Good Progress

The guys from Jordan Plumbing helped move the water closet to its new location beside the bathtub. Man am I glad I didn't try to do what they did alone. Everything is coming together, and we'll be bathing tomorrow night! Yippee!

Who's the mother flippin'?

Everyone should check out Flight of the Conchords!

Almost Done Demolishing!

Kevin helped me take out the rest of the wall tiles yesterday, and I called Art Cervantes and Son to haul away the cosmic debris. Today I finished taking out the moldy ceiling panel and the floor where the new tub will be. Thursday is when the plumber is coming to hook up the pipes.

Bathroom Progress

I'm still doing the bathroom. Tearing out tiled walls and rotten floors is tough! I made a shower out of a blue tarp, a garden hose, and a pull up bar, so we've been backyard bathing since I smashed out the tub last week. We went campin for a couple of days, then came back. Kevin drove me to Lowe's in his truck to buy plywood for the floor, and today he's helping me get drywall. I need to be ready for the plumber by Thursday. Wish me luck!

Talking 'Bout China Camp, Whoa-oa-oh!

Kevin, Pat and I cheated death yesterday at China Camp. Pat was forced off the trail by a group of novices and plummeted down the side of a mountain. He climbed up, unscathed, and chastised the group for their lack of trail ettiquette. Ettiquette schmettiquette was their reply. Pat rode like a possesed "muffin" after that until we could reconvene at the top of the mountain for a safety meeting. He ate some chocolate and became calm again. Later, after screaming down this hill to get to some singletrack, Kevin overcorrected on a steep hairy right turn across a bridge and fell 10 feet! It was quite dramatic and Pat caught it on digital camera. I took some pictures and photoshopped them together to show the depth of the ravine he fell into. I was pretty cautious after my two friends almost died, needless to say. Neither of them got badly hurt, so they both tried one more time to make it to the hospital by riding off the side of a sheer cliff! Jackasses! They both made it though, muffins! Check the pics. China Camp | Mountain Biking | Santa Venetia, Marin, California, United States | MotionBased Dashboard

Fixing the Dry Rot Phase One: Demolition

The plan is to take out the shower and tub and replace them with a clawfoot bathtub and commode making room for a new vanity/sink situation.

Saul is Six!

Saul's Sixth Birthday Safari was a success on Saturday. He and his brothers and cousins enjoyed making and decorating the cake and playing dinosaur bingo. Now that that is over, I can smash out the bathroom shower and fix the dry rot! Hooray!

Barack Obama Tiger Beat Cover Clinches Slumber Party Vote

Banjo Player Sought In Hootenanny Spree

BOSTON—"These constant hootenannings must stop," said Mayor Menino, a staunch critic since Faneuil Hall's doors were forcibly removed and used as a dancing surface.

A Good Hustle

Dressed as a pirate, I fiddled downtown on the opening day of Pirates of the Caribbean 3. I did it three separate times, first between about 11:00 and 12:00, then again between 2:00 and 3:00 and finally between 6:00 and 7:00.The best time was between 6:00 and 7:00, and I found out that if I hang out in front of the elevators to the parking lot across from the theater, the music they blast can't be heard and I have a captive audience while they wait for the elevator to come down. I brought in $60.00 and change! Lots of people said they enjoyed the tunes, and tipped between $.25 and $5.00. The best compliment I got all day, though, was when a bum said, "You have a good hustle," and gave me $.50. No police harrassment this time, either, and I met Mimi Ngyuen, the Downtown Stockton Alliance recruiter of street musicians who told me to come down to get my paperwork started.Man, it's addicting! It is like fishing, in a way, and you can see the fish smile, reach into their pockets, and take out the money. I see a lucrative summer of busking ahead.

Busking In Downtown Stockton

This afternoon, the boys and I tried to scrape up some money by busking in front of the City Center Theater by the waterfront. There were two other street performers there besides us.One was a Tevye lookalike named Jesse, short for Jesus, dressed in a blues brothers suit playing a Willie Nelson style acoustic guitar and singing oldies like Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison. The other was a mime in white face blowing up invisible balloons and fashioning them into various animals. Seth and Saul did a light sabre routine while I played Star Wars theme music on the violin. Several teenage girls giggled and watched for a few minutes and put a few dollars into the coffee can we had set up. Another group of young kids showed interest and begged parents for quarters to put in. The Tevye character came over and I invited him to play a few songs with me, and a bunch of people put money in his case. He had a permit, I didn't. Then later, a policeman told me I had to have a permit to play and to ask Tevye where to get one. I told him I had already asked him, and he told me to mosey. We made about $10 total, and the kids spent their money on icecream while I opted for the busker's choice of beverage, Tecate. I promptly researched what it would take to get a permit, and applied online. Jesse, told me he made $100 last night in the same place, so I am going to try it this summer and see how much supplemental income I can make playing on the streets of downtown Stockton. Stockton is great! Take a look!

Saul Versus Allan

Mother's Day

Saul wrote a special Mother's Day message on the backyard fence yesterday. The idea caught on with his two older brothers. Seth took it to the extreme. I think his local fire department could use him! What nice penmanship!

Seth, Saul, and the Bee

After twelve or thirteen rounds at the Kiwanis Club of Escalon's Annual Old Fashioned Spelling Bee, Seth got third place out of eighteen second graders! Saul also competed in the first grade contest even though he is in kindergarten. Seth spelled some difficult words including grandfather and aunt, as well as contractions like won't, without forgetting the apostrophe. He finally went out on the word sleek misspelling it S-L-E-A-K. Not too shabby! He got $5.00 and a nice white ribbon. Saul went two rounds and went out on as misspelling it A-Z-E. I couldn't be prouder of my boys!

Camel Toad

What can one expect when Duncan Atkinson wields his mighty Destroyer and I don the all powerful Les Paul? It has to be wicked, harmonic, and utterly Camel-esque! Our dueling guitars were laid down upon Toadstool Theatre's infamous, "Behold Her Name," and these pictures are evidence that we produced some solid rock sounds. Behold.

Chabot

Dad and I rode last Sunday at Chabot Lake. Dad rode the Specialized Hard Rock that Sherri and I found at the flea market on Saturday. It was windy in the valley, but it was pretty calm over in the bay area.Here is Dad at the top of the hill. We both made it without falling. Nice!

The Boys' Spring Pictures

Camping at New Melones

Our overnight trip to New Melones "Glory Hole" Recreation Area was, in the words of Borat, a great success. Sherri was bitten by the mountain biking bug, and I was just bitten by bugs. The boys said they liked swimming and skipping rocks more than bike riding, but they still rode and had fun. The VW made it there and back, although we had to let faster cars go around. On the way there, a truck was riding us and Sherri thought they were mad we were going too slow, then when they passed and waved, we saw that it was Mrs. Villines, Saul's kindergarten teacher who ended up camping at the same place where we camped. After the riding and camping, we stopped at our favorite pizza parlor in Angel's Camp, Mike's, and had pizza and salad. The boys fell asleep on the way home. I hope we do a lot more of this in the near future because it was so much fun.

Sauly's Raleigh

Saul got his Raleigh Rowdy mountain bike yesterday and he's already shifting and using the hand brakes. Grandpa got a mountain bike at the flea market last weekend, so we should be hitting the trails soon!

Unreleased Jimmy Page Guitar Riff To Be Retrieved From Secret Vault To Save Rock And Roll