Remember Those

Past and Present that have given the ultimate sacrifice!

(photo from the web)

Remember those that serve today!

So that we may enjoy the freedoms we have!

May they and their families never be forgotten!

For they are the brave, the true heroes of this world!

~The Soldiers Prayer~

"And When He Gets To Heaven,

To Saint Peter He Will Tell;

One More Marine Reporting Sir,

I've Served My Time in Hell."

~Marine grave inscription on Guadalcanal, 1942~

By George I Think

 I figured it out!

I managed to fix my blog header problem...after several hours of hair pulling frustration no less!

Still have some tweaking to do, but for now, at least it looks normal.

And now a post about a cake and company...

 At the beginning of the month we had company. One of our visitors was celebrating a birthday.

So I made a cake!

Not any old cake, but a gluten free cake.

This is the first gf cake I have attempted to make since going gluten free.

I have made cookies, muffins, etc...but no cakes.

Mickey and Minnie arrived on a Friday evening. They ride a Harley!

I love that they ride a Harley!

Anyway, it was Minnie's birthday on Saturday and I wanted her to have a cake.

So I made a cake from scratch! There are some really good gluten free cake mixes out there, but I didn't use one of those. I did my research, found a recipe, tweaked it a bit and tackled the making of the cake.

I even decorated said cake. My cake decorating skills leave something to be desired though.

The leaves are way to big...but I thought the fresh daisies added a nice touch.

Minnie was thrilled to have a birthday cake.

 It was so much fun spending time with Mickey and Minnie.

We don't get to see them often, but we make up for it when we do get together.

The trip home required them to suit up in their raingear as they had to ride in some not so pleasant conditions of wind and rain!
Mickey and Minnie ride a Harley!

They are very cool peeps!

Lopsided

I changed my blogheader.

It's now lopsided!

And needs to be bigger!

I stink at the tech side of computer stuff!

Hoping to fix it soon!

Anyone know how?

Help?

Please...



Waiting Out

The Storms!

Another weekend filled with rain, rain and more rain.

A pretty good thunderstorm rolled through our valley yesterday.

One lightning strike hit pretty close to the house!

This little dove perched on the chair on the patio and waited out the storm.

 I snapped the photos through the window.

 As the rain fell harder the dove puffed herself up to stay protected.

Another rainbow appeared as the storm passed.

Despite the rain, we did manage to scratch a few things off the "to do" list:

Cleaned the last two chicken houses.

Cleared off and cleaned up the patio area. It is now ready for summer...if summer ever decides to show up!

Did the usual house cleaning and laundry.

Caught up on a few favorite shows in the DVR.

Baked some gluten free bread which turned out very well.

Made homemade chili, cornbread and bbq chicken.

Finished a book I was reading.

Enjoyed a bit of wine!

The weekends go by much to fast!

Playing Catch Up

This is the view that awaited me as I left the farm this morning.

The sunlight was just peeking through the clouds and a light drizzle of rain was starting to fall.

It has been raining here since late last Saturday afternoon!

At times, it dumps buckets of rain at a time!

On Sunday we had a huge puddle in front our house that was several inches deep!

I'm beginning to think we live in the Pacific Northwest with all of this wet weather!

The temperatures remain on the chilly side. Last week we had two nice days in the 70's, this week...we are back to the 50's for highs! The fields on the farm and around our valley are very green but things don't grow well in these chilly temps, so the alfalfa is short at this point!

It really needs to warm up...and SOON!

Last weekend was busy!(understatement) Countrychick and I worked a fundraiser event on Saturday...all day!

The weather was wild, windy and crazy!

Sunday we spent complaining about our aches and pains from standing all day on Saturday.

It snowed on Sunday...big, fat, sticky flakes! It also hailed, rained, wind blew like crazy and the sun peeked out for all of ten minutes!

One of our favorite hens died over the weekend. Sad!

The crappy weather is hard on the chickens!

I found out I can't purchase SD cards that will work in my camera anymore!
The new SD cards will not format correctly!
Guess I need to start looking into a new camera as well as a new computer!

Things are starting to kick into high-gear at work!

We are on pins and needles waiting on budget hearings to close and to find out what the status of our Cooperative Extension state wide will be! They are calling for a 72% cut!

I have meetings almost every day this week!

I have to unload 600 trees this afternoon (with help), but I wore the wrong shoes! I'm in flats! Ugh!

I ran over a Nevada Chukar bird on my out of the valley this morning!

