Sunday afternoon instead of watching those Raiders give the game away.. which of course they did .. 20 something points in the fourth quarter.. we decided to take a little drive.
Sue loves to get out and try to spot some wildlife living along the road. The foothills are really really dry this year. We had a great trip up. We headed up to Snelling. It s a little hydro gold mine town pretty close to us. We decided to go up to Hornitos. Hornitos has an annual pilgrimage of the day of the dead to the top of their hill. Every year people put luminaries up and they walk to honor the dead that used to be buried above ground in oven like arrangements. Hornitos was a big town in the gold rush with nearly 15,000 inhabitants. Today there may be about 35 people that live there.
We drove through town and decided to continue on that road. It is a nice paved road and it was going in the right direction so up we went. It climbed and dipped and everywhere there were the stone fences of the post gold rush era. At the top of one of the hills Sue spotted three deer congregating under the trees. and little further along she said she saw some big birds. I backed up the car and I saw a beautiful wild turkey hen. She claimed that there was another just ahead of that one. What a sight!
We drove into the little way stations of Bear Valley and Mt. Bullion. This was the home base of Murietta. The bandit that robbed the stages full of gold as they headed out of the mills. We were on the big high way..still two lanes Hwy 49.
Our final stop along the way was to the town of Mariposa. There were many businesses not making it since the highway to Yosemite was under construction. We stopped and got a little bit of gas to make sure that we could get home.
The last bit of wildlife Sue noted was a coyote that she spotted on the plains headed in the Central valley from Planada. It looked like it had something in its mouth. Dinner for sure.
Have a great day.
Pat
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Growing up without TV
For most of my childhood days we did not have a TV at home.
The first TV that I remember was at a neighbor's house in Grand Junction when I was under 5. It was a neighborhood phenomenon. It was black and white and owned by a neighbor who was considerably richer than us. They had a set of twins that was about my age.. Deany and Danny. We had a great time in a little yard preschool pool that has square sides and was probably made of Rubber.. not much plastic at the time.
My goal at that time was to take a long enough nap so that I could join the parents group that met on the nights that Milton Berle was broadcast. The neighbor's hosted TV viewing parties. Sadly I never made it, and knowing now about those shows and its content it is clear to figure out that it was a good thing that I was not a napper. Milton was always flirting with the gender issue, and to see a man dressed up in dress was truly funny in that era.
I remember Winky Dink however. You sent in a couple of dollars and got back a kit that you could interact with the TV by coloring on the screen with crayons and a screen protector.
There was brother Buzz with his rules for being a good kid. This was all pre.. teach Pat to read.
In the first grade I was not reading. Dad and mom made the monumental decision that they would forgo their entertainment to insure that I would read. The Tv was discarded and disabled.
I learned to read.. and the rest is history.. as they say. More later on what this did to peer interaction.
Love
Pat
The first TV that I remember was at a neighbor's house in Grand Junction when I was under 5. It was a neighborhood phenomenon. It was black and white and owned by a neighbor who was considerably richer than us. They had a set of twins that was about my age.. Deany and Danny. We had a great time in a little yard preschool pool that has square sides and was probably made of Rubber.. not much plastic at the time.
My goal at that time was to take a long enough nap so that I could join the parents group that met on the nights that Milton Berle was broadcast. The neighbor's hosted TV viewing parties. Sadly I never made it, and knowing now about those shows and its content it is clear to figure out that it was a good thing that I was not a napper. Milton was always flirting with the gender issue, and to see a man dressed up in dress was truly funny in that era.
I remember Winky Dink however. You sent in a couple of dollars and got back a kit that you could interact with the TV by coloring on the screen with crayons and a screen protector.
There was brother Buzz with his rules for being a good kid. This was all pre.. teach Pat to read.
In the first grade I was not reading. Dad and mom made the monumental decision that they would forgo their entertainment to insure that I would read. The Tv was discarded and disabled.
I learned to read.. and the rest is history.. as they say. More later on what this did to peer interaction.
Love
Pat
Thursday, September 25, 2008
More Percy and the Addition Description
Percy could live on a pretty strange diet.
when he was sitting me we would eat candy bars and pepsi. This was a guy that got up every morning and did 20 minutes of pushups and sit ups.
When he moved out of our house, he moved to the apartments on old El Camino Drive on the way to El Camino High School. One of the really cool things that he had in his apartment was a heated swimming pool. It was admittedly very tiny but it was fun to dunk and get dunked in it.
When Percy was at out house, we shared the first bedroom up the stairs. He got the bed and I slept on the aluminum cot on the other side of the bedroom. I think that as I was getting taller it became evident that they needed another bedroom added to the house. We worked on the bedroom that became part of the addition. It was a very skinny room, and it was a long way from the bathroom. The house had two bathrooms one was connected to the master bedroom the other one was end the hall from the bedrooms. To reach the bathroom I needed to go through the addition,the kitchen, up the stairs and to the end of the hall. I really didn't need a bathroom close by.
