I Should Have Quit While I Was Behind

It was in excess off 100° F yesterday afternoon and even hotter inside my west facing workshop/garage when I started a project because I needed a win for the day.  

Earlier in the day Kari and I started a project to install some spray cooling misters on the back patio.  Assuring her over the past couple days that I had all the needed parts, we quickly discovered the 3M Command Strips I had purchased were not for outdoor use in extreme heat.  Yeah, it’s there in the fine print (note to self, always take reading glasses into hardware store).  Checking online, I couldn’t find a local store with a compatible hook in stock.  In all these years together, we’ve never truly hard an argument where we’ve yelled at each other—and this day was no different.  Yet, between the frustration I was feeling in combination with what Kari was displaying, the air was thick.  

I digress.  

After other tasks, I ended up in my hot workshop.  Exterior doors cracked open and a quality floor fan moved the air around that when combined with a large glass of dripping ice cold water and some good tunes on the classic rock station, I knew I was confident I’d end the day on a Stephen Perry equivalent high note. 

The task was relatively simple.  Earlier this month I built and installed a basic shelf in our travel trailer, nicknamed Seemore.  The shelf is an overhead shelf above the top of the bed between to small storage cabinets.  Nothing fancy, just a place to hold some folded shirts and a ledge to hold the iPhone or iPad when falling asleep.  I bought a piece of pre-finished shelving, trimmed it to length, painted the cut portion and some 1x2s with matching “limousine leather” colored paint, then mounted it in position.   

After getting it in place, I had a feeling I probably need to brace the center in some way to keep it from sagging.  I’ve vacillated between adding a space eating brace of some sort vertically in the middle or something horizontal.  I had some left over 1x2 that seemed might work, so I opted for horizontal solution.  It was just a bit too short, yet I had sold myself on the idea.  I picked up a nice straight and square length of pre-primed 1x2 from Lowe’s that I was certain would work.  The goal yesterday afternoon became my time to make this my win project, cutting it to length, drilling out the holes for screws to mount it, and getting the first coat of paint on it.  

The piece was trimmed to 5’ 1” (61”).  Using visual cues and mostly math, I determined that maybe the best way to mount the 1x2 is to drill nine holes in it so it would give the shelf the proper amount of support.  But dealing with math for nine holes along a 61” board was too much for me to figure out in the heat.  Since the screws on either end can’t actually be on the end, I subtracted 1/2” from each end to place the first screw giving me a 60” dimension to work with for determining screw locations.  

Half of 60” gave me 30” for the middle screw, halve that again and again, and screws are 7 1/2” apart.  Mark and drill the pilot holes, then drill it out larger for the screw to fit and catch, easy-peasy, something I’ve done a million times.  

The pilot holes drilled, and about half of the final holes drilled.  

Kari said it was getting close to dinner.  

I should have stopped.  

I kept drilling.  I wanted them finished so I could put a coat of paint on it after dinner.  

I should have stopped.  

I’m a bit delayed getting inside to help with dinner.

I should have stopped.  

The drilling was going fine.  I wasn’t rushing or pushing excessively on the drill   All was fine, until the last hole.  Almost through the wood, and it cracked.  My win for the day, now splintered away.  

I should have stopped!

Off to Lowe’s today for a replacement 1x2.  I’ll try again tomorrow.  Amazon delivered new clips for the misters.  That project first.  

Christian Fellowship | Gathering of Peacemakers #3

 

This morning I had another wonderful fellowship experience hosted by a former fellow Deputy and his wife.  They have hosted a series of three “gatherings” of law enforcement related folks at their home to share some Christian music, and hear a message.  

Jeff feels this is a calling to do, patterned after both motorcycle and cowboy Christian gatherings he has attended.  This is my second time attending his event.  Jeff and Robin have a wonderful intimate front yard in the country, with heavy shade which is nice this time of year.  It was warm, yet not uncomfortable at all.  

Jeff, an accomplished musician, starts us with some singing, followed a message from Pastor Ken Bowden (also retired Fresno S.O.).  

It’s much like a mini-church service.  This message focused on how we deal with adversity, and that God doesn’t make things okay for us, he makes sure we are okay no matter how things turns out.  

And of course we conclude we some potluck style treats (Kari’s oatmeal cookies were my contribution) and fellowship with each other—heavily filled with life stories or “war stories” from our past.  

Jeff usually shares a story about me when I was his primary Field Training Officer when he left Selma P.D. and came to Fresno S.O.  Hopefully he tells the story in better detail as a eulogy at my final services.  It essentially tells how he was an experienced officer in Selma and when came into his first Briefing with us, he felt pretty anxious about the experience and seniority of the Deputies in the room.  He was blown away after Briefing when I tossed him the patrol car keys and said he was driving on day one, adding that I figured he already knew the basics of the job, I just wanted to show him how we did it.  Honestly, I had forgotten this story until Jeff posted it on a Facebook page for retired California law enforcement, in response to someone asking about their experiences after lateraling to a different agency.  I was then, and always will be, humbled when he tells it.  

Thank you Jeff and Robin!

I’m already looking forward to the next gathering.  

Academy Story

In line up one morning, as an academy instructor (Keller) was inspecting me, he mentioned that everyone else in my department came in clean shaven and it was pretty ballsy of me to be there with a mustache. After a long pause, he added, “I like that in an officer.”  

Same one on my final day inspection, leaned in on me and scratched the upper part of my shirt saying that it looked like I had a fleck of toothpaste on my uniform shirt, but that was fine because after all these weeks he realized many others never brushed their teeth at all in the morning.   

