What a craxy day I've had so far...

 

Good Saturday Morning,

 

What a day already!  Wind is blowing like crazy...  that time of year tho.  My fall consists of scalped grass, getting ready for winter rye to go in before Halloween so my yard looks good for trick or treaters and wind... ICK

Fall is not my favorite time of year... Summer is... but that is another entry...

 

I get up at 6am because we have 2 races this weekend at Glen Helen.  The boys need to practice for a HUGE National coming up in November in Arizona. We will be gone Nov 2 to Nov 12... [we are staying in a Bates like Motel because all the stupid NASCAR fans [except Phil] have taken up all the rooms...

 

At 6:30 am I drive over to CVS to get ice and dog food...

they open at 7 Grrrr..   

I drive over to Wal-greens...

they open at 7 double Grr.. 

 

[Walmart is much farther and I hate my Super Walmart anyway... sorry Lisa Jo... its a Gang hang out and I am not in the mood for a drive by today]

 

OMG... speaking of a drive by - Kameron's friend Joshua [who lives around the corner from us] comes over about 2 weeks ago with... are you ready for this... bullet holes in his car!

I guess he was down at the Street Fair on Thursday [which I never let my kids go to when they were growing up... a bunch of teenagers hanging out doing nothing spells trouble to me...] anyway he saw some old friends he use to hang out with and they asked Josh for a ride home... Josh says ok... on the way home... some Mexicans saw them and I guess they have a beef going, they started flashing gang signs and the next thing you know... The Mexicans pulled out a gun and started firing!

Whoa... crazy... I'm telling you my town is going to 'Hell in a Handbasket'...

 

Ok back to my day...  I ended up going to Albertson's [my grocery store] they open at 6am woo hoo!  Grab the ice and the dog food...

 

6:45 am we head to the races... 2 minutes later... Sam says

 

"The trailer brakes are not on, Kieffer go wiggle the plug at the hitch" nothing happens... [trailer brakes help slow the HEAVY trailer down so you dont have to use your truck brakes]

"Must be a fuse, Ill have to pick one up... no big deal we can use the truck brakes" Sam says and we are on our way again... 10 minutes down the freeway Sam says "Oh SHIT" and pulls over to the shoulder of the freeway.

[One of our white panels with our sponsors names on it... peeled off the trailer and flew down the freeway and the next panel was ready to do the same...]

 

We had to nurse the trailer back home before the next one flew off...

 

I said "Its a sign... no racing today" 

 

So we came back home and went back to bed...

Time Travel with me...

Sam and I just returned from the beach... and I have a story to tell you but first we must travel back in time to my childhood...

 

I grew up in a 2 story home in the front of the property - with a guest house and 3 car garage in the back...Between the two was a huge area of cement with a grass area for our dogs and around the grass area was more cement...

 

I was an only child and very very LONELY...  I was NOT allowed to have friends over when my Mom wasn't home.  Which was pretty much

NEVER because she was working 16 hour days in her newly opened escrow company.  It was hard to go to a friend's house because I went to a private school and most of my friends lived MILES away.

 

So as you can imagine I was alone ALOT... and bored... so I skated on my roller skates a lot! I had this HUGE concrete area between the house and the guest house ... and let me tell you I would be out there for hours ... pretending to be Dorothy Hamil skating in the Olympics... I had a HUGE imagination [that tends to happen when you are an only child...] I could twirl, do figure 8's, I am not kidding when I say I was pretty good...

 

Are you getting the picture? 

 

Ok... now fast forward in time 28 years to today...

 

Sam and I had to go to the Newport house, [it looks GREAT, landscaping went in today pics to follow] then to the Redondo house and check on the results there... [pics to follow in next entry]

 

We had to kill time for traffic so we headed down to the beach and rented beach cruisers again... We rode past the Manhattan Beach Pier where Sam used to surf everyday growing up... we sat on some benches and I took some pics of California Life Guard Towers for you Ellen! [pics to follow]

 

Anyway we are sitting there talking about growing up and I get on the subject of roller skating... I told Sam lets go back and I will trade my bike for some skate rentals... I betcha I can still skate... Sam said he tried to skate about 30 years ago and fell on his ass... maybe the memory should stay in my mind instead because it was going to bum me out if I tried and couldn't do it...

I said "I was really good! I swear! I know I can still do it! Maybe I can't twirl around anymore but I am sure I can still skate..."

Sam said "Ok lets go..."

 

Rest of the story in the morning... I need to get to bed...

Candice's boyfriend Mike Bob Bill

Hi,

We are still here... after racing all weekend we were not ready to go and we wanted to be home for Monday night football.

 

Kris, Candice and her boyfriend Mike usually come over...

[We also call Mike different names like Bill and Bob and he answers to all of them! It started when Sam called him the wrong name...

