A couple of months ago, my friend’s landlord decided to remodel his house on 12th Avenue in Santa Cruz. Matt Umstead, the tenant, helped as Adam Dahlen Construction gutted a side bedroom and put in some new foundational support. As the team dug, they began finding old empty bottles. Many of them were ancient whiskey bottles, and some were old, forgotten wine bottles.

**Isaiah Strusis Timmer was born at 6:35 a.m. July 6, 2010, to Cassandra Elaine and Matthew Dean Timmer of Scotts Valley. He weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz.

So I joined that new gym in Scotts Valley, not club No. 2. And, I must say, it is quite amazing! I will be writing about it in future columns. But something happened this week that I thought was thought-provoking on many levels.

Scotts Valley Host Lions

**Dempsey Brandon Diaz Fonseca was born at 8:18 a.m. July 9, 2010, to Rebeca Fonseca Torres and Erubial Diaz Cuevas of Boulder Creek. He weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz.

The other day, I went to Kmart to pick up a few things. That was where the day became a character challenge for me. Has this ever happened to you?