Whiskeytown Lake from the South Side

Finally, I managed to get to the lake and swim. I have been to this same spot a couple of times, but not yet this year. It is located on the South side of the lake, after you drive over the dam. I love this spot, the water reminds me of the sea. Below is Lily, my Mom's dog, she loves the water, but not necessarily to swim. She never goes any deeper than her stomach. We were at the beach for two hours and she did not sit once.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day is here again. I copied some campsite information from the Record Searchlight.

Calling for camping/Websites

• Shasta-Trinity National Forest: 1-877-444-6777

www.reserveusa.com

• Trinity and Lewiston lakes: 530-623-1203

www.campersonline.com

Burned Mountainside @ 299 and Whiskeytown

I took these pictures a few days ago. This is literally by the highway. From what I understand, this area was burned intentionally to create a back burn so the fire could be stopped before getting to the highway.

The fires in Trinity county are not completely contained according to the Record Searchlight this morning.

The Eagle Fire remained at 32,059 acres with 99 percent containment Wednesday. The Buckhorn Fire was at 28,439 acres with 94 percent containment while the Carey Fire in the Trinity Alps Wilderness was at 3,698 acres with 95 percent containment.

This is just a few of the fires. Many more acres between Shasta and Trinity counties have burned. I believe close to 1 million acres have burned in California alone from fires.

Below is a link to the Cal Fire Website. The link below is to the fire maps. You can see, what fires are currently burning and also, a cumulative fire map. I am sure more land has burned since the August 11 date on the map. Seems like fires everyday around Northern California.

http://www.fire.ca.gov/index_incidents_maps_links.php

Even two days ago, there was a serious fire near the Turtle Bay Bridge. A couple hundred acres burned. It was only a few blocks from the house here.

Redding Weather

Today the forecast is 109 degrees! That is very hot! I am definitely going to go to the lake today. Today is not a day to be stuck at home inside. It seems very windy too, a hot dry wind. I was reading in the Record Searchlight, that the north winds occurring now, are similar to the Santa Ana winds in Southern California. They sure seem very much like those. I remember those from living in San Diego.

Whiskeytown Lake

On Sunday I drove from Weaverville to Redding.
It was very hot. I was going to stop and swim but it was too crowded. Sunday is not the day to go to the lake, at least for a quick jump in the lake. I did manage to stop at take pictures, but the trail down was a bit too steep for me. The water looked so tempting. I am going to go soon.

I have memories of the trip when I was younger. We used to always stop at the same spot by the highway and jump in to cool off. We never really had air conditioning then, so a jump in the lake was ideal way to cool off.

Memorial

My cousin was reviewing my blog and read about what I had mentioned about a memorial for the firefighters who lost their lives. She said her father-in-law was helping to construct one that is going to be in Junction City, near the fire station there. Her father-in-law is doing some of the rock work. That is great! I believe there is going to be a memorial ceremony in Junction City on September 13, 2008. I will have to double check the details on that.

Quote of the Week

"I can be what I will be."

Whiskeytown Burned

My dad recommended that I go and check out the mountains that were burned off of Hwy 299W at Whiskeytown. I drove by there and took some photos of the lake and the mountainsides that had burned. When this was burning I am pretty sure is when Hwy 299 was closed at points in July.

Cell phones pop corn

This looks real. As I said "it looked real", but it is not! I found out it was staged!!!!! Not sure how you could stage that.

http://www.koreus.com/video/telephone-portable-mais-popcorn.html

Thanks Neighbors!!

Thanks for the beautiful sunflowers.

Spider in the Yard

There are many spiders around here, I am not sure what kind of spider this is. Does any one know? I have seen this type before. My dad just found a black widow spider under one of our patio chairs. Nice! I wish I had a picture of that one. This spider in the picture, has a huge web, which can barely been seen around the spider.

Helicopter Crash in Trinity County

This whole situation is very tragic and sad. My thoughts are with the family, friends and fellow firefighters of the hero's that lost their lives. There should be a memorial site/remembrance park in Trinity County for those lost fire fighters.

http://www.trinityjournal.com/news/2008/0813/front_page/002.html

Neighbor's Garden

Some flower pictures from the neighbor's garden also.

Neighbor's Garden

The neighbor to my parents in Douglas City, has a wonderful garden. When I was little I used to go next door, and he would make us fresh apple cider. At that time it was his father that lived there, and his wife. A wonderful memory for me!

Full Moon from Sunday Night

Sunday night I was wanting to get a picture of the full moon. I was very tired, and went to bed before the moon rose. I woke up in the middle of the night around 3 a.m. and took photos for a quick few minutes. I think I was slightly delirious, as only a few of the photos turned out. It was a beautiful moon, very bright, and the clouds were moving very quickly in the sky. That could have been why the photos turned out blurry also.

Belgian Waffles with Blackberries

I picked around six cups of blackberries this morning. They are delicious. I used the recipe from The Food Network, it was the first one that I saw. It is compliments of Emeril Lagasse.


http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/classic-belgian-waffles-recipe/index.html

Blue Skies

This morning the skies were blue. The night time was very smoky, but the morning was a nice change. Unfortunately, more people needed to evacuate along highway 299 at Big Bar, California. The fire took a turn for the worse yesterday morning.

Blue Cheese, Apples and Bread

Yesterday I wanted some blue cheese for my salad. I found several cheeses to choose from at Tops Supermarket, in Weaverville. They actually have a great assortment of cheeses, for a price, I will mention. It is the only main stream grocery store in the town.

I found this cheese company, Point Reyes Blue Cheese, Californian, located in Point Reyes. What I noticed unfortunately, is that the Point Reyes blue cheese was the most expensive. It was for the most part, the most expensive cheese there, and the only local one. That means that the imported cheeses from overseas were cheaper that the Marin County cheese, which is only a few hours drive. The price was $16.99 lb, I only purchase .24 lb. Regardless, I bought the cheese, because I wanted to try it. It was delicious. I had some as an appetizer.
http://www.pointreyescheese.com/html/index.html

Fires in Junction City

After swimming I drove home, via Oregon mountain and stopped at the side of the mountain to take pictures of the fires burning on another mountain. You can see where the smokes is coming from the fires. While I was stopped there taking pictures another woman stopped. We noticed another huge billow of smoke from another fire. As it turns out the woman looked familiar and it was a friend of my mothers.

You can see the smoke from the fires to the left, and to the right.

Close up shot of the smoke.

Canyon Creek, Junction City, California

Went swimming at this swimming hole today, it was very hot, and the water perfectly cool. It was also very refreshing and beautiful. There were kids there and adults jumping off the rocks, into the deeper parts of the water. Although there are still fires burning around this area, it happened to be pretty clear at the time we were there.

Blue Jay in Trinity County

There are many blue jays, this one sat a few moments for a photo before flying away.

Fall Colors at Night

I took this picture with a night shot feature on the camera that I am using.

All time Favorite!

This is an absolute favorite website, it has no purpose, except to be pleasant and fun.

http://www.procreo.jp/labo/flower_garden.swf

Another Smoky Sunset

It has been a good five days or so since the skies were blue. Hopefully that will change today. Last night was smoky too. Got a picture of the sun going down, in the smoky haze. Later that evening when going for a walk I noticed the moon was rising in the haze.