State Flower

The Golden Poppy is California's state flower. It it illegal to pick the wild blooms, but it is legal to take their picture. The Golden Poppy became the state flower in 1903. April 6 is Golden Poppy Day and in May there is a Golden Poppy Week. I write this because I've never celebrated Golden Poppy Day nor Golden Poppy Week. It must be a deep dark secret that only the poppies know about. 

Right now, there's a patch of poppies blooming beside the highway. The rain we had over the weekend probably encouraged them to grow. 

I like this picture because of the shadows on the petals.

If you look closely, you will also see pollen dusting the flower. Since these poppies are blooming right now, I'm guessing they will not be in bloom on Golden Poppy Day in April.

Hiding among the poppies are some yellow and orange daisies. They are an extra treat!

Two Strange Plants

Do you know what that large curving object is? I don't either. I think it's a succulent type plant and I think it is blooming. There are many of these "blooms" in Santa Barbara right now. It's one heckuva flower!

Then there is this plant. It has a thorn or spike or prickle every inch. There's absolutely no way you can touch this plant without getting hurt. It might make a good fence, as long as you did not need to get to the other side. 

Mother Nature sure has some interesting attention getting tricks. 

Memory Lane

When I was 9 our neighbor bought a shiny black Thunderbird that had two tops--a hardtop with a porthole window, and a soft-top. He brought the 3 seater to our house and took everyone for rides. What a treat! The car had a bench seat and I think we crammed 4 little kids into the car. He put the soft top down and we raced thru the hills. My hair got so tangled, it took at least a week to get all the snarls out. I loved that car. 

A couple of days ago I saw this car

while not black, it was the same model. The porthole window in the hardtop...and even a bench seat! It brought back some fine old memories. 

What a sensation that car made. 

I never forgot that experience, but it was not until 1992 when I bought a Thunderbird. It was a hardtop and nothing very special. In fact the car was at the end of the product line. It was not considered sexy or sporty...it was just a model that had run its course. Given that, I kept it for 8 years, put a lot of miles on it and it NEVER needed a repair. It worked all the time. It was one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned. 

Where Did It Go?

In case you are wondering, the 'It' is Lake Cachuma. Here's a picture of the Lake that leads to an area called Harvey's Cove. There has not been any water in Harvey's Cove for so long, the grass and weeds are 2-3 feet high.Small shrubs are growing where there should be clear blue water. At the other end of the Cove there's a nice little fishing bridge, which has not been used in a long time because there's no water to support the pontoons keeping the bridge afloat. 

Here you can see vestiges of the old road that has been submerged for several years. If you look at the water line on the far shore, you can see where the "white" ends, and the "green" starts...there's about 40-50 feet between the water level and the top of the "white." The good news...a rain storm is coming this weekend. I hope the next set of pictures I take from these two locations show some change in the "right" direction.

Question

Nestled in a small spot under a bush was this...

Clearly a water dish for a pet, probably a large dog, named Bear. Who was Bear? How did his bowl end up at the Keck Park? Did Bear belong to Ms. Keck? Or did the owner of Bear hide it in the park, because it was one of Bear's favorite places? I don't know. I just saw the bowl and immediately I envisioned a big floppy dog, Bear, who used to frolic in the park with his person...you can imagine the rest of the story I'm sure.

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara has some of the prettiest architecture in California. It's fun to drive up and down the narrow streets and look at some fine big old homes and gardens. I could not take pictures of all of them...but here are a few.

You'll see this home on your way to the Mission. It has a dog in front, which I'm told is decorated on all major holidays. Alas, he was not decorated now...maybe he will get a Valentine's Day make-over soon.

I love the side entrance.

Then we saw this "little" home...

 ...with its own circular room...and look at the delicate fretwork on the gable.

But I'm ending with a mosaic boulder. I'm sorry there is no scale to show the size of this rock, but take my word that it would take more than one person to pick it up. Isn't this a delightful piece of whimsy to anchor one part of a garden? I just love it. 

Bath Day for Ducks

It was Sunday, but the ducks were taking baths anyway! I guess they did not know that they were supposed to bathe on Saturday. Whatever the case, the mallards were having a grand time splashing each other and preening.

These two were posing ever so nicely, until I clicked the camera...so much for static birds!

One duck did a walk-about to check out a person. But, when the fellow started talking to the duck, the duck just ignored him. It's the duck's park and the people are mere visitors.

The ducks have their own private lake and tolerate the people I guess.

As you can see, not all the ducks are mallards...here's a mallard mix. He definitely has the green mallard head...

but I'm guessing he's part "domestic" duck too. Sadly he has a broken wing. He's found a home at the Park, and he seems happy. 

