An old Surfboard
This is my old surfboard from high school. It was made about 1967 by a shaper in Santa Barbara named John Bradbury. He eventually became a well known shaper, but unfortunately he passed away nearly ten years ago. You can see this board had part of the tail break off before I got it, it was repaired with some fiberglass and resin. There are also a few small dings I (inexpertly) repaired with resin.

You can read an interview with John's son Josh on ESPN, the interview speaks highly of John's shaping skills.

Here's the logo he put on this board. His logos changed through the years as you can see at Stanley's Surfboard Logos (a huge site with a huge number of logos on that one page alone (the 'B' page)so expect it to take some time to get to the Bradbury section)

Here is the side view of this little beauty. The board measures 99 3/4 inches long (8 feet 3 3/4"), 19 inches wide, and three inches thick with a seven and a half inch skeg (tail fin).

Fall Festival

Autumn Celebration
John and Vickie at a local Fall Festival put on by a company John works for.No product endorsement intended here.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXSince we live back in the woods, and have mountain lions around this area, I am always on the lookout for lion encounters. Here is one that happened recently in Deadwood SD.You can read about my own close encounter with a lion at 'My Mountain Lion Encounter'.

The eye in the sky

The Eye in the Sky
~Alan Parsons Project~
'Eye in the Sky'

Don't think sorry's easily said
Don't try turning tables instead
You've taken lots of chances before
But I'm not gonna give anymore
Don't ask me
That's how it goes
Cause part of me knows what you're thinkin'

I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I don't need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind



I've been in a couple of 'copters, they are fun to ride in, and marvelous machines.

We get a lot of low-and-slow-flying helicopters buzzing around these hills in the late fall.
They tend to fly a back-and-forth grid pattern, each run a quarter mile distant from the last.
One time we had one hovering over our greenhouse for a minute or so.
One neighbor on the hilltop saw a bunch of fellows with firearms hanging out the open doors of these 'copters. We tend to just see the underbelly of these machines.
I'm glad that in the Land of the Free we have these fellows making sure that the fences are up and the cows aren't running loose, 'cause I suppose that must be what they are checking on.
When I'm out working on the hillside and they come by, I usually wave up to them, and pull my hat off my head to show them my long hair. That's the reason the Mountain Men wore their hair so long... they were daring the Indians to come and try to take it.

'Land of the Wanna Be Free'
~Robby Bee and the Boyz from the Rez~
You tell me,
are we really free,
the way we wanna be?
Or are we living in the land
of the Wanna be Free?
Robbie Bee and The Boyz from the Rez entertain
with a political song called 'Land of the Wanna Be Free'.

The enigma of mankind

The enigma of mankind
~O'Brien to Winston~
'from G Orwell's 1984'
“But in the future there will be no wives and no friends.” O’Brian continued.
“We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now.
There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party.
There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother.
There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy.
There will be no art, no literature, no science.
There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life.
All competing pleasures will be destroyed.
But always — do not forget this, Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power,
constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler.
Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory,
the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — for ever.’
We sit in our twenty-first century comfort, and look back upon the 'backwards' centuries behind us, before this last millennia when people crossed seas in boats and spread 'civilization'. Yet what makes us so certain that people of this last thousand years are the first ones to spread so far so quickly? Yes, we acknowledge that various peoples were in the Americas for example, but we seem hesitant to believe that others from the 'Old World' came here before Columbus. Only recently has evidence been generally accepted that the Norse peoples spent a short time at least on the Eastern Seaboard. But what of the scant evidence of Chinese anchors found in the waters off the Oregonian and Californian coasts? What of the Japanese style pottery found in ancient gravesites in Peru? There are also carved-stone heads in the Mississippi valley that have distinctly African features found in old burials. And some evidence suggests an overseas trade route between Europe and the Americas during the time of the Romans.
Now, a map has come into the light; pulled from the dark recesses of a castle in Europe where it has been hidden from view for centuries. This map seems to indicate that European cartographers had a fairly good idea of the shape of the South American continent in 1507, a good thirteen years before Magellan crossed under Tierra Del Fuego. Could it be that these people were working under a set of information they had compiled over centuries of exploration?
The arguments against this are many, yet it seems to me that political considerations have always trumped reality and truth. In fact, politics creates it's own reality, such as is evidenced by modern PC being the new 'Newspeak' of the late twentieth century, having evolved from it's fictional start in Orwell's novel, 1984.
At any rate, science and research tends to bow before the boots of authority, and power trumps knowledge century after century.
Speaking of human movement over the earth, what about accents? Linguist.org has a great article on accents, and the way they change over time as populations reform, consolidate and evolve.
It all comes down to realizing that humans are a most energetic species, and our societies change and evolve. Hopefully, overall, we will continue to evolve in an upward direction, and not devolve into an anarchic, archaic society.

