Floods in New York, damn hot in Sacramento, cool in classrooms

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - In Sacramento, except for the damnably hot afternoons, the weather is barely a factor in life.

Quite a change from New York. There, you could walk outside in bright sunshine and get splattered with rain before you got your car door open. It happens.

Schenectady is under water

And right now, upstate New York is experiencing wild flooding, apparently from the tail end of yet another hurricane passing by.

Two hurricanes in, oh, a couple of weeks? And others forming out in the Atlantic. No climate change going on at all. Zip.

In the meantime, Adm. Fox and I plug along at our classes with one hand, the other working on getting staged to pull out of California (as legal residents) in December. It's weird making all these arrangements to change health care around, move cars, pack up offices we've had for 20+ years. Weird doesn't really cover it though, I think.

My students are getting an interesting ride this fall, as my patience is, well, maybe a little thinner than normal when it comes to putting up with the B.S. One student skipped the first night session of magazine writing and had the gall yesterday to be upset that I dropped him from the course. There were four people waiting for his seat that first night.

Ironically, I added all four  of those students and said, "What the hell, it's my last semester. Hang on tight, amigos."

Tonight it's off to Elk Grove for dinner at a Mexican restaurant with Chief Engineer Scott Noble and Counselor Jen Noble - part of a program to get in culinary shape for our return to Arroyo Seco.

Training can be soooooo hard.

Restaurant Las Brisas in Arroyo Seco

Countdown to shutdown: Closing up the VPYC and away all boats

VALOIS, New York, USA - Adm. Fox and I have slightly over a week left before we hop a US Airways jet from Elmira, NY to California, back for a our final foray into teaching at California State University, Sacramento.

On the trailer this week

And that flight means starting in on the house shut-down list: put boats on trailers, store solar lights, drain hot tub, put away garden tools, arrange for mail forwarding... The list is two pages single-spaced, so naturally I am writing this piece.

This season we have two houses to consider, the lake cottage and our casa in Watkins Glen. The cottage we have closed down for years now and it's almost routine.

Almost.

We have a few quirks with the new house, especially now that will be our official permanent residence when we fly back in December 15.

Fly back in December? Yup, that's right, we will be coming back to Watkins Glen right as the winter cranks up to full cold & snow. What few possessions we have in storage in Calif. will be shipped east, along with my red Nissan truck (something I could have used here a dozen times this summer hauling cement, lumber...).

Shutting down the Watkins casa is pretty easy: turn the theromstat to 55 degrees, close the storm windows and make sure the lawn furniture is put away under cover. And we will have a new amiga staying in our attached apartment for the winter, so she will ensure the utilities are taken care of, etc.

When we get back in December, all we have to do (I hope) is turn up the thermostat and check the wine cellar to make sure the wine didn't freeze. (It shouldn't, the boiler for the heater system in the basement and seems to be a steady temperature year round.)

Sen. Schumer with Jim Hazlitt

The writing gig with the Finger Lakes Times newspaper will continue however, with my Friday column. I'll be reading the FLT electronic edition and getting the hard copy in the mail, just as I do now in Watkins Glen.

I'll miss some of the news story writing, though. Last week I covered a talk by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer and got to chat with half of the politicians and assorted mucky-mucks from the county. Some of those folks expressed interest in having me do some videos for them, too.

Woo-hoo.

But the time will fly in California.

Within a few days of arriving we will be getting together with cruising buddies Dan and Lorraine Olsen, trips are planned to Yosemite and other California landmarks, and, of course, we have granddaughters Samantha and Kami - and their mom Anne - to visit as much as possible. Perhaps even the elusive Dylan Fox will come leave the city limits of Berkeley for a visit - or we will head there.

And teaching?

Oh yes, teaching! We have our final semester of teaching set up. I have my usual four classes, which include a section each of magazine writing and column writing. I am still considering giving only one of two grades for all students: A or F.

They either get it, or don't get it.

But that decision can wait a couple of more weeks.

Time to take down the yacht club sign

Settling in and getting ready (not!) for the first day of school

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - So, rather than preparing the first set of lectures for this week's classes, it seemed infinitely more advisable to tap out another blog entry about the last few days here in Sacramento.

The lectures will come to me Monday, when classes start, I'm sure.

We have almost completely moved into our new digs in an area known in Sacramento as the Fabulous 40s, not because everyone who lives there is, well, in their fab 40s, but because the houses are well-maintained, most often huge and generally, very cool casas.


Dr. Pam's casa - and now ours, too, until December

It is the type of neighborhood where our Lexus (safely stored in New York) would be a better fit than my 1990 Nissan pickup truck (parked out front in the photo above). But it's a very friendly group of people living in the area, and early in the morning, you have to step lively to not bump into all the people walking their pooches around, or get run over by a jogger listening to music on an IPod.

Until the late 1990s, Admiral Fox and I lived about 12 blocks from our current living space and so moving back into the neighborhood is a return to old times.

We walked by our old house Saturday and were shocked at the growth of a two-feet high tree planted out front when Dustin (now 30) was about 14 or 15. When we left it was about 8 feet tall. And we were told the tree would grow fast.

