My Wild Birds

As I mentioned a few posts back, I created a "homemade" birdbath a few months ago and the wild birds just never seemed to take to it. Only once did I see a bird jump into it and then immediately take off instead of stay and splash around.
I also put up a hanging bird seed feeder for them, but I found that they threw more seed onto the ground than they were actually eating and it was going to waste because the sprinklers would come on at night an soak the seed and then the ground feeder birds would not touch it.
I decided to empty the water out of my birdbath, dry it out really good and put some bird seed into it and see how that worked. Well it seems to be a big hit!

Santa Paula & Fillmore, CA

This morning I drove up to the Citrus Hot Air Balloon Festival in Santa Paula, CA. They have it for 2 days every year at this time. I went last year and found there was a thick marine layer so the balloons stayed tethered instead of lifting off because of the fog. I was hoping that this year it would be clear and all week there was no marine layer, but then this morning as I was driving up there, I ran into a marine layer just past Fillmore which is about 10 miles south of Santa Paula. So once again, they remained tethered instead of lifting off. They really need to schedule it at a different time of year so their won't be any fog.

Passed by this nursery and saw these really strange figurines.

On the way back home, I stopped in Fillmore to take some photos in the city park where they have their city hall and train rides on the weekends.

Finally Got The Desk In The House

A few weeks ago I mentioned that we had bought a second-hand writing desk for $39.00 at Goodwill. Well we finally got it into the house and I have gotten Ben's new laptop all set up and ready to go.

Morning Walk

In the town where I live, they have build miles of bike/walking trails that connect our entire valley together. They keep adding more links to these trails. I get bored with walking the trail just outside of our community, so I am constantly looking for other places to take my walks.
The other day we were driving up a portion of road that just opened up a few months back.I noticed a bike/walking trail that headed east and down into the dry riverbed, so I decided to try walking that trail this morning.
I was hoping that the trail went farther than it did. Actually it did, but it had a gate across it after I'd walked in about 3/4 of a mile. Looks like it is complete, but not open to the public at this time. I'm sure that one day it will be.
There was another short 1/4 mile trail that went up to some houses, so I took that as far as I could. Finally turned around and headed back to my car. All in all I did about 2 miles.
As usual, I had my camera with me so I took a few photos along my walk. It was about 70 degrees and the was bright, but since there was a thin marine layer this morning, the sky was a little hazy.

Little Thieves In The Night

About 6 or 8 months ago, our community sent around a bulletin telling us to make sure we lock our cars if we park them on the street or in our driveway. Apparently, someone had been getting into unlocked cars and taking small items of value out of them. Had not heard of anymore car pilferers since that time.
Now Ben and I ALWAYS lock our vehicles as we keep them in the driveway all the time. We also NEVER leave anything of value in our vehicles.
Yesterday, Ben and I went to the market, got gas in my Corolla and came home. I thought I had locked it before we went into the house, but apparently I didn't.
This morning I went out to get into the car to go over to WalMart. When I clicked my remote to open the car door, I thought I heard it beep, but maybe I was wrong. When I opened the door I noticed that there were a couple of maps lying on the floor on the passenger side. I keep my maps in the glove box, so I immediately knew something was wrong. I then noticed that my garage door opener was in the wrong place and that the Kleenex box and cloth shopping bags that I keep in the back seat were on the floor and not in the seat where I left them.
I opened the glove box and found a flashlight was missing. I opened the middle console and noticed that a nail clipper and nail file were also missing. Obviously whoever got into the car didn't realize that there was a lower compartment for the console because when I looked in there, it didn't look disturbed and the charger plug for my cell phone was still there. I think they would have taken that if they had know about the lower compartment.
So the took the flashlight, but why would anyone take a nail clipper and nail file?
I called Ben at work and told him about it. He said he thought we had locked the car too, but obviously we didn't. It was not broken into and if it had been it has an alarm that would have gone off.
I went to WalMart and when I got home I reported the car pilfering to our guard at the gate of our community. She told me to call the sheriff which I did. They are supposed to send someone to the house to take a report.
That's a problem too. Just because we are in a gated community, the sheriff's department does not patrol our neighborhood as well as they should. In fact, most of the time when we call them with a problem, they tell us to report it to our "home owner's association". We DO NOT have a home owner's association and I've told them that several times.
So now I'm sitting here waiting for a deputy to show up to take the report.

Crazy Weather

Yesterday, it got up to 107 degrees here in Canyon Country, CA and it was really miserable. I woke up last night around 12:30 am and looked at the outside temperature and it was still 82 degrees at that time.
When we got up this morning, it was already 75 degrees. I had to take Ben over to the other valley to his ophthalmologist and all the way down, the sky was overcast. We even got a little bit of sprinkle when we left the doctor's office.
The eye doctor told Ben that there does not seem to be any change to his eye so we have to go back in 8 weeks. Ben needs to make a decision to either keep waiting to see if his eye will clear up on it's own or to have the surgery to clear it up.
All the way home it was overcast and we had sprinkles. When we first got home, the temperature was 92 degrees and the sun was out but then the clouds came back and the temperature dropped to 89 degrees and it didn't feel so bad outside when I went to pick up the mail.
Now the sun is back out and it is back up to 99 degrees.

My Photos Of The New Discovery Park

Here are the photos I took at the ribbon cutting of our new discovery park this morning. They said that when they get more money, they are going to extend the bike/walking trail to connect with the trail at Golden Valley and they are planning on building an amphitheater and a water feature in the park.

Our city's mayor - Laurene Weste

Ribbon Cutting

New Discovery Park Opens Today

Here is a video our city made about the opening of Discovery Park. It is today so I am going to try to get down there. If I do, I'll get some photos and post them here later.

Feeding My Wild Birds

I've been feeding my wild birds with a regular bird feeder that hold "loose" bird seed. The little birds fling more out into the yard than they actually eat! They empty out the feeder in 2 days.
I've seen these "solid bars" of bird seed sold at the store that you can hang up. Have any of you tried these kinds of bar feeders? I was wondering if there is less seed falling to the ground with these kind of feeders.

More Deliveries

Well today I am waiting for the delivery of my new washer and dryer. Thought I was all done waiting after the carpet and vinyl floor was installed and after our new handyman came by and did what I needed him to do, but then last Sunday, when I washed a load of sheets and towels, we discovered that our dryer was not working. It was spinning but it was not getting hot.
Ben used to delivery appliances about 40 years ago, so he did all the "checks" on it to see if he could figure out what the problem was. We decided the electronic ignition must have gone out on it.
I suggested we call a repairman, but Ben said that since our washer and dryer set was almost 12 years old, and the lifespan on washers and dryers is 10 to 15 years, we may as well just go buy a new set because we might get the dryer fixed and then the washer could go out.
We went over to Home Depot and we lucked out because they were having a 10% off sale for July 4th.
The delivery is supposed to be today between 11:30 am and 3:00 pm.

Proud American

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!