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Another year has passed and I am not getting any younger. It has been almost four years from the passing of my father. I was not around when he was a kid. However, I took a little time this morning to look at the few old photos I have of him.
It is amazing how time passes so quickly as I get older. I am proud of my children. As with all of us, some are better at consistently making good decisions. Some make a poor decision now and they that causes a little consternation. As I look at each of then I also realize that I was their age once and on occasion made the poor decision now and then. Of course, that is my perspective. I am sure my father had his perspective on my ability to make decisions.
Of course the older we get we usually make better decisions. And some of our decisions are made the way they are because of life experience of just because we are tired of doing things we have always had to do, like shaving every day. Whatever our desires in life are, we will not be able to make it without making decisions. Let’s just hope we can make wise decisions and survive when we do not.
My neighbor always tells me something large in the forest will eat me some day as I go hiking backpacking often. I like getting out seeing and listening to nature. Bird, insects, small animals as well as the trees and flowers is usually what I see. I have seen the signs if larger animals. When the berry patch is torn up, there has been a bear in there. There is always other signs of wildlife as well, scat on the trail lets you know what has been in the area. In the Rockies, we learned that the bears relieve themselves on rocks to mark their territory.
Taking Stevie the dog on hikes also adds a new element. She is always sniffing out some type of wildlife. Little fuzzy bunnies always get her excited. And of course the unsuspecting reptilian lizard sunning itself on the trail is always up for being chased. When we got close to the top we looked east towards Mt. San Gorgonio and could see the haze from the fire burning on the far send to the wilderness area.
We continued our hike and had just passed five miles when we heard music coming over the ridge. It was fairly loud and I was a little perplexed on who or what would want to be hiking on the trail and carrying that type of boom box on their shoulder. As we got in a position to see what was on the other side, there were definitely signs of wildlife on the trail.
As with most wildlife, we keep our distance. However, there were no signs of large teeth or claws on what we were seeing. We hiked over to get a closer look and document what we had seen.
There is nothing like a band shooting a music video on the trail to wake up the wildlife. I let them know that I documented the wildlife that I found on the trail on my hiking trips and they conceded that they could probably be defined as wildlife. They are called Angstrom. The music for the video sounded good. I believe it was No Despair.
Nonetheless, Stevie and I made our way down the trail for a hike of 6.8 miles. It was a great day.
When I was a kid, there were Cops and Robbers or Cowboys and Indians or Good Guys and Bad Guys. It is like life and death, yin and yang or life in general where there is an opposition of two things. The dark side versus good is an age old concept that has been around hundreds of years, whether in children’s games or the real life of adults.
So today I read that the Hayward School District here in state of California is doing a gun buyback program for toy guns at an elementary school. Turn in your gun and get a book and a raffle ticket. Will they accept the pop tart that was eaten into a form like a gun that caused an elementary school child to get sent home from school? How about the hand of the child the made the form of a gun and was punished as well. Then there was the elementary school child that took his cap gun to school and got suspended for several days. When is this going to end?
It will never end. As a child, many of our guns were made out of an old piece of pine that was cut into the shape of a rifle of pistol. Cap guns were also cool. You have to love the smell of the smoke from the cap gun. It brings a sensory pleasure that no air soft wanabe could ever reproduce.
So back to the question, what happened to the children’s parents? My kids had squirt guns, cap pistols and even an occasional pistol out of pine. As a child, there was nothing like drawing out your proposed firearm and then cutting it out with the scroll saw under the watchful eye of dad. I guess parents would rather have their child sit in a corner and read a book than go out into the neighborhood and run around like evil chasing good or good chasing evil. What may really be the evil in all this is our children’s loss of imagination and the gain of childhood obesity. That is what happened to children’s parents.
A couple of days ago a friend told em he was hiking up to Jackstraw Springs today. I thought about going along and finally decided last night. The last and only time I was ever on the trail going to Jackstraw Springs was in 2011 during a training hike for an upcoming trip to Philmont Scout Ranch. Our youth navigator missed the trail sign for Johns Meadow, our intended destination, and lead us up into the snow on a dark Friday evening. Needless to say, we retreated down the trail to find a flat spot to sleep on that night.
