2009 Ride for Kids

banjo on my knee.

It's been a while. Just trying to keep up with Joe.

Not that a lot hasn't been happening. 

Jenni battles MS and started school.

Emily continues to amaze, grow, and bring great love to all our lives.

Arran is a great dad and husband (and not a bad grad student either!).

Gina's menagerie flourishes while she gets ready to give birth (oh boy, a grandson!). 

Joe's becoming less of a mystery (nice to meet you Brittany!). Those New Yorkers....

Work has been slow (economic/political understatement, I know). 41 apprentices and 140 journeyman waiting on the books with very few calls coming in on a weekly basis. Not moving yet. What'll it take?

My last work day as a construction electrician was October 31, 2008. I had one very short short call in December. Teaching and vice-presidency positions have kept us going so far, plus the pocket change I get from working at the range. Sold the 1993 Yamaha Seca to a brother electrician, and an O/U 12 gauge through Imbert & Smithers. Every little bit helps. Thanks to all those who have helped along the way.

There's a lot of local work just sitting in the dirt waiting to go, but if you read the paper, you know the rest. The entire Bay Area is on hold. 

I keep busy with teaching and union meetings, publications, conferences, battles.

The new motorcycle club has been a real success with 22 or so members and active participation from most. We have 4 charity runs a year and a monthly ride to some place on the peninsula (usually Alice's) for breakfast. Brookdale Inn this month on the 21st (on a beautiful stretch of Hwy 9 between Santa Cruz and the ridge). We'll be planning an overnight to the Gold Country for late spring/early summer. It's great to see the cross section of members enthusiastically involved in their club, and they are a lot of fun to ride with.

I'm excited about two new projects underway, one musical, the other "athletic":

I'll be returning to umpiring after a two year hiatus volunteering for Foster City's 10U program.

Nice program with nice folks. 

Joe's interest in guitar somehow motivated me to finally repair Grampy's 1926 Vegaphone tenor banjo. I used to play a long time ago (Jenni has the one I bought with Gramps from a downtown pawn shop when I was in high school), and I'm looking forward to re-acquainting myself with an old friend and music. I picked up the uke last year, and it's been entertaining, but the tenor banjo has always been my favorite. Grampy's banjo was built with friction tuning pegs as was standard on a lot of good quality instruments back then. They wore out over time, until it became impossible for the banjo to hold its tuning beyond a few strums. So it has sat in the closet for 15 years haunting me. Last week I took it to a local luthier at Gryphon Strings in Palo Alto. He drilled out the old peg holes on the tuning board and installed some fancy geared tuners that are replicas of the type used on more expensive 1920's tenors. Grampy would've been proud. Nice work with even better results. It's a joy to play for a variety of reasons...

Be back soon.

current 3rd year apprenticeship class

Little Girl meets Big Trees

For Fourth of July weekend, we took Emily up to Uncle Willy's cabin for a bunch of new adventures! Our first day there, Emi met the Giant Sequoias and the "dancing tree" at Big Trees State Park, walked the nature trail with Papa and her pet pinecone, and tried to step on every ant she ran into until we convinced her it was nicer to just watch 'em crawl away.

She explored some of the older fallen trees with Uncle Willy, and we stepped into the visitor's center for a quick look at all the stuffed animals (her favorite was the fox).

Later the same day she took a dip in Beaver Creek where she was "kissed" on the foot by a water "spider" (aka strider). Emily shook him off and waded through the creek effortlessly like a high altitude Little Mermaid under Annie's watchful eye. It was simply just a beautiful and quiet place for Emi to explore and play and make herself at home in the woods.

Saturday we started with breakfast in Arnold,

and then found a spot along the side of Highway 4 to watch the local Holiday Parade which included a "bear with pants on" (Emily's description of Smokey the Bear) and a real-life princess (Emi's favorite!) among a multitude of clever floats and local emergency vehicles with sirens a-blazin'. She brought a rather special moment to all those around her when she stood perfectly still, hat held over her heart, listening to the National Anthem at the start of the parade.

After the parade we got to see a magic show and then Emily toured through the annual flea market, marveling at puppets, quilts, and bathouses.

Toward the end of the day, Emi wandered onto the dance floor outside a nearby cafe (an old piece of carpet covering some dirt) to entertain the locals as she shuffled along to the Stardust Cowboys' live pickin'.

On Sunday we went to the Ironstone Winery right outside of downtown Murphy, took the tour of the facilities, and had a snack in their beautiful tasting room/cafe.

Emi was entranced with everything on the tour as she walked through the caves (where we were pretty sure we saw pirates among the barrels of "rum") and along the gold panning creek.

It was hot and it was long, and she never complained once. She just kept taking it all in as is her nature (ever the little scientific observer)!

It was a joy to spend the time with her and we can't wait for her first canping trip. She's definitely at home in the wilderness.

