"Summer's Coming!"...be AFRAID...be VERY afraid! and summer plans

Summer is coming.  This I know.  It won't be here this week, however...(thank goodness!), but it is definitely on its way.

Some of my blogging friends are getting ready to move north, back to Canada, and soon others will be heading toward cooler country.  I'll miss them being nearby (well, relatively close by), but I always still enjoy their adventures.

I'm kind of worried about this summer.  Our air conditioner is 14 years old.  Our previous one lasted about that long before it konked out one day when it was a sweltering 128 degrees.  At that time, I stayed in the house for 3 days while the guys came out and put in a completely whole, new unit. I remember running 3 fans in the house, having a bowl of ice cubes, and dipping towels in the bowl and then putting them on my forehead.  Ahhhh...those were the days, right?  Nope...that's not for me anymore.  As we get older, I'm finding that we just can't take the heat.  Unfortunately, the compressor lasted just a few days short of its 5 year warranty, and I called them up and they installed a new one.  Phew!  Good thing for warranties, right?  We've been pretty good about maintenence, but if it goes out this summer, we're SCREWED.  I've been looking at those room Mitsubishi wall units and, if they aren't TOO expensive, I'd like to just get a couple of those for the living room and kitchen.  Who knows?  Our daughter and son-in-law have a Goodman a/c and something went out on their NEW ONE last summer and it cost them $800.00!!!!  Yikes!  Our son has a double unit, because of the size of his house, and while it was sitting empty,(his was a foreclosure) somebody STOLE one of his units, so he has a fairly new one.  But, even a/c units don't last much longer than 10 years down here with the heat.

We usually get out of here for about a week in August~either to the Sierra or the Mogollon Rim, but I'm not sure we can afford that this summer unless we go tent camping.  Really?  The Mogollon Rim in AUGUST?  That's when they have their daily thunderstorms and I don't think I want to be in a tent then.  PERIOD.

We haven't firmed up ANY plans for this summer yet.  We were waiting to hear when my school will start up again (apparently late in August) and hubby's schedule.  We're still waiting to hear his schedule...sigh...so we have NO plans yet.  Our daughter and son-in-law can't afford to go anywhere this summer (with a year old baby and a new couch and air conditioning repairs from last summer), so they'll be around all summer.

Thunderheads over Deep Canyon from summer, 2011.

Solvang buildings~Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors~033114

I could wander around Solvang, CA for days.  It's such an interesting and cute town!  These are just a few of the windows and doors there.  Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors for March 31, 2014.  To visit WWDD, please go to this link:    http://iwishiwereaphotographer.blogspot.com/2014/03/whimsical-windows-delirious-doors-122.html

Does anybody know what this is????

This was parked across the street from our hotel for a full 24 hours.  Does any body know what this is?  I thought it was AWESOME!

Home!

We arrived home yesterday afternoon and went to our daughter's house for lamb, artichokes, salad, and bread last night.  Boy, was that yummy!

It's pretty quiet here today and hubby and I are both tired.  I don't know what he's tired from...I did ALL the driving for 3 days!  I'm just glad to be home, in our own bed, and just resting today!

Here are more pics from our trip.  We drove up the 101 to Buellton, stayed there, visited Solvang for breakfast and lunch, ate dinner one night at the Firestone Brewery right up the street from the Marriott, got take out from there the next night, and then ate with our family last night.

We saw lots of beautiful, GREEN hills!  However, Lake Cuyamaca is extremely low...sigh...another victim of California's drought.

 Asparagus?

 Nice looking vineyard.

 Beautiful, green, rolling hills above and the low Lake Cuyamaca below.

Ocean and Fence~Good Fences~032814

Yesterday morning, after breakfast, we drove back out the 101 and caught the road up past Gaviota State Beach.  We didn't realize it dead ended on private property further ahead.  But, the views were outstanding from the public area, including this view of the Pacific Ocean (and fence).  I'm always amazed when I look out upon the Pacific Ocean and realize that nothing is out there until...Japan! From here, no, you are north of the Channel Islands, which are further south, toward Santa Barbara.  Below the fence is the railroad track and Amtrak trains would be on the track a couple of times a day.  Apparently this is a common spot to stop and take photos and I'll include a photo looking south, even though it doesn't have a fence!  Good Fences #1 for March 28, 2014.  To visit Good Fences, please go to:   http://www.run-a-roundranch.blogspot.com/

This is the view looking south.