As for today’s hike, it was about 5 miles up and of course 5 miles back down with an elevation gain of about 2500 feet. It was a warm day and it was apparent as we set out that this is going to be a dry year for the San Gorgonio Wilderness. There were a few spots where there would usually be a stream this time of year and nothing was found.
There were a few spots where the wildflowers were blooming. It was nice to see them.
After almost 4 hours we arrived at the area of Jackstraw Springs for lunch. The ground was gradually sloping with some level spots. I may need to come back here on an overnight backpacking trip. We ate lunch and rested for a while.
It was then off to see the springs. As we came into the area we noticed that it was not flowing lake it has in past years where there has been more moisture over the winter.
There were still colorful surprises if you looked around.
Of course there were other surprises. Like the thought of what sharp teeth those are.
It was a great hike and it will be one I do again soon. Even if my neighbor thinks there are things out there in the wilderness that can eat me.
Young Elizabeth is now 10 months old, or should I exactly 10 months and two days. A couple of days ago she was not feeling up to the picture thing. Patience always helps with young ones. So today was the day. It lasted a few minutes before she wanted to crawl off and play. There is nothing wrong with wanting to have fun.
Tonight I decided to take a bit of a longer walk with Stevie the dog. We walked towards the river. For some of you, the river is usually fairly dry. Not much water. One would wonder why they call it a river. However, I remember the flood of 1969 when the river was flowing bank to bank and washing out bridges as the water ran towards the ocean. So yes, towards the river.
As we made out way through an overflow basin we came upon a woman that said, there is a snake on the left. It may be dead. You may want to keep your dog away from it. To Stevie and I that sounded like an invitation. We walked along and sure enough there was a four foot or so snake. It looks like a garter snake, however it was not wearing one.
We continued our hike along the river bed and then up the backside of Mt Rubidoux. Lots of people were at the top waiting for the sun to go down. We stopped for a drink by the cross and meandered on. I took a few shots of the sun going down and have one to share. As for the hike, it was a nice 4.6 mile trip with a snake and a sunset as part of the adventure.
In some ways it is incredible that I have been blogging for four years. My first post was Shave of the Day – Blenheim Bouquet and Floyd on May 31, 2009 when I started a Shaving blog. My intentions were to write about my experiences shaving. Around the same time my father was diagnosed with cancer. I began writing about that experience. I would visit him in the hospital or at his home every day and then write about my feeling and thoughts.
As time has passed, my blog is more about what is happening in my life. I do get people coming to my blog for my shaving reviews and some of my air gun reviews. There are those that find my because of a hike that I went on or the trip to Philmont Scout Ranch. There have been several people that have found my blog for Old Fashioned Sourdough Pancakes. It is nice to get traffic the world. However, if I was consistent with blogging about shaving, cooking, shooting – real firearms or air rifles or something else exciting, I may have a larger following.
So for historical purposes, what are the top reasons people find my blog? Most often is seems they are searches for images. The top search terms are listed below:
1. Opossum. I have posted a few times about the opossums that have been caught in my trash cans. The world must like the picture of an opossum in a trash can.
 Canned Opossum 2. Mt. Rubidoux. I walk up Mt. Rubidoux a few times a month or more and have taken pictures as well. I have written about Geocaching as well as walking up the mountain with my children.
3. Musgo Real. It is my favorite aftershave. I love the citrus aroma of oranges. The shaving cream is also real nice as well.
4. Floyd Aftershave. It is a great aftershave and one of my favorites. It is also the aftershave used in my first blog post.
5. Shave of the day. Shaving again.
6. Airsoft Warrior. One post with a title of Airsoft Warrior and it becomes a winning search term.
7. Trey Radcliff. I did one post with a Trey Radcliff photo called “Today is a New Day” and it sends traffic my way. Trey is a photographer and has his own website. You would think people would go to his site www.stuckincustoms.com rather than mine. As for the photo by Trey, I think it is great. It is titled Morning. Coffee. Yellowstone. Fog.
8. USS Stockdale. Eric, one of my sons was a member of the Sea Cadets for a couple of years. He had the opportunity to go out on the USS Stockdale for day. One post with a photo and the search term is in the top ten.
9. Shaving Soap. Another shaving topic
10. Lego statue of liberty. Another one post winner. You put together a small statue of liberty out of Lego blocks and post it on the web and you get traffic.
11. Old Spice Original. No surprise that the search is of a shaving topic again. I always liked this photo. The Old Spice is great as well.