😂

Mother’s Day 2024

Happy Mother’s Day to the first mothers I knew. My mom (was she singing?), Dorothy Jean Rogers and my paternal grandmother on the left, Elizabeth (“Bessy”) and my maternal grandmother, Violet.  (In front of Violet and Hiram’s home, 1254 Hill, Pasadena, CA before a future owner remodeled the front and ruined the character of the house.)

Yosemite Hospitality | Aramark Failures

When you (Aramark) eliminates an 80+ year old department as part of your “fixing” things in the park, what goes around comes around.   

Profit over safety was never our mantra.  

What was our mantra?

Safety, Security, Service.  In that order—for a reason.  

Our  Mission Statement was, 

We, as members of the Security and Fire Department of Delaware North Companies at Yosemite, are committed to providing a safe environment for the diverse Yosemite community and park visitors. 

Specifically, our duty is to provide an organized force of trained personnel to protect the community from unlawful acts, fire, and unsafe conditions. Without bias, we shall respond to acts and incidents, which disturb the peace, or place in jeopardy individuals, the environment, or property. 

We are committed to a community safety philosophy that is dependent upon partnerships with park visitors, residents, government agencies, employees, and park 

partners. We nurture public trust by holding ourselves to the highest standards of performance and ethics. This shall be accomplished, in the highest professional manner, by providing educational input to employees and visitors, impartially enforcing both the law and Company regulations, respecting the rights of individuals and the environment, while embracing superior customer service as our cornerstone.

You saved a million dollars a year eliminating us.  Maybe you still think it was worth it.

https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/yosemite-contractor-aramark-endangered-visitors-19449430.php

  

https://www.sfgate.com/yosemite/

1973 Volkswagen Sports Bug Flashback

These are not photos of my former Sports Bug, but do look almost exactly like it.  

In 1973, after owning a white 1966 Bug as my first car, followed by driving a couple trucks from my dad’s cable TV construction company (Western Cable Services) and a handed down 1954 tan Cadillac, I was then the happy owner of a tricked out former Southern California Edison GMC van and a 1957 Bug that I foolishly turned into a Baja Bug and painted black/brown/amber camouflage (it actually looked pretty cool).  

One day I stopped by Masterson Motors in Ventura, Calif. to pick up a couple things for the Baja Bug.  There on the showroom floor was a beautiful Sports Bug.  The look of it, the metallic blue color with the black and red stripe, the tricked out steering wheel, different exhaust pipes, the Recaro seats, the Hurst shifter—I was friken hooked.  With the down payment I could make, it was a $44.35 monthly payment.  An easy swing for me even back then.  

I think I’ve got photos of it I can eventually post.  Until then, these are substituting in. 

I was dating a young lady (Karen Grahek) when I bought my new Sports Bug to replace my converted surfer van (I think her father was very pleased I sold the van 😉 ).  Shortly afterwards she started hand embroidery as a hobby.  She embroidered this on the back of one of my shirts.  She wasn’t finished with it when we stopped seeing each other, yet she still finished it for me.  We eventually went our different ways in life, I sold the VW later, but I always held onto the shirt.  About 25 years ago, I cut the shirt up and my wife framed this for me.   I still have it.  

The antenna on the roof was for a CB radio.  They were the thing to have.  Even without running my 300 watt linear, back then you could easily talk with someone 30 miles away.  Too much modern radio interference screwed that up.

I loved that car, and stupidly sold it three years later for a new yellow 1976 Chevrolet LUV pickup truck I really didn’t need.  

Well, Son Of A Gun…

Three-peat.  

Very cool.  

Two In A Row

Very happy for son Jason’s second in a row First Place finish!

‘Tis the Season!

The FJ Cruiser got some well deserved love today.  It’s a bit early, but first stop today was at America’s Tires to get the seasonal studded snow tires off.  They need to off before May 1 per the California Vehicle Code.  I haven’t really needed the studded tires since I left Yosemite in 2018 yet continued to switch to save some tread on the summer tires.  

During the summer, I’ve been running BFG KO2s and in the winter, the studded Goodyear DuraTracs.  I bought both sets in 2017 so they are getting a bit old.  Nevertheless, they still have great tread on them.  It’s time to replace my summer tires, especially before we do a big trip later this year, so my reason for switching doesn’t exist anymore.   

My first winter after leaving Yosemite, 2018-2019, I tried selling the rims and studded DuraTracs.  No takers.  A couple weeks ago, I posted them on some FJ and Toyota Facebook pages.  Again, no takers.  

In talking with America’s Tire manager extraordinaire Jay, he said he’d put some feelers out.   Sure enough, late today I got a text from a business neighbor of Jay’s, interested in the rims and tires.  It looks like I’ve made a deal, and new to him 2007 FJ owner Nathan is going to pick them up tomorrow.  

After dropping off the studded tires at home, I headed to Rodeo Hand Car Wash & Detail for a thorough cleaning.  I wanted to get that completed before putting my storage cabinet back in.   Rodeo has always done a great job on the FJ.  Of course, Parfait had to maintain visual quality control.   😂

Cayucos In The Rear View Mirror

We finished up our week long trip to Cayucos.  We had some rain, yet mostly the weather was wonderful.  It was fun to learn about and participate in a fundraising dog walk.   The Lioness Club of Cayucos hosted a fundraiser for Mutt Mitts, and the funds are used to support the doggie waste cleanup bags and bins they’ve put up around the area.  Good food found all around town.