Field Day Preparations & Arctic Anniversary

Today was an all amateur radio day. After Mass, I readied my house for a Field Day planning meeting and BBQ dinner. Field Day is a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work and a lot of planning goes into it. Shift schedules need to be organized, operators signed up, equipment and material needs to be at the right place at the right time for set up and, of course, it all needs to be working by Saturday morning at 11:00 am.

A few hours later on the same day, I had a bunch of hams over to our home for a presentation for the twentieth anniversary of the only joint United States - Soviet DXpedition to the Soviet Arctic. (For the uninitiated, a "DX" is a "distant station", so a DXpedition is an expedition to a distant station, usually somewhere quite remote and difficult to contact via radio.)

Fortunately, after our hike yesterday, I managed to find a local Russian/Georgian bakery on the internet. Off I rushed to see if I could find some Russian goodies for today's presentation. I found some piroshki (chicken and beef), some kachapuri (a Georgian cheese pastry), some Russian braided poppy seed bread, and some kind of chocolate covered meringue confection with hazelnuts. Although I intended to get some Russian vodka (Stolichnaya is the only brand I know of) for the presentation, I forgot this, so we had some good California wine instead.


The presentation was fascinating! Both the American (Tony, AB6Q) and Russian (Valeri, UA0KK) counterparts were here to talk about their experiences. Fortunately for me, our Russian guest liked the piroshki. (I figured that he would be the only one who would know if it was bad!)

We also got to see footage that they shot on location. The DXpedition was to the town of Pevek which is on an island in the Siberian Arctic, where there is snow 11 months out of the year. Pevek is a very small town whose main industry is herding reindeer, although it is rich in minerals and there has been uranium mining as well. Because of Pevek's close proximity to the international border, special permission was (and perhaps still is) needed to go there. Pevek's history is also intimately tied to the gulag era, when 11,000 people were sent to its four camps to work in the mines until they died.

The Russians, many of whom had never met a foreigner let alone an American, welcomed their American guests with open arms. Much of their hospitality was captured on tape and I was glad that I could return some of that hospitality for this evening's Russian guest. We all had a great time, and enjoyed both a little bit of history and Russian culture.

Purisima Wildflowers

Duane has already written what needs to be said about hiking at Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. I would only add that the wildflower display at Purisima was absolutely glorious. A photo is worth a thousand words...

It took some work to finally identify this flower as Butter Lupine. The leaves are the giveaway. It looked like a lupine, but it wasn't the blue lupine I was used to seeing. And this one is a bit larger than the blue lupine.

I had to look this one up too. This flower is called Bird's Foot Trefoil and very obviously is in the pea family.

Rattlesnake Grass, aptly named because the grass looks like the rattle on a rattlesnake. It rattles too!

Morning glories blooming along side wild blackberries, not yet ripe.

Ceanothus is always beautiful and is one of my favorites. I would love to have a bush in my yard.

Here's a nice specimen of Columbine.

Beautiful Indian paintbrush all along the trail.

I'm guessing that this wildflower must be a member of the lily family, but I have no idea what it could be. Anyone have any ideas?

Dandelions! Make a wish and blow...

Purisima Search Party

On May 30th, our team hiked at Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve, on the west side of Skyline near Woodside. After last week's conveniently close hike at Almaden Quicksilver County Park, we misjudged how long this morning's drive would take. We called mentor Deb to let others know that we'd be a bit late, but only got her message machine. (Duh! She was in Arizona with the Grand Canyon 3-day Adventure hikers!)

We arrived at the trailhead at 8:06 am, a few minutes after all our Yosemite team members had already departed, on time for once. The trail system here has many possible forks and directions, and we had no idea where to go to catch up with them. If only they had left some marked maps for us!

The Park Ranger said they were five minutes ahead, and had gone down the trail parallel to the shorter/steeper fire road. We hoped to catch up where these paths meet. So we chased down the steeper road. I immediately began holding back and grumbling about possibly messing up my sore knee, which was still recovering from our third climb of Mission Peak.

Five minutes later, we realized that we had forgotten to lock our car. And no one was around at the trail junction. Downhill from there, the trails split three ways and we had no way to guess where the team was headed. So we gave up the chase and returned uphill to lock the car.

We then discussed whether to chase after the team in a hopeful direction (and ruin my knee), or both bag the entire weekend hike, or to instead hike this park on our own as a team of two and get whatever exercise I could handle. We went with the final choice.

We guessed that the team would circuit the park trails in a counter-clockwise direction and perhaps take a lunch break at the downhill entrance to the park. We planned to go there quickly, and wait awhile, in hopes of joining up with the team. The long downhill hike was pleasant. My knees seemed fine so far. The exercises and knee-taping from my physical therapist seemed to help. We enjoyed the many wild flowers that we saw along the trail.

