Category Archives: Fall

108 Car Pile-up on Highway 99 near Fresno, California

Our road trip to the Fresno area got complicated…

Dear and I left home on Saturday before dawn. We stopped for breakfast in Santa Clarita (hi Ryan, Michelle, and Jack!)

We continued north through the Grapevine after breakfast to get to Highway 99 in Central California. This is pretty much what Highway 99 looks like through Central California.  I took this photo at the city of Goshen.

22 miles North of Goshen on Highway 99 in Central California is where this horrible crash occurred. Thankfully we were a couple hours behind it. We came upon signs on the Highway that said it was closed. We pulled to the right and ended up making a u-turn to get off the freeway using an on-ramp at Manning…that was weird. We called Jim and Jeanie and got alternate directions to their house. None of us found out until late in the afternoon what a horrific pile up had occurred.

“Two people are dead after a massive 108-car pileup on Highway 99, just south of Fresno. The crash happened between American and Clovis Avenues. At least 39 others were injured. The crash flooded local hospitals with victims.”

They believe the accident was caused by low visibility because of fog. Thick seasonal fog known as “Tule fog” typically occurs in Central California in the late fall and winter. To read about Tule fog click here.

Clovis Avenue is the street we ended up taking to get to my cousins house.

Praying that God comforts those who lost their loved ones and that the ones who are injured will heal quickly and for everyone involved that they would be comforted and turn their eyes to our creator…

The northbound highway was still shut down when we headed back home to Southern California.

Today is Reformation Day!

WHAT IS REFORMATION DAY?

Reformation Day is an important liturgical festival that is celebrated by Lutherans and Christians of many Protestant denominations.  It commemorates Dr. Martin Luther’s posting of his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31st, 1517.  This act triggered the movement in world history known as the Reformation.  While the historical date for the observance of Reformation is October 31st, most churches celebrate it on the last Sunday in October.

WHAT WAS THE REFORMATION? While it had profound and lasting impacts on the political, economic, social, literary, and artistic aspects of modern society, the Reformation was at its heart a religious movement.  The Reformation was the great rediscovery of the good news of salvation by grace through faith for Christ’s sake.

By grace God’s Son, our only Savior,
Came down to earth to bear our sin.
Was it because of your own merit
That Jesus died your soul to win?
No, it was grace, and grace alone,
That brought Him from His heav’nly throne.

 If you’d like to know more about this click here.

 

WFMW ~ Halloween Fun (Tongue in Cheek)

As of June 2017 Photobucket has blacked out all my photos that I had stored there and are holding them hostage. Hopefully I can update my photos on all the posts they have ruined, over 4000 of them.

I really was at a loss this week on what tip to post for WFMW. Ahh, but then I remembered WFMW lands on Halloween this week so here’s my tongue in cheek WFMW tip for what to wear as you hand out Halloween Candy!

 

I hope this will work for me Wednesday night…

And now for some better tips click here.

Fall Y’all! Bloggy Giveaway ~ October 29th – November 2nd

As of June 2017 Photobucket has blacked out all my photos that I had stored there and are holding them hostage. Hopefully I can update my photos on all the posts they have ruined, over 4000 of them.

Update: Besides the U.S. and Canada I’m also opening up this drawing to anyone in Great Britain or Ireland just because I’m so drawn to these countries…

Ellen B. at the Happy Wonderer is giving away an Apron for the Fall Giveaway sponsored at Shannon’s BloggyGiveaways.com

 

The apron I’m offering is an April Cornell Classic Floral ~ “Bring nature into your home with classic colorful floral prints.”

 

 

Hope you enjoy my Classy Ironing Board Model!

 

Just leave a comment with a good email address and I will randomly draw the winner when the contest is over. Blessings on you all and may the best Homemaker win 🙂  My giveaway is open to anyone in the United States or Canada! Giveaway will close at noon on Friday. I will announce the winner by 6:00 PM on Friday!

To see many more giveaways go to bloggygiveaways.com.

