Category: holidaze

We received a Christmas card this week from Barb’s cousins in Virginia! It was mailed December 4th. Arrived January 23rd. 52 days

Got in the first ride of July today. Hit the Trail at 7am for a 4th of July Special.   Always great to ride with the boys.  Even though the forces that be don’t like a US flag out there. Somehow one got out there today! God Bless America!

Don’t worry, that wasn’t an early morning beer. Steve found the empty and since it was red white and blue, wanted it in the picture. 

On a side note, we have found secret recording from a Cargill salt meeting about the Creek Trail Riders!!

Click here to watch all the drama!

and always

The new year always comes with a flurry of laws or regulations that were passed in the previous year and take affect on January 1. One interesting law
that took place in Alameda county this year was that supermarkets would stop supplying plastic bags. In addition, they would also start charging 10 cents per
paper bag. In other words people, start bringing your own bags!!

I think this is a good thing. Over the years we must have gotten 10,000 plus plastic bags from the store. I think this is how hoarders start out, just storing plastic shopping bags. Even though we found many uses for them (picking up dog poop, wrapping Christmas ornaments, packing material for shipping boxes) there were still many many many MANY left over.  Those we didn’t use we put in
our recycle bin. Plastic bags are right up there with plastic bottles as a leading contributor to pollution and litter. Pulling these littered bags out of
storm drains costs big bucks every year.

Before the new year we were half assed “BYOB’ers”. We had a half dozen reusable bags that we bought from Trader Joe’s. Even have a nice SF Giants bag.
Only problem is that I would always forget them.

So even though I knew about the law and thought I was prepared, the first time I went shopping in the new year, I forgot the bags! It didn’t dawn on me until I was half way through the store with a dozen or so items in my basket. I figured I’d do the “Costco” thing and just put my items back in the shopping cart. A pain in the ass but a lesson learned. I saw other people doing the same thing. I bet Safeway made a mint that day selling their reusable bags.

From that day on I made sure that our reusable bags were in the back of the car. I still forget them and have to leave my cart to run out and get them, but I’m getting better. I can only imagine how much good this law has done in the few weeks it has been in affect. I feel good about this one.

One interesting thing about the new law is that people on food
stamps/assistance get free paper bags. Huh?

Kelly is up for Christmas, and Barb bought us tickets to go see the Lion King at the Orphium Theater in San Francisco. Last night was the big night and it couldn’t have turned out better.  Our plan was to drive and park. The weather was iffy all day and traffic was pretty bad getting up to the city (95 minutes going up, 35 minutes going home) but we left early and got there with plenty of time to spare.

Parked at the Civc Center Garage and walked the short two blocks to the Orphium. The weather was cooperating. It had been raining all day, but as we walked to the theate,r all was clear. Brought the umbrella and only needed is a little on the way back to the car.  There was definitely a hustle bustle in the city. Families dressed in Christmas best  hurrying to see the Nutcracker at Davies Symphony Hall.  Tourists like us were out taking pictures of City Hall bathed in Christmas red and green.  Two block walk and we met the sellout crowd waiting at the theater. After ten minutes the doors opened and….let  the show begin!

I’ve heard about the broadway production of Lion King. Barb had gone to a production in San Jose a few years ago. Even though I knew what to expect, it was still amazing.  The cast, the “costumes”, the lighting, the stage, the music, all came together to tell the story. Just like the movie!  We all liked it. Loved it!!  The Orphium is something to see itself. Old style theather that first opened in 1926. We pre-ordered drinks for intermission (cool!) so we didn’t even have to wait in line.  After the show  it was a quick rainy walk back to the car, but not before taking one final shot of city hall, this time standing in middle of street (thank God for little traffic and a long “walk” signal). City Hall, with it’s Christmas Tree out front, made a fitting end to the fantastic night. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

It was a very nice Thanksgiving weekend for us. Even though Kate, Frank and Parker are clear across the country, it was a good feeling to know that they were spending the holiday with Frank’s Family in Florida. We know all of Frank’s family got plenty of “Parker time.” We got some Parker time too! Tango is a cool app for the phone that lets you video conference!!! I love technology!! It lets me see my grandson real time!

We picked Kelly up from the airport on Wednesday morning and had pre-planned on going to breakfast. Headed to our old favorite, Country Way, for a great (as usual) breakfast.  After that is was home to do some pre-Thanksgiving cooking.  Since it was just going to be the three of us,  and we were trying to keep the menu simple, it wasn’t as stressful as it could be. Even got in a late afternoon bike ride with the boys! So late afternoon that it was getting dark by the time we were done!

Thanksgiving morning we pulled together an impromptu bike ride with Team Downing.  Creek trail to the end of the bay on a sunny Thanksgiving morning.  California baby!!  Kelly on Barb’s hybrid and Barb on her road bike.  We even had time for a quick coffee at Starbucks before we headed home for football on TV and Thanksgiving dinner.

