Notes From The Canyon

My first note is a thank you for your comments on my storytelling. The only way to get better is to keep at it and I'm glad you are OK with the process. 

I've loved the English language from the moment I began to study it when I was eleven. But still, Swedish is my first language, my emotional language, my favorite poetry language, even Shakespeare translated to Swedish sounds better to me. Yes, I know, I probably shouldn't have confessed to that one

This is what I have been up to since my last notes:

My washing machine broke a while ago. I've now had both Mark and Glenn declare the machine dead so I will buy a new one soon. Meanwhile, my friend Carol who lives exactly 113 miles from here in Strathmore, a small town in the Central Valley of California, suggested I pack up as much dirty stuff as I could and come to visit and do laundry. 

Sierra Nevada Mountains 

Due to my advanced age (I always wanted to say that) I felt a round-trip would be a bit much, so I stayed the night. Joyce fed the dogs and all went very well; the laundry got done, Carol and I visited and talked; the dogs were OK. 

The Central Valley is the bread basket of America, they say. It's certainly the fruit and nut basket and Carol has the absolutely best Naval oranges in her backyard. I came home with two big bags.

Glenn came by on Friday to help with some electric stuff. As it turned out, I didn't have a problem, I just forgot that even before checking the fuses, I'm supposed to push on that little red button on the outlet. Oh, well, we had a nice visit and he got to diagnose my washing machine and concur with Mark that I need a new one. 

The G6 version of my continuous glucose monitoring system arrived. This is the latest version and the one that eliminates pricking fingers to use a drop of blood to monitor blood sugar levels. It's much easier to insert than the G5 system and I find that I trust it to be correct. I didn't trust the G5 at all, which sort of defeated its purpose. 

The 30th anniversary of my Adult Onset Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis, came and went without fanfare in early February. I have managed it well, I have no complications, but there has never been a single day that I have felt SPONTANEOUS and FREE. Being very sensitive to insulin, I have always had to be on the alert, worried about night time low sugars, checking up to 10 times a day, remembering to bring glucose tablets to fix low sugars and on and on. 

With the G6 system, I'm beginning to feel free again. I don't worry before I go to sleep. I trust that it will beep me and wake me up in time. Trusting the system is for me what's most important. The convenience, and it is very convenient,  is of much less importance. 

One morning last week, I heard a familiar twitter outside my window. I went to look at the old nest and found that my house finches are back and busy cleaning it up. 

Since then the weather has turned cold and the winds have picked up. We may be getting some rain this week, much needed since our normally rainy month of February came and went without a drop. 

But the weather isn't bad here, considering what's going on in so many other places. Thinking of those who live where floods and tornadoes create such devastation. 

Samson will soon look like this again. Right now he's one dirty dog. I tell him that white dogs are not allowed to dig. To no avail, of course.

Faith will be six in April. I look for gray fur, but so far - nothing.

The pictures here are old. I need to get with the computer guy soon. I miss taking pictures and then posting them here.

Notes From The Canyon

Sugarloaf mountain and very green Rabbit Brush bushes.

When I first saw these flowers years ago, I so admired them growing in the sand close to the road.

They completely disappeared during the dry years, now they are back. It was good to see them again. Nature is amazing when given half a chance.

Most of the junk around here was left by others who lived here. This shed was a combination of other's junk and ours. Mark and Ronica cleaned it out for me. A horrible job that scattered at least a hundred mice every which way. One ending up in my bathroom. Don't know where it is now, I've seen no sign of it since.

They borrowed Joyce's tractor and demolished the metal part of the shed. Later they came back and cut up the floor and took the wood to the dump. We're saving all metal until we are done, then they know someone who'll come and pick it up.

The other day, the dogs went bananas, barking like their world was about to come to an end. I opened the back door and by their fence was Joyce's big chestnut horse. Faith dashed at him and scared him and his companions into a short, but thunderous, gallop. When they realized no harm was coming their way, they settled in for a snack in my front yard. A treat for me. Faith was proud to have scared three such big critters. 

Talk about being scared: We all are really scared and worried about the way the weeds took off after all the rain we had. As you can see in the background here, some of them are drying out and the rest will follow. They are so thick and so tall and this field, which borders the road is a huge concern. The fire risk seems to have increased by a lot. I will talk more about what I have decided to do in another post. Mainly be as prepared as I can be. 

