365daysinhemetvalley

DAY 30

2008-10-04T00:16:00.000-07:00

Tried to get an updated photo of 'my' chickens -- the chicks are growing so fast. Can sort of see them both in this photo. They are getting noisier & more demanding by the day. I can be deep in the house and still hear them complain when I haven't been out to put their food down for them. Then again, they come when I call -- well sort of. When I go out for the paper in the morning, if it's early, before they've come around to the side where I feed them -- I call them and they follow me around the house to the food.

Day 29

2008-09-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

Fifteenish years ago Gil & I picked out this little puppy. There were five in the litter, but only one was white, the others were brown little things. Gil & I like black & white dogs, so it was an instant decision.

We have a rule in our family -- Gil names cats, I name dogs. This is my favorite 'naming' -- Quincy. I've always loved his name.

He was a great puppy. Never any trouble -- got along with everyone, always took a back seat to Tora, our alpha dog.

And he grew BIG!! He's a great guard dog -- if it's withing earshot or eyeshot -- Quincy barks at it. Never mean, just warning. He's never been aggressive to any one or any creature -- but a stranger couldn't tell that by looking at him barking. He kept us nice & secure for many many years.

I love this photo of him coming through the oleanders -- he looks gorgeous there, and oh so handsome.

And then his hips finally gave out on him --- a few weeks ago they started getting really bad, and last week they just hit the wall -- and could no longer hold him up. We said our goodbyes, and I held his paws as he took that last breath and headed towards the Bridge to meet the furkids who have gone before him.

We miss him, but are happy he's out of pain. I picture him running with Bandit and Tora and Mandy and all the rest of our furkids. It's getting quite empty here at home, but full there at the Bridge, and I just know they'll all be there when it's my time. And I know they're there -- cuz without them -- it wouldn't be heaven.

Rest in Peace, Q --- we miss you.

DAY 28

2008-09-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

You might be asking what happened since Day 27 --- a few weeks ago?

I don't know --- it was hot, I wasn't motivated, I was cranky, I was lazy, all of the above?

I have been reminded quite forcefully that I need to blog more regularly.

So this is me blogging.

No photo today -- pure unadulterated commercial:

When I'm not at work, this is what I'm generally doing -- selling on eBay. Drop by anytime and see if there is anything there you just have to have.

Me, the hubs, the dogs and the cats would surely appreciate it.

In the meantime I've grabbed the camera and put it in my purse. I will have photos of something in the Hemet Valley for the blog tomorrow! I promise!

day 27

2008-09-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

We have three new pets -- at least temporarily. I think mom and her babies are refugees from the neighbors. She got through the fence I guess, but can't get back. I have no chicken feed, but when she started trying to figure out the lickit we have up for the dogs, I figured we could at least give them water.

I'm trying hard not to personalize things -- I don't like seeing the food chain this up close & personal.

Our neighbors raise chickens and goats for food -- which I know is very natural -- but I hate seeing the babies and hearing the goat's bleating (sp?) all the time, and then there are no more goats and it's just silence. Just don't have the intestinal fortitude for it.

But for now I'm happy to be Switzerland to mom and her two chicks.

Day 26

2008-09-05T15:22:00.000-07:00

I had a bunch of boxes in the back of my truck on the way home last night -- and one started flopping around. I stopped on the busiest hwy in our area and fixed the boxes in the back -- and decided while I was out there with cars whizzing by at 70mph, I'd take a photo of the cows on the other side of the highway.

It's these cows, and others along the highway that answer the question --- how can you tell when you're near Nuevo -- yep, you can smell the dairy cows!

I don't even notice it anymore, but I know the 'scent' is pretty strong to newcomers.

Day 25

2008-09-04T01:20:00.001-07:00

Not sure what this signifies --- but I was playing with the upgrade to Picaso and tried to put text on a photo. This was the first photo I came to, and somehow it seems appropriate for Nuevo.

From nuevo

DAY 24

2008-09-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

I know, I know . . . .

I just hate going outside to take pictures when it's 100 degrees and 60% humidity -- I dunno know -- call me crazy!

So I took the first shot I saw outside the back door today --- by my hanging laundry you can see that Gil wears an old shirt sent to me by an auction site no longer in business, and apparently we stole that white towel from the hospital where we used to work.

