Home Sweet ‘Our Family’s' Home

At Sister’s House, Citrus Heights, CA

We pulled in at my Sister and Arny’s house around 5:15 Thursday.  Hoped to be in earlier, but had a leak in one of our tire extensions, which are needed for our Tire Pressure Sensor System.  As we started out from Bakersfield, our left front motorhome tire was down to 47 psi…should be 65 psi.  The RV Park had a inflator, and got it up to 72 psi, and it seemed to hold there.  As we drove north along US-99, known as the eternal bumpy highway, we were dropping 1 psi per 10 miles, so we stopped at America’s Tire Store (known as Discount Tire’s in other states) where they quickly diagnosed the problem (after waiting an hour for ‘our turn’) and we removed the extender and the sensor and drove on north.  The rest of the drive, outside of ‘Devil’s Revenge’ in Atwater where the road was much like the Yukon as you near Alaska, went fairly well…considering we hit ‘Rush Hour’ in downtown Sacramento.

  

The DOGS are probably happier than we are…and we ARE HAPPY ourselves…to be here.  They LOVE Arny, Sandy, and the backyard.  Bubba has rolled in the grass more than I can remember.  Skruffy, despite her eyesight problems, knows right where everything is, and she chased her first Squirrel yesterday.  It won’t be long before the Squirrels start teasing her by coming down to her face and laugh at her…but we hope brother Bubba will step up and give teach them a good lesson…time will tell.

Last time we were here I mentioned that they got rid of the Turtles, and now the turtle pens have been converted to a nice garden.  Here is the home of half of the Naked Ladies, some Tulips, and these various bushes and shrubs.  They also got rid of the rose bushes that ran along the patio, opening the patio up to the nice grass without fear of getting poked by Rose Thorns. 

  

Sat outside for awhile yesterday and today listening to and watching the various birds that come and go from the backyard.  This guy above (top two pictures) was just singing away, turning its head back and forth.  The three in the bottom picture live in the Oleander Bushes which are on the neighbor’s property, but which intrude into Sandy and Arny’s yard.

  

  

So far there are fewer Doves, but numerous of the other birds…including the Humming Birds.

And I think this squirrel will learn ‘real fast’ that Skruffy is not the threat she seems to have been in past years…but it sure was checking her out far below…it just did not understand that Skruffy never did see it, but her nose sure was twitching a bit.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, Liver and Onions and Steak for Dad and me.  YUM!

Rainy Friday and Saturday

At Sister’s House, Citrus Heights, Ca

Around midnight Thursday it started to sprinkle…by morning it was a good, solid rain.  For the next 36 hours it rained…about 2-3 inches.  Rarely was it a hard rain, there might have been 15 mph winds, just a good, solid rain.  The type of rain that farmers really like this time of year…unless they were planning to get a crop in the ground this weekend.  Folsom Lake is now 82 percent full, which is 122 percent of its 15-year average.  They finished a new spillway last year, so the lake level can be higher than in past years.  Just this past February they wondered if it would get above half full…amazing what a wet March and a good rain in April can do for this area.  This was a warmer rain, so it rained on some of the snow pack in the Sierras, which means they had to release more water from the dams in anticipation of the high water rate coming into the lakes.  Looks like the farmers will have water again this year during the hot summer months, at least from Merced and the valley to the north of Merced.

This amount of rain means that a lake forms between the motorhome and the patio.  This picture was taken AFTER about half of the lake dried up.  I took the carpets up that lead from the motorhome to the patio in anticipation of the rain…glad I did because they would have been soaking wet.

Here is another angle…you can see the high amount of tree droppings in the bottom right of the picture, which is where the high level of the water was at.

The tree is a Fruitless Mulberry, and the Blossoms come out before the leaves appear.  The Blossoms fall off, making a big mess…but at least they are not sticky, just love to stick in doggies tails, feet, etc., and the bottom of your shoes.  We hoped that the storm would knock them all down…

…but not our luck…still a bunch of them up there in the tree.

   

The cherry tree…now that’s another story.  It once had a bunch of blossoms on it, like in the upper right picture…but the rain knocked 95% of them off, as you can see in the upper left picture.

By evening, I was able to put the carpets back out, and the dogs could have free run of the yard again.  During the higher water, I put them on the leash and walked them around the water onto the higher area of the lawn.  They could not understand that…but after all, they are just dogs…who knows what they understand outside of food, petting, and sleeping.

    

With the rain gone, the sun back, and a big blue sky…the animals came out to feast…

    

    

ALL of these bird and squirrel and dog pictures were taken today after 4 and before 8. 

   

Thought I might be able to see the Sierras after the storm, but it needed to pass through a few hours earlier…still clouds over the mountains to the east.

    

And with no clouds to the west, the sky did not light up for a real nice sunset…but any sunset is still nice, especially one with Old Glory flapping in the wind.

Did this Bird Dress up for Trick or Treat?

