buzzardnotes

July 19 was a pretty day with a few raindrops and thunder off in the distance. But no big deal. The sunset that night was gorgeous. I know that you must be getting tired of sunsets and clouds, but they are SOOOO pretty here.

A pretty sunset on July 19

The clouds above the mountains were sort of wispy with undefined edges. I didn’t see it, but Jerri told me there was quite a light show over the Sierras/Tahoe area that night, thus foreshadowing what was to come the next day.

About 1:30 PM on the 20^th, I could hear rumblings out to the east and soon saw rain over the area that Jerri and I had ridden our quad just a week ago.  There was a lot of lightning accompanying the rain and I hoped that no fires would start because of it. I counted about 30 seconds before I heard the boom and wasn’t particularly concerned. Then I realized the time between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunderclaps was getting shorter and that I ought to move inside. I had just read a while ago that one should not be outside if the interval is 30 seconds or less. Pretty soon, the rain intensified and it was pouring. More than an inch fell in less than an hour. Pretty good for a desert…and consequently, an excellent chance for flash flood(s). Yep, they happened not far from my house.

My sunken fire pit is getting flooding and also telling me that drainage is not good from my patio area

This picture is the beginning of the deluge and looks out on my sunken fire pit. The stick you see is for baby quail to climb out if they happen to fall into the pit as they did last year. Other wood was also in there for when we have our first marshmallow roast in the back yard.  You can see water beginning to flood the area and there are puddles in the Back 40 beyond the near bushes. The next picture is how the pit looked just about a half hour later.  You folks who get regular storms are not amazed at this but it is a great topic of conversation for us.

The wood is floating and it’s now at flood stage in the pit.  Today, there is about an inch of mud/silt in that pit along with the wood.

The lightning was quite a show and as the storm passed over me, the claps were very loud and close. I counted no duration between many of the strikes and the claps. A bit scary but there is not much one can do. Everyone has stories to tell since this was an epic storm. My good buddy, Diana, told me about a lady (who she knows) who was sitting in the bathroom when a bolt struck that very room creating a hole in the roof.   I’ll bet she didn’t stay in there very long.

Looking east from the mailboxes and the next picture is looking west toward the Sierras.

Looking west at some erosion and the same mud laden ditch

This is the type of storm that causes flash floods and quite a bit of damage. For example, a large 15’ wide and probably 10’ deep ditch runs under the main street into my tract (and under a large stand of mail boxes) and people have not seen any water in it for 20 years. Yesterday, it was full of raging water and overflowed by the mailboxes, making a mess of the street and leaving debris all over the area.  Today, that ditch is about half full of mud and junk.  There are many of these collector ditches stemming from the Pine Nuts in the east going west toward the Sierras. This ditch happens to peter out about a mile or so west of me. The flow was powerful enough and there was enough water that it might have had enough force to join the Carson River just a bit further west. Going back to the damage, there were pictures on the news tonight showing people with 6’ of sand and mud in their house. Jerri’s neighbor lost a few thousand dollars worth of stuff for his job when his garage flooded. Jerri’s house (across the street) is fine with zero damage. I guess it’s the luck of the draw.

This has been an interesting experience for me as this is probably the most severe thunderstorm that I’ve seen. I would say it was a spectacular show and I surely do wish I had been able to get pictures of some of the strikes. The best thing about the storm was how the air smelled afterward. It was so clean, pure and fresh! That smell remained until this morning when I was coming home from the gym. It was exhilarating! Actually, the air still smells good. I’m loving it!

Today has been a wonderful, splendid day and I just want to share a couple more pictures.  The first is some of those sunflowers I’ve been talking about.. They survived the storm in fine fettle and are looking great. There are no blossoms yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing some soon. You can see some clouds in the background. We were supposed to have a bit more precipitation today but I only felt a few drops.

Cheerful sunflowers with peppers, tomatoes and lettuce in the background

Wispy clouds following the storm

Well, the weather is supposed to turn hot once again but it has been nice to experience this change and see wild weather.  Jerri and I are very much like our dad.  We really enjoy WEATHER and what it brings us daily.

Almost as soon as I decided to move to Carson Valley, Jerri and I began talking about getting a quad to zoom around the Pine Nuts and other off road places to play. It seems like so much fun! Our friend, Dick Schmidt, even gave us pictures of what we’d look like after we described what we wanted to get.

It doesn’t get any better than this. Right?

Well, after doing some shopping and deciding that we couldn’t afford what we really wanted – a side by side quad (that means two can sit side by side while one drives. It’s a lot safer…roll bars, a roof for shade, a little trunk to carry our gear and a very spiffy red color). It seemed like a ton of money for something we weren’t sure we’d use a lot.

So we got very practical and bought a used khaki green quad from Jerri’s next-door neighbor. Doug used his quad only in the back yard to knock down weeds, etc. It was kind of like the “Little Old Lady from Pasadena” who only used her car on Colorado Blvd.   It took a while to get our NV off road permit and then our helmets and finally, we were ready for the inaugural ride! YEA!!!

Somehow our first picture doesn’t compare to Dick’s original photo. Heels in the desert don’t work very well and one sweats a lot, so one needs longer skirts to sit on the hot seat.  Then, it’s mandatory to have helmets (Allan wouldn’t let us out of the house without helmets…rightfully so). So, we don’t look quite as sexy as the above picture.

Not as sexy, but practical

I think Allan was filled with trepidation when he waved goodbye to us as we took off down the street to get to the off road area. There are possibilities of having an accident, running out of gas, falling off the darn thing and/or getting lost in the multitude of roads, paths, and tiny trails in the Pine Nuts Range. We, on the other hand, were filled with confidence as we took off. After all, we had a full tank of gas, a phone (that didn’t have reception in the outback), water and snacks, a borrowed GPS that had the capability of showing us how to get back using the same route we went in on and even some maps of the area. BUT, nothing bad happened. It was a good ride!

