Venus Or Mars

     Women are much more complicated than men. 

               Men are very simple. And you know why?

                           It’s because their brains are so different. 

Interesting and entertaining concepts from the Internet.  

 Concepts that probably will be debated forever forward!  

First, I want to start with men. Men’s brains are very unique. Most women don’t realize that whether we are having sex or watching sports, our brains are made up of little boxes.

We’ve got a box for everything. We’ve got a box for the car. We’ve got a box for the money. We’ve got a box for the job. We’ve got a box for you. We’ve got a box for the kids. We’ve got a box for your mother somewhere in the basement.

We’ve got boxes everywhere. And the rule is: the boxes don’t touch. When a man discusses a particular subject, we go to that particular box, we pull that box out, we open the box, and we discuss only what is in THAT BOX. And then we close the box and put it away being very, very careful not to touch other boxes.

Now women’s brains are very, very different from men’s brains. Women’s brains are made up of a big ball of wire. And everything is connected to everything. The money is connected to the car and the car is connected to your job and your kids are connected to your mother and everythingisallconnected.

It’s like the internet superhighway, and it’s all driven by energy that we call emotion. It’s one of the reasons why women tend to remember… everything.

Because if you take an event and you connect it to an emotion and it burns in your memory and you can remember it forever. The same thing happens for men. It just doesn’t happen very often, because quite frankly… we don’t care. Women tend to care about everything.

Now men, we have a box in our brain that most women are not aware of. This particular box has nothing in it. In fact, we call it the ‘nothing’ box.

And of all the boxes a man has in his brain, the ‘nothing’ box is our favorite box. If a man has a chance, he’ll go to his nothing box every time. That’s why a man can do something seemingly completely brain dead for hours on end. You know, like fishing.

Now they’ve actually measured this. The University of Pennsylvania a couple of years ago did a study and discovered that men have the ability to think about absolutely nothing, and still breathe.

Women can’t do it. Their mind has never stopped. And they don’t understand the ‘nothing’ box, and it drives them CRAZY because nothing drives a woman more crazy and makes them feel more irritated than to watch a man doing nothing.

The California Weather conditions continue to be devastating for so many. With the most recent storm there are increased mud/hillside slides, roads covered with water, very fast flowing creeks and rivers, many levee breaks, stranded vehicles and people stranded in their homes an cars. 

The streets where I moved from in San Jose are flooded with very high water. The local news is showing pictures of areas that I am very familiar with all the way to Monterey County and Los Angeles and I can hardly believe what I see. 

My home is dry and I am safe. However, the home next to me which sits lower than mine has a very flooded back yard covered with dirty brown water. It is taking longer to be absorbed with each new storm. 

The Murphys Park is severely flooded.

Mary

A Very Nice Day

It has been bright and sunny for three days straight! What a gift. However, another storm is rolling in to start tomorrow. Thankfully, the sunshine has really helped my mood.

The folks that have had to evacuate because of the Oroville Dam failure have now been able to go back to their homes. Wonderful! Of course, there is a lot of work continuing on the project as well as many other areas in Northern California that are experiencing dreadful conditions caused by excessive rain fall, flooding, sink holes, serious mudslides and dislocated residents to shelters and serious roadway conditions.

Since yesterday was so lovely, I went to the Ophthalmologist office to pick up new prescription eyeglasses which I am very pleased with.  They had been ready for days and days. And, then I drove to a nearby town to have lunch at a favorite restaurant called The Pickle Patch.

It sure does not look like anything special. But, looks are deceiving.  Actually, it is an old farmhouse that has been nicely revived into a lovely destination for lunch, and special events. Lunches are available Monday through Friday. And, special events are catered. The line was long for ordering lunch but moved quickly. And, they bring your food to your table.

After walking through what was probably the living room (which is now filled with small tables for guests) you then see the counter where you order. Everything is freshly prepared and delicious. It is mostly deli foods like soups, salads, sandwiches and deserts. Walking out the door you see on the left there is a covered patio with tables and then surprisingly there are beautiful gardens with umbrella tables and nice appointments.        Surprising, isn't it?           Feels like "a diamond in the rough" when you think about the ambiance.

And, this is another nice seating area with the summer blooming wisteria pergola.

The gardens are huge and appointed with water fountains, beautiful flowers, bird houses, decorative objects and various types of sculptures.

These photos are from their website.     I enjoyed great homemade soup and salad !  And, the sunshine was wonderful as I sat at a pleasant location in the gardens.

Yes, it was A Very Nice Day.

Take Care.

Mary

Stunning Oroville Dam Breach

This disaster is in an area 150 miles northeast of San Francisco that I have some familiar knowledge about. In my earlier life during the late 1960's my husband and I spent some time in Oroville and he interviewed for a position with the county. We were considering moving from Southern California. At that time the area which is in the Sierra Nevada Foothills seemed very rural especially in comparison with where we would have been moving from. I recall that the Dam was near completion and was finished in 1968.

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Residents Forced From Homes in California Flooding Emergency.            These newspaper photos are horrendous, aren't they?

