Since Thomas is at work, and it appears that he will be there for awhile longer, I decided to take over his blog to give you some good news. Thomas thought this would be his last post, but he was talked into being a contributing member in a whole family blog. So, we will all continue to enjoy his photographic posts, only a little less frequently.
Long time no write everybody! I am writing to inform you that this is going to be my last post for awhile… life has shoved itself in my way and there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day for writing a post! Don’t fret though… I may be back someday…
My last post is going to be on a topic requested by my very dear friend: Oatman.
Oatman requested that I post some pictures of “Life in the Hector family of long ago.” Since my dad did not get his first digital camera until the late '90s, pictures you will see in this post will be post-then. I hope you enjoy, and I’ll see ya around!!
This is probably the earliest of the bunch. Dad Ben and I are up on top of the Indian Head (rock formation on our property)…
We went on vacation up to the Redwoods in Northern California…
Mom didn’t fare too well that day…
Ben and I on the gondola at the Redwoods…
The fam (minus dad and the later additions) on the gondola…
The view was beautiful from the top…
And of course… we would read every bit of info we could get our hands on… we are homeschoolers after all…
And a lovely picture of the mushrooms… and… nope… just the ‘shrooms…
Every Winter, we would rent a cabin in the snow with two other families. Ben looking a little worn out…
Nick and Kirsten going down the run… tongue and all…
I guess I shouldn’t make fun of Nick too much though…
• May. 29, 2008 - Goodafternoon... Goodevening... and Goodnight!!
The lack of available wireless internet connections combined with the long hours of driving and sickness that ran rampant through the family in the second half of the trip didn’t help the posting department any. We are safe and sound at home now, a little early which gives time to post some pictures of the rest of our trip. Let’s see… I think I left you with a picture of the Davis’ van up on the back of a flat bed tow truck… yep! That was the last one.
The van took a couple of days to fix so we spent this down time at the Davis’ relatives house that was located very conveniently three hours from where they had the brake down… still in Kansas. Here are some pictures of us in the front of their house experimenting with the sailboat…
Captain Dave ready to command the seas! Or the pavement…
Afterwards, the older kids walked over to the nearby train tracks to do some good ol’ fashioned penny squishing. Scout Ben was trying to track the train…
I don’t know what Nate and I were doing here. Just being goofy I guess…
You can guess what the thinking was behind this one…
After our lovely visit with the relatives, we headed out early to try and make up some lost time. We wanted to get to Peoria, Illinois by 1830hrs for a planned baseball game so we left at 0600hrs. The next state? I’ll show you…
I didn’t see any people welcoming us… just a sign. John Wayne’s birthplace was not too far off the desired route, so we made a slight detour to make Nic happy…
Here’s the first house of one of the greatest actors known to man. Second only to Gary Cooper…
After our long trek through Iowa we finally made it to Illinois, right on schedule…
Unfortunately, people were more interested in watching the ball game or socializing with new found friends than they were in taking pictures. So we will skip to the next day which was spent at a wildlife park. Joe and Sara were playing with an amazingly still elk/deer thing…
At the park they had a 52 foot slide. Kate and Sara enjoyed every foot…
Later that evening there was an ordination/dinner/dance. No pictures from the first two, so you will have to be content with dancing pictures. “Unfortunately” I was beginning to feel under the weather, and “unfortunately” dad had twisted his ankle the week before, so sad to say, we had to sit on the sidelines.If you are in the Midwest then the Virginia Reel must be danced…
Sara never stops smiling…
We stayed at the McDonald’s house for a couple of nights in Illinois. This shot was taken pretty much at their back door. A mixture of Californians, Illinoisans and Tennesseans. Lovely pond…
Another group shot of Californians, Illinoisans and this time Arizonans…
We left the McDonald’s and headed about an hour south to stay with some more friends. Yes… it is always green over there…
Upon our arrival at the Bandy’s house we started our ritual of getting the RV and boat set up for the night, but this time we discovered something had gone wrong. Take a look for yourself…
Yeah… not good. If those last two bolts had failed, then we would have said bye bye to the boat, probably on the freeway. Let this be a lesson to you… never tailgate!!
At the Bandy’s we enjoyed a wonderful evening of Dutch Blitz (Nertz), amazing food, and a rousing game of “smack the other person with the boffer”. A boffer is a length of ¾” pvc, with pipe insulation, wrapped in duct tape. Nice and soft, but hard at the same time. Needless to say someone got "boffed" quite nicely towards the end of the game. Care to guess who?...
Yep… right in the face. Thanks for that one Ashton…
The next morning we said our goodbyes to the Bandys and headed back north to visit some more new found friends. While en route we noticed a bit of wind rushing in to the RV from the bottom of the windshield. Then a little more… then a little more… until it got to the point where the bottom of the windshield popped out, so much that Ben could see the freeway through the space. And what do you do when the windshield pops out in the middle of nowhere? Use duct tape!! That is exactly what we did…
Ben likes to search for an internet connection where ever he goes, in the weirdest places…
The next day while the windshield was being fixed, we headed up to a nearby lake in Wisconsin to take the sailboat on its maiden voyage…
Second time around on setting up the boat…
The mast goes up…
Thanks to Jonathan Erber for this great picture. It only looks like the mast got struck by lightning. No clouds… see?...
And last but not least, the sails…
The boat was ready to go in the water…
We came to find out that it does not sink…
Hoist the mainsail ye lads!!...
Swab the poop decks!! Or just sit there and enjoy the ride…
Cruising along on Lake Geneva with No-Neck Laura…
While some were sailing others were relaxing on the shore…
Or swinging on the shore. See the sand?…
Everybody across the country knows how to play Nertz…
The great chef and baker Ben decided to make a couple of cheesecakes for our wonderful hosts. See the orange behind Anthony’s neck? That is the mastermind and we are his grunt laborers…
Group picture with the Erbers…
We left the Erber’s and headed south towards Springfield and Lincolns tomb…
That would be him… or his box… or whatever you call it…
This sign in the bathrooms at the tomb just amused me to no end…
Missouri was the next state on our travels. It was the first time any of us had ever been there…
Not many pictures taken in Missouri. Moving on to Kansas…
And this was the only picture I could come up with in Kansas…
Moving on to Colorado…
Notice how that picture looked hot and dry? Well this one is in the same state but totally opposite…
We didn’t get a New Mexico state line sign picture, but we did arrive there at our friends the Haroldsons, who also know how to play Nertz and are crazy good at it…
The Haroldson family is full of musicians, so I had to pull my violin out to join in…
And a group picture of the two families…
Now for the long drive home through the desert. Arizona to be specific…
Laura helped with the navigation along the straight flat roads…
A bit of dad’s artistic eye in combination with an interesting rock formation…
This one is for Mrs. Loughman. A picture of our sailboat in the middle of the desert…
We made a push for home and drove into the night. The California state line sign didn’t turn out so well in the dark…
Yep… we’re back in California with the crazy California drivers that try and make U-turns on Jack Tone Road in a semi truck. That guy has courage…
Thanks for reading that extremely long post!! It’s good to be home… and we decided… next time we’re flying…
As most of you know by now, the Hector family has embarked on another excursion to see more of this wonderful country that God has blessed us with. For the next three weeks this blog is going to be devoted to the ins and outs of the trip, but in a little different way. I am going to be posting pictures of the trip with brief descriptions and Ben will be posting complete (or mostly complete) order of events. If you wish to read the narrative version of the trip then you can head on over to my brother Ben’s blog by clicking here. Did you click on the here?If you did not, I will give you many more opportunities to click a here. Like here for instance. Or hear. But not there because that was not here, but hear.