The off road area is just a couple of miles from where we live and we can use side roads to get to the jumping off spot. So theoretically, we wouldn’t have any hassle from the cops for using an OHV (off highway vehicle) on a public road.

Re-create responsibly? We would never do otherwise!

Luckily, this sign hadn’t been shot up yet

It was exciting to zoom along the road and then get onto the unpaved, rocky road. We took the Sunrise Pass road, primarily because it was marked… for the first couple of miles. At least we had an idea of what was to come with this signpost. Our first decision was at third big fork in the road with no marking. We chose the right one (literally and figuratively) and zoomed on.

Our first stop was at the Painted Rock where we did Scott’s Pose in honor of him and his firefighting efforts in California this week. This rock is like a giant piece of graffiti with all colors of the rainbow on it. I have no idea why this particular rock was chosen, but it has become a landmark in the area.

Jerri really doesn’t have her finger up her nose

The area is tinder dry, as we all know, from the drought and probably would be a lot prettier had it been a good winter. But we find our desert/mountains to have their own distinct brand of beauty. Subtle colors, faint and sharp smells, sparse to thick vegetation and often cloud formations that tickle one’s imagination.

When we used to play or swim in the ocean, the water temperature would vary and we would enjoy a warm streak now and then. The same type of sensation occurred yesterday as we zoomed through differing air currents. This time, we enjoyed the cool currents embracing our arms and faces.

We began our journey at 4660’ and rose to 6827’ according to the GPS. We are not sure if that was Sunrise Summit or not as we elected to turn around and go home shortly after what was our summit. (We did this so as to get home before Allan went to work so that he wouldn’t worry about us). We do know that the road goes on for many miles and that someday we would like to do that when we have more experience and time.

The elevation change causes a change in vegetation as you can see in the following pictures.

A hazy day looking toward the Sierras from the Pine Nuts

Pine Nut trees alongside the trail

The first picture is looking west to the Sierras across a high plain of sagebrush and other desert plants. No cactus though. The second picture is more than a 1000’ feet higher. This terrain sports many piñon pines as well as some sagebrush and other plants. I don’t know enough about these plants to give you names. Anyway, the local Indian tribes would travel to the mountains in the fall to harvest the nuts from these trees. The nuts (which we call pine nuts, amazing name, huh?) are very nutritious and have been used for centuries for sustenance.   The Paiute, Western Shoshone and the Washoe tribes all consumed the piñones in great quantity in various manners…raw, roasted, soup and probably a lot more. Interestingly, the tribes did not go to the same area of trees every year because, apparently, the trees don’t yield a good crop every single year. So the Indians let the trees “rest” for a couple of years before returning to a specific area. As far as I know, it would have been the Washoe who would have been in the area we were in. Except for the trails and some mines, the area is virtually the same as it was when the Washoe were living there. I find that kind of exciting to be on historical land and imagining what those folks might have done there.

This is the view when you are the back seat driver. Note the beginning of the wispy clouds. They got prettier as they day wore on.

Back seat view of the trail

Wispy clouds above pinon pines

We didn’t see any big animals but saw a lot of chipmunks, and ground squirrels and heard a lot of birds. Not much different from our backyards, but it was fun to see these little critters. We know there are deer up there, wild horses and perhaps some bears. Someday we hope to see at least the deer and horses.

Of course, we had to fool around a bit with some pictures. After we got home, I wished that we had taken a picture of us jumping for joy with our quad (Beside it, not on it! We’re not that silly…yet)

It’s ours!!!

I suppose that in the future, we will be saying that this adventure was so-so without many thrills and no close calls. It was a pretty straightforward ride and we were happy for that.  Everyone we talked to had warned us about  hazards that could befall us, especially getting lost.  I think I might have listened a bit too much and made us be a bit too extra cautious.  Yes, I know that “an ounce of prevention” and all that.  I don’t know what we would have done, but perhaps next time we’ll add a thrill or two.  Again, I don’t know what that would be.

We learned a few things on the road, too.  We learned to ride together and to ride fairly smoothly despite many rocks in the road. We also learned that the seat gets pretty hot and we sweat a lot on it. Next time we’ll be taking a towel to sit on. We need to be more thorough in using bug repellant. Jerri was bitten by a horsefly right through her pants! Those flies are real pests! We call them tsetse horseflies because the bites itch like crazy, sometimes raise a blister and take forever to go away. We don’t like them!  We also need to get our own GPS soon, too, as we want to be more adventurous and will need that tool.  I also learned that the quad doesn’t have power steering (I actually knew that, I’m being silly) and am quite sore today from steering it.  Jerri isn’t.  She’s in better shape than I am from working out with her Kaia group.

Jerri is expressing our feeling at having completed our first ride successfully while having a lot of fun doing it. I can see why folks get hooked on off-roading. It was fun and we’re glad we have our quad.

A happy camper

Lots of people hike around here, both in the Carson Valley and in the Sierras. Last week, Jerri and I decided we wanted to hike in the Emerald Bay area of Lake Tahoe to visit Viking’s Home described as follows (from the website)

      “Vikingsholm is located at the head of Emerald Bay in Lake Tahoe, California. This magnificent “castle” is a unique blend of Nature’s spectacular beauty and man’s architectural ingenuity.  Vikingsholm, situated majestically among towering pines and cedars, was built as a summer home by Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight in 1929.”

Vikingsholm

We were excited about doing this hike as it would be our workout for the day and it looked so beautiful in pictures! Alas and alack! We couldn’t even find a parking space remotely close to the trailhead. True bummer! One should not try hikes in a popular area near the Fourth of July on a beautiful day!

