Up For a Quick Breath of Air

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(The photo was taken weeks ago, when snow was totally appropriate. This post was written on Tuesday, or was it Wednesday? But, it has been a wild ride of a week, and I’m going to post this as is.

Having spent last weekend at Silent Knight Farms, I came home with hundreds of photos. From early Saturday morning until late Sunday evening, I didn’t do much else other than take pictures of horses. I collected bulging folders with photos of thirteen of the horses at Silent Knight. I returned with one 2 gig and one old one gig card untouched, while everything else I own had been in a camera and gotten considerable use during the weekend. Because I was photographing mostly fast action, I accumulated a sizeable stack of discards, but I got some things that I like. I have more than enough images to keep me busy editing and processing for several days, if I were to work straight through. The entire job will take much longer than that.

Originally, I was scheduled to come home and set up another session with a friend here in Bear Valley Springs the week of April 19. Unfortunately, Spring ended here while we were relishing the balmy weather down south. Yesterday, we had rain and last night, snow. Snow is falling as I write this, and our predicted low for tonight is 28 degrees.

It seems like a good time to process photos. Inside. Where it’s dry. And warm.

At Silent Knight Farms

At Silent Knight Farms

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I'm still all caught up in Animoto videos. Who said I'm compulsive? Little old me? Nah!

Note, in case you watch this one: Before hitting the play button, check in the lower left hand corner for the buttons that will allow you to switch to high resolution and full screen.

I upgraded for longer videos, bought a high resolution credit, and put this one together, yesterday, for a dear friend who began as a client many years ago. This video thing could develop into a nasty habit.

Outside My Window

Outside My Window

Just can't stay out of trouble. Click the link to see why I didn't have time to write anything today. Playing. Now I'll have to upgrade the account and who knows how much trouble I will get into.

Lancer and Night

Lancer and Night

This is what started it all.

I Flunked Blogger Migration 101

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(For what seemed like two weeks at least—a weekend is a long time when you are wandering in the wilderness, whimpering in desperation—my blog was floating somewhere out there in cyberspace, and I had no idea what was going on. Finally, today, I backtracked, restored the original settings and, at least for now, it seems all is normal.

However, the deadline appoacheth. Rest assured, I will seek guidance before tackling migration a second time. This round I plan to hire someone who speaks web design—specifically someone who is familiar with the Blogger dialect. I am not about to dive into that nightmare task again. This is a job that definitely calls for more web savvy than I have. Evidently, I had the settings all cockeyed and heaven only knows where I had routed my poor little blog. It doesn’t appear bruised by the buffeting it must have taken ricocheting about out there in space, but it makes me shudder to think.

Talk about being upset. Whoa. Major league stuff. I managed to keep my sanity by using my camera; but it was a close call, I don’t mind admitting. Lest you think I was anxious about my precious posts, I wasn’t that devastated about losing what I have written. Heavens, no. For one thing, if I did care that much, I have the rough drafts in MS Word. The photos are on my hard drive. What upset me was losing the comments. That is the heart of the blog, after all. All those warm, funny, thoughtful, informative, and thought-provoking comments posting by readers. Why wouldn’t I be tearing my hair out at the thought of those being lost. Whew. Gives me the chills to think about it.

M Day

Today is Migration Day. I have fingers and toes crossed, I’m holding my mouth just right, threw salt over my shoulder (both shoulders because I can’t remember the rule), and I am headed for the backyard to look for a four-leaf clover.

If all goes well, my blog will be headed for anitajesse.com (process fully completed in three days, I think)—still Blogger, but at my own domain. If the process fails and my blog ends up in limbo, the wailing and gnashing of teeth will reverberate for days. Weeks, maybe. I don’t want to think about the possibility.

See you soon. I hope.

From Under a Rock

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(You know that old notion of something that has crawled out from under a rock? Well, we all know it usually means that the critter has crawled out from a space beneath the rock—a space large enough for said critter to have been breathing under there. I feel as though I have been under a rock, and a very large, heavy rock—with no space for breathing and moving. Heck, I am not even certain that the rock won’t slip and flatten me again.

What’s it all about? Everything and nothing. I suspect it is mostly about getting older (notice how I skirt right around that getting old thing and write “older”? Somehow it doesn’t sound quite as bad—not so, well, final.) For one thing, aches and pains are piling up, and I don’t sleep as well. That’s all I’m going into on this topic.

Mostly, I am bouncing back and forth between a couple of involved projects and, tough as it is to admit, I’m just not speedy anymore. My photos on Death Valley languish on my hard drive; I have some new pictures from a drive to the Caliente Creek area (I included a down payment above); preparation for a new long-term project are ongoing; taxes aren’t yet done; we have an out of town trip on the horizon; and I have to deal with blog migration in the next two weeks. Otherwise, things are fairly boring here.

