Spring Flowers

They caught my eye.

It has been rain off and on all day today, oh there was that bit of hail early this afternoon.

Only two sites taken today, all in tents, glad that isn't me.

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I know this is just another picture of deer,

 but I haven't grown tired of seeing them yet. Maybe you aren't bored with them yet.

Genesis 3:17-19

Each time I pass this plant I am reminded of the passage from Genesis 3:
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

No monument, rather it be a road, or a palace, will endure. In fact, the earth will only exist to suit God's purpose.

How insignificant mankind is, except as God's greatest creation, more so, because we are blessed with His grace.

Here is a little snake I saw Monday.

It was a little longer than 2 feet, I'll ask a ranger what kind it was. It looks like the Great Basin Gopher Snake that is here http://blog.desertcanyonreptiles.com/2006/08/05/herps-from-wa-state/

After Memorial Day weekend,

this has become my favorite sign in the park. The sound of wave after wave of campers leaving is music to my ears.

There are 137 campsites here, and all of the reservations we taken this weekend, plus the 6 group sites were full, and 8 sites used in the horse camp, made for a very full house!

Peace, peace until Friday. ;-)

how dark it is without "city lights"

It is incredible how dark it is without "city lights". This is the view with a last quarter moon, the human eye can discern so much more than a camera, but when I looked around it was just as dark as this photo. There is some light in the sky, but below the tree tops it is DARK.

I don't quite know why, but I find this comforting.

Take a look in this glade amongst these oak trees.

There are 10 or so pine saplings. Now we know that the mighty oak can 'run' a nursery. :-)

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow,

and sometimes, just sometimes, a little pine stump will be its cradle.

Good morning deer.

As I looked out of the window this morning there was a guest. I suppose we are the guests, we've only been here 3 days, and after we are gone the deer will still be here (unless one of the mountain lions gets it).

There's a lot of wildlife here, I also saw a wild turkey hen with her chicks this morning, but couldn't get a photo.

A deer hoof print I came across yesterday while walking the dogs.

The steps are down and the awning is out.

Time to get the chairs and a side table for the ice tea.

Stop by, there is a swimming beach at the day use area. <http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=213260992052875142770.0004a35f521f13c45d246&t=h&z=17>

That is my sign, no not Libra, my other sign - Campground Host.

Our Jeep Liberty in front, the motor home dappled in shade. It is calming shades of green, it is spring. Had a thunderstorm and hail today before we left Chico.

Later this summer it will be browns and tans as the heat builds and the rains are just a faint memory.

Terri Rides Again (thanks Dad)

It was just last Sunday that 'That Dang Scooter' quit working, Now don't get me wrong, it works most of the time, but last Sunday it just quit. I wanted to put her mobility scooter on the porch, so the lever was flipped from in gear to the freewheel position. When we wanted to use it again I flipped the lever back, nada, zilch, nothing - kaput!

Back to freewheel, and I push Terri to the car. She says she must have it working, it has to be fixed right away. The next day I start looking for a repair facility, can't find a local place. There is one down in the Folsom area, but that's two hours away, they say they will have someone in Chico on Monday, 3/7, and give me a name of someone here if we can't wait. I give a call and leave a message.

On the manufacturer's site there is a local med center, and a repair site about 50 minutes away. The med center won't work on a scooter that they didn't sell, even if you are from out of town, but I am given a number of another place. I call, but still haven't received a call back. The out of town guy can't get us in before Monday.

By now it is late Thursday, something has to be done, although she would prefer a pro shop to fix it, I decide I must attempt the repair. I think it is a micro switch that the gear/freewheel lever engages. The scooter is disassembled to get at it and remove the switch, it is done outside, no room in the motor home. This takes the better part of the morning Friday, then the hunt is on for parts. We luck out and Radio Shack has the exact micro switch but with a lever, later I will forcibly remove it. Now we need 1/8" spade terminals to reattach the wires that were originally soldered, if it has to be fixed again I'm not doing the whole soldering thing each time, but they are not so easy to find.


Back at the shop (the picnic table beside the motor home) Saturday it is reassembly time, not so easy, but it gets done. Soon I'm riding around the RV park on a 'test' drive. Woo hoo it is fixed, and a day and a half before we could have gotten a pro to look at it. On top of everything, it cost less than $4.00 and 6 hours of my time.

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I must take a moment to acknowledge my Dad. Most of his acquaintances think of him as a preacher and pastor, but I know the engineer side of him. Dad, with your gene pool I might have figured how to do this kind of thing, but from my first bicycle you taught me how to figure things out and to take a methodical approach. It has stood the test of time, and has allowed me to know what to punt to a pro, and what is within my capabilities to fix. Usually these are the time consuming tasks what we all hate to spend big $$$ per hour to have done.

Well It Has Finally Happened

Today we left our home that is locked to a piece of land and moved into our moving home. It has been a long process, we've gone from paying on a mortgage to closing the sale. We have soared and crashed, only to take off again. We have had to decide what goes and what goes with us, what goes into storage, the rest just went, almost 3 roll-offs full. Some days we just thought it would never end, one problem after another.

Well folks, now we have a new venue for our problems, but it will also be the venue of our joys, and every experience in between.

Camarillo Christmas Parade

The Christmas parade was today. At the festival there were fresh local strawberries. Where else can you have strawberries all year?

