Raisin' Pure Cane

Business Growth

2011-09-08T11:42:00.001-07:00

Michael Gerber, author of The E Myth, famously stated that only 1 in 5 companies survives their first year of business. Well, after one year of operation we are proud to announce that Heather Simmons Ballet is still in business. She ended the last school year with 47 students and has an enrollment just under that to start this school year. Simmons Engineering started last November and after a slow start, recorded five solid months of growth before finally cooling down in August.

Christmas Break 2010-11

2011-01-18T20:50:00.000-08:00

Who's on First?

2010-08-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

Forever and a Day

2010-08-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

New Year's 2010

2010-01-17T21:44:00.000-08:00

More pictures at Clay's Facebook . . . (Much quicker and easier to upload.)

Hi

2009-11-11T22:30:00.000-08:00

This is Heather. I've taken over the blog. (Actually this is Clay and I am showing Heather how to do a post.)

Recent Pictures of Anna

2009-10-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

She fell asleep like this.

Don't ask me.

New bike rider. Yeah!

New Bike Rider

2009-09-19T16:12:00.000-07:00

The Banjo in Peanuts, cont...

2009-08-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

Moving II (Moved)

2009-08-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

It has been a very busy month for the Simmonses, and one in which much cane has been raised. After taking a job back in June for a company in the East Bay, I began commuting daily 1 hour 20 minutes each way on top of 60 hour work weeks. Coincidentally, my commute took me by C&H Sugar's refinery in Crockett, CA. This commuting lasted 6 weeks, during which time approximately 70,000 tons of pure cane sugar were processed, and my life was shortened by at least 70,000 minutes. (I might as well have taken up smoking.) This challenging period ended with an abrupt decision (our apologies to family who were still trying to reach us at our SR number) to move the family from Santa Rosa to a quiet neighborhood of Concord, CA located about 20 minutes from my office, which has turned out to be a good thing so far.

During this commuting / moving period we got to spend some time time with Grandpa Simmons and the Gilmore Family at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (used to be Marine World), Matt, Rebecca and Grandma Foulger, who were visiting from Utah, and with Uncle Brad and Aunt Lisa, who were visiting from Costa Rica. I was inspired by Matt's guacomole and have since attempted to make my own. (Not quite as good.) Heather and the children got to go to dinner with Brad and Lisa and our children had a sleepover with theirs at Gan's the following night. I've included some pictures of our time with them. I also attended a wedding for my longtime friend, Ryan Seaman, whose house I spent a lot of time in growing up.

Though Concordians we now may be, we have spent the majority of our weekends back home in Santa Rosa. Last weekend the Wisemans hosted an open house for us that was attended by many close friends. We plan on returning next weekend for the annual Gravenstein Apple Fair in Sebastapol, where we get full on hot apple fritters, sauce and pies and good old fashioned music. It will be our fifth year in a row attending this awesome fair.

(My aplogies for this delayed post. I just can't keep up with it. The fair was yesterday and Grandpa Simmons is here visiting now. There were some other things I wanted to write about, but this will have to do for now . . .)

Skater Dater

2009-06-06T22:05:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine introduced me to this classic 1965 short film a couple years ago. It's not what most people would call entertaining today, but it has a timeless quality to it. I respond a lot to the theme -- crossing over from childhood to adolescence and eventually adulthood -- and the conflict of loyalty to 'the guys' and to one's future family, symbolized by the girlfriend. We all have to someday leave behind the endless carefree summer days of youth and enter the world of responsibility. And although the pull to remain a kid is great, the power of opposite sex companionship and the responsibilities that go along with it is greater still. I also love the vintage skateboards, clothes/shoes and music. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Soda or Pop?