We arrived at the downhill entrance but no one was around. It was too early for a team lunch break, so if they had been here, they likely moved on. So we continued on our counter-clockwise circuit, along Purisima Creek. Fifteen minutes later, we were happy to encounter our team, headed towards us in their clockwise circuit of the park!

Coach Nathalie was surprised and sorry that we hadn't seen the stack of marked maps that she left on her car windshield, right next to the trailhead gate. Of course, we hadn't known we were supposed to look there because no one ever told us we should. Oops!

Another team member had also joined the team midway on the trails. In her case, she was on time until she got lost on Skyline Blvd. She then guessed wrong about which parking lot and trailhead was being used. But she lucked out in picking an intercepting trail.

We and the rest of the team then hiked back uphill the way we'd came.

Christina had been on these trails once before, just after studying for and passing the California Bar Exam. She tagged along with her study partner, who was trying to get in shape to make an application to the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS, on a hike that turned out to be more difficult with more uphill than she could then handle. After hearing this story several times over the years, I expected this Purisima hike to be especially difficult. We had been dreading it for months. But it turned out to be easy compared to Mission Peak. A long hike with lots of uphill, but not especially steep. My knee was still relatively happy.

As we got within 30 minutes of our cars, it was clear that this one circuit of the park would not take the entire 7.5 hours planned for us this day. So the faster ones of us would take an additional excursion on a side trail. This began with a slight, very slight downhill. And now my right knee began having sharp pains at the bottom edge of the knee cap, at every step. My knee was not yet ready for all this. So I bugged out of doing that extension and returned to our car before anyone else. I applied an instant cold-pack. Neat! How do they work?

My knee felt better as soon as the hike was over. The timing of the pains was a bit odd; after a lot of uphill, rather than during the long downhill before that. My therapist and I later guessed that it may have been triggered by a lunch break I took during the uphill part, where I squatted on a low mound for awhile. This posture can be bad for "runner's knees". (Now, several weeks later, I think my problem is aggravated by swelling triggered during ups as well as downs, even though the pain mostly happens on the downhill.)

Christina returned to the car about an hour or so later, after doing the extension. Tired and a little bit sore, we returned home to a nice hot shower and a well-deserved rest.

Taekwondo Testing

Today is officially a rest day. I went to my usual Friday amateur radio lunch, and otherwise tried to catch up with my house.

The Roomba did a good job, though unexpected in some ways. I had set it for 2:00 am, thinking that I would shut the hall door and just let it work while we slept. Unfortunately, I forgot to shut the hall door and it came marching down the hallway at 2:00 am last night.

Duane and I bolted upright out of bed wondering, "What the...?" By the time I had grabbed my bathrobe and gone after it, Roomba had wandered into our son's bedroom and he was bolt upright too, staring at Roomba in a wide eyed stupor.

I quickly decided that 2:00 am was a really dumb idea. Roomba's a bit noiser than I imagined too. So I put Roomba back in its charger, reset the schedule for noon today, and went back to sleep.

This evening was my son's Taekwondo test. He tested for his green/blue belt today, which means he had to know how to count to ten in Korean, know what the names of his forms mean, and what the different color belts signify. Of course, he also had to know his form, as well as one beginning form and some other moves. I'm happy to say that he passed the test!

After dropping our son off for his sleepover, we went home to get ready for tomorrow's hike at Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. I've been anticipating this hike with some trepidation. In 1992, after taking and passing the California Bar Exam, I went hiking with my study partner. He was trying to get in shape to get a job in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service. He was in much better shape than I was to begin with, nevertheless he chose Purisima for our hike. We hiked down to the bottom and then back up. No poles, no hiking shoes, no hydration pack, no electrolyte or granola bars. I'm pretty sure we went straight down and then straight up again, by which time I was pretty well exhausted. I wanted to hit him over the head (what was he thinking?), but I didn't want to lose my newly obtained law license. All was better after a cold beer, but I still have bad memories of that hike. I wonder how it will be tomorrow, after I have done all of this conditioning?

Roomba!

Today was another day of errands and appointments. This morning I had a dentist appointment - always fun. Not! I more than made up for it, however, by getting my nails done afterwards.

In the housecleaning department, I've been wanting a Roomba for months. Somehow, my busy life makes keeping up with the child, dog and resulting dust bunnies more difficult than it should be. Today my new Roomba 562 finally arrived in the mail!

I had quite a bit of fun programming it and getting it ready to vacuum. Towards the end of the evening I set it down on the charger. Tomorrow we will see how well it cleans!