BTW, did you know the Santa in the parade is Dan Thaxton, husband of cousin Brenda Donovan Thaxton (daughter of Aunt Dorothy Donovan)

GOULOSTER

This is one of our Christmas traditions. My Great grandmother and grandmother used to make this. There was no recipe, grandma would mix the ingredients and take a piece and cook it in a skillet and then taste it, adjusting as she went. So one Thanksgiving my aunt grabbed ingredients from grandma, I measured, and my sister wrote down the amounts

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GOULOSTER

4-5 lbs ground pork
1/2 cup uncooked rice
2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 large head cabbage
1 16 oz pkg sauerkraut

Combine pork, rice, seasonings, & onion. Form into large balls (~3/4 cup). Wilt cabbage and wrap each ball in a cabbage leaf (optional). Alternate layers of cabbage, sauerkraut, and pork balls. Add sauerkraut juice and 2 cups water. Cover, simmer until cabbage is tender and pork is cooked through, about 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

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About wrapping the pork balls, I only do this for very special occasions, almost never, I just cut the cabbage about 1/4 inch thick.

We made a double batch, but there was only room for just over half of it in our stock pot .... Bet you can guess! The rest just fit in my Fagor 6qt. pressure cooker - 45 minutes at 15psi, natural release, both batches were great, if you like this sort of thing - some do or some DON'T.

Carnitas

I fixed this a couple of weeks ago simmering on the stove top. Tonight with the other half of the 5 pound family pack in the PC.     Changes to the recipe (both times) - no orange juice, reduced salt to 1 teaspoon, added 1 tablespoon of sugar-free orange marmalade, 1 teaspoon chili power, and 1 teaspoon cumin.    Served with warm corn tortillas.  The kids also like it in fancy hot dog rolls with cheese and mild green taco sauce. Carnitas 3 pounds of pork butt 1 cup of orange juice 3 cups of water 2 teaspoons of salt 1. Cut pork into strips (three inches by one inch), in the pressure cooker, bring to 15 lbs pressure, cook for 40 minutes. 2. Quick release, remove lid, and turn heat up to medium high, and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated and the pork fat has rendered (about 45-60 minutes). Stir a few times, to keep pork from sticking to bottom of pan. 3. When pork has browned on both sides, it’s ready (there will be liquid fat in the pan). Serve either cubed or shredded (pork will be tender enough that just touching it will cause it to fall apart). PC info is with my Fagor 6qt on a gas stove top-YMMV. Originally from the HOMESICK TEXAN blog: Carnitas (adapted from Diana Kennedy) Ingredients: 3 pounds of pork butt 1 cup of orange juice 3 cups of water 2 teaspoons of salt Method: 1. Cut pork into strips (three inches by one inch), bring to a boil and then simmer uncovered on low for 2 hours. Do not touch the meat. 2. After two hours, turn heat up to medium high, and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated and the pork fat has rendered (about 45 minutes). Stir a few times, to keep pork from sticking to bottom of pan. 3. When pork has browned on both sides, it’s ready (there will be liquid fat in the pan). Serve either cubed or shredded (pork will be tender enough that just touching it will cause it to fall apart).Goes very well with a green salsas such as Ninfa's green sauce or this tomatillo salsa or this salsa verde with avocados and tomatillos. Serves 4-6 Notes: Whether to shred the meat like pulled pork or leave it in cubes I think is determined by what you're used to eating. Texas isn't a pulled-pork state so the texture isn’t as familiar as nicely done chunks. Likewise, I think the brilliance of this recipe lies in its simplicity. You can add as many different spices, herbs and aromatics as you like—but if you have good-tasting, happy pork why not let its flavor shine with just a bit of salt? Ultimately, however, making carnitas is a highly personal affair and so make them as they best suit you!

55 stops global warming

From <http://brighterplanet.com/conservation_recommendations/32>
".... slowing down can really save money and carbon. Each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph saves about 7 minutes on a 100-mile trip, but costs the equivalent of paying an extra 25 cents per gallon for gas. You’ll also emit an extra 1.5 lbs of CO₂ every 20 miles. For the average American, the difference between driving at 75 mph and 65 mph — or 70 mph and 60 mph — adds up to almost $300 and 1,400 lbs of CO₂ each year."

"Different vehicles achieve maximum fuel economy at different speeds, but on average mileage increases until 25-30 mph, stays about constant until 55-60 mph, and then declines rapidly. Why? At that speed air resistance starts to overcome even the most streamlined design, because the power required to overcome the force of air resistance is proportional to the cube of velocity."

Each of us can reduce our carbon footprint by just slowing down, even if we are driving a high efficiency vehicle. Air resistance hurts the most aerodynamic vehicles. And anyone can do this with no additional investment!

I'm not sure I believe in global warming, but I drive 55 mph (the speed limit for big rigs and towed vehicles in CA), because if it is true, to do otherwise would be irresponsible.

a family treasure, forever

A number of years ago my mother got the cookbook bug and planned on giving each of her 6 children, and 7 sisters/sister-in-laws a cookbook. She collected favorite recipes from all of us, along with her favorites, and created a wonderful book of memories.

Page 2 -- She bought cute cookbooks with blank recipe pages, and started handwriting the recipes. After completing most of the first book, she decided she had bitten off more than she could chew. With my dad's help they typed all of the recipes into the computer, a TRS-80, and printed 13 sets so they would be ready for Christmas. She then completed that first handwritten cookbook.

Page 3 -- We all treasure Mom's Family Cookbook. Being her oldest child I received the only handwritten Family Cookbook that my mother produced. Now that she is gone, especially around Thanksgiving, that cookbook brings me such joy. You see, my Mother's birthday was November 26.

And now, you know the rest of the story.


Make a cookbook, it will be a family treasure forever. And create the pages in a text file, you never know what computer you may need to do reprints on in the future. Ours have been printed on a TRS-80, a 286 PC, and Windows 95 and XP.

it is too late

What more could have been done? When the media has subscribed so completely is there anything that can be done. It is distressing to watch this play out, the rah, rah, rah. I morn over a media that has forgotten journalism.