Sharkey's Road Trip

On the drive home from Eagle Lake, I was SO bored. I started taking pictures of Sharkey in different surroundings which prompted my post wondering whether or not you could get a ticket for taking pictures while driving. Then it kind of reminded me of the gnome who took pictures in all these exciting places. I think the movie was Amelie.

In my first shot, I just wanted to get Lassen in the background.

Then I just kept shooting. This is coming down to Antelope Highway. Or is it on Antelope Highway? 20 years of making this trip...you'd think I'd have it figured out by now.

Oooooo....gotta get me one of those (Caddy XLR)!

Yup, we stopped at EVERY rest stop. Because of my Honey Bunch's TB (Tiny Bladder).

Most. Boring. Road. Ever. 505.

Hey! What's New Guy doing over there? Oh wait, I'm IN New Guy. Nevermind.

Hey! It's New Guy again! Oh wait, I'm STILL in New Guy. Wishful thinking. Nevermind.

Hey! You can't be between me and Sharky! Move it!

Ah yes. Sunday afternoon heading home traffic.

This guy was cracking me up keeping his distance. Guess he learned his lesson.

Almost there!

My Honey Bunch's biggest fear is looking like the Clampets. Hmmmm....you decide.

And we're on the home stretch!

Home again, home again, jiggety jig!

Oof. A few casualties. That's gotta hurt. Now to unload....

Rosy's Face Plant

My Honey Bunch has been riding motorcycles since before he could walk. Apparently, when he and his sister were little tiny guys, his dad would put them both on the back of his motorcycle and hold on to them with one arm, and take them to their grandma's to be babysat so he could go to high school. (OK, I'm exaggerating. A little.)

His dad used to race motorcycles at one point, so all four kids learned to ride. Here's my little Honey Bunch, a while ago.

Being so much into motorcycles, he really wanted me to learn. I FINALLY agreed to learn, right after my mother died. Yes, I purposefully waited until after she died. She didn't needed the added stress while fighting throat cancer, worrying about another child losing their life to a motorcycle.

So my Honey Bunch got us each a dirt bike, which I learned to ride at Carnegie in Livermore in '95. Over the years, we rode off and on at Eagle Lake. While the kids were little, we didn't get a whole lot of riding in. In fact, I had not ridden at all in the last couple of years.

This year, I decided I was going to give it a go again.

So I suited up. Was a little nervous but I did it! On Monday, we went on a fairly tame logging road so that I could get my bearings. It was fun!

After we lost a day to the truck fiasco, which by the way, ended up being a loose screw. Literally. It cost us a day and $175 towing into Susanville to discover that the bozo's at the dealership did not tighten a screw in the fuel pump properly. No new truck for now. Where was I? Oh yes, Saturday, we decided to go up to the Lookout. I was a little apprehensive. I don't really care for the loose, gravelly, rocky, bumpy, maybe fly off the sheer cliff, kind of thing. We were going to try going up a way we had never been before.

It was tough. I was slipping and sliding, my boobs were bouncing so hard they were practically knocking me out (ha, ha, knockers knocking, ha, ha). But I was a trooper. I didn't wimp out and beg to go back! My little Honey Bunch only checked the terrain once to make sure I could do it.

And we made it! I was so pleased with my self! Here's my little Honey Bunch.

Me after riding my bike up to the lookout. Didn't go over any cliffs, didn't fall, didn't cry, didn't run into any bears or chain gangs. Phew! It was quite enjoyable. I must say, it's a lot scarier going up there in a car.

So we head back to camp, down a road we are familiar with -- the same one we ride up in the car. I'm all pleased with myself, smiling and enjoying the ride. We get into camp. I'm all the expert bike rider now, cocky, riding standing up, chest puffing. Pull into the camp site, fling my leg over the bike and the bike promptly begins to fall on top of me, knocking me down to the ground, breaking the break lever.

NOTE TO SELF: Put the kickstand down BEFORE you start walking away from the bike.

No one saw me but it was so funny to me I had to share.

