Sunday, August 31, 2003

Sharon's mom, Rosemary, had a major stroke in January of 2002. Rosemary and Sharon's dad, Jack, have continued live in their home with a live-in carekeeper. Sharon and her two brothers have been taking turns making meals for the week and taking them to church. We went over on Sunday afternoon. Sharon made dinner and got a couple of other meals organized for the coming week.

By the time we got home and got Jack to bed, it was almost 9:30 p.m. Digging through the pile of DVDs that we have been wanting to see, we decided that we were too tired to make it until midnight. Instead, turning on Showtime, we got sucked into watching one of the worst movies I have ever seen, Rules of Attraction. The film's writer-director is Roger Avary, who directed "Killing Zoe" and co-authored Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction."

Saturday, August 30, 2003

Jack's 5th Birthday Party

Today was Jack's fifth Birthday. We had a very successful birthday party with five other kids from Jack's old day care plus Andrew, Jack's godfather and godmother, his cousins and the DiGorgio's.

We had planned a number of activities for the party, but one of the biggest hits was unplanned. After lunch, the kids all started wading in the pond and climbing on the waterfall. They were playing with a boat the Lee Ann and Dean had given Jack as a present for Christmas in 2001. I would never have expected the kids to start doing this on their own; Jack has never really had any interest in wading in the pond.

There is a photo album from at the party at:

http://www.heringer.org/jack5/index.html

Friday, August 29, 2003

Drew's class schedule for the 2003 Fall Quarter at UCI includes:

Crse         Crse     Sec      Grd 

Code Dept Num Typ Num Unts Opt Days Time
---- ---- ---- --- --- ---- --- ---- ----
02050 DANCE 30A STU A 2.0 PN M W F 08:30-09:50
03025 DRAMA 30A STU D 4.0 GR T T 08:00-09:50
03088 DRAMA 65 LAB B 2.0 GR M W 04:00-04:50
44011 MATH 1A LEC B 4.0 GR M W F 02:00-02:50
44012 MATH 1A DIS 20 0.0 GR T 02:00-02:50

total units enrolled 12.0 2.0 p/np units
I expressed some concern to Drew that he was not taking one more general education class.

Wednesday, August 27, 2003

Over the last three weeks, the Kings have made three moves.

On August 5, the Kings traded the forward/center Keon Clark and two future second-round picks to the Utah Jazz for a second-round pick.

On August 15, the team made a move to replenish their depth by signing veteran free-agent guard Anthony Peeler. The signing of Peeler could signal the end of Sacramento's pursuit of G Jim Jackson, who revitalized his career after joining the Kings early last season. Several teams are interested in Jackson, and owner Joe Maloof has said the team probably can't afford to keep him.

Finally, August 22, the Kings, moving to replenish their frontcourt depth, signed journeyman free agent Tony Massenburg to a one-year deal..

With these moves, the Kings have twelve players under contract for next year.
                                Under contract until

10 Mike Bibby, G '08-'09
52 Brad Miller, C '08-'09
13 Doug Chrisite, G/F '05-'06
Geoff Petrie, GM '05-'06
16 Peja Stojakovic, F/G '05-'06 with Player Option
4 Chris Webber, F '05-'06 with Player Option
Rick Adelman, Coach '04-'05 with Team Option
24 Bobby Jackson, G '04-'05
21 Vlade Divac, C '03-'04
51 Lawrence Funderburke, F '03-'04
44 Tony Massenburg, F/C '03-'04
44 Anthony Peeler, G '03-'04
3 Gerald Wallace, G/F '03-'04 with Team Option
99 Darius Songaila, F '??-'??

Sunday, August 24, 2003

2003 Back to School Ice Cream Social

We spent the weekend working on the yard and the house trying to get things ready for Jack's birthday party next Saturday.

This afternoon, we went to an orientation for Jack's new school. The principal talked, we went to Jack's classroom and found his desk and cubbie, and visited the new extended care room.

Friday, August 22, 2003

Sharon, Jack and I went to the California State Fair on Friday night. Jack had a great time going on rides, while Sharon enjoyed a deep fried twinkie!


Tuesday, August 19, 2003

We had breakfast at the Mansion family style with the other guests. Afterwards, we started winding our way back. It was a two hour drive from Port Towsend to the SeaTac airport. This was followed by an uneventful hour and 40 minute flight. We were home by 4:30 p.m.

At best, I would give Port Townsend a C+ as a tourist destination.

Monday, August 18, 2003

We rented a car early Monday morning and headed north to Port Townsend. It is about an hour drive from the Wallen's house. We walked around the downtown on Water and Washington Streets before Lunch and then had lunch at Fins. Sharon and I both had some very interesting Manila Clam Chowder.

