What's A Ferrel??

 It was a good day!  Any day that you get some stuff accomplished is a good day in my book.  Accomplishment #1 was the retrieval of my free turkey.  I was pretty surprised to see it was a Butterball.  Of all the turkeys I've cooked in my lifetime, THIS is the best brand.

Even better, it saved me some moolah to spend on fabric, or some other totally useless item.  At 13.39 pounds of beautiful white meat, it would cost me $12.98 at Save Mart (that's for the cheap brand).  The same turkey right now would be $26.37 at Target (also a cheap brand).  It pays to shop around in this neck of the woods.  Now the question becomes .... do I take a chance on smoking it or do I stick it in the oven?  Either way, I'm determined to brine it this year and see if it makes a difference.

Accomplishment #2 ... update my phone.  We all know how that has gone in the past.  Badly!  I was hoping with all the kids finally back in school and NOT on their computers playing steal-the-car or kill-the-alien games, that the magical lines in the sky would open up just enough.  

It took some time, but I couldn't believe my eyes when it finally worked.  Previously I tried three or four times with no success.  Of course updating only got me another NEW message that it needed to be updated once AGAIN.  I gave up when it said 5 hours remaining.  I'm still looking at internet provider options.

Just then the phone rang.  Accomplishment #3.  Remember my beautiful toolbox I purchased for the truck back in September?  It's going to hold the generator(s) and other tool-like stuff to free up some space for more important things like fabric and quilts.  

The problem became securing it in the bed of the truck.  There were no instructions on that little problem, so I asked my good friend Mark if he could help.  Mark knows just about everything fifth wheel and truck related.  I just love a handy man!!  "Can you come over now and I'll fix your toolbox?"  He didn't have to ask me twice.

I awkwardly put the toolbox back in the truck and raced over, thinking this would be an easy job.  Just drill a couple holes in the bottom and secure it to the truck bed with screws.  Little did I know what was REALLY involved.  

It took me awhile to figure out what ferrels were, and even longer to see what the heck we were doing and how they were installed.  As he crawled under the truck to make sure he didn't drill into a gas line, he was surprised to see my huge 50 gallon fuel tank I had installed.  Boy do I love that!!!

It took three different drills to get the ferrels in place with me using the drill up top while he held the piece with vice grips from below.  Teamwork!!  Finally it dawned on me what this was for.  We placed the toolbox over the holes and screwed in bolts.

Here's a closeup.  Now anytime I need to remove the toolbox for whatever reason, I just take the bolts out and voila! ... the toolbox lifts out.  So you really CAN teach an old dog new tricks.  This is something I've never seen before.  Plus ..... he had two really nice powerful battery operated drills.  I may just need one for Christmas!!  If you are going to be handy, you need TWO drills.

My last task of the day .... I'm just so busy you know ... was to find out what this building used to be.  It's obviously something grand, with all those granite pillars out front.  I don't remember it as a kid, since our route of travel went North instead of South.  

I called the Post Office and talked to a very nice gal.  She confirmed her thoughts with the other person working there about the origins of the building.  This used to be a general store.  Pretty fancy!!  In fact, there were many general stores in Raymond back in the day. 

This one had a gas pump out front before the paved road came through.  Sadly the fuel pump caught on fire one day.  It burned the building completely, leaving all the granite standing.  It was never rebuilt and still stands to this day.

The gal mentioned the museum is the place to gather information.  It's only open on Sundays, so you know where I'm going this week.  Here's my teaser of the day ... do you know what this is?  Yeah, the sign gives it away.  More info on that later.

There was another Lodge function last night that I was required to attend.  That time change thing is killing me since I got to bed around 11:00 pm (that's midnight MY time).  It's going to take me all day to recover.  Dinner did garner a prize ... not for me, but for Cooper.  I brought home over half of my steak to share with him.  At least it will keep me from chasing after the ball while he eats!!

