The Second Plague of Moses

Whenever you move into a new place you never really know what to expect.  Think about it.  When you are renting or buying a new place you take a walk around once or twice and from those couple of experiences usually make a decision.  You look out for things that are undesireable and if there are enough things that you dislike about the house or the area, you just move on.  Let's say that you make the jump and decide to get a place.  It is only afterward that once you settle in that you begin to see things that you never really noticed before.  The quiet street that you thought was going to be quite turns out to be a thouroughfare for mothers picking up their children during the day from school.  A next door neighbor that likes to fix cars and ends up reving the engine of his car early in the morning.  These are just some things that one can not foresee unless you were able to spend a lot of time there.  In our last house it wasn't until the moment that we signed the contract and put down the earnest money that we were presented with the fact sheet about poisonous bites and stings.  Turns out that at the time there was no disclosure law that required you to tell your potential buyer that the house they were buying was a habitat to the 4th deadliest scorpion on the planet.  While our last house was nohwere near infested it was quite an extended battle for a decade of trying to keep them out of the house.  This time around it is much different.  when we inspected the house it turned out at one time that there were issues with field mice but that it had been addressed and there were not other problems (still much better than scorpions).

Having moved back to Northern California for cooler temperatures we selected a house that sits very close to a creek system that feeds into the American River.   The level of water that flows in the creek varies per the season along with amont of percipitation.  It never really over flows but when the rains come it is quite a site to see.  One of the reasons that we purchased this house was because of the proximity to the creeks and the trail system that follows along the banks.  If you look at it on the map we are a pitching wedge away from the Every morning Jill is up with the dog and out on the trails.  Upon her return I ask for a wildlife sighting report.  So far to day she has seen, rabbits, mice, ducks, quail, geese, turkeys, deer, herons, coyote and most recently beaver swiming in the creek.  She has heard reports of bobcat but has avoided the trail when that has happened.  

The one thing that I didn't expect was the frogs.  Millions of them.  As soon as the rains came and the creeks rose there was an explosion of them.  I knew that because we were close to wetlands that there would be some and maybe we would hear the occasional soothing ribbet of a frog in the distance but the sheer volume from their singing is actually deafening.  We had to close the windows it was so loud.  A couple of months ago we had the cable guy come out and rework some wiring on the outside of the house.  I had to pull away some wood that was used as siding and when I did about 30 frogs came flying out.  On occasion we find several stuck to the side of the house or on the sliding glass door on the back.  When we let the dog out to go to the bathroom we see them leaping to get out of the way and one or two of them land in the pool.  Aside from them being on the outside of the house we have not had any of them come in.  With the occasional encounter in the yard or on the house it has been a plesant yet unexpected and at the same time not unwelcome experience. Even if the frogs were of the order of Dendrobatidae it would still be better than scorpions.

Steve and Eydie Write Back

Aimee was hanging out in my office studying for a Spanish test so I put on an all Spanish album by Eydie Gormet.  Aimee is pretty up the ladder with her studies so I thought that she could listen to some music in the background.  It was great to hear in that she was able to understand pretty much everything and in every tense.  As she studied I looked up to see if there was a website for Eydie and found that there was a contact link.  So, on the spur of the moment I sent a short message:

Hi guys,

We hope this finds you well.  My daughter and I are listening to your recordings in Spanish for the first time, I wanted to introduce her to your wonderful recordings with Los Tres Panchos.  I was helping her study Spanish and thought it would be great to have her hear you.  We really love your music and are so thankful for both of your incredible talents.

Take care both of you,

Ed & Amelia Flores

A few days later we got a reply:

Dear Ed & Amelia,

Thank you so much for the great e-mail.

We appreciate our fans so much.

We hope this e-mail finds you well & happy.
Take care & best wishes.