Running in Place

Today it was back to the end of school year rush. Our son had playdates, end-of-year school parties, and there is always the paperwork to hand in for next year.

I did manage a short walk around the neighborhood, but after this last busy weekend, I didn't do much.

The hardest part about today was trying to be in two places at once. I was net control for my first hospital net tonight (all of Santa Clara County's hospitals check out their amateur radio equipment once a month), and I was supposed to be at a planning meeting for our parish's Vacation Bible Camp. Figuring that the net would be relatively short, I opted to do that first and go to my VBC meeting late.

All was well and it ended well!

Planks

Tonight we had another track workout at Foothill College. We did the usual laps, bleachers and stretching and strengthening exercises.

There is one of our core exercises in particular that I really hate. We've been doing it most of the season, but I just hate it. I do it anyway, but I hate it. Did I mention that I really hate it?

This exercise is called "planks". You make your body like a "plank" supporting it on your toes and elbows (see the above photo). The idea is to maintain this position for as long as possible. I have usually been able to manage this for about 30 seconds and no more. Tonight I managed it for almost three minutes. Mentor Bowman beat me by ten seconds.

I'm still not sure how I did that. Muscles are weird.

The other big news is that our trail assessments were due today. We put in for Half Dome as our first choice and the Panorama Trail as our second choice. If we don't get Half Dome, the Panorama Trail offers better vistas than Yosemite Falls or Dewey Point. Yosemite Falls is more strenuous than the Panorama Trail, but it it up and down with not much of a view (comparatively). The Panorama Trail passes Nevada Fall, Vernal Fall and Illilouette Fall, so there is much more to see on this trail.

Knee News

In February when Christina and I signed up for Team in Training's Half Dome hike, my immediate concerns were leaving our young son with others on many Saturdays, and asking lots of people for money, and possibly re-activating old injuries. I injured my knees eleven years ago in high-impact aerobics and roller-coaster waiting lines and it took over a year to heal itself. I was quite leery of putting our bodies at high risk for permanent damage, for this entirely optional adventure. We choose to go for the dream, anyhow.

So I've been half expecting my knee problems to return during our training hikes. Hiking poles helped a lot on the downhills. My knees seemed okay even on our steepest, hardest hike, to Mission Peak above Fremont twice in the same day. My bigger problems that day was getting out of breath and energy on the sustained steep uphill. So we tried to do it all again the next weekend, this time starting the trail an hour before dawn to beat the predicted heat wave. Two thirds of the way back down on our first "lap", my knees were feeling very tight on the sides, and then I felt again the old familiar sharp jabbing pain, inside under the bottom of my right knee cap. I could sort of slowly stumble along anyhow, thanks to the poles. The sharper pains abated by the time I reached our friend's SUV. But I was very afraid of doing some permanent damage if I continued on the second "lap", and afraid of getting stuck up on the mountain with no way down except by further abusing that leg. So I stayed behind as Christina and friend went back up the mountain.

In the following week, my knee got slowly better but I was scared of getting stuck on any trail. I couldn't see resuming my training, and getting selected for the Half Dome hike team now seemed totally hopeless even if I somehow healed by then.

On Friday morning I saw a sports medicine specialist at the SOAR clinic near Santana Row. I thought it would be useful if I showed up with the knee actively hurting, so I climbed our favorite stairs for an hour beforehand. 7 laps totalling 1000 feet up and down. If I got in trouble, my car wasn't that far away. My knee was tight feeling again and I did have one moment of stabbing pain on one step down. But just that one moment. And my knees actually felt better and the end of the hour than at the beginning. Not at all what I expected. I began to have hope again.

The doctor said that I had an obvious case of chondromalacia, also known as runner's knees. Part of the problem is the 'tracking' of my knee caps in their vertical groove. When my legs are fully extended, my knee caps get pulled a bit towards the outside at the last moment. In that position, it is easier for the legbone and kneecap cartilage to rub and wear each other in the wrong way. This can be helped by strengthening the quadricep muscles, which I need anyhow. I'm to see a therapist twice weekly for the next 4 weeks up to the Yosemite event. They also fitted me with a wetsuit-like neoprene sleeve for that knee, with a cutout right over the knee cap. This hole helps to keep the knee cap centered during hikes.

With knee brace, more confidence, and less pain, I braved doing a regular 4-5 hour training hike on Saturday, on the mining ridge in Almaden Quicksilver park. And it turned out okay! I couldn't keep up with others on the long downhill, but I plugged along carefully without pain. And felt great afterwards and the next days. I am now sure I can continue the training, and I think I'll manage okay on any of the harder Yosemite Valley climbs.

Memorial Day BBQ

Today is Memorial Day and after all of the hiking I did the past weekend, I rested. Well, mostly. I cooked a barbeque dinner for a small family get together this evening.

