Missing Lake Tahoe

So now it is July and I am really, really missing Lake Tahoe.  So what specifically do I miss about Lake Tahoe?

Here is what I miss about Lake Tahoe:

1.  The Tuesday Farmer’s Market..I cannot begin to tell you how much I miss the fresh produce I got each and every week at this Farmer’s Market.  Also my weekly batch of fresh salsa is missing because I don’t have that wonderful produce from Northern California to make it.  I also miss my occasional trips to the Farmer’s Market in Carson City.  Speaking of Carson City, I miss my weekly trip to Trader Joe’s!!

2.  My morning walk through the forest.  What better way to get your exercise that walking through a forest of Jeffery pine trees and a vast array of wild flowers?

3.  Taylor Creek—I love that nature hike through Taylor Creek. It has examples of all the ecosystem components that makes Lake Tahoe the clean, beautiful lake that it is.  It is also a very cool place to visit in the fall when the salmon come to spawn….a really interesting phenomenon—colorful too as the salmon turn a bright, bright red.

4.  Brother’s.  Ah, our favorite bar and it was within walking distance of the campground.  Well walking distance for me, but Rex always chose to meet me there with a vehicle.  When we first starting going to Lake Tahoe, the owner (he sold last year) had a childhood connection to Wrigley Field……his father worked for the Wrigley’s I think.  They also had a bartender whose girlfriend was from Iowa…..someone Rex enjoyed visiting with at any rate.

5.  Our annual trip to Virginia City.  No matter how many times we have been there I always find something new to see.  I am so grateful that I bought a jewelry piece in the rock shop there last year.  It is a necklace drop that has peridot, garnet, and citron.  Which happens to be the birth stones of three of my children.  It is a truly beautiful piece and one of my favorite possessions.

6.  Placerville, San Francisco, Napa Valley, and Sutter’s Mill.  Of those three places the only one I have actually visited is Placerville, but we have had plans to visit the other locations on our visit list.  They are all within four hours of Lake Tahoe…..and I regret that we didn’t get to San Francisco, Napa Valley, and Sutter Mill in all of the years we spent at Lake Tahoe.  What a waste!!!  Can’t begin to tell you how much I regret that…

7.  The Weather!!!  My comment about Lake Tahoe summer weather is this: “You can wear shorts everyday and never have to run your air conditioner”.  When it comes to summer what could be better than that???

8.  Bugs.  One thing about winter in Arizona – no bugs.  Well that is also true of Lake Tahoe in the summer time.  I really love to open the doors and windows and not have to worry about bugs.  Unfortunately, in light of where we are spending this summer, Mohave Valley, Arizona DOES have bugs in the summer time!!  Who knew???

9.  Co-Workers.  We really worked with some great people at Harvey’s.  I would love to list them all, but for fear of missing someone, I think I’ll just say that I will miss some of these really incredible people---maybe next year!!

So what don’t I miss about Lake Tahoe in the summer time??

1. I don’t miss 6 AM starts for work.  Have you ever gotten up at 4 AM to go to work??  It SUCKS!!

2.  I also don’t miss the shower house at Chris Haven (the campground).  It was ok but had problems that I found a pain to live with.

Well when I look at it and blue and white…it’s true  I MISS LAKE TAHOE!!

 

Home Alone

By Susie-Q

The Happy Campers left camp for 10 days of house sitting.  The first 7 days I got to go along.  I wasn’t very happy with the “Cat Garage” and travelling in the backseat of the car, but my whining had no effect on them at all.

When we arrived, I was so pissed off, that I immediately found a place to hide.  They put me in the master bathroom to keep me away from the puppy.  There was a bottom drawer slightly open, and I crawled in.  Inside the back of the drawer I squeezed over the top and down under the drawer. Aha, let them find me now !!!

It was a couple of hours before Mary came looking for me, to see how I was doing back in the master bath.  She didn’t have a clue, It was like I vanished into thin air. Maybe if I get tired of camping I can find work in Vegas with one of those slippery magicians.

Another hour passed, and Rex came to look for me. The Dumb Stupid Idiot, looked in the bottom drawer and shoved it closed tight! and left !  DAMN IT !!!  Now I’m stuck and can’t get out.

I screamed, hollered, and cried for another hour.  Neither one of them can hear for Shit.  Finally they both came back to the bathroom to search again.  They finally heard me crying and removed the drawer from the cabinet to release me from the trapped, dark, hiding place.  Basically, I wished I was home in the camper!

Instead of Hiding (plan A), I next worked out an escape (plan B).  I hid under the bathroom vanity right by the door.  The next time they came into the bathroom to check on me I high tailed it out of the bathroom and under the bed.

Aha, success, they didn’t even see me escape the bathroom and now I had a whole Master Bedroom to live in and explore. I layed comfortably under the bed and watched them come search the bathroom every hour, and leave just shaking their heads at my disappearing act.

Eventually while Rex was down on his hands and knees, calling my name, he heard me laughing under bed.  I figured I was in trouble, and would be spending the rest of the day locked in the Cat Garage, but Rex just picked me up and put me on top of the king size bed, rubbed me behind the ears, and told me to stay in the bedroom and away from the puppy out in the other rooms.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!

The last three days of house sitting they brought me home to the camper to stay by myself.  They stopped at Pet Smart and bought this gallon jug.

I thought maybe they’d use a liter of Jack Daniels to keep me “Happy” for Three Days Home Alone. Nope I got water, and here is a shot of my self feeder. They have to remember to feed me once a month.

