The Christmas Spirit

Here I’m really probably should be called an atheist but Christmas is my favorite time of year. I’ve believed for years that in this season of giving we are Santa.

Holiday lights make the dark evenings so much brighter although I’m not a fan of over decorations either. Poinsettias decorate our porch and entry. We have put up color lights around the roof edge. Inside our great room we have a strand of color lights around the French doors and white lights around the ceiling. A friend gave us a small decorated tree as a gift for our party.

So this year it is fun because I’m making the gifts for our siblings as I did for our friends. Because Dale’s family all live in other areas; Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and one a couple of hours north of us we do not see them and must ship our gifts. We cannot include wine as it is a felony to ship. For Dale’s family I’m making each a tote bag from organic colorgrown cotton, a travel size pillow using 100% silk outside filled with organic buckwheat hulls and lavender buds. The present will also include a calendar using my favorite photos. These presents are things I’ve loved making.

We do see my brothers at our annual Christmas Eve gathering. I’ll make them a tote bag but it will include a bottle of wine, some of our favorite cheese and one of my calendars.

Last year was a bad year as I spent all extra money on trying to get the cookie business going so we did not give out any presents, even to grandkids. This year we are able to give each grandkid a present as well as kids. We will even have the Christmas stockings hung on the chimney with care filled with goodies. So while we celebrate Christmas with store bought stuff we will also make the holidays special with those items that were bought or made from the heart.

The December Octoberfest

So we had our party and it was a success!

Two granddaughters wanted to earn money so they came on Friday night and we started cleaning up the house. We ended up just stacking things in the garage just to get all of the ongoing projects out of the house. We set up the 2 bedrooms for guests to stay over, we knew our friend from Pasadena would stay and wanted to be ready for anyone else.

By 3 pm I had to start cooking and made: Hot German Potato Salad, Goulash, Warm Red Cabbage Salad, Choucroute Garnie, and Chicken Paprika. When I’ve visited my friends in Germany we have eaten lots of meat; my friend Dieter will say that meat is a vegetable. Knowing this I wanted good hardy meat dishes made with lots of Paprika. I’ve made all of these dishes before except for the Chicken but it sounded good and flavorful so there it was.

I’d mapped out the work time to prepare the meal so by the time everyone arrived food was about ready, yum!

We’d invited our oldest friends from the Annual days plus newer friends but only our oldest friends attended this time. It really didn’t matter, we had such a good time visiting with our old friends. These are our closest friends but we only see some when we have our parties, and others 2 or 3 times a year. When we do get together we have lots to talk about.

This year was fun because our party was held just before Christmas we gave out a Christmas gift to each friend as they left our house. I’d made several tote bags out of organic colorgrown cotton and gave these to the very closest friends. My granddaughter took a Trader Joe’s paper sack and inside put some tissue. For those receiving the tote she wrapped and put into the tote a bottle of Navarro Wine and a calendar then put the tote into the sack closing it with a wire twisty. For the other friends she put a bottle of wine and a calendar in the bag.

We did receive enough food to fill 2 boxes for Optimal Hospice plus bed linens from neighbors and more bags of food from them as well. Optimal Hospice was so happy to receive everything so it was successful night. 

Just a Little Wine Tasting-Fundraiser

For years, when we owned our farm, we'd have a large party for friends and family at least once a year. We had friends who would come from cities around ours, some traveling for over a couple of hours each way. We were quite honored to have friends who enjoyed our get togethers as much as we did. Funny, we lived in this 2 bedroom little old farmhouse that needed a ton of work but no one seemed to notice. It was called the “Siemens Annual”.

When we moved into the city in 1997, we continued to entertain but as I was in law school we limited our large parties. We've always had an Octoberfest mostly for close friends, even had our friend's daughter who was studying opera sing for us one year. Italian songs were a good fit, right?

In about 1998 I worked a storm in Detroit and brought home several different wines for Dale to taste. As we were tasting we decided to turn our annual party into a wine tasting party which itself has turned into an annual event. Our first tasting was just a birthday party for my own 50^th, with an idea from Hillary Clinton. I prepared a dinner of my favorite food and wine and combined the party with a little fundraiser; everyone had to contribute to a fund to haircuts for women at the battered womens shelter. If my friends couldn't buy me a Ferrari then I didn't want any present at all!

After that birthday party friends started asking what we'd do next so we decided to have a wine tasting that would mostly be based on where either I worked or we traveled. The meal would be based on the wine. We've had Mardi Gras during Mardi Gras week, complete with cajun food and Louisiana wine, California champage with bbq'd salmon, Virginia wines with crab cakes and Virginia style foods, North Carolina wines and so on.

This year has been really busy so we decided to have our wine tasting to kick off the holiday season, next weekend. We'd planned to go to one of our favorite places, Taos, last week so thought that we'd pick up some New Mexico wine and have us a New Mexico wine tasting and dinner. Well Taos didn't happen so we decided to host our annual Octoberfest that didn't happen in October and have a beer tasting. So next weekend we will have our first beer tasting.

We do laugh about our wine tastings; we have friends who only drink beer, some only drink white wine, some only drink red wine and some taste the wines as the wines are tasted in a true tasting. We just want to have a fun time so don't worry too much about not having a true strict tasting.

Our fundraisers have varied from everyone bringing a business suit to donate to Carieer Training Resources, a bag of personal items for women arriving at the Battered Women's Shelter with bags of items for the children, books for the pupils of a couple of friends teaching in the poor sections of the city just to name a few.

So next week we will host our friends for our Octoberfest with a varity of beers, some German wines, Shislik, and other foods. Our fundraiser this year will be non-parishable food items and grocery store gift certificates to go to Optimal Hospice. The food items will be put together into baskets for families in the hospice care who have no money to put a holiday meal on the table. How horribly sad to facing the death of a family member and have no money to purchase food for a Christmas dinner. We are happy to be able to make a family or two a little better for one meal and so fortunate to have good friends and the means to host this party.

Loving Photography

Oh how I love photography! I love, love, love to shoot photos and work with my photos.

When I was a little girl my maternal grand mother gave me a little Brownie Hawkeye, much like hers. Now she was a photographer for her time, always carried her camera and took a gazillion photos. I think I used my little Brownie until I was in junior high.

