4000 Sales Finally and Other Stuff

I finally, finally, made it to 4000 sales over the weekend! Actually, now it's at 4001, but who's counting, ha ha.

Well, we started on our low carb let's lose some weight adventure this weekend, and we were both STARVING all weekend. I'm STARVING right now as a matter of fact, partly because when I went to bed last night I was STARVING.

Anyway. I don't think this adventure is going to be all that much fun.

We were watching the Huell Howser show California's Gold on PBS where he goes around and gets really excited over obscure tourist attractions and weird historical facts around our great state, and he was in Lodi where A&W Root Beer was first debuted about 100 years ago, and they were drinking root beer floats at the A&W drive in and we really really wanted a root beer float. We decided we could get some diet root beer and no sugar added ice cream and have a root beer float but we had already been to the grocery store and have no more grocery money until payday, so the root beer floats will just have to wait.

And, speaking of the town of Lodi, which always makes me want to sing the old Creedence Clearwater Revival song:

Just about a year ago,
I set out on the road,
Seeking my fame and fortune,
Looking for a pot of gold.
Things got bad, and things got worse,
I guess you will know the tune.
Oh ! Lord, Stuck in Lodi again.

I really want to go visit there now after watching the show, and not just for the root beer floats. He was visiting their little zoo, the Micke Grove Zoo, a zoo and gardens started by Mr. Micke in honor of his wife in a big oak grove. There is a Japanese garden that looked just beautiful and a zoo with about 60 animals, including a seal that now shares his pool with his seal son.

They also have a huge number of cranes that winter in the wetlands near Lodi and you can go out and birdwatch as the cranes come to roost after eating rice in nearby fields which I'm sure the farmers just love, and they even have a crane watching shed all set up with benches to sit on while you are crane watching. They showed a huge flock of these gigantic birds (like five feet tall with wing spans of seven feet) flying around and screeching, and they have the Sandhill Crane Festival every November. Apparently these cranes migrate from as far away as Siberia each year to nest right here in California. Keith wants to go to the festival but I don't think we can swing it this year, he has used up all his vacation and it's about a 6 hour drive, so we'd have to stay overnight somewhere, so maybe next year. Personally I'd rather see the cranes on a non-festival weekend when it's quieter, but that's just me.

Anyway, next fall we'll go visit Lodi and the cranes.