Earth Day 2025...Let's not forget!

Male Hooded Oriole
Merlin's Bird ID

migration path,
Merlin's Bird ID

In March,  Loraine and I were easing into the morning, sipping our morning coffee while sitting on our patio facing the canyon, when a flash of yellow streaked across the eucalyptus tree in front of us. Yes, it was the stunning Hooded Oriole on it's return from Mexico to breed in the Southern U.S., but why? Why fly 1000 miles north over cities, freeways, fields, and houses to get to this small canyon along the Pacific flyway corridor. And, are they the same Orioles from last year? Or, is it a new generation of Orioles like the Monarch migration. So much to learn....

I almost didn't do an Earth Day Post this year as I was getting lazy, comfortable, and apathetic. The 3 evils which get nothing done. Then I read an article titled "Against the Wind," in the Sierra Club Magazine, spring 2024. The article was on a group of Rabble-Rousers who boarded their powerboats and headed offshore 35 miles to a wind farm off Long Island NY. This group of activists were carrying signs, saying we are here to "save the whales,"and get rid of the wind farms. Say what?? They even managed to get on Fox news. The only problem is there is "absolutely zero evidence" to their so called proclamations, according to Duke professor, Douglas Nowacek.

I think this pic speaks for itself
Sierra club spring 2024

Sadly, there have been some deaths of whales on both sides of the continent. Scientific studies have concluded the culprits relating to their deaths were more than likely boats hitting them and entanglement in nets for the majority of them. Come to find out Marc Marano, the head of the disinformation (mentioned above) belongs to a  group called the "Constructive Tomorrow," and is receiving millions of dollars of funding from Exxon Mobil, Charles Koch Foundation and Dark money groups like Donors Trust.  They like to call themselves "Wind Warriors"... how misleading is that? In the book, Merchants of Doubt, by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, they detail how Big Oil has taken a page of the Tobacco's playbook, "the longer you keep controversies alive, by stalling, and creating debates and lawsuits, the more profits they can rake in." By the way; the wind farm being discussed above, is now functioning and providing energy for 70,000 homes in NY. On the other side of the coin, wind farm construction needs to follow the strict guidelines of that state and monitor migration patterns, construction and sound impact. Here is more information on Wind Farms by Factcheck.org:No Evidence Offshore Wind Development killing whales

Let's not forget the IRA! Amazingly enough, most people I have talked to have no idea what this Act signifies. The Inflation Reduction Act was a landmark US Federal law which aims to stimulate the economy, lower drug prescription prices, and monumentally invest in domestic clean energy in the US. Passed by the congress on 8/16/22 and signed by President Joe Biden, it is the most significant legislation in decades that has been passed to combat climate change. This act provides a huge stimulus for companies doing research for clean energy technology and gives a 30% credit for qualifying wind, solar storage and renewable energy projects. It also provides bonuses for low income areas (Fact sheet on IRA). With this act, the US has become an international leader for new technologies, provides stimulus funds and investments from a variety of our business factions in our country. Additionally, our country's economy is booming with innovative ideas. 

Arevon Energy, a leading renewable energy company, built this massive solar plant in California using the Tax Credits from the IRA law in 2022 (Arevon energy plant).

Arevon Energy Solar Plant

Talking about new technology, how about the Polar Night Energy company in Finland? They figured out a way to use SAND as a storage battery. Currently, Battery Storage for energy is one of the big technology problems trying to be solved in the world. If you have time here is an excellent video on how this amazing technology works. Sand Battery Storage

Streamline Heat Pumps:  Is it time to upgrade or remodel part of your house? According to a recent article in SD Union on 4/12/24, "Heat pumps can help mitigate climate change. Heat pumps simply take the air (warm or cold), out of the air eliminating the need to generate heat (no more hot water heater or AC unit).

