On Saturday we hit the road for the Napa Valley Wine and Art festival - an annual street block-off featuring local artisans, wineries, and food vendors. It was a delightful experience and I picked up some gifts as well as some unique items for our house. While we were eating I noticed this store and just had to take a picture. There really are no words to describe my reaction, so I’ll let the name of the place suffice.

But this story is not about one store with everything that a good country boy needs, but about what happened after we left the festival.

We were walking back to the Jeep when we came across a tree that none of us had ever seen before. It was completely covered in fruits that were in various stages of ripening, from yellow/green to bright red. Here is an image from Wikimedia commons:

The fruits were very interesting to touch - covered with rough “bumps”, but still feeling somewhat soft to the touch. It was evident that the red fruits were the ripe ones, as you could see a progression from the bright yellow through to pink to bright then deep red.

David picked one from the tree and squeezed it until we could see the insides. It was a mealy type of fruit, with many seeds inside. Without really considering any repercussions I said, “I’ll try it”, grabbed the fruit, and popped it into my mouth. It was pretty good. It had a very smooth taste - a light taste, and did have a mealy but pleasant texture.

My parents and David were shocked. They couldn’t believe that I would actually eat a random fruit without knowing what it was. I didn’t really get the concern - it was very evident that this was a fruit tree and I reasoned that they wouldn’t have planted a fruit tree in a park that was poisonous. People bring their children to the area and you know children always put bright red fruits in their mouths. I guess I regressed to childhood suddenly and my parents did take the opportunity to plot my demise for eating a possibly poisonous fruit.

Minutes passed and my throat didn’t close up…I was still breathing…no stomach pains…all was well. Although I do consider myself to be food intolerant, I have a relatively good ability to transmute odd edible items without adverse reaction. I guess it’s sort of like transmuting the water of life and becoming a Reverend Mother. If you get this reference then you’re one of the cool people.

Anyway…the day went on and I didn’t think anything of it. But the subject came up today while enjoying a BBQ dinner with the parents, and so I got on my phone and googled “fruit tree red rough”. I sorted through some pages and at first we thought it was lychee, but after looking at the image results I discovered that the fruits are actually from the Strawberry Tree.

These delicious red, rough, mealy fruits are quite common on California and the west coast, and are often used in borders because they remain green and the fruits are so decorative. I plan to get some seeds and see if we can grow a few of our own. I bet they would also make a delicious liquor.

So here’s a lesson to you all - red fruits are safe. Usually.

*cough*

*gasp*

Last week while I was supposedly on vacation - I say supposedly because I wound up being online nearly every day and answering questions and solving problems instead of relaxing - I drove down to Yosemite to meet my parents who had just made their way up from Bakersfield.

They are on their Round-The-Country camping trip, which they do every few years, and I have plenty of vacation this year and decided to meet them since I’d never been to Yosemite before. David wasn’t able to join me because he had a ton of work to do after the Labour Day holiday, so I hopped in the car and 3 hours later showed up at the campground.

After a mediocre meal at some local steak restaurant, we relaxed for the evening, watched a program on Roy Orbison, and went to bed. The next morning we set out for Yosemite National Park…a place I’d never been, and I don’t think they had been there either.

I will say this - I’d never seen anything like it before…the sheer rock walls that stretched to the sky were simply incredible. Everything else was pretty much what you’d expect from a national park. Lots of trees. I’ve seen the redwoods in Northern California, so the ones at Yosemite, while gorgeous in their own right, did pale in comparison to places like Armstrong Woods.

I’m a big fan of trees, so that’s the picture I’m featuring in this post. It’s a 4-shot series that I stitched together so you could get the feel for how glorious this tall tree is.

After many hours of driving along winding roads (probably good that David didn’t come since he gets car sick), we had traveled in to Yosemite village, visited the Ansel Adams gallery, had some pizza, saw exactly one animal (a deer), did some gift shopping, took pictures of funny signs, then made our way back out of the park and back to the campsite for an evening of relaxation.

Overall I was both impressed yet not impressed.

I was expecting something out of this world, but what I got was something of this world that I’ve seen in pictures for years. It didn’t hold the same feel for me as Lake Tahoe did when I first saw it, nor did it have the same joy as driving through the rolling hills of the wine country.

There are certainly many beautiful places in California, and Yosemite is one of them. But only one of them.

It’s unlikely I’ll go back, because I think once you’ve seen the rock walls surrounding you, that’s enough for one lifetime, and time to move on to the next big thing.

* Note: welcome to those of you who found this blog from the Sacramento Bee! Please feel free to subscribe and enjoy the dripping sarcasm that I typically have to offer.

Exactly two years ago to the day, I wrote a little ditty about the mosquito.

We had just returned from a camping trip to Sly Park and had been completely devoured by these prehistoric blood suckers. As you recently read, we just got back from another camping trip, this one up in Napa Valley. And once again, I am still discovering mosquito bites all over my body.

Coincidentally, I was looking through the archives and discovered this post, so here I present the deliciously updated version.

I’d like to start off with telling you how much I hate the mosquito - they are unspeakably wicked.

I hate the sound they make when they are near my ear - that high pitched, whining, buzzing, irritating noise that says, “I’m getting close to your ear lobe, and when I get there, boy am I going to have a feast!” (and yes, I am one of the lucky people over the age of 21 who can still hear this super-ultra-hyper-sonic sound)

I hate the pain caused when they puncture my skin. Usually they have already flown away, full of my rum-filled-blood, by the time I realize they were there so it’s rare that I am able to murder one and prevent future bites, but I do try.