2009-06-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

Mayma y beth e bus i est

2009-05-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

This past month Elizabeth and I had our first piano recital. She and I have been taking lessons from Karen Tarter (formerly Keeler), who was our church organist for many years when I was growing up here. She and her husband, Scott, now live up in Healdsburg. Elizabeth and I played a duet of Whinnie the Pooh and I played a solo of Deep River. Like many others, I started piano lessons as a youth, but quit after a few weeks. Although this is a pitiful excuse, I blame it on my teacher who, while attempting to get me to sing from my diaphragm, made me bark like a dog. I came home from that lesson and said, "Sorry, Mom, I'm not going back. She made me bark like a dog." It's really unfortunate because since then I have found great enjoyment singing in choirs and plunking around on the piano, but clearly not to my full potential. So, perhaps some missed opportunities in life can be re-had later in life. I am now working on a jazz piece by Vince Guaraldi (simplified) that is featured on my playlist called Linus and Lucy.

Another fun first this spring has been T-ball for Elizabeth and John. I was given the chance to coach their team, the A's, and we have been playing Monday and Tuesday nights for the past several weeks. It's fun to see their progress. John is a true lefty (bats and throws left) and has a very good arm for his size. He has the batting routine down pretty well, too, mimicking the batters he has seen on TV. I have had to remind him on occasion that we leave out the spitting part.

Last week we spent an evening at Yulupa School for the last Open House of the school year. We got this rare picture with all four of the chilin in the reading nook in Mrs. Basche's classroom. You can see that we barely got Katherine in there. It looks like she's making a beeline to Dad from the Teddy Bear.

Elizabeth and John were both very fortunate to have had, in our opinion, the best Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Basche, who is retiring at the end of this week after over 35 years of teaching. She has the rare ability to control a classroom without the children feeling like they're being controlled in the least. She has a very good perspective of the school - home relationship and, perhaps most importantly, she demonstrates a genuine love for children and the special perspective they bring into the world. She is a fantastic teacher, and we will miss her very much.

Lastly, here's a picture that was taken this morning at Grandpa John's grave. We like to attend a Memorial Day Service each year at the cemetery where he is buried. This year John (my John) ran over to where he knew the 7-gun salute would be and, after the rounds went off, retrieved a bullet shell that had fallen to the ground. The rifleman made John give him a salute before he could take it. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of that.

I didn't say anything about Mother's Day, and Heather's birthday is still coming up (the 31st). May is definitely one of the busiest months in our family.

Tired Out

2009-05-16T09:58:00.001-07:00

Mother of the Year

2009-05-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

Just in case you didn't hear, Heather was recently in the news.

Normal

2009-05-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

Someone once said, "Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it."

Moving I

2009-04-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

We've given a lot of thought lately to where we should move our family. Of course, a lot of this has to do with where the best (yeah, more like the) job offer comes from, but Heather's friend had the idea to create this latest poll (see above). Now it's your turn to sway us by your votes, comments, bomb threats, etc. (PLEASE NOTE: I've allowed you to cast as many votes as you'd like, but bear in mind that 10,000 votes for any given state may indicate that the people from there have too much time on their hands, and therefore, not enough work, which is the problem we're attempting to solve . . .)

Westley: You've made your decision, then?
Vizzini: Not remotely! Because iocaine comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
Westley: Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
Vizzini: Wait till I get going! [pause]
Vizzini: Where was I?
(The Princess Bride)

Cruising, etc.

2009-04-19T17:03:00.000-07:00

We spent a very nice time recently (3/30 - 4/3) cruising to Catalina Island and Ensenada, MX. We ate a lot, thoroughly enjoyed the on board facilities and entertainment, snorkeled in Avalon, toured some museums and nature centers, and spent some very memorable moments relaxing aboard the ship and meeting new people from all over. It was a great first-cruise experience and we would love to do it again somewhere else in a few years.

We had a nice surprise visit over Easter weekend from Grandma Foulger, Uncle Matt and Cousin Madison. We enjoyed a nice pancake breakfast and egg hunt with Gan and Grandma Saturday morning, hit another egg hunt with Matt's entourage later that morning, spent another couple hours at Howarth Park and took up the whole back portion of the train (yes, even Grandma Foulger rode with us, although she screamed through the tunnel . . . Where, oh where was my video camera?). Matt then graciously treated us all to lunch at Mary's Pizza Shack and our girls got to have Madison over for a sleepover. We all attended the Easter service together Sunday morning at Bennett Valley Ward where many were happy to see the old-timers.

