4/20 Anderson

Very nice Spring  week end minus any sight of rain.  The temperature today is about 80 with a steady breeze.  It has been blowing all week no break at all for that wind.  We really do need some rain - the yard and pasture are starting to turn without any water.  I hand watered the trees each day by pouring 3 five gallon buckets on each tree.  Hope they survive the next two weeks without water.   I am concerned about the 20 sweet gum trees that are adjacent to the driveway.  I did give them a good soaking but that may not last for 2 weeks.  I suspect our irrigation water will be coming in a week or so - that will certainly help the trees and the pasture.  We don't have any animals on the pasture at this time so it looks pretty lush. 

They had the Kool April Night Cruise last night in Redding.  They had thousands of people lining the streets to watch the classics.  They had about 1400 vehicles this year - in years past the number was greater than 2000 vehicles.  The whole week is devoted to car show events and it will all be over on Sunday.  This event does bring in some good business for the locals and lots of fun for the old and young.   Here is a URL for some video showing the some of the cars on the cruise last night
http://www.redding.com/videos/detail/2013-kool-april-nites

Two weeks ago we had a couple of new calves from the cows in the adjoining pasture.  We now have 4 little ones to join the herd.  One of the other cows lost her calf and is still down.  People have provided the cow with water and food but she has not stood up in the 2 days that we have been here.  The vaulters are picking on the dead calf so they moved it to the berry patch nearby.  We speculate that the cow  had some kind of complications with the birth and was not able to tend to the calf.   Sometimes nature it is not very nice?

Kathy is busy creating art for her Journal - I think it has 30 pages or so and she is determined to fill it up with artwork.  In the interim she has created another Journal to work on after she finished this one.  This artwork sure keeps her busy and she enjoys the creativity and feedback from her artist community.  She continues to learn and grow with the class she is taking. 

Several weeks ago we got a letter from our HOA advising us that our pepper trees in the back yard at too big.  I did some trimming on the trees after that letter and last week we got our second notice - they acknowledged that some trimming was done but the tree canopy and root balls are much to big for the area and the branches are hanging over the neighbors fence.  We have had  issues with those neighbors for many years over those pepper trees - they have asked us many times to cut them down as the trees are very dirty and debris falls into their pool.  This issue is not going away so we will likely be forced to remove them in the future - expensive propotion at 2 K or more...  If  the truth were know, I would much prefer removing the two large trees in the front yard instead of the back yard.  Our lot is really not that large and we have a grand total of 32 trees last count.  Watch this space - - more to come on the fate of the pepper trees for sure!!

Finally got some golf ball sales last week, I was supposed to have a sale here in Redding yesterday but that did not work out.  I messed that sale up for sure - - request came in from Craigs list from a person named Stacey. I went back and forth with this person and at one point I suggested that she may like Noodles or Precept golf balls, those are favorites for the ladies.  I got a reply back announcing that this person was a male and his mother named it Stacey.  I did not respond back to the flub up - sure messed up that order, learned a lesson though.  I did play golf with some friends last Saturday at Los Positas in Livermore - we had a great time and it was nice to see them again. 

Not much else for news - - hope you have a nice week end and a great week.

More later.

Ron, Kathy, Tessie and Sammie ( the cat)

April 6 - Anderson

Spring has bestowed many things upon us this week.  We finally got some rain - - not much a little goes a long way.  It has been very mild, a little windy and overcast most of the week.  The weather forecast is calling for 80 next week and the high this week was 65 or so?   Spring is certainly a beautiful time of the year in these parts.  We don't have any animals on the pasture so it looks especially green and nice.  We will soon start seeing the higher temperatures and the green will turn to golden brown as usual.  Not sure when we start the irrigation - likely around the 1st of May or so - that should help keep the pasture a little greener?

We have been here in Anderson all week on Spring Break - good time for Kathy to get recharged.  We did have a nice week sure went fast now we need to start thinking about getting back to our routine.  Kathy took some pics of the beautiful clouds and surroundings, we sure have some great sunrise and sunset sky's - each one is worth a picture so we just take the time out to enjoy them.

During the week one of Redding's finest peeps was caught on a video that ended up going viral on YouTube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fUlFuwTueM&feature=player_detailpage.   As you can see this creative creature of nature was in the need for something at a local market and tried his best to gain entry into the establishment.  It was hard to believe that this was real - thought it might be scripted but then I came to the realization that it did happened in Redding and this kind of act seems pretty common in these times.  The local police and news put out a call for information on guy - hard to imagine he could hide out very long?   Sorry if you have already seen this  - just had to share it once again!!

Kathy has been very busy this week with her artwork.  She is working on big project - she made an art journal with 32 pages and she's working on filling it up.  The task is to create some type of artwork on each page.  She is over half way done and the process is slower than she realized - she has come to the conclusion that you can/t force art?!  When she finishes each page she posts it on her Facebook to share with her other art students, she likes the feedback.  On Wednesday or so - someone who is following her work has commissioned Kathy for a piece of art.  Kathy is in the middle of creating that work now and feels the pressure to perform.  She now feels the difference between practice and production.  Kathy's work/play and world is never boring for sure!!??

Art Journal Pages

Work In Progress - Blessed Virgin Mary Icon - patron wanted a contemporary version with a countenance of peace/joy

 

Finished
 

Early, I mentioned how nice this time of the year is - another need thing about the Spring is the arrival of new critters.  Sometime during the night or early morning one of the cows in the adjoining pasture had a new calf - interesting to watch how the mom and other cows take to the addition to the family.  It will be nice to watch this little one grow and I would imagine there will be more from the herd - we have about 6 adults and 6 yearlings in the herd.  Later today I will collect up the grass clippings and toss it over the fence for them - they seem to like trimmed grass, guess they don't have to work for it.  These cows have a interesting habit - they routinely gather in front of a big blueberry patch which faces our back yard.  The cows work their butts into the vines then move their heads side to side for a nice body/butt  scratch - those little prickly vines seem to produce a nice scratching post for the cows.   OK - fine, get a life, who spends their time watching cows scratch their backs and body?



Newest addition to the pasture

And another one, born just this afternoon!

Not much for news - - nice quiet week here, hope you had the same!!   Enjoy

More later

Ron, Kathy, Tessie and Sammie ( the cat)