Sheep Ranch
February 18, 2025
Sheep Ranch. It’s a tiny place halfway between Murphys and Mountain Ranch.. which may not tell you much! It’s in Calaveras County, has a population of less than 100 (one source said 87), has no currently viable businesses, and was actually named after a sheep ranch in the late 1800s. The placard below says the town is 160 acres.
I bring this up because Sally and Ron bought a house there last summer and I drove there today for a two-day visit. (And I believe covered most of the town in a late afternoon walk with Sally.)
Here are some shots…
Down the road from Sally and Ron’s place, is this old school house. A neighbor of theirs grew up in Sheep Ranch and her mom attended school here. It looks to me like the building is a winter or two away from total collapse.
This is the old general store on Main St. Not occupied. The interior looks like it may have looked a few generations ago. This is right around the corner from Sally and Ron’s place. Note gas pump.
This is the old Pioneer Hotel. They actually still have informal community gatherings here.
Their next door neighbor … (that small brick structure, not the jail as Sally’s mom originally thought, was reportedly used to defuse dynamite.. dynamite used in local gold and quartz mining (don’t quote me on that).
Their house at sunset…
Their place is on nearly an acre and will give them projects for the rest of their lives. 🙂 Lots of fruit and nut trees, a couple of gardens, outdoor barbeque area and an outdoor shower.. for starters. There are a couple stand alone buildings that will provide Ron with workshop space, and laundry and storage and .. other stuff. Inside, no end to home projects and the fun tasks of perfecting the space for max enjoyable living.
Going to be a fun visit!
Not My President’s Day
February 17, 2025
Another great day for a Capitol protest.. this time President’s Day. Probably a couple thousand? (No idea, really, I just know it was a lot bigger than the last one.)
This time, Steve came over and we did Action Coffee, then Lyra arrived, then we picked up Chris, Spot Heroed a great parking place in the Cathedral lot at J and 11th, and a short walk to the Capitol put us in the thick of it.
The Boss
February 16, 2025
Spent tonight with this sweet Boss…
Much slobber poured forth from that young mouth.
As Janet reminded us, dogs are animals.
Hachis Parmentier
February 15, 2025
Meat and potato pie in France, a shepherd’s pie in England. Had it at Wes and Margy’s. Can’t wait to try it. Funny thing, the recipe Wes used came right out of the More 60-Minute Gourmet by Pierre Franey. That book, and its predecessor (The 60-Minute Gourmet), were staples of my cooking life in the 80s. Never made this recipe, though, so it was very fun to be introduced forty years later.
Talking Turkey
February 14, 2025
As seen the other day while Vicki and I were circling the Arb…
We frequently observe in Downtown/Campus Davis, turkeys traveling in large rafters.. usually 15-20 of them will surprise you in places you least expect an encounter. This particular rafter was in front of Mrak Hall. We’re so accustomed to seeing them, though, that it’s become sorta blase… EXCEPT when they are all fluffed up in full-feathered regalia.
Snow Man
February 13, 2025
Our boy lives in snow country.
Oh Woe is Us….
February 12, 2025
So much shitty shitty news.
In the supremely petty, arrogant, I’ll-do-anything-I-want category….this was just made “official.”
In the let-me-jam-my-thumbs-in-liberals’-eyes category…
And in the oh-puleeze category…
I’m just appalled at this. Sure, little “X” is a darling, spunky little 4 year old, but Musk’s effort to humanize himself at the expense of a child riles me no end. His use of a child as a prop is calculated and opportunistic and, frankly, a tragedy. He calls his son his emotional support human. Yeah… hire a therapist, dude. This is just sick.
And then….. there’s the approval today of Tulsi Gabbard as DNAI, and, any minute now, RFK, Jr. as HHS Secretary. Nuthin’ dems could do to stop those. Next up: Kash Patel.
There’s last night’s (or wee hours of today, actually) made-for-TV moment when that school teacher — unjustly held in Russia for the last four years for possessing medical marijuana — was swapped for a Russian prisoner (not sure who) and brought to the Whitehouse wrapped in an American flag, who then called trump a hero, etc etc etc, and then trump went on to blast Biden for being impotent, as usual (aren’t we tired yet of this childish, relentless chorus of blame for absolutely everything?). Etc, etc, etc.
It’s just one nauseating assault after another. Wins in court (sure, yeah, go back to laying off all the federal civil servants), Ukraine’s joining NATO is no longer a realistic option (one of many truly horrible realities about to unfold in the renewed Putin-trump show)… and just so so so much more.
It’s feeling like a terrible week, and it’s only Wednesday.
Who Turned Out the Lights?
February 11, 2025
I’d just finished making dinner, had just served up the plates, and Jim and I were just about to carry said plates to the table.. when poof, the lights went out. (Turns out, a tree fell on a PG&E line down the street and knocked out power for 226 of us.)
I grabbed my phone-slash-flashlight to illuminate my way over to the candles, selected a few and fired them up, then sat down to eat.
It was a pretty decent dinner. I’d cleaned out the freezer earlier in the day and decided I needed to make something for dinner that made use of a frozen pie shell, a packet of frozen Italian sausages, and a bag of frozen butternut squash. I entered those ingredients into the googles and came up with “Butternut Squash Quiche with Italian Sausage and Sage.” (wow.. you go googles). I still had to go the the coop for eggs, cream and goat cheese .. and salad stuff, but was pleased and amused by the whole execution.
Not bad. Especially as that pie shell was easily 3 years old and had been a nuisance in our freezer pretty much all that time.
We spent the rest of the night next to the fire for max warmth and coziness.
We went to bed kind of early (for me), and power came back on at about 11:00.. just four hours of dark/coldness.
Coupla Old Guys Playing Chess
February 10, 2025
One might guess who the guy on the left is, but the guy on the right? Who is that, besides someone’s grandpa? Both are 83.
I’ll let you work on it. I’ll be back tomorrow with the answer.
Wrong Color!
February 9, 2025
This is Mary. She’s been our gardener for the last three years or so (and I hope for years and years to come). She’s great.
She had just cut down [most of] our Chinese pistache, planted about 5 years ago, because DANG if it wasn’t the wrong color! Its leaves turn a nice yellow in the fall, which is fine.. but our sycamore also turns yellow and the idea was to have a pistache that had bright red leaves in the fall to offer a contrasting color in our front yard. Leaf color can apparently vary from pistache to pistache and you don’t know necessarily what you’re going to get unless you purchase your tree in the fall and see its leaves.
I’ve been wanting to replace this tree for a few years now.. and we finally got that ball rolling. We’re going to abandon the pistache variety altogether and go with a maple (I forget the exact type), which WILL have very bright red leaves. It also won’t be as large, so won’t crowd the still very much growing sycamore.
The stump was bigger than expected, so Mary’s coming back later with additional tools. We should be planting the tree (and another crepe myrtle on the north side of the driveway) in the next few weeks.
Life of Wry 