Sierra Nevada quick trip

Hubby used the last of his vacation days this week and we drove to Lake Tahoe, stopping in the eastern Sierra Nevada on the way up and down.  There were no clouds the entire trip, but we had a horrific monsoon storm here last night at home.

 The Alabama Hills in Lone Pine.

 Our favorite road in Lone Pine.

The ranch with cattle hides on the fence (outside of Bishop, CA).

We drove to Ridgecrest Saturday evening, choosing to spend a day home with the dog, who has dug out of the yard once this summer.  I reinforced the fence and she remained in the yard during this trip!  From Ridgecrest we drove up 395 to South Lake Tahoe, where we spent two nights, then turned around and we drove home.

FIRE in Aguanga

...sigh...there is ANOTHER fire near our valley.  This one is near Mt. Palomar and has moved down toward Aguanga, which is at the corner of Highway 371 and 79.  People posted the smoke from it on Facebook yesterday.  It is growing in size and moving east...So far 200 acres have burned.

Here's a link to the local news report:   http://www.kesq.com/news/cutca-fire-has-burned-200-acres/34349868

Hurricane Delores is HERE!!!

Ugh.  And, she brought muggy weather with her.  She's currently out in the Pacific Ocean, stirring up waves and making surfers happy, but yesterday afternoon she also brought a haboob to the Coachella Valley.  A haboob is basically a wall of dust which sweeps across areas and brings dust everywhere.  Our local news was watching it and reporting.  I was sitting at my laptop researching something and within 5 minutes, my beloved mountains... DISAPPEARED!  They were completely gone.  Then, winds came through our end of the valley, and poof!~ The haboob was here!  Good thing I did NOT get my car washed yesterday!

Here is a photo downloaded from the Toro Peak webcams.  The local news even used a couple of the webcam photos to show the haboob.  This is looking east, as it moved across the valley.

I wasn't happy with this photo, with the big beam hanging over it, so I went back and cropped it:

There now!  Isn't that better?  I love how the camera caught the shaft of light to the right.

Central Valley farming

Hubby took these photos as we were coming back down from Sequoia National Park last weekend.  It was amazing to virtually come around a corner and see ALL the vineyards, groves, and farming going on in the valley.  Wow!  It's incredible to see how much is grown in this area.  The farms here seem to have water, but those further west are suffering from the drought.

Sequoia national park

I must admit...Sequoia National Park is one of the most beautiful national parks I've ever seen.  It's about an hour from Visalia and the road into the park is very twisty, so be advised!  We didn't take the grandson on this trip.  He would have been car sick and besides his family went elsewhere that day.

I'm realizing that my mind and body just feel better in the mountains.  Maybe this is ancestral memory?  I don't know what it is, but I open up, relax, and even my legs feel better in the mountains.  I love to inhale the air, smell the pines, and just "be" there.

I find that during the school year, if I'm really stress, I HAVE to get up into the mountains.  Fortunately, Deep Canyon is only 15 minutes from our house, and I sometimes drive up there after school.

Anyway, we drove through Sequoia National Park on a Saturday.  Don't do that.  There wasn't a parking space at ANY of the sights.  They were all packed.  If we return this summer, we'll do it earlier and mid week.  We did plan ahead and bring a couple of sandwiches, and we did find a nice, shady spot to eat lunch. There are plenty of campgrounds and picnic areas to stop and eat and we also stopped at the Lodgepole market and visitor center.

I hope we do have a chance to return this summer.  It is ONE beautiful park!

Yosemite valley

It was a cloudy day when we entered Yosemite valley.  It had been cloudy for several days and a few days prior to our visit, the higher elevations got SNOW!  Yes, in the middle of July!  And, the waterfalls were back, running full of water!  :-)  So, we got a real treat.  The grandson woke up from his nap and he and I took a walk into the meadow.  He didn't know what a meadow was, so I explained it to him and he told me all about poison oak!  I guess he learned about it in school.

Central California visit

Hubby took 5 days off work, and our son wasn't able to drive home from Fresno this weekend to see his family, so we took the grandson to go see his dad.  We left Thursday morning and drove 5 hours to Fresno.  Friday we drove through Yosemite national park.  We bought sandwiches at Subway in Coarsegold and took him for a ride on the Yosemite railroad train.  Boy, was that a treat!   :-)  He had never been on a train before!  We learned about the different kinds of trees along the way and how the train last ran in 1931.  When its run ended, it let out a 10 minute whistle down the valley.  We stopped halfway on the tour to take on water and at one point the engine let out a huge blast of steam (2nd photo down...)  It was an interesting tour and I'm glad we took the time to go on it.  It is the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad.  We took one of the covered cars as it was starting to sprinkle, but there are also two uncovered ones.

   

Mogollon Rim withdrawl

I'm currently going through Mogollon Rim withdrawal!  I miss it!  However, we are taking the grandson up to see our son this weekend, so I'll have pics from central California to share next week!  

Woods Canyon Lake, AZ

This lake is one of our favorite places in Arizona.  It is almost across the highway from the ranger station outside of Payson, AZ.  It is a fishing spot for both humans and osprey and we stop there each time we go along Highway 260.  It's very restful to watch the osprey and listen to them.  I wish we were there now...sigh...

