Winter: Bring it on!

The last couple of summers I've tried to do something to improve my food storage. Two summers ago, I stocked up on dry goods such as wheat, beans, rice, etc. This summer, I've worked on improving my canning skills. I've felt very blessed since much of what I canned was free aside from labor and supplies. The family I gardened with provided apples, pears, tomatoes and beans. My sister and I bought and canned peaches. I borrowed a water bath canner from someone in my school district and the strainer came from freecycle (a total score!). The end of the story is I have over 150 pints of these fruits and vegetables ready for winter consumption. My pantry looks comfortably full. I'm very grateful to all the people who helped me accomplish this: (especially my mother who was always willing to answer my questions)

Pictastory: The Great Race and the Hike of Death

I loved growing up in the Bay Area because there were so many things to do. Yosemite, only three hours away, became a favorite. We've done day trips as well as camped. This particular trip happened the summer my sister and her husband were living with my parents.

Par for the course we did two fairly hefty hikes--one to North Dome which is directly across from Half dome and one to Upper Yosemite Falls. Considering how hot it was, we did pretty well on both. On top of North Dome, we enjoyed the view of Half Dome and took lots of pictures. Maybe it was a sign of heat stroke setting in, but I suggested that we take a panoramic picture of us having "a race." As you will notice, Mom soundly trounced us all. Also notice that my brother-in-law got sucked into the vortex otherwise he might have won. You'll have to click on the picture to really see it well. (ctrl+- will let you zoom in.)


The second hike was tough enough by itself without having hiked the other the day before. I've been on a few hikes where I felt like death was near and this was one of them. We were hiking in the full July sun with limited water so the six and a half mile round trip felt three times the distance. On the way back, we drank from the stream (not normally recommended) and dipped our head gear in the ice cold water (always recommended in hot weather). The view, however was amazing though maybe not something I would sacrifice my life for.

Our destination was just to the left of the top part of the falls:
Looks pretty peaceful, doesn't it:
At least until you see this:
It's really hard to image the amount of water plummeting down nor the velocity: