Week 25 - Truckee, California - June 13 - June 19, 2022

This week has been the start of something good!  Logan has been coming over, almost every day, to help us do something for about an hour.  At first I was startled because I wasn't expecting him - and I had him rake leaves in the front yard and then take the leaves out into the orchard.  Then he came again and he helped Ray pick up pieces of the trimmed hedge.  I was beginning to make plans!  On Tuesday I had him sweep, vacuum, and mop the basement stairs - they certainly needed cleaning.  He did a great job!!

On Wednesday I had him clean up a nasty mess of gravel, mud, and grass bits which I made when I didn't lift of the weight bucket on the tractor and dragged part of the orchard onto the concrete path by the wood window.

The next project was to clean out some drawers, vacuum, wet wipe them, and re-organize the contents.  Happily, he does a good job.

Thursday was ....maybe.... the last time I will be doing hot chocolate with the kids.  Next year Abby and Clara will be going to ACA, and after Bev moves this summer, who knows where the bus stop will be.  Honestly, I have enjoyed meeting up with the kids every morning for these hot chocolate moments.  I still remember taking Camille and Tyler up to Forsythe and catching the bus.

We were planning, on Friday, to drive to Truckee, California with Warren and family, so I was really diligent in getting last minute things done.  One thing I really wanted to get done was to cover three piles of wood.  The initial project was to get a wad of plastic out of #2 which had been the top of #7.  It was full of water and very wet and heavy.  I was able to cut pieces for the pile of logs brought up from the woods last summer and stacked behind the bike shed.  Another pile was one on Water Pipe Slope which I had gathered last summer.  And finally, I tried to organize the finished planks next to the barn and cover it. Unfortunately I still have the planks out in #2 which I moved out of the barn....ones that Malcolm had gathered while we were in Kazakhstan.   It seems like I go from one "clean up" project to another.

Friday morning, just after I did the hot chocolate with the kids, we started driving south to California.  We followed Warren the whole way stopping for lunch at a McDonalds in Klamath Falls and at a couple of gas stations.  We figure the cost for the gas was about $110.00, and the total time was twelve hours.  We arrived in Truckee just in time to unpack, eat toasted cheese sandwiches, and go to bed.

Saturday  - we made a loop drive from Truckee to Carson City, to Virginia City, to Reno and back to Truckee.  In Carson City we spent the morning at a Railroad Museum which was really interesting and fun.

We looked at lots of stuff, watched as a small locomotive was delivered to the yard by a truck, and took a train ride.

We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then had treats from a bakery.

Sunday - we headed to Donner Memorial State Park which was made to be a way to remember the Donner Party which got stuck in the mountains.  I really didn't know much about the story, but now I know lots.  Also I didn't know that Interstate 90 follows the trail that the pioneers traveled and that this pass was the best way to get into upper California.  This stone with its engraving is from one of the survivors.

Dad and Warren discovered Pinus jefferyi which is very similar to Pinus ponderosa.  The main difference is that the ponderosa has smaller cones and of a different shape.  They collected seeds.

...and they learned that the trees smell like butterscotch..... or vanilla.

Whitney, Holland and I went on a half mile nature walk.

We spent some time along the lake shore of Donner Lake.  Peaceful, warmish, beautiful.  Yeah, you could live here except for the snow in the winter.