Believe it or not, but Mark wanted the old tow truck. He priced it at $100 and he worked it off by cleaning out the shed I wrote about above. All I paid for was the fee at the dump for some of the junk. The truck doesn't seem to want to leave because Mark hasn't been able to get it on the trailer. I will miss it, but the more junk I can get rid of, the better. Mark's coming back to try again today, I hope it will work then. 

Bob and his three horses and the pony, named Pony, have now moved in up by the barn we used to own. I'm so glad to see it coming to good use. Pony was abused and gets stressed every now and then, like PTSD, and then she escapes. So that's why the electric fence is there. Maybe something will replace it later. She is the cutest little pony and I get so angry thinking about someone hurting her. So glad she's with Bob now, because he's a true horse whisperer and very kind and good with all animals.

It was so much fun to see Joyce's three horses get super excited over the new arrivals. When they came with the first horse trailer, her horses knew a horse was in it and went completely nuts. They neighed and neighed some more, then followed the trailer up the road at a full gallop, which, for me, is one of the most magnificent things to see, ever.

I also met the other guy who moved in to the right of the barn, a bit away. He seems very nice. It feels good to have neighbors close by, yet unseen by me and my dogs, unless we choose to go and visit.

The only additional noise I hear is when Joyce's horses are talking to Bob's horses. And horse speak is music to my ears, so that I don't mind. 

Notes From The Canyon

We finally got some "real" snow overnight. A soft powder created a beautiful morning. 

Which inspired a few pictures. Then we headed out early for a chance to play in the snow.

It has been interesting to see how these storms travel east and become so much more ferocious as they move across country. There have been so many of them and I wonder if this is the last one bringing snow to our area. Since I've lived here, the last day it snowed was May 23rd. Years ago. 

Before we walk, I throw balls for Faith. Chasing balls is her absolute favorite thing to do. 

She has gained some weight so she's not as fast as she used to be. She looks larger and more solid with the weight on, more like a Lab, albeit a short-legged one. 

But she still needs to lose a few pounds. 

I'm sure Samson does too, we just haven't been active enough. His food is so good though that he has managed to maintain his weight, but now I'm not sure and it's hard to tell with all that winter fur. 

He loves the snow, of course, and one can see he's made for it. 

Other than that, I've been pretty much stuck here, sitting out one storm after another. Our road is so bad that even if one can get out, one doesn't want to try because driving on it just makes it worse. 

Tuesday was a glorious day and I had to go to town to get some groceries, donate some of the things I purged when I tidied up, go to the post office, and a couple of other places. It was a perfect day! Cold, beautiful blue sky, snow in the mountains, but clear roads. I was so happy, the day was perfect!

I have made progress on the tidy up project. Both closets are now completely done, as are the shelves and drawers in the master bedroom. I just need to wash the mirrors on the closet doors, then I can move on to the next project, which is clean my house. I haven't done any spring cleaning for a couple of years and it is much needed. So I will move on to that soon. I had set a 2/28 deadline for the closets so now I guess I have some time to play -- or work on my income taxes........

Notes From the Canyon

Good morning, it's a beautiful day in the canyon. I'm feeling a bit tired this morning, so I thought I'd sit down and write a few notes here. I felt great yesterday, got up early, packed the trash in the Jeep and took off for the dump. This time the trash included my broken DVD player and printer, some more cardboard (I'm so tired of all these cardboard boxes, but my diabetes supplies, some medicines, Samson's Chewy's box with his food arrive this way. I just have to limit the rest.) In the afternoon, I went to Joyce's for crochet group and got a good start on the baby blanket I'm making and plan to donate to a charity in town.

I fail to understand why there's a hall closet and a linen closet, but no broom closet and no laundry room or hook ups for a washing machine/drier in my house. It was built in 1977 and the guy who built it had a wife, who I presume would clean and do laundry. Errol fixed something in the shed for a washing machine, dug a stretch underground for the water drain pipes to a ditch where the water drains. That works really well. 



I have decided that since I have two good size closets, I don't need a hall closet. So I will make it into a broom closet. Everything will fit in there perfectly and most of it is in there already. 

This is my huge suitcase that went with me to Sweden the last two times I went. Like Russian nesting dolls, it has many mini versions inside, as well as a few other bags. Last time I went to Sweden, I went to bury my sister. And I wanted to bring back as much as I could of her things and other things I would buy there. I may have known I would never come back. While I still use and love some of the things brought back, dragging that big suitcase and more, around an airport that was not Los Angeles, my destination, and where we had to collect our stuff, walk for miles or so it seemed, in order to go through customs. There were some problems at LAX, don't remember what. Phew, I learned my lesson to travel light, believe me. Now the big suitcase, together with most of it's nesting bags, will be donated.