I felt TERRIBLE!

They are such pretty birds and their populations are not all that strong in some areas.

This chukar is sitting on top of my parents garage. I snapped this photo when we were in town for prom weekend. These birds are pretty, not usually seen very often and have a very distinctive call...chuk, chuk, chuk, chukar. I still feel bad about hitting one this morning!

As I type this it has started to rain...again...in bucket amounts!

I just want to go curl up with a good book and hide!
It's a proven fact that crappy weather is not a good motivator...at all!

Sky's are Black

And Blogger's back!

Not sure what was going on with Blogger the last few days, but it's been down!

Currently the sky is darkening and a severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for our area!

We could be in for a doozie of a spring storm in the next few hours!

Here's hoping another rainbow will appear after it passes!

This one arrived on Sunday evening and provided a beautiful Mother's Day display of color!

(Please excuse the power lines in the photo, I don't own a photoshop program and therefore can't make them vanish!)

Please visit other Farm Friend Friday posts here...at Verde Farm.

Happy Friday and have a Wonderful weekend!

Midnight Masquerade or Updos are Hard to Do

Midnight Masquerade was the theme for the Jr./Senior Prom this past Saturday.

Up until Saturday, I had no clue what the theme even was.

I'm just the mom...we never get told the important stuff...lol.

Country Chick had picked out a dress to borrow from a friend back in February. She picked up the dress a few weeks ago. Then she coordinated the shoes, accessories and the boyfriend's tux. They, together, did an awesome job of putting it all together.

There was just one issue...what to do with her hair?!

Country Chick has long, naturally curly hair!

When I say curly, I mean very, very, curly! Cork-screw curls...all over!

Her hair has a mind of its own! Curly, Curly, Curly!

It is beautiful, but can be a pain in the arse challenge to work with!

She spent several days looking at different styles on-line.

She found several updos that looked elegant and she wanted to give that style a try.

I had thought I would just make an apt with our hairstylist and that would take care of the hair issue.

Nope, didn't work like that. Our hairstylist is also the track coach and there was a track meet on Saturday so she was not doing hair for prom.

Did I mention that our hairstylist is also my hubands' bosses wife...we are lucky as she lives just down the road from us and can usually call on her anytime for "hair help".

Last Thursday Country Chick and I went down to their house so she could show me how to do the style that Country Chick wanted. Let's just say that hair session was a nightmare and poor Country Chick said her head felt like a pin cushion after I was done. It looked cute, but I had serious doubts about whether I could pull this hair thing off without help!

Friday evening I practiced the style again. I used over 60 bobby-pins to get the style right! It was lopsided!

I could see the doubt and worry all over County Chick's face!

Talk about feeling like an inadequate mom...geesh!

I didn't sleep well Friday night...I kept having these weird dreams about hair!

Saturday dawned bright and pretty. We headed off to town early to visit with family and out of town company at my mom and dad's place. Country Chick dropped me off there and then headed to the track meet to watch her boyfriend in his events. I reminded her to use sunblock and then told her to be back at the house at a decent time so I would have plenty of time to do her hair and not have to rush.

She returned just after 3 p.m., showered and then I tackled the hair!

I should have had someone take a few photos of the process, but in my "nervous wreck" state of mind, I didn't think about it. After about 45 minutes Country Chick emerged from the bedroom to gasps of, "wow", "so pretty", "amazing" and "your mom did that"?!!

I guess I wasn't the only one who had doubts...lol!

Yep, I pulled all of that hair up and pulled it off and only used 57 bobby-pins this time! lol

I was pretty proud of myself and then I made myself a drink! *wink

Getting ready for prom.

Gorgeous prom hair...compliments of the ever doubtful mom!

Country Chick and her stand in date, Mr. Moppet

Isn't he dashing! I loved his dreads!

Our out of town guest and I were really giving Country Chick a hard time and teasing her.

You can see it in her eyes...lol.

Country Chick and her boyfriend.

Notice how red they both are...that was after they used sunscreen several times throughout the day!

They left my parents' house and headed to town to his Aunt's house for dinner and to finish getting ready.

They called when they were dressed and ready for photos.

I had to drive into town (10 miles) and when I got there, they were already eating so I had to wait until they were between courses to snap a few photos.

One of his other Aunts did the flowers for the girls and guys.

They turned out so pretty!

She also made the flowers for the table at dinner.

Between courses, I snapped a few photos.

