Hello, my name is Dan and this is my DT Log.

We had the unfortunate news today that Sera’s birthday party at Wells Park was cancelled. We hope everything is alright in the Riddle household.

I took Siobhane on an outing to Mission Trails Park. Our intention was to follow the historic Father Serra Trail from the vistor center, 1.8 miles to the Old Mission Dam, which holds a personal importance to me. I didn’t take the stroller, which made us abort the trip halfway through, because I became weary of carrying Siobhane on my shoulders like a 30-pound sack of barbels.

The pictures:

Siobhane Touchette, Super Genius.

My little girl is holding the coyote by the ears! At the visitor center is an amphitheater, used for nature shows and the like. There are three permanent patrons – a mountain lion, a rat and this wiley fellow. Siobhane was only interested in the this steel sculpture when I banged on it and showed her it made noise.

Truthfully, I expected a dingy shack stationed by a park ranger with a beard shaggier than Grizzly Adams’s. Instead, we found this multi-million dollar, two-story educational building with a library, a theater, a couple classrooms and a museum exhibit. It’s extravagent, but in a fun way. I can think of worse things tax dollars could be spent on, but it goes to show how the City of San Diego managed to get themselves a billion or so dollars in debt.

What exactly is this?

We set out on the trail and observed and identified some of the native vegetation. Except this one. I have no idea what this is. If anyone tells me, they win a prize. A box of Band-Aids, quantity 60, minus one.

Fortuna Mountain South, elevation 1094.

Visible from Mission Gorge Road, the lower elevated of the pair is on the north shore of the San Diego River through this valley. This photo was taken at about 3pm, with waning sunlight, about halfway up the trail. The Cedar Fire of 16 months ago and recent heavy rain has made the landscape starkly green. It’s a site we don’t often see in our area.

Kwaay Paay, elevation 1194.

We are looking up at about a 45 degree angle to the sheer face of this Kumeyaay-named peak, on the south side of the San Diego River. If we could zoom in on the picture, you would see six or seven rock climbers utilizing this very popular spot.

We made it to about the 8/10 mile mark and headed back. Siobhane then began to act goofy and wiggly around like Jel-Lo. It was very difficult to keep her on my shoulders, and letting her go only meant she would head in the opposite direction of the car. I had to keep her entertained by running, holding her upside down, and carrying her around my shoulders. This more than anything else exhausted me. When we got back to the visitor center, I made sure to get my gallon’s worth from the available water fountain. Siobhane meanwhile found this mud puddle, which led to…

MUDDY BUTT!

Of course a toddler bottom and any trace of moistened soil are magnetically attracted. This is called the Entropic Law of Muddy Tushy.

My mom now lives in El Cajon about a mile and a half away. I got Siobhane and strolled her over there. Siobhane gets a little anxious around my mom – she is definitely not a grandmotherly type like her mom – she colored her hair jet black which makes her seem more stark in appearence. No matter, Siobhane was relaxed within 5 minutes, enjoying the environmental expanse over the trailer, as well as the non-babyproofed goodies all over the place.

Today’s trek was 3.1 miles – according to one calculator on the Net, pushing a stroller that distance amounted to 775 calories burned. Should I pay attention to that? All I really desire right now is more energy. I stopped into AM/PM to get water, a soda, energy vitamins and a couple of hot dogs for me and Siobhane. Interestingly, I definitely appear more friendly to strangers with the baby than when I’m alone.

So sets up an exchange which started with, “Do you know you look like Michael Moore?”

Now how would you take this?

This man was a classic hippie-type, tall, thin, 40s, scraggly beard. And obviously enamored with Michael Moore’s anti-establishment message.

I said, trying to screw the top onto my plastic soda cup: “I’m not sure if that is a compliment.” I maintained a smile, to quash any partisan ill-will this conversation may have been headed for. To me, looking like Michael Moore isn’t exactly what my goal is.

“He makes great movies,” he replied, “A lot of people hate him. But he tells the truth.”

I can tell this guy has a problem living in San Diego East County with all of the SUVs zooming around with Bush-Cheney bumper stickers. The thing is Michael Moore tells the truth as he sees it.

Bowling for Columbine was brilliant, but as entertaining as Fahrenheit 9/11 was, a lot of the opinions, based on the facts as he sees them, were absolute reaches. No matter, Michael Moore above all is an entertainer, and muses on politics in an entertaining way. Give his anaylsis to say, Ashlee Simpson, and she would garner a stadium-full chorus of boos. Conservative talk radio hosts get it wrong by calling him an idiot – they are ignoring his style of persuasive speech.

So I had to let him know that I knew what he meant (I guess I’m flattered.)

Maybe I need to count those calories, as Michael Moore isn’t in the peak of health. Maybe it was my longer hair and out-of-control, two-weeks-growth beard. Excuse me, folks, I have to step away from the computer and shave.

Satire, but appropriate: Microsoft’s AntiSpyware Tool Removes Internet Explorer.

So Bronwynn gave Sandy the keys to the car today, becuase it was raining.

I still needed to go somewhere – important stuff – so, Bronwynn says, “If you need to, take the Rodeo.”

This was a complete 180 from New Years Eve, but her state of mind was fading into unconsciousness due to lack of sleep.

Okay, fine. What Tanya called “Her baby.” So off I am on a solo mission in the Rodeo with a manual transmission. My adrenaline started to increase as I put-put-putted that thing down the street, trying to focus on when to slip it into second gear. I stalled quite a few times. But overall, like rookie Philip Rivers Chargers performance over the weekend, I drove like a rookie. Three honks when I stalled – much more patience from fellow El Cajon drivers than I expected. And only one would orally equivocate, “What are you, stupid or something?” This was a man in a wheelchair who apparently thought I was going to kill him before yielding to him in the Office Depot parking lot. “No,” I answered, smiling, “I’m learning how to drive a stick-shift.” He muttered something under his breath, so I said, “Hey, you’re going into Office Depot too, I’ll say hi to you inside!” People get frustrated when they lose arguments. Unfortunately for my hormone-sated, hyper-aware self, I didn’t see him inside. That would have been fun.

After my body was put in hyperdrive today, I am flat out tired. I might actually get to sleep early today.