Lompoc Veterans Building

Today we drove to Lompoc Veterans Memorial Building to give 2 piggies to my friend who works there. She loved the piggies..and we loved the building. The Veterans Memorial Building was started in 1935 and finished in 1937. It recently was listed on the National Historic Register. 

Notice the propeller in front of the building? It is a survivor, as it were, of the Honda Point disaster of 1923. Follow the link to find out more.

Inside, is a simple three dimensional cement mural depicting the building of a mission. 

This was installed in 1936. Since there are 3 Spanish-era missions in the area, (Santa Barbara, La Purisima, and Santa Ynez), it's a logical addition to the building.

The mural was a WPA project by artist Helen Seegert 

The main hall is decorated with hand painted tiles

If you have a chance to visit Lompoc stop by this one of a kind historical building.

The Rain Stopped (for now)

It's bright and sunny. There are fluffy clouds dappling the sky. The puddles are starting to dry up...and the lake is looking pretty good. 

According to the rangers at the park, the Lake is 89% of full. Here are some pictures I took yesterday.

I'm calling this "Heron Point" (see 2 days ago)--the debris load is still heavy. Under water, beneath that debris is the remains of a feed lot from the 1930s.

This part of the lake was dirt when we arrived around Christmastime.

The Lake is close to full. There are debris "islands" floating in the lake too.

I try to take a picture from this location everyday. 

The debris load is heavier. I'm told the smaller pieces of debris will sink but the logs will need to be removed. 

Mud, Muck and Mire

The rain is still falling, but at not at the same rate it was a few days ago. Now it's time to start the recovery process. 

FEMA is at the lake assessing damage as are the Rangers and other park personnel. As a camper at the lake, I get to take pictures. 

This is Harvey's Cove, an area of the lake that has not had water in it for  over 3 years. Today it has muddy water, tree trunks and lots of muck.

This is where I took the picture of a Great Blue Heron yesterday. There was no muck in the water then, but now it is a different story. 

This muck is what is closing the lake to fishermen.

A New "Critter"

I'm experimenting with a new critter.

 

An SUV

With eyes for headlights, it can see where it's going

I named him Putt-Putt and the other DrC thinks he's a winner! 

Next project will be a pickup truck, a sedan, and maybe a conventional (aka bumper-pull) trailer.

Watch this space... ... ...

A Great Blue Heron

The Lake is full; there is water splashing down the spillway and a lone great blue heron watches.

Notice the beautiful green grass. When we arrived, the grasses were brownish green; 

now the fields look like they are covered with a layer of plush green felt. 

It's Not Just the Lake

Many things suffered in the drought. The ancient oak trees have had a difficult time. The California Valley Oak is a hearty tree. It can withstand many adverse conditions for many years, but this drought has lasted several years, and has taken a toll on these mighty trees. 

This tree was alive not too long ago as you can see tiny leaves on the branches but alas, the rain soaked soil could not support the weight of this giant. It sprawls over the terrain, a reminder that it tried to survive.

This tree has not fallen yet, but it has lost leaves and branches. An oak tree will shed branches that are weak in an effort to survive. The problem with this defense is "stuff" can attack the massive breach in the trunk where the branch was which makes the tree even weaker, especially if the draught continues. This tree lost the battle.

Sadly, this oak lost the battle too. Branches are broken, the tree is shedding protective bark, yet the Spanish Moss clings to the tree. 

It looks like it's weeping.

Not all die. Some form shady oaken tunnels over the roadway.

After the Rain (I Hope)

On December 24, I posted some pictures of the Lake. At that time, it was 31% of full. The old road was seen sloping into the water; a feed lot from 80 years ago was exposed, and there was at least a 30 foot drop from the boat ramp to the lake. What a difference between then and now. Since then, we've had an "atmospheric river" inundate most of California with rain and more rain. The Lake we are camped beside, is about 86% full and they are letting water out so make room for the next rainfall scheduled for tomorrow. What follows are some of the pictures I've taken to help explain the aftermath of that storm.

Boat ramp sitting high and dry on December 24

Boat ramp (albeit from another angle) with mud, muck and lake debris making it unusable...but there is water where there was none.

The debris on the main boat ramp

Lake level on January 5

 

Same location...Lake level today. A noted difference between the two.

Blue Boy

I completed another elephant this afternoon. Most of the morning, there was NO RAIN...so we went for a ride. Right after we arrived home, the rain started again. A perfect to time to finish this little guy. His temporary name is Blue Boy but that's subject to change. He will be going to his forever home later in the week.

A Purple Piglet for Miki

My friend Miki likes purple and she likes pigs...so this purple piglet is for her.

Yes, I do read the news. Yes I get upset by the news. NO I don't write about the news. That's the purview of the other DrC. You can see his blog here...

