Monday, April 30, 2007

Picking Asparagus

Location, Home in CA

I didn’t post to this journal yesterday as I had company and by the time they left it was way past my bedtime.

We are now into “June Gloom” here on the South Coast. It is overcast, foggy, and cold. However, the temperatures in the Santa Ynez Valley are in the high 70’s to low 80”s. That is my kind of weather. I will be going up tomorrow to drop off a load of old wood to burn and mow the grass where we will park our trailers while we work for Visitadores. My “to-do” list is getting smaller in preparation for Wednesday mornings trek over the mountain. It is only about 35 miles one way with the last of 2 miles on a dirt road. The road is in good shape usually and has been sealed with some kind of sealer which helps to keep the dust down.

I have been picking asparagus almost every day since early February. I have a bed about 30 feet long which produces one large handful every day or sometimes more. Needless to say, we eat a lot of asparagus during this time of year. The stalks vary in size from pencil lead thickness to thumb size. They are not all uniform like you see in the store but are oh-so tasty. Tomorrow will be the last picking and I will water the bed heavily and let the stalks grow and go to seed. By late fall they will turn brown and die back. I then cut them off at the ground and feed them with compost and steer manure. The winter rains will provide these nutrients to the new stalks. By its very nature, asparagus migrates out from its original plantings; therefore I have the bed enclosed within a cement border. Some seeds have blown to the next door neighbor's yard so now they have a small bed to pick also.



Todays picture is what I call "root beer" and yellow Hybrid Bearded Iris from the garden.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Death Valley Reservations

Location, Home in CA

It was sunny and warm today with high fog late in the afternoon. I got up early this morning to make my reservations for Death Valley for late October. Today is 6 months to the day from when I want to camp at Furnace Creek. It is always a stressful time wondering if I will get the reservation or something will be wrong so I can’t make the reservation. That has happened several times in the past. Usually it is because Death Valley hasn’t given the reservation service a list of what campsites will be available for those dates. We have even resorted to calling our local Congress women to get that resolved.
Not so today. It all worked perfectly over the internet. I had pre-registered at www.recreation.gov a few days ago so this mornings reservation only took about 5 minutes to complete. All of the rest of the group that will be camping together got their sites also.


Today’s photo is a cactus blooming on our patio. I don’t think I have ever seen this one bloom before.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Internet Aircard

Location: Home in CA

After my usual 1 hour morning walk, I put down the bark I purchased yesterday. It makes the front flower beds look nice.

I have been investigating an internet “air card” from Verizon to use with my laptop while on the road. The Verizon store wants $179 for the card plus $59.99 a month for the service. On the internet I found the card for free plus the monthly fee. I checked with Comp USA and Costco also but they don’t carry the card. If I bought the card and dropped my DSL service, it might be ok but it is still pricey. There is still some doubt as to how good that air card service really is. I have a friend who is using the it exclusively as their internet port as they only had a real slow dial up line. I just talked to her and she said there have been no problems using the card, even while traveling down the road. I think I will wait for a while on this however because of the cost. I won’t be able to update on a daily basis while on the road this summer which is a bummer. I actually write the daily blog in Microsoft Word and then copy it to Blogger.


Today’s picture is of one of the Hybrid Iris’s from Clyda’s garden. They really are pretty right now.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Another nice day

Location: Home in CA

Another beautiful day here with temps in the low 70’s. While working outside it did feel much warmer than that however.

Today I had breakfast out with a couple of friends. We used to do this twice a week some years ago but when one of the fellows passed on and it was hard to go back to the routine. To many memories I guess. After breakfast I had my annual eye exam. Everything was ok but for the first time I need a little distance correction. It is not noticeable to me so I will use my present prescription glasses which have bifocals for reading only. I had just purchased 2 new pair last fall and don’t want to give them up yet. Of course, with the exam comes the pupil dilation so it took several hours for that to wear off.

