Hot Days of Summer

 You know I am only about 2 1/2 hours from the beach. Its a beautiful 66 degrees, 50 at night. Today here at my house it is supposed to be 109. Why don't I go? Because a million people have the same idea. 

So I am going to turn the house into a cave and find things to do. Its a good day to write a blog. We have a river in Kern County called the Kern River. It goes by other names like The mighty Kern but mostly this time of year its called the Killer Kern. This year because of the rain and the snow pack, it is unlike anything that I have ever seen in my life time. Yes, I was born here. My daughter Emilie house sits for her In-laws and she invited me out. It was a fun little field trip. I always wanted to live out in this area, but when we were looking at houses out there, I knew I would have children driving that road and decided against it. Its still a terrible road. 

In normal dry years, the river at this point is a safe, little area. You might see people going down this place in inner-tubes. Not me, I grew up on too many horror stories. Its higher than I have ever seen it and the wild life just love it. We walked around down there and there was so much to see. 

Its not a very good picture, but there is a beaver family, making dams in the river. We found three houses that had been abandoned as the river is changing its course, as the water levels are rising and going down. My son-in-law the night before had been skipping rocks and the beaver came out and slapped his tail really hard on the water. That was how they found out he was there. 

Along the side of their property, is this foundation. Its really old. No one knows who built it. Down the way is a old park. Its called Hart Park and the WPA ( The Works Progress Administration.) built lots of stuff in there so I wondered if that was built by them in the 30s. 

Coming up from the river is this old stairway, to kind of an island up on top. There are three other stair ways going in other directions from the top of the island. Its the same masonry as the one that is in the river like a dock. 

 Can you see that buzzard sunning himself on the fence. We had walked up to the top of the island and I could see two of these parents sitting there and when I looked up the babies were in the trees. Just watching us as we roamed around. I couldn't get any closer. In the mud next to the water I saw, a freeway of tracks, raccoon, possum, fox and coyote. There were deer and things I didn't know. My tracking skills are getting rusty. 

This is the fireplace there on the island. So does that look like a face? I didn't notice it when I was standing in front of it, but in my picture could it be a Big Foot face. ;) The top picture is the back side and the rocks that build it up you can see. The river had rose so high this was in the water. It was still muddy when I was there you can see a little pond behind it for when the water was even higher. 

 

This is one of the beavers homes that he has had to leave as the water level drops. Now you know where the saying comes, " A busy beaver." He is a really busy guy.

On the other side of the river, up on that hillside is a camp ground. I went there once when I rode my horse out there. Its been years and years since I had been that far. 

I know its not a very good shot, but there is a family of owls that live down there and as we walked under a tree they flew off. The male flew up here and the mom and baby flew down the river to get away from us. I was enthralled. Its really a lovely place and even though its not that far out of town it still took me an hour to get home. I bet this spring it was just lovely. My son-in-law grew up out here. So when he gets to house sit for him its like being at home. I enjoyed myself so much. 

I hope you enjoyed your visit too. Thanks for stopping by,

~Kim~

“July is hollyhocks and hammocks, fireworks and vacations, hot and steamy weather, cool and refreshing swims, beach picnics, and vegetables all out of the garden."

~Jean Hershey---