127. Ahh, Country Life.

It's finally hot in the canyon.  I guess June Gloom is gone and summer is here.  That means the deer will be venturing down in the meadows for something cool to drink and green to eat.  Which means the new olive tree we planted and the little dwarf plum tree that has out grown it's fencing.  A trip to the hardware store was on the agenda yesterday to buy a roll of poultry wire for cages and a smaller gauge wire to bum fuddle the gopher.  

The dog hair trick does seem keep them from coming back to those particular holes.  So, I suppose I will have to fill the yard with said hair, but that's OK, as I have time and hair.  Preston, our grandson, was helping me do that last week.  He stopped dead in his tracks and said "Mema, do I have to do the upper and lower meadow, too?"  I laughed at the look on his face and said, "No, baby, we don't care what they do there."  He was visibly relieved.  

I probably wouldn't have taken the dwarf plum when it was offered, if I had given it any thought, because it will forever be in a cage...dwarf...that means buffet height for deer.  Sometimes I'm a little slow on the up take.  Ahh, well, such is life in the country.  I wouldn't trade it for a second, not one second.  Sometimes I wonder how we ever lived in town.  Funny how things happen.  I'm glad there are lots of chapters in our book and this is a particularly good one...now if only Trisha and Robby would come back from the far away Switzerland.  Heavy sigh.

126. Get Up, Get Out and Have a Little Fun!

What a great weekend we had thanks in large part to our good friends Polly and Phil.  We live an hour apart so we usually have sleep overs when we get together, which makes things really relaxed.  Laughter and good food always abound and usually accompanied with a little vino.  

This time we spent Saturday afternoon and evening at a "Willie Nelson Throw-down Tour."  You don't often get to see a Living Legend sing, especially at a venue like the Pozo Saloon, not a concert hall or convention center.  It's way out in the country in a most beautiful tree filled setting, essentially a pasture.  The crowd couldn't have had better manners.  Oh there was the occasional tipsy frolicker and one or two that we took bets on as to when they would simply dissolve in a heap.  But other than that the whole day went without a hitch. 

There were three stages and probably twenty entertainers whose sets rolled along seamlessly through the afternoon and evening.  The roadies quietly and systematically set up and tore down each entertainers equipment and then as the evening wore on did the same with the stages.  It was like a ballet, so much so that you had to really pay attention to see it all happen.
Please go to their site and see the fabulous pictures of their concert area photos. 

The Saloon was built in 1858 and Willie should have felt right at home because it is very reminiscent of Luckenbach, Texas, a favorite watering hole way out of town in the Hill Country.  It used to be a post office and saloon now it's just the saloon since the post office closed and everybody who is any body has played at Luckenbach.  

http://www.pozosaloon.com/what_they_say_about_us.htm

Sunday morning, after a sumptuous breakfast,  Polly and Phil's beautiful granddaughter, Kira, came over to entertain us with her wonderful slides of her semester abroad experience in AFRICA!  Tanzania and Kenya were her destinations and what an experience she had!  We put in our request for copies of our favorite photos.  One in particular stole our hearts of Mt. Kilimanjaro in clouds with a small herd of giraffe in the foreground.  Amazing!  She was kind enough to bring us sand from both areas, which, of course, pleases us no end.  As if that wasn't enough, Kira presented me with a beaded necklace made by a Masai woman.  I hadn't even made it home before a young man at Trader Joe's said "Wow, beautiful necklace!"  I said casually, "A gift from AFRICA!"

After such a good weekend, all I can say is "Get up, get out and have a little FUN!"

125. What a View!

I find myself with six over ripe peaches.  It is not in me to toss them so I'm going to simmer them and with a little cornstarch to the liquid I'll have lovely peaches in syrup to serve over the extra biscuits that I made for Bob this morning.  It's Father's Day and he elected to have a pork chop, eggs and biscuits. 

We celebrated at Bud's house yesterday with tri-tip and ribs.  Yum! The fellows went to the car show in Pismo Beach.  Patty and I visited while she trimmed the beautiful bank of white roses that line their fence.  There are few places you could live that have their magnificent view.   It is an unobstructed expanse of ocean.  Their place is small but the front yard goes on forever.

