Home, Sweet...ah Crap, we don't live there anymore!

TOP: Lumpy hits the trail in Fallbrook

2nd: Lumpy, Catherine, and Jeff hanging at Casa de Nichols

3rd: Kamper Kathy leaping across the San Diego river

4th: Kathy and Scott oceanside in OB

x

We just got back from a great trip to San Diego. We started the trip visiting with our buddy Scott in OB. Scott's been fortunate enough to pickup a great place about 5 blocks from the beach, built a huge rooftop party deck, and uncharacteristically stocked the fridge with beer...who'd a thunk it! We walked around everywhere...down to the beach, to the local bars, and then did a marathon walk over to catch the finish of the SanDiego marathon which just happened to be going on that weekend. Scott has been doing the team-in-training anti-cancer athletic group, and is heading out for a century at lake tahoe in a week. I don't want to be on the road when he cannonballs down off spooner summit...I hit over 50mph on my own!

x

Next we went off and did 3 days of good hikes...black mountain, iron mountain, and fortuna mountain. Each eventful in it's own right. Iron was completely cloud shrouded when we hiked it, and then about 2 minutes after we summited, the clouds all dissapated and it looked like the other lower hilltops had villas floating in the clouds on their summits. It was awesome. Fortuna we just did a walkabout, going up wherever we could, and then trying to figure our way back down. Who the heck needs a map anyways when you've got the "human compass" Lumpy with you! And on Black Mountain, we were only about half way up when a huge Tstorm rolled in. We beat a hasty retreat back to the car, just keeping ahead of the rain and lightning by a couple of minutes. That was scary. We lived in SD for 2 years, and never once saw a lightning storm there.

x

Next, after a couple of days of that dreaded work thing, we headed off to visit our friends the Nichols up in Fallbrook. Fallbrook is the far NE end of SanDiego county, and a beautiful place nestled up in the mountains. Their villa sits atop a ridgeline, and has about a 15 mile view off the expansive deck. We emptied their wine cabinet...well, ok the cabinet only held a couple of bottles...the wine CELLAR had about 2,000 bottles that we never even touched, had an awesome fresh salmon meal (I now know how to cook salmon!), a morning hike, and then an awesome mexican breakfast in fallbrook village. Great visit, and always a treat to catch up on lives.

x

Heading back to ra-cha-cha today, and to the grind.

x

"Take me home, country road" Lumpy out

Hey Bugs, What Ya Doin'?

My office overlooks our small garden, and recently we've gotten a new visitor. This pudgy little rabbit has been coming by in the morning to checkout our plants, and have himself a morning meal of some of them.

x

I figure another month of letting him eat my garden, and he'll be ready for the spit!

x

"wonder if he's from wales" Lumpy out

Dogs and Children

Hmmmm...which one REALLY belongs "in the cage"?

x

"Just asking the question" Lumpy out

Bob does "The Roc"

Top: "Carmel" Kathy turtle munching

2nd: My home away from home

3rd: Bob chowing down on his first (of 3 I believe) kathy chicken parm dinners

x

My old buddy bobB swung through rochester on his way to hi family reunion over the weekend. Great to see him again, and that he's recovering after a nasty bout of prostate cancer. Soon he'll be back into jock mode, and we can go play on some mountains again.

x

He brought his new dog jack along. Jack is one of those bird dogs, meaning that he's constantly flipping off people. Kind of a "gangsta pooch" if you ask me. The kids however loved him, joanna spending hours playing in the back yard, and nicholas going so far as to get his shirt dirty...oh, the trauma!!!

x

Got in a good couple of days all in all...homemade sauce and chicken parm at Casa de Lump, the Brighton bagel bin, DeBella's subs, stuffed italian sausage at carl's july 4th bash, and abbotts chocolate almond custard. Basically, we did nothing but eat for 36 hours while he was here. And he's still lighter than me...why is that?

x

"Did sleep for a few hours, that was my diet" Lumpy out

Dam, Dam, Dam

TOP: Peter and John riverside from atop the dam

2nd: Looking down on the dam from above

BOTTOM: riverbed uncharacteristically very dry. That would change later in the ride!

x

Had a lovely ride this week with Peter and a buddy of his john down around letchworth (the grand canyon of new york). Awesome ride, well, at least until we got to the furthest point away and a massive pitch black thunderhead rolled over the park. We dashed into a mini-mart and refueled while the rain and boomers hit, and then made the climb out of the park back to civilization. 60 miles, a good pace, some decent hills, and a snickers bar...what more could a person ask for!

x

"Ben Franklin" Lumpy out

TOP: Strawberry fields forever

Middle: Guess which cone Lumpy got? Hint: it had 5 scoops on it....how else do you stay "Lumpy"?

Bottom: Two fisted drinker Lumpy at the Rushville mini-mart.

x

Had a few good rides this week for a change, as the weather turned to the better and my legs started actually having some muscle tone. On a ride out to sodus mark and I came upon a strawberry farm that had just reloaded their roadside stand. We stopped an bought a quart (read gallon) bucket of the little red critters, and wolfed them down on the spot. Later in the week we swung through Naples for a hill ride, beat ourselves into submission (well, mark and therese beat me into submission anyways), and then topped it off with beers at our favorite lakeside bar & grill. Oh, and ice cream post-ride never goes amiss...

x

"Tough keeping Lumpy with all this riding" Lumpy out

Chop Kathy

Ah, friday was a lovely day for a paddle. Well, except for those tsunami-esque waves out on lake ontario. Kathy, me, and the Rosenthal clan and I went out for a "3 hour tour"; which turned into a 3 hour roller-coaster ride out in lake ontario. We turned the bend out of the Long Pond outlet to hear "Hey, what the heck is that wall of water moving towards us?" 2 hours later we made the, 0h, 2 miles back to the safety of the bay. My favorite moment was the scream coming out of kathy when the wave hit her smack-on in the face coming down the backside of a wave.

x

Guess SOMEBODY needs to learn to duck next time :-)

x

"High and Dry" Lumpy out