Xmas Wreaths - Cabin Style

The last couple years, we have gone to a shop in Santa Cruz for a wreath making class.  Since that is not an option this year and because now we know how to do it, we went for a hike and gathered greens and made the wreathes on our own!

We had beautiful wild options to work with and grabbed some Christmas decorations from Anna and Roy's cabin to finalize the look (reuse, reduce, recycle!).

The square and heart shape metal wreaths were a different and interesting option to work with.  

As per normal, Grace went with the neat and tidy option and mine was a bit more wild.

                                             My wreath that looks like it needs a covid haircut!

                                                            Grace's high and tight wreath

The heart one will stay on the door at the cabin.  Hopefully it will be cool enough to stay alive without some spritzes.  Although if it dies, I can make a new one!

Pandemic Thanksgiving

Jim, G and I spent Thanksgiving at the cabin hunkered down and avoiding the increase of cases.  We missed everyone - A LOT!  But we made the best of it with a Thanksgiving themed Bark Box, a nice long hike and making pierogis and a pumpkin roll cake.

Our hike was up behind the campgrounds. We hiked to the shooting range to check it out.  It is so enjoyable to take a walk and see things up close up - we did lots of stopping and looking at bones, plants and sticks (for Astrid!).

We enjoyed the view and identifying all the different types of Oak trees:  Interior Live Oak, Blue Oak and Valley Oaks.  That is our lake in the background.

Lots of training practice for Astrid.  She was such a good girl and enjoyed the heck out of the hike!  Lots of fetching thrown sticks and then a deep, deep sleep all afternoon.

Following our hike, we went into town and got some beer from the local brewery.  Spoiler alert:  The cranberry and s'more ones were horrendous!

Although not in person, at least we could see everyone on zoom.  We added the Eggs and VanEggs at the last minute and they were happy to pop on!

Dinner was nontraditional:  home made pierogis, candied carrots, broccolini, tri-tip and a pumpkin roll cake.  The cake was the best part!

Pandemic Project - Grow a Forest of our Own!

With a lot of time on our hands, we look for good projects for around the cabin.  This one included getting three new trees!  With these three, we now have 5 trees that show the colors in the fall.  The tree above is just off the deck near the front door and is called a "Pyrus c. Bradford".  It has a display of  early spring  white blossoms.  The leaves turn red, orange and maroon in the fall.  And you can see from the pic, it has not lost its leaves yet.

The tree above is a "Northern Red Oak" and is a fast growing tree, growing up to 75 feet tall and 50 feet wide.  It is off the corner of the back deck and you can see that it still has leaves late in the season.

The tree above is a "Burgundy Belle" (Red Maple) and it will grow 45 feet tall and 40 feet wide.  No leaves on this guy.  They appear to lose them early in the fall.  This one is off the middle of the back deck.

Staycation - Yosemite

Jim and I did a trip into Yosemite while G stayed home with the dogs so we could hike trails we normally can't hike because no dogs are allowed.   We chose the Merced Grove trail to see the giant sequoias.  

The trees are just stunning and the grove has at least 10 trees that you can see from the trail. 

There was a sign that said Twin Bridges was just another mile down the trail, so we headed down to see what we could see.   We didn't see much - we walked and walked and walked and saw no bridges!  But we saw beautiful scenery. some snow and ladybugs that were hibernating.

After the hike we drove down into the valley with the idea that we would hike to Mirror Lake - again a hike we can't normally do because we always have the hounds.   But we didn't stay because there were so many people that it was like Disneyland!  Even though we saw many masks, I prefer to hike without one so I can't be on trails with other people.

Instead we went and found a quiet place at the base of El Capitan to have a picnic lunch.  There was one other group that had the same idea and we enjoyed watching them!  They were a group of 5 Asian ladies who unloaded a white fabric table cloth, laid it over a stump and made noodles on a camp stove.   Living their best lives!

On the way home we decided to go out the El Portal entrance and check out Mariposa.  We had never gone this way so it was all new.  Then we took highway 49 all the way to Coulterville to get home.  We stopped at a little place called Bagby with had a little campground and boat ramp.

This where the Merced River comes into Lake McLure and it is really low right now.  But I bet it is beautiful when the water is high.

It was a fun adventure that we normally wouldn't have because it took up a lot of time to wander around and because those darn dogs are usually hanging around.

Pandemic Puppy Training

Because of the pandemic Astrid is not exposed to the situations she would normally experience.  To help with that, we took her downtown to try some new things.

Lots of learning at the park.  It had the added distraction of kids playing and a big dog watching.  Lots of ups and jumps and different surfaces.  We also walked on a rock wall, experienced the electric car station and watched skateboarders.

Then we walked through downtown right next to the roadway where there were noisy vehicles roaring by.

Next we stopped at the local coffee shop/nursery and wandered around inside and outside.   Had some kids walk by and posed in various locations.

The part she did not like was walking over this grate.  It had fairly large openings but not enough for her feet to fall through.  She was a little hesitant at first but then just gingerly walked over it when encouraged.

We ended the session with a great "under" under a bench while waiting to order to go lunch and then a quick swing through the grocery store.   It was a great session and she was a rock star!

Thanksgiving Stay-cation

Because of the pandemic we are doing Thanksgiving with just the 3 of us at the cabin.  I took the week off but G still has to go to school.  Our first outing was on Sunday so G could join us - we went to Lake McLure to adventure.

We found an old tunnel and had to get out of the boat to check in out.  Grace walked through it while I threw the stick for Astrid.

Then we cruised around the lake until we found a spot to fish.  Fishing was awesome - we trolled back and forth and kept hooking trout.

Grace read a book while we cruised back and forth and I took a juicy nap.  Hops fished with Jim and Astrid pondered.

And Ahi was just angry.  This is her when Astrid walked by.....just walked by, paying no attention to Ahi...probably didn't even know she was there.