Getting caught up... maybe.

Hey everyone. Since the last post, we've had quite a bit happening. Of course Brenda's birthday was fabulous, even though I was forced to decorate her cake. ("I don't want to, it's your birthday and you're the expert. Make a cake you will be proud of!" "Right, it's MY birthday, so YOU'RE decorating my cake!") So, as you can tell, I winged it (wung it?) and ended up creating some freakish faux landscape including a sprinkly waterfall. Oh well, at least it tasted fantastic, Bren spared nothing to make sure her cake tasted better than any other!











We spent the evening with family and friends, we barbecued, and we had a wonderful time in spite of screaming children rampaging through the house and yard. Dylan got hold of Bren's food coloring gel set when we weren't paying close enough attention to what he was doing, and he mixed up his own concoction of decorative sprinkles and food coloring gels. Not sure how it tasted, but it didn't seem to deter him.
















I also had the chance during the last few weeks to go on a real mountain biking trip (one that we had to travel farther than 20 minutes from home to get to) in Santa Cruz, on the Wilder Ranch and Enchanted Loop trails. It was fantastic, and I came out of the trip without intimate contact with the trail. Much better than the last trip I went on with the same people (Jon and Dave). Here are a few pictures.

I love biking up here because of the huge variety of terrain and wildlife you can get, even in just a few miles of riding. We started out in a grassy, open field, rode down an access road to the single track through a dense redwood grove, and ended up on another access road through a recently control-burned field overlooking the central California coast. Since we had a few minutes before our drivers (our wives) showed up with the vehicles, we finished the trail all the way to the bluffs and cliffs over the Pacific. Not too many places you can get that variety all in under two hours. We ate lunch at a little hole in the wall diner in Santa Cruz, then headed home and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Del Monte center shops. Dyl was really acting up in one of the stores, and before we could herd him out he fell while playing on the bottom of the escalator. I've always wondered what escalator steps do to fingers if they get caught, and I must say it's not pretty. He didn't need stitches but it sure messed up his middle finger for a while.
That's it for now. Once I get some of the pictures and videos from the previous biking trip I'll put them up for your enjoyment.

Quick update

Hi all. Nate here, quick five-second update. Not much new going on. Brenda celebrated her birthday with family and friends, including an all-expenses-paid trip in a Cessna down to Big Sur and back. According to the passengers, it was nothing short of incredible, and they couldn't have asked for better weather. We've been enjoying sun and hot temperatures for this part of California, breaking quite a few records last week. The water in the bay was even tolerable without a wetsuit Sunday.
I take the first part of the final exam in three weeks, the rest after the start of the new year. That's it for now, sorry we've been waiting so long between posts! I vow to do better.

BTW for anyone else on facebook, we finally set up.

Living in a Petting Zoo

Well, Brenda has pushed me to post again, even though she still shies away from writing anything herself. Whatever. At any rate, we live in a sort of petting zoo lately with all of the small mammals that are trying to take up residence close by. I asked property management about the problems and was told that we could take whatever measures we deemed necessary to keep animals out. Barring, of course, a rifle or shotgun from the house. (shame) So, the next time we heard something climbing around our garbage can, out came the bb gun and all the stops. I loaded before I opened the door, but missed having a clean shot in the light. I chased THREE raccoons out of the carport and into the side yard, where I got off one pot shot (there was a solid wood fence backdrop, so it was safe) but missed. So I went for the hatchet. By this time, there was only one 'coon left in the yard, a huge one. He was standing on his hind feet on the front lawn watching me, but he took off as soon as I started toward him.

Fast forward a few weeks to last night. Brenda was watching The Sound of Music (yawn) while I comfortably dozed on the couch. She paused the movie suddenly and sat forward on her seat listening. "I think something is in the garbage cans again."
"So go get it," was my lethargic reply.
"Uh... no? You go get it. Hurry though!"

So, before I even looked outside, I put my shoes, jacket, and gloves on, ready for a fight. The only thing I had handy was a claw hammer and my trusty Crosman pellet gun. So they came with me. I opened the blinds and turned on the light, which normally at least gets their attention and allows me to find out what's eating our trash. Nothing moved into view, but we could hear whatever it was munching on something. I opened the kitchen door and started toward the garbage can when I heard that the munching noise was coming from the carport, just to the side of the open door. As soon as I turned, Brenda grabbed my jacket and said "It's a SKUNK! Get back inside!" I was happy to oblige.

The culprit was a very young skunk, his body minus tail was probably only 11 inches long, give or take. And he kept munching away right there next to the motorcycle. Not to be trodden on like that by a rodent, I went out the front door and lined up a great shot. Then I started thinking about what would happen if I for some crazy reason missed and shot out the window of our neighbor's car, and reason got the best of me. I put the gun away. Since he was still pridefully eating in full view of where I was standing and I still have a fence between myself and stench-ridden torment, I opted for a less-harmful deterrent. I fixed a nozzle on the garden hose, and turned it on all the way. The noise didn't seem to bother him, so I opened it up. I think the panicked retreat was worth not being able to shoot it. He scurried under the motorcycle backwards, almost folded in half, and I heard his now wet claws scurrying all over the pavement. The most odd thing about this was that we couldn't smell him at all during the entire event. But I must say I'm glad I didn't get involved in hand-to-gland combat, since I know I would have lost that battle.

Rodents-4, Me-2 for overall garbage matches now. I hope we have a rematch soon.