To start things off I thought I would write a poem about the first two days. After this I promise I will just stick with the pictures…
The day started early in Cal
Last minute packing was done
The RV and boat equaled 63 feet
The obstacle of leaving was won
The plan was to meet friends in Reno
For an “eat till you bust” buffet
Trials and troubles of driving
Were not going to stand in our way
A broken down truck and trailer
Threatened to stop us on hwy 88
A keen dad and bro with an idea
Managed to shorten our wait
(For more on that keen idea click here)
Reno was made
Lunch was consumed
A noticed low tire
Promised nothing but doom
Costco was found
The prognosis was bleak
A hole in the sidewall
Would continue to leak
A patchwork was done
We were sent out of town
A smile on our face
Instead of a frown
Straight, flat and boring
The state of Nevada doth be
Full of dirt, sagebrush and dirt
And the speeding Lexus’ by me
This saga just might continue
Perhaps as soon as the morrow
If events of interest occur
That lead to excitement, not sorrow
So… what did you think of my attempt at making certain words in the English language rhyme? When I read it to the fam, they gave me that “oh… that’s very… um… nice!”
Here are the pictures as promised…
At the beginning of the trip at the end of the road. The camera’s on a rock…
Here is a closer version minus myself…
A frozen/snow covered lake not too far from our house…
Matt and Nic below decks. Kinda cramped…
Here is our first campsite… Actually more like a parking lot…
Yes, the windshield needs to be cleaned once in awhile…
Utah state line. Doesn’t it look like a good place to live?...
We had to get our traditional picture at the Salt Lake…
The Davis family decided to join us for our picture…
We can now say we took our boat to the Salt Lake…
Wyoming state line. A nicer place to live…
Little America in Wyoming. Kinda hokey…
Sara’s b-day at Little America…
Nathan put himself in between the two vehicles. Like a bumper…
Snowing at the gas station…
Nebraska state line. A greener place to live. The good life...
The only National Cemetery in Nebraska…
Found our relative in the cemetery. Interesting first name…
The youngin’s…
And last but not least the van on the back of the tow truck…
That is what I should be saying. I haven’t put anything on here since March! And it is already May! Where did the month go?
Anyway… quick update on all things.
1.I have jumped through many of the hoops in the process of becoming an Oakland firefighter. Thus far I have passed the written test, the oral interview, and the physical agility test. This now means that I am officially on the list!! Although that means nothing if I don’t do well in the chief’s oral interview coming up on Tuesday.
2. As many of you found out from Ben’s blog, mom fell and broke her wrist last week. This has thrown another variable into the already hectic schedule, but I think she is worth the effort.
3. On Sunday the 11th, our family is loading up in the RV once again to take a trip to Illinois for our annual church meeting. We are making it into a vacation so we will be gone for three weeks. I (and I am sure Ben will too) will update you from the road.
In the meantime, I thought you would all enjoy some pictures from our last pile of dead pine branches that we burned. If you don’t enjoy them then I will stop thinking.
I have no idea what we are staring at. It obviously is on the ground and it is obviously a different thing for each of us that captured our attention…
I must be a caveman. I can start fire. See the flame?...
Antwon got a little chilly just standing there…
Look at those beefy muscles on that guy! Throwing trees all over the place…
Flame caught with a camera is fascinating…
It didn’t take very long for the fire to grow into a raging inferno. Remember kids… Only YOU can prevent forest fires… Ok Smokey, stop hijacking my keyboard and get back to hibernating…
It got so hot that Sara had to resort to throwing sticks on the fire from quite a distance back…
It burned down rather quickly so Jonathan was able to show off his wonderful skills of throwing huge hunks of tree around…
Doesn’t the flame look like a third tree that is on fire? The way it points just like the trees gives it an artistic touch...
This last pic is my favorite. It reminds me of a Vincent van Gogh painting…
If you are in California, enjoy the beautiful weather we have been having! If you are not in California try and enjoy whatever weather you are having in your current location!
• Mar. 29, 2008 - What do you call a cyclist who doesn't wear a helmet? An organ donor.
Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. ~ John F. Kennedy
This is true to the umpteenth degree, and this is exactly what we set out to do last week.
For months, actually almost a year now, Mr. S and I have wanted to make the daring climb up one of our local mountains… Mount Diablo. Whoever named it such wasn’t kidding when they did so. The climb to the top is a relentless <8 mile trek with an approximate 3,400 foot gain in elevation. All in all that calculates out to an 8% average grade. Ouch.
The ride was all planned out, and we left the valley with five bicycles in, on and behind the car… Mr. S, Pastor W, Kev, Ben and myself. This shot was actually taken on our way home, but it shows our trusty pack-mule. I think pictures of this car have been in my posts more than any other car. And it always has something to do with biking… weird...
Mount Diablo can be seen from miles and miles away. Even from the top of a hill behind our house. We weren’t on the hill here, just on a freeway some 45 miles away as the crow flies…
Upon our arrival at the trailhead, the bikes were unloaded, tuned up and lubed. Ben did a marvelous job holding the back of the van open… Don’t you like his biking outfit?...
The first part of the ride was actually quite pleasant, and quite chilly. A nice easy climb along a shaded creek was a nice warm-up for what was to come.
Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live. ~ Mark Twain
In my opinion there are two ways that a bicycle can kill you:
1)The combination of speed and falling from the bike at that speed results in either blunt trauma to your tissue, or the wearing away of the epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous layers, possibly reaching the muscle tissue beneath. Extreme amounts of blood loss and infection may ensue, which in turn can result in death.
2)The over exertion of the muscle tissue in your legs combined with other elements such as insufficient amounts of oxygen and rising body temperature can result in an altered level of consciousness, or depending on the severity of the condition and the age of the victim, can even result in death.
Both of these came close to happening on the ride up and even down the hill, obviously the latter on the way up. At one of the stopping points called Deer Flat, Mr. S assured us that the worst of it was over, and that there wasn’t much climbing beyond what we already did. It goes without saying that we were very excited. Here is the flat Deer Flat with Pastor W drinking and Mr. S ready for more…
I think Mr. S was just trying to encourage us and keep our spirits up, because what we were about to ride up was nothing close to easier than what we already did.
The secret to mountain biking is pretty simple. The slower you go the more likely it is you'll crash. ~ Julie Furtado
I have… actually had… I lost it on the mountain somewhere… an odometer/speedometer, and at a couple of points I was riding and sometimes walking so slow that it didn’t even register that I was moving.
Here’s Mr. S at the top with Pastor W walking...