Spring is Here!

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Attention Readers: We interrupt our regular programming to bring you this bulletin. Anita’s first Bear Valley Springs daffodil bloomed March 20. There may be setbacks, but one can't help thinking that this is an encouraging sign.

We now return you to the broadcast of "Chasing Sunshine", part of the Death Valley Days series. That broadcast will resume after a brief pause.

Through the Searles Valley

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Chasing Sunshine - Day 1 on the way to Death Valley

Down, down, down, through the first valley, then up and up, over one pass down the length of another valley and, finally up over another pass, then down once more. A roller coaster of elevations from 4000 feet to 1000, back up to 3000 and down to 1000 again, then up to 5000, and down, ultimately, to minus 236 feet. At one point, we descended a 9% grade. The path from Bear Valley Springs to the furthest point we reached in Death Valley offered infinite variety in scenery. The journey also provided a rigorous workout for the old Tioga's Ford engine, as well as one that finally evoked the christening of our home on wheels.

The first day of chasing sunshine we set out across country headed north-northeast taking back roads that took us through colorful small towns, some of which were nothing more than wide places in the road. The road through Searles Valley took us past Searles, Argus, Trona, and the sign for Ballarat, three miles off to the east. We sailed by the the gravel road that day, but we had plans for Ballarat later.

All the while, we got a better and better look at the Panamint Mountains off to the East. Majestic, still snow covered, and holding the Searles Valley close, they stretched north then west, as far as we could see. They would serve as beacons throughout the trip.

Trona is the largest of the towns in the valley and proud home of the Trona Tornadoes. (By the way, the Tornadoes are the only high school football team to play on a dirt football field in the contiguous United States. The searing heat in the valley and the highly saline soil kills grass.)

I took a liking to Trona while passing through. The town must have more museums per capita than any other west of the Mississipppi and a most impressive listing of churches is proudly displayed via a well-kept sign at roadside. It would appear that the folks in Trona are hard-working, God-fearing people. Maybe, on the other hand, they just need a lot of preaching to. I suspect the former. We noticed, by the way on our return trip, that the parking lot was filled for the Elk’s Club meeting. An active civic group is surely a likely a good sign.

While I was fascinated by Trona and wished we had time to stop, I couldn’t help noticing that the Pinnacle Inn isn’t tempting. Not to bad mouth the good folks of Trona and one of their fine establishments, but The Pinnacle didn’t strike me as a vacation destination. I hate to say it, but when they hold a bowling tourney down in Lorraine, it’s likely that the loser gets a free weekend at The Pinnacle.

Perhaps on our next trip into Searles Valley I will get to spend half an hour in Trona. For one thing, I want a closer look at Searles Valley Minerals Inc., the sprawling smoke-belching plant here since 1913. Soda ash is processed in that cramped space, and it is the largest firm in the small town. Someday, I also want to see some of those churches. Nice meeting you Trona.

Late in the afternoon, when we finally made it to the top of the pass that connects the Searles and Panamint Valleys, we were greeted by the view at the top of this post—a peek at the 65 mile basin that is Panamint Valley with the mighty Panamints in the background. There was a pause for the engine to cool down and for us to stare—mostly silent, in awe of the landscape ahead of us.

Chasing Sunshine – The Introduction

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Inspired by Paul Lester’s tale of suspense that he has broken into parts or chapters, I have decided that the only way to blog about our Death Valley adventure is to tackle it in small portions over the coming week or so. I have a couple of projects I committed to that must be wrapped up, plus the usual life chores that have piled up in the corners while we were gone. Naturally, I am way behind on everything. That’s how vacations are supposed to work, right?

We dubbed our mini-vacation, “Chasing Sunshine”. (It worked, by the way. We outran the rain and snow, then, as a bonus, our forecast, here, now says sunny and in the 60’s all week.) Starting last Friday, we covered between 450 and 500 miles in the old Tioga and traveled through breathtakingly beautiful country. We saw more than one scene like the one above and, oh, so much more. Although Death Valley was the destination, half the fun was getting there. But, then, that is the case in most worthwhile journeys, isn’t it?

When we finally rolled into our driveway yesterday, about 7 PM, I could hardly move. There weren’t many parts of my body that weren’t sore and it took a generous amount of Stop Pain (one of those a rub-on pain killers that is a miracle worker) along with a Tylenol to fall asleep, after all the unloading was done. Still, I had a big smile on my face.

Even though we had only three days, we crammed a lot of adventure into the available hours, and I have a loads of pictures to edit and process. Since I got more exercise in one day than I had in the previous two months, I’m too tired to think straight, but already can’t wait for the next on-the-road adventure. When I get my breath, I will get pick up this story and share some photos from our road trip.