Rambling Jack's Laboratory

Exploring Humboldt Bay with Kayaks

2011-12-31T09:44:00.000-08:00

On Dec. 24 we explored Humboldt Bay in our kayaks. The weather was perfect. The bay was as smooth as glass.

We paddled up the slough near Murray Field.

Egret.

Heron.

There are all sorts of interesting remnants from railroads and piers from years gone by.

We saw this fellow hovering above. Then it swooped down and snatched a little duck out of the water, returned to shore and devoured it. Yikes!

It seemed pissed that I was taking its photo.

Fly!

I'm seeing a lot of "Old Crow" graffiti. Is that a local gang? Maybe I'll start my own gang called Bombay Sapphire.

Another beautiful day with The Goddess.

Exploring the Southern Oregon Coast

2011-11-27T09:28:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving, The Goddess and I decided to pack up our little trailer and explore the Southern Oregon Coast. The weather forecast was bleak, but that's why we have a little trailer – a 15-foot-long 1965 Aladdin.

There's a little table up front where you can play cards.

This unfolds into a double bed, so even if the weather outside is frightful, inside it's delightful.

We left Tuesday and slowly made our way up the coast. Our first stop was Gold Beach. It was raining buckets. Later that evening the wind picked up. There were reports of gusts up to 97 mph on the Oregon coast. I don't know what the measurements were at Gold Beach, but the trailer was a rockin'.

The next day we meandered up U.S. Highway 101 to Coos Bay, then drove about 10 miles west to Sunset Bay State Park. This is a really beautiful place. It was raining hard, so most of my photos (like this one) were taken using my iPhone in a waterproof case.

We ventured out into the rain, then retreated to the comfort of our trailer. Later we went into Coos Bay and went treasure hunting.

On Thanksgiving the weather improved slightly. We explored the park.

This is were Malcolm Forbes started his transcontinental hot air balloon journey.

One of our favorite spots is the overlook for the Simpson Reef. This is a couple miles from the campground.

Here's the Simpson Reef.

There are a gazillion seals and sea lions here. You can hear them barking day and night from the campground.

We saw a Bald Eagle!

Please excuse the blurriness. I have a 20X zoom on my camera. That's not enough to get this close, so this is a combination of digital zooming and cropping. (200X?)

Suddenly the eagle flew out over the water and caught a fish.

It returned to the rock and ate the fish.

What an awesome sight!

We saw a rainbow over the Cape Arago Lighthouse.

About a mile from the campground is Shore Acres, which includes a botanical garden once owned by timber baron Louis Simpson. During the holidays it's decorated with thousands of lights. It was an impressive display.

On Friday we enjoyed a raging fire.

Hula kept one ear up and watched for intruders.

We took a photo Saturday morning before we left for the trip home.

One the way home we came across dinosaurs.

We ate turkey sandwiches near the Rogue River.

Rogue River at Gold Beach.

We stopped for a final photo at the Ship Ashore. Then we hurried home. Good times.

Political Button Collection

2011-09-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

I always enjoyed show-and-tell day in elementary school. Once a week you’d bring in a neat rock, paperweight or maybe a shell casing from an artillery round and show it to your classmates. One of the favorite items I brought in was a photo of my cousin Tim shaking hands with President Gerald Ford. This was probably in the second grade.

Tim’s dad was a Secret Service agent for Nixon and Ford, so Tim was able to get his photo taken at the White House. I didn’t know much about politics at that age, but I knew who the president was. I thought it was really cool that my cousin got to shake his hand, and Tim had a photo to prove it.

I recall that there was little reaction to the photo from my classmates. Maybe they didn’t know anything about the president. Or maybe they just didn’t care.

Readers of this blog may feel the same way about this posting, which isn’t much different than show-and-tell day. It’s about my political button collection.

Early last year I didn’t have a collection, just two buttons tucked away in a box somewhere. They’re remnants from my childhood. I think my brother Pat was cleaning out his stuff and gave me a McGovern button from 1972. In 1981 there was an incident with Libya, and my brother Matt gave me a button about it. I tucked these away in a box and, for some reason, kept them.

Early last I was at a rummage sale and came across a couple buttons, probably a Nixon, maybe a Goldwater. There are interesting historical artifacts and only cost a couple bucks, so I bought them.

When I got home it occurred to me that I should put all of my buttons together – all four of them. A collection was born.

But can you call four pathetic buttons a collection>? Not really. I needed to fill in a few gaps. So I found a couple more buttons at a different sale.

Then, at an event at Redwood Acres, I hit the Mother Lode. There was a bucket with at least half a dozen old buttons, along with a Nixon bracelet. I paid $2 for each button, $5 for the bracelet.

Now I had a real collection. But there were so many gaps, and the collection was dominated by Republicans. I needed more Democrats.

So the search continued. Later, after learning about my collection, family and friends started giving me buttons.

It kept growing and growing, and continues to grow today.

Why collect buttons?

My wife and I enjoy hunting for treasures. We go to garage sales, rummage sales and antique stores. We look for interesting kick knacks and household items. Lately, we’ve become “rummage snobs” and often come home empty handed.
Unless, of course, I find some buttons.
Each political button has a story to tell – politics, history and a personal story. As a bonus, buttons are inexpensive to collect and they don’t take up too much space.

Value?

How much is my collection worth? Answer: Very little.

There are serious collectors out there who pay top dollar for rare political memorabilia, none of which I own.

The buttons in my collection cost 50 cents, $1, or maybe $2. Sometimes I pay a little more than they’re actually worth.

If I want a button that’s worth 25 cents, but an antique store has it priced at $1.50, I’ll pay for it. After all, the store owner has to pay rent and utilities. But would I pay more than $3? Probably not.

Note that this particular collection is limited to national candidates, with a few exceptions. Scattered about my office and elsewhere I also have buttons from local candidates, but that’s a different collection for a different time.

Here’s the collection:

1924, Coolidge and Dawes

I'm not clear on the age of this button. Some internet sources claim it's from the race of 1932.

1936, Landon and Knox

1940, Roosevelt and Wallace. Also shown is an anti-Roosevelt button, year unknown.

1944, Dewey and Bricker
1948, Dewey and Warren
1940, Willkie and McNary

1952 and/or 1956? Eisenhower, and Eisenhower and Nixon

Here is some Ike jewelry.

1958-62? Pat Brown
1966-70? Ronald Reagan

These are among the exceptions to my "national" button rule for this collection. Pat Brown can't be ignored, and Reagan later became president, so they fit in the collection.

1960, Nixon and Lodge

Here's a Nixon bracelet from 1960. I imagine that Republican women received these after making sizable donations.

1964, Scranton, Goldwater. I don't know the age of the "Time for a Change" button.

1964, Johnson and Humphrey

Jan. 20, 1965. Here's a book of matches for inauguration day.

1968, Nixon and Agnew

1972, Pete McCloskey. McCloskey was a Republican who was against the Vietnam War. He ran against Nixon for the Republican nomination, but lost. I'm told this button is from that race, but it could be from Pete's other races.

1972, McGovern and Shriver

1968, Wallace and LeMay. What a ticket! Wallace was racist asshole segregationist. LeMay was a proponent of using nuclear weapons.

1976, Ford

Jan. 20, 1977 – Inauguration of Carter and Mondale. This cost a buck or two on eBay. I failed to look at the size. It's too big to fit in my display cabinet. Owning it is a burden. I need to get rid of it.

1980, Carter and Mondale
1980, Reagan

1980, Anderson

1981

1984, Mondale and Ferraro

1984, Mondale and Ferraro. Please excuse the water on this button. My display case is located over the dog bowl. Twice today this button jumped out and took a plunge.

Late 1980s?

1988, Michael Dukakis. I like the severed head floating over America. Very inspiring.

1988, Socialist Party. I love a button like this because I had to research who the heck these people were.

1992, Ross Perot

1992, Jerry Brown

2008, Barack Obama

Date unknown. Herb Caen for President. I love this button. A friend I haven't seen since high school recently mailed this to me.

Collection as of 9.7.11

iPhone photography

2011-06-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

My iPhone 3G has a little point-and-shoot camera. It's not the greatest camera, but it has a few things going for it:

1. Unlike my big camera, I almost always have my iPhone on me. It's super compact.

2. There are all sorts of interesting iPhone apps that allow you to manipulate the images and add special effects.

3. You can share your photos on Facebook while out and about.

Here are a few recent shots.

This is Humboldt Bay as seen during a recent bike ride. I forgot what this filter is called.

Here's the Carson Mansion in Eureka. I'm going through a totally obnoxious over-saturated/over-the-top filter phase.

Here's the pumpkin patch in our backyard.

Last weekend we took our trailer down Highway 1 to Mendocino County. In this shot, I used a filter called "1974." It makes the photos look like old Kodak snapshots from the early 1970s.

I wish I had brought my regular camera (Canon Powershot SX20). There were osprey flying right by us and diving into the ocean for fish. The iPhone sucks when it comes to zooming in.

I don't know why, but I like this "1974" filter.

Our 1965 Aladdin Travel Trailer.

Our happy home.

Humboldt Bay yesterday morning as the fog began burning off.

Camel Rock yesterday afternoon. Over saturated, as usual.

Trinidad Head. (This filter makes your photos look like Polaroids.)

So my regular camera is much nicer, but it's also bulkier, which means I don't want to carry it around all the time. So I'll continue using the iPhone, despite its drawbacks.

Planting our garden

2011-05-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we planted our garden. Here's the exclusive video.

4 Wheelin'

2011-05-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

This is down the street from where I live. For some reason, I never thought of going off road there. Then Steve paid a visit.

Dog enjoying peanut butter

2011-05-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

This is my latest cutting edge, avant garde movie.

Experimental movie

2011-04-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

There's a neat little iPhone app that allows one to make stop motion movies. So this is my little experimental movie. It's a simple love story – not exactly on par with "Out of Africa." Yeah, yeah, there are all sorts of lighting problems. And, yes, maybe it's cheesy that the characters visited Aphrodite's temple before finding each other. This is just an experiment. The next one will be a masterpiece.

National Bring Your 1960 Ranchero To Work Day

2011-04-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

My poor, rusty, neglected 1960 Ford Ranchero had a rough winter as it sat soaking up the rain and salty air. So today I fired it up and took it to work. It just needed to get on the road. (Video shot and mostly processed on iPhone 3G.)

Camping video

2011-04-11T15:51:00.001-07:00

Oh, poor blog. I've neglected you for the past year, despite having lots photos of fun and adventure. There have been camping trips, a visit to Hollywood, Gold Country and even New Orleans. There have been bicycle rides, and hikes and all sorts of bloggable events.

