Hartz Kastle on La Cuesta Enchilada

Yesterday my bride had a hair appointment, so after I dropped her off in downtown Pismo Beach I had a couple of hours to wander.  I hied off to The Home Depot in San Luis Obispo to get lumber for my latest project, a bench to cover the gas and water meters between the house and the raised orchard, under our bedroom window.  This area previously had a flimsy wooden frame with lattice inserts.  It was a mess, busted up, full of weeds, impossible to keep nice looking.  I tore it off and found that the meters alone looked better than the junk that used to be there.  I decided that a bench that would cover the meters yet allow inspection of the dials would be a good addition to this area.  I could see myself sitting there, smoking a cigar, and admiring my well-pruned fruit trees, as a Vandenburg rocket leaves a brilliant trail in the southwestern sky.  I have a vivid imagination.  Usually the rockets fly at three AM when I am unavailable.  So h...

Turkeys The evening before last we were on the way home from a pleasant jaunt to Cambria, (where we stopped at the Linn's farm store eight miles up in the hills above town and met a very interesting guy, Dexter, more later) when I said, "let's go home on Highway One out of Morro Bay instead of through Los Osos, we have a better chance at spotting turkeys."  My bride agreed, we love spotting turkeys.  Sometimes we are slow enough and close enough so that I can gobble at them with the P.A. speaker in my grille. Once, I had a whole flock yelling back at me, I still do not know what I said.  Probably something like "2 hours at 350".  We spot turkeys most consistently in a field across from the Mens Colony, which is actually a state prison.  No colonists there, just turkeys.  We also see deer here. As we approached the area I slowed, and sure enough, in the fall-like golden afternoon light streaming from behind us over one of the Seven Sisters, we saw turke...

The Deer and The Vineyard. On the hottest day so far this summer we decided to take a short drive south to the little country chic town of Los Alamos to check out some of the antique barns.  Off we went south on our street, California Highway One.  (Highway One is called Mesa View Drive in our town, and that is our street address...it goes from Capistrano Beach, in Orange County to Leggett, near the Oregon border, over 620 miles north.)  As a native Californian I was delighted to have a Highway One address.  I digress.  Southbound we passed the goats and tortoises one of our neighbors has fenced next to the road, then went past the llamas, on down the dune-side of Nipomo Mesa, past the oil refinery (we are bracketed by a nuclear power plant north and this refinery south, no wonder SLO county has a siren system...), through the strawberry fields, past the Oso Flaco lake and dunes turnoff (means "skinny bear") and over the Santa Maria River into the Mexican/Angl...

Last month I finally built the metal 8' x6' shed from the kit I bought last year, and had stored in the large wooden shed that came with the house.  Up to now the old shed was jammed to the roof with the new shed kit, containers, tools, boxes, miscellanious junk that we brought with us from San Diego in 2010, all thwarting my dream of making a workshop/artist studio of it. Now that the deck was in, and I finished a stone planter out front, I had no excuse. So, I cleared the only space large enough for the thing, attempted to make the pebbly soil level, and began sorting out the dozens of parts.  Everything had to be screwed together in precise order, them added to the pieces already done.  I soon learned to enlarge the screw holes as they were too small to engage the screws as made, which added days to the time.  Finally after a week, what they claimed was a one day, 2 man job, I finished.  I could hardly wait to begin unloading the old s...

 Hearst Zebras Alerting To the Hartz'  After beating up my aging body all day Wednesday putting up a metal storage shed we decided to take a break and heal for the next session due today.  I said, "let's drive up the coast to Ragged Point and have lunch."  As usual, my bride said "I'm packed."  So after a great breakfast she made of scrambled eggs, honey-maple pork sausage and English muffins, off we went.  I opted for the freeway to get near the area sooner, and so we could stop and explore places once we got to Highway 1.  We stopped in San Simeon, a town with a dozen motels, a liquor store, and an "Indian" trading post.  After perusing the trading post we went into the small residential neighborhood, between the motels and the Hearst Corporation Ranch land. At the fence we were surprised and delighted to spot several of the legendary zebras, descendents of the ones brought in by William Randolph Hearst.  While my bride collected p...

This is a magical place, our Mesa, pure California: golden poppies growing wild at our front door, quail families clucking and running all over the spaces, hawks zooming overhead, screaming at each other, fresh offshore breezes from San Luis Bay as it laps Avila Beach and Port San Luis, visible from our fabulous new deck   We even enjoy the crows and ravens, squacking and purring, clicking and calling each other. We have views of towering clouds moving in from the North Pacific, bringing squalls and storms in the winter and spring, along with the mustard and lupine painting the hills blue and gold above the bay. We are truly blessed.  Within yards, not even miles, we see deer and turkeys wandering through pastures and meadows, and the unbelievably beautiful stands of oak tress.  We see the great dunes ever pushing to enter the flat acres of vegetables just below our Mesa, with the surf crashing as it has for millions of years. Last week we drove out to the C...

The back deck monster is 95% done and it looks great, even in this cold rain.  I have got a new charcoal grille due here Monday, and have researched deck furniture and storage boxes.  We can hardly wait for nicer weather.  The orchard is showing signs that spring will be here someday: the two apple trees, the peach, plum and apricot all have buds and new leaves coming in.  The new french doors have a leak when the rain is particularly fierce, so next spell of dry I will have our excellent contractor take a look.  Meanwhile, white duct tape stops it and looks not too ugly.  Come spring I can assemble the metal shed now clogging up the wooden shed, I can use the 6' by 8' of new storage it will provide.  Maybe I can get the man cave I long for in the wooden shed.  But there will always be a new project, I now realize.  I want to put another window in the master bath, and replace the one in the guest bath with o...

The fireplace and chimney are now all renewed and safe, and we have enjoyed many fires on the cool nights over the fall and winter.  The new side porch and front deck are in,  and looking great! We expect work to start on the big backyard deck any day now.  We put in a new french patio door off the rear guest room and have new drapes in place.  The room looks nice and comfy.  I will be glad when all this is done so I can get into my projects in a big way.... We have invited Armida's brother and wife to visit, they were due February 1 for a week, but mi cuñada´s beloved sister Totoy died and of course the visit is postponed.  Our hearts go out to Nena and her family.