The NOSE Knows

Sometimes you just have to laugh out loud.  With no one around to tell me funny jokes, my laughs usually come from the KID.  As spoiled rotten as he is, he's the best company ever.  He never complains about going to bed or asks what's for dinner, although sometimes when my cooking prowess isn't the best, he balks at eating.  That's when the bag-o-treats comes out.  Put a few pieces in his bowl and he gobbles it up.

THIS is the infamous BALL.  At any one moment in time, there are probably seven laying around the house, all hidden under something.  That's the game ... roll it under the furniture so I have to do a downward doggie pose to get it OUT.

The conversation went something like this:

Bark bark bark (at my walk-in closet).        No Cooper, there is no ball in the closet.

Bark bark bark.      Cooper, there is nothing in that closet.  He went inside, sat down and barked some more.

In the back of my mind, I know he has never been wrong, but I INSIST there is NO BALL, before getting down on my knees and looking under every box and pair of shoes on the floor.

SEE???  NO BALL!!

Bark bark bark.  Oh good grief Cooper ... there is NO BALL in the closet, or in any of those shoes or even up on the shelf.  NOTHING!!  Yup I talk to him a lot.

Now he's actually pointing and barking at a huge cloth bag I pack stuff in to go to Arizona.  

Cooper ... there are NO balls in that bag.  He just gives me that look .... the one that says if you would just LOOK ... you would FIND.  Okay, okay ..... I stuck my hand in the bag.  I just shook my head in disbelief and laughed out loud.  You got it .... there in the bottom of that bag was one of his balls that he decided was the ONE for the entire day.  I'm telling you, the nose is NEVER wrong!!  The NOSE KNOWS!!  The little brat!!  It amazes me just how good his little nose is.

Last week I bought a bag of dog food along with three more little balls.  When the box came, I put it on the kitchen counter and didn't open it.  Within five minutes he disappeared from the couch.  Next thing I know, he's barking at the counter.  It took me awhile to figure it out since I don't speak dog-ese.  Then it dawned on me .... he smelled the balls in the box.  I opened it and gave him one that he took and played with for the next hour.

So, while Cooper chased the ball around the living room floor, I cut up the two roasted chickens I got from Costco.  Talk about a good deal ..... this would be it.  These are five pound chickens that you can't even find in the grocery store, roasted to perfection and boxed up as I entered the store.  

In less then five minutes, they were all gone except three.  I grabbed TWO for $5.00 each.  If I could even find a five pound chicken, it would cost me at least $10.  Next time I'm getting three.  

The nose knows these too.  In no time, Cooper was standing at my feet.  Bark.  No.  Bark bark.  NO.  Bark bark bark .... okay, one little piece.  I'm an easy mark.

That's when I found these.  Where did they come from??  Costco knows I'm an easy mark also.  These are the best ice cream bars with lots of chocolate.  It's portion control so I don't eat an entire quart of ice cream.  The best part?  Cooper can't smell these and they are $10 a box.  

In between getting the ball out from under every piece of furniture in the house, I finished this quilt.  Although more difficult than I expected, I do love the design.  Some day I might even make another one.  I added it to the huge stack I now have to transport to Arizona to quilt on my new machine.

I called yesterday to see the status of said machine, and was happy to hear it had been ordered and would be delivered the week after Christmas.  PERFECT!!!  Of course you know it will just be another piece of furniture Cooper can roll his toys under.  I just keep telling myself that Downward Dog keeps me flexible in my old age.

Gobble Gobble Turkey Dinner

 Greetings from the Magic Kingdom of Bingo.  I must be sick.  I actually was looking forward to seeing everyone at the Castle last night.  Unlike Cheers, no one calls your name as you enter the upstairs bar on the way to the office.  I could travel another route, but then I'd have to walk up even MORE steps.

On this day however, I heard my name.  That's weird!!  It was the guy who ran the Fizz Brunch, thanking me for doing a great job with the pitcher of fizzes.  Well that was nice of him!  Actually it was fun pouring those cups full ... it made me reminisce about when I was slinging spaghetti in the Yosemite National Park restaurant when I was MUCH younger.