Heat pump flow

Heat pumps offer a substantial slash to consumer heating costs and reduce greenhouse gases emissions up to 50%. Under a program offered by the IRA Federal Act, one can get a 30% tax credit on installation and purchase. And, in California, the TECH program and the LA Dept of Water Power etc., credits can bring the total rebates up to $5,000 for that year. The catch is, according to the person who wrote the article, is the paperwork, and the uniformed people at PG&E makes this getting a rebate a real pain in the butt. So, let's get our infrastructure aligned with the new technologies to make this easier for the consumer and the housing industry. 

Another great aspect of the IRA is the commitment by the Biden administration to expand its New Deal-style American Climate Corps giving green jobs to youths and training in vocations. I love it, I have been talking about this for several years. 

Heat pump unit

Bruce in San Diego
2024- SD Union 

Another great App: This App is called Seek. It is was created by iNaturalist. What's different is if you are out in the field by using your phone camera, it will ID it right then and there... much faster than iNaturalist:

Seek App and it's free

Bruce Springsteen just visited San Diego, and at age 74, put on another iconic performance according to my friend Matt Cunningham. Bruce is one of my top 10 all time performers and has a very powerful song called the "Promised Land," in which he alludes to taking on life and keeping your faith when times get tough, according to my friend Mark Embree. Or,  maybe the Promised Land in another context, is the afterlife, you know- heaven...where there is no pain, no death, surrounded by friendly soul's going on to different dimensions. Or maybe, just maybe, The Promised Land is right here right now! Think about it. Humans have Free Will... we make decisions good or bad, if we treat the earth, animals and plants with good intentions of stewardship, we are are rewarded with majestic mountains, stunning sunsets, azure oceans, blooming deserts, crystal lakes, cascading rivers... everything working together in harmony like a well orchestrated symphony. 

Torrey's Trust picture of the eclipse
 in Massachusetts April 15th, 2024

Let's not forget - Earth is spiraling through space at 67,000 miles per hour, and spinning on her axis at 1,000 miles per hour. We live on a water based planet and to our present day knowledge, there is nothing like it in the solar system, galaxy or for that matter possibly the Universe (although I find that highly unlikely).  So, we are in a battle to protect this special place for future generations from the evils of greed and naysayers. Stablized Milky Way Time lapse An amazing 1 minute video through FB, be sure to turn up the music.

Let's not forget: Earth Day is on April 22nd this year. This is the time to take an extra pause and give consideration regarding this magnificent planet that we live on! Stay informed... the Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, National Geographic, and the Environmental Defense Fund are all great organizations (with magazines and scientific articles). An added caution; be sure to always double check information (consider the source) you hear on the news and cross  reference  a trusted source (preferred in writing) to make sure this is not "misinformation."

I think William Shatner, sums it up best after his trip to space in 2022. At age 90, he was the oldest Astronaut to be in space. As you recall, he was Captain Kirk on the original Star Trek. He had hitched a ride on Jeff Bezos Blue Origin, and here is a summation of what he said: 

William Shatner- google images

“My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral,” he wrote, “It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness.” 

2023 CANADA IS ROCKY

 CANADA IS ROCKY AND ON FIRE!

As we rolled slowly through the used up city streets in Vancouver, BC our eyes were filled with a sea of homelessness spanning both sides of the avenue. Desolate looks, bargaining trades and needles filled the air with disillusionment.....especially seeing a disheveled man holding a newborn in his arms.

Before we left on our trip we had to set up our new tent. We enlisted the help of our 2 granddaughters: Makenna 5 and Ashlyn 7.

Loraine and I were off on another 5,000 mile trip in Big Red (1996 Tahoe Truck)-probably going to be her last hurrah. First stop, Old Town Sacramento, to stay on a restored 285 foot riverboat, called the Delta King, built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1927. She was used to transport people up and down the Mississippi River in the 1920s, and then became a troop transporter during WW2. She ended her career going back and forth from San Francisco to Sacramento on a 10 hour journey. She was flooded and partially submerged in San Francisco Bay when the Coyne brothers refurbished her in 1984 back to her original glory.

