We began 2022 with a drive south to Palm Springs for the dog show. This was our first big dog show. Lynda and Leo competed in confirmation, rally and obedience. They got some good learning opportunities and experience. We hadn’t been to the desert before and now we totally understand why it is such a draw especially in winter.
Our downhill terrace project that had started in Fall 2021 got a lot of work completed in January. We began to really see how the stairs, retaining, slope and astroturf would work together to provide more usable yard for kids and dog training.
In late February, while the terrace project continued, we took a driving trip south to Del Mar. We’d never been there before and found your basic very wealthy beach enclave. We stayed in the L’Auberge and enjoyed the warm winter weather. We decided to split the drive up and stayed in a nice Paso Robles inn.
March saw the beginning of the season for track days. We started by joining GGR up at Thunderhill. Lynda found a VRBO over in Chico for a few nights. Within a week or so I was able to attend an LPR autocross out at Crows Landing.
I had purchased a years worth of track day insurance with OpenTrack. With that coverage came some personalized coaching with Andy Lee. As it turns out, Lynda and I had both trained with Andy when he was at the Bondurant Racing School.
In between car events and dog training, there were lots of appointments that Mom needed to be driven, getting booster shots and our normal house tasks.
In April, I had to get the radiator on my car replaced due to taking a rock at speed. I hadn’t noticed the AC was broken in March but by April it had warmed up and I had no way to cool down. In mid-April I drove up to Sonoma Raceway for a HoD track day. It was very cold that day. Two days later I started showing symptoms of COVID. Ten days after that I was cleared for human interaction.
May was filled with lots of appointments for Mom and getting caught back up with tasks that I couldn’t do when I was in isolation. The weather warmed up and we got lots of color from the rhododendrons. We did some astrophotography while we had some clear nights (I was taking an iPhone Photo class). I participated in two days down at Laguna Seca towards the end of the month.
June had lots of dog training classes and appointments for Mom. Our nephew was with us daily, so we got into a daily summer schedule that included swim lessons. We went down to City of Industry for a dog show late in June. The best part of that trip was taking Lynda and Leo back to Beverly Hills where they were stars.
In July, we headed north to Eureka for a dog show in Ferndale. We had a nice time in Eureka and were there for the Friday night street event. Later in the month, we went down to Del Monte dog show. In between, we took the kid to the Tech Museum and sent him to his first surf lesson.
August had us continuing swim lessons and dog shows in Monterey, Lodi and Reno. We even fit in a second surf lesson.
We headed up to Vallejo for a dog show in mid-September; Leo and Lynda did well. I came across some rodent damage in the car while doing some cabin filter updates. I did another day down at Laguna Seca with the Santa Barbara club.
In October, we went to Morgan Hill for a dog show. The grandnephews and niece had started back to school. After attending remotely for the previous year, many skills needed to be brought back up to grade level for each of them. So, we stated a Homework Club. I’d get the kids on Wednesdays during their half day and bring them up to the house where Lynda would supervise reading practice and have some fun. Lynda did some nice decorating for Halloween that set the neighbors talking.
We headed up to Napa in November for a show. I took my new ebike and had some great rides back up into the hills seeing all the fall colors.
We closed out the year with a dog show in Woodland. We actually in downtown Sacramento and had some fun walking through old town. Lynda was able to squeeze in Leo’s final rally competition up in Martinez. Great tacos at Taco Daddy. We got a chance to see Lynda’s extended family at an event over in Livermore. Lynda and Gunnar headed up to San Francisco to see the sites. Towards the end of the month we started prepping for 2023 winter dog shows. And, then it began to rain.