Maybe I'll catch up and resurrect this blog.

Meanwhile, here's a little video of our weekend camping trip:

Into the Fog. 9.29.10

2010-09-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's Bike Ride

2010-09-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Introducing the Bianchi Eros

2010-09-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago my friend Irv gave me his Bianchi Eros. It's hands down the fanciest bike I've ever owned.

I put it on my bicycle repair stand, cleaned it up, made some minor modifications and adjustments.

I installed these old school toe clips, which I like.

Being that I'm married to an Italian, it makes sense to finally own an Italian bicycle. Eros, by the way, is the Greek god of sexual love and beauty. Right on!

Lots of Campy parts!

I've ridden the bike a lot, mostly up and down the Samoa Peninsula and in the Arcata Bottom.

This shot was taken during yesterday's ride. As you can see, the terrain is nice and flat.

Here's the bike next to a new Duane Flatmo mural underway in Arcata.

Lots of egrets were out and about.

A view of the dunes.

Today I went to the Mad River. Here's the Hammond Bridge.

The Mad River.

A beautiful ride home. Thanks Irv! I'm putting this bike to good use.

Now that I have a high performance Eros, I'm planning on installing handlebars like these on my Navarro Randonee.

Some scenes from summer camping

2010-07-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

In May we traveled to Sonora for the funeral of my grandmother, Doris McCormick. While there was obviously sadness, it was also a celebration of her life. I got to see lots of family members who I hadn't seen in a long time, and I got to show off my wife!

On our way to Sonora, we camped at Lake Mendocino. Here's our 1965 Alladin at the campsite.

Here's Hula, contemplating the trailer's tongue weight, the vehicle's horsepower and gearing ratios.

Kim and I both love reading maps and looking at places that we can explore.

My brother Matt grabbed my camera and took this shot at my grandmother's grave.

This was my grandmother's house in Sonora. It's where my mother grew up. I have my great-grandfather's tool chest, which probably played a part in the construction of this house.

Here's the house in Jamestown where my father grew up. We spent many weekends and summers here when I was a kid.

Right next to the house is a building that once housed Durham's Quality Beverages, which was my grandfather's business. They bottled Acme beer and soda pop.

Jamestown has lots of neat antique stores.

Nearby there's a train museum.

Remember the trains in High Noon? Part of the movie was shot here. The rest was shot in nearby Columbia.

You may not remember this, but you've seen it on TV.

I'd like to go back in time and work here.

Here's a miner's cabin in Columbia, where they blasted the soil away in search of gold.

Here's a photo of our kitty Rocket. It's completely out of context for this blog post, other than the fact that he's been part of our summer fun.

On a different trip we stayed at Ruth Lake.

I spent a considerable amount of time in my camping chair reading.

There are logical and scientific reasons for chemtrails, but those are no fun. I prefer the theory that they're part of a vast government conspiracy to control us and the weather.

On the Fourth of July weekend we camped near the Eel River in Southern Humboldt. Here's our cozy canned ham at night. We usually camp without any hookups, but not this time.

Hula loves his rocks.

A couple weeks ago we camped on the East Fork of Willow Creek. Here's the creek, which is a few yards from the campsite.

It's beautiful.

Here's a different creek up the road.

More camping adventures to come. Stay tuned...

Italy – Transportation

2010-07-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

During last year's Italy trip, I made it a point to take photos of various bicycles, cars and other forms of transportation.

Besides walking, scooters are probably one of the most popular forms of transportation. They're everywhere. You can hear them zipping around, night and day.

They line the streets.

This is one of my favorite photos, which was taken by Kim. It goes to show that people can adapt to their mode of transportation.

This scooter had a giant box on the back. There's lots of room in there for groceries, wine, etc.

Check out this oddball scooter thingamabob, which we spotted in Florence.

Almost all of the cars you see in Italy are tiny. There are lots of Smart Cars and little Fiats. Large cars and SUVs are rare. When you're in the city, this makes sense. The roads are narrow and there's little parking.

I took this photo in Amalfi because it demonstrates why it makes sense to have small cars. If the car was any bigger, it wouldn't fit in the limited parking space.

I love these little Fiat 100s. They look like clown cars.

Here's another one.

This is a Smart Car. It's some sort of sports car version.

Neat car.

In Palermo, we rented this Fiat Panda and drove it across the middle of Sicily. We were going to rent a Smart Car, but we didn't think our luggage would fit inside.

Even the garbage trucks are small.

There are lots of Piaggio Apes.

While I saw lots of Piaggios, I only saw one Pope Mobile.

This is an extremely rare photo for several reasons. First, during a period of three weeks in Italy, I only saw about three cyclists who could be easily identified as sport cyclists. Second, people in Italy don't wear helmets.

This pretty much sums up the bicycle scene in Italy. The bikes are sturdy and practical.

Here's a typical bike.

Look out for the old lady!

Americans and Italians have something in common – they don't know how to properly adjust their seat height.

This beauty was on display at a train station.

Check out the leather bags. Even the bicycle lock chain has a leather sleeve.

At the Ferrari store in Rome, you can buy a Ferrari bike.

Here's a Ferrari mountain bike. People in red Ferrari outfits are there to assist you, and help empty your bank account.

Here's a pretty bike in Florence.

This guy looks like a famous artist. A folding bike is a good idea.

There's some sort of Bike Share program going on here.

This auto dealership stocks a selection of electric bicycles.

A pretty street scene in Ostia Antica, the ancient Roman port.

Camping Season Begins!

2010-05-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

Introducing the 1965 Aladdin canned ham

2010-04-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

It's 15 feet long.

It's 45 years old.

It has a little ice box, a sink with a hand pump, and a couch that folds down into a comfy bed.

Here's the kitchen.

There's a three-burner stove with the world's smallest oven, suitable for cooking Cornish game hens, assuming you don't stuff them too much.

The Goddess stitches pillows to match the curtains.

There's an old "clock" on the wall.

And this came with it.

Why is this photo here? So you can get a better feel for the trailer. Have a look around. Make yourself at home.

Here's the other side.

Now we can go camping all year long.

Re-Introducing the Mighty Panasonic

2010-04-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

In 1990 or 1991, I picked up a Panasonic 15-speed touring bike at a garage sale in Arcata for $15. Manufactured in the late 1970s or early 1980s, the bike had a flat tire and the paint was scratched up, which is probably why it was so inexpensive. I brought it to my parents' house in San Mateo and my dad fixed it up. Years later, it was sitting in my garage gathering dust. I had almost forgotten about it.

One day in 2006 I pulled it out of the garage, pumped up the tires and starting riding.

I was out of shape. I pedaled to the edge of town and back, then came home and fell over. It seemed so far. Then I pedaled to Moonstone Beach and back. That felt like a marathon. Then I made it to Trinidad and back. By December 2006, I made a New Year's resolution that I would complete the 100-mile Tour of the Unknown Coast.

In preparation, I pedaled the Panasonic all over Humboldt County in all sorts of weather. Above is a photo of a chilly winter ride I took to the top of Berry Summit. I was so pleased with the bike's performance that I started calling it the Mighty Panasonic.

After completing the Tour of the Unknown Coast after 11 hours in May 2007, I decided to upgrade.

A got this Cannondale frame free off of craigslist and the Mighty Panasonic was stripped for parts to create a new bike. Eventually, the naked frame was stored in the sand under our house in Manila.

I became interested in riding fixed gear bicycles, and bought this conversion last year. It was fun to ride, but it had a heavy Schwinn frame and sometimes it felt, well, kind of weird. It's hard to explain, but sometimes I felt like the frame was flexing in strange ways. Or maybe the front chain ring and the rear cog weren't properly aligned. Earlier this year I decided to put these wheels on the old Mighty Panasonic. Last week, Kim said that for my birthday she would buy whatever parts I needed to complete the conversion – some bolts for the chain ring, a new bottom bracket, a chain, toeclip straps and some handlebar tape.

By Wednesday evening, the project was done. Still in my work clothes, I jumped on the bike and tested it on our gravel/sand driveway while Kim took photos.

I hit some deep sand and went down! The toe clips did a nice job keeping me from saving myself as I went sideways. After that, I was done for the day.

This morning, I toured the Arcata Bottom on the Mighty Panasonic. It's a beautiful bike. I think the frame is a work of art.

What we have here is a vintage bicycle frame with a vintage crank. I purchased the classic Jim Blackburn bottle cage in 1983, which is perfect for this bike. The plastic toeclips were also purchased in the mid-1980s.

Check out the leather handlebar bag! Kim gave it to me for Christmas. Sweet.

The key to converting a bike to a fixed gear is making sure that the rear cog and the front chain ring are perfectly aligned.

On flat ground, this bike is a rocket.

Welcome back, Mighty Panasonic!

Honeymoon XII – Final Day with the Pope

2010-03-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

We paid a little extra and took the fast train from Florence to Rome, getting there in about 90 minutes. When we reached this building, we knew it was time to turn right and head to our perfect little hotel.

We decided to spend the day walking around Rome. We wanted to see the river and, if we were lucky, perhaps we'd even see the Pope at the Spanish Steps, which he visits every year on Dec. 8 for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

This is part of the "face to face" series that Kim photographed.

The Tiber River had a swift current. We crossed this bridge to an island, which houses a hospital, and then crossed another bridge to the other side.

Looks like someone bought himself a fancy backpack in Florence.

A pretty bridge.

Check out the angels.

There was lot of graffiti. I almost forgot about our invasion and occupation of Babylon.

There was lot of graffiti like this. Who are they?

What about Johnny Rotten? Doesn't anybody care about him?

We came across an ice rink near the river. I imagined Steve Dozen working as a DJ here, closing each night with "Hotel Calfornia."

We climbed some hills and enjoyed the view.

Further up we went. Kim took this one of our approach to a monument.

Here's a monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi, who at one point fought against the pope.

Check out Romulus and Remus suckling on the she-wolf. I bought one of those cheesy plastic statues depicting those two fellows. It's proudly displayed in our living room.

Another one.

Garibaldi's slogan was Rome or Die. After the battle, he went to Venice.

Our next mission was to walk to this statue near the Spanish Steps. Since 1854, the pope has visited this spot every Dec. 8 for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The crowds were lining up. The Spanish Steps were covered with people, so we could see much.

This guy in a sash walked through the gauntlet and shook people's hands. Some people seemed delighted to see him. Who was it? The mayor?

This lady stepped out a doorway and everyone started looking at her and taking her photo. Was she a celebrity? Just in case, I took this shot.

Here comes the Pope in his Pope Mobile! Yee-haw!

Meet Pope Benedict XVI, aka Joseph Alois Ratzinger

Hello!