Flooded before 1983 
restoration

We decided to rent some jump bikes, (Lime) and do a river path, which led us to Ultimate Train museum… What a place, with all the historic steam engines from the late 1800s to the mid 20th century. The highlight was the mail room, it could handle 2,700 mail slots for mail delivery on cross country trips. The government wouldn’t help initially for the cross continental tracks, so the big 4 wealthy financiers.. including Huntington from the Huntington library stepped in to lay the foundation. By the way; Huntington made his first batch of money owning one of the 2 largest hardware stores in California.

Historic Train Museum

By the time we made it to Portland, Big Red (our 27 year old truck) has taking on her own adventure, she began shuddering and bucking around Bend, Oregon. At first we thought it was the transmission, and a mechanic said just drive in 3rd gear…really! But, then she snapped out of it. By the time Portland came, she was coughing again, and doing her own dance. We limped into the the Green Drop -(rip off) Auto Shop…just in time. Some spark wires had fallen off and she was misfiring on only 6 of the 8 cylinders.  New distributor cap, rotor and wires and we were back on the road. I say rip off auto shop; because they didn't replace the distributor and only attached the cap with 1 screw! We were lucky to make it back and not be stranded in some wild area. Little did we know at this point it was the start of one of the more challenging trips in the last 5 years.

apex of Mt. Baker

After Portland we headed up to Mt Baker for the first of our 17 days of camping, and on the next morning we

Giant crevasses of where the 
Easton glacier on Mt. Baker
used to be

drove up a bumpy forest road for 10 miles to the trailhead to the dwindling Easton Glacier. We set out on quite the hike… with my new knee replacement (3 months out) for its first real test. Using our trekking poles Loraine and I pushed our envelope on 61/2 mile round trip hike to the ridge overlooking 2 of the 5 glaciers on the mountain.

You could see the harrowing cravasses below us and once again here's evidence of climate change. I attached a fascinating short video of a glaciologist who had a first hand experience studying this glacier for more than 20 years.Easton Glacier 20 yr. study -a must see!

Hiking the ridge at Mt. Baker

Off to our friendly neighbors to the north…Canada, did I say friendly…well not in rush hour traffic, and not at the International border. We were pulled over to secondary inspection…really! What did we do? We had no firearms, we were under the alcohol limit for bottles, no cannabis....turns out we had 2 little pepper sprays for bear defense, after all; we were now entering into bear territory. Our mistake was trying to take pepper spray across the border. So, we spent the next hour in the holding area as they tore through all of our camping gear in Big Red searching for more so called illegal stuff.… no luck for them. After some paperwork, we were back on the road to Vancouver, feeling the wind on our face and ready to embrace the Canadian experience. 

The old Indian 
in the Rock

The next day we rented ebikes, to tour around Stanley Park. Very cool place with lots of forest trails to explore. We rolled along the perimeter by the ocean for a spell, but there were too many people. It was worst than Mission Beach on a hot summer day, so we took some interior forest trails, which turned out to be a great move. Still, lots of people because it turns out it was BC day, a National Holiday...no wonder.

Swimming pool on the 
edge of the park

42 stories up at the 
Tower Restaurant

We decided to take a walk across town, and ended up around sunset at the 42 story Tower Rotating Restaurant for dinner and drinks, what a view! On the walk back to the hotel we were zig zagging down the streets of Vancouver, unknowingly, the next day we would have a rude awakening. The next day we had almost turned up a street to one of the largest homeless communities I have ever seen.