Lots of different birds come and go at the feeders in my sister’s backyard.  But lately we have had a special little one visiting, one with a quaint, special chirp as it sits in the surrounding trees.

We are not sure where the Yellow Budgie/Parakeet came from…and it was not alone.  A green Parakeet, or perhaps Cockatiel, was seen with it the first day it showed up about a month ago, but we only saw it for two or three days, and from a distance.  I have been waiting for the moment to capture this little one on camera…it does not show its face very often, although we hear its distinct chirp on most days.  It seems to hang with the many Finches, and flies between three or four backyards in the neighborhood.

Then there is the ongoing drama of Skruffy and Bubba versus the Squirrels.  When we last left this drama, Skruffy had touched the Squirrel we have named Jackie.  Jackie is the proud mother of three young squirrels, born earlier this year, and now are getting close to their mothers size.  In relation to humans, we would say they are in their “teens”.  We “think” this is their daddy in the tree to the left, and below.

As teenagers do, these three little squirrels have have been playing games with Skruffy and Bubba.  While daddy eats, they play…chasing each other…teasing the dogs.

The drill goes like this….and I will say right up front that getting a “sharp” picture of these guys running around is not easy to do with my camera.   One of the young squirrels will come down the right side of the tree, while Skruffy is sitting on the left side of the tree.

They will wander down onto the ground…she takes off…they cut back to the tree running around the other side and up the trunk…

...with Skruffy in wild pursuit.  I think they learned this from their mother Jackie…but they have two good eyes, and much more speed than Jackie, and poor little Skruffy is …

…left empty handed…err….empty pawed.  Until a couple of days ago when Bubba got in on the action too. Don’t have pictures of this, but Arny and I both saw it.  Bubba was sneaking up on the squirrel who was down on the ground while Skruffy's view was blocked by the tree on the other side.  It kept an eye on Bubba, who was slowly crawling up on it when out of the blue, Skruffy attacked around the tree.  That little squirrel, who had been up and down numerous times playing with Skruffy for the past half hour got slapped on its butt by her paw before it scrambled up the tree, up the limb, out a limb to another tree and over to the safety of the other side of the fence.  But all is fine, and it was back the next day with the other two teenage squirrels to “play again another day.”

If you look closely at the base of the tree (above) you can see the shells and even some nuts which have fallen out of the squirrel house which up in the tree.  Bubba has a bad habit…he LOVES to sniff and lick up the seeds and shells.  Arny told me that very next day after Skruffy touched the young squirrel, Bubba was over at the base of the tree, nose down to the ground, sniffing and licking.  One of the young squirrels, perhaps even he one Skruffy embarrassed the day before, came down the tree trunk, took its front leg and hit Bubba right on the head.  Bubba looks up real quick, the squirrel is long gone up into the tree, and Arny said that he had not laughed so hard in a long long time.  Bubba never did know what hit him.  Dogs 2, Squirrels 1.   Oh, if I had only been there to get a picture of that one!!!!!

Note:  We have seen Jackie a few times since Skruffy hit her butt a few weeks ago, but she visits the "feeder" less often, and generally in the early morning when the dogs are not out.  Perhaps she is weaning herself away from her young ones...or perhaps she is afraid of the dogs.  Of all the squirrels, she was the one which was less afraid of Arny and Sandy before the dogs arrived...we hope after we leave she will again strike up that relationship.  As for Skruffy, she will continue the chase, and we doubt she will ever get any closer than she has already gotten.  Bubba, well...he might be a little embarrassed about all the teasing we have given him for letting a squirrel hit him upside the head.  Today he ran away...first time in well over a year that he had taken off.  Luckily, Arny's friend Steve was headed down the street and saw him, and when he called Bubba over to his truck, Bubba ran over and hopped in.  Steve had Bubba back home before anyone knew he was gone.  Bubba, who has a history of doing this type of thing, will be more closely watched, and we all have our fingers (and paws) crossed hoping it is the last of his adventures. 

They're BACK….

For the fourth consecutive year we have “camped” in Arnie and Sandy’s backyard for a month or more.  And every morning there is a ritual…Arnie and Sandy open up their drapes, when we see that (or in most cases, when we get up out of bed), we let he dogs out.  

They QUICKLY do their business (well, Skruffy is busy, every morning Bubba acts like he has not released his bladder for a good day or more), they go to the door and jump and bark until someone opens up and lets them in.

A few seconds after entering the house, they come back outside, typically with Arnie, and get their morning treat.

And during all of this Arnie is saying, “Good morning, good morning, good morning!” (Along with our words of greeting, of happiness, of love….)

Then Bubba goes inside the house, and Skruffy comes back into the motorhome.  Today, she jumped right up on my recliner, got between my legs, and just stares at me.  Now, what do you think she wants?   She wants her morning treat from dad!  What a double dipper!!!
Note: see the heating pad on my left leg?  That is now my morning ritual to keep the leg limber.  I thought I would be real sore after yesterday’s move into the backyard and stuff, but it was only slightly sore, so things are getting better, that’s for sure.