Yes... Pastor W did make it to the top of the hill, but I think his smile is a little forced...
Now I have to admit… Ben’s ballet dancing gave him a very slight advantage. He has the endurance to keep up a steady pace on the long hard hills. If you look close you can see him. He sure blends in against the hill with his plaid shorts…
After the grueling uphill on the dirt portion, we proceeded to the grueling uphill on the paved portion. This in my opinion was the hardest 1.5 miles of the ride, just a steady grade up to the summit. We did make it however (and I will admit I was the last one up due to the sudden onset of nausea at the last 100 yards), and took a break to enjoy the view from the top. When at the top of Mount Diablo an amazing 40,000 square miles can be seen on a clear day, second only to Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. That’s a lot. Here are four of the five bikers at the top…
Funny story time. Ben and I wanted to get our picture in front of the fantastic view of the central valley. The other bikers were down the hill already so we asked a kindly looking Asian tourist, that spoke pretty good English and even had a camera around his neck, to snap a shot with our camera which has one of those flip/moveable screens. I opened the screen, but not all the way so that it was flat with the rest of the camera, and I handed it to the guy with the traditional instructions of “here is the zoom” and “you push this shiny button to take the picture”. We posed and he held the camera up. The only problem is that he held the camera so that the screen was pointed in our direction and not the actual picture taking part of the camera a.k.a. the lens. Ben and I saw what was coming… his next question for us after looking confused for several seconds was… and I quote: “Where are you?”
We were stunned… I tried to explain to him that if he just moved the camera just a little to his left he would see us just fine, but for some reason it just wasn’t sinking in. We weren’t getting anywhere in our efforts to have him move the camera so I had Ben scoot over a couple feet so we would be in his “field of vision”. He even helped us out by waving his hand and saying “a little more… a little more… there! Perfect!” Ben and I couldn’t wait until we were out of earshot so we could laugh our heads off…
This next picture is my favorite of the bunch. I am not going to say anything… I will just let you come to your own conclusions on what it means…
On the way down we had to take a short little single-track trail that was more walking then riding, just because it was so steep and full of loose rock. Ben made it in one piece…
Even the ride down can be quite strenuous and exhausting. We had to take multiple water breaks…
This next shot is of my favorite part of the ride. That is the rest of my party down on the hill, but it took me only about 15 seconds to catch up. 37 mph on a mountain bike down a dirt road is exhilarating…
In my opinion, every ride should have a section of downhill that is caught on tape... or in this generation... caught on digital... I actually don't know how to say it in this generation. Oh well. Regardless, here is the clip...
At this point everybody was exhausted. We came to a crossroads that wasn’t really marked very well. One way was uphill… and one way was downhill. We were pretty sure that the way to go was uphill, but we didn’t want to make the last little push. Ben and Kev are dreading the hill, and I think Mr. S is trying to figure out if he can fly if he gets enough speed up and flap his arms really hard…
We all made it back to the car in 5 pieces, loaded the bikes and took off, tired as can be. A ride like that absolutely kills you when you are doing it, and you vow never to do anything like that again, but as time goes by the mountain looks less and less daunting, and you forget all of the energy that went into climbing it with two wheels. Such was the case for this trip.
Due to many complications with transportation, Ben and I were dropped off in a certain town at a certain establishment to wait for mom to come and pick us up. Ben is looking quite tired don’t ya’ think?...
For the hour that we were sitting out there, I didn’t even think to go in and get something to drink. I guess I was too tired to think.
For different pictures, and different words (surprise surprise!!) check out my bro's blog... deusprimus
This last quote just about sums it all up… Except for the four million years part…
Mankind has invested more than four million years of evolution in the attempt to avoid physical exertion. Now a group of backward-thinking atavists mounted on foot-powered pairs of Hula-Hoops would have us pumping our legs, gritting our teeth, and searing our lungs as though we were being chased across the Pleistocene savanna by saber-toothed tigers. Think of the hopes, the dreams, the effort, the brilliance, the pure force of will that, over the eons, has gone into the creation of the Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Bicycle riders would have us throw all this on the ash heap of history. ~ P.J. O'Rourke
Three days since I started this tag… three days… three sunrises… three sunsets… three days…
What is your name spelled backwards?
My whole name or just part of my name?For the interest of keeping this tag short I will only bore you with my first name backwards: SAMOHT. If I mix it up a little bit maybe it will be more interesting: SAMHOT… or MASHOT… or SHOTMA. I like that last one, but not because it implies that I shot my ma… it just sounds like a cool Middle Eastern name. I like my ma.
What did you eat last?
Chicken, basil and garlic sausage. It was okay… I have heard that people put maple syrup on their sausages, but that sounds absolutely disgusting.
Post a random picture!
What is your favorite website?
Wikipedia. If you ever need to know anything about anything head on over to Wikipedia. I enjoy learning. In my preparation for becoming a firefighter I have used my daily experiences as learning opportunities… wait… wrong speech.
Do you know how to do the hula?
I didn’t know that the hula was a noun. I always thought it was a verb. Regardless, yes. In a horribly pathetic way, I know how to do the hula.
What are your favorite color(s)?
I don’t know if I should show my true colors, but my favorite color(s) is(are) blue(green).
What are your initials?
Initially, my initial initials are TJH. The sad part is that I don’t have any secondary initials.
What is your favorite scripture?
The Bible. Oh! You mean scripture reference? That’s easy… Psalm 29.
What was the last movie you saw?
In theaters? I think it would have to be: “I Am Legend”. That was awhile back though. At home? My family is making our way through a series called “Firefly”. Kinda like Han Solo meets John Wayne. Quite good.
Do you floss first or brush your teeth!
This is an obvious answer. Brush of course! Who wants to stick their hands in a horribly dirty mouth? Not me…
What shoe do you put on first?
Definitely the one that is closest. I am obsessive compulsive in some ways, but not to the point where I would have to go out of my way to get my right shoe before my left. That’s just plain weird. Now where are my shoes?...
Ketchup or mustard?
Albuquerque or ice skates? Cell phones or landlines? The Beverly Hillbillies or I Love Lucy? Now that we have asked these three questions, we can come to the conclusion that mustard is better than ketchup. We should now move on to the next question.
Who did you talk to last?
These questions need clarifying. Do you mean on the phone or just plain ol’ who did I talk to last? On the phone would have to be my dear pops. The plain way would have to be to my partner. Actually she was the one talking to me. I was just listening.
What is your favorite season?
The mixture of garlic, oregano and basil is simply delightful. Spring.
What is the weather like outside?
Spring-like. It is actually very nice outside… probably in the low 60’s with a slight hazy overcast. Not bad for March.
Soup or salad?
Once again you have asked a very vague question. You have not stated whether or not this soup is a chowder or a stew, or whether the salad is romaine or iceburg lettuce. The dressing also is a big factor in my decision. I had some pretty good tomato soup last night, but at the moment a big Caesar Salad sounds good.
Chair or booth!
Ask any member of my family. Chairs are preferred.
What do your pajamas look like?
