Sometime in November, when we were getting bombarded with Christmas catalogs from far and wide, I decided to conduct what I called “a social experiment”. I collected all unsolicted mail for December and put in one pile. When all was said and done we had 20 pounds of junk mail!!!
Kelly and the CSUEB girls started their 2008 season with a 11-5 loss to Santa Clara last Thursday. The Cal State East Bay Pioneers are ranked 5th in the nation for div III schools. Santa Clara is a Div I school and are ranked 19th overall in the nation. A great start to a promising season. Kelly and the girls travel 4 times to Southern California this season. Division III nationals are in Connecticut this year. Good luck to Kelly and all the girls!
Today is a milestone of sorts for Barb. For us. Barb woke up this morning without having to worry about upcoming chemo side effects. Barb started chemo in September and had 6 sessions, every three weeks. She had her 6th and final chemo session on 12/26. Yesterday would have been three weeks and chemo day, but it wasn’t. YAY! So starting today, Barb will finally be able to get beyond the chemo clouds. We are already off the chemo diet of pancakes and spumoni and back on track with healthy eating. Barb even hit the treadmill twice this week.
She has her final (we hope) breast reconstruction “tune-up” outpatient surgery next Tuesday and plans on returning to work on Feb 1st.
We still had to go to the oncologist yesterday. She will continue targeted hormone therapy for another 8 months. The Herceptin drip. The herceptin does have some side effects but they are minimal compared to the monster chemo. She is also on some hormone blockers that she will take for the next 5 years.
Her hair is growing back too.
Like I said, onward and upward!
You go Barb!
Friday afternoon, when it had already been raining for 5 days straight, I get the usual phone call from Vandenbusch to confirm the Saturday morning ride. Even though it had been rain rain rain for the last 100 hours, we decided that if we woke up Saturday morning and the ground was dry and the skies were clear, we were riding. I figured no way in hell that we would be riding. Go figure! When I woke up at 6:30 to let the dogs out, the ground was dry and the sky was (somewhat) clear. But the wind was blowing. Blowing hard. DAMN!
Now file this one under “something you don’t see everyday”. I’ve been to mile marker 11 and the end of the creek trail maybe hundreds of times. Always see something new or different. As we made our way out on this day, I couldn’t believe my eyes! The Tahoe Queen had washed ashore at the end 
of the creek trail! As we got closer, we realized that the what looked like an old paddle-wheel boat was actually a “dredger”? I guess thats what you would call it. Thats what it does. Pretty big rig. They must’ve floated it in during the last high tide. I’m guessing that the latest storm caused some damage to the levee road, and the dredger was going to shore things up.
Never in my wildest dreams would I ever had imagine that something so ENORMOUS would sit itself right in the little pond that sits at the edge of the bay. An incredible sight.
After a relatively easy 9 mile ride out the end of the trail, we decided to skip Coyote Hills and just cruise the creek trail back down to Niles. What sounded like a good idea at first turned ugly when the wind blew (and blew hard) in our face most (all) of the way back. Struggling to maintain 10 mph in the worse parts and windy the entire 11 miles to Niles. The creek was flowing muddy brown the whole way back. We took a short rest at mile marker 0, took a picture of creek flowing out of Niles Canyon, and headed back to Starbucks. At the end of the day it was a 26 miler. No hills but tons of wind. And definitely not a sprint. My legs are still aching.
In a strange twist of fate, we have to give back the dog we rescued and came to love. The short version of the story is that the owner wants/needs the dog back. She is convinced that this dog will help her with her recovery from alcoholism and says that her sister never should have given the dog up for rescue. I must say, this dog IS special and destined for great things. If not with us, then hopefully with the original owner. Jasmine has nothing but love to give and I only hope this lady has it. Either way, we love Jasmine and only want what is best for her. She is one of the smartest, sweetest, kindest dogs that I have known. A true one of a kind.
I’m glad its January! If there were ever a year that we’d like to put behind us its 2007. When we were in Tahoe in July, when we had just found out what was ahead, I figured if we could make it to January, we’d be ok.
So here we are, and we’re ok.
Was on vacation the last couple of weeks and really pretty much just ate my way through to the new year. I’ve been riding the “chemo comfort food diet” wave and loving every minute of it! The last two weeks consisted of………..
home made cappuccinos, way too many! Jack and diet, way too many!! Lemon bars. Home made and not too bad. Oatmeal cookies, ditto. Spumoni ice cream. I think it cures cancer. Chocolate chip cookies, made for Santa but I had a couple. Pounds of fudge. Home made and way too good! Prime rib dinner, twice! Toto’s pizza, chocolate turtles. Throw in the steel cut oatmeal, chicken tacos, pasta and sausages, tuna salad sandwiches and you can see why I’m glad the holidays (and chemo) are over and we can go back to a somewhat more healthy diet.
Jasmine went back to her original owner today : (
She spent her first night here sleeping on Kate’s bed, and spent her last night here sleeping on our bed. In between it was the good life. Chicken livers, fresh tennis balls, walks on the creek trail, snacks galore, and new collar! Even a bath!
That lady better treat her right because Jasmine knows where we live and is probably smart enough to find her way back.
She will be missed.
Meet the new addition to our family. Jasmine is a six year old “rescued” golden retriever mix, that was until yesterday living temporarily at my sister-in-law Diane’s place in Winters. We met Jasmine on Christmas day and Kate immediately fell in love with her. 
Kate and Barb wore me down over the next couple of weeks and yesterday we drove up to bring Jasmine home. Jasmine is really a sweet dog. She settled in real well last night, spent the evening with us then slept on Kate’s bed last night. She was VERY comfortable and wasn’t in much of a hurry to get out of bed this morning.
Niya seems to like her well enough and Lulu will come around eventually.
Welcome to the family Jazz!
And it really is. They put up this sign and closed this part of the trail after the big storm blew through a few weeks ago. Many people don’t venture this far out, but we do. Even under normal circumstances, the dirt on this trail is DEEP, SOFT, MUD. As you ride through this area you really feel it. I’m figuring high tide and high winds that came with the storm damaged part of the road. Once things dry up a bit, Vandenbusch and I will venture on onto the deep soft mud, and see what the damage was. This picture taken at mile marker 11 on the Alameda Creek Trail, where the creek meets the bay. Thats Coyote Hills in the background. Still cold and rainy most days around these parts. Maybe some snow on Mission Peak tonight!
