My Mountain Moments

So, this part of the can of worms is mine, all mine. I can’t remember when it was a desire, probably when I was very young. My grand parents bought some property in Utah, and there was an outside bathtub. Ok, in reality, it could have been a trough. But it was cool! We played in that water and had the time of our little lives. Every since then, I’ve pictured an outdoor bathtub. Earlier this year I acted on that urge. I LOVE Craig’s list. I kept an eye on Craig’s list. My search was for “cast iron.” One day, I found it and actually got their first. It was a cast iron soaking tub, extra long, extra wide. Easy price and picture perfect. We had recently installed the instant on hot water heater, and was told that I could easily hook it up. Wahla, a few weeks later, I have an out door tub with a crude hook up for hot water and drainage. Now comes the pavers and upgrade. We decide that instead of a hose that leaks when the hot water is on to the tub, having to adjust the temperature, hook up to the shower when we want a shower, or unhook for the tub when we want to soak, that we should make it “not a redneck” tub. We are taking the time/money to run water pipes to the tub without all the extra effort. This would mean I can walk outside, turn on the shower, and take a tub or shower at the temperature I want, without having to do ANYTHING. Now, that would be heaven. Heaven costs money, and means that a contractor familiar with plumbing, enter the picture. Picture Geoff.

Now, since I have a lot to catch you up on, I am only covering part of the tub on this entry. Believe me, there is plenty to blog about on my tub. But, I need to spread the love.

Ok, crash and burn, it’s late, I will write more tomorrow and label all the photos. And of course, fill you in on all the tub details, designs, and complications. Wahoo!!

I am really tired tonight, had to go to OSH and Home Depot to shop for stuff. This was after dinner of course. After the sushi food coma set in, Diane and I hit the ground running. OSH was idiotic and Home Depot was not much better. I did get a few things I was looking for, a few things I wasn’t, and maybe things extra just in case. Either way, it all fit in the Miata! The photos here are from the delivery the other day of items we needed. Cement, speed blocks, mortar, DG, rebar. I’ll have to say the Central Home Supply is the bomb. They can’t get a big rig up here, but the truck they do bring holds 10 pallets. On top of the 10 pallets, they bring a piggy back to get the pallets off the truck and put them EXACTLY where you want them. The driver is very precise. They call the piggy back Lola, how endearing is that? Anyway, it’s incredibly late. More photos tomorrow.

wow, it’s been 32 months and I’m still waiting for something. Somethings never change. I decided to pick the blog back up for one reason, projects.  We currently have a HUGE project on the house under way. I thought it would be “therapeutic” to say the least, I also thought it would be interesting to document the progress. The project is 5,500 square feet of pavers. Now, if you own a home and have started a project, you know about the can of worms. No matter how much you talk about it, weigh the pros and cons, that darn can of worms always wins. So, when I mentioned “projects,” they are all coming from the single HUGE paver project. What am I waiting for you ask? The end of the project of course. But does a project ever end, or does it just morph into something else. More to come

wow, sometimes waiting is the worst. It seems like everyday I am waiting for something. Waiting for the end of the year, waiting for a client to go live, next paycheck, dinner, drink, rain storm, sunny day, drink, apology, full moon, spring, vacation, etc, etc.

Thinking about what I’m waiting for is depressing, writing it down is enlightening.  Who cares… I can’t make anything come any faster. I can stress about them more if I try to manipulate. Or, I can bury my head in the sand and not face any onslaught. That would be denial.

I am thankful for being able to wait, to want to be patient, not rush it, change it, move it or fix it. It is what it is, some things are in motion, best let them run their course. There are many times I wish I could write more, and more often. Blogging is still visible to everyone out there. Some stuff is personal, and I have to keep that in mind as I move forward.

I am thankful for the full house we will have tomorrow. At least 14. Not one actual “blood” relative, but family just the same. The table rotates, as it did last year. We will have new faces, miss the faces not that are not coming and comforted by the ones returning.

I sent an arrangement to my parent’s house for the occasion. Sometimes I miss being a kid and having somebody else do the work. I know I miss my grandma’s green jello. I keep meaning to ask for that recipe. I vow next year to make grandma’s green jello.

Happy thanksgiving everyone.

I’m writing a blog here.

Hopefully the pictures say it all. My commute takes me about an hour, unless I stop and take photos. Then it adds about 1/2 hour, usually because as I stand there with my camera as the color constantly changes. I don’t go into the office but once a week, but I actually look forward to it these days. The one photo actually has a rainbow over the ocean. The No Tresspassing sign is a reference point for me. In a year I can see me putting together a series of photos with the same sign during different times of the year.

There is not a day that goes by that I don’t count my blessings. The freedom my current job has given me is amazing. Not having to go into the office everyday saves me over 2 hours a day for other projects. (like blogging or photography) When I do need to go in, I work with some great people, our culture at work is cool and creative, plus this commute. “The world’s most beautiful commute.”

So every year there is a gem show in Tucson. Every year my husband goes because that’s part of what he does. I went with him a couple of years ago and loved it. The thing about the “Gem Show” is that there are bead shows, rock shows, and all kinds of different show around the city of Tucson. So, this year I was committed to tagging along. I can work remote, so I just took my work with me. There was one little catch. A couple of days before we left, I started to get sick. A nasty cough. So, I went to the doctor the day before we left. He said I had bronchitus, sent me home with an inhaler and codine prescription. Wow, what bad timing.