Wind surfer and pelicans~SkyWatch Friday~032814

While driving up to Buellton this week, I spotted this wind surfer and a flock of pelicans.  Actually, there was another flock coming up behind this one!  No, he wasn't in any danger of colliding with them, although I'm sure he did see them!  SkyWatch Friday for March 27, 2014.   To visit SWF, please go to:   http://skyley.blogspot.com/

No, actually this was just a flock of pelicans who were flying right above the coastline.  There were other flocks behind them.  It was so amazing just to watch them fly by!  We saw many, many flocks of pelicans that morning.

Surf Beach~Nature's Notes~032714

Al, we decided to avoid Flagstaff since the weather forecast said snow showers.  Uh...no...we don't do snow well.  Even though hubby grew up in Pennsylvania (until he was 10), he doesn't like snow anymore.  And, as a native Californian, I know next to nothing about snow!  :-(   So, he got us a room up in Buellton, which is near Solvang, which is near Santa Barbara, but inland.  So, off we went yesterday morning at 8:00 a.m.  The car was packed, the dogs were fed, the wind was BLOWING!  That's another reason we headed north.  Neither one of us wanted a pitted windshield driving through the California desert!  As it was, I got jostled a couple of times heading toward Banning.  And, we got RAIN!  Frankly, the hills around here are plenty green.  We got some really nice, steady rain yesterday on and off during our travels.

We ate a wonderful lunch in Solvang, went back to the hotel, and I took a nap for an hour.  I'd driven 4 1/2 hours that day and I was exhausted.  By 4:30, we headed out Highway 246, which dead ends at the Pacific Ocean, at Surf Beach.  It's also right next to Vandenburg Air Force base, complete with a 6 foot nasty fence around it!  We could see one of the launch platforms from the parking lot at the beach.

Of course, since a storm was heading inland, the waves were LOUD!  Hubby had found a Santa Barbara county park a little bit inland, so we drove there first.  There were TONS of birds!  Swallows, red-winged blackbirds, ducks, mud hens...I was amazed at the number of birds!  It was a sheltered inlet and very calm.  HOWEVER, on the other side of a bridge, we could hear waves crashing.  So, we headed back up the road to see them and arrived at Surf Beach.  There is an AMTRAK stop there, but a ranger said the train only stops there twice a day, so we didn't see it.

The waves, indeed, were crashing up on the beach at Surf Beach!  Man, they were loud!  We were the only people on the beach and I could see raindrops in the sand.  It was an easy walk down to the surf, but the return trip nearly did me in!  After 4 bouts of pneumonia, my lungs are just shot and I was easily out of breath!  I had to stop and rest three times!  Hubby was just grinning and I could have strangled him!  (He's only had pneumonia once...) But, it was well worth the hike!

Here are some of the photos from yesterday.  Nature's Notes for March 27, 2014.  To visit Nature Notes and read other entries, please be sure you go to:   http://ramblingwoods.com/

Baja fairy duster

So, yesterday morning our daughter, granddaughter, and I spent 3 hours at the Living Desert Reserve.  I had dropped my car off for a tuneup and she offered to pick me up and take me there, so off we went.  The baby was good the whole time (...knock on wood...).  By 9:30 (we got there at 8:00 a.m.), we let her crawl around the Discovery Room and pull out drawers of bones and feathers.  She needed some "down" time!

Anyway, I was surprised to hear my daughter say she HATED Baja Fairy Dusters.  Eh?  I rather like them.  Or, rather, I like to photograph them.  They do have little thorns on them (if I remember correctly), so maybe that's why she had hers pulled out?  I always enjoy their bursts of color, like these two.  We had a great morning, but by 11:30, I was DRAGGING!  3 1/2 hours was enough!  We headed for a French cafe in Palm Desert for some crepes and croissants!   :-)

Beautiful crane~Wild Bird Wednesday~032614

This beautiful crane is at the Living Desert Reserve.  Our daughter met me there this morning and we took the baby for a long walk around the park early in the morning.  By 9:30, it was getting hot and she was tired of being in her stroller, so we headed to the Discovery Center where she got to stand up and hang onto the little tables there and also she explored some of the pullout drawers.  By 11:30, we were DONE.  It was hot and we were tired, so off we went for some lunch.  Wild Bird Wednesday for March 26, 2014.  To visit WBW, please go to:   http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com/