I hate the red bumpy lump that swells up post-puncture. I swell like I’ve had an allergic reaction. It’s like every blood cell in my body rushes to the point of puncture giving me a second head on my neck or a second arm coming out of one of my others…it’s crazy wild swelling.

I hate the itch. You may not know, but in the animal kingdom the sensation of itch is so difficult to withstand that animals will scratch themselves until they bleed, because pain is preferable to the itch. Who knew? Me.

So…exactly two years ago today, David, Scott, Roque, and I went to Sly Park for a camping getaway. We’ve done this several times before, and always enjoy a relaxing weekend amongst the trees and the water. Our last trip to Sly Park was actually in the midst of huge fires in the Sierra’s, and the entire place was covered in smoke, until the rain came, and completely washed it away (including us). Packing up in the rain, $2.00…having lunch at Mel’s Diner, while still dripping wet…priceless.

This time, however, there was no rain. We had grand weather all weekend, especially for our hike back to a beautiful waterfall created by a drainage system owned by the US Bureau of Water Reclamation. The weather stayed within the 80’s during the day, and in the 50’s at night…thankfully we have a large tent that provided adequate protection from the elements. Unfortunately not from the crazy people driving around blasting their stereo systems…and it wasn’t even good music!

Anyhoo…mosquitos. They were out in FORCE this weekend. Despite three citronella spirals burning, a raging fire producing anti-mosquito smoke, and a recently purchased insect repellent spray…we were attacked mercilessly. I think we determined that the spray actually attracted the insects instead of sending them flying away…however, it did have a nice scent and had aloe to moisturize our recently swollen skin.

All in all, a wonderful time of hiking, rafting, and drinking was had by all. If you are in the greater-Sacramento area, Sly Park is just a quick 45 minute drive up into the foothills, and despite the mosquito infestation, is a nice relaxing place to spend a weekend.

* Mosquito image from Wikimedia CC license.

This past weekend David and I, and several other friends, went camping. It was our first camping trip of the year, which is in and of itself rather tragic.

Usually we’ve been camping a number of times by June, but for some reason we just haven’t gotten into the groove in 2008.

Scott found a campground about 2 hours away, right in the midst of Napa Valley, that offered a refreshing and relaxing venue for camping. The place was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and offered a creek-fed swimming pool, hottub, full showers/bathroom facilities, and meals. Aside from that you were pretty much on your own to provide entertainment.

We spent a lot of the time playing Catch Phrase, which is a very addictive electronic game where you try to get people to guess the word on the screen without saying any parts of the word. But back to camping…

Here are some photos of the place so you can see the layout and just how much nature we experienced, including an incredibly terrifying snake, and about a hundred million really cool lizards.

It is worth noting that I almost stepped directly onto the snake before I happened to look down at my feet and screamed. David actually had the nerve to touch the snake, at which point it curled up and slapped its tail against the ground over and over again - I’m thinking it was pretending to be a rattlesnake. Had we been on the islands, it might have been a Leopard Snake, which pretends to be a rattler to get away from prey.

The little lizard was more tame and actually let me get just a few inches away from it before scampering off into the brush. Very interesting markings on it too…nature can be pretty cool when it’s not deadly :-).

Finally we end with an allergic reaction, which you will not see a photograph of. When we got home, my right earlobe swelled to about 4 or 5 times the size of normal. The right side of my face was flaming hot, and the swelling lasted for over 6 hours, despite my intake of loratadine and application of topical benadryl to my ear. It was pretty freaky and I did not take a picture of it.

And now it’s back to the grind of work. I am, however, looking forward to the next camping trip, which will likely be up to Sly Park where we usually go. Have a great day everyone!

Once again, I’m off in an exotic location - Oregon. As I discovered last week while in Arizona, I like the show called Bones. It’s a forensic show about analyzing bones and bone fragments to figure out crimes.

Before I got back to the hotel after dinner, I stopped by Albertsons and picked up some ice cream, Bacardi Silver pomegranate mojito, and sundries. I was expecting that So You Think You Can Dance would be on, but I was wrong. Instead, it was Bones, which I can deal with. But little did I know what I was in for.

Bones is dealing with a guy who was killed while at a fetish retreat…for people who like to pretend they are horses. That’s right, horses. Like wearing a bit, eating from a trough, and all that stuff. This is a fetish I have NEVER heard of before, but they went there.

So I’m sitting here eating Ben & Jerry’s Mint Chocolate Chunk, learning about this fetish, and trying to solve the mystery of the death of Mr. Ed. Wish me luck.

If you’d like to learn more about this fetish, here’s a site: The Human Equine

This weekend we were treated to the births of hundreds of Praying Mantis’. We have egg sacks all over the back yard, but this was the first time we had actually seen the birthing process in progress.

Starting at about mid-morning, the mantis’ burst forth from their birthing chamber and took over the cabana. Here you can see the ones that stuck around near their home for the past several months.

While it may look like there are a lot of little critters coming out of that small egg container - this isn’t even the half of it. All across the beam of the cabana we counted approximately 120 new baby mantis’. Within about 4 hours, they had all but scattered and only a few remained close to home.

This morning, there isn’t a single mantis inside the cabana. They made their way to the various plants around the yard, climbing up on the grape vines, sneaking their way underneath the basil and rosemary, and generally hanging upside down under any leaf they can find.

We’re very excited to see what happens with them this year - last year we had quite a number of large and beautiful creatures in the yard. As you can see here, the male and female are in the midst of creating a new batch of kids…

Isn’t nature magnificent

Let’s all bow our heads in prayer.

You may have read/heard lately about the new black - the darkest material every created, so far.

Here I present to you - the new black. Enjoy!