Cranes, Walnuts and BBQ

Weekends are for adventure.  This past Sunday, Onions and I got in the car and drove east into the Central Valley.  As fall rolls around, the Sand Hill Cranes are beginning to arrive for the winter.

We went out to a reserve, which was basically a flooded field, and saw the cranes just lounging around.

Mornings and sunset are the best times to see the cranes do their fly-ins. And apparently, we need to come back and watch them "dance."

The impetus for the trip to the Central Valley was to visit Kendra and Brian, who were down visiting Brian's grandmother's house and farm.  Doesn't this house look totally classic American?

About 7 years ago, the farm was turned into a Walnut tree orchard.  So we spent part of the afternoon walking around the farm.  Three weeks before, the walnuts had been harvested.

We also took a trip to the walnut processing plant.  I LOVE this kind of machinery.

Here trucks of walnuts (these seem to have their husks already shucked) along with all the leaves and sticks are loaded into the machinery.

Lots of blowers and separators....

This is the final belt where workers pick out the bad looking walnuts.

And then they are set to dry for a few weeks.  The walnuts are sold to a distributor who actually shells them.

That afternoon, after I took a nap on the lawn, it was BBQ time.

Ribs, BBQ Chicken, Sausage, fish, pesto penne.....

The BBQ was in honor of the family that helps Brian with the walnut growing and harvesting.  A perfect early evening in Central California.

The BBQ gang.  Brothers Kelly sitting on the steps in the middle!