Eclectic Views

    
Stuffed grape leaves are called "dolmas" in Turkey. 
Jitneys (shared taxis) are also called "dolmas".
"dolmas" means "stuffed".
They are excellent camping vittles.
  

    
Earthquake kits give me the big pain. 

The quandary: A dozen or so hellaciously old cans'o'beans and such,
lookin' eerie and skeery, and me taught to NEVER throw food away.

What's a neurotic to do?
  

    
Donate them when the cardboard barrels come out, just before
Thanksgiving.  And don't keep them for five years before you
give them away!
  

    
Yeah, rotate yearly by donating or finding a recipe -- canned beans are a
perfectly reasonable ingreadient for all kinds of soups, for example.

You can date emergency cans in crayon on the tops, and donate a year later
after wiping them clean. But five years later that would be a little creepy.
  

    
> It's hard to eat just one

I love <gail> but did she really say that?  I've always had trouble
with that slogan.  Reminds me of guys I used to know at the 8th Street
Baths.

> dolmas

I always thought that was cute how they named their jitneys after
their fingerfood.  Always rendered images of some Turkish Godzilla
eating people out of a little mini-van in its hands.  <maya checks his
watch.  Yup.  Definitely time for another pill.>
  

    
Steven Sylber -- wearing a Lakers jersey, soaking up rays and sittin'
pretty -- will let you in on a secret, even though friends seated
around him on lawn chairs are muttering for him to keep his mouth shut.
If he's going to talk, they would rather he say that the beach is
packed, the weather is wicked, the kids are bored and there's no way to
get a campsite at Carpinteria State Beach without a reservation made
last July.

Sylber ponders their concerns.

He and his wife, Julie, of Mission Hills are camping with friends in
the midst of the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. They made
their reservations a couple of weeks in advance and got their favorite
Carpinteria camping spot, a corner overlooking a large grassy area.
Temperatures have reached the 70s. "When the weather's like this, we
prefer camping in the winter," Steven Sylber says. The others groan,
but he continues: It's less crowded, more relaxed and much easier to
find a site. "But don't tell anybody."

If you're willing to risk encountering winter-like conditions, the
off-season can be a great time to go camping.

"It's one of the best-kept secrets," says Wes Chapin, interpretive
specialist for the California State Parks Channel Coast District.
"Off-season camping is a little risky in terms of the weather, but the
rewards, I think, are certainly there if you don't have to fight the
crowds." 

http://tinyurl.com/5gy5
  

    
Myself, my dog and my VW bus are going to tootle up to Ft. Bragg for
the weekend for some camping. I got a new CB, so I can listen in to the
truckers. I will stop at all garage sales along the way, listen to
"Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me" and eat greasy fast food. I may hang around
Willits to visit the Proto Pipe factory. Woo hoo!
  

    
Proto Pipe Factory? Never heard of it, do tell!

Man, I need to get up that way again. It's been a looong time.
  

    
Um, it is a small pipe for smoking, um, tobacco.
  

    
Oh, man, I'm getting so damn old. I thought of those ornately carved
pipes in the shapes of long bearded men, or something.
  

    
Compared to a Proto Pipe, those are a mere sham.
  

    
Have fun camping, Joe (I know - you are long gone by now). I have
enjoyed winter camping by the sea many times. Salt Point or Half Moon
Bay. Though not this year, damn it. So far. 

As for greasy fast food, feh! One of my favourite reasons for camping
is so I can cook delicious meals and eat them at dusk in the woods,
listening to surf crashing. 
  

    
Camping at MacKerricher State Park was splendid! (Pretty dang cold
though.) My campsite (125) had a good view of the ocean, the night
stars were swell, the campfire burned without complaining. 

Rather than cook anything, I brought along a carnitas burrito for my
dinner from a neighborhood Salvadorian place. At about 8:00pm, the
raccoons invaded, but Mavis the dog (NOTW) barked and kept them at bay.
I didn't leave any food out, but there were cute little footprints on
the tablecloth in the morning.

I didn't eat any 'greasy fast food', but had a VERY GOOD breakfast
this morning at the (highly recommended) Hwy 1 cafe, right on the main
drag in Ft. Bragg. 
  

    
Sounds like fun. So why won't you let Mavis have a Well account?
  

    
She keeps changing the settings and I'm afraid she would spend too
much time in the pets conference arguing about the existence of godog.
  

    
Can't you get Mavis her own computer? That way, no problem with your
settings. As for the existence of godog, I'm sure she has insights that
haven't been posted before.
  

    
She has been making way too many long distance telephone calls lately.
I suspect that she is also ordering dog chews and pig ears online when
I am not home, and of course, she has her own web page. 
http://www.geocities.com/seamallowance/Mavis.html
  

    
I knew she was an online kinda gal!
  

    
Now, that's the kind of grin I like to see! Mavis! 
  

    
One of my favorite campgrounds in the whole wide world is Arroyo Seco,
a developed USFS campground in the Los Padres Natl. Forest.

If the name rings a bell, that is because this same campground is in
the news right now, it is the campground where two students died while
on a backpacking trip. Read more about this at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/03/07/3STUDENTS.TMP

The sad event at this campground should not put you off from visiting
though, this place really is one of the best that I have ever camped in
anywhere in the world.

What is there?
Mature Oak trees cluttered with frisky woodpeckers, a fishin' pond,
hot showers, big views, a nearby swimming hole, a reasonable distance
from San Francisco but rarely full. 

If you are considering some car camping anytime soon, check out Arroyo
Seco. Sites 15/16 are my favorites: they include a majestic view and a
short walk to the *flush* toilets.
  

    
I've gone swimming in the hole those kids fell into.  It's very
pretty.
  

    
flush toilets? static, you're a weinie! I never knew!

REAL campers use pit toilets - or a li'l hole in the ground.

I've definitely got the itch to do some serious backpacking soon.
Combination of this beautiful early spring (sorry, you snowy folk), and
the disarray of a house under construction. A tiny, clean tent sounds
very appealing right now.
  

    
Flush toilets sound just fine, thank you very much. 
  

    
I have reservations for 3/23-3/27 at Tamarisk Grove in Anza Borrego (San
Diego County).
  

    
Do you have a buddy who goes camping with you, dbdoty?