For me, it was a busier-than-normal weekend, to say the least. There was the business with the draft horses Thursday and Friday, then a choir party Saturday afternoon and a choir performance Saturday evening--opera songs. I must say that I am becoming reasonably proficient at stringing (to me) random foreign syllables together to make a believable song. I'm told we were singing about hammers and gypsies and such on Saturday night. In Italian.
Sunday morning, though, I was finally able to attend the alpaca-ranch-open-house-day. Missed it two years in a row. It so happens that a woman in the chorus is an alpaca rancher and weaver. I knew this because almost two years ago, I went down to her ranch (about 1/2 hour south), to buy some alpaca products for Christmas, the guild boutique having been held there. Of course, I didn't know her then. But I recognized her when I joined the choir last year.
When the association held its annual, um, open ranch day this year, I decided to visit hers.
It's called "Opus Two" Alpaca Ranch and they have about 55 alpacas (all with musical names like "Sonata") with 5 more ready to be born. SO CUTE! Alpacas are too cute. Seriously. They look like cartoon characters--each different because of the colors and the funny shock of fur usually left on their heads after shearing. And the teeth.
The ranch part of the property (which I had not seen on my previous visit) is divided into many fenced areas, all shaded with oaks, with various alpacas clustered in each. They are very sweet, but shy. All alpaca-owners say they are the sweetest animals on the planet. As Joan says on her website, they capture your heart and calm your soul (check it out: http://www.opustwoalpacas.com/index.htm ). They're smaller than llamas, and though they are used as pack animals in South America (where they come from), they're used exclusively for fiber in the US, whereas llamas are used in both ways.
Two kinds: suri (silky, wavy long hair) and huacaya (woolly, fluffier). Joan has only huacaya. They are sheared in the May so they can be more comfortable in the warm summer months. Here's something else that's so funny. Joan has two guard llamas. Llamas are a little more aggressive than alpacas when confronted by a predator, and bigger. They will actually round up the alpacas, put them into a corner, and stand between the predator and the alpacas while sounding an alarm. I love that. You could see Joan's llamas keeping an eye on all us strangers on the property. Joan also has couple of Great Pyrenees who patrol the area. Predators are few and far between, though. A lone coyote from time to time.
So I chatted with her and her ranch hand and his family (who live on the property). Turns out, she left the software business in Silicon Valley 7 years ago to raise alpacas. Something different, I'd say.
Random fact: like llamas, they have no upper front teeth. Also, the wool (always softer and more expensive than wool from a sheep), is hypoallergenic. I haven't knitted with it, yet, but I plan to. The yarn is expensive (most ranchers send it away to be spun), but so, so soft.
OK. That's enough for now. Just make sure to get close to one of these charming creatures if you have the chance. Might calm your soul.
Not that I'm bragging, but there's some crazy cool stuff to do up here. I know. Eye of the beholder. Still, I think most folks would get a big (metaphorical) kick out of watching enormous horses do what enormous horses do. Each year at this time, the Draft Horse Classic (the generally-acknowledged best giant-horse event in the West) is held at the local fairgrounds.
Entry to the grounds is free and one can wander all over the place watching and petting the horses, talking to the horses' people, looking at horse art, horse tack and just-plain-tacky horse-themed products (horseshoe wall hooks, are a mild example). I go every year just to be near these amazing animals. Plus there are blacksmith and shoeing demos, live music, lumberjack shows and garden competitions. But one has to pay actual money to get into the arena for the six shows featuring huge-horse competitions and huge-horse entertainment. That, I'd never seen.
This year, as a perk for entering something in the fair (or so we learned when we got there), we were given two free tickets to the opening show Thursday evening. Didn't really know what to expect, but thought it might be interesting. So, I packed us a little picnic dinner and we went.
So fun--even Tom thought so! The core of it was the first of six installments of the draft horse competitions to happen over the next three days. There were single horses pulling well-dressed gentlemen in two-wheeled carts and teams of two to six horses pulling wagons through different maneuvers. 
The animals are gorgeous and impeccably groomed. And big--did I mention that they're big? They're also extremely well-trained and work well as singles and as teams. The toughest competition of Thursday evening (there were five) was the task of a four-horse team that had to carefully maneuver a wagon backwards into a "dock" during which time the entire team had to step sideways to a 90-degree angle (to the wagon) on both sides of the wagon in sequence. Hard to explain. Fun to watch. Between competitions there were demos with mules, donkeys and rare Gypsy horses, plus fancy trick riders and "chariot races" for comic relief.