Jack and the Beanstalk would be proud of how fast this tree shot up.


The Admiral with the tree planted by Dustin

But perhaps the highlight of the past week was going out for lunch with daughter Anne and granddaughter Kami. Kami is about to turn three years old. And we already have some birthday presents in hand for her soiree next week.

But we did give her a magic wand, a light stick and a ballerina outfit when we saw her. And, of course, she entertained the entire restaurant.


Kami modeling Grandma Sylvia's glasses


Dressed in her tutu

We hope to catch up with our other, more elusive, granddaughter, Samantha, in the next few days, though with her school and sports schedule, we will likely end up at one of her softball practice sessions.

And that would be fun, too.

Lunch with former students brings back the memories

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., USA - Catching up with former journalism students is always fun, more so when you can span two generations.

Friday, the Admiral and I dined with Natalye Childress Smith, Josh Stabb and Bill Meagher - all students who suffered through my lectures and bad jokes over the years. Natalye and Josh are relative newbies, having just graduated and who are now working as writers for Crittenden Research in Novato, Calif. Bill works there, too - but as an editor.

And while Josh and Natalye caught me at CSU, Sacramento in the last couple of years, Bill is a alum of Chico State where I taught back in the mid 1980s, before make the long academic trek down the valley to Sacramento where I have been since 1986.


A class reunion or a reunion of class?

Bill was a student columnist for the campus newspaper, The Orion, and had (and still has) great news instincts. His columns about then Chico State President Robin Wilson got Wilson so angry that Wilson would call me late at night (because I was the faculty adviser) and rail about Bill's work.

Wilson never said any of the columns contained information that was inaccurate, he was just totally pissed off that Bill had printed anything about him. And Bill broke many good (journalistically speaking) stories about Wilson, which kept my phone ringing.

Seeing students succeed - as all three of them have, they have jobs after all - is one of the rewards of teaching. I suspect teachers at all levels get the same kick out of seeing their former students out there, practicing what was once largely a classroom exercise.

The only sad part about such reunions is that they are usually way too short, as this one was.

But I know the solution to that problem.

Grey Goose II rolls off the lot and goes to - storage?

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA- The Grey Goose Express II left the RV Max sales lot this morning shortly before noon after we had received a thorough briefing on all systems by Mike the mechanical guy, not to be confused with Mike the owner guy who sold us the unit last Sunday.

And with Mike the owner guy, we had a nice conversation again about his business and how he would really like to open a branch in Mexico.

He said it would be damned good excuse to visit the warm climate in December and January when it is cold, even in Sacramento.

We motored out gingerly with a special hitch made to distribute the weight evenly, but even at that, we knew we were towing a huge package behind us. A new electric brake system took most of the terror out of it.

But still...

After a short tool around the city, we went to the Costco in Rancho Cordova (close to daughter Anne's house) and parked out on the outskirts (so we could turn around and leave). We loaded up on a few items and then had a nice lunch - with the slider popped out.


Basket of goodies for the Grey Goose II


Grey Goose II parked - with the slider popped out

After lunch, we checked out the napping spots (many) and the Goose II passed that test without any problems.

And it passed the maneuverability test, too, when we motored to Allstar Storage where we had rented a slot that was about 18 inches wider on each side than the Grey Goose II. After several attempts - and several pleas to various deities of Christian and non-Christian origins - the Grey Goose II slid into place nicely.

However, if the trailer didn't have a back door, we would not have any access without moving it.

Ouch!

Tomorrow the Admiral and I will start preliminary packing for our departure to Mexico with a tentative first cruise next weekend to see if all the systems work as advertised by Mike the mechanical guy.

The best thing is, if they don't work, both Mike & Mike said to bring the Grey Goose Express II back for fixups. It's all part of their service.

Is this a great country or what?

A neighborhood house bites the dust, with a lot of dust

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Between grading papers and dreaming of Mexico, the Admiral and I try to get plenty of exercise by walking, riding our bikes and heading to the Capital Athletic Club where the Admiral and I go almost every day for swimming and to work on the machines.

(OK. I don't go on the machines at all, but I do try to get in a quarter-mile of thrashing through the water. And, no, I missed today, but...)

In my walk this afternoon (to make up for skipping my swim), I ran across a house (506 S Street) a block away that was being torn down, a 100-plus year old casa that had been taken over by some local homeless people. For California, the demolition guys were pretty casual with only a couple of sawhorses out front warning people from getting too close.


Neighbors chat with demolition man

Across the street, two city building inspectors talked about what a wreck the house had been and, for a moment, wondered aloud if they had made sure the natural gas line to the place was turned off. (Uh-oh!)

When I heard that, I moved back a few feet.

The house could not be rehabilitated, they said, it's foundation was virtually none existent and dry-rot filled the beams and walls downstairs.


Worker sprays water to hold down the dust


Jaws take a bite out of the house

The demolition drew quite a few sidewalk superintendents - me included, of course - who hung around for nearly an hour, waiting for the big bang and crash when the last of the place hit the ground. The company was very careful as it worked - the derelict house was less than 10 feet from an apartment house on its west side.

But we were not disappointed in the finale.

Here's a short video the event.