Eric and Sharlene's family news, trips and happenings from 2008...

Welcome to the year 2008 family events section of our web site, where we've published some of the many fun things we've done this year, and a few family photos taken this year. Click on the thumbnail of choice to relieve the adventure of choice, in the year 2008. Old 2008 family news will be found below the featues, in day-by-day sequence, from the year, 2008.

March 22, 2008: Not home alone anymore, as Casey and Tim move in with us.

March 23, 2008: We enjoy a Easter dinner of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

The following section features past write-ups from the the year 2008:

June 20, 2008: Today is our 11th anniversary, as I had to work; however we plan to celebrate it this weekend by going out to dinner, someplace special. I'm in the middle of non-stop 16-hour days at work, so I don't have a lot of time to do anything. By the way, the recent web pages have been created and uploaded to the server while I'm at work, using stealthy, clandestine methods.

June 14, 2008: Sharlene visited her mom for Father's Day weekend, and I stayed home. Gee, I had the weekend off, so I did some projects around the house, and barbecued some tacos de tripas on my smoker.

June 12, 2008: The Sacramento Breakfast enjoyed another wonderful breakfast at Cricket Country Kitchen; click on the link to read all about our enjoyable experience.

May 27, 2008: For me, it's the start of another long week of 16-hour work days, or perhaps I should say nights, as I start work at 1600 and don't get off until 0800 the following morning. It's brutal, to be sure, but the money is good! I'm working lots of overtime with the goal of purchasing a new home theater system for our family room.

May 26, 2008: We did absloutely nothing on Memorial Day, except watch our new HDTV, as I had to work and Sharlene had projects to do around the house. Ditto for Casey and Tim.

May 24, 2008: We finally entered the digital age of television, as we purchased a JVC 37" HDTV which fit perfectly into the alcove in our family room, which previously housed a 36" analog television.

May 23, 2008: If you're interested, check out The Sacramento Breakfast Club, as we visited Waffle Barn, again... and enjoyed a delicious breakfast. Just the time to relax, after you've worked another whopping 88-hour week!

May 18, 2008: I had the weekend off, so lets see... what did I do beside work in the yard, update the web site, and prepare for another grueling work week?

May 17, 2008: I had to work the weekend, and the fact that we had a 100+ degree heat spell, but we threw a "Welcome-to-your-new-home" party for Casey and Tim on our patio, and despite all of the issues, we had a great time.

May 14-15, 2008: We're short-handed at work, so I'm working 16-hour days, and making extra money. I'll be working a whopping 88-hour week, and it will probably be the same for next week as well. Somehow, I find time to work on this web site. Hint... at work? Sharlene drove to Folsom to purchase tickets for their Pro Rodeo, which we plan to attend on the 4th of July. After working all night, I grabbed a couple hours of sleep before beginning my regular afternoon shift at work.

May 10, 2008: Mother's day weekend and Sharlene visits her mom in the Bay Area, as I had to work the weekend, so there wasn't much point in her sticking around the house.

May 5, 2008: Finally, after three weeks on disability, I'm back at work, and to top it off, no more night shift, as I was finally able to land a gig on the evening shift, for the same pay and less work! Sharlene returned safely from her visit to Jacquie in Las Vegas.

May 1, 2008: Sharlene is quite healthy, visiting our grandson, Paris, on his 8th birthday, as I keep things going around the house, as I attempt to gey my vision back. I weighed myself today and I'm down to 155 lbs, thanks to a lot of walking and healthy eating.

April 30, 2008: Sharlene flew to Las Vegas to be with our oldest daughter, Jacquie, and our grandson, Paris, while I was left at home, tring to get my vision back in order. I have only limited vision, so my web site entries are somewhat limited.

April 26, 2008: For the first time in two weeks, I'm able to actually see good enough to publish this article, and work on the web site. The computer screen is still very fuzzy, and my eyes strain to see what I'm trying to see on the screen, but I can actually see! My recommondation from the experiences that I've encountered during the last two weeks: Don't even think about being blind! Oh yes, I planted more panzies today.

April 25, 2008: I drove my car today for the first time in nearly two weeks! Yes, I drove a little over a mile to purchase some flowers to plant in the back yard, to make our home look prettier for spring. you know, since I've been off the computer for the last couple of weeks, I've been doing some of the things around the house that I used to do, years before I had internet access, much less a web site. I'm the sort of person that just can't sit around the house, as I have to be busy and productive, and it may sound mundane to plant flowers and perform cleaning and organization proects, to me, it's better than just sitting around doing nothing. However, it was truly wonderful to be able to drive again, and to do somehting useful around the house.

