Just a update. I came up to Tahoe for a few days to see my daughter. She got two days off work, after working 12 hours/day for thirteen days straight. Her summer is going great. The kitchen is running smoothly. She's been learning how to manage her kitchen staff, 10 people including two assistant supervisors and a bunch of junior cooks. Lots of training, teaching, correcting, encouraging, and now doing job reviews and planning staffing for next summer. She's also been writing up recipes and procedures, filling out employee evaluations, and other administrative stuff. Along the way they've had to deal with equipment breaking down, water shortages, a small forest fire that closed the road and interrupted food delivery for awhile, and other interesting aspects of cooking in the high mountains. The camper feedback on the food has been very good. People have told me the meals have been the best they've ever had in years of coming to camp. She's been asked for her recipes several times. (As an aside, I think they need to change their policies for accommodating special dietary requests. This being a Berkeley camp, families are always requesting that their meals for the week be gluten free, dairy free, meat free, nut free, kosher, vegan, soy free, low fat, low carb, without certain spices, no raw vegetables, no garlic or onions, no peppers, no tomatoes, and on and on - the list of idiosyncratic restrictions seems endless. Right now the camp kitchen accommodates every request, which means they have to improvise a special variant or two of the meal, for one or more individual campers, almost every day. I told her they need to develop a standard list of alternative dishes using food that they will stock all the time and offer those and only those, instead of trying to create bespoke versions of every meal served during the week. For example, they should always be able to accommodate vegetarians or gluten intolerants or lactose intolerant, but I don't think a camper should be able to present any arbitrary list of restrictions and always expect to be accommodated. This isn't a restaurant, it is a summer camp.) On her first day off, we drove to Reno and found a restaurant supply store, and I bought a bunch of little stuff they need. Things like more aprons and oven mitts, egg slicers, thermometers, etc. My daughter was like a kid in a candy store. The camp kitchen needs a lot of other equipment, but my "helpful dad" budget does not extend to a commercial mixer (the kids are making dough by hand because they only have one Kitchen-Aid for 140 people), a Robot Coupe (they chop everything by hand, no food processor), a commercial rice maker, etc. The kitchen does get improved a little every year. Maybe next summer they will actually have their new ovens installed. Can you imagine feeding 140 people a day with just one large flat top, four burners, one small oven, and one charbroiler? At the former camp in Yosemite that burned in the big forest fire of 2013, the kitchen was well equipped. At this camp in Tahoe, the kitchen is nowhere as good. I've been vagabonding while I'm here. The first night I put my sleeping bag on the couch on the deck of the tent cabin that my daughter shares with some other girls. That was comfortable enough but I am a bit appalled at how messy four teenaged girls can be. The next night my daughter and I slept on the beach at Lake Tahoe, outside a friend's house. We watched the local bear splashing through the water about 70 feet away, then fell asleep to a fantastic lightning storm on the other side of the lake. Pictures below. Tonight I'm borrowing that friend's tent cabin, so I'm slightly less on guard about the local bear. He has never threatened anyone, in the five years that he's been living in this grove by the lake, and I've been within 40 feet of him a few times, but you still have to make sure you don't have food in your car or in your sleeping bag. Well, that's it for now. It might rain tonight, so I'm glad my sleeping bag isn't on the beach.

When I vacuum and put the kids floor pillows on the chair Her Royal Highness assumes her position: I had a post written up this morning that i forgot to post and subsequently closed the browser thinking I'd posted. Much shorter now: Replaced our worn out sofa w/ a white machine washable slipcovered one. I purposely bought it so that the dog could be on it. I throw the slips in the laundry w/ a crap load of bleach and they come out fantastically and the only thing that I haven't been able to fully get out was the gel ink stain from a pen that exploded a few weeks ago. Oh well! I have a white metalasse' throw that I put over the back of it because Poochina likes to lay on the back of the sofa and observe what goes on outside. I currently have faux leather chairs that wipe off easily and cleanly. When they are totally trashed someday I will replace w/ real leather because I know it works for my needs. I gave up heavy comforters a few yrs ago in lieu of machine washable quilts that I turn down when I'm home and the gal is following me around and when we go to work I pull it up all of the way and she sleeps up there until we come home. On her white sofa: Proving that no space is too small for her to squeeze into and cuddle w/ someone.

Madonna, stay safe. Here they are projecting rain and sustained winds of 30 MPH, with gusts up to 50, but no tornadoes, thankfully. As long as the power stays on, we're good, and even if it goes out it isn't so cold that anything would freeze (except me, LOL). Those little repairs and issues just nag at you, don't they? Hugs to you, and good luck with that battery charger! PWM, I will try, but I doubt he'll stay long, sightings are rare this far south. The DNR says that there have been several sightings, as young owls fly further in search of food, apparently this odd weather has messed up the food supply. So, I've seen him three times, hunting for mice mostly likely, and since I don't have a barn cat at the moment there's an ample supply. Cell phones don't work here so I just have a little trac phone, no camera/phone, and so have never had a camera with me when I've seen him. DNR also told me that because of their unusually remote existence, they don't seem to have the same fear of humans as other owls, so people actually see them. Unfortunately, sometimes they run awry of humans, as they shot 9 of them two years ago at the Grand Rapids airport, about 50 miles south of me. (sigh) http://michiganradio.org/post/grand-rapids-airport-faces-unprecedented-influx-snowy-owls My nephew got this picture on his trail cam last fall, just behind the house, definitely not an owl, but a nice big bobcat. I think that's a raccoon he has for lunch... And this picture was taken while sitting at the computer, it was right outside my window, I think it's a partridge. Last fall and through the winter I regularly saw a flock of hen pheasants with a couple of roosters. Now I haven't seen them for a month or so, I'm hoping they are still here and safe, as the pheasant population was pretty much decimated here. I'd love to see them come back. Annie

Are there any slim feet people here? I have to share my new worlds most comfortable sandal from The Flexx shoe company. They have a stretchy section. Love! I'll be able to do lots of miles on vacation. They have a 1 1/2" heel. Here is the link at Nordstrom. It says they fit true to size but if they fit my foot perfectly they must be at least slightly narrow. Not overly though. http://m.shop.nordstrom.com/s/the-flexx-band-together-sandal/3520349?cm_mmc=google--productads--Women%3AShoes%3ASandals_Slides-_-909074&rkg_id=h-77242275352e1500631745f06a4fef51_t-1496187451&adpos=1o1&creative=145503081341&device=m&network=g&gclid=COHMpszkmNQCFVMGhgod5ccBrg