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- January-March, 2007
- April, 2007
- Ricochet Ridge Ranch - view the photo album
- Harpin' the boont
- May, 2007
- June, 2007
- July-September, 2007
- October-December, 2007
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As a pre-teen and teenager, I spent as much time as possible on horseback. In fact, my very first paying job was as a stable girl when I was fifteen. I rode my bike 5.5 miles one way, over varied terrain, for the priviledge of shoveling out stalls, 6 days a week over the course of the summer. Man, to be in that good of shape again!
However since then, there's been limited opportunities to ride. I end up on horseback about once every 5 years or so now, taking in various trail rides. Since Bob and I ended up with the chance to take a few unexpected vacation days, we decided to drive over to the Mendocino coast and visit the Ricochet Ridge Ranch for a private trail ride.
The weather cooperated nicely and we took so many pictures that I've expanded it into its own photo album. Check it out and come ride with us!
On April 14th, the Mendocino Mustangs moshe club piked a jape from Uke to Boont and up McDonald by the Sea to visit the Anderson Valley Musem (the former Con Creek wee heese) and get a quick lesson in Boontling. Boontling is a spoken jargon, not generally hen egged 'n ovaled, developed in Boont and Belk Region in the early 1900's. Its origin is said to have come from the hop fields where the dames would be yattin' amongst themselves as they were ottoing. When a young bright-lighter, a mink from Frisk found herself heisted without benefit of a lockin' match, she was sent to Anderson Valley to live with reals. Locals found her plight a worthy topic of lews 'n larmers, but rather than Charlie Ball or somerset the girl ottoing along side them, they developed code speak, or Boontling.
Translation:
On April 14th, the Mendocino Mustangs car club took a drive from Ukiah to Boonvile and up Hwy 128 to visit the Anderson Valley Musem (the former Con Creek elementary school) and get a quick lesson in Boontling. Boontling is a spoken language, not generally written, developed in Boonville and Bell Valley in the early 1900's. Its origin is said to have come from the hop fields where the women would be chatting amongst themselves as they were working. When a young city-dweller, an upper-class girl from San Francisco found herself pregnant without benefit of marriage, she was sent to Anderson Valley to live with relatives. Locals found her plight a worthy topic of gossip, but rather than embarrass or upset the girl working along side them, they developed code speak, or Boontling.
Life isn't always fun and relaxation, there are responsibilities too. Though sometimes you get lucky and the responsibilities include fun and relaxation. Such is the way with planning my upcoming 20th high school reunion for the class of 1987. More and more frequently, our committee gets together to plan the details of the weekend - from an informal Friday night gathering, to the sit-down dinner and dancing on Saturday night, to the family picnic planned for Sunday. It's a lot of work and I'm glad to have some fellow classmates as eager to help and looking forward to the event as I am.
The fun happens each time we meet. We all knew each other in high school, but didn't necessarily 'hang out' together. It's been fun reminscing, sharing our life stories and getting to know each other as the people we are today. I have to say I've become addicted to the laughter and comraderie we have at our gatherings - and the feeling is mutual. So much so that we've agreed to get together every 3-4 months even after the reunion!
My committee cohorts include (above - left to right) - Sarah Bowers, Pam Driggers and Heather Roth; (below) Rob Thiessen and myself; and Bryan McBurney (pictured with Sarah).
A lot of my time in the past few months has been taken up with planning the Relay for Life event for Inland Mendocino county. I'm event co-chair for the second year and am thankful, again, that we have such a fantastic group of dedicated volunteers to assist. Without their help, the fundraiser would not be the success it is. I work with the event planning committee as well as the team captains. The goals are to raise monies for the American Cancer Society, remember and honor those who have battled the disease, educate Relay-ers about cancer preventation and promote ACS's services and programs all while making it a fun, community event.
This year's event staff and committee chairs are comprised of Alison, Elizabeth, Pam and Susan (ACS staff), Jen (event chair), myself (event co-chair), Matt (3-on-3 basketball), Bryan (entertainment/ceremonies), Jim (logistics), Shirley (luminarias), Jodie (Relay gear store and media), Danielle (Mission Delivery), Judy (online), Laura (registration and media), Tom (security and logistics), Linda, Gina and Meg (survivors). I want to especially thank all of them for also acting as team recruitment and sponsorship committee members.
Gina (our 2005 Mustang) made her third appearance in the 20th annual Mendocino Mustangs car show on Mother's Day weekend. The weather was perfect and the club was thrilled to see the largest turnout of Mustangs ever. Though Gina didn't win in her class, we're happy to support the Mustang club.
During the first weekend in June, Bob and I traveled to Las Vegas for a gathering of the Western States Racing League to meet with our online racing buddies. We've met twice before - once in California in 2002 and again in Las Vegas in 2003, but not since and we were long overdue for a visit!
Not only were we able to meet again with drivers who had made previous outings, but we were also able to meet with some new faces as well. Though I do believe the Internet has made our society one of less human contact and interaction, I've found that this not the case with the racers of the WSRL. In meeting some of the guys for the first time face-to-face, I felt as though we had known each other forever since we'd met week after week on the same tracks and raced against each other.
The group had an amazing weekend of kart racing, betting, an excursion to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring and lots of great comraderie, usually ending our evenings holed up in one of the hotel rooms, just sitting around and chatting. There are too many pictures to share here, so please visit the photo album to join in our weekend of fun.
After leaving Las Vegas, Bob and I made a detour east to visit the Yosemite Valley on our way home. Talk about from one vacation extreme to the other! From the bright lights of the city that never sleeps to the peaceful wonders of nature. It was well needed and a welcome respite after the long nights of the previous weekend.
Neither Bob, nor I, had ever visited Yosemite National Park, so to say it was awe-inspiring would be an understatement. We only spent two days in the valley, but spent the better portion of those days exploring and taking lots of photographs. Visit the photo album to wander through the park with us.
Bob and I returned from vacation to find our two cherry trees bursting with ripe fruit. So rather than donate our 'crop' to the locals birds, we harvested all that we could reach and left them the rest. I would guess that we had roughly 10 pounds of cherries. Since it's only the two of us, using or preserving them in a timely manner was very important as we couldn't possibly eat them all before they began to rot. So, to the kitchen I went for a Saturday. I prepared homemade pie filling and made a cherry pie, then canned pints of cherry jam. It's good to know that all those summers of preparing fruit with Grandma Dorothy to preserve paid off as I'm now able to do the same. Two weeks later, my fingernails are just now looking normal after being stained with the cherry juice from hand-pitting all those cherries!
Inland Mendocino's 10th annual Relay for Life was held the weekend of June 30-July 1 at Eagle Peak Middle School in Redwood Valley and blessed with beautiful 85-degree weather. The event itself was a huge success and our communities of Inland Mendocino county raised over $96,000 for the American Cancer Society!
Our theme was 'The Game of Life' and the event committee spent many hours making sure all would run smoothly and that all the cancer survivors and participants would have a good time. The smaller venue made for a tighter-knit gathering and it really felt like a community campout / American picnic with sack races and other fun activities for all to participate in. Please visit the photo album to share with us this special weekend.
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