The first year we lived here we kept the oleanders neat & trim. The next year we decided, and our landlord agreed -- that privacy was way more important than clean & trim! So now they are what keeps us from seeing way more of our landlords than anyone would want to.

DAY 23

2008-08-26T00:13:00.001-07:00

A month ago, who would have dreamed I'd be celebrating gasoline at this price?

Day 22

2008-08-24T21:59:00.000-07:00

So I was loving my new camera so much the other that I decided to see how it would do on photos while in a moving car. Don't ask --- I was bored.

So, the first shot was pretty good, I thought. Of course, there were a few rejects.

Day 21

2008-08-23T22:33:00.000-07:00

Glad there was a fence between us -- but it was so hot, they didn't look like very much was going to bother them. This is a few miles down the road from me -- never noticed them before, but I was driving aimlessly looking for photo ops and found them.

Oh yeah, you'll have to enlarge to see what I'm talking about. Don't know what I've done differently the last two days to get small enlargeable shots -- don't really want that.

Day 20

2008-08-21T23:02:00.001-07:00

The Ramona Bowl pageant is the largest outdoor play in California -- been here since 1923. It's Hemet's claim to fame -- the bowl is up on the hill -- about 5000 attend the event each year -- bogs the streets a little, and guaranteed to be the preview of the coming heat. It's in May, but it always seems hot.

In fact when I was 10 or 11 my mom brought us to see the play. I can remember it vaguely, but mostly I remember I'd never felt anything as hot in my life as the weather that day. Little did I know that forty years later, it would be my home.

This morning driving to work I was thinking about Iris's blog -- it's so cool that every day she shows us different gorgeous views and I was lamenting to myself how boring Hemet was. It's flat -- it's hot -- it way too overbuilt in some areas, and lots of cows in the other areas. Boring.

And then I thought -- I'm early for work, what could I take a photo of for the blog tonight --- I know!!! I'll drive up to the Bowl and take some photos. Can't get into the bowl -- it's a big ampitheatre with the seats carved out of the hill itself. (www.ramonabowl.com) but it has great views. At least I think so:

The homes around the Bowl are among the most expensive in Hemet -- I doubt they like the few weeks the play is on, but the rest of the year -- they have quite a few.

Day 19

2008-08-21T01:35:00.000-07:00

Crazy day, eBay going to hell in a handbasket, way too many Olympics to watch, so I didn't get a fresh picture taken.

Last weekend when Danni came over I moved the truck from the house to the end of the property so I didn't have to carry boxes and mannequins in the heat -- just load it up at the gate and drive it to the house.

When Danni called that she was almost here, I went outside to walk to the gate -- and Coco had to come -- cuz she's my shadow, I go NOWHERE without an escort. She loves the truck, but since her blindness,deafness has gotten so bad, she isn't comfortable in the car -- it jerks around over the dirt road and she can't anticpate what coming and gets thrown around. But she still loves sitting in the truck anyway -- so we waited for Danni with Coco thinking she was going for a ride.

She was quite happy, I think.

Day 18

2008-08-19T22:34:00.001-07:00

Okay, this is a pretty exciting photo --- the ONLY signal light in Nuevo. And it is only a year old -- no traffic lights at all until a year ago. Finally too many people died out on the Expressway from all of us Nuevo residents trying to get home, and they finally installed one.

Day 17

2008-08-18T20:21:00.001-07:00

Since I used Danni in yesterday's shot, it reminded me that I had driven by her old place when I went to the feed store last week. I kept meaning to shoot a few pics show she could see how it looks --- to me, pretty much the same. What do you think Danni?

Day 16

2008-08-17T21:13:00.000-07:00

Now that might be an odd photo --- but if you eBay clothing, you understand!

Thanks Danni!

Day 15

2008-08-09T00:49:00.000-07:00

I am an Olympic junkie -- my DVR is set for as much TV coverage as I can squeeze into it.

I'm so obnoxious about it I even put a clock up at work - we have five or six clocks up on the wall -- theoretically for fax customers if they are faxing to other time zones. Some years ago the last clock fell off the wall -- I can't even remember what country the clock time was showing -- but last week I decided to put another clock in its place and label it and set it for Beijing time:

Yes I did notice that the minute hands should be pointing to the same number -- guess I'll have to replace batteries in the other radios :)

DAY 14

2008-08-05T23:40:00.001-07:00

Of our six cats, three are orange & white. So when I found them all sleeping on the same chair, I just had to snap a shot. On the top back of the chair -- Riley is on the left and Ellie on the right -- Ellie is a manx. And on the seat of the chair is Rusty.