April 24, 2008: Little by little my visiton is returnign, and the pain is going away. I was able to go on a long walk today, and I spent a few hours cleaning the garage, again... and doing a couple of projects that were long overdue. I'm starting to feel human again, which is nice, and I actually checked my email today, albeit very blurry and abrievieted, for the first time in well over a week.

April 16 to 23, 2008: I am blind. Have you ever been blind? No, I hadn't been before this period in my life, but now I know what it's like to be blind. No, the world isn't dark, as I can see to do basic things, like go ofr a walk, fix dinner, shower, "sort of" shave, and dress myself. But I can't read a book, drive my car, watch tv, or see the computer screen, as everything is in a blur. At first, I just sat in my chair and listened to "Willie's Place" on XM Satellite radio, via the internet, and soft of drowned in my own mysery. Oh yes, I can type, so I managed to access the internet through a book mark, and then I was able to type my way into "Willie's Place." Anyway, after wallowing in self-pity for a couple of days, I started to do projects around the house that I could actually, albeit with limited visiton. I re-organized the garage, cleaned up the patio, and performed a whole-house cleaning downstairs and upstairs. The computer and this web site sat silent during this period of time... Work? Last week it turned from a mere absence to disablity. Besides having foggy visiton, during this week, I have to cope with acute pain in my eyesl. I'ts like somebody ripped my eyes out, coated them with sand, and then swabbed them with iodine, or acetone, and put them back into my head. The pain is constant, and it's itching and burning. I don't wish this thing on anybody!

April 16, 2008: The highlight of my exciting, legally-blind day was a visit to my fine doctor, Eduardo Bermudez, who is an outstanding doctr, and a nice person, and he confirmed that, yes, I have a sever case of conjunctivitis in both eyes, in fact, he told me that I was the worse case that he'd ever seen. Gee, it feels nice to be a guinea pig! The good doctor instructed me to wash my eyes with baby shampoo on an as-needed basis, perscribed anti-biotics and steroids, and told me to use artificual tears eye drops when my eyes become dry. Keep in mind that I looked like Ray Charles in the hospital, as I wore sunglasses to conceal my swollen, red, puffy eyes from the other inmates.

April 14, 2008: I got up to go to work and that didn't happen, as I couldn't see! Sure, I could see glurry shapes, and I wasn't bumping into walls, but I couldn't see to watch television, read the newspaper, or much less stare at a computer monitoer all night long. So there was little elese to do than to call in sick to work and go back to bed and attempt to sleep it off, blind.

April 13, 2008: Somehow, I struggled through work, with swollen, burning eyes, and blurry vision. Keep in mind that I sit in front of a computer terminal all night, and when you have poor eyesight, that adds more challenges to an already challenging job. After work, I decided to seek professional help, so off to the emergency room I went. Waiting for profissional help in a hospital emergency room is not my idea of a way to spend a Sunday afternoon. It seems like I've been diagnosed with an acute case of conjunctivitis in both eyes, which the doctor told me is quite unusual, especially for a guy my age. I was given eye drops and instructions, and somehow drove home, with foggy vistion.

April 12, 2008: I woke up to go to work, and my eyes were swollen, very red, and felt like they'd been coated with sand. Driving into work at night, I noticed a "halo" effect on lights. What the heck? Later in the day, Sharlene left to visit her mom for the weekend.

April 26, 2008: For the first time intwo weeks, I'm able to actually see good enough to publish this article, and work on the web site. The computer screen is still very fuzzy, and my eyes strain to see what I'm trying to see on the screen, but I can actually see! My recommondation from the experiences that I've encountered during the last two weeks: Don't even think about being blind! Oh yes, I planted more panzies today.

April 16, 2008: The highlight of my exciting, legally-blind day was a visit to my fine doctor, Eduardo Bermudez, who is an outstanding doctor, and a nice person, and he confirmed that, yes, I have a sever case of conjunctivitis in both eyes, in fact, he told me that I was the worse case that he'd ever seen. Gee, it feels nice to be a guinea pig! The good doctor instructed me to wash my eyes with baby shampoo on an as-needed basis, perscribed anti-biotics and steroids, and told me to use artificual tears eye drops when my eyes become dry. Keep in mind that I looked like Ray Charles in the hospital, as I wore sunglasses to conceal my swollen, red, puffy eyes from the other inmates.

March 28, 2008: The Sacramento Breakfast Club attended a meeting at Railroad Café, which has morphed into one of favorite breakfast restaurants in the Sacramento area, due to outstanding food, great people and reasonable prices. Write-up to follow...

March 24, 2008: I enjoyed another day off work, so in keeping with the true spirt of spring, I spent much of the day working around the house, doing such fun chores as pulling weeds in the back yard and cleaning the garage.