After lunch, we checked in the bed and breakfast where we are staying: the Anne Starrett Mansion. Sharon had found the place on-line and booked the Master Bedroom.


In the afternoon, we went out to the Old Fort Wolden State Park and wandered through some old bunkers that housed large guns guarding the coast. Jack feel asleep in the car as we left the park. When we stopped at the visitor's center on the way into town in the morning, Sharon had gotten a map that include a driving tour of the area. We spent an hour or so following the driving tour of the area, including a large number of impressive Victorian Mansions.

We had dinner at the Silver Water Cafe.

Sunday, August 17, 2003

Wallen and I went out for a 10k run in morning. We ran around their bay and out to the end of the peninsula between Oyster Bay and Twice a Day Bay. We are both too competitive for our own good. Wallen end up running the distance in 48:01 which works out a 7:45 per mile pace. I was about 20 seconds behind him for a 7:48 per mile pace. After working hard to close a 60 yard gap on a long downhill coming back into their bay, I completely ran out of gas and Wallen pulled away from me on uphill to their house.

When we got back to the house, Sharon, Jill and Jack were already in the boat. After John and I cleaned up, they picked us up. It was an absolutely beautiful day. We cruised around the Sound sightseeing and looking at houses on the water.

We ended up back at the Gregg's house on the water where we had dinner the night before. We picked them and headed to the Boatshed for a late lunch.

Jack and I ended the day by cruising around the bay in the Wallen's paddle boat out

Saturday, August 16, 2003

John Wallen, Sharon, Jack and I took the ferry to Seattle to see the Red Sox play the Mariners at Safeco Field. We stopped and had lunch at J&M's before the game. Pedro Martinez pitched for the Red Sox and the Marineers lost 5 to 1.


After the game, we took the ferry back to Bremerton. Meeting up with Jill Wallen, the five of us went to dinner at some friends of the Wallens. The Greggs have a very interesting modern house on Osyter bay.

In one of those odd six degree of separation stories, the Greggs had spent a few years in Fresno and knew my ex-wife's sister Sayre and her husband Byron.

We played some ping pong on a table set-up next to the water, had a few drinks, watched a large family of raccoons fight over dog food and had dinner about 10:15 p.m.! It was almost 12:30 a.m. before we got home.

Friday, August 15, 2003

Sharon, Jack and I took off for a long weekend to visit the Wallen's who live across the sound from Seattle in Bremerton. Wallen picked us up at the airport and we headed back to their house. The Wallen's have a great house on Phinney Bay. It faces to the west and has a good view across their bay of the mountains in the Olympic peninsula. We sat on their deck and barbecued on Friday night.

Thursday, August 14, 2003

Today is Jack's last day at the Cottage Kids daycare center. He started going there in February 1999, almost four and a half years ago.

Wednesday, August 13, 2003

Almanor Diary, Day 8--Saturday, August 2, 2003

I woke up about 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and it was pouring rain. I finally got out of bed just after 7:00 a.m. and it was raining cats and dogs. In all of the years that we have been going to Almanor, I have never seen it rain that hard. I stood on the porch with a cup of coffee and watched it rain. Tomasin joined me and we both sat there shaking our heads. Tomasin had some concerns about the boats. It had been raining for several hours and John was concerned about how much water was collecting in the boats. At this point, there was an amazing amount of water running off the cabins and running through across the Dorado Inn grounds.

It took us a little more than 30 minutes to get Tomasin's boat out of water. By the time that we were done, I was soaked and cold.

We spent the next two hours loading up the trucks and cleaning out the cabins in the rain. The Wallens left a little after 9:00 a.m.; they were planning to make the run all the way back to Seattle in one jump, probably a fifteen or sixteen hour trip. The rain finally started to let up after 9:30 a.m. By 10:00 a.m., everyone was loaded up and ready to go.

In past years, we have usually spent the morning on the lake skiing one last time; it was wierd to be packed and ready to go so early. We caravaned with the Tomasin's and Bachman's down the Feather River Canyon to Oroville. At this point, we split up and headed for home.

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Almanor Diary, Day 7--Friday, August 1, 2003

Sharon, Jack and I took off Friday morning for a hike on the Bizz Johnson trail. We hiked for about four miles along the Susan River. The trail is the old railway right of way from Susanville to Westwood. The hike included both of the old railroad tunnels on the trail.


After the hike, we went into Susanville for lunch and then toured the museum at the trailhead.

