Look what we found in the Alsup’s yard … an iridescent lizard. The picture doesn’t do it justice. The shining blue green color was beautiful.
Bubble time
He and I made a mixture of water, dawn and corn starch. The corn starch makes the bubbles last longer … and it does.
Unfortunately, the crystal experiment we tried with the pinecones didn’t work. I think we needed larger jars.
This morning was our last morning with Arlo without his parents. We again went on a walk. Lenny times when the big dogs go along. He’s part of the pack.
However it looks like I didn’t get him in the picture. He hangs back with me because I have the treat bag.
To kill a little more time and to use up a little of Arlo’s energy, he and I went to Pioneer Park playground.
He managed to get me on the slide. Here we are at the top ready to go down!
These flowers make music
Shan and Carl had an amazing time away. A cruise around Lake Tahoe, dinner and drinks and time to talk. Plus they found the relics on a hike. Must have been a cabin here at one time. Notice the brand … Griswald from Erie PA
But now it was time for Paw Patrol movie. Arlo waited so patiently for this day to arrive. Pappy promised he would buy the popcorn and he did!
Dinner at Fred’s a Chinese restaurant in Nevada City and a walk around the Victorian town. Love their buildings that date back to the gold rush days of 1840s.
When Arlo woke up and came downstairs, he checked the jars to see if any crystals formed … look, success. Crystals formed on the pipe cleaners we made into shapes
Then off to Gigi to play with friends.
Our Lenny walk also included Bandit and Jax today. Again we walked up Trevor and Diana’s driveway but this time we walked the ditch and made a loop back to Shan and Carl’s house, about 2.5 miles which was a long way for Lenny but he did well.
Arlo is pretty easy to calm down at night. He starts to fade about 7:30. Tonight I only had to read 2 books.
Sunsets are pretty here at the Alsups.
Shan and Carl left for their 2-day getaway to South Lake Tahoe. For Christmas we gave them a cruise on Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe.
For Lenny’s walk today we walked up Trevor and Diana’s long lane, through the woods up to the ditch that runs behind Shan’s house.
I finished another crochet shrug while Arlo went to Gigi’s.
Then it was craft time. We started the process to make crystals using hot water and borax. We’ll see if the experiment works tomorrow
After dinner we watched an episode of Paw Patrol and then read books till bedtime.
Look at the little angel. Went right to bed.
Monday - A walk with Lenny on the Champion Mine ditch trail for about 1.5 miles. That’s about all he can do now but for that short hike, he’s sniffing and loping along with us.
Wildlife we saw was a banana slug and a mule deer
The phone is there to show the size of the slug
We took Lenny back to the RV to rest and we drove the windy, twisty road to Malakof Diggins State Park.
When we arrived at the park, there were 2 rangers that gave us a tour of the preserved town. So much of history. When the town was at its heyday, there were around 2,00 people living and working there.
The bar inside the saloon. A fun fact. When a customer drank too much and didn’t have a place to spend the night, they could “hangover” the bar for the night … where the term hangover started.
This was their pharmacy.
There was a general store that had just about anything they would need, including a bathtub for sale
We took a hike around the “Diggins” to see the huge cliffs created by the mighty streams of water, washing away entire mountains of gravel to find the gold.
They used this water canon to blow streams of water into the mountains to find gold.
The following is from their website:
The park was created in 1965 by concerned citizens to preserve the exciting and controversial story of our country’s largest hydraulic gold mining operation that devastated the area from the mid-1800s.
Malakoff Diggins is the site of our country’s first environmental law issued by the federal government against the North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company (Sawyer Decision) to curtail the release of the mud, gravel, and debris that clogged streams and major rivers from the foothills down to San Francisco Bay
The controversy was the effects of the hydraulic mining on the environment, sending run off into the American River and the Sacramento River. Even with the Sawyer Decision, it took many years to clean up the land and the rivers.
For dinner we went to Three Forks.
Tuesday - Alsups came back from their trip to visit friends and got ready to leave for their Getaway to South Lake Tahoe.
For Lenny’s hike today, we went to Hirshman’s pond. The trail took us through quiet pine forests, oak woodlands, and open grasslands. A nice relaxing hike.
Lots of big rocks that came from the hydraulic mining that was done in the 1800s.
The rest of the day I crocheted this top
Shan. Carl, and Arlo left to visit friends for several days. So, it’s pretty quiet here at their house.
Shuff and I took Lenny back to the Litton Trail for another short walk.
Then hung out at the RV for the afternoon. I finished a crochet top I had started on our trip. It actually fit.
There is a peach tree in the Alsup’s back yard that has produced a lot of peaches. I made a peach cobbler for dinner. Tomorrow we’ll freeze some of the crop for later.
After dinner walk on Jack’s road (just down the road from their house). Since Lenny’s meds have been changed, he is able to go for short walks and seems to enjoy sniffing as we go.
Night sky was pretty.
