Castaic Fire October 1, 2008

Hey eh, Here's some pictures from the castaic fire today. I first spotted smoke around 4:30 p.m. The fire was located near I-5 and Templin Highway.

New Addition to Family

My niece and her husband recently adopted a new dog. His name is Johan which is probaby latin for the Spanish "Jaun". He's a great dog (a smooth coat Jack Russell ) and he loves to swim. Here are a couple of videos:

Mystery Payment Coming

I signed up for that mystery promise - keeper - giver offering non-pledge at church a while back. You know that one where we commit to give money we don't have and the Lord will provide. It’s a great idea. At first I was a little discouraged since I was suppose to receive unexpected money and all I received were unexpected bills. But, the tide is changing. I opened a fortune cookie the other day and found the fortune posted below:

In all honesty, I think its great that we are asking by faith that the Lord will provide money for our, or His, missionaries; as long as we ask by faith and spend by sight.

Earthquake

Just had a nice earthquake. I had been talking with my boss when we were interrupted by what sounded like a strong wind blowing. As the sound increased, I realized something more was happening. When I saw my boss holding on to the wall, I realized we were having an earthquake. Unfortunately, I didn't think to start recording until the quake was ending. I did catch the mirror wobbling.

Dust Devil near COC

I've traveled to Omaha several times in order to see a tornado. It turns out that I only needed to drive as far as Valencia near College of the Crayons.

Cold Drink on a Hot Day

Its very hot today. Couldn't think of a better picture to post.

Emergency Exit

In case of emergency, all English speaking people please exit to the left. All Spanish speaking people, please exit to the right.

Omaha Zoo

Here's some photo's from the Omaha Zoo:

R U S H concert

I was able to attend the second leg of the R U S H Snakes and Arrows tour at the Nokia Theater last night. Last year I saw them at the Hollywood Bowl. Both were great concerts but a little loud.

Earthquakes

Hey ! What's with all the earthquakes ? Actually, it’s been 151 years since our last 150 year magnitude 8 quake, so I thought it would probably be a good idea to buy water and flashlights.
I didn’t want to have to tell my friends and family “I knew I should have prepared”.
Updated earthquake maps can be found at the USGS site: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/special/California_Nevada.php

2008 California Poppy Season

Wednesday I took my mom to the California Poppy Reserve and the surrounding area. It was cold and windy. Poppies tend to not open up when is cold and windy so while there were many fields of poppies, and the sun was unobstructed by clouds; not too many poppies were open. I did take several pictures anyway (I drove all that way) and posted a few here.

While I was appreciating all the flowers, two C-130's flew over.

More Poppies

Answer to Bug question

Hey eh, I answered my own question. The bug pictured above is a Dysdera Crocota, also known as a Slater Spider or Sowbug Killer. They bite ! But they're not poisonous to humans. I found my answer at:

http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/TePapa/English/CollectionsAndResearch/Collections/InsectsSpidersAndSimilar/Spiders/Spiders_Web/What/SlaterSpider.htm

Anyone know anything about bugs ? Not the rabbit.

I found this bug in my pool. It looks like a spider but i wasn't sure? Anyone know ? It was about 1/2 inch long; not very big.

Hey! what's that white stuff on the hill tops ?

Saturday afternoon I enjoyed about 5 minutes of hail while driving from the valley to Santa Clarita. When I reached the bottom of the Newhall Pass, I noticed the white hill tops and realized that what is was seeing may actual be hail rather than snow. I stopped by the hiking trails and asked a few hikers who confirmed that it had hailed. So that‘s my guess; its not snow but hail.

Washing Dishes

Among the myriad of opportunities to serve at the Shepherds Conference, I was given the one task I had requested not to do... washing dishes. I had a great time anyway. In fact, looking back, I don't know that I would have requested anything else. I met new friends and ate tons of food. What more could you want?




Did I forget to smile again?

(Pictired left to right: friend # 1, friend # 2, friend # 3, me, friend # 4, friend # 5)

Free books for 3500 pastors

Yesterday morning I helped bag books for the Shepherd’s Conference. I counted about 35 volunteers bagging 15 books for 3500 pastors. That’s 100 trips per volunteer down the book bagging isle. My feet were very tired.


The Volunteers



The Books

Church Tycoon

Its shepherd's Conference week and time for Church Tycoon.

I used Roller Coaster Tycoon III to build Grace Church.

Here’s a few clips:

The Rollercoaster

The Tram from the parking lot

Still Images

The cat and the Squirrel

A squirrel was out teasing the cats this morning. That’s all the excitement for today. No earthquakes, no floods, not even any dates.

p.s. The squirrel got away... as usual.

Cat on Shelf

I noticed we have a new decoration for our garage shelf....

Cats still on roof

Before I had a blog it seemed there were things worth writing about or taking pictures of. Currently, the most noteworthy event is what the neighborhood cats are doing. Very exciting! Once again, they were sitting on the neighbors roof warming themselves in the morning sun.