That's probably about as much "rest" as I'm ever likely to get, so I'm not complaining.

Black Mountain

Since I had a hike to make up, and because I am training for Half Dome, I decided to meet mentor Deb and teammate Matt for a Sunday morning hike up to the summit of Black Mountain.

We met at the trailhead, got ready and started off at about 8:00 am. There was almost no warm up period, perhaps only the first 100 feet or so. After that, the trail went sharply up for the next mile or so. After that, however, the trail wound around the ridge of the mountain at a more gentle incline with many switchbacks. Most of the trail had quite a bit of cover, which was good because it was a bright sunny day.

We did the other half of Black Mountain when we hiked up the PG&E trail at Rancho San Antonio Park. The Black Mountain Trail meets the PG&E Trail along the way.

The final half mile to the summit was quite steep, although not nearly as difficult as the Stanford Avenue side of Mission Peak. We hiked to the junction with Montebello Road, a fire road that goes up to the antenna installation at the peak. Apparently, there is a winery further down Montebello Road and we had some discussion about a wine tasting fundraiser being a great way to end a hike!

There were not as many wildflowers in evidence on this hike, although there was lots and lots of poison oak. Nevertheless, I have so far managed to avoid it.

Amazingly, I was not at all sore after this hike. Maybe just a tad, but definitely less sore than after finishing our Almaden Quicksilver hike yesterday.

Delayed at Almaden Quicksilver

We had a very short drive to this morning's hike at Almaden Quicksilver County Park. We arrived shortly before 9:00 am and quickly got ready.

Today's hike would take us past the San Cristobal mine, where the mercury which gave the park its name was mined. Mercury from this mine was used to separate out gold and silver from ore during the Gold Rush of 1849.

We hiked up the Mine Hill Trail until we reached a junction. We then proceeded down the Randol Trail. This trail took us past the Buena Vista Mine Shaft. Rusty old mining equipment strewn amidst old outbuildings were visible from the trail. At the next junction we took the New Almaden Trail. Most of this park is open grassland and chaparral micro climates.

The flowers continue to be in full bloom, with many examples of Indian Paintbrush, thistles and the very spectacular California Buckeye. Some of the vistas were also very beautiful, with excellent views of the nearby neighborhoods as well as great views of Mt. Umunum and Loma Prieta, each peak with its own "antenna farm" - so useful to the amateur radio community.

At the next junction, we took the Prospect Trail up a steep climb for almost a mile. We stopped near the top for a sandwich and refreshment before continuing on. At the next junction, we rejoined the Mine Hill Trail once more, past the Catherine Tunnel and to the Castillero Trail. We intended to take the Deer Gulch Trail back to the park entrance, however, we took a wrong turn and wound up at the junction of the Mine Hill Trail and Randol Trail, close to where we started.

Here we had to make a decision. Were we lost or merely delayed? Did we go back the way we came, or would we consider this an extension? The group decided to retrace our steps to find the Deer Gulch Trail and, although I whined and grumbled a bit at walking the extra .8 miles, I did it anyway. It's all toward our training!

But where was Duane? He fell behind at the turnoff to Deer Gulch. It turned out that he took the right trail, while the rest of us took the wrong one and he reached the parking lot about 45 minutes ahead of us. It's a good thing one of us can read maps!

Not Exactly Resting

Although today was supposed to be a rest day, there wasn't much rest involved. (Is there ever?)

Friends of ours needed a babysitter. Since we were taking our son (with his TBall team) to the San Jose Giants vs. Modesto Nuts game tonight, free tickets courtesy of the San Jose Water Company, I suggested we take their children too. (I'm not sure how, during this drought, the San Jose Water Company can afford to give everyone free tickets, especially when they are planning a rate increase.)

Duane and I had practice at being parents of a larger "family", which took a bit more time and attention from both of us. We both got some "girl time" too. We did all of the traditional things one does at a baseball game. We ate hot dogs and popcorn, watched the audience participation contests between innings, and did the 7th inning stretch.

The children had a fantastic time watching the game and enjoying the experience, and sorting sorting through their baseball cards, a memento of the occasion. Best of all, there was a fireworks display following the game, which the San Jose Giants lost 2-3. Less than five minutes after shepherding the children back into the car, they were all sound asleep.

After dropping the children off, Duane and I returned home and prepared for tomorrow's hike at Almaden Quicksilver park.

The Best Laid Schemes...

... o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley....

Robert Burns, To a Mouse, November 1785.

I intended to walk with a friend at Vasona Park this morning during the only two hours that I had for walking. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. We ended up having a meeting to discuss a pressing amateur radio project instead.