He got out a short distance away and started talking. I recognized his voice. A couple minutes later, we left.

It was a beautiful evening.

We rounded this corner and found a restaurant.

I ordered a martini, which was made perfectly. Kim got a white Russian. We enjoyed a wonderful meal, returned to our hotel and flew out the next morning.

It was a perfect honeymoon. It was romantic, adventurous and we had a blast. Thank you to everyone who helped us out and made this trip of a lifetime possible. We love you.

Honeymoon XI – Florence

2010-03-04T11:21:00.000-08:00

The next day we took a train to Florence.

Check out this guy and his mustache. The folding bike is a good idea. Eventually I'll have to add one of those to my collection.

We didn't know that there were slow trains and fast trains. So a trip that we thought would take an hour and a half took four hours. Live and learn.

We were told that due to a holiday, it might be hard to find a room. So when I guy approached us at the train station and told us he would take us to his B&B, we jumped on it. When we needed to use the bathroom, we tip-toed past the family watching soccer in the living room.

We could have stayed here. As the song says, you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.

We walked around Florence at night.

The next morning they served us breakfast in our room. For the first time since we left home, we got eggs for breakfast. We were happy campers.

We were now on a mission to see David. We wandered the streets and found an unassuming building. There was no line. We paid for our tickets and entered. David was massive and surrounded by photos by American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The photos of naked humans actually complimented David. We weren't allowed to snap any photos inside the museum so I don't have any pictures of David to show you.

However, I did find this commentary inside a bathroom stall.

We then continued to wander the streets. Check out this church.

Nearby was the St. Giovanni Baptistery. Here's the ceiling.

A demon enjoys a tasty snack.

We wandered some more as I got colder and colder. Winter had arrived, and I was in need for a wool sweater.

Here's a one-man band.

My beautiful wife. Lovely, lovely, lovely, and darn good navigator.

The Ponte Vecchio spans the Arno River.

Lovers

Shop, shop, shop.

Got that?

This was one of the best restaurants we went to. It was pricey, but delicious.

The next morning we visited a giant indoor market with all sorts of interesting vendors.

Here's another photo by Kim.

And another one.

How about some rabbit?

Check out the buckets of olives.

We then got on a train and headed back to Rome. There was only one full day left before we had to fly home.

Honeymoon X – Ostia Antica

2010-03-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

You may recall that after we first left Rome, we wanted to visit the ancient Roman port of Ostia Antica. Through a series of errors, we ended up in strange coastal town before abandoning our plans and heading for Naples.

This time, back in Rome we found an actual bar where we gathered intelligence which allowed us to make the trip to Ostia Antica. Keep in mind that such bars are rare in Italy. Unlike Americans, Germans, Irish and the English, Italians aren't known for what a guide book called "dedicated drinking." They don't pony up to a bar and get drunk.

They have coffee shops with pastries and ice cream and perhaps a bottle of Jack Daniel's on the shelf. You can order a drink, and you could get drunk if you wanted to. But it would be like getting tipsy at the local Denny's or Starbucks. It's more likely that you'll have your cocktail, eat something and leave relatively intact.

The exception was the Druid bar, above, near our B&B. It was a real bar, with barstools and a wall of liquor (a rarity in Italy.) It was inhabited by drunken English & Irish lads, and a few drunken sailors from some northern European countries. We enjoyed some Guiness.

We also found a charming Welshman who worked as a tour guide. As he sucked down a jug of white wine and smoked endless cigarrettes, he told us how how to get to Ostia Antica and highly recommended a place that Kim was already determined to see.

We took the subway, transferred to another train and exited near this castle right outside the ruins.

The castle was closed, dammit. But we still enjoyed looking at it and exploring the adjacent village.

The buildings were pretty.

A nice place for a kitty, don't ya think?

We then entered Ostia Antica. This time I skipped petting the dog, who looked like he was ready for a good fight.

Here's one of many, many incredible mosaics. Ostia Antica isn't mentioned much in the guide books, but I'll tell you this – if you go to Italy and don't have a lot of time, forget Pompei and Herculea. Ostia is just as good, and it's a day trip from Rome! It will more than satisfy you if you want to explore an ancient Roman village.

Some of the buildings are two stories in height.

Here's the theater.

Here's a theater face. By the way, the temperature is beginning to plummet at this point and I'm freezing my balls off. That's why you're now seeing me in that wool hat.

It's neat to explore the second floors in an ancient Roman village. I wonder who climbed these same steps 2,000 years ago?

WTF? Where are we?

Oh, here we are at a bar. A 2,000-year-old bar!

Here's the original menu. What would you like?

Here's a temple.

After Ostia, we returned to the subway. Turns out that there was a strike of all transit workers, which meant we had to sit and enjoy cocktails and snacks at a local joint. Then, several hours later, we got on the subway along with half the country all headed to Rome. It seemed as if we were within moments of a riot. Good fun! Later I may post my video.

Honeymoon IX – Vatican

2010-03-03T19:08:00.000-08:00

We got into Rome later that day, tired but happy to be on familiar streets. The next day I woke up and nearly slipped into my short-sleeve pink jumpsuit. At the last minute, I changed my mind and wore something else.

Boy, am I glad I did. As you can see, they're not allowed at the Vatican. I got lucky.

These guys would have never let me enter dressed like that, or would they?

Here's one of the first things you see when you enter St. Peter's Basilica. Believe it or not, I actually dipped my hand in the holy water and crossed myself. As they say, when in Rome...

Here's Michelangelo's Pieta, which means "pity." Carved in 1499, it depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of Mary after he was crucified. It's behind glass now after some lunatic attacked it.

St. Peter's is amazing in its size and opulence. Here's a view from the base of the rotunda.

Here's a work by Bernini. Yowza! Since we were already this far up the rotunda, we decided to go all the way to the top. Along the way, we learned that the journey wasn't meant for those who are prone to claustrophobia.

The staircase goes round and round and round and round and round and round, getting narrower all the time. It's dark, stuffy and there are narrow slits for windows. Kim stopped in a tiny alcove with space for one. There were people behind me, so I had to keep going. That's when we got separated.

I kept climbing. I waited for her at a several locations, but eventually figured she had turned around. I'd meet her at the bottom.

This is one of the larger spiral staircases. A smaller one had a rope in the middle.

The climb was worth it. Here's St. Peter's Square.

You could see mountains in the distance.

You could see parts of the Vatican that are off limits. This is where the Pope goes skinny dipping at night, although I haven't confirmed that.

After a dizzying descent, I waited for Kim smack dab in the middle of a nearly empty St. Peter's Square, while she waited for me inside near the elevator where I should have exited. Eventually, she walked outside and I spotted her in my binoculars at the same time she spotted me. After that, we decided to have a plan in the event we got separated. Good idea!

Next, we visited the Vatican Museum. It's one of the best museums I've ever visited.

If you want to see small penises and severed heads, this is the place to be!

Here's another head.

Here's some hard-core Catholic porn.

This place is amazing. There's loot everywhere.

There are rooms and hallways dedicated to every single art form. This is in the Vatican map room. I imagine that hundreds of years ago Popes wandered into this room, pointed at the maps and discussed what was going down.

Don't tell Kim, but I'm going to get a second mortgage on the house and purchase this piece for her birthday.

We made our way to the Sistine Chapel, where I took this photo until I was informed by a security guard that no photos are allowed. Apparently, everyone in the chapel knew about that rule except for me. I was blown away by the Sistine Chapel and liked The Last Judgement on the wall even more than the ceiling, which was also great.

This spiral staircase took us down to the exit.

We got on the subway and headed back to the center of Rome. Kim took this photo at the restaurant we ate at.

I can't even begin to describe how good the food was almost every night in Italy. Kim's photo of eggplant parmesan tells the story. Then again, my wife can whip up some great Italian dishes herself, which is good because we can't afford to go to Italy very often!

Honeymoon Part VIII – Selinunte and Trapani

2010-03-03T16:25:00.000-08:00

From Agrigento we drove west to see more ruins in Selinunte.

We passed lots of interesting coastal towns, like this one.

We entered the ancient Greek archaeological site of Selinunte, and once again found that we practically had the entire park to ourselves.

Here's Kim walking up the steps of the Temple of Hera. Friggin' amazing!

Goosebumps? Damn right I got them.

The sky grew darker. Thunder roared. It started to hail. We retreated to the Fiat Panda.

About 20 minutes later, the hail stopped and our explorations continued, this time with the help of this soggy fellow who seemed to live there. I fed him some left over arancini di riso (deep-fried rice balls.) He kept up with us for miles, but was distracted at the very end when he found a delicious half-decomposed rat.

We took a different trail past the temple and headed for the coast.

Way cool!

Neat columns.

Here's an old farmhouse.

Then we drove onward through the rain to the city of Trapani and got a room.

We went window shopping. If you want to adopt the most popular Italian style, here it is – black and purple. That's what everyone is wearing. I think this trend has already penetrated America and will soon dominate the fashion landscape.

We went by a bridal store and my wife almost melted seeing the lovely dresses.

Good luck finding a good place to eat between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., when most restaurants are closed for their version of a siesta. Fortunately, we stumbled across this great little deli, which served all sorts of goodies. We ate standing up, but it was a fantastic meal.

The next morning we woke up early and looked out our hotel window. Here's what we saw.

On the road back to Palermo we passed these marble quarries. We dropped off our car, got to the Palermo airport and flew back to Rome, which almost felt like home being that we had become somewhat familiar with it and knew where to stay.

Honeymoon VII – The Valley of Temples

2010-03-03T13:21:00.000-08:00

In Palermo we rented a Fiat Panda, drove east and then headed south straight across the middle of Sicily. Aggressive driving in strange place with near anarchy came natural to Kim, so I let her do all the driving.

The countryside reminded me of Central California, like the hillsides south of Salinas. The difference is that you come across sights like this one, which aren't even listed on tourist maps.

I've always heard Sicily described as a poor area, but that wasn't apparent from its highway infrastructure. Rather than just carve the highway through the countryside like we do, much of it was elevated like in the photo above. It's mind boggling to think about how much this would cost. Two small bridges over the Mad River run at least $40 million, so how much did this cost?

Kim got to visit the towns where her ancestors came from – San Cataldo and Serra Di Falco, located more or less in the middle of Sicily.

Here's San Cataldo.

We visited a cemetery and came across a Giambra crypt. We don't know if they're related, but they might be. After exploring the two towns, we made our way to the southern coast and visited the Valley of Temples.

This is the Temple of Juno, built in the 450 BC by the Greeks.

Here's The Goddess in front of the Temple of Concordia.