Most recently, we visited Jack London State Park (my first time since a 4th grade field trip) and hiked around his old 1400-acre ranch. The pig palace was most impressive -- it's amazing what you can do as a gentleman farmer when you don't have to turn a profit. (Jack London's money came from his huge success as a writer, not a farmer.) He is a character I didn't tolerate much when I was in college, among other things due to his contradictory nature (a socialist building a home like the Wolf House?), but whom I have come to sympathize with more lately. Who can fault a man for wanting the impoverished to have a higher standard of living and contentment in life, even if one may disagree with the means to achieving those ends? Doesn't the human desire for the welfare of others come from the same place?

I hope you'll pardon the personal commentary, but I think that as I get older my idealism declines and I question more and more previously-held absolutes. Also, my heart tends to soften towards those whom I once held in mean contempt, and becomes more calculated towards those whom I once, perhaps, overly revered -- a human equalizing force of sorts. Maybe it has something to do with recognizing my own contradictions and foibles and the common lot of us all as beggars -- sweat, blood, tears and all. (Makes me think of King Benjamin's sermon, Mosiah 2-5.)

Well, I didn't mean to go on so much, but maybe I'm feeling a little guilty about our recent indulgences on our floating 12-story hotel at sea, especially in light of all the poverty and shallow consumerism (such a horrid combination) that was all around us in Mexico. It certainly makes me more aware of the sorts of things that the more conservative Muslims fear will spread into their countries and their way of life with too much globalization and, more particularly, exposure to the West. A topic for another day . . .

Anyway, the time away together as a couple was great, and if it did anything to strengthen our marriage, it was worth it. Along those lines, here's another quick funny anecdote -- Some of you may know George Houghton. Several weeks ago I went to him for counsel regarding investment strategies. After a few minutes of giving the particulars, he said this: "You know, Clay, I remember how hard it was being a parent of young children for Denise and me. Now, I'm serious when I say this -- The best investment you can make right now is in your marriage. Take five hundred, a thousand dollars, whatever, find a nice spot up the coast and chase Heather around for a few days. That will pay off a lot more in the long run than putting that much more in an IRA." I think it was good advice.

Way of the Whales

2009-03-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been unsuccessful in my repeated attempts to turn this blog over to Heather. She's way too smart to fall for my pitiful rationale. I used to cite too little time, but considering that I haven't made a single post since being laid off three weeks ago, I can't very well use that excuse anymore. However, since my last post we have both set up facebook accounts and have re-established contact with many old friends. I have also been trying to take advantage of the networking capabilities of LinkedIn in my job search. Thus, we have now become even more experienced explorers of the open Internet sea. Some of these new communication tools (blogger, facebook, linkedin, etc.) are pretty amazing. Since I'm on this topic, I thought I would share a very insightful article that I read a couple years ago that provided the initial motivation for my entry into the digital age. (Although I must admit I am still without a cell phone.) In particular, and just in case you don't have the time to read the whole article, this excerpt caught my attention: "The identities and sensibilities of the rising generation are so closely tied to technology that parents and grandparents who get too far behind risk creating an unbridgeable generation gap."

While this period between Christmas and Easter is my least favorite of the year, it has been made somewhat more enjoyable by the gray whales that migrate from their feeding grounds in Alaska to their breeding grounds in Baja California. For the past four years we have spent Martin Luther King, Jr. Day enjoying the peaceful Point Reyes National Seashore. The pictures in this post are a little dated, but they'll give you an idea of what it's like. The first one above is of the lighthouse that we walk down 310 steps to get to. The next one is of a herd of elk that we saw on our bus ride out to the lighthouse. It's a bad picture because I don't have a camera with a nice telephoto lens yet (that's on my wish list) but if you blow it up you might see the bull with a very impressive rack. If it leaves you wanting, you can see some better pictures here. You've probably noticed by now that I am a big fan of wikipedia.

Just so you know that we do take the kiddos along with us on these excursions, here are some pictures of them, too:

This was taken down at the lighthouse by a nice Japanese couple.

This is John scoping out some very smelly elephant seals. (Thankfully, from a distance.) I was told by this guy that we missed the very gruesome seal fighting that happens earlier in the year. He sells tickets for up close views then, but since there wasn't much exciting going on, he let us look for free.