What made THAT so much fun was after they closed, all the waiters and waitresses would sit around the piano while one of them played all the latest rock band songs .. and we ate the leftover spaghetti.  It was much appreciated since we were paid $1.89 an hour.  Gas was 50 cents a gallon, just for perspective.

But I digress ..... I was oh so thankful to see my Accountant Cohort arrived early to help me count cards.  She understands the word FAST.   Not        one         two        three    .... but onetwothree.

It all went downhill as fast as onetwothree.  Every week we give out one red ticket to every player who buys in.  If your ticket is drawn, you win pull tabs, usually allowing you a windfall of $1.00.  Woohoo!!  On this night however, it had been advertised that those ten people (double the normal) would receive a free 12-14 pound turkey.  Now that's worth a WOOHOO!!

As a volunteer, I too would receive a turkey as a thank you for working.  That would be a really nice addition to my Thanksgiving dinner.  Too bad the turkeys didn't come in.

As you can imagine, the peasants rioted with pitchforks.  NO TURKEYS??  But you SAID!   

About that time a lady, and I use that term loosely, came up and demanded a red ticket.  I gave you one, just like I gave everyone else one as I say (every single time) here is your red ticket.  There are NO replacements of red tickets, because they will ALL tell you they didn't get one, just so they can have TWO chances to win.  

The argument ensued and went on for some time before she finally left in a huff to complain to the King.  Thankfully I've been doing this for so long, the King trusts my judgement.  Here's the thing, if you don't hang on to that red ticket, other people will steal it from you.  If you drop it ... so long Charley.  No one will tell you ... they will just stick it in their pocket.  It's ruthless in the dungeon of the Magic Kingdom.

And so the night ended on a high note.  The infernal machine tried to fool me.  Not really, it caught me in a mistake of sorts.  I thought I rang up $65 as a test, but it didn't print out a receipt since one of the Knights had put in a roll of plain paper.  It requires heat sensitive paper, kind of dragon-like.  No problem, I voided the $65.  That was the mistake.  I actually voided $65 twice.  That made me $130 over which took me thirty minutes to figure out.  A few love taps on the infernal machine (okay, maybe it was with my fist) and I balanced.  

The good news is the turkeys should come in today, so I'll head on down to pick up my beautiful turkey for next week's dinner.  WOOHOO!!!

Like A Pointing Lab .... SQUIRREL!!

Costco trips can be dangerous, especially when they make their baskets so HUGE that you have a tendency to want to fill it up to the brim.  I'm sure that's on purpose.  I'm like a Labrador sniffing out that pheasant in a field of TWENTY pheasants.   I know it's here ... I just have to find it!!  SQUIRREL!! And I get totally distracted by something else that looks amazing and I think I just HAVE to have.

I was only after two things ... pots and pans.  I started out with a mission, sniffing every aisle looking for my prey.  I must say the days of cheap cookware have gone with the wind.  I finally spotted a big stack just waiting for Christmas customers, but the $300 price tag stopped me in my tracks.  I was thinking maybe that pheasant idea wasn't so good after all.

Suddenly I was distracted by the meat section.  Might as well take a look.  I do appreciate the sign PRIME BEEF.   No one around here sells prime anything any more.  It's all third and even fourth grade meat, what we actually used to feed the dogs.  

Here's the elusive 99 cents a pound flank steak, a really tasty piece of meat if you cook it right ..... at an amazing $10.99 a pound.  That's $42 for beef you would only have on a Monday night when nothing else was in the fridge.  Pretty crazy!!  Inflation like this hasn't happened in 40 years!!  Can anyone guess why?  The sad part is none of that inflation goes to the actual cattleman who raised the beef.  

So I bypassed the meat, although pork was $2.39 a pound for nice big chops.  SQUIRREL!!  Or rather bacon was next on the list of things I really didn't need.  I can say however that this bacon is much cheaper than the one in the meat case.  Luckily it freezes well.

That's when the glorious smell of muffins wafted my way.  The Pointer took over and I made a beeline for the four foot tall stack.  I'm pretty sure $7.00 is cheaper than I could make them.  Like a pointer, no thought was given to the creek crossing, or how I was going to possibly squeeze them into my freezer ... only the smell of those muffins.  