12. Shave. The final of the top twelve and it is shaving again. I really have to know who searches for “shave” as a search term. It could mean so many things.
That wraps up the 4 year Blogiversary edition with the top 12 search terms. Half of the searches are for shaving topics. Perhaps I should post more shaving. I have some new shaving creams and shaving is just something that is done on a regular basis. Albeit, with a safety razor for my daily shave. You know, the old double edge razor like the Gillette Super Speed. Blades are cheap and I do not have to pay some astronomical amount for the newfangled four, five or who knows how many blades in a cartridge. Or course, the straight razor will last for years and i will not need to buy and blades. However, I have not conquered the art of speed shaving with the straight razor yet, nor do I really want to try. One slip and blood letting is eminent.
I look forward to another year of blogging. Who knows what will be on top next year. For the record, all the hits for shaving topics still do not beat the hits for opossum. I will need to think of something to get that ugly animal out of the top spot.
For the past 15 or more years our congregation from church hikes up Mt. Rubidoux on Memorial Day. The children and I have made the hike many times. I remember many years ago when Jacob was in a backpack on my back for the hike. He is now 17. I remember the hike last year with Emily when she was pregnant with Elizabeth. She was some 5 to 6 months pregnant and ran much of the way down the mountain because her bladder was getting pressure from both sides. This year it was just Stevie and myself. We are picture on a rock west of the cross that sits on top of the mountain as seen by the shadow on the rock we are standing on.
Mt Rubidoux is a city park, except for the land that sits under the cross. This past year the city auctioned the land off because they were being sued because there was a religious symbol on public property. The cross has been saved and it should stand for many more years to come. The cross can be seen in the picture below from a walk up the mountain I took with Elizabeth in November of last year. At that time, it was unknown if the cross would be saved.
I have thought about Memorial Day off and on for the past week. Words like gratitude, thankfulness and appreciation came to mind. There is a certain gravity surrounding Memorial Day. For some, it is obvious that they understand the importance and significance of Memorial Day. For others, perhaps the gravity of this day has not exerted its power within their soul. I am just grateful that I live in a country with the freedom that we have. There are many places where I would not be afforded as much freedom. Let us all hope that freedom will ring throughout this land for many more years to come and let us celebrate those that have given their lives so that we have the freedom that we do.
Yesterday evening I took a sample carrot from the garden. It was bigger than I expected. A couple of days ago a pulled a beet up and it looked like they were ready as well. The tomatoes are starting to turn red, so we will have tomatoes soon. You can see that the plants are about 7 feet tall. The onions are going to be ready as well.
In the other garden box, the kale has gone crazy. The two tomato plants also are not moving as fast at the ones in the other garden box. However, the one has a lot of fruit on it. As for the kale, every Monday I have been doing a stir-fry with it. I am thinking of harvesting the kale, blanching it, cooling it and cutting it up as I do for the stir-fry. However, I bill bag it and freeze it so that I can use it over several weeks.
I have a couple of zucchini hills with three zucchini plants each. I look at them every day, or at least try to or I get giant zucchini. Some of the peppers look like they will be ready very soon. I have already picked a bunch of green beans hand have been eating them. But today’s post is on the carrots and beets. I only harvested one third of the carrots and all the beets. Their fate is to be a good roasting on Memorial Day.
Today was a day to go hiking. I decided to stay close to home and go up the Two Trees Trail. I did the longer loop around on the Spring Trail, up the road to the Ridge Trail and over on the road the the Edison Trail and finally back down the Two Trees Trail. In total it was a 6.6 mile hike in just under two and a half hours with an overall elevation gain of about 1600 feet. For the month I am at almost 60 miles of walking and hiking. That is not bad when most of it is done in 2 mile walks around the neighborhood with Stevie Two Spots. As for today’s hike, Stevie and I had fun. Could not decide on which picture to use so I have put both in this post. The picture was taken at a outcropping of rocks where the Ridge Trail meets the road at the top.
I walk Stevie almost every night. One thing I have noticed is that she has a fear of water. She will avoid the side of the sidewalk where someones lawn sprinklers are on. She will walk around a puddle on the sidewalk. She will do her best to avoid any lawn sprinkler anywhere. Last night we walked down to the local park where there is a lake. Much to my surprise, she is really not scared of water when it is on her terms.
