No Ark

This photo shows the water line from the flood at the Laguna Beach Animal Shelter.

Photo by Kent Treptow / L.A. Times

Last week Laguna Beach got hit with six days of torrential rain, which caused over $10 million in damage to businesses, homes, and city structures. Mudslides and flooding wiped out the Laguna Beach Animal Shelter as well as the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. (I've mentioned the Marine Mammal Center on here before.) Fortunately, no patients were injured in the floodwaters at the Marine Mammal Center, which were four feet deep. All sea lions were safely evacuated to another animal care center.

The Animal Shelter incurred at least $800,000 in damages. The flood and mudslide destroyed all the computers, files, and office equipment. The night before the mudslide, shelter workers had placed stools in the dog kennels "just in case." When workers reached the shelter the next day, the dogs were standing on the stools. Tragically, the storm took the lives of two chickens and one bunny. But all cats and dogs were relocated.

Incidents like this make me hug my pets even tighter. I love giving them a warm, safe, and happy home. I wish I could make sure other pets are just as fortunate.

A Rocky Mountain Christmas

We're home after our fourth consecutive Christmas in Denver. It wasn't a white Christmas this year, but the pets, nieces, and nephews provided plenty of holiday cheer. We timed our road trip perfectly. We had impeccable driving conditions, but a massive snow storm closed the major interstate roads on our route just one day after we arrived home.

While in the Denver area, we toured the Celestial Seasonings tea factory in beautiful Boulder. The tour, which includes a stop in the infamous peppermint room that makes your eyes water, is an olfactory (pun intended) treat for all, but it was especially interesting to me since I've replaced soda with tea as my beverage of choice. I stocked up on holiday teas--peppermint, gingerbread, chai, and even sugar cookie-flavored tea.

We also headed downtown to the aquarium, which has an impressive collection of species--sea horses, sharks, jellies, and even a tiger. I lobbied to conclude the visit with lunch in the aquarium restaurant but was shot down. Seems that the others felt weird about feasting on a platter of calamari just steps away from the giant octopus tank.

We took a little driving tour of some equestrian communities mixed in with cookie-cutter suburban subdivisions. I loved the tidy ranch homes with horses, goats, and chickens grazing peacefully in the yards, Pike's Peak looming in the distance, and a comforting Target, Borders Books, and stadium seating multiplex just five minutes away. (Because who am I kidding? I love suburbia just as much as I hate it.)

Upon our return home, I was thrilled to find that our gorgeous Noble Fir still is very much alive and kicking. There are no signs of dry needles, and the tree is drinking 1/2 a pitcher of water a day. At this rate, the tree may be around for Valentine's Day. I can't send a thriving tree off to the wood chipper.

Goats!

Crunchy Granola

Tonight I made homemade granola, and I'm pleased to report that the Wrangler pronounced it "the best thing you've made in a really long time." Although, now that I think of it, what is this saying about my other culinary efforts? Hmm. My recipe is based on the granola recipe in the Mountain Sky Ranch cookbook (the ranch that hosts the spectacular Wild West Women Adventure in Montana). It's a quick and easy project with yummy results, and the house smells cozy and Christmasy:

4 c. oats

2/3 c. each - roasted cashews, walnuts, almonds, pecans, and peanuts

1 c. coconut

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. cloves

1 Tbsp. each - cinnamon and nutmeg

1/2 c. vegetable oil

2/3 c. honey

2 Tbsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, mix the oats, nuts, coconut, brown sugar, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

In a saucepan, heat the oil and honey but do not boil. Remove from stove and add vanilla.

Mix wet and dry ingredients together.

Spread evenly on two parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake in a 325 degree oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

If desired, add dried fruit after baking. I added about 1/3 c. dried cranberries to one of the baking sheets. You also can add raisins, apricots, dates, etc.

Let cool. Store in air-tight container. Makes 12 cups.

Mind Your Own Beeswax

Today the Wrangler and I headed over to the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano for the beeswax candle-making class. The Ecology Center is in a bright, airy farmhouse built by Pony Express rider Joel Congdon in 1878. Five of us gathered in the pleasant farmhouse kitchen to learn how to melt and pour beeswax. Yes, it's as easy as it sounds. The beeswax from a local hive looks lovely and natural and smells like fresh, delicious honey. I couldn't help but feel ashamed of the unnatural and probably toxic sparkly and fake-scented candles I have around the house. Pouring votive and mason jar candles takes just seconds (and about an hour to dry), and dipping tapers is oddly therapeutic--like kneading bread. I can't believe I haven't been making my own candles. Well, that is going to change.

I remember my dad making candles by melting old candles in a coffee can. When I told him about the class tonight, he introduced me to another candle project--ice candles. Apparently, if you pour the wax over a cup of ice, it creates beautiful candles with lots of small holes.

The best thing about this activity is that if you somehow mess up or aren't happy with the candles, you can just re-melt the beeswax and try again.

Making Music

The Wrangler's handyman acumen is in somewhat short supply, which is not a big deal because he has so many other talents. After all, it's only fair that he's bad at something. (It is, however, exasperating when he embarks on home repair projects armed with nothing but his trusty roll of duct tape and package of zip ties.) Until last weekend, his tool box contained a pliers set that is, after 12 years, still in the plastic package; a Phillips screwdriver and a standard screwdriver (and I can't say for certain that he knows which is which); a tape measure; and his high school photo. He had a nice little hand saw for making a fresh cut in the Christmas tree trunk. And that was all.

But things are changing around here! We made not one, not two, but three trips to Home Depot last weekend to buy man tools and wood. Four nights in a row the sounds of sawing and sanding (from borrowed tools) emanated from the garage. The Wrangler is building a cigar box guitar.

I'm not exactly sure what this entails, but there was a cutting step, a gluing step, and a sanding step. As I write this, I hear pounding...so apparently there is a hammering step too. As far as I can tell, there are no steps involving duct tape and zip ties. He provided me with this picture of his work from last night. As you can see in the photo, he designed the fancy sides for the headstock of the guitar, traced his design onto wood, and cut the pieces. I will post more pictures as he moves onto other steps.

I am so excited to see him so excited about building stuff. All he needed was a connection between art and tools. Think of the possibilities! Built-in bookshelves, a gazebo, sturdy fences for the sheep...

Hay Fever

I made five trips to the barn between Friday night and Sunday afternoon. I had a riding lesson on Friday evening and then returned later with the Wrangler to decorate Francie's stall for the holiday stall decorating contest. I didn't win, but I had an interesting time trying to think of sturdy, all-weather decorations, affixing them to a stall door, and keeping them out of the reach of a very curious horse. It was a chilly 46 degrees at 9PM on Friday, and we could could see the horses' breath as they peeked out of their stalls. Each horse was strapped into a thick winter coat.

I had another riding lesson on Saturday morning and then headed back for the barn holiday party. (I brought my cake pops, which actually turned out!) We made one trip today for the stable's Holiday with Horses event. The barn hosted a small-to-tall breed introduction (from miniature horses and wild ponies to Arabians and Fresians) followed by an impressive jumping demonstration with Grand Prix-level jumps. In addition, the stable hosted a natural horsemanship presentation (where the rider guided her horse through an obstacle course with no bridle), a Western cutting demo (with a flag on a pulley system substituting for cattle), and a dressage performance. Someone brought her pygmy goats in elf costumes. Perhaps next year I will bring my sheep in snowman costumes!