With no meat on the horizon, I passed by the huge allotment of turkeys and ham.  I didn't check the price on the turkeys, but the hams were a minimum of $28.  Not bad really, considering how big they were.  But wait .... SQUIRREL .... I spotted THESE hams, cut in half (I'm pretty sure it's the exact same brand) and only $10 each.  Buy two and there's a savings of $8.00.  Freezable of course.

Okay then, but you can't have ham without Swiss, so a big chunk of that jumped in my cart.  Don't tell me how much it was because I don't want to know!

SQUIRREL ... a nice man restocking the shelves began to talk to me.  Can't I help you find something?  Well that's a first ... there's never anyone in Costco to help you with anything.  Pots and pans please.  I've been eyeing these for two years, at the recommendation of my second Chef friend, which is probably why I try to cook so often.  He has used these in his cooking school classes for many years.

WOW ... there was ONE box left on the shelf.  The nice man proceeded to tell me about Costco's tag markings.  I had heard something about that, but had no clue.  "See this little (or rather large) asterisk on the price tag?  That means it's out of stock. "  What you see is all there is left.  If you want it, you better buy it now.

I grabbed that pheasant with both hands and threw him in my cart.  For $129.99 there will be dinner without chunks of teflon in the mix.  I didn't really need the chicken fryer or the two stockpots, but maybe I can put them to good use.  The thing I really like is the clear glass lids so you can see things before they boil over ... AND those pots all have pouring spouts, along with holes in the lid rim to drain noodles and such without even moving the lid.  Merry Christmas to me!!

There might have been a couple dove and a muskrat thrown into my cart for good measure just because ... SQUIRREL!!  .... WOW just LOOK at all those COOKIES!!!!

It took me an hour to stuff everything in the freezer.  When you buy for one but get enough for twenty, you have to be creative when it comes to packaging and packing.  Come to think of it, that will REALLY be the challenge when I head out in the RV because the freezer is 1/10th the size of my other one.

Meanwhile, Cooper found his long lost moose toy and carried it around for the rest of the evening.

So today is another Magic Kingdom day as I will head out to BINGO this afternoon.  Oh the joy!!!  At least I won't be distracted there while my money flows out of my bank account like it does at Costco.  It's safe to say there will be NO squirrels!!

What A Spread!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!  Oh wait ... it's not Thanksgiving yet, even though Michaels and Hobby Lobby were selling decorations before halloween!!  Yup ... I'm one of those diehard decorate everything and do it early people so you have plenty of time to enjoy it.  

I used to decorate a tree every year until Cooper came along and thought it was the perfect hiding place for his ball.  Every day ... six times a day ... I would be rearranging the tree skirt (on my hands and knees) and picking up decorations off the floor.  I finally gave up.

This time of year the Elks Lodge has their famous Fizz Brunch.  I don't know about you, but a gin fizz is not on my list of drinkable concoctions.  I wasn't there to partake however, I was there to serve everyone at their tables.  It began slowly, but in the blink of an eye we were slammed.  It was the biggest crowd they have ever had.

You can only get about five pours out of the pitcher you see here.  Those cups were akin to red solos.  After a couple of drops here and there, I put a diaper on the pitcher ... a small white towel to catch the drips.  I guess many had not seen that before because I got lots of comments.  It's amazing the things you can remember that you learned back in the early 70's when you were slinging hash!!

I'm sure we went through well over 75 pitchers of punch.  Turns out this variety had vodka, so they were oh so popular.  Honestly, I've never seen people drink so much!!!  It was all good though because breakfast was forthcoming, at which time the fizzes came to a halt ... more or less.  By the way, this is the King from Bingo!!

There was whole roasted ham, sausage, bacon, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, Mexican egg casserole, scrambled eggs, waffles with strawberries, and get this .... EGGS BENEDICT, along with a healthy fruit cup.  Thank goodness I wasn't the one standing over the boiling water to make all those poached eggs.