Steve & Eydie

Just Right

With the recent move back to Sacramento we have managed to up-end our lives in so many different ways. Even though this use to be our home over a decade ago, it is now a very different place. Now that we are here and our daughter is older our lives have evolved to a point that we just do different things and now have to start all over again. With Aimee this was one of our considerations. For myself, I wanted to make sure that I had a couple of options as far as Kendo was concerned. I had recently made the rank of Ni-Kyu and wanted to continue gaining the skills and experienced needed to continue down that path and I had begun some five years earlier. For Aimee it was much more of a consideration and investment.

When she was 5 I had made the decision to introduce her to the martial arts. I had approached the task of introducting her with an empty mind. My plan was that of a children's alphabet picture book. I was going to start at the begining of the alphabet until she had a chance to see all of the arts. Well, I never made it to "B." All it took was one visit to Theresa Masteson's children's Aikido class and there was no going any further. As I tried to explain to her that the next visit would be to Brazilian JuJitsu she just shot her arm out toward the shomen and stated. "I want to take this." That was the end of it. For the next nine years Jill would drive her twice a week to lessons rain or shine (mostly shine in the valley of the sun). Aimee would go on to progress through two children's level classes to at the age of 12 go on to the adult class and go on to earn one belt short of brown belt. She ended up getting over two years of experience training with full size adults and multiple attackers. She managed to come close to perfecting her ukemi (falling and rolling) and gaining a solid grasp of all of the Kihon Waza (the inventory of Aikido moves). I know that she is my daughter, but it was amazing to see her out there during the training. For such a young person she demonstrated great skill, patience and ability when training during all of those years on the mat. Moving away from such a deep investment of time and relationship was difficult and I would often question if it was the right thing to do. We were cutting ties, setting sail to a port with out really knowing if we could get back that which we were leaving behind. I knew that there would be traditional martial arts here in Sacramento, but I did not know to what extent or if for that matter it would end up being a good fit. In talking to Aimee we agreed that we would approach the new journey with an open mind and that in reasearching it turned out that we had multiple options available to us. In preliminary searches, I was able to find that there were at least four Aikido dojos and two Kendo dojos in the greater Sacramento area. It really looked promising.

We haven't returned to Kendo with any regularity due to Aimee's school work load We are also have the option of a second school in South Sacramento.

 Finding an Aikido dojo was a different experience altogether. Having done a search for all possibilities in the area, we were able to determine that there were 4 schools that taught Aikido. So the first week after we settled in we decided to make one week a sort of Budopallooza. We would visit a different Aikido each night. The whole experience was a bit like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The first style was too hard. The style was regimented based off of ritualistic forms and almost militaristic. The second style was too soft. It focused on energy extension and was lacking is action to the point of being meditative. The final style was just right. It had both energy and flow. It was medative but with connection to the art as a whole. It all of the people in the school were kind and were genuine in welcoming her.

 While all of the schools acknowledged how skilled she was, it was this last school that most closely matched her style as well as showed her a direction where she wanted to go. Of all of the dojos she had been to, this was also the most Japanese and had the greatest influence culturally. Having been experienced with so many years in the martial arts it was good to know that she was able to make the move and continue on the path with her studies. It was good to see that she was able to transition from a couple of great schools to new schools in Northern California that were just as great with the difference of styles providing a fresh start and a new direction.

 Each of the Sensei's from each of the dojos commented on her abilities and experience. But it was the last that noticed her abilities as a whole. After 9 years of study she had gained the ability to learn and know all of the kihon wazas (foundational forms) as well as have a strong spirit throughout the training. The last sensei her out on the floor as both uke (receiver) and nage (thrower) and put her through her paces at full speed in front of the entire class. There was quite a bit of murmering during the exercise as Aimee repeated the throwing and falling some 20 times or more in rapid succession, flowing and withoug stopping. After the class we had quite a few of the students and several of the black belts mention what a joy it was to work with her.