In the late afternoon, all of the adults went over the Chabriers (they own a vacation home just up the lake from the Dorado Inn) for cocktails. Danny Hunter had to take off for Mexico at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday and Loren Hunter had a soccer game at 10:00 a.m. As a result, Hunter spent most of the afternoon packing. He stopped at the Chabrier's and then took off for home from there.

Sharon and I made burritos for dinner. Cal and Cheryl, the new owners of the Dorado Inn, joined us for dinner.

Monday, August 11, 2003

Almanor Diary, Day 6--Thursday, July 31, 2003

Most of the week at Almanor, Jack slept on a fold out couch in the front room of the cabin. About 3:00 a.m., we were awaken by Jack screaming like a banshee. I went into the front room and Jack was standing in the middle of the bed screaming. I asked him what was wrong and he said that his stomach hurt. I picked him and carried into the bathroom where he almost immediately started to throw up. While he was throwing up, Jack continued to wail at the top of his lungs. Once there was nothing left in his stomach, He started dry heaving. Jack did not take this in stride; it was the first time that he has gotten sick to his stomach. After the dry heaving, Jack had diarrhea. fun, fun, fun...

Interesting, while all five of the Heringer's got sick during the week, only two other people got sick. David Tomasin was sick on Wednesday, while Gail Bachman was sick on Thursday. Bachman and Tomasin complained on several occasions that their stomachs were upset and suggested that they might have a touch of the bug. More likely it was the 97 beers they had.

I got up the fairly early the next morning with everyone else still asleep and went for a four mile run on Highway 147. After I got back, Sharon and Jack were still asleep. Morgan and I ended up going out on the boats for the morning.

Several people asked me during the course of the day about the amount of noise that Jack was making at 3:00 a.m.; he apparently woke up a number of people with his wailing.

We went to the Hamburger Hut for a late, long lunch. The adults had more than a few beers, while the kids swam in the swimming area and threw each other off the dock. As we were getting ready to leave, everyone got involved in throwing everyone off the dock and into the water.

When we got back to the cabins, Sharon and I went into Chester to do some shopping. Each family takes one night to cook dinner during the week; we were on the hook for Friday night.

Pat and Kathy Tomasin, John's mom and sister, showed up for several hours in the afternoon. Wallen's brother Bill also showed up with his wife and three kids.

After dinner, we had a birthday celebration for Robby Hunter and Kendall Brown. Kendall turned 20 on Thursday, while Robby turned 19 on Friday.


Jack rallied pretty well. After dinner, he was running around with Bill's two boys playing baseball and football.

Tomasin, Hunter and Bachman took off about 10:30 p.m. for a boat ride to Plumas Pines returning about 1:30 a.m.

Sunday, August 10, 2003

We spent most of the weekend working on Jack's bedroom, including new paint, moldings and curtains.

Saturday, August 09, 2003

Almanor Diary, Day 5--Wednesday, July 30, 2003

After sleeping in on Wednesday morning, I spent most of the morning helping Sharon put together billing statements and correspondence for her law practice. In the rush to get organized and out of the door at the end of last week a few things were left undone. We had been talking for a couple of weeks about how to provide Sharon with internet access so she could do some work while we were at Almanor for the week. I played around with some cellular solutions, but never found any options that would support a PC internet connection while we were at the lake. I said something to Cheryl on Wednesday morning about going into Chester to try and make and internet connection and she offerred us the use of the fax line in the office. I reconfigured her laptop to use a Pac Bell Internet account that I keep as a back-up and we were able to send and receive mail using the Dorado Inn's fax line.

After lunch, we took off for the Bailey Creek Golf Course. Hunter, Jill Wallen, Sharon and I played in one foursome, while Robby and Danny Hunter, Chris Tomasin and Nathan Wallen were in the other foursome. After the three days of great weather, the weather changed on Wednesday afternoon. As we pulled in the parking lot at the golf course, a series of thunderstorms started to move over the lake.

Sharon and I only played the front nine. I was very happy with the way that I played. I had a par on a long par five that has destoryed me in the past (>10). Coming up to the ninth tee, I thought I had a chance to shoot a 48 on the front nine which would be a very good score for me. The wheels came off on the very easy ninth hole; I hit into a fairway bunker, shot an 8 and ended up with a 50 on the front nine.

We got a few drops of rain while we were playing and watched some impressive lightning displays to the south of us over the Lake. Jack rode in the cart with Sharon and I. He has taken some golf lessons and has a set of clubs. He hit a few tee shots and putted on a couple of greens. His favorite part was raking the sand traps. He started cheering at one point when point when Jill hit into a sand trap! Once the lightning started, he mostly stayed in the cart and insisted that we end back to the cabins.

The adults went to Plumas Pines for dinner. We loaded up the Hunter and Wallen boats and headed across the lake.


