June 27, 2001 - OH, THE PAIN!!! I hooked up with Fred and Rob from work this morning for a great adventure. I met them in North Bend and we headed over to the middlefork of the Snoqualmie River for a day of kayaking. Fred set me up with an inflatable kayak he referred to as a "rubber ducky" and gave me a few quick lessons at our launch site. When he was satisfied I could work my way into the eddies, we set off down river. I curled into the back side of several rocks and slowly got the hang of catching the eddies - the calm water behind rocks and along the shore that swirls upstream. The river was pretty shallow and we had to work over several rocks initially. As we got into several rapids, I was taken for some great rides and a few awkward ones as well. We traveled about 6 miles in around 3 hours. I was totally exhausted after the first 4 miles and struggled over the last 1/3 of the ride and consequently got beat up pretty good. It is truly a great workout. My legs, lower back, upper back, shoulders, abdominals, and arms are all feeling it. I can't wait to go out again! Mary Ann is doing inventory at work this week and put in about 14 hours today, arriving home at 10:30 tonight. She's physically tired and worn out, and unfortunately, she opens the store tomorrow (she needs to get up at 5 am). I went to www.cristacamps.com tonight and look what I found ... a picture of Fallon and Heather. I hope they are having as much fun as they seem.
Zephen has been behaving himself for the most part since she has been gone (no one to tease, I guess). When Mary Ann picks her up, she'll be dropping Zephen off with Nancy and Dave. We should have an okay week or two and Zephen goes back to his father's on July 7th.
June 24, 2001 - I dropped off Heather at camp today. The camp is called Island Lake and is situated just north of Bremerton in Poulsbo, WA. You can check it out on-line at www.cristacamps.com . It was quite impressive, allowing the kids to do horsemanship, dirtbikes, archery, swimming, boating, jetskiing and several other activities. The price was pretty reasonable at a little over $300 for the week. Heather will do the horsemanship this year and will have riding lessons every day. Her and Fallon (Dave and Nancys' daughter) are there together and both looked ready for a lot of fun when we left. This years theme is "midevil" and the staff were all young and energetic and in costume the first day. I wanted to stay and play!!! They certainly should have fun. I checked out some books at the library on Yoga and Transcendental Meditation. I was very intrigued by what they claim they can do for you. The Yoga gives you some instruction, but unfortunately, the TM requires I actually take a class. Even so, I think I'm interested enough to do that. My sister, Marla, sent me a great picture of my mom and me. It looks to be either Easter of 1978 or 1979 and is shown below. Dang!!! Look at all that hair!!
June 20, 2001 - I talked with Fred today at work and it looks like I'll go out kayaking with him next Wednesday. The kids are about to kill each other, but school ends at the end of the week and Heather goes to camp Sunday. Zephen will spend 6 days with Nancy and Dave over the 4th of July.
June 15, 2001 - Well, I made it 2 and a half days on the fast. I was so miserable. I finally gave up and ate. It did not do what I wanted it to do. I think I'll look into a herbal fast technique next month. Mary Ann has been having a difficult time with her jaw and has been unable to chew well for the past month. We had gotten her a bite block at Bartells a few weeks ago and she had seen a specialist. Today she was fitted for a custom mouthpiece she will wear from now on. She talks a little funny with it, but she's adjusting quickly and says it is really helping.
June 10, 2001 - Started a 3 day fast today. I AM SOOO HUNGRY!! A new guy at work, Rob, gave me his recipe for a detoxifying concoction: Four bags of green tea (already brewed in a cup or 2 of water); juice from 2 lemons and limes; lemonade mix; one tablespoon of maple syrup; one tablespoon of cayenne pepper. This all gets mixed in a gallon of water. You drink a gallon a day for 3 days with all the water you can handle. On the fourth day, you sparingly eat fruits and vegetables. If I can make it through today, I think it'll get easier. The drink is bearable but not something I could say I like. Mary Ann's nephew, E.J., stayed over Friday night and we took him back to Mary Ann's folk's house yesterday. E.J. is visiting for the summer and he has really grown up since the last time we saw him. After listening to Zephen and Heather get on each other all day and being stuck in the car listening to it, I finally blew up on the 2 of them. They promised to stop the petty bickering, but it's rearing it's ugliness once again today. I looked at a Franklin E-Bookman today (on sale this week for like $129). Pretty impressive and inexpensive device, but I think the screen is still too small.
June 8. 2001 - Sitting at work at lunch typing this out on my little PDA ... The weather has been pretty good this week, 70ish and pleasant. I've been looking at kiteboarding again. One of the nurses at work has been trying it the past 6 months. When I found out, I immediately went to him and convinced him to take me out sailing. I am very psyched. I also sent an e-mail to my brother, Jeff, and hope to get my old Skurfer from him to use as a board. The equipment is pretty expensive and I can't afford a new sport just yet. I talked with Dave yesterday and it looks like we'll go kite flying next Wednesday. Zephen and Heather are definitely driving each other more and more crazy. We are seeing the same behavior as before and it is really sad. Zephen has been sucked into playing Counter-strike on-line and that has at least kept him busy.
June 4, 2001 - Ahhh. I got through another weekend at work. The honeymoon between Heather and Zephen is slowly going sour after only 6 days since the beginning of his visit :^( So far they are getting along for the most part, but some of the pettiness is beginning to creep out. We've forgotten what it is like to have a teenage boy in the house and I have been constantly picking up trash in and around our house. The house appraiser is coming out tomorrow to appraise our property for the new loan. I'm really excited at the prospect of saving about $200 a month with the new loan. That will certainly take some of the need for so much overtime away. I can't believe how well the Seattle Mariners are playing right now. We've always had baseball fever, but it now seems the whole community is going crazy for this team. It's hard to explain the attraction to baseball, but you would certainly know what it is if you had ever gotten the opportunity to sit in Safeco Field and watch a game. The morning sun is shining through my window as I type, so I'll be off to play a bit this morning.
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