The Alice Keck Park is a place for both ducks and people.

Blossoms and Flowers

DYesterday we walked thru the Alice Keck Garden in Santa Barbara. What a delightful place. It's still wintertime, but a few plants were doing their best to show off.

The trumpet flowers were over a foot long, ranging in color from yellow to peach to white.

There were hibiscus of the "normal" variety, but also an unusual variety.

Even a few trees were blooming.

I'll share more of the garden throughout the week. 

Big Bang

For folks who like the Big Bang Theory, you might like the following:

I was going to photoshop the bugs away, but after looking at the picture I decided they needed to stay. I wonder how many people have smiled at this license plate. I know I did! 

For those who have not seen Sheldon, Leonard, Penny and the rest of the gang on Big Bang Theory, you need to tune in to a couple of episodes, and you will figure out what it means. I could give it away, but that would not be any fun at all!

In Lieu of Walking

In late November I was diagnosed with a heel spur that irritated the plantar muscle in my right foot. I have a classic case of plantar fasciitis. This makes walking HURT to say the least. This has put a big crimp in my morning walks.

Thanks to the internet I've been able to find a bunch of exercises for plantar fasciitis and they are helping. If I wear sturdy shoes and don't take my 2 mile walks, my foot feels pretty good most of the time, but I miss my morning walks. To that end, I bought a bike yesterday!

It's an 18 speed mountain bike with wide tires. It's blue. I was hoping the wide tires would slow me down...and I think it does. Now I can get a little bit of exercise. It's a different type of exercise than walking. Since I'm not brave enough to shift the thing into another gear, I'm using only one speed...and that makes going uphill a challenge but downhill is a breeze. This morning I did 3 laps around the campground. It felt great to be outside in the morning. It's great fun and a little bit of exercise too. 

PS...One day later..I have discovered how to shift the gears! It is still hard work going up an incline, but it is a bit easier.

On a Roll

I just completed my 4th blanket for the year...not too bad considering that it's still January. I'm afriad, I'm in a rut, as I'm using the same pattern. I like the pattern a lot...and it shows, as I make it all the time. 

        

I've started the next blanket and it's altogether different! 

Happy Birthday

Yesterday, my Auntie Dorothy turned 93! Way to go!

Sunset in the City

Just before the sun "fell" into the ocean, it left a dramatic slash of black-orange-blue across the sky silhouetting the palms. The only thing wrong with the picture is the brightly lit gas station -- but that's the way city sunsets are. They are filled with the remnants of the city as well as the light.

Here's another view...

                   

Sunday Drive

Remember when going for a Sunday drive was a pretty normal thing to do. It's not been "normal" for a long time--or at least since the cost of fuel became too expensive for folks to do it. Well, today we went for a Sunday drive. Just north to Santa Maria then up a canyon that would eventually take us to Bakersfield. Needless to say we did not go that far. 

The hillsides have a slight dusting of green on them. They look like someone has taken green sugar and sifted it on the mountainsides. There's a scattering of scrubby oak trees, looking a bit tired and gray. The hillsides are rounded. There were a few ranches with cattle and a few horses scattered across the fields. 

Then, at the end of the drive, we saw a rock formation that was unlike any we had seen.

Instead of the rounded hills, here was a rocky outcrop. It reminds me of the wings on Mercury's feet. I wonder if it has a name. If you know, please tell me.

Winter or Spring

In Southern California it is sometimes hard to determine the season. Technically it's winter, but the flowers and trees "think" otherwise.

The tulip tree at the library is blooming...in fact it's almost done blooming.

But the other flowers are starting to bloom. Spring officially arrives on March 21...so these are at least 2 months early.

Third Blanket

I just finished my third blanket of the year. This one will go to Project Linus. I made it "teenage size" and I'm guessing a girl will get it. Just about every teen girl I know goes thru a "lavender/purple" stage. This blanket will definitely fill that need.

              

It's my favorite "Ripple Pattern" which works up really well. If you would like the pattern, let me know and I'll email it to you. I'm starting a new blanket tonight!

Paddington

This afternoon we saw Paddington, the  movie. It was delightful. The story is cute. The animation blends in so well with the live actors, it's hard to not believe the bear is a "cartoon." If you want to see a good, clean, movie that will make you laugh out loud, I recommend it. 

Surf's Up!

How about this for the perfect beach car? In case you are wondering, it's a 1950 Packard Woody...and she's a beauty! Her wood is super shiny, as is her fit and finish. Almost too good for surfers!

Look at the vintage details. Real wood, not contact paper. The latch on the truck looks like it came from an old steamer trunk.

