Sunset from La Jolla

I thought you might enjoy a beautiful sunset. This is what I used to see from my bedroom every evening (well it was until I got caught sneaking out at night and lost the good room!). It's been nice visiting the folks and getting to remember where I came from. I think we need to ground ourselves once and a while. The vacation continues, this week we're in LA. Disney and Universal here we come.
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Vacation update.

I have decided that I will be leaving my photo updates until we get back home. I will post a couple here and there, but I usually like to optimize them so that they open reletively quickly and I haven't been able to while on the road. I guess I normally spend more time blogging than I thought I did. No wonder the dear wife keeps asking me "Are you blogging again?" (As a matter of fact, she just came up to me; and I'm not kidding at all, and asked me are you writing a blog?) I do miss it I have to say. I feel like I've fallen out of contact with a bunch of friends. I haven't had much time to check in on the blogs that I usually do, but have been able to check in on a couple of you. It's nice to see though that even with out much of a commenting presence out there, I have still had a few people stopping by to see what I have to say.

On the vacation update front. We went to Tijuana Mexico the other day. This is the first anyone but me has been out of the country. Even though it was literally walking across a border crossing, you can certainly tell that you're "Not in Kansas anymore." My kids in truely kid like fashion noted that everyone seems so desparate, they are poor. It's good that they are able to see how truely blessed we are to live in this country.

Vacation Gardening

some of you may have had the wuestion come to mind that "Hey doesn't this guy garden? How the heck do you take a three week leave and hope to come back to anything but dirt and crispy leaves?" Well, you set up a drip irrigation system and hope for the best. This is the first time that I have tried this. Not setting up drip irrigation, I have done that before on a very limited scale, but doing it to this level and then leaving it unattended. I set up a system that would use small micro sprinkler heads to essentially flood the small raised beds, as well as the garden landscaping at the back of my yard.

I ran two 1/4 inch lines down the length of each bed and made three drops on each line. The sprayers aren't actually like sprinklers in that they do not vaporize the water when they spray it into the air. The small sprinkler heads only spray about 10-12 inches out from the head in a stream. The point tof the heads is to put a large amount of water into the ground for the plants to pull up through capillary action. When I first put the system in place and tested it, I didn't think it was working. I would look at the beds and all I saw was small wet areas where the streams landed. When I took a handful of soil up and looked at the bottom, I found that the the bottom two inches of the beds were very wet. the roots of the plants will theoretically be drawn down and get to the water which should be much better for them in the heat of summer.

As for the back gardens they are primarily decorative, but I am starting to work in some edibles over time; raspberries, corn and artichokes have been added so far. I ran a single line of 5/8 hose down the center of the bed, and connected essentially the same type of heads along the length of it to allow the bed to be flodded right next to the plants that I have in place. I had actually noticed that my strawberries did much better the couple of weeks before I left than they had prior to hooking up the system.

I can only assume that the system is working and have faith that my neighbors will notice if the plants are dying and water them while they are enjoying the vacancy harvest that I invited them to enjoy. Have any of you had any experience with long term vacationon gardening? Let me know, What do you think my chances are of coming home to healthy veggie?
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Vegas, Ghost Towns and Solar Panels.

Hi again everyone, Posting from Cardiff by the Sea California today; home for this leg of the vacation.
In my last post I mentioned that we had spent the night in Vegas. I had to share the picture that we took from our room with you. This is being taken from the Excalibur resort looking towards the Luxor. I thought it looked like something out of Star Wars or some sci-fi movie don’t you?


When we left Vegas and headed for California, we came across a town, named Yermo that advertised their Ghost town. We got off of the freeway to check it out but found that it was not the quick stop we thought it would be, but instead was an “attraction”. I had the strangest thought right then that while so many of us talk about our sustainability or lack thereof, and wonder what will become of our society if we keep on living like we do here Is a place that is, in essence, celebrating a failed city. We pay to visit and enjoy a way of life that was not able to last because it focused on only one thing. Funny?



At any rate, after getting off the freeway, I noticed this sign pointing the way to a solar plant. Now you have to know I wanted to see it. I mean come on, I’m in the middle of the California desert and take an exit where one direction points to a failed past and the other direction points to a promising future; if that’s not divine intervention what is?
We got directions and headed off to the plant to see what we could see.


The directions actually ended up being not very good, but was another happy blessing. We found our way to another icon of american history. Route 66. We laughed at how this was once the travel artery across the country. we have come so far, and yet all we really did was make a bigger road a mile away. At any rate, I think this is one of the greatest thing about driving across the country. We have so many little hidden things that we can find, and I love to share them with my kids. one day they just won't be there anymore.



So now that I made you wait until the end of the post. here are some pictures of the solar panels that we were finally able to get. There was a big no trespassing sign, so I couldn't go up to the main entry and ask about a tour but I figured I had to turn around, and my truck takes a little bit of space to do that so I had to drive down the road a bit to an open spot.

These are the photos that I was able to get from the edge of the array.

You can also see an arial view of the array from HERE.I was pretty impressed with what I saw, but was disappointed that I couldn't get in any further. I will be researching this facility and will probably post some more information soon.
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We made it.

Well we made it! I'm at my sisters house in California. I was struck driving in at how dry it is. I grew up here, but I never really got that it was essentially a desert. I said before that I knew a good idea would come to me while I was driving across the west, and low and behold when you keep your eyes open and give life the reigns it will give you treasure. We were just inside CA and decided to get off the highway and take a detour to a ghost town that was just off the highway. The ghost town didn't "Pan out" but when we got off the highway I saw a sign for a solar plant. I started getting all excited (much to the chagrin of my kids, who by now have begun the "are we there yet?" routine.) So anyway, since I'm buying the gas, we go to the solar plant. I couldn't get in, but I did get some great pictures of the solar collectors. That will be detailed in a post this week so I can give you the pics at the same time.

Well, We're taking the kids to a new skate park now, and I'm gonna enjoy fathers day. This will be the first time in oh, 20 years probably that I will be with my Dad for it. Happy Fathers Dad! I love you!

Talk to you later.
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On the road again!

...Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway,
We're the best of friends, insisting that the world keep turning our way ...

I love that song, don't you?
I will be heading out tomorrow morning for my big summer family vacation. I'll spend a couple days in Vegas, and a couple of weeks in CA. Time to go home and visit the family; it's been nearly three years so I guess I'm due. We have waited until our kids were old enough to remember going to Disneyland and all the other So. Cal attractions and with them all between 9 and 12 we think it's a good time.

Don't think I'll neglect my blog though; I have some good ideas for some entries during the time that I'm out and I'm sure that I'll get some great ideas while I'm driving, I always seem to for some reason. (Mental note, note pad and paper on the dashboard!) Either way I promise to have lots of great pictures to share for sure so check back for the updates. Maybe I'll try a video post for something new, Whatcha think?
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You have to have it!

How many times have we all been through this one. I know I'm guilty, I brought home a new grill this year myself. But in my defense The one I had been using was used when I got it, and I milked another 4 yrs out of it. I just figured saving the cost of all the food I had to throw out after noone would eat it because it was burnt beyond recognition more than covered the "investment".
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