And that's me.

This is the Temple of Hercales, one of the oldest at the site. As you can see, we practically had the park to ourselves.

Although this looks like the Michelin Man, it's Zeuss.

Nearby we found evidence of human sacrifice.

In the distance, we saw mysterious structures.

If they'd let me, I'd grab a shovel and dig for artifacts near these old city walls.

Here are some catacombs!

Amazing.

It was beautiful as the sun went down and the temples glowed in the orange light.

We drove down to the sea and got a room at an empty hotel. He had our own patio.

Here's the view from our room. The sky was dramatic. That night, we had one of the best meals ever.

The next morning we walked on the beach, then drove west along the coast.

Lull in the Storm

2010-01-22T12:11:00.000-08:00

I'll post more Italy photos when I have time. Meanwhile, here are some shots of this morning's bike ride.

I wanted to take advantage of the lull in the storm, so I rambled on my REI Randonee across the Arcata Bottom and saw rainbows, including this one.

In the distance is the Lanphere Dunes. The rainbow was fading. I made my way to Arcata. Then I cut across Samoa Boulevard to Jackson Ranch Road.

The fields were flooded.

There were lots of birds.

Honeymoon VI – to the Strait of Messina and Sicily

2009-12-31T14:39:00.000-08:00

From Amalfi we took a bus to Salerno, then caught a train to Reggio di Calabria, located at the end of the boot at the Strait of Messina. When we got off the train, we were tired and eager to find a room. We took a cab to the waterfront and wheeled our bags into a hotel that looked way too fancy.

We were told that a room would cost about $600 a night! Kim convinced them that we should get a better price and reminded them that we were on our honeymoon. It worked!

We got this massive ambassador's suite for around $200. That's a lot of money, but what the hell – we're were on our honeymoon!

Here I am doing my best impression of Don Corleone. Since I couldn't speak the language, I adopted this Italian hand gesture, which is very useful.

Somewhere we read that Reggio was a depressing city overrun by the mafia with very little to see. But that wasn't our experience. There's a beautiful seaside esplanade.

Here's the Strait of Messina, and Sicily in the distance.

We watched as an Italian sailing instructor yelled at his students.

The yelling paid off, as his students zipped all over. It was a maritime ballet.

In the distance we could see the lights of Messina.

The next morning we enjoyed a fancy breakfast!

We walked up the esplanade to catch a ferry.

One of the crew members was overly captivated with Kim's tattoos and brought the captain on deck to have a look. The captain made it clear that he didn't like tattoos, but he was very helpful giving us directions to various places we wanted to visit.

OK guys. Take it easy. That's my wife!

This sailboat made me drool all over myself.

We crossed the Strait of Messina.

Don't get too excited. In Italy it's not uncommon to be served a martini made with sweet vermouth.

We landed in Messina and jumped on a train to Palermo.

We later learned that Palermo has some neat neighborhoods and beautiful areas, but we seemed to end up in the low-rent district. There were some neat areas, but also some dirty areas. Kim took a photo of this graffiti.

We stayed at a B&B. This was the view from our bathroom.

We ate some amazing meals in Italy, but this wasn't one of them. Due to some language barriers, I got a salad with a mysterious flem-like white sauce with hunks of stinky fish and god-knows-what inside. I offered it to Kim, but for some reason she wasn't interested. On the other hand, the deep-fried rice balls were pretty good, as well as the carafe of red wine.

We wandered around and did a little shopping. There were street vendors selling various antiques. A haggled for awhile with a vendor who was selling a World War II-era Leica camera with a Nazi SS logo on the lens cap. He wanted too much for it. When I said "no thank you" in Italian, he and a nearby woman said something nasty back to me, perhaps "thanks for nothing, asshole!"

Other than that, most people were really polite. Some of them went out of their way to help us.

Next: We cross Sicily and visit the Valley of Temples

Honeymoon Part V – Amalfi

2009-12-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

After our adventures in Naples, it was time to head over the mountain to the coastal town of Amalfi. We caught a train to Casalmare. Then we jumped on a bus with a bunch of teenagers and weaved our way up a narrow, twisty mountain road.

All the way up and over the mountain there were little towns like this one. The kids were singing and laughing a good portion of the way. As we got near the top, more and more kids jumped off.

By the time we descended to the coast, we were the only ones on the bus.

When we reached Amalfi, we weren't disappointed.

We wandered up narrow streets and found a restaurant.

I was looking forward to eating some stinky little fish, so I ordered "local fish" with smoked mozzarella baked with lemon leaves. The "local fish" were anchovies, but not the kind we think of. These were fresh and delicious – not those nasty ones that we get with our pizzas. Kim ordered a fancy fish dish.

Kim looked up from our patio seating and took this shot. If I had known this lady was watching, I would have sat up straight and tried not to slouch.

After our Thanksgiving Day meal, we checked into that multi-story hotel on the right! We were in Amalfi during the "off season."The hotel was nearly empty. It reminded me of an Italian version of The Shining.

We were the only ones interested in the bar, where I enjoyed a martini, or two.

There was a beautiful sunset with a dramatic sky. I kept imagining knights on tiny sailing ships invading the town.

We practically had the dining room to ourselves for breakfast.

We decided to relax in Amalfi. Here we are on the hotel's main balcony.

I daydreamed about buying this boat and using it to tour the Amalfi Coast during the summer.

We slowly wandered around and checked out the shops.

Here's Kim at the Duomo. St. Andrew's bones are kept in this church. Sometimes they pull them out and show them off. That's weird, but kind of cool.

Amalfi is known for its tiles. We saw some really neat stuff.

This guy makes paper.

If you want fish, you go to the fish shop.

What the hell?

Back to the Duomo.

I like how some of the buildings are constructed into the cliff.

This was the view from our hotel room. We were very happy sitting on the balcony with a bottle of wine.

We spent two nights in this town. We were relaxed, rested and stuffed with good food. We agreed that it was time to get our butts in Sicily!

Honeymoon Part IV – Ercolano & Pompeii

2009-12-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

We made Naples our home base for day-trips to both Ercolano and Pompeii, towns that were buried when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.

If you go to Italy, be prepared to eat lots of bread for breakfast. Every place we stayed served a croissant, sometimes filled with chocolate. In addition to a croissant, there were always fresh rolls with butter and a container of yogurt. Sometimes there was fresh fruit and cheese. The breakfasts were good, but after a few weeks we were craving eggs and bacon.

About a block from out hotel we would jump on the trolly, which would take us to the train station. From there, we could get to Ercolano and Pompeii.

Here's what the Italians call Ercolano, also known as Herculaneum. You can see Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

Check out this altar.

We explored the temples.

We came across this mosaic and recognized the dolphins.

They're tattooed on Kim's leg!

Lots of gods.

I was surprised that we were allowed to walk on these floors.

At one point I said to Kim "This would have been a great place to live.' She responded "Yeah, except for the lava."

The ruins were extensive. It took two to three hours to see it all.

Kim's purse was still holding up at this point.

Before getting back on the train for Naples we ate lunch. This was posted in the window.

We returned to Naples and wandered the streets.

Naples is a big city, but it only has small shops. This is about average.

We kept wandering. Boy, were we getting tired.

The sunset was beautiful.

The next day, we woke up and ate some bread with our bread. Then it was off to Pompeii, above.

Pompeii is like Ercolano, but larger.

Here's my lover at the ruins of an old theater.

Oh baby!

More Pompeii.

Here's a 2,000-year-old picture of Venus on a clam shell. I spent a long time admiring this.

The stadium at Pompeii was impressive.

Here I am trying to impress my wife with my massive muscles and overall good looks and masculinity.

I had the same look on my face when I heard that Tiger Woods cheated on his wife.

Fantastic mosaics.

Oh damn that lava. It sticks to everything!

Things haven't been the same for this guy since 79.

This one is kind of sad, don't you think?

We slept soundly that night in Naples.

Next: Amalfi.

Honeymoon Part III – To Torvaianica and Naples

2009-12-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

After three days in Roma, it was time to head for the coast. The ancient Roman port of Ostia Antica sounded intriguing, so we decided to go there first.

Keep in mind that we didn't have a set itinerary, so we were free to go wherever we wanted. Our plans were always fluid. It's also worth noting that neither of us had ever been to Italy before and we don't speak the language. So there were challenges, as we were about to learn.

We started the day by going to the main train station in Rome. Here's Kim with all of our luggage. We each had a rolling backpack, each with a smaller detachable backpack.

Our train arrived. We thought it would take us to Ostia.

While on the train we learned it would take us further down the coast than we expected. We ended up getting off at Neptuno, where a friendly Italian student helped us figure out the bus schedule. Turned out we could get as far north as Torvaianica, which was at least 10 miles from Ostia. We hoped that from there we might get a cab or bus to Ostia. No luck. There were no buses or cabs. We were stuck in a town whose name we couldn't pronounce – Torvaianica.

We would add Ostia to the list of places to see later on our trip.

So I was stuck in a weird little town with my lovely wife. Bellissimo!

The problem with Torvaianica is that it appears to be a resort community designed for people who stay in their own little condos in the summer. It doesn't have much to offer, at least while we were there.

But we made the most of it. We walked on the beach and enjoyed the Tyrrhenian Sea. Here's a colorful fishing boat.

The sunset was beautiful and I never stopped forgetting that I am the luckiest man on the planet.

The next day we started plotting how to get to Naples. We came to our senses and figured out that the best thing to do was to hop on a bus to Rome's main train station, above. From there, we would take a train to Naples.

At the train station I needed to use the toilet. So I followed the signs downstairs. When I got there, I thought I was in the wrong place. A well-dressed Italian man, who looked like he was ready to go to a nightclub, was standing behind a desk with a line in front of it. While chatting up a woman who appeared to be his girlfriend nearby, he signaled to some poor young fellow wearing plastic gloves and holding a rag and a spray bottle. The young guy ran into a stall, cleaned it and ran out. The guy behind the desk then collected .70 Euros (about $1.04) from each person before they could use the toilet. Then, after each use, the young man cleaned the stall again. talk about a hellish job!

It was so weird that I tried to discreetly take a photo, but as you can see, it didn't work.

I hated the idea of paying $1.04 to take a crap. Then again, the toilet was clean compared to the one at the Naple's train station, which consisted of a porcelain hole in the ground with two raised platforms to place your feet. Blood was splattered all over it, and the sinks outside the stalls didn't work.

We were really happy when we got to Naples. Here was the view from our hotel!

It was beautiful.

We wandered the narrow streets and poked our heads into the local stores.