 

Mandatory evacuations remained in effect Monday afternoon for nearly 190,000 people in Northern California after a spillway serving the country's tallest dam developed a hole that threatened to release uncontrolled floodwaters, officials said.

The emergency spillway off the Oroville Dam was the second to fail in a matter of days, after the dam's primary spillway developed a 200-foot-long, 30-foot-deep hole last week.

Officials and contractors were working feverishly to get as much water out of Lake Oroville as possible by Thursday, when another round of storms is expected to sweep across the area.

My heart goes out to all those effected by this terrible situation. Let's all send lots of positive energy and prayers their way.

With all the inclement weather conditions across the nation be sure to stay warm, safe and healthy.

Mary

Catching Up

Winter Storms - - - Flooding and Power/Satellite Outage - - - Lengthy Typed Post Disappeared - - -A Little Knitting - - - Pioneer Cabin Tree Falls.

How is that for a few topics?               Yes, just as the National Weather Service reported. We are having the largest weather event to strike this area in the past 30 years.

With the day after day of dark skies, sometimes fog (very unusual), rain (frequently very heavy) and cold temperatures, my activities have been less than productive. It  just feels so good to lie on the sofa with soft yummy cozy warm blankets and stay warm. And it helps to have a nice cup of tea or maybe cocoa nearby.

Even though I have been diligent in energy conservation and sleeping in the living room (the warmest room) with the thermostat set at 67 degrees, my Electric Bill was $220.00 for the past month! My heart goes out to the folks that do not have proper protection from the elements and others that have been impacted with structural destruction and devastation.

This is a tree down along a nearby roadway that caused a multi-vehicle accident. Night time darkness sure adds to the danger.

This is the  Little Community Park and Creek that is a five minute walk from where I live. The area has been closed to through traffic due to roadway flooding. The water from my little stream (roadway culvert drainage) is one of many tributaries that flow into The Creek.

The next photos are of my yard a year and a half ago when I was working on the culvert/stream to insure it would flow and not back up in my yard.

This photo of The Creek is more typical without all the flooding.  It is so lovely!

There are many photos in the newspapers of  flooding and heavy rain damage.

A few days ago when our First Power Storm started, I was working on my second post about family. Not an easy post to write. It was about 1:00 AM and suddenly all the power and satellite went off and my long post disappeared from the monitor. I tried everything I could think of to find it. But it was gone - gone - gone! Talk about being upset! I was beside myself! I guess that is something they used to say?  Not sure when I will get to writing it again. But, I will.

Two more colors of Bamboo Bloom Handpaints Yarn

                        Kimono on the Left  side.

                     Fallen Petals on the Right side.

                                       I really like the pattern and these colors.

                             

SAD LOSS OF SEQUOIA TREE     

And, not just ANY Sequoia - But, "The Pioneer Cabin Tree"

Pioneer Cabin Tree Falls

This information has been taken from Big Trees State Park wesite.

On Sunday, January 8 at approximately 2:30 pm, the iconic Pioneer Cabin Tree, one of California’s oldest tourist attractions and a beloved specimen of a rare California native species, fell.  During one of the wettest periods in several years, a combination of trunk and root decay and storm water runoff appears to have brought the giant sequoia down at its base, shattering it and a nearby cedar tree. No one was hurt.  Flowing water and fallen tree branches are current public safety concerns being addressed by state park staff. Almost a foot of rain has fallen at Calaveras Big Trees State Park near Arnold in the last two weeks, with more than three inches falling Sunday.  Since then over a foot of snow has added to the unstable trail conditions at the Park

The Pioneer Cabin Tree is one of the best known giant sequoias, which grow naturally only in a few locations on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. The giant sequoia is the largest tree species in the world, with some trees reaching a diameter of 27 feet. The Pioneer Cabin Tree stood approximately 100 feet tall and was 22 feet in diameter at breast height – this is as it stood in recent times. The tree is located in the North Grove of the state park within a relatively large sequoia grove containing more than 150 specimens roughly 2,000 years old.

Lightning strikes in the 1800s hollowed out the Pioneer Cabin Tree’s base and later knocked off its crown and opened up its side. In 1881, the Pioneer Cabin Tree base was squared off and enlarged. Similar to Big Stump, the base of the 1850 Discovery Tree at Calaveras Big Trees State Park, the Pioneer Cabin Tree helped visitors experience the enormous size of the ancient sequoias. For sixty years, tourists rode horses and carriages through the Pioneer Cabin Tree, and in the 1920s automobiles passed through it. Thousands of visitors posed for photos at the tree.

Calaveras Big Trees State Park became a state park in 1931 to preserve the North Grove of giant sequoias.

The Pioneer Cabin Tree was one of the last of the historic tunnel redwoods in the Sierra. The Palace Hotel Tree and Smith Cabin Tree remain standing in the more remote South Grove Nature Preserve at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. The California Tree in Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove and three coast redwood tunnel trees in northwestern California are other storied sequoias in public parks.

This is the water flow along the fallen Pioneer Tree.

Photo taken in early 1900's - I think.

Well, I am a little "caught up".

Hope you are Healthy, Happy and Safe.

Mary