Category Archives: Personal

Review: Santiago Oaks Regional Park

Located on the very eastern edge of the city of Orange, Santiago Oaks Regional Park runs alongside Santiago Creek, Orange County’s main tributary to the Santa Ana River.

This secluded 1,269 acre park – located close enough to most east Orange neighborhoods to walk to, including Orange Park Acres and Villa Park – offers family-friendly nature well within the reach of everyone. There is a mature forest, Santiago Creek, wildlife, and trails for virtually every level of hiker, mountain biker, and equestrian.

Unlike nearby Irvine Regional Park, Santiago Oaks is less of an ‘entertainment’ destination park; you won’t find a zoo, trains, or large open maintained grass areas for parties. It’s a wilderness park. Santiago Oaks calls to the adventurer’s spirit within; the park does offer a cozy amphitheater, BBQs, picnic tables, playgrounds, and an interpretive programs/nature center, but the draw – the beauty – of Santiago Creek are the trails. A vast interconnected series of trails stretch throughout the park offering technical trails for all skill levels, and rewarding the hiker, biker, or equestrian with inspiring views of Orange and the unspoiled foothills surrounding the city. The park trails also connect with the Anaheim Hills Trail System.

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Why are Beagles so popular as pets despite their low intelligence?

The question was asked:

Why are Beagles so popular as pets despite their low intelligence? According to The Intelligence of Dogs by Stanley Coren, beagles have the “Lowest Degree of Working/Obedience Intelligence”.

According to American Kennel Club, they are the fourth most popular breed used as pets: AKC Dog Registration Statistics

Why do people choose beagles as pets? Doesn’t their low intelligence cause problems?

My answer is simple:

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Photography in the Eastern Sierras by Cat Connor

I dearly love the State of California; it is one of the most picturesque places in all of the world, with many varied and extraordinary landscapes and vistas. It truly does have something for everyone.

I grew up, primarily, at the beach. I saw many a sunset. Oddly, though, I’ve never really cared for ’em. I’ve never found them particularly romantic. Maybe I’ve seen too many of them, or maybe I just don’t like to throw anything away. And that’s what a sunset is. Sunset is the end of a friendship you had with the day. It’s – as I’ve written before – “the part of the relationship where all the little things you thought were cute grate on you like fingers down a chalkboard and you can’t wait for it to be over so you can go back inside.”

Personally, I believe I’ve got the soul of a cowboy. To this day I love all the great westerns; the panoramas, the wide open spaces. And – even though two of my most favorite cowboy films (Silverado and Tombstone) weren’t filmed there – I’ve had a deep and abiding love for the Sierra Nevadas. I love Yosemite, Kings Canyon, the John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails, Death Valley and Mount Whitney. Being alone in the open cathedrals made of forests, rock, light, water, and stone makes me feel at peace within the magnificent machine built by our great Creator. I am a solitary wayfarer experiencing a world created just for me.

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Just One More…

Just one more day, Lord. Just one more day. I am petty and I am small and I always come to you and I always ask for things that are petty and small,for I am human. I am a child of the Most High God, and I will ask and I will plead and I will beg you for things that are beyond my grasp because I believe they are not beyond your reach. I will make deals with you that will fall through and I will make promises I won’t keep. You know that. I know that.

But, Lord, he’s my dog.

And if you can’t do that, then give me just one more hour. I don’t want to be the adult and put on a brave face and be the strength my son needs to get through this. I want to cry. I want to break down and be adrift in sorrow because my best friend for the last ten years is leaving me and I will never get to see him again. He’ll never greet me at the door. He’ll never steal my pizza. He’ll never take up all my bed and snore and pass the most horrendous gas ever. And he’ll never be my responsibility again.

But, Lord, he’s my dog.

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Happy 224th Anniversary, United States Coast Guard!

The United States Coast Guard was created as the “Revenue Marine” by an act of Congress on August 4, 1790 at the request of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.  Not only is this branch of the military the oldest seagoing service of the United States, but also the only branch that has a racing stripe.

Yeah, I know the U.S. Navy lists it’s founding as 1775 – when the Continental Navy was formed – but we should all remember that the Continental Navy was disbanded in 1785, and the United States Navy wasn’t founded until 1794.

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