The streets were wild and crazy, with scooters and little cars zipping all over the place. At first, it seemed like total chaos. But after awile, we learned that there were some rules. The key is to assert yourself. If you want to get across a street, you need to step out and stop traffic. But be careful!

I love the Fiat 500.

Here's Kim at Piazza Dante, named after the poet.

Here's a statue of Dante. Note the graffiti. It's everywhere in Italy, and no object is sacred enough to be spared from the rattle can.

Here's some political graffiti.

I hope that the zombies get the message that they're not welcome in Naples, at least not by Crab.

I was often overwhelmed by the visual delights in Italy.

We enjoyed wandering the streets of Naples and the other cities we visited and seemed to have an aversion to spending too much time inside looking at museum. But the Naples National Archaeological Museum, which contains a large collection of Roman artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum, was well worth the visit.

Aphrodite really came through for me recently, so I wanted to check her out. This was my favorite. It's a 2nd Century AD copy of a Greek original from the 5th Century BC.

I predict that this will be the newest crazy in breast enhancement. Rather than getting breasts enlarged, people will have multiple breast added. The more the merrier.

Here a satyr with the infant Dionysus.

Here's a drunken Dionysus. That's one of the pitfalls of being the god of wine.

Here's Dionysus again.

That's a big head.

Later, we peeked in this castle.

Next: More Naples, then we visit Amalfi.

Honeymoon Part II – Pantheon and more

2009-12-12T09:49:00.000-08:00

We initially planned to only spend two days in Rome at the start of our three-week honeymoon, but decided to stay a third day to see more sights. However, our hotel room was already booked, so we had to move to a different hotel across town.

We looked out our hotel window and admired this statue in front of the Italian Bureau of Statistics, which had an armed guard posted at the entrance. I suspect he has to guard the building just in case a group of Italian nerds try to heist statistics.

We quickly mastered Rome's Metro system and caught a train to the Vatican. Kim bought a super shiny red leather purse!

We entered the Vatican.

Here's St. Peter's Basilica. This is where the shit goes down! There was a line to get inside and the Sistine Chapel was closed, so we decided to visit other sights and vowed to return to the Vatican near the end of the trip.

We went back to Rome and walked until we got to Trevi Fountain.

The fountain is interesting, to say the least.

We ate gelato and did a little shopping.

Kim took this photo of one of the street musicians. I think he was pissed off because another musician was playing at his corner.

Next up was the Pantheon, built in 126 AD. It was originally a temple for all the Gods.

Here's the massive dome. There's a hole in the middle and a drain on the floor below.

Do the ghosts of the Roman rulers of yesteryear frequent the Pantheon?

The columns are massive.

Here's the fountain outside the Pantheon, just a few feet away from a McDonalds.

Next: We head to the coast.

Honeymoon Part I – Arrive and explore Roma

2009-12-10T19:11:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009, I married Kim Allen at Moonstone Beach. The wedding was perfect. The sun came out and there were lots of happy, smiling friends and family members in attendance.

The next Wednesday we embarked on a three-week honeymoon in Italy. This is the first part of a lengthy series on this blog detailing our adventures.

We flew from Arcata to San Francisco, then to Chicago and on to Munich.

In Munich I was "Shocked! Shocked! Shocked!" to discover that they put naked ladies on the front pages of newspapers.

From Munich, we crossed the alps on our way to Rome.

We were already sleep deprived from the wedding festivities, and extremely tired after a 20-hour trip. So we were really glad that a taxi driver met us at the airport. At first I wondered why he didn't put both our names on the sign. Then I remembered. Duh!

When we arrived at the hotel, we discovered that Kim's parents had booked us the honeymoon suite. It was a sweet suite!

We flung open the shutters and listened to the chaos which is Rome. We wanted to go explore, but we were so sleepy. Perhaps just a little nap was in order. We closed closed our eyes and immediately zonked out.

When we woke up, it was dark outside. I snapped photos from the window. We rubbed our eyes and went outside.

We walked down the street and admired the colosseum at night. This 2,000-year-old entertainment complex is where gladiator battles were held and Christians were fed to lions.

Nearby there were lots of neat things to look at, like the Arco di Costantino from the 4th Century AD.

Everything seemed so foreign and exotic, even the streets. Were returned to the hotel to get a good night's rest so we could see even more the next day.

I call this our "rookie photo" because the fact that it was even taken shows how naive we were about Rome. I saw this building and thought it was so interesting that I made Kim take my photo in front of it. After a day or two, I realized that this building didn't compare at all to the other architectural marvels, most of which aren't included in any guidebooks.

We walked down to Trajan's Forum, above. Pretty amazing stuff. In the middle is Trajan's column from AD 113. It has intricately carved reliefs from bottom to top depicting a battle.

We then paid to get into the Roman Forum.

Here I am thinking really deep thoughts.

I did battle with some gladiators. The hard part came after the photos were taken and it was time to negotiate the fee.

We stopped often to smooch.

When we got hungry, we purchased roasted chestnuts from a street vendor.

We checked out the colosseum. Here's my wife!

Here's my wife on a different day with a fancy hat.

The inside of the colosseum was extremely interesting. This was a sophisticated, albeit brutal, operation.

Later we checked out this monument, which was described in one of the guidebooks as Roman architecture on steroids. (Note: Photo above was taken in the evening on a different day.)

The statues were huge.

We checked out a nearby protest.

Later that night we celebrated a wonderful start to our marriage.

Before going to sleep, I heard a familiar song from The Godfather. I looked out the window and heard this guy performing.

Professor Hula

2009-11-08T14:19:00.000-08:00

Hula takes time out from his studies to discuss the dynamics of interbeing and monological imperatives as they relate to the new paradigm dogs find themselves adapting to in post-modern society.

Durham & Allen to wed

2009-11-06T15:33:00.000-08:00

Jack Durham and Kim Allen have announced they will marry on Nov. 14 at Moonstone Beach.
The future bride is the daughter of Harvey and Marge Allen of Burbank, Calif. She is a 1985 graduate of Burbank High School. She spent a year studying in Barcelona, Spain before moving to Humboldt County, where she received a bachelor’s degree from Humboldt State University in 1992. She works as a case manager doing rural outreach for Humboldt County Mental Health.
The future groom is the son of George and Patricia Durham of San Mateo, Calif. He is a 1987 graduate of Aragon High School and studied journalism at Humboldt State University. He has worked for The Willits News, Woodland Daily Democrat, Arcata Union and Humboldt Beacon. In 1996, he founded the McKinleyville Press, where he serves as the editor, publisher and paperboy.
After the wedding, the couple will honeymoon in Italy, Sicily and Malta.

Happy Dia de los Muertas!

2009-11-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

Bicycle nightmare.10.29.09

2009-10-29T11:15:00.000-07:00

McKinleyville Totem Pole blog

2009-10-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

There's a new blog in town. Check out the McKinleyville Totem Pole blog.

Jack and Jill Cards now available in Humboldt County stores

2009-10-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

Jack and Jill Cards' introductory line of postcards is now available in three local stores, with more locations coming soon. Here's where you can go as of today:

Blake's Books

2005 Central Ave., McKinleyville, CA 95519. Call (707) 839-8800

Conscious Home

1580 Nursery Rd. McKinleyville, CA 95519.

Call (707) 840-0776

Essence of Humboldt,

632 Ninth St, Arcata, CA 95521.

Call (707)822-8222

Call for availability as not all retail locations carry all cards.

Hula at beach

2009-10-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

Jack and Jill Cards

2009-10-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

This coming week, the introductory line from Jack and Jill Cards
will start appearing in a limited number of retail outlets in Humboldt County.

More details to come. Here are some images from our website of our postcards:

Frank & Mojito

2009-10-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

I wanted to capture an image of last evening's dramatic sky. My good friend Frank offered to serve as a model and allowed me to blast her with the flash.

Mojito didn't want to be left out.

Hawaiian Chieftain

2009-10-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

The tall ship Hawaiian Chieftain made an unscheduled stop Tuesday in Humboldt Bay seeking shelter from the storm. Here's my take on it.

Morning ramble

2009-10-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

This morning I spent quality time with the flagship of the fleet – the Novara Randonee. It's not the fastest bike on the road, but it will get you where you want to go – potholes be damned!

It felt good to get out and explore.

It was chilly and gray as I made my way through the Arcata Bottom.

It was quiet and peaceful. I wondered to myself why I don't take a ride like this every day.

I passed through Arcata's Windsong subdivision, which I recall writing about for the Arcata Union when the development was before the planning commission. Notice the narrow streets and off-street parking. Children could actually play in these streets and be safe.

Pathways run between the homes and only small fences are allowed. So these are the "backyards." It's an interesting concept, although it's probably not the place to live if you have a large dog.

I crossed over to the south end of Jackson Ranch Rd. and admired the wildlife as I made my way home.

New bumper sticker for our 1960 Ranchero

2009-09-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your Ranchero.

Best of Show

2009-09-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

I hereby declare my 1960 Falcon Ranchero "Best of Show" for this weekend's Cruz 'n' Eureka show and shine.

The Ranchero sat a few blocks away from the event near a local saloon, but it was clearly the finest vehicle on display.

The car is so sexy that it attracts naked ladies, as you can see in the foreground.

Speaking of sexy, here's my fiancee posing with a 1965 Ranchero at the show. It was nice, but it doesn't have the rustic patina that mine does.

Into The Fog

2009-09-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

I've been busy lately planning a wedding, a three-week trip to Italy, Sicily and Malta, and figuring out how to get the paper out while I'm gone. But this morning I squeezed in a short bike ride.

The fog was thick and I had to stop often to wipe off my glasses. This is on Vance under the Samoa Bridge.

Samoa is a neat, old mill town. Most of us pass by this place without stopping to appreciate it.

Being that I live in a tsunami hazard zone, I like to check out my options in case of an emergency. The big dune in Samoa doesn't look any taller than the ones behind us in nearby Manila. So when The Big One hits, I think we should run out the back door and up the dunes behind the house.

After exploring Samoa, I decided to go over the bridges to Woodley Island.

Here's the view from the top of first bridge. Out there in the fog live the ghosts of lost fishermen, pirates and mutineers.

At Woodley Island, I watched the "Good News" return to port.

I said hello to the old fisherman.

I went through the tunnel.

I admired the mud flats at low tide before returning home.

Bliss Basket Redux

2009-08-25T16:48:00.000-07:00

... and you guys thought I was joking last year when I wrote about the transformative powers of a bicycle basket! Hah!

O! The Joy

2009-08-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

I asked Kim to marry me, and she said yes.

Mi coche es muy atractiva

2009-08-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

Si?

Photos from Ruth Lake camping trip

2009-08-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

We spent some time this weekend at Ruth Lake, which is the dammed portion of the Mad River and located way out in Trinity County.

