Camping in Balch Park

Balch Park is about 80 miles northeast of Bakersfield. It is in the very southern tip of the Sequoia National forest. My photos don't really do these amazing trees justice, but remember, you can click on them to enlarge!

This was Marley's first camping adventure and he was very excited.
We brought starter logs for the campfire, but it was fun to hike around and collect wood to keep the fire going. Here's Andrew chopping wood with his machete.
"A remnant of a Giant Sequoia that lumbermen cut all the way through in 1881, yet the tree still remains standing on its stump." How crazy is this?? I unsuccesfully tried to push the tree off. Next time... maybe...

In an attempt to show the true size of these trees, I had Andrew stand at the base of one while I walked as far backwards as possible. He's at the base of the left tree. This sequoia was right on our site. Marley found a golf ball, picked it up, dug a hole, buried his ball, covered it up with his snout, and walked away. I know it's instinct, but I never saw him do this before!! After a couple minutes I said, "Marley, where's your ball?" He went to the spot and did the whole process over again! So cool! :)There was a pond where people could fish if they had a license to do so. We didn't, so we just walked around it!

It was a really fun weekend and I hope to go camping more this summer. It's really nice to get out of the 100+ degree heat!
~Carol

Summertime and the livin's easy

As most of you know, I'm on summer vacation! This is supposed to be a relaxing time but I feel like I've been going, going, going nonstop! Luckily (and unsurprisingly), I took a lot of pictures.

The last day of school was May 28th and that night, I took a red-eye flight out of LA with Andrew and his mother. His older brother was getting married in MA on the 31st. Would you believe this was the first wedding I'd ever been to? No joke. My first wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and I was so glad the rain held off for them.

The day after the wedding, I rented a car and Andrew and I drove down to surprise my mom in Allentown. I say "surprise" because it was a Monday and she wasn't expecting us until Tuesday! On Tuesday we went wine tasting with my dad and it was a lot of fun! We ended up going to 3 wineries and even sent two bottles back to California.

Unfortunately for me, I was getting sick and my immune system pretty much gave up on me on Wednesday. I had horrible pressure in my head, aches and pains everywhere, and a fever. On top of my pains, it began raining as we finished wine tasting and continued the rest of our visit. I felt horrible about all of these things because I only visit about twice a year AND it was Andrew's first time on the east coast!

The day before we flew out (Friday), we visited Philly for some touristy historical things. This is my favorite picture:

Early Saturday, we flew back to LA. I don't even want to think about my trip back because the pressure in my head left me in tears and without hearing for a while even after landing. I finally went to the urgent care center on Monday and was diagnosed with a bacterial sinus infection. Yuck! While the timing was terrible, I'm just glad I'm better now.

Some other things I have been up to has been gardening. Gardening in an apartment? YES! I don't know what got me on the green thumb kick, but I've been adding to my indoor and outdoor plant collection. I currently have 3 indoor plants (standard hanging vine, bamboo, spider plant), a basket of flowers outside the door, and a plethora of flowers and veggies on my porch. These include cherry tomato plants, an heirloom tomato plant (my roommate's), an avocado tree (also roommate's), a garlic plant, Zinnias, and an Amaryllis.

Last weekend, we went camping in the Sequoias. I'll make another post about that later, since I have so many pictures! Until then, adios!

~ Carol

Spring break antics

This week, Andrew and I made a quiche. You can find the recipe here. It's a spinach and bacon quiche with Swiss cheese. I also made my own crust, rather than buying the pre-made one.
I've never made a quiche before (because I heard it was hard) but it came out beautifully! We had it for dinner but I ate some leftover for breakfast - yum!

I also rented the first season of 30 Rock. I've been wanting to watch this show but never had the time to watch it or I forgot it was on. I'm definitely hooked. It also helps that Blockbuster is only $1 per night!

Since it's beginning to get warm (it's been in the 80's a couple of times already), I decided Marley would probably need a haircut soon. I've clipped his feet and kept him trimmed up, but he hasn't had a shave down since I first got him back in August. This is the day after I got him from the pound and they shaved off all his fur...

Figuring it would be fun, I bought pet clippers and cut most of his fur down to a quarter of an inch. I think he looks really cute with his puppy cut!

This week off also gave me to time to work on Marley's tricks. He has mastered "paw" which has been a favorite with house guests.

A new trick I have been trying with him has been "sit up." Andrew's dogs "dance" when they want food, so this is what gave me the idea. I suppose you could also call it begging...
With a little help from some leftover chicken, Marley is doing really well with "sit up!"
This post is for Ellen, who was upset I didn't post any Marley pictures last time. :)

~ Carol

And the walls came down...

Today is my first official day of "spring break" and what no better way to spend it than by being woken at 7am with loud hammering above my head?? After several notices on our front door for the past month, they finally began re-roofing (is that a word?) the building. I knew it was only a matter of time after hearing the banging on the other buildings and I suppose Murphy's Law dictates work on my building should begin on the first day of break. Oh well. I must hand it to the 20 Mexican men, though. They have been working (with breaks I'm sure) for over 12 hours. It's nearly 7:30 pm! In addition, it must have hit a high in the upper 80's today! I was going to get a picture of all the work they did but they seemed a bit weary of me taking photos. Here's the mess on the lawn in front of my building:
I can't believe I haven't written on this blog since December. You may not believe me, but I do feel bad about it. I love writing and I really just need to schedule time for myself and DO IT. I have no problem taking pictures or writing, it's just posting. In fact, posting on a regular basis was one (of many) new year's resolutions that I made on December 30th when I was flying back here from PA. I've had the airplane napkin pinned to my wall by my door (remember, you can click on the photo to enlarge it):
Thus far, my resolution successes have been: use online banking, only eat 1 school lunch per week maximum, and train Marley to shake and stay. As for my aspirations, I'm in talks with a doctor about eye surgery and I'm slated to attend Andrew's brother's wedding at the very end of May. (In case you didn't know, I've never been to a wedding before!)

--It's 7:45pm, dark, and they're still hammering away up there!--

On to more exciting news... I BOUGHT MY FIRST CAR!!!! It's an '09 Honda Civic EX in "Atomic Blue." After months of research and two hours of haggling, I bought it March 26th. With the CA sales tax rising to 8.25% on April 1st and the Jetta losing air conditioning at an unknown time during the winter, it just made sense to finally take the leap. Here are the last pictures of my '97 Jetta GL, with about 122,000 miles on it:

And here's me before taking my new car home:
With only 23 miles on the car, Andrew and I took a road trip to Anaheim to see Billy Joel and Elton John in concert. They put on a great show that lasted 3 hours and among their own hits, they even included the Beach Boys "California Girls" and The Beatles "Back in the USSR" and a personal favorite, "Birthday."

And now, in the California sunshine:
I'm not used to all this electronic stuff!!No bump in the middle on the floor, for added comfort in a full car:Under cover and away from other cars (and check out the dumpter for the roof stuff):

Sorry for all the car shots. I couldn't help myself!! :)

~ Carol