Mmmm

How beautiful is this? Jeff's birthday lunch at Goshi in SLO. OK, so this wasn't his food, it was mine: Tuna Tataki with seared Albacore & black pepper. It was so delicious, sort of a sweet tangy vinegar sauce. Yum! After lunch here, we headed out wine tasting & ended up with dinner at the Hitching Post in Casmalia. We didn't get home until about 10:30, but it was a really fun day. He didn't even open his presents yet! That will be this morning.

On the way home.

Sleepy dogs on the way home from HB. We learned that Riley  can sort of eat stuff with his muzzle on. Don't worry Carol,  he only got a few cookies.

Christmas humiliation

Laying in front of a warm fire makes up for having to wear Christmas bows :-)

Nice but $$$

Saw these chairs at Room and Board. They ate made out of some plastic type material, like the fake wood decking material that you see a lot of. They would be perfect for our yard,  except for the $400 price tag!

The last day of fall

Here's a few end of season photos for you. I think this tree is a Chinese Pistache...but don't mark my word. There are a number of them on campus and this picture doesn't do them justice. They really add a nice pop of fall color to the campus.

The next photo was taken this afternoon (Sunday) about 3:30. It was 68, no breeze and absolutely beautiful out. Small chance of rain tomorrow, but only 20% We've already had 12 inches of rain this year, and that's about twice normal, so we are off to a good start. What will winter hold? Who knows :)

Snuggley boys

Sometimes,  they can pretend they like each other. It's funny,  when Kasey got older,  he got grumpy and wanted things his. way. Decker is definitely following suit, but every now and then,  he'll let Riley snuggle in a bit.

More dead sunfish

Aren't these just the strangest things? I'm not sure why this one is all white. Maybe it was dead for a while before it washed up on shore, who knows.

As you can see from the photo - it's sunny outside! It's been a great week of rain but this afternoon the clouds parted and the sun came out. Looks like we have a week to dry up which is nice. I'll be curious to see what the rainfall totals were for the week.

December

It's that time of year. Well, December 1st anyway, which is our "you can't put Christmas lights up before" date. Jeff got ours hung yesterday and I got to enjoy them last night. Not a stellar picture, but you get the idea. Same theme as last year - green and blue. Richard and Lou have theirs up, so it's starting to look festive. Too bad they fixed the streetlight across the street - makes the lights less brilliant.

Fall

Another lovely fall day. Left work early to make it home for a beachwalk before it got dark.

Ahhh, Fall

A beautiful Fall day in Templeton. This is at Victor Hugo where they told us they had their first frost last night and expect all the leaves to be off the vines this week. Harvest is finishing up and crush is well under way. Here's to vintage 2009 :-)

Sleepy Whippet

I posted this on Facebook but had to share here as well. I got a new cell phone and it has a much better camera  than my last one so I'm hoping to share more pictures! Enjoy this picture of Riley at rest. 

Trick or treat

Not a very good picture, but it gives you the idea. Lou down the street organized these luminarias down our street. They started at our house & Richards (just across the way) and went down about half the street on both sides. We also had them leading a path from the street to everybody's door. Well, at least for those of us who were home, which seemed like everybody this year. A record number of trick or treaters this year, I think. Maybe 15 kids? We were surprised. Maybe it was the luminarias! Regardless, they looked really neat, all lit up. You'll have to settle for this blurry photo to give you the general idea.

The *real* Fall weather is finally hear. Hot off shores. It's been really warm in the morning and up until mid afternoon, we've been having temps in the high 70's here at the beach. It switches & cools down a bit until 9:00 PM or so, then the offshores kick back up and it warms up before we got to bed. We'll enjoy it while we can :)

Harvest time

OK, it's the end of harvest time, but some grapes are still coming in. These are Granache grapes at Villa Creek. One of the clones named after John Alban, actually. It's always cool to see them working with the grapes, before they turn into wine. It gives you a different appreciation for the wine.
Via BlackBerry

Another video for you - Decker this time

As promised

Maybe not the most exciting video, and the production quality is, well, lacking. But, it's still kinda fun to see!

