Happy Birthday to Me!

Well today is my birthday. I turned 30. My wife and my parents got together to throw me a party on Sunday which was nice. I got to see and hang out with a couple of friends I hadn't seen in a while.

I also got a cool new fish tank. I kept aquariums for years and then stopped when I got into other interests for a while. I have started to get interested in keeping fish again and my mother-in-law was nice enough to get me a 5 gallon corner aquarium with all the filtration and lighting built-in. It's really a neat little package and makes for easy setup. You can't see much fromt he picture as far as fish but there are a pair of "fancy" guppies in there and a breeder box with just over a dozen babies. I will probably pick up a couple of bottom feeders to get some motion on the bottom of the tank as the guppies seem to like to hang out so far toward the top that you don't see them much.

My parents got me a Craftsman 5-drawer tool chest which was a major upgrade for storing my tools from the old dresser I was using. The drawback of this of course was that it meant a decent amount of garage cleaning in order to get the old tool chest(dresser) out and get the new one in. Fortunately it fit perfectly and got me to toss some stuff that was just wasting space.

From my wife I got an essential tool for anyone that enjoys backpacking. A water filter. It was probably the most thoughtful gift of them all. I love backpacking and building up my supplies is a very slow process. And like usual. Terri did her homework and got me a good one.

Good friends, family, and cool presents. Who could ask for more on their birthday!

Hiking O'Neill Regional Park

Well I went hiking for the first time in months today and took my daughter Cassidy with me. We had a lot of fun.

We went to O'Neill Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon, CA. I camped here a few times when I was a kid but I hadn't been there in 10+ years. We started out for the Edna Spaulding Trail but it was overgrown and due for some maintenence so we headed back to the parking area and over to the Arroyo Trabuco Trail (more of a fire road). There we had a pretty good hike. We went in about a mile and saw numerous birds, a couple of sqirrels, a rabbit and a few snails. I was hoping we could spot a deer or 2 but no such luck today. We also found quite a few tracks. There were deer, racoon, rabbit, and coyote tracks along the path.

After we got back to the parking area we had a snack and headed over to a playground for a few minutes then to the nature center to ckeck out some of the wildlife (stuffed is better than nothing right?) that is in the area. Then home for a nap for both of us. All-in-all a good morning.

It is rather unforunate though that someone decided to build a giant bridge with a toll road on it over the park! I didn't make it as far as the camping area today but there was no part of the day-use area that you could not hear the road and when we went hiking we walked right under it. They didn't even put any architectural creativity into it. It is just a giant concrete blight on the landscape.

Next outing I think we will try Riley Wilderness park. I don't think there are any roads running near there.