A Metaphor

I remember the chilly day that Tracy and I rode our three-wheelers up into the mountains to explore some new trails, and we discovered a 30-foot tall saguaro cactus. It was so fortunate that I'd already developed a habit of carrying a camera with me ALWAYS....

You'll have to click on the photo to see me. I'm standing at the base of this giant.

I think it was 1996, or maybe even 1995. We had our little house on Daytona Avenue and we didn't have our son Shay yet.

Fast forward to 2011. Gary and I went up into the mountains one day, and I insisted on climbing up to see the huge saguaro. What I found was a pile of sticks, down in the bottom of the canyon. My huge cactus had fallen and dried up into nothing.
I later dug up all the photos like the one above, so I could show Gary what the big deal was. The pictures were a shock, I didn't know that I looked like such a baby face back then! I was a child! And here I was, next to this healthy, vibrant cactus reaching for the sky.
Now here we are in 2011. Not a baby face anymore. And my giant cactus friend is a memory. Ah, a metaphor.

Been Busy

New job has been keeping me preoccupied, the new guy is a welcome distraction, and as usual this time of year has all kinds of events and activities that I try to keep up with.
This week the Desert Storm boating event is here in Havasu, and it is an interesting collection of high dollar boats and so much money it makes you want to throw up a little....

Gary took the day off so he could hang out with me. He just didn't realize that all the hanging out would be on Main Street during the boat show. ALL DAY!!!

Boss Tony did some interviews.

We had the boats on Main St from noon till 9:30 pm, must have talked to hundreds of people. Also got to catch up with a lot of old friends, which was very nice.

By quitting time, we were DONE!

Glamour. Intrigue. Chores.

Organized the pantry:

And fixed the landscaping:

Made some yummy food in the pressure cooker smoker:

Watched a pretty nice sunset at the beach:

Finally sat down to relax late on Sunday:

The dogs joined us:

Cool Sunset

We drove up to the mountains to see the sunset from up there on Sunday, it takes about 5 to 10 minutes to get up to where you can be completely away from all the houses and streets....

It's The New Guy

"Hi. I'm Gary. I'm new here."

Well, I'm not THAT new, I've been around for a while but I just haven't been on the blog. So here I am.

I'll tell you a little about myself.

I have a desk. But no desk chair....
Actually I have a chair but it's in the garage or something.

I like to use the grill...

And I like to help cut up vegetables when we're making dinner...

I like off roading...

And sometimes I do things on the streets with the Corvette that I shouldn't....

I always make sure I open the door for Shawna...

And I'm pretty good about washing my own dishes...

We get along pretty darned good!

That's about it.

Mexico!!

I went to Mexico AGAIN! And made it back alive AGAIN!! Woohoo!! Beatin the odds!!

Here are some photos:

Weatherman's truck. He's talking to my boss Jim

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Carl checking out the awesome banner of the race course map:

The view from our beach-side breakfast table, the day before the start of the race:

My breakfast. I think it was called the American or something like that:

The day before the race, the Contingency row is set up with vendors and race products. Thru the center of the street is a line-up of race vehicles awaiting their tech inspection. In order to race they have to pass inspection. I've seen racers wait in line half the day, mostly because some of these races have over 250 entries. They've ALL got to be inspected by one small team.

This is looking the other direction on Contingency row.

This is actually a photo from last year's race. I stayed at a cute new hotel right by the Start/Finish line. Everything was so new, even the lawn chairs on the balcony had their price tags attached.....

The same chair, one year later:

Instead of sitting out on the balcony, the chair was now inside my not-so-new room and half the chair was missing. The top half. But the tag was still attached.

Well at least I remembered to pack my Kindle. I read outside next to the newly filled swimming pool!!!!!

Race day. The motorcycles are lining up for their start at dawn.

The Trophy Trucks begin their start about three hours after the last bike leaves the line:

Sometimes the celebrity Trophy Truck drivers have their celebrity girlfriends there at the Start line to watch them leave: (it's Jesse James' girlfriend Kat von D)

So while they're out toiling and struggling in the desert, I'm in an air conditioned motorhome scoring with both a clipboard...

And the computer...

And at the end of a very long day we put all the numbers together and figure out who the winner is....

This Is Funny

But this sticker makes it just a little bit more funny:

I saw this truck as I was pulling into get a cheeseburger at In & Out.