Fall is here

Haven't posted anything too exciting lately, sorry. Lou down the street organized a block party for Saturday afternoon. Despite the unseasonably cold wind, it was really fun. I finally got to tour a few houses on the street I had never been inside, and met some neighbors who I've always seen around, but never met. It was fun. And who knew that Ken could hula-hoop like a pro (while holding a beer, mind you.)

The weather has been completely wonky. This time of year, it should still be really warm, maybe even our warmest time of the year. That's just not panning out. Last week we had really heavy fog, then some warm weather, then it got cold, but sunny, over the weekend. It's supposed to warm up a bit this week - we'll see.

So I got the trap & release mousetrap I ordered last week. We set it up in the dining room, next to the liquor cabinet because that's where we had seen the mouse. Of course, Riley found it and carried it into the living room to try and get the cracker out. He couldn't open it though and luckily, didn't break it. We've got it in the garage now (no captives yet) but I think we'll try putting it back in the dining room at night, maybe he'll ignore it then...

We bought a very small & inexpensive ($40) video recorder specifically to inventory the house for insurance purposes. I'm hoping to post some short clips here in the near future (not of the inventory, hopefully of something more fun, like a whippet!).

Bad photo, but you'll get the idea

I took this while walking Riley on the beach last weekend. It's a bad photo from my Blackberry but I think you can get the idea. This time of year, we have schooling fish - anchovies or sardines, I don't know. But, they attract all kinds of critters. I call these "food balls." Hundreds of swirling, diving pelicans and lots of jumping seals & the occasional dolphin. It's quite the scene. All the black you see on the water are floating pelicans and all the black spots in the air, those are pelicans as well. I can't begin to count, but I'm going to guess in the hundreds for sure!

More mice

I didn't catch anything in my "catch and release" mouse trap before we left for the cruise, so I dismantled it. Last night, Decker was sitting in front of the wine rack in the dining room, staring at it. He may not be the most active guy anymore, but it was obvious he knew something was up. Sure enough, when we moved some wine bottles around a very fat (pregnant?) mouse scurried across the dining room and disappeared on the other side.

We have a bit of a dilemma because any kind of trap we put in the dining room that has a food bait, well, you *know* the whippet will have to investigate. So we aren't really sure what to do at this point. Maybe we have to lock Riley in our room tonight & leave a trap out overnight.

In other news - unseasonable drizzly fog in the morning. I guess it's hot somewhere :) It's been pleasant in SLO and the moisture at home is nice. They are also resurfacing the streets in our neighborhood so that's been a bit of a mess. Should be done by Friday, we'll see.

If you have four mintues, this is too cute

Waiting for something is never easy, and this just proves it :)

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

Back on land

Well, it was a great cruise. Having never been on one before we didn't really know what to expect but we both enjoyed it more than we thought we would. The only negative was the weather in Mexico. It was so hot. We knew it would be this time of year but weren't prepared for the reality of it when we got there. My tip to you is if you do the Mexican Riviera, go in November. You'll pay more but it would be worth it. Here's a link to some of the photos we took. I just picked some to share - we took a million! Mexico September 09

Adios

See you in a while!
Via BlackBerry

Oh great....

Well, at least it was 1) Cambria - and I don't surf there 2) 1/4 mile out - and I never paddle that far out!

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/566/story/834290.html

Fires

View of the fires from the Baldwin Hills Scenic overlook in Culver City.
Via BlackBerry

A light lunch

A quick trip to LA to see a concert tonight. Had lunch at the famous Langer's deli. Been here since the 40's. Fantastic pastrami sandwich!
Via BlackBerry

Sigh, more beach trash

I actually took this photo two weeks ago. I had Riley down for an early morning walk and passed the site of a beach fire from the night before. We see lots of beach fires in the summer. Generally, although they are illegal on the beach, most people use common sense and just burn firewood, and clean up any trash they left behind after.