Rotisserie Turkey – Sage sausage stuffing with red wine and sour cream – broasted brussell sprouts with parm cheese and pine nuts – sweet potato casserole – sour cream mashed potato and garlicy gravy – rolls-cranberry sauce – pecan pie – pumpkin pudding crunch.

Food coma!

The rest of the weekend was chill. Did a nice long (6 mile) creek trail walk with Barb. While we were walking, Kelly was hiking Mission peak with Melissa Rynd. Kelly and Melissa met up with Nae Nae Camello at some point after, and they all met up at our house for some hot tubbing. For whatever reason they wanted to do some sort of cooking/holiday project. After much discussion and brainstorming, they decided to make a “holiday donut house.” Similar to a gingerbread house but made out of donuts.  They had fun making it and we had fun eating it!

Saturday we went and saw “Life of Pi” at the new theater complex in Fremont. Good movie!  The Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend is always bittersweet. After being off for three days, Sunday usually hits hard. The realization that work looms the next day is always rough for me.  It was a cold morning and Kelly had been begging for a fire in the fireplace, so we started a fire and watched football all day. Dropped Kelly off at the Oakland airport around 8pm, and the weekend was over.

We had so much fun at last year’s Dairy Glen campout that we decided that we should do it again. I looked on the 2012 calendar for a weekend when there was a full moon. Lucky us, Labor Day weekend was just that. Friday night was last day of August and a Blue moon (second full moon of the month). We booked Saturday and Sunday night to camp. With the Monday holiday it gave a little time to relax before going back to work.

Turned out to be a great weekend.  I headed over to Coyote Hills around 2pm on Saturday. Team Vandy was already there setting up their tent city. Steve had to ref a game so they would leave and come back later. I set up my tent and started to get the campground ready for the weekend. Camp stove, Ice chest, food box. Frisbee, oh and dont forget the bike! Around 5pm Team Downing showed up fresh from a Cal football game. Team Vandy came back and we settled in for pizza around the campfire.  And sure enough, that full moon rose over the eastern hills and illuminated the night sky, just as planned.

So the first night was “men’s night”, meaning the women folk chickened out and went home (two miles) to sleep warm in their beds. This, while the men stayed warm by the fire late into the night. We did do a night ride up and down heart attack hill, mostly to get a view of the Dumbarton Bridge. Coincidently, the bridge was closed all weekend for earthquake retrofitting, so seeing the empty bridge was a rare site indeed. Somewhat eery, considering some 50,000 cars used it everyday. Eventually we put the last piece of wood on the fire and called it a night.  I won’t kid you. That first night was a bit frosty. Woke up twice to put more layers of clothes on and really didn’t sleep that well at all.

Up early Sunday for a bike ride! Nothing like starting our ride right at the park! We headed out to the bus stop at low tide and placed an American Flag out on the rocks (and old ship wreckage) that are always under water at high tide.  The plan was to have the flag sticking out of the water and waving in the wind at high tide. Goofed around a bit more then headed back for a campfire breakfast.

People came to visit on Sunday! All the wives came back. Al and Debbie stopped by. Tim and Linda stopped by. Eventually things settled and it was just the creek trail riders and their women. In late afternoon we headed back out to the bus stop to see how the flag was looking at high tide. It was pretty cool to see old glory blowing in the wind way out in the water. I wonder what people will think when they ride by and see it. It definitly looks cool out there.

Sunday night was a much better night. Not as cold, and the girls were all there! Steve bbq’d some chicken and we ate like kings. Smores for dessert and all was well in the world. I learned my lesson from the night before and really prepared for bed, and slept like a baby! 

Up early again Monday morning and took it nice and slow eating breakfast and packing up.  The bonus of this camp trip is that the house is only 3 miles from home.

 A little early Christmas gift for Kate and Frank 

Download So good together

My New Years resolution is to drink more water and take my vitamins everyday.  I even promise to drink a green drink (bleh!) with Barb everyday. Its going to be a good year, I can tell.

Wie treu sind deine blatter !

While Kelly was home for Thanksgiving, we went out and got a tree. Against my better judgement, I let Kelly pick the tree. At the lot before we loaded it in the truck, the tree farm guy cut about a foot and a half off the bottom for us. Before I could event think about getting it in the house, I had to cut off about another foot, and its still the BIGGEST tree we’ve ever had.  A very big and beautiful tree with plenty of room for all of our ornaments

 Decorating the Flaherty family tree has evolved.  Our first tree (before kids) was a mixture of store bought ornaments and hand-me-downs from my mom.  Over the years and since the kids, we’ve collected a great assortment of  ornaments that are special and meaningful to our family. From the Santa Head that Barb got at a company Christmas party when we were first dating, to hand made “treasures” from the girls.  We have ornaments commemorating almost all the years we’ve been together.    Every ornament on the tree has a story.

This year  we are adding a Marine Corps ornament and a SF Giants World Series CHAMPION ornaments.  See what I mean about every ornament being special? Merry Christmas everybody!