Another shot of a pot of petunias. You can see garden boxes two and four (furthest) way in the background. The obligatory LED night light is on hand as is the decorative and functional candle holder lantern. Who knows; we may need a candle powered lantern one of these days.
This is the northeast corner of Henderson and Prospect. This strip mall has seen multiple tenants over the years but all are now gone. It was just leveled a couple of weeks ago and a single large building will be built there. See next pic.
This is the lot whose dirt hasn't seen daylight in probably 50 years or more. Guess what is going to be built there? It's going to be a new "Chipotle" restaurant. Just what we need, another Mexican food restaurant. We can throw a rock in just about any direction in Porterville and hit a really good Mexican food restaurant (I mean, REALLY GOOD). So, I'm not sure if we need to dilute the business of our hometown establishments.
Ol' Pickin' Dude, Ran, at the "Centennial Park" in Hooterville. We play there a couple of times per year. It's fun and besides, you can get sunburned for free.
The rig normally known as "Coop De Ville and Woolly Pulley". We stopped to take a few pictures while driving home on Frazier Valley Road (aka Strathmore Road).
Looking northward from Frazier Valley Road. Have I mentioned that I love halo shots?
"Moon Over the Sierras". I'm selling this magnificent print for 800 bucks per copy (I was going to charge 1,000 but my name isn't all that well known yet). I'm using genuine HP ink cartridges and "JetPrint Photo Premium" paper (from a yard sale) so y'all know that we only use high quality stuff here at "Minnick Studios". The camera was Connie's Nikon "CoolPix" with a bit of zoom (almost brand new and 10 bucks at a yard sale). We recently raised the
limit so you can now purchase as many of these as you want.
What the heck is an "F stop"?
may be (though, "Mop Top" and "Mad Max" are in the
offing. Suggestions, anyone?).
Here's the Howden family's spontaneous ad lib troupe, "Take One", in full array (and who are much too talented to allow for a stiff non-animated still shot of themselves). Master mugger, Kuyper Churchman, holds down the center spot while newbie, Warner Phillip, with tongue-assisted professional aplomb, aids in holding his sister's leg . "Sister" is Moira Annaliese who, like the rest of the clan,
is a natural card and who now introduces a vocal element.
There were no rehearsals for this shot.
To the right is a shopping center in Palos Verdes. We could see the marine layer moving in. It was wild to see it slipping silently through the trees, buildings, and between cars!
small CRT was set horizontally. It then reflected off a mirror mounted on its closeable lid. Our neighbors were the Flintstones.
Moira is obviously planning to be an ophthalmologist. She's looking deeply into her grandmother's eyes with her binoculars. Connie is only seeing three feet of love.
All the Howden's save one kid who managed to be just too busy to show up for the shoot. Kuyper! Just where the heck are you?
Same shot with same cheap camera and without zoom and with the tennis shoe re-inflated.
It's JULY!! Doesn't that just park your Frizbee on the roof?! One more summer to endure then one more autumn to appreciate when it gets here, I suppose.
Well....it finally happened; we got a....day off! Will wonders never cease?! It's about time! I must admit that having a few days off was most enjoyable. And, it's always great to see the kids and their kids (some of our kids have kids who have kids...no kidding!).
Since chicken sitting isn't a factor for now, we loaded up the Coop de Ville and headed down to Harbor City (think Torrance and Long Beach) for a couple of days to see a brand spanking new grandson! Other than the dummy chief mechanic forgetting to check our coolant level prior to departing, the trip was uneventful. We had to pull over on the Grapevine for a few minutes and let our hoopie cool down. It was just a minor diversion; no biggy. After a short spell, we proceeded without further ado. That was a first of its kind event and, hopefully, it will be the last (maybe I should just fire the doofus mechanic to make sure).
Though it hadn't been all that warm here in the Valley, it was really nice to experience the coastal climate down south. It truly was a "no sweat zone" while we were there. That does help to explain why there are so many people there...but not fully .
I can remember flying down to Long Beach in February some years ago. It was overcast, rainy, and the temperature was about 43 degrees when we departed from KPTV in a twin turbine engine King Air B200 (nice ship, eh, Captain Mark?). Upon arrival at KLGB, we noticed that the folks on the ground were all wearing shorts and T-shirts and basking away in the sunny 78 degree CAVU day! FYI....that's 160 miles as the crow flies and, from wheels up to touchdown, we made the trip in 45 minutes and we didn't encounter any traffic jams on the 405. Fast turbine-powered aircraft are our friends. Go, Beechcraft!
Anyway....it was hugs all around when we got to the Howden's home. We hadn't been down in quite awhile so it was a major event. Connie got to hold the baby, of course, and she relished each moment, to be sure.
After much visiting, it was taco time. The ladies prepared a feast of pulled-pork tacos for all. After even more visiting, we headed over to long-time friend, Cherie's, home where we visited with her awhile then spent the night there.
The next day was another interesting time. After an excellent breakfast (I had to promise Connie not to lick the plate until the flowers were faded), we all headed to "Point Vincente Light House" in Palos Verdes. I hadn't been there prior to this occasion so that was a treat. The weather was most cooperative. There was a nice high overcast with a slight off-shore breeze and the temperature was about 72 degrees or so. Lots of pictures were taken and attempts were made to espy a whale. Though unsuccessful in that endeavor, the trip out there was still great! We all had a good time then headed back to the house for din-din.
The next day, we re-loaded the van and began our trip homeward. At Bakersfield, we stopped at "Aldi's" grocery store. It didn't take long to clean up on their specials and pack them into our cleverly disguised dump truck. Then, we were back on the road again.
