Too cute

Little Johnny was spending the weekend with his grand-
mother after a particularly trying week in kindergarten.
His grandmother decided to take him to the park on
Saturday morning.

It had been snowing all night and everything was beautiful.

His grandmother remarked..." doesn't it look like an artist
painted this scenery? Did you know God painted this just
for you?"

Johnny said, "Yes, God did it and he did it left handed."

This confused his grandmother a bit, and she asked him
"What makes you say God did this with his left hand?"

"Well," said Johnny, "we learned at Sunday School last
week that Jesus sits on God's right hand!"

California Burning

It's been quiet here. Not much to write the blog world about. Until today.... July 3.
California reportedly has 1400 fires burning..... er, make that 1401. Usually we don't pay much attention until the second emergency vehicle goes past the house. More than that went up toward the mountain so I walked out into the heat and this was the scene from the end of the driveway. Every few minutes another fire truck goes past: 7, 10, 13, now 17 (I better quit counting or I won't finish getting the pix up). One has to feel sorry for the firefighters. I'm writing this at 2:20 PM and it is 109°. My guess is the fire is about 2.5 - 3 miles from us. We see water dropping helecopters working our side and there is no wind, which is good. The smoke is going mostly up. I don't sense any threat to us.
Our daughters will probably remember the Sunday afternoon hike up to the little forebay reservoir on the top of that ridge.




As of 6 PM it is looking like they have the upper hand on the fire. We've seen a number of aircraft dropping retardant on the flanks, and the amount of smoke is greatly diminished.

Third party web post.

Someone on a web site posted this pix of someone you know (Second pix down). http://rbcdunebuggy.yuku.com/topic/2274

It's HOT

It's been a scorcheroo. 100° at 7PM. We have seen near record temps (105°+) for the last four days. I saw 113° on this thermometer yesterday. It's so hot the garden is withering. It's too early in the year for this. Those pix of buggies with snow on them sure look inviting about now.

Yellowstone NP anyone?

We had to cancel our summer plans due to tenant problems. I was somewhat bummed. Three other buggista families are on the six week tour, including Yellowstone NP, buggies in tow. Check out the pix of their covered buggies with that white stuff on them. I guess they were confined to the RVs for the first day, but are now getting out with tour groups (not in the buggies). Mid June and they had to go out and buy jackets. I don't feel so bad now. But I do feel a bit for them not being able to enjoy the buggies after all that travel and investment.

Morning Farm Report

The garden is up, all but a few species. I enjoy taking Mom out and showing her the growth. She can hardly contain her enthusiasm (well, not really.) Cilantro, basil, onions, cucumber, tomato, zucchini. No bellpeppers, cabbage, green onions, or carrots showing yet.

Almost every day (sometimes twice) I check the family blogs. For a geographically diverse group blogs are a great way to stay in touch with events, stories, and pictures. Thanks for taking the time to keep us up to date. It is appreciated.

Farmer Mel

Seeds have always amazed me. Such a little package with awesome potential. Put that dead looking thing in the ground and keep it damp and a miracle seems to happen. (Probably a good example of the eternal seed in us as good as dead.) A few weeks ago I got inspired, bought a half dozen packets of seeds, and turned some soil. It's late for a garden in SoCal but I didn't care. The garden is small, perhaps 6x10 if all in one place, but irregular in shape as it winds around several orange trees. Every day I venture out to see what has risen from the dead. The green beans are doing the best. Cilantro, onions, and basil are barely up. Bell pepper is keeping me waiting. So are the tomatoes. Only one zucchini seed got planted for obvious reasons. Cucumbers are breaking through. It's fun. I may need to get some bib overalls.

Jo invited us over for dinner Wednesday, Mom's actual Birthday. Nice time. Thanks Jo and John. I brought along 3 seeds to instill the kids with agronomy skills. They asked, "What kind?" "Green beans," I replied. That absolutely killed the event. Sarah flatly replied, "I don't like green beans!!!" Despite my insistence that these were the best green beans ever, and fabulous with butter, a little salt, and a grating of Parmesan, none of them succumbed to my salesmanship. New approach.... these are the seeds Ice Cream comes from! Seth wondered but the other two weren't buying it. Beyond poking a little hole in the soil and dropping a seed the fantastic event was over. If the sprinklers don't give them enough water these three seeds are doomed. After tormenting the grandkids a while longer, then a good Italian dinner, the fact I had been up since 4 AM caught up with me. The culprit must have been that second helping of carbs. Sarah had homework to do so we headed home early.

Mom's B-day

I was free most of Monday so surprised Mom with a trip to Disneyland for her birthday (Just the two of us). She had a fantastic time. We got there at opening, and didn't get to the car to leave until almost 9 PM. That's twelve hours on the feet for these gettin-old carcasses. I saw Mom with her cell phone out a few times and ask what she was doing. She was calling daughters to see if they could guess where she was. When she called Jo the conversation turned to Jo bringing the kids down after school. They arrived about 4:30. I had fun trying to ambush the kids when they came past town square because they didn't have a clue we were going to be at Disneyland too.
The highlight of the evening was taking Sarah on the "Screamin" rollercoaster at DCA. I thought she might be frightened after the loop and twists. I know my heart was in my throat a few times. She was a real trooper and said next time we will have to do that ride again! Great. We'll do it next time. Jo took pix with her phone and emailed them to me but so far none have come through. I'll post some if I get them.

Memorial Weekend

Memorial weekend was the 7th annual CnC campout at Yucaipa Regional Park. We had the worst weather in the history of the campout, with rain the first day and COLD the whole weekend. About a dozen couples show up, and all their kids. (hard to believe those couples are in their 40s now). So this was a big outing in spite of the weather. I was glad to have the RV as nights were winter-like. Where is global warming when you need it?
Per Jo's blog I took Micah & Sarah fishing. Sarah was very attentive to her pole, but Micah was all done in about ten minutes. (If Sarah catches a fish I think she will be "hooked" for life.) Micah decided to leave but showed up a few minutes later saying he couldn't find his way back to the campsite. No one around us caught anything so pescadorial skills didn't seem to be the problem. The sign said they stocked 1000 lbs of fish only three days before we arrived but I only saw a few fish on stringers all weekend.
Favorite moment... Someone took along some plastic sleds. I think they were snow toys. A steep weed covered hill became the toboggan area for the kids. Sarah took to the event early. Micah and Seth a little later. With no one else on the hill I chanced to glance at the top and see Micah situating himself on the front of the sled, with little arms wrapped around him from behind (it was Seth!), and away the two of them went. They reached the bottom, all smiles. Click on the pix to enlarge and get the full facial effect.