In past years Arnie had an old Suburban and an old frame sitting between the motorhome and the shed.  Earlier this year he sold them…decided he would never get around to restoring it.  Sis has a big smile on her face….

Of course, if we are at Sandy and Arnie’s house, that means that the great squirrel hunter is back. 

L.P. has New Meaning

This is our Liquefied Petroleum Gas tank, also known as the Propane Tank.  Ours is located in the middle between the back tires, just south of the axel.  Since it is so far, they have a filling up location on the side in which a high pressure line takes the propane to this tank.

    

This fill-up area is along the passenger’s side, far back corner next to a storage bin.  In the picture above left you can see the yellow cover, which is removed and the propane filling nozzle is attached, the switch at the bottom is turned off shutting off gas from the motorhome, and the middle relief valve is opened so that when propane starts spurting out, it is time to turn off the pump.  The right picture is the back side of the left picture…and you can see that the high pressure line is missing.  Well, when I tried to top off the propane in Evanston Wyoming nearly two weeks ago, that is when I found out about the missing line.  If you look at the first picture, the line goes into the valve in the upper left, near the middle, of the tank.  Another of the small things one discovers as they use a “new to us” motorhome.  I sure did not see it on my brief inspection under the motorhome as we were buying it because I was looking more for rust and potential road salt damage.  LP’s new meaning?  "Lost Pipes"

Above is the FedEx shipping history on the progress of our awning being shipped to my sister’s house in Citrus Heights, California.  In the upper right corner you can see the proposed delivery date, which I saw last night for the first time….and oh no, there it is…..Holiday, Florida.  Yep, they sent it to Florida instead of California.  Today it arrived in and departed from Orlando.  I talked to the folks at PPL Motorhomes in Houston and pointed out their error, and they were going to try and have it re-routed to Citrus Heights….this is hours before it arrived in Orlando.  It departed Orlando tonight, and it looks like it is still headed to Holiday.  Perhaps it is bundled in such a way that they have to move it on to Tampa before they can re-route it….or perhaps PPL did nothing about correcting their mistake.  Tomorrow I will know one way or another, but it seems like this awning thing has been such a circus.  GRRRRR!!!  Perhaps LP means Lost Parcel, or Losing my Patience….take your choice.

Have you ever heard of Bag Balm before?  This is some great stuff.  Here is what Wikipedia says about it:

Bag Balm is a salve developed in 1899 to soothe irritation on cows' udders after milking.  The product is officially only meant for animals and is inspected as such by the United States Food and Drug Administration, but it's also often used as a treatment for chapped and irritated skin on humans and can be found in places such as drug stores, ski resorts, online vendors, needle-work stores, and of course farm and feed stores. Its uses are many, for example "squeaky bed springs, psoriasis, dry facial skin, cracked fingers, burns, zits, diaper rash, saddle sores, sunburn, pruned trees, rifles, shell casings, bed sores and radiation burns." ….. The active ingredients of Bag Balm are 8-hydroxyquinoline sulfate 0.3% (antiseptic) in a petroleum jelly USP and lanolin base.

Well, my use is for dry feet, which developed while we were in Wyoming.  We had some last year, given to us by my sister in a small container, which we carried in the motorhome….which burned up and became ashes a few months ago.  Well, the other day I broke down and bought some from Walgreens….a bit hard to find unless you know where to look…in the lotions and skin creams area.  It works great, and this “tin” will last us for a long, long time.

As for my knee, it is doing much, much better.  No problems since a week ago Sunday, which means it was probably just a pinched nerve, probably from the hectic drive.  Since I was favoring it, it put more pressure on the other leg which was sore, like a sore muscle, but nothing to worry about either.  Thanks to all who were concerned.

The great squirrel hunters are so happy to be back in Arny and Sandy’s backyard.  Skruffy runs and barks and barks and runs and never comes close.  

Bubba, on the other hand, is a true hunter.  He will sneak right up on the little creatures and with a big, final pounce, he always comes up empty.  It is at that point that he lets out a large, resounding BARK, and sits there and stares at the squirrel which is typically giving him a squirrely chirp.

I just love the trees over at mom and dad’s house.  The lady who use to live there, now deceased, was a great gardener…and from what I have been told, the yard looked even better when she was alive.  Her surviving daughter, who lost the house in a foreclosure, did nothing to keep it up…many plants and even a few trees were lost over the years.  Mom sure enjoys going out and watering….to the point that I had to rescue her the other day when she got her little GoGo stuck out on the lawn.  No pictures of that, unfortunately.  

    

Later this week we hope to visit with Mary-Pat who writes the Butterflies and Heart Songs blog.  She is recovering nicely from recent knee surgery…and we look forward to seeing her again since our initial meeting at Crater Lake last year.