Unfortunately, not all people are as considerate and tend to think of the beach as "self cleaning." What you see here are the two pallets they didn't burn, and part of the remains of one they did burn. The one that was burned was partially buried in the sand.

After I got Riley home, I grabbed a rake, a bucket, some gloves, and some rope. More on the rope later. I walked back to the spot and pulled the two unburned pallets out of the way, and started digging out the partially burned one. As you know (or maybe you don't!) pallets are assembled with nails. What happens to the nails when you burn a pallet? They come out. In this case, they came out all over the beach. Worse, the partially burned parts of pallet had nails sticking out in all directions, just ready for somebody to hurt themselves on.

I brought the rope because I thought I might have to drag both pallets down the beach. I decided it was just easier to drag them without, so, I stood around looking for somebody to recruit. I enlisted a nice Australian man who helped me drag one of the pallets from 19th street to the 24th street parking lot. It was a good workout, and I was thankful for his help so I didn't have to make two trips. I stacked them by a trash can hoping a park aid would haul them away during the day.

Back at the fire site, I raked through the sand the best I could, picking out the burned pieces with nails & pulling loose nails out of the sand. The culprits had left some unburned firewood in a box, so I dumped it out & put the larger burned pieces in the box, which I hauled home and put in our trash can.

On Monday, I emailed Bruce Gibson, out supervisor, and later than day, I got a response. He confirmed that fires on our beach are illegal and mentioned that complaints like mine are getting more common. He also answered a question I had which is "why are there no signs at the beach accesses indicating fires are illegal?" His answer was that he didn't know, and his legislative aid would contact me on Thursday. She did, and forwarded an inquiry along to somebody at state parks. I've been told that if I don't hear back by August 28th to nudge her and get the status.

We'll see where it goes, and I feel good for having made the effort. What I really hope is that the people who burned the pallets were staying in the house right above the fire site and were shamed by watching me clean it up. I know, wishful thinking, but I can hope, can't I?

I have no excuse for not surfing well!

This story was in our local paper last week, but this is a better pictorial that ran in a Boston newspaper.

http://www.boston.com/sports/blogs/bigshots/2009/08/ampsurf_gets_wounded_veterans.html

That's a little lizard!

Check out this little guy/girl I saw on my lunchtime walk. I included my finger so you could get a sense of how small it actually was. I'm assuming its a juvenile.
Via BlackBerry

Rock, what rock?

It was so nice out about five o'clock, I had to get outside. I rode my bike down to third street. There is a nice platform there overlooking the beach. It was so nice and sunny in Cayucos, but as you can see, not all of Morro Bay was enjoying the same weather.
Via BlackBerry

Sunfish?

This was on the beach this evening, I think it's a Sunfish, but I'll have to Google it to be sure. I would guess it weighed about 20 pounds, pretty good size. The sea gulls were enjoying it (notice the missing eye.)
Via BlackBerry

Fun at the fair

We went to the Mid State Fair last night for the first time in a few years. Short story, it was fun. It's a great fair because it has everything you want from a fair, yet is small, so you can easily make your way through the entire fair in an evening. Plus, they have bars set up around the fair where you can buy cocktails or beer & walk around drinking them. That always makes for a fun time :) So in three hours, we saw (and petted) the farm animals, saw a reptile exhibit, walked through some of the commercial buildings where they sell all the infomercial stuff, looked at everything in the "home arts) building (best pie, best muffins, best zucchini....), saw the landscaping & flower displays, cruised through the midway to watch rides & listen to barkers, drank two beers, and ate a corn dog, some greasy chow-mien, and a funnel cake. We finished up the evening with said funnel cake sitting outside the stadium where Kiss was playing. We sat & listened to three songs then decided to head home. Oh, the other bonus: you get to ride school bus. There are a number of free parking spots around downtown with shuttle buses running every 10-15 minutes. You avoid paying for parking that way & get a bit of nostalgia riding the bus. Good times for all :)

Crazy Waves

We were down south for a few days. I had hoped for an nice run of surfing, but was greeted with a huge south swell instead. Some people live for these things; I don't. This is a clip of the Wedge in Newport Beach on Friday. This is not a normal wave; it's formed by water hitting the jetty & reflecting off of it. It creates a very intense wave very, very close to shore. Generally, it's just body boarders & body surfers, but you'll see the occasional surfer there. These guys are nuts....