Preston is going to come visiting three days every other week this summer.  We have made a schedule and plans to fill the days.  One day we will head to the Santa Barbara Zoo for a picnic and a view of the new baby giraffe.  When the zoo was gifted the momma no one knew she was pregnant.  Surprise!  Preston wants to earn some money so we have fences to paint and probably a rock safari or two...a girl can't have too many rocks.  I have my eye on a tree that I think needs a platform for sitting.  Heavy sigh from Bob.   So, I think we can fill the summer with a little fun.  We will eat our fill of pancakes and Rocky Road ice cream and throw in a bit of target practice with the ol' Red Rider B B guns.  I'll have to check the ammo.  It wouldn't do to be short of that.  And to think, my grandmother's idea of fun was to have me polish the apples in the bowl on the dining room table.

124. People Can Be So Clever!

Creative juices flow in so many different ways and it never ceases to amaze me.  Our friends, Polly and Phil, sent us an email the other day and I know when it comes from them it will be worth opening.  This one was especially good, good enough that I'm compelled to share it.  The subject said

"Well, the church refused my cookies for the bake sale."

Absolutely precious!  I have to ask though, "Where are the Grannie panties?"

123. Some Things Never End

There are some things in life that never seem to end.  Dusting is one of those things...I guess cleaning in general.  Inside the house and outside the house cleaning goes on and on and on.  I'm focusing on one event in particular this morning.  I know I've spent a lot of time on the weed abatement issue, but also on that particular list is a really large branch of an old oak tree.  We had quite a wind storm about three weeks ago and the branch let go.  It was actually about half of the tree.  Fortunately, for us and the swing, it fell into the lower meadow.   We talked about it and then pretended it didn't happen until yesterday.  We had been so busy and had made the trip to L.A. and Pomona three times in ten days that the tree just had to wait.  Besides, it's not like someone else is going to deal with it, right?

So yesterday afternoon Bob fired up Bud's chain saw and we started in.  What a job it has turned out to be.  Oak is such wonderful wood for B-B-Qing and Franklin stove fires that we were able to add quite a lot to our stack.  It has been

quite an undertaking and with two days under our belts there is still lots to contend with.  Hopefully we can get the logs up from the meadow in the back of the car.  Using the wheelbarrow would be a chore.

Bob loves his hard hat, face guard, sound suppressing ear phone equipment!  Money well spent!

The Barn Owl box is mounted above the work shop.  Since Bob can't get on his knees, I had to brave two ladders and do the final installation.  He's not a happy camper when I have to do things like that.  I tried not to look down and concentrated on not to forget where I was because it was a long drop down.

I hope we don't have to wait until spring for nesting time to have occupancy!  That would be make us sad.   I'll have to do more reading on the subject.  I only researched the particulars for building the box.  All the articles I read seem to think that they will just find it.  I certainly hope that is the case as we are just so anxious to have new neighbors, especially those of baby bird raising age!

122. Barn Owls Where Are You?

Supposedly, if you build a Barn Owl box they will come.  We are banking on that.  I know we have owls in the area because we see them fly over occasionally when we are in the hot tub at night.  You can hear them, as well.  Bob is placing the beauty he just finished yesterday on a post high above the work shop.

 I'm so happy with it.  What well heeled Barn Owl wouldn't be happy to raise babies in that deluxe model?  It has a back door that opens so we can clean it out, which we are hoping we have to do.  Gophers beware there's a new danger a comin'!

I think we are gaining ground on the gopher that has been ravaging my gazenia bed.  My friend, Buffy, said they didn't like human hair.  Well, I'm hoping they feel the same way about dog hair, which I have an abundance of.  I groom Maggie every month and the shop vac is full...well, it was full.  Every time I find a hole anywhere in the area around the house I fill it with a handful of her clippings.  They don't seem to come back to that hole.  The jury is still out, but the wire lined planter is still filled with flowers and I have enough wire to do the other half.  You do have to extend the wire about 4 inches above the ground though.  It may not be quite as aesthetically pleasing, but rocks help hide it and we have an abundance of rocks, much to Bob's chagrin.  

