Wildfire Burns near South Lake Tahoe

Since Sunday afternoon there are wildfires nearby South Lake Tahoe. Sum up it is awful and very sad for the people who live there as for the wildlife. Especially because it was caused by human activity?!!
Unfortunately we supposed to go there this weekend for a short vacation. The Emerald Bay SP is actually pretty close to the active burning area. We’ve already received some warning messages from the CA State Parks en this is what I've just found at their website:
There is a large wildfire burning in the South Lake Tahoe area . While the fire is not burning in a state park, major roads leading to one park are being used by emergency crews and are closed to non-emergency traffic coming into the Tahoe Basin, including Highway 89 in South Lake Tahoe. Highway 50 is Open. Highway 89 is now closed from Emerald Bay to Highway 50 to all but emergency traffic. Located along Highway 89 on the southwestern side of the lake, Emerald Bay State Park has three main visitor sections: the Eagle Point campground, the Vikingsholm historic mansion and the boat-in campground. All were closed to visitors last night, with campers evacuated from the two campgrounds. (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=506)
I guess this is the end of our vacation at the Emerald Bay. Considering the people who live there we are not the ones who should be sad at the moment.

Singer

Except fighting the ants there is always a lot at our Things-To-Do list. I’m already busy repainting our red cupboard for weeks. Luckily the boys took it over so it may be finished soon.

Finally I’ve bought a sewing machine. For a long time I was considering getting one as it comes always useful in our household. Like now I needed to sew sleeping bag liners for each of us. The nights in Northern California are chilly even the days are hot. Tonight at South Lake Tahoe the temperature dropped to 30 °F (-1 °C)! We are going to this area next Friday and I believe the sleeping bag liners will be just necessary if we won’t want to experience another night like at the Pfeiffer Big Sur SP.
It’s long time ago I was struggling with my mom’s sewing machine trying to make some fancy outfit for myself. To be honest I never liked it. I guess it requires a lot of patience which I possess just a very little.
But what a big success today! Even there were some moments of frustration and for a while I was even inclined to return it to the store it was at last worth the effort. Am I really transforming into a perfect SAHW?!?
It looks the machine will stay with us for the time being since there are more DIY projects to come.

Music Together

Well, it’s already Thursday and the ants are not gone yet. They still show up here and there. Like this morning in the kitchen. They were teeming up out of the small wholes around the sockets above the countertop and of the stove. There were hundreds of them. But after wiping them away they are gone again by now. We’ll wait with another pest control inspection. If they would have to treat the indoors as well we’ll have to leave the house for a few hours which I find quite inconvenient.



We’ve started the Music Together classes today and we are both thrilled! The teacher is wonderful and Maarten was directly comfortable with her. Afterwards we stayed for the story time at the library. We are lucky to take the music classes here at our community centre so we don’t need to go by car. Even the weather is hot, the trail there is very hilly and Maarten is getting heavy even worse with the stack of books from the library… I still prefer to go by bike! See, I’m still not really accustomed to the local car lifestyle ;-)

Toddler Time at Livermore Swimming Pool

I'm so lucky to enjoy Maarten at all these fun summer activities!

