Brave New Laney

As you can see from the video below, Laney has grown somewhat more plucky as of late. Lenore has gotten her much more used to the idea of swimming over at Aunt Les' pool. Now she just needs to stop freaking out whenever a wave splashes in her face. I spent A LOT of time carrying her around in the very shallow part of the waves. When we first arrived at San Clemente they were just finishing with some biggish waves. Perhaps for this reason the bottom was a little messed up. There was a "ditch" about 20 feet out that went down at least a foot. But, when you are only three and a half feet tall, one foot makes a big difference. Plus, a lot of the kids don't like it because it gives the impression that the bottom could fall out at any minute.

Laney on the Booogie Board

CompLaney

Ever since our return trip from the River in July when Laney was ill, she has been VERY compLaney every time we have had to drive any distance at all in the car. This happened again when we drove to the Taylor's Cabin a couple of weeks ago and she was very difficult on the way down to San Clemente. When we returned home Laney became ill again in Barstow just as we pulled into a filling station. We were well equipped with a plastic bag, so no permanent mess in the car.
We decided we needed to try motion sickness medicine. She hasn't seemed to need this before. Maybe she's grown into a phase. We got her some generic Dramamine and Lenore gave her 1 pill. The dosage said to use one-half to one. Laney fell asleep and only awakened shortly before we arrived in Saint George. As Ailsa and Jensen will attest, we had the most pleasant drive while she was asleep. We will keep some on hand in the car from now on.
Funny thing though, When we drove down to Provo recently to pick up Ailsa at Steve Trumbo's house, we didn't give her any medicine and she didn't complain much.

Quick! Call the Rental Company we Left Mom at San Clemente!

In the evenings after dinner it is very common for me to slink back over to our own apartment and change channels on the TV. Lenore usually stays visiting with her family. Friday night we were staring to get ready to vacate in the morning. Lenore left with a load of laundry to put in the washing machine in the garage. She didn't come back right away so I assumed she had gone over to the other apartment. About an hour later she came back and asked, "didn't you wonder where I was?" The garage door opener switch is a little old and difficult to manage. There is a key switch (with obviously tricky connections) for opening and closing on the outside and a button that evidentally only closes on the inside. She went inside and when she was at the back of the garage the door closed on its own (because of the tricky switch with the key still in it. She was stuck inside for a long time. The button wouldn't work, she pounded on the door and yelled. But, nobody heard her. Eventually she was able to figure out how to release the heavy door and lift it up high enough to sheepishly crawl out.:(

Aging

Speaking of aging, one day at San Clemente I went down to watch the girls in the water and I lay down on the sand at the high tide line. After awhile I closed my eyes and starting dozing off. Suddenly, a ball hit me right on the chest. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see a youngish 10-12 year old boy with a very sheepish look on his face. He chased down the errant ball and went back to his playing. His friend asked him what happened and I heard him reply, "the ball hit that old man over there." :(

Old Good Friends

Since we had missed the first Sunday at San Clemente, we didn't give any input where and when to go to Church. Last year we went to the newly built fancy Chapel, partly because that's where the ward we always met with has their meetings now. The Sunday we weren't ther Darrell and Fielding instead went to the old chapel that they have gone to for years. That was fine with us for the second Sunday too. The ward we attended was the Capistrano second Ward. That is Debbie (Sedgwick) Stapley's ward. It was interesting to see her and her family. She looked good, maybe taller or thinner than I remember.

Sunday night we went to dinner at Stuart Campbell's house. Toni Trumbo also came and brought two of her daughters. It was a very lovely dinner and we talked a lot. Could have talked hours longer.

Toni came down to San Clemente early Monday morning and we rode the tandem together. She did pretty well. We almost broke my solo record getting down to the turn around point. We took it easier coming back.

I gave Stuart a copy of the photo of our Scout Troop at Lost Valley. He passed it on to Chris Money and Chris emailed me wanting to get together. He came down to San Clemente early Friday morning 18 August and we went Surfing together for about an hour or so. Toni had brought a 10 foot surfboard for us to use and I liked it alot. I did okay, was finally able to mostly paddle around without wimping out too much, caught a couple of waves. But, also biffed it a lot.

Chris then took the family out to breakfast (sans Laney) at Pedros. I have heard of this place for several years. But, I have not ever gone. Sadly, we have gone to very few local places while at the beach. We enjoyed Pedros immensely and had a fun time chatting with Chris.

Doug and Stacey Tate and kids Spencer and Mikayla also came down and spent the most part of a day with us. Joan informed me that I was supposed to entertain the Tates in the afternoon. I'm afraid I didn't do much entertaining.

