APRIL - WRAP-UP REPORT

"I was at the bar last night.

The waitress screamed ... "Anyone know CPR?"

I said, "Hell. I know the entire alphabet."

Everyone laughed.... Well everyone except this one guy."

The month of April had many fun activities. Individual blogs were published on each of the following bucket-list activities: the month began with an enjoyable hike with Espi into Eaton Canyon with an aborted destination of Henninger Flats. Next was my 12th year serving as an official at the Arcadia Invitational Track Meet, then one of my remaining original Bucket List items, a hike at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon with Art W, Gerard, and Harry. Then we did a Family Tour at Angels Flight with lunch at Olvera Street, and a week later we did a Family Tour at the California Science Center to see the King Tut Exhibition. The final activity for April was a special Harley Day-Ride called the HOG $100 Challenge Ride, which I subsequently submitted to the Harley-Davidson HOG Magazine for possible publication.

In addition to the above activities, I published blogs recognizing April Birthdays, Favorite Family Photos (our parents this month), an Updated Planning Schedule, an Updated Last Name Glossary, Memories of Unusual Running Events, Two Favorite Stories, and a Personal Memorial Observation for my Dad.

My Monthly Wrap-Up Blogs summarize other "non bucket-list activities" that take place during the month. The month of April was so busy doing planned activities that there were not many non-bucket-list activities to report.

Activities With Family-

Griffin: Periodically we get a chance to tend (and visit) with Griffin when Heather and Sean have other parental duties. We love to have Griffin visit us - it's clear that Bonnie is Griffin's favorite playmate at our house. On Thursday, April 26th we picked him up from school and went to lunch at Rudy's Mexican Restaurant, one of Griffin's (and ours) favorite places. Below is a photo at Griffin's school grounds and one of Bonnie helping him with his homework at our home after lunch.

Click Photo to Enlarge - Use Arrows to go to the Next Photo

Activities With Friends-

Mike D: While in Big Bear on April 24th I dropped into Mike's real estate office and had a good visit. Big Bear is undergoing many changes, but the biggest one may be as a result of the sale of Snow Summit and Bear Mountain Ski Resorts. The purchase was initially by Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort, but then a newly formed joint venture of Aspen Skiing Co. and Denver-based private equity firm KSL Capital Partners purchased Mammoth (and therefore the Big Bear properties). Mike said the initial response was the purchase of many second homes to be used by the new owner as rental properties. Also, many second home owners decided to rent their properties because of the limitation on property tax deduction for Federal purposes (property tax is deductible under the new law for businesses). He said the local concern is that last winter season was a bust, for both the ski hills and local rental properties. If this continues it could cause a flood of properties to go on the market for sale. Photos are in Mike's office in front of a map of Big Bear and Mike with his favorite Indian.

Click Photo to Enlarge - Use Arrows to go to the Next Photo

=====================================

Donna: Mid-month I accidentally bumped into Donna while running the streets of Monrovia. The encounter was brief. She said she hated me and always will. I don't understand this. It's very depressing.

Art H: While I was in Big Bear on April 24th I had planned to get my Honda 250 trail motorcycle running in preparation for a "memory ride" on the Big Bear Valley fire roads in May. I hadn't taken the Honda out on the trails for quite a few years so I knew it would take some work to get it running and prepared for an outing. First I replaced the old gas with new (required siphoning out the old stuff). Then I began the "kick-start" routine, but to my chagrin, the throttle was stuck - i.e. there was no way to get it running. Art came to my rescue! He called his friends, Ron W and Larry, who said they would fix the throttle, and anything else that was wrong. Then he called another friend, Fred C, who said he would help Art take the bike in his truck to the mechanic friends while I was doing my "HOG Challenge Ride." What a good guy.

====================================

When I returned to the cabin after my HOG Harley Ride late on April 25th there was a message from Art that my Honda was fixed and ready to picked up. I couldn't believe it. I thought I would need to come to Big Bear in a few weeks to pick it up. Anyway, Art took me to pick the bike up and it ran perfectly. I gave Fred C some money for helping Art move the bike. I tried to pay Ron W and Larry but they said they only worked for beer, so I gave them a couple cases of beer. I put the bike back in the cabin's basement and it's all ready to go on a trail ride on the mountain fire roads and trails in May. To show my appreciation I took Art to dinner at my favorite Big Bear restaurant, the Sweet Basil Bistro.

Surprise a Stranger-

Just for fun I've been giving a gift of $7 to a stranger on the 7th day of each month (or another day if the 7th doesn't work) with a brief explanation as to why I'm doing it (I'm sure they think I'm crazy). I attach an explanatory note to a 5-dollar bill and a 2-dollar bill.

Each year I manage the Girls High Jump as an Official at the Arcadia Invitational Track Meet held at Arcadia High School. This year the meet was held on April 7th. The morning of the meet I went to the Jump Pit and didn't see the standards that hold the high jump bar. I asked about it at the Official's Tent and was told I would need to find an Arcadia High Coach who could help me. Arcadia High provides a group of students, called the "Meet Crew", to help in various ways in making the track meet successful. I was asking around for a coach when one of the Arcadia students overheard and asked me if I needed help. There were many other students around, but Latasha came forward and volunteered, and clearly went the extra mile. First she went looking for the coach, but then decided that maybe the standards could be under the cover that was covering the pit jump mats, which is where they were. She was very gracious in showing me, since with hindsight I should have looked there first myself. By the end of the track meet there had been no other situation as impressive, so I found Latasha, told her my Year 77 story, and gave her the $7 gift. I pointed out that I knew it wasn't going to help a great deal in helping her save for retirement, but that it was just a fun thing for me to do. She seemed thrilled, even with such a small gift. See her in the photo below.

Click Photo to Enlarge - Use Arrows for Next Photo