Dogs wondering what's going on.

As I worked my way through everything, I dumped it in here, my office/second bedroom. I decided to hang the clothes I want to donate in this closet, together with the clothes that were already in here. I was tempted to continue to go through the boxes that remained on the closet floor in the master bedroom, but somehow understood the wisdom of Marie Kondo's recommendation to do all clothes at the same time and then move on. 

I've now cleaned up the above mess and that's what I took to the dump yesterday. My next step will be to go through the closet in this room, organize the keep, donate, toss piles. Add one for consignment stores as some of the clothes, bags, etc., are in good shape. Then there will not be much more to do in the bedrooms, just some boxes to go through. But there's more, of course, it never ends.

Other than that, we had a huge rain storm one night. The winds were horrible, gusts up to over 60 mph, the house felt like it was shaking, stuff was banging, terrible and scary noises were going on outside. Faith was very perturbed and so was I. Samson was totally calm, snoring away at the side of my bed, while Faith and I stayed up most of the night. When morning finally arrived, I was happy to see that rain had turned to snow and it was white and pretty outside. There wasn't much and it didn't last. It never does these days. 

So that's a few things we've been up to. Oh, Samson is now running loose with Faith and me outside, well, they run, I don't do anything. I will take some pictures for a future post. He's so happy though, I should have done this ages ago. 

Finally, thank you for your nice comments on my bird picture. I wasn't fishing for compliments, I seriously am not happy with the fact that I feel I have about a quarter of what I need to take a good picture. The rest all has to do with learning the camera, practice, patience, and all those good things. 

Notes From The Canyon

It's been a while. I've been busy both with fun things and with diabetes issues. I definitely don't want to write about the latter and with the recent horrors taking place in our country, I feel I should write a serious post about my thoughts and feelings. But I seem to lack the energy for that, as well. 

My thoughts go out to all those who are affected by the violence and hatred that seem to overshadow so much of what's good in this country. 

It's Sunday afternoon and the air is filled with smoke. Still several hours before local news comes on TV and it would be good to be on social media so one could find out where this fire is located.

Since I'm not, let me instead tell you about some of the busy and fun things in my life. In the picture above, I was keeping an eye on Joyce's cattle, when unbeknownst to me, I got this good shadow shot of myself. 

Joyce is a very calm and mellow woman and all her animals respond to that. The large Guernsey bull, the brown and white one, is such a sweet critter. This country life, enjoying farm animals without being responsible for them, is just perfect for this time in my life.

Last Saturday, the canyon CERT team organized an evacuation drill. It was mainly Dave and Bernice, our hard-working leaders, and a few others who organized it, but we all participated.

Here I am, dressed up in my CERT gear, whistle and ID around my neck, and the very ugly trucker hat perched on my head. But not for long! I seriously tried to wear it, my ears would stick out, I had to put them back inside the cap, and it still popped up on my head and made me look funny. Even though I have by now lost all vanity I possessed earlier in my life, this hat was just a little too much. So it came off and I replaced it with one of my own.

There's only  one public road leading in and out of the canyon. If it becomes blocked by fire, flood, or earthquake there's another, private, road that can be used for evacuations. It's a dirt road with several gates, leading through fields with cattle and horses, and across land belonging to the cement plant. Most people in the canyon are unaware of it, so these drills serve our community well. This year, the attendance was really good. We had firemen with a large truck, EMT people with their truck, and someone from the Sheriff's Office too. 

We had coffee and cookies to help make it a fun morning. I could tell the coffee was very much appreciated by all. 

And here is my friend Joyce, who had taken a class in how to direct traffic, so she got to do that. I volunteered to hand out a brochure called Ready Kern, where after you complete and forward it to the appropriate office, you will get a notification of any county emergency on you cell phone or any other device of your choosing. Many people live isolated here, without neighbors close by, and I was surprised to find out that none of the people I talked to knew about Ready Kern. Well, now they do.

I guess this is enough of an update for now. But I have more tales to tell, so later.......

Notes From The Canyon

When our Volunteer Council bought some Neighborhood Watch signs, Joyce and I got one to put up at the beginning of our road. I found out that Joyce is really good with a drill, so all I had to do was hold the sign. The post was old and uneven, but we got the job done. When I turned into our road the other day, it looked so good I decided to take a picture. I guess I was too far away, but I think the mountains look good so there it is.

