Monthly Archive: March 2011

vacation

The Catch Up –

Where has all the time gone. I’ve been super negligent in my blog postings and I’m starting to hear it from the girls. Now would be the perfect time for me to write updates about life’s goings on around the Flaherty house now that Kelly and Kate are both moved out.  Then stupid Facebook came along and tried to circumvent the ebb and flow of my postings here at jimsjoint. No  longer was I giving thought the 4 faithful readers that flock to this blog for Flaherty news.  I was over on facebook “liking” things.

So I’m not liking anything over there any more. Keeping it on the down low and focusing on what really counts. La Familia!  One good thing about not posting here lately is that not too many people click over to jimsjoint anymore, and I think that’s the way I like.

I’ve got a lot of catching up to do so I’ll just start with February. What a GREAT month it turned out to be. Kelly came up on Feb 5th to attend Staci’s baby shower. She stayed up here almost the rest of the month and watched Mali and Bruno for us when we went to visit Kate and Frank. It was so nice to have Kelly home, if only for a while. It was just like old times. She’d watch TV in her room and we’d never see her.  Seriously though, we did get to spend  quality time with our first born.  We got a good ten days with Kelly before we started our (17 day!) vacation.

I had a birthday in the middle of the month. On the saturday before my birthday,  Barb and I were going to spend a quiet night.  Go out to dinner then watch a movie at home.  On the way to Cabrillo Park Cafe, Barb said to stop at Vicky’s so she could see her new hair style.  The detour turned out to be planned.  It was actually a mini surprise party for ME!!   In the tradition of sweet heart doubles bowling,  we went bowling!  I don’t know if it was the spur of the moment thing, the spirit of competition,  or the 3 jack and cokes, but I was on fire!   Barb and I bowled our hearts out and ended up winning the two game match.  Despite fierce competition, team Flaherty came home with the much coveted championship bowling  pin. Thanks to Team Vandy and team Downing for a fun filled night of billiards booze and bowling.

On my actual birthday, we cruised over to Marie and Ron’s with our pups so they could have a mini reunion with Guiseppe.  It was fun to see the dogs all playing together, just like old times.  Thanks for the birthday cake Marie!

Feb 15th we said goodbye to Kelly and the dogs. Caught an early (6:45)  flight out of SFO (thanks for the ride Kelly)  and jetted to Atlanta,  short layover and then a hop to Jacksonville North Carolina. One of the smallest airports I’ve ever been in. Three gates.  Either way it works for us. We picked up our rental car (2011 chevy malibu) and GPS’d it to Kate and Frank’s house in Hubert.

Side note – Kate had been in Okinawa for 18 months and in that time we only got to see her for about ten days last August when she came home to elope with Frank. 

Side note #2 –  Now remember,  Kate and Frank, although married almost six months, had only spent 7 days together when they said “I do”  back in August.  She got home from Okinawa on Feb 5th.  After only a few days together (lord only knows what they were doing), her and Frank took their truck (and a trailer) on a nice (12 hour?)  drive to to meet his family down in Florida.  Now that Kate was finally home and her and Frank were together, Frank’s family wanted to give them a wedding shower and introduce Kate to the family. They had a great time there,  met everyone,   got plenty of great gifts, and eventually made the drive back to Hubert, this time with a truck full of shower presents AND a bunch of furniture that Frank had for the house in the trailer.  The next day, we show up!  Only saying this to point out that these two are newlyweds in a very special way.  They fell in love but had to stay apart for a very long time.  Now they are literally back together two weeks,  should be honeymooning alone on some deserted island  being all lovey dovey.  I guess they’ll get their “alone time” after all the “family time”.

  Kate and Frank have a nice, newer, 3 bedroom house about 20 miles from the Camp Lejeune main gate. Only a few miles to the back gate!  We stayed up late that first night just talking and visiting. Playing with the dog and going through a suitcase of Kate’s stuff that we had brought from home. Little bandit wouldn’t get our of our suitcase when Kate was going through her stuff.

We spent most of our time just helping them get their new house together. Plenty of trips to the grocery store, Wal Mart, Target, Petco and even a few thrift stores. They received so many nice gifts when they went to Florida that they really didn’t need anything for the kitchen.  We helped out with some little things around the house.  Barb even bought a dog bed and dog house for Bandit! 