My favorite would have to be the hand-me-down red sweatpants that I got from my dad (I think they are about as old as Nic {15}), and any old shirt that I pull out of my drawer.
What time is it right now?
11:14am. Time for something to eat.
What did you have for breakfast?
Not enough. Just that one sausage mentioned earlier. As I said… time for something to eat.
Look left and what do you see?
A flimsy new lamp. Cheapo! Probably made in America…
How many windows are in your house?
Just the house… 28. Counting the garage… 31. Counting the bunkhouse… 35. Counting the chicken coop… 37. And I did that all from memory! I’m at work, so going around and counting every single one was out of the question.
Do you wear glasses contacts or neither?
My eyesight is good enough to fly jets if that answers the question.
Flip flops or gym shoes?
Definitely not flip-flops. I despise those horrible contraptions.
Favorite place to take a vacation?
You must ask a hard question? I would have to say… in this order… the mountains, the beach, the big city. We already live in the mountains, so I mean anywhere that we go in the mountains for backpacking/camping.
If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?
Spain, France and Italy. The absolutely amazing thing is that Ben and I are actually going there in the Fall (hopefully!).
Do you like this tag?
I can say without a question, or a shadow of a doubt… NO. Joe.
How old will you be next leap year?
How many hours are in a day? That is my answer.
Tag two people or nine!!!
My very dear brother that needs something else on his plate now that he is done with college… and a very good friend that also needs something else on her plate to add to her already busy life!
• Feb. 28, 2008 - To speak?... Or not to speak?... There is no option.
Well... I did it. I officially passed the written test for the Oakland Fire Department. It sure took them long enough to let me know.
The next step: Oral interview.
I am not particularly looking forward to this one at all. It's going to be a three on one personal chat in which I m going to have to try and sell myself to the best of my ability, essentially trying to convince them that I am a better candidate for the job than the 900 (give or take a few) other hopefuls out there. I could use a lot of prayer on this one if you wouldn't mind.
Here are a couple of interview cartoons for your enjoyment. Enjoy. That was redundant...
Lets hope mine turns out a little better than that guy's.
I could answer a sports question. I doubt they'll ask though.
I haven’t decided if blogging is a horrible waste of time, or a way to sharpen my writing and typing skills. I think I shall stick with the latter…
Last Friday was the burial of Mr. Davis. Due to the fact that he was in the Navy Reserve, he was laid to rest in the National Cemetery about an hour southwest of his residence. The weather could not have been better for the occasion. We arrived an hour early which gave us the opportunity to walk around and see the grounds, the Vietnam Memorial, and gravestones of our service men and women.
A group shot of the kids…
Ben and Mal amidst the gravestones…
One of the gravestones that dad found really made me think. He was born right in between Ben and myself…
A rare shot of Dad. No… he is really not that stern. He just looks like it…
Speaking of which… if you have not already done so, head over to my dad's blog. His posts are centered around the ins and outs of the Oakland Fire Department, and are quite educational. I don’t think he gets very many readers so he is considering withdrawing. Show your support! Get out there and vote! Wait… wrong topic…
And my other parent – aka mom - with the two youngest ladies…
When the time for the service approached, we all piled into the cars and drove to the outside facility where it would be held…
It was a short but touching service, with a few words said by a member of the American Legion, the folding of the US Flag, and the 21 gun salute. It was without a doubt the most moving ceremony I have ever been to...
Afterwards, the kids hiked up the hill to the flagpole that was flying at half-staff…
The flagpole…
The view from the top was simply amazing. When I talk about “The Valley” this is what I am referring to…
It is a 450 mile long by 50 mile wide valley, with the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the east (shown above with snowcapped peaks) and the Coastal Range on the west shown below. The cemetery is actually just on the edge of the Coastal Range, so a broad view was unavailable…
Departing the cemetery, we went to the famed Pea Soup Anderson’s restaurant just minutes away. I personally don’t like split pea soup, so thankfully they had a huge chili burger there to tide me over until dinner. Other people surprisingly do have a liking for pea soup as is evidenced by this photo…
Like father… Like daughter…
Outside of the restaurant there was one of those picture taking opportunities. How could we pass it by? Goose used to be skinny, but apparently after that split pea soup he got a nice round tummy. Ben must have downed the coffee, ‘cause I think he shrunk just a little…
Then Ben grew to look like Goose, and I decided to get some plastic surgery and look like Ben did. I am pained and Ben looks like he is thoroughly enjoying himself…
Group shots are popular in our family. Here are the Davis’, Mrs. S and Linds, the Davis' grandparents and the Hectors…
Mr. Davis has left a lasting impression on many people. I thank God everyday that we knew him.
For the time being, the rains have stopped and the temperatures have warmed to the mid 60s which can only mean one thing… actually it can mean lots of things, but for the interest of this post it can only mean one thing… HIKING!!!
When most people think of hiking, they think of a nice trail, winding through the vast forests and mountains of Yosemite, completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the ‘30s and ‘40s. If you have that picture in your mind, take an eraser to it, or if it is digital, press delete. Hiking at the Hectors is considerably different.
First we start with the donning of camo just in case WWIII gets underway before we have the chance to get back. The next step is to simply walk out of our back door into God’s wonderful creation. The only trails are ones made by deer, or sometimes even rabbits, which means “low bridge” through the brush.
I always say what I am about to say next. In my opinion, pictures can describe something so much more than words can, so I will throw some up here for you to enjoy (I need to get a picture that can describe what I just said).
Our goal was what we call the “Indian Head”. It is basically an outcropping in the rock that looks like the silhouette of an Indian Chief, and it also happens to have the greatest view within walking distance of our house. Good ol’ Antwon enjoying the majestic scenery…
There is one portion on the hike to the Indian Head that requires a little upper body strength. But even the smallest kids can make it up as evidence by this shot of Bex…
Another favorite anomaly on the trail-less outing is an approximate eight-foot hole that goes straight down through the rock into a little sheltered portion of the cliff. This past hike was the first time that we had ever made the attempt to climb up through this hole. This is looking straight down…
While Nic was climbing up, he got a little snow dropped from above by someone who wanted revenge…
You cannot see me. I am just a piece of moss sticking to this black and orange rope. Uh Bob… They’ve got arms!...
Poor Ben had to play the part of the anchor…
We all made it back safe and sound, most of us that is. Anthony decided to bring a little poison oak back with him…
No… one of the side effects of poison oak is not that you turn into a sheep, but you do turn into a certain reptilian creature. That is another story though. That was actually a pic of our 4 day old lamb that was born… um… 4 days ago. Isn’t he cute?! No you say? Don’t worry, I agree with you. This needs to get to Mrs. K somehow… I would rather spend time with an ug… I mean extremely cute baby.
And we know that allthingsworktogether for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Of all of the blog entries that I have struggled to get started, this is going to be the hardest.
Some of you know, while others do not, that a very dear friend of our family, Eric Davis, went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday at 41 years of age. Only knowing the Davis family for 2 ½ years, our two families have grown to be very close friends.