Yesterday

Yesterday was appointments day.  First, to the tax man...good news!  We get a refund from the feds, but owe a couple hundred dollars to the state.  Oh, well...it could be worse, right?  Phew!  I'm glad that is over with.  Got a new accountant (same firm) because our previous two retired!  I like Michael...he's very pleasant, easy to talk to, and can talk and compute numbers at the same time!  We got to talking about the Whitewater Preserve (he has NEVER been there) and I'm going to send him some of my photos of it.

Next...to the dermatologist for surgery on the squamous skin cancer bubble on my left arm.  Yup.  It bubbled up last August and it was only burned off.  By December, it was BACK.  I went to my own doctor, she looked at it, and I decided to go the PPO route (NOT the HMO route, as before...).  I have a bigger deductible, but I didn't need a referral.  I got in that very morning, the derm doc looked at it, biopsied it, and yesterday she removed a huge chunk of it and surrounding tissue.  I go back in 10 days to have the stitches out.

This morning, I'm dropping my car off to have the spark plugs changed out.  I notice she just doesn't have the "oomph" she used to have...oil change, fluid check...all that good stuff!  Our daughter will swing by, pick me up and we'll head up to the Living Desert Reserve for a nice walk with the granddaughter, who will be 1 year old in early April.  Time to get out memberships renewed!

Oh, and here are a couple more of my favorite books.  I like Michael Crichton, especially TIMELINE and Eaters of the Dead (13th Warrior).    I also like the John Grisham novels and I've read all of them except his last one....that's on my summer "to do" reading list.  Finally, I liked Cold Mountain and Missing by Charles Eidson (also called "The Last Ride").  Again, this was a movie with Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett.  EXCELLENT READ!  I may read it again this summer.  Here's the info:

he year is 1886 and old Samuel Jones, broken in body and soul, has ridden hard to reach his daughter’s remote New Mexico ranch—ridden hard so that he can die there. But Maggie Baldwin, grown and with children of her own, wants nothing to do with this man who abandoned her and her mother thirty years earlier to live with the Indians. Nothing, that is, until renegade Apaches shoot Maggie’s husband and kidnap her oldest daughter. Then she has no choice but to ride with the dying father she detests in a desperate attempt to rescue her child before the girl disappears forever...

GREAT READ!  Hang onto your hats for this one!!!
Here's the link on Amazon:   http://www.amazon.com/The-Missing-Novel-Thomas-Eidson/dp/0812972384/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=02YCCRKK9QGTFD4KY0B8

Finally, I also like historical books.  I am currently getting through Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick, who is the author of In the Heart of the Sea, and The First Frontier, by Scott Weidensaul.  It's about the struggle between the early American settlers and the Native Americans, as the settlers pushed onto Indian land.  For me, this book is a revelation because I have ancestors on both sides of that conflict:  English and Pequot.  And, we know who won that conflict.  I also found that I have two ancestors on the Mayflower, so that has also been an interesting read.  

So, ENJOY!  I'll get new photos today at the Living Desert.

Spring Break FINALLY began...today!

After lounging around the house ALL DAY yesterday (in my pajamas), I was up & ready to go this morning by 8:00.  Hubby left for work and I was OUT the door, both cameras in hand.  It was a tad overcast with lots of jet trails overhead.

First, I headed up to the Santa Rosa mountains visitor center.  The center was still closed, but there were lots of cars in the parking lot.  LOTS of folks were out hiking!

Then, I headed up Highway 74 looking for wildflowers.  I never saw ANY going up, but I did spot a little bunch of skinny, scrawny lupines on my way back down.  Just not enough rain this year...sigh...

I made the loop through the campground at Pinyon Flats. It was about 1/3 full...a good sign.  A cheeky scrub jay was letting me know that he did NOT appreciate my presence!

I also drove through Garner Valley and took some photos of the trees there.  It's so quiet and relaxing up there!

Then off to the horses.  I had to buy 4 bags of pellets, which I like to give them in addition to their daily dose of alfalfa.  What did Aristotle say?  "NOTHING in excess."  I like to balance the alfalfa with Timothy pellets and Bermuda grass pellets.