Bowling and TBall

Today was crazy busy! I went from one errand to another after dropping our son off to school. He had an early dismissal day and, after rushing to drop another student off at his house, I took my son to a bowling party. He had a great time and I bowled an incredibly lousy game, not even breaking 100. It's totally embarrasing when my son beats me, even if he's using the bumpers.

After bowling, I went to our son's TBall game. He had a great game! I then ran home, grabbed my stuff and went to my monthly amateur radio meeting. By the time I got home, I was thoroughly exhausted!

Tuesday Night Workout

Tonight was another workout at Foothill college. More bleachers, more laps around the track, and this time, we hiked the circumference of the college. That was a pretty nice trek through the woods.

We also did more core, strengthening and stretching exercises. We did as many situps as we could in a couple of minutes, several stretching exercises and "planks". Planks are done by raising your entire body up on your toes and elbows and holding it there for as long as possible. So far, I've been able to do this for about 30 seconds and that's it. I'll try for a longer period of time next week.

Pooped

I went for a short walk this morning, but otherwise, I used today to get some rest and catch up on stuff.

Hot

We took it easy after yesterday's Mission Peak hike. This was probably a good thing since it was over 100 degrees today. We went to a birthday party celebration and cooled off with water gun fights. So we did get a little exercise and got cool at the same time.

Mission Peak Twice - Twice

Today Duane and I woke up at the absolutely un-Godly hour of 3:20 am. We quickly showered, dressed and ate breakfast. We drank water on the drive to the Stanford Avenue trailhead to Mission Peak. We planned to start our hike at 4:45 am from the steeper Stanford Avenue side in order to avoid hiking up this portion in the hottest part of the day when we would most assuredly be tired.

This morning's climb up Stanford Avenue was certainly easier than last week's, when we did this in full sun, at approximately 85 degrees, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. We made it to the top by about 6:45 am, and saw the sunrise on the way up. It was quite beautiful watching the long shadows shorten, and the beautiful pinks and oranges disappear as the sun rose higher in the sky.

Our fellow hikers, mentor Deb and Brian, are some of the fastest hikers in the group. Deb is planning to summit Half Dome on the same day we are, though not with the Team in Training group. Brian is also preparing for Half Dome, but is juggling his time commitments because his wife is preparing to have a transplant to treat her blood cancer.

Just about all of this hike was easier than last week and I found myself enjoying it far more than the previous week. I enjoyed the wildflowers as well as the gopher snake that we saw near the summit.

On the final stretch of the hike, Duane's knee began to hurt. Downhill is always more difficult - and more stressful on the knees - than uphill. Duane got worried and decided to wait for me at that parking lot. He didn't want to risk making his knee worse.

We made it back down to the parking lot at Ohlone College at about 8:00 am. By that time, it was beginning to get hot again. I quickly changed my socks, ate half a sandwich, and made sure that my hydration pack had full water, before setting out again. One of my amateur radio friends met us at the Ohlone College parking lot and went up with me. Since my car was at the Stanford Avenue parking lot, I figured I would drive him back to his car and pick up Duane.

As it turned out, we left a bit later than we planned. My friend was on call at work starting at 10:00 am and needed to be near a computer. We didn't quite make it to the top before needing to turn back because of time. Truth be told, however, I was pretty tired. I had carried my heaviest pack of the season. My hydration pack held the full three liters, and I was carrying 4 bottles of G2, two more bottles of water, five granola bars, electrolyte gels, some trail mix and a sandwich. I just started to run out of gas around mile nine.

This surprised me because I had done it twice the week before (except for the very top), and discouraged me. I began to wonder if my choice of electrolyte and sandwich were really the best idea. This also caused me to think about how often I was eating and drinking electrolyte along the trail. Should I be doing something different to get more energy into my body and faster than I already was? Something to think about over the next week. I will make some adjustments on future hikes and see how they work.

The good news is that my new, fourth pair of boots are working quite well. I had a twinge of pain in one toe on the way down, but it wasn't lasting. This may be because I lost part of the toenail on last week's hike because I forgot to clip it the night before. I won't forget to do that again.

We had a good rest after today's hike and had a much deserved date night. We dropped our son off at a play date and we went out for dinner and a movie.

Rest Day

Today was a rest day, so naturally I worked on amateur radio projects. I had coffee with a local ham. I attended my regularly scheduled Friday ham lunch. I went to Ham Radio Outlet with a friend and drooled over a new VHF/UHF radio and terminal node controller (a fancy name for what is essentially a modem) for a packet base station. I wound up buying a used VHF/UHF Kenwood tri-band radio and a new Kantronics KPC3+ terminal node controller.

