Country Pictures from California

 The serenity of a creek on a hot summer afternoon.

A patch of bushes, impenetrable except to wildlife.

The coolness of the waters, rocks and foliage, give home to the frogs and crawdads which filled the lake.

Anchored in time, the boulders jut up on the prairie, surrounded by the grasslands baked brown by the hot California sun.

The valley stretches out peacefully on a quiet afternoon.

New song out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYEDA3JcQqw


"Rolling in the Deep" by Adele.   Great beat to this song!   It should be rolling out of Kathleen's karaoke machine pretty soon.   Her voice is perfect for this song. 

The lyrics don't make a great love song but I am sure they will resonate with a lot of people out there.  We live in a hurting world.  

Summer Days

The hot summer sun has evaporated most the water in the pond and prairie winds have filled the water remaining, with tumbleweeds, dried grasses and dirt.   Looking down into the green muck, your first instinct is to back away.

Last week, not finding anyone that sold barley straw to clear the water, we bought a bottle of barley straw extract from the store and dumped a measure of the liquid into the water.  Hoping to help the "cleaner" along, I got a rake to stir up the water and rake out the debris that fell into the pond.  Out came the tumble weeds, grass, sticks and even a bag.  Next came carcasses of two dead mice.  (Yuck!)

Continuing to stir up the water, I carefully raked the bottom so that I wouldn't put a hole in the liner.  Suddenly, as I pulled up the rake, there, on its tines, laid a huge lizard.!  I screamed and the slimy green reptile immediately dived back into the water.   The kids came over to see the lizard.  Holding them back,  at a distance so there would be no chance of them falling in, I tried to scrape up the lizard again from the murky water.  Suddenly Kat came flying out of the house.  Someone had reported to her what had happened and she now came running out to get me to stop using the rake, as I might poke the lizard and hurt it.   Help!   The lizard, that has eaten all the frogs and is now making himself a fine meal of all the little tadpoles that had filled the pond, is now a protected species in Kathleen's acreages!  I'm still waiting for the water to clear so I can see what he is up to.  As these hot days continue, the heat should clear most of the water out the pond of water, then we can get something in there to aerate the water and make a plan to keep the new water, we will add, clear.  A search on the internet brings up information on what we think is probably a tiger salamander in the pond, and it says that it looks for low water holes for breeding grounds.  So....more creepy creatures.  No way I'm walking around at night.  If I don't step on one of these, it will probably be one of the dead mice the cats drag home! 

On a different and much more beautiful note, we had the most enjoyable time this past weekend  when Victoria hosted an outstanding baby shower for Kathleen.   Victoria, along with daughter, Madison, are such talented hostesses, with a delightful sense of humor, and the party was fantastic!  The babies put on their own performance, cuddling up to those who held them. The little hams!!  The men, who came with their wives, weren't forgotten; they sat outside and watched the Blue Angels put on an amazing performance. The day was perfect...no wind and even though it was very warm, it wasn't blazing hot.  

The only hitch was that I turned the water onto a pine tree that was very stressed and forgot about it early in the day.  I had tried to replace the tree but Kathleen insisted we give the tree a chance and wait to see if it would make it.  About half-way through the baby shower the watering drained the cistern, leaving us with no water.  Andy then made a trip to town to get a  tank of water.   Few people noticed, as everyone was busy.

Today Victoria, Serena, Timmy and I went to town to pick up Madison at her gym class.   On the way home we stopped to look at RV's that were being displayed for the fair-goers, at the K-Mart parking lot.   Timmy checked out all the bathrooms in each to see if he liked them, and Serena checked out the bed space--she didn't want to share with Timmy, as he kicked.  Madison checked out everything, including the price.  

Our search was for a camper that could be pulled by my vehicle, which has a 6,000 lb towing limit.   So, the 4,000 (+/-) small RV's were the ones we toured.  We found a beautiful one, that was about $20,000 and at the top of my 4,000 wt limit.  I loved it because it had a cozy dining room table and bench seats at the back, with a bay window all around it.   It was perfect for my plan of using nature to help me make various art projects, by going on little trips into the woods, prairie, lakes, and other such places, to find the perfect treasure.   It was also big enough so that any of the families could use it and it would accomodate all of their family on an outing.  By next year, I hope to be able to get it.

These hot days are so nice!  It is so relaxing not to have to bundle up to keep warm!  I hope it lasts late into the Fall, although we could use a little rain with it.   All is good.  God is good.