Here's Katherine and Anna on our way back from looking at the seals.

And here's Elizabeth at the cliffs of New Albion, the disputed but generally accepted landing of Sir Francis Drake in 1579.

Finally, while it's a little off the topic of whale watching, I just want to thank those of you who have included us in your prayers recently. While there are still a lot of unanswered questions for us right now, we have never felt despair, and this can largely be attributed to our knowledge that we are being piloted (Hymn #104) by Him who knows the end from the beginning. We know that things will work out for the best.

In fact, we were feeling so good about things that we decided to change our Baja Mexico cruise, which was originally scheduled for this November, to next week. Who knows, maybe we'll see the gray whales heading back to their feeding grounds.

Finding Joy

2009-01-27T09:28:00.000-08:00

Here's a nice video to enjoy in difficult times.

All I Want for Christmas . . .

2008-12-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

John's first lost tooth.

The Doghouse

2008-12-04T10:57:00.000-08:00

OK, guys, have you decided what to get your wives for Christmas this year yet? Watch this video first and let's all stay out of the doghouse.

Fall Beach Trip

2008-12-01T08:27:00.000-08:00

Eureka! My apologies for the delay. (I hadn't saved the movie file properly, so I kept getting errors as I was uploading it.) Anyway, here's a home video of our recent trip to Salmon Creek (late October or early November). Anna wasn't feeling well and Katherine wasn't sure about the water, so it's mainly of Elizabeth (just turned 7) and John (5). Enjoy!

Quote of the day: "The most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is that if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a little." -Joe Martin, cartoonist

Free Christmas Music and the Economic Lessons of Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T16:42:00.001-08:00

I know, I know. It's not even Thanksgiving yet and here I am talking about Christmas. The only reason is that Oprah Winfrey is giving away some free Christmas music. Hurry, though -- the offer is only good for two days! (After you're done downloading, read on.)

See how hard it is to resist free things? Well, I recently came across an interesting article that has application to (1) our natural tendency to accept things for free and support such giving systems, (2) the history of Thanksgiving and (3) our current government's belief that bailouts will solve our problems.

(OK, I realize that most of you voted not to have to put up with commentary on current events in this blog, but I'm having issues uploading a video that I made of a recent family trip to the beach . . . When I figure it out, I'll make a real post.)

Trick or Treat!

2008-11-03T08:35:00.000-08:00

It seems like each year we have to re-explain to our children the totally weird tradition of knocking on complete strangers' doors to ask for treats. This picture was taken at the Funks, I think, so they look a little more comfortable. They got the hang of it after a while as our garbage bag full of candy attests.

We had Grandpa Simmons in town for Halloween this year and, early on in the night, when he encouraged Anna to go say "Trick or treat" to a man at his front door, she said, "NO, he's a strwanger!" But, you know Anna, she said it about five times loudly enough for the whole street to hear, and with those intense brown eyes and a look of concern on her face worthy of an Oscar. (If Anna heard me say this, she would say "The stweet can heaw?" She doesn't let anything get by without explanation. e.g. Last week a friend gave her some treats to take home with her, saying "And here are some treats for the road." Anna politely took them, but was disturbed by something. On the way out the door she said, "Why would the woad want any tweats?")

We were too tired to clean everything up after we got home, leaving pounds of candy on the kitchen table, and we paid for it. The following morning I was awakened to the sound of crumpling wrappers and giggles. It was John and Anna . . . having breakfast. Uh, can I get you some orange juice with that?

On Saturday afternoon we completed our efforts to help pass Proposition 8. Heather has been involved in the campaign from the petition stage and collected 100 of the original signatures that put the proposition on the ballot (under the direction of a state senator). This was, I am proud to say, prior to our church speaking out in favor of it. She experienced some resistance to her efforts during this early stage, even among some of her church friends. (This changed for some of them when the church spoke out.) Once a letter was read in our ward stating the position of the church, she volunteered as a zip code leader and was active in making thousands of telephone calls in our precinct.

