Mule Hill Trail

I recently just found my new favorite spot to walk. It's the Mule Hill Trail. It is located across from the North County Fair Shopping Center in Escondido, CA. I just walked this trail a couple of days ago and today I brought my camera. I've never really paid attention, nor have I been much of a bird person. But with the lense on my camera, I was able to see definition and colors. I think I am hooked. Here are a few pictures I wanted to share.



2 Hawks flying around


Western Bluebird. Notice the one on the left has lunch and the one next to him is waving. I loved the brilliant colors of these birds. I've never noticed them before during my walks.


Fortunately Dude aka Deet da dee was looking for Bunny Rabbits and Roxy was lookng for balls, so neither noticed all the birds I was shooting pictures of. I can't believe I got a shot of the two of them facing me at the same time.



San Pasqual Agricultural Preserve

A weekend in the middle of the month of February

This last weekend was definitely another good one with me. Why? My oldest son joined us out at our desert house for some fun. Michael's work has been a little slow and for the past year he has been attending the police academy every weekend. Therefore he had been super busy and he had never been out to the house with us. John was unable to join us, due to a commitment in Lakeside on Saturday, however, he was going to join us out there Saturday night. So, Michael, Kevin and I left Friday afternoon after work and headed out to the Riviera. All packed up and squeezed into Nelly (my red Jeep) Oh, and we had Roxy and Dude aka deet da dee with us. The past few trips, Dude aka deet da dee has become a nervous traveler, so I had to go get him some natural calming tablets from Petco. It seemed to do the trick. Even all crammed together in Nelly, we had a good time heading out. Michael entertained us with songs from his ipod. I insisted changing over to my ipod once we hit Borrego Springs. He was okay with my song selection. See? I am a cool mom.

Once out in the desert, we unpacked, called up Debbbie (our Escondido and desert neighbor)and her group of kids and we all headed out to dinner. Our destination? The Red Earth Casino. This casino is a tiny casino about 5 miles from the Riviera. They do have a really cute little restaurant called the Beach Club Cafe. The food is pretty good and reasonably priced. After dinner, the kids headed to the arcade and Debbie and I took Michael into the casino (he's 22) and donated a few dollars. Well, let me re-phrase that, Debbie and I donated a few dollars, Michael actually came out ahead. He walked out with 80 bux. Lucky kid!

The next morning, the boys and I got up and headed out on the desert toys across the desert over to Ocotillo Wells. Kevin's Girlfriend, Cierra and her family were out for the weekend and we joined up with them to go on a ride. That ride took us back towards the Salton Sea via Cut-across trail and Tule Wash, then to the am/pm market for a snack. The boys and I broke off from their group and headed back to the house.

Zack, Michaela, Cierra and Kevin ready to go riding


A little later in the afternoon we went out geocaching. Michael and Kevin decided to ride the smaller bikes (they complained about sore butts and legs the next day) and I followed in the Rhino. One of the caches was located under a bridge over a dry pond in what used to be a golf course in the 60's. Salton City was supposed to be the next Palm Springs and sadly that never really happened. I've seen vintage video of this very bridge with water under it, greens and a golfer swinging a a ball in the foreground. Now the area is desolate with a bridge that is not safe to cross over, an empty pond and Palm trees with no tops.

The cache was located right under the bridge here.


Kevin riding around the "rim" of the "pond"


Michael riding in the "pond"


Dude aka Deet da Dee and Roxy joined us for the ride. Dude aka deet da dee does much better in an open Rhino then a closed up car. Hmmmm.......



After some more geocaching in a couple of washes in the area, we headed over to the Truckhaven area and the boys took the "baby" bikes up some pretty big hills. It was fun to watch them. Especially Michael on the 50. Half-way up the hills he has his feet down assisting the bike up the hill and eventually getting off the bike and just walking it up. It was funny.

Michael struggling to get up that big hill on the little 50


Kevin had no problems with the hill. But, his bike had a bigger motor.



