Yesterday

Had a very nice and busy weekend (despite the rain). Temple shift Saturday morning was longish because the Temple closed after the 10pm session. So we were the only shift and had to stay till noon to get it all done. I'm really new to all this and nobody really was telling me what to do. I could have hung back and not done much. But, at every opportunity I stepped right in and did the job. Nobody told me not to. It was a good shift. I was tired in the middle. But, at the end I was fine.

The neighborhood “Chili cook-off” got somewhat squelched because of the rain. So, it was held in the Schipper's garage. Only five entries. We enjoyed the time and got to see the new re-models in their home.

Our Sunday meetings involved missionary farewells for two kids in the neighborhood: Brooklyn Brewer and Dallas Anderson. Their talks were very nice and sweet and they will make great missionaries. The occasion of their farewells brought in a large crowd for our Sacrament meeting. I was asked to help pass the Sacrament. Halfway through the Bishop and first counselor came and joined us because we needed the help. I realized that my whole old bishopric was passing the Sacrament together. A neat moment.

I reluctantly attend the occasional Sunday evening church meeting. We had a Stake Youth Standards night Yesterday. I am really glad I went. David Archuleta gave a very nice presentation. I am a bit of a music snob. He has a great talent and is one of the most personable and engaging people I have ever seen. A very sweet spirit was there as he bore testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ through his comments and beautiful song.

San Clemente 2014

We had another lovely family vacation to San Clemente recently. I've mostly posted pictures. And I'll kinda give a rundown in bullet points.

Leading up to the trip there was a lot of concern about how Poppa would do. He even tried to back out at the last minute and have us go by ourselves. But, nobody really wanted to do that. He was mostly concerned that he would fall because he has done so a lot lately. All in all he did pretty good. I don't know of any falls. He did insist on medicating himself (and over medicating himself) at times. I think he forgets what he has taken. It's really hard to tell an ex-doctor what to do about his health. A couple of days he did quite a lot of sleeping, even on the beach.

So in the run-up there was kind of a general feeling that "our" San Clemente was in for a change, possibly drastic, and likely soon. I don't think Poppa will go again and in that case the extended family probably won't go together again or often or much of it. There is too much range in what people expect to have to pay and contribute in the way of helping out. Some people won't go unless it is "free."

This and the fact that Jensen and Ameer weren't there made me somewhat depressed about the whole thing. I think Lenore felt the same. Ailsa had to leave after only a little more than one week. Orientation for Law School started on the second Wednesday. So, we drove her to the Long Beach airport early Tuesday morning. It meant there was one less person for me to do my things with.

I didn't do a ton of cycling this year (just a total of 152 miles in 7 rides.) Took Ailsa, Shazia, Sajid, and Daniel on the tandem. The ride with Daniel was quite good. I think his water polo training has helped him learn to exert himself. I'm pretty sure we had a record run on the out-leg going south. I told him on the way back I didn't care if he fell asleep. (He didn't fall asleep.)

Weather was very nice pretty much the whole time. I think one day it threatened to sprinkle in the morning. But. Most of the days had plenty of sunshine. Surf was generally high the whole time. This doesn't mean it was good the whole time. I only went surfing four times. Ailsa was my only partner and after she and Daniel left, it was pretty much just me and I don't often go board surfing by myself. It's sort of a social thing.

The water temperature was VERY nice the whole time. It was usually in the low 70's, got up to 74 once or twice. A day or two they said it was 68 or 69. But, it felt very comfortable.

Last year the surf was VERY small the whole time. Now I see that as probably a good thing. Sometimes this year I was getting into some trouble. I was especially wary when body surfing. The first week and a half were fine and I didn't have too much problems. I really notice getting winded now. So, I just have to take it easy. The last three days the surf was quite strong and conditions were red flag. The last Thursday I considered going out. But, stood on the shore with my fins looking at the conditions for a while and concluded it wasn't worth it.

The shoreline current that is almost always present in Southern California (and almost always flows north) was very strong. The lifeguards were having a rough day. One group of swimmers got taken out by a rip and the lifeguards went out to help them. Rather than bring them right in they took them further out and then through the pier (even though they were almost 100 yards from the pier to begin with) because it would be safer to help them in after the pier. Even if I had gone out there wasn't much shape to the waves.

Friday conditions were a little better. So, I went out for a try. I figured if I can get to where I want to be and stay in one place against the current using just my fins, I might try a wave or two. I couldn't keep from drifting north and would have had to be stroking with my arms all the time. I didn't want to have to work that hard for what weren't that good of waves.

We had a visit one day from "Teagon" the SCpier cat. He was very nice and has his own Facebook page to deal with his fame. Look at those long forearms.

For a long time I have wanted to do a sort of mass get-together of friends while on vacation in California. I often try to get with Stuart or Chris and Toni Trumbo likes to come see us. I have a lot of friends and acquaintances in California. So, I arranged to use the Lake Road Irvine LDS building. this actually worked out quite well. We didn't have a ton of people come. Mostly it was Orange III ward and Orange Stake friends. But was had a really good time catching up with one another. Toni wants to do it again next year. We'll see. I'm not averse to it.

Since Aunt Joyce passed away, Stuart has been wanting to do a little tribute for Uncle Jay. This was nice to do. He had such a great influence on all of us. It was especially nice that since I had gotten in touch with Reid Pieper and he came to my get together, we were able to let him know about it and have him come as well. Also through my FB contacts we were able to get nice tribute letters from Bruce Nielsen, Gerry Sanders, and Kevin Wilson for Jay.

The old house on Shasta Way. I think that is the Ash tree we transplanted from the Bangert's yard.