Now that I have moved into my great digital camera I rarely use my 35, a nice Canon itself. But I enlarge my good photos and definitely enjoy them.

So now that it is nearly Christmas I had the idea to make a bunch of calenders using my photos. I found the design I wanted and the cheapest on vista.com where I've had other items made before. I chose my photos and ordered 5 plus get one free. Then I got an email with ½ off each calender so decided I'd extend the gifts to some of our friends so made up 5 more.

I decided to put a calender up on etsy.com but thought that it would be fun to make a calender using photos of the National Parks. I dug out my digital photos, where I'd used my early cameras (I've had several over the years), yikes, they are a horrible resolution and won't print well.

Last night I found a box, one of 4, with 35's from the 1990-2007 after which time I bought my good digital. There are so many photos. As I started looking I thought who is going to want all of these. There are good photos but many are not great photos and I certainly will never print, enlarge or show them to anyone. I got a big paper bag and started throwing away all these photos; I mean really who needs 100 photos of the 2006 Historic Car Races, or photos of some unknown landscape.

Now back to my task at hand, to find the negatives of the good National Park photos. I must get these calenders ordered. And if I can't sell the extras then my neighbors will get a calender.

A Busy Granddaughter

I had my 3 boys each about 1-1/2 years apart but that was over 30 years ago. When I had our boys we had just taken over our family farm on Jan 1; our oldest was about 1 year old and our middle born in July. I helped out with tractor driving, laying irrigation pipe, learning how to run the financial end of the business, cooking meals and caring for kids. I was busy all of the time like most working moms. That was then, now is now: kids are grown and gone, farm sold, I work sometimes but am home these days and hubby has a regular job.

Our oldest boy has 3 kids, 2 older kids and then one nearly 2 years old. These days our son and his family are in a transition mode so they have asked if I'd take the little one 2 days a week. I thought that it would be good to spend some time with our little one as I haven't spent the quality time with her as I have had with the other kids. Great idea right?

So yesterday we had our granddaughter from late morning until about 8pm. She ran most of the day, from one thing to the next, chattering, imitating everything we said. Inside to turn on the area heater, out the door to run into her little house, back in to turn off the heater and get more stuff out of the drawers, into the great room to play with her kitchen, back to turn on the heater, off to shake the chinchilla house, back to turn off the heater, more Ziploc bags onto the floor, heater on, out to her play house, and on and on.

I began to wonder how did I take care of 3 little boys and work at our own business plus cook. All I could do with my granddaughter was to chase after her, closing doors, making sure the door didn't scrape her little toes, that she didn't shake the chinchilla, and that she didn't go out the front door.

By the time my son came back I was tired, grabbed a big glass of wine and headed off to bed. And I'm going to do this twice a week? What was I thinking? Well at least I don't need the gym on granddaughter days.

More of the DIYer's

And the DIY er's adventures continue:

We'd removed the tree by the dining room above the roof line but not next to the fascia and still had the garage to go but then realized that this was actually a better week to get the bedroom painted. My husband Dale must sleep during the afternoon so I can only get into the bedroom during the day when he is not working at his county job, this week.

We decided several years ago to paint our bedroom much like the great room; 1 wall a darker Terra cotta and 3 walls a lighter shade of terra cotta with an off white ceiling. We got the paint and got to work, Dale helping do the trim work.

As Dale was working on our ceiling he needed to use the 10' ladder and put the can of lighter paint on the very top of the ladder. Unfortunately he needed to move the ladder but forgot that the can of paint was sitting up there. The can fell, fortunately landing on the next rung but unfortunately spilling about ¼ of the can. The paint splattered on the newly painted ceiling, dark wall, dressers and poured onto the carpet. We rushed to clean the paint off the dressers where the tarp had been pulled away all the while tracking paint all over as we rushed around.

The bedroom painting did get finished after a week of work except for a couple of doors and the carpet will be replaced next month. The carpet was going to be replaced anyway, but in the meantime we have an artsy carpet. Fortunately painting the great room and entry went much smoother and the walls after a quick one coat are clean and free of grimy grandkids fingerprints.

Settling a Property Loss.

As I've mentioned in other blogs, I'm an independent insurance claims adjuster for property damage claims. This would involve your home or personal property not vehicles. For some time now we have heard on the news about the terrible state of our infrastructure and then the terrible fire in San Bruno due to a pipeline break and sinkholes damaging home. Recently I handled a claim damage due to a pipeline break and after giving this some thought decided to blog about insurance and claims handling. For this blog I will address damage due to another persons negligence.

When I handle a claim I assume that the insured or claimant does not know how their claim is to be handled, only 1% or so will have had a prior claim or have knowledge of the process. It has become routine to explain to the person what to expect. But be forewarned that I do not hold myself out as an expert, these are thoughts only based on my limited experience.

I did start in claims in 1990 with State Farm, was sent to their 3 week school to learn to read policy and then a special construction school. I now prefer to handle catastrophe claims.

First I must explain that your property depreciates over time, analogous to a car. An example is that your paint and flooring get old and that depreciated amount is subtracted out of your claim. So for example, if you have flooring that would cost $100. to replace but is 10 years old, you might only get $50. after $50 is taken for depreciation. If you have a policy with Replacement Cost Benefits then you will get that depreciated component back after the job is finished and you present your adjuster with the receipts verifying the completion. If you do the work yourself or just leave the work undone there will be no further payment.

If you do not have Replacement Costs available in your policy or a 3^rd party's insurance is paying for the damage it will be settled on a theory of Actual Cash Value. This means that you will get only the amount of the depreciated item.

Now the Actual Cash Value policy is not bad if this is your choice and you don't want to pay the premium for a Replacement Cost policy but it is bad if the damage is not your fault. With infrastructure damage, or that due to government, the loss may or may not be covered under your homeowners policy. When there is no coverage under your own policy then you must file a claim with the whoever covers the offender. These claims are settled at Actual Cash Value and the claimant is penalized by depreciation being subtracted out of their settlement and having to replace their property at a greater value.

Additionally, to add insult to injury, there are times where the claimant is told to mitigate their damage, but what does that mean to someone who maybe is a working class and is looking for guidance from the damaging company? That claimant may not know that they to cut out the wet carpet immediately and throw it away. They are then penalized for not mitigating their damage.

