East County and SD people!

Went out to East County today to study with E and went for a hike at Cowles Mountain (sure is nice being a grad student!!) Family members may be interested in the website where I found these pictures. Check out the Mission Trails Regional Park link on the above website. I hope I can drag everyone from the family (including the kids!) out on this hike while they are here over Xmas. I've really started to like the terrain out in East County....it's recovered nicely from the fires and since we've had "so much" rain in the last month it's actually kind of green! We took the dog on the hike...1.5 miles UP to the top. Funny thing I've noticed out here in SD, when you pass someone on a hike or walk they DON'T OFTEN say hello or even make eye contact. AND WE EVEN HAD A CUTE DOG WITH US. It actually pissed me off today! One woman was jogging and we stood to the side to let her by and not even a wave of the hand acknowledging us! So I made it up a little research study on the hike down and said hello or smiled at everyone we passed....got about a 50% response rate. GEEZ!!!

There may be hope

The Husband sent me this link from the S.Bend Tribune

I'm thinking there may be hope for S. Bland after all!

Breastfeeders for Bush

A classmate of mine was distraught the week before the election, losing sleeping over the thought that Kerry might actually win the race. It's gone so far that the current top name choice for child #2 is the "W" name from George W!!! I wanted to bite my tongue until after the election to point out a very obvious inconsistency, but couldn't hold out! I finally blurted out; "But B, how can you vote for W? You are an extended breastfeeder?" (she breastfed child#1 until after age 2)I got more than a few laughs from the rest of the class with this comment....Does anyone else think this is strange???????

I did a quick search in Google with breastfeeders and Bush and came across this Blog. Thought it might be something the sister and brother-in-law might find interesting...given the way they talk politics with their kiddos!

CITY SCANDALS TO A SURFING MAYOR???

One of the only fun stories over the last few days here in SD.....

" SAN DIEGO – Surf is definitely up in San Diego politics.

Donna Frye, a surfer who sports long blonde hair and refuses to get a driver's license, is riding a wave of write-in votes for mayor that could sweep aside two graying 60-something Republicans and carry her into City Hall. The surf-shop owner has capitalized on a confluence of circumstances, including a financial scandal that threatens San Diego with bankruptcy.

The votes have not been completely tallied, but so far, the write-in ballots lead with 35 percent of the vote; Mayor Dick Murphy has 34 percent. The overwhelming majority of write-ins are expected to be for Frye, 52, who is "extremely optimistic" she will win once all the ballots are counted.

Frye, a Democrat, campaigned on change in this historically Republican seaside city of 1.3 million people, the nation's seventh largest.

Murphy was beset by a deepening scandal that has prompted federal investigations into whether officials hid bad news about an underfunded retirement plan from investors and taxpayers......"

See www.signonsandiego.com for the full article....