We decided to check out Fallen Leaf Lake that is a bit east of Emerald Bay, back toward the Taylor Creek area (famous for the Kokanee Salmon run in the fall). Neither one of us had been there, so this was a novel adventure for both of us. One can see Fallen Leak far below the road as one drives back toward South Lake Tahoe, but if one hasn’t been paying attention to signs; one doesn’t know how to find the road to get to said lake. After some trial and error, driving on terribly skinny side roads and talking to locals, we finally found a road that got us close to Fallen Leaf. (However, it wasn’t THE road to get close to the lake).  That was ok. We hiked just a short distance and found the little dam that marks the beginning of Taylor Creek.

A family looking at the headwaters of Taylor Creek just below Fallen Leaf Dam (Don’t forget to click the pictures to enlarge them if you wish)

A view from the dam

Fallen Leaf Lake has quite a geologic history and, since I’m kinda lazy today, I thought I’d throw in a bit of a quote from Wikipedia.

            “Fallen Leaf Lake is located within the National Forest System lands managed by the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.  Fallen Leaf is approximately 415 feet deep at its deepest point. The average depth of the lake is around 240 feet. Due to the action of the glaciers that carved the lake, the northern end of the lake has a much more gradual depth change, and the bottom can be seen from the surface for a quarter-mile offshore…The water quality is good and visibility runs around 40–50 feet under most conditions. The surface elevation of the lake is 152 feet above Lake Tahoe.”

Jerri and I cannot attest to the clarity of the water, but it looked nice as we walked along the edge and it was as cool as Tahoe when we tested the water’s edge. We saw kayakers paddling and kids frolicking in the water even though a pretty stiff wind was blowing. It looked like fun!

We ate lunch beside the hiking path and were soon accosted by a saucy Steller’s jay, which soon got what he thought he was entitled to.

This is our Steller being stellar with his pretzel that Jerri gave him

I’ve mentioned that it was a beautiful day and here are a few pictures attesting to that.

Mount Tallac (9,735 ft) is familiar to anyone who was a fan of the television series Bonanza as it appeared with its characteristic cross of snow behind the Cartwright family as they rode towards the camera. Fallen Leaf Lake is in the foreground

Trees and clouds attesting to the beautiful day!

We saw several flowers in bloom such as columbine, lupine and Indian paintbrush. They were all beautiful in the sunlight and shade. We were pleasantly surprised at wild flowers still being in bloom as they are pooped out in our valley. I guess it’s just too hot for them right now at home (My columbines are kaput)

Columbines in the pines

Lupine in a tiny meadow

As we drove out of the skinny road where we’d turned in to soon, we finally found the correct road into Fallen Leaf campground…just a hop and a skip from Highway 89.  The funny thing is that, apparently, both of us are always either driving or looking to the right in hopes of seeing a bear trying to catch some salmon for lunch (the Kokanee) in Taylor Creek.  Next time, we’ll know where to turn and be able to park in the right spot so that we can get started much quicker.

It was a great day and we had a lot of fun laughing at each other as we tried to get to our adventure that was awaiting..

It all started with my friend, Mary from New York, sending me a package of sunflowers as a symbol of happiness, smiles and “keep on truckin.” Mary and I met as riders on the 2012 Donate Life Rose Parade float and have remained friends. She is the picture of perseverance and I admire her in so many ways. So I thought it would be cool to plant her happy sunflower seeds in my garden when the appropriate time in spring arrived. It did and I did.

I’m hoping my sunflowers will look like this soon…complete with the butterfly

The little seeds (along with mammoth sunflowers that my sister had given me) were nursed, watered and carefully watched as they broke through the soil to start their growing process above ground. They were doing beautifully until one day I noticed nibbles had been taken off the leaves. Oops. Those dang ground squirrels weren’t satisfied with the bird seed they steal from my birds, they had to have a variety in their diet. Oh no, they had to have green stuff too! Quickly, I put chicken wire over the raised garden, but was able to save only two of Mary’s sunflowers.  If things go right, they’ll grow to maturity and I can save many of their seeds for next year’s crop to plant in her honor.

THE CULPRIT

The Garden with Mary’s plants in the left front.
6/13/14 (Don’t forget to click on my home photos to enlarge them)

Mary’s plants are the ones with the little wire structure around them. That’s not to prevent squirrel damage, it’s just to help support them. I think they are getting tall enough now that they won’t be damaged any more. The only problem is that the squirrels moved down to the other end and ate three kinds of lettuce plus all the spinach. This weekend, I’m going to try again to replant the lettuce, etc. This time, I’ll have chicken wire over the plants.

Then Jerri suggested planting more sunflowers along my back fence. “They would be so pretty waving in the wind,” she said. That sounded like a great idea and I did that.  Again, I watered dutifully (there is no drip system along the back fence) and waited for the little plants to break through the surface.  Soon I saw results and soon most disappeared. I was able to put wire around some of the plants and they are growing.

Two growing sunflowers. Check how small the square fence is in back. Squirrels can zoom through that little area!

I replanted with some fencing on the front side, forgetting that the squirrels can zip right through the 2” squares of the back fence. Sometimes they bang their heads on the fence when they are running through, but it’s basically no problem for them to go through such a small area. I went out a couple of hours later to find that the varmints had dug up every single seed! I think they probably carried a little basket with them, sort of like the Easter Bunny, laughing all the way about their free lunch.

Ok, now it’s war!!!! I took what chicken wire I had left and stapled it to the back side of my fence and then bought some new plastic fence (Home Depot was out of chicken wire, plus the plastic stuff doesn’t scratch my skin as easily) to line the front side of the fence. This will do it, I thought. Again, I planted the seeds and had to buy some more because I ran out of Jerri’s leftovers from last year. I went out the next morning and there was Mr. Squirrel inside the fences happily digging up my seeds. I discovered that I hadn’t put enough stakes along the bottom edge to anchor it securely.  Rats!

