Poor, Poor Cub Fans!

This is dedicated to all those Cub Fans out there who emotionally lay it all on the line every season in hopes of a victorious year of Chicago Cubs baseball.

So, do they have to keep losing in extra innings after a strong comeback? I wish I could define why this is what it means to be a Cubbie. It's like the pure fact that they're Cubs, means they're forced by some cosmic reason to lose their baseball superpowers during the 8th & 9th innings and swing at lousy pitches, and do poor base-running, etc. Whatever "IT" is, it's what perpetuates this anomaly of "being a Cub." (in my humble opinion)

Logan, party of 2, your bike is ready

As if you needed more enticing, you two... here's a loaner bike from my good friend at work, Bruce. It's ours for the summer! Chip, you can play too, since Bruce himself was riding it down his street and he's probably 4 inches taller than you.
Just everybody, bring some above-the-ankle boots for riding if you can. I think we're good on helmets here.
[it's a Yamaha TT-R 90 - four stroke]

Vocab refresher for the visitors

[above are pics from our recent trip to San Diego--enjoy as you read below]

Okay, I just wanted to make sure you guys were up to speed on the latest words around our house.

1. Hookie - something you hang your towel on
2. Mitter - the person who catches the ball. The batter uses a bat and the mitter uses a - you guessed it!
   
3. Dish'nin - what makes the surburban cool down (i.e. - Mom, can you please turn on the dish'nin?)
4. Cauliflower - what Laney answered when I said, "It starts with C, and it's where you'll GO when you're twenty."
5. God... and People who don't know God - what Mya answered the first and second time I asked her what was going on in the history book I was reading them. It was really about the Romans, so I guess the "People who don't know God" answer was mostly correct. Mostly.
   
6. Night at the Newseeum - greatest movie ever made according to the kids.
7. Attila the Hutt - the historically scary leader dude.
   
8. Sausage race - best part of a baseball game, also according to the kids - the problem is, if you're not watching a Brewer's home game, there isn't one, so you have to settle for the usual "Take Me out to the Ballgame" part of the Cub's game.
9. Bubble maker - a whirlpool bathtub

And... a list of what our kids consider the "choice jobs" worth fighting over the rights to do:

1. Collecting the trashcans and dumping them into the kitchen garbage bag
2. Any task, and I mean ANY, that involves using a spray bottle
3. Any job requiring the vacuum; and according to the kids, the entire house floor surface can be cleaned terrifically with that skinny corner nozzle attachment
4. If running water can be incorporated into a job, it rocks
   

I'm sure you may have additional inputs to these lists, so feel free to add a comment!

Flyin'

So I was sitting in my office at my computer, staring out the window when my office buddy Mike said, "hey are you on the {test} flying schedule today?" "Naw," I replied. "Wanna fly the Cessna?" he said casually. "Sure," I responded in disbelief that this idea of leaving the boring office for a ride around the local skies on any given "office day" (ie. any day you're not on the test flight schedule) could be a regular weekly habit. So we left the office for the company hangar at the bosses' private neighborhood strip. I got to fly in the left seat of the company's 2006 Cessna 172 Skyhawk under the instruction of Mike -- my first "manned" flight since December, and my first instructional Cessna 172 flight...EVER (shocking). Still has the new car smell, and a fancy glass cockpit (I had no idea a Cessna 172 could have a glass cockpit w/ Garmin-1000). There are only 3 round gages in the whole plane. It was a blast, despite my lack of skill at landing small, slow, prop-driven aircraft. (I like to do things in reverse...fly high-dollar jets, then unmanned digital aircraft, then finally work my way up to the single-engine stick & rudder Cessnas.)

I had so much fun. Got to buzz the house and wave at the family in the front yard (after Mike gave Ang a ring on the cellphone as we approached), which is always a bonus! Should I really be getting paid for this?

Eye See You!

For the dozen of you who recognize this location, this is for you. For the rest of you, well, I encourage you to take your broadband and go check out Microsoft's answer to GoogleEarth: Local Live. Same ol' overhead maps, but the cool feature is BIRDSEYE VIEW! That's where this picture comes from. If the center of your current map happens to have the Birdseye View support, the little skyscraper icon will be illuminated and available. Then you'll have 2 to 4 cardinal direction views (N, S, E, W) to choose from, and 2 levels of zoom ("-", "+"). It's addictive.

Now back to this picture... wish I had one more zoom level to identify this "shady character" walking across the parking lot! Probably about to climb into "big blue" and go get donuts. - Click image to see full view.

Return to San Diego

Work required me to return to San Diego for some more, well, "work" but I can't say going to San Diego ever feels like work. Maybe the traffic at times, but it's always a nice change of color (green green green).