I did make one mad dash to the grocery store to pick up 20 pounds of tater tots because someone (not me thank goodness) ordered the wrong thing.  Here's the kicker ... they took those already browned hash browns, dumped them in a huge cast iron skillet, chopped them up and VOILA!!  Hash Browns!  I'm going to remember that the next time I need hash browns.

I finally snuck out the back door before the big cleanup began.  I got home just in time to watch 10 more Christmas Movies, which in case you were wondering, are now on not ONE but THREE channels of Dish Network!!  OH BOY!!

When I got home, I seemed to be obsessed with those Costco muffins ... have been ever since they served a dozen or so at the Pumpkin Patch.  I found a recipe, but then lost it.  Every other one I looked at called for cake mix.  Hmmm muffins that taste like cake mix.  So I thought I would give it a shot.  

They came out pretty nice ... filled with blueberries ... but tasting pretty much like cake, in spite of the sour cream, cinnamon and other ingredients to mask that flavor.  Well gee ... now I have 14 muffins to eat, equivalent to a cupcake, but with healthy blueberries.  

Far be it from me to be wasteful ... so I put them in the freezer.  Maybe time will lessen the "box" flavor.  So in the interest of finding the exact recipe, I'm going to Costco today to pick up the real thing and see if I can duplicate it.  

I'm also looking for some new pots and pans (my Christmas present) so I can quit eating the non-stick stuff coming off the bottom of my old ones.  Surely Costco has all their Christmas items out by now!!!

Buckeye (?)

 At last, in my little foray into the foothills, I found the roads I drove as a kid, headed to greener pastures for our cattle.  Back in the dark ages, trucks were not what they are now.  Shifting gears was the name of the game, a not so easy pursuit with the old transmissions.  You had to double shift just to get into neutral in our truck!  Shifting down was another story altogether, praying all the time that you didn't kill the engine on an uphill stretch, loaded with thousands of pounds of beef.

I actually became pretty good at it, only because of one tiny hint my dad gave me.  Listen to the engine.  That advice served me well, especially with caterpillars.  If you listen, you can HEAR when you are about to get stuck.  I went on to drive nothing but stick shifts for the next 30 years.  

These were the hills we rode horses over, gathering the cattle at the end of the season so we could haul them back DOWN the hills to our home place.  This is certainly something I never saw.  Hard to tell, but there is a solar panel there to give electricity to the motor pumping out water for the cattle.

Everything was going along just fine until I spotted the sign for Buckeye.  I don't remember it being on the map, but off I went to check it out.  In no time, I was lost.  With no phone service and no map to follow, I just wandered around until I finally found a road with a familiar name.  I knew Ben Hur Road went to Mariposa, so I went the opposite direction.  

Thankfully the road finally improved in width and construction, but the corners were just as tight as previously.  Across the way you can see the stone fences.  These were built by Chinese coolies in 1862.  Each man was required to build a rod and a half a day or forfeit his job.  That's about 8 yards or so.  As you can see, they still stand today, over 160 years later.

Suddenly the road narrowed again as I wandered around the area looking for a way home.  There are still a few people living here in very old small houses, alongside some mansions recently built in subdivision-like areas.  So much for running cattle here.

I do remember going to one ranch in the very early morning hours to find the lady of the house baking biscuits.  We all sat down for breakfast.  I must say those were the best biscuits I've ever eaten and I remember them to this day.  Or maybe it was because I was seated next to Eddie.

Eddie almost saved me one day as we were gathering cattle.  We had to cross a big river, where he said to all ... "this river has quicksand".  He crossed first as my dad kept his rope ready to throw.  Once across, we were told to ride the exact same route and not deviate a foot.  I got halfway across when my mare went down, having stepped in the quicksand and sunk to her knees.  

Lucky for me, she was able to lunge right and left and get out just as Eddie threw the rope.  My hero!!  Of course I now looked like a drowned rat and was soaked from head to toe.  No matter, we continued on with the cattle.  Even if you thought your leg was broken, you kept going .. this was no job for sissies.