From the very first time that I met Mr. Davis, I was both encouraged and intimidated by him at the same time.I’ll never forget one night while I was going through my EMT class that I was invited over to their house for dinner and game night. We had met them six months prior, but I still didn’t know their family anywhere near the extent that I do now. Making the drive to their house, I was completely terrified! I wasn’t just going over by myself; I was going to the Davis’ by myself!
My fear of Mr. Davis very quickly turned into a great respect for him and his family. I am struggling to find the right words to tell you more, so I will use my fallback and put some pictures up here that will describe Mr. Davis to a tee.
Every year, he would organize a hiking/backpacking/camping trip with some of the families from church. He loved being outdoors in God’s creation…
It seemed like everywhere we went, he was standing with his back to a precipice taking a group shot. Like this one at Pinecrest Lake on Labor Day…
Or this one at the top of a mountain overlooking Yosemite…
I could never get him to switch from Nikon to Canon.
Every Sunday at church, I would see him holding his daughter all through service. This one obviously wasn’t taken at church though. He loved all of his kids dearly...
Mr. D had a goofy sense of humor. This one was taken during a downpour of hail near Tioga Pass on one of our camping trips…
He was rarely seen without some form of food or drink, yet he stayed skinnier than a beanpole…
And yes… he was fearless…
The most important thing though is that he raised a beautiful family with an eagerness to serve the Lord. Mission accomplished…
I am going to sorely miss Mr. Davis, and all of the joy that he brought, but it brings me great joy now to know that we are going to meet again someday. I sure hope he’s finding some great trails up there.
• Jan. 29, 2008 - It wont be long before we'll all be there with...
SNOW -
Frozen precipitation in the form of white or translucent hexagonal ice crystals that fall in soft, white flakes.
As of three weeks ago, this definition of snow would make me long for the freezing temperatures to return, and along with it, some precipitation so that we could have some white landscapes to play in and photograph. That was three weeks ago.
The weatherman has been relentless in his forecasts of snow, snow, and more snow. It seems like every time I log on to our local news station’s website, the headline reads something like: “SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY in effect 2PM Tuesday through 7AM Wednesday for the foothills.”
I actually did just pull that off of the website. I wonder why they mix bold type with the regular. Maybe they are trying to emphasize that we might get TWO WHOLE INCHES of snow on TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY. I still haven’t figured out what blowing snow is…
The snow is coming in little spurts, just like it usually does this time of year. Two inches come… two inches go… two inches fall… two inches melt… Just enough to make the ground unbearably muddy for always and eternity.
Are you getting the “drift” that maybe the snow is wearing on me just a little? Here are a couple of pictures from our latest “blizzard”. The view from our back porch at 630am…
The view of our tree (one of many) from our back porch…
Our famous “Indian Head” that gives our ranch-ette the title of “Look Right Ranch”. Guess who came up with that name. Yep. The one and only dad…
If you look at the bush in the foreground, you can really get a good depiction of how much accumulation we actually got. In the background is our neighbor’s house that Ben and I have been helping build…
And last but not least, here is a picture that Matthew shot this morning from the safety of the kitchen, through the kitchen window. If you couldn't tell by the garb, I was off to work. It appears that I am struggling with either 1. Opening the car door, or 2. Standing…
Thank you for reading my post on snow. I hope it didn’t make you all turn white. If it did, consult your personal physician immediately as this may be an early sign of frostbite.
There will come a day when I will be settled in a comfortable job, with a comfortable home, married to a comfortable wife, playing with my comfortable children, but in order to achieve comfort I need to spend an uncomfortable time pursuing it. Comprendo?
If you recall, I did a post a couple of weeks ago on the hectic application process with the Oakland Fire Department. Just a quick recap: The OFD was taking the first 1,000 applications on December1st, 2007, but what ended up happening, come 8am on the 1st, was that they started picking people “at random” from the mob lined up at the entrance points. Needless to say, I was not one of the chosen. Seeing the err of their ways, and hoping to avoid the almost certain lawsuits, the OFD opened up the application process again to everyone that was there on the 1st. Refusing to pass up this golden opportunity, my buddy Kelly and I made the long trip back down to the big city.
Surprisingly enough, this time around there weren’t large crowds of people hoping for a chance just to turn in their applications. Upon our immediate arrival, a firefighter checked our paperwork to make sure we had everything…
Where’s the line?!...
There it is. Not very long at all…
It took a total of five minutes for me to complete the process. A little better than the thirteen hours I spent down there the last time with nothing to show for it. Now for the next step: A multiple choice test on Saturday. I would appreciate any prayer that you have to offer, that God would keep me alert and focused, and ultimately giving all glory to Him through this process.
• Jan. 6, 2008 - 2008 will be the old year in about a year...
As most of you may know by now, 2008 is upon us. If you do not know that by now, then you seriously need to think about going on a shopping spree, and buying a current calendar. Just a thought. Yes, the New Year is here, which in turn means a new blog post on the famed “New Year’s Party” at the S’s!!
It is always great fun to have a party at our friends house, but when it’s a New Year’s party minus a rousing game of “Animal”… now that has the makings of a splendiferous night! The buzz going through the church for the past couple of months has been “English Country Dancing” a.k.a. “Pride and Prejudice Dancing”. I never much cared for the movie, and I didn’t think I would care for the dancing, but everyone proved me wrong on the 31st. The S’s pulled both cars out of their garage, and we used the parking facility as a dance floor. It took awhile for everyone to learn the four dances that were picked for the night, but once we did… there was no stopping us. We had a blast…
No… this was not part of one of the “proper” dances, but this is a representation of how the whole evening was. Crazy…
Yet another crazy shot. I would like to think that Nic was trying to whisper something in Nathan’s ear, but I am afraid that is not so. The night was a cheery and happy one! I am pretty sure that is about as far as Nic got though, before Nathan slapped him upside the head…
What’s with all the crazy shots? Most of the dancers posed in front of the door for one of those so called “group shots”…
Finally, some calm and proper ladies…
Everybody celebrates the New Year in different ways. Others, such as our pastor, like to read oversized genealogy books…
And what’s a New Year’s party without a toast with some Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Cider?...
Well, you can go a little overboard. Waste not, want not… Right?...
And when the New Year came, there was celebrating in the streets… or entryway…
To end the evening, or start the morning, whichever you prefer, we all sat around and shot rubber-bands at the ceiling hoping to ricochet it into another person’s lap. After awhile, the ceiling part was dropped…
If you’ll remember from my New Year’s post of last year (2007), I put a picture up of a certain little boy named Thomas, that looked like he was sucking his thumb while sleeping. I actually wasn’t sucking my thumb, I never have in fact, my hand was just in a way that LOOKED like I was sucking my thumb. It has now become tradition that we get a picture of that certain little boy “sucking” his thumb while sleeping. I wasn’t really asleep. It was just a reenactment…
Rachel thought it looked like fun, so she "sucked" her thumb as well…
Matthew is not one to be left out…
Nic decided to join us, but he missed the memo about pretending to suck his thumb…
Now didn’t that look like a great way to spend the holiday?
