Fire and Smoke and then Hot!

So we have these fires and the smoke in our area is in the DO NOT BREATH category. No breeze to blow this crap away and now the temp is expected to be above 110 degrees by the end of the week. The AC unit is working overtime, a good old swamp cooler wouldn't even help much. The plus side is, still trying to think of a plus, plus, moving on.
I did notice the price of Diesel fuel had dropped to $4.85 from $5.05, this is good, I CAN HAS DRIVE!
If any of you are in the area this coming weekend we are having a Yard Sale, temps are supposed to be down in the low 90's, I might have to wear a shirt or something. We have lots of junk I mean merchandise for sale or trade.
Hell with it, I am going to apply for a job at the local butcher so I can hang out in the cooler.

California Fires

As of late yesterday there were over 1000 fires in California, looking at a map show us to be right in the middle of a lot of them. It's very thick and smelly and hard to breathe, stay in the house don't go out side for anything especially walking the dogs. This morning things are a bit better, we can see across the lakes to the back side of property, if the wind starts to blow it could all be back in our faces. Send gas masks!

Can't Just Sit Around

Being the wondering souls that we are, an opportunity to check out some of the local attractions couldn't be ignored. On fathers day we took off on a short drive up into the Sierra foothills to visit some of the history in the gold country. Nevada City was our destination, you know walk around look at all the old 1850's architecture and rusty mining equipment. Thought it would be a quiet Sunday stroll, grab a little lunch, buy a couple of nicknack's stroll some more. But NO, we got there in the middle of the annual Father's Day Bicycle Race, all the streets were blocked off, could only cross at the proper places. The Bicycle Nazi's were very polite though.
The following weekend we took a spur of the moment trip to Jackson Ca, another 1850's mining community close to the area where gold was discovered to start the rush. Also home to the deepest hard rock gold mine in North America at a mere 5940 feet. But I digress, Jackson Rancheria Casino is also close by and they were conducting auditions for "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and thinking the odds of hitting it big on TV was better than the casino. So I stood in line for a couple of hours and took the test, two actually, evidently one has to ace those puppy's to make the cut because I am not waiting anxiously for a phone call to get my ass to New York. None the less it was an interesting experience, much the same as standing in line at Boot Camp, hurry up and wait. I was going to post another pic of the smoke we have here, yes it's thick and hard to breath, but I can't get the blogger to cooperate, maybe next time

Pictures For You All

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19361752@N02/sets/72157605500290028

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19361752@N02/sets/72157605500290028/show slide show of above pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19361752@N02/sets/72157605500562468 The Berglund Brothers

Way Too Soon

As I said at the funeral, to get up and give tribute to Rocky came way too soon. And as he would have it, it was a surprise. His showing up on our door step, Surprise!!! Who is this shaggy, lanky, scary looking guy wanting to crash at our house. As long as I had known Jody she had never mentioned the name Rocky, but I could tell by her warm greeting they were old friends. Surprise!!! We have had several people crash at our place over the years and I thought Rocky was another stay dog needing a nail to hang his hat for a while. Turns out it was for a little longer than a while. His talents and skills were untold and they came in handy when he converted our two car garage into an office, changed the counters in our kitchen so I could install a dishwasher and the list is so long I can't remember all the times he pulled my ass out of the fire. Rocky worked on my Sportster and was one of only a couple of people to ride it besides my self. I knew that Rocky would be a life long friend, but I never had any thought he would become my brother-in-law, now that was a surprise. Gale and Rocky rode the marriage roller coaster with the best, and I can only describe it as an E-ticket adventure at least from my point of view. Jody and I retold our Rocky stories on our trip home and we laughed and cried and still can't grasp the fact that he is gone, and as fate or luck or Rocky intervention would have it he pulled our ass out of the fire again, I won't say one last time because I know it won't be. Jody and I stopped at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and as we were leaving the first view point I realized I had locked the keys in the truck(Oh Shit). Call Chevron Travel Club, locksmith, break a window all time consuming a expensive options, none very attractive. In my pocket was the Buck knife Rocky carried that Gale had given me and with a little luck I was able to pop the lock on the sliding glass window and get back on the road with only a little delay. So once again Rocky came to the rescue and saved the day. We miss you Bro and love you, and know you are riding the long and winding road with all the Free Food you will ever need.

Dead Cousins

The recent passing of cousin Carl has brought up thoughts of the other cousins that are no longer with us. As I recollect there was Grant, he was in the Navy and on leave and died in an auto accident. I don’t know his last name; his mother is Vivian, Dad’s sister as I believe she had a husband before Darrel. I don’t think I ever met Grant at least I don’t remember, of course I was pretty young, his death being sometime in the early 60’s. If anyone has a memory of Grant I would love to hear it.

Cheryl died of a brain aneurysm in the late 70’s or early 80’s she grew up in the most beautiful part of Oregon. Cheryl’s parents are Clayton and Fern ; Clayton is Mom’s 2^nd oldest brother. Cheryl had a couple of kids that her brother Larry adopted. They are both great kids that Jody and I got to meet at Clayton and Fern’s 60^th anniversary celebration. I remember Cheryl as a bossy teenager, but at that time in my life everybody older and bigger than me was bossy. I never got to know her as an adult, wish I had.

Marsha died of cancer in the late 90’s or early 00’s; she was living in Texas at the time. She was married and had several kids, which relocated to Portland after her death. Marsha was a big wig in the hospitality industry, hotel management, corporate level and all that cool stuff. I got to know Marsha a little bit as an adult when she would come to San Diego for business and we would get together for dinner and tell all the old stories. I liked Marsha very much she had her stuff together. By the way Marsha was Clayton and Fern’s oldest child.

Tom died of cancer or the cure I am not sure which in 05. Tom was career Air Force retiring as a Major after 25 years. His parents are Paul and Wanda and have two sisters; Paul is Dad’s youngest brother. Tom was the closest to my age of any of my cousins and we had a lot of adventures as kids, teenagers, and young adults. He was a little older than me and had a car first; we had a lot of firsts together, we could have gotten into a lot of trouble if we had known how . Tom’s family and religion were his life but he never shoved it down your throat. My last visit with Tom was at his house in Clarkston and it was good, but very somber as we talked about the end and it was harder for me than for him. I miss you Tom.

Carl died of cancer around the 1^st of May 2008, I am currently located about 3 hours away and I did not make the trip to see him before he passed. I am really sorry about that. His parents were Carl Sr (deceased) and Rosalee, they live in the same house in Petaluma Ca. for as long as I can remember he had one brother. Carl and his wife Robin still live in the same house that I first visited in the 70’s and they have two kids. He was upper management but saw the big picture and was lured to the real life of higher wages and way lower hours. Carl was 10 or more years older than me and my first memories of him were when he came to spend the summer with us when we lived in Hell’s Canyon. As a young sailor I would drive or fly or sail from San Diego and spend long weekends at his and Robin’s place, we went to a fireworks show on the 4^th of July 1976 in Petaluma, when my ship pulled into San Francisco for the bicentennial. Carl resembled Cookie from 77 Sunset Strip and lived up to it. RIP Carl.

I have to admit I shed a couple while writing this.

P.S. Any Memories pass them along.

Check out the web site of our new digs

Here is a link to the Hidden Lakes Recreation Area web site, you will also find a link to Flickr for some pretty good Pics.




www.freewebs.com/hiddenlakesrecarea