Car Talk

Wednesday has arrived and it’s irrigation day once again. And with the sun rising later each day, I will probably need a flashlight to make my way up the path to the canal. And swinging a stick in front of me to avoid the spider webs.

When I was mowing the orchard yesterday, I noticed that the prune tree was just about ready to deliver ripe fruit. The plum tree is now bare as are the peach trees. Prunes, pears, pomegranates and persimmons are all that’s left for the season. What’s with all of the “P” words? I forgot…apples are yet to come.

And, while I was mowing, I couldn’t help but notice that the neighbor directly behind us has cleaned up the old orchard there. It had been overgrown with weeds and the trees hadn’t been pruned in a long time. Now it is all cleared ground around each tree and you can see all of the way from back to front. I’m not sure how big a piece of property is there, maybe 5 acres, but it is looking much better. And while the property to the north of us, 20 acres, may end being offered for sale, I can’t imagine that it would sell very fast. The property market here is quickly growing cold, just as it is everywhere else. Plus, 20 acres of bare land is not the most desirable offering these days and the start-up costs for a new orchard have to be pretty steep.  

Jill and the twins came down from Susanville yesterday, bringing their new car to show off, a bright yellow Toyota FJ Cruiser. Then I got to drive it into Chico when we went to Alicia and Kevin’s house to celebrate Kyle’s 6th birthday. What fun to be with so many grandchildren! (5) The negative? They are all growing up so quickly…

Every negative deserves a positive. So in this case it is the appearance of the Toyota. It’s really ugly! Why is that a positive? Because my son loved giving me a bad time about our preference for the Toyota Scion xB. So now we’re even.

OK, I have to admit that both of the Toyota models are ugly; most cars are these days. So many of today’s cars look vaguely “military”, with squared off corners and no grace at all. Spray them with camouflage paint and they would fit into any parade. And yesterday, as I was leaving the park, an old Austin Healey 3000 was directly ahead of me. Now that was a beautiful car! Well; almost as beautiful as the Austin Healey I once owned, the 100-4 (BN-1). I owned that car during the late 50’s and most sports cars were sleek and looked fast…even when they weren’t. The Jaguar was a good example of one that was both fast and sleek.