Gary's Adventures

N.P.H.S. Class of 1971 Reunion

2011-08-31T19:41:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to go back to the "Conejo Valley" for my 40 year reunion earlier this month. So much has changed! This is our school mascot, the Panther. Such a beautiful setting in front of the main office.

The gym now has an awesome painting of the Panther appearing to be breaking out. Such detail, someone did a great job.

Our reunion was held at the Stagecoach Inn. This is such a beautiful setting with a re-creation of the old Timber school building and the Inn filled with antiques from earlier times. There were over 125 people attending and a good time was had by all.

There was a surprise visit from the current cheerleaders at Newbury Park High School. These girls did such a great job, it brought back a flood of memories of rallies and football games.

The next day we all met at the school for a tour of the campus. There are a lot of changes but I still remember walking these halls as a young boy. All of the classes and teachers we had.........seems like yesterday.

No visit to the "Conejo Valley" would be complete without getting together with my good buddy Vic fof a round of golf. The weather could not have been better and the course was in really good shape.

To make this an even better trip, my ex business partner Josie and her husband Ron were able to join us. Talk about a great day! I was smiling for a week.
On the last day in town, I stopped by the office (Century 21 America) and met up with some of the people that have meant so much to me over the last 17 years. I just wish I could have visited with them longer!

My new Buddy

2011-06-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

I started using my Quail call last summer when all the quail in the surrounding fields were calling each other. I managed to call them in, one of them even landed on our deck looking for me. This year, I have not had to call them. They show up in the morning and evenings. This guy walks around on the deck and sits on the garden fence during the day. I am not sure if he is the same one that sits in the top of our pine tree every morning though. He starts calling early and leaves when it starts getting dark. The wildlife here is awesome!

A relaxing Sunday morning drive

2011-02-27T16:13:00.000-08:00

We have been watching this old house slowly deteriorate and return to nature for the last 4 years. It is sitting out in a field all by itself. I can only imagine the former families that have called this "Home" in the past.

I am not sure what this and the other buildings on the property were used for. Grace thinks this might have been an old dairy or cattle property. It backs up to a lake that is frozen over this time of year. Beautiful old building.

A hospital near a womans prison and youth authority facility. Beautiful old brick architecture.

An old dairy farm, still being used.

This is the Grange. A meeting hall for community events.

Some really large silos out in the country. In the summer there are miles and miles of wheat, alfalfa, hay and other types of grasses out here.

This beautiful hawk let us drive right up to him and take a couple of pictures before flying off looking for his next meal.
What a great day. We do live in a very picturesque area.

The Last Day Of 2010

2010-12-31T19:33:00.000-08:00

As you can see, we have a winter wonderland. The temperature here this morning was -2 degrees........

Grace's lavender field is sleeping under all that snow. Come Spring, it will explode in beautiful shades of purple...........

The sitting / reading / thinking bench looks very lonely.......

Grace's garden art / lawn tractor doesn't look too inviting, the flower basket on the hood looks like a big snowball. All of the fruit and the shade trees on the property are baren and sleeping as well.........

As cold and bleak as this appears, there is a quiet beauty to everything this time of year (as long as you are not out in it shoveling snow).

This has been a Wonderful year! We officially became grandparents to a beautiful little girl and hopefully by the end of 2011 we will be grandparents to another little beauty. Our daughter and son in law are awesome! Adopting 2 sweet little girls.

God has truley blessed our family. He has provided all that we need and so much more.

We look foreward to many new adventures in 2011.......

Miss Beasley

2010-02-28T06:27:00.000-08:00

Our little Miss Beasley has decided that she needs to be as close to us as possible. She has always been the "most sociable" of the group that allow us to care for them but during this last year with her failing health she wants to be at our sides or in our laps constantly (which by the way, is OK with us).

Miss Beasley came to us as a stray some 15 years ago. She just showed up on our doorstep one day and refused to leave. We (I) tried desperately to find her owner to no avail and since our home was on a busy street we decided to make her an indoor kitty, and that was fine with her. She befriended our other kitty, "Puddams" immediatly and they became best friends. A couple of years later we "lost" Puddams to a stroke. Miss Beasley was alone for a couple of months before we decided we needed another Himmie. As some of you may know buying that one baby Himmie (Peekie) turned into rescueing two other adult Himmies (Cissy and La La) from the same breeder. Miss Beasley decided early on she was Queen of the house and did not like the new trio especially the baby Peekie. Peekie adoided Miss Beasley as much as possible but Miss Beasley seemed to enjoy going out of her way to torment her. After a couple of years "Cissy" decided enough was enough and put Miss Beasley in her place. That ended the picking on Peekie (who was much bigger than Miss Beasley). We said Good-by to Cissy last year after a long illness and La La has really come out of her "shy" shell. Peekie, La La and Beasley are good friends.

