Pooks Canyon

This year Axel and I went to Country Pumpkins in Orland to get Halloween decor for the front doorstep.  I wanted the reddest pumpkin I could find so it would match my front door.  Yes, I admit to that. I ended up purchasing a red Cinderella pumpkin.  At the checkout, the kind sales lady asked what I was going to do with it.  I told her that I was planning to put it by my door to look pretty.  She chuckled and said that Cinderella pumpkins make the most delicious pumpkin meat for cooking. I am so glad she said that because I might not have thought to cook this intimidating-looking squash. This was as red as it got at Country Pumpkins Fast forward to last Thursday when Mom came over for a visit.  She admired the pumpkin and I told her I was going to roast it soon.  "Oh, yes," she says, "Good idea. There is going to be a pumpkin shortage this year." "Really?" I said, a bit dubious on the notion.  Sounds like something the pumpkin lobby cooked up t

This weekend we experienced a mixed bag, including a birthday celebration, a disc golf tournament, and a viral Internet post. It all started with Leah turning 18 on Friday.  She requested, as a birthday present, that we let her have the house to herself Friday night to host a party.  Since we live in a small house with one living space, we said yes. It would be hard to have a nice party with one’s parents taking up the whole couch.  The only rule: do nothing that gets anyone sued, evicted, or jailed.  This rule seems to cover most of the bases. Jon, Axel and I were left needing a place to stay Friday night.  We were planning to play a disc golf tournament in Paradise on Saturday morning (a whole 20 minutes from Chico), so we booked a room at the Comfort Inn right near the golf course.  When the front desk asked for my zip code at check-in I felt a little sheepish answering 95926. The tournament, Shasta Series 2015 (#2) at Lava Creek Disc Golf Course, was Axel’s first two round si

After watching Jon churn through the mud at last Sunday's Cyclocross race in Lembi Park, I felt a sudden urge to write a blog post.  Force of habit perhaps. We arrived at the course in a steady rain.  Finally, a rainy day in California!  Jon had new Challenge "Limus" tubular mud tires and was, of course, also equipped with a decade of mud experience.  I suspect, given how dusty and parched the last four years have been, some of the newer Cali-Crossers in the race had never ridden proper, muddy 'cross courses before.   After Jon's warm-up lap he came to the car and smiled, like, "I got this."  I smiled, too. All of us felt pretty confident as we headed to the start area, so imagine my surprise when, after the start whistle had blown and the racers were on their way, some guy was off the back and riding partially naked, struggling to put on his clothes, and that guy was Jon. Yes, Jon started the race about 25% naked.  Right before the start he