March 23, 2008: Easter Sunday. We start the day out by enjoying a delightful breakfast at elegant The Terrace restaurant, and then finish the day be having a good old fashioned family get-together at our house. Sharlene prepared one of my favorite meals of Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, roast beef, and delicious gravy. Truly a way to celebrate a wonderful day!

March 22, 2008: Moving Day! Oh boy! Casey and Tim move back in with us. I celebrate the blessed event by smoking pork and steak on my new smoker, and attempt to stay out of the whole moving affair.

March 21, 2008: The Sacramento Breakfast Club enjoyed another meeting at Charlie's Cafe, and I finally learned how to access the web on my new celluar phone, after only playing around with it for a couple of weeks.

March 20, 2008: It's my birthday, which just another day-in-the-life of a 50+ year old working stiff, yet my lovely wife chose to give me a lovely birthday card, not to mention a smoker, and an outdoor fireplace. By the way, it was a rough day at work!

March 14, 2008: The Sacramento Breakfast Club attended a wonderful meeting at Eggie's Coffee Shop, and all five of us enjoyed a delicious breakfast of ham and eggs. After breakfast, I saw Sharlene briefly before she left for work then I took a walk, and published the article about our breakfast experience. I worked on the new smoker, and yes, I researched some oak firewood on the Internet. I'm a devoted husband and partner, working stuff, and , yes, I don't have a life! Oh, check out the Sacramento Breakfast Club adventures by clicking on the highlighted hyperlink..

March 22, 2008: Moving Day! Oh boy! Casey and Tim move back in with us. I celebrate the blessed event by smoking pork and steak on my new smoker, and attempt to stay out of the whole moving affair.

March 13, 2008: Do you think that I lead a boring life? I really do, as the highlight of my day was to visit the local DMV in Rocklin and obtain a CA ID card, to make my non-driving visits to Mexico a bit easier. Sharlene went to work, and I stayed home and went on a long walk, and applied black paint to the new shelf that I'm making for my horizontal smoker barbecue.

March 11, 2008: After work, I stopped by a local Home Depot and purchased plywood and paint, to fabricate a custom shelf for my smoker. After I got home, I took my walk, and then got out the tools and made a shelf to fit below the smoking chamber. I painted it with primer, and allowed it to dry. Tomorrow, after my daily walk, another coat of primer...

March 9, 2008: I got up very early and took a long walk, as part of my exercise routine. When I got home, it was time to put the smoker together, which took a couple of hours. With the smoker together, I decided to make a few changes, such as installing a shelf below the smoking chamber.

March 8, 2008: Sharlene and I shopped until we dropped, well... sort of. We went over to our local WalMart and purchased a patio set, consisting of a table and four chairs, which also included a small cocktail table and a couple of folding chairs. In addition to the patio furniture, we purchased an outdoor, patio fireplace, AND a horizontal, wood-fired, Texas-style smoker. I admit that I'd been wanting an outdoor fireplace and a wood-fired smoker for quite some time. I spent a good deal of the afternoon assembling the furniture and the fireplace, but I didn't get around to the smoker. Let me back up... before all of this happened, I put a stuffed chicken in the crock pot, along with red potatoes and baby carrots. When I was exhausted assembling patio furniture, dinner was ready eat. It just doesn't get any better!

March 1, 2008: Sharlene and I are both committed to weight loss, so I got up this morning and ate a breakfast of fruit, then took a 7.71 mile walk around the block, as the seafood vendors would say, "Just for the halibut." Sharlene went to a Weight Watcher's meeting and then treated my Camry to a smog check. Dinner? Corn beef, potatoes, carrots and cabbage, in diet-sized amounts, of course.

February 29, 2008: The Sacramento Breakfast Club held a meeting at Rosie's Country Kitchen, in the nearby city of Ranco Cordova, a suburb of Sacramento. We posted the complete write-up, along with many digital photos on our web site. By the way, the tempature today hit 73 degrees under sunny skies, which is exceptional weather for Sacramento, in late winter.

February 28, 2008: Just another day where Sharlene had to work at her day job, and I spent the day home, now down to 165 pounds, and workin' on 10 pounds less.

Febrruary 25, 2008: I worked all night, Sharlene worked her day job, and I stopped by Fry's, a local electronics retailer, on the way home from work, to purchase a faulty mouse, which had halted work on this web site, and my other projects.

February 23, 2008: Sharlene cleaned house, and I spent much of the day reparing a portion of our back yard fence that blew down during the fierce January 4th rain/wind storm, where we sustained 85 mph gusts of wind. I couldn't have had too much more fun, as I had to work this weekend at my real job.

February 17, 2008: Tim, Casey and Sandy came over to visit, and we wound up going to Denio's flea market for the afternoon, to bargain shop, hike around, have a good time, and to drink beer.