Following shows would feature larger teams, youth drivers and such events as weight-pulling competitions. Next year.
I went back the next afternoon to walk around and hang out with the horses. As you can clearly see, not all of the horses are of the humongous sort. And then there's me atop a big Belgian (that's a breed you smirkers). Of course, getting to go on an actual factual ride on one of these babies would be a goal of mine. A fun fact: the world's largest horse at the moment is a Belgian in Tulsa named Radar who is nearly 6'8" (20 hands) at the shoulder and weighs 2400 pounds. He eats 18# grain, 40# hay and drinks 20 gallons of water a day. Historically, it's said that in the 1850s a Belgian named Samson weighed in at over 3200 lbs and was over 7 feet tall (21.5 hands) at the withers. None of the horses at the show were quite that size, but you get the idea. We won't be getting one any time soon.
I crammed a lot more knowledge about these animals into my brain for no good reason except that I find them so fascinating and am glad to have the chance to get close to them now and again. Of course, I had to leave room for some other faves with whom I had the opportunity to spend some time this weekend--alpacas...
OK, it really isn't art. It's just one more bit of fun with little pieces of glass. Our guest bathroom was in need of a larger looking glass, so I made one. I bought the mdf (wood-ish panel), molding and mirror, itself, then glued it together. Naturally, I did that part ages ago. I finally made the time to finish it last week. I used blues, teals and greens to match the towels. Quite the decorator, I am. And here it is, creating a quiet revolution in bathroom decor. I expect Architectural digest to call any minute.
The "more" part of this entry is more, um, earthy, you might say. I thought it was time to introduce you to the actual inhabitants of the little worm colony that lives in my laundry room. Here you see--well, I haven't named them all, yet--some little red wigglers being quite unhappy that I've disturbed their dark, moist cozy world for something as trivial as a photo. Aren't they cute? Be sure to mag in to see them close-up. And such hard workers! Their job is to eat as much as they can. They love cantaloupe and watermelon, I can tell you. And coffee grounds and tea bags. Not so fond of citrus and onion skins. All that black stuff is castings--it's an in-with-the-good-stuff-out-with-the-good-stuff kind of a bargain!. Fabulous fertilizer! No, there's no odor, in case you were wondering (you were).
Busy weekend coming up! Opera to Belgians to Alpacas. Stay tuned!
Ahh!! Some clouds! A bit of rain! A few leaves beginning to turn!! Yes.
We hauled our buns to San Francisco for the weekend. We have several shelving systems left over from our move up here which clog the shop and the garage. A few might yet be useful to us, but Dylan had use for one of them right now. So we drove it over to him. We crashed at Rachel's Saturday night and spent most of the two days with one or both of the kids. That's a picture taken from one of her windows toward downtown (see the pointy building? Well, it's out there). Fun.
Our garden: zucchini plant is gone, having supplied us with just a little more than we needed; I pulled the broccoli, which, while big and gorgeous, bolted too quickly in the heat; today was the end of the cuke vines--quite lovely cucumbers came of them, a few still waiting in the fridge; I need to get the bean plants out of there--they were great, but I found I was always trying to fold them awkwardly into the menus. Will we grow them again? Last Wednesday, we picked our first big tomato-a brandywine, I think (photo). LOTS of green ones in the wings. 
The minis (round and pear-shaped, yellow and red) are starting to ripen, too. Very impatient. But the best, so far, has been the sweet, beautiful watermelon we ate the last couple of days! Oh, my! Here's an action photo of Tom enjoying some for lunch! I'm planting lettuce, peas and onions, now. By the by, the worms are very happy, thanks for asking.
And what's been goin' on in the Nevada County Zoo this summer? Check it out...
8:27 p.m.--A man from the 12000 block of Lakeshore North reported someone stole his marijuana pipe. He then decided not to make a report. He sounded intoxicated and told the dispatcher he was going to Chico to "go and have some fun and relax". He said he would get more information regarding his pipe being taken and would call back when he was ready to make a report. [good idea]
"11:31 a.m.--A caller in the 900 block of Pampas Drive dialed 911, though the caller was originally attempting to call 411 to ask for Courtney Love's phone number. The caller said she was unable to get assistance after telling the operator her name was Kurt Cobain." [sounds like the caller might be hangin' out with the guy from the item just above...]
