Red Sox & Red Beards

That was a pretty exciting season for us Red Sox fans!  I can't think of any better way to undo the tumult of the 2011 & 2012 teams than by bringing home The Commissioners Trophy.  Wifey & I saw the Sox play four times in three different stadiums this year: O.Co, AT&T, and Fenway Park.  Ironically, we went to more games this year than we did when we lived in Back Bay.  Go figure?

The beards were a popular story line this year and I decided to participate!  Meet my playoff beard.  It was fun to grow but I'm happy the playoffs are over - that thing was keeping me up at night (literally)!  Next stop: Movember.

David Ortiz's home run in Game 2 of the Detroit series was the best moment of the playoffs.  Here's the YouTube video but the best quality version can be found here.

As it turns out, I didn't see the grand slam live!  I was out with Jake for his night walk!  When I came home, it was a new ballgame.

The Results Are In

AncestryDNA is just too cool of an idea for me to pass up.  I got my results back this week and have been addicted to them ever since.

The results are interesting, confusing, and require a bit of interpretation.  For example, I'm trying to figure out why I have a stronger DNA match to the West European regions than the typical native.  Nonetheless, this is right up my (dork) alley.

There's nothing earth-shattering in the results but I was expecting to see a stronger match with the central and east european regions.  In addition to the analysis I get a bit of history lesson about how the population of these regions grew, migrated, and otherwise came to be.  Here's the write-up about the population origins of western Europe during 1000 BC.

Germanic peoples moved out of southern Scandinavia, Denmark and adjacent lands between the Elbe and Oder after 1000 BC. The first wave moved westward and southward (pushing the resident Celts west to the Rhine by about 200 BC) and moving into southern Germany up to the Roman province of Gaul by 100 BC, where they were stopped by Gaius Marius and Julius Caesar. 

What is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the Romans as Gaul or Celtica. Roman writers noted the presence of three main ethno-linguistic groups in the area: the Gauls, the Aquitani, and the Belgae. The Gauls, the largest and best attested group, were a Celtic people speaking what is known as the Gaulish language.

This Explains...Something?

One can't understand where they're going without knowing from where they came.  Right?  Maybe?  Something like that!  I come from a long line of able farmers.  The annual Mills garden and subsequent harvest was something to behold.  The young oft delivered gift baskets to local friends in an effort to maintain neighbor relations.

From an early age I exhibited strong agricultural proficiencies.  In this video I demonstrate my aptitude for, as they say, tillin' up the land.  Indeed, a green thumb from the beginning.  During the winter, we would rotate the snow piles to keep the atrophy at bay.  In the late Fall, bunny rabbit uniforms were customary regalia amongst the farmer elite.

(Jake) Tahoe

Whenever possible, Jake goes where we go; especially when we head for the mountains!  Cool weather, hiking, and calm waters make for one of those ideal dog destinations.

Jake loves the water but he's not a big swimmer.  He wades more than anything else.  I think that he prefers the comfort of being able to feel the ground beneath his feet.  The slow slope of King's Beach is ideal.  He could run 50 yards out and still be able to stand.

As they say, variety is the spice of life.  Each day at the beach deserves the balance of a day on the trail.  We did a 5 mile hike to a cluster of five small lakes (appropriately named Five Lakes Trail) that overlook nearby Squaw Valley.  When we got there, Jake was quick to jump in, cool off, and apply a fresh layer of dust and mud.  ...which will later find it's way into the car.

This was considered an easy trail but there were still a few frightening passages.  Big altitudes and steep cliffs make for spectacular views.  Here's Jake and I as we check-in at ~7,400' above sea level with Squaw in the background.