AND, GUESS WHAT?  There was a foal across from Quad and Sunny and next to Scout's corral!  He was actually just hours-old.  Apparently he scooted UNDER the wire in his corral and went looking for breakfast with the ranch stallion!  Good thing that stallion is very calm!  The ranch owner spotted something brown and white in the corral with their stallion and it was the BABY!  ACK!  Little bugger!  He IS adorable and he is also ALL LEGS!  They weren't even sure the momma was pregnant...she never bagged up, she never waxed up...SURPRISE!  :-)

Then, home to feed the birds (again) and run some errands.  Now for some quiet time!

More flowers in my garden~Today's Flowers~032314

It is really getting colorful around here now.  My flowers along the fence, however, still haven't fully opened up.  They will soon.  The palo verde trees, however, are all blooming right now and are full of bees.  Even my purple bougenvilla is blooming.  I see lots of hummingbirds and there are two bird nests in the palo verde tree out back.  Spring is blooming!   Today's Flowers for March 23, 2014.  To visit Today's Flowers, please go to:   http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

Spring break FINALLY, but it is actually early this year

WHY are we having Spring Break so early this year?  Mine started yesterday at 2:51 p.m., the minute I was DONE with school.  And, what did I do for my first 2 hours of spring break?  Came home, walked through the door, nodded to hubby, and konked out on the bed for...2 HOURS!

That's no way to start spring break!   :-(   After two days of parent conferences, however, that's what I did.  Then, we drove to our daughter's house for fun & frolic with the granddaughter, grandson, and two cousins from Kansas!  A good time was had by all.

Fortunately, as I posted yesterday, the weather here is cooperating...80 degrees all next week.  I do remember weeks when we had 90, even 100 degrees during break and that's just too hot!  So, I'm thankful for our wonderful weather!

82 degrees and the weather is GORGEOUS!

All photos taken in my yard.  These are just a few of the flowers growing right now.  The bottom one is my wildflower mix that I threw out along my neighbor's fence.  Everything is blooming, the temperatures are wonderful, and the days are gorgeous.  And, finally, I have SPRING BREAK next week.  Whoo, whoo!  I'm actually glad we have it early this year and I'll have a chance to enjoy the wonderful weather.  Usually, by spring break, it's so dang HOT that we really don't enjoy it.  I also have April 18 (Good Friday) off school, so that will only be in a couple more weeks!  Ahhhh.....I already have lots of plans for the weekend and next week!   :-)

Beauties in my gardens

I have a row of flowers along the fence in the back yard (the dog run), including sunflowers and sweet peas.  The sweet peas are struggling in our hot, 90 degree weather, however.  I've only seen a few flowers on them...sigh.  But, the poppies are quite healthy and large.  Out front, I have some cosmos and a couple nasturtiums.  I have sporadic flowers, not whole swaths of them, so I have to run out and take photos of whatever is blooming that day!  I've been stopping and picking off the wild sunflower seed pods and tossing them out front, too.  I'm hoping they'll grow and bloom this summer, but who knows, with this crazy weather!  Guess I'll have to wait and see.  I mean, they grow by the freeways, so shouldn't they grow in my yard?

Flowers at the park

These gorgeous beauties were at the park when we were there last weekend.  I wish I could grow snapdragons like these!  Maybe I need to put more horse manure on my plants?

New look to blog!

Okay, I made some changes and I changed my background.  I really wanted something "rustic" to add the blog background and I really like the wooden template.  I also changed the font, made it larger, and hopefully easier to read!  I changed the colors, too, and hopefully now it is easier to read!

I hope you like the new look, but PLEASE, do give me your ideas/ suggestions/ and input!

TRav4adventures

Changes

I'm doing some changes and a "clean-up" on this blog, so I'll be back in a couple of days...

Ocotillo blossoms~Today's Flowers~031615

Our ocotillos are blooming right now here in the lower desert and I found these gorgeous blossoms yesterday at the Living Desert Reserve.  We took the grandson there for a morning visit, which lasted about 3 hours.  We wore him out, but we also wore ourselves out!  Today's Flowers for March 16, 2014.   To visit Today's Flowers, please go to:   http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/