What was great about the new addition and the bathroom was that it had a deck and the bedroom had its own door that connected to the deck. The walls were the classic Philippine mahogany paneling, and it had a very nice window to the backyard and a set of "jealousy" window strips that were at the end of the bedroom across from the closet.
The flooring was vinyl tile over plywood. This tile was throughout the addition. The addition had its own heater, and eventually it had a wood stove. The addition became the center of the family community. The dinner table served as s conversation area and provided a casual place to meet and greet with our friends.
The ceiling to the addition had 8 cantilevered 8x18inch beams stained cabot blackish brown. The area between the beams was 2x6 tongue and groove planks stained grey. A large sliding glass window opened from the dining room section of the addition to the small deck which also was cantilevered.
I think that Dad was pretty happy that we were able to build such as structure for around 3 thousand dollars. Can you imagine what the cost would be today?
Have a great day
Pat
when he was sitting me we would eat candy bars and pepsi. This was a guy that got up every morning and did 20 minutes of pushups and sit ups.
When he moved out of our house, he moved to the apartments on old El Camino Drive on the way to El Camino High School. One of the really cool things that he had in his apartment was a heated swimming pool. It was admittedly very tiny but it was fun to dunk and get dunked in it.
When Percy was at out house, we shared the first bedroom up the stairs. He got the bed and I slept on the aluminum cot on the other side of the bedroom. I think that as I was getting taller it became evident that they needed another bedroom added to the house. We worked on the bedroom that became part of the addition. It was a very skinny room, and it was a long way from the bathroom. The house had two bathrooms one was connected to the master bedroom the other one was end the hall from the bedrooms. To reach the bathroom I needed to go through the addition,the kitchen, up the stairs and to the end of the hall. I really didn't need a bathroom close by.
What was great about the new addition and the bathroom was that it had a deck and the bedroom had its own door that connected to the deck. The walls were the classic Philippine mahogany paneling, and it had a very nice window to the backyard and a set of "jealousy" window strips that were at the end of the bedroom across from the closet.
The flooring was vinyl tile over plywood. This tile was throughout the addition. The addition had its own heater, and eventually it had a wood stove. The addition became the center of the family community. The dinner table served as s conversation area and provided a casual place to meet and greet with our friends.
The ceiling to the addition had 8 cantilevered 8x18inch beams stained cabot blackish brown. The area between the beams was 2x6 tongue and groove planks stained grey. A large sliding glass window opened from the dining room section of the addition to the small deck which also was cantilevered.
I think that Dad was pretty happy that we were able to build such as structure for around 3 thousand dollars. Can you imagine what the cost would be today?
Have a great day
Pat
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Its Strange Inside the Reunion
We are faced with an interesting situation. Should the committee release the names of the deceased classmates on the web. The committee is split.
But.. being on the inside and knowing the names... I take a little uncredited solice in knowing that one of my freshman class bullies is not around. He threatened me out of using by locker. So every day I had to haul my books.. all of them up the 12 flights of steps to the pe department. Then home 2 and half miles.. up hill. Some of you know this hill.
Our class was a bubble class. Classrooms were not built to house our numbers. We were in split sessions. And this followed all the way up to high school. Suddenly this boomer class arrived with huge numbers. When capacity was reached and the numbers started to shrink back again, there were too many classrooms constructed. The school board was faced with selling off old elementary schools to day care companies and often to their private competition.
Merced is still building schools and classroom capacity. Will we be in that spot down the road? Its seems like our yearly growth in a county with over 11 percent unemployment cannot be good. But we continue to grow. And even this year at the high school we are looking at growth rather than reductions.
Have a great day
Pat
But.. being on the inside and knowing the names... I take a little uncredited solice in knowing that one of my freshman class bullies is not around. He threatened me out of using by locker. So every day I had to haul my books.. all of them up the 12 flights of steps to the pe department. Then home 2 and half miles.. up hill. Some of you know this hill.
Our class was a bubble class. Classrooms were not built to house our numbers. We were in split sessions. And this followed all the way up to high school. Suddenly this boomer class arrived with huge numbers. When capacity was reached and the numbers started to shrink back again, there were too many classrooms constructed. The school board was faced with selling off old elementary schools to day care companies and often to their private competition.
Merced is still building schools and classroom capacity. Will we be in that spot down the road? Its seems like our yearly growth in a county with over 11 percent unemployment cannot be good. But we continue to grow. And even this year at the high school we are looking at growth rather than reductions.
Have a great day
Pat
Monday, September 22, 2008
6K and still running
Thanks to all those readers out there that have moved my blog up to over 6thousand hits. Its one thing to set down a diary and its another to have an audience for it. Thanks for tuning in!