So if you hear of any Barn Owls that are in the market for a deluxe apartment in the sky, send them our way and we will make it worth their time.  All the fat gophers they can eat with maid service no less!

I seem to be gaining ground on keeping the gophers at bay in the front

121. Hmmm, Now Where is That?

Well, here we are at Peg and Jim Adkins home for

a warm-up gathering before the 50th class reunion of Pomona High Class of 1961.  What a great time we had.  We are blessed with so many friends from our school days!  It was a great time and place to grow up.  Things were safe enough for kids to be kids and do goofy things with out drugs.  Imagine that!

The reunion itself went off without a hitch.  A nice crowd without being too large, the DJ was kind enough to play the music so we could still visit, the dinner was edible and the cheesecake was fabulous!  I think the alum that came from the farthest was from Canada. 

I still have my Adelphis Tri-Hi-YMCA Club sweatshirt, but neglected to wear it.  Actually it is in the storage building in my hope chest.  But, by golly, I'll wear it to the next one.  That will be a good reason to clean things out and find it.  I have to play head games with myself to get projects like that done.  The 55th reunion will give me an incentive and I have five whole years to unload it.  I think I'll have gals sign it.  Remember the old autograph hounds?  Little stuffed dogs that everyone signed.  I think I had one of those, too.  Hmmm, I wonder where that is?  I say that a lot now a days but it's usually in reference to something that I just had in my hand.  Sound familiar?

120. It Works! It Really Works!

We discovered something really wonderful while we getting things ready for our trip to Pomona for the class reunion.  Bob always likes it when I wear my old charm bracelet and it was getting so tarnished that it would get my clothes dirty.  Trying to clean it with a toothbrush and silver polish was just a mess and not very successful.  Then I remembered that our son, Bud, had told me about cleaning a silver ring with vinegar and foil and I couldn't remember what else.

I got on the internet and googled "clean silver/vinegar" and there were pages and pages of results.  This was so simple and worked like magic!  Oh, the wonders of vinegar!  Don't let Heinz know because they will charge more for such a miracle worker.  I'll bet there are more than 101 uses for the fine, fine liquid.

Cleaning Silver With Aluminum Foil and Vinegar

Aluminum foil and vinegar can be used to clean tarnished silver because of a chemical process called ion exchange.  A vinegar and salt solution transfers some of the silver molecules to the foil, removing the tarnished surface and showing the bright silver beneath.  Since the process uses common household items, you can avoid the expense and potential risk of keeping commercial tarnish-removers around the house and clean silver whenever you need to.  This process may clean tarnish from the crevices of raised designs also, so watch the cleaning process and remove the item before the the crevices are clean.  That way you don't risk losing the dark areas which emphasize the design.

1.  Pour 1 cup of warm water into a 2 cup glass or ceramic container.  Stir in 1 T. salt and 1 T. vinegar until they are dissolved.
2.  Add a 3-inch square piece of aluminum foil.
3.  Submerge the silver that you want clean so that it weighs down the foil.  Make sure both the silver and the foil are completely under the water and the item rests on the foil.  Let everything soak for an hour.
4.  Remove the silver and rinse it in clear water.  Rub it with a soft cloth to remove the remaining tarnish and dry it with a dry cloth.  Discard the vinegar solution.

Solution can be doubled or even larger keeping the ingredients in proportion.

ie: 2c water/2T. salt/2 T.vinegar/ larger piece of foil, etc. Simple.

 Here you see my very old, very dirty silver.









                                                                            Here you see the same silver only now  sparkling clean after the 60 minute soak.  I have to say I was impressed and it couldn't have been simpler.             

I don't own too many large pieces of silver, but I assure you I will use this recipe when I need to clean anything silver.  It works!  It really works!  Kudos to the not so lowly vinegar.  Long may she reign!

