Big Basin State Park

Nisene Marks State Park

Nisene Marks State Park

Aight - let me break it down for y'all. Anyone who does not have a blog or does not share one's blog (ehem Earl) forfeits all rights to complain about my lack of blog maintenance. I will credit a certain individual (Earl again) for proper blog etiquette if a complaint is in order - you address it on the blog. Those of you who talk to me about it on the phone are creepy. We are supposed to maintain blog lives and normal friendships. No mixing.

Now that we have that out....
*Jer started his new job today. It was very HR-ish -- insurance, pay, etc... But none-the-less, he is rolling. He's looking forward to it!
*A week ago we went hiking at Big Basin. It's about 45 min away. Pics on the next post! It was a neat place and we'll be back (and back and back).
*Several days ago Jer was hiking and encountered Pumba. This time he was not with Timon, but rather his wife and 4 kids. Yes, 6 huge burly warthogs.
*We went hiking a couple days ago at Nisene Marks State Park. A third of said hike was in this creek bed, meaning we had to jump, hop on rocks, or go balance beam style on logs -- the whole time. I lied down the moment we got back to the car and I don't think I got up until noon the next day. Pics on this too are coming!
*We are excited about a new church we found (Crossings)! Everyone is really friendly and has made us part of the community quite quickly. It's a small church and seems quite perfect for us. You're invited to e-attend (messages at http://crp.crossingscommunity.com/)

It's almost like the less interesting we get, the more I want to post. You'd hope it was the other way around, but if you think about it, when people's lives are really full and exciting do they sit there and update their blog?!?! Blogs are for all the people with no lives, right? The weirdest thing about being a blogger (I've come to terms with my new identity) is the imaginary audience syndrome. I have in mind cyber-space and a vague audience including Sir Oakley sunglasses, several of you who have told us you check this, and people I preemptively sent this blog address (whatever it's called) to --> thinking I would just update my address but now I 'm accounting for every step I take on it. But re-discovering how fun it is to "hear" myself, I am going to continue the regular posts and take any consquences from blog voyeurs in stride. Speaking of, maybe you all should start blogs so there is a little give and take in this blog relationship we have. So far Mr. Oakley and Pyramid Schemer are the only ones who have shared.

Anyway, here are the notable moments of our day:
-Jer and I were enjoying our free coffee shop this morning (OVC for orchard valley coffee - time to give credit where credit is due) when this lady walks in, stands behind Jer for 2 minutes staring at his computer (Jer being so used to *interesting* people around him only noticed the last 30 seconds), and walks back out.
-We returned to OVC for our evening email time (i.e. our social life) only to discover it closes an hour earlier on Mondays. 15 minutes wouldn't due for us, so we our now sitting on a bench outside where the free internet is still available, though the place closed an hour ago. And to think we've been buying coffee to use their internet when we could have arrived on the bench after closing time.

Well it turns out some of you actually DO read this blog. Who knew? ...even some of you who are trying to sell me Oakley glasses or involve me in pyramid schemes - I imagine the latter 2 groups are barely able to remain on the edge of their seats awaiting to hear what family heirlooms we've unwrapped and my latest route to the free coffee shop. So, this one is for you guys. We changed our number, but since Oakley glasses are enough to read about on email and not necessarily a phone topic, I'll leave those for you exclusive blog readers to inquire about.

We went to the OC last weekend to get mom's couch and a few other goods. So we logged another 8093480938 miles for the last 4 weeks. For one averaged sized couch I got the biggest truck imaginable. I don't know what I was thinking - or for that matter THAT I was thinking. Jer asked "what's that noise?" as we were driving and I gulped as I had to acknowledge (on the most expensive gas weekend in history) that it was the truck echoing. We made it back and we're fine never getting in a vehicle again. We even got the furniture in the apartment - thanks to a neighbor who took pity on me struggling to help Jer carrying the world's heaviest dressers.

Anyway, as I struggle to come up with a font that is actually visible with this background, I'll pass on a friend's blogspot that is quite entertaining and highly recommended for people who are spitefully sitting in a cubicle and searching for every last excuse to be too busy for work: http://www.ikeepitreal.com/blog/

A Beary Good Story J

Day 2 of the great migration southward ended at the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The Subaru and the Budget rental truck had survived another 500 miles of Interstate 5, and everyone was ready for a bit of rest. Upon arriving at our campsite, we found that the items in the rental truck had experienced some ‘shift’ en route. Thus, the door of the truck was jammed shut … or so we thought. Our trusty-steed friend, Rod, applied some manly force to the door which resulted in the door flying open. The twine which cris-crossed the rear of the truck was just enough to counter the effort of approximately 80 boxes trying to join us in spending the night on the ground. Unfortunately, Rod nearly lost a finger in the door-opening process. We still don’t know what caused the cut on his left ring finger and pinky, but whatever the case, a clean sock and a friendly fellow camper helped to stop the bleeding. For expedience sake – and because the tent was somewhere in the chaos of the rental truck – we decided to throw some blankets on the ground and sleep in the open air for the night. The night was beautiful; the temperature was pleasant the sky was filled with stars and a bright moon. I was awoken at 4:30 am to the sound of snapping twigs. The night was even brighter with moonlight than it had been when we drifted off to sleep, and as I came to, I saw quite clearly a very large bear within 25 feet or so of our sleeping bags. The situation was a bit surreal, and at the time I derived what surely was a false sense of security from having my old-school, wooden bat lying next to me. I’ve seen a fair number of bears whilst tramping through the woods, but this was by far the largest I’ve ever seen. I estimate that it was about 3 feet high at the shoulder. It had a prominent hump near the neck, but I assume that was simply evidence of large shoulder blades (as opposed to an indication that the bear was a Grizzly). The magnificent animal walked right on past us, as if we were of no concern. I believe that we may indeed have been of more concern to our furry friend had we not placed into the truck the few empty bottles of the delicious cider we had enjoyed prior to going to sleep. ~ The bear sighting prompted an earlier-than-planned exit from the campground, and provided material for a good story for years to come.

We are starting to settle in our new home! We survived the drive (there are stories to be told but Jer got dibs on those). Campbell is a great town - as our moving buddy Rod said "you guys seems to discover these quaint little towns." We can walk to just about every store I've ever heard of. There's even a local pet psychologist within a mile of us. Thanks to the sedatives the cats did well on the move, but in case they got hooked on them it's nice to know there is someone local who can provide them with some therapy.
We are going to my mom's this weekend to swipe her couch, table, and anything else that suits us. I keep saying "we're going to California this weekend" but Jer informs me that we are, indeed, already in California. I've begun the paperwork and such for my new jobs.
Yesterday's one activity was getting fingerprints - it was supposed to take 5 minutes but I got the new girl and it took 2 hours. Good thing we have nothing to do but arrange our linen closet. I'll post pictures as soon as we have them, but for now just close your eyes and picture lots of boxes.