happy halloween

 'kakai' pumpkin grown in the orchard garden this year

oak galls

found lots of different oak galls (all of them on valley oak, Quercus lobata) this morning while i was out walking with zane.  galls are caused by tiny cynipid wasps.  the wasps lay their eggs on the oak trees' leaves or stems and in doing so trigger a reaction that causes the tree to create a gall around the egg where the larva will then develop.  

here are some links with more photos and information:

http://joycegross.com/galls_ca_oak.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall_wasp

and here is what zane and i found this morning...

neat.  very.

garter snake

gopher snake

hornitos flea market

yesterday was the annual flea market in hornitos.  it's kind of the ultimate yard sale around these parts.  staal and i have gone to it every year since we met and always have a lot of fun spending a few hours poking around for treasures. 

a happy (and handsome) market goer

there's always a lot to see...

some things looked very familiar...

pretty sure caleb and i scooted around in this when we were kids

i resisted the pumpkins but i did bring home a little bag of assorted pumpkin seed the pumpkin folk were selling.

 and a few more creatures for the greenhouse.

worst ever picture of the best ever toolbox

there are always several food trucks/carts but the place that makes the indian tacos always smells the best (the smell of indian fry bread in hot oil is pretty amazing) and staal gave them a try this year.  the tacos are really popular and they were out of meat by the time staal got to the head of the line but it was still a very enjoyable treat.

staal loves old sewing machines so this pretty little thing followed us home.  the guy selling it had stripped it out of its cabinet and turned the iron base with the treadle into a table with a marble top.  we saw more than one "treadle table" there this year.  the vendors can make more money selling them that way than they can as sewing machines.  even without the cabinet and treadle it's quite a treasure and lucky to have come home with someone who will enjoy it and take good care of it.

singer 27 with sphinx from 1900

no dogs allowed this year so zane spent most of his time waiting for us to come back to the truck (usually there are too many dogs and he ends up having to stay in the truck anyway) but he did have fun sniffing around the end of town and watching a herd of goats before we headed back home.

two smiley guys outside the little market at the edge of town

it was a great day spent with my two most favorite fellers.