They looked so sharp and beautiful next to each other!

The vest and tie of the tux were a metallic match to her dress!

So beautiful! So handsome!

Dinner was a fun event. The two couples (the boys are cousins) were served a five course meal that another of the Aunts prepared. They had salad, chicken fettuccine, chicken Parmesan, fruit cups and cake.

I love the sparkling cider in the cooking pot on the table! Perfect!

Everything was decorated to go with the prom theme.

Notice the mask in the flower arrangement.

I took one more photo of the two of them and then I let them return to eating.

See the brooch on Country Chick's dress...her grandmother loaned that to her to use on the dress. It was a gold and garnet piece that my mom has had for years. I can remember her wearing it when I was a child.

Country Chick also used a shawl that belonged to my mother that went perfect with the dress!

It was a magical evening for these two young people!

They had a great time at their Senior Prom!

I'm so glad the whole entire hair thing worked out like it did.

I was so afraid Country Chick was going to have to wear a paper bag on her head after I was done!

Sometimes I amaze even me!

The Very Best

Happy Mother's Day To The Very Best Mom Ever!!

Thank You for being You!

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh



A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. ~Washington Irving


It's not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it. ~From the television show The Golden Girls


A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

It has been a very busy weekend! Company from out of town, a birthday to celebrate, prom for Country Chick and Mother's Day!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend! *smile

Turning On

The water at the farm was the order of business this week!

There are a total of eight pivots on the farm and getting them up and going has been a week long process.

One would think you could just flip a switch and on the water goes, but that is not the case.

The pivots must all be serviced and inspected and any problems must be fixed.

The wells are then fired up and water begins to move through the main lines to the pivots.

This year on the farm a new main line that carries water to two pivots was put in.

That job alone took a week to complete.

Pivots can be temperamental and have many quirks after sitting idle for the winter.

This week has not been without its issues.

But the water is finally on and the fields are looking happy for it!

If the weather warms up and decides to stay that way, then the first cutting of hay should begin in a little over a months time. One never knows though as the weather up to this point has been all over the place!

The hint of summer beckons and will bring busy days and night of haying to this Nevada Hay Farm.

Please visit more Farm Friend Friday posts here...at Verde Farm.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday Tunes

I heard this song earlier in the week and instantly liked it!

It's a fun tune that puts a spring in your step!

No official video yet, so you just get to hear the song today.

I can only imagine how cute the video to this song is going to be!

Enjoy!



A Look Back to May 1983

Violent Shaking, in the form of an earthquake, was the order of the day twenty-eight years ago today!

On May 2, 1983 at 4:42 p.m. the sleepy little central valley town in California where I grew up, was shaken to its very core!

A 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook our little town violently, leaving devastation and shock to all those who called this place home!

With all of the earthquakes around the world lately, this event of 28 years ago has been on my mind a lot recently! I can recall with vivid detail the events of that day just as if they happened yesterday!  The atmosphere of that day was odd in a way that I now know was a precursor to what would happen later that afternoon. It was hot that day in May, humid in fact and there was an edge of impatience to the air!

On the walk home from school (I was in 8th grade) I remember commenting to my friend that the afternoon felt strange and I remember saying how odd it was that the birds were not chirping as we walked through the park heading home. Now, I ask, what junior high kid pays attention to whether or not the birds are chipping! I was a very observant child. (Still am to this day). I will often notice things that others will not!

When I got home from school I headed to my room and one thing I noticed was that my hamster was awake and running in his exercise wheel. He had been very, very active the night before and here he was again, running like a crazy critter! Odd...to me yes, but not to him.

The animals could feel the change in the atmosphere long before we could!

I remember calling my mom at work to ask if I could walk downtown with my friend. She told me no.

So we instead planned our afternoon around the pool and then down to her house to hangout for awhile.

I was at her house (two houses down from mine) when the earthquake hit!

We were on the phone with another friend and I remember feeling off balance and looking out their kitchen window at their pool and noticing that it was rolling and then a violent jolt like I had never felt before took us right off our feet! The shaking continued for what seemed like forever. My friends dad was home and made his way down the hall to us and stuck us in a doorway. We stayed there until things settled down and then headed outside. People were outside their homes with stunned expressions on their faces!

We had experienced earthquakes before, but NOTHING like this!