As I was working this last infrastructure failure claim I was reminded that this settlement system is not fair. The loss is not the fault of the claimant, they were just living their lives and now they will be out considerable cash to get their lives back to where it was before the loss.

One may hire a Public Adjuster who will promise to get more money for you but they do take 10% or so of the final settlement and the claim will still have the depreciation subtracted out. An attorney will take about 30% of the settlement so one must balance if it is worth the attorney or or public adjuster.

Just some things to consider.  

The DIY'ers

We have an 18 year old house that is now looking its age, poor thing; flooring is stained from grand kids (easy to blame them), tiles chipped and scratched, cabinet finish dried and flaked off and on and on. Since I've not been working much I decided now is the time to get in gear with the house.

I had planned to paint the fascia this week then start on painting my bedroom next week. I went out to take a close look at the fascia and found that 2 trees, which were shrubs when we moved in, are too close to the house. I thought I'd just quick clip a few branches off to access the fascia but when I climbed my ladder to the roof over the dining room I discovered a huge mess: dried leaves probably 6” thick, branches on the roof and animal nests in the debris. I called Dale and told him we weren't going anywhere except up to the roof to start cleaning.

When Dale got on the roof I pointed out how when debris is packed up on roofing or in the valleys that rain will actually back up and run into the roof causing water damage to ceilings and walls. Dale cleaned valleys that have never been cleaned and were now packed with debris and dirt while I clipped branches then we both swept off the tiles.

We discovered that the tree next to the dining room has a root that has cracked the patio slab and stucco is loose around the crack and the stucco on the garage next to the tree has cracked. Our neighbor had the big idea that Dale and I could remove the tree. I mentioned it to the family across the street and one son pipped up that he has logged trees before. That is next weeks job then I can finally paint my fascia.

Driving and Hoping Not to Get Caught

Usually I drive a fairly new American made truck, XM Radio, Cruise Control, AC and so forth. Not lots different than many people drive, except for my son. Nate, my oldest son who has the almond business, owns a well worn minivan and now a little Honda. The Honda belonged to another student at UCSB but they didn't need it so loaned it then gave it to my son.

The Honda is a little blue/green civic with lots of dings, really dirty and just generally torn up by kids, loaning it to everyone, and hauling around hundreds of pounds of almonds. There is a radio that works only by pushing the magic button, which I've not discovered yet, no A.C., no cruise control and crank windows.

So this morning I had to take a load of almonds to my son, a 2-1/2 hour drive away, he mentioned that he might want to use my truck but was uncertain. I didn't think anything more about it and went on my way, driving to where my son was working a farmers market.

We'd had lunch and my son said that he was going to need my truck for a couple of days as he'd mentioned earlier. That was fine, not great, but fine. After we'd cleaned out his Honda and I was about to get into the Honda, my son said “the plates were stolen but I filed a police report and the new ones haven't arrived so if you get a ticket just give it to me”. Yikes! A 2-1/2 hour drive home in an illegal car!

I started for home and had the thought; I'm driving this ratty little car, am Hispanic, look Hispanic, with no plates. Now here is a combination for a disaster. I thought that I'd better drive the speed limit at least so that I wouldn't stand out from the pack drawing attention to myself as usually I set the cruise control for about 80.

I was driving along I-5 going in the lane next to the slow lane when I started thinking about some work issues and all of the sudden I found myself in the fast lane doing 80mph. I quickly slowed down and moved over to the slower lanes but then, as I was driving by the CHP office found myself in the fast lane and doing 80 once again.

As I continued down the hill I realized that my foot wouldn't let the car go less than 75, it just couldn't happen so I joined the traffic and drove home. I do think I'll leave the car parked until it the plates arrive.

A Kid Gone Great!

It is great to watch a kid grow into a wonderful adult and I'm not sure that we had much to do with it. We got to know Camilo Vasquez when he was in the same high school class as our boys. He became much like another son as he hung out at the house so much. We tried to encourage him to go to school and then college. He called me Mom, as he still does today.

Camilo came from a working class family but finally joined the military in an attempt to make a better life. He did try to go to college but life got in his way and as many kids, it wasn't his priority. We lost track of Camilo over time, he married and started his own family, had his own troubles but finally worked thru them.

In the Spring, just when we had decided to start working at the farmers markets in Bakersfield I found Camilo on Facebook. I asked him if he knew of anyone that might need a job working the markets, at that time we only would need someone 2 times a week. He asked his brother but when his brother said no Camilo decided that he really needed the extra work so would take the offer; he and his wife were working several part time jobs to survive.

Camilo has been working with us for several months now. When we expanded into other farmers markets Camilo was working them, now he manages our work in those markets. When we decided to move all of the roasting and processing of the almonds to Bakersfield we put Camilo in charge. An example of his work ethic is a few weeks ago when the almonds shipped late and he was so concerned about getting the product out that he sorted then roasted almonds the entire night. Camilo now has 3 people working for him.

It is important to let people know when they are going great work. Too often we don't say anything about the good, but when someone does something bad the word is spread among many. Hence, here I want to praise someone who took a chance and changed. I'm so proud of this “kind of” adopted son.

Murphy's Law with theTV

At 5:30am the tv decided not to work at all with the remote. We'd switched over to ATT U-verse and I loved it until a week or so ago. At that time I'd had to reset the box but lost the guide and other features. Now this morning when I turned on the TV everything was in Spanish and soon after nothing would work.

I reset the receiver box but nothing. I then called AT&T but had to talk to the computer, I hate talking to a computer. I yelled at the computer to no avail of course. It tested the remote told me the remote was fine and then hung up on me.

I called AT&T back this time telling the computer that the problem was the TV and finally got a live person. In the meantime I'd uplugged the box again then plugged it back in and now I just had the logo on the TV screen. The remote did nothing. The guy, who actually spoke english, asked what had happened so I was giving him a blow by blow account of my woes. After I'd given him the details of all that had quit I just pushed the guide button and wouldn't you know everything worked perfectly. It appears that I wasn't letting the receiver reboot completely so it never had time to reset.

I had to laugh, of course everything would work perfectly with the technician on the line! Now if only all of the other broken items would repair themselves.

No Silk Duvet for Me

For about 14 years we had a cat named Chelsea, a fat, lazy, onrey cat. She slept on our bed during the day and then again at night. During the night I'd wake up on the edge of the bed with Chelsea stretched out between us.