"1:43 p.m.--A 911 call was made from the 10000 block of Mooney Flat Road. Breathing was heard but no one would respond. It was found to possibly have been puppies that dialed the phone." [just looking for a little extra attention, as usual...]
"1:10--A caller from the Cypress Hill area reported subjects had "ding dong ditched" their home several times." [notify Homeland Security]
"2:31 p.m.--A man from the 10000 block of Broken Oak Court reported that he was unsure if he had a medical emergency and was only practicing calling 911." [perhaps he also needed practice paying the fine...]
"12:10 a.m.--A caller from the 200 block of Sutton Way reported a suspicious vehicle was driving through the apartment complex and was looking out the car windows." [Seriously. It scares me to death when people look out their car windows.]
"12:50 p.m.--A woman from the 12000 block of Anona Court reported a rogue tortoise in her yard." [Whoa! Truly terrifying. Killer butterflies next?]
"5:33 a.m.--A woman from Colfax Avenue near Oak street reported seeing a flashing light moving toward Ophir Street. The light was probably from a garbage truck." [So, how high do you have to be to call 911 on the garbage truck?]
[Maybe not quite as high as this person...]
"7:21 p.m.--A woman from the 10000 block of La Sierra Drive reported her father who works for the military had bugged her residence and put 'gross anatomy taps' inside her. The caller said she wanted assistance getting rid of the camera in her eyeball and taps inside her body."
"4:18 p.m.--A caller from Brunswick Road at Highway 49 reported a woman in a wheelchair was getting on the freeway." [I hear those new ones can really move...]
"1:11 p.m.--A caller from Weaver Lake wanted to know what the gun laws are when fishing." [perhaps they weren't biting on salmon eggs that day]
"2:14 p.m.--A caller from the 16000 block of Dry Creek Lane reported the theft of a tortoise. The tortoise was found to have walked down to the lake." [sheesh! Can't a tortoise go on a little walk without all hell breaking loose or being considered "rogue"?]
Hm. Just barely scratched the surface of the summer antics of NC. More soon...
Sort of at the last minute, we decided to take a half-day off yesterday (Friday) and go to the California State Fair, which runs 18 days, ending Monday. After the Nevada County Fair last month, we thought perhaps we wouldn't bother with Sacramento this year. It's big, but kinda generic, and can be hot. But, in the end, I couldn't let it go by.
And we're so glad we didn't!
The temp was only in the mid-eighties when we arrived around 3:30 (a cold snap for Sacto in the summer), and it was on the wane, anyway. Then came our first real bright spot: A magnanimous couple about our age stopped us a few yards from the entrance and asked us if we wanted their extra tickets. For free. Well, we offered to pay them, of course, having not been raised in a barn, but they wouldn't hear of it, due, undoubtedly, to their not having been raised in a barn. $24 to the good, right off the bat!
Next, as we walked through the turnstiles, Tom noticed the sign for the night's entertainment. THREE DOG NIGHT!! We'd hit the jackpot, as we learned later by perusing the musical acts for the 17 other nights! We LOVE Three Dog Night! We've always loved Three Dog Night! Turns out, they've been touring consistently since '81, doing the retro circuit (their heyday was '69-'75). Well, that was something to look forward to!
That left us a few hours to do the exhibits and food. Sweet!
The main exhibit area consists of a compound of eight buildings, each with a theme (fine arts, agriculture, etc.). Our favorites this year were fine arts and parts of the "Candy Nation" exhibit. We loved the gorgeous antique See's Candy vehicles. They were the real ones used in the early 20th century and were painted in the traditional black and white and perfect. 
I was really more interested in free Jelly Bellies, though, rather than looking at the JB portraits of persons such as Arnold and Marilyn, so, finding none (?!) we didn't stay long there. Amongst the crazy collections in the "Weird, Wild and Wacky" building was the Pez dispenser display. This person had collected one EACH of the more than 550 Pez dispensers ever made, even one with a soft-head Mickey Mouse top, never offered to the public for sale, and which sold for $7000 recently. Seriously fun to look at (mag in on the pic)! In the "craftsmanship" building (forget the real name), there was an amazing array of wooden electric guitars, carved from all sorts of beautiful woods (including burlwood with holes in it) into fanciful shapes, yet all looking like guitars. Missing some in the photo. So impressive!