Some women ask for diamonds and furs. Duane gets requests for electronics and antennas. I think he's learning to live with that!

This evening, we prepared to hike Mission Peak twice - again. We got our packs ready and had an early bed time because we plan to wake up at 3:00 am so that we can avoid hiking in the heat of the day. It's supposed to be a hot one tomorrow.

Boy Scouts and Field Day

Today I finally had a chance to slow down a little and catch up with myself. I always enjoy these days because it means I get some housework done, the paperwork piles are reduced, and I get ready for whatever happens to be coming next.

I didn't get any training in today, because I had promised to give a presentation to the local Boy Scout council about the American Radio Relay League's 2009 Field Day exercise. That took up all of my time after dinner. The meeting went well. I made my presentation, explaining that Field Day is a combined emergency preparedness exercise and contest. Contestants have a few hours to set up their equipment followed by 24 hours to make as many contacts as they can. It is the biggest amateur radio event of the year in North America. This is usually a good time for hams to show their stuff to the public, who are allowed to operate under an amateur radio operator's supervision.

Tomorrow is a rest day, so I suppose I will get a double rest before taking on Mission Peak for a second time.

Vasona Perambulations

This morning I met a friend at Vasona Park and walked there instead of my usual neighborhood walk. Unfortunately, my neighbor was unavailable. It was a sultry day and not too hot. We walked around the lake.

This gave me a chance to break in my fourth new pair of boots. After our last hike at Mission Peak, I decided they were still just a smidge too small, so I returned them to REI and went up half a size larger.

These Asolo boots are strangely sized. I normally wear a size 10.5 to an 11, depending on the cut of the shoe. My current pair of boots are an 11 Men's. So these boots would be a 14 Woman's if they ran the same way. Strangely, however, when I put my boots next to Duane's size 11 tennis shoes, they are substantially shorter. The lathe that Asolo uses is not only narrower (why I am wearing men's boots), it is also shorter. Are Italian feet that much different than American feet? Weird.

Tuesday Night Workout

Today was a work filled day. I spent a lot of time catching up this blog and doing household chores. Our son had a T-ball game at 4:30 pm and after it was over, I raced off to get him to the babysitter and then to the Foothill track. I was about 20 minutes late, but apparently didn't miss too much of the workout.

We did several laps around the track as well as stretching exercises and a core workout. We also did about 20 or so repetitions of the dreaded bleachers. This was, however, a more relaxed workout then we've had in weeks past.

After collecting our son, we met at a local restaurant and I had a spinach salad with salmon for dinner. Healthy and yummy!

Grand Canyon Kickoff

Tonight we kicked off the Grand Canyon team's event at Chipotle, one of my favorite restaurants! (In fact, I liked the restaurant so much I bought stock in it and it was doing well until the economy took a nosedive.) Chipotle donated all of the burritos for our event, which was very generous.

This was a great opportunity to get together with all of our teammates, including those who have had to drop out. There will be several TNT hikes going on in the Grand Canyon, including a rim walk, and a more strenuous three day adventure down into the canyon and back up.

Our Grand Canyon teammates are now tapering down. Their hikes will be somewhat shorter next week, so that they are fully healed for their event. Best wishes to our Grand Canyon hikers!

Go team! Hike on!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Since today is Mother's Day (as well as because we both needed a rest after yesterday's hike on Mission Peak), I thought it appropriate to write about two of the people we are hiking in honor of: our moms.

I have been blessed to have the best mom anyone could have asked for. (No, she's not perfect, but then again, who of us is?) Not that I always realized this. Far from it. I went through my rebellious stage like most children do, albeit a bit later than most.

Mom did all the things that good mothers are supposed to do. She kept a tidy home (well, hospital clean, actually), patched up and repaired our clothes, made sure we had good food to eat, and referreed our many sibling rivalries. She made, and still does make, a home that is warm and inviting to live in. She ferried us back and forth from up to four different schools and was involved to some degree in all of them.

I mentioned that she makes a warm and inviting home. This is particularly at Christmas when her artistic flair has an opportunity to express itself. My favorite Christmas tree is still the fir that bore all of the sequined ornaments that she painstakingly made by pushing pins into styrofoam balls. Some years it has been golden ribbons, bows and icicles on the tree. Last year it was a tree full of hand crafted needlepoint ornaments. She's been working on these for years. Every child, spouse-in-law, and grandchild received a hand crafted needlepointed Christmas stocking to hang on the mantle.