A couple of years before she passed I went to China. I was shopping for silk and found a beautiful piece to make a duvet cover for my bed, but once home I realized that Chelsea would lay all over it ruining it. I put the silk away for another day.

5 years ago Twinks was born and our son and his wife got her for their kids Christmas present, she was a little ball of fur. After Chelsea died the kids thought that it would be a good idea for us to take Twinks in until they returned from China and found a place to live that would accept a dog. We were not anxious to take Twinkle but every time we'd go to our daughter-in-law's parents home Twinks would jump into our truck and hide behind me. She'd look at us with her big brown eyes as though pleading for us to take her. Poor dog; she had to stay outside all of the time and all of the other dogs tormented her constantly. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and we brought her to live at our house.

Immediately Twinks took over where Chelsea left off; sleeping on the bed, commanding us to do her bidding. I soon realized that the silk was not going to work anytime soon.

The kids returned home from teaching in China but moved into an apartment where no dogs were allowed so Twinkle has remained with us until now. The kids have now moved out of their apartment and looking for a place that will take their dog and soon she will be gone.

I was looking for some fabric yesterday and ran onto my piece of silk. I immediately thought “Oh great, finally I'll get to make my cover. Oops that was short lived; grand kids have reminded me that we will need to get another dog as soon as Twinkle is gone. I imagine that the new dog will get right down to figuring out that the best place to sleep is on my bed. I'm giving up on any bed cover other than a beach towel. Maybe I can start a new trend!

Snowmama- the Ski Mama

Snowmama's, this is the position I applied for. Found it on Facebook. This is something thru Park City and posted on facebook site.

I had to fill out an app with several questions; one asking about a favorite memory involving skiing. I had many memories and it was difficult to decide which memory to use. I did write about the time we took our lunch in a backpack up the chair lift, skied down until we found a perfect picnic spot and then all 5 of us sat down in the snow, spread the table cloth, put out the food and we had a picnic in the snow. I

I also wanted to write about the time we were helping Justin learn to ski, he was about 4 years old. He was afraid to just go down the slope by himself so for the afternoon I skied with him, his skis between mine in the snowplow form. After going down several times slowly Justin decided to go down on his own and from there he took off and left me in a cloud of snow dust.

Dale and I met when I was talking to a college friend about skiing. He walked up and joined the conversation and we left together. We skied for our honeymoon at South Lake Tahoe but in those days he thought that he didn't want to bother skiing with me; he was convinced that he was so much better. Now we stay together.

Our oldest boy, Nate, was born in February. We drove up to Sierra Summit and took turns skiing and holding our 2 week old little boy. I'd nurse Nate when it was my turn to take him. We bought one ticket and put it on a jacket we both could wear, trading the jacket with the one whose turn it was to ski.

About 3 years ago we were concerned about our grandson; he was afraid and being blind in one eye we thought that skiing would give him confidence and a way to work on his depth of field. We took he and his sister plus our 2 other grand daughters to the local ski hill, Shirley Meadows. The 80+ year old instructor who taught our boys was happy to help out there. By afternoon the 3 girls were doing well but our grandson was timidly plowing down the hill. I skied with my grandson a couple of runs talking him thru the turns then he took off as did the girls. Yikes, they raced straight down the hills.

Our youngest grand daughter, the sister of our grandson, at first said that she absolutely did not want to ski and only agreed to come along to play in the snow. Unfortunately for her I tricked her into taking a lesson as I wanted for her to try the sport. She isn't very athletic but I just wanted for her to try. She squabbled about the lesson but went along with it. On our drive home she asked when we'd ski again. I told her that I didn't know she wanted to ski again. Her reply: “Grandma, I said I wanted to ply in the snow and skiing is playing in the snow”. Now just a couple of weeks ago she asked if we'd get to ski as soon as there was snow.

Yes I do want to be a “snowmama/snowgrandma”.

Old Friends; Stepping Back in Time

Upon returning to civilization from the High Sierra's I found a phone message from our close friend and Dale's cousin, Rick Penner, that his mom Ella, had passed away. His mom had lived for many, many years in Shafter while our friend lived in L.A. Several years ago Ella moved to L.A. in order to be closer to her son, she was 89 and died in her sleep, What a great way to go.

Ella, was to be buried in Shafter so Rick and his wife were coming up for several days. We invited them over and opened up the house to them as good friends/family do.

The family is Mennonite so there are traditions that are followed here, mostly that after the service a meal is served to whoever whats to join. There are a selection of potato salad, macaroni salad, green salad, cold meats and cheese and zwieback, a sort of double roll made from yeast, butter and lots of butter. This roll is like a dinner roll with another pinch of dough on top. The meal is served by the “Fest Committee” a group of people who put together the dinners for the various occassions.

We came to Shafter in 1973 but prior to my arrival I really didn't know anything about the Mennonites but found that I just didn't exactly fit with the entire group. That is not to say I didn't like the people, I just didn't fit with the way they did things. We did try to fit in for a short time but then found that we were better suited to get together with the individuals rather than my joining the sewing circle, ect. We moved out of Shafter in 1991 and really haven't been back so we haven't seen most of these people since.

As we attended Ella's memorial service we didn't think much about the meal to follow, we just knew that there would be one. So when we went to the dining area I was struck by the fact that many people working with the Fest Committee were the same people who were there when we left.

Seeing some the people we used to know was like stepping back into another time. One couple we had been friends with had changes but seem to be making the best of their developments. The man has completely gone blind from glacoma and the wife has had a small stroke. The man still has his sense of humor telling me that I look better than ever. Easy to say when your blind! We both had to laugh.

The most shocking was seeing a friend who had lived with his family in the house closest to ours on the farm. This guy was so kind; after I'd gone thru a horrid bout of pnumenoia I'd developed a mass of junk in my lung and it had to be removed. I came thru the surgery and my friend, after working on his farm all day, went home BBQ'd up some venison, made artichokes and brought them to me still hot. The surgen said that it was the best food I could have eaten.

Unfortunately my friend has not been good to his body for the past 10 years. He is several years younger than I am but looks to be in his 70's. He uses a cane, is gaunt, long scraggly hair, almost looking like someone one would see homeless. This shook me.