 

Hunter’s Moon Tonight ~

Tonight’s Full Moon is the Hunter’s Moon!

I hope to get a photo later tonight to add to this post tomorrow! This photo is the Hunter’s Moon at 6:35 P.M. Pacific Time. I’m wondering if the orange glow to it is because of the smoke here in Southern California. I’m still hoping to get a better shot later…

Tonight’s full moon is the Hunter’s Moon. It’s also the closest and therefore biggest full moon of 2007.

Tonight’s moon will be about 50,000 kilometers – or 30,000 miles – closer to the Earth than 2007’s most distant and smallest full moon, last April.

This October full moon is the Hunter’s Moon for the northern hemisphere. That’s the name for the full moon following the Harvest Moon in September. This October full Hunter’s Moon comes at precisely 4:52 a.m. Universal Time Friday. For the continental U.S., that means the full moon comes this evening or around midnight Thursday night, when the moon will be shining sky high.

At the same time – on the opposite side of the world in East Asia and Indonesia – this same full moon will be reaching its peak at noontime Friday.

No matter where you live, all of you will see a large and full-looking moon all night tonight. You’ll see the moon rising in the east around sunset, highest in the sky around local midnight and setting in the west around sunrise.

http://www.earthsky.org/radioshows/51820/hunters-moon-closest-full-moon-for-2007

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes ~ California Fires Continue

We happen to live by the coast where all the smoke clouds from the Saugus, Magic, Castaic, Santa Clarita, Wood Ranch, and Moorpark fires are being blown to because of the Santa Ana Wind conditions. The clouds in the photos above are smoke clouds not storm clouds. The smell of smoke is heavy in the air and the ash is all over everything. We do not have any fires in our immediate neighborhoods we are only getting the side effects of the poor air quality because of the smoke. It seems that there has been some improvement as of Wednesday. There are still many fires that are not under control and many homes are threatened. We hope that when the winds die down all the fires will be under control. We’re continuing to pray and to be sorrowful for all the hundreds of thousands of people who had to be evacuated and the thousands who have lost everything…

W.W. ~ Tuesday Edition ~ Homecoming 1966 ~ Montebello High School

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos on my blog posts and is holding them hostage. As Time allows I will try to restore some of my posts with new photos.

Some words about the photo are in comment #1 if you are interested.

For more W.W.  Tuesday edition click here.

This is a different photo from the original I posted here.

 

Santa Ana Winds ~ Southern California

So we in Southern California are experiencing Santa Ana Winds or Santana Winds. Besides heavy hot winds there are several fires, downed trees, power outages, etc. Usually Palm fronds hang down uniformly on either side of the trunk. This was the best I could shoot from the comfort of my car to show that the wind was blowing very strongly.

 

Here’s a more technical description of what Santa Ana Winds are. (Good info for homeschoolers!)

The Santa Ana is a dry, sometimes hot and dusty, wind in southwestern California that blows westward through the canyons toward the coastal areas. Santa Anas are a seasonal phenomena, occurring mostly during fall, winter and spring, tending to peak in December. The wind usually has its origin when cold air spills southward into the Great Basin, trapped between the Rockies to the east and the Sierras and Southern California coastal range to the west. This cold air mass is characterized by unusually high pressure near the land surface. Winds are driven into Southern California when the pressure of this interior air mass exceeds the pressure along the California coast. Winds are often strongest in mountain passes which are ducts for the continental air flow. Because the air over the higher elevations of the Great Basin sinks as it flows into coastal California, it is heated adiabatically, and temperatures are often quite warm. This continental air mass is invariably dry, so humidities in Santa Anas are low, often less than 25% relative humidity. Santa Anas have occurred irregularly over the time period since about 1950 when we have collected detailed wind and humidity observations, with some months experiencing Santa Ana conditions 30% the time, and other months less than 5% of the time.

Santa Anas have several colorful nicknames including “devil’s breath”.

What atmospheric ciruclation features are associated with Santa Ana events?