I continue to enjoy comments along the way so don't be afraid to send me a comment. If I don't like it, I will screen it out and not publish it.
Which reminds me of one of Dad's most revered programs. When the Apple 2E was the rage, there was a "cool" by those days standard called, Publish It. My sister Kelly and I always changed the proxemics on the phrase and we had something that you wouldn't repeat to your mother.. Publi sh it..
Just a funny for your late night or to start your day..
Thanks again for tuning in..
: ) : ) Pat
I continue to enjoy comments along the way so don't be afraid to send me a comment. If I don't like it, I will screen it out and not publish it.
Which reminds me of one of Dad's most revered programs. When the Apple 2E was the rage, there was a "cool" by those days standard called, Publish It. My sister Kelly and I always changed the proxemics on the phrase and we had something that you wouldn't repeat to your mother.. Publi sh it..
Just a funny for your late night or to start your day..
Thanks again for tuning in..
: ) : ) Pat
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Drama in the Junior High
Alta Loma Jr. high had some of the most distinctive band uniforms of any jr. high. They were these marvelous capes. They were red on the top and satin lined yellow gold under. They were heavy but magnificent at the same time. They were purchased from the proceeds of the annual spaghetti feed.
Drama was performed on a a series of platform tables set up in the all purpose room. Percy our speech and drama teacher put on two plays that I remember. Both were well attended. I was in the Christmas Carol. An adaptation of the the Charles Dickens number. I played the ghost from Christmas past. Touch my robe and ... etc. We had a great time with that. We also put on a melodrama play. Dad had put one on in the junior high for years as part of the fund raising carnival that occurred every fall. It was a wondrous thing with students coming in and playing different roles. Percy's was a different thing. It may have been billed as a fund raiser but I am not sure. It was in the multipurpose room. I was played the villain. It was wonderful. We had a trombone player chase me around the auditorium playing the William Tell overture. Our melodrama rented costumes from a costume rental agency in downtown San Francisco. It was big time fun.
Drama was performed on a a series of platform tables set up in the all purpose room. Percy our speech and drama teacher put on two plays that I remember. Both were well attended. I was in the Christmas Carol. An adaptation of the the Charles Dickens number. I played the ghost from Christmas past. Touch my robe and ... etc. We had a great time with that. We also put on a melodrama play. Dad had put one on in the junior high for years as part of the fund raising carnival that occurred every fall. It was a wondrous thing with students coming in and playing different roles. Percy's was a different thing. It may have been billed as a fund raiser but I am not sure. It was in the multipurpose room. I was played the villain. It was wonderful. We had a trombone player chase me around the auditorium playing the William Tell overture. Our melodrama rented costumes from a costume rental agency in downtown San Francisco. It was big time fun.
Doing Web Work
This week I have been working on the website for my class reunion. We are having our 40th reunion in October.
I am doing the website as usual. http://wwww.elcamino68.com . Its been a little hard to remember all of the moves I used to do so easily with golive. I had to join up to Lynda.com and go through their tutorial to re remember the pieces that I had forgotten. I have also been working updating a artist's friend's website. She had won several award and had 11 new painting that needed some web exposure.
This is the weekend that Acacia heads back to UCSD. What a trip! I talked to mam and dad this Am on my walk and they said that the Brownkorbels were headed down the coast and planned to stay overnight in Tustin.
I have been really enjoying the audiobook that Kelly sent me. I listen to it on my quite parts of my morning walk. Its "How Starbucks Saved my Life" Its written by a son of a very famous New Yorker columnist who met all the old time literary celebrities and was a big time advertising exec. who was fired by younger people he had hired. He saved his life by working at Starbucks which gave him his insurance coverage that helped him through a brain tumor. Its a pretty interesting listen.
I did my Starbucks walk today.. and it was pretty full for a Saturday morning. The UC students are back.
Have a great weekend
Pat
I am doing the website as usual. http://wwww.elcamino68.com . Its been a little hard to remember all of the moves I used to do so easily with golive. I had to join up to Lynda.com and go through their tutorial to re remember the pieces that I had forgotten. I have also been working updating a artist's friend's website. She had won several award and had 11 new painting that needed some web exposure.
This is the weekend that Acacia heads back to UCSD. What a trip! I talked to mam and dad this Am on my walk and they said that the Brownkorbels were headed down the coast and planned to stay overnight in Tustin.
I have been really enjoying the audiobook that Kelly sent me. I listen to it on my quite parts of my morning walk. Its "How Starbucks Saved my Life" Its written by a son of a very famous New Yorker columnist who met all the old time literary celebrities and was a big time advertising exec. who was fired by younger people he had hired. He saved his life by working at Starbucks which gave him his insurance coverage that helped him through a brain tumor. Its a pretty interesting listen.
I did my Starbucks walk today.. and it was pretty full for a Saturday morning. The UC students are back.
Have a great weekend
Pat
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