Rock Front Ranch

On the way from Taft to the coast, on Hwy 166, as you pass through the area around the community of Cuyama, is a wonderful ranch with this incredible house. I fell in love with it at first site the first time I saw it two years ago. Finally took the time to stop and take these pictures. The fences that surround it seem to encompass a large number of acres, I really have no idea how big it is.

The sun rises on yet another sunny California day. Before long the pretty little neighborhoods of Taft are bathed in the morning light.











I love to wander these quiet tree lined streets. To see the pride of ownership in the modest little homes, the well tended gardens, to chat occasionally with an early riser pinching an expired flower off a stem.









"Take nothing but pictures.Leave nothing but footprints.Kill nothing but time".

~ Motto of the Baltimore Grotto, a caving society

A little bit of Americana... just three blocks down our street is this cute little Sign Shop. I love the tie-in with artist's restored pickup.

Easter Sunday across the miles. Bridging the distance through "Eyeball"! These webchats are the next best thing to actually being there.

Here are Sumi and Micah happily showing grandma and grandma some new favorites -Sumi pointing to her new tiara, necklace and earrings set, Micah waving his Pirates eyepatch, he had put on his Pirates of the Carribbean t-shirt and was waving his buccaneers pistol. Being over 800 miles away suddenly doesn't seem quite so far.

What IS up with these outrageous gas prices? Last year at this time the "average" price of a gallon of regular gas in California was $2.74. This week it is $3.28. Here in Taft, CA the lowest I can find is $3.35!!! They have shot up in the last several weeks and we have not so much as heard a blip from the news as to WHY (until this morning for the first time on MSNBC news it was "mentioned", a statement was made, but no explanations attached). The DOE is predicting wild swings up to the year 2030 (!!!), which they say is more of a problem than the actual average price per gallon of the oil. One problem is the US has almost no energy policy. Z-Facts.com states "Solar, wind and biomass (ethanol) research are funded at the rate of $1.13 per person per year, and that's all together. That's not a policy, it's a bad joke."

Bush is pushing ethanol as a renewable energy source, what I am reading is it is very expensive to produce, ergo will be very expensive to consumers! "Corn Ethanol—Cute but Expensive - Ethanol shortages have helped push up gas prices and generate huge profits for producers (not farmers). Doesn't sound like a viable solution for the masses (and definitely not for the farmers), we'll be no better off than we currently are with the oil barons who are swimming in massive profits while some Americans are actually being forced to choose between food & keeping warm or gas to drive to work! A major catch-22. No job, no food or heat! And lets not ignore what replacing millions (billions?) of acres of "crops for food" with "crops for fuel" threatens in itself. Oh what a corner we have painted ourselves into.

"Tuesday, afternoon. I'm just beginning to see, now I'm on my way" Anyone else remember the Moody Blues??? Anyways their music would have been the perfect backdrop for our visit sunday (even tho it wasn't a tuesday). It was one of those perfect days, sun & sea mist in your face, cries of the gulls over head, scent of Splash Cafe's world famous clam chowder wafting down main street...

Derek was here for a few days, it was wonderful seeing him again. Amy has a new job so stayed behind with the grandkids, we missed having them with us. Picture is of me and Derek looking out to sea off the Pismo Wharf, commenting on how small an ocean can make one feel, stretching endlessly to the "end of the world".

"The journey is my home."--Muriel Rukeyser (I love this, it is so fitting for Rod and I these years)