Back streets of
Vancouver

HOMELESSNESS: I have heard this once before: "A culture can be judged by how much compassion they have for those which are less fortunate". The most recent figure by the Federal HUD in 2019 puts the number of homeless people at over 500,000 people in our country, Wow! I am sure it has gone up since the pandemic. All I know is I couldn't put this scene of stranded,

Homeless in Vancouver

misplaced people on the streets out of my head. Needles, drugs, bodies spread everywhere and in every direction on the street. I could see garbage, filth, collapsing tents, babies wrapped in dirty blankets, fear on their faces, disillusionment, draping across the building fronts. So I had a thought... What if we created HOME (LESS) WILDERNESS STATE PARK: Each state would be responsible for finding a wild area in their state where they could put up a natural fenced area with a support system inside. A system coordinated possibly by the Federal guidelines of HUD.(Housing of Urban Development). A public transport system would drop off the homeless and a staff would help them get acquainted. The social service personnel would identify them as having a mental illness, drug addiction, or a victim of poverty. The individuals would be placed in a rehab system with daily checks. The addiction individuals would be forced to dry out, and then along with the ones affected by poverty, would start their training in a vocational trade (plumbing, electrician, carpenter work etc.) to help them survive once they completed the program and were back outside again. The mental illness individuals is whole other story and would have to be dealt with separately. $$$ Money you say is the problem, where do we it for this project? Look at the LA story in the paper where they are spending 2 BILLION dollars, just in one city to build 3,000 beds for the homeless. There is money out there, we just have to prioritize it.

Next morning we were excited to pass through Revelstoke for 5 days of camping and then up to Mount Robson…but wait a second!…Big Red wanted her own adventure again, click, we turned the ignition key and nothing, dead as a doornail. After sitting on the phone forever we finally got BCC (AAA) to come give us a tow since the the battery wasn't the problem, but we were parked in an underground garage, and the tow truck couldn’t fit under the 6’8” clearance. After 4 hours of waiting for a 2nd truck to tow us out of the garage, I finally met crazy Albert, the best tow driver I ever seen. He hooked her up and hauled her across town, on wild, zig zag course, I thought for sure  Big Red would pop off the tow bed. We eventually ended up with our 3rd Auto shop on this trip- "Repairs are Wee." "Sounds like a starter motor,"said Wee. He was right and so there we were stranded for another day.

The good part of staying an extra day is we ended up going to the best Sushi I ever had, "Mikos Sushi", which was recommended by Loraine's friend Leslie. We had Maguro ely (tuna) in an amazing sauce, followed by the is chef’s 16 piece

pla

golf resort too

te…all to die for.

Sun Peaks, mountain village:  After a 4 day camping stop in Revelstoke, it was supposed to be 5, but after a nights of a cargo train (3 miles long)-which practically ran through the campsite, plus rain, and freeway noise, we were done. So, we booked a hotel (on our way to Mt. Robson) at one of the coolest mountain resorts I have ever seen, thanks to the recommendation of our traveling friend, John Kohler, called Sun Peak. A resort patterned right after the Swiss Alps. Cute little shops, lots of hiking, great food, no cars in town and they had E-bike rentals. We decided to rent mountain E bikes the next morning and see what this ebike thing was all about. 

ski resort in winter

We were off on some backcountry trails, when I looked straight up at the next curve around the bend, and said to myself..no way, and then I thought... we have "Turbo mode"!, and up we went, no problem as we caressed the mountainside to a very cool lake on the side of the mountain. On the way back we ran into a little problem after crossing a log bridge... cow dung, so now we put the bikes in

Loraine crossing 
log bridge with Ebike

Eco mode and sped through the cow patties. Only to find out when we rolled into the bike shop, the back of our clothes were all covered with cow poo..boo!

No cars allowed

Lake McGillivray

We reached Mt. Robson with the excitement of seeing the 3rd tallest mountain in Canada, (12,644') which my friend Mark Embree recommended, and back to camping for 3 more days. A beautiful site above the Robson river, there was only one problem, we couldn't see Mt. Robson. SMOKE ALL AROUND! Come to find out, there were fires happening everywhere. We asked the rangers and the campsite host where the fires were and they said they were all around us.

