Say Their Names

 

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts.

 Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California. 

Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California. 

Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska.

 Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana.

 Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas. 

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri. 

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming. 

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California.

 Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California. 

Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio. 

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee.

"Step forward, You've borne your burdens well, 

Walk peacefully onto Heaven's streets, 

You've done your time in Hell."

 

 

Spooky Mt. Shasta

This should be my Halloween post.

Mount Shasta has always inspired myths and legends that go back to the beginning inhabitant of this region - Native Americans. The more recent ones: 

Ancient lost civilizations 

The mountain harbors an ancient, secret city inhabited by the descendants of the Lemurians, which are the supposedly highly technologically advanced people 

UFO'S

Mount Shasta has always had some strange cloud formations. (Lenticular clouds) 

I wonder, how much of those cloud formations are filters and photoshopped? 

That's just me - I have an inquiring mind. 

Lenticular clouds are unique clouds that typically form around hills

 and mountains, as a result of the way that the air moves. 

Intense UFO activity has been reported on the mountain. Dancing lights, mysterious flashes, orbs, metallic craft, glowing objects, luminous cigar shaped objects, jellyfish-like craft, silent silver airships, and fleets of lights making amazing maneuvers have all been reported from here since long before electricity was even a thing. Some people have put forth the theory that these UFOs have some connection to the Lemurian civilization purported to live within the mountain 

Magic mushrooms anyone?

Bigfoot 

Yep, he's here too. 

I choose to believe BIGFOOT might be there.

To protect us from the Lemurians and to provide hours of campfire fun!

It was once believed that to go up the mountain past the tree-line was to invite doom, as therein was the realm of the dead, the shaman, the damned, and a mystical race of evil dwarves feared by the Wintu tribe. Mt. Shasta was also said to be prowled by numerous spirits and magical beings, not all of them particularly benevolent, and was also the purported location of portals to other realms of existence. 

Dang SPOOKY!

 Mt. Shasta is a mecca for New Agers, spiritualists, Wiccans, cults, and all manner of those seeking some sort of spiritual revelation, who have flocked to Mt. Shasta area in droves. 

Makes you wonder, doesn't it? 

Walking downtown, there is an array of shops catering to tourists

 who are into that sort of thing - 

But we go for the rocks. 

gemstones, minerals -  

Geology which both my husband and I enjoy. 

The artistry of God's creation has to be appreciated. 

My husband has an extensive rock collection, from all over the world and some he inherited from his grandfather. 

And Mount Shasta City had some "out of this world" gas prices.

Okay, that was a stretch - pretty much what gas is going around here. 

We filled up our plug-in-hybrid for the first time since June 5. 

This fill-up should last us till October. 

Mount Shasta City

 

Up the road from my house is Mount Shasta City. The fires and smoke have been bad this summer but we caught a rare day where the air quality was moderate so we jumped at the chance to go for a visit. 

On the road going up to the mountain - I took this photo of a snowless Mt Shasta which is rarely seen. A local told me there is some snow on the eastern side - 

The road was also closed due to mudflows, debris, and rocks, due to hot weather and glaciers melting. 

Surges of mud, rocks, and logs made some roads earlier in the month impassable. 

I love that quote from Joaquin Miller - 

Lonely as God and white as a winter moon. 

One of the pleasures of living in the north state is the towering year-round views of Mt Shasta - seen up to 140 miles away.

That first snowfall;  when Shasta gets dressed in white snow. 

Assurance to me, that summer has lost and autumn is on its way. 

My humble beginnings of this blog

I started this blog in 2011.  I wanted this to be about one of my most favorite things in life and that is MY HOUSE. 

We were still adjusting to a 45% cut in pay after leaving the Silicon Valley. My husband was on unemployment part-time and could only get part-time work.  I was out of work as well. Not much work for a Nanny.  All I could find were babysitter jobs that paid incredibly low rates and all they wanted me to do was, "babysit."  It wasn't that those wages were beneath me - but I used to make more than my husband, being a Nanny.  Plus I had health coverage and many perks. I was being offered about $100 a week for 3 kids! We felt that it wasn't worth it and I might as well stay home and run my own household. 

We still had my husband's military pension and his service-related disability.  During this time, my youngest son got out of the Navy and came to live with us and Foodie came up as well. 

I had a full house!

Back when I was 10 years younger. 

But it was kinda fun, now when I look back and re-read some of the posts. 

The year my husband started working at the Cal Vet Home, we had to go the full month of January without a paycheck  -  to be paid in February. 

That's hard to do at first! 

So I created a 31-day Challenge to eat what was in my pantry and wrote about it on here.  

So that is how this blog came to be - 

Have you ever gone back and re-read your blog from the beginning? It's enjoyable and embarrassing at the same time. 