We will continue to love our "Girls", they bring us so much joy!

"WOLFFY'S"

2010-01-17T09:07:00.000-08:00

When we moved up here in 2007, a friend told me I had to find this place because according to him they made the best hamburgers in the world. While I do enjoy a good hamburger once in a while, I did not feel the need to go out of my way to find this place. Just by chance, while out on deliveries I drove past Wolffy's and told myself I would have to stop in someday to try a burger. After all, this place is a throw back to the diners of the 50's and Grace and I love old things. We went there for lunch yesterday and I have to admit the food was really really good and there was so much of it! Also because it is a family owned and run place the service and atmosphere was a real pleasure. We will be returning many times I am sure. Thanks for the tip Jim!

New Yard Maintenance Helper

2008-11-15T21:37:00.000-08:00

Mmmmmm this is pretty yummy!

Not bad over here either.

Oh, Hi There........

As I turned into our driveway this afternoon and looked up at the house I saw this beautiful young deer "grazing" in our front lawn. I sat and watched for a while from a distance then decided to see how close I could get. I was able to drive the truck up to about 50 feet away from him before he started to walk away. My wife was inside the house watching and taking pictures. This deer is the first one we have seen on the property in the daytime. We have seen a few at night and have seen many tracks in the mornings and have seen the damage they have done at night also. As they prepare for winter I guess they are "bulking up" eating everything they can find including our fruit trees. So far they have broken two trees and the wooden stakes they were tied to. I guess I will have to put wire cages around the rest of the trees to protect them. The deer are beautiful and we truly feel blessed to have them "visit" us.

Getting some landscaping done......

2008-08-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

We have been here a little more than a year now and it seems to us we should have more done than we do, but we have to remember just how long winter lasted. We thought it would never end. Summer has been a nice reprieve although the wind has been a little hard to cope with at times. We have planted 75 evergreen saplings along the sides of the property, approximately 200 arborvita , 18 assorted fruit trees, 1 flowering plum tree, 1 Norway maple, a couple of rose bushes and an oak tree to remind us of the really nice town we came from, Thousand Oaks. Graces' garden has corn, tomatoes, string beans, peppers, bell peppers, squash, onions, watermellon, and assorted herbs. At the entrance to the property we have around 100 lavender plants that we are starting to border with rock and fill in with pine straw. The front lawn is coming in nicely and we will put in a rear lawn next year. We have not put in the irrigation system yet so it takes us about 2-2 1/2 hours each day to water all of this. Irrigation system is on the agenda next year as well as a greenhouse and a surprise guest cottage/retreat.

Spring is Here At Last

2008-05-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

What a long winter we had. Sure glad that is behind us. According to the records, this was the second most snowfall in Spokane's history. I guess it was a good test for us. The last month was probably the hardest, as our friends and family back in California were telling us how it was in the 70s and 80s and we were still getting snow. As you can see in the pictures, we have added a couple more tractors to the "farm". The little yellow "bumble bee" as Grace likes to call it has been a real workhorse in keeping all of the weeds and wild grass mowed down. I have done the entire 5 acres 2 times already. What a neat find, $50 and all I had to do was rebuild the carburetor and add a new battery. The Craftsman with the snow blade on front has been relegated to the job of carting around the water barrel for watering the 150-200 trees and shrubs we planted, and the weed sprayer for killing off the noxious weeds. It runs like a champ and moved a lot of snow for us. The newest addition to the stable is the Kubota L2800. We bought it with a loader, box blade, rear snow blade and a blanket harrow. I have been using the Kubota quite a bit leveling the property where the builder left mounds and where the "varmints" keep making mounds. This tractor has a hydrostatic (automatic) transmission and is as easy to drive as a car. This will be a lifesaver for snow removal next year and I won't have to be out on the Craftsman all day or rely on my neighbor Jim to dig me out. I am working again, at a auto salvage yard right down the street. I am their counter sales person. It has been challenging learning the computer systems but I am now pretty confident/competent with what I do. The guys I work with are good guys and very helpful, a pleasant work environment.

The last picture is a shot of the enemy I am constantly fighting on the property. He is constantly bringing in reinforcements and I fear I am losing the battle. I will keep up the good fight.

How Long til Spring?