                                                                     

119. TLC

We are taking advantage of the June Gloom here in our canyon to finish the weed abatement.  The new heavy duty gas weed whacker that Bob got for his birthday makes the job so much easier without the cord to contend with.  It's the least I could do with it being his birthday and all.  He will be 71 on Sunday and the weather isn't the only "gloom."  Oh, not really, his arthritis makes him pretty miserable most of the time and the overcast weather just makes it worse, but he doesn't let it stop him.  I had to lay down some guidelines for the rest of the week though because we are going to my 50th class reunion on Saturday and I intend to do a little dancing and I would like it to be with him.  If I don't make him be sensible he will go till he drops and then not be able to move for a couple of days.

It's so hard to believe that it will be my 50th reunion.  Where did the time go?  I feel 40 until I look in the mirror and I have to stop and think...Good grief...that strange old lady is me!  Gravity is a hateful thing.  I've learned to be careful when I wave to folks that I do so in a manner that keeps the skin on the under side of my upper arm from flopping around.  I'm so happy to have met my goal weight and life time status with Weight Watchers, but it didn't help the wrinkle factor.  I guess you really can't have the "Whole Enchilada."

The battle with the gophers in the one flower bed is still raging.  I have learned that they are like a mouse in that if there is one tiny little place in the wire that doesn't meet and they can get their head through it's good bye gazenia.  I've tried gum down the hole...the jury is still out on that.  I'll keep it up because they don't seem to come back to that particular hole.  I'm using rubber gloves so there is none of my scent on the gum, a tip from our friendly neighborhood OSH gentleman.  My friend, Buffy, told me to scatter human hair in the bed.  I thought that only worked on deer, but be assured the next time I get a hair cut I'll be well armed and we will give that one a whirl.

We moved most of the big gazenias to a different bed until we do in the Menace of the Underworld because I'm not buying more, I propagate my own in a concrete lined bed.  We'd go broke trying to keep flowers otherwise.  My friend, Polly, says that is the secret of gardening, to find plants that live and actually thrive in the environment that you provide.  Well, in my yard it seems to be lavendar, Euryopsis daisies, pansies and gazenias.  We have a couple of geraniums, as well.  All of these plants will propogate by sticking a little piece in damp soil except the pansies.  The gazenia provide their own seeds that grow like mad...well, grow like what I call mad.  Being gardening disabled, I definitely do not have a yard that looks like Butchart Gardens, but it makes us happy.  

The apple tree that we took to task in the fall is really happy.  We knew it would be sink or swim and it looks like the verdict was swim!  Like all the rest of us, all it needed was a little TLC.  That's what it takes with everything, just a little tending, TLC.  Delicious!   

118. A Very Big Day

 

Well, I have to admit pride in myself.  I know it's not very pretty to be prideful, but darn it, I think I deserve a pat on the back.  Bob, of course, has been giving me kudos all the way, as have many other friends and family.  Today I receive my Life Time membership into Weight Watchers! Hip Hip Hooray!  It has taken a probably inordinate amount of time...two years...almost to the day, to lose forty pounds.  Now I can go to meetings for the sum of NOTHING, that's right, nothing!  All the support I need for free.  That was my goal, to lose the weight and reach Life Time member status.  

I have learned so much over that time.  Tracking what I eat and the points plus values has been such a help and learning about portion control...Yikes!  That was an eye opener!  It's so easy to get comfortable and make those portions bigger.  Everything just tastes so dog-gon good and I love to cook, so there comes the rub.

With a stack of new cook books, the internet and hungry-girl.com we have turned the corner and aren't looking back.  I'm not a fan of sugar-free or fat-free products so I try to par down the calories in other ways.  I do use Truvia if I need an extra bit of sweetening.  Bob's mom and I were big fans of Adele Davis, a big health food guru back in the 60's.  I'm a believer!  I still use wheat germ and by golly it's been back in the news for it's health benefits.  As long as it doesn't taste too healthy, Bob's in there with me.  Having said that, he really just wants plenty and often.  Someone asked me the other day if he was picky about food, I just said, "No, not at all.  I just know what he doesn't like and I don't fix it."  Life can be pretty simple, mostly if you pay attention.