August, you've been so cruel to me...

What a tough month.

August 2...Hubbs puts a drill through his thumb. I have to leave work and spend most of the day in the emergency room. Thankfully he didn't hit the bone or any tendons, just soft tissue. Medication for Hubbs.

August 10 -12...I was out of work sick.

August 17...Doctors Appt. Medication for Me.

August 18...Doctors Appt. Find out that Furloughs are back in effect. Back to 25% pay cut.

August 19 - 20...Out of work on medical leave

August 24...Dog gets sick

August 26...Rush dog to emergency. Find out he has slip disk in his neck, medication and bed rest for dog

August 28 - 29...Mild case of food poisoning for me.


I am ready to put August to bed. Bring on September, it has to be better.

Today Hubbs and I headed up to the Sierras to Calavaras Big Tree State Park. It's in the Sierras, east of Arnold in Gold Country, about an hour and a half away from us. It has stands of giant sequoias that are just amazing in size. I've seen lots of big trees, even Muir Woods but they don't even begin to compare to the size of the trees we saw today.

Beaver Creek Bridge

Beaver Creek.


Howdy shadows.

The water was so clear you can see everything below the surface.

Hubbs pretending to be a bear. He said he wouldn't do it unless I did but you notice that I don't post the picture of me. He's too cute.

We saw lots of animals, birds, squirrels, chipmunks and butterflies but this is the only critter that would hold still long enough to me to take it's picture.

Finally the giant sequoia. So huge that pictures don't do justice. The largest one in the part is over 26 feet in diameter at 6 feet above the ground.

The closer you get to the trees the more amazing they are.

Looking at them straight up from the bottom blows your mind.

Huge right? Hubbs is 5'10" and this tree dwarfs him in both height and width.

The five mile hike was worth it to see these trees.

This tree had been hollowed out by fire and then it fell over. Standing inside of it I didn't have to duck at all.

These amazing pink flowers were growing besides the trial.

This is the Palace Hotel Tree. It burned a long time ago but is still alive. The fire hollowed out a hole that goes all the way to the top like a chimney.

The chimney out all the way out the top.

On the trail with Hubbs.

We took the Subaru, I just love this car.

We arrived at the park around 9:30 and started hiking by 9:50 and were back from our 5 miler at 12:30. By 1 the thunder headers were building. We never saw any lightening or heard any thunder but we figured it was time to head home.

Now we're home and watching John Wayne movies on TV. Tomorrow morning we're going to headed off and do some fly fishing about 45 min's away from home. Hubbs is going to fish and I'm going to knit or read or day dream...anything that involves me being relaxed.

Last night Hubbs and I drove over to the Cosumnes River Preserve. It's a wetland preserve about 10 miles from our house. We've lived here for 6 years and known about the preserve but have never taken the time to go. The weather was so beautiful last night that we decided last minute to run over to the preserve and take a walk.

The preserve has two trails. One is about a mile called The Lost Wetlands Trail and a second one that's about 3 miles called The River Walk. Because it was already 7:30 when when we got there, we took the shorter one.

A lot of the area is swampy but lovely. None of the paddies are flooded this time of year so a lot of it is native grasses. In the spring and winter the paddies are flooded to encourage the Sand Hill Cranes to rest there on their migration.

We saw two cotton tail rabbits. This one was right outside the bathrooms and we were able to get really close before he hopped off.

Not sure what this is but it looks like some type of a hibiscus.

These blackeyed susans were part of the landscaping by the visitors center.

Our shadows.

An Egret.

Hubbs on the path. It's cement the entire way and would be great if you had small children or little ones in a stroller.

My car, waiting for us at the end of the walk.

Sunset over the preserve.

The garden in August is really beautiful. I've been enjoying it more this year then years prior. I think it's part the more mild weather we've been having and the fact that we were gone so much in the first part of the year that we're really settling into being at home. No matter what it is, I'm loving the garden.

Butterfly Bush.

It almost died a horrible death earlier in the summer. When I returned home from being with my family while my grandmother was ill to find that the dogs had broken down the enclosure I'd made to protect the new bush and had snapped all the limbs off of it except for one. But this little bush has continued to bloom and be beautiful.

I love cone flowers. They're so beautiful in the garden and last for days and days as cut flowers for the house.

Echinacia
The color is like setting sun.

Sunflowers.

All volunteer and all amazing. I planted them last year and thanks to the birds who reseeded the bed for me, they were beautiful again this year. They're usually the first thing to bloom in the garden and I can see them from my bedroom window.

Blackeyed Susan.

Again, cone flower. Just love them. I can't wait to get our back yard landscaped. We'd hope that it would happen this year but since there's been a lot of family stuff going on, we're shooting for next year. When the new flower beds go in around the new lawn, all the cone flowers will be moved to in front of the garden fence that separates the lawn area from the garden.

Artichoke.

My father-in-law told me that the artichoke wouldn't produce but lookie here! We got 'choke! I don't know if it'll get big enough to be able to eat it or not but there it is. I hope it does. I'm not a huge fan but it would be a nice treat, especially since it's homegrown.

Swiss Chard.

I don't know if even like it but I love the color! Gorgeous red stems.

Tomatoes!

Not ripe yet but they will be. I can't wait. I've had to resort to buying them at the farmers markets because mine are coming in so late.

An almost ripe one!

This one has been the only plant that has actually produced any ripe ones. I've gotten three so far.

Bees

I love them. They are so amazing. This picture blew my mind when I saw. I was playing around with the macro setting on my camera and was very suprised at what came out. This picture is so amazing. The colors and the details of the bee, you can see the hairs on his legs and pollen.

Wishes for Wednesday

I wish...

That weight didn't matter...

That I had more time to read, knit, sew, garden...

and that every day was a vacation day.

I've decided to give up on The Gold Coast in favor of reading Blockade Billy by Stephen King. The Gold Coast has been really hard for me to read. It's full of technical jargon and the characters don't really have any depth for to them. I've been struggling through it because I loved the first book (The Wild Shore). This book paints the future as a very bleak place that leaves no inch of earth uncovered by pavement or buildings. Sounds like a very horrible future to me. I also have the third book (Pacific Edge) at home waiting for me to read but I think I'm just going to take it back to the library and move on. After trying to read The Gold Coast and hating every second of it, I feel disillusioned by the author and I want to move on.

I started on Blockade Billy during my lunch break today. The book contains two short stories, Blockade Billy and Mortality. I finished Blockade Billy and started on Mortality within 45 min's. I love Stephen King, even the stuff I didn't really like all that much. Blockade Billy really left you hanging on and wondering how the story was going to end. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get into it since I'm not really a sports fan and stories about sports are not my thing, but it was a great read. I can't wait to see how Mortality is going to come out tomorrow. I'm sure that I'll finish it on my break tomorrow.

Edited to add: I finished Blockade Billy on my afternoon break. Mortality was excellent! Loved it. Classic Stephen King.