I realize that everyone around us lost our farms and times were hard but most everyone made the best of life and made a new one. This friend did not use the incrediably great skills that he had but rather dwelt on his losses. I'm sad for this guy but happy nevertheless that we got to see him along with our other old friends. I think I'll keep on going to the gym and making the best of every day!

Fall Foliage in the High Sierra's

For several years now we've hoped to get into the Eastern Sierras to view the fall foliage and since I bought my Canon it has been my goal to shoot photos of the foliage too. Finally last week we had our chance.

Tuesday after a quick dinner with my mom and a night at a rest stop just south of Bishop we made it up into the Sierra's by Wednesday mid-morning. We'd read about 2 different campgrounds that we wanted to check out. The 1^st near Sabrina Lake turned out to be closed for the season; the 2^nd, one with hookups, was so ugly we passed it up. Instead we went to Upper Intake 2, a small campground along a stream where we found a site tucked away in a corner.

After unhitching the 5^th wheel we took off for South Lake; we hiked out of South Lake once back into Duzy Basin where we met our middle boy, rendezvousing on a glacier. On the way to South Lake we saw groves of Aspen's changing colors and I started shooting my photos.

We thought that because we had gone back to the gym and working out we'd have no problem with hiking; we were wrong. Thursday found us huffing and puffing on the backpack trail to Piute Pass, stopping every few feet for water and raisins. We did find beautiful groves of Aspens which was what we went for. I shot photos to my hearts desire, well at least until I was really tired from carrying 10+ pounds of camera equipment and being out of shape. Needless to say the huffing and puffing was a little embarrassing when we ran into a group of 4 hikers who'd been on the road for 10 days, all of them older than Dale and I and just hiking along.

On our last day we went back to South Lake in the early morning light for some photos then back to North Lake for those photos. We'd also carried a bottle of Pipestone wine for some photos that we promised the winery. We ended up not only taking photos of the wine in the foliage but having a nice little picnic and a small glass of wine (for the photos of course).

We are now hoping to get back into the high country in about 2 weeks but that trip is iffy. In the meantime we are hitting the gym a little harder. No more out of shape for us; no letting some old guys hike circles around us in the high country!

Thoughts About Our Country

I realize that everyone has a different opinion on politics and religion and I hate discussing those two subjects with people just because I won't be changing anyone's mind nor will they change mine. Since I'm mostly out in left field with opinions I'm usually in disagreement with everyone.

Last night I saw my neighbor outside and said hi to him. We started talking about how it was going; he'd had some tough times for a little while but then again he and wifey give kids everything under the sun and then some. The house is completely packed with stuff that they buy, but I digress.

I'd simply made a comment about the possibility of my hubby retiring due to a mess with our county (he is a county health nurse) and my gosh, my neighbor went off about taxes. Taxes are too high, there should be no taxes, no health care for anyone, no social security, nothing.

I'm always puzzled with people start advocating a very limited government. Would we like to give up the Social Security, building protections, consumer protections, education departments just so we could eliminate taxes? Then what would happen to our roads? Our infrastructure? Free education? My neighbor is convinced that the tax money for everything has been misused, so not doing anything at all is going to help? Of course he only repeated the no tax mantra when I asked how the infrastructure would be fixed.

Maybe I'm naive but when our farm was going down we had to let our health insurance go. This meant we did not go to the doctor for anything even though my husband had a high rate of melanoma in his family. I wasn't so stupid as to think that we could raise money by having a yard sale. We didn't pay taxes throughout this period. Well I'd rather pay taxes any day because it means I'm making money!

I'm not an expert by any stretch but I just think Haiti and Somali when I think of no oversight at all on anything. What do we really want for this country? I want a lot more good than selfishly keeping every penny I make.

Not the Cleaning Person

“I wasn't put on this earth to clean”; that is and has been my mantra for many years. I've never been a person to clean up and probably never will; I know my weakness here.

For quite a few years we'd had a housekeeper then late in 2006 I had the brilliant idea that I could keep the place clean, saving the money we'd been spending on the housekeeper to spend on a trip to Europe. About November 2006 our housekeeper started cussing about various things I'd asked and then as my dad was dying she decided to quit. That was fine as it fit into my plan to let her go.

Since that time we've attempted to keep the house up but it rarely looks good throughout the entire house. Most of the time I don't look so just don't see it; easy way to take care of the problem right?

A couple of days ago, like I do once a year or so, I got a bug in my butt and started cleaning up this place. Today I just had to clean in my bedroom. Now several of my rooms have high ceilings. I'd vacuumed the entry ceiling and then went to my bedroom. I was trying to vacuum behind the wine racks but couldn't reach the ceiling. As I stretched and turned I winched my back; ouch! I never could get the spider webs in the corner at the ceiling but hurt my back and ended up having to take some ibuprofen.

I did finish cleaning up several rooms but with the sore back. I hate taking medicine so just sucked it up. When my hubby came home from his morning job I told him that here was the proof that I wasn't put on this earth to clean. See, if I wouldn't have been cleaning then my back would be fine! Now I don't believe in gods etc. but it makes for a great excuse! Time to get a housekeeper as I don't want more back problems.

An Afternoon at Prairie Creek

On Saturday we finally made it to Arcata, to our son's. Arcata is in the redwood country and we've been wanting to go back to Prairie Creek State Park, a park about an hour north of Arcata. We suggested to our son that we all pack up in the truck and go, returning when our daughter-in-law got off work.

We first stopped at Wildberries, an upscale grocery store nearby buying lunch stuff that we could eat in the car: smoked salmon, cheeses, juice, crackers, and so forth. We all stuffed as we drove.

Prairie Creek not only has redwood trees but also has herds of Elk. We thought that it would be fun to see the elk with the kids and maybe do a hike then go to the Visitor's Center.

Justin use to work for the CCC so he showed me a site where they cleared out everything and replanted natural grasses, restoring the area to the way it looked many years ago. We then hiked thru the redwoods to a waterfall. Kids walked and ran up and down the trails looking for wild blackberries to eat.

Elk were out and I got excited to shoot some photos of several close to the road. Like the stupid visitors, I ran up close to get a good shot. Justin was really upset as one elk was getting a little nervous. I did have to admit that I did get a little too close but I didn't really think that the elk would bother me. Isn't that what they all think?