If the ordinary duties of motherhood weren't enough, there were the extraordinary duties of a mother to her disabled child - me. Yes, I have a disability though I am sometimes loathe to admit it. Mom knew something was wrong, though it took several years for the doctor's to figure out that I had epilepsy, as well as a bladder and a ureter valve that were malfunctioning. Mom went to all of the doctor's appointments, all of the EEGs, all of the surgeries. She crocheted a blanket while at my hospital bed in less than one week, so you can imagine how much time she spent there. (I would still have that blanket if it weren't for Mom tossing it because it had a hole in it. Hospital clean!) She administered all of my meds. When some of those meds caused serious adverse reactions, she was there to pick me up, dust me off, and get me readjusted, alternatively medicated, and otherwise back on track.

Needless to say, with all of this medical stuff going on, school was difficult. I should have flunked out of eighth grade. Mom - and Dad too - never stopped believing in me. They never told me I was limited, even if I couldn't drive a car. Instead, they told me I could be anything I wanted. What Mom - and Dad - wanted most for us was that we would excel and be happy at whatever we did. By the time I graduated from high school, I had not only caught up, I had made honor roll at least once.

This didn't mean, however, that "No" was an unknown word. There were moral limits to our behavior, which our parents were very clear about. The disciplinarian duties fell to Mom more often than not. There were consequences for bad behavior. (There still are and always will be even after our parents are gone for it is not our parents who make up the rules. The "rules" spring from our human nature.) More than our physical needs were being taken care of. We were being taught how to live in society. We were being civilized, as all children should be.

"Education is the transmission of civilization." - Wil & Ariel Durant

I remember many times having conversations with Mom while she was cooking dinner, bringing up problems I was facing at school or elsewhere. She would often respond with a question, "What if ..." It was through those "What if"s that I began to explore the consequences of my own proposed actions. Of course, as I soon learned, there were many possibilities that I had never considered. My education didn't consist merely of academics and athletics. My mother added the dimension of good character, ethics, and morality.

Now that I am a mother myself, I have a whole new appreciation for what my own mother accomplished with all of us. I'm more aware than ever that motherhood is a multi-faceted, never-ending, time consuming, sometimes thankless job, and always full of surprises. It's the toughest job you will ever love.

When I married Duane in 1998, my new mother-in-law welcomed me into her family. Gentle and kind, she always had our room ready when we were in town for a visit. Over the years, I've also acquired some fantastic recipes, including how to make lefse (a Norwegian potato flatbread) and her wonderfully tasty corn bread, which I have shared with others. Like my own mother, she is artistic and paints landscapes as well as Rosemaling, the decorative folk painting of Norway. Several of my mother and mother-in-law's paintings hang in our home.

When World War II broke out she, like many women of her generation, went to work. My mother-in-law was a "Rosie the Riveter"! Her most important job, however, was that she along with her husband, successfully raised three sons to manhood, one of whom became the man I would marry, the love of my life. I see much of my mother-in-law in Duane.

I am blessed to have both of them in my life.

Here's to mothers and motherhood! This hike's for you!

Mission Peak - Twice

Today's hike was at Mission Peak, a 2200 foot elevation change and 14 miles. This was the closest we've come so far to simulating the Half Dome hike.

After dropping our son off at his T-Ball coach's home, we headed over to Ohlone College to meet those of our teammates going on this hike. Unbeknownst to us, several others had already started from the Stanford Avenue entrance at 4:45 am.

We thought we were going to do the hike twice to the Ohlone College side, but as it turned out we were going down the Stanford Avenue entrance and back over. Thus, we didn't have everything in our packs, thinking that we would refill water, electrolyte, energy bars and a fresh pair of socks out of our car after the first trip. We hurriedly threw that stuff in our packs, but in our haste, I forgot my extra granola bars, and fresh socks.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until I was 15 minutes into the hike and it was too late to turn back. Not that it really mattered. I had a sandwich and five granola bars, so I wouldn't starve and I'm dieting anyway. I did have all of my G2 and water with me, so I was good to go, even if not perfect.

The first part of this hike, along the the Peak Trail near Ohlone College, is a series of switchbacks that takes you over and behind the ridge and into an oak forest. The forest eventually peters out as you enter a chaparral microclimate. As we headed up the ridge, we entered grasslands. From here on out, we were fully exposed to the sun, which at this time of the morning - about 10:00 am - wasn't at its hottest. At this point, the switchbacks began to get steeper until we reached the plain at the top of hill. At this point, there was a junction at which you could continue on up to the peak, circle around just below, or continue on down to the Stanford Avenue entrance. Of course, we continued on up to the peak.

The final ascent involved a steep grade, followed by an even steeper grade clamboring over rocks the final 100 feet. At last we reached the top - and, oh, what a view! We could see the entire South Bay, the NUMI plant, the salt flats, all the way up to Mt. Tamalpais peeking up through the Marin County fog. Behind us we could see the 680 corridor running through the valley beyond.