My blog is about things that make me happy. I'm going to write about upbeat things like critters and baby blankets. 

Grace

Meet Grace...isn't she Be-ewe-it-ful? 

(I named her after Grace Kelly who was beautiful)

Royal

Royal needed wings...who said pigs can't fly?

Sparkle and Royal

Sparkle the Turtle and Royal the Piggy joined the group tonight. 

They will be going to their forever home on Tuesday. We will miss them.

Popcorn

Meet Popcorn the Colorful Lamb. 

The first time we went to Ireland we were told to look out for colorful sheep. The farmers were experimenting with different ways to identify sheep. That summer we saw lambs and sheep frolicking about with coats of blue or green or red or yellow wool. The green hills of Ireland were covered with colorful sheep. It was quite a sight to see. The next time we went to Ireland, several years later, there were no colorful lambs jumping about the countryside. We guessed that the experiment did not work. Popcorn is dedicated to that distant memory.

Two More Piggies

Reggie and Lollipop joined the menagerie tonight. I wonder how many I'll have when we head home? 

PS...I have as much fun naming the critters as I do making the critters.

A New Critter

 Meet Victoria, my latest teddy bear critter. She's bright and RED and definitely a winner. She joins several piggies and an elephant. Since a HUGE rainstorm is predicted for the tomorrow, and I brought lots of yarn, you can guess what I'll be doing to stay out of the rain.

A New Year

The new year began a whole day ago and somehow I forgot to welcome it in on my blog...so with the idea of "better late than never" here it is

Hello 2023.

I don't want to say say happy as that's asking for a lot. The times are not happy (that is why I make a lot of critters) so it's hard for me to wish happiness. I can wish for good health. With good health, a lot of other problems seem small. So this year I'm wishing everyone a 

Healthy New Year.

...and the Critters Keep Coming...

Critters come and go...I gave 4 away and made some more

Meet, Neon the Elephant and Sunshine the Piggy. 

Neon is the brightest critter I've ever made and he's just super dazzling!

Lake Cachuma 2019 and 2022

\

December 2019

December 2022
We need some rain.

Goodbye 2022

Lots of things went wrong in 2022, but I'm not going to delve on them. 

I'm counting my blessings by looking at the things I want to remember that were good for me (just me) in 2022. 

I'm being selfish and I can as this is MY blog.

1) I have a wonderful, loving husband

2) I have great friends and family whom I love

3) I can walk without a wheelchair, walker or cane

4) My left hip is pain free

5) I love the freedom to live where I chose to live

It's been a challenging year and I'm ready to welcome 2023!

Happy, Healthy New Year.

Where is the Rain?

I stole this weather map from AccuWeather...there's rain in northern CA (which is good) but there's not a lot of rain in southern CA or southern NV. 

We need to tell the weather-gods to send us some water.

Where's the Normal Piggy?

Another piggy showed up in the menagerie. She's cute and loud and while her shape is "normal" she is unusual. So that might make you think the normal piggy is the pink one until you see her eyelashes. She's definitely channeling Ms. Piggy.

So, which piggy is normal? The loud piggy or the Ms. Piggy wannabe? 

BTW I don't know the answer. In the world of crocheted piggies, anything can be normal.

Meet Ella the Elephant...Eli is her brother. They are "circus elephants" or they started out as decorated Easter eggs gone awry.

Sometimes I Need to Make Toys

I love making critters. You've already seen the recent batch of piggies. Today I finished a blue elephant. I asked my friend Karen to name him and she said he looked like Eli the Elephant." Of course I asked him if he liked that name and he said "YES! Eli's a very handsome elephant. 

Like I said, I needed to make some toys....and more are in the works.

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Eve. When I was a kid, this was the big Christmas celebration. We had a huge dinner with lots of family and then we opened presents. We even got Christmas presents from Santa. When I asked my mom why they came early she said that Santa was a busy man and he left early presents to kids who were good. My sister and I were pleased with that answer and never questioned it again. We were good kids and good kids got all their presents on Christmas Eve. We kind of felt sorry for the kids who had to wait for Christmas as they were not as good as we were. 

To that end, I hope you get your presents from Santa early. Merry Christmas everyone!

Flying Piggies

Sometimes I need to do something different...so I'm making flying piggies

. 

Of course flying piggies have unusual aerodynamics as their wings are small in relation to their bodies...

but theoretically bees are not supposed to be able to fly...so why worry about it.

Normal piggies

A quartet of piggies waiting for new homes.

Lake Reflections

This morning the water mirrored the mountains. 

I think it is magical to see a large body of water so still.

You can tell the water is low as the old road has surfaced. 

If you look very carefully, there's a fellow fishing on that old road. 

Morning at Lake Cachuma

It's morning at the lake. The fog is lacing the sky with tendrils of light 

Soon the sun will melt the fog

And the view will be clear.