The chicken wire on the east side of the fence

The plastic fencing on the west side of the fence

These sunflowers are probably going to be the most expensive sunflowers ever!

At this point, I was pretty frustrated with the varmints and thought about getting a BB gun to shoot them. But I’d have to shoot them while they are stealing from the bird feeder and that might not be safe for the birds. Also, if I just wounded one, then I’d have to whack it over the head to kill it. That would not be a pleasant option. I’ve already put out squirrel repellant, but they just laugh at that. I almost gave up but thought that I can’t give in to a ground squirrel and his family. So I went to Home Depot again to buy up more anchor stakes to try to make the little area more secure. So far, knock on wood, nobody has gotten into the sunflower area. But then, it’s only been about 16 hours since the last planting.

This picture is the lone survivor of the second planting. It is now encased in the sunflower cage. I hope it makes it to be a tall, beautiful plant that greets the sun each morning.

The picture below is representative of Chip, a tiny chipmunk who has also discovered the free eats at the Johnson bird feeder. Chip doesn’t eat much, unlike those ground squirrel varmints. I tried to download a picture of one all sprawled out on the sand, but it wouldn’t download. Chip did that the other day and was very cute. His cousin, Earl, a white tailed antelope squirrel, hasn’t been around much recently, I don’t know where he is except that a coyote might have had him for a snack.

Chip

The upshot of this saga is that,  in a very small way, I can understand what farmers, particularly organic farmers, go through to rid their crops of pests. It’s a very frustrating, expensive and time-consuming job…especially if one is trying to make money at it. Perhaps I need to do more research on how to accomplish this endeavor, not to make money, just get the job done.

P.S.  You might ask why I’ve named Earl and Chip but not the varmints.  Those varmints are pests.  If I don’t name them, I don’t become attached to those piggy, cootie carrying critters and I could dispatch them if I had to.  Another note:  Jerri’s dog, Max, caught a ground squirrel in their back yard yesterday.  Perhaps he could come over to mark my land and try to catch a couple of those varmints.  The only problem is that he won’t get into a car, an issue that is from his puppyhood.  Double rats!

Connie at the High Hand Nursery

It has been my experience that when most folks are celebrating a milestone event, that it lasts a day or maybe a week. But, my friend Connie is celebrating her 70^th birthday over a span of at least three months! Her actual birthday is in June but she is celebrating from May until mid-July! That must be a record! In her defense, though, this didn’t happen because of her “high-handedness.” Margie, her sister, wanted to have a surprise party but getting folks to Colorado Springs and keeping it all a surprise was just too much to integrate with all of Connie’s activities/events/church/flower creations. So Margie told Connie the plans and a date in May was decided upon when a very small group of people could get together in Sacramento.

High Hand Brand packing label

So it happened that this little group convened at the High Hand Nursery in Loomis, an old farm town a bit east of Sacramento. A nursery sounds like a funny place to have a milestone luncheon, but this is really a cool place…a perfect place for the founder of Connie’s Creations. It’s an old fruit-packing house that’s been converted to an excellent restaurant, several tasteful shops (including wine tasting J ), galleries, and a real nursery.  We had a delightful lunch, frivolity with the conversation, some memorabilia gifts (what else could there be when you’re turning 70?), and a tour of the garden/nursery. It was a memorable occasion! Our wine was even memorable…Hands of Time Chardonnay.

Connie and her “Toast to Connie” book

Hands across time – Good stuff!

Taking a tour of the nursery

Posing in the old packing house…Steve, Margie, Connie, Cora, Dick

After strolling around the nursery for a bit to settle our lunch and perhaps to find new treasures, we drove back to Sacramento to that old-fashioned ice cream parlour of Farrell’s!  They provided even more frivolity, drum beats, songs, celebration and treats for Connie.

Celebrating in Farrell’s

Truly, it was Connie’s day, even though it’s not really until June 15. There was so much entertainment and so many comments that poor Connie didn’t get to enjoy her birthday sundae until it was half melted. Always a good sport, she didn’t complain, perhaps because her special sundae was free?

It’s my day!

Only one candle???

Margaret and Steve left shortly after the party to return to Merced while Connie and I checked into our room at the Quality Inn in Sacramento.

Steve, Margie and Connie

We rested a bit and then had a quick snack with RDS (aka Matt Rivers).  We retired with Tu keeping guard over us.

Tu’s celebrating as well

Late the next morning, Dick Schmidt picked us up to go to Burr’s (my favorite ice cream parlor) for an early lunch and, of course, a hot fudge sundae in honor of Bob. I couldn’t decide what flavor of ice cream to have, so I had a two- scoop sundae. Needless to say, I didn’t eat dinner that night.

You might call this the pig trough. It was GOOD!

Here is the lucky dude clowning around with some of his babes in front of Burr’s.

Thus ended two days of birthday celebration in Sacramento. Later that afternoon, Connie went to Merced for a bit more celebration and then to LA to celebrate with Deanne and Peter. The marathon will continue soon in June and July. You go, girl! We all love you and wish you the best and happiest of all birthdays!!!

2014 cast (Don’t forget to click on the photos to enlarge)

Above, you see the cast of characters for the 2014 Prime Time at Pajaro.  No, Pat is not asleep. I think she was beginning to blink. But I think this is still a good picture with good smiles all around. We missed those of you who were not able to attend and hope that you all be able to come either next year or in 2016.