All one needs to do is provide a simple experiment. Find a bird in a lake or large body of water.
Once the bird has been found, walk towards the water.
Does the dog go into the water? If the answer is yes, the dog is not scared of water. Just lawn sprinklers and the hose at bath time.
It has been several years ago when I had a dog as part of the family. My children had a couple dogs, Tony and Stacie when they were ten, nine, seven and three. Due to extenuating circumstances the children and I lost them. Now that the children are 23, 22, 20 and 17 I get a dog. They wonder why I have never got a dog in the past 13 years. For starters, the person I love, Janet is allergic to animals that are furry. Hence, I am slightly in the dog house for getting a dog. But that is not why I am writing today.
The nose knows. It is often we forget what magical powers others posses. They may not be magical at all. They may just be blessings that others have that we do not have. We have all been blessed in different ways. We can see the blessings that come to our children based on the choices that they make. Some blessings are just part of their personality and how they approach different challenges. As we go through live we need to work with what God has blessed us with. If we are obedient, we receive greater blessings. It all seems to be as simple as one plus one. However, I can assure you that it is not always that simple. Mainly due to the fact that one does not always do what they need to do in life as it is part of making choices.
So back to the nose; on my hike up Two Trees trail yesterday I experienced something that caused me to pause and think for a moment. Stevie and I were on our way back down the trail after about four miles of hiking. We came around a bend in the trail where I could see over a large rock and Stevie could not see. There was a small rabbit about 20 yards out that bounced over the trail and into the brush. As we crossed over the spot where the rabbit crossed the trail Stevie jumped into high alerted and knew that something had been there. I knew because I had seen the rabbit. She knew because she could smell the rabbit.
 I know there is a rabbit out there . . . It brought me to the point where sometimes to have faith in something, we desire to have fairly good evidence that what we have faith in exists. Do we need to have some type of visual confirmation or can we rely on other senses to confirm our faith. I would postulate that the sense of smell confirmed to Stevie as concretely as my visual sighting of the rabbits existence on the trail. As for the thought in all of this, can I let the spirit prompt me or confirm to me things with the same knowledge as Stevie’s sense of smell can as she may not have a visual confirmation? I guess the answer to that is mixed somewhere in the balance of my faith and the blessings that I have been given. I also know that nose of an English setter is not one of my blessings. But there may be others that I have been blessed with. Only God knows.
I like to get out and walk, hike up a mountain or backpack into a wilderness. Sometimes I wonder why. Sometimes it is looking up at the challenge that drives me to go to the top. It could be the walk from home to the top of Mt. Rubidoux.
Being on top or Mt. Rubidoux offers a view, some days it is better than others. It is a place to go for a walk and let the breeze gently blow by.
Being in the wilderness offers its benefits, a time to find peace, quiet and time to reflect. Not everyone takes the time to venture back into the wilderness. On this outing, the trip to the top was not in the cards. Snow has a way of making things more difficult. As with life, there always seems to be obstacles. There is always another day to get to the top. This day was a day to enjoy the creations of God and the beauty around me from where I was at.
Some years are better than others. On the other hand, almost every day is a good day to go for a walk. Walking in the wilderness is one of my favorites, especially where God does a little more watering. There always seems to be a peace where there is a lot of green. There also seems to be bugs at times. But that is part of life.
Sometimes the adventure has its challenges. As we continue to progress through life or our journeys, things can change. We may find obstacles. Some may scare us more than others. One slip and there may be a slide to pain and agony. Not a thought that made me feel comfortable. However, it is all part of the adventure, a part of getting out into nature.
With all good walks or hikes, there is usually a goal. When the goal comes into view, it makes it easier to push on. Of course, being over 11,000 feet in the air has its own challenges. A little less oxygen comes to mind. It becomes just another fact that makes the trip more special and a place where less people are to be found.
Of course, being on top is great. On a clear day you can see for miles. On any day, you also know that it is several miles back to the vehicle. But that is alright, it is great to be out in the wilderness on a walk, hike or backpacking trip.