Day 13

2008-08-05T00:55:00.000-07:00

And this is my nearest neighbor -- Billy the Goat!

The landlord owns him -- well I'm not sure anyone owns goats -- I know when I fed him for a month while they were on vacation -- I found good old Billy a total pain in the ass -- stubborn and obstinate!

Billy, you might recall, was torn to shreds by dogs a year ago -- until DH ran out in his underwear in the middle of the night to fight the dogs and pull Billy to safety. Most of the time I'm very happy we saved him that night, but when I was black & blue from being butted -- I wasn't so sure!

Happy Monday night all.

Day 12

2008-08-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

Yes I did fall off the face of the earth, thanks for asking.

First my dsl line is down more than it's up -- and of course Verizon has no clue.

Second my old camera decided it needed some time off as well. A friend gave me a camera to use -- and I miss my old Olympus. This is my ridiculously messy desk -- cuz that's what I was practising on. I tried to check the photo for anything embarassing -- don't think I have anything too bad on my desk -- just a lot of junk.

I can't promise a consistent entry for a while -- I even signed up with AOL dial up as a back up. And boy that's slow.

But -- make no mistake, Verizon sucks!

Day 11

2008-07-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

I know I know -- I missed a few days. I have absolutely no excuse -- just didn't 'feel' the camera or something.

This I took on the way home the other day. This is what I hate about where I live -- all the nice old areas that were either old houses or land for cows, hay or whatever are all being taken over by developers who want to build overpriced two story, six bedroom homes for people only to have them discover they were grossly over appraised. It's maddening, and it's sad.

Okay, down off my soapbox.

DAY 10

2008-07-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

Now this is the PERFECT birthday present in my world. The girls at work got together and bought me 96 cans of coke.

I'm in heaven!

DAY 9

2008-07-24T01:04:00.001-07:00

Trying to 'get' inspiration for a photo today, I decided to take a photos of where I've spent a good part of the last seven years.

First one from the outside in front -- I almost never see it from in front -- looks nice from outside.

Second one is the view from my desk -- looking at the front door.

Third one looks into the back room from the front lobby.

And the last one is the shelf area where we not so neatly store stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere.

That's it -- my little corner of the world.

Day 8

2008-07-22T18:42:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was my birthday, and I didn't feel well so didn't leave the house -- and today still not 100%, so still didn't venture far from home. I did do laundry, but I figured photos of my unmentionables on the clothesline were really not appropriate for 365 posts -- so I decided to go back into my files for furkid pics. Always a favorite activity for me.

First up is RUSTY, aka FatAss --- he's actually not overweight, but he sure does like to spread out when he's relaxing.

Next is Fanny, really the prettiest cat we've ever had -- she is always well-groomed, if only her personality were the same -- she's a little on the mean side to the other cats. She does love her dogs tho.

Lucy sleeps in her crate with the door open -- she likes the security of it. And we like it to since Lucy has a tail like you wouldn't believe -- get hit with that thing and you know it. And Fanny loves to sit in there with Lucy -- and Lucy never seems to mind. The next photo is Fanny with Nellie -- sleeping on the chaise with Fanny.

I really think Fanny thinks she's a dog.

This is my Coco -- she doesn't look so cute and cuddly now -- as she isn't aging well as her old age is creeping up on us -- but she's been my little girl for well over a decade. Now I'm her seeing-eye person -- as she's lost her hearing and her sight is almost gone. But as long as she can still sense I'm around, she's fine. And dogs adapt so well -- she knows where everything is in my office, and in the yard -- she's still better at night outside than I am. She's cranky -- but come to think of it -- she pretty much always has been :)

Like mother, like daughter!

And this is our old man -- Quincy. Our watchdog, our protector. His hips are so bad these days that I'm the one protecting him most of the time -- have to lift him up onto his legs some mornings -- but once on his feet (paws) he's on his way. And he's alert and in good spirits and such a good friend. I am hoping the sunset years are good to him -- and that he has a few more in him.

Day 7

2008-07-20T21:23:00.001-07:00

So how about grabbing a photo while waiting for food? I call that good time management skills.