Trish’s place is the one that looks like a light is on in the second story

Diana and I were the first to arrive and haul all our stuff up to Pelican 10. We had the first night’s dinner with us, so we had a bit more than usual. Dot and Sherry arrived next with essentials that they picked up at the grocery store…essentials like TP. It was unusually HOT at Pajaro. I can’t ever remember it being so warm…low 80s or high 70s.   Diana and I thought it felt a bit like a Santa Ana wind even so close to the beach. Of course, this is the first time that we’ve been there in May. Pat, Lynda and Shoo were to arrive the next day.

It was so warm that we were able to walk on the beach without the usual heavy jackets.  Part of the beach close to the berm was roped off so that the snowy plovers can nest in peace.  The little plovers nest in depressions in the sand, perhaps one that a footprint created. I guess it works for them, but it seems rather unprotected to me. Plovers are a type of shorebird that scurry along the water line looking for tasty morsels. I always get a kick out of how quickly their little legs seem to turn. It’s almost like cartoon legs.

A little snowy plover on a nesting site

After Pat, Lynda and Shoo arrived, we walked again, thus adding more miles to our tally (not that we were keeping track). It’s such a flat beach that we can walk a long way without pooping out. You can see that by the picture that it’s flat and one can walk literally for miles.

We love it this beach!

In the next picture, you’ll see the view of the beach from Pelican 10. However, it is somewhat marred by some passing seagulls’ deposits. Trish decided that it should be washed, but if you’ll notice in the picture of the condo with the “light”, that one needs a VERY TALL ladder in order to get to it. Trish had a solution, using a hose and squeegee with Dot’s able assistance. Those of us inside took great delight in pointing out missed smudges. They really did a good job, though, and the view was greatly improved.

Bird deposits on the window marring the view

Trish and Dot with the hose

The Whole Enchilada in Moss Landing was on the agenda for that night’s dinner.   It’s tradition to have at least one meal there while at Pajaro and get our picture taken there. I think we look darn good in this one.

Having fun at the Whole Enchilada

The Enchilada owner came by the table and gave Lynda a Lotto ticket after she agreed to be his partner with the winnings.  It was for the Mega Lotto that was worth $136 million. We were all thinking about how we would spend our portion of the winnings. Alas! We had only one matching number.

Lynda and her Lotto partner

A full moon was so pretty shining through the trees.

A ghostly sight

At Diana’s and my suggestion, several of us brought some pictures of us as youngsters and we all got to reminiscing about past times. Angel, we were all happy to receive your picture of you with that bag of candy. You were/are so cute! Thank you, too, for sharing some of your childhood story. It had never occurred to me that you and your family suffered after the War.  I guess, because I didn’t know you then and I don’t think you and I ever talked about the war. Thank you for making me more aware of that part of post-war history.

I think if I had to choose a theme for this year, it would be dealing with life changes and challenges. All of us have had some challenges, but Pat is dealing with some health issues that have yet to be identified. She told us that it is NOT Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s and that is good news. She will be learning more in future doctors’ appointments. We all wish you well, Pat, and please know that if any one of us could help you in any way, we’ll be there.   I’ll tell you one thing, though. Pat has not lost her wicked sense of humor. She had some good lines this year.

Being at Pajaro in May for the first time showed us some differences in nature that were fun to see.  The sun set behind the Santa Cruz peninsula (or whatever that land is called) instead of sort of in the middle of the ocean as we usually see in February or March. I already mentioned the plovers nesting, but there was also a starling nesting in the eave of Pelican 10. I just happened to catch her leaving the nest as I was taking a picture of brown pelicans.

Sunset behind Santa Cruz

Starling in flight with pelicans in the background

The bees were visiting ice plants and we saw some folks riding their horses on the beach at sunset. I thought they made great silhouettes.

The bee is at about 11 o’clock

Horses on the beach at sunset

The surf was calm and almost good for surfing if one wanted to do that. Seagulls were on the shore, but we didn’t see many little birds. Perhaps they will return soon when their babies hatch and they need to be fed.

Seagulls taking a break at water’s edge

It has become Diana and Trish’s job to add new captions to our album documenting our Pajaro and Cambria adventures. They have a really good time doing this task but I don’t think they began imbibing soon enough as they didn’t get very many done this year. They had fun doing what they did though.

This caption is the best!

Now, as all know in our Pajaro group, the majority of us are turning 70 this year (three of you will do that next year). Diana ordered a beautiful, tasty cake from Gayle’s in Capitola. Oh my goodness! I loved all 3 layers of hazelnut and chocolate cake iced with chocolate ganache (I’m not sure about spelling. Spell check isn’t helping and my dictionary doesn’t have the word. Whatever, it is, it is really good!), whipped cream and regular icing. We celebrated with candles, party hats, ice cream and later, some Bailey’s.

Lighting the lights

Happy birthday to us!!!

It was great!

Trish loved it!

As I told you, it was hot and the sand was also. Pat went barefooted during one of the walks and in crossing the hot sand from the shore to the stairs to get back to the condo, her feet got too hot. She began to hurry across the sand and ran into some wood in her path. She really banged up two toes (one of which I feel sure was broken) and shortly had very bruised toes. The first aid committee got together and fashioned an ice pack for her and bound it with what Pat called an Arafat kerchief. I hope she was able to board the plane to go home without any problems.

First Responders

Pat and her Arafat foot cover

Prime time always has to end and parting consists of many hugs. Our friendship means so much to all of us.  I’d like to include some comments from Diana and Dot about our friendship as I think they are much more eloquent about US than I am.

Dot said, “I loved visiting with each of you. We are all different in many ways and yet meld together into a great group.”

Diana’s comment was, “How blessed we are to have each other! I think it’s remarkable that over and over year after year, we have fun together, discuss serious subjects and yet never ‘bump into each other.’ That was Schwab talk for have a squabble in the olden days. Let’s squeeze every drop of togetherness we can out of the years to come.”

