Wow – June already. I cant believe it. Actually… I’m writing this at the end of June, so in reality, June is almost over.

Wow – what a month.

A lot was added to my plate this month, including a few pounds around the torso, but let’s just stick the the basics, shall we?

First, let’s talk about 3D printing. The first half of the month I was going crazy with tweaking and printing the various designs for my Motion Mates project. I must admit 3D printing is an art and I have to be thankful for having a great support group as far away as Australia (thank you Leigh). But sometimes 3D printers have a mind of their own and can generate some unique ‘art’. As a matter of fact, I plan on enlarging a photo of a recent accidental ‘invention’, framing it, and putting it over the fireplace. It’s called ‘Fish on Hook’!

Then there was a little trip to Long Beach.

An offshoot of the Special Olympics known as the Summer Games also took place over there this month. It’s a 45 minute drive (without traffic), so it’s a place that I rarely go to. Ayano volunteered for the 2 day event and I brought along the Nikon to take some pictures. It was not as intense as the Olympics in Los Angeles, but it was a great events and you should see how happy everyone was to receive medals.

Being in Long Beach also gave me the opportunity to take a quick detour to the only restaurant in Southern Orange Country that makes Trinidadian Roti – The Caribbean House. Unfortunately, it’s not as good as I remember it… the last time being 2 years ago, so I still long for a good hot flavorful goat or mutton roti.

On the domestic part of things, I always seem to talk about Yorba Linda park. After all, I do spend a lot of time there running or walking in the mornings. Well once again, I need to say that this is a great park. Over the last few months I’ve seen the baby duckings grow into young adults. It’s pretty amazing as they tend to grow very fast! Another nice thing this month is that the city redid all the trails! So now it’s even more fun to go out for a walk or run.

Another big this month is that we got rid of Time Warner and put in AT&T Fiber! YES! At 1/2 the prices and 5x the speed, I’m now a happy camper. Unfortunately, while there is a huge noticeable difference in uploading and downloading data, it hasn’t helped me in getting more blog items posted 🙂

Next on the list to talk about are the cheap, but good, brown eggs at Wholesome Choice (great grocery store, BTW), and the continual search for a backyard (aka – furniture and umbrella).

Now that’s a difficult task.
Why is everything so expensive? I can buy 2-3 BBQs for the price of one outdoor chair.

And for umbrellas… ?
There are the cheep ones for $200 that will not last a year in the California sun and winds. Then there are the $1000 ones that will probably only last 2 years.

Good Grief!

I’ve also been looking at sails to block to sun, but I still haven’t found anything that I like. For now, I’m using a simple fold-up chair and side table while I write this. As long as the sun doesn’t come out, I’m good.\We also had a bit of a scare last month. Two horses just down the street died within hours of eating Nutrena horse feed. As soon as I found out, I let as many people know as possible. As some of you may know, Monensin contamination is a huge concern and it doesn’t take long to cause a lethal effect. But this was pretty shocking as to how fast it happened. The battle is still going on and Nutrena has denied that the horses died because of their feed. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help the fact that this happened in the first place and everyone that owns horses around us have had jittery month.

I was also in Milwaukee a few days for work. I arrived via Chicago and stayed in a hotel near the airport. From there is was a nice drive up the New Berlin. While work is exciting, I think the best part for me was getting to go for a jog early mornings in the Catherine Chevalier Woods near the hotel – first to enjoy the sunrise and get rid of jet lag and second – to enjoy the wildlife along the trails (that doesn’t include the mosquitos, of course).

The month quickly ended with an intense weak of me doing research on various audio equipment for video production. If it wasn’t for Amazon Prime, I’d really be in a bind, trying trying to return a number of devices that just didn’t meet my requirements. Next was the last weekend of the month were a number of graduation ceremonies, since school is now officially out for summer (congrates Bryan), and a quick Saturday excursion to the Greek Festival in Irvine.

Next Month is Canada’s 150th Birthday and July 4th. So it only seems only fitting that I add a quick pic of the USA’s former president having an informal lunch with the Prime Minister of Canada.