LOW BRIDGE EVERYBODY DOWN....

I finally got out on the water again today, a freakishly beautiful November afternoon. The tide was nearly finished its flooding so the water was high in Eureka Slough as I headed up from the bay. Passing under the old railroad track west of 101 ... duck! Maybe Eko or one of the other "old timers" can tell me what building I passed? I think it was maybe 1st and X Streets, behind Target. It says "NMPCo" and "1904" on it. I paddled up the slough nearly to Murray Field then decided it was time to get back and get dinner started. I got a little help from the tide as I paddled back to the bay. The water was clear enough for a good reflection of the freeway. A little sun on my skin. A little excitement, riding the wakes of a couple of jet-skis. All in all, another beautiful day.

HELLO COWGIRL IN THE SAND

Hope and I took Vince for a run on the beach today. Humboldt was out in force, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather.

The water looked oddly thick, like cold lava that rolled up the beach, wrapping our ankles with November chill.Vince apparently had plans to be elsewhere. China perhaps?

A girl, her pooch and his poop. We clean up after ourselves.
UPDATE: A gratuitous after photo for ya, CPR.

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

Upon reflection, I realized that my "Seven Secrets" were really a bummer. One should never do things like that when one is feeling too....reflective. I'm calling a REDO:

1. I want to collect shells on beaches around the world. I want to walk on all the beaches but REALLY want a boatload of really unusual shells. Like Bruce Brown's classic surf documentary, "Endless Summer", I want to travel to the sand and waves around the world...I'll just leave the surfing to Jen.

2. I got married a month after I graduated high school and a month before turning 18. Monica is 28 so do the math...I wasn't' knocked up. We drove across country in a 72 Dodge van towing my car, a red 55 Chevy named Paco that we built -- Mark was supposed to work for his Dad in Camden, South Carolina. We had no phone so communicated by CB (hey, it was the 70's). Neither the job nor the dad-relationship worked out but we were stuck until we could sell the car and trailer for money to get back to Santa Cruz. We brought home three kittens. It was really a great bonding experience for newlyweds, seeing the world together.

3. I have a fear about the genetics of Alzheimer's. My mom got it and while the early stages seemed humorous, there is nothing funny about visiting your mom and not having her recognize you. I pray they find a cure before long though I suspect my kids think it's too late for me.

4. I started smoking in high school to fit in with the cool kids. When a girl came up to me in the smokers lot at school and said...."Wow, I didn't know you smoke", I felt SO cool. Funny that I always hated the smell on my hands and my breath. I couldn't smoke when it was hot. I didn't smoke for long and have developed a total intolerance of the habit. I hate smelling the smoke when the driver of a car ahead of me has their smoke billowing from the window. Or smoke and coffee breath...gag!

5. I realized I spent an inordinate amount of my high school time in a lip-lock. Nothing naughty. No second base. No heavy (or light) petting. Just lip-chapping makin' out. Guy friends that needed to polish their skills always seemed in good supply. I was shocked to realize that there were prehistoric scenes in the Cave Train. Who knew? I wasn't watching. Let's say that practice makes perfect. You'll have to ask Mark if I was a good student.

6. After years of riding behind Mark on a motorcycle, I finally learned to ride for myself shortly before I turned 40. I took the Motorcycle Safety Course and had a Sportster that I put quite a lot of miles on, many with kids behind me. Our first big trip with Hope and Gloria was to Coos Bay. Gloria was four and a half, Hope was what? Seven? Eight? Glo rode behind Mark so I could keep an eye on her from my bike. She liked to flap her arms and legs like a bird to keep busy. Hope rode with me. She liked to play tic-tac-toe on the back of my coat.

7. I standing by Meatloaf as a sexual being. I can't explain it. Don't really want to think about it because he truly doesn't do much for me but THAT video with the whole baseball theme being called in the background -- lets just say it brings back some warm memories for me.

There. Much less pathetic. No sticky tape issues.

WE HAVE NO SECRETS

I was tagged by Miss Monica, challenged to confess seven personality quirks.....I had problem whittling them down to seven:

1. I am totally intolerant of bullies in any form. I was picked on in school, often by girls who were my “friends”. Psychoanalyzing myself, I’m sure that this is the reason I feel so strongly about Proposition 8….I see bullies in big gangs throwing lots of money to force others to comply with their way of thinking. I hate that!