I liked this shot and would like to close with it.  We’ve been making tracks together for more than 50 years!  Yea!!!

Best friends making tracks together.

The twelfth annual Donate Life Run/Walk was held on April 26, 2014 at Cal State Fullerton with more than 13,000 people celebrating the Gift of Life.  The fact that this event began with only about 1500 people (or less) in attendance and has grown into the largest of its kind in the country is positively amazing.  It has been my privilege to attend and/or work with at least 9 of those events and I continue to be inspired by how Kathleen Hostert and her mighty crew of staff members and volunteers continue to grow this event.  (Don’t forget to click on photos if you want to enlarge them)

Bob’s and my first DLRW in 2005.

This April, I felt a bit at odds bods, sort of not feeling exactly right. It finally dawned on me that I wasn’t spending every day in April helping to prepare for the Walk…packing stuff for the various Walk areas, hauling donor family t-shirts to be counted and inventoried, speaking at several city council or county supervisor meetings and accepting proclamations proclaiming April to be Donate Life Month, amongst other little chores. Here I was in Nevada doing NV State Museum tours, working in my yard and other mundane chores.   The Walk was calling me!

I zoomed down south in time to be able to help make final packing preparations to move all the equipment, shirts, VIP bags, promotional material, ad infintum to the Cal State Fullerton campus. It used to be just a couple of truck loads of stuff taken to the campus. Now it takes many more loads to complete the task. Then…it all has to be sorted out and set up in the various areas. (Kathleen has devised systems to make that easier, but it’s still time consuming)   To complicate things this year, there was a threat of rain which did actually materialize during the night. The actual Walk day dawned with glorious sun.  A great day

Sorting donor family t shirts into their proper boxes. There are thousands of shirts that are put into these boxes. Each shirt has a picture of the family’s loved one on the back.

Getting ready to load those boxes onto the truck. They will be claimed in the morning by the donor families who proudly wear their shirts on the Walk.

Meanwhile, activities continue in the office portion of the Placentia Office of One Legacy/Donate Life.  Lists are being finalized, stuff is still being packed, sheets are being laminated and the list goes on and on.

Iva and her endless lists. She keeps track of EVERYTHING!

The Nut House (or Kathleen’s office)

Where I’ve worked for the past several years. It’s fun to meet the VIPs and their families and sometimes it’s hectic when someone thinks they are a VIP and aren’t.

Promoting the social media aspect of Donate Life to increase awareness of the cause. Just point your smart phone and click. Doesn’t work on my phone, though. I have a dumb phone.

Some of the contributing sponsors, of which I was one

One of the necessary evils of an event like this with SOOOO many people is the trash detail (and also the port-potty issue, but we won’t go into that.  Ick!).  Dave Hollon and his son, Michael, have worked on this area for many years and have it down to a pretty good science.  The fact remains though, that he has to line all of these cardboard “cans” and distribute them around the campus.  Then someone has to empty them when they are full.  It’s a continuous task to keep all of this trash from overflowing and looking awful.  Dave and Michael do a great job and makes it look pretty easy but I wouldn’t trade jobs with them.

Dave Hollon and his “cans”
Can he or can’t he?

Monica Ramirez took my place as chairperson of the VIP Check-in area.  She also does many tasks at the office…a gal of all trades.

Monica waiting for her first VIP to check in. Do you think she’s practicing her welcome smile?

Checking in the VIPs. Sharyn Miller is the helper.

Nicole Hostert greeting the crowd with her family around her.

Donor families releasing doves. It’s always an inspirational portion of the program, especially when you know some of the donor families and/or have been directly affected by donation.

After the release of the doves, the Walk is just about ready to begin.  Just a couple of more things to do…the National Anthem and the countdown.  This year, Emily Reisling, daughter of good friends and a sophomore at La Habra High, sang the Anthem.  She was terrific!  People actually stopped talking, listened and acted respectfully.

Emily Reisling

A small portion of Emily’s audience at the starting line

And they’re off!!!

A very inspirational portion of the Walk is the Circle of Garden, an area where posters are hung to honor loved ones who were donors, are living donors, are waiting for a transplant or perhaps who have passed waiting for a transplant.  It’s supposed to be a sort of reverential place but with 13,000 people, it’s difficult to have total quiet.  But I like to go into the Garden to see all the people looking at the posters and to see Bob’s poster.  This year, I chose a picture with the two of us in Delft, Holland with the caption, “We enjoyed the Gift of Life.”  This gift from Tim Baptista’s family allowed us to travel near and far and allowed Bob to be best man at our nephew, Michael’s wedding to Floor in 2008. Bob was so pleased that he got to do that.

Bob’s sign in the Garden before it was hung up in place

The Walk and ensuing Family Festival activities ended about noon and I was on the road back to Nevada around 1 PM. It was a short visit and I apologize to the many friends I didn’t get to visit.  It’s just that now there were several obligations up north that I had to keep.

Here is a little addendum to this blog portion. As most of you know, I have a bird feeder in the back yard that attracts several species of birds and sometimes critters such as ground squirrels and little chipmunk type animals. This week, yellow-headed black birds graced the feeder along with their cousins, red-winged blackbirds.  Sorry the picture isn’t bigger, but one can only crop a shot so much.   I like these birds as they don’t seem to be afraid and don’t fly away if I’m working in the backyard.