Mt. Robson-3rd tallest

Not a good feeling, plus no cell service to check things out. After 2 days it cleared up enough to go on the world famous Berg Trail around the mountain. Only 1 problem though; 2/3 of the trail was closed. 2 years before something occurred I have never heard of: a HEAT DOME! What the heck was that?

Heat Dome collapse glacier
and flooded the Berg trail

In 2021 soaring temperatures occurred all the way from Vancouver to Lake Louise,  well into the 100's. Enough to melt part of the Berg Glacier at the back of Mount Robson and flood the region, destroying the outback camping and hiking trails. We did get up the first repaired portion, and it was beautiful, very crowded though. They even allowed bikes, but it was along a river, so it was cool trail. The rest of the trail is scheduled to open in 2025.

Start of the famous
Berg Trail

AS WE TRAVELED THROUGH CANADA we starting realizing this was a different kind of trip. 

Fire damage

Normally, we take a trip to get away and see new sights, take a mental break from the chaos in the world. We love to hike and be one with nature, but this trip turned out to be more more about survival. Aside from Big Red's hospital visits, we were pushed into a relentless mode of surviving the cold nights, rain, smoke and not even able to have a campfire. And, it doesn't get dark until after 10PM. Our next stop was the famous Jasper National Park. We had a beautiful exposed site right on top of a river, unfortunately, it was so hot I felt like I had heat exhaustion setting up the tent.  Then on the same night we were hit by a violent storm shaking the tent down to the stakes. We woke up to snow on the mountain tops and ice on our table..burr... Luckily, the rainstorm passed without too much damage to our campsite and it started to warm up for a few days. So off we went to one of the highlights of our trip: 

Lunch Spot Lake Maligne

Maligne lake and Spirit island. Once we reached Moraine lake we took a break for lunch at a pretty idyllic spot waiting for the boat ride to spirit island (be sure to make reservations ahead of time on-line). Unfortunately, Spirit Island is another victim of Native American intolerance in Canada, just like we had (and have) in the US. The Lythka Indians used to perform peace pipe ceremonies here back in the day, but when the area was made into a National Park, in 1916, they were restricted from even visiting the island. Finally, in 2016 recognizing this ridiculous intolerance of another culture, the National Park service allowed them to return in 2016 to come back for their peace pipe ceremonies (only took 100 years to figure this one out!). The other problem is the Bark Beetle is taking over the trees on the island, and since a fire is needed to rejuvenate the lodgepole pines. It's only a matter of time before the trees that line the island will be gone, and it will take many decades to reappear. 

Ice Explorer 

Spirit Island on Lake 
Maligne

ICEFIELD PARKWAY 
DRIVE 

ICEFIELDS PARKWAY: A 227 km (141 miles) drive from Jasper National Park to Lake Louise has to be one of the most stunning in the world. With 12,000' foot peaks shattering the sky at every turn, the only problem was that we couldn't see them... too much smoke from the fires! We were saddened by the state of Canada's wildfire situation and this only amplified it. At the halfway point along the drive you see the magnificent Columbia Icefield with its star glacier, Athabasca, which has been monitored since 1844.

ATHABASCA GLACIER 1844

When you arrive at the visitors center across the highway, you are actually standing where the glacier was 150 years ago.

We had made reservations for a tractor/bus called the "Ice Explorer" to explore the glacier.

Going up the side of the glacier, the Ice Explorer even reached a 30 degree incline at one point. They take you out on the glacier with a well trained guide who knows all the history of the glacier. Alyssa, our guide, told us some disturbing facts: 1. The Columbia Icefields has lost 70% of its mass in the last 180 years. 2. Currently the depth of the Athabasca glacier- the main glacier in the icefield, loses 30 feet in depth and 100' in length each year. 3. At this rate the glacier has approximately 60 years left on this planet. So what's the problem you ask... A little more rise in sea level, yes, but the glacial runoff each year is one of the main sources of drinking water for Northwest Canada and helps drives the giant turbines in nearby rivers to attain electricity. Just imagine 15,000 years ago the Columbia Icefield covered all of Canada and all the way down to Central Park, NY city. Wow!