[Sam is the WORST at remembering birthdays and names! Its a mental block he has, but ask Sam to do a difficult math problem and he has no problem giving you the answer from his head!]

 

Anyway the scene usually goes like this...

 

"Hi Kieffer" Candice and Mike walk in

Kieffer yells "MOM,... Candice and Bob are here" and Mike laughs

I say "Hi Mike" rolling my eyes...

He says "Hi" still smiling

Sam walks in...

Candice says "Hi Daddy" and she gives him a big hug

"I dont have any money, Candice" Sam says

"Oh Daddy... I dont need any money"

"Bill, your my witness, she said she didnt need any money"

Mike laughs and shakes Sam's hand

I just stand there thinking...

 

Mike must think we are the weirdest familyin the world...

The Redondo time machine today...

Sam and I had to go to Newport Beach and then to our Redondo Beach property ...

I bought it at 18 years old... 

3 unit... house in front, 2-bedroom 1 bath in the back upstairs and studio downstairs...

it was going into foreclosure, there were 3 offers in on it but I waved the inspection and the termite report and they took my offer!

Escrow was a nightmare... 3 couples on title... 2 of them going through a divorce...]

It was a MAJOR fixer upper... 

[perfect to lure that General Contractor guy I had just fallen in love with...who was making me crazy... running from me...]

Sam was 26 and I was 18... he thought I was going to hurt him... after all, he had just gotten a divorce and never wanted to go through that again... 

He said....I was just a baby, I couldn't even go in a bar to drink for 3 more years! How could I possibly know what I wanted...

I knew what I wanted...

him

but I had to chase him

because he ran as fast as he could...

well actually...

he ran...

then let me catch him...

then he'd get scared

and run again...

I must have wore him out because he quit running eventually and that was almost 24 years ago...

Anyway...

where was I...

oh ya...

the Redondo Beach property...

We moved here to Palm Springs when Kameron was a year old... and we have rented it out ever since...

Well the tenants finally moved out on Sept. 5th so we had to go down there...

Whoa... talk about going back in time today...

plus Sam and I grew up there at the beach...

After going to the property and going over all the stuff we need to do there... it was 4pm... so we had about 3 hours to kill before we could drive back home... [or we could have spent the time in bumper to bumper Los Angeles traffic and been home at the same time... uh no thank you]

So we went to the beach and rented beach cruisers and went on a 6 mile bike ride from the Redondo Beach pier to the Manhatten Beach Pier...

We used to do that ALL the time...

Anyway...

side story...

the last time we did that... about 4 years ago... we are sitting on the bike strand and guess who peddles by...

BRUCE WILLIS

I looked at him... thinking... is that who I think it is!  He smiled, nodded his head as if saying... ya its me... and he says "Hi, Howz it going?"

I say "Good"

When Sam retells this story... he has me batting my eyelashes... saying in a sexy voice "HI!" which is totally untrue!

[he knows its untrue but I guess it makes a better story and makes me laugh]

Ok... back to today...

who do we see going down the strand today?

The black guy in the movie 16 Blocks with Bruce Willis... the one who bakes the cakes! He actually talks like that!!!  If you havent seen the movie... rent it... its good... so is the movie Crash so rent that one too!

isnt that weird though...

I guess stars are a dime a dozen here in California but I still thought that was a little odd...

Anyway... photos to follow...

so you'all come back now hear!

Greetings from "its hotter than hell"...

 

 

Living here in the desert... I am use to HOT.... I have been through some HOT summers but nothing seemed to compare to this last week of HOT!

 

Do want to know why...?

 

one word...

 

Humidity...

 

No wait...

 

3 words...

 

Humidity broken air-conditioner...

 

On Saturday... the brand new air conditioner we had installed last week... BROKE... however because it was late evening Saturday of a long weekend ... we had to wait untill today to get the new unit installed!

 

So we had another slumber party on the BIG couch...  also this is the reason I have been MIA... Computers are upstairs and I didnt come up here for anything...  Like going in your attic on a hot summer day... who wants to do that! This week has been everywhere between 108 - 118 degrees with humidity...

 

OMG!...

 

The day I really noticed it was Saturday at the track...  I am always feeling cool at the track because it is usually 10 degrees cooler than home... but I swear to you it was HOTTER inland than here in the desert!  I had to walk around with an umbrella!  Anyway...Kameron took a 2nd!  Kieffer wasn't feeling so good, so he decided not to race.

After we came home I took the truck over to Candice's old place to help move boxes to the new place... I passed a bank and the temp was 116 degrees... UGH!!!

 

I guess we have a hurricane moving up Baja California, we are supposed to get some rain FINALLY!!!!!  Flooding rain... right now I will take flooding rain because I have not seen it rain for more than 2 minutes in about 2 years!

 

Everywhere you drive around here, its brown, brown, dying trees and shrubs...

 

Anyway... I have a ton of catching up to do... just wanted to let you know I haven't melted...