This was the view from our campsite. It was extremely pretty, but in the late afternoon the wind picked up and it felt like a hurricane. If one walked a mere 50 feet or so into the forest, the wind died down to almost nothing.

We swam and soaked up the sun. We also explored the area in our canoe.

We saw Great Blue Herons.

At first I liked this egret.

Then he turned his back on me. Bastard!

An osprey patrolled the lake.

Hula became sad, then angry, when we told him it was time to leave.

Hoppas du har en fantastisk resa

2009-07-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

My good friend and assistant editor Karol Andersson is headed to Sweden for a big adventure. Lycka till. Tja saknar dig!

Music on the bay

2009-07-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

On Thursday evenings during the summer there are live bands that perform on the waterfront in Old Town Eureka. Last night, The Goddess and I decided to listen to the music while kayaking around the harbor.

The bands perform right up there. Last night some blues band played. They were pretty good.

We launched from across the water at the Woodley Island Marina. At one point, we parked our boats on a dock and walked over to a local watering hole for a refreshing adult beverage.

We then explored the waterfront, and I took lots of blurry photos of godwits.

Coast Redwood Tour 2009

2009-07-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

Last week I travelled with The Goddess on a six-day camping trip from Humboldt County to Morro Bay and back. I only photographed small portions of the trip, so this is an incomplete pictorial account of what we saw.

Just north of San Simeon, we came across a beach full of elephant seals.

We watched bulls fight for supremacy.

I could relate to this fellow, who just soaked up the sun.

We weren't the only ones enjoying the ocean view.

On the way home we stayed at a campground in Big Sur and came across an albino redwood.

We hiked up the Big Sur River with Hula, who had a blast the entire time.

On Friday night we camped at Samuel P. Taylor State Park, located east of Point Reyes. This photo shows the AdventureMobile, which was outfitted with a canoe and my fixed gear bike.

On the way home, we stopped at Fort Ross. In the early 1800s, the Russians built a settlement and a fort at this location. Below are various images from the fort.

Kim took this photo of a design on a trunk.

Kim took this photo of the harbor at Fort Ross.

Camping on the Smith

2009-07-05T17:19:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday morning we headed north for a three-day camping trip on the Smith River.

The Smith is a pristine, undammed river. The water is crystal clear. We camped at Grassy Flat. which is near where this photo was taken.

We brought our bicycles – my vintage Schwinn newspaper bike and Kim's Trek Navigator. The Schwinn has the mother-of-all baskets on the front, and was handy for hauling essential supplies like food, wine coolers and lawn chairs down to the river.

In the evening we played Canasta, cooked over the campfire and stargazed.

The Goddess worked her magic.

We enjoyed our own kind of fireworks.

The next morning we went on a hike and visited a serpentine bog with a rare plant called a Darlingtonia, aka a Cobra Lily.

Because there are few nutrients in a serpentine bog, these plants eat meat. Flies and other bugs are lured into the large bulb with a nectar. They're then slowly sucked down into the plant and consumed. This raises an interesting question: Assuming such a plant were edible, would it be kosher for a vegetarian to consume it?

Nearby we inspected a "mine test hole," probably dug in the 1930s.

There were many other interesting photo ops, but I was relaxed and lazy most of the time and didn't bother. I soaked up a lot of sun and read an adventure involving Navajo officer Joe Leaphorn, a double homicide, a heist, a stolen helicopter, a woman corrupting a priest, a militant American Indian outfit and a cave wired with dynamite and full of scouts. Damn, that's a lot of plot twists to pack into a little paperback!

Keep on rollin'

2009-06-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

Took a ride on the fixed gear down the peninsula this morning.

While cleaning out my old garage, I found my favorite rear-view mirror, which clips onto my glasses. Like most bike-related items I purchased between 1983 and 1986, it's perfect.

I'm a much faster rider on the fixed gear.

Summer flowers

2009-06-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

Hang on...

2009-06-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

I just need to clean out a house and garage, and put the property on the market. Then I can resume blogging. Meanwhile, check this out:

My charade is over

2009-06-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to an anonymous commenter in the previous posting. my little charade is over. I am not Jack, Jack Durham or Rambling Jack.

My true identity is "Mr. Carson."

It was only a matter of time before the truth was revealed.

I just hope nobody finds out about my freelance job working as an exotic dancer.

Excellent videos!

2009-06-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

Oh, I miss the Earth so much.

What's not to like about Orson?

Introducing the Kona Dew

2009-06-07T21:24:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday afternoon my cell phone rang. Thinking it was a call from The Goddess, I immediately picked it up and said “Hey good looking!”

Then I heard a stranger’s voice. She said she was from the North Coast Co-op and started asking me questions to make sure she had the right number.

The momentary awkwardness quickly faded when it became clear she was informing me that I had won something in a free drawing I entered many weeks ago.

My prize is a spanking-new Kona Dew commuter bike, pictured here at an undisclosed location. The bicycle came complete with fenders, a rack and a bicycle bell. Pretty sweet!

The free drawing was part of Bicycle Month in May.

I’ll put it to good use and log many miles on the Dew. Thank you, North Coast Co-op.

I'm a fixed gear veteran, now that I think about it

2009-06-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

As I was pedaling down the road on my second fixed-gear ride of the day, it dawned on me that I have experienced several fixed-gear cycles over my lifetime.

In a comment on my last posting, the Redheaded Beach Dawdler reminded me of the experience of riding trikes, which have a fixed "gear," assuming a one-to-one ratio counts as a gear.

As long as the wheel turns on a trike, the pedals turn. You can go backwards or forwards. Or, after you gain momentum, you can resist the rotation of the pedals and TRY to slow the trike down or stop it.

Your success depends on your speed and your strength. As the Dawdler pointed out, if you can't control the trike you can always lift up your legs and let the crank spin. But be careful! It hurts like hell when those pedals hit your shins.

When I was a child, I also explored my little world on a plastic Big Wheel, which is basically a trike and therefore a fixed-gear cycle.

At some point around kindergarten, I graduated to a real bike – a single-speed bike with a kick-brake.

Like nearly every other bike on the road, it was NOT a fixed gear. It was a single speed with a freewheel. I could coast. Eventually I graduated to a three-speed, then a 10-speed and a 15-speed.

But along the way, I acquired another fixed gear cycle which I still own today – a unicycle.

So I'm a fixed gear veteran, and you may be too even though you don't know it.

The Fixed Gear Experience

2009-06-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

I’ve always thought that fixed gear bicycles are absurd and ridiculous. Why would people voluntarily limit themselves to a single gear and then compound the difficulties by eliminating the freewheel?

Doing so doesn’t make sense. It’s counter-intuitive.

But for some reason, I wanted one, so I started shopping for something cheap.

This is my “new” funky fixed gear conversion. The frame appears to be from a clunky, old Schwinn. It's kind of sexy, don't you think?

As you can see, it only has one gear. The right side has no freewheel, so you have to keep pedalling. There’s no coasting, even when going down hill. It has what’s called a flip-flop hub, which means you can take the wheel off, flip it around and connect the chain to the freewheel if you so desire.

The biggest “hills” I’ve climbed so far are the Samoa Bridges. They weren't too bad and while climbing I kept the cussing to a minimum.

There’s something addictive about the fixed gear experience that I can’t put my finger on. This will require further meditation before I can explain why someone would want to ride such a bike.

In Search of Bigfeet

2009-05-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

After work on Friday we headed into the wilderness of eastern Humboldt County in search of Bigfeet. On the way there, we caught glimpses of Sasquatches, but never got a clear view.

We were clearly smack dab in the middle of Bigfoot country.

We arrived at our campsite on the East Fork of Willow Creek and cooked over the fire. Then we had cocktails, played rummy and kept an eye out for Bigfeet.

Our campsite had its own private swimming hole, so on Saturday we planted our lawnchairs there and waited for the beast.

Bigfeets are sneaky, so I watched the water just to make sure one didn't try to swim by.

We were running low on fundamental supplies, such as crushed ice and surgary snacks, so we headed to downtown Willow Creek.

We visited the Bigfoot Museum and conducted some research. The museum includes all sorts of fascinating information and exhibits.

Check out the Bigfoot cake pan.

We came across a giant footprint, a sure sign that Bigfeets were nearby.

OH MY GOD! Suddenly we were standing right next to Bigfoot. I held its hand.

With our mission accomplished, we headed back to camp and made another meal over the fire.

On Sunday morning, I fired up my trusty, little campstove to make coffee.

We returned to the fog and the process of putting out a paper resumed.

Some Memorial Day Weekend pics

2009-05-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we watched the Kinetic Sculpture Race, which goes right by Kim's house. I spent most of the time stuffing my face, but was able to get a few shots in between mouthfuls.

I big fish swam buy.

There was a chicken and lots of chicks.

There were lots of interesting bikes, which weren't actually part of the race.

What do you do at a stoplight?

After the race, we jumped in the car and went to Abalone Point in Mendocino County. Guess what we ate?

Hula guarded the campsite.

On Sunday we visited Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg.

This fellow made a lot of noise.

But it as all good.

The Garden

2009-05-21T13:30:00.000-07:00

After a two-year hiatus, I'm gardening again – this time with The Goddess. Nearly two weeks ago we rented a rototiller. Then we started planting.

This is a new addition for Kim. It's a massive pumpkin patch in her front yard. We also planted potatoes and sunflowers. Take note of the chairs, which we call our "pumpkin observatory."

Here's the backyard garden. There are peas, carrots, beets, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, squash and probably some other stuff I can't remember right now.

Let it grow!

A Cursory Exploration of Old Town Eureka

2009-05-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of work to do today, so time was of the essence. I jumped on my bike and headed for Old Town Eureka.

This bridge goes from Samoa to Indian Island. It's best not to think too much about the possibility of falling over the rail. From Indian Island there's a short bridge to Woodley Island, then a short bridge to Eureka.

Here's the view of Eureka from the top of the bridge on the Samoa end.

I admired this egret rookery. Note all the white spots in the trees!

Let's take a closer look.

Here's the Woodley Island Marina. Notice the pulp mill in the background. It's closed.

I admired one of the old buildings. By the way, the frame on my bike proved to be both flexible and rigid during today's ride, which was both long and short.

After I took this shot, I helped some Japanese tourists take a family photo. Somewhere on a mantle or in a photo album in the Land of the Rising Sun, there will be a photo of my bike with Japanese tourists next to it.

Old Town is a pretty place. Here's the gazebo.

I admired the artwork of Romano Gabriel. He must have been an interesting neighbor.

