Blossom Season in Manteca

Almond Season is a special time of year in Manteca.  The orchards are beautiful.  This year it has also been very cold.  Wednesday it hailed.  I had to take ice, almost like snow, off the windshield.  I was able to make a couple snowballs with it.  A Facebook friend posted a picture of ice on the blossoms.  It has been cold as well.  I asked a home teaching family about the danger to the almonds.  He raises almonds as well.  He said during blossom season the ice can actually protect the blossoms from the cold.  However, in a couple weeks, when the almonds first start to develop, they are more susceptible to the cold and the crop would be affected. 

Life in Manteca 87: The Almonds are in Bloom

It is that time of year again when Spring has officially begun as witnessed by the almond blossoms.  These pictures I took across from the Stake Center after church. Ripon held the ALmond Blossom Festival this weekend.

Beautiful.  We are due for a big rain this week, so the weather may turn out well for the almond crop.  Many local people depend on a good crop.  The other tree mixed in locally is walnuts, but mostly farther east.

Life in Manteca 60: Wood Chipping the Orchard

This is an update on a blog from November, announcing that the orchard behind our house had been knocked down.
http://billywardlefamily.blogspot.com/2012/11/life-in-manteca-57-say-it-aint-so-again.html
Our orchard is disappearing.  It is being turned from knocked over trees, to mulch, which is being hauled away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2O0W3x_MXQ

Life in Manteca: 57 Say it Aint So Again

Tony throwing dirt clods

A few trees left over from the orchard next door

One thing I've learned about Manteca, it seems to always be changing.  This last week, the almond orchard closest to our house has been knocked down.  Tony and I took a walk through the orchard to make sure it was knocked down all the way, and not just along the road.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2O0W3x_MXQ
A video of the mulching of the orchard trees.
The other activity today is cleaning beginning the Christmas decorations.  We decided to wait a while on the tree, but have started make room for nativity scenes.

Movie Night: **^That Shaggy Dog, ***^ Three lives of Thomasina,

I don't know the schedule, but BYUTV regularly shows old Disney movies that I watched as a youth.  The Shaggy Dog is a fun show, and the switch from man to dog to man is unpredictable which makes for some interesting dilemnas.  My only confusion with the show is with the young woman's father turning out to be a spy, no one really explores her feelings about it--I think she's suppose to just be OK with it.

Of these two movies I prefer The Three Lives of Thomasina.  I liked this movie as a child.  It features the children from Mary Poppins.  The did three movies together also including Bed Knobs and Broom Sticks.  This show is fun, and the cat coming back to the little girl restoring her faith in the world.  The only part I didn't like was the Egyptian cat bit.  That was just stupid, but I guess you had to have some way for her to come back to life.  This is a nice presentation of Scottish culture.  The "witch lady" does a very good job of her part.

Movie Night: ***Joseph, King of Dreams

I watched this on Instant Netflix.  This is a Dreamworks animated film.  As I watched there were a couple things that struck me, first is I really didn't enjoy the art.  They tried many times, especially with the dreams, to give it a Van Gogh flavor.  The people were all long and angular, mostly skinny and tall (except the bread maker who was killed.)  The other thing I kept saying to myself is, I prefer the music from Andrew Lloyd Webber's version more.  (Donnie Osmond singing "Close Every Door to Me" gives me goosebumps.)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVWpgmiIbas&feature=fvsr
However, this movie did get to me in the end.  I think that is because of the story of forgiveness and family.  These win out over Joseph's anger towards his brothers.  This is a story that is timeless.

I had an interesting religious experience at the end of this movie.  Joseph was a true prophet, and was prepared to save his family.  Israel, his father, likewise was a patriarch and a true religious man.