On to the Sequoias

As a continuation of our trip, we got up the next day and travelled to Sequoia National Forest. We had to go west toward Fresno then south on Hwy. 99 until we got to 190 East and went back up the mountain toward the forest. It was a beautiful day. The sun was out and the sky was cloudless, so despite the snow in the higher elevations, it was really pleasant. We made a couple of stops for photo ops and took some pictures of the wildflowers that were blooming everywhere.

We were a little higher, so the snow was quite deep. There were times it felt like we were driving through a tunnel of snow because it was five or six feet deep right next to the road. We even put some snow in our little cooler to keep our drinks cold.

The giant sequoia trees are really amazing. We saw the General Grant tree and the General Sherman tree, two of the biggest on record. They are almost 2900 years old and are immense. A person standing at the base of one of these giants is really insignificant in size. It is like a mouse looking up at a six foot tall person.

After spending some time up there we headed down the mountain taking an alternative route that brought us out in Visalia. We had a late lunch at the Black Bear Cafe in Tulare. As we went into the cafe, I noticed a sign advertising a horse sale, so I asked the waitress if she knew where it was. She told us it was at the fair grounds, so after lunch I talked Nancy into driving there to check it out. We got there for the end of the sale so we only saw about four animals auctioned off. The last ones into the sales ring was a couple of pack mules that seemed to be great animals but they only sold for about $150.00 each. Nancy was afraid that she would have to restrain me from bidding on them.

After the sale, we jumped in the car and headed home. We arrived about 8:45 pm. We were tired, but we had a great time on our little weekend adventure. I think we both decided that we would try to do this a little more often.

Yosemite Trip

Nancy and I are combining a business trip with a little pleasure trip this weekend. We left yesterday morning and drove about four hours north to Visalia where we did an enrollment meeting for one of our larger clients. We then traveled another two hours north to Merced and did another meeting. We then ate a quick lunch and travelled east and drove to Yosemite. We had never been here before, so we thought it would be a pretty drive. We were not disappointed.

As we headed east into the mountains we drove through beautiful green hills past cattle ranches and horse farms. We saw a lot of orchards where the most common crop was almonds. When we got into the pines it was equally picturesque. We made several stops to enjoy the view. We really enjoyed Bridle Veil Falls. Not only was it beautiful, it was impressive to hear the sound of the water pounding the grainite at the bottom of the falls.

We stopped in a little town called Oakhurst, where we located a Shiloh Inn with a vacancy and booked a room. We found a little mexican restaurant called El Cid where we had a great meal and watched the end of the Michigan game and the Duke game.

We are on our way to see the giant sequoia trees today, and then we will be home later this afternoon.

Swallows Day

We made our annual pilgrimage to San Juan Capistrano to watch the Swallows Day parade and participate in some of the festivities. The parade starts at 11:00 am, so we usually leave our house at 6:00 am to take my truck over to park it along the parade route. This year we found a place in the Ralph's parking lot and I backed my truck into a spot facing the street. Then at 10:30 we drove back and unloaded the cooler and snacks and lawn chairs and set up our viewing stand in the back of the truck for the best seats in the house. J.R. and Casey and their kids joined us just as the parade was starting.

It's always an interesting parade. There are lots of equestrian entries along with the usual bands, clowns, baton twirlers, and dancing groups. I'm a big fan of the horses. Ethan seemed to have the same interests, although he was equally interested in the frosted cookies and licorice in the cooler. The girls liked the colorful costumes and the horses. This year's parade had 192 entries, so it was longer than we had patience for. About two hours into it we folded up the chairs and crossed the street to the Mercado to get some lunch and look at a few of the booths. We had a great time, and it was a good excuse for me to put on a cowboy hat and my boots.

Looking For a Recipe!

Yesterday Nancy and I were running a few weekend errands and after going to the OC Swapmeet we stopped at Omar's Birds on El Toro Road and purchased a few things for Tango, our African Grey Parrot. We bought his normal mix of seeds, some wood chips for the bottom of his cage, some extra goodies including peanuts, some seed he particulary likes, and two different mixes that you soak and then warm as an extra treat. You would have thought we had ten birds when you looked at all the stuff on the check out counter. It cost a small fortune.

While we were there we saw some large parrots climbing all over a cargo net that they had draped over some large tree limbs that were part of an out-of-cage play area. It looked like the birds were having a lot of fun with this net. In fact, I was so intrigued by it that when we got home I drove over to Lowe's and purchased about 50 feet of 1/2" hemp rope with the goal in mind of building my own mini cargo net to create a climbing area inside Tango's large cage.

After about 45 minutes I had created the net and the next step was to hang it inside his cage. I opened the door to let him crawl out and then with the assistance of Nancy, I began to secure it to the cage. Tango was watching me rather intently from the top of the cage as I began to tie the net to the top right corner of the rear of the cage. Suddenly he dove at my hand and clamped on to my left thumb. I reacted by jerking my hand away. Unfortunately for him, he didn't let go resulting in him being jerked from the top of the cage and into the wall and then falling to the floor. The end result was two large wounds in my thumb and a parrot with some likely body bruises and and an expanded vocabulary of cuss words.

Nancy has talked me out of just killing him and throwing him in the garbage, but I have decided that after spending all that money on him and his upkeep, I am going to cook and eat him. Does anybody have a recipe for parrot? The nearest thing that I have found so far is a recipe for cream of asparakeet soup.