This morning I woke up to a sea lion.

Diana's out of town, in Phoenix, so no, it wasn't her. Here in Sausalito we're overlooking the harbor and we're close enough to hear boats, seagulls, and the occasional drunk live-aboard. Well this morning at about 6 a.m. my ears were perked awake by the sound of a barking sea lion down in the harbor. Ar Ar Ar! That's what I heard. There are plenty of sea lions over in San Fran, but I didn't think any would venture over here to Sausalito. "That sucks," you say because I was woken out of my beauty sleep? Naw. Beats the times when I'd wake up in the middle of the night in Baltimore or DC to the sound of gunfire or police sirens. I'll take the barking sea lion any day. Besides, I'm headed up to Tahoe to meet Di and we're gonna spend her birthday there in lots of snow and sun. The barking sea lion was for me an auspicious sign!

Okie dokie, REALLY meet your new president!

Which one you votin' fer? click here











funny ain't it...

Enough of my whining, meet your next President

This is why I think we have our next President of the United States: Come get Obama'd

Now doesn't that feel good? Just what this country needs. A CHANGE.

Day two, no power

Yes, we were in another windstorm, and are without power, AGAIN. Is this our future folks? Hurricane Cat 5 winds in the mountains (156 mph, never happened before), flooding in areas never flooded before, drought like never before, etc...what's your "natural" disaster?

We embarked on our roadtrip/sabbatical because the windstorm of December 2006 in Seattle put a tree on our house. At the time I remember it being called the 100 year storm. Then about a month later it was called the 50 year storm, and now after the December 2007 storm that hit Seattle, I think it's being referred to as the "Maybe this shit will happen every year" storm. SOOOO we went through one of the windiest storms ever remembered in Pugetopia, we hit the road, next winter comes and another crazy storm comes and floods areas never flooded before in Washington state. Well here we are in the bay area and a windstorm comes through (like never before?) knocks the power out, and they're not saying when it will come back on. Hurricane force winds rocked the Sierra (like never before). Think mother earth is a tad bit angry at us?

Here's my plan. Diana and I have obviously offended the Goddess of Wind so I think I need to appease her in some way. We no doubt will have another run in with her so I plan to offer myself as a sacrifice. Remember the end of Dances With Wolves when Kevin Costner and Mary MacDonald are leaving the winter camp to go and plead the Lakota Sioux argument to the Fed in DC? They're both on horseback riding a narrow path out of the snowy valley and up above them high on a cliff face is Wind in His Hair, on horseback, spear in hand, and he is yelling at the top of his lungs, "Swameny chutonka o watchee!" He keeps yelling this, "Swameny chutonka o watchee!" Which if you're versed in Lakota means "I am Wind in His Hair, do you see me? Dances With Wolves is my friend!" Here the tears start rolling down your cheeks I know but look back at the screen if you can and notice Wind in His Hair. His hair really does have wind in it right there in that moment. Form meets function right? So I'm thinkin' during this next windstorm, depending who we visit next it might be near you, I'm going to climb up a tree like John Muir did during the peak of the highest gust, climb right up to the crown and hug that baby for dear life, and I'm gonna yell "I am Wind in His Hair! I am Wind in His Hair!"

Now if I make it out of that, one of two things will be accomplished I reckon. Either I will appease the Goddess and she will leave us to go and play in the North Pacific somewhere, or it won't work, she will still follow us, BUT, the next storm won't seem so bad to me. In fact, I might go ahead and take a stroll outside just to get some fresh air. Sounds like a win wind situation if you ask me. :)

We're rollin' We're rollin' We're rollin'.

The latest manifestation of the Crosscheck. Riser bar, downtube shifter, 9 gears in the rear, one up front. Is it a 29er? Is it something other? Here's Diana stopping for a laugh break on Bolinas Ridge. Can you smell the Redwoods? Can you taste the salt sea air? By the way, the fencing on the right is to keep the wild mountain lions from attacking. Notice how I'm all the way over there to the other side of the trail. It is a tenuous relationship yes, but man and beast can live in harmony. Just look at George W and ole Dickie "I am the breath from Hell" Cheney. They do it. So can we.

Our home until May

Just a picture post. Have a happy break everyone.

New Post?

I guess it's time for a new post. Staleness. Everyone hates it. You like stale bread? Stale cheese? Me either. Why is that? I guess it's the stimulation. We like new things. Especially when it comes to socks. Nothin' like sliding on a new pair of socks. Which is extra nice when the old ones smell like stale cheese. But what does stale bread and cheese have to do with stimulation? Absolutely nothing. Two different things. Look, here's a new post. It's probably not as good as slippin' into fresh socks, or fresh bread (can you slip into fresh bread?), but it at least should be better than stale cheese. Right? No? Well then bugger off. And oh, no new socks for you this christmas.

Now that you bring up christmas, above is a picture of where we live taken from our living room. Kind of hard to get into the christmas spirit when it's sunny and like 60 something. Well, it's not sunny and 60 something in the picture, it's a sunset after being sunny and 60 something. Clarity is important. Anyway, that whole christmas thing is a little weird when backgrounded by palm trees and surf shorts. I mean where in the hell is that hick St. Nick supposed to land that non-FAA approved sleigh (hello, where's Homeland Security in this whole thing? Seems like Osama Been Shoppin' could easily fly his own sleigh right into my chimney and nobody would give a damn) when there's no snow here? Maybe fat belly St. Nick rides a surfboard in these parts? A nice 10 footer, rudolph up front dodgin' sharks, those little freakin' elves paddlin' for their sweet little lives. Tiny little wetsuits for those dudes. Look like seals to a great white. What a tragedy huh? If those little elves were slung around like rag dolls in the jaws of a 15 foot great white, right off the beach here just before they were about to make landfall. Ever see Discovery channel? When that great white just skims across the water and snags that little seal? Tragic indeed. I mean for both those little elves and the seals. Best not to think about it really. Best to just raise a glass and give thanks that you're not a seal. Or an elf chained to santa's sled for that matter. Poor bastards probably not covered under disability.