Getting ready

A new trip is looming... Now days away… We (the lovely T and I) are starting to think about packing... We are not actually packing... Only thinking about it.

This is a big trip... A cruise (friends think we crazy for taking a cruise in the aftermath of the Costa Concordia sinking, and now the Costa Alure fire which has left it dead in the water off the Saycells, but I digress) A cruise from Sidney Australia, south to Melbourne and Tazmainia, then over to New Zealand, working our way up the east coast of the two islands, ending at Christchurch... Not quite... We get to fly home... Via Brisbane Australia... There is a land trip before the cruse to Uluru, Ayers Rock… there is time in Sidney afterwards... maybe time to climb the bridge...

The trip is nearly three weeks... Everything from Sidney (likely hot) to Uhuru (Aka Ayer's Rock, very hot) to Melbourne, and New Zealand where it is likely to be a bit cool. We need be able to dress for a variety of climates, and everything from formal night on the ship (suit or white dinner jacket, yes, I own a white dinner jacket… don’t you?) , to a hike in the outback... All within the airline luggage allowances.

Beyond thoughts of clothing and exactly how many pairs of socks I should pack comes a list of technology... I am taking a couple of cameras, plus batteries, memory cards, battery chargers, and such... I am taking my computer so I can down load and clear the memory cards, then fill them again and again, and again... We are considering if we need a phone, and if so what plan to add to make it affordable... I will take my I pad... (I am writing this on my I pad...) mostly for music on the airplane... but also for taking notes (did I say I am writing this on my I pad..l)...

Oh, yes... The airplane... the trip… Australia is a long way from California... It's a long way from most places... It is across the Date line..(at least from California) We leave SFO Thursday evening at 5:05 pm, for LAX to catch a 8:25 pm flight which doesn't arrive in Sidney until Saturday morning at 6:25 am... About 37 hours according to our watches, but in reality, the flight is about 14 hours... The remaining hours consumed by time changes. We gain 4 hours in time zones, lose 24 over the date line, and lose one hour for daylight savings time in Sidney…

The up side is the return flight is scheduled to leave Auckland at 6:45 am to Brisbane, to leave Brisbane at 11:15 am, arrive in Los Angeles at 7:30 am, 4 hours before we left, an hour so after we left New Zealand… (the flight(s) didn’t really an hour, our watches are confused) A 12;15 we arrive at SFO… in theory 5 hours and 50 minutes after we left New Zealand…Closer to 20 hours later…

At home we are now on daylight savings time… we were not when we left… A mior win for us…

At home, I will go to work… I have a meeting scheduled… I suspect the lovely Tina will not… but she might… who knows…

Nate... RIP

Nate, A good friend died last week.

He was a character, actually several, maybe more characters... About that later.

He was an actor, a carpenter, a historian, a builder, of models, of structures, or sets... of what ever needed to be built. He was someone with whom you traded books...

We hatched grand projects together... The Stand off at Patterson Ranch... a reenactment of the consturction of the railroad across George Patterson's ranch on July 16th 1877, which resulted in the construction of 60 some feet of new track at Ardenwood farm... Voices from the Volcano, reading and illustrations about the 1894 ARU railroad strike... Interpretation in a Small Railroad Museum, a program for the National Railroad Preservation Symposium... and our crowning glory... This Old Flatcar... A demonstation project in Historic preservation and railroad preservation....

I was there the last afternoon... he was aware... but not all aware...

The next morning, after he was gone, I wrote an obituary, not so much for distribution, but for therapy for me...

Sadly, I need to report that Nate Shugars, long time SPCRR member died over night...

He was instrumental in developing the SPCRR interpretative program, as well as a dedicated historian, a talented carpenter and project manager. He was variously known as Patric McSweeney, Mr. Dooley, Father Christmas, the "Pirate who was scared of his own shadow" (for Children's Fairy Land), Zippy the clown (for a South Florida exterminator), and Howie Zatt...