You can read My 31-day Challenge here. 

Vanilla and fluffy with a cup of coffee

I was up later than usual last night downloading my complete blog. I felt some relief as I put that puppy to rest but I also had some sad feelings, as I re-read over some old posts. Earlier I did some investigative snooping and I believe I found the 3 women who are stalking me and writing mean comments every time I post something political. They are followers of one particular blog -  I should be a blog investigator - it helps that I had some suspicion. 

You really have to be careful these days. Or maybe it has always been this way and I just let my guard down. 

I have lost most of my followers - It's like I really am starting over, but with that is a FREEDOM I haven't felt in a long time.  Purging out the old and ringing in the new.  It has to be better!

FAMILY

My sister-in-law from Alabama called to let me know that my grandniece, Jessica, had a baby boy today. It was by C-section but all is fine and "baby boy" and mom are doing well. I may not be a Grandma but I sure have nieces and nephews up the ying-yang ranging from newborn to 54 years old! All but three come from my brother's HUGE family. These include the children and grandchildren of my nieces and nephews. 

I can see you counting on your fingers - yes my brother and his wife got married when she was 15 and he was 16.  He is my dad's son from another mother and was raised in Tennessee so back then they do things differently than how I was raised here in California. 

That's okay - I love them anyway!

PLANS FOR THIS BLOG

Not much will change other than I will chit-chat on here pretty much on a daily basis rather than on Morning Coffee - without the political rants.  After all, everything I do is from my house, right? 

No worries - I'll keep it vanilla and fluffy but always with a cup of STRONG BLACK coffee. 

 

Fall cleaning

 

It's coming. The 10-day forecast has a couple of 100 degree days but mostly they are 90's. We're starting to get down into the '70s at night. I still can't open the windows at night, due to the bad air quality.

I started Fall cleaning. I took off the cushions covers from my sofa and loveseat and washed them along with blankets we use and throw pillows.  I vacuumed the sofa and love seat and of course, Laydee approves. 

She tends to drool. I've never been one that keeps my animals off the furniture. They are my family. I just have to make sure I am regular about keeping the sofa clean and smelling good. 

That was just the beginning - I want to wash down the walls, and the kitchen cabinets, reorganize my pantry, and wash curtains. I like going into Fall, or any new season, with a clean house. 

Then after I am done, I will start my Fall decorating. 

I received my replacement filters for my 2 air purifiers and my new purifier.  I placed this one in the hallway - the other one like this is in our office. 

This is the new one for the living room. It's very quiet. 

I can already tell a difference. My house smells clean and fresh. But that stops at the door - the air, depending on the wind shift, at times smells like smoke. At least I can rest easy knowing my inside air smells fresh. 

Sometime this week, I will call to get my HVAC looked at and tuned, ready for future cold weather, and then I will ask about the whole house purifier or whatever they call it. 

The day after it sprinkled.

 

What a beautiful morning - the day after we had cool temps and sprinkles. 

The sprinkles of  July 27, 2021. We never received more than just that. It was all day though and the air cleared out and it smelled so fresh and nice. 

The fish enjoyed the sprinkles. 

Their names are Sharkie, Gil, Fin, Corona, Casper, and Flo. 

The first bloom - water hyacinth 

It usually starts blooming in June but perhaps it was too hot or the smoke just delayed it. We're happy to see them starting to bloom. 

With the drought, just about everything is bloomed out or just dead. 

Drought

The sunflowers grew to over 12 feet tall so I had to stake them using my dad's old paint ladder that I painted last year. 

My garden was a bust this summer - drought conditions made it to where we just did not plant what I usually plant so as not to waste any water. Then again, is it a waste to water plants that bring joy to your life? 

I still couldn't justify it especially when my friend lives in an unincorporated area that is in a severe water shortage due to poor management and her community is having to purchase water from my town.

We maintain what we have; training the lawn and the plants to drink less and so far they are surviving. Fortunately, most of our plants are drought lovers - 

I've been a bit down this summer because I am not gardening like I should be. 

This little sunflower broke off so I brought it inside and placed it in a vase and put the vase inside a pot that belonged to my niece. My cat likes to knock my flowers over and this way, it made it a bit harder for her. 

I'll be glad when it's Autumn and we get some rain. 

July 1

 

I took these photos at 6:30 am this morning. 

They love the dry heat. 

The rest of my plants seem to be drying out - 

we're at a 25% voluntary water reduction due to the drought. 

Taller than the roof

 

Some people are creeped out by sunflowers. 

Is it because they can get as tall as the roof? (or taller?) 

Was there a horror movie about giant-eating sunflowers taking over the earth? 

I love to get photos of them just before they bloom. 

Watch out, or they may just suck you in...

How could anyone, not enjoy an innocent sunflower?

Free Weeds

 

I want this!