Can you see the fender skirts? When was the last time a car had them? This beauty is 65 years old and she's in tip top condition.

I really like her hood ornament. No car manufacturer would think of putting that much decoration on the front of a car nowadays. I'd like to think the bird will help the car take "flight" but I'm a hopeless romantic too.

She hails from Montana...no beaches there...maybe that's why she looks so pretty!

Modern Library

One of our favorite haunts is the little library in Solvany. It has 5 tables, 10 computers, and the usual stacks and stacks of books. It also has a lot of customers who wander in and out during the course of the day. We are lucky enough to have a library card, as we are regular customers in the wintertime. 

The modern library is not a stone cold quiet place of the past. It's alive with stuff to do. Kids come in after school and work on the computers. During the week there are story telling times for very young kids, as well as arts and crafts for them. At night there are lectures and programs. Throughout the day, there's free wifi and places to sit and use it.  We stop by regularly to check email and get caught up on the news. It's perfect for us. 

Gone is the card catalog, which has been replaced with a computer. It's great fun to see a tiny person sit at the keyboard, and type in a request. Today I watched a little fellow, barely large enough to sit in the chair before the keyboard, grab the mouse, peck in a couple of words, and then read what he wanted...when he found it, he called the librarian over to help him find his book. He had it all organzied and I doubt he was 4. I often wonder if the little kids know what they are doing when they are on a computer, but today I discovered one more time, the little folks can! If all the adults could handle a computer as well as this little guy did...now that's another story!

Oh...did I tell you it has a pterydactl too!

Idle Hands

We might be camping in the "wild" but I'm still crocheting blankets for Project Linus. I have no idea how many I have made as I stopped counting after I made 200. I've made a lot for them. The nice folks at Project Linus are now giving me whole skeins of yarn (instead of scrap yarn as in the past)...so I was able to make 2 blankets from one bag of blue, winter white, beige and a blue/beige/white varigate yarn.

                 

I have a little bit of yarn leftover, so I'm thinking I'll make a matching pillow. It's nice to have a pillow to hug too! I've already started another blanket. You know that saying about idle hands...well I don't have that problem.

Guess What?

See the little puddles on the step? That was caused by RAIN! It rained most of yesterday and a little bit today. It's not enough to bring the water level of the lake up an appreciable amount, but every drop helps! Please send some more!

Sunset

Sunsets are ephemeral things. They last five minutes or less, yet their beauty is remembered far longer. When I see a stunning sunset, I try to capture it ... Sometimes I succeed. This was one of the good ones. 

Gone...but not forgotten

The new satellite dish we bought has been returned to Camping World. Kudos to Camping World for a hassle-free return. I hope we don't have to go thru that type of ordeal for a long time!

In the meantime, I've made a baby blanket, cap and booties for a soon-to-be born little boy in Kentucky. One of my teddy bears just had to model it, just to make sure it was all right. It has the teddy bear stamp of approval. I sent it off today.

           

It Wasn't Us!

Kevin at Winegard called this morning at 8:30, a half hour ahead of schedule. He told us the same set of instructions that we had been following and once again the dish did not work! He had us try with the secondary connection, thinking that might work, and it was even worse (if that's possible). Then we told him that the dish was not symmetrical and we took a picture to explain what we were talking about. He sent the picture to his "spec" guys and they said the dish was faulty. 

When Kevin saw the picture and heard what his "spec" guys had to say, he told us to set the elevation at 40. We had been setting it at 46. Still nothing. So we tried 41---and finally 42...and then we got a connection. The dish was misaligned by 3 degrees. While that does not sound like a lot, it is when you are trying to connect with a satellite 28000 miles away. We got a connection, but Kevin said, the dish is faulty, so it will go back.

In the meantime, I told him that the dish on the roof of the RV was not working, and since I had him on the line, would he help me troubleshoot it. He was very gracious and told me a few things to do. We discovered the connection inside the RV was working...so that meant we had a problem was on the outside. I climbed up the ladder and took the dome off the dish and discovered that 2 wires were not connected. This is when I called Ron, my RV repair guy at home, and asked for a few more directions. He gave me even better clues as to what needed to be done. After finding a teeny-tiny screwdriver, I reconnected the wires. We turned on the power and the dish started to rotate! Eureka! I put the dome back on the dish and crawled off the roof and set up the receiver box for the roof mounted dish and within 2 minutes we had a signal. We started the process at 8:30 in the morning and we were finally connected at 12:45! 

We now have TV...and we are going to return the faulty Anser Carryout Antenna to Camping World tomorrow. It is so nice to know that we are not inept...the problem was with the unit itself! On the downside, it's a 4 hour drive roundtrip to Camping World.