He was a photographer for Associated Press, he worked in a North Carolina furniture factory, he worked in both in Miami, and Southern California in both adult, and children’s theater as mostly back stage manager but occasionally before the audience as well. He may be best remembered for "Voices from the Volcano" a public reading memorializing the 1893 ARU strike.

He served on the SPCRR board, and as the group's General Manager in the mid 1990's, lead the project to build a faux box car to trade for the M&SV car and was the co-manager of the SPCRR/CSRM This Old Flatcar project at Railfair 99 in Sacramento as well as serving on the "Jiggs A Horse for President committee" on two occasions. He was a founding member of the Samuel Knight Chapter of the Society for Industrial Archeology. In 1993, having discovered that Thomas Carter had never had a wake, proper or otherwise, he organized and arraigned a somewhat late honor for the late Mr. Carter at Malloys, a old school Irish saloon in Colma.

He held an Actor's Equity card, was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and was a one time member of the Commercial Telegraphers Union of America.

He was preceded in death by his parents, survived by his wife Susanne Todd, and daughters Rebekka, and Sara, and grand-daughter Sophie.

In a final misguided act of historic re-enactment, his death was a result of throat cancer, the same affliction that killed Thomas Carter in 1893.

He will be missed...

With the various projects, particularly This Old Flat Car we, or truthfully, Nate created a moto for our efforts... Is qui dicit id non posse fiei non debet nomquam interrumpere cum qui id facit or Those who say it cannot be done should stay out of the way of those doing it...

Sleep well my friend , i miss you already .

10 years, one car...

Ten years ago I took delivery of my Ford Escape

It’s been a pretty good car.

It has just under 220,000 miles on the clock… through 10 states… Yesterday I drove just under 600 miles… San Mateo to Eureka and back, on a quest to view old rusty railroad junk (I was successful… I saw rusty railroad junk… I returned safely… No hiccups… about 26 miles to the gallon…

It has some nicks from shopping carts flying rocks and parking lot bumps… I currently has a cracked windshield (its third courtesy of another flying rock or two) The seats are starting to fail…Its been rear-ended a couple of times...

It is a bit unusual… I special ordered it with a 5 speed manual transmission, which only came with a 2 liter engine (smaller that the currently popular, very green Escape Hybrid) and 4 wheel drive…I don’t drive off road overland un-necessarily… but I have made good use of the 4 wheel drive… So far, in trips to Yosemite to cross county ski, on trips over Hwy 88 headed for Carson City in a blizzard and other snow experiences I haven’t had to chain up… (I carry chains… chains for all 4 corners… but so far haven’t needed to use them)

It has been out into the salt flats of the Don Edwards preserve (with permission, escorted by Cargil Salt employees) It has traversed numerous dirt roads… It has been across the top of the Great Salt Lake on the original 1869 railroad right of way… 50 miles of dirt… It has forded the creek on the west side of Comb ridge when the water was running… We have explored Cedar Mesa together... I only got is stuck had once… on the east side of the Owens Valley in quick sand…

It has taken me to Yosemite National Park… 20 or so times… also to Death Valley, Zion, Bryce, Natural Bridges, Arches, Crater Lake, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Redwood National park (several times, including yesterday) Yellowstone and Grand Tetons as well as Navajo and Golden Spike National Monuments…and others, less memorable…

Today, it got a smog inspection (such is required when registering cars… and as this is its birthday, it’s registration is due…) Being 10 years old, we had to take it to a “test only station” short story, it passed... It was allowed 100ppm Hydrocarbons at idle… 170 at 2500 rpm… average for tested vehicles is 17 and 13 respectively… it tested 0 to both… CO2 was based on a % of exhaust… it measured 0 at idle, .01% at 2500 rpm…

A week ago I posted about choosing to light a wood fire on a no burn day on Christmas Eve… I chose to burn a fire… because the fire was more important than the emissions… but I believe in reducing emissions, trash, our collective foot print… and so celebrate the Escape’s close to perfect score on its smog test.

Today’s paper carried an article about how well Ford Motor Company was doing… how many cars it had sold… If my Escape is any indication their success is warranted.