Wedding Anniversary/Fathers Day @ Bodega Dunes

It was not easy to find an available campground for this weekend, probably because of the Fathers Day on Saturday. Luckily we could make a reservation at the Bodega Dunes, Sonoma Coast SB. The nearby fishing harbor of Bodega Bay was chosen by Alfred Hitchcock as a film location for his movie ‘The Birds’. This remote small coastal place with the morning fog and the calming sound of the foghorn keeps its thrilling atmosphere even today.
We liked the campground a lot: insulated can't-see-your-neighbors-sites settled in the dunes some with trees and bushes to provide a bit of shade. Luckily we got enough sun too since the temperature at the coast was round 60 °F (15 °C) during the day! Thus quite a big difference than what we are having in San Ramon these days. It was wonderful to escape the heat for a few days!
Friday June 16th was our 6th wedding anniversary. This was also one of the reasons for our trip to the Sonoma Coast. But being so busy with all the nice things at the beach and in the dunes we both have completely forgotten it!!! Anyway we had a good laugh after all. This time we didn’t have problems with the squirrels. Here were just a few mosquitoes. After dark a raccoon came to look for something yummy at our site and he was successful to steal a few sausages from the cool box. I had to chase him away since he didn't want to leave at all. I can’t say I was feeling very comfortable facing him so close. Even when we went to sleep we still could hear him around.
We didn’t do much hiking this weekend. We couldn’t actually get Maarten of the beach and of the water in particular. The Sonoma Coast beaches are not for swimming because of strong rip currents, heavy surf and rogue waves. It was really challenging to keep an eye on Maarten all the time. And the water is so freezing there that it even hurts your feet. Because of the Fathers-Day-weekend Rob got the precedence entirely enjoy his son at the beach ;-)





Maarten wants more cake!




























Even completely wet Maarten refused to leave the water and was fighting back!

















PS: I just couldn’t help myself from taking a picture of our neighbors’ tent!

Pest control

>After inspecting and treating in and around our house the ‘pest control man’ has promised we should be ants free by next Wednesday. It’s good to have some comfort as we are leaving for a few days.
The hot weather is continuing. Maarten is enjoying it a lot. While I can hardly catch my breath in the heat according to him it’s not hot at all. You should understand that … compared to me he has spent most of his life in this climate ;-)

PS: our 'new' patio set

Ants

In Belgium we had to fight mice and martens and slugs... Our first enemy in California turns to be an ant colony nestled next to the neighbor’s house! I’ve understood ants are entering the houses as a refuge from the dry and suddenly hot weather seeking for food and water. Because of the heat wave these days (above 100 °F/38 °C) not a surprise at all! We are still lucky. We've found just few of them in the kitchen and Maartens bedroom. In our neighbors house they are already making their own highways…

Hills on Fire!

Driving back from our play date on Monday morning I’ve noticed a dark cloud of smoke coming from the already very dry hills. There were already firemen doing their best to avoid spreading the fire. It was a strange view. The dark area of burned grass was orange bordered by the flames. At home we could still see the smoke from our backyard since it is actually very close to our house.
Now I understand why it increases your insurance if your property adjoins an open space ;-)

Swimming Certificate

Our last swimming class today was just wonderful and Maarten received his first certificate ever ;-)

Men at work

Picnic Table!

Our hunt for an old patio table seems to be over.
We’ve already missed some great stuff at Craiglist the local online market. I was hoping that there are not much people here interested in such old worn furniture but this was a mistake of course.
Even the choice is not that big like at the European markets with some luck and a lot of patience you can find something here as well.
This is the beauty I’ve found yesterday at Craiglist! I agree it doesn’t look very attractive at the advertisement picture but all the effort was really worth it.
We had to hire a truck to get it here. Rob left early this morning to pick it up in Sebastopol a small town 56 miles (90 km) north of San Francisco.
I’m very excited and can’t wait to restore it into my dream patio set. It’s still in a very good shape but with a bit of sanding and staining it will be just perfect.
We’ve already planned a trip to the Sonoma County for mid June so I’m even more curious now since Rob was quite impressed by the prettiness of the Sebastopol surroundings.

The weather is pretty strange this week. We get a lot of morning fog and breeze which is a huge contrast with our first spring in California last year. I hope it will change soon. This morning was so cold and windy Maarten even asked to put his hood on and we both were shivering in the fleece jackets. I was not in the mood to participate in today’s Maarten’s swimming class at all. But explain it to him. At last I was glad we did it. The sun broke through the fog just a little before the beginning of the class. No other little classmates showed up so Maarten had his favorite teacher (and the whole pool) just for himself. He enjoys so much her attention. He would blow the bubbles and kick his feet only for her whenever she asks him and he hopes to get her ‘Goooood joooob Maarten!’ as much as possible...