I looked inside and was shocked to discover that he had modeled at least one of his works after Kim and me.

I meandered down to the waterfront and looked at this rusty yacht, as I have many times before. I imagine that this was a real beauty in its day and probably was used by the rich and famous in Southern California. Cary Grant probably drank martinis at the stern while Betti Davis flirted with the captain.

This is where the visitors dock. This boat looks like its stopped over for supplies during a major voyage.

I think I'll make Old Town explorations a regular part of my schedule this summer on my Randonee, which is fast, yet slow.

'How wonderful'

2009-05-12T08:18:00.001-07:00

I think readers of this blog, assuming there are any left, will appreciate this song by Anthony Quinn.

Song of the day

2009-05-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

Flexible and Rigid – at the same time!!!

2009-05-10T18:10:00.000-07:00

Overheard during this year's TUC:

"My carbon fiber frame is both flexible and rigid."

Tour of the Unknown Coast – The 100-Mile Slog

2009-05-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

Before tackling my first Tour of the Unknown Coast in 2007, I trained extensively. In the months before I rode numerous 50 to 60 mile rides. One day I even pedalled from McKinleyville to Wlllow Creek and back, which is more than 80 miles and includes two mountain passes.

On the day of the 2007 tour, I felt strong and was confident that I’d finish. I completed the 100-mile course in just under 11 hours. Considering that six months prior I was in terrible shape and considered a 20-mile ride to be almost beyond my ability, I was pleased with my performance.

The next year I planned to train even more, but those plans fell through due to the demands of the business, which increased due to a number of interesting personal problems at home.

Fortunately, I was racking up lots of commuter miles and taking short evening rides. Despite a lack of distance training, I felt excellent during the 2008 tour. I was making good time and even passed a few riders going up Panther Gap. Then, halfway through at Honeydew, my rear wheel fell apart, and the race was over.

This year I didn’t train at all, unless you consider operating a martini shaker exercise.

I rode to Kneeland on Jan. 1 and Feb. 18. After those rides, I only did a couple flat 10 milers and some 17 milers.

This photo pretty much sums up my pre-tour training.

Other than having a bicycle in good working order, I felt completely unprepared for Saturday’s ride. I assumed I’d limit myself to the 100K race, but spent the extra $5 for the 100-miler just in case I changed my mind. I would assess the condition of my legs part way through the race and make a decision.

At mile 20, the prognosis wasn’t good. My legs were sore and I was tired. Clearly I wasn’t ready for the 100 miler.

As I got closer to the 100K turnaround point, I noticed cyclists heading back to Ferndale. That was probably a good idea, but I wasn’t going to have much of a sense of accomplishment if I did less than 100 miles.

The decision was irrational and ego-based, but it had to be done. I just wanted to prove to myself that I could complete the tour, regardless of my training. Male macho bullshit? Perhaps.

So at mile 30 I kept going, and soon after I was climbing Panther Gap in the blazing sun. It was slow going and I stopped often to drink water. About six or seven miles later, I was at the top with an aching arse.

Everything about my bike is great, except for the seat.

The ride down to Honeydew was full of potholes, and I saw lots of riders pull over with flat tires, probably “pinch flats” caused by skinny tires hitting potholes.

I was glad to have my big, fat 34s( See above), even though they slow me down.

I was tired. My legs were sore. My arse hurt. My hands hurt. I was halfway done.

Another 10 miles away lunch awaited me. It seemed like I’d never get there, but I did. I ate some soup and a sandwich. I felt a little queasy, but continued on.

The hills between the lunch site and the beach should have been the easy ones, but they were painful. I stopped often and began to think about the sag wagon.

“I’d much rather be spending time with Kim,” I thought to myself. “What am I doing out here?”

I tried to erase such thoughts from my head and repeated to myself “Failure is not an option.”

Ahead I rolled.

The headwind at the beach was brutal. If I used the same pedalling energy on a windless day, I probably would have moved down the road at 14 mph. But instead I was hovering around 7 mph.

People were passing me. They were smiling and looked refreshed.

Then again, sag wagons full of bicyclists began passing me up too. I could have been worse off.

It was tempting to jump onboard, but I had already gone more than 75 miles. How hard would it be to just keep going?

I found out it was hard, really hard.

The Wall, with a 10 percent grade, was difficult, but not nearly as bad as what’s called the Endless Hills. You climb and climb. Then, just when you think you’re near the summit, you climb some more.

Not only are you going up hill, but there’s a strong headwind.

I was in pain. I was tired and cranky. The landscape ceased to be pretty to me. It was just a hellish torture machine. “Damn, if only I had trained,” I thought to myself.

I chanted to myself “Keep going forward. Keep going forward.” I slogged my way over the course.

There weren’t any bursts of speed. I crawled along at 4 mph. The fog was rolling in and the wind was persistent.

Eleven hours and 54 minutes after I had started, I crossed the finish line. Sitting near the clock was a pile of finisher patches – the trophy one gets for the 100-mile challenge.

I grabbed a patch, put it in my pocket and smiled.

Damn, that was actually lots of fun, in an odd kind of way.

When I arrived at Kim’s, she gave me the royal treatment.

Magnum

2009-04-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

Lock up your daughters! Magnum is performing Saturday.

A slow, flat ride on the peninsula

2009-04-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

I took a short ride from Manila to the U.S. Coast Guard station and back this morning.

I stopped at the Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum and admired this life boat. It's huge.

Oh buoy!

Got that?

Further down the peninsula I could see that the coasties were up to something. Here's one boat.

And another.

The Humboldt County Sheriff's boat was also involved.

I stopped and watched remote control model planes at the Samoa International Airport.

My bike is a sweet ride. It's not a light bike, nor is it a fast bike. It's a sturdy touring bike. I'm very pleased with its performance.

This song was going through my head during the ride, and after.

The best video ever posted on this blog

2009-04-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

This is the best video I've ever posted on this blog, hands down.

Eminence Front

2009-04-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

When working late, this is all the music you need to keep on truckin'.

Shoveling poop with The Goddess

2009-04-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

The romance never ends when I'm with The Goddess, like on Saturday when we took El Ranchero north to a friend's ranch to shovel horse shit.

We loaded about five trash cans up with hot, stinky crap and then trucked them to the garden. This is exactly what El Ranchero was made for!

We spread a thick layer on the ground, and then the animals proceeded to wallow around in the poop.

Later that evening, Kim made me some home-made fettucini alfredo, topped with big-ass shrimps. I may have been the best-darn meal I've ever had.

Afterward, she informed me that she is happy to make me anything I want, anytime I want it.

Hot damn. I hit the jackpot!

Good stuff

2009-04-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

File this one under "Good Stuff." This almost makes me want to take up smoking!

A musical number for Friday

2009-04-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is the kind of show I'd like to see at the new Arcata Theater Lounge.

Exclusive interview with self

2009-04-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

Q. Why have you agreed to submit to this interview?

Jack: Because I’ve been neglecting this blog, I’m afraid if I don’t post something, it may disappear from cyberspace. Also, I have some things to say and want to push the limits of narcissistic blogging.

Q. What’s on your mind?

Jack: I’ve been thinking about how much I dislike the fellow known as “Coach” on this year’s season of “Survivor.” He really bugs me and I hope he gets voted off this week.

Q. Do you watch a lot of TV?

Jack: Seems like I watch exactly three to four hours a week.

Q. Like what?

Jack: On Sunday I get home just before 10 p.m. and watch some cheesy drama called “Brothers and Sisters.” It clears my head. Then on Monday I watch “Antiques Roadshow.” On Thursday I watch “Survivor.” Somewhere in between I catch a “CSI” or “Law & Order.”

Q. Have you been doing much bicycling?

Jack: Not nearly as much as I would like to. Although today I did ride from Manila to McKinleyville. I also use a bike to get around town.

Q. What kind of bikes are you riding nowadays?

Jack: Now that the mountain bike is out of commission, I only use two bikes. I ride the Randonee when going any distance. For around town, I use my English 3-speed. For really short distances, I use a skateboard.

Q. Are you going to ride the Tour of the Unknown Coast?

Jack: Yes, But I’m uncertain about completing the 100 mile ride, being that I haven’t trained at all. My tentative plan is to sign up for it. If I feel good, I’ll shoot for 100 miles, but it’s highly likely I’ll just complete the 100K (60 mile) event.

Q. I heard you got a tattoo. Is this true?

Jack: Yes

Q. What does it look like?

Jack: Here’s the basic design.

Q. What is it?

Jack: It’s a killer whale done in the Pacific Northwest Indian style.

Q. Where did you put it?

Jack: On my right arm a few hairs below the elbow.

Q. Did it hurt?

Jack: it hurt like hell. It felt like someone was sawing on my arm for hours.

Here I am squirming in pain like a little girl.

Q. Why did you do it? What the hell were you thinking? You do realize that it’s permanent and won’t come off, right? Right?

Jack: Last year I started a whole new life. The change was profound and damn good. I wanted to commemorate this change with a tattoo. I could ramble on about everything this tattoo stands for, but it would be boring and silly, and most people wouldn’t understand. So I’ll have mercy and spare you the details. And, yes, I know it’s permanent. Well, kind of permanent. It won’t be around forever, unless someone makes a lamp shade out of my skin after I die.

Q. Do you plan on getting any other tattoos?

Jack: Eventually, on my back, I’ll have a giant Confederate flag surrounded by pot leaves with the Virgin Mary in the center. On my chest will be a picture Satan with snakes coming out of his eyes and flames shooting out of his ears. After that, I’ll explore the world of body piercing and get some old chicken bones stabbed through my nipples.

Q. Ummm.. read any good books lately?

Jack: I’m a few pages from the end of Commodore Hornblower. Good stuff. Before that I read "Hollywood" by Charles Bukowski.

Q. What are you going to read next?

Jack: I really don’t know. I was leafing through Huck Finn recently and found myself drawn in. I've read it several times. Maybe I'll do so again, or maybe not. I also need to catch up on my National Geographics.

Q. What else?

Jack: I purchased a shop manual for the 1960 Ford Falcon. I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time studying the pages regarding the door mechanisms. I plan on disassembling the doors and getting the locks, etc. in perfect working order. I also got a catalog with all sorts of Falcon parts. I study it as if it’s sacred text.

Q. How does it run?

Jack: Fantastic! I spent a small fortune having a mechanic repair the brakes and give it a full-blown tune-up. It runs perfectly. It’s a beast!

Q, Was this a wise purchase?

Jack: Obviously not. But it’s a fun purchase. And having fun is important, right?

Q. You’ve gardened on and off over the years. How about this year?

Jack: Kim is a garden maniac, so I’ll definitely rekindle this hobby. The nice thing is that Kim can more than make up for all my weaknesses in the garden, like forgetting to water, etc. So there will be a big bounty this year.