Mennonites

Al, over at Travel with the Bayfield Bunch,

http://thebayfieldbunch.com/2015/07/sunday-morning-drive-through-mennonite.html 

frequently writes about driving through Mennonite country.  Did you know that one of my maternal grandfather's ancestors was a Mennonite bishop?  Yup.  Here he is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Funck

He was the FIRST Mennonite bishop in America.  One of his sons, I discovered, was in the Revolutionary War.  My grandmother never researched my grandfather's side because the Parks family moved around the United States so much and they constantly named sons and grandsons the same name!  I've pulled out my hair many times TRYING to figure out his direct line and honestly, I've given up!  All I know is that grandpa had the clearest sky blue eyes!  And, he was TALL and HANDSOME as a young man, as were all his brothers!  He lived to be 97 years old, too!  But I was able to research the Funk line and I came across that information.  And, yes, it is my grandfather's line.

But, I digress...

So, I am always fascinated to read about Al's drives through Mennonite country.    

I did NOTHING yesterday

After my encounter with the two cars racing down the mountain on Thursday, I stayed home yesterday.  Hubby was off work for the holiday weekend.  Instead of doing anything, I read a book by Dean Koontz:  From the Corner of his Eye.  It gave me a lot to think about.  ARE there parallel universes?  One of my colleagues' husband does meditation seminars and is all into that.  I've always wondered how there could be just ONE universe anyway, so who knows?  Anyway, it's a good read, if you are looking for some summer reading.

I did start to clean off my desk beside the front door and I need to spend 2 days cleaning up my office.  Ugh.  Maybe I'll get started today.  I need to go out back and drag all the trash dumpsters out front so they can get emptied this next week.  THEN I can start tackling the back yard, which is a week-long project.  I checked the weather forecast and it will be in the low 100's all next week, and even down into the high 70's at night, so maybe we can turn off our air conditioner at night and let some cooler air into the house!  WOOOPIE!

Happy July 4th to everyone.  Have a safe holiday!
~Cheryl Ann~

Arizona sunset, Show Low

Had a close call yesterday!

I finally drove up to check on the horses yesterday.  They are all fine.  I let one out into the arena, another one into the round pen, and a third into a large corral for exercise.  However, by noon, the sweat was running down my face, smearing my sunscreen, and they were anxious for a meal, so I put them all back.  I still have two more to exercise next week.  It is a rare day when I can let out all 5 of them.  I do NOT put them together as another boarder did that with her two geldings and one ended up with a broken leg and had to be euthanized.  NOPE.  Not gonna do that!

Anyway, on my way down Highway 74, I pulled off at the largest turnout to stop and take a couple of photos of the thunderheads building up over the mountains.  This turnout has plenty of room and it looks down into the Coachella Valley and Deep Canyon.  All of a sudden, a car whizzes by me on the right hand side, swerving around me and back onto the highway!  Apparently two cars were either in a pissing match or racing!  IDIOTS!  I carefully pulled out and couldn't even see them ahead of me.  They must have been going 75 mph down the mountain.  I was finally able to spot them on a large curve and there were then 4 cars between me and them, so they must have passed the 4 cars also!  There are NO passing lanes going down the mountain, so who knows how they did this.

Hey, folks, be CAREFUL on that road!  It is no place for STUPIDITY!!!!

This is the view looking down from the turnout.  I took this photo a couple of months ago.  I haven't uploaded the ones from yesterday yet...

He's TRYIN!

I don't remember if I have written about our two feral kitties here on this blog.  I have written about them on my horse blog (http://deserthorses.blogspot.com).  We rescued three feral kittens from the gal next door who trapped them and was going to take them to the pound to be killed.  We put some lattice on top of the dog kennel, put mesh all around it, and kept them in it.  Unfortunately, the first night one of them got out and was back in her trap for the second time (she actually gave them to us because we told her we would find homes for them...).  He didn't survive the 2nd time in her trap and got sent to the pound for good.  But, we had the other two and we kept them for over 6 months.  They were terrified of me, but I would sit and talk to them.  So, this little guy got out one time while I was cleaning the cage and I knew there was NO WAY I would ever get him back in it.  He stayed in the yard and I can now touch him.  A few days later, I let the other one go as we were going to be gone for a week to Arizona and New Mexico (our trip last week).  She/he (I don't know what it is) also stays in the back yard and hides under our huge Chinaberry tree.  This little guy, however, is hilarious!  He sits out front and watches the birds every morning now and even attempts (rather clumsily) to catch them.  I have a feeling the birds are all laughing at him!  He's quite a character and appears at the back door for breakfast and dinner.  He follows our gray (neutered) male cat around the yard and the two of them sleep all day in the garage!  I'm not sure if Mr. Gray appreciates his presence or not!

Here is the little bugger!  Yes, we have NO lawn out front.  We haven't had a lawn in YEARS.  It's too shady from the trees!  I DO put water out for the cats and birds and they appreciate it during this HOT summer!  A mockingbird comes twice a day for a drink, as do doves and finches.  The cats (2 outdoor ones) and even the dog like the water.  I'm very careful with my water use and we are on Tier 1 "excellent", so I don't worry about overusing our water allotment.  In fact, we are WAY under using our water!  All my flowers have died except for a couple of straggly lavender plants and my daisy plants, which are barely hanging on!  We had days of 113 degrees while we were gone and our "housesitter" did NOT water anything apparently while we were gone!   :-(  I showed her what to water, but apparently she didn't do it.