I've never had a dog before that didn't like to go in the car, but Faith truly hates it. It's impossible to get her in the back of the Jeep, where Samson goes, so she's in the seat next to me, which is not a good place for a dog. There she sits, still as a board, fixes her eyes on one spot and just wishes for the ordeal to be over. When she was little, I would lift her, now that she's heavier, I can't. 

She needed her Parvo, etc. shot so we had to go. Fortunately appointments are not needed for shots. I've been training her, some days good, others not. This morning I decided I was well rested and we should go. I had bought special treats, but she couldn't care less for those. So I had to go back in the house and get two brand new balls, one pink, one yellow. True retriever that she is, those she couldn't resist. In she went.

Since I had to sit in my seat for her to even consider getting in, I tied a leash to the door handle on her side, so I could pull it shut it quickly before she turned around and got out. I pulled the leash and it worked great. We went, she got her shot, and we were back home by ten. Phew!

These rocks are across the street from my mailbox. There are so many fabulous rocks in those hills. Maybe something for my new camera to work on. I took these with my phone.

Last week, I took a "fun" day off, went to town and visited Glenn in his family's new house. Then I checked out our new library and went to the thrift store and donated some things. After that, I wanted to go to our Visitor Center to pick up a few things to mail to my Danish friend, Annette.

However, the place was closed, only open Thursday - Sunday, which makes sense. But I met a lovely couple there. They were in town to look at houses and I directed them to our largest real estate office. And told them that our German bakery, located across the street from where we stood and talked, had some fabulous baked goods and good lunches. Very nice people, so not a wasted trip. 

Then I went across the street and bought an eclair, two lemon tarts, and some good German bread. (Because of my diabetes, it takes me three days to finish an eclair. I have to cut it up. And the tarts are in my freezer, saved for another day or two or three.)

Samson Says: Have a great rest of the week, everyone!

Notes From The Canyon

The sweet Guernsey bull greeted me as I drove down our road, back from the dump. Glenn has helped me with the trash for many months now, so it  felt good to be back doing things for myself. My friend Benny, he was friendly with Errol and has been very kind to me, was there and helped me unload the Jeep. 

As you can see, the air is pretty clear. 

Wild sunflowers grow all around the dump. I have been looking at the early days of my blog and found this picture. It looked just the same today. I started my blog in August 2009 and it has been interesting to go back in time and see how both my blog and I have developed. 

I took these pictures Tuesday, after I had been to town where it was very smoky. As I drove down our road, I noticed for the first time all the Russian thistles lining the road. 

I hadn't noticed them before, so to me it looked like they had just sprung up overnight. Then, today, as I drove home from the dump, I noticed that the canyon road was framed on both sides by these bushes. And all of them will turn into giant tumble weeds later in the year.

Like this one that attcked me from behind and really scared me back in 2013.

The ones in our road will blow down to my gate, where they will stop. Looks like I will have my work cut out for me, trying to get out of here.

You can see the haze in this picture too. It's impossible to imagine what it must be like in northern California. My lungs got messed up from fires here in 2012. The Jaw Bone Canyon fire lasted a long time, but it was nothing like what's going on up north now. Firefighters will be my heroes forever. 

Yesterday, I had Mary over for a smorgasbord lunch. Followed by ice cream, which Mary loves. It was nice to visit and catch up. It feels so good to have friends over now that my house is almost together. 

Then I went to bed early because I have AC in the bedroom and the house was hot. I heard Faith barking, but Samson was quiet, which is unusual. Then he came in and sort of beckoned me to go outside. Faith was by the fence with her head down, barking. I knew it was a snake and hoped it would be either small or not a rattler. Well, it was the biggest rattlesnake I've ever seen. 

It was similar to this one, also from 2013, but longer and thicker and younger too, as it didn't have as many rattlers. 

Long story that ended with the snake going under the rocks that surround this bathtub that people who lived here before used as a flower pot. Snakes that need a place to rest, undisturbed, always crawl in there. So it's either still there or gone and I will probably never know. 

I wish I could get rid of that contraption, but with big rocks and a bathtub full of dirt, it would be a big and - tractor required - job. 

Good thing the snake is large and easily seen. And we are being careful. The dogrun has  quarter-inch wire about half-way up and is secure that way, but snakes climb in anyway. As a rule, rattlesnakes don't. 

I'm happy that Samson, who cannot be vaccinated with the snake vaccine because of his illnesses, didn't want to challenge the snake or take it on in any way. He went to get his mommy which was such a smart thing to do. 

Good Boy Samson!