Becca has just turned 21 as of Thanksgiving!

Stephanie is having fun with her high school social life.

Tony and I had a marvelous trip to New Zealand in August and of course had to get into some mischief with our buddies Brian and Judith.

Here are some pics of the recent fires in Orange county. Some great shots. I did not take them as you could not get any where near unless you were news crew or press. Below these are some shots of the aftermath. No much was left where the fire hit. the hills are just dirt now and will erode badly should the rains ever come back. We have only had 3 inches in the last 18 months. 12 - 15 a year is normal. One day man will learn not to interfere with mother nature. A lot of this is due to very poor forest management over the past 100 years.

Here are some pics I took today of the fires we had in Orange County. The fire dept did a hell of a job saving the houses. There were very few burned round this area which was amazing as in many places fire had completely burned all round a house or up to the property line then stopped. The big lesson here is if you want to go live in the bush move to Oregon where it rains all the time and you cant start a fire with anything. Click on the pic to enlarge it and click on the "back" arrow to reduce it.

Tony

Some of my green finger products in our front garden. Kind-a proud of my efforts here. Tomatoes are going crazy too. Will be eating them in a couple of weeks.

Stephie and Becca




Steph,Becca and an old fart

Hi all

Here is a new format for you so I do not have to email large picture files. My new camera takes huge file pictures and this will let you see them without tying up your computer in long downloads.

Here are some new pictures of the house and garden which Mum wanted to see.


This is the front garden planter which I have just been adding all sorts of stuff, not much or any planning involved. The tree in the back left is due for transplanting soon as it is going to be huge and will probably collapse the planter when it gets bigger.

The first 2 are the backyard progress. As you will see there are 2 NZ manuka plants on the left side of the pond. Yes I know you employ prople to cut the stuff there but here it is a little bit of home. I hav put the grass down but it aint com eup yet. I cant afford to do the paving etc i really want but i am sick of the dust bowl. We have had 2.5 inches of rain in the past year so.... Usually get 14 - 16 inches a year.

Next is the sadly leaning Elsa Cowan tree which is coming out soon. I really do not want it ther next time the strong winds come (the Santa Ana's)

The front garden planter is below.