A Predator Comes Knocking

No matter where you live, or what you do, danger is ever-present.  If you live in the city, danger often takes the form of revenge, insanity, or desperation in our fellow man.

Out here in the country, danger has claws, sharp teeth, and enough strength and speed to take down even the strongest man with ease.  These killing machines have enough jaw strength to pierce a horse’s skull and crush one of ours.  I’m talking about the cougar.  And we were visited by one not once, but twice in the same week.

~This gives you an idea of just how large they are~

(Image courtesy of freerepublic.com)

When we first moved onto the property, our neighbor warned us that a mother cougar lives on a ridge about five miles out.  That’s unnervingly close.  My wife and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of this beast, but last night, and once before, it’s offspring came calling.

I sat upstairs, working in Photoshop with the lights low and the windows open when I heard dogs barking in the distance.  No big deal in the country…most of the time.  This time, however, the barking was getting closer as the predator passed by each house.  The smart dogs didn’t bark long before retreating inside.  Then our neighbor’s dog barked briefly and hid.  That’s when I heard it calling.  The young cougar was approaching our property.  When it reached the pasture it came very close to the horses and cried out.  They spooked violently and tore down the hill, breaking a water trough.  I can only describe it’s call as a cat’s yowl but deeper, more gruff, and almost like a bark.  It sounded scared.  We think that it was rejected by it’s mother, and didn’t know what to do with this new freedom.

When a cougar is kicked out, they are a few years old, so this one is most likely the size of a large Labrador.  I’ve also heard that, if you shoot one, aim well or keep shooting because you might only make it angry and the beast will try and kill you.

The second time it came back, he or she was just as close, but it was in the ravine below the horse pasture.  We fear that it may be setting up a den among the thick blackberry bushes.  If so, our goats are in real trouble.

Here’s hoping the young cougar has moved on and sets up camp elsewhere.

New Features

I've incorporated two new features to the blog.

On the right-hand side there is a list of the most popular posts as well as a list of upcoming posts that I'm currently, or will be working on.

P.S.  Sorry, it's been a while since my last post.  A good friend of mine and his wife were visiting from Texas and stayed with us for a few days.  Enjoy the rest of your stay in Cali guys!

A Terrible Name

When you're hungry, grab a Bimbo.

This is just one of the many reason why I recommend carrying a camera on your person at all times.
Ya never know what you'll see!

Music to My Ears

When you grow up in the city, country music is almost always shunned.  Before I met Erin, the dial never came close to those twangy stations.  I couldn't stand listening to cowboys moan about how they lost their girl, or how great beer is, or how their cars have four-wheel drive.

Hit it Boo Hoo Billy Bob!

"Oh I left my heeeaaarrt in Tenesseeeeeeee, because my true looooooooove she don't love me.  I have a beeeeeer and a hungry guuuuuuut, time to find some roadkiiiiiiiiiil in my four-wheel truuuuuuuck."

Then Erin came along, and when you get a new girlfriend, you do just about anything to please her. So I suffered diligently through hours of country music. Naturally, it began to grow on me and I found that country can be pretty funny, really creative, and fun to listen to.

I still enjoy my preferred genre of music though; soundscapes. Once upon a time I listened to a TON of techno, but it can get old fast and become very repetitious.

----------

On a similar, but different note, there is an up and coming musical artist out there than many people still haven't heard of. He's a one man band with talent to spare and he goes under the alias, "Owl City".

The first time I heard his music was over the radio. It was his first smash hit, "Fireflies". After that I was determined to find his CD. It didn't take long to get it off of iTunes and the whole thing is simply amazing. I've never listened to a single album so often.

Adam Young combines the wild imagination of techno with the romance of traditional instruments like the guitar, piano and violin along with poetic lyrics (and sometimes puns) to make astounding music that I just can't get enough of!
Thank you for your music Adam Young, it brightens my day each time I listen to it. 

Upgrade!

We now have a minivan.  It’s about time we upgraded because we outgrew our little sedan the moment Aidan was born.  Even the official at our insurance company couldn’t properly install the car seat because our Kia was so small.  And when you’re 6’ 4” as I am, it’s like driving a clown car.  I would have to unravel my arms and legs first, stick my limbs out of the door like a hermit crab, and propel the rest of my body up and out.  Hello head rush.  But those days are gone!  No more head butting the roof over speed bumps or eating my knees in the backseat.

There are a ton of benefits to having a vehicle with lots of room, especially when you live on property.  We can haul building materials and animals just by taking out the backseats.  Erin has even seen people transporting alpacas in vans!  Some dare to load up miniature horses too.

THIS JUST IN!!!  CARMAX IS EVIL!!!

In the middle of writing this post, Erin called me to say that the van is a no-go.  It turns out that good ‘ol Carmax had a skeleton in its closet.