In the next year or so, I will probably be looking for a new car… likely a new Escape… with a manual transmission and 4 wheel drive…

Post Christmas at the Zoo

With Ludwig the penguin...

December 26^th… the day after Christmas… a day off for the Lovely T and I as well as the lovely daughter…

We need an activity… a trip… (With apologies to Simon and Garfunkel)

Someone told me It's all happening at the zoo.
I do believe it… I do believe it's true. Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Whoooa. Mmmmm.

(So… Paul Simon (with Art Garfunkel) claims it’s… )

It's a light and tumble journey, From the East Side to the park; Just a fine and fancy ramble
To the zoo.

For us it’s a short ride on the freeway, with lots of folks not used to the freeway… not used to driving apparently… uncrowned slow traffic… the worst kind… but the zoo… the zoo… an oasis… I took a camera… We had a wonderful time…

Back to Paul and Art…

But you can take a crosstown bus, If it's raining or it's cold, And the animals will love it
If you do., If you do, now.

We have already established we didn’t take the bus… not that we are against public transportation… but today, with three of us, a car was a better idea… It wasn’t raining, It wasn’t really cold… mid 50’s or so… But I think the animals appreciated us coming for a visit anyway… Especially Ludwig the penguin… Steph and Ludwig have an ongoing relationship.

We are members of the Zoo… Steph is both a member and a volunteer (hence the relationship with Ludwig…). We get in free… we had a coupon for free parking… we had tickets for the carousel…

Something tells me, It's all happening at the zoo…. I do believe it, o believe it's true. Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Whoooa. Mmmmm.

(Paul, Art, you are repeating yourself…)

The monkeys stand for honesty, Giraffes are insincere, And the elephants are kindly but
They're dumb. Orangutans are skeptical Of changes in their cages, And the zookeeper is very fond of rum.

Based on my observations, monkeys stand for nothing… Giraffes seem sincere, at least in my experience… Sadly our zoo doesn’t have Elephants, so no judgment can be made, We didn’t visit the orangutans and I have met several zookeepers, and I can say with conviction none were drunk

Paul and Art continue discussing Zebras, Antelopes, Pigeons, Hamsters and such… We continued. visiting lions, tigers and bears… seals and anteaters… koalas and kangaroos and reindeer…

We visited the children’s zoo… We rode the carousel…

We left, had a late lunch at the Half Moon Bay Brewery in Princeton… It was a good day…

I have posted a set of 12 photos, taken at the Zoo… the challenge… no animal pictures… (Animal pictures were taken… just not posted to the album… except for the photo of Ludwig, above, Steph's favorite...) the album at https://picasaweb.google.com/108652524348276372534/SFZoo12Photos#

By the way... it was about 34 years ago that the Lovely Tina and I had our first date... visiting the San Francisco Zoo...

Randy

A Christmas Letter...

There is a tradition of including a letter... more like a newsletter in a Christmas card... I have resisted it. Generally I have resisted Christmas cards in general...

This year I have purchased several boxes of Christmas cards... I have written a Christmas letter...

Now, on Christmas, (the frenzy of Christmas slowing) I am starting to address envelopes to hold Christmas cards, containing our Christmas letter...

It has been a tough year.

Some of you will receive a "dead trees" copy of this included with a lovely card...

For all of you, this, in two pages is our year, on this, the occasion of a seasonal change, rebirth, and time of reflection....

Hello friends,

We (Tina and I) have never “done” a Christmas letter… but this year seems to need one. It’s been a tough year.

We lost both of my parents. Mom died suddenly in March. She had been failing for some time, but it was still a surprise. Dad began having pains in May, which was diagnosed as a very aggressive lymphoma. Dan and Penni, and Tina and I spent much of May, June, and a bit of July with Dad… first in the hospital, on to the hospice, then for the last month caring for him at home, and selling pigeons. I believe for Dan and I it was a gift to spend so much time with him… even if it had a sad ending.

The last month was special, at home in a house filled with friends and pigeons. There were visitors from California and Nebraska… there would have been more visitors if the end had not come so quickly.

