Here’s a local Bay Area Day trip that’s worth your while…Stop and smell the flowers at nearby Daffodil Hill.

Save an upcoming weekend for an amazing blast into Spring!

Four hundred thousand daffodils. That is what brings over 4,000 people to Daffodil Hill in Volcano year after year.

The ranch, privately owned by the McLaughlin family, has become a premiere destination for Northern California flower lovers. Here visitors take pictures and picnics, stroll through the grounds and celebrate the season.

Best of all, there is no admission fee, although bright yellow kettles are positioned around the entrance for donations (all donations received are spent on purchasing bulbs for the following year).

Several red dirt paths lead to over 300 different cream and lemon colored varieties. Daffodils are showcased in raised flower boxes, on rolling grassy lawns, among antique farm equipment, and in flower pots around some of the old, wooden shacks. Peacocks strut through the flowers, craning their necks with every step. Wood benches and picnic tables are scattered around the property, inviting visitors to sit a spell.

Mary Ryan, trustee of the ranch and granddaughter of Arthur Burbeck McLaughlin and Lizzie Van Vorst McLaughlin who established the ranch in 1887. She spends most days seated in a green patio chair at the welcome area.

Ryan has been part of the Daffodil Hill tradition all of her life and she continues to staff the ranch along with her three sons and several good friends during the few weeks that Daffodil Hill is open to the public.

Daffodil Hill is open mid-March to mid-April, 7 days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting. To get to Daffodil Hill, take Highway 88 to Pine Grove. Turn north on Pine Grove- Volcano Road and follow it until it turns into Rams Horn Grade. Follow Rams Horn Grade to Daffodil Hill.

Admission is free. For more information, call  (209) 296-7048.

They will give you updates on when they will be open, and the flowers in bloom.

Daffodil Hill.

If you work in an office I think you’ll be able to relate to this video…

Enjoy!

Bad Day

Today’s trivia:

Which one of the following food products had the largest price increase last year?

whole milk
eggs
or bananas

‘Turns out eggs at 36 percent, milk at 28, and bananas at 5 percent.

Other foodie price increases over the last year:

bread 12%
flour 25%
peanut butter 9%
cheese 8%
apples 9%
tomatoes 31%
iceberg lettuce 6%

As we told you a few days ago,  Uno the beagle was close to winning all the marbles at the Westminster Dog Dog Show in New York. Well yesterday he did it. Uno was chosen “best in show”, becoming the first beagle ever to do so. That’s out of the 170 breeds and varieties that took part. Today Uno has a busy day making the TV talk show rounds in New York..even having lunch a Sardi’s.

Happy New Year!!!  Time to celebrate the year of the RAT!

Sun Neen Fai Lock   Laisee dau loy! 

You can do so by giving a traditional Red Packet – Hong Bao (Red Envelope) is simply a red envelope with money in it, often decorated with lucky symbols, which symbolizes luck and wealth.

Lucky money for kids and singles…to be put in your piggy bank and saved…Laisee money…the more red packets the more money to save. 

Traditionally red packets are handed out to younger generation by their parents, grand parents, relatives, and even close neighbors and friends during Chinese New Year. They are also popular gifts for weddings and birthdays. Nowadays giving red packets as a bonus at the year-end by employers becomes popular.

How Much to Give
It depends on the situation. If you give red packets to kids for the New Year, age will be an important factor and how well you know them.  For a kid of five years old, one or two dollars will be fine. It will be better to have enough money in the red packet for a 15-years old to buy something himself.

Useful Links
How to Make a Chinese Gift Packet

Life can move pretty fast these days, and sometimes I run around like a chicken with my head cut off…and I tend to misplace, lose or otherwise be careless with my things.

You know, we are all in this together and are truly each other’s “everyday angels,” responsible to and for one another.

The actions of each and every one of us, no matter how seemingly insignificant, have a profound effect on those around us. Becoming aware of this, and actively exercising our ability to create positive change is the first step to a better world for all of us.

Thank-you for kindness – May you all be blessed with angels in your life!

Meet my new buddy – Dominic.  He stopped out to the Yardbirds-Home Depot on Saturday, and rushed up to meet me.  His Mom and Dad told me Dominic loves to sing the KOIT jingles.  “He’ll be coloring and singing…Light Rock, Less Talk, 96.5 KOIT!”  And Dominic indulged me by singing my favorite tune. 
What a Doll…Thanks Dominic for making my day!

Today’s trivia question:

Q: What year did Alcatraz close as a federal prison?

A: Attorney General Robert Kennedy closed it in 1963

Favorite ads from the game yesterday?
James Carville/Bill Frist Coke ad
Ameritrade talking baby
the Bud Lite guy who breathes fire

Hanna Montana concert movie this weekend. She made 29 million dollars at the box office despite the fact that she was only on 683 screens. The people at Disney say that the MAY extend the run.