As I was reading the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association bulletin board this evening fro trail conditions, I came across a large quote from Colin Fletcher found in his book, “The Complete Walker.” It is a great quote. After I read it, I looked at the clock and decided to go for a walk tonight. The walk was almost 5 miles with plenty of dirt trails and not many people when I was on the trails. A good breeze was blowing from offshore which cooled down the air to about 80 degrees, which is nice and cool as compared to the high of over 100 degrees yesterday. Now for the quote:
“I had better admit right away that walking can in the end become an addiction, and that it is then as deadly in its fashion as heroin or television or the stock exchange. But even in this final stage it remains a delectable madness, very good for sanity, and I recommend it with a passion.
A redeeming feature of the condition is that no matter how heavily you have been hooked you can still get your kicks from very small doses.
Ten minutes’ drive from my apartment there is a long, grassy ridge from which you can look out over parkland and sprawling metropolis, over bay and ocean and distant mountains. I often walk along this ridge in order to think uncluttered thoughts or to feel with accuracy or to sweat away a hangover or to achieve some other worthy end, recognized or submerged.
And I usually succeed – especially with the thinking. Up there, alone with the wind and the sky and the steep grassy slopes, I nearly always find after a while that I am beginning to think more clearly. Yet “think” does not seem to be quite the right word. Sometimes, when it is a matter of making a choice, I do not believe I decide what to do so much as discover what I have decided. It is as if my mind, set free by space and solitude and oiled by the body’s easy rhythm, swings open and releases thoughts it has already formulated. Sometimes, when I have been straining too hard to impose order on an urgent press of ideas, it seems only as if my mind has slowly relaxed; and then, all at once, there is room for the ideas to fall into place in a meaningful pattern.”
So I guess the question is, “Why do I walk?” The answer may be as simple as “To get to the top.” But the real reason may also be as simple as a time to think, contemplate and make decisions without the clutter and demand of the noise that we place ourselves in every day.
Tonight I decided that I needed to eat out of the garden. Recently I have put together a stir-fry with kale, so I picked a little kale. I ended up with a paper shopping bag full of kale. For this stir-fry I would need to add a couple of red bell peppers and a couple of onions. After taking out the stem of the kale, I still had a lot of kale.
I usually blanch the kale for about a minute and then cool it in some cold water. It makes the kale a little more manageable. I cut the cooled bunch of kale up in about 2 inch squares. They onions are cut in medium size pieces and the red bell peppers are cut julienne style. A heaping tablespoon of chopped ginger as well as several cloves of garlic that have been minced up should be ready as well. The tofu is cut up in to small domino style pieces, placed on paper towels with paper towels over them to absorb some of the moisture. About a cup of vegetable broth is required as well as some soy sauce with some corn starch mixed in. There is some salt, pepper and a tiny bit of sugar as well.
With my trusty 14” cast iron skillet hot and ready to go with a little canola oil in the bottom, I toss in the tofu for about a minute to gain a little color. Then the ginger and garlic go for less than a minute with the onions and red bell peppers following. . If I have a jalapeno or Serrano chili, they will go in as well. Because my wife does not like spicy, I save that for small batches.
Then the kale goes in with the sugar, salt and pepper following. The kale and dry ingredients get stirred around for about a minute, maybe two. The more in the frying pan, the longer it may take. Sometimes I throw in some curry powder and/ or some cayenne powder for a little change up. The final ingredients, the vegetable broth and the soy sauce with the cornstarch get incorporated in. I stir this for a minute as the liquid boils. Then it is scooped up and placed on a bed of brown rice.
So as I sat down to eat, I decided to open some of the days mail. To my surprise, there was an envelope with the words, “Sign our petition to STOP the California Beverage Tax.” I thought it was crazy that someone wanted another tax in this state? Senate Bill 622 wants to tax soft drinks, juice, sports drinks and enhanced waters a penny per ounce. Would a penny per ounce tax stop people from drinking soda? I think not. They want me to send in my name on their “petition” to be listed publicly. We should have our freedom to eat what we want. My only thought is no more taxes. We have enough taxes in this state. Additionally, the legislature wants to regulate everything we do and take away anything that they think is dangerous. Then again there was a guy that showed up a gun buy back in Los Angeles with a pipe bomb today. He thought is was something he should turn in. Perhaps they should start a bomb buy back program as they could be considered scarier than guns.
Dinner was great. Something healthy always puts me in a good mood. It helps me to live another day and realize that someday I need to get out of this state. I would not be surprised if they will want to tax what I grow in my own garden. It is just the way things seem to go in California.
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