Since then, Dan and Penni have moved from Alaska to Florida, and now live in Mom and Dad’s house on Dansville Drive.

From the perspective of December and Christmas, the rest of the year seems like a blur…

I continue to run a Historic House Museum… Tina continues at Google… Stephanie is in College... Brian has completed his Navy enlistment, and has embarked on life…

The year started in January (as it customarily does) with a trip to Hawaii. I spent 10 days working in Honolulu consulting on restoration and care of two wooden railroad cars. It is a bit weird staying in a vacation paradise and going to work each day.

Stephanie and I went to Washington DC in late February to visit with nieces and nephews and great nieces and great nephews and, oh, to visit libraries and museums… While there, there were conversations with Dad about Mom… I already had reservations to be in Florida for a visit in mid March. It seemed to be a good thing. Unfortunately, the timing was off, and Mom died the morning after I returned from DC… 3 days later I would have been in Florida with her. Tina flew down with me… We had a wonderful time with Dad. Dan came down a week after I left to spend two weeks with Dad. We all thought there would be many, many more visits.

Tina and I flew to New Orleans in May for the Rotary International Convention. Meanwile Dad checked himself into the hospital. He said everything was fine. We arrived early to work on a volunteer project creating a library in a local shelter. We spent three days in New Orleans before we decided that Dad was in trouble, and maybe it wasn’t a simple infection that they could fix.…

Tina and I arrived in Florida on Sunday. We got the initial diagnosis on Monday, his birthday… We started Chemo before we got the final diagnosis that Friday, and moved him to the hospice. They were able to control his pain and stabilize him. 10 days later we moved Dad home.

The month of June was spectacular… With Dad in his own bedroom, friends visited… they brought pigeons. We auctioned pigeons… We had cocktail hour every afternoon. His friends helped Dan and me. They made the last month special. We can’t thank them enough.

With Dad’s death, the rules changed… We were dealing with all the things that had to be done… Dan returned to Alaska and his fishing boat. Penni sold the Kodiak house, and moved to Florida with their dogs. Penni is from Tampa so this was a homecoming. I returned to work, the Patterson House, with summer camps and such.

Back home the day to day world continued.

Brian’s enlistment in the Navy ended in February, but he extended and stayed with his ship as the rescue swimmer until it returned from The Gulf in May. He was at home for the summer before entering a program in Jacksonville, Florida, as a deep water hard hat diver and underwater welder.

Steph is attending San Francisco State University studying zoology, and volunteering at the San Francisco Zoo’s hospital and as a penguin volunteer.

Tina and I escaped from life in November and spent a week in Hawaii, island hopping, visiting Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island… Of course we had to return to real life all too soon.

Thanksgiving was spent with family (including Brian and his girlfriend Lauren) in Yosemite with the extended Hees family… 44 strong. It is a family reunion going back to the 1960’s, maybe to the 1940’s… Dad’s sister Lois was there… it was a great time to catch up with everyone and recover a little.

We had a wonderful time with Tina’s family in Tucson just a week ago, as her older sister Karin got married and the family gathered to celebrate. Welcome, Don.

As I write this, Christmas at Patterson House is winding down… We will start taking Christmas down on Monday the 19^th… a week too early. Tina is handing out Google’s Christmas present (whatever it may be).

We are looking forward to hosting Christmas Eve at home with the traditional Roast Beast and Yorkshire pudding and family… Christmas will be with Lauren and her family.

Bye, and Merry Christmas, Randy, Tina, Steph, Brian, along with Emma the wonder dog, Daisy, Lilly, Atakapa, Annie, Sophie, Chloe, and Phoebe.

PS… I just received this from a friend… it seems appropriate…

Dear Santa,

I don't want much for Christmas; I just want the person reading this to be happy .

Friends are the fruit cake of life- some nutty, some soaked in alcohol, some sweet, but mix them together and they're my friends.

Special thanks to all our friends who helped and held hands while Mom and Dad died… We don’t know how to thank you enough.