White weekend

Today we did what many people in California like to do: we went to
visit the snow. We "visit" snow - others must live with it. After
passing hundreds who were content to play in the mud, we found a place
devoid of people and filled with snow.

We had a great time.

I bet they are softer than pillows

Is this what the duck from Babe was thinking?

The duck said, "Christmas means carnage". Do you think this is what he
was honking about?

This was a birthday cake that someone left on the Sunday school snack
table this morning. Looks like the cake was in an accident - people
who ate it said it was good.

What were they thinking?

A new shop has opened in the Valencia mall food court - Mojo's Mac.
They make . . . Macaroni and cheese. I'm sure it's very good, but mac
& cheese in this economy. It's 5.45 for.te basic mac, more for extras
like chicken, bacon, ground beef and such.

Some parent might buy it for their begging child. While I had my lunch
they made two sales, both were for children.

I give them 4 months. Cooper might like it.

Snow in Valencia

We had an unexpected surprise today snow; Well it was man made and
pushed into the lot of the Bridgeport Market Place for their grand
opening. The boys had a great time.

Dad's recovering

My dad is smiling after his brain shunt. He will be in the hospital
for a few days.

The lizard whisperer

Campbell loves lizards. This one did not mind roaming around
Campbell's shirt. Once we left the scarf factory he let it go.

Not in Valencia

The boys enjoyed shooting BB guns at targets in El Centro. This is
something that is not easy to do at home. They love playing on the
dirt and shooting. As soon as they are awake they start asking when
they can shoot. Nice clean boy fun.

Now it's clear

I'm glad it will be stooping until future notice.

Remember

Remember.

I took this photo in Ypres Belgium before the Last Post Ceremony.

Another year

Today we had Cooper's annual cardiology appointment. We praise the
Lord that we have another year with nothing to do - no surgery, no new
restrictions.

This appointment was tinged with some sadness - our doctor is retiring
in December. He has been a doctor for 50 years. He has been very kind
and understanding to Cooper for seven years. We will miss him, but we
trust that Cooper's next doctor will be as good. Thank you Dr. Fink.

Hospital visit

Visiting my dad in the hospital again. C1 and C2 cheered him up. He
seems to be more like he used to, polite and kind.

Unwanted gifts

Someone left us two unwanted gifts under one of the trees at GTY.  A used diaper, and a banana that even Garry K would have said was too ripe.

Beyond the gifts under the tree, someone also left a pair of flip-flops in our driveway.  The gift tag must of blown off in the wind, so I cannot send a thank you note.

Happy Birthday to me

To round out the unusual birthday celebration, I ate my cake with chopsticks.

Andy still fun

Andy is growing fast. He is now 7.25KG, about half of what he'll be when full grown. The boys love taking him for walks and tossing his "guy" down the hall.

Happy Birthday to me

For my birthday I went to a party with 7000 people at Philippe's. Sandwiches were rolled back to 1908 prices (10 cents). We waited 5 hours in the party line. A great time was had by all. When we came for their 95th the lines were not so long - this was much longer than I expected.

Rain?

John Daley stands in the rain during our brief storm. It took me a while to remember the word for it.

It's less of a gate than you'd think

Since thing have gone so well we were able to take the morning and see a few things around Berlin.

When I think of gates, I think of barriers and such, this is more of a triumphal arch. It was still amazing to see. We also walked through Check Point Charlie, some wonderful neighborhoods, and visited the German memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe.

After our morning tour, we met back at the church to finalize everything for Sunday.

Now we pray that a room full of people with GSM phones doesn't through everything wacky.

Jay puts it together

After a trip to a few stores we had what was needed to put together the system to record the sermons adapted from John MacArthur's material and preached in German. Unlike many projects this one has gone smoothly. Sunday will be the live test of the system.

German Efficiency - East Berlin Style

The hotel I'm staying used to be on Lenin Street. After The Wall came down, they renamed the street, but some of the habits take longer to change.

Earliest Yet

Labor Day we found these at the Valencia K-Mart. It's nice to know that the Christmas season now begins in September. I'm sure that one day soon, the decorations will come out Memorial Day.

Meet Andy

Well after much waiting and waiting and waiting, we finally have a dog. This is Saint Andrew Clonrichert of Waterford a Kerry Blue Terrier -- we call him Andy.

He is cute, soft, and bouncy. Now for the fun part: house training.

Fish!

Shortly after Cooper caught a fake-fish lure, he caught this genuine rainbow trout. Campbell had a few good bites, including one that got reeled close to shore before escaping.

After we got back to the condo, Ben fried the fish and we all got a small fish snack. Cooper did not like it, Campbell could have eaten several.

Sunset

We enjoyed the sunset. It was a beautiful place to enjoy the end of the day.

Gone Fishin'

After dinner we took C1 and C2 out to learn to fish. Former Ranger (Ben) gave the boys a quick primer and let them loose. The boys did not realize that fishing is all about peaceful waiting, not instant results. A good lesson to learn.

Mono Lake

After Bodie, we went for a short visit to Mono Lake. Amazing Sky.

Bodie

We took a drive off the mountain today to go and visit Bodie. The last 3 miles of road unpaved. We spent the day hiking among the ruins. Later we'll see Mono Lake.

Burned Forest

Thursday we went on a 7.5 mile hike from Horseshoe Lake to Devils Postpile. Along the way we passed through a part of the forest that burned in 1992. A benefit of the fire is that it makes for a panoramic view of the San Joaquin Valley.

