Prayer Request

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Jim Hall.

Requiescat in pace.

Fences, Bulls, Camping on the River, and it seems to be autumn all of a sudden.

Fence building went mostly good. I discovered some other posts that are rotted and will need to be replaced, so I will be back in Sacramento at some point. So far no injuries! So far only one piece of wood ruined by idiocy! So far no building inspectors demaniding permits! We actually don't need no stinkin' permits since all we are doing is repairing the fence, replacing one board at a time. So take that, building inspectors!

Following the Sacramento fence building expedition we were off to the festa in Gustine. The fourth bull was the only one that was really worth talking about, and the matador gave an interesting performance, although purists (and even semi-purists) would be entirely justified in pointing out that it was much more flash and dazzle than substance. But let me tell you something: flash and dazzle is what this crowd needs. It is the bullfight equivalent of pop music. It introduces them to the possibility of excitement in the art, and leads them down a road of exploration. You start with the flash and dazzle of adorno and end up appreciating a series of flawless naturales.

On a food note, I was pleased that they were serving Fernandes linguica, which are made in Tracy and are quite good.

And from a seven-year old girl's perspective, well, the horses were the best part of the evening, but for Amalia the horses are always the best part of anything they can be found in.

After the bullfight we camped under the stars at a State Park on a bend in the San Juaquin River. I don't understand why more tourists don't come from all over to the Central Valley. It is really beautiful, and makes a great stop between Yosemite and the coast. Of course the whole thing is not always beautiful, but you find a riparian forest full of birds and butterflies and it is pretty idyllic.

Now we are back into the routine, even the school routine is back on track, much to Amalia's chagrin. To make up for two days out last week and two days out this week, yesterday was a marathon school session. The only way to do this home-school thing is to hit the ground running and to stay ahead. That way when you feel like summer should begin sometime right after Easter, you can slack off a bit and go explore the outdoors. So now we hit the ground running.

And it is autumn, and this means that I am frightfully behind in my BIG PROJECT. So it goes.

Tee hee hee.

I'll just let you have fun with This One.

Suggested phrases: "Drink the KoolAid!" "A Fuhrer For Us!" "I Hope...not"

Have fun. I am back off to Sacramento to continue on the split rail fence.

Well, no serious injuries, and so far the fence is looking good...

However (and you knew there was a however!), neither of the two lumber yards I went to had split rails, so I had to buy redwood posts and split/rusticate them. And, since I did not bring tools for that, figuring that I could buy already-rustic wood, It was a time consuming process. Of course I could only shudder at the notion of using power tools to make properly milled wood look like something that we inherited from Abe Lincoln, but it works, and the fence is coming along. Due to a full schedule back home today, we had to return, meaning that I have at least one more trip to Sacramento to finish this thing.

The weather in Sacramento was utterly perfect, by the way. If any of my out of state readers are trying to figure out where they should go for a lovely early autumn vacation, I really recommend Sacramento: interesting history, beautiful weather and river, easy drives to the Napa wine country, Bay Area, Tahoe, etc., good restaurants, beautiful parks, very good coffee houses, some good bars, etc.

Split Rail Fences.

I am off today to rebuild a split rail fence that is falling apart on my parents' front yard. I have never done this before, but it looks prettty straightforward. It could, of course, be a comedy of errors. I will report when it is done.

Also, any chemist types who know much about solanine? I think I have a batch of tomato sauce that has a bit too much solanine in it, and I would like to know what can be done (besides dillution, the obvious) to fix it.