These flowers were under the order board at the Pollo Loco drive thru -- we don't have much in the way of flowers in the desert during the summer, so these definately caught my eye.

DAY 6

2008-07-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

Missed posting yesterday --- just couldn't find anything to take a photo of that inspired me in any way. So, today while running errands I was looking at everything I was driving by and looking for something to take my camera out for. And then I found it.

A CEMETARY.

Now I don't really 'do' cemetaries. My parents were both cremated, so I haven't really thought much about cemetaries in a few decades (my dad used to take us to Forest Lawn in Glendale each Sunday afternoon after church to visit his grandparents). I drove in and got out and walked around the Hemet cemetary -- it was lovely, it was quiet, it was peaceful.

I want to be cremated -- I feel strongly about that. But boy there is something to be said about all that peace & quiet -- both for the deceased and their visitors.

My sister and her husband enjoy walking through cemetaries and looking at headstones or whatever those large above ground markers are referred to. I sorta thought they were crazy, but I really enjoyed walking through the park and reading the headstones, seeing the familiy stones and the descriptions on them. It was a nice contemplative break in my day -- calmed me down and got me to thinking about something other than whether the pharmacy would have a long line, if I needed onions for that dish I'm putting in the crockpot tomorrow, and all those extremely important things that won't mean a hill of beans 100 years from now.

Day 5

2008-07-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

I find it disconcerting that the beer tap is right next to the to go window -- am I the only one?

Day 4

2008-07-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

MY TRIP HOME

I haven't gotten too far from home yet in this blog. As I turn into the dirt road I noticed these two mini horses being walked -- they are so cute! Then I headed down that long dirt road home -- dodging horses and mopeds and offroaders -- quite a contrast in my neck of the woods.

Tomorrow, maybe I'll actually take the camera out a bit farther from home.

Day 3

2008-07-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

Another Day, Another Field

Well, two fields.

We live off a paved road, on a two mile long dirt road. As I leave the 'driveway' and look to the right there is a thoroughbred farm. Actually it's been sold to the EVIL developers but the owners have leased it back for five years. These horses are beautiful and boy is there a lot of space for them.

The other field is the hay field -- got to feed them horses, right? It's down the street a ways.

Weird little town, a mile of houses, a mile of fields, a mile of houses, a thoroughbred farm. Not a lot of city planning went into it -- mostly started out as just a 'place' - I don't think anyone foresaw it getting big enough to even call it a town, certainly we still can't see a day when it will be a real city.

But, it's quiet -- smells like cows, horses, and pigs -- but mostly everyone does their own thing, and leaves everybody else alone. I do like that.

Day 2

2008-07-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

I live in a small town - named Nuevo. It's stuck right in between Hemet, San Jacinto and Perris -- a little blob of a place lacking character, in my opinion. Our population is probably 3000 -- lots of it tucked away in the mountains, but more and more in the new homes being built. We do have a post office, and a small grocery store -- and a few other small businesses are popping up. We've been just this little place for decades, mostly horse country with a few pig farms and egg farms thrown in. Lots of stop signs, no light signals tho. But big city development hates to see wide empty spaces so most of its been bought up for future homes and condos (should the housing market ever pick up).

We live in a mobil home on the landlord's property. We have a bit over a half acre fenced off for us and the dogs -- and behind us is a lot of that open land waiting for big expensive homes. In the meantime you can sorta tell what it's used for -- by the marks in the dirt. Lots of off roading, lots of horses.

Day 1

2008-07-13T15:47:00.000-07:00

It seems a few friends decided it would be a good idea to have a blog showing photos of 'stuff' from each of our areas. Well, Bettye wanted document her last year in Islip and the rest of us are just copycats!

But, it does seem a cool idea. We live in these places and never really look around. This should afford us the chance to pick up the camera and point it at something. Not necessarily something spectacular, but just something in the town we live in.

I live and work in the Hemet Valley -- in Riverside County, California. As the name implies the area includes the city of Hemet (where I work) but also includes San Jacinto, Nuevo (where I live), Perris, Sun City, and many other small cities out here.

There is nothing spectacular here --- we're not near the water -- we're smack dab in the middle of the desert -- it gets hot here in the summer. Not warm, DAMN HOT. During the rest of the year it's mild without much in the way of rain.

The photos will document the things I see each day -- the mundane and the more mundane :)

But first up is a map or two of the area. Enjoy!