The Flight of the Turkey Buzzards

A few days ago, as David and I were coming back from our evening bike ride, we looked up and saw hundreds of turkey buzzards. They were taking advantage of the beautiful cool evening and were soaring overhead. I don't exaggerate by saying hundreds! When I got up to walk the next morning, I noticed they were waking up and getting gathered to fly off somewhere. They had spent the night in the trees in our neighborhood. Karrie told me later there is a "Turkey Buzzard Festival" up in Kern Valley. Who would have guessed? I notice this evening there are still some around, maybe ten or twenty tonight. I always see red-tailed hawks around here, but have never noticed turkey buzzards. The pictures above were taken in the early morning, as they gathered in the eucalyptus trees.

John's Birthday

John and Becky were in town last weekend helping his Grandma move. Sunday they came over for dinner. We knew his 32nd birthday was coming up, so we all had to wish him Happy Birthday!

Kawasaki Fixed Up

David bought a Kawasaki a while back so he could ride off road with Ryan and maybe save a little money on gas by riding it to work. He took it for a couple of spins and it has since been sitting out back collecting dust. He recently washed it and fixed up a few things so it looks good and is rideable again. Now that cooler weather is approaching, it'll be nice. I used to love riding with him on his Honda 650.

36th Anniversary

Yesterday was our 36th wedding anniversary. It was also my day to work at the temple. I have to leave Bakersfield around 3:00 A.M. to get there in time to to my job as assistant coordinator of instruction for the early morning shift. I was so happy that David was able to go with me. He did endowments while I was working and we were even able to meet at the cafeteria for a snack on my brake. I usually don't have a brake. I thought about him often throughout the morning. I am looking forward to his retirement when he can work at the temple too. What an irreplaceable and supportive husband he is. I am truly blessed. We spent the entire day together and it was wonderful, even the dinner, which was well worth fudging on the diet. We plan to ride, ride ride this evening to make up for it!

Canning Peaches

We picked the last of the Fairtime peaches Monday morning and canned them. I was cleaning the pantry and garage last week to reorganize and re-evaluate our food storage and felt bad that I had so many empty bottles with fall approaching. I had to do something about that! Bottled fruit looks pretty on the counter or shelf and there is something satisfying about just having it there.

Tug-o-war with David

Nathan, Spencer, Kacy, Will, Ed and Jared are trying to out pull David with our new tug-o-war rope Grandpa David made.

Uncle Dandy's Birthday

Uncle "Dandy" had his 57th birthday on Saturday, so we helped him celebrate a day late when he came over to visit us on Sunday. We didn't have quite enough candles, so we just made the number 57 with candles.

ALL the kids LOVE Uncle Dandy because he's the best "tickler," and bug him to death when he comes to visit. They are crowded around to watch him use the engraver.

Extracting Honey

Last Friday, David decided it was time we extracted honey. He was planning to take some hives up to Ryan's place for the winter and wanted work with the bees and get a little honey first. Matt and Julie came over to help.


Julie and David are uncapping (scraping the wax off the top):

Next, the frames are put in the extractor, which is cranked to make the honey come out by centrifugal force. Oscar came to help too, and everyone took a turn cranking: Then, the honey is put through three filters to take out the wax and impurities. You might think there is a lot of waste, but after I was all through straining and bottling there was only about a quart of wax with "yukkies." We could actually reuse the beeswax, but we haven't got the equipment to filter it properly. I ended up with about 70 pounds of honey from 15 frames:

New Bikes!

In preparation for our big backpacking trip next summer, we bought these bikes. We have been walking and dieting, but felt something a little more strenuous might be needed to help us get in shape. Stair stepping seemed kind of boring, so we went looking for bikes. David had read that they are often discounted in September to make room for the new Christmas models. We found a great bargain. Mine was marked down $180.00 and David's $150.00. The only problem is the last few days we've been so busy with projects that we haven't had much time to ride. Today for SURE! And I doubled my walking time today.

D. Spencer's 5th Birthday

Spencer sure has been looking forward to his birthday this year. Maybe because he started school. or maybe just because birthday's are fun. Anyway , he requested a rocket ship for his birthday cake. I put what I thought was a carton of frosting in my basket at Smart and Final and it ended up being whipped topping instead, so when we went to decorate the cake we decided a chocolate rocket would be just fine. As I have said before, kids are easy to please. We celebrated on Sunday, when all the cousins came, even though his birthday is September 2nd. For dinner, he specified spaghetti and meatballs. Now an articulate speaking, bouncy and imaginative kid, Spencer has captivated us all since he was a baby and had that spikey hair we adored. He loves school and showed me the "Student of the Day" sticker he recently received on one of my recent visits to the Delgado boys room. He had it taped above his bed. "Teachers use a lot of tape, " he said. I know he'll have a great year.

Everyone likes to watch the gift opening.