff links and tie pins....It's two for the price of one silly!!

Well, the rest is history. About the time we had fully "accessorized" the tuxedo and suit, I saw Kim over at the slacks rack. "What is she doing there" I asked myself, "I already have slacks." TWO FOR ONE!" How could I have not seen this coming? So, we got two ties for the price of one, two pairs of slacks for the price of one, and two "silk tees" (I had never even heard of one) for the price of one.

Not sure where I will keep this stuff!

By the time we checked out (Pep Boys was closed, and I didn't have any money left anyway) we had saved almost a thousand dollars! Of course that meant we had also spent almost a thousand dollars!! One last highlight, Kim found a mistake while examining the receipt. Seems they had taken the suit OFF clearance sale, but had not pulled the sale tag. They gave us the sale price and our bill went down by nearly three hundred dollars.

Well, I am one well decked out dude now. Shopping is no fun for me but my wonderful wife had the time of her life "dressing up her Ken doll." I keep focusing on the money we "saved" and it does help some. Now I have to find room in my closet for all this stuff!

That's All!