My Nana was visiting at the time and was at our house alone when this happened. She was tossed into a wall and received a pretty deep gash to her forehead. When I got to the house she was heading outside and I remember how calm she was, not really realizing the seriousness of her own injury, when she told me to go with her across the street where we would be safe. I remember seeing the inside of our house first...it was a wreck! A neighbor saw to Nana's cut while we waited with others on the dirt hill across from our house.

We waited on the dirt hill until my parents arrived. Which felt like forever to this then teenage girl!

An aftershock hit shortly after the major quake and it was another jolting, jarring event... a 3.5 that felt more like a 7!

We were not able to stay in our house that night, so mom put Nana and I in the car and drove us an hour east to Fresno to stay with family. I have no clue to this day how mom held it together and drove away from that mess! I don't remember how long I stayed with my Sis...a few days I know for sure, but it seemed like forever. There was tons of clean-up that had to be done at home before things could get back to normal. Dad had to work long hours on the repair to power lines, poles, etc that had been damaged in the quake. He worked for PG&E and they like so many others had a responsibility first and foremost to the town to get things back up and working power wise as quickly as possible.

The clean-up to our home and rebuilding of our town took months, if not years!

What I remember most though is the fact that our once beautiful, historic, old downtown area was transformed forever in an instant on that day! It was GONE in the blink of an eye!

The following story and photos are but a brief account of what transpired on that May day twenty-eight years ago today!

The Coalinga Earthquake of May 2, 1983. Epicenter: 36.23 N, 120.29 W; depth: 10 km; magnitude: 6.7; damage: $31 million; no deaths. The earthquake struck the town of Coalinga, California, (population 7,000) at 4:42 p.m. PDT on May 2, 1983, and was followed by a large aftershock 3.5 minutes later. The main shock occurred near Anticline Ridge about 15 km northeast of Coalinga. It was felt from the Los Angeles area north to Susanville and from the Pacific Coast to western Nevada, an area of about 205,000 km2.

The most serious damage occurred in the eight-block downtown commercial district extending from Third to Seventh Street between Durian and Forest Streets. Of 139 buildings in this area, 59 collapsed or were heavily damaged. The most severe damage occurred to the old (usually pre-1930) one- and two-story buildings of unreinforced brick masonry wall construction, with floors and roofs of wood.


In contrast to the severe damage to old brick buildings, the newer buildings of reinforced concrete-block walls or prefabricated metal had little structural damage. Most of the public buildings including the firehouse, post office, city hall, police station, hospital, and schools suffered only minor damage. Public utilities (water, electricity, gas, sewerage) performed well in spite of damage to some units.


Private residences were heavily damaged. More than eight hundred single-family houses were destroyed or incurred major damage. The majority of the 94 injuries occurred in residential sections of the city.



Aerial shot of downtown Coalinga, CA. taken May 4, 1983

 Street Level View of Damaged Building at 5th Street and Elm Avenue, Coalinga

 Wall Damage to Building in Downtown Coalinga

 Total Collapse of Front of Residence, Coalinga CA

 Interior Damage, Coalinga Junior High School Home Economics building

 Interior Damage, Coalinga Junior High School

(the school I was attending at the time)

Dawson Elementary School library

 View of downtown street

The total devastation was unbelievable! There was no loss of life which was amazing considering the time of day and the violent energy from the earthquake itself!

 

Over the years this event has come to the forefront of my mind often, but today is the first time I have ever put my thoughts down in writing!

 

 

“Earthquakes have long been feared as one of nature’s most damaging hazards

Earthquakes continue to remind us that nature still can strike without warning and,

after only a few seconds, leave casualties and damage in their wake.” ~ Senior FEMA Offical

 



So Much For

That "Me" time I was talking about!

I woke up yesterday morning feeling like, well for lack of a better term, Crapola!

I felt a little stuffy before going to bed on Friday, but thought it was just from cleaning and shampooing the carpets.

Nope not the case at all!

I woke up with a full blown head cold!

Stuffy head, sore throat, body aches and a lovely headache!

I don't mean to complain....but Geesh!

Spent all of yesterday on the couch with a box of kleenex, jar of vicks and lots of water!

Managed to catch up on shows in the DVR, watch a movie and fix some homemade chicken soup.

Because of the gluten issue, I can't just pop open a can of soup to eat, so even when I'm sick, I'm cooking something or other for myself. At least I only had to cook for me, so that was easy.

I think today will pretty much be a repeat of yesterday...

Couch, movies, reading, going through lots of kleenex and resting.

Not the kind of "Me" time I had in mind!