<Picture of Marnix, his wife, and their dogs Linus and Java>
From left to right that's me (Marnix van Ammers), my wife, and our two dogs, Linus and Java.
That picture is from 2003 in what we consider our 2-Sheltie era. The smaller dog, "Java", died in November of 2012 after a sudden and serious bout of pancreatitis. Linus (named after Linus Torvalds) died in February 2016 at age 14 after developing a cancerous tumor on his left hip. We were big Sheltie fans. They were like our kids and we fussed about them constantly.

As of May, 2018 we have a new Sheltie, a female named "Natty". She is a delight.
<Picture of Natty, a female Sheltie>


2017-07-24 I have thus far climbed Mt Diablo 4 times, one time taking a longer, eastern path back (17 exhausting miles with quite a bit of worry along the way). In general I am doing less 20+ mile walks and more 15-20 mile walks. I feel my aging bones and muscles complaining, so I expect that I will be doing less mileage. I have taken up the trumpet. I've long played the horn (french horn), but always had a fondness for the trumpet, so I bought one. I played it for the first time in the Diablo Regional Concert Band group just yesterday.

2017-03-13 Found out that there is a minor planet named Marnix. How cool.

http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?utf8=%E2%9C%93&object_id=5002

2016-10-28 I have enjoyed long walks. During the last 3 years I've done over 50 walks that went over 20 miles. They've been great fun. I love some of the views in San Francisco. Check out this panoramic pic from the Twin Peaks lookout point. Pano pic of Twin Peaks.

2015-12-14 My Status: Enjoying a winter break. Finished with orchestra and band until next year. Still doing some long walks, mostly in San Francisco, but my last 20+ mile walk seemed tough, so I might be slowing down. I always carry my ham radio with me and off an on participate in San Francisco's siren test evaluations through one of the repeaters there.

2015-02-15 My longest walk so far is a little over 31 miles from Fremont BART over the dumbarton bridge, up the San Francisco peninsula to Millbrae BART. Last year I also climbed Mt. Diablo once and that Peak near Fremont that I have trouble remembering the name off (but it's extremely popular).

2014-06-18 My Status: Enjoying long walks. I've done 4 long walks over 26 miles and many over 10. I average about 6 miles of walking per day. Most of my walks are in and around Benicia, but the long ones are usually in the San Francisco peninsula or the East Bay. My last long walk was 26.95 miles from Dublin/Pleasanton to North Concord, mostly by way of the Iron Horse Trail.

2012-10-26 My status: Still retired and still playing French horn. Also doing a tiny bit of ham radio.

2010-04-25 My status: Retired and playing French horn.