Here’s an update of what’s going on around California as of this morning. There are now more than 1400 fires.
Part of Highway 1 has been closed due to the fire in Los Padres National Forest. The Monterey County Herald has slideshows (with commentary) of the Big Sur area here and here.
I’ve seen two different families of deer on my drive in California. The first family is a doe and a single fawn. They frequent my mother’s house. If I hear a cracking (dead) branch early in the morning it’s usually the fawn nibbling on dry grass or searching for a low hanging plum. The mother is a little more shy.
I saw the other family, a doe and two fawns, a mile down the road earlier in the week. The first encounter was at night and I was expecting them. One of the fawns was standing in the road with the classic look. I honked the horn a couple of times, but there was no reaction so I inched forward in the hope of startling it. No dice. I honked and inched forward again, but still no reaction. I was about to unroll the window to shout, but then the mother leaped into action and nudged Baby #1 out of the way. She paused for a moment and Baby #2 bounded by. Finally all three got off the road. Baby #1 needs some serious street smarts or s/he isn’t going to last very long.
This afternoon I’ve been enjoying their company, all of them. They’ve been having a picnic in the neighbor’s yard. Of what, I’m not sure. The ground looks pretty clear. One of the fawns just got nipped by one of the mamas. Baby #1 perhaps?
Via msnbc.com:
Summer is always dry in Central California and prone to forest fires, but it looks like the beginning of a long forest fire season. The bizarre, intense thunderstorm (that left at least one biker ducking for cover from hail) over the weekend apparently let loose 5,000 - 6,000 lightening strikes, contributing to a number of fires in the area. There are more than 800 fires raging across Northern California.
When I went outside this morning, I smelled smoke, probably from the fires in the Los Padres National Forest (The red spots near the bottom of the pictures.) It brings back memories. The Marble-Cone Fire burned for weeks. I remember the smoke and the orange sky. I had nightmares about fires for months.
There’s the cutest fawn eating breakfast in the backyard.
It’s 10 a.m. and it’s 91 degrees (F).
Spring was quite beautiful in Oak Park, but most of my pictures didn’t turn out very well. This one’s an exception. This blossom managed to survive two thunderstorms.
I picked up a copy of David J. Schwartz’s first novel, but I’m letting Scott read it first because I’m nice.
For the first time in several months Boo! saw Stella. His ardor hasn’t died one bit. He got a big grin on his face and started barking from across the street, his tail wagging like a metronome. At the time Stella was taking care of business and didn’t look like she wanted to be noticed. Boo! didn’t mind or didn’t notice, not sure which. Love springs eternal!
As predicted, I had to make gyoza this week. I found a recipe I hadn’t tried from China Express, which is one of my favorite cookbooks. I used the filling for wontons, a combination of pork, water chestnuts and other flavorful goodies (like green onions) and put them in gyoza wrappers because I used the wonton wrappers for turkey wontons. Scott and I have been feasting the past couple of days. I’m getting better at the timing of the streaming/frying of the gyoza. Yesterday Scott complimented me by saying that they looked exactly like they do in the restaurant. Today we finished wrapping, frying and freezing. I think I’ll be ready for more tomato and onion salads tomorrow. What to do with the rest of the onions? I wonder if scallion pancakes freeze well…