Out on the slopes

I decided at the beginning of last week to go out skiing for the first time this winter. I called Kevin Schenk up and he wanted to go as well so that is exactly what we did. On Friday I went to Ripon and visited with my grandparents for an hour and a half and then went over to the Schenks. Kevin and I are a lethal combination when we get together and we are constantly doing things that make womenfolk blush and children run in fear. This time was no exception and provided hours of entertainment.

When I got to Kevins he put me to work. Kevin cleans an office once a week and I went over to give him a hand.

Killing it on the slopes.

Sunny morning in the mountains.

Saturday we went up to Dodge Ridge and had a great time. It had snowed about 16” in the previous few days and about 8” overnight so the conditions were great. We got to our usual run and it was ungroomed and perfect powder. This is the way all skiing should be and the best run of the day ended up being the very first one that we went on. Most of the day was spent weaving in and out of trees (not always avoiding them) and just soaking up some good time in the mountains. Time in the hills is a requirement to keep sanity for me and this was just the trip that I needed. It is hard to feel that way today though because my muscles ache like I am 40 or something (no…40 is not the new 28).

Here I am ripping it up on the second run of the day.

After the day on the slopes we drove back to Riptown and I came home to my lovely wife in SJ. Brenda had some volleyball stuff on Saturday so she could not come with, and being the wonderful woman she is, put the thought of going skiing into my head. I have provided pictures and video as usual.

So here is a return to sender we got back in the mail. Inside are cookies and other things we baked and packaged up and sent off to one of our fine young men in the military. We have a kid in our church who joined up and we though we should send him something. Well I guess it did not get there and here it is again.




If you look closely you can see we sent the package on Sept. 24, 2008 and received it back as a return to sender on the Feb. 6, 2008. Great job postal service getting on the ball and delivering valuable packages to our men and women in the service...wait no...you didn't delver the package.

Basketball

Last weekend Myron and Andrea were down and we went out to the coast despite the clouds and chance of rain. We had a great time and went out to this lighthouse as well as looking into the tide pools nearby.


Myron and Andrea in front of the lighthouse. I guess the thing is so old that they will not let people up into it until they redo the structure. They said it would cost about 5 mil, but I think that it could be done for about 1/2 that. Since it is a state historical structure it is going to cost a lot to make sure it is authentic to the time it was built. In this case, making it a historical structure is really impeding peoples ability to fully enjoy the lighthouse (way to go California).

This Saturday we went to the playoffs for Brendas Jr. high team. They were undefeated going into it and won the first game to get a spot in the finals. The team they played was ridiculously good, but the girls did a great job. Unfortunately they did not win, but the had a great run and an even better time playing with their friends.

The girls after the game.

Brenda giving advice at a timeout.

I have another thing that I have to get off of my chest. The state of California has yet to pass a budget and is about 40billion in the hole. The legislature has yet to pass anything, and they continue to take days off and vacations. They have now told us that they are going to give IOU's for tax refunds...WTH. IOU's...that is total Bull and instead of paying them to sit on their butt and do nothing about this situation, we should be sending them IOU,s in lieu of pay. I think if they were getting it up the rear like the rest of California they might actually act. I am now calling for drastic state budget cuts and that all legislature be locked up in Folsom State Pen. until they get the stupid thing passed. If I were to put off doing my job for 3 months I am pretty sure that I would be fired, but without that scare tactic available, the legislature can hold us by the nuts and just laugh about it.