fishing for words

My nearly daily commute never fails to alert me to the fact that summer is just around the corner. Is it the flowering of the weeds alongside the roadway? Perhaps the blessing of sunlight during my early morning drive? The shimmering of heat waves above the highway in the afternoon?

None of the above. It’s the traffic. Near as I can figure, it’s not so much the vacationers; it seems to be the folks who work out of doors who compound my commute. The start of their day corresponds with the rising of the sun. (Making hay while the sun shines.)

This year it is especially bad. The number of big trucks — most semis towing bottom dump trailers (for hauling or moving dirt) — seems to have exploded this week. I don’t have a clue as to why, but my windshield is sure taking a beating!

I added a page with some of my custom POI files this morning. The three files cover the California state parks, the California missions (and Costcos in California, Oregon and Washington, with notes on which have gas stations. If you have some to share, drop me an e-mail. Check back for more lists and I may even share my fishing spot POI file… You can also download the files via the links below.

• Costco Stores
• California State Parks
• The California Missions

Though I didn’t spend Memorial Day weekend as expected (no cabin or fishing), I did get out and about.  Saw “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “MI:III” and ”Over the Hedge”…all good films.  “X-Men” is great and “Over the Hedge” is hilarious.  “MI:III” is definitely full of action, but seemed too polished, if you know what I mean.

Also got in some bowling with one son…I won two out of three games, but soon enough I may be on the losing end more often. Also got to Home Depot to stock up on screen material and spline. Re-screened about half the windows in the house. (One of the simpliest home-improvement projects I can think of.) As the house approaches 20 years old, just gotta do some of these things.

 In between the above and video games, sat down with Chris to sketch out plans for a possible chicken run/coop. He wants a chicken or two. Zoning says it’s okay, so we shall see… 

Oh, also tweaked my blog’s appearance. I’m getting better at this. A tweak here and a tweak there and there’s whole new look to my blog. Thought this was a much cleaner look.  Let me know!

The good news is that Hwy 108 over Sonora Pass is open. The bad news is that Chris is sick, so we aren’t going up for the long weekend. Washed the cars yesterday, so figure we’ll do some around-the-house work, maybe go to the office, where Chris will help me plow through some old computers and prepare them for recycling. Will be nice to not to have to get up for three days.

Oh, BTW, my newest acquisition is below.

Headed out toward Half Moon Bay on Sunday with Chris, even through the horizon was hidden by clouds. We were given a hint of things to come as we passed through Hayward, where heavy rain slowed our passage.  But we were given to a bit of optimism in San Mateo, where it was relatively dry. It was a bit odd to drive westbound on Highway 92 during daylight hours as we usually drove this road on the way to a day of rock fishing, at oh-dark-thirty in the a.m.

We pulled onto Half Moon Bay’s Main Street shortly after the noon hour and walked around looking for a place to eat.  Nothing struck our fancy, so it was time to head north. Soon after passing the intersection of Highways 92 and 1, we were greeting by a funny, improvised sign. We pulled off at Pillar Point and quickly decided to give the Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. a try.  We enjoyed some very good fish and chip, and I drank a very good Bootlegger’s Brown Ale. (Too bad it’s not bottled!)

After lunch and after the rain had slackened, we headed south on Highway 1, taking in the dray and somewhat dreary view. Stopped briefly at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, then headed towards Pescadero.  I was going by my limited memory of a street name that might lead us to the Harley Farms Goat Dairy, and with the help of an almost-too-small sign, found the turn. Even finding the cheese shop was a bit difficult as it’s tucked behind a farm gate with no prominent sign. Luckily, we were at the gate when Dee Harley, the driving force behind the farm, passed by leading a tour and invited us to poke around the shop. Chris and I probably ate more of the cheese samples than might be considered polite, but that speaks to how good it was. I would definitely recommend that anyone who enjoys goat cheese stop here.  We bought two plain chèvre logs and a small block of goat feta cheese.

Just about the time we turned on to Highway 92, headed for our reason for this trip (my nephew’s baseball game), I got a call that the game had been called due to rain. But that didn’t stop us from heading over to my sister’s for a fun visit and good food at Windy City Chicago Style Pizza, also home of “Knuckle Suckin’ BBQ.” Even got to listen to my other nephew play a bit of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” on the piano. It was a good day.