Smokey tasting water

ALYSSA OUR GUIDE

Look out below--900' down

Part of the tour included an incredible lookout point out on a suspended walkway. Looking straight down through the glass you are standing on, one can see the valley bottom 900' below, and it is suspended 200' out over the canyon. If you are scared of heights you don't want to go out here. Along the way they had a great chronology of the Athabasca Glacier since 1917. 

Chronology of Athabasca Glacier

Throngs of people
at Lake Louise

We finished the rest of the Icefield Parkway drive and reached our next destination, Lake Louise. Still stunning, and as I remember it from 25 years ago, except for one thing- A mass of humans blanketing every part of the park. Nowadays ,you must have reservations on a bus shuttle to get you there and back.

Watch out for bears

And once you get there, you are surrounded by gawking visitors loving the park to death. Kind of like Yosemite on steroids- the Canadians need to figure this out. We hiked to the famous Tea House, about 2 miles up, and it was elbow to elbow with people the whole way, and pretty much the view is now blocked by the growth of the pine trees. At the Tea House, there was a long line at least 50 yards long just to get a hot chocolate or snack. We skipped it. We tried another path back down which was at least better until it joined back on the main trail, with a melee of people listening to their headsets, blasting music, or talking so loud one could never see any wildlife.  My suggestion...skip it, this was human encroachment at its worse. However, we did manage to get some nice pictures between the masses of bodies walking by.

Trail to Tea House

Lake Louise 

View down from Tea House

Tea House

Lake Moraine: Feeling overwhelmed by Lake Louise we decided to visit the nearby Lake Moraine... same thing, you have to take a shuttle with the masses. But we had our handicap sticker; so we got passed the mayheim. And, we got lucky, it started to rain! As we hiked around the lake, everyone took off back to the trailhead, and even the canoes on the lake headed in. So, we were able to find a piece of paradise at the end of the lake and gaze at the Wonders of Nature and the slivers of glaciers tucked away in their protective valleys for the time being. What a sight! Could be one of the most beautiful lakes in the world! 

Lake Moraine

Lake Moraine

Marble canyon

Soft bodied fossils

Marble Canyon is home to one of the most historical fossil folds in the world,  The Burgess Shale. This is the site where Soft Bodied organisms which lived. Imagine this, 505 million years ago, and it takes a special soft layering of rocks-shale to make this happen. Most fossils are only preserved because of their hard bodies or shells which makes this site unique, and of course; it was all underwater at one time in a shallow sea. An example of some soft bodied organisms would be: worms, sea cucumbers, soft bodied trilobites etc. I went hiking through the canyon formed by the Tokumm creek and it was quite impressive with its sheer walls and straight drop offs. Along the way you can see a variety of shale rocks along the cliffs. The layered effect is amazing, averaging 30 mm thick (l.2") and stacked on each other and goes down 160 meters (520'). 

Layered shale

Next stop, the amazing mountain city of Banff.  Along the way to Banff on the Icefield Parkway, we came across an usual sight. It looked like trees in the sky from a distance. Turns out it's these really cool wildlife corridor, making it easier for animals to cross major roads, highways etc. This would be a great addition to some of our highways in the U.S..

Overhead view of
Wildlife Corridor

Downtown walking in Banff

I have been to Banff a few times, and it never ceases to amaze me. Banff is all grown up and ready to take the cash cow tourist for their money. It reminds me of a dazzling European Alp-like town nestled in the center of the spiraling Rockies. They have closed off the traffic to several streets making it more user friendly for walking and biking, and lined with eye popping Hollyhock flowers dangling from the wooden boxes  along the store fronts.  So our next little adventure was our new found love for E bikes. We rented them from the owner of Banff Cycle and Sport, Tommy, who wooed  us in with a 25% discount, making it only  $75 for the day. We headed off to tour the countryside and our first stop was the Cascade Ponds just outside of town What a start! 

