Mike Hicks

My wife and I recently had the privilege of partially hosting Mike Hicks and his beautiful wife, Beth, during their visit to our part of the country. We were hoping to have a good time, which we most certainly did, but we were also hoping, as self-appointed ambassadors of California, to show that Californians are unjustifiably cast as idiots in the eyes of the rest of the nation.

Like evey good roofer I have ever known, Mr. Hicks brought his work with him. I mentioned that he might be well-rid of one of his clients and he replied, "I have forty families to feed and that is the man with the check-book."

Most everybody on here is self-employed and follows his own read on everything, but we could all count ourselves lucky to be hired by a man like that. I assure you, his concerns were not for himself. I have similar feelings for the people I hire. Their well-being is my well-being. But I cannot find it in me to take on the magnitude of what he does or the way he does it. One in a million, just to make him blush. What a gem.

I remember when Washington adopted that ergonomics law with the two-hour maximum for repetitive action. I was thinking, hey, if they did that in California, we'd have to shingle backwards have the time. Ok, you guys, time's up. Go shingle over there for two hours and then you can come back and shingle here. At the very least, every two hours stop and pick up the trash and have a little coffee break. There is no monopoly anywhere on dumb. When they first put in flush toilets in Seattle, every time the tide came in they backflushed into the houses. We could go on like this for hours. Gonna visit my last remaining college friend in Seattle on New Year's. He loves it there. (But then he grew up in Sioux City, Iowa which used to have literal mountains of steaming steer manure cooking 24/7 at the stockyards in town. Especially impressive on a sub-zero winter day.)

Great pix Mike. It takes a lot more courage than I have to go there though. :woohoo: Too much like Ill. or NY for my liking.

Hi guys, I do appreciate the comments on the pics. Been working at it since I bought my first SLR in HS at 16, but never had the money to burn a lot of film. I have fully embraced the digital world. Really enjoying it now.

wywoody, most of the pics are taken with a Tamron 24-70 f2.8 stabilized lens. I like it a lot. I have some other good lenses, but for most landscape shots, this is the go-to lens. It does some things better (worse in the professional POV) than the Canon/Nikon topline lenses, particularly arty stuff like vignetting and starburst, but I guess that's why the others cost twice as much. However, I have a whole laptop full of good pics taken with nothing more than a point and shoot. The new Tamron 70-200 f2.8 is really nice too. They are starting to show up on ebay, used. Great value. Most of my camera stuff is used, bodies and lenses. Too cheap to buy new.

Why no "Hicks"???? Cuz my brother is a pro, and I didn't want the association. Nothing more, nothing less. http://www.jimdavishicks.com/#/wedding/

You made me homesick.....

I got quite a kick out of this one

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That's it at present. The gang is starting to rustle this fine, cold, white Thanksgiving morning, and it's time to close up the laptop. I took a couple thousand photos. We saw whales, ate an olive off a tree, almost stepped into a gay bar, listened to three people discuss their sex lives in very loud voices at an acoustically horrible atrium dinner table, did Halloween at a farmer's market in Occidental, and had one of the finest vacations we've ever experienced. Aside from the joys of taking our kids on a couple special trips, this was the one we most hope to repeat.

Thank you Eric and Jimalee. And may you and your wonderful family have a blessed Thanksgiving day. And my wishes for a wonderful day to rest of this RCS crew as well.

G'day :)

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Yeah, that's me & my Mrs. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/wLn2nmg.jpg[/IMG]

Mr. Gordon and his ever present pal. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/qCZl6v3.jpg[/IMG]

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So one day in early October, my lovely bride informed me that she wanted to do something other than go to the beach, and she has decided, after conversations with my sister, that she was going to California wine country, with me... or without. A place was reserved, a little mountain cottage between grapeville (my name for wine country at the time) and the coast, in the hunting village of Cazadero, and I had 2 days to make flight reservations for the two of us, or she would make one for herself.

Well, hmmppffff! I done been to Cali once and didn't care if I ever went back. The Ventura freeway was fit for neither man, nor beast. But my wife travelling to new lands without me, well, she did say Cazadero was a hunting village, and I just couldn't bear the thought, so I made some reservations.

Hear's what I knew about Cali. 1. LA ain't for me. 2. I know some roofers there. 3. Egg lives just north of San Fran.

Here's what I didn't know: 1. The location of California "wine country".

So when I look at the map to see where we need to fly into, my interest in California suddenly takes a huge turn for the better, as I can see, my RCS friend Mr. Gordon lives smack in the middle of it. Vundebar, thinks I, and I waste no time letting him know that we would be in the area, and if there was a day that he and his most lovely wife had available, we would love to visit.

Well, folks, I'm still picking red carpet fuzz out of my toes. From our first day of arrival, to the day before departure, and several days in between, you would have thought that Mr. and Mrs. G had nothing else to do but see to our entertainment and satisfaction with their homeland. Seriously, they exhibit a level of grace, charm and accommodation that is foreign to me. If ever they are in quandary about what to do when roofing becomes a drag, they should look seriously at the tourism industry because the variety, flavor, beauty and opportunities of Sonoma County California are overwhelming to the first time visitor.

I have picked on California many times. And we saw some sights of the human variety, that simply do no exist in Ohio, which could bolster every pre-conceived notion and prejudice I've ever dared to imagine. But what I wasn't prepared for was the real California. I can't wait to go back. I could live there in a heart beat. I am now one of California's biggest fans, and I thank the Gordon's for making this trip such an unexpected joyful surprise.

A barn somewhere near Napa [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/4clPH40.jpg[/IMG]

The view from our cottage [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/09eS5n2.jpg[/IMG]

our hosts at Fisherman's Wharf [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/XUtVVks.jpg[/IMG]

and a ion of views from our visit to this magnificent part of these great United States... known as Sonoma County California

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Yes, it's true... We ventured into Californication, the land of Surfers B) Squirrels :P and... Anything Goes ,:blush: and we did so over Halloween. What an experience. That's all I'll say for now, except for one huge THANK YOU to Mr. and Mrs. Gordon for their graciousness. It was so much more than memorable.

Eric, Gerry and Frank, you all are too kind with your compliments, but I thank you very kindly.

With Mr. Gordon's permission, I hope to provide much more detail soon.

:)

But for the moment, just let me ask, how many of you would have suspected that a perfectly harmless looking restaurant called the Rainbow Cattle Company was actually a gay bar? LOL

:) That'a the impression I've always gotten and had from him.