Blog Fodder

Luckily for me, I take lots of pictures and therefore can sit here with lots of stuff to blog about since I can't go on my scheduled motorbike ride up to the lookout. You see, just as we know it will and has rained on hamburger night, every year for the last 19 years we've been coming to Eagle Lake, we are equally sure one of our vehicles will have some mechanical issue. Whether it was me and my Honey Bunch's very first time in Old Blue or today, in Mr. Big Stuff and every year in between.

Our plan was for my Honey Bunch to drive me and Lisa to a Zumba class in Susanville, gas up Big and hang out at Starbucks until we were done. Big would not start. No idea why, although I personally suspect little critters chewing on wires to make their nests.

Anyway, Lisa and I took New Guy into town for the Zumba class. When we returned, my Honey Bunch was waiting on a tow truck and the rest of us were taking bets on how soon a New Truck would be in our driveway.

My Honey Bunch watching Big get hitched up.

So long Mr. Big Stuff!

It was nice knowing you! Sniff, sniff.

Family's Camping Trip

Last year at Eagle Lake, I took over 1,000 pictures. I deleted probably 600. Then I found the deleted ones on my laptop, forgetting that I meant to delete them and copied them back to my desktop. Aargh. This year, I took over 1,000 pictures. I am still deleting.

In looking through the photos, I see we did pretty much the same thing we've been doing for the last 20 years. I guess the good thing about taking all the pictures is that I'll be able to document the kids' growth, my Honey Bunch's zillion vehicles, the water level, my yo-yoing weight, various and assorted pets.

Everything else is pretty much the same. Sitting by the campfire, riding to the marina, going to Gallatin Beach to not swim, going to the Lookout, going to the Ice Caves, going to Lassen, hanging out in hammocks, eating TONS of food, drinking lots of wine, golf, motor biking, watching the sailboat races, eating at Pine Shack Frosty. Same old, same old. Since I have a hundred zillion pictures, I posted them on my Phanfare Site. The password is: january

Here's just a sampling. Nat, Katie, Nic and Em at the campfire.

Nat, Katie and Em at Gallatin.

Heading up to pester the ranger at Antelope Lookout.

Em, Katie, Nat.

The kids in the ice caves. As you know, I have Ice Cave Phobia.

Nat looking a little like a chipmunky.

Nic looking a little like Jesus.

Lovely snow up at Lassen.

Dog poop at Lassen. (Weird sense of humor. Sorry.) I found it interesting the way it melted down into the snow from the warmth from whence it came.

Egg and bacon taco day!

Eating ice cream at the marina.

The sail boat racers.

Until next year. Same time, same pictures, bigger kids?

Silly Game

I have never liked games. I never liked kickball in grade school because I was kind of scrawny and was always picked last. I hated volley ball because I always managed to sprain a finger. I detested board games because my little brothers and sisters would never play right. Or maybe it was because we didn't speak or read English and couldn't figure out how to play properly. Reading and following the rules and trying to make surly little brothers and sisters play along just wasn't my thing. Never liked card games either although apparently, I'm really good at poker. I cleaned the fellas out at Arnold.

Anyway, I guess it's the zillion arbitrary rules that one has to learn. I just don't get it. Just gag me with a spoon already.

New at the very tippy top of my list is the silliest game of all.

Golf. (No offense golf lovers.)

My in-laws have been avid golfers since my FIL retired several years ago. My Honey Bunch has never played because there are other things he'd rather do. He has known for some time that his parents had him on their Bucket List. They wanted to play golf with their son! And by golly, they did!

They were so excited to play 18 holes with him at Susanville while we were camping at Eagle Lake. I decided to tag along. I was going to bring a book to read in case I got bored. When we got back, I realized my book got left behind. Obviously, I wasn't bored. I was quite amused, actually.

First, I have NEVER driven a golf cart. Can you believe it? 52 years old and never drove a golf cart. Anyway, after a while, I took over and drove my Honey Bunch around.

Here is my Honey Bunch looking all spiffy in his new golf attire.

Warming up. Is that what you call this?

There was an awful lot of this going on. Now I see why it takes 5 hours to play 18 holes. Was this your ball?

My little Honey Bunch.

