Fort Ross, March 2003 — After I posted pictures last Monday of our trip to the coast in January 2003, I found more images already on my hard drive that I’d forgotten about, from a visit two months later. We had cool but sunny weather in March — and there was time to see the inside of historic Fort Ross […]
Fort Ross Lodge, January 2003 — The Big Guy likes to visit the California coast during the winter because there are fewer people around and, as a general rule, the ocean tends to be calmer. That means it’s much easier (and more productive) to fish for perch and rockfish from the beach or from a rocky point. In the “old […]
This past Saturday, Mom and I went to check out the annual Lambtown Festival in Dixon, so I thought this week I’d share some memories of the small herd of Barbados-mix sheep she used to keep on her property. Initially they were there to take care of the out-of-control weed situation, but after awhile they became pets as well. And […]
From my journal, April 2, 1995: “We got another dog last Tuesday night. She’s a pitbull but doesn’t look like Phoebe. Her coat is very soft and fawn-color. She has a pink nose and yellow eyes. She also has a white blaze on her chest and throat and white on her toes. Buster is so happy to have a dog […]
Some pet owners memorialize their beloved pets with photographs, oil paintings, or even taxidermy. In our case, we chose colorful modeling clay. I can’t recall exactly when or how it happened, but at some point more than 20 years ago both the Big Guy and I decided it was necessary to create, in our amateur way, our impressions of our […]
One great thing about where we live is the proximity to Lake Natoma and its attached ponds. The Big Guy grew up in the area and has been hiking and fishing around Lake Natoma nearly all his life. His most enthusiastic fishing companion for more than ten years was our Doberman-Rottweiler, Buster. All the Big Guy had to do was pick up his fishing rod and Buster was at the front door, whining, impatient to go. The ponds have been formed partially by the remnants left by large gold dredges that operated on the American River at Mississippi Bar from about 1900 until 1962. Most connect to what is now Lake Natoma, allowing bass and other sunfish shelter in which to build their spawning beds and guard their young. Patience pays off: Sometimes instead of fishing from the shore, we’d use a small aluminum boat. Instead of an outboard motor on the back, the Big Guy would attach an electric trolling motor to the bow of the boat. Since there is a 5-mph speed limit on the entire lake, the trolling motor is a great way to get around. Buster was right at home in the boat, mostly because he’d been spending time there since he was a tiny pup. In his younger days he would play for awhile on the shore and then climb into the rear of the boat, curl up on a blanket and go to sleep. But […]
In January 1986 I was lucky enough to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was an incredibly moving and humbling experience to me even though I had no names to search for. I grew up seeing coverage of the Vietnam War on the TV news every evening, but I was young enough that the conflict never touched […]
Back in October 1995, I spent a day in San Francisco with my friend Julie. I’m pretty sure we both had a good time, although to be honest I don’t remember all the details of our rather haphazard excursion. Luckily I wrote about that day in my journal. I did take pictures, but my photography skills weren’t the greatest and […]
Today I originally meant to share images from a day trip to San Francisco I took with my friend Julie in the mid 1990s; but I feel like I’ve been slightly obsessing over the City lately. So I’ll save those for another time and instead show you some pictures from a bit further north on the California coast. In July […]