Catching up

We've been so busy lately, that we have had no time to post to the blog; I have a big backlog of photos and stories, and hopefully I'll have a chance to put some of them up tonight or this weekend. To summarize what we've been up to:

- Anna's mother, Eileen, came to visit
- We went camping with family and friends at the Lakes Basin in Sierra County
- We all drove up to Castle Rock, WA to visit Anna's parents, brother Joe's family, and attend the Shinner family picnic
- Chad then flew from Portland out to Dallas for a business trip, then home to Sunnyvale
- Anna and Nimue drove home, arriving Thursday night

Chad has a trip out to Houston this Monday and Tuesday; Nimue has Sports Camp all this coming week; and from the 13th - 25th we'll be in Honolulu -- Chad has a work meeting, and we'll take advantage of the opportunity.

Chad's other blog

I figure the audience for this blog is mostly family, and we're using the blog mostly for family doings, so I've revived my old blog that I used for discussions of technology, politics, bikes, etc. You can find it at blog.chadfrost.com -- enjoy!

Summer Solstice camp-n-ride

We rode the Summer Solstice ride in Quincy, CA again this year; one cool feature of the ride is that they have camping available at the county fairgrounds where the ride starts and finishes. Nimue and Grandma Linda camp with us, and get to play around in Quincy while Anna and Chad go for their ride.

Chickens

Nimue met these young chickens during a gathering at a friend's house... Nimue followed the chicks around the yard very patiently and quietly, getting closer and closer with the intent of touching them. Pretty soon, she had accomplished her goal (although the darker-colored bird was pretty skittish.) Meanwhile, the rest of the folks had sat around the patio to eat dinner. Nimue came over to join us, and in five minutes all the birds followed her! This was not part of their normal routine -- everyone was most surprised. The birds entertained us for a long time as they scrabbled around the patio looking for crumbs, and being experimentally fed with all manner of tasty leftover tidbits. The birds seemed satisfied and wandered off while we chatted.

Then, quite unexpectedly, they snuck up from behind and one after another jumped right up in Nimue's lap, made themselves comfortable, and got ready for bed!

nimue's 7 mile bike ride

i will ride my bike said nimue
and she did then she said i want taco bell for lunch


THE
END

Nimue's reading medal

This week marked the culmination of the Family Reading Program at Nimue's school; she has read 157 books since the program started in February! She was recognized for her achievement with a certificate, coupons for free burgers and ice cream, and a medal that she is very proud of.

A longish bike ride

Got out for a nice mountain-bike ride last weekend; the weather was unseasonably cool and cloudy, but I was happy just to be outside riding. This ride was on my single-speed; with only one, you're always in the wrong gear!



View Larger Map

Fun with AT&T billing!

Trying to make sure my old phone service is actually disconnected, I had to go through 4 entities (the first one was a computer) and provide my phone number each time... was told I would receive my "Final Initial" bill shortly. Now, just what the heck is *that*? Final means last, initial means first, presumably of several... "I'm just reading it off the screen, sir" says the polite fellow on the line.

They can't tell me whether my close-out bill will be sent electronically or in the mail... and I get two different amounts from two different people.

How much inefficiency can one (mega-corporate-behemoth) company withstand? The very first person I spoke with should have been able to answer my pretty simple question.

I really wasn't on hold all that long, and the call still took 27 minutes.

Solar in SF

This site shows a map of all the solar installations in the city of San Francisco -- pretty neat!
http://sf.solarmap.org/