One of the days we were there we decided to go to Camp Gieger to see where Kate and Frank were married. I officiated as they renewed their vows.  Also took some time to cruise around and see where they met and where they lived while at MCT. 

While Kate was in Okinawa, her and Barb had been talking about getting matching tattoos. Barb had been wanting to get an angel on her shoulder, so one morning, her and Kate went out and got tatted. They came home a few hours later with very cool matching angels on their shoulders.  Now me and Kelly have to get matching ones.

Frank’s family came up on Friday for the weekend so we got to meet Tonya and Frank Sr,  as well as Frank’s little brothers Matt and Ryan. Oh, and little dog named Dinky.   I cooked enchiladas Saturday night and Frank Sr made a beef roast on the BBQ Sunday night.  The Lee family are good people.   Tonya and Barb became fast friends. I think they are secretly plotting Kate and Frank’s future.

We had a beach day on Monday. Since they live only 5 minutes to the ocean, we turned north on the highway and headed to Emerald Isle.  Looks like it would be a great place for summer vacation. On this sunny and windy winter’s day it was perfect for walking Bandit on the beach and taking some great pictures.

By the time Tuesday rolled around we had already been in NC for a week and were leaving next morning.

It was so good to see Kate happy. She spent a lonely 18 month in Okinawa and now FINALLY gets to spend some time with her husband. Her and Frank are perfect for each other.  I know that Frank will take good care of our baby for us.  We are happy and proud of both of them.

Next morning it was time to say our  goodbye’s and begin the long trip home. Four hour layover in Atlanta and a 5 hour (DANG HEADWIND!) flight home. Kelly picked us up at SFO and we were home. Stayed up late into the night telling Kelly all about our trip.

Two week vacations are the best!!!!! Check out all the vacation pics here










bike

Green and Proud

re·cy·cle  (r-skl)

a. To extract useful materials from (garbage or waste).
b. To extract and reuse (useful substances found in waste).
4.

a. To use again, especially to reprocess: recycle aluminum cans; recycle old jokes.
b. To recondition and adapt to a new use or function: recycling old warehouses as condominiums

Almost twenty years ago,  when Kelly and Kate were attending Fremont Parent Nursery school,  I wrote a short article about recycling  for the monthly newsletter that the school sent home with the kids. Way back then, the city of Fremont was just beginning its recycling program by providing residents with two small plastic bins, one for glass and plastic, the other for paper.  The intent of the article was to get  parents motivated to recycle, and in doing so,  pass along the habit to their kids.    I did some sort of calculation that showed if all the families (15-20) in the school started recycling, by the time our preschoolers graduated high school , we would have collectively recycled 1 million items.

I’ve thought about my prediction every once in a while over the years, and today I am confident in announcing,  that by the time our girls were out of high school,  more than a million pieces had been recycled by the pre-school families!

Today, we Flahertys are recycling more than ever.   We went from one HUGE garbage can and two small plastic bins to a small garbage can and two HUGE recycle cans.  On a typical week we only have one or two small bags of garbage in the garbage can while the recycling cans are over-flowingly full, especially on weeks when I mow the lawn.

With a little more effort we can become a zero waste family!

Part of  parenting is leading by example.  If kids go through the first 18 years of life brushing their teeth, wearing their seat belts, and recycling,  the hope is that these things will become second nature as adults. 

Here’s hoping!

Might as well recycle an old joke while I’m at it:

Whats the perfect honeymoon salad?

Lettuce alone.

bike

Still Riding

The Saturday 8am bike ride with the boys still lives strong. 22 miles and a break at our favorite place. John got a great deal in a California flag so we set it flying today 

20170429_092006

night out

Never Doubt the High-Def Doppler

001_crop The plan:  the normal 8am ride with the boys. Last ride of winter –  Super moon –  high tide ride with the boys!  We had hopes of seeing a monster high tide that would lap up at the creek trail.

Since most rides these days are “weather permitting”, we weren’t going to go if  it was raining.  We’ve got caught in a couple of down pours before and its no fun.