IBEW Local 617 Motorcycle Club’s Inaugural Ride

We assembled in front of 1701 Leslie at 7:00 Sunday morning to launch our Local’s club and to ride in support of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation’s Ride for Kids in Pleasanton. By mid-morning, twelve brothers and two supporters gathered at Pleasanton Middle School with several hundred riders for a police-escorted hour and a half ride through Niles Canyon and the local hills to bring local attention to the ongoing financial, medical, and emotional needs of the families meeting the challenges of caring for a child with cancer. At the end of the ride we returned to the school for the Celebration of Life Program where we listened to presentations by ride organizers, a physician and a researcher from UCSF, and a father of one of the children. We met and had our picture taken with the two Ride For Kids Stars present at the ride and program: Chelsea, age 24, and Malcolm, age 10. Top individual and club fundraisers were announced and brought to the stage for acknowledgement with IBEW 617 being recognized as the fourth highest fundraiser at $2,860. The Pleasanton ride raised a total of $52,152 for PBTF contributing significantly to a nationwide effort to fight pediatric brain tumors. Thank you to brothers and club members John Fitzpatrick, Doug Goldman, Mike Prescott, Carlie Thompson, Daniel Eaves, Aaron Adams, Randy Thomas, Tim Leaver, Dave Huston, George Bastidas, Charles Bell, and friends Tom and Andy for participating in the ride and to all the brothers and sisters who contributed generously and supported our efforts.

What a Way to Start the Summer! A Visit From "e.e. phipps"

Our time together started after Jenni and Aaron dropped Emily off Sunday morning on their way to Big Basin. We decided that a pancake breakfast at the San Carlos airport sounded pretty good . . .

Emi loves the airport. Here she is at the top of the stairs watching for the next flight.

We then took off to R.E.I. where Emily found the tents. She spent a good while zipping and unzipping herself in and out. Rolling around on the air mattresses inside and generally showing anyone who watched what an absolutely comfortable situation it was - We should have charged them an advertising fee.























Emi then found the bicycles. (She needs a few more inches in the legs but came away with a bell.)



















And we tried out the camp chairs.















The Next Day:
Em got started rather early coloring some artwork on her table using the cup she got from R.E.I. to hold her markers. She loves to organize her work space.














She grabbed one of my hats to play with. Ann asked her to pose with it on and she was proud to do so.



















We went out to eat at our local diner and she walked her stroller all the way home with her "leftover box" and the picture we all drew and colored, while we were there, in the seat.
















Emily decided that putting her "Hug Me" Bear, "Pinky" Bear and Duckie to sleep was THE GAME this week. It's her face and how attentive she is that is amazing.














My new Uke!
Got to get them into this stuff while they're young and still think what you'd love to teach 'em is fun . . . A little lesson first thing in the morning. (Ann, don't take my picture at this un-Godly hour!)




















On one of my travels - somewhere - I found this child-sized Buff with Peanuts characters on it sitting in a bin. Looks good!




















On the other hand you can't go too far wrong with a racing jacket highlighted by a Harley-Davidson patch. Add some Ariel shades and I think we are ready to go!



















One VERY windy night we picked up this balloon on our way home. Emily wanted the Ariel one (she is her mother's daughter!). Emily walked with that balloon all the way home in the wind which was quite a challenge. I tied it to her belt loop and stuck the weight in her pocket. Still she held tight to the ribbons as the wind tried to rip it out of her hands! She was very proud of herself when she got home with the balloon still in her hand - as we were.

Once home she played and played and played with it. The giggling was priceless!
























Ann asked Emily to pose with her balloon so her Mommy & Daddy could see it.











One night while I was out at a meeting Ann played Dumbo for Emily while she put her friends to bed. Nothing like the classics! She asked for us to play it for her again a couple nights later. So, for the record: she has seen it twice and she was excited when she found the book at Borders while we were there - I think it's a winner.




The fun thing about watching her put her guys to bed is how she hugs them and then tucks them in.














Stanford U.:
One of the days that I was working Ann took Emily to the Rodin Garden on the Stanford Campus.

She explained to her that Rodin was an artist who used clay ("like PlayDo") to make likenesses of people. "He got so good at it that people really liked his work and bought the statues he made. Someone bought some and brought them here so we could see them."

When they turned the corner Emily pointed up and exclaimed, "There's one!"

She then walked through the garden like a missionary with a purpose pointing to this one and that one. Sometimes asking, "What happened?"

Ann answered her questions like with The Falling Man simply that he was falling or the woman who was laying that she fell and was laying down now.





She liked Adam and the Gates of Hell the best.











I love that she was touristing around with Duckie in her Italian tee.


One of the most remarkable moments was when Ann took her in to see The Thinker. She stared and stared at him. Finally as Ann told her they were going to go to the bookstore, she turned with this incredibly puzzled look on her face and asked, "What's he thinking about?"

Ah, that's my grandbaby!

The other moment that was interesting was Emily noticing her shadow like it was another work.

Well, the Saturday of the Union 617 picnic came faster than we could believe . . . The day we were meeting up with Mommy and Daddy.

A few minutes of "Duckie" sitting. (God love that Duckie!)

And

"Duckie"

snuggling

. . .

Emily was set in her 100th year Anniversary tee shirt.



And we were off . . .

If I were to summarize our week with Emily I guess I'd just have to say that I couldn't find more joy anywhere if I were looking for it.

(It kind of makes me ponder about my first experiences with some other two year olds I knew. I hope that there are three people who know in their psyches somewhere what great joys they were to behold . . . thanks. Papa)

and . . .

Thank you, Emi!

We love you,
Papa and Annie