Finally

So we have been in Cali for a week or so now. We have been talking about getting out here for so many months that I am thrilled to finally just be here. We drove in through Reno and down out of the mountains in to the Sacramento area where we are staying with family for a few weeks before we go settle in at Big Sur for the winter.

This area of California is where they grow everything! EVERYTHING! I bet you did not know that everything came from one place... but it does and it is all right here. It's called the delta region and it runs along the banks of The Sacramento River all they way out to the bay area near San Francisco. The roads are all built on top of levees and for as far as you can see it is pear orchards or safflower fields or something else edible. It is still quite hot here during the day (90's and sometimes over 100) but at night it dips nicely down in to the low 60's with a great breeze.

We have the peanut parked in the drive at Billy's Dad's new place and we have a pretty good amount of shade for most of the day so that helps keep the heat at bay until late in the afternoon.



We have had more emergency vet visits with Rudy while here and these have been pricey ones including x-rays and probes and pills. While staying at the Dude Ranch in Utah Rudy sustained a few injuries... a fox tail in his paw which became infected and he sort of blew out his back left knee from playing too vigorously for three solid days. So we have had to deal with this...



They actually told us to keep him on crate rest for one whole week. Yeah. Crate rest. For a week. Because Rudy will so gladly be zipped up tight in his hot little crate and lay still for a whole week. So that part has been difficult. I took him back to the vet yesterday for a re-check and the guy said we could ease off the cone and see how he does with leaving his paw alone. So far he is doing OK. We also have to give him pills twice a day and it has become increasingly impossible to do. No matter how you try to disguise those pills he knows they are there and will not eat them. We have tried cheese, sausage, chicken, rice... finally the only thing that works is to glob them up in a wad of peanut butter and stick it to the roof of his mouth. But even that trick is beginning to fail as he has developed an expert way of mashing that wad of PB right out of his mouth. Sounds pleasant eh?

OK. I will leave you with some pics. We went to the Sacramento farmer's market on Wednesday and it kicked ass. We bought a ton of stuff and it was all so wonderfully delicious. I will even go so far as to say it was... magically delicious. We got a peach that was 13 inches in circumference. Ridiculous!





Here's a couple of shots of Billy with his little sisters Coco (Caroline) and Lauren shootin' some hoops out in the drive way from the other night.






And here is what Rudy was doing while they were playing B-ball. He felt very left out and sulky. He literally sat down with his back to them and shot the occasional sad look back over his shoulder. Poor little Tootis.



Anyway... we are having a great time visiting with the girls. Coco is so funny she gets me laughing so hard that I make the ugly cry face. It's weird to see them now as teenagers as they were just little kids (around 6 and 8) when I first met them. Lauren will be driving before the year is out so watch out America.