Rocky

RIP

Taxes

Well, it's tax time for us again. We have been having our taxes done in Los Osos, on the Central Coast of California since the early eighties.The trip over from the San Joaquin Valley was cloudy with scattered rain showers.The rolling hills were green, green, green.The trip home had clear skies and temperatures in the low 70's Morro Rock State Historic Landmark was formed about 23 million years ago from the plugs of long-extinct volcanoes. Member of the “Nine Sisters” of volcanic plugs. Home of nesting Peregrine Falcons.Morro Bay
“Morro” is the Spanish name for crown. Named “El Morro” by Portuguese Explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542.

We drove down the coast to the little town of Nipomo.
Nipomo is located at the foot of the hills of the Temetate Ridge. Appropriately, the name Nipomo is derived from the Chumash Indian word " Nepomah", meaning "the foot of the hills".
We had in mind Jocko's Steak House for a late lunch/early dinner as was suggested to me by the Eggman. (link to his blog on the right)Once an Old West saloon in the late-19th century, the popular eatery in the quaint town of Nipomo is now a raucous, high-energy haven for lovers of good steak, especially those cooked Santa Maria-style over a roaring, fragrant oak fire. Jocko's portions are famously large, and we see many people departing with generous leftovers.OK, I'll have to admit, the best part of our "Get Away Week-end" was the time spent with my wife enjoying the sunsets, the long walks and good converations that we had!
Love you...




*Adimtted confession, all the pictures in this last post were lifted from the internet and are not my own. I forgot the battery to my camera and was not able to take my own pictures.

Volleyball Tournament, Las Vegas, Nevada

We spent three days in LV for a volleyball tournament over the President's Holiday weekend. We stayed here at The Orleans This tournament involved over 700 teams from across AmericaThe games where played at sixteen venue's including high schools, colleges, and convention centers.We played at three different high schools. One of the high schools that we played was close to McCarren airport.On the first day the girls played from 2:00pm thru 9:00pmIt's amazing how these girls can get down!
REJECT!Here are the girls celebrating one of their wins.The girls ended up placing 2nd it their flight, here they are goofing off.Sunday night we all went to Hard Rock Cafe for some chow and downtime fun.Waiting for food and enjoying the camaraderie.Posing with one of the waiters outside the cafe.Some of the girls posing with KISSPicture of the Harley Davidson Cafe as we drove by.

World Ag Expo, Tulare, California

My Buddy Jim and I attended this year's World Ag Expo.

World Ag Expo is held in Tulare, California, the second week of February each year. The show is the world's largest agricultural exposition, with 2.6 million square feet of exhibit space, over 1600 exhibitors, and more than 100,000 attendees from over 67 countries.Tulare is about 45-50 miles north of Bakersfield up the 99 highway.This is a shot of one of many dairies in the San Joaquin Valley.
California is the leading dairy state in the nation with approximately 1.78 million dairy cows on 1,960 licensed dairies, producing 21.4% of the nations milk supply. California dairies produced 38.8 billion pounds of milk in 2006. Wisconsin is a distant second at 23.3 billion pounds of milk. In the first six months of 2007, California dairies produced more than 20 billion pounds of milk.This is a shot of flags from some of the countries that are represented at the show.Here is Jim getting a demonstration of a "BIJU" whatever the heck that is?No, this is not a ride! It is a tree shaper. It tops trees and shapes them .There is the old and the new.

You have never had a sandwich until you've had a Ribeye sandwich with grilled onions!

The next four pictures show some of the nations that are present.

Hockey Game

This is the arena that the "Bakersfield Condors" play. It was originally named "Centennial Gardens" Here is the start of the game face off. The Condors are celebrating their 10 anniversary this year.Between periods the Zamboni comes out onto the ice and resurfaces the iceA scramble in front of our goal. This night we played
the Utah Grizzlies.Hey, Who's this? It's the Eggman. He's working the game, he's so cheap he doesn't have to pay to gain entry. Check out the Eggmans blog by clicking the link to the right.