While perhaps not art in the classic sense, our favorite piece (and everybody's, judging by the crowds) in the arts building was the Toothpick San Francisco. Honestly. I couldn't possibly capture it in a photo (mag in, though, so you can see better). It actually made the news. There was a full-time docent in front of it explaining the features. Not only is it an 8'+ sculpture of a jumbled-up San Francisco, complete with bridges, China Town, Painted Ladies, Fisherman's Wharf, and 100s of other landmarks, but there are several places high up that, when one places ping pong balls there, each will follow one of several lengthy and intricate pathways through the sculpture down to the bottom. Unbelievable. Here's the kicker: besides its being made of more than 100,000 toothpicks, it took around 35 years to build. Yeah, that's right. I wanted to stare at it for an hour. Guess who didn't...
Then it was off to the government/commercial pavilions where Nevada County's exhibit played "elementary school playground", say, to Solano County's "Disneyland". Again. Ours=a few posters, bikes and a brochure; theirs=all fruit-shaped, walk-through enclosures with music, gardens, animatronics and special effects lighting. They do have a Jelly Belly factory there. Of course, we don't need no ostentatious displays of our assets, do we? Apparently not.
The food. Why do I never learn? I get the first thing that looks good, when, the year before, I've always said to myself, "self, look at more options, first". What we got was fine--fish tacos with fried zucchini for me and fish and chips for Tom (at least it wasn't his choice of last year: deep-fried White Castle burger). Fair classics. But farther along, I saw the artichoke sandwiches and Thai food. Oh, well. Then, because there's no one standing nearby saying we can't, we get a big bag-full of fudge from the place that sells at least 300 kinds. Maybe less. But this time, we got the chocolate/peanut butter (how could we not?) and the vanilla pecan praline, a lovely new kind. Then we eat it til we're sick or it's gone, which usually happens about the same time.
But the best of all, yesterday, was Three Dog Night! We found a place to stand on the outskirts, behind a waist-high metal barrier, near front stage right. The "inskirts" would be the paid reserve seats ($15 each) in front of the barrier, most of whom were farther away from the stage than we were. So cool. And sitting is overrated when you want to dance around to the music (sorry for the mental image this may conjure)! The band looked older (40 years since their first of so many hits--yipes!), but still rocked! I love it when geezers are still way cool! For an hour twenty, they played mostly old stuff (I was so singing along!), but some great new stuff, too! "Joy to the World was the climactic song, of course! Loved it!
Then we went home feelin' groovy.
Here in the northern latitudes, September is the time a garden is usually starting to wind down from it's frantic and colorful summer production of tomatoes, peppers, corn, eggplant, and so on and on. Perhaps the squash and pumpkins are still working on building some size, but the other veggies have begun to wane a bit.
For our garden, however, because of a few minor delays, prime time is just coming into view (we hope, anyway)! Yes, for several weeks, now, we've been picking and eating green beans (tender and tasty), cukes (crunchy and cool) and zucchinis (because we have to). And we have gorgeous, multicolored chard (the stems are truly beautiful) that we haven't yet picked, even though it's been ready for a month, because, well, I don't know, really. The sunflowers are huge and fun, even if they ARE facing, inexplicably, away from the sun, all of them (what?). Is it possible to plant the seeds backwards?
But the real stars of the garden--the corn, the tomatoes, the pepper, eggplants and watermelons--are still, well, gearing up. There's a veritable jungle of tomatoes. Why did we never get around to staking them, this time? We'll see how that works. They're a complete tangle of 12 varieties. If we ever get any actual tomatoes, it will be impossible to determine which type came from which plant. There are many green ones, though, and, I think, at least one kind, an heirloom, will stay green, but we're longing for the first one to turn color. Next week? The week after?
The watermelons are impressive! Round and stripey! But waiting for that underside to turn from white-ish to creamy seems an eternity! Lots of cantaloupes, but they're mostly still green softballs lurking under the leaves. And the corn--did I buy a new midget variety?--is only a few feet tall as it's starting to form ears. Interesting red stalks, too.
When I finally discovered an irrigation problem with the eggplant and peppers, it was too late for them to ramp up to normal size. One minuscule jalapeno seems to be valiantly trying to defy the odds! And I expect we'll get carrots about Thanksgiving.