 We had returned a week later and when we came in over heard one of the instructors talking to another instructor telling him how great she though she was. Aimee was silently overjoied to hear the comment. It was nice to see as a matter of confirmation that she had acquired the skills to be considered an experienced and accomplished Aikidokaist. While all of her years, and rank may or may not matriculate directly into her new school, I think that all of her expreience and abilities will translate and will balance out. As the Dojo Cho put it, "I can see that she has all of the moves." Hearing that only confirmed my thoughts that Aimee had gained the skills to be able to join an adult class and keep up with all of the black belts. Some of the comments from the other black belts have been' "She has great Ki extension" or "Her ukemi flows and she is a joy to watch." All of those kind comments came as a relief to know that All of those years of practice had paid off. Not bad for a kid.

"..And though she be but little, she is fierce." Wm. Shakespeare

Goodbye Arizona

We’ve lived in the desert now for over 10 years. This has been the longest period of time that any of us in or family has lived in one place. Despite our not wanting to be here for the reasons of the heat and the bugs, this has ultimately been our home and we have been changed by it. We have seen and experienced may things. We as individuals have grown as we have continued to lean and have made many new friends. So, no matter how we felt about being here, Arizona has been our home for a decade almost to the day. Leaving her has been bittersweet but we also look forward to seeing old, familiar places and seeking new experiences in a place that has changed vastly over the last decade. Moving back to Northern California will change our quality of life in that the surrounding areas will allow us to branch out more and to be closer to family. We are sad however to leave behind the many people that we have met over the years and the many teachers that we have been so fortunate to have worked with. We will miss the copper state and all of the beauty and riches that it holds. Arizona is truly a majestic state. So in the distance the expanse of the desert begins to appear farther in the mirror as we leave what was once our home in the distance. The saguaro’s fade to sihloutte in the early evening sky. A coppery blanket of light covers the land as the sun sets and as the desert settles in. Night approaches and somewhere in the hot, early evening air, the scorpion waves slowly its tail goodbye.

The 6 People You Say Goodbye to After you Leave

As soon as my wife handed me the phone I could tell that it something was wrong. She had a look of fear on her face. Jill knew what was coming. As soon as she jaded me the phone, I heard his voice I knew what happened. It was a month to the day that I had last spoken to his mother. I knew what he was going to say even before he was going to say it. Because during that conversation that I had with her the month prior, the first thing she said to me was, "Son, I've called to say goodbye, this is it. I am going to die."

Although she addressed me as son, I was not related to her. From the moment that we met she took a liking to me (for reasons that I fully never understood) and she made it a point to "adopt me." As a young soldier in the 82nd Airborne division I was far away from home and removed from my family. She had made it a point from our meeting to include me in her family for the next three years. Pretty much for every holiday I was over at the house being a part of her family. During the regular part of the year I was invited on family trips and to dinners out. For me it was a life saver. I hated Army life in that it was so different than anything that I had experienced. To have this new family in my life gave me a quality of life that was somewhat normal.

The morning I left the Army she was there at the bus stop and saw me drive off. She cried as the bus left and she faded from view in the early morning Italian fog. I ended a chapter in my life and began a new one. In the process many of the people that I had made friends with in the military had faded from my life as well.

For many years we had lost contact, but as soon as her son found me through an extensive search one of the first things I did was to make a trip to Idaho to introduce her to my wife.

Over the course of the last couple of years as my frined's heath was declining I was fortunate to spend time over the phone and have lenghty conversations. When my mother was diagnosed with cancer she had made the point to call her and give my mother a pep talk about survival, even as she was dealing with her own illness. "Hi, I'm Ed's other mother," she introduced herself over the phone to my mother.

One of the last things that she said to me during our final conversation was that I was one of 6 important people in her life that she want to have informed as soon as she was gone. It was a mere 45 minutes after she had died that I received the phone call from her son. He was on the highway headed home. It was a remarkable act on his behalf in as much as he had just lost his mother and he had to call an essential outsider to let them know that his mother died. However hard it was for him I was thankful to know that she was no longer in pain and that she was in peace. He did manage to go in to some detail about her last moments. I was so glad to hear about the fact that all of her family was there and that at the last moment, on her last breath, she looked into the eyes of her son, closed her eyes and stopped breathing. We are all going to die, but it was was reassuring to know that she left with all of her family around her.