Sunday morning we went out on a ride with my husband leading. He took us through Tectonic Wash and then across the S22 into the Freeman Ranch property.

This is a rare moment when both of my boys are smiling for a picture.


On the way home I took a couple of pictures from the S22 towards Borrego Springs. The sky was just amazing. It was nice and sunny in the desert, however, as we headed up Montezuma Grade into the mountains, it started to rain.

The view that greeted us on the way into Borrego Springs via the S22


And rain it did all the way home. We did make a stop at Dudley's bakery to pick up some Bread. Dudley's bread is SO yummy. If you've never had it and you're in the So Cal area, make a point of doing a trip to Santa Ysabel. You will not regret it!

12 of 12, Feb 12, 2010

It's 12 of 12 day photo project. Every month, on the 12th day of the month, take photos and post 12 that express what your day was like.

So a friend of mine posted this on facebook today and I had to play. So here goes!

#1 Our day started off with a good breakfast. Coffee and Cereal. Kev opted for the Cinnamon Toast crunch.



#2 John getting ready for work. You know that is a LONG commute down the driveway. ;)



#3 Pulling the work stuff together for the Business trip to Chicago. I leave tomorrow



#4 Reviewing Business Card design that Toby put together for me. Lovin' it!



#5 Dude aka Deet Da dee hangs out on the Futon behind me while I work. Doesn't he look like a baby seal?



#6 Roxy hangs out right around the corner on the stairs sunning herself.



#7 Kevin hasn't been home 10 minutes from school and he's already texting someone.



#8 While the rest of the country is under snow, it was an abolutely stunning day in San Diego/Escondido today. Took the dogs outside so they could relieve themselves.



#9 Dang Dishes...they always have to be done.



#10 It's Friday afternoon and Kev is in the Game room doin' his thing.



#11 Packed and ready to go to Chicago tomorrow.



#12 Roxy hanging out next to me on the couch watching Friday night television.

Roxy is 7 years old!

I found an online Dog year Conversion Calculator.......EVERYTHING is online..I love it. So I inputed Roxy's age in Human years - 7 and the Calculator told me that she is 41 dog years old. The website suggests that 1 human year is equal to 7 dog years. That is not very accurate, since dogs reach adulthood within the first couple of years. Their formula is: 10.5 dog years per human year for the first 2 years, then 4 dog years per human year for each year after.



We bought Roxy from California Pets at the North County Fair Mall on April 7th, 2003. I remember looking for a birthday present for my neice and John and Kevin had split off from me, since they were not interested in looking at clothing for little girls. I met up with them in Sears and John mentioned that there was some Jack Russell Puppies in the window of the pet store. I told them I was happy to look, but we were not getting a puppy. There were 4 Jack Russell puppies in the window and they wanted to check one of the puppies out. I told the clerk to get us a puppy with a brown mask of fur of the top of its head....but John and Kevin said no, they wanted to see the puppy with the Brown eye patch. So, if you are familiar with California pets, they bring the puppy back to a little area where you can play with the puppy and get to know it. Instantly, John and Kevin fell in love with her. I liked her too, but I had my doubts, would they help take care of her? Pay attention to her? They both promised and we came home with another family member that night.



It took us a couple of days to come up with a name for the puppy. We had taken over to our friends, the Hurkman's house to introduce her and Melissa suggested either Star or Roxy. Roxy stuck.

Roxy has brought so much happiness to our family. She is a constant source of entertainment and don't ever say the world "Ball" in front of her. We usually end up spelling it around her. Oh, and "cat" or "kitty" is another trigger word. She does a few tricks. A couple of years ago she won a Doggy Talent contest for an Event that the Escondido Humane Society put on. She plays dead really well. She's been on TV a couple of times and just attacks the Harley Davidson Motorcycle in the garage everytime it is turned on.

Here is our Goofy dog climbing a pyramid we found on a hike:





For her birthday, I will go out and get her a hamburger plain from McDonalds. Her new little brother, Dude aka Deet da dee will get the same.