The Fourth of July is always a large celebration in Redding. This year it is decidedly low-key because of all the forest fire activity going on. They canceled the big fireworks show, for instance. That’s usually a big deal around here, but the cancellation seems totally appropriate given the fire situation. Anyway, when morning arrived it was so lovely outside, we rode our bikes on the River Trail and I took a few photos. We didn’t have to drive a hundred miles, and our fun was all human-powered. That’s what I love about Redding, all this beauty, all inside the city limits. Click here to see my photos. Meanwhile, we are barbecuing burgers with family for the rest of the day. Happy Independence Day to you!
Breakfast for 10,000
We attend the Annual Pancake breakfast in Roaring Gulch (Redding) 2008
I don’t know of any other town that does this. Really fun!
We ate our pancakes while sitting across from Shasta Voice’s Mary Machado and her husband. Really interesting conversation from these civic movers and shakers.
It was a really hot day, but we dressed western, minus the hats.
Ugly dogs spotted on Sundial Bridge
Amazing Medical Services in Redding
My knee is sore, so my doc sent me over to MD Imaging for an MRI. It really hits home how well equipped the Redding area is in terms of Medical Services. It’s a very well run operation. Laying on my back, inside this giant loud donut, emitting a really powerful magnetic field, it’s easy to imagine that the iron in your blood lining up in a pattern like iron filings clinging to a magnet. The want to know if you have any metal plates, pins, or metal slivers in you. One can imagine metal particles bursting out of your body and attaching to the magnetic donut. It makes you think hard, laying there completely still, like they ask. I used to do some hobby welding, and there was much metal involved, not always where you expected it. However, I emerged from the donut, none the worse for wear, so apparently I’m non-ferrous throughout.
For a small town we have world-class medical services. In the lobby of MD Imaging, they have a display with medical tools of the trade from years gone by. Scary stuff! it makes you appreciate our current high level of technology all the more. Or, will the giant magnetic donut be the scary display in some future medical office lobby? Anyway, if you simply must be in need of medical care, you can do much worse than my town, with our 2 hospitals and teeming professionals all over the place.
Turkey day, Redding style
No, I’m not talking about Thanksgiving here. This is about real turkeys who wander the streets where I live in suburban north Redding. Seeing them walk by in a small flock, it’s easy to equate modern birds with prehistoric dinosaurs, as the theory goes. Tyranosaur-Turkey, who knows how closely related they are? We have a lot of human walkers where I live. It’s a nice area to get a little exercise by walking around, but lately some folks have been known to carry a stick. It seems the turkeys wandering about can be aggressive. Turkey-Velociraptor perhaps. One of my neighbors drives a little Honda car, and she said a big Tom chased her car one day. Hmmm, they do seem to have a tough old bird look…..
Seen above, a gang, er, flock of menacing omnivores.
Candy Tyme
This has little to do with real estate.
When it’s slow at the real estate kiosk at the mall, you can people watch. There’s this candy store adjacent to the kiosk, Candy Tyme. To be honest, I don’t visit too often because it can be cheaper to buy bulk party snacks online. It features big bins of loose candy that can be opened with the idea that you fill bags below. Bulk candy sold by weight. The thing is, the bins are an irresistible attraction to little kids who(surprise!) just open the bins up and grab candy, or let it spill onto the floor. It happens all the time (or Tyme). I watched an incident again today with a kid grabbing candy and running off.
Here’s the interesting part. Sometimes, a dopey parent is so protective of their kid when caught that they threaten the employees in some way. The best defense is a good offense, obviously. Today a goofy mom started shouting repetitive curses. The weird part, and there always is a weird part, was that she kept repeating that it was good thing she had her cell phone(?). It made for a big scene.
The last time I saw a big incident there, the defensive/offensive parent decided to accuse the hapless Candy Tyme employee of pushing her, after her little angel was caught grabbing candy. The employee beseeched me to act as her witness to the security guard that she had not pushed anyone. It was good trick by the mom, and security sent her packing, not really fooled. It worked OK though.
The most troubling snatch and grab I witnessed was not only seen, but encouraged by the “dad.” Get in quick, and get out quick. Both laughing. It happened so fast I wondered if I had seen it at all. Hard to know what to think about that. I remember thinking of coyotes, showing their young how to hunt. Candy coyotes.
The mall is main street in Redding, and it takes all kinds.