Snakes on a Bike

I did a lot of riding in San Clemente. Maybe not any more miles than ever. But, I only rode 8 days. So, a higher average mileage. I found near the end of the first week that I was not recovering overnight and eventually had no more place to go to "dig deeper." After about 170 miles in three days the last week this became even more pronounced and Jensen and I limped home the last 13 miles barely turning the pedals over.

On 10 August Jensen and I did almost 40 miles on the tandem. We (really only I) saw a snake on the bike path just barely onto the Marine Base. This was no wimpy garter snake. But, a hefty awe/fear inspiring Adder or recently sated someother kind of snake. It was about 3 feet long and quite plump. That's why I thought something like Adder. I wasn't eager to spend too much time in its presence. It surprised me and by the time I was completely aware what it was, there wasn't anything I could do to avoid it other than ride closer to the bushes. As it was, we had to pass within about 4 feet of it.

Later, on the 16th I think, I saw this same snake again. This time after I passed him I turned back and looped around a couple of times to get a closer (but safe) look. It definitely was a Diamondback. As I got closer to him he started making his way into the bushes.

One idea I have about the recovery problem, since I noticed this more this year than in the past, and of course it's not that I'm getting older: One reason my speed has been better this year (I think) is I have concentrated a lot on using the whole leg and the whole pedal motion. This is easier to do when I use higher gears and pedal more slowly. The upshot is I go faster and my heart rate doesn't go so high. But, I think when you've exhausted those reserves, there's nothing left.

Jensen Surfing

Oh The Joys of San Clemente

What is it about the surf that makes kids scream? We have successfully participated in the Mass Sand Crab Forced Relocation Program (MSCFRP).

Two Weddings and a Funeral - Again

As we wind down and wind up for our San Clemente trip, this last week and weekend were as busy as usual. Wedding reception Friday night for Michelle Davies at her parents' house. They are long time residents and old guard movers and shakers. As we rounded the corner to their house we could see a line of well wishers stretching about 100 feet. I wanted to turn around. But, it was a good opportunity to visit with people.

Saturday morning I got up at 5am to get Barry and drive up to ride the Morgan loop. We went out 1 hour and then turned around and came back. I didn't feel particularly fast and kept telling Barry so. Of course we were faster on the way back because it is slightly downhill.

After the bike ride Lenore and I went to Norick Long's funeral. In the picture above he is fourth from the right on the front row and I am second from the right (of the boys) on the back row. The funeral was very nice. It was good to see his family again after so long. His brother, Jared, spoke and gave some very nice heartfelt comments. Jesse and James Clissold sang and did a very good job. Sibling blend was very nice. James went up a couple notches in my estimation because he looked scared to death and also looked close to breaking because of emotion. But, he hung in and did admirably. I couldn't help but notice how much his mannerisms seemed like Fielding when he was singing.

Kay spoke (admirable of her) and their son Stuart spoke and did well. At first It seemed he might not be serious enough. But, he quickly turned to the scriptures and the Gospel and it was a very good and appropriate talk. There was no effort to conceal Norick's struggle with prescription pain killers which was brought on by persistent back trouble. But, it also was not the center of attention. One of his friends spoke and told about meeting with Norick in the recent past where Norick expressed the fear of losing his family. I took that both literally and figuratively. Both Lenore and I were struck that it may have been a tender mercy that he was taken now prior to reaching the point of "losing" his family.

Norick was such a perfectionist in his own work and was exacting in his personality, it was probably a very difficult thing for him to admit openly that he had a weakness. The timing of his death I think made it so that he could be remembered more for his good qualities than for his weaknesses.

I realized during the service that I had been somewhat guilty of judging him in his addiction. I remembered during the service that in our Scouting days when we were gearing up for our 50 mile hike he injured his back (already starting to give him trouble at that age) and he had to rig up a very large waist pack (a fanny pack ahead of its time) to be able to do the 50 miler.

The situation at the cemetery was a little unusual because Destiny Norton's funeral was just wrapping up while we were there. The gang of BACA biker enthusiasts left with their mufflers roaring and thundering right as Kay Long was trying to say the dedicatory prayer. I know they are bikers and all, I mean that's what they do. But, it might have been a nice touch even of respect for destiny if they had solemnly pushed their motorcycles to the gate of the cemetery. Maybe I'm being stupid.

Saturday evening we went downtown to the Wells Fargo Center for Ashley Wiscombe's wedding reception. The guy seems real nice. It is too bad the marriage of Ashley's parents broke up. Jeff was there with his new wife and kids. Peggy looked very good. But, very worldly. She had to make Jeff hold some champagne while toasts were made. We saw the Parkinsons and spent a lot of time speaking to them. Their six-year old, Ian, chummed with Laney. However, when we suggested they dance Laney turned very anti social. I don't think she liked the pressure. She warmed up again when Ian started talking about the movie "Aquamarine."



Here's Laney at the Wiscombe Reception