Riverside Shawn's Birthday

Saturday was Shawn’s birthday and we decided to go out skating and checking the grid. We had made plans to ride a new pool with some friends but those plans went awry. Things happen. The world is an ever confusing place and people even more so…. I got up early and listened to Sleep Dealer. There was a debacle in the house the night before and I was awake until 3:00am. I needed a heavy dose of Hugh Jackman’s new coffee - Laughing Man- to get me going! Shawn arrived and I already had the pump and tools loaded so we hit the morning road.

We drove over to La Puente and met up with Brandon at a new pool that he had found. It was a Rossmore Kidney that had super mellow trannies and seemed pretty epic. Lance was going to check a pool with Chris Strople and then meet up with us. On arrival at the La Puente pool, it was found to be a swimmer so we drove the grid for awhile.

We found a few things and then ended up driving over through a few neighborhoods closer to home. Lance called and told us that  he was going to be driving up to LA to see a rough cut of the Bones Brigade Documentary and probably couldn’t get out there with us.

Shawn, Brandon & I drove the grid, checked a few and bucketed a new one. Everyone got a few good turns. On the way back to Ridiculous, we spotted a rundown old house that I had been keeping my eye on for about three years. I knew that it had a big amoeba pool behind it. The yard was littered with old torn up furniture, trash, clothing and car parts. The fences sagged under a  gray stormy sky. We went into the yard and saw that the pool looked really fun.

Brandon suddenly  pointed to the ground and exclaimed: “Dudes! Look at this!” We went over to where he stood. On the ground in a pile of trash and garden tools was a small white plastic box. On the lid in blue letters it read - Pool Pals. We couldn’t believe it! Inside were pH testing solutions for the pool. We decided to drain the pool then and there.

We got the pump and tools and started to do this thing we do and that is when the fecal matter hit the rotating oscillator. One really gnarly tattooed neighbor came up to the fence asking  - “What the hell are you doing here?” I smiled and answered that we were draining the pool but he wasn’t having any of it at all. He asked who I worked for and stated that squatters had stolen stuff from the house and his yard. I started to tell him that I worked for Hugh Jorgan but he didn’t seem like the type of guy who laughs very often so I kept quiet. He seemed pretty angry and I quickly knew that we needed to get our stuff and get going. I told him we were leaving and when I turned around, I saw that Shawn & Brandon were getting the same treatment over on the other side of the yard from those neighbors. Jesus! I motioned for the guys to grab our stuff and get out of there. The lady asked me who I worked for and told me that I better have an answer because the police were already enroute. She also told me- “I took a picture of your truck and license plate.” - holding up her cell phone and wagging it at me as a threat. I was like - “Good grief!”

We were out of there in less than two minutes and quickly  came back to Ridiculous. Close call. Escape. Bucketing. Grinds. Friends. Birthdays. Pool pals. It really can’t get much better than that. Thanks to Brandon Wong for the images and Happy Birthday to Riverside Shawn. Skate- Ozzie