Okay not something you see everyday just driving around Redding, presumably. A skeleton pirate on his way to the lake.
Arrr! What happened to my feet?
Dog days of summer come early this year
Breakfast with the Brewers, and 10,000 of their closest friends
It’s always nice to be a big name-dropper on your blog. Today I crashed the Brewer’s place for breakfast. They had like 10,000 guests.
Notice how pleased Steve is to see me and my camera? Hi Steve! Whatcha havin? (BTW Steve’s thinking of using me in one of his books…crime novels need victims, you know)
Kelly took some shots too. There were a lot of people there. Hi everyone! Welcome to Redding. Let’s eat!
Erin’s got a plateful.
These are some hard working cowboys. All for charity. Our thanks go to everyone involved.
This kid was really cute.
A tip of the hat to this longtime Redding tradition. The Asphalt Cowboy’s Pancake Breakfast. A true Redding original. See you again next year!
I heard you! Shame on you for saying that. No, I did not find my cowboy hat in a dumpster.
More inevitable cat photos
Mr. and Mrs. Black Phoebe eat flies and have babies
An outdoor speaker under the pool shed eaves in our backyard has proven to be suitable housing for a family of Black Phoebes.
I put a small videocamera on a stick and gently shoved it in the eaves to see if I could see what was happening in the nest, a la Turtle Bay eagle cam. Last week there were a few eggs, and yesterday there were a couple of pink blurs with yellow beaks. It’s too close for my cheapo videocamera to really make much out, but in any event, there’s obviously a family here.
The Black Phoebes are a species in the family “Tyrant Flycatcher.” That’s something they do well.
Every so often, they fly off in a loop, to catch flying bugs I can’t even see. I tried to get an action shot, but good luck on that. They’re fast! These still shots will have to do.
Apparently, they like streams and ponds, but evidently they think our swimming pool is just fine too. Thanks to Karry for identifying the species for me.
Extreme autos race one another at the Redding Dragstrip
There is something utterly visceral about watching two jet powered cars race. You have to be there to feel it. Last night, these two “cars” spooled up, and took off down the track at over 200 mph. Afterwards, there was a moment of stunned silence in the crowd, like we all couldn’t believe what we just saw and felt. Then, an exhilarated cheer, almost in unison. We all turned and looked at one another as if to confirm “Did you see/feel that too?” I was laughing so hard. What sort of looney-tunes do you have to be to strap yourself onto a ROCKET, and then race somebody?
You think your job is tough. The two track workers you can just see, crouched toward the left of this shot, are literally sandwiched between two plasma plumes of death!
Where our taxes go
Escapee from Turtle Bay found hiding on our porch
We ran across this hardened escapee from Turtle Bay. Perhaps Turtle Bay is like Pelican Bay, and escapees should be considered dangerous.
We live along the Sulphur Creek watershed, so it was a clear path to freedom for the smelly escapee.
Did I mention that it smelled bad? Don’t let that smiling face fool you.
We took the Bullet Train to San Diego
We spent a few days in San Diego after taking the Bullet Train out of Redding. It just took a few hours. I remember when it took all day on I-5 back in the bad old days. What a great trip. The train was really nice, and we met some cool people. San Diego has a terrific Light Rail system. Look at what they’ve done to their cityscape HERE. We even took the Red Car to Tijuana for an afternoon of fun.
The Red Car is quaint and fun, but not as nice as our Green Car system that stretches from Shingletown to Whiskeytown. Of course, the best part of any trip is coming home to Redding. Our NicholsMelburg&Rossetto designed train station is one of the nicest in the world.
Of course I’m making all this up. I was thinking about this as we started getting so many e-mails this week about trying to beat down the proposed SCRIP (formerly Fix 5) building fees that are ostensibly meant to pay for widening I-5. Widening I-5? Are we maybe preparing for the wrong scenario here? They have “freeways” ten lanes wide in the Bay Area and they are still jammed. What if we had a decent rail system like they have in Europe? Why is that Europe has a better transportation system than we do? We are spending trillions of stimulus dollars and all we get is widened roads? I’m feeling really gyped. Where is the vision that built Shasta Dam? Our leaders today spend big, but think small.
Battle of the local Homeshows rage
Readers know we did the Homeshow at the Anderson Faigrounds last weekend. Its a 3 day burnout, but its always good to see so many of our friends and neighbors. That show has been going on for 30 years, and it was our 5th year there. Meanwhile another Homeshow is scheduled for this weekend at the Redding Convention Center, which is a much smaller venue. We heard this new homeshow is put on by folks from Eureka. One thing is for sure though, the new Redding Homeshow has been MUCH more well advertised. Which I suppose they must do to succeed. Is there room in town for 2 homeshows? Who knows. I guess we’ll find out.
Last week’s homeshow in Anderson is the one run by Popovic, which used to be an upholstery business. Now Jeff and Shirley do this show twice a year, and have a cookie store the rest of the time. This year they added a Baby and Maternity show to Fusaro Hall, which was welcome. From our perspective, the show was well attended by either aging retirees, or expectant moms. It was a striking contrast in demographics. Who knew there were so many moms and moms in waiting around here? I hadn’t seen so many pregnant women since, well maybe never. I guess all those new families will need bigger houses, so maybe the future of real estate here is bright. Come to think of it there are a few houses for sale near me that would make the perfect home for a growing family. Watch this space.
A couple of things to note too. I don’t think I’d seen seeds for sale here before. A reflection of the new interest in home vegetable gardening, no doubt. These seed packages were about 4 times the size of the ones you find at the hardware store. Too bad the photos on the packaging always seems to often look so much better than the results! The tomato packages never show the inevitable hornworms either. I’m going to stick to planting tomatoes though and growing a lot of my own vegetables. Heck, if I get that into my gardening I may even end up producing a whole fields worth on a farm! If I get all the necessary tools and equipment, and search up Mahindra tractors for sale near me, I’ll be good to go! However, I’ll just stick to growing in my back garden for now, but maybe not using the seeds provided here.
Our booth was next to the Egyptian Cotton booth, and they did a very brisk business. It was interesting to hear the shoppers talking about 600 thread-count Egyptian Cotton, and how it felt. The only problem was that the banner sign actually said in very small gray letters (the feel and texture of) EGYPTIAN COTTON. So for all we know it was cotton from Bakersfield or Bangladesh. It was the subject of much hilarity among the regular vendors. It worked though.
Actually, this was one of three booths put up by the As Seen on TV store. Showcasing products whose chief claim to fame is that you’ve seen them on TV. A testament to the power of TV advertising. Hmm. Maybe the new Homeshow in town will do OK after all; it is the one As Seen on TV.