Ben was a pack-man most of the hike. The rest of the children all did fine.

Friday: Yosemite.

A lake to ourselves

We hiked pased the kill zone (an area where CO2 has killed 100s of trees) McLeod lake. When we first arrived there were two others at the lake. By the time we left we were all alone. Cool to be in middle of no where.

Nice hike

Resting in front of the Postpile.

What started as a normal hike

We started our Tuesday with a hike to the Devil's Postpile. From there we took a less used trail over to Red's Meadow. I was taking some pictures of the basalt formations, when we heard a noise off in the distance, then we were hit with an awful smell. We had just been talking about what to do if we should encounter a bear. Off in the distance running and at quick pace we saw something huge and hairy. I quickly raised my camera and was able to get just one blurry picture -- I had been taking pictures of rocks, so I was not ready for a moving object.

John Daley would know better than I, but we may have had an encounter with Bigfoot.

Quality is forever

Apple Pan - quaility is forever. A great motto. After picking Ben up from LAX I took him for one of the best burgers in LA. Parking is usually an issue - but clean living got me the one space in front. Great food and great parking. Good thing it's not too close - eating here too often and forever might come sooner than you'd think.

Who is that kid?

This picture was taken 29 years ago this month. A few things to note:

• that hair style was in at the time (and it's back again)
• my hair was red
• my eyes were green

I was an invited guest

I was invited by the Postal Service to the release of their new Disney themed postage stamps. The invitation allowed me to take a guest, so Jay Flowers joined me and about 300 others for the special event.

The swag was light: water and some first day of issue stamps canceled on collector covers -- cool. They also provided one day park hopper passes and free parking.

We are having a great day at Disneyland.

It must not mean what I think it means

Saw this sign today in China Town. I wonder what they sell.

Chick-fil-a again

Yum. This time it was all the Myers and the Ficketts. Even Jennifer decided to get a regular - she usually gets grilled. Why bother?

They even serve Southern-style sweet tea.

After lunch we spent the afternoon at the sea, enjoying the sun and sand.

Someone didn't

Well they may have paused as the sign scraped the underside of their car, but I don't think they stopped. This was close to our house so I'm surprized that we didn't hear it.

The city was out within hours of this picture and had it replaced.

How far would you drive for free food?

Ben Myers and I went to Oxnard this morning (100 miles round trip) for a free chicken on a biscuit breakfast. Chick-fil-a was giving away free items to anyone in a cow mask/costume for Cow Appreciation Day. Don't ask how much gas it takes for free food. This is my second time to Chick-fil-a in four days. I like the drive.



Best chicken biscuit in town -- or several towns.


Ben celebrates Cow Appreciation Day in style.



Bill moos for breakfast




So the question is: Will I go back for dinner?

Long Distance Dinner

We decided to escape the heat, so we drove to the sea. Since we were so close we had dinner at the Chick-fil-a in Oxnard. What's a little gas for the perfect chicken sandwich?

Family Time

We stopped by my parent's house for lunch and dessert. While we were there my sister's kids also stopped by. While they were here we called my sister and chatted with her on speakerphone. She loved the time. It was great that we were all able to be together. If you look closely you can see my sister - she's they grey phone.

Rodeo Drive

Saturday we took Elisabeth on a shopping tour of LA. First we had brunch at Swingers, then shopping at The Grove - where she was shocked by the model at A&F. The we went to a store that sells clothing that was used in movies. Then we went to Rodeo Drive where she found a shirt she liked enough to buy. We saw some interesting (weird) people on Rodeo Drive. We went on a short drive through Beverly Hills, then off to Porto's for dinner. We finished the day with a private tour of a desert botanical garden in Valencia. A fun day.

4th of July

Elisabeth (from Norway) experiences the 4th with a croud of Americans at Bridgeport Park. Great food, now the wait for the fireworks.

Something Different

A friend of mine was asked an odd question by one of his neighbors. I could not stop laughing when I heard the actual request. So what I'm asking is that you take some time and then post your most odd/funny/humorous answers to:

My neighbor called and asked to borrow my ____________. The said they needed to _____________ under the ________________.

I'll post the actual request in the new few weeks.

Happy Birdhaday Cooper

My mom checked the spelling of "Cooper" before she left the shop. She did not think she'd need to check anything else.

My guess is the cake writer is not a native English speaker.

BTW - it's not from Porto's; it's from another Burbank bakery.

Rats?

No, roaches. Bummer of a day to be closed by the health department - 106.

How bad must the infestation be to get an ice cream store closed.

People were walking up to the sign to see why the store was closed. Most said what we were thinking - it will be a long time till I get ice cream from that shop.

Free cone day is not till April. They'll surely be clean by then.

Eat

Today's lesson in Sunday school was about Peter's vision from the Lord that all things are good to eat.

In keeping with the lesson we went and had some wonderful non-kosher foods for lunch at Porto's; Cubans know how to slow roast a pig. Mmm.

Valencia's Gator

On our walk this morning to the fake lake, Cooper said, 'look a gator'. Thinking he had spied a large lizard I kept walking. Then Campbell pointed and said the same thing.

Sure enough a gator's head could be clearly near the bird sculpture. But like the lake, it's fake. We think it may have been put there to discourage the geese from eating the plants near the sculpture.

The next question is what should we name it. I like fauxlagator.

I'm open to suggestions.

Canada?

No - this sign is in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn in Valencia. I think icy is not possible.