February 16, 2008: I spent much of the day devoted to geocaching, which has become a new passion of mine, as it combines walking, adventure, exploring, and it's a perfect marriage of hi-tech and low-tech fun. We cleaned house... fun! Saturday night for dinner, I made beer-can chicken, baked potatoes, and Sharlene made outstanding chicken gravy. Delicious!

February 15, 2008: The Sacramento Breakfast Club has the pleasure to visit Rosie's Country Kitchen, an ex-Skipper's restaurant, in Sacramento. After breakfast, I took a 12-mile hike to work off the meal, and then some. Sharlene had to work at her new job... after working 35 years from AT&T, she just HAD to retire, and then go back to work...

February 11, 2008: I finally came back to work, still suffering from the ill-effects of poison oak, but able to return to active duty.

February 8, 2008: I'm still covered with poison oak blisters, but after a visit to the doctor yesterday, the blisters are starting to dry up. I plan to return to work on Monday, after a 5-day sick leave, which I haven't done for over 10 years. At least it gives me a good chance to update this web site

February 6, 2008: I called in sick to work, as I was covered with blisters, thanks to the poison oak. By the way, I acquired the case of poison oak while bushwhacking the bushes, along the shores of Dry Creek, in Roseville, CA, in search of a geocache. What is geocaching? Click on the hyperlink to find all about the sport and hobby.

February 5, 2008: I discover that I have a gigantic case of poison oak, due to my hiking experience along one of the local creeks populated with oak trees, and lots of brush. You can't recognize poison oak, with it's characteristic three leaves, as the leaves are bare this time of the year, and all you can see are sticks.

February 4, 2008: If things don't get updated on this web site, please excuse me, as I've got a big project that I'm working on for our sister web site, ericrench.com. I took a 9-mile hike today, in search of a geocache, and finally got a chance to update this website. Sharlene now works 5 hours a day at H&R Block, during tax season. There always seems to be something new going on around our house!

February 3, 2008: The holiest day of the year for me is Super Bowl Sunday. This year it was just Sharlene and I, and since we're both watching our weight, I made healthy snacks: Grilled shrimp, baked potato sticks, and healthly quesadillas, with natural salsa, avocado, corn tortillas, and very little cheese.

February 1, 2008: The Sacramento Breakfast Club enjoyed a fantastic breakfast at a brand-new restaurant, on opening day. We "opened up" the wonderful The Terrace restaurant.

January 26, 2008: I worked the weekend and so did Sharlene. Talk about a boring weekend!

January 20, 2008: Sharlene began working for H&R Block, as an office receptionist. True, she's retired, but the little money helps and it gets her out of the house and into "the real" world again.

January 19, 2008: I came safely home from another wonderful trip to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. I'm the process of writing a book about Tijuana street food vendors, and small restaurants, so I was in town, doing research, and doing what I love to do the most: Sampling fine Tijuana cuisine.

January 11, 2008: Wow! I spent nearly $1000 bucks, but I got the electronics upgraded in our Camry to 2008 standards. Now I can listen to country music, on XM Radio, in CD-quality as I drive to work, or to one of my trips to Mexico, and enjoy real bass on the amplified sub woofer.

January 09, 2008: Overnight, we received .015 inch of rain to bring our total rain this year to 9.55" which is just about normal for this time of year. I had the day off work today, so Sharlene and I spent the day relaxing around the house, watching tv, and in my case, working on this web site.

January 08, 2008: I decided to give myself a present, so I went over to our nearby Fry's Home Electronics store, and an hour later, spent nearly $1000.00 on auto electronics for my 12-year old Toyota Camry. I have a winner of a car, and it's like new, so why trade cars; just upgrade the electronics.

January 05, 2008: Sharlene starts a new job! After being retired for 6 months, she just wanted to get back into the work force, using different skills at a completely new line of work, than she'd done for the past 35 years. Me? I stayed home and updated the web site for the new year. By the way, today we received 0.51" of rain in powerful storm #2. So far, this storm has given us 3.20" of rain to raise our rainfall for this year to 8.91", so we're back on track to have a "normal" rainfall year.

January 04, 2008: A powerful storm rips through our area, bringing high wind and 3 inches of needed rain. Naturally, being the weather geek that I am, I take photos and lots of notes, and prepare a full report of the first report of 2008! Powerful storm #1 dropped 2.69" of rain in a 24-hour period.

January 01, 2008: Happy New Year to everybody who views this web site! Sharlene brought in the new year asleep, and I celebrated a busy new day at work, by keeping all of the 9-1-1 system afloat in the states of California and Nevada. You could say that I was quite busy.

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