We Survived 2023!

 I can't believe yet another year has passed by.  I wouldn't exactly call it a stellar year, but the three of us are still alive and kicking, so there's that.  Jonathan definitely wanted to make his presence known on January 1, 2024.  Was it really 24 years ago that we were all told our computers were going to crash forever?  The entire world of commerce would be completely shut down until they could figure out a work-around?

I was working for the County in Property Tax ... and we were all hoping it would be true.  Too bad the IT Techs told us no ... it was all a lie.  Little did we know at the time just how much we were being manipulated by the media.  That should have been a wake up call.  

So by the magic of the internet, here's Jon's wish that everyone disco and cluck their way into 2024.  Me too, since you can hear me better than he!

The first order of the day is of course the Rose Parade.  If you've never been to this madhouse presentation, it is definitely worth it.  A few years ago I went down to meet who else but the Westerfields, taking a friend and their rig along with me.  I had to back OUT of the Elks Lodge parking lot onto a 4 lane street, back DOWN the street, then back into the other side of the parking lot to squeeze in among six other rigs.

That was my Class A backing up education.  It was also my education in open grounds and dry camping with a household refrigerator.  I was finally lucky to get a 110 plug to keep my food cold.

I'll just give you a quick description of what it takes to make these floats.  Not far from this intersection are the barns the floats live in until they make their way down the street.  The floats are designed and built along with plans for every little section of color.  Dried flowers, beans, seeds and all things that will last, are placed on the floats early in the week.

How you ask?  With roughly 50 gallons of white Elmer's glue.  You grab your cup, go to the station where you get it filled to the top, then try to climb on the float to your appointed spot.  You have an exact diagram of where to paint the glue and where to put each section of crushed color.  In the meantime, dozens of people sit and pull the petals off dried flowers for their part in the creation.

This was my favorite one.  These pictographs are made using the same techniques ... to look exactly like the people who received transplants by the company represented here.  It's worth the trip just to see these up close.

My second favorite float was of course the Cowboy Channel "Cowgirls Rule".  What about the fresh flowers?  They come by the truckload to the float barn.  They are bundled in paper, stuffed in cardboard containers, then dosed with water.  

You unwrap each bundle, look at your order (where the flowers are going to be on the float), make sure you have the right color of flower, then cut the stems to the exact length.  Here's the fun part ... you pick up a vial and dip it in a bucket of 32 degree water to fill it, then stuff ONE rose stem into it.  That is placed on a chunk of styrofoam.  All this is only done on the very last day so the flowers stay fresh.  

Someone takes them to the float and places them in the correct place.  I'm not kidding when I say there are millions of them ... all placed in little vials by your completely frozen fingers in a building with NO heat,  because you know, the flowers will wilt.  

Anyone can volunteer for this fun filled job ... just bring your ski parka and hand warmers.  Every day I made this right hand turn and drove down the street to the barn where we were working.  It was pretty interesting to see it completely filled with people on the last day.  It's an amazing amount of work for the two hour trip down the strip.

Back to reality ... once the parade was over and I was moving again, thanks to two cups of coffee, I didn't want to stop for fear I'd be glued to the couch for the rest of the day.  I have a couple of cupboards that needed cleaning out so I could stuff even more things inside.  That's when I found this picture.  This gives you a bit of an idea about horse camping.  

This is my little sweetie Mandy ... one of the best dogs I've ever known ... who put up with crazy things like taking my horses to the coast so we could ride in the ocean.  This was not only my dressing room, but my kitchen, my bedroom and a doghouse, all rolled into one.  The thing was, I didn't find out until I got there, that no dogs were allowed.  YIKES!!

She and I kept a really low profile and luckily she wasn't discovered.  Well she was when she barked one time, but we blamed it on a dog running loose in the sand dunes.  It turned out not to be the trip of a lifetime because my horses were both so scared, they wouldn't go within 200 yards of the water.  

Oh ... and the trash can parked in the middle of the trees became a dangerous grizzly bear that caused snorting, bucking and general mayhem.  Luckily I made it out alive and believe it or not, actually drove my truck and trailer through San Francisco to get out because I made a wrong turn.  This was before I had GPS.  I just smiled and waved at all the honking.  It was a nice walk down memory lane on this New Year's Day.  

Lucky for us, there were no more fireworks, but sadly, no fancy dinner either.  I completely forgot to pick up some exotic food to celebrate the day.  I had thawed out tamales and leftover ham.  No matter because Cooper, loved it!!  I think he has become a hamoholic!!

CHEERS to 2024 ... may we all have a GREAT year!!!