Heather received her B.S. in Marriage, Family and Human Development (MFHD) and speaks very passionately about her beliefs. She has been an inspiration to many here in Santa Rosa as a leader in this campaign and for her firm beliefs on the importance of marriage being defined as being between a man and woman. Regardless of tomorrow's outcome, this experience has been very positive, and I am proud to be married to such a wonderful woman.

Just call me Gene

2008-10-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Recently Heather and I attended a rockin' party with some friends here in Santa Rosa. Literally. We rocked out to this video game called 'Rock Band' or something like that. We had these fake instruments and followed cues given on the screen and the better you did the more the song you were faking sounded like the actual song you were trying to play. I did vocals for "Under the Bridge" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and played some bass and drums. When I was on the guitar I wanted to break out a Gene Simmons tongue, but since my face wasn't painted like his I didn't have the guts. You know, the one from the rock band "Kiss?" He's a relative, you know. (Or, at least, he should be. Doesn't he look like he could be? Someone needs to do some family history work and see if they can make a connection. I'm pretty sure we're related to Richard, too.) Anyway, I got really good at drums so my team made me stay seated most of the time with my tongue inside my mouth. We came in second place out of four teams and I think Heather's team came in dead last. Sorry, Heather. But I think she had as much fun as anyone. All the pictures can be seen here. (Some of you might recognize a couple SR old timers, Emily Mann (Clawson) and Joe Platt.)

***Important Blog Notice*** I recently opened 'Raisin' Pure Cane' to everyone so I can get more votes on my survey. (And so Dad can look at it without having to get a gmail account.) So far I have only TWO! And that doesn't make for very fun blogging. There are only six days left and you wouldn't want to be left out of this important inaugural poll.

How do bees go to the bathroom?

2008-10-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

While Heather has been away this weekend for her Father's surprise 70th birthday celebration in Utah, I've been home with the children getting a sampling of what goes on every day here in our little apartment. Though I think I've managed to meet each of their needs so far, I'm realizing that that's all there's time for -- meeting their needs -- which is what makes being a mother such a self-sacrificing calling. There's no time to do much of anything else. I'll be happy when she comes home, and a bit more empathetic.

We went to Howarth Park this morning and they all behaved marvelously. It is always interesting to observe how well they get along with other children, who are often "onlies" and 100% confused when it comes to social interaction and especially compromise and conflict resolution. That's one of the visible benefits of having children close together.

When we got home we had leftover pizza from last night (not their favorite) but they seem to be especially understanding with me. The conversation wandered until, near the end of our meal, Anna asked me how bees go to the bathroom. After I told her I didn't know and that we'd have to look it up in a book, John suggested they did it underground. Then Elizabeth said they probably just go in mid flight. So watch out for peeing bees overhead next time you're out. Someone once said that wherever they may begin, all conversations end in the bathroom. Well, that's where ours ended this afternoon. They're all down for naps now and I'm just wondering what to do when they wake up. (I think I figured out how to create paragraphs -- edit Html)

To answer the question, this is the best I could find

Pure Cane Sugar

2008-10-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

The image of pure sugarcane might, at first, seem confrontational to our Big Horn Basin family where sugar is proudly grown by local farmers and extracted by The Great Western Sugar Company from sugar cane's rival, the sugar beet. No offense is intended. And while we may prefer the taste of warm-weather grown sugar, both plain and in recipes, the reason for touting it here is not to stir up anything but sugar cookie dough -- It's actually to create a memorable web identity from here on out for all things related to the C & H Simmons family, which is in no way affiliated with C & H Sugar Company.

So, welcome to our weblog, 'Raisin' Pure Cane.' It may not immediately be obvious to you who in our family raises the cane, we parents or them chilin (photos to come). Maybe that's what these irregular and completely erratic forthcoming posts will ascertain. (I'm intentionally setting the expectations low so as not to disappoint.) Our hope is that we can get some good photos and video streams to keep our extended family, if not informed, at least amused.

So, look around. Take the inaugural survey on the right. I really look forward to surveying people about stuff. Then I can say things with as much credibility as the media like, "According to one survey, bla bla bla bla bla." OK, enough said. The quality of this post is waning. Can anyone tell me how to create paragraphs?