Caching & Cops

We had been caching on our way from Mesquite to Kerman. After visiting six caches that are out along the Old Salt Lake Highway, and as we were headed to another, we noticed a Highway Patrol plane flying overhead. As we drove south, the plane circled and passed over us four times, once flying VERY low.

It was no surprise to us then, that when we reached the road that leads back to the freeway underpass, that there was a Nevada State Trooper waiting for us. Amanda and Rebecca were worried that we were going to be arrested. The trooper was very nice and asked if we were lost. We told him we were just looking at the old road, and then he followed us out (as you can see in the rear-view mirror of the van) as we got back on the freeway. So, we missed out on one cache, but we appreciated all the others that were in this area, and we appreciated the NHP watching out for the travelers in Nevada. Caching is always an adventure!

Sleepwalker?

Katrina completely freaked us out Saturday night!

Kevin went in to check on her around 10:30pm, but she wasn't in her bed. Sometimes she will climb on to the couch in our room and sleep there, but she was not there either. Kevin said he had already checked the bathroom and closet and she wasn't there. We checked under the bed and in the girl's room, but no luck. We even checked the garage, knowing there was no way she could get that door open by herself. I checked the rest of the house, saying a little prayer as I went. She wasn't in any of the other rooms.

Kevin came out to say that he had found her, but that I would never believe where he found her. He was right - I didn't. She was in the closet, under Kevin's shirts, way back in the corner of the wall. All we could see were her toes poking out from under the shirts.

Whew! Prayer answered!

When we asked her the next morning why she had climbed under daddy's shirts, she said, "...Sleep". There's two-year-old logic for you!

Next time we will look there first!

See all the pics here.

Our own episode of COPS

We were on our way up to Mom and Dad's in Auberry this Sunday, and as we were nearing the town of Prather, we came up behind a Sheriff's SUV that was traveling behind an RV that was driving very slowly. As we came up behind them, we could see that the right side of the RV was completely torn up, as though it had hit a guard rail and scraped along it for quite a ways.

Just then, two other Sheriff SUVs came from the opposite direction and did a u-turn in front of us and began to follow the RV as well. Suddenly the SUVs swerved and we soon saw that a glass beer bottle had come out of the RV and had smashed on the road. Now we knew for sure that the driver of the RV had to be VERY drunk! As the RV drove slowly up the mountain, it bounced up onto the berm on the edge of the road and wobbled as it made it's way up the road.

A few minutes later the drunk RV driver pulled off the side of the road (or perhaps accidently drove off the side of the road) and the Sheriff's SUVs fanned out, blocking the road. The deputies got out, guns drawn, and approached the vehicle. A short time later it appeared that the driver literally fell out of the RV, and the deputies helped him up, cuffed him and took him to one of the SUVs. Then, the deputies cleared the road and off we went.

It was very lucky that the RV driver seems to have only damaged his own vehicle, as he could have easily crossed the center line on the winding mountain roads and hit another car, or gone off the side of the road and down the mountain.

See all the pics here.

Public Service & Waffles

This morning, the Girls were told that their Dad was appointed to the Planning Commission by the City Council last night. As important as that seemed to be, it paled in comparison to the fact that Mom had just told them we'd be having waffles for supper tonight.

Public Service & Musical Chairs

The City of Kerman recently created (re-created) the position in the Public Works Department of Director. Ken Moore, a member of the Kerman City Council, the immediate past Mayor, resigned from the Council to take up the position. Mr. Moore was replaced on the Council by Charlie Jones, an acting member of the Planning Commission. By being appointed to the Council, Mr. Jones left a vacancy on the Planning Commission.

Tonight, Kevin was appointed by the City Council to fill the vacancy on the City of Kerman Planning Commission. The appointment is for the remaining of Mr. Jones two-year term, which ends in December.

Hey! I'm still here!

I was at the office late last night. Not really late, just later than usual; until about 6:pm. The custodian came in to empty the trash & vacuum the floors. He came into my office and vacuumed around me as I was getting ready to leave.

I was riding my motorcycle and was putting on my gear. I put my earplugs in and my helmet on in my office so I could just go out and jump on the bike. As I stepped out of my office into the hallway, under the motion detector for the burglar alarm, the alarm went off! The custodian locked me in AND set the alarm! After he saw me in my office!

Thankfully, I had my earplugs in and helmet on. The alarm isn't so loud that way.

Of course, if I had waited to put them on outside, rather than out them on at my desk, I would have heard the custodian setting the alarm in the first place.

- Kevin

A Day to Remember

After nearly 30 years of trying, Kevin skunked his Dad in Cribbage tonight.

Dad is appealing the results.

Elephants

Some of you may have seen our SmugMug photo site. (If not, check it out.) Lora takes pictures of just about everything the Girls do. Some of the pics are of various trips to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.

Some of the pictures were seen by the webmaster of http://www.asianelephant.net/, a database of the Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) at the world's zoological gardens. They contacted us to see if they could use some of our pics of the elephants, we said sure, and now we're published. You can see them here: http://www.asianelephant.net/fresno/fresno.htm

The Girls want to visit all of the elephants in the world now.

New Apartments

We've been anxiously watching the apartments get built behind our house. When we bought our home a few years ago, there was an Almond orchard behinds us. We were told that apartments would most likely be built there, but it was to be "...in the future". Future is a relative term. We were hoping for five to ten years; we got less than three.

September 15, 2003 - Before the house was built. The trees were at our backyard fence.

October 13, 2005 - Amanda watches as they take out the trees.

At the planning meetings we were told that the units directly behind the wall were to be single story. Technically, they are. But, they've got ten-foot ceilings and snow-pitch roofs. Add that to the fact that the building pads are about 18" higher than our house and these single story multi-family units become much taller than our house. And since they're being built about 10 feet away from the wall, the windows face right down into our backyard, living room and dining room.

April 19, 2007 - This is the view out of our back door now. You can see the two-story units behind the singles.

It's called progress, but we miss the almonds.

Lift Off....

We have lift off.

KLARK World has cleared the tower. We're boldly going where we've never gone before.... blogging.

Our hopes are that we can share a bit of our world with you.

We're not sure where it will take us, but we're on our way.

Enjoy the ride!