Still. It's great fun! The compost heap is improving and we have a thriving worm farm in the laundry room, busy making fabulous fertilizer! Not even one worm have I found wandering away on the floor!
Now is the time to start plants like peas and broccoli. Very excited about that, especially the peas. Snow and sugar snaps! Garlic is big up here and I saw signs at Peaceful Valley that their stock arrives this week. And onions. Can't have too many of those (especially green, at &.99/bunch?!)!
Meanwhile, if we can just pick a nice tomato or two soon...
Monday morning a week ago, I took a little trip to Sacramento and picked Mom up from the Amtrak station. She hadn't been here for awhile, so, before the cooler weather sets in, we thought the timing of a visit would be just about right.
Of course, I had a wild and stimulating itinerary planned for the week. For example, some of the time was spent with her sitting and perusing a lot of old portfolio photos (my art stuff) that she hadn't seen, going back quite a few years (while I sat and did some computer work). There were old stage productions, work done for churches, camps and conferences, plus glass work and signage. Only a mom would be so patient as to turn every page and look at every photo. Then, we sat (some more) and I showed her my more recent work in the computer portfolio. We were exhausted!
Another focus was on a small box of archival family albums and postcards I found as I was transferring it all out of cardboard boxes (standard storage around here) a couple of weeks ago. I had forgotten the identities of those in the pictures (or why I had them), but they were old and I needed her to fill me in on the names and relationships. One album turned out to be the family photos of the grandmother/grandfather figures in her early life. Jenny-mama and Otto-seta were a Finnish immigrant couple (the names of whom I have heard all my life) in the LA Finnish-American community (of which Mom's family was a part), and stood in for the extended family she never knew who were left behind back in the old country. Mom has an amazing long-term memory and I heard quite a few of the seemingly endless archive of stories she can access about her early life in Garvey Acres, now part of South El Monte in Southern California.
Another album contained the photos and postcards of a Finnish woman my sister and I remember well from our own childhoods. Her name was Esther Heiskanen and she was a friend of our grandparents and she never married or had children, which is how my grandparents came into possession of her pictures. Terry and I had always regarded her as a bit, shall we say, odd-ish. Her postcards, however, some bought as souvenirs, some actually sent through the mail, are vintage 1920s to 50s and journaled her travels and relationships. Intrinsically interesting because of their age, they're mostly written in Finnish, so the information I can glean about her is quite limited. Mom's Finnish (it was her first language) is quite rusty after so many decades, but she can make out at least the gist, if the writing is at all legible...
...which helped us figure out the contents of the rest of the box, which was a large stack of ancient postcards (maybe 100 or more?), the addressees of which were that of my grandparents around the time they were married in New York City in 1926. As close as we can figure, it's most of the correspondence between them during that time, plus some from as early as 1916 to Gramma, Annie Stranden, before she came to the US in 1921 (at age 21). Speaking of 1921, we found a letter with an official seal from the pastor of a Finnish Congregational of Brooklyn vouching as to the character of Annie's uncle, who had emmigrated several years earlier and who wanted to sponsor her to come to the US, which she did, of course. Grampa came over in '23 from a different area in Finland after which they met in New York. That same pastor christened Mom in 1928.
So, we had some fun perusing some of the cards and that helped me realize that I need to get them translated to fully appreciate them. I'm not going to be learning Finnish any time soon, I can tell you.
Other activities of the week were going out to eat, attending the Thursday Night Street Fair in Grass Valley and watching movies. We watched "Little Miss Sunshine" at home and went to Sierra Cinemas to see "Julie & Julia", both films highly recommended.
All in all, we had a very nice week and somehow survived all the physical activity. We put her on the train back to Fresno around 5pm Friday (though we shaved it pretty thin, timing-wise--forgot to allow for traffic) and she called around nine, having arrived safely home. Next time we'll tackle the old family slides, if we can work up the stamina...
For me, it was a busier-than-normal weekend, to say the least. There was the business with the draft horses Thursday and Friday, then a choir party Saturday afternoon and a choir performance Saturday evening--opera songs. I must say that I am becoming reasonably proficient at stringing (to me) random foreign syllables together to make a believable song. I'm told we were singing about hammers and gypsies and such on Saturday night. In Italian.