Daisies

I love Shasta Daisies. They are so simple, but I just love them. We used to have some in Sacramento that came by way of Margo's. I'm not sure if they are there any more or not. These were on campus and they seem to follow the trend of being taller when they get plenty of sun.
Via BlackBerry

Sigh

Does this even need a caption? You can probably fill in the blanks. While I was surfing, Riley was going through Jeff's suitcase and found his fiber. We'll see how this turns out...
Via BlackBerry

Sigh

Does this even need a caption? You can probably fill in the blanks. While I was surfing, Riley was going through Jeff's suitcase and found his fiber. We'll see how this turns out...
Via BlackBerry

Corn on the cob

I haven't posted anything food related in a while, so I think it's time. I'm always looking at different ways to cook corn on the cob. Lately, I've been cutting it off the ears raw, and using it in different dishes. It's so cheap and so delicious in the summer that I'm trying to use it more. These two ears I bought the other day & needed to use. I'm going to mix the kernels with some black beans for burritos, but instead of just cutting them off raw, I decided to cook them first. I peeled off almost all the husk, leaving about two layers. I just pulled out what silk I could. I grilled them four about 10 minutes, turning every two or so until the outside was pretty charred. Once they cooled, I pulled the husk & remaining silk off, which was very easy, then cut the kernels off. I have to say, it's *really* tasty, and I think it will go great with the black beans. I'll find out Tuesday :)

Can't resist

I dont' know the why's or how's on this, but too cute! Poor ducks though - I hope somebody saved them....

Monday

Once again, no exciting picture for you. I posted this article on Facebook so some of you may have seen it already, but I think it's worth posting again. It's about the state budget fiasco. As I've said before, politically, I don't consider myself that savvy, but at a common sense level, the concepts behind this article seem to make sense

http://www.calbuzz.com/2009/06/how-california-became-ungovernable/

I know a lot of you are getting the summer heat already, so I'm sorry to report we had a beautiful, foggy weekend :) Actually, it lightened up mid-day both days so it was very pleasant and not windy, ideal conditions, really. I watched a slew of movies over the weekend: The Bands Visit (Loved it), Let the Right one In (Swedish vampire movie - really loved it) and Rachel Getting Married (eh). Trying to get the most bang from my buck from Netflix, and the summer TV season is the perfect time to do it!

Painting

When the house was painted, the master bath was painted the wrong color. For a long time, we thought it was painted the same color as the guest bath, but now, I don't think so. The colors in the master bath are warm: cherry wood and sand limestone. The wall color was almost this blue-gray. It didn't work at all, and for a long time, we kept saying "we really need to re-paint the bathroom."

Almost two years later....we finally did! Not only did we repaint the bathroom, but we *finally* painted the baseboards in both bathrooms, as that hadn't been done. We also did some touching up around the house that was really needed. It's funny how many scratches & dings you get over time. We also took the opportunity to touch up the ceilings in both bathrooms, as they had splashes of mud from the stonework. That's why the cabinets are draped in the, uh, lovely sheets you see in the photo. I should also point out that I had dime sized blisters on both of my knees from doing this.

Most likely, nobody will even know the master bath is a different color. But trust me - we can tell the difference, and it's a good one. Truth be told, the color we picked - Spanish White from Benjamin Moore - is not the perfect color. But, it works well enough and compared to what we had, is wonderful. So, we can live with it for quite a while :)

Riley has taken up gardening

Remember a few weeks ago when Riley got into the cupboard & ate all those dried beans & pasta? Well, look what's coming up in the yard. No doubt this was where he left an, uh, pile. Pretty funny. Had we know that all he was trying to do was start his own organic farm, we probably would have been more supportive...and not so annoyed.

