Yosemite Falls trail - borrowed photos

Going Down?


Don't slip!

The bridge that is above the falls.


(these are photos from Webshots.com, members name Jokritzb- late winter shots, & dshaffer56 - summer shots)

The middle falls are actually "cascades".

Since I didn't have the equipment to take this type of photo back in 1975, I've accessed webshots to find photos of what I saw along the Yosemite Falls Trail.

Upper Yosemite Falls from the trail. It's even more impressive up close!

The last photo posted was taken by our daughter, Katie, in June of 2008, from Taft Point (across the Valley off the Glacier Point road). The switchbacks on the Yosemite Falls trails are somewhat visible to the left of Yosemite Falls.

Moving Day March 2005

Moving Day

Katie and Erik inside the U-Haul truck that we rented. Shane is in the next photo. Erik loading up. These pictures bring back some good.... and some bad memories. Loading the truck three times was VERY stressful for everyone.














After living in Glendora for most of our lives, it was time to make a move to Tehachapi, California. We took three truck loads of household stuff to Tehachapi before the house closed escrow on March 18, 2005. We stayed at Leone Thompson's mobile home (Stan's step-mom) for the three days in between leaving the Calera Avenue house in Glendora and moving to Tehachapi.



These are some of the final photos that I took before leaving the Calera Avenue house.

This photo was taken near the railroad tracks near our next door neighbor's home (Norm Juarez).

Kitty transport!

Bitty wouldn't stop meowing so we put him in the same carrier as Bean and he quieted down. PoPo (the black & white cat) cried for 140 miles.












We bought our home in Tehachapi from the Memoli family and they left behind a cat named Sox. Sox was there when we first looked at the home.

Left to right, the photos are of Mindy, Katie, Stan, & Erik with the "cat that came with the house", Sox.

Tehachapi, California

Kitties

The photo at left of Bean and Bitty was taken when we were moving from Glendora, CA to Tehachapi, CA.They would later have a litter of kittens, and Orangey was one of that litter.

After several feisty orange tabbies, we lucked out with "Orangey-Tang"! He's Bean & Bitty's son so we've had him in our household since birth. Stan calls him a little love monster since he's so sweet and affectionate.

When we got "Bitty" he was a little scrawny kitten.

Then he grew up to be a massive tomcat, especially after he went to the vet's to get tutored And, obviously before he was tutored, I mean neutered, he fathered a litter of kittens with "Bean".

Majestic Bitty - who started out being called "Harley". Bitty is the name that stuck. Calling him Bitty is like calling a big guy "Tiny".

Our Equine Family

Our Horses

Buttons & Buttercup at Corral 35 on Glendora Mountain Road - they loved to run together! Buttons' color is lighter than Buttercup in these photos. And - Buttons, generally liked to take the lead!

Buttons & Buttercup at Three Oaks Ranch in Glendora, CA.

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Now on to the history of horses joining our family: After riding horses in Yosemite in August of 2001, Katie and I decided to take lessons from Debbie Garland. After two months of riding the lesson horse Mikey (at left), we found that it was time to buy our own horse.

On 21 November 2001, Buttons (at right) joined our family. This is a photo from that first day with her. My first thought was, "now what do I do?" just like bringing my first child home from the hospital. Buttons was a very patient and tolerant teacher overall. She's been such a delight! From the time I was little watching Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, I'd always wanted a horse, and with our trainer/instructor, Deb's help, we chose Buttons. And, no I didn't get a Palomino because Trigger (Roy Rogers' horse) was a Palomino! She just seemed to "fit" us.

After a year and a half (in June of 2003), we found Buttercup (and for the record, we didn't give them these names!) Buttercup was abused by a previous owner and she was rescued by a woman in Murrietta (Kim Reynolds). For a period of time, we had the two horses at two different barns/stables. That was a lot of work! Eventually, we were able to move Buttercup to the same barn. We could turn the two of them out together in the arenas at Three Oaks and at Corral 35. These girls would run together, side by side, trying to see who could out run the other. I think these were the times when Buttercup looked happiest. She was with her "sister" running with the wind in her mane and tail!