Cascade ponds

After the ponds, we started climbing in elevation on our way to Two Jack Lake, about 10 miles out of town. This lake is a camping, kayaking and paddleboarding paradise. They also have really cool tent-huts right on the lake to rent for families. We liked site 14 --right on the lake surrounding by draping pine trees to give you shade. 

Site #14--Nap time

Turns out, we took the right way up on the loop and ended at another lake with an ice cream shop. Does it get any better! Time to head back down and with our sweaty palms gripping the brakes we took a wild non stop (Loraine thought a grizzly was going to get us) zig zag road through the forest on a 10 mile downhill return, another E ticket ride straight out of Disneyland. 

Two Jack Lake

End of Two Jack Lake

Back in town, one can't leave without visiting the world famous Banff Springs Hotel. A castle like hotel founded by the original Railroad barons who laid the line throughout Canada. Talk about views. Not many surpass its spectacular patio views out the back. And, they have a fantastic brunch which anybody can enjoy for $35, plus you get to tour the grounds afterwards. The hotel is situated close to Bow falls where hiking trails abound. The rooms have changed in price just a tad. I stayed there with my kids in 1993 for a few nights at $160 a night. Nowadays the rooms start at $1,200 and go up from there, gouging new age tourists like there is no tomorrow. 

Banff Springs Hotel

Brunch at Banff Springs Hotel

View From Patio

Final Big Stop--Kalispell, Montana to see my older brother Ken and my nephew Brandon. 

We ended up sliding into Kalispell a day early to avoid the next storm and hung out with Brandon. He had purchased a new house a few years ago and he has it all decked out. Brandon is now quite the successful real estate person and just a fun kid to hang out with.  He introduced us to "Purple;" the incredible matrix of pillows and bed mattresses. Loraine said she never slept so well. We enjoyed catching up old times with him over a lavish Sushi experience followed by a wonderful breakfast feast made by Brandon and Loraine.

I always wondered
why they called Big Fork

Breakfast delight-
the new chef team

Brandon and Loraine

Following hanging out with Brandon, we headed over to see my elder brother Ken. Five years older than me, Ken was always my protector during the ranch days. We had the ultimate playground growing up on 20 acres of farmland in Riverside. He is quite the talented bro, a former editor of the Fullerton State University newspaper, where he met the future President Governor Reagan and had the first encounters with the political group the Black Panthers. He took over the "Trust Hardware Store" in Riverside, our family business. He continued to make it grow, and provide an atmosphere full of love and laughter for another 20 years with his buddy John. He turned the store and post office into the "go-to" place in Glen Avon.  He moved to Montana following my folks up there where he met his wife Susan.  They have this really cool model home outside of Kalispel with a lawn bigger than a football field and a 2 story exterior light show for every season. We took a drive the next day to see our folks old homestead at Eagle Bend in Big Fork,  where they enjoyed retirement for 20 years.  Nowadays, besides riding his lawnmower, volunteering for "meals on wheels," he enjoys nothing more than winning a few bucks off his golf buddies. 

Ken and Susan

ken tooling on his mulching
lawn mower 

So back to California we headed, no worse for wear, but definitely wiser. A few things we learned: no more 5,000 mile trips for Big Red. If they say there are fires in Canada- we would reconsider going, and the homeless situation has really become an issue in Canada, just like ours, and we all tend to ignore it. Always great to be back home, no major destruction from the 3 inch rain and 75 mph winds from the August hurricane. And back to the beach where Loraine threw me a party for my big "70" at Ki's restaurant, followed by a fun night of dancing at the Kraken. Looking forward to a decade of enlightenment.... finally Ha!

yes, 70 is the new 60 :))