Trip to Southern California

From February 16 to March 8, 2018, we took our new Unity motor home on its maiden run to Southern California.  We were traveling south on the #101 trying to keep ahead of a storm that was rapidly going south.  We were unable to stay ahead of the cold winds and rain/sleet.  But we finally travelled far enough south to get into some warmer weather.  We spent a few days in the Desert Palms area and then headed north again, up the I-5.   We got to Sacramento where we met another storm heading south.  We spent two nights in the campground there.  The second day was a trip to Rocklin to the Mercedes Dealer.  The engine light had come on some days ago and we had to get it looked at.  This half hour trip in high winds and sleet was extremely stressful.  We made it to the appointment on time and had the matter resolved.  It was a software update that caused the light to come on.  The trip back to the campground was less of a stress as the winds and rain were letting up.  Next morning the weather looked far better.  We had clear sailing up the I-5 into warmer weather than we had down South.  Every day of the trip we were learning something new about the Unity; that is: how to operate things.  We still have much to learn, but are much more comfortable with it, than we were while setting out in a storm. 
The top photo is from the coast of Oregon.  The winds made the ocean spectacular to watch.  The bottom photo is somewhere in the Yucca Valley.
In the garden the crocuses, daffodils and wind flowers are in bloom.  The Harry Lauder's walking stick bush is dressed in its long golden catkins.  The pond/moss/Japanese garden area looks so much different with the old plum tree cut down.  Looking over the deck I get a clear view of the pond and rest of the area. There will be more light, so perhaps I can attempt to grow water lilies again.  There seems to be 4 fish left in the pond.  Maybe I can get shubunkins when it warms up again.  

Something from January of 2018

On January 9, 2018, I had Davey Tree take down the old plum tree and the pin oak that was too close to the garage.  The stump photo is what is left of the plum tree.  Keith from Davey Tree said that this wood will darken up.  It looks gorgeous as it is now.  The plum tree was diseased and getting really ratty looking as we could not prune it properly.  I am getting accustomed to looking at the pond from the back deck and seeing no plum tree branches obscuring the view.  I will miss the white cloud of blossoms in the early spring, though.  We were not harvesting very many of  the yellow plums, although it still produced far more than we needed.  Hope Trevor and family are not too disappointed that we took it down.
The pin oak had lovely Fall color, but was too close to the garage, so it had to come down.  There is a rhododendron growing next to pin oak.  Since the oak has come down, I can already see improvement in the rhodo.  The first photo shows the fantastic machine that took the Keith over the garage roof and he was able to take down the pin oak tree right from the bucket of the machine.  He saved some wood from the trunk of the oak and the plum for our fire place.  

Some of the birds that come to my garden

The anna's humming birds over winter.  I put out feeders for them.  They feed on insects over the winter also.  The flickers have been around the garden for a few years now.  They help themselves to the apples, and like to grub under the leaf mulch for bugs.  The mourning doves have been around for only a couple of years.  They seem to be multiplying, which is nice to see. 
We have had a lot of rain in the last two months, but the river does not seem to be running any higher than usual.