Any low-pressure system in the Pacific off the California coast may change the stability of the Great Basin High. The Great Basin High winds then turn southward along the eastern slopes of the Sierras. The low-pressure system over the Pacific literally sucks the winds through the mountain passes of Southern California toward the coastal areas.

 [there’s a new word for me, adiabatically]

This next part is not technical or educational just informational and personal…

When Dear and I got home from church on Sunday we found we had lost power in our condo. So what do you do when the weather is hot and windy and your power goes out? Why you find the closest eating establishment that has power and eat out! J.J. Brewsky’s was open and ready and willing to feed us.

Dear ordered the Steak and Guinness Pie with what else but a Guinness.

I had the Carnitas cooked in Arrogant ******* Ale,  a seasoned shredded pork, egg, and pico de gallo dish (very spicey and yummy) with an Arrogant ******* Ale of course. And now because when the power goes out it makes us a bit giddy and creative and desperate, we have a challenge for you.

 

Which of these heads is the Guinness? The one on the left or the one on the right?

UPDATE AND ANSWER!!: Because I have the patience of a Hare in the Long Patrol (Brian Jacques Redwall Readers will understand) I can’t wait any longer to tell you that Katie, Beth, Mz. Ellen, Southernbell, and Crystal are correct. The Guinness is on the left! Thanks for taking a stab at the quiz everyone. They were two similar heads so it wasn’t easy. And Katie you certainly do make your father proud because you listen to him and remember what he says….

update #2: Dear says, “The head on Guinness is famously smooth and creamy, with fine bubbles (right on Katie!) because the gas is not carbon dioxide but rather nitrogen which creates smaller, more persistent bubbles. Until somewhat recently Guinness was the only brew to utilize nitrogen. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery some other brewers have used nitrogen to replicate the creamy head.”

Leave your answer in the comments…

And here’s a photo of me flapping in the wind. I think the wind widened my hips! I really don’t think it’s all that good food and ale that I just had, yep I’m blaming it on the wind….

 

Now later in the day we are seeing the effects of the Malibu and other fires in our skies outside our condo. The orange cloudy glow that blocks the sun is a very telling sign of the fires and winds.

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos on my blog posts and is holding them hostage. As Time allows I will try to restore some of my posts with new photos.

 

ht: http://meteora.ucsd.edu/cap/santa_ana.html

Solvang, Santa Ynez Wineries and Los Olivos

 

What a lovely Saturday Dear and I had. We left the Condo just before 8 in the morning and headed North on Hwy 101 to Buelton then East to Solvang. Solvang is a small old world Danish town with shops, restaurants, bakeries, and museums. We did what you should do when you visit Solvang and had some Aebleskivers! The center picture in the collage above is of our Aebleskivers served with Rasberry syrup and powdered sugar. Yummy! They are cooked in a special pan to make them round. Their story is below. I hope you can read the fine print.

 

After we were done in Solvang we continued East to the first two wineries we decided to visit. Sunstone Winery was in a beautiful setting and the buildings were said to resemble a Provencal countryside. I’ve never been to that part of France so all I can tell you is that the setting is lovely and quaint.

This is Dear and I on the porch at Sunstone.

 

From Sunstone we continued a little farther east to our favorite winery of the 3 we visited, Gainey. The setting here was beautiful also with a panoramic view of the surrounding mountains. Oh and if you ever do visit this one don’t miss the ladies restroom. Pretty impressive.

From Gainey we headed North on Refugio Road to Los Olivos. We were surprised to come upon their once a year Fall street fair! We saw wonderful classic cars, all kinds of wares, and Alpaca’s! The smells were wonderful with several BBQ’s going with the famous Santa Maria Tri-tip beef cooked to perfection. We ate at the Los Olivos Cafe & Wine Merchant. Then we headed South on Alamo Pintado Road to our last stop Rideau Vineyard which is housed in the refurbished country landmark known as the Alamo Pintado Adobe.  Originally built in 1884.

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos on my blog posts and is holding them hostage. As Time allows I will try to restore some of my posts with new photos.