 

I survived Three Days Home Alone, and The Happy Campers were very proud of me. They said it was part of my Basic Training, because they like to go up to Laughlin and Vegas and stay on their days off once in awhile.

I can’t tell you how glad I was to see them return. I ripped around the camper as they unloaded, helped them put stuff away, and played with them the rest of the day, skipping my afternoon Cat Nap.

SKINNY DIPP’N

I DO A LOT OF PISS’IN AND MOAN’IN ON THIS BLOG, BUT REALLY I AM A VERY POSITIVE PERSON.

IN OUR PURSUIT OF “SUNNY & 80” THIS SUMMER HAS BEEN A BUST. BUT I FINALLY FOUND SOMETHING THAT THIS EXTREME HEAT IS GOOD FOR……

SKINNY DIPP’N !!!

THE LAST 10 DAYS WE’VE BEEN HOUSE SITTING. WHY WOULD YOU HAVE REX AND MARY HOUSE SIT WHILE YOU GO ON VACATION?

THE ANSWER IS PETS. WE TAKE CARE OF YOUR PETS, WATER YOUR LAWN, AND DO POOL MAINTAINENCE WHILE YOU’RE AWAY ON VACATION.

THE ONE THING THAT THIS DESERT SUN DOES WELL, IS HEAT UP THE POOL WATER. IT’S LIKE BATH WATER AND THERE IS NO BETTER PLACE TO BE ON A HOT SUNNY AFTERNOON.

DID WE TAKE ANY PICTURES?

OK, JUST ONE.

HOW HOT IS IT?

HOW HOT IS IT?

IT'S HOT ENOUGH TO FRY AN EGG ON THE SIDEWALK !!!


WE RECENTLY ATTENDED THE 19TH ANNUAL FRY AN EGG ON THE SIDEWALK CONTEST IN OATMAN.

THE CONTESTANTS HAVE 15 MINUTES TO FRY AN EGG USING ONLY THE HEAT OF THE SUN. IF IT'S OATMAN, THE COWBOYS ARE SURE TO BE THERE, AND HERE THEY ARE FIRING OFF THEIR GUNS FOR THE "GO" SIGNAL TO START FRYING THOSE EGGS.







THE GROUP IS MADE UP OF MOSTLY KIDS.

THE TEMPERATURE WAS ONLY 105 DEGREES, AND THE EGG FRYERS WERE A BIT DISAPPOINTED.

BUT EVERY CONTEST HAS A WINNER, AND LIKE MANY OF THE PREVIOUS YEARS THE WINNER WAS ERIC, AND HIS WIFE, XINAXIAO CHOU, WHO WAS A PHYSICS PROFESSOR IN BEIJING, CHINA. THEY COOKED A PERFECT SUNNY SIDE UP EGG IN 60 SECONDS.

"The Frensel lens sequesters the carbon from the carbon dioxide. The heat coming out of the lens is about 3800 degrees," Eric said. The frensel lens, named for French physicist Augustin Jean Fresnel, is a thin, optical lens of many concentric rings, which amplify light - and heat.

"We don't have an energy crisis in this country, we have an innovation crisis," Eric said.

TO DEMONSTRATE THE POWER OF THE SUN, ERIC COOKED SAUSAGE AND BACON BEFORE THE CONTEST STARTED, AND RAN A SMALL STEAM POWERED TURBINE. IT WAS THE ONLY COOKING AREA ON THE SIDEWALK THAT INCLUDED A FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

Swing Shift Cat

I’m getting the Happy Camper’s routine figured out now after a couple weeks of living in the camper. When they begin getting ready for work, I get up from my cat nap to send them off with a smile on their face.

When they go to work on swing shift at the casino, I set up for work as well. I take up my position on top of Mary’s glass desk and assume my surveillance on Mouse control. I hate to brag, but I showed Rex where a dead mouse was inside the duct work for the furnace, made me the Cat Of The Day in Mary’s eyes, but the Mouse War continues.

After two days I gave up my secret Hide-Out, there isn’t much point hiding from the Happy Campers, they really don’t bother me much and there is nothing to be afraid of. The Hide-Out was super secure and cool. I slipped unnoticed under Steve’s chair and climb up on a board inside the chair where nobody could reach me. I’ll keep that secure spot on reserve for emergencies.

My quest for some of that delicious human food continues. I’m sure that Mary is the one that will cave in on this issue so I give her the evil cat eye and pester the hell out of her when ever she eats. So far, I’ve made zero progress. I’m beginning to understand where she got the will power to quit smoking six and half years ago.

Here is the only problem in my life:

This the Green Squirt Bottle Weapon!!!

I hate the Weapon, and the firing of it, I have no choice but to make a hasty retreat to the Cat Hut. It’s completely UNFAIR when they use the weapon!! They don’t give me a warning, no polite “NO” or anything!

I can get away with all kinds of cat pranks, like walking around the table, bed, jumping up on chairs, waking them in the middle of the night with “kisses”, climbing up to look out the widow, prowling behind the furniture, but when I climbed up the screen door with my sharp little claws chasing bugs on the outside of the screen, ZAP ! Then the next day I was playfully chewing on the cell phone charger cord ZAP ! Climb into the kitchen sink ZAP !

God Damn It !! I hate that Green Squirt Bottle Weapon!!

I taught myself to stay away from those dangerous mirrored closet doors, and I’m never going to climb up the screen door again!

I love it when the Happy Campers come home from work. Rex opens a beer and plays with me for an hour. If Rex is busy, Mary gets out my toys to play. I’m getting quite a collection toys, check out my scratching post.

I spend hours chasing my own tail, what fun !! Try it sometime.