Woke up this morning, looked out the window, the backyard was wet but it wasn’t raining.  First thing I did was check the CBS5 hi-def doppler.  Things did not look promising.  Doppler showed no rain over  Fremont but some green and yellow cells lingering over the bay. Looked like the yellow cells  were heading our way,  but it also looked like we could  “thread the needle” and dodge the rain.   Either way, I sent the following text  at 7:19 am :  hi def doppler shows more rain coming. ride later this afternoon maybe. Unless you want to go for it.

So Vandy is at spring training so I know he’s out.

 Joe Camello wisely texts back :  no its going to come down pretty good. take a picture.tempted but will pay for it according to forecast.

Now  John Downing, the man I consider the more “sane” one of the group, shot back:   No wind. I wanna. You?

Here is where I could have suggested we wait until later or cancel all together. Instead I text:

OK!!!!

006 The ride out was actually kind of nice.    Our goal was to make it to the end of the trail, check out the tide, and high tail it back home.  Somewhere past mile marker nine going out to the bay, John says, “hey we’re flying!”  Sure enough, we had a great tailwind pushing us out.  When you ride with the wind, sometimes you get in the “vortex” where,  the wind is blowing like crazy, but its eerily calm and quiet.  Because for a certain time, you  match the same speed and direction of the wind. Its very cool.  The last little bend before the end of the trail turned the tail wind into a cross wind, and we knew that it would be a long haul home. But still, no rain!

005_cropWe took a very  quick break at the end of the trail.  Saw snow in the hills behind Mission Peak and white caps blowing  in the old salt pond. Oh, and not- so- high a high tide.  After a couple of quick pictures it was back in the saddle for the long peddle home. A mile into our ride back, the head wind was brutal,  and the rain started to come down.  Hard.  We made a quick decision to bail on the creek trail and take the short cut home.  Through Coyote Hills, over to Ardenwood farm, and up and over the freeway to Cabrillo.  It was raining so much and the wind was blowing so hard that we took a 15 minute refuge in the doorway of the Coyote Hills visitor center. It was weird because both John and I were already soaked from head to toe. My legs were red like a lobster. But in that doorway of the visitor center, out of the wind and rain, It  felt warm!  Almost good. That’s how frigging cold I was!!  Another look at the hi-def doppler (this time on my droid)  showed that the storm was passing. We waited another five minutes and sure enough  the rain stopped.  It was still a cold and windy five miles back to the house, and another mile or so further for John Downing. But at least it wasn’t raining!   Needless to say it was one of the more memorable rides in recent memory, and after a nice long hot tub soak and shower, it really didn’t seem that bad at all!!

Note- the pictures above were taken  BEFORE the rains came.

 

flashbacks

A Good Week — Coffee and Cable

Our Kuerig coffee maker went on the blink last week.   Since we got this a couple of years ago I figured we were screwed because the machine had a one year limited warranty. I  called the company to see if there was a fix or some troubleshooting I could do. The guy from Kuerig asked me a bunch of questions and took our serial number. he comes back on the line and tells me that the machine is still under warranty!! I guess I answered all the questions correctly.   They shipped a new machine and we were back in action two days later!   Good thing considering we just went out and spent about $50 on coffees that only fit in the Kuerig coffee maker.  We would have had to pay $119 to replace the machine.   Thumbs up to Kuerig!

Cable TV has been giving us problems for months.  Some channels that we should be getting  are not coming through at all. Other channels are so “pixilized” that its impossible to watch. We called Comcast a few times, they did remote troubleshooting but found no problems. We replaced the DVR box and checked to make sure that all was connected properly yet the problems persists.   FINALLY got Comcast to come out and look at the problem. When the tech showed up yesterday, he look at the cable coming into the house and asked when the last time a tech was out. I said never. We’ve had the same cabling ever since we moved in 25 years ago!  The cable was so old that it could not properly support the new digital signals and hi def programming.  So the tech spent the next 90 minutes running new cable from the outside box to all the bedrooms and living room.   Sweet!   In addition,  I was able to sweet talk the guy into upgrading our DVR to the new HDMI version.  Now the picture is so crisp and clear its almost like having a new TV.

And the coffee tastes great too