Myrl Jeffcoat

If you were to take Jackson Road-Highway 16 out of Sacramento, while traveling mostly east, but a tad south for a half hour or so, you would come upon the delightfully rural community of Sloughhouse.

Although the community is quiet and somewhat small, it does enjoy rich history.

As Sacramentans and other visitors to the area shuffle through Sloughhouse today, they often stop at the Davis Ranch Farmer's Market for ears of corn, which is prized among locals as being the best available. The area is a popular stopping off point for Sacramento County folks hoping for a pleasant drive up the highway further to Gold Rush Country. A few miles beyond Sloughhouse, you can take Highway 49 (the Gold Rush Highway), and travel on through Amador City, Sutter Creek, Jackson, and destinations beyond - making for a delightful day trip.

Sloughhouse is a verdant valley which acts as a floodplain for Deer Creek and the Cosumnes River. Prior to becoming known for its corn growing capacity, its land was mainly tended for the growth of hops. Traveling back in time a generation or so, would have you revisiting the area and finding trellises of hops growing up V shaped wires 20+ feet or so.

Early history records that on a summer evening in 1840, William Daylor, one of John Sutter's cooks became one of the first noted white men to visit the area. Daylor came upon the valley while conducting a search for some of the livestock belonging to his boss.

The area was found populated by Miwok Indians. Daylor later returned to the area with a friend, Jared Dixon Sheldon, who in 1844 acquired a Mexican land grant of approximately 20,000 acres. Sheldon had a reputation for getting along with the Indians.

For more history on the area you can click on the following link: Sloughhouse History

In the past I have blogged about another life I lived while working for an international software development company. I took this "temporary" job back in 1997 for what was to be a 3-month stint, but instead it ended up lasting 8 ½ years. All during that time I continued to sell real estate - often to the software developers and engineers, which were my co-workers until 2005.

Today, nine of us from the old company celebrated a small lunchtime reunion at a wonderful restaurant having a reputation in our area as presenting some of the most wonderful Asian epicurean delights available.

My favorites on their menu - Orange Chicken with chili and a special zesty orange sauce, Fat's Almond Chicken with almond crusted chicken breast and zesty orange sauce and Honey Walnut Prawns in a light sauce with caramelized walnuts.

Although there are several Fat's locations around the Greater Sacramento area, we chose the Fat's Asia Bistro located in Folsom, near Highway 50 at:

Fat's Asia Bistro
2585 Iron Point Road
Folsom, CA 95630

There website is as follows: http://www.fatsrestaurants.com

Often when visitors come to my city, I tell them Sacramento is known as The City of Trees. We actually have a Sacramento Tree Foundation, which proclaims we live in an "Urban Forest". . . Sacramentans love their trees.

There are two delightful trees that share my home with me. They are fairly well known around the neighborhood. One lives in my front yard, and is an aging, but healthy Modesto Ash by the name of Bob. The second tree, I have actually blogged about before here on ActiveRain - His name is Fred.

Yesterday, Sacramento, and much of California, woke to a storm, packing considerable ferocity - which is unusual to us in the month of October. The local weather guy tells us we generally get ½ inch of rain in October. However, this storm unloaded 3 to 4 inches of liquid sunshine. And, it arrived with high winds.

I experienced intermittent power failures mid-day Tuesday. By afternoon, a branch about 2 doors down flew into the power-lines and caused spectacular fireworks. BUT, the real drama came later at 8:30 pm, when an insulator and power line jerked loose from the pole, and catapulted onto my back neighbor's roof, bounced around a bit, while periodically hitting their rain gutters, creating scenes which should have been captured for use in the next Hollywood war movie. My house immediately went into dimmed "brown-out" state.

After shutting off my electrical panel breakers, I called the fire department once again. The system was overwhelmed by emergencies caused by downed power lines, trees, etc. The electrical arcing continued for hours during the night. Finally, around 3:00 am this morning, our utility company (SMUD) cut the lines to stop the activity.

About 95% of Sacramento had power restored by 4:30 pm this afternoon. But I was among the 5% still un-restored. I was VERY happy, when SMUD crews arrived at 5:00 pm and began giving Fred (the tree) a hair cut, as well as his other tree friends along the fence line. Once Fred's new hair style was fashioned, power was restored, and life began anew.

The pictures above, show the insulator on the back neighbor's roof, some of the repairs going on at my place, a totaled neighborhood fence, a very lucky new car that was just missed by a falling tree, and a SMUD guy showing evidence that Fred had been smoking in bed:-)

Within a hour drive east of Sacramento, along highway 50, is a special place cradled in the arms of the Sierra Foothills that comes alive this time of year. In autumn when the fruit comes into harvest, and the cider is pressed, Apple Hill provides delight for all.

Originally, Apple Hill was a collection of approximately 16 ranches or orchards. Today it boasts more than 50 ranches including Christmas tree growers, wineries, a micro-brewery, Spa, vineyards, and pumpkin patches.

Apple Hill is located in El Dorado County - approximately 4 miles east of Placerville. There is easy access from highway 50.

This link will provide you with a schedule of old-fashioned fun packed activities: http://www.applehill.com

Plan a picnic on the beautiful land that spreads her colorful leaves.

Who has What - and When and Where?

Days and hours of each individual ranch are listed here. For more information on what they offer, see the Apple Hill Guides and Apple Hill Maps Which ranch has which APPLES? Apples & Other Fruit Guide