Our first red flag was that Carmax does not deal with credit unions.  Instead, they only go through the “bailout banking giants” like Bank of America.  Carmax gave us three days to find a bank with a better APR than 15% so Erin tried Safe Credit Union.  That’s where she learned that the van was sold to us at $4,000 over the blue book price.  It doesn’t even have power locks, mirrors, or windows!  Safe also informed us that, not only were we walking out of the door way upside down, but with 15% APR we would end up paying $22,000 in the end on a van worth $7,000. NO THANKS CARMAX!

Safe Credit Union recommended Enterprise to look for a better deal on a used car.  Fortunately, they have a nice Chrysler Pacifica.

~Let’s compare~

Pacifica:
V6 Engine
25 MPG Highway
49,000 Miles
2007
Power windows/mirrors/locks/seats
Keyless entry
Cruise control
Steering wheel radio control
Roof rack
EPS tires
ABS brakes
Back-up Sensors
$1,000 under blue book price
4.7% APR

And that's just to name a few!  The quality of the Pacifica far outweighs that of the minivan.

Van:
4 Cylinder
23 MPG Highway
55,000 Miles
2006
Power nothing
Keep-your-foot-on-the-pedal control
Came with a steering wheel
$4,000 over blue book price
15% APR

I think we have a deal!

Ta da!  The Pacifica!

 Ooooohhhh...












     ....Aaaahhhhhh

Man in a Salon

I’ve been needing a haircut for about two months now but have been hard pressed for spare time.  Typically my sister does it for me, but I live so far now that it’s become too difficult.  I had no idea where to go so my wife recommended a place.  She put my name down and I waited a long two weeks before losing my mop.

Two weeks is up!  The day is here!  Relief was only a car ride away!  I was like a dog wagging his untrimmed tail.

We pull up to the salon, which I was prepared for it to be.  Yet when we walked in, it felt…and smelled, very feminine.  Some foo foo fragrance wafted around like a cloud of estrogen.  My Y-chromosomes trembled.  A nice young lady greeted us and took me to another nice young lady who took me to her station adjacent to other nice young ladies.  It felt like a very pleasant smelling cult.

The first thing on the list was a wash.  I had just gotten off work so I wasn’t exactly looking forward to removing my sweat-stained hat in front of the girl, but it had to be done.  I broke the seal my pores had made with the hat and gave it to Erin.  Flies began beating at the salon doors.  Then I was led to a cozy little sink where I rested my head and had it washed.  Everything was suddenly grand as my tension eased and the warm water flowed over my scalp.  Yup, it’s a cult.  I’m being helplessly drawn in by their cunning, yet surprisingly gentle shampooing techniques.  It was soon over and time to move on to the main event.

I sat in the chair, feeling awkward again, and let Erin and the stylist decide a good cut for me.  I didn’t care either way.  As I sat, I could hear snippets of conversation from the other women around my station:
“…Vera Wang…”
“…the wedding…”
“…annoying husband…”

The young stylist didn’t take much time to do my hair and the electric clippers were whipped out in no time for the finishing touches.  It didn’t go unnoticed that her co-workers were trying to figure out what that hum-buzzing sound was.
“Oh, it’s the clippers!” one of them exclaimed.  Had it really been that long since a man got his hair cut here?  Should it be recorded and photographed that I even stepped foot into this salon?  Should I plant a flag?

Turns out, there was no cult.  My haircut however, was a success and the experience was a memorable, if not unique one.

California State Fair!

Revered as one of the best state fairs, the California State Fair has done it again.  There’s no shortage of things to do and most of the time Erin and I end up going twice.

Though not all of us are eager to stay.

This year the state fair featured the début of “Days of the Dinosaur”, a collection of 12 life-sized robotic dinosaurs.  The show is touring America and CA was first on the list.  Naturally, we had to see it.  So we waited in line for almost 45 minutes.  Once inside, I’ll have to admit, we were a little disappointed.  The robotic dinosaurs in “Jurassic Park”, made 17 years ago, were significantly better.  The informational tablets for each dino were very interesting though,  For example, Velociraptors were actually covered in feathers!

For adults, I don’t recommend seeing it.  But if you have children, it’s a definite stop.  I know I would have loved it as a young boy.  I’ll give it this, seeing an actual size T-Rex no more than five feet away was intimidating.

And then there’s FAIR FOOD!  The garlic fries were amazing.

No babies were harmed in the eating of this food.

One of the fair’s most notorious traditions is to serve mind-boggling foods.  From deep fried Twinkies to chocolate covered bacon to alligator on a stick and more.  The alligator was very tasty, albeit heavily seasoned.  It sort of tasted like chicken but chewier and it made my teeth squeak a little.  The chocolate covered bacon would truly be treasured by Elvis.  It’s not as bad as you might think, though my wife would beg to differ.  I enjoyed it though and ate all five chocolatey strips.  They weren’t exactly filling though so I washed them down with a super corndog over a foot long.  Yum!

Deep fried…ALL of it.

Aidan was a sport throughout the experience and 

he found himself exhausted by the end of it.