After her son hung up I was overwhelmed with emotion. The fact that he had to call me to let me know that his mother had just died. The power of knowing that she was now gone, that she had to leave her husband, her children and grandchildren. She led a good life, had a fantastic marriage. I looked up to her relationship with her husband and felt that it was one of the best examples of true love and friendship that I have ever seen. So many questions rolled around my head. Why me? Why did she choose me? Why was I so important to her? She was such an incredible person, so to be chosen by her was just a powerful thought. Who were the other 5 people? Someday, I'd like to know.

Linda had visions and hopes for the people around her. She projected those positive visions for her family and friends. She was able to see her childern grow and become successful and happy and to see her grandchildren grow. I remember sitting on the porch at her home at Ft. Bragg and her saying, "someday you are going to meet someone and are going to be married, and I'd like to see that." I was glad that she was able to see my family and visit my home. In some small way it was a zen moment. Her vision had been complete.

As an outsider looking in things did not come easy for Linda and her family during the years in the military. Her husband and her worked hard for everything that they had. Even afterwards both of them worked hard to further their education and to establish a strong foothold in new careers and jobs. It was only later in their marriage that some success came to them.

"Son, don't worry, I've had a good life. I still have some things that I want to see and do. I want to make it through Christmas and New Years. Also, my team is going to the superbowl…I have to see that. Plus my anniversary is coming up, I can't miss that. And my birthday is coming up…Summertime, I hate the heat…maybe then."

You died on a Thursday.

Just a few weeks later her Green Bay Packers went to the superbowl and won. All of us who knew her had to have a moment to think about her and quietly smile. Even though I was not a fan of football or for that matter the Packers, there was some sense of universal justice to the fact that another hope of hers was now complete.

Her voice still even today resonates in my head. Occasionally when I think of her. She inturrupts me and I hear her, "Son, don't worry about me…I'm okay." With all that I have seen and heard, as all of our worlds have grown and changed for the better. It is what she wanted for all of us. She saw just about everything that she wanted to see for her family…so I know that she is okay.

I Hate Fruit

Not sure when it started, but for as long as I can remember I have never had a significant amount of fruit intake in my diet. The amount that I've had has been negligible to the point as to be mathmatically considered as insignificant. The last memory of me even having fruit was when I was about 4. A baby sitter gave me a banana. I rember that gamey flavor that only bananas can have. The closest thing that I can compare it to is that fake banana flavor like that is in banana flavored candy. The cloyingly sweet yet ranky overpowering sweetness that is found in bananna flavored gum. After that I just couldn't stand it and avoided fruit all together. It wasn't till I was 9 or so that out of sheer desperation that I ate an orange. I actually enjoyed it. Since then it was pretty much the only fruit that I would eat (I've been told that Lemons do not count as a fruit).

Once I joined the army it was pretty much the same thing, complete and total fruit avoidance. Out of sheer bordom and having spent a multitude of hours lying on the floor of the German forrest in camoflage with a machine gun I did bring myself to try blueberries. They were everywhere. They grew nautral and wild in the German underbrush. It was impossible to avoid them. I'd return back from Italy with all of my uniforms stained from lying in blueberries. After awhile the stains would just no longer come out. One time during one of the many training exercises of being lost patrolling around the German woods I ran into a thicket of brambles and thorns. Much to my suprise and on closer inspection I found that the canes of thorned brambles contained blackberries and raspberries. Upon giving them a try I found that I really liked them with my favoring the raspberries more than the blackberries. Although I had found something new in the fruit family it would be quite some time until I would add them into a regular regimen.

Just recently I was in a supermarket with my family and we were talking about diet and somehow I mentioned out loud during the conversation. "I don't eat fruit."