2008-01-20T07:36:00.000-08:00

While we have really enjoyed all of the snow here in Spokane, we are ready for spring. Should be only 30 to 60 days away (the weather part, not the season). I have gotten very proficient with the snow shovel and my neat little snow plow. I can honestly say that driving the little snow plow is a lot of fun. The only time it was not fun was when a county snow plow came down the road out front and buried the approach to our driveway with 2 feet of heavy ice and our little tractor could not get through it. We were in effect blocked in or in my wife's case she was blocked out as she was at our daughters helping her recuperate from surgery on her broken wrist. I was eventually able to break through and clear it all (only took 4 hours). I have been spending quite a bit of time in my shop (The Man Cave) working on the little trailer, the garden tractors and doing some woodworking. I keep the shop at about 42 degrees so the vehicles don't have to be winterized. I am acclimatizing rather well, most of the time I am not even wearing a jacket although I look pretty bundled up in the pictures. (as with all of the pictures, click on them for a larger view)

Now That's Snow!

2007-12-01T20:17:00.000-08:00

I guess we are officially indoctrinated into the population of people that call the Pacific Northwest home. It has been snowing off and on (more on than off) for a week now and is not supposed to let up for a couple of days. It really came down hard this afternoon. I did get to break in my 2 snow shovels on the driveways and sidewalk.

While I was in my shop (better known as the "man cave" by my wife) airing up the tires on the atv trailer so I could take the trash can out to the street I heard a commotion outside. I opened the big door to the shop to find my neighbor on his tractor plowing my entire driveway and the approach to the shop. What a wonderful surprise. We have been blessed with some really terrific neighbors.

The snow is truly beautiful and we have 5 acres of the pretty white stuff to look at and play in. (It is a blast to scoot around in the snow on the ATC we have!)

(Click on any of the pictures to see a larger view)

Our First Snowfall (a dusting actually)

2007-11-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

When we checked the weather report before going to bed last night, they said our area was in a severe snow storm watch so we were not sure what we would wake up to. All we got was a light dusting but it sure made for a pretty setting. I am not too worried about the coming snow as we have installed snow tires on our vehicles and we even picked up a small garden tractor with a snow plow on the front. I am actually looking forward to using the plow. (obviously this southern California transplant has never had to work in weather like this before) We are getting acclimatized rather nicely as the cold weather is not bothering us at all. Having a "Heated" shop to work in doesn't hurt either. LOL Most of the snow in the pictures melted by days end but there is still some in the shady areas of the property. We are looking forward to a White Christmas, probably a white Thanksgiving too.

Almost Done!

2007-08-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

The shop is almost complete. I don't know who is more excited. my wife or me. I know I am driving her crazy when I hang around in the house. She will be able to send me out to the shop when I become a pest (as if I won't already be there). The concrete goes in this week and then the front and doors go on then I can start setting up my wood shop and welding area. The motorhome, the '54 Bel Air, the little Scamp trailer and the newest addition the Chevy 4X4 truck will also be calling the shop home. I will then be able to park the good old Jeep in the garage. When my son-in laws tractor gets here we will be able to put it in the shop as well. The house is starting to feel like home and Grace is setting up her sewing/craft room (a 30'X12' room). She is very happy!

We're Here!

2007-08-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a drive that was. We had one kitty try to escape all the way here and another one slept the entire time. Talk about different personalities. Glad that is behind us! People told us to use tranquelizers but like I told them, I didn't think I could drive after taking a tranquelizer (LOL). We have been here almost 4 weeks now and are slowly getting our lives back in order. We still have a lot of boxes that need to be gone through and put away and now that we have had the daylight basement finished off we can get to them. We contracted with a local company to build us a "Pole Barn" (Shop) and that got started yesterday. I am so EXCITED! I know we came up here to retire or at least that is what I was told but judging by the list of things we want to do to the property, we will both need to go back to work to finance the improvements. As you can see in the picture, there is not a lot on the property but cut down weeds. (They were almost 3 feet tall by the time we got here so I had to get the weed eater out and call a guy with a tractor to mow the property.) I will have another tractor operator come out in a couple of weeks to rototill the front and back yard areas so we can put in some grass and plants. More to follow.....

