The Last Week, So Far...

It's been a driving week.

Last Saturday we went to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve State Natural Reserve. It was REALLY windy. I'd like to live there, I fancy, but that wind just might be a bit much.



There were not quite the zillions of poppy that there were last time, but then that was praised as the best year ever. Still, mighty purty!

We stopped at the visitor's center and learned some interesting stuff. And used the facilities.



We headed for home via San Francisquito Canyon. We stopped by the power plant for some geocaches, and because it's cool.



Did I mention the geocaches? We found eight out of nine caches on the trip.

I SO want to climb this scary trail up the hill beside the power plant!



On the way home I saw a mispelled freeway sign, and a car that might belong to a relation.



Yesterday, I went geocaching in Santee, but I've complained about THAT elsewhere.

Today, I had a fabulous trip around the Sweetwater Lake County Park. I saw jackrabbits, a road runner, horses, and three lizards. But no snakes, I am happy to report!

Piles and piles of flowers growing, thanks to the recent rains, and Spring!

Bridge One:



Bridge Two: Not all that safe for people, either!



Bridge Three: Breakaway! What ever will they think of next?



I have lost my knot! I had a white knot, just like that red one! If you see a knot on the loose somewhere, let me know! Oh, yeah, that's Sweetwater Reservoir back there.



As usual, more and sometimes BIGGER images on the zooomr page, just click an image to get there. Or HERE!

Zounds!

The rotten fuel pump inertia switch switched just as I was accelerating down the on ramp, just after I was signaling "swift move" to a lady who cut me off. Wages of sin? I pulled off onto the shoulder and reset the switch, waited for a break in the traffic, and zoomed back onto the road, and onto the freeway.

What I need, instead of the lame Ford repositioning kit, is some sort of cockpit voice that warns me the switch has tripped, and allows me to push a reset button before it REALLY turns off the power to the fuel pump. Maybe a ten second delay. A big red blinking light would be nice, too. I would pay a hundred bucks for that, I bet.

Seriously, someone is going to die one of these days, and Ford is going to be REALLY sorry!

Rainy

Yes, it is raining again. One would not think this was a desert!

Chollas Lake was open yesterday, before the deluge started. I did not find two caches I've looked for before, but I DID find two that I haven't looked for before. I saw some interesting relics while scrambling around in the bushes (and cactus!). What is the morale (and legal) issues involved in scarfing them up? Oh well, maybe I will just go back with my camera and take pictures. And a trash bag, too. Cache in, trash out!

I went out to Santee this morning, in the light rain. First thing, I stopped at Grossmont College for yet another look at THAT cache, my current nemesis. I had a thought, from the logs, that it was near a bench. Well, there IS no bench. So much, etc.

I parked in the Mast Park lot and wandered around. I found three caches, didn't find one, and was not able to get to two more because the river was up a bit. Maybe during the summer!

I tried to get a picture of the ducks at the ol' swimmin' hole. Where did they go?



Bought a new tire for the bike yesterday. Bought brake pads for the bike Thursday. Have not installed anything, though. Balanced the checkbook yesterday. What an adventure that was! Between me not entering massive transactions, someone putting an incorrect amount in the register (after altering the check, so the carbon was wrong!), and the bank CHARGING me for an inactive loan account, there was quite a lot of drama going on. But, I reigned triumphant!