One time in 8th grade about 1962 or 1963, our teacher said our class would take some tests with two other classes. By early nextweek, our teacher said that we had one student that plays higher that the three other classes. I thought it was Thomas Carroll. When I was in my sophomore year late 1964 or early 1965 we always had a geometry class. Throughout this class we had test then the following week the student would grade his own test. One particular week I did not get my test. I sat rather emptyhanded until bell rang and the teacher called me. I rather sheepishly went to where the teacher called me to sit down. He wanted to know how I worked out a certain problem. Boy was I relieved. So there were three steps each one that solved the poblem. When I got done the teacher said he understood. He went on to say "I see how now. You used three steps to solve the problem you did, while that man that wrote the book took four."
Mount Diablo is approximately 40 miles east to south of San Francisco. Mount Diablo has two entrances, one on the north side, the other one on the south side, these two form one at just about mid-way. The peak has a paved road at all times of the of the year, with very few exceptions. The south side begin at approximately 650 feet and the peak is at 3, 849 feet. This makes a good ride on one's bicycle. I approached fom the south side and picked a business to park in, just about a mile away from the climb, I began the bicycle climb. First, I went inward then I came outward it just seemed to never end for the east until it finally broke to the north and finally there was the south gate entrance, a good place to relax. Ready to go and it was back on the bicycle again only this time were going northwest. It was not as steep as before as the road change going east, going east a bit, then back to north and then came the merging of the two lanes. This was a good place for another rest. I was walking around another shed, it had a cement walk all the way around it when, hold. On one back corner there was a rattlesnake, I stopped dead in my (indistinct). I started going backwards without turning around. We are back on the road again, the whole road is rough but the last 600 feet is the toughest of all. Once that was done, I was there. You could see just about everything in the summit visit center. San Francisco is 40 miles west, San jose is 56 miles south, Sacramento is 93 miles northeast, and my town Livermore which is 33 miles souhteast. Well, we have seen about everyhting regarding the bay area in Sacramento so it is time to go. This is the fun part, it takes about 20 or 25 minutes, this doesn't take very long because my eyes are on the road and I mean on the road. Well,I am back to the truck. I put the bicycle at the back and i am hungry.
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When I was about 45, I moved to a place that was about 11 miles to Grants Pass, Oregon. It was 20 acres with a three bedroom home with a creek that ran from sout to north. While I was there I put a pond in, I knew a fella that had a large bulldozer and a new fella that had excavator. It took the guys approximately three days to finish the job. Now, from the time it took for the water to stop flowing, to the dam was 210 feet, across the dam 110 feet and the depth of the dam was 13 feet. Now, by the time I quit stocking the pond it counted 77 largemouth bass. Now when dragonflies hook together to spawn, they look for a quiet piece of water where they can lay their. That's where the largemouth bass have them. They leap out of the water, and two out of three times to catch them. The only other time is when I go to the store and buy some earthworms.