Adventures on the Road to Justin's

When we bought our newest truck we gave our extended cab truck to one of our sons. Now the truck doesn't run well, they have a different vehicle and don't want the truck anymore. We decided to take it back; shouldn't be that difficult now should it?

We started checking around and because the truck is extended with a long bed/big box, we can't just use any car trailer, it must be a larger car trailer which, of course, is not readily available. Finally my husband found one for rent.

We started out this afternoon for a 10 hour drive to our son's house. Because the trailer is attached to our truck, the ride is really bumpy so it is a 20 hour bumpy ride; great, like Bumper Cars. Woo Hoo!

We stopped for dinner at In-n-Our, ate and went on our way. We'd brought cash because north of In-N- Out is the cheapest diesel fuel in the state so we wanted to fill the truck tank full. We got to the station only to find that $60 had disappeared. After searching we finally decided that I must have dropped it at In-N-Out. We filled the tank with the cash we had, but I was so mad at myself.

We must cross a toll bridge to get to our son's house so just before we got to the bridge we realized that we had no cash at all but we were sure that they would take a Visa. We got to the toll booth and told the collection guy that we needed to pay by Visa; guess what? No Visa, no checks, only cash! But we could either pay a fine plus the toll or go to the end of the bridge, cross over, return back to the bridge booth office all in 15 minutes, turn in the card he would give us, then go get cash and return.

We went over the bridge and returned the card but in the meantime I'd GPS'd our bank. We didn't want to go to the bank at the bottom of the bridge as the area is not good so I GPS's another city. Well it took us right too where we didn't want to be; plus the store door was locked, people were there we just couldn't go into the store to the ATM.

I pulled up another bank on the GPS and it was in an area we knew. We started driving but at a main street I looked to my right and there was our bank. We quick pulled a right and then a left into the lot, all while pulling this long trailer.

Finally, 1-1/2 hours later we were able to cross the bridge and pick up where we turned off. We were so glad to see our motel!

When we bought our newest truck we gave our extended cab truck to one of our sons. Now the truck doesn't run well, they have a different vehicle and don't want the truck anymore. We decided to take it

back; shouldn't be that bad.

check Checking around and because the truck is extended with a long bed/big box, we can't just use any car trailer, it must bbe a larger car trailer which, of course, is not readily available. Finally my husband found one for rent.

We st We started out this afternoon for a 10 hour drive to our son's house. Because the trailer is attached to our truck,  the ride is really bumpy so we are in for a 20 hour bumpy ride; great!

We st We opped for dinner at In-n-Our, ate and went on our way. We'd brought cash because north of In-N- Out is thech  cheapest diesel fuel in the state so we wanted to fill the truck tank full. We got to the station only to find that $6d di up and disappeared. After searching we finally decided that I must have dropped it at In-N-Out. We filled the tan ith tank with the cash we had, but I was so mad at myself.

Wee uWe nust cross a toll bridge to get to our son's house so before we got to the bridge we realized that we had no cash  cash at all  but we were sure that they would take a Visa. We got to the toll booth and told the collection guy

hat w said we needed to pay by Visa; guess what? No Visa, no checks only cash! But we could either pay a fine plus the toll the fee or go to the end of the bridge, cross over, return over the bridge all in 15 minutes, turn in the card he would gave us, then go get cash and return.

We w We went over the bridge and returned the card but in the meantime I'd GPS'd our bank. We didn't want to go to the  the bank at the bottom of the bridge as the area is not good so I GPS's another city. Well it took us right too where the casino we didn't want to be; plus the store door was locked, people were there we just couldn't go into the store to the ATM.

I pull    I'd looked up another bank on the GPS and it was in an area we knew. We started driving but at a main street I'd looked to my right and there was our bank. We quick pulled a right and then a left into the lot, all while pulling carrying this long trailer.

Fi         1-1/2 hours later we were able to cross the bridge for one last time and pick up where we turned off. What a night

More Retirement Thoughts

Dale works as a nurse 7 nights on then 7 off so tonight was the 1^st night of 7 off. We had this great dinner, some national dish of Turkey that a facebook friend posted. While we ate we talked about our retirement years; this seems to be a theme these days.

Last night I started a list of places that I still want to see or visit another time, hikes I want for us to do and places that I'd like to live for short amounts of time. I told Dale about the list and we started discussing our new lives that we are about to embark on.

One of Dale's co-workers just came back from a big Alaska trip, but unlike our trip, she took a tour. They stayed in great places, took a wonderful cruise ship thru the inside passage and so forth. We discussed how we have planned to do the inside passage but on a ferry boat, putting a tent on the deck. We thought for a bit about how fabulous it would be to ride in luxury but then giving it more thought realized that it wouldn't likely happen. We'd rather take lots of not so fancy trips then just one big one for the same amount of money, and really we are hiker type of people who'd rather be seen in Patagonia or LLBean than a well known designer. (Well really Patagonia is nearly as expensive but oh so nice).

As for our fears of being together too much well we will need to stay aware of feelings. But as I told Dale, before kids we had so much fun, always going here and there; we didn't have much money but we made our trips fun. So we will buy a deck of cards, a new chess set, stock the RV and off we will go. We are really starting to count the days until we can start this new phase of life.

Thinking Retirement

As I wrote yesterday my hubby Dale is about ready to retire. He really has some mixed feelings about this which I do understand as I've had to reinvent myself several times by now.

When I first told Dale that he could retire and net more than he is netting now he did not believe me until I reviewed the numbers with him. Then a little bit later Dale said that he really wanted to work until Dec 2011 so that things were paid off. I explained that he would net more by retiring and while he agreed that it was true he still would occassionally insist that he would work until Dec 2011. Finally I had to tell him that he could just work as long as he wanted for less money, it was his decision, I wasn't going to discuss it any further.

Today Dale and I discussed the fact that he likes being the charge nurse for the fact that everyone goes to him for his opinion, but he doesn't like the responsibility because any error and his job is on the line. I've reassured him that the reinvention to retiree will be much easier than the one from a farmer. As a matter of fact I believe that he will be so busy that he will not miss his work for very long. Dale is afraid that he will have so many chores to catch up on that he will be too busy.