Q. What do you like to grow?

Jack: Stuff you can eat, like carrots and beets.

Q. Why don’t you grow some marijuana like everyone else in Humboldt County?

Jack: If I was smart, I would. There’s a lot of money to be made. But there are all sorts of complications involved and I don’t really aspire to be a dope grower. Still, I have to admit that I get a little jealous when I see these guys pulling out wads of cash at the local stores. It’s like there’s a gold rush underway and I’m missing out. But I’ll stick to beets. They're really good on a salad.

Q. Sounds like you have a lot of projects underway.

Jack: Yeah, like the garden pond we just made. It’s pretty neat. I also have a watercolor painting kit which I’ve messed around with. I’ll dive more into that next winter when the weather gets bad. Right now I want to be outside as much as possible.

Q. What's this I hear about you and the President of the United States of America?

Jack: It's true. We're now friends, at least on Facebook. It's only a matter of time before I influence the entire country's foreign and domestic policy.

Q. Any regrets?

Jack: Yes. Awhile back I purchased a rear-view mirror that sticks on to my bicycle helmet. It's a real piece of crap. I wish I wouldn't have wasted the money. I also spent a dollar or two on a Bozo the Clown record that's all scratched up. I got bamboozled by Bozo.

Q. In closing, how about posting a few recent photos?

Jack: Sure. It would be my pleasure.

Here's Baker Beach, just one of the places we stopped to explore on my birthday, April 13.

Kim spoiled me rotten, as usual.

Hula enjoyed himself.

Kim took this photo of me later that day at the Clam Beach Inn.

On a different day, while on a bike ride, I came across this guy in the Arcata Bottoms. Which reminded me of this:

I'm so darn eco-groovy that I rode by bike to work on Earth Day, which is today. The Arcata Bottoms were foggy.

I like the wood on these old buildings.

Nap time at Woodley Island.4.4.09

2009-04-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

Got it?

2009-04-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

This is what I've been trying to explain to you people.

El voyage primero del Ranchero

2009-04-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

Yee-Haw!

Oye! Vamanos muchachos por cruzin Old Town Eureka.

Introducing the 1960 Ford Falcon Ranchero

2009-03-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Being that I'm a big-time newspaper publisher, it only seems fitting that I have a classic car for taking The Goddess out to Sunday brunch or a rummage sale.

I considered purchasing a Bugatti or an old Cadillac, but due to budgetary constraints and the crumbling economy, I had to set my sights on something more realistic. Last week I found a classic vehicle in my price range. It was located out on Warren Creek Road next to a chicken coop.

It's a 1960 Ford Falcon Ranchero, with a straight-6 and three on the tree. It hauls ass and appears to be mechanically sound, despite a wee bit of rust.

The speedometer didn't work on the test drive until I hit a pothole. Now it's fully functional, almost.

I like the name "Ranchero." It's very manly and makes me want to talk like the guy in the Black Angus commercials.

Like A Rhinestone Cowboy

2009-03-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

Now for a random childhood memory...

The year is 1975 or 1976.

I'm a small child, playing with wooden blocks – red, blue and green.

I'm in the dining room on a hard, white floor with speckled black dots. I stack the blocks one atop another until there's a teetering tower and the blocks crash down, making a spectacular sound.

My parents are across the room reading books on a green couch. They're happy, as usual, and occasionaly mutter words of encouragement as I repeatedly stack my blocks.
In turn, I feel happy and accomplished. I'm enjoying the music, which is this song:

Obituary for my mountain bike

2009-03-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

(The family respectfully request that you click on the video above so you can listen to the music while you read about our dearly departed friend.)

Specialized Rock Hopper, born December 1995, died March 2009 in Humboldt County, Calif. It was 13 years of age.

An aluminum mountain bike, Rock Hopper passed away peacefully after suffering a fatal frame crack which rendered its bottom bracket useless.

Rock Hopper was a friend to all and will be missed.

Rock Hopper spent its early years cruising the Hammond Trail, with occasional excursions into the hills east of McKinleyville.

In the summer of 2006, Rock Hopper was converted to an electric-powered bike and, for a short time, had its own blog – Jack’s Electric Bicycle.

By early 2007, Rock Hopper was converted back to a regular mountain bike and became an almost daily commuter. With its fat, knobby tires, Rock Hopper went off the beaten path and explored many of McKinleyville’s nooks and crannies.

In the last six months of its life, Rock Hopper spent quality time communing with nature on the trails of the Arcata Community Forest.

Rock Hopper is survived by an English Hawthorne 3-speed, a Navara Randonee, a vintage Cannondale road bike, a Schwinn unicycle, The Goddess’s Trek Navigator and a Hobie skateboard.

In lieu of flowers, the family request that memorial contributions be made to Jack’s bicycle fund or the charity of your choice.

Before interment at a recycling center, Rock Hopper will undergo an extensive organ harvest, with its parts destined for a new mountain bike once a new frame is acquired.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date.

New Acquisition for The Durham Fine Art Collection

2009-03-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

Should anyone have the temerity to question my taste in art, I present the following.

This most excellent artwork was acquired today at a thrift store and will now be given a place of prominence in my office.

These are the astronauts of Apollo 11. From left are Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E Aldrin Jr., Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Commander Neil A. Armstrong.

Rock on, you lunar legends!

Micro-Thought #1282

2009-03-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

Make two trips, not one, when carrying stuff.

Micro-Thought #1281

2009-03-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

Mayonnaise is the condiment of The Gods.

Lanphere-Christensen Dunes Preserve.3.14.09

2009-03-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we pedaled from Kim's house down to the Lanphere-Christensen Dunes Preserve, formerly known as the Mad River Slough and Dunes.

There's a narrow trail just past the gun club.

You can see where the forest meets the dunes.

Our bikes co-mingled.

Our feet touched.

We saw a nest.

The trail ends at this trestle.

We discussed further explorations of Mad River Slough using our kayaks.

A.B.C. – Always Be Closing

2009-03-13T10:02:00.000-07:00

This week I've been a Sales Force of One – pounding the pavement in an effort to keep the ship afloat.

Before I go out, I listen to this inspirational sales talk.

Shall we howl?

2009-03-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

Factory Girls

2009-03-10T22:18:00.000-07:00

I love this Flogging Molly song, especially the lyrics:

Empty are their pockets
But their voices are filled with song

Pedal Around the Bay

2009-03-08T16:32:00.000-07:00

On Saturday The Goddess turned 42.
For her birthday, she got a new tattoo.

While the tattoo artist needled away,
I pedaled around Humboldt Bay.

In Manila I came across a Great White.
It was quite a fright.

From the Samoa Bridge, I watched godwits using their long beaks
to dig for tasty treats.

The architect of this structure did his best
to create a building that looks like two breasts.

On Old Arcata Road I felt a little bolder
riding on a new, smooth shoulder.

I admired the Lanphere Dunes
while whistling some familiar tunes.

Then it was time for some cocktails and a shot or two
as we all toasted Kim's new tattoo.

Lloyd Bridges and the Lloyd Building

2009-03-04T11:51:00.000-08:00

I don't recall where I read it, but this building in Eureka was once owned by the late Lloyd Bridges.

Exploring the Samoa Peninsula.2.27.09

2009-02-27T14:15:00.000-08:00

I rambled down the peninsula...

... and admired the scenery.

I find the industrial facilities ugly, but extremely interesting.

The U.S. Coast Guard maintains a beautiful building at the south end.

When I reached the end, I thought about swimming across the jetty while holding my bike over my head, but I decided against it.

Sand. Salt water. A steel bicycle. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this combination.

Eureka Waterfront/Indian Island.2.26.09

2009-02-26T14:18:00.000-08:00

To see more detail, click on the photos. Then click on "all sizes" to see larger image.

What's On The Turntable

2009-02-24T13:22:00.000-08:00

I recently dug up some of my old albums. This is a good one. (video courtesy youtube.)

Kneeland Bike Ride. 2.18.09

2009-02-18T15:30:00.001-08:00

I ate a hard-boiled egg, then jumped on my Randonee for some rambling.

My destination was the top of that mountain in the distance, the one with the snow and radio towers.

I admired Indian Island on my way to Eureka.

I stopped at Three Corners Market for hot coffee and an apple fritter. Yum!

It was a tough climb. Part of the landscape is devastated, yet utilitarian.

As I got near the top, I could see Eureka in the distance.

Just uphill from the Kneeland Post Office, I came across plenty of snow and suddenly felt a cold, easterly wind. I was glad I had my mittens, but wished I had worn wool socks.

The snow was soft, and suddenly I had a hankering for some chocolate cake slathered in a marshmallow cream frosting.

It was spectacular.

I leaned my bike against a post to take a photo, but it was so windy that it blew over. Chilly!

I reached my destination, then bundled up for the trip home.

Total miles: 42

And so begins my official Tour of the Unknown Coast training.

Images from an evening stroll on the beach.2.17.09

2009-02-18T15:22:00.000-08:00

I put the paper to bed early Monday night. On Tuesday I delivered papers to the post office and to about 40 newspaper racks and retail locations from Eureka to Trinidad. Then it was time for a stroll on the beach.

The sky was dramatic...

... and awe-inspiring.

We had fun with shadows.

The sunset was spectacular.

After the sun dipped below the horizon, the sky took on a magenta hue.

Walking back to Kim's house we came across a red-bellied newt.

Orson Whales

2009-02-16T08:40:00.000-08:00

File this under "good stuff."

Love and Lemonade

2009-02-15T15:27:00.000-08:00

I took two full days off and celebrated love with The Goddess, aka the Thrilla in Manila.

On Thursday we watched Survivor, then went to Humbrews to listen to The Compost Mountain Boys.

The music was excellent.

There was dancing.

On Friday the 13th we went to the Minor and watched Friday the 13th. Jason isn't very nice.

On Valentine's Day, Hula wore a hat.

We played Canasta. At one point I told Kim that I was craving lemonade. She pointed out that she had lemons.

As they say, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. So that's what we did.

Kim has a vintage Juice-O-Mat.

We squeezed the lemons.

Then we squeezed some more.

Viola! We had lemon juice.

The Goddess lovingly added water and sugar.

Kim owns a Juice-O-Mat, and I own an Ice-O-Mat!! It's yet another dimension of compatibility. Ice was added.

Kim snapped away with the camera as I put the Ice-O-Mat to work.

It was the best lemonade ever!

My sweet Valentine then proceeded to kick my butt in Canasta.

The Crow

2009-02-11T18:12:00.000-08:00