Yellow-headed blackbirds (Click on it and it’ll get bigger)

You might remember how the house on Agua Caliente struck my eye as soon as I saw it. In fact, that was a great selling point and helped me to decide to buy it. However, I knew that the house needed a new coat of paint as it had faded and some of it was peeling on the east side of the house. So after much consternation and decision making about what color to paint it, I bit the bullet and had it done last week. It would have been done the week before (when the weather was cooperating much better) but the Home Owners Association had to give their approval of the new color, which delayed progress a bit. I might not submit an application for the next project, but right now, I was trying to be a good member of the association and follow the rules.  After all, they are one of the reasons it’s a nice looking, well kept neighborhood.  (Don’t forget to click on the pictures to get a larger view, if you wish to do so)

The before shot

The above picture is to refresh your memory as to what it used to look like. Please note the lawn to the right of the driveway. It is no longer there. Due to high water prices and the drought, I decided to take it out and install some red rock to tie in with the reddish roof with a white rock island in the middle. You might notice some green stuff to the left of the picture. Those were ugly, scraggly dwarf fruit trees and they are no longer there. Drought resistant foliage will be planted there as soon as the weather gets better.

The colors that I chose are called French Sonnet and Sequoia Red. I thought the Sonnet was more like a cream with some yellow in it, but it’s more yellow than I thought. This is a shot of the house with the new body color on it. Note the contrast of color between the two garage doors. The pale color is the old yellow.  The painter did that on purpose to let me know what the contrast was.

French Sonnet took to the house like a fine poem. Note the rock where the lawn was and the white rock island.

Charlo, one of the painters, is doing a dance to celebrate that the new body color was done. The difference in new and old color is just above his head.

I tried to get the two pictures above to be lighter, but it just wouldn’t work. It was a cloudy, windy and cold day. I was lucky that they could still paint in those conditions.

Painting the trim on the front of the house.

Charlo is spraying the back door fake shutters.

The house was officially finished on March 31, 2014. This is the finished product.

The back side of the house with BC going for an afternoon stroll.

As soon as the weather is better and not dipping below 32 degrees at night, I will be planting some colorful plants and posies around the house and in the back. I do have some daffodils, pansies and columbine in the backyard, but that is about all I can put out for the time being. The mantra is here to not plant before Mother’s Day because of the weather. It is a whole different ball game up here and I’m learning new ways to garden very quickly.  I’m pretty happy with the way the house turned out and how fresh it looks. I copied the color from a house a few blocks away and their house looks terrific even after 8 years of being in the harsh Nevada sun.

I just had to share this picture that I took this morning as it was beginning to dawn on the Sierras. I love to watch as the sun rises in the East and lights up those mountains in the West. It never ceases to enthrall me. It snowed up at Lake Tahoe last night but we didn’t get anything here in terms of weather. Just some pretty sights that we all love.

An April Fool’s Dawn on the Sierras

Today was a gorgeous, sunny, fun day filled with adventure, good friends and excited dogs.  I got to go on an outing with Diana and Jack Jacobs and their two loveable ranch dogs, Lucy and Molly, to Fort Churchill, an abandoned ruin about an hour northeast of my house (on the other side of the Pine Nut Range that sits to the east of my house).  Don’t forget to click on the pictures if you want to enlarge them.

Lucy and Molly, great ranch dogs and good on the trail

To give you a little background on the fort:  There was a great fear of Indian attacks in the 1860s, exacerbated by three white men who kidnapped two Indian girls in 1860.  They refused to release the girls and that led to the Indians killing the men.  Then rumors were magnified, battles ensued with the white folks being defeated.  An urgent call went out to get soldiers in the area and the tide was eventually turned against the Indians. The upshot was that Fort Churchill was established on July 20, 1860.  It was named after Sylvester Churchill, the Inspector General of the U.S. Army.  The fort was to guard the Pony Express route that ran near by and the settlers in the area as well as serve as a supply depot for the Nevada Military District after 1861. (Remember that the Civil War began in April, 1861)  The fort was abandoned in 1869 and the adobe buildings were auctioned for only $750.

Today, one can visit the fort and check out a little museum, the Carson River as well as Buckland station.  One item that caught my eye was an 1864 American flag with 36 stars and an odd arrangement of stars.

An 1864 flag with 36 stars. (Nevada is #36) The Nevada State Capitol has on display another 1864 flag with a 6 x 6 arrangement. I wonder why there is a difference.

Jack and I joined a guided tour and learned many things about the fort and the rest of the State Park.  (Diana is recovering from knee surgery and isn’t ready yet for this type of trek).   We visited three distinct  ecological areas in the park…the floodplain river terrace (Fremont cottonwood, and Indian ricegrass), riparian (reeds and willow) and upland scrub (low sagebrush and bluegrass and where the fort buildings are).

The following picture is our first glimpse of the adobe buildings of the actual fort.  The low, flat buildings were enlisted men’s quarters and officers lived in the larger two story buildings that are off to the right.

Fort Churchill cost about $200,000 to build

Officer’s quarters.
Building materials were later salvaged from them to build the Buckland Station house

We walked around the perimeter of the buildings that surrounded a parade ground.  It’s all covered with sagebrush now, but it wasn’t hard to imagine soldiers marching in formation out there.

Kim, our very knowledgeable guide

We left the actual fort area and walked along a trail that led to the Carson River, the only perennial source of surface water near the park.  As we trod along the trail, we could hear woodpeckers, quail, black birds and other birds.  We didn’t see any critters, other than lizards, but we know they live there because we saw some evidence of their presence.  Beavers had felled trees, scat was visible in some parts of the trail and we might have smelled skunk if we’d scared one.  But most of the critters Kim told us about are nocturnal, so we weren’t likely to see any.

It was pretty warm and Jack and I thought the “girls” (Lucy and Molly) would like a drink.  We took them down to the river, but only Molly took advantage of the drink.  She loves the water!

Molly testing the Carson River

Another view of the Carson River is below.  You can see how dry it is on the shore.

Kinda looks like the desert it is, eh? It’ll be prettier when everything begins to leaf out.