At the foot of the Hills

Nipomo California
At the foot of the Hills


Yep, this is the north end of our town. Yeah, it's a bit quiet, but we like it that way.
Nipomo is a quaint town, very rural, slow in a lot of ways. Our high school just opened a few years ago, before that the kids had to be bussed to the next town over, to Arroyo Grande.
Things change through the years, and Nipomo has grown by leaps and bounds. There have been growing pains also; gangs have caused a bit of violence in town, and we also have a bit of traffic congestion. The Post Office moved to the other side of the freeway some eight years ago, before that, we really never crossed the freeway, now to check our mail we have to get caught up in the traffic of downtown Nipomo.
De Mille filmed his epic film The Ten Commandments outside town in the dunes. I know a couple of people who's parents were extras in that film, and a couple who's grandfathers worked on building the set. It is a relic of a bygone era, and sadly most of the set was just pushed over into the sand, it is now being excavated as an archaeological dig for it's film history and significance.
Dorothea Lange took a picture of a woman in Nipomo that became emblematic of the depression, the image titled 'Migrant Mother' has been seen by millions. That photo was taken in a field that I pass nearly daily.
Nipomo is a good town, with mostly good people, and we're happy to be part of the community here.

Dedication, heroism, commitment, heart

Dedication, heroism, commitment, heart
Sea, Air, Land


I was told this sign was posted onto the door of a wounded Navy Seal member, while he is recuperating from his wounds suffered while in combat.
I've known a couple Navy SEALs, and I think they'd not mind me saying that SEALs are not like other people. They are part Chuck Norris, part George Washington. They are a highly trained and highly skilled and exceedingly small group of extraordinary people, and my support goes to all who try to enter into such hallowed ranks. Of all who try for such goals, a very, very select few will ever attain the high degree of commitment and skill and mental tenacity needed for the job.
The mind is the greatest barrier to excellence for most people. Most people do not have what it takes to push themselves to the almost super-human degree needed to become a SEAL.
This young man has what it takes to make this country great, we wish him the best in his recuperation, and the rest of his life...may it be long and grand. God Bless ya' Dude.

Memories of Summer Past

Memories of summer past

Momma always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun...
but Momma, that's where the fun is...
~Bruce Springsteen~
'Blinded by the light'

Madman drummers bummers,
Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin' kinda older,
I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasin', sneezin' and wheezin,
the calliope crashed to the ground


Every season has it's delightful aspects. I like winter with it's cool weather and rain that gives the land time to regenerate and rest. But I suppose nothing really beats a warm summer afternoon at the beach. Here's a photo I took this last summer of people walking their dogs on a Santa Barbara beach.
Summer will come again, but we'll have to wait until next summer.
But when in a nostalgic mood, looking over frosty hills on a bleak winter's day, what better memories of summers past than the funky sound of Manfred Mann's Earth Band and their great classic song 'Blinded by the light'.
Some silicone sister with a manager mister told me I go what it takes
She said "I'll turn you on sonny to something strong,
play the song with the funky break"
And go-cart Mozart was checkin' out the weather chart to see if it was safe outside
And little Early-Pearly came by in his curly-wurly and asked me if I needed a ride
Asked me if I needed a ride
But she was...
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
She got down but she never got tired
She's gonna make it through the night