By I. Ron Butterfly

I was talking with some friends over lunch when the topic of drums came up which inevitable leads to Iron Maiden’s In A Gadda De Vida - which reminds me of this episode of the Simpsons.

“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” is a seventeen-minute, five-second psychedelic rock song by Iron Butterfly, released on their 1968 album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, occupying the entire second side of the album. The lyrics are simple, and heard only at the beginning and the end.

I wish I could find the extended version where Bart gets punished afterward but I’m lucky to get this much. Enjoy.

Lyrics:In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, honey,

Don’t you know that I love you?

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, baby,

Don’t you know that I’ll always be true?

Oh, won’t you come with me

And take my hand?

Oh, won’t you come with me
And walk this land?

Please take my hand!

[Repeat]

[Solos]

[Repeat]

Grandma recently broke her foot and is using a walker while her foot heals. Since she was enjoying a piece of Christmas pie, Corbin decided to take her walker for a spin. It works a lot better than those Fisher Price walkers which are too short for Corbin (13 months), cost about the same as a walker and don’t fold up as well.

Someone reminded me of this, which seems to fit nicely.

One of the many things people gave Corbin for Christmas this year was a kids wagon. Wagon for Two Plus by Step2, specifically. When grandma (nana) watched him over the weekend a while back, she discovered how much he enjoyed riding in her garden wagon, so she got him his own wagon to ride around the yard.

My friend Steve Adams has started a new blog which may or may not be of interest to you. Since I’m not much into fishing, I’ll stick with his family blog but for those of you with bait in you veins, I give you NorCal Angler - Northern California sport fishing, adventures, destinations, trips & tackle.

Steve’s been fishing since he was a kid with many years fishing freshwater in So Cal. Later, Steve did a lot of Large Mouth Bass fishing and, on occasion, has been known to go to one of the local lakes in San Diego and fish for the stocked Trout with ultra-light gear. Sometime in the eighties Steve started fishing Saltwater and eventually spent many years fishing the overnight tuna trips on the sporties and has been on multiple 3 day, & 10 day trips as well. A few years back he did a lot of “private boat” trips, most of them on 18′ center consoles and a couple trips on some Yacht’s.

Steve also worked as a deck-hand on several sport-fishing boats out of San Diego during the early to mid-90’s periodically for 6-7yrs and did a few seasons on a couple Long Rangers as well. He went to Alaska and fished a season on a Salmon Seiner working the deck and running a skiff. Then when back in SD, and worked another season or two on the Long Rangers.

Since arriving in NorCal, (about 30 miles east of Sac.) Steve has done several trips to Folsom Lake, caught and released a few Bass, spotted a couple FAT smallies, and is fast becoming familiar with the American River stripper fishing and has done pretty good for a first year. He even caught and released several Steelhead, and three incidental LARGE Salmon (also revived and released).

So I think that makes him pretty well qualified to talk about fishing. At least enough for a blog. So go on and visit and check out one of his many stories already posted. And if you don’t fish, you’ll still enjoy the photos. Be sure to tell him I sent you.

Got this email this morning from my dad…

Last night we went to bed with snow still on the ground in the back
yard and still on the roofs of the houses. This morning we woke up to
high winds and all the snow was gone. Even the snow on “our” mountain
is mostly gone. Unless this new storm coming in brings low snow, we
will not have the white Christmas we were hoping for.

The weather report is that the snow level will be to high for us to
get any new stuff but that is in a way good. That means the pass will
be open and you will be able to get here OK. At least the Big
Mountains, like Big Bear and Mt Baldy will still be white.

Cant wait to see you guys and watch Corbin walking. Love Dad

crosses fingers for fresh snow but we can easily make a trip up to the aforementioned mountains. And I just got snow cables from Sears on Friday.

Consider…

HT: Cavman Considers

You may recall from a few months ago that I took my CSE Oral Exam and it didn’t go well. If you forgot, here’s the highlight.

Walnut Creek or bust
So a few weeks back, I got my results and I missed it by that much. Sad, deflated and annoyed, I quickly signed up for the next available exam. Bad news, the first choice on the list is February in Northern California, the good news, a second chance to meet with Sam. And this time I will stay the night…

Unfortunately, that won’t happen either as I just got my confirmation and I’m scheduled for the May exam in Southern California. But this way, I won’t have to travel. In the mean time, I think I’ll get my Arizona License and study for the LEED accreditation.

That didn’t happen either. Instead, I got a call today from the California Architects Board (who administers the exam) and since I checked that little box that said I’d like an earlier day if one becomes available, they asked if I wanted to take the CSE in Anaheim at the end of January. Of course I said yes.

Moving my exam date up four months does kind of put a bit of pressure on me to study over the next thirty days but at least I have a study-buddy to help me stay on track. A colleague of mine is taking the CSE the same time I am, so we’ll help each other study. We may even be able to carpool depending on our actual test days and times.

Then again, we may just have to stay an extra day and Visit Disneyland. After all, Corbin’s one inch away from riding the Matterhorn. I’m sure he’ll be big enough by then.