Though we had a really good time, it was quite nice to be back at the ranch. After unpacking our stuff, we called it a day. We were "tarred" (that's tired times two). "Click Click....there's no place like home".
Princess Pooch Report: Abbie has been keeping up with her breed's reputation which is to say, she's doing a great job as a "huntin' dawg". The other day (yeah...that one), she treed the far patio fridge again. Usually, that means that there is something hiding behind it that is alive but which desperately needs to be dead.
Now, I'm no fridge hugger but I needed to employ some muscle (that would be the stuff that young people exude and old people don't exude other than in their dreams) to haul the reefer out from the wall so my good dawg could do her good job. After a mighty pull (thankfully, I didn't need my Superman cape....er....apron), the big heavy pile of white metal came screeching away from the wall. Quicker than you can fall off a 6 foot ladder, Abbie was crimping and shaking a big ol' rat in her Buick bumper bending jaws. She quickly strode off into the night with her furry trophy. Rats are not our friends (though dead ones are). Abbie -1; Rat - 0.
Ah, but she was not about to let her guard down. The other day (yep, that one), she treed "Ol' Smokie" on the patio and was baying to beat the band (I have yet to figured out just which band that was). On top of that, I could hear a ground squirrel barking. That meant that the game was afoot. So, all I had to do was to pull the grill away from the wall and....whammo! Abbie scored again! She snatched the fuzzy varmint, shook him about three times, clamped it in her jaws until no bones were left unbroken, and that was that. Abbie - 1 : stupid, stinking, mangy, unwanted, ground squirrel - 0.
Mangy Varmint Report: Sometimes even the Ol' Rancher is in the right place at the right time with the right rifle. Now, I don't remember if it was the other day or if it was not long ago but it seemed like someone should slowly haul his rifle out back to take a look around for brown furry hole-digging offenders. No one else was available so I felt obligated to do it.
Slowly I turned: step by step....and....sure enough! At the edge of the pole barn sat a big ol' fat furry stupid (for sitting still) ground squirrel. Slowly I drew a bead on him and cranked off a round. The brown bane was no more. Ah, but he had a stupider relative with him and the stupider relative wasn't moving very quickly. So, Ol' Dull Shooter Ran drew another bead and, BLAM! Another one bites the nutritionally-deficient and slightly alkaline dust! Shooting from the shoulder is not my forte but I didn't have options. Reckon I got lucky.
The rabbit population is starting to rise and that's not a good thing. So, there are fewer of them around as a result of some careful aiming. I don't much like to shoot wabbits but they're getting way out of control. So, a few of them will need to be pruned. OK....enough drama.
Chickenin' Report: you may think that a rancher with only a few chickens doesn't have much to report but such is not the case. This is "Rancho Relaxo" and there isn't anything normal about this place.
First, here's the skinny on what happened last month. Two of a neighbor's Rottweilers (I now know the difference between a Mastiff and a Rottweiler...that only took 69 years) were let out of their pen by a nasty unscrupulous person (probably a non-neighbor) who must have had something against the dog's owner. They came down to Rancho Relaxo and killed 61 of our birds (and perhaps a few more since another neighbor saw one of the dogs trotting off with a chicken dinner in its mouth).
The dog owner neighbor was located and contacted the next day by another neighbor. That was...interesting....because Connie knew that neighbor (Walt) quite well because he worked in EMS and had taken Connie's dad to the hospital on certain occasions ten years ago.
Thankfully, the Animal Control officer was most diligent in his efforts to solve the case. He did his foot work and located the known neighbor (Walt) about 1/4 mile from us who knew the dogs' owner. Get this...not only did he locate him, the officer actually knew him (Walt)!. And, get this, too...Walt, not only knew the dog's owner but he also works for him! Are we talkin' "small planet" here?
Long story longer....the second day, the owner came to our place with Walt to assist. Some of his younger family was also with him to interpret because the man's English wasn't all that great.
There wasn't much to negotiate. We showed him a stack of pictures (one of which was a picture of one of his dogs), the torn apart cage, and he had the AC officer's account of his visual assessment. He advised that he would take care of the matter.
The Ol' Rancher had to track down a chick hatchery in Fresno, make a list of replacement costs for 61 birds, list 6 months of feed cost, cage repair, and also 6 months of egg production loss (which ended up being substantial). Then, the total reimbursement list was submitted. In only a couple of days, we picked up a cashier's check from Walt, the intermediary. Case closed.
At this point, there's no way the rest of the story can't be shared. The Animal Control officer not only new Walt but had a special relationship with him. About ten years ago, the young man was near death after an accident in this area. Walt was one of the first responders and actually got there in time to save the man's life. Is that wild?!
So, what are the two sorta chicken sitters going to do know? Well, we're going to overhaul the chicken coop. It has needed it for some time now. We're already underway with the project and will advance as we can since there are other projects on the "get to" list. That means that we may be able to have more than one day off! Amen to that!
The plan is to order probably 20 or so chicks then wait a couple of months to order another 20. After a couple more months, we'll order 20 or so more. We're staggering them because chickens slow or even cease laying at about 2 1/2 years old and we don't want them all to stop at the same time.
We do need to get the ball rolling while the weather is warm, though. Otherwise, we'll have chickens in the kitchen and Connie the Canner really doesn't want to do that.
By the way, we have four chickens that managed to escape the carnage (though we don't even know how they did that). Two are Rhode Island Reds, one is an Aracauna/Easter Egger, and one is a smaller mixed pullet. We get a couple of eggs per day. That'll work for now.
There you have it: another episode of what's happening at Rancho Relaxo, the home of Rancho Ran, the world's foremost authority (the previous one died), and Connie the Canner, the worlds greatest side cook, and where things can get....interesting....and where....you just never know.
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