Well we had to go hit the beach again, and we couldn't resist Del Mar again, since it was so dog-gone purty last time, and not crowded. So what was new? Well, besides a US Marine Corps helicopter buzzing the beach in its patrols, and besides this seagull with zero regard for the rules (as Papou would say, "what part of 'keep off' don't you understand?!"), we discovered something very very cool.

WE HAVE A FISH! Yes, Ms Sadie is at home in the water. I'm sure those of you who've known little kids who swim--to you this is no biggie. But to us parents, who've raised only children inherently afraid of water, splashing, and immersion, this is dumbfounding. I even got her to do the brbrbrbrrrr motorboat sound with her lips and would dip her underwater and back up before she had a chance to inhale water and she was cool with it--over and over! And, she was almost boyant all by herself (maybe it's her thighs!)...we kept swimming and swimming until her lips started shivering but she didn't want to get out. So I guess there's some catching up to do by her older siblings in our pop-up pool here back at the ranch. - (as always, click to enlarge pics).

Sadie Standie

Here is the quickly-becoming-mobile Sadie. That face is sassy!

- - - -

Oh and I'm very thankful to be done with my checkride so I'm legal & qualified in the mighty Predator once again.

Mom's Day!...& Snakes on a Patio!

Happy Mother's Day, there's a small snake on your back patio! No those other 2 pictures are Ang & kids, not snakes. We'll get to the snakes in a minute. Here are some pre-Mother's Day photos out on the front walk in the Saturday sun. It was nice to be off of work and enjoy some down time on such a nice day. As you can tell, Sadie & Gib get along great.

Now about those snakes. One snake, really. Yep, the kids alerted us to a small snake up against the stucco next to the back door of the house. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be a baby Gopher Snake, almost 2 ft long. Gopher snakes, as I recently read, are almost identical to the highly dangerous, highly venomous Mojave Green Rattlesnake. The difference? The non-venomous Gopher Snake has blotchy/squarish pattern (vs. the Mojave's diamondback pattern), and NO rattle! (yes the Mojave obviously has a tannish rattle). The Mojave Green, however isn't really green, so that's not a distinguishing factor... it's tan and brown but can be a little grey in the mountains... which I guess looks greenish if you're a dehydrated, sun stroked, starved desert dweller, right?

The fun part was trying to grab hold of his tail to put him in a basket to transport over the fence. When I cornered him, he coiled up (mimicking a rattler), hissed (mimicking the rattler's sound) and actually "struck" at me 2-3 times (but he's got no teeth). Smartly, I was using a leather glove so I didn't mind. But I had to use my bare hand to get a grip on his tail to get him in the basket. Once in the air, he didn't squirm or strike or fight. Once we dropped him over the fence he coiled back up again, ready to continue fighting I guess. Then he slithered away.

Such a "wonderful" gift to Ang on mother's day... a reminder of the wildlife we live among!

BedTents: Headstart on Camping

Yep, we got 3 bed tents for the kids and they are a superduper hit! The girls' tents were part of an upgrade to their room... they each got an IKEA bunkbed, so that the lower bunk is reading/lounging space ...which will double as extra sleep space when guests are here! We ended up getting a Hotwheels tent for on top of Gib's bed since he liked the girls' tents so much!

Goin' Campin'

I know it's a little early... a month early. But we're getting our act together to do some campin' among the redwoods in the mountains of CA. Should be awesome! I'm pretty excited about having two adjacent campsites with 2 decent sized tents for the 10 of us (including our visiting adventure seekers!). We'll get to explore the various themed nature centers, do some exploring in the mountain trails, and enjoy the campsite too. Oh, there'll be plenty of great memories from this one... like Chip someday reminiscing about how Logan & Gib simultaneously wet their sleeping bags on either side of him at 3 am! hahaha. This seriously should be a great first campout for the kids...first time beyond the backyard "campground" that is. I know, sounds ambitious...but it's ok, we've got a dozen windup LED flashlights so our campsite should probably resemble downtown London in 1940 with it's steady motion of dozens of anti-Luftwaffe searchlights.

Due to high gas prices...

...Ang & I have found creative measures to run our errands. Plus, I get to enjoy more time on the bike!

(Normally we wear helmets, but the flipflops are pretty standard!)

Not pictured: The kids in the wagon being towed behind us.

Aviation Legend Movie Clip

It's Bob Hoover, aviation legend. Any further description would fall well short of any introduction worthy of this man's skill & discipline in the air. Bob Hoover's accomplishments in aviation are worth looking into if you're not familiar with his life! You're about to watch him pour iced tea backhanded while performing a barrel roll! Also notice how many stunt clips shown are deadstick (ie. with his engines both off, and the props feathered to a stopped position!)

CLICK HERE, press Play when it opens, & enjoy the show.