I myself am looking forward to his being around more but also a little anxious as our lives will change with so much time together. I just don't want to become a person who becomes naggy, critical and bitter.

Setting up for Retirement

Dale, my husband, will have a birthday next week; this is a big one in that he will be “Full Retirement Age” as per the Social Security Admin. I've worked the numbers several times and his net retirement income looks to be more than he nets right now. Can this be right? The answer is yes as he has many things taken out of his pay now.

This is all well and good except that we are buying back several years of work from another county and if he retires before it is bought back we must either complete the purchase on the day he retires or just take what we have already purchased, the difference of a bunch of money in his pension. Unfortunately we are not in a position to pay the remaining buy-back hence Dale must continue to work until such time we can pay off the buy-back having saved the money.

When we first signed up for the buy-back, nearly 3 years ago, we thought that Dale would just retire at the end of 2011. We didn't plan for the fact that he would net more in retirement than work, even though I worked through the numbers so carefully.

Through my investigating though I also read about the fact that Dale can take a terminal vacation (sounds horrid, like a lingering disease) then retire at the end of that vacation. Again I made spread sheets for various scenarios. We think that he can leave on vacation on Jan 3, just after the holiday pay, then retire in April sometime. If we save our money and play our cards right we might pull this off.

Little Town Traditions

The fun thing about driving is finding the unexpected, a little bit of local tradition, the vista and so it was on this day.

We'd stopped in Chetwynd for information on the roads and as we were leaving the lady said that we really should stop at the chainsaw sculpture competition. We just been viewing the sculptures around the town so thought that it might be fun to watch. She directed us to the recreation center and we were on our way.

Chainsaw sculpture is amazing in that the artists use chainsaws to carve out intricate details on these sculptures. Each artist starts with a huge log, about 2' across and about 4' long. Some have a photo hanging next to them and others have cut a piece of wood off then sketched out a basic design to cut. On one we could see the beginning of a bear head. We wished later that we could see the completed sculpture.

Roads thru Canada

Day 4

If you've ever thought about driving across Canada to Alaska I say go for it. But a word of caution, check with the visitors center of the town prior to taking a cutoff, especially if you have a deadline.

We had the idea that we wanted to go by Whistler to see where the Olympic ski events had taken place.  This was really great as we love the winter Olympics.  Unfortunately we did not check before heading out and, the road past Whistler is, as reported in the Milepost, the steepest grade in Canada. It also is very narrow and winding making for a very slow drive.

We stopped at the 100 mile house and inquired about the next cutoff as we were interested in taking the Cassiar Hwy north saving 100 miles  rather than heading east to the Alcan. We were advised that the Cassiar still had 2 sections of gravel and was winding so we decided to go with the Alcan. Except for a few stretches the Alaska Hwy is a very good road.

Unfortunately not every bit of advice can be heeded however. In Chetwynd we were advised to travel over the cutoff we were interested in taking as the fuel would be  cheaper in Hudson's Hope and there would be less traffic. We got to Hudson's Hope to find the most expensive fuel ever so went on to Alaska Hwy where fuel was even higher.  We drove south to Fort Nelson, found our fuel and continued on our way. Well one out of two isn't bad. 

The Perfect Picnic Spot

Day 3

The plan was to cross the border into Canada then catch the ferry on foot to Victoria.  Unfortunately we had stopped early to finally catch up on much needed sleep so ran very late. Kids were disappointed but we told them we'd find something fun to do.

Crossing the border was so easy this time. We had affidavits for each kid and Twinkies papers all in order. There was no line at all so we drove right up to the customs agent. She looked at our passports, asked the usual questions and sent us on our way.

We drove thru Vancouver finding nothing to do plus no parking for the RV and 5th wheel. Then we happened on Stanley park and remembered going there in 1984, returning from the Olympics.  We got off, and quoting the Bernstein bears searched for the perfect picnic spot.  Christabel wanted a picnic in the trees so after walking on a path she yelled "I've found the spot" but oops it was the road she saw not a flat grassy area. We did find a spot hiddden away near the totem poles for our picnic and it was truly the perfect picnic spot.

Revamping the Back Yard

We returned from Alaska to weeds everywhere in both in front and back landscaping and lawns; house was a mess and dirty. As we'd just lived in the RV for 3 weeks + it was also dirty and a total mess. I decided that we'd first clean out the entire RV, everything out and cleaned but just as we were getting everything out we needed to take our baby grand daughter for a few days. That was the end of cleaning for a couple of days, but we took the time to enjoy our baby before starting with the work, a great diversion.

Now the RV is clean and landscape weeding completed so have turned my attention to the back yard. As I have walked around my back yard I found that I was bored with the yard, it was weedy, and old looking. We have a wood frame swing but the wood was dirty and dull, herb planter boxes rotted and falling apart.

I've now spread a ton of grass seed, fertilizer and weed killer and now a much better lawn is coming up. One weed I'd looked up online and found it to be horribly invasive, needed a ton of chemicals. Well it turns out that it is wild bermuda, not a big deal; what a relief.

We took the swing completely apart and I've applied a coat of sealer on it. OMG, the wood is so amazingly beautiful. Cushion is washed then we will put it back together together. We will remove a ugly planter and place the swing in its place with redwood branches as a canopy. I'll attach photos after we have the swing up.

New herb garden planter boxes will be built next week with a slightly new design. Aloe Vera plants will be moved to the front landscaping to the front corner and the sago palm will also be transplanted to the front where all will fit with out southwest theme rather than under redwood trees blocked from the sun.

Next week I'll start painting the fascia board and then trim around the garage and doors. Gosh, our neighbors will be shocked that our house will actually look nice again.

Going Against the Grandkids Wishes

Day 2
On a grandkids trip it is sometimes best to make a decision against kids wishes and so we came to our adventure.
We were entering Washington and I wanted Elias and Christabel to see MT. St. Helens. The kids, on the other hand did not want to stop.

We decided to drop the 5th wheel at the visitors center in order to force kids up front to see the sites. We all piled into the truck and went on our way.

As we drove the kids were so impressed with the beauty that they started shooting photos from the truck windows. Then as we reached the area destroyed by the eruption they were amazed to see the trees down and barren ground  from the blast.

Sunny really wanted the kids to see the movie of the eruption showing at the visitors center so we did. The movie is quite dramatic showing the eruption, blast with trees snapping and flying,  and subsequent mud flows. 