After I could bear the sunlight with dark glasses on, I took the aluminum cans and plastic bottles to the recycling center and received $23 for my trouble. I stopped and had 2 propane bottles filled which was like buying gold. Sheeesh!!
I also stopped at Home Depot and picked up 2 bags of softener salt and 12 bags of nursery bark which was on sale. I need to put the bark in the front flower beds.

I filled the trailer tank full of water in preparation for my 10 day foray over the mountains behind Santa Barbara to work the main gate security for Ranchero Visitadores. I have been doing this for 11 of the 12 years since I retired. Four of us work the gate 24 hours a day while the trail riders are in camp. I should say there are usually four of us but yesterday I received an email from one of the guys who worked last year, saying he was not coming. That is a real bummer as we were counting on him. I passed that bad bit of news on up the line. Maybe they can find someone to replace him.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Copying from Word

Location: Home in CA

I am going to see if I can write my blog in Microsoft Word and then copy it to Blooger. There was a way to do it in the old Blogger but from internet discussions, it seems that function is missing in the new Blogger.


The flowers are Hybrid Bearded Iris's from our garden


So I will type some more then try a test.

Well, that seems to work just fine. I need to type my blog while traveling as I won't have internet access every day so Word is a good place to do it. It will do my spell checking as I do miss a few keys once in a while. Also, that will give me a backup copy just in case.


I have been researching Broadband internet cards for my PC. The local Verizon store has the Novatel V620 for $179 which I think is excessive. They also want $59.99 per month for the service. I found the same card on the internet for free. What gives with that? More research required I guess. I need to call Verizon Broadband services and a check of Best buy might be in order.

Problems adding photos

Location: Home in CA


Farm in Wisconsin

I am still having problems with this editor. I can't seem to get text to flow around a photo. If I add more than one photo, they all are at the beginning of the post. Very frustrating.


That worked ok for the first one, so lets see what happens if I add another photo.

Well, it added it at the top. There must be a way around this. Do I need to manipulate the html code?

Apparently so. I used the html editor to copy and paste the second picture where I wanted it within the text and it looks ok on preview mode. So, I will publish it and see what happens.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Circus-Circus

Location: Home in CA

I happen to be a faithful follower of the hitchitch.com website. I manage to check in on several websites each day to see what other folks are doing in the RV world. It gives me ideas for future travels as well as insites into upgrades other people have made to their rigs.

I also check Las Vegas, NV websites including those of the media. Last night one item in particular caught my attention. MGM/Mirage Corp has purchased the large tract of open land at the corner of Sahara Ave and Las Vegas boulevard for a future high end project simular to the Project City Center they are now building between Monte Carlo and Bellagio. A fallout from this project will be the upgrading of Circus-Circus, which they also own, as well as the demise of the RV Park at Circus-Circus. This is not good news as the number of RV Parks in Las Vegas has been dwindling over the last several years. For anyone who has visited the city in an RV in the past, the choices now will be very limited and great pressure for spaces will be put on those few parks remaining.

On another note entirely, we had rain on Thursday night!!! The first rain since January and much needed. Weather forcasters are predicting another storm on Sunday which would be wonderful. We are only at about 6 inches for this season with 12-14 inches our normal rainfall.

Berries are in bloom

Location: Home in CA

This is the start of what I hope is a daily journal of our doings and travels. We are at home for the near term but plan to be "on the road" come mid June. I have been working on a few chores around the house and in the trailer. Today I pruned all of the boysenberries so I don't need to get down on my knees to pick them when they ripen. I do this by removing all of the lower side branches from the main vines and all suckers. Later in the season I will let the suckers grow and these will become the new vines for next year. Right now the bloom has just started. We are supposed to get rain tonight and Sunday and I hope it won't hurt the blossoms. There are a lot of bees working now so that is good for pollination.

In the trailer I added some cup hooks for keys under the magazine rack. It is near the entry door so will be handy to just reach in and grab which ever keys I need. I keep spare sets there for the trailer and truck.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Choosing a blog

I have been reading web logs for some time, especially those in Hitchitch.com. I have thought about creating my own blog. I am computer literate to some extent but not in the web creation area. Therefore, I have been looking at what is available on the internet. The only way to learn is to dive in so here goes.