Standing next to me was an older woman, probably in her late 60s or early 70s. Instinctually and instantameously she punched me in the arm. It wasn't very hard. I'd like to think that she did it out of disbeleif and as a reaction to my statement. At the same time she hit me she blurted out, "You don't eat fruit? You are gonna to die!"

Having been accosted by a complete and total stranger several red flags popped up in my mind:

(not in any particular order)

1. I've just been hit by an old woman

2. Personal space violation

3. I don't know you; stranger danger

Now, not knowing her I could have reacted immediatly out of indignation with a statement such as, "unhand me woman," or "good God, I don't know who you are and why are you touching me." But for some strange reason I found myself calm and recognized the moment for its comedic potential. I calmly moved my position, stood next to her, put one arm around her and with my other arm outstreached looked out into the distance as if to share a vision. I move my hand slightly across the horizon of the supermarket aisleway as if to highlight a line of imaganary text and said,

"And on his gravestone it read: He ate no fruit."

There was just a moment of hesitation as I could see that she at first did not get it. Then the neurons connected, and we all burst out laughing.

I then quickly proceeded to the register with my wife and daugher to pay for our groceries and to get away from my strange new acquaintance.

Like Father Like Daughter

Ever since she has seen me running my daughter has commented “someday I’d like to run a marathon with you.” Not that I would ever wish that on my kids but I though that it was neat that she thought that my running was a good thing.

I’ve wanted to hold off on getting her started on running in that I wanted her to grow first and not have any complications with Osgood-Schlatters syndrome that is common with children who run to often at such an early age. My daughter has always been highly active her entire childhood so far exercising at times up to 5 to 9 hours a week so I knew that even if I kept her away from running as a hobby that eventually she would get started at it at a more appropriate age.

A couple of weeks ago Jill decided that she would go out and get Aimee a new set of shoes in that the last set of athletic shoes that she had were too small and that it was time to get another good pair. Jill had recently signed up for the Mother/Daughter Phoenix Irongirl 5K. Both her and Aimee headed down to the local Sports Authority and just picked out a set that they liked. As soon as I saw what they had picked I thought to myself that maybe it was time to have her formally evaluated for her gait and efficiency. To do that would only make sense in getting her the right set of shoes.

Not too far from where we live is a specialty running store, by runners and for runners. When you get there they evaluate the type of shoe that you need based on your impact and they bring out about a half dozen set of shoes and have you start running in them. After careful consideration Aimee had narrowed the field down to three pairs and agonized between two of them. Eventually she went with the Brooks over the Asics. Quietly I smiled inside knowing that they were the same brand that I have run with for the last couple of years.

Later that evening she was eager to run. I had her set up a running list with the spare iPod Shuffle I was given from work as gift. As my wife prepared dinner, we both laced up and headed toward the door. I had plan to clock the run using the iPhone 4 and the NikeGPS app. Since this was her first run I wanted to take it easy on her and just give her the field of the road. As soon as we left the house she popped the earbuds in and started running down the street. To see her run was an amazing experience. She has a beautiful energetic stride and runs with a determined focus. For the first half-mile I had her run in front of me. And I let her go at her own pace. Roughly she was able to run about an 8:50 pace. I had her walk for a couple of yards after the first half-mile and then we turned and headed home. She easily loped home but was beginning to develop a side cramp and wanted to start walking again just a few blocks from the house. I convinced her to run home at a slower pace without stopping, then to sprint to the finish.

There are many things that just her and I have done and do together on a regular basis. This was the first time that I felt like I was sort of alone out there even though we were together, that in some way she was out there on her own and that somehow I was losing her. A couple of days later I helped her get stated on the starting line of the Phoenix Irongirl 5K. I was not allowed to run with her (no men are allowed in the race) or for that matter I was not even allowed in the starting chute. I just tried to stay with her as close as I could, then watched her go as the starting gun fired. It was then that I realized that she’s growing up, getting farther out in front and that someday before I know it, she’ll be gone.