At last I found a sign that said Road 140.  I knew where I was, or at least I thought I did, and headed out of the mountains.  As it turned out, I was STILL lost, thinking I was ten miles further south, but I finally made it to the next town where my plan was to stop at the old Mexican Bakery and pick up tamales.  

I remembered stopping there many moons ago for carnitas.  Sadly, they were closed, as in out of business.  I headed back home to a very happy puppy who thought I was never coming back.

I tried to research the little town of Buckeye, but could find nothing.  There are lots of towns named Buckeye, but none of them live here.  Next up ... I'll take a little trip to the gold rush town of Mariposa.  Maybe next week, because this week is completely booked up with Elk stuff.  

Here's my latest bird.  I'm pretty sure one of my readers knows exactly which state this one is from.  Don't let it fool you ... I think there are FIVE different red birds in five different states!!

This morning I'm off to help serve brunch, which is a moneymaker for the Lodge.  I've become very happy to just sit on the couch for the last couple of weeks.  We shall see how I fair standing up for three hours.

Wildcat Station

Originally, this little town's name was Wildcat Station.  In 1886 when the first Post Office was opened, the name was changed to Raymond, but no one knows WHICH Raymond it was named for.  It could be Israel Ward Raymond, a park Commissioner who helped preserve Yosemite Valley.  It could be T. Raymond of Raymond and Whitcomb Travel Association in San Francisco, or maybe Walter Raymond, of the same Travel Association from Boston.  He founded the Raymond Hotel in Pasadena, and procured funds from his father, a stockholder in the Santa Fe Railroad, to build another hotel here.

When the little town was dedicated, the residents asked Walter Raymond if he would cut the ribbon.  That happened in 1886 when the Southern Pacific Railroad came to town.

All of the buildings standing are original.  They are positioned rather far apart sideways, since everything else has burned down at one time or another.    

They are also positioned rather far apart in front, since the railroad went right down the middle of town.  There's not much information on these buildings, but residents still have a cold one here, in the Shaw Brothers General Merchandise Store, now called the Frontier Bar.  If you want to take a walk back in time, just enter this building and go back to 1891. 

Or maybe check out the Raymond General Store, established in 1890.  You find will that this town is one of the very few NOT built for the gold rush, but strictly for tourism.

This is the original homestead house built by Charles Miller, the first Stagecoach Agent and Southern Pacific Railroad Agent who came here to promote early travel to Yosemite.  This house is now the museum, but sadly ... closed on this day.

That's the house on the far left.  As you can see, the train right of way came right through the middle of town.  This is where hundreds of people got off the train, to load up on stage coaches for the long dusty ride to Yosemite Valley.  

About right here, this guy began to talk to me.  I'm sure he had a message ... something like get the heck out of my territory!!  We conversed for maybe five minutes before he flew off.

Besides being a tourist hub, Raymond was the commerce center for the local ranchers, farmers and loggers who got all of their supplies by train.  This is also how the Raymond Granite Quarry got their White Sierra granite to San Francisco.  Here are the remaining two railroad ties still where they were laid in the 1890's.  Sadly, surround by a cemetery fence .... rather appropriate I guess.

From Raymond, you can follow the old stage coach road into Yosemite, the same one Theodore Roosevelt took with John Muir when they visited the park.  That trip convinced Roosevelt to preserve the park forever, making it a National Park.  Drive slow ... the roads may be paved (kinda sorta) ... but they follow the contours of the land, meaning sharp curves and not much room for two cars to pass.

Although showing it's age today, this is a race horse starting gate.  Room for two.  This being the only relative flat spot around, horse races were held along the railroad bed in the 40's and 50's.  I'm sure there was lots of whooping and hollering, along with some money passed around.

This was the mystery of the day.  It was definitely a beautiful building back in the early days.  Looks like it's made from lots of that granite which is still standing, although almost taken over by trees and brush.  It is across the side street from the Post Office, and I have yet to find out what it was.  I'll work on that more today and see what I can come up with.  I'm guessing maybe a bank?  It's HUGE, that's for sure.