No, this isn't from Riley...

But it certainly made me think of him :)

http://faildogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/faildogs-trainingisfutile.jpg

TGIF

I haven't posted once this week, sorry. It's been busy and I haven't wanted to sit down at the computer at night, plus, nothing terribly exciting is happening. We did get rain last night though, and that's certainly different for June. I hear that ever body up north & down south got a nice lightening show the other night too. We missed out on that, I'm afraid. A bit more rain today then it's supposed to clear up tomorrow. It's still nice out, in the low 70's, so I'm not complaining.

Let's see, what else is up? Riley hasn't eaten anything he's not supposed to this week (so far). One day the local paper reports the castle is closing due to budget cuts, the next day it says it's staying open. Who knows....time will tell. I don't think they close it.

I went to the Greek festival in SLO last Saturday and it was quite nice. It's only the second year they've done it but the turnout was good. Lots of good food, a beer garden area where you could get a Greek beer to go with your tasty food, and live Greek music. And of course, dancing. I would say it's worth a visit to next year.

That's it for now. I'll try to come up with an interesting picture for you over the next few days....

Turtles

We finally took a hike out to the new Harmony Headlands state park on Sunday. It's a very nice, not very strenuous 3 mile round trip walk. While the ocean is pretty, the coast there looks like much of the surrounding coastline. The hike out, in my opinion, is more interesting. You walk through a very nice valley with some large, dramatic - albeit dead - trees. There was an almost dried up lakebed, and some really picturesque hills.

At the very beginning of the hike is an very old stone bridge you walk over. The water underneath is completely covered with some type of plant (which you can see in the picture - click to enlarge.) As we were looking, we noticed all the turtles. You can see about five in this picture. A few had already made their way out for a swim before we took this. I've never seen a turtle around here before and didn't even know we had any!

More blooms

The campus rose garden is pretty much in full swing right now and it looks great. But you know what's better than how it looks? How it smells, of course!
Via BlackBerry

A bit of history

I know some of you have been to the Morro Bay aquarium. It's a fair stretch calling it an "aquarium." Sea side curiosity show is maybe more like it. Anyway, it's a strangle little place. There was a short article about the owners of it in today's paper which I thought you might find interesting. My favorite tidbit: there used to be a restaurant in Morro Bay called the "Chat and Chew." Ahh, the good old days.

Aquarium Story

Hump day

Well, I'm a bit overdue, I think. Nothing terribly important to report. We are still waiting to get the circuit board for the hot tub back. It *should* be here this week. Let me tell you - we have been missing the tub! It's generally used five or so days a week and since we've had to go cold turkey, well, let's just say we'll be happy when it's fixed!

The weather has gotten warm again. It's going to be in the 80's all week in SLO and the 70's on the coast. We are headed up to wine country on Saturday and it's supposed to be in the mid 90's. The weather this spring seems to be really erratic. 

We are both just about over our colds. But, compounding that, our allergies have been worse this year than ever.  I've been using one of these and really like it. I haven't gotten Jeff to try it yet, but I'm  working on it. Maybe it's all in my head, but it really seems to make a difference.

Any guesses?

I saw these on my lunchtime walk today. They look like giant Legos made out of compressed straw. They were stacked near the Architecture building so I suppose they could be building related?
Via BlackBerry

Oysters

I don't think this is the traditional way to spend May day, but what the heck. After talking about this with friends for a while, we decided to order some oysters and have a little feast. By we, I mean me - not Jeff. He was on a flying trip, which was perfect timing because he doesn't like oysters. Not to mention the smoked salmon we had. Still, we missed his company and like to think he missed ours ;-)

You have to order them in five dozen increments, so this is five dozen Snow Creek oysters. I've had this variety before and like them a lot. They are a bit on the smaller side and lean toward the "briny" rather than the "creamy," which I prefer. They are harvested one day and you receive them the next, not to bad for $15 in shipping.