We sat down and rested for about half an hour. I ate half of my sandwich, a granola bar, finished my first bottle of G2 and just enjoyed the view. After that we took off again, continuing in the same direction taking the Eagle Trail in a circuit around the peak, before coming to the same junction again, this time taking the Grove Trail, which is the beginning of the way down to the Stanford Avenue entrance. From there we took the Ohlone Wilderness Trail the rest of the way down.

This side of the mountain is quite steep and there is little cover. Just two clumps of trees providing minimal shade to passing hikers. This was, however, a good test of my boots for the kinds of terrain that we will experience on the Half Dome hike. The result: almost perfect, but not quite. I still was experiencing some minor jamming of my toes on the way down. It wasn't too bad and once I retied my boots, I did much better.

We arrived down at the Stanford Avenue entrance around 12:30 pm. We had a half an hour rest. I ate the rest of my sandwich and some trail mix, and finished a second bottle of G2. Joy, one of our mentors, had some ice cold lemonade waiting for us, which was wonderful!

Then we took off again, this time ascending the mountain from Stanford Avenue. In retrospect, this was really a mistake. It put us on the steepest side of the mountain, with no cover, in the heat of the day and the temperature was about 85 degrees. The going was very tough. One of my teammates used up all her water on the way up and she had refilled her hydration pack before we started.

We got back up to the junction with the Peak Trail. We began the final ascent and I just ran out of gas. I just didn't want to take one more step up. I also didn't want to climb the steepest rocky part because I didn't want to come down the same way (too steep) and there was no longer time to do the more gentle circuit back. Duane and one of our teammates walked about 100 feet more before turning back as well.

From there it was back down to Ohlone College, a more gentle decline with plenty of shade. We reached our car at about 4:20 pm, very tired and sore, but we very happy that we did it!

Stanford Pow Wow

Today is a rest day, but we did quite a bit of walking anyway at the Stanford Pow Wow for a few hours this evening. There was a lot to see! We had buffalo burgers for dinner and viewed the many booths where artists and merchants displayed their wares.

We also watched the Grand Entry, in which all of the dancers carry the colors into the circle. We met with friends of our from two different arenas. The family of one of our son's classmates was there, as her father is Paiute. Our son is also half Native American, both Pequot and Blackfoot.

We also met up with some amateur radio friends, one of whom is Seneca, who were there to help the tribal elders with some of their communications needs. A good time was had by all and, after a few hours, we drove back home to prepare for tomorrow's hike at Mission Peak.

Evening Hike

We decided to do one of the extra weekday hikes this evening. Tonight's adventure was at Rancho San Antonio, travelling up the PG&E trail, so named because of the electrical towers that parallel the trail up the mountain.

This was a good hill to climb, but definitely not as bad as some of the hills we've walked, such as the Peterson Trail at Sanborn County Park. The scenery was also beautiful. We made it as far as the PG&E Vista, about 1.9 miles. Then we turned back and looped down the Wildcat Loop trail, which was several switchbacks down to the valley floor. We met up at the High Meadow trail and continued that down to Deer Hollow Farm and back to the entrance to the park.

We had grasslands and chapparal microclimates on the way up, and oak and redwood forest on the way down. Quite a change in scenery, but it kept things interesting. We made it back to the car and then went off for dinner at Whole Foods.

Neighborhood Walk

This morning my neighbor and I walked around the neighborhood for about an hour. Everyone's roses are out, trees are in bloom, and new construction projects are underway.

Of particular note today were different types of roofing. My neighbor is thinking about getting a new roof. Interestingly, there were no metal roofs to be seen in the neighborhood, most of the houses having either shake or composite. There were also a few tile roofs, but those were less common, and not a metal roof to be seen.

We also talked about gardening: tips for cutting roses, and what vegetables I planted this year. We got a good walk in - easily at least a couple of miles.

Back On Track

Tonight it was back to the track and field at Foothill College! It felt good to be back, but at the same time, I noticed that it was less easy than the last time. I definitely need to get back on this!

We did several laps around the track, stretching and core exercises, as well as sixteen repetitions of the now infamous bleachers. It was not a difficult workout and probably perfect for getting back in after a hiatus.

Day of Rest

Today was a busy day, filled with amateur radio once again. I spent the morning at the Saratoga EOC upgrading the laptop, fixing the settings for the packet station software, and writing instructions for it. Packet is a digital mode of amateur radio, that is useful for sending lists of things and messages that you want kept relatively, even if not quite, private.

I came home in the afternoon and napped for a couple of hours before doing chores, picking our son up from school and going to a meeting. I was pretty wiped out from the big weekend. I didn't get any exercise in today, but tomorrow I will start in earnest once again.