After the movie we were looking at the exhibits in the center. Sunny and Christabel were at a display on earthquakes and hoping that they would see some movement.  Christabel started to walk away when the needle moved and Sunny called her back then the needle moved again. It moved again and again and the girls got so excited.  Then they looked up and saw the sign on making your own earthquake.

Finally on the road

Day 1

After all of the crazy stuff we finally drove away at 7:30a.m. Having packed all night I was glad that Dale was driving. Kids were sleeping in the RV so we just let them sleep. The great thing about a 5th wheel is that kids can ride in the back with radio contact so each kid has their own walkie talkie and we have ours.

Since we got a late start we decided to meet up with Clayton and Jen in Petaluma. We stopped at a rest stop but were in a hurry to get back on the road. As we were driving Sunny radioed that the rv keys were in the door and banging. I could see them in the mirror. We stopped as quickly as we could but the keys had fallen out. Yikes our only full set of RV keys too.

As we got into the city Christabel announced that she had no shoes. Fortunately a shoe store was near the restaurant so we picked up both shoes and socks.

After Petaluma the next stop was Arcata to meet up with Sunny's dad, our middle boy. He had the affidavit giving us the authorization to take her out of the country. We thought it would be fun to see the two little kids too. Since we don't take small grandkids on these trips we see them when we can.

We met at a Chinese buffet then spent the time to straighten out the RV. There under piles of stuff we found the lost shoes, not just one pair but two pairs that Christabel's mom had sent.

The California Oregon border couldn't come soon enough.

Off to Alaska

We have been to Alaska but while there found that I couldn't easily do a paste into this blog so for you who want to read about our Alaska trip I'm posting it here with photos:

Getting off to Alaska was more chaotic than any trip I can remember. I've been so busy with building some new farmers markets that the trip was put on back burner. Then, suddenly we had only two days to prepare but the workers for our markets couldn't make it so I had to work. Yesterday I finally had to start getting ready for this 3r week trip.

Early in the morning I went to get a bowl of cereal and found the milk from the fridge warm, not a good sign. As the morning went on I found that other items were not as cold as they should be and by afternoon found the fridge temp to be 81°. I got the fridge cleaned out and a few items into a neighbors fridge to keep.

After a full day of laundry, fridge stuff, answering market questions, helping grandkids, everyone went to sleep. By 3:30a.m. I was ready to load up the RV but ever so tired. I took clothes and stuff out by the armfull and with the 5 of us going there was plenty. I wanted to put every thing away but grandkids were sleeping in the RV just piling was sufficient. The plan became "get everything into the RV and get out of here".

Of course the freezer had to join the party and quit but a neighbor was awake early and took the food I really wanted to keep.

So now we are on our way, the first leg.

More and More Farmers Markets.

Last week we were invited to sell our almond products at 2 farmers markets in Bakersfield, these are new markets just opening so I went and just visited the sites. The 2 markets are very small so it is mostly babysitting the product and introducing ourselves but hopefully the markets will grow and be profitable. It is fun being a part of a new market though and getting to see where it goes. Today I worked both just to make sure everything goes right when I send employees next week.

Many farmers markets do not want much competition between vendors so we have not been able to get into other markets that sell almonds. That being said we were unable to get into the largest market in Bakersfield because another almond vendor was in that market. Just this last week the vendor decided to quit the market as they were not making any money. Apparently the son didn’t like to sell so the parents didn’t make any money. Too bad for them but our gain.

We jumped into that market asking the manager on Wed if we could take the almond spot on Sat morning to which he said yes. Then the manager called and asked if we’d also work the street fair on Thursday night.  We ran completely out of product by Thursday night so I had to make a run to my son’s to pick up more of everything.

Now we have just been invited into another new market on Sat mornings in Bakersfield. This makes 5 new markets in one week!!!

What is so great is that my son and I are able to hire people and give them work; we now have 5 new employees in Bakersfield.  Things are booming here, no sign of a recession.

Balancing Work for Money v The Passion

I’ve been fighting some depression this afternoon. I’d started writing estimates for a contractor and when the requests come in the money should be great. We had a fee schedule that we had agreed upon; they’d suggest the rates even. This is the work I do in order to follow my passions.

Today I was going over the budget for our Alaska trip and looking at income due still and the remaining expenses. I’m still owed $1,000 from the contractor for an estimate written over 2 weeks now. I can stop in and get a check but I’d just like for them to drop it in the mail quickly, like they needed the estimate written.

As I was thinking about the contractor I reflected on the 2 prior estimates; one totaled several hundred thousand dollars with an agreed upon percentage to me. For that one the contractor asked if I’d take $500 up front and then the remainder if they got the contract. I could understand as it would cost the contractor quite a bit if they didn’t get the contract, however I was unhappy as we had an agreed upon schedule. Then the next estimate was very high but again they asked if I’d take $500 up front. I said ok but the next time I’d want a higher percentage of the estimate.

I’ve only received about 1 estimate request per week lately, then last week they called late on Sunday night but I was in Northern Cal and couldn’t get back in time for the early Monday a.m. appointment. When I returned Tuesday the estimate had been completed by someone else. There were no other estimates this week.

Now what is depressing is that I’ll likely need to put myself back into the Cat adjusting pool. The money is good but I must travel across the country by myself, working a ton of hours. Worse yet is that I must leave the businesses that I’ve been working so hard on behind. I’ll have no time to work on anything but adjusting claims. My husband said “well you will be back and can just pick up where you left off”. Great, leave everything in limbo for 6 weeks to 2 months and then come back and just pick up where I left off. I’ve done this before and when I get back everything is in disarray and I’ve lost all of the business that I’d worked so hard on.

I’d decided to just give up entirely on all of the businesses and was really set on dumping them but then thought of my nieces, my granddaughters and the neighbor girls. They all look up to me to be steady in the face of adversity. My niece only recently said that she takes after me with all her endeavors. I always encourage them to try, don’t give up but try again and I believe in them. How can I just give up in front of them and how will they believe in me if I give up.

I’m kicking myself in the butt and making myself rethink how to make life work now. And maybe things will turn around here; I mean really who knows what changes tomorrow will bring. Hope none of the girls read this blog!