Afternoon Rains...

Afternoon rains showed up at the jumps yesterday..its pretty nice because it brings the temp down and cools things off.

At The Jumps.....Again

I figured out what I would be doing on the weekends if I lived in Fort Collins.....hanging out at the dirt jumps at Lory State Park. I went back today and built up the lips on two more jumps and tuned up the berm. One more jump to go and the entire "large" size line will be complete.

I'll let someone else worry about the small jumps.

The photo is looking down the first four from the starting hill.

Loving it up here!

Jumping With The Bunnies

We spent the last two days hanging out in Fort Collins, Colorado with Michelle's parents. The first couple of days were spend relaxing and repairing various items on the truck.

Yesterday we visited Lory State Park near Horsetooth Lake. The park had a bunch of dirt jumps. I had fun while Michelle discovered a small rabbit who lived near the park.

From The Earth....

Later on we stopped by another mission in Rancho De Taos, New Mexico. Rancho De Taos is just south of Taos, New Mexico.

The mission walls were reciently "mudded" and you could see the straw in the mixture. Very cool!

Shopping for Chilis in Chimayo

Michelle and I visited a small mission in Chimayo, New Mexico. The local stores sold a variety of chilis. We ended up buying a few bags of various chilis for use with cooking. Very tasty!

Visiting Las Lunas

Michelle and I stopped by my parents property in Las Lunas, New Mexico. The property is next to some railroad tracks and a couple of abandonded cars. There is a lot of space out there :)

Camping In New Mexico

We spent our second night on our trip camping in a national forest in southern New Mexico. Our campsite was a small clearing just a mile or so off the rural road we were driving on. The closest town was Datil, New Mexico. What a beautiful place. It was here we discovered the fridge doesn't work. More on this later....
In the morning we drove past a large array of antennas used for radio astronomy. The antennas were located on a large flat plain 15 minutes from our campsite.

The order of these photos were a little out of wack because they were taken before the post on July 24....but it took awhile before I could share them.

Happy Birthday Michelle!

Actually Michelle's birthday was a few days ago but she sent me this photo of her flowers and I wanted to share it.

Internet Connectivity in Garcia Park? Go Figure...

You would be suprised to find where you can find connectivity on this planet. Last night we stayed in Tres Ritos, outside of Chimayo, New Mexico. It is a pretty place but we were surrounded by ATV campers. Big trailers, and generators running all night.

So the next day we drove to Taos and stopped in at a camping store. We spoke to the guy working behind the counter and I told him I needed a good nights sleep in the mountains. I told him about last night and he told me to go to Garcia Park, 7 miles up a dirt road out of Taos.

We get there and it is beautiful. We park the truck in a grove of aspens and take a walk in a nearby meadow. I just happened to turn on my phone and believe it or not...we have reception. That's why you are getting this post.

New Mexico is a beautiful place. More to follow.....

At Least I Synced....

We are leaving for Colorado and I synced my ipod with itunes last night. I figured I'd sync Michelle's iphone as well. Glad I did because immediately afterwards the harddrive on my laptop crashed. Im pretty sure its toast.

The only thing I lost was aprox. 12 gigs of music. At least I synced the good stuff yesterday.

I guess you can say I purged my music collection. Oh well. Now off to Colorado.

Shopping For Flowers

Michelle and I recently took a trip to Miramar Nursery to look for a new plant for the front yard. We ended up purchasing a Yucca Rostrada. Below is a photo of a developed one in the Kensington area of San Diego. We like the round shape of the spines. Ours is a little smaller.

While at the Miramar Nursery, I took a photo of Michelle in a sea of Agapanthus :)

Lazy Days

Its been warm reciently (for OB standards) and we had a great time surfing, riding at the skate park, and reading a book to my wife while out on the patio. Jack joined us for a nap under a plant. Good times!

More Repairs Around The House

This photo of the trashcans looks like a repeat.... (click here) but it isn't. The city emptied our trash cans from the June 29 front yard trimming session and we filled them up again...this time with the remaining clippings from the center portion of the front yard (what I am standing in front of). All in all we filled 16 trash cans with garden clippings. Jeez.

We also replaced the toilet in the bathroom. We purchased a "Toto" toilet which is famous for being water-wise AND having a lot of flushing power. Jack wanted to check it out before it was installed. We placed the old toilet in the alley. Hopefully someone will pick it up. If not, I'll smash it up and throw it in the trash. 

I'm running out of household choirs. Time for a road trip. More info soon....

What The ???

Watch this and try to guess how long it must have taken to create. Check out the site for more info:

Thought inflation was bad here?

Zimbabwe had some difficulty with inflation a couple of years ago. Prices were doubling every day and the country started printing "billion" and "trillion" notes. Take a look at the bill below. The photo of the "three eggs" is interesting because that was all you could buy with the billion bill. It gives a new meaning to "keep the change".

New board on its way

A couple of days ago I mentioned that Steve Pendarvis is shaping a new board for me. I thought I would share a photo of him in action. Can't wait!

Nice cars at the Scripps Ranch parade

I know its a little late but I thought I would post some photos from the Scripps Ranch parade on July 4th. Most of the photos are of classic police cars. I did add a photo of the convertible Michelle and I drove in.

Lazy Thursday

I enjoyed a relaxing day around Ocean Beach doing the following:

• Morning surf (wasn't that good)
• Finishing up a logo for the new surfboard (see below)
• Bike ride to Ocean Beach for a smoothie
• Bike session in the skate park
• Organizing my music in iTunes
• Lunch at the Tilted Stick....ate a couple of fish tacos
  
• Afternoon surf session at the jetty

Tonight Michelle and I are going out to dinner. A wonderful summer day!

The orange van below was photographed by Fred, my counselor. Nice ride!

Jesus surfs?

My neighbor bought a stain glassed window depicting Jesus watching over a surfer on a wave. He bought it from a pastor down the street for five bucks. We built a frame for it and strung some x-mas lights on it. It now has candles and other shrine-related objects such as beeds and offerings. Every day there seems to be something new.

4th of July at "The Ranch"

Just finished participating in the Scripps Ranch 4th of July parade. Duncan Hunter was in front of us in a truck with NRA stickers and a driver chomping on a cigar. Behind us was a group of guys dressed up like star wars characters.

The quote of the day came from some guy dressed up like a storm trooper talking to the parade coordinator....."There will come a day when the empire will fall...but today will not be that day."

Only at the ranch...