Almost time to hit the Road

2007-07-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

Wow! Only 11 days before we leave for our new home in Washington. We are so excited we can barely contain ourselves. We have been very busy packing up all of our personal belongings and wrapping up our jobs. The moving company will be packing all of our "Breakables" and meeting us there and we will be taking some things that they won't move. Grace will be driving the car and I will be driving the Jeep (with all 4 cats) towing the "Scamp". We will be pretty loaded down, hopefully we won't look like the "Beverly Hillbillies" LOL

Our New Home

2007-06-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

We now have a place to go after our home closes escrow. Here is a picture of us in front of the fireplace and another picture of my lady on the deck at the rear of the house.(Do we look happy?) Our new home is located near Spokane and is on almost 5 acres. The home is brand new and there is no landscaping so we will have plenty to do. We have plenty of ideas, now we will see if there is enough money to be able to create what we have in our minds. We will be making the move in the middle of July. Imagine driving from Southern California to Spokane Washington in a 20 foot motor home with 4 cats that do not like to travel. I can hardly wait..... We are very excited to be able to make this move. We have always talked about where we would like to retire to when the time came and this place seems to meet all of the criteria. We are near water and forest (Oh yeah there are over 20 golf courses in the area as well) and we were able to get 5 acres of good workable land. We will get the opportunity to see if we can make it as "mini farmers". There are some things I will miss about Southern Cal but there are a lot of things I will be glad to leave behind. We look forward to finding a new church home there as well as making a whole lot of new friends.

Our "Other Fiberglass Camper"

2007-05-22T22:45:00.000-07:00

Well here we are sitting in front of our Chinook motor home up at Camp James on the Kern river. I decided to buy this really nifty motor home because of the "other" fiberglass camper (trailer) that my wife was given. I figured once we took this out a couple of times she would never want to take the little 13' Scamp out and I could just somehow get rid of it and not have to re-hab it. Although she loves the Chinook, she still wants me to finish the little Scamp trailer. I do have to admit, the more I do to the Scamp, the more I like it too. Right now we have it in our garage so it is very easy to work on in my spare time. Oh well , back to the Chinook. This rig is a real pleasure to drive. It is just like driving a van. And power, this baby has a 460 motor, nothing slows it down. The only negative thing I will say about it happened when we recently had our home tented for termites and we spent 3 days living in the Chinook with our 4 little kitties. That motor home seemed really small for those 3 days. (Funny thing, it didn't seem that small when we took it camping.) That won't ever happen again! Grace is retiring next month and we have sold our home and will be moving to Washington in July. We are looking forward to some nice trips in the Chinook.

2007-05-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

Well, here is another "interesting" project my Lady decided "we" needed to take on. She seemed so surprised that someone would actually give her this cute little trailer. When she finally told me about it (the day she arranged to meet her brother-in-law, who had a truck with a tow hitch, to pick it up) and took me to see it, I thought she had lost her mind. The floor at the rear had rotted out and was dragging on the ground and the lovely aroma of rotting wood permeated the entire trailer (all 13 feet of it). I really did not have time for this project but things like that don't seem to bother her. She talked the neighbor into letting her park it in her driveway because we didn't have any room. The neighbor thought it would be a fun project as well and talked about helping with some of the restoration. (I have yet to see any help from these two, hmmm) I have since installed a new sub-floor, built and installed new cabinet doors, reworked the wiring and braced up the sagging ceiling. I have purchased new wood flooring and will install it after the interior gets re-upholstered and the windows are replaced. The axle needs to be replaced as well and I have a new rear stabilizer jack I will install. I have also installed a towing hitch and wiring harness on our Jeep Grand Cherokee so we can move it now. Did I mention my Lady seemed surprised that someone was willing to give this trailer away??? Some times I feel like Ricky Ricardo on the "Lucy" show when she comes up with hair-brained ideas. And yes, my Lady usually follows up with a "Oh Ricky" comment when I ask her what she was thinking. LOL

Trout Fishing in the Sierras

2007-05-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love to do is to go trout fishing in the Sierras. I try to make at least one trip a year with a fishing buddy. We have been doing this since I was in high school (A long time!).
In 2005 I was fishing on a bank very similar to this one and had a Momma bear and 3 baby bears walk right up on me. Even though I knew the best thing to do was to stay calm and slowly walk away, seeing yourself between a momma bear and her babies tends to make you panic. I slowly got up, grabbed my stringer of fish and tried to run. I slipped and went down face first. With this commotion, one of the babies let out a cry and scampered up a tree and I was sure momma was going to eat me. I was wrong, she didn't even flinch. Seems she was walking up and down the shoreline stealing stringers of fish. (Lucky for me)

2007-05-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

Two of my Favorite things in life.

My Lady and Our 1954 Bel Air.

The Restoration of the Bel Air has been 'Challenging' .

(I am sure my Lady thinks the same thing about me)

New Blogspot

2007-05-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a new adventure for me. I will be posting some of the things I am interested in and ongoing projects. Please feel free to check in often as I will be adding new "Stuff" as quickly as I can get to it. Gary