Winter Log 2003-2004

January 1, 2004 - Personal Note

Flames in the sand... life is such a beach. A new year is here and things change. My girlfriend Karen and I break up but it is best for us both. Time to move on and see what the future has in store. This is the last picture I took when we were together at a beach by her house in San Diego. It was amazing how the surf made this image in the sand.

January 19, 2004 - Personal Note

Well I told you I was going to do it. Thanks to a very dear friend, she sold me her motorcycle so now it is "head out on the highway... looking for adventure... born to be wild!" Wahoooo here is my bike, it is a Suzuki Savage single cylinder 650. Can't wait to take it out on the road.

February 7, 2004

The Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association awarded me a "red shirt" for my efforts working with the South Mount Hawkins Fund raising group. I have helped by creating a new webpage and worked on the Grant Proposal. I have also accepted the position of Public Information Officer and will be setting up several press events for the Association.

March 28, 2004

Oh my God!  I got so close to getting bit by a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake.  I was walking through the woods with my new girlfriend Susan, and I was looking for a place to jump this stream.  I saw two rocks but decided instead to jump over to the sand.  

When I jumped, I heard the sound of a rattlesnake and it turned out that one of the "rocks" was the snake!  I almost jumped on him directly.  My first thought was, "SNAKE, too close, too big" and I jumped back from where I came.  It was my lucky day!  Can you see the snake in the picture?

April 4, 2004

A week later Susan and I return to the spot where we saw "Lucky" and of course he was gone, but here is where I landed.  Compare the two spots and you can see how lucky I really was to escape being bitten.  Phew.

April 4, 2004 - Personal Note

Susan and I are really hitting it off. She has a horse called "Capacity" and he was "Silver Treasure #1" in the movie "Sea Biscuit" racing at Santa Anita Park. As you know from reading my log I too am a horse person and so this relationship has great promise!

She calls her horse "Cappy" and I think he looks very much like the horse I rode on the Yellowstone adventure.  Cappy is a Quarter Horse standing at 16.2 hands tall and weighing in at 1315 pounds.  Susan has been riding since she was a child and owned her first horse when she was 4 years old.