Forward...into the past!

Last weekend I went down to the Irvine Animal Shelter adoption event to drop something off to the BCR group. One of the dogs at Collie rescue really caught my eye:



He looks like someone stuck a Lassie head onto a Samoyed body! Sweet boy, and apparently his ears/hearing and eyes/sight are just fine!

Also, while checking something on Google Maps, I discovered I managed to (sort of) photobomb the street view shot:



Somehow I managed to miss a car with the google rig strapped to the roof tooling around the street. But that's definitely me standing by my car. In a geeky way, this is almost as neat as when the satellite shot caught Frieda (my old husky) on the driveway.

R0ndo had his delayed birthday/Adoption Day rumpus yesterday. Since his AD falls on Veteran's day, it behooves us to do stuff later in the week, when there aren't crowds about. dustmeat and martes joined us for lunch at the Park Bench Cafe (whitest Mexican food I've ever had) and a day at the beach.

We couldn't have asked for a more-perfect day: temps in the 70's, light cloud cover, a very low tide and a nearly empty beach!


Full Flickr Set

We frisbee'd and walked the beach for several hours until the sun set. R0ndo was very pleased.

There were a number of interesting sights this trip-- more than usual. First off there were a ton of shells (alive and otherwise) lying around. A bunch of teeny clams and some very small sand dollars. I saw a moon snail moving through the sand (they're kind of gross, actually). We found a mystery creature that I think is a kind of sea slug...googling leads me to believe it's a green sea slug , but it's not green and those seem to be on the East Coast. This picture looks very close to what we found.

Also found a deceased pelican ...it was beautiful. Strange to see an adult pelican dead like this-- looks like it drowned or broke its neck. But the way the surf left it on the beach was lovely in a haunting way.

On a more prurient line, I think I found a pair of hermit crabs having nookie. .

The sunset was gorgeous and a fantasting end to a wonderful day.



EDIT: Mystery creature solved! I emailed Phil Zerofski of the Scripts Institute some photos and he ID'd the creature as a Sea Pansy! (Renilla reniformis) It's a community of polyps!

Today marks the day I adopted R0ndo the border collie as my second dog. Frieda had been gone a few weeks and I was in need of filling the void she left. R0ndo was found at Border Collie Rescue Northern California and my sister (who checked him out first) ordered me to come up and get him: he was -the- dog for me (she's expert about these things). As usual with things canine, she was spot-on: he became my dog on this day seven years ago.

This is the first picture (of many to follow) I took of him that day.


R0ndo had a laundry list of "issues", but he was smart and young and quickly became the companion I needed so much. He's Mr. D, Steady-Eddie, the Dude.



Because of the holiday and all the people cluttering up his favorite places, we'll do it up later this week. I'm thinking the dog beach at Huntington Beach (Apache doesn't like the beach, so it'll just be R0ndo and I- an extra plus for him). Ironically, his physical age has caught up to mine. But he's in -far- better shape!

Images from the fall of 2012.

FLickr set here

The weather has finally turned autumnal and dog walks can again be taken at any hour of the day. We took a couple of hikes in the mountains above the Valley and enjoyed the sunset.

The first hike had us watched by an early-rising gibbous moon. We noticed a jet-- a very modern fighter jet-- circling the Valley. Very unusual for that time of the day since there is usually a lot of airline traffic. Then I remembered: President Obama was coming in to town to be on Leno-- and his helicopter was hopping from LAX to Burbank at about this time. I love my camera: P&S it may be, but you can actually see the armament even at this distance.

A friend's daughter broke the zipper on her halloween/cosplay costume and E and I offered to repair it. The most difficult part: the zipper itself. 56" long with double sliders. None of the regular stores in the Fashion District (forget JoAnnes!) had anything even close. Despairing, I wandered the area and, true to FD form: came across Zip Up Zipper! A zipper super-store! The have zippers that are literally floor-to-ceiling-- there was one hanging from the warehouse ceiling that had to be 25 feet long! I found a stainless steel, double-slider zipper that was about 20 inches too long...and the owner just cut it down, added some ends and voila! Perfect! The FD is certainly one reason to love Los Angeles.

Bonsai class was a huge surprise!: the teacher took one of my pot-bound (cup-bound, really) 7 year old oaks and used a technique that will create a plant that has a foot of bare root, terminating in the soil of the pot. I had no idea that I'd see this that day-- it's an advanced technique that I'd never have the nerve to try myself.



Lastly, we had some special guests at work the other week: four Bengal tigers! It turns out that the whole place needed to be on lock-down: tigers are so temperamental and sensitive that no extraneous visitors or pets (especially barky border collies) could be in the building. One of the tigers was charming: she was a 17 year old veteran who was so calm that the trainers let us get close and take pictures with her. I've seen many tigers at zoos...but it's not until you see them this close that your really get a sense of the immense size and power. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to meet them.

Full Flickr Set

Another BCR Funday! My favorite of the year: Halloween! Candy, dogs, great food.

The weather this year was *beautiful*. Breezy, clear and in the 70's.

R0ndo and Apache got matching skeleton dog costumes. Watson was too big to fit into his, so he got halloween jingle bells.





There was a dog that Apache was absolutely giddy about: an Aussie tri (male) who seemed aloof-- yet Apache adored him and even puppy-play-bowed and wriggled up to him. Weird little dog.

I loved R0ndo's reaction to the talking/grasping zombie hand in the dog treat bowl!


He would be a great zombie-hunting dog.

We took a chance and went up to Mulholland to try and see the shuttle fly-by. I wanted to avoid the crowds and give the dogs someplace to run around, so I picked up Roz and we headed out.

Here's the tiny Flickr set

...unfortunately, the routes taken by the shuttle were such that it was only visible there for about two seconds as it flew along the coast. We missed even that by minutes. Stil, it was great to be around a small crowd of shuttle-enthusiasts also hoping that Endeavour would swing through the Valley.

I wasn't that disappointed, though: we knew we were taking a chance going there. I feel bad for the people at Huntington Pier: this -was- a scheduled fly-by and they got skipped. This had my original plan: go to the dog-beach and watch the flyby. I would have been MUCH more disappointed if I drove down there, paid for parking and did not see the shuttle.

The reason I wasn't as let-down as I might have been is that we did get some decent dog-frisbee time in. There's nothing like doing something with a happy dog to give you some perspective.



It's a good thing R0ndo isn't 800 feet tall: he would gladly have fetched the shuttle back for Valley-folk to see!

We took a chance and went up to Mulholland to try and see the shuttle fly-by. I wanted to avoid the crowds and give the dogs someplace to run around, so I picked up Roz and we headed out.

Here's the tiny Flickr set

...unfortunately, the routes taken by the shuttle were such that it was only visible there for about two seconds as it flew along