117. Consternation

Consternation is the word for the day.  We have babied sweet pea seeds for a couple of weeks now and they have prospered reaching a height of three to four inches.  Netting is waiting to be installed for the vines to travel up and display their glorious flowers.  This particular planter has been spared the dreaded gophers for years.  They have only been toying with me, giving me a false sense of security, waiting for the right moment to strike.  Strike they did!  Half of the hopeful vines have been devoured.  Gone, gone, gone with only the gopher's tell tale mound and gaping hole left to remind me of their treachery.  Wicked, wicked vile creatures.

We have learned to live with the deer, even enjoy watching them, especially this time of year when the babies are in tow.  We have figured out what they don't eat and all is good.  But the gopher is an elusive creature who only leaves behind ruin and has, as far as I can tell, not one redeeming quality.  

We had the best garden ever when we lived in Nipomo, CA several years ago.  It was a thing of beauty.  The yellow crookneck squash plants were so big I could kneel down behind it and completely disappear.  Gophers were a problem then, as well.  Bob, the great white hunter, would take his hand gun and a flashlight and undercover of darkness lay in wait for the little beasts to dare to show their beady eyes.  We would hear a pop and usually a few choice words and then silence.  One night in particular he bagged one that, I swear, looked as big as a cat

Of all the plants though, and there were row upon row, the lowly garlic remained untouched.  We laughed and said we should have just planted garlic.  Then one Saturday morning as we surveyed the fruits of our labors, Bob suddenly started hollering and filling the air with blue language.  It seems that it wasn't that the gopher didn't like garlic, they simply waited until the bulbs were big enough to suit them.  Discriminating taste those little ba@&#*%$!  They had eaten two whole rows of almost ready for the cooking pan beautiful garlic!

I'm trying to tell myself that all of God's creatures have a right to make a living and we should live in peace will each and everyone of them.  Most days I'm in full agreement with that sentiment but the only thing that keeps me from digging up the whole yard in search of the little devil is the fact that it is, after all, Sunday.

116. Having Company is Just Grand!

Having company is just grand, especially now that we have more room because of the re-model.  The dining room makes meals so much more enjoyable!  My sister, Becky, and her husband, Terry, came up for the weekend and we had such a good visit.  Friday night after dinner at "Jocko's" in Nipomo we went to the Clark Center and saw Leon Redbone in concert.  I suppose he is an acquired taste, but Bob and I love his easy very old fashioned style.  Mostly music from the 30's I would guess.  I know our company had never heard of him but they were game enough to join us.  Leon has to be 80, if not then he's hugging it close.  Bob and I both wanted to hear him sing "Champaign Charlie" and he took requests from the audience so, Yippee!  You can decide for your self, thanks to the fabulous internet. 

 

We had planned to go to a day faire called "Remnants of the Past," but Country Living Magazine foiled that.  A lovely, for them, four page article caused an influx of people that was not to be believed.  After standing in line for the shuttle bus for some time, we starting talking to the people leaving the bus and the general consensus was it was way too crowded to pay $7. a head and be disapointed not be able to see anything.  We voted to try in October at the next show and get there at the crack of dawn.

We headed back to the freeway and spent a nice hour browsing  around the Windmill Winery and Gift Shop.  They were taking advantage of the crowd by having quite a sale and food sampling.  So we complied.

It was a great weekend and we are looking forward to the October show.  It's always fun to spend time with loved ones who turn out to be good friends.

115. Computers...Bah Humbug!

I have spent days trying to access my account in order to post blogs.  It has taken all but an act of congress to solve all of the issues.  Finally I have been successful.  Ta Dah!

114. Nothing Like Your Own Bed!

There really is nothing like your own bed.  Snuggling into your  little nest  with the  perfect weight of

blankets is so restorative.  We rotate our mattress regularly but we've had it so long that I guess each side has that perfect fit.  Falling asleep is really easy now with the sound of the water flowing in the creek across the road.  The frogs have hatched from their eggs that have laid dormant waiting for just the right conditions and have burst into song. It's almost like they have choir director because they sing loudly and then stop on que, dead silence and then in unison start all over again. 

We've been gone for several days attending a long awaited wedding in Arizona.  Sweet Jenny has found the love of her life and the wedding was wonderful.  It is such an exciting event and brings loved ones from far and wide.  We were finally able to put faces to names of spouses and children that we hadn't met yet.  As with really good friends, we picked up where we had left off several years ago and you would swear that we had just seen each other last week.

It turned out that the wedding and festivities were held in the same town, Queen Creek, as our friend, Jill,  so we were blessed with another family reunion!  What a treat!  Jill is the daughter of our long time friend, Jeff Steinmetz.  She and her beautiful daughter, Ashlyn, 17, shared their lovely home with us.  What wonderful hostess' they were!  

The drive to the Phoenix area is about ten hours from our canyon so we decided to break up the trip by staying at the Wigwam Motel on Route 66 in Rialto.  When we were both young we dreamed of staying there, but Wigwam was just too close to home and neither of our parents could justify staying there on our way east on vacation.  It was such fun!  They have recently been restored and were just beautiful!  Our wigwam had a sitting area with a comfy couch and a wide screen television.  The walls are so thick that you couldn't hear a sound from the busy road a stone's throw away.  What a good time we had reaching a
childhood dream!

All in all it was a great time with well wishes to the bride and groom and hugs and kisses around the room.  We are always glad to get away and really glad to get back home.  The PT drove great and it's always good  to have one more thing to checked off the "bucket list!"