I don’t know about the rest of the world, but in the Hector household Christmas has come and gone. Did that seem fast to anyone else? It seems like just yesterday that it was December 29th… Weird…
Being in a firefighter’s family, we have grown up with the possibility of not having a dad around on certain holidays, birthdays etc.. This was true for Christmas 2007, so we worked around his schedule. We celebrated our Christmas Eve and Christmas on the 23rd and 24th respectively. In contrast to our Thanksgiving, this particular holiday was much quieter, due to the fact that we only had four other people up instead of 23 extra visitors. Nana and Papa came up on the 23rd and stayed the night, and then Aunt Debbie and Uncle Ron arrived on the 24th to have dinner.
As usual, there were four cameras snapping shots all through the morning, so I am bound to have a couple of good pictures to throw up here… Actually, let’s start with one that was taken about a week and a half prior to Christmas day. Either dad's upper body is turning into the greenery, or he is being consumed by it…
Did you see my ambulance in the background? We went and got a tree on a day when I was working. The rig is a huge 4x4 conversion with about a 6 inch lift. It’s a pretty groovy ambulance… or should I say was… one of our crews rolled it on the way to a vehicle accident when they hit black ice. Ouch.
Back to Christmas. On the Eve of Christmas (a.k.a. Christmas Eve, for those of you who were having a hard time with that concept, which I hope there weren’t too many of you out there), mom gave us each an ornament per tradition. Here is a picture of Sara squishing me while I am holding up my violin ornament…
Every Christmas, our family makes about 15 different kinds of cookies and put them on plates as gifts for other people. Here is our dining room table covered with… well… you know… teeth rotting food. Don’t worry HRTF and family… we brush at least twice a day…
Before we open any gifts on the morning of, dad reads the story of Jesus’ birth to us. Note the pink sky outside the window. Yes, it was early…
Another way to tell that it was early is by looking at this picture. It took awhile to get Ben to the point of consciousness. Dad was obviously wide awake…
Here is my favorite 12 year old sister, and sitting behind her is my favorite 11 year old sister. They look pretty comfy…
What more than a doll can an 8 year old girl want?...
Recognition for this next photo goes to Matthew Hector. Ben got a lot of motorcycle gifts this year, including a Lego bike cop…
And I got a Lego Medical QRV (Quick Response Vehicle). It sorta fits with the job description…
These next two pictures I absolutely love. Bex has the greatest smile in the world…
She also got a heart locket with pictures of both mom and dad. I think she got tired of her nightgown…
The boys got Ben and me (I know that sounds grammatically wrong, but it is wright!! Or write… or right… one of the three…) chef hats with our names on them. I think the hats will improve our culinary skills exponentially…
And now for the greatest shot of them all. Ben received both shorts and a sweater from mom, so he decided to put them on, find a hat and a golf club, and break every fashion law out there. Although, I must admit, the shorts are kinda cool…
On the 25th, we headed over to the Bay Area, saw National Treasure 2, and had dinner with dad at the firehouse. Unfortunately, we didn’t take any pictures of the marvelous day, so you will have to rely on your imagination to carry you through. If you are picturing lots of good food and fire engines, you are on the right track.
The job market in California is relatively simple to get into, unless you are trying to make your way as a firefighter. At the latest application drop off for the Oakland Fire Department, there were approximately 3,000 people vying for 23 open positions as a firefighter trainee. To simplify that, 1 out of 130.4 people would land a spot in the academy. The odds aren’t looking very good.
The Oakland Fire Department made the announcement that it would take the first 1,000 applicants that showed up on Saturday, December 1st at 8am. Ben decided to tag along, so we showed up at 1am on the 1st just to make sure we got a spot in line within that first 1,000. When we got there, we learned that there had been people standing in line since the 29th of November… They had been in line for two whole days. I would not want to be outside in Oakland for 48 hours straight.
After standing out in the freezing cold for seven hours, the officials started picking people randomly from the crowd of 3,000 people instead of picking from the front of the line like they had planned on doing. Naturally this made people pretty mad.
Here are some pictures of the unproductive day…
Note the line of people stretched around the building…
There were five entrance points to the plaza where they were accepting applications. This point is where I first started out…
I was pretty far back in the pack, which meant I was further away from the people doing the picking, so I relocated to the Walgreens corner where I would have a better chance…
Another picture of the mayhem…
Yes, the cops were there. I wonder why?...
My unhappy face is directly above the news camera…
The Oakland Police Department was also accepting applications that day. Their line wasn’t very long. Maybe I should become a cop in the 8th most dangerous city in the nation…
They get to ride these really cool enduros…
Here is a line of people that got picked to turn in their apps. I was not among them…
After being up for 30 hours straight, and standing on the cold concrete for 12 hours and not getting picked, I had had enough. They picked their 1,000 applicants that they said they were going to take, so Ben and I decided to leave.
As I said many times after, I was pretty bummed. I went to the city expecting to drop off my application, and I left with nothing to show for it. God opens some doors and he shuts some doors, but I think this one He swung shut and it bounced right back open again (just like my brothers do with the doors into the house). The next week, Oakland Fire made an announcement that they would be accepting all of the applicants that did not get a chance to turn in their apps on Dec. 1st. I guess some people made a big stink about how they picked people instead of taking from the front of the line. So on Jan. 12th I’ll be making another big trip to Oakland. Yipee! I’ll give you another update on the possible career change when I make the next step.
• Dec. 4, 2007 - Oh there's no place like home for the holidays!
I am now going to write my own Bai-u. You know… like Haiku, but Thomas-ized. I think the topic is going to be Thanksgiving.
Ahem…
Dry turkey is brown and meaty
As is wet turkey
Persian Rugs have nothing to do with Thanksgiving
But poodles might
So, what’d you think? Is it worthy of a Nobel Prize in Literature? No… I didn’t think so.
Since that was a big letdown, I’ll put some pictures up of a real American Thanksgiving in the Hector household.
We’ll start with the 38 lb. turkey being carved by Mr. D. It wasn’t quite done by the time we were ready to eat, so it spent a couple of minutes in the microwave. Yum! Sorry Mrs. D!...
We had a pretty big group up for several days in and around Turkey Day. 34 to be exact, and most of those from just three families. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a group shot with everybody, but here are representatives from each of the three families. Very diverse…
Here is a pic of our great-room (schoolroom/gameroom/familyroom) which for the day was converted into a dining room…
During the course of the holiday, many games were played, including a rousing game of Nertz…
As a tradition (which would have happily been broken by us older kids because of the cold temperature), we always play a game of capture the flag. Here is GI Ben all decked out in his BDUs and grease paint…
Another tradition that we have on Thanksgiving is to play Monopoly in the evening and all the way until midnight. The reason we play all night is because Christmas songs may not be sung until the day after Thanksgiving, hence the staying up until midnight to sing, and usually no later. I think Goose fell asleep…
And a shot at the other end of the table. We look pretty bored…
Ben even got delusional. He started saying something like “My tinfoil Indiana could beat out your tinfoil Africa any day!”…
The next day was spent just doing whatever. James got sucked into this one book he picked up…
And of course the thousands and thousands of Legos came out. A favorite among the boys…
We did manage to organize a shot with one of the families that came up. I am going to give you two pictures, and you have to find the differences. Here is the first…
And here is the second…
Did you find them? I know it’s hard, so take another glance if you missed them.
