Fill out our form, Foo!

Hi all! If you know us at all, you know we're always talking (arguing) about the weather. So we've decided to get a little more scientific! We've set up the Wufoo form in the column to the right to help us gather and organize data about weather conditions in various parts of Ventura County. I don't think it will settle the debate, but it should make it more fun. So if you stop by our blog, go ahead and take a minute to fill out our form!

Off to the races

Well I had a father/daughter night last night. The last couple of times we've been in SoCal visiting, my Dad's always been asking people to go to the Ventura fairgrounds with him to go watch the races. No one ever did. But last night we were just chill'n and watching a little TV and when he brought it up, the races sounded good. So we went.

We had just barely enough cash between us to get in (yay!) and we scrounged through his change to gather up enough for some fresh kettle corn (yum!).

As we entered the arena to get some seats (out of the range of mud hurled from the dirt track) we walked by some guys who yelled "GO DUCKS!" That was because I was wearing my UofO hoodie. So I said "Go Ducks" back and we started our climb up the bleachers. It ended up that the seats we'd taken were right next to the other Ducks fans so we had a nice little chat about Oregon and Ducks football and various bars (that I'd never been to!).

And then the races started. The bass-y roar was awesome. If I didn't already play the bass I would've been all over sprint car racing! The speed was incredible even though the dirt track was so tiny. And the way the leaders skated around the turns and the rest of the pack jockeyed for position never got boring. And I got to see a dirt zamboni in action! That was funny.

We got to see about 4 races each with different sized sprint cars. Each race halted about 5 or 6 times due to crashes (not serious crashes but since the sprint cars don't have starters they needed tow trucks to get going again!) and one car even ended up on its side.

And my Dad (who never wins anything...) had a T-shirt literally fall into his lap. The announcer would periodically shoot the t-shirts high into the sky with a compressed air gun. You needed to keep a constant watch out for falling t-shirts!

All in all our night at the races was super fun! I found out that the tires don't smoke, they're just so hot that they instantly vaporize the water in the packed dirt. And I found out that the tires have minimal pressure for maximum grip and a smoother ride. And as we were leaving at around 9:30pm, chilled to the bone in 66 degree weather (gotta love the coast weather!), I found out that this was the first time my Dad had gotten to the races in years! I hope we'll go back soon.

Happy Mother's Day

Thank you Mom, for everything.
July 1978 B. & Mom

Back in California

We are back and it feels great. The sun is shining and warm, it feels like we are finally getting to dry out. It is also wonderful to be back with all the family and to have everyone so close. The move down went well, but it was a long day of driving. Eugene was gray and gloomy and It rained almost the whole way to the Californian boarder, but once in Cali it was clear and sunny the rest of the way. It was even snowing over the Siskiyou pass right before the boarder. It was fun and beautiful but also made it really easy to leave Oregon. Earlier however we were both teary eyed as we left our empty apartment, so many memories there and we were both melancholy those last few days as we said good bye to our favorite places in Eugene. Today we finally got all settled into Catherine's Parents home, and took our last major load of things we feel we can do with out for the time being and put them into storage with the rest of our stuff. So it's official, were here for good, well that is, it sure doesn't feel like we are just here visiting anymore. Tomorrow real life starts again, its the day we put our nose's to the grind stone, where we start looking for work and Catherine will physically be at her Dads companies office instead of miles away. She'll be working for her Father and looking for a job as well. Plus in the field of Architecture she has the extra work of making a portfolio... in finding a place of employment her task is most defiantly harder than mine and the stakes are higher. She will have no problem though, I know. She is very hard working, much harder working than me, thats for sure. So in short, we're moved in, now to find work, to get money, to save money so we can buy or rent so we can move again. Aaaah! too many moves, but when I look outside and see that its not raining or I drive a few minutes to see family, it makes it all worth while. ( Pictures to the side are in chronological order.)