Oof. More of THAT going on. I helped search for balls. At one point, we had more balls than we came with.

Sooooo....irons, hazards, dog legs, woods, pars. Dog legs. Ha, ha. See what I mean. Random.

I think Gma is kicking butt. Then again, I don't know how you would tell. "I think I'll give myself 8 on that one." Does everyone just pick a random score?

Whacked game! But thoroughly entertaining. I didn't even realize I left my book behind.

Bugs and Bikers

Camping is so different now. We've got a trailer with full hookups, heat, water. All the creature comforts. Last year, we were even lucky enough to be close enough to the camp WIFi that if we aimed our computers properly, we could get to the Internet. This year, my iPhone has a Personal Hotspot and at the moment, four of us are on our devices, tethering to the Internet, from my little iPhone, in our PJs. How's that for roughing it?

Since we have this Internet luxury, I found this on Facebook. I have been looking for this article for years! That, my friends, is my little bug car. It was the Berkeley High School Senior Prank of 1980. No, I was not the mastermind. I just happened to live a block away from the High School so my little bug car was the perfect target. Would have been more perfect if they (16 seniors) hadn't broken the wing window to get in, seeing as the doors were unlocked. No biggie though. They gave me a couple of bucks to fix it and my little bug car lived on to be known as one of the best High School Senior pranks ever.

So, we really are 'camping'. I even got out on my dirt bike for the first time in several years! My Honey Bunch was right, it all came back to me. We rode down the highway to a logging road. I was eating my Honey Bunch's dust most of the time. It wasn't too bad in the slippery, slidey arena but I discovered something. I like riding on the nice smooth highway much better than the slippery, slidey dirt. Hmmm...maybe I should trade this in for a Hog.

Free

FREE! Valances, drapes and cream colored vertical blinds with all the hardware. Let me know if you or someone you know might be interested. I don't even care if you pick them up and go sell them at the Flea Market.

They're a little outdated but a crafty person might be able to cover the valances with a new, modern fabric. The drapes might make great rompers for your seven children to wear while singing in the mountains.

Email/comment me if interested!

Feels Like Summer

Yippee!!! Finally, some sunny days where we can enjoy the pool! Actually, the pool did get to about 90 degrees one day. I like it, but some people talk craziness about putting ice into it.

I don't have anything profound to say today. No funny stories I can think of, so I'll just regale you with my random photos. This one is of the heart shaped mole on my leg. Or is it cancer?

Me and Nat love sushi! I even made my own ahi poke the other day. Nice fresh tuna from Costco, a little soy sauce and sesame oil, pepper flakes, green onions. YUM!

From the Glow Zumba shoot the other day, I just noticed the bottom of Oscar's shoes. LOL!

Seems like old times....Nic, Lauren, Shane and Nat.

A PokeMOM and Totoro?

Stopped into Guicho (Luis) and Alex' awesome class on Saturday. $10 drop in for one and a half hours of fun! Pacheco Community Center, 5800 Pacheco Boulevard. Saturdays at 10:00 am. You should try it!

Watched several different fireworks shows from the porch on the 4th.

My friend, Christina, with Fernanda from The Real Housewives of Orange County.

My friend, Christina, gets around the OC. Here she is with Gretchen. Yes, I'm a Housewives watcher. All of them: NY, NJ, ATL, OC, DC, BH. Am I forgetting any?

My friend, Christina, should be on the Real Housewives of OC. She has the beauty and the boobs. Maybe not the drama, though.

Feels Like Winter

The reason I put in the above header is not because we haven't had summer yet, even though it's July, but because I took up ballet. Something I've always wanted to do. You know, be a ballerina.

Or a race car driver.

Dream big!

Nat also just started ballet classes a few months ago. Here we are goofing before our classes:

By the way, I went to UFC for Zumba after ballet class in my ballet attire. That was a sight! There's a video out there somewhere!

I started to upload pictures to my Phanfare site again. If you're totally board and want to see pictures of Father's Day at Grandma's, Music in the Park, multiple Zumba events, Zumba photo shoot for the upcoming Glow event, etc., be my guest!