Month: November 2017

Thanksgiving was in Albuquerque at Casa de Pat en Sandia this year. It had been scheduled almost a year ago as soon as she had purchased the new place.

Mollie, Olive and Bear and Swamper arrived on Monday after a 16 or so hour trip from Truckee. Apparently it was epic. Mollie set her sites on Albuquerque and rolled in at 0500 in the morning and drove right past Pat waving and the gargage lights on. Highway hypnosis at its finest. Joni, Kiara and I hit the road around 0600 on Tuesday for an 810 mile trip. North to Barstow, turn right and follow Route 66 until Albuquerque. The CMAX was loaded to the gunnels as we generally travel pretty heavy. We hit ABQ around 8:00 PM.

The weather was fabulous! Pat’s house is very southwestern in design and it is in a great location. We spent all Wednesday and of course Thursday putting together the feast. Pies, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, salad, ham, turkey and on and on. The girls played cards each night and drank wine while I went to bed.

On Friday, we went up Sandia Peak on the tram. Top elevation is 10,364 feet AMSL. One of the interesting observations on our trip to Albuquerque, no asthma irritants while we were there. At 10,000 feet, hiking around I almost felt like I was young and in control again and could breathe (always good!). The kids enjoyed the hike (including Kiara). Olive was fascinated by the fossils in the limestone at the top of Sandia Peak. Bear found all the vegetation, particullary the branches that looked like firearms, fascinating. We had a long talk about tree bark and how it helps the tree live and shouldn’t be peeled off. Both of those kids are smart as whips.

On Saturday, we loaded up and headed home. Mollie, kids and dog caravaned with us and we eventually stopped at Barringer Crater to look over the best preservd impact crater in the US. I had been there before, but nobody else in the caravan had. I think they were all a little skeptical about how interesting a hole in the ground might be. Once there everybody changed their mind and finally believed me when I said it was one of the more interesting places I had been. Bear saw it and first thing he said was “ASTEROID!”. Nice that I have a family of science believers.

We continued on with Kiara at the helm of the CMAX and Mollie peeled off at Kingman to head up through Las Vegas and then on to Reno and Truckee while we made our way back to SoCal. Took a leisurely dinner stop at Barstow since there were accidents on the Cajon Pass slowing life down … welcome back to California! Through skillful rerouting of most of the map applications that we had, we ended up driving down the San Andreas fault waiting for the “big one”.

So the trip was a rousing success. Everybody had fun. We rolled into the garage about 9:30 on Saturday evening and immediately dropped into bed.

ROAD TRIP – FINISHED!

So the scariest part of the headline above is the “May” part of the phrase. Really??? The implications are nothing less than mind boggleing (har har har). I have so may questions not the least of which is where this Italian doctor is getting the funding to keep up this research?

I would hope that even though this particular end result seems way out in left field, there are a lot of steps along the way which may benefit assuming Dr. Canaverro is actually proceeding as a scientist (somewhat questionable). But it is an interesting concept.

A work related saga. I used to be a hydrogeologist. Now all I do is fix problems, almost all related to something other than hydrogeology.

Didn’t write any more yesterday because that last line is pretty much just me bitching and I try not to bitch in these writings.

The upcoming weeks look to be real winners. Thanksgiving in Albuquerque with family, Christmas at home, with family and I am lobbyiung for New Years in Catalina.  The boat is in pretty good shape. We recaulked some of the teak on the deck to minimze water flow through the tesk. We will probably continue that process this weekend. There is a very slow leak in the main engine through hull. It is more of a weep than a leak. I will probably schedule some yard time in January or February to get it fixed.

We also seem to be begining the process to move onto the boat for a year. We will rent out the house. This is one of those things I probably want more than Joni but with what we spend on the boat, I would like to use it for something. The move involves further downsizing which is always a good thing to work on. The garage is getting less and less cluttered all the time and we are being very careful about how much stuff we have in the house itself working on getting rid of one thing for every new thing that we bring in.

Starting to think about this weeks road trip to Albuquerque. Looks like a 11-12 hour drive. Weather is looking good. Juat a matter of finding slurpees and slim jims on the road!

Yesterday was haircut day. For at least the last almost 29 years, I have gotten a haircut every three (or four) months. I have gotten every one of those haircuts from the same guy. In those years, we have been through and shared experiences on births, deaths, weddings, vacations, new cars, new houses, college, job changes, illnesses, political views and techno changes. I did a small geotech job for him at his hillside property and he cut my hair for free for a while. He hired one of our girls to sweep the hair up at his shop and do towels and other odd jobs. So for 29 years he has been my friend, my psychiatrist and my hair guy. Both of us are getting older, and I am a little concerned about the day that he retires. Although he tells me that his son is also a hair guy in his own shop, I am not sure if that will be the same experience. I may just have to let my hair grow.

Very excited that the holidays are upon us. Thanksgiving in Albuquerque with Pat, Mollie, maybe Bjorn, Caitlin, Olive, Bear, Brady, Jon and Ruth. Kiara may have to work and Kylie does have to work so staying in SoCal for the holiday. I have been tasked with stuffing, carrots and I delgated Sonia’s salad to Mollie. We have to bring the blow up bed if we don’t want to sleep on the floor. Should be a party! We will have Christmas at home (although we may go out for Chinese food for Christmas dinner!) and maybe New Years at Catalina.  Photo below – Mom and Dad Hagar’s; Georgetown, SC Christmas 1991.

Working on boat. Trying to waterproof the deck as best we can until replacement next spring. We recaulked a couple of sections that really needed it. We have many more areas and we wil probably work on it again this weekend, weather permitting. The teak is shrinking, particulalry around the hatches. To compound the problem, the caulk remains high so it creates little pooling areas on the teak which in turn makes the teak shrink more as it dries. We are in a catch-22 with it. I think that we may end up replacing a significant amount of the core on the deck because it has rotted out. Will be checking that as we remove the teak. It’s a boat!

Me too Forrest — me too.

I am an unabashed Robert Service fan. I blame one of my college roommates for that. When the kids were young, I would have them lay in the crook of my knee at bedtime and read things like “The Cremation of Sam McGee” and the “The Shooting of Dan McGrew to them. Probably should have stuck with Dr. Seuss!