Life and all in Redding California
A study in contrast. The first image, the Interstate 5 bridge at Cottonwood Creek, when it was running at a pretty good clip in 2006.
And then below, from yesterday in 2014.
I’ve noticed a lot of changes in the local creekbeds since the drought began. Much of lower Churn Creek’s riparian vegetation is dying or in distress. I sure hope we get a wet winter.
We attended our neighborhood meeting in observance of National Neighborhood Night Out on Aug 5. Our awesome block captain was host. We had some folks from Shascom, RPD, and a few firemen come by too. And a police helicopter did a fly-by. It was good to see everyone. Crime prevention is always a hot topic.
Neighborhood crime prevention meetings. It’s Really Redding.
We’ve all seen them. Those giant Summer Squash or Zucchini that hide among the leaves in your garden until a few days too late, you notice them. Too big now to become delicate grilled veggies, they are now hulking massive squash.
Or maybe some “generous” neighbor might leave you a bag of them on your porch. By night. So you can’t shoo them away.
Like these big ol’ crooknecks. What to do?
Well, you can shred them into healthy squash noodles. We use a Kitchen Craft hand powered cutter, one of the more useful devices we have in our kitchen. You should check out Kitchen Craft if you haven’t already.
Then, the delightful Karry whipped up a tomato sauce. If you live in Redding and you don’t have a big bush of Rosemary growing somewhere in your yard, you are missing out. Rosemary grows easily here.
We microwave the “noodles” for a few minutes to take the edge off, but you could just as easily eat them raw.
A 2010 Zinfindel from Moseley Family Cellars compliments the dish nicely.
We toss in some green olives from The Olive Pit in Corning, and some parmigiano reggiano to complete the dish. Much better than leaving a bag of them on your neighbor’s porch in the dead of night. Squashghetti, it’s Really Redding.
In case you were wondering. Or perhaps you’ve been misled about our quality of life by reading our so called “local” newspaper, or its online spawn redding.com. Replete with recently incessant horror stories about petty crime and homelessness. Pleasurable living doesn’t sell papers or banner ads, evidently.
Meanwhile, a decent lifestyle goes on here.
Huh. Who knew?