Need a hint? Just call 1-800-CANNOTSEETHEOBVIOUS (1-800-226-6687-3384-3628-4687) for help. Only $5.99/minute weekdays $24.99/minute weekends and holidays.
I hope you enjoyed my randominity. And my bad spelling of made up words.
Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the pictures haven't come and they haven’t either. They’ll be up here soon; I just haven’t been able to write anything yet, for some reason or another. I have tried several times, but nothing seems to flow, and my rule is not to write anything if it doesn’t flow. Right now this isn’t flowing so I am going to stop writing. So enjoy this tag that I finished before I wrote this paragraph that isn’t flowing.
1. What's the silliest thing you have done in the past year?
That is a very hard question to answer. Thanks for asking it, and thanks for answering it.
2. Make up a sentence of words that start with your initials:
Today Jelly Homogenizes.
3. What is the coolest thing that's happened to you in the past week?
Probably being alive. It has been downright freezing in our neck of the woods this past week. Well, downright freezing for California.
4. What is your favorite kind of Ice Cream?
That’s like asking me whether I like my legs or my arms better. If you are forcing me to pick one though, I would have to say rocky road.
5. Sum up your personality in five words:
Shy as a lonely porcupine.
5.5. Explain your last answer.
What did you expect me to say? (I just added 5.5 so I could explain me answer since you only gave me 5 words in question 5)
6. Do you like to dress formal or casual?
Casual all the way! Not that I won’t dress up when it is required, but I really like wearing cargo pants, a T-shirt, my favorite hooded sweatshirt, and shoes that are halfway tied. Comfy, comfy, comfy!
7. It's a lovely warm and sunny day in May, what would you spend it doing if you could do anything you wanted?
I would do tons of things, but I think the few main things would be to go and take our dirt bikes up the hill (and back of course), take a hike up to the Indian Head (rock formation on the property next to ours), and take my brothers down to the baseball diamond to hit some balls. Eating would be interspersed in the day of course.
8. Favorite State (Of the USA)?
California here I come! Right back where I started from!
Wait… I’m already here… After California would be Texas, and then Maine. Oh, and there is this one little spot in southeastern Utah that I absolutely love. It is simply beautiful.
9. Have you ever been out of the country?
If you consider Nogales, Mexico as out of this country. Nogales is a town south of Tucson, AZ that is half in Arizona, and half in Mexico. Dirty little town. I have also seen Canada at Niagara Falls. Part of our family is planning a trip to Europe sometime in the future. I don’t know when, or where, but we are planning it. I guess you would call that the first stage of planning.
10. Do you like to dance?
This question was in a previous tag. I think my answer was, and I quote: “Do crabs like boiling water?”
11. Who is your favorite person to dance with?
Do you even listen to my answers? I don’t think you would make a very good reporter.
12. Who could you not be paid to dance with?
Seeing that you don’t ever listen to my answers, I will um… answer this one. I could not be paid enough to dance with our dear governor of this here state of Cal-ee-fornia. Him among many…
13. Have you ever cried during a movie?
I came horribly close during “The Passion” but other than that? No.
14. Have you ever cried while reading a book?
Once again, I came close in a book (which I can’t remember the title at this minute), but a tear never came out of my eye.
15. Do you wear sunglasses?
I live in California… Of course I wear sunglasses! I even wear them on my head when I am in the house. My coworker (who is also from California) wears sunglasses so much, there are two indentations on her head, underneath her hair, where the sunglasses rest. Yes… we Californians wear sunglasses all the time.
16. Are you tall or short?
Some people would consider me tall, and others would consider me short. How’s that for a diplomatic answer? I am currently 6’ 1 ½”. You be the judge.
17. Are jeans the best thing since sliced bread?
No. I thinkbutter is the best thing since sliced bread. Jeans are pretty great though.
18. If someone pointed a gun at you would you be scared?
I don’t think scared is the right word… A little bit apprehensive, but not scared. I know where I’m going when I die. Do you?
19. Red or Yellow?
Red or Yellow what? Red bananas? No. Yellow blood? No. I do like red and yellow crayons both though.
20. Who's your best friend?
Dog is man’s best friend, so I guess I am not man. I wonder what I am then… I guess I would have to say my best friend would have to be my brother Ben. Speaking of which, go over and visit his blog, deusprimus. When he updates, it is very entertaining.
21. Are they the best friend anyone has ever had?
That’s for me to know, and you to find out. Honestly I have no idea. Give this tag to everybody in the world, and I guess we’ll know.
22. On a range of 1-10, 1 being the most introvert and 10 being the most extrovert, where would you rank?
It depends on who I am with that day. On average, I would have to pick and average number. 5 sounds good to me.
23. Have you ever cried in public?
Have you ever gotten a license to sell hair tonic, to bald eagles, in Omaha, Nebraska?
24. Have you ever been seriously injured?
Thank the Lord, no. The worst injury I have ever received is when Ben accidently “pierced” my tongue. It’s a long story.
25. Do you like hiking?
Absatively posilutely!! We hike all the time on our property, and we take backpacking trips all over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Much fun!
26. Do you think that it's hard for people to get to know you?
If that person is not around me, then yes it is hard. If they are around me, it depends. I don’t go out and tell people about me, and talk about myself all the time, but if they ask then I tell them. Hence the tag.
27. If there were two of you, would you get along with yourself?
I would probably commit suicide in the weirdest way ever. In other words, no.
28. Are there any people that live far away that you'd like to see?
Lots and lots of people. I can’t think of anything else to add to this answer. It just seems kind of blah.
29. What is the coolest holiday?
The coolest holiday ever is Christmas, for more reasons than one. The food (aka pies and cookies) being the big part.
30. Isn't this just the coolest quiz you have ever done?
Is this a trick question? I think it is. I think they all were.
As usual, Thanksgiving was a blast at our house, but I still have to process the pictures before I can get them up here. In the timemean… um… I mean meantime… I thought I would post some pictures of our recent family reunion/trip to Santa Cruz (a.k.a. the beach).
Once upon a time, deep in the heart of California, an alarm’s harsh cry was heard at 5:30am. The beeping was quickly silenced. Five minutes later another alarm made its existence known to the world. The outcome was the same as the first. The third and final alarm clock sounded its trumpet, letting us know that a fate worse than the beeping would soon be upon us if we didn’t face the cold and get out of bed. So the day began…
It was a Sunday much like every other, except this time our family was not getting up at that early hour to make our 1 hour 45 minute trek to church, but to head out on a 3 ½ hour drive to Santa Cruz for a family reunion. A quick breakfast of cereal was consumed and then we hit the road. One gas stop, one bathroom stop, and one store stop with some very amusing shopping carts later, we arrived at our destination just eight miles from the beach. We could smell the salty air with every breath that entered our nostrils, but family duty confined us to our dad’s cousin’s house in the mountains.
