Our Morning Visitor Returns

Our patio seems to be turning into a "wildlife area". The other day, the hawk came by for a visit and this morning this little guy showed up again.

Merry Christmas to my friends here on Blogspot

Morning Walk After The Storm

Went for a 2.25 mile walk this morning. I walked along the normally dry riverbed of the Santa Clara River here in Santa Clarita, CA. You would think that the river would be named "The Santa 'Clarita' River since it runs through the Santa Clarita Valley here in SoCal and NOT through the city of Santa Clara which is up in the Bay Area near San Francisco.
When we get heavy rains, the river flows from the Angeles National Forest to the Pacific Ocean in Ventura, CA.
After walking along the river's edge, I drove up to Todd Longshore Park to take some photographs.

Here is a short video of the river

Good Report

My physical went well this morning. Didn't have to do the "female" thing since I'm not due for that until 2012. Doctor said other than my high cholesterol that we cannot get under control since I cannot tolerate the statins, I seem pretty healthy.

Hawk Drying Its Feathers

Boy has it been pouring down rain here in SoCal for the past few days. Around 11:30 A.M. today we had a huge cloudburst and then within minutes the sun came out from behind the clouds and was so bright.

A few mintues later, I noticed a hawk sitting on our fence near our patio trying to dry its feathers during the lull in the storm.

Rainy Day In SoCal

They claim "it never rains in Southern California". But as the old song says "it pours, man it pours". We've had rain now for 3 days and they say it's not going to let up until Friday, then starting Sunday, we are supposed to get several days more.
Usually our Christmas time is in the mid-70's to mid-80's so it's kind of nice to have some "wintry weather" for the holidays.
I got out for a short 1 mile walk this morning. Took a couple of photos down in Discovery Park while I was out.

Hiked This Morning

This morning my friend Linda and I went for a hike over in Pico Canyon. We thought we'd have some rain, but thankfully it didn't appear and the sun actually peeked out some.
If you'd like to see some of the photos of our hike, check out my "Hiking With And 'Old' Woman" blog at the following link:

Hiking With An Old Woman

You can also find this link here on the main page of this blog and also on my Photoblog.

Kate Gosselin (OMG)

I am not particularly a Sarah Palin fan but I've always wanted to visit Alaska so I've been watching "Sara Palin's Alaska" show on TLC.
I've noticed a few things about the Palin family and the main thing is that they do not seem very affectionate with one another. Some of the things the do on the show make me feel that they are "acting" and trying to make America love them.
But actually, I'm not here to put the Palin's down, I'm here to say that I cannot believe what a whinney little bitch Kate Gosselin is. I have never watched her "reality" show, but I've heard a lot about it. And now I know why her husband dumped her.
The Palin's were kind enough to invite Kate and her brood to Alaska to go camping with them and all Kate could do was whine about how miserable she was while her kids were having the time of their life. Kate was wet, Kate was cold, poor Kate. Oh come on! She knew she was taking her family to Alaska for a camping trip. What did she expect? Then she storms off making her kids go with her when you know all they wanted to do was stay and have fun.
As I said before, I'm not a "Sarah Fan", and I don't know what was said between Sarah and Kate that we didn't see on the show that may have been edited out, but at least Sarah acted like an adult about the whole thing while Kate acted like a bratty little kid.

Our Christmas Tree

Sky Watch Sunday

Just took this show of our sky over SoCal.

Sunday Drive In "The Valley"

Ben and I went for a Sunday drive today. We headed down to into The San Fernando Valley. Went to Glendale to the old Grand Central Building. I'm including a wiki-link with information about this old airport terminal.

Grand Central Airport Terminal

We also drove over into Burbank past the Walt Disney Studios where the Seven Dwarfs hold up the front of the building. The trees have grown so much, I could only get photos of three of the dwarfs.

On the way back to the freeway to head home, we drove by Olive Park in Burbank where there is a full-size Lockheed F104 Jet Fighter. Since I worked at Lockheed for 37+ years, I just had to stop and take photos of it.
 

A Cloudy Morning In SoCal

Today was Ben's Saturday to work so I wanted to get out for a walk even though it was cloudy and gray outside. I was checking out one of our city's many walking trails only to find that there was nowhere near the trail for me to park my car. So I drove back down the street to the Bridgeport Marketplace where they have a small park. It is a great spot for taking photographs. I took several shots there and then went across the street to the community of Bridgeport and walked around their man-made lake and took a few more photos. I got in a 1.5 mile walk and also got to participate in my favorite hobby of amateur photography.

My Outdoor Lights

It took me about 5 hours total to get my outdoor lights up. I put the ones around the garage up and took them back down 2 or 3 times because I couldn't get the length just right. They came up too short the first time, then too long the second time. Finally got everything the way I wanted it. I also put a lighted reindeer and a small Christmas tree on the porch. Here are a couple of pix.

It's Been Awhile

It's been awhile since I've posted a blog.
Today I am going to attempt at putting up my outdoor Christmas lights. Ben is at work, so I'll be doing it all by myself. Hope I don't get tangled up in them (LOL).