Incredible Shrinking... Thread?

We had our monthly SCAT meeting at a member's old homestead yesterday.

It was a beautiful, sunny day in the country.


An old cat was lounging on the porch.

and voiced its annoyance at my invasion of its privacy.

The wonderful big dog wasn't sure about all of us walking around in his house.

But he took it in his stride. There was a little dog too, a dachshund, that was quite friendly and wanted to be a part of everything. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of her. She was a little social butterfly until she went and took a nap.
Our "learn something new" project was demonstrated by MJ. She showed us some "magic" thread.

This is amazing. You use it in the bobbin... or, if you like, both the spool and bobbin of your sewing machine. We tried both and it worked better with the thread in both the top and bottom of the fabric.

These are the directions.

We didn't use an iron. We used a heat gun and had to be very careful not to scorch the fabric. But, this thread is amazing. You can watch it shrink and pucker the fabric.
We tried other fabrics besides silk. It seems to work on just about any lightweight fabric.

We didn't try this on the tulle.. I know from experience that heat and tulle don't mix well and can burn easily.

It worked here...

I think you could take the labor out of smocking with this thread. It also adds texture to any fabric.

And you can definitely make a ruffled edge on anything with it.

A new skill that gave us all a new way of using fabric for our various art projects. Thanks MJ.

Big dog wasn't impressed.

"Mom. Are these folks leaving soon?"

"She's taking pictures of me again and I'm getting a little tired of it."
He was sweet about my camera and didn't get up and leave... but I knew it was time to stop aiming the camera at him when he gave me this sideways look.

We had a great time. It was good to get together with my friends and we left with a new skill.

You can buy the Incredible Shrinking Thread on Amazon but they're out of it right now. Equilter.com has it for $10.50 a spool... but if you join http://www.shoppersrule.com/pc/SP-INCSRTHRD/CSSWS/index.html you can buy it for $5.99 a spool. That's a good deal. I think I'm going to join.

Poppy Quest Thursday

This is Lake Tabeaub in Amador Co.

It's a small lake and reservoir in the foothills of the Central Sierra Mountains of California. The Prospector and I drove up on Thursday looking for a way to access the Mokelumne River Canyon above Electra Power Plant. We were on a poppy quest. We drove as far as we thought we should on a road called Ponderosa Way, which appeared to be mostly private property and "no trespassing" signs. We always respect these signs and private roads because we live on one too and have had trouble with people who don't.
So, we drove to the lake and took a short hike down a path beside a water channel.

I found some information about these ditches. They were built to divert water over to Pine Grove.  The development of all of these ditches and canals extended from around 1850 until the turn of the century.
During the early settlement of the Amador County, the major industries were gold mining, timber, and cattle raising.  These early settlers, in order to obtain water for domestic, municipal and agricultural uses, diverted  the water from larger rivers and streams.

 When demand increased for power, the Upper Standard Canal was built and water was diverted a half mile upstream from the present PGand E Tiger Creek Powerhouse.  The Upper Standard Canal followed the same course as an earlier canal but remained at a higher elevation.  This water was subsequently released into Tabeaud Reservoir and then could be released into the Amador Canal. It appears that this is still the case.
It's a beautiful canal. From the parking lot to the pump area is a short walk.

This photo shows the pipe that carries the water up out of the lake to the canal.

And this sign tells you that you had better not mess with any of it.

Pacific, Gas and Electric can sound very official in some really beautiful places, but they have had power grids blown up (here in California) so they don't mess around.
We walked back up to the canal and watched the water fall to a different level as it flowed back toward the road.

I had to laugh at the sign on the side of the pump house.
It said, NO SWIMMING. There were tiny, planted trout and a lot of algae in that water. I can't imagine anyone wanting to swim in there anyway.

That was when I realized we were not alone. I turned around and saw a dog... in the water. Guess he didn't read the sign.

His owner pulled him out of the shallow water and stopped to talk for a minute. We said we were trying to find a road that would get us over to the river canyon. He gave us detailed directions about how to do this. We thanked him and he and his dog walked on down the road.
We walked back to the car, drove around the edges of the lake and a few miles later, we found the trail head... right where the man had told us it was. Another car was parked there too. This reminded me of Geocaching only this time we were trying to find flowers, not hidden treasure.

It didn't look very official, but we took all of my camera equipment and hiked up onto the trail.

This was one of those beautiful California Sunshine Days that you heard about in the songs... you know... The Mamas and the Papas dreaming about California sunshine on a dreary, winter's day.
or Waylon Jennings....
...They say those California girls are fine
They know how to really walk your mind
Well, one of you get ready 'cause you're mine
I'm headin' for that California sunshine."
And, of course... The Beach Boys singing about beaches and bikinis, wishing all girls "...could be California girls."
It was a magic word back then... California. I'm sure these songs were written about a day like this one. Blue skies, warm breezes, sunshine........flowers in my hair.
Oh, man. Sorry! I got caught up in the 60's for a moment.

The Prospector and I walked to the top of the ridge.

The view was amazing and so beautiful.... but I didn't see any poppies.

My favorite river, the Mokelumne, is down in that canyon, somewhere.

There was a lot of green grass, small white flowers (California fairy poppies or meconella) and Fiddleneck (Amsinckia retrorsa).

And this... a fiddleneck unfurled.

And one that the Prospector showed me (without picking it).

I believe this is called  Common Brodiaea  or Blue dick, desert hyacinth?..(this certainly isn't the desert.)... or even more likely, a different Brodiaea, called a Twining Brodiaea  or twining snakelily. This wildflower did have a twining stem.
The only poppies we saw were a few miles west on another hillside.