Surprisingly, they were very easy to shuck. Once you got the hang of where to put the oyster knife, it was easy. The shells on these are really beautiful and have a fair amount of scalloping on the edges. The only downside was the shells are somewhat fragile so we did end up with some little bits of shell to pick out.

We had the classic mignonette to put on them along with some grapefruit granita with lemon thyme and pepper that I made. Personally, that was my favorite, although I do love the classic mignonette too.

There only ended up being four of us, so that's 15 oysters each which is a lot. We didn't even get to the salad and bread! We had three different white wines, with the standouts being (at least for me) the Tangent Pino Gris and a French Muscadet. I have to get the bottle of Muscadet out of the recycler to see what winery it was. Both were crisp and delicious.

Anyway, thought you might like to see some of the pictures. It was a really fun and tasty way to spend an evening centered around food. Time to think up the next event!

More signs of Spring

One of the rose gardens on campus is starting to bloom. I would say it's only about 25% there yet, so I'll have to make a point to swing by on my daily walks to check the progress. 

After warming up a bit this week, there is now a 60% chance of rain this weekend. The instability of Spring!

Friday - I've got five dozen Snow Creek oysters coming from Washington. Getting together with some friends to have a bit of a feast :) Sort of a decadent treat, but way cheaper than doing it in a restaurant, that's for sure. Plus...I get to learn how to shuck oysters!

Ok you Bulldog fans....

Here's how you get ready for summer!

Sad ladybugs

Every spring, there is a period of time when there are lady bugs all over the beach. This year, I don't know why, there were way more than normal. Over the weekend, they were all just walking around...I think maybe they are mating?

Last night, well, the party seemed over. There were still some that were alive, but most of them were dead at the waterline. I don't know the reproductive cycle of the lad bug (I'll look it up, don't worry) but I thought they laid eggs somewhere. If that's the case, then this doesn't seem normal. I would have thought they would go someplace else to lay eggs, but maybe not. Anyway, it was an interesting site. The close up photo gives you an idea of what the piles of bugs looked like, and the wider shot tries to give you an idea of how many there were. These swaths went on for probably a 250 foot section of the beach. What do you think 100's of thousands, or millions?

Ok - I did some quick research. You can read a bit about it here Lady Bug lifecyle. Maybe they had all laid their eggs and just wanted a nice place to die? Or, maybe there is something else on the beach this time of year they eat? If you find out...let me know.

Getting back to normal

This was taken at home, Monday afternoon. You don't see that too often in Cayucos! Sunday was scorching, Monday was hotter, and Tuesday was still hot - but a bit cooler. When I got home at 5:00 yesterday, I think it was only 80...

This morning it's foggy & cool, only supposed to get up to the mid 60's, I think. Back to normal, spring weather for a while. It was quite the little heat wave, and I have to say, I enjoyed it, probably because I knew it was only temporary and not anything to be dealt with on a day to day basis.

The surf has been good to - I went out four days in a row which was really a treat. Maybe this is the year I'll get good :) If not, well, I still have fun!

Under the boardwalk

OK, its a pier, but you get the idea. Took Riley all the way down past the pier today. It's 75 and beautiful out, gotta enjoy it while it lasts! Supposed to be warmer tomorrow. Too bad I have to work!
Via BlackBerry

Palm Springs...in pictures

Truth be told, most of these pictures are just of the house & us enjoying the pool, but hey -that's what the vacation was all about! Click here to view.

Wish I was still there....

Here's a picture Jeff took just before sunset one night. I think I need to be there again...right now! We had a great time. It was very relaxing, the weather was nice and the house couldn't have been in a more beautiful spot. They guy we rented the house from was a newbie when it came to renting a vacation property, so there were a couple of oddities, but overall, the experience was great.

I hadn't spent an substantial time in Palm Springs in quite a while, and after being there for what was essentially a long weekend, I'm ready to go back and stay a week. There is a lot to do - especially if you golf - and the scenery is beautiful. I took quite a few pictures, most of them around the house, but I'm going to try and get some on line later tonight. I'll let you know when I do.