The after dinner excitement was that shortly after we turned the lights on in the Wallens boat the temperature gauge showed the engine was overheating. Through trial and error, we realized that if we left the running lights off the engine temperature stayed normal. We ended up heading back across the lake running dark; there is really no boat traffic on the lake at night so it was not a major problem. Although we ended up about a half mile north of the Dorado Inn, we made it back uneventfully, albeit slowly.

I have always loved being on the lake in the middle of the night without a moon. It is one of the few places where we go that you can see the milky way; it is a very cool sight.

Friday, August 08, 2003

Drew is in Southern California today for a one day orientation at UCI. The fall quarter starts September 22. Twenty eight years ago in the summer of 1975, I attended a multiple day orientation at UC Davis.

Thursday, August 07, 2003

Almanor Diary, Day 4--Tuesday, July 29, 2003

By Tuesday morning, everyone was back up to close to full speed. We spent the morning on the boats.

Rick and Karen were involved in a motorcycle accident in early July. Rick hit a patch of transmission fluid in an intersection near Clear Lake at fairly slow speed and dropped the bike. They both broke their ankles and had surgery. Tomasin performed the surgeries! Rather than use crutches, they were using wheeled carts. Rickie preferred the carts to crutches because it allowed him to have his hands free while he worked. It was quite a sight to see Rick and Karen going everywhere with the carts over the course of the week.


After lunch, Tomasin and I took on Bachman and Hunter in horseshoes. Although Bachman and Hunter won the first game, Tomasin and I took the second and third games and the match.

After Dinner, the boys went to the Ranch House to play pool and more horseshoes. Bachman and Hunter beat Tomasin and I two straight games of pool. Bachman then insisted that we play more horseshoes behind the bar under the lights. I had enough horseshoes for the day. Wallen and Tomasin played Bachman and Tomasin and won two of three games. Wallen threw a double ringer to win the third game.

Wednesday, August 06, 2003

Almanor Diary, Day 3--Monday, July, 28, 2003

THE LOST DAY--Drew got sick late Sunday night. At 1:00 a.m. Monday morning, Morgan was sick and by 2:00 a.m., Sharon was sick. Although I did not get phyiscally sick to my stomach, I felt very bad all day Monday with flu-like symptoms. Interestingly, Jack did not get sick. As a result, we spent most of Monday trying to keep track of Jack, while marshalling our strength and staying close to the bathroom.

Monday turned out to be one of the nicest days at Almanor in years. It was hot and very calm all day long; the wind never came up in the afternoon. As a result, the boats spent almost the whole day out on the water. In my fever induced state, I seem to remember Tomasin returning to the dock to reload with people and beverages five times during the course of the day.

Late in the day, Sharon wanted some Chicken Noodle soup. I started to get in the car to drive into Chester and then started to doubt whether I could make it. I ended up getting Wallen to drive me to the store.

The Heringer's all ended up crashing at about 8:00 p.m., including Jack, hoping that Tuesday would bring a better day.

Tuesday, August 05, 2003

Almanor Diary, Day 2--Sunday, July, 27, 2003

We spent most of Sunday morning on the Tomasin boat with Morgan skiing on doubles, Drew wake boarding and Jack tubing with Mike Tomasin; Tomasin and I slalomed. It was first of three straight hot days with calm water well into the afternoon.




In the early afternoon, we loaded up all three boats and headed for Hamburger Hut for lunch. Afterwards, Wallen and I carried down a ping pong table from Bachman's trailer. Although I was initially skeptical, the ping pong table got a lot of use over the week, particularly by Mike and Jack.

The Dorado Inn changed hands about three years ago and the new owners, Cal and Cheryl, have started a tradition of having a cocktail hour at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Greg and Dean Chabrier joined the group for cocktails with their twin one year girls!

During dinner, Drew started to complain that his stomach was brothering him. He ended up getting sick about 10:00 p.m. Sunday night. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of our problems...

Saturday, August 02, 2003

Almanor... Every summer since 1988, sixteen straight years and counting, a group of families has spent a week at the Dorado Inn at Lake Almanor. The core group has included the Hunter's, Tomasin's, Bachman's, Wallen's and Heringer's with appearances over the years by the Snipes', Nooter's, Chabrier's, Foss', Geselbracht and Connor. When we started going there, Morgan and Drew were one and three years old, respectively.

The week includes lots of time on the boat with skis, wake boards, knee boards and tubes, lunches at the Hamburger Hut at the Lassen View Resort, horseshoes, Dinner at Plumas Pines, midnight boat rides across the lake, pool and shuffleboard at the Ranch House, 21 aces and some great sunsets.