There's still more to this trip ... getting lost, that sort of thing.  When you have no phone service to check your GPS map and all the roads are just numbers (like Road 600), it's easy to lose your way.  I don't remember going this way as a teenage truck driver but I DO remember the really cute cowboy that showed up at the ranch to help us gather cattle!!  Yup I remember EVERYTHING about Eddie.

This is probably the last sunset of the year in Central California since the fog has rolled in by the ton.  I was lucky on this trip that I was just above the foggy level.  That part I remember well, driving a truckload of cattle down a steep hill as I looked out over the valley, completely obscured by cotton candy fog.  That was only surpassed by the tarantulas we brought home with us.  More on that tomorrow.

Dusy's Rock Pile

There are many roads to explore in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  There's a short learning curve when it comes to driving cattle trucks loaded with critters you are hauling on those roads to fall pastures.  When my dad threw me the keys and said to drive the biggest of our two trucks, I was all over it.  

Although there were some rather straight roads to get there, most of them were (and still are) wagon trails through the hills.  That means narrow and winding with lots of ups and downs through the gullies.  There was no direction, like slow down here ..... it was trial by fire.  I imagine he laughed at the look on my face with the right two wheels came off the ground around the first big corner as the cattle shifted to the left.  I guarantee you I never did THAT again!!  Slow was the name of the game when it came to hauling cattle.

On this morning, it was pretty foggy as I headed out, wondering how many of the roads were now paved.

I was headed to Raymond California, but got side tracked along the way.  Back in the day, us high school teenagers used to hide out in Raymond at the bar.  I know, we were only 16-17 at the time, but the bartender didn't mind.  This is way back in the hills where no one cared.  I will say however, that the drinks we paid for were 100% coke.  

I was actually following the railroad from Madera.  Raymond was the terminus for the Southern Pacific Railroad from when it was built in 1886 until the 1940's when the tracks were pulled up.  

It was also the main freight and commerce center for the Central Valley and surrounding foothills.  Making it even MORE popular, this train hauled thousands of tourists to the end of the line, where they crawled up into a stagecoach for the ride to Yosemite.  Without it, Yosemite National Park might not have become a park ... but more on that later.

I got a little sidetracked when I saw a sign for Knowles.  Hmmmm I've never heard of Knowles before.  Then I heard it .... gobble gobble gobble!  Wasn't I surprised to see a dozen or more wild turkeys roaming the hill right beside the road.  In all my years, that's a sight I've never seen.  Deer - yes, but turkeys?

As I mentioned, this is a slow curvy road, maybe 25 mph at the most.  There would be more pictures, but there's not one single place to pull off.  This freshly painted barn was a surprise too!  Even the telephone poles are old.  I lost service on my phone about two miles back.

That's when I spotted this.  Raymond Granite ... it's a new one on me.  Never heard of it before.  

As you can see, it sits atop a big hill.  I definitely need to check into this!  This is the same building you will see below.

This is the little town of Knowles, although it appears this is the only building left standing.  I did notice several foundations, all made of granite.  Further investigation disclosed that this granite facility has been providing granite slabs since 1888 when it was opened by A. D. Knowles, on what was known as Dusy's Rock Pile.

Here's some background.  The earliest granite building in San Francisco was made from blocks cut and fitted in China, and shipped to the big city.  It survived the earthquake and the big fire.  Suddenly, granite was in high demand.  Raymond's white granite was used in the building of the Civic Center, City Hall and the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.  Even the Library, built in 1996, has a facade from the Raymond quarry.

Anyone remember Gary Cooper in the Fountainhead movie?  The quarry scene was filmed at Raymond Granite. 

Marble headstones, easily carved, are made of limestone that melts in the elements.  Granite headstones do not, so the next time you are in a cemetery, check out whether they are readable or not.  This particular granite was cut in huge slabs and shipped by horse drawn wagon, then by train, to stone companies, mostly in the San Francisco area.  You had to have money to afford this rock.