There they were... in all their orangeluminous beauty. I was beginning to think I should stop the madness and just go back to the small display of poppies on my own property, put my macro lens on, and do some 1:1 close-ups of the flowers near my house.
I was a bit disappointed, but I still had some other options. I had directions from another Facebook "poppy lover", who had taken pity on me and given me very good directions to the area off of Ponderosa Way. Should I come up here again? Should I obsess until I find the gold at the end of the rainbow?
Well, at that moment, I had to get the Prospector off the ridge area before I lost him to what he thought was an old tertiary river bed with some very interesting rocks in it.
He was getting that gleam in his eyes.

These rocks were very heavy... with lot's of crystallization in them.

 I might have lost him forever if I didn't make him start back to the car with me. The rock was an interesting lode type rock that could have started a serious dry-washing project... so it was time to move on.

(Why is this being written in orange? Because I went on another Poppy quest today and found what I was looking for. Wait until you see the beautiful photos tomorrow.
 I found Poppy Heaven on Electra Rd.... That sounds like the title of a good song doesn't it? Stay tuned.)

"... so many kinds of yes."

"...sweet spring is your
time is my time is our
time for springtime is love time
and viva sweet love"
 ~e.e. Cummings~ 

All the creatures are busy with thoughts of the ancient and instinctive need to procreate. Some are busy looking for safe places to build nests and others have already been busy... and now, have something to show for their efforts. While blocking my one lane country road, taking pictures of this squirrel, a friend stopped to talk.

He said that there were calves in the field. He had taken some photos of them and I should stop and do the same. 

It was one of those wonderful, warm Spring days when Nature (ours anyway) was trying to show the world how beautiful it could be. Like a little girl, in her Easter dress and patent leather shoes, the day was shiny and perfect. 

As I said goodbye to my friend and continued up the road... there it was. 

Sweetness, perfection and too much cuteness...

This little guy almost made me want to hop the fence and play. But its mom gave me that " Don't even think about it." look, so I told her I only wanted to take a picture... and then ,I walked along the fence line looking for other photo opportunities. 

That's when I heard a very loud cow mooing. Not a very large cow... a very loud and noisy cow... and she was coming right toward me... almost running. Yes, a cow can run. This one was.

I realized that I was standing where they all usually get fed and I was pretty sure that she thought I had food.
Then she stopped... and looked at me.

She stared for quite a while, took a few steps toward me, then backed away.

"You're not Farmer Fred and you are not the lady who comes and feeds us either. You are an impostor!"
Don't tell me that animals don't convey their lack of language in a very clear way. This one knew that I was not the person in charge.
She bellowed again to the other cows ( "She's just another deadbeat photographer."), turned around...

And walked away. 

She knew that I didn't have vegetables, goodies or anything that she could eat. I wasn't worth her time.
***********************************

This afternoon I went for a hike. It's so beautiful out there that it seems like a insult to nature if you stay in the house.
I walked up the dirt road.

It was raining shooting stars.

And the buttercups were everywhere. Hiding in the dry winter grasses and...

reaching for the warm afternoon sunshine.

This is an amazing and beautiful Spring.

I will go find the poppies soon. I've been told that this weekend will be prime time to photograph the tulips and daffodils of Daffodil Hill.
I know the poppies are coming up all over the hills from here to the river.
Last weekend, we built a planter... a Topsy turvy pot planter.
My neighbor found this idea and she built one the week before last. I finally got the pots and, with the Prospector's help, we constructed the whole thing in a few hours.

The little frog said, "This is it? Where are the flowers, so I can hide from Carl and Cutter?"

So, yesterday I drove to Lowe's and bought some flowers. Now it's really done and we love it.
Frog is happy too.

He really didn't have to hide from the Corgi boys because they are more interested in lizards and gophers right now than a little concrete frog.
Hopefully, this project will save water and it surely will confused the gophers.
Carl and Cutter are on their lizard quest out here, so I need to put the little wire fence back up. I don't want them to mess around in the garden and tromp on everything. I think I have one answer that doesn't need any preparing. The turkey are back. We hear them echoing from hill to hill. They are being really crazy out there and come to the driveway looking for water and lady turkey to flirt with.
Carl starts barking at them and, then he comes up on the porch.

He acts very cool about it all, but when I get up to go into the house, he looks at me , as if to say, "Hey, mom, where are you going? You need to protect us from those crazy birds."

Cutter, on the other hand, just wants to go in the house and hide.

"Just let me in. I don't like those big birds at all."

So, Spring is here... and it's so achingly beautiful that I want to stay outside all the time, taking a camera and a sleeping bag with me and live off the land... stay out there all night and "wake with the morning light". 
"Oh, you can't do that, Farmlady. You're too old?" 
Who said that? Where does it say that  an old lady can't hike around BLM land and live under a bridge? She just needs some food, a change of clothes, a portable toilet, bottled water, her toothbrush and her pillow, her meds and a gun... Just a few simple necessities.
OK, I'm getting carried away. I'm not really thinking about sleeping out in the bush. I have a nice safe home to live in... and a husband to protect me and two BRAVE dogs to ward off wild turkeys. Besides, I would come home with embedded  ticks and a good case of poison oak... not to mention the mountain lions that might want to eat me for dinner. Around here you need to be aware of all the things that might make 'living under the bridge' a really lame idea.
But.... it's fun to think about.

“It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want—oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”
  ~Mark Twain~