We did not get to the beach right away like we were hoping, but we did have a good time at the reunion (even though we were the only ones there that were over 2 years, and under 35 years old). Our time was mostly spent playing Frisbee or kicking the soccer ball around. Here are some pictures of our time there.
Anthony was gearing up for the game of “Ultimate Frisbee” that we are planning for sometime in the future…
Laura was practicing her form…
And Ben was just being Ben with a funky hat…
Sara got mucho better at catching and throwing that day…
She even had a little competition from big brother Matthew…
I saw this and had to get a shot. If you squint your eyes and shake your head back and forth twice and clockwise three times, it looks like someone stretched and twisted Anthony while he was on the hammock…
Then the soccer ball came out. Poor Big Red is not as young as he once was…
Anthony tried doing the splits as far as he could. And that’s about it…
Nic could only take so much of the running around, so he sat back down with his drawing pad and pencil. I’ll have to put some of his work up here sometime. He is very talented…
I say Bex should audition for the Rockettes. That or go up against Pele. One or the other…
Ben was getting pretty tired, so he decided to take a quick siesta on the hammock, still with the funky hat...
When I saw this next picture, I just about died laughing. It really shows all three of my sister’s true personalities. The devious Bex is about to knock Sara out with a Frisbee, Laura is in her “mother” mode and pointing out the grass stains on Sara’s pants, and Sara is looking at her pants with the attitude of “yeah… so?”…
Now that I have shown their “at home” personalities, I will show a picture of the true and caring little angels that they actually are. Yeah right…
Next is a very, very rare picture of our whole family. You can tell we were facing right into the sinking sun due to the fact that dad’s eyes are closed, Bex being on the verge of tears, and Nic appearing to have swallowed a very large bug…
The day was coming to a close and we still wanted to make it to the beach, so we said our goodbyes and drove the eight miles to the largest body of water in the world. The beach where we finally ended up was a place called Natural Bridges. There used to be two “natural bridges” at this beach like the one pictured in the next photo, but one fell-down-go-boom, so now there is only one. Pay no attention to the beach bum. There are a lot of those in Santa Cruz…
It was pretty cold out, and mom and dad were tired, so Ben and I took the kids minus Sara down for a little while. Here is some randomness at the beach that I got video footage of…
Partial family shot. Notice that the people with no shoes on are closer to the water than those with…
It was about time to go, so they all waved goodbye to the waves. Yes, the waves waved back…
What’s a trip to the beach without a good sunset shot? I tried to make this one extra special…
There is a downside to driving 3 ½ hours to get to your destination. You have to drive 3 ½ hours back.
And so concludes this adventurous tale of adventurous people.
• Nov. 13, 2007 - Would this be a concrete post, or a post of concrete?
I have now experienced the nightmare of the blogger. I almost had my entire post all written out when I closed the window without saving it first. I don’t know why I did that… It wasn’t an accident or anything, I just closed it out. Reeeeaaaalll smart Thomas…
My whole post was about the concrete pouring that we have been doing over the past three weeks at our house. As usual with people who have lost their entire post, I don’t really feel like writing the whole thing out again, so you are going to get the sweetened, condensed version, complete with pictures which are not sweetened or condensed in any way.
Concrete: A hard, strong construction material consisting of sand, conglomerate gravel, pebbles, broken stone, or slag in a mortar or cement matrix.
Cement: A building material made by grinding calcined limestone and clay to a fine powder, which can be mixed with water and poured to set as a solid mass or used as an ingredient in making mortar or concrete.
There is a difference between the two.
Our plan was to pour (with the help of our neighbor who actually knew what he was doing), approximately 15 yards of concrete in the form of one huge slab in front of our garage and two walkways. Since we didn’t have enough guys to help finish, we poured half one day, and the other half two weeks later. Forming was completed, concrete was ordered, and the very early day came… that’s one thing I don’t like about concrete. You have to get up really early to pour. I guess it’s that way with a lot of things though. I don’t like getting up early. But I don’t like staying in bed forever. I like getting up around 8am. Not 11am. Not 6am. I digress with short sentences. Sorry. It won’t happen again. Moving on.
We were hoping that the concrete would jump out of the truck by itself and then we could all be done for the day, but it didn’t exactly live up to our expectations…
In fact, the concrete didn’t come out at all at first, which is why “The Great Picture Taker Otherwise Known As Matthew” was able to snap this shot (he told me to give him some recognition for his pictures)…
Dad is about to get run over by the concrete truck, or get a boot full of concrete. One or the other (my new truck is in the background!!! You finally get to see what it looks like!)…
The driver forgot to put the secret ingredient of fiber mesh in the load, which keeps the concrete from cracking once it’s dry. Ben had to run down the hill to pick it up. In the meantime we poured the part right in front of the door where no cars would be parking…
Ben arrived with the bags of fiber mesh, so the driver threw them in the mixer, plastic bags and all! I was a little surprised at that, but our neighbor (aka Bob) said they would be in little pieces by the time the mixer was done with them. So we have little bits of plastic in our slab…
The concrete was laid, and the work of finishing came. It rained the day before, so the drying time was really, really, slow. So slow in fact, we had time to break for lunch, which is a rare thing when you’re pouring concrete. I don’t know if I just took a huge bite, or if I am about to explode. The latter never happened, so I am guessing I took a huge bite…
It was taking so long to dry dad could even recline while finishing…
We had a little extra concrete, so Bill and Nic made some forms for stepping stones…
Dad and Bob worked on making the stepping stones for the kids to decorate…
I said kids, but Ben and I decorated our own stepping stones as well. I guess we are still kids at heart…
This is what the first pour looked like at the start of the second pour two weeks later…
The truck arrived once again for the next section of the slab and the two walkways, this time with the fiber mesh mixed in…
Dad and I worked on spreading the concrete with the rakes, which is not an easy thing to do…
We got some help from gimpy (aka Ben)…
After the concrete was poured the viber-strike was brought out. This tool pushes the rock in the concrete down and brings the “cream” to the surface. The only downside is that it shakes the operator to death. I think I suffered several small concussions by the time everything was done…
I thought I would throw this picture in just because it is so random. Everybody is doing something just a little different in this shot, plus the handle of the jitterbug (tool that I will describe in a minute) in the foreground. Very random…
The next step was the front walkway with the flowing curve. Here is a just before shot with Matthew…
And here is a just after with nobody…
Here is the other walkway in our side yard. Nothing fancy, just kind of straight and simple...
This next tool that I am using pretty much does the same thing as the first tool I was describing, but it doesn’t require pre-mix gasoline. It does require the operator to slam it into the fresh concrete over and over again, which in turn pushes the rock down. It also splatters the person with concrete which is a downside…
This last picture is of gimpy (that name was given to him by a deacon at church by the way… you don’t think I would be so mean as to tag him with that do you?) trying to prove that he can do normal things by lifting a 14’ 2x4. He did a great job lifting that piece of wood! Now if we can just get him to a point where he can swing a pick again…
After all was said and done, I was sorer than a sore person after that sore person had done something really sore.
Thank you all of you concrete workers out there! I appreciate all that you do to make this world a cleaner and less muddy place!!