This is Sierra White granite ... primo stuff, cut into large slabs and stored in this shed where it is cut into smaller sections depending on what it will be used for.   Smaller pieces were gathered up, tumbled to make them look old and sold as cobblestones for use at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.  Next time I go there, I'm going to look for them.

The granite company is still in business today, but only sells to monument dealers.  They still cut the slabs as they did back in the day, and in many cases use the same tools.  Fascinating little place.  Sadly, a new railroad was built in 1907 from Merced towards what was then Yosemite National Park (so designated in 1890) which bypassed Knowles and Raymond.  Although there are a few ranches left, the town has completely disappeared.

I finally made it to Raymond, but that's tomorrow's story.

THANK A VETERAN TODAY!!

HAPPY VETERANS DAY

Thank a Veteran for your freedom. 

We owe them everything!!!!!

I don't know exactly what makes a day really long, since they are all about the same time length, but yesterday was longer than usual.  I suppose it's because I had meetings at the Elks starting at 6:00 pm.  It's the expectation of driving in the DARK, not just on the way home, but now GOING TO also.  

When I was much younger, I had one lousy cataract that caused blindness in one eye.  It seemed to happen overnight.  Since I was a dive instructor and really needed to see everyone's computers to make sure they had air to breathe, I required surgery.

Go Bionic they said ... get these special lenses and you will never need glasses again.  They lied.  I don't mind wearing the glasses at all, but the bionic lenses in my eyes are horrible when it comes to light at nighttime.  I can see just fine, but they magnify light by 100.  

You will see a small round headlight in the distance.  I see a searchlight-sized blob of light that blinds me because of the concentric circles in my eyes.  Sometimes when the light is just right, I can even SEE those circles.  It's weird.  Anyway, I just drive a little slower, like all the old folks I complain about, and I'm just fine.

I spent about half the day on the new Singer machine.  I would say it's a Volkswagen compared to my Ferrari across the table.  No offense to Volkswagen lovers, but it's a box of sheetmetal with four wheels and a big rubber band.  All of a sudden it decided to wad up the thread on the bottom the entire length of a 54" seam.  

And those SEAMS!!  I followed the instructions exactly, spending the extra time to iron every one the exact correct direction.  First I sewed these together .....

Then cut that into pieces at 2-1/8" spacing.  Anyone who sews knows that should have been a dead giveaway.  If you have to be that accurate in cutting, you can imagine how accurate you must be in sewing. The Volkswagen is not accurate at all.  It wanders along the highway, having much trouble going uphill over the seams and screams downhill leaving gaps along the way.

Here's the thing .... every 1/4" is not the same.  The 1/4 inch on the Ferrari is not the same as the 1/4" on the Volkswagen.  That means once you start with the Bug, you have to keep going with the Bug until you finish or it dies.  

When it came time to sew all the squares together, all that ironing went right out the window since only one in 50 seams were matching up ... or nesting as we say in SewingLand.  I finally just turned the seams and made them go where I wanted, in spite of then having to spend an hour ironing the back, flattening all the twisted seams.  It's a good thing I'm going to quilt this myself, because I would be totally embarrassed to take it to a quilter.

I have two borders to put on this one, where it won't matter which 1/4" I use.  I removed all the embroidery tools from the Ferrari and began using it to finish this up.  It was like driving a Mercedes on the autobahn .... fast, smooth and sweet!!  I must say I love this pattern in spite of it's difficulties.

In the meantime, we have a new player in the back yard game of scent marking.  This baby has showed up twice now.  He doesn't look all too happy, yeah?  There are now three Kitty Kitties roaming the backyard at night.  The time change doesn't seem to bother them at all.

Every morning when I let Cooper out, the game resumes to see who can mark the most trees and bushes the most number of times.

See ... I told you!!!  

Today I'm off on an excursion into the Wild West where we used to haul cattle.  This is where I almost tipped the truck over going around a corner when the cattle all shifted to one side, kind of like going around the corner too fast and all your grocery bags falling over on the floor.  Hey .. I was sixteen years old when my Dad handed me the keys and said DRIVE!!  It was on-the-job training!