2. I’m a lazy learner….a B student who learned just enough to get by but not so much to take the fun out of it. I still do it. I love to learn, I'm just not particularly thorough. I read the first few paragraphs of newspaper articles. I read the owners manual of an appliance or electronic devise just until I can make it work….then I spent forever fighting with whatever it is to figure out why it keeps doing that! Maybe if I read the whole manual…….

3. I once wanted to be a vet assistant. I never really wanted to be a vet because I didn’t think I could perform surgery but I wanted to help. I also thought I wanted to be a pharmacist after working with the hospital drug pusher when I was a Candy Striper. Would I have been able to tackle the school work required of either (see #2 above)? Maybe not. I also considered being a private detective. I wanted to do surveillance but not the cheater kind. I didn’t want to carry a gun and be Magnum but I wanted to do the investigating. I love Google. I wanted to track down missing people and information. Oh, and like Monica, I would have been an awesome backup singer. My voice isn’t good enough to hold its own but I think I have something to offer as a do-wop girl.

4. I probably got married too young. By attaching myself to another human being when I was barely out of high school, I didn’t give my chance to explore myself. I’ve not made time to maintain close friends because I thought it was important to make my marriage a priority. This is a good plan but I suspect better practiced when outside relationships have also been fostered. I am comfortable doing things by myself when necessary but I would have more adventures if I had a friend or two to share them when my spouse had no interest. I do miss having buddies. These were my decisions made happily but I sometimes wonder who I would have been left to my own devices. Maybe I'd have enough people to tag with this challenge...

5. Liver & Onions tops my guilty pleasures list. Actually, I feel guilty only because my family is horrified by the smell. When I would go to Santa Cruz to visit my folks, we’d head to Shopper’s Corner where my mommy would buy calves liver, thickly sliced. I occasionally get to eat it at a diner or when the family leaves me to myself on a Saturday when I can keep the door open to air out the house.

6. Storms intrigue me, which won’t surprise anyone who reads my blog. I love the power of wind and rain. I have this fantasy about being at ground zero during a hurricane or a tsunami. I KNOW it’s foolish. I KNOW it’s crazy. I'd love to lash myself to a tree like they did on Gilligan's Island. In my fantasy, I have a crappy disposable camera, because even when tempting fate I wouldn’t want to ruin my good camera …. I have written my name on the camera. When that big wave comes in (because, in my fantasy, a tidal wave is really an enormous wave rather than the surge we’ve learned it is), I am standing at the shore, camera at the ready, getting that last really awesome picture just before being consumed. Someday, when that camera is unearthed by archaeologists, they will hold me in awe. “Not sure who she was but she got an awesome picture of the big one”.

7. My favorite rockers were Elton John (he doesn’t like girls much) and Billy Joel (he has issues but is a great storyteller) but the guy that I think is hot? David Cassidy? Nope. Gene Simmons? Nope and yuk (sorry Sandi). Meatloaf….yep, Marvin Lee Aday…Meatloaf. I have NO earthly clue why that big sweaty guy can make me tingle….he’s not sexy as much as sexual. Oh come on…have you ever seen him do “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights” on stage with Karla DeVito? Maybe it was the flashbacks to the steamy window wrestling matches …… I don’t know but, dang…..”Stop right now…before you go any further….”

ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS

This morning, we awoke to the promise of hope .... a change in the color scheme of our government. Then we read deeper into the election results and were sad when we realized that a part of our population would still not be able to stand in their house of worship, with their friends and family and commit to the one they love by getting married. They will still be together. They will raise their children with love and kindness, as they have done all along. They will call themselves Family in spite of the vote. But separate is not equal.

This morning another group smiled. They polished the little chrome fish they have stuck on their car. On Sunday, they will greet their friends in worship. They will sing songs of praise for they will know the sanctity of their "traditional" marriage, even the second and third marriages, has been preserved. They have won another round against the evil homosexuals. And they shall call themselves Christian.

To those directly affected by the passage of Proposition 8, I’m sorry. Sorry we couldn’t do more - we couldn’t do enough to fight the inaccuracies placed before the voters. My family will continue to support your right to marry and someday, you will. We have a new president. It is a historic time. We shall overcome.

THE LOVERS THE DREAMERS AND ME

As we left the polling place this morning, having dumped an appropriate amount of black ink on the NO box for Proposition 8, a big fat juicy rainbow hangs in the sky. Nice ... very prophetic. Glo is in the driver's seat and says "Ha! Take THAT Mormons". Gotta love teenagers!