Moving to Santa Cruz

I went up to Santa Cruz to make arrangements for an office for my practice and to rent a house for us to live in at Santa Cruz Gardens. I did this while Kaye and the kids were finishing out school down in Granada Hills. The house had been a four bedroom model home in this little subdivision. It was a split level with the bedrooms upstairs. The living room, dining room and kitchen were in the middle and the family room was downstairs. We rented it from a school teacher. We had some nice neighbors who became our friends. Next door to us were the Hougardy family. They had one girl and three boys. Across the street were the Strard family with two boys and the Rutherford family with a girl and a boy. Across the other street was the Bald family with two boys and a girl.

Some funny things happened with our kids there. Cindy Bald was a cute little girl who wanted to play with Greg and her big brother, Ronnie. They wouldn't let her in and she would stand by the front door and cry and cry. She grew up to be a beautiful young lady. One day I brought home a new bike for Greg and told him not to touch it until I changed my clothes from the office and I would come down and show him how to ride it. He wouldn't wait. He jumped on his bike and rolled down the hill and ran into Ronnie Bald on his bike. He knocked Ronnie off, cut his lip and blackened one of his front teeth. Greg got up and was yelling because he had scratched his new bike.

He and Mat Hougardy were playing in our back yard and were making mud balls. They decided to throw them over the fence at the cars that went by. They hit a car and the owner came to our front door and told us that our kids were throwing mud balls at the cars. They were hiding. Greg and Brad had an old plastic boat and they would slide down the hill by our house on the dried grass. They would go really fast. It's a wonder they weren't hurt.

Greg had a big box and wondered how it would feel to go down the stairs in the box. He put Brad in the box to see what would happen and he pushed him down the stairs. Brad fell out when he hit the bottom. The boys went to Santa Cruz Gardens School. Greg started kindergarten then. Kaye would walk him to the school each day with Brad. Brad didn't want to walk the 5 blocks after about 2 blocks Brad would sit down on the curb and refuse to go further. Kaye would have to pick him up and carry him the rest of the way. Brad was about 3 years old then.

Cathy was a freshman at Soquel High School and Cindy went to Capitola Jr High when we first moved there. Cathy was an excellent student and nearly got straight A's in high school. She never needed to be reminded to do her homework. Cindy was quite short when she was in 7th grade. She hadn't started to grow yet. They both liked school there.

My practice started off slow and I had a lot of time on my hands. Our family spnet many hours at the beach. My first office was on 1014 Mission Street. My second office was in Aptos, and my third office was in Watsonville. Marilyn Baldwin and Sue Hawes started with me in 1970 and still work in the office. My office became very busy and in 1980 I took in a partner, Ronald Connolly. Later, Cathy and Cindy both worked for me in my office.

We bought 10 acres on Nicassio Way in 1970. In 1971 we had to move out of our house on Kenny court so we moved to Haas Drive in Aptos. We thought it was only going to be for a short time so we didn't unpack anything but the necessities. We had made a bid on a house with 5 acres on top of the mountain in Soquel. Someone else outbid us, so we started looking for another place.

Our Home on Muir Drive

We found 3 1/2 acres at 325 Muir Drive in Soquel. To get to it we went up Rocho Gulch and then turned left on Hidden Valley Road, and right on Muir Drive. The property was like a pennisula near the top of the mountain overlooking Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean. It had a beautiful view. We had an architext design a house to take advantage of all the beautiful views. It was 2 hexagons joined by a big entryway. The house had high beamed ceilings and was mostly windows. The entryhall had stained glass doors and windows. One hexagon had the living room, dining room, kitchen, family room and guest bath. It had a hexagon shaped rock pillar in the center with a fireplace in the living room and the family room. It had a pantry inside of it. The smaller hexagon had a hall and four bedrooms and two baths. It had a skylight in the hall end between the bedrooms. The master bedroom had a stonewall and an antique stove.

One the side of the house facing the ocean there was a large deck going around the house and beautiful swimming pool. There was also a hexagon shaped cabana and bath. Below the pool was a fish pond and a spa and a pool equipment building. We had a garage which we later changed into a game room with a pool table and soda foundtain, stone walls, and another antique stove. We also built a 3 car carport and storage room. Our home was beautiful and comfortable. The landscaping was beautiful. I spent a lot of time planting and pouring cement. Behind the childrens bedrooms I made a big retaining wall so we could have a flat lawn and I built a fence all around that lawn. We had a rose garden next to the bedrooms. We had a fenced area with a fountain between the game room and the bedrooms and bath. In front of the house was a circular driveway with a large mound in the center. Next to the house were beautiful plants, screens with wisteria. We had a fake streambed with rocks and plants on each side which divided the lawn. We also had many rocks and trees along the driveway. It was all designed by a landscape architext, but I did all the work. It really was beautiful. It was our own little paradise.

Nicassio Way Property

The ten acres we bought on Nicassion Way in Soquel we kept for several years. I built a neat fort with a slide coming out of it and made a big picnic table with benches. We used to barbecue there in the shade of our oak trees. Dad put a beautiful garden in at the bottom of the property. We planted fruit trees and grape there, too. Jim loved it there. One day when he was sitting on the side of the hill he felt something touch his ear. It was a little fawn. They became great friends. We had lots of vegetables, melons, etc. from the garden and it gave dad something to keep him busy. The whole property was fenced by Kaye and me. It was a lot of work.

The Bulldozer

I bought a small Caterpilar bulldozer. There was a real steep hill going down into our garden area. About half way down I decided to change gears and when I put in the clutch it was like being on roller skates. Ron Evans was waiting for me at the bottom. He threw open the gate into the garden and ran out of the way. I made it through the gate. After the summer was over with I was goingto bring the bulldozer up the hill. I had a hard time getting it started and when it did something blew out of the exhaust. I started up the hill and there was no way I was going to stop after what happened when I brought it down the hill. I'm going up the hill and a big old mouse came out looking dopey. I had my leg stretched out and it kept trying to go up my pant leg. I kept kicking at it and finally kicked it off. I made it up the hill.

Tree House

I built a wood fort with a slide and built a big picnic table with benches under the oak tree half way up to the top. we had a lot of barbecues there. One night I was there with Ron Evans and Sil Biancaliona. We were eating and having some drinks. I couldn't see how much I was drinking and I got drunk and Kaye had to drive me home.

Horses

We bought Cathy and Cindy two Welch ponies. One was brown and white and one was black and white. We also had Ron Evans shetland pony named Patches. The girls rode the Welsh ponies. Cindy's pony ran away with her and she fell off. The boys would ride Patches or the Welch ponies. We made a nice wood corral there and painted it white. We also fenced the whole property. We put in a well also. Later on some one drove up there and stole our big picnic bench and table. We also bought "Lee" a thoroughbred for Cathy and "Cindy" a quarter horse for Cindy when they got older. I had a fellow with a big bulldozer go into the side of the hill on the other side of the garden and put in two levels where we planted an orchard. When they bulldozed they found some really big fossils that could be a whale or even a dinosaur. We had lots of fruit trees there.