This stately old cottonwood will leaf out in another month and bring much needed color to the area.  John C. Fremont took samples of this tree back east with him and, since it was a new species of cottonwood, it was named after him.

An old Fremont cottonwood

A mighty big beaver felled this tree!

Shortly after we saw the downed cottonwood, we spotted a couple of mallards and a Canada goose.  But that’s about all the animals we saw.  Not even a squirrel!

Buckland Station is located on the Carson River at Weeks Bridge on Hwy 95A

As we completed our two mile hike, we neared Buckland Station, a ranch settled by Samuel Buckland in 1859.  It was one of the earliest ranches in the area, supplying emigrants, ranchers, travelers and the soldiers at Fort Churchill.  The Overland Stage Company kept horses at the station and the Pony Express stopped there for a change of mounts.  It was a thriving enterprise.  Today, one can see a short film about the Buckland family and tour the large house.  It’s furnished as it would have been in the late 1890s and is quite interesting.  There is even a dresser with a sign asking if you can spot the secret, hidden drawer.  I couldn’t, but then, I’ve never been very good with puzzles.

We enjoyed a most welcome and delicious picnic lunch at the station and then toured the Buckland house.

Our little expedition group

Our drive home took us through Wabuska (an abandoned copper smelting community), Yerington and Smith Valley.  A long way home, but it was pretty and we all enjoyed it.  The dogs were pooped and they didn’t care.

For those of you who don’t know Diana, a life long friend all the way back to Kindergarten, I need to tell you that she owns Quail Cottage, an antique shop in downtown Gardnerville.  She told me about a pair of Canada geese that had recently been building a nest on top of an old shed on the property in back of her shop.  She said the female was working hard, collecting twigs, putting them on the roof of this shed and sort of scraping the twigs together with her foot while the male stood around and watched her.  Anyway, when Diana took me home, we stopped by the shop to see if the goose was sitting on her nest.  What we found was a little pile of twigs with an egg outside of the “nest” and no geese to be seen.  Even though these geese are supposed to mate for life, we think this might not have been a successful relationship and they abandoned the nest and maybe each other.  What happened?  Inquiring minds want to know!

This is a nest?

What a great day this was!  Diana and Jack are so much fun to be with and always know what’s going on in terms of history, geography and general info.  They add a great deal to my appreciation of Nevada and make me feel a part of what’s going on.  Many thanks to you both and to Lucy and Molly for welcoming me and making me feel at home here in Carson Valley!

There is a great group of people called Friends of the Nevada State Museum (NSM) who support the museum by being trained tour guides, doing outreach programs, and giving of their dollars and time for fund raising.  Last night was one of those fund raising events.  MURDER AT THE MUSEUM  or  Murder at the Deadwood Saloon! 

 Jerri and I originally signed up to do the raffle because we like to do things behind the scenes.  That way, no one will know when we mess up.  But, as The Fates would have it, Diana Michaels, our mighty director, couldn’t find a person (character?) for the Black Barbara role and she conned me into it.  It turned out to be a fun experience and I’m glad that I did it. (Don’t forget to click on a picture if you want to see more detail)

As you can see, Black Barbara was not the most savory person, but she liked Billy, the Bartender in the Deadwood Saloon.

Our cast of 20 characters, all with their own agendas and secrets, practiced many hours to get our lines and cues just right.  The only problem was that, for various reasons family emergencies, doctor’s appointments, and illness),  the entire cast wasn’t able to practice together until the day before the actual presentation.  I never knew who was really who until dress rehearsal because we were all playing several roles to get the gist of blocking and such.  Still, it worked out and the audience loved us AND none of us broke a leg!

I had attended only one murder mystery prior to this one and no one dressed up for that one.  I’d say that at least half the audience was costumed for the late 1800s and some were very elaborate.  It was fun to see them and interact with them.  It was also fun when they reacted to some of the lines and laughed heartily when they were supposed to.  We thought some of the lines were hysterical but one never knows until the actual performance.

Here are some of our characters:

The sign outside the Deadwood Saloon – Mound House is a town outside Carson City where cathouses are legal. The most well known is the Bunny Ranch.

Sally Starr, our director

Black Barbara & Harry Highstakes, owner of the Deadwood Saloon

Henrietta Highstakes, Harry’s wife and who is secretly seeing Sheriff Sam on the side.

Sheriff Sam with his slingshot in his holster and Jessie Wales, desperado

Taffy Garret, most social lady in town and Poker Alice, AKA, Assassin Alice and Black Barbara’s nemesis in trying to get Billy the Bartender’s attention

Billy the Bartender, for whom Black Barbara has set her cap and Jessie.

Gambling Jack and his wife, Annabelle. Being a true Southern lady, she is devoted to her card cheatin’ husband and abhors Black Barbara whom she deems uncouth (even though Barbara is telling her that her husband is bribing Poker Alice)

Elizabeth Money (married to Montgomery Money, an investor from Back East who wants to buy the Deadwood Saloon and turn it into a Sally Starrbucks coffee house) and Jessie Wales, her real life husband

Mitch Maverick, a dishonest gambler who owes a lot of money to a lot of people. He paid the ultimate price for his dishonesty.

The high stakes poker game in progress.

These are just some of the characters, good and bad.  The crime was eventually solved by Marshall Dalton and the culprit was taken to jail by Sheriff Sam.  I think five people in the audience came up with the correct solution and all won prizes.

As I said earlier, there was a raffle with many nice prizes and many people went home happy.  Jerri helped with that and did a great job with friend of the museum, Pat King.  I went home very happy too, as I won one of the top prizes, a beautiful quilt with a mountain theme.  Yee Haw!!!

Black Barbara and Jerri

The prize quilt that now resides at my house