Here are the two "butt sisters" at Three Oaks Ranch, owned by Toni Agnello and Johnny Blankenship. Johnny is visiting with Buttercup in the picture while she's in the round pen (Stan has Buttons on a lead line). Johnny is quite a musician; he's in the Western Music Hall of Fame with the band, The Reinsmen. The photo at right is Johnny riding Buttons in the January 2003 Rose Parade with the Long Beach Mounted Police.

Footnote to Buttercup's story: We had moved to Tehachapi, CA in March of 2005. Buttercup had generally flourished in the open spaces and clean air. One morning in January of 2007, Katie went to feed the horses. She called me and said that Buttercup was lying down and wouldn't get up. I joined them down in the corrals and managed to get her up. We tried to hand walk her a little, but she was apparently in pain. She called to Wasi (her equine buddy!) and then laid down one final time. Buttercup was apparently having seizures of some kind. By the time we got a call back from the vet, she was already gone. We miss her a lot but we're glad she's not suffering. Her life had been full of so many "scary things" and "scary people" - at least she knew she was loved by us.

Back to our horse history: In the Fall of 2004, we decided to add another horse to our menagerie. Stan had always wanted a dapple grey horse and I found a horse that was called "Frosty" in the Horse Trader magazine. We drove out to see him (near the 15 fwy on the way to San Diego). At about 6-8 years, we found him to be a calm, yet kinda pudgy gelding. We were driving home when Stan said, "We could call him 'Wasi'" from the Val Kilmer movie, Thunderheart. Wasi (pronounced WaSHEE) means chubby or large (or greedy) from the Lakota/Sioux language. It seemed to be a fitting name and from then on, it was decided that Wasi was to join our family. He's not quite a dapply grey - but he does have some dapple markings, plus a little so-called flea-bitten markings (i.e., spots) with a lot of white. He wasn't the calm gentleman we found at first and we've since determined that he likes men better than women. But.... he is part of the family.

Stan on "Doc"

Stan worked with a man by the name of Dennis Zaferis. Dennis and his wife, Debbie, had three horses for sale since Debbie was experiencing some serious health problems. We went to their home in Lancaster and rode two of their horses, Doc (at right) and Lexi (at left). Doc's a Missouri Foxtrotter and Lexi's a Belgium Draft cross (and quite a BIG horse). We didn't ride Luke a.ka. Guido since Dennie & Debbie felt like he needed more training.

The photo at left is of Mindy riding that large load, Lexi!

These two pics are of Debbie saying goodbye to Doc - since he was coming to our house! We'd made plans to put either Wasi & Doc together or Doc & Buttercup - but Buttercup died two days before we were to pick up Doc. It was as if she knew that it was time for her to "go to the other side" since Wasi would have a new friend.

Four months later, Debbie & Dennis called us to GIVE Guido to us. They'd tried to sell him but no one had "met" their expectations so they wanted us to have him. Guido's a big boy! This is a picture of Debbie and Dennis saying goodbye to Guido.Debbie was crying.

Mindy showing Guido's size!

He's a red roan draft cross, with dark points.

Katie petting him!

We eventually donated Guido to the R. I. S. E. Therapeutic Riding Program here in Tehachapi. The Mackie family from the Tehachapi Ward have a son, James, who has Down's syndrome and is in the R.I.S.E. program, and they'll be taking care of him, as well. Kathryn Mackie has trained horses before so in this situation, we feel that everyone wins. Guido was getting really bored with us so this is good for him. He'll be busy.

One of our friends said that 4 horses is so much more work than 3 and I couldn't understand what he meant. He was right. Now we're back to 3 horses, things are more manageable, and Guido will be in good hands! Plus - we thought it would be a good idea to find a better home for Guido before he bent every pipe "panel" that we owned!

Here's Guido in the arena at his new home.