We got up and I drove out of the mountains, if I don’t drive out of the mountains, I get car sick. That would not have been good at the start of a 7 hour drive. The plan was to drive to Cherry Valley on Saturday, stay with my Aunt and Uncle,  visit with the cousins, leave in the morning and drive the rest of the way, about 6 hours to Tucson. Believe it or not, the plan worked. I was miserable on the drive, sick, sick, sick.

My cousin Jimmy drove an hour with his wife and two kids to have dinner and visit with us. My other cousin has a 1 year old that didn’t feel good, so, he had to skip coming over. The visit with Jimmy was great. It had been about 2 years since we’d seen each other. He is the spitting image of his father, and to see the two of them together is always a double take. He and his wife Tina have two beautiful kids, both with blonde hair and blue eyes.  Smart too!!

My Aunt Anna fixed us oatmeal at breakfast before we left in the morning. Poor Paul had to drive the entire way into Tucson. I was still way to sick. That was on Super Bowl Sunday. A good game, to bad the Cardinals lost.
Monday Rhoda, our wonderful hostess in Tucson, took Paul for a hike. I still couldn’t do much. What energy I had went towards work. The rest of the week was uneventful. I rested and worked. Paul went to the show and still found time to come home and cook us dinner a couple of nights. We went to Gavi one night, a really nice Italian place. Friday night we had the silent auction and food with the AGTA crowd. I was able to hit a couple of bead shows on Saturday before we left. What an addicting hobby.

The bonus of heading home, was that we were able to stay at my Aunts house again and visit with Ryan, my other cousin. He lives about 5 blocks from my Aunt, and they are early risers. So Ryan, his wife Sandy, and their two kids joined us for breakfast. We were able to visit for about an hour before we left. His youngest is just one. Wow, what cute kids.

It turned out to be a great trip overall. We got to visit with everyone, broke up the drive over two days, each way. Was able to work remote, go shopping, and spend the week with Rhoda and the boys: Sooty and Corky. The decision was made to make this a yearly trip. Hopefully next year I won’t be sick the entire time.

Hey, I had a date with my husband on Saturday. We went down to Santa Cruz. We both had a few errands to run, people to meet and places to go. After business was all taken care of, we had lunch on the west side. There is a fairly new brewery called, ironically, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing. They don’t have a kitchen, but they serve food from Kelly’s French Bakery that is in the same complex. We sat outside with a beer, watched the tourist and chatted. He had the pot pie and I had the fish tacos.

After lunch we went out to Natural Bridges.

Then after viewing the action at Natural Bridges. We parked behind Lighthouse Field and took a walk out to Steamers Lane to watch part of the knee board surf contest and take in the people and activities. One thing Paul and I enjoy is watching people. There were all types. You could tell the locals from the tourist, the throw back hippies, avid athletes, retired couples, dog owners. Oh, so many dogs. We love dogs. So, it’s days like this, when it’s 75 in January, that we really appreciate living in California.

December 30,2008. The day was perfect. Hardly any swell or wind. The day topped out at 68 with a low of 59. With days like this, I will be called a fair weather fisher woman. Not sure if I will go out again unless the conditions are that perfect. It was just too much fun.

Got to dad’s at 6:20 am. “No coffee, thanks mom.” If I have a cup of coffee, I will just have to go pee. With a boat of 4 men and prone to getting sea-sick, I passed on beverages and food until very late in the day. I had even done some shopping for food and snacks the day before.

Pushed off from the dock at 7:00 AM sharp. One thing about my dad and his fishing buddies, they are serious about fishing. The fact that I was the rookie, a woman, and had the potential for chumming, probably made them a little nervous. One thing I had going for me, was that we went on Gary’s boat. It is bigger than my dad’s, and probably has a smoother ride. I am proud to say, I did not chum, and even had a couple beers towards the end of the trip.

So, when we got to our destination, 1 1/2 hours at 30 knots or so, there is an urgency to get your line in the water. (I did not know this). Randy was the fastest and got his to the bottom before the engine stopped spinning. (I told you they were serious) I could not multitask on the boat, I had to wait for it to stop rocking before I could get my line in the water with bait on it. Dad only baited my hook for me a few times.  After I got over the goo, it was no problem. After that, each fish was a blur, except for the sheep’s head. I caught the first one, a nice size, 7lbs. Randy caught the second one, 9lbs. At one point, I exclaimed “Hey, this fishing is no fun, every time I put my line in the water, I get a fish!!!”

The rules: 10 rock fish per person, 5 non rock fish per person. So a total of 15 fish per person. We came back with 73 fish. 50 rock fish and 23 non rock fish. Brian, Gary and Randy did not want their “non rock fish.” So, after filleting, Brian and dad did all the work there, there was a gallon size zip lock of rock fish for everyone, and an extra 5 gallon bags of non rock fish for dad and I. Wow that’s a lot of fish.

We went home and vacuum sealed the fillet’s for freezing. Dad put some aside for ceviche, family and neighbors. What a catch, and what a day. Thanks to my dad and his buddies for putting up with the rookie. Hopefully I will be allowed to go fishing again. It was a blast. Oh, and the topper, we went to see Painted Cave at one of the islands. It was amazing. Grew up in Santa Barbara my whole life, and had not ever visited the islands.

Ok, so, I didn’t get the camera out at Thanksgiving, but, I did pull it out for Christmas. The day was great. Woke up, took a hot tub with a mimosa, started dinner. We had some of the Boulder Creek family over. There was a 15lbs roast beast, and everyone helped with the side dishes. Again, everyone got along, totally wonderful. A little music at the end of the night, plenty of wine too. A memorable Christmas. Thanks to everyone who shared their holiday with us.