As an aside, Winegard has a bad (online) reputation for keeping you on eternal hold and for never returning calls. Given that, I followed one of the online instructions I read--that of sending a text message to the Winegard help line. I also left two voice mails. It turns out all of the messages I left were answered. Kevin told me he was supposed to call my other cell phone number at 11 AM. The take-away from this experience is to TEXT Winegard with your problem OR use a male name on a voice mail to get attention. Maybe the fact that I had 3 messages to them did not hurt either. Whatever the case, Winegard gave me 2 hours of their time this morning, while we trouble-shot 2 satellite systems. Kevin was knowledgeable and friendly. Thank you Winegard!

Another take-away is the usefulness of smart phone cameras. I sent pictures of the problems to both Kevin and Ron. After seeing the pictures, the fellows knew what to do. Once more, a picture is worth a thousand words. I use my smart phone camera for fun pictures all the time, but using it to troubleshoot a problem is a very good thing!

Satellite Drama Continues

I did a little internet troubleshooting today regarding our Anser Carryout Dish. I discovered a few more "things" to try with the hope of getting our dish to talk to our system. And, guess what...it did not work. I did contact Winegard and instead of waiting on eternal hold, I opted to have them call me.

I left two messages...one with my name and one with the other DrC's name. The message I left with my name was NOT returned, but the message with my husband's name, was returned! Both messages were recorded in MY voice. I wonder what that has to say about the company? 

Low Lake

Just another point of documentation...Lake Cachuma is LOW.

The cement area by the trees is very new. I've never seen it before. It looks like it might be part of an old road, but I don't know for sure.

In a normal year, the inlet to the left of the picture is filled with water. Today, it's filled with weeds.

To add to the equation, we went to a local restaurant for dinner and there were signs on each table indicating they would serve water only if it was requested. I've not seen that sign since the last big CA drought in the 1970s.

10 Easy Steps

Our permanently mounted satellite dish on top of our RV has decided to stop working. After trying to get folks to fix it and striking out repeatedly, we purchased a replacement dish. After some research, we decided that the Winegard Anser Carryout would do the trick. We bought it yesterday.

We hooked it up today. Well, we tried to hook it up today. According to the directions it is EASY to do! We read the book, downloaded the app to find our exact location, hooked up all the wires, and got no where. Then a neighbor came over saying she did all sorts of computer and satellite stuff for a living. 

She reset the dish following the same directions and alas, we got nowhere. That's when we called DirecTV thinking they might have some experience with our new dish. 

We talked to Roxanne for over an hour. She knew the Anser dish specs and walked us thru the process. She was patient, knowledgeable, kind, fun, encouraging... And after an hour, and maybe 10 different solutions, we still could not get the satellite to talk to our system. 

We tried different elevations, different settings, different wires, different connections...all to no avail. As of now, we have a fancy paperweight holding down a portion of our outside table. Winegard's offices are "on vacation" till January 5. They open at 7:30 AM central time. Guess who is going to call them first thing in the morning!

2015

We started 2015 by looking at the Rose Bowl Parade from Pasadena. It's a tradition...we see it every New Year's Day if we can. 

Many years ago, we actually went to the Rose Parade! What an adventure. My mother-in-law secured tickets for a day-trip to the Parade from a friend of hers. My parents, my mother-in-law and the two of us got up way before the sun and boarded a school bus filled with other folks, and we made our way to Pasadena. Along the way we ate a boxed breakfast and talked excitedly about what we were going to see. We arrived at the parade before it started and found our way to the folding chairs on Colorado Avenue that were designated for our group of 50 cheerful souls. We had a good view of the floats as they came by. We heard the bands, we saw the flowers. It was exciting and fun to see the floats up close and personal. Before we knew it, the parade was over and now we needed to get back to the bus and head back home. 

The streets of Pasadena were crowded with people and trash. Some folks had been camped on the streets for days, leaving behind a myriad of stuff, from mattresses and sofas, to tables and chairs,...you name it and I bet it was left behind. What a monumental task Pasadena had in cleaning up the mess of a million visitors! Anyway, our school bus wended thru the streets and finally entered the freeway. We ate a boxed snack but this time we were not as excited as we were on the way down. The bus was cramped. There was not a potty on board. All of us were tired and we wanted to get home. I think we arrived around dinner time, and thankfully my mother-in-law had everything ready. She knew we were going to be pooped, and she had a dinner prepared before we left. We chowed down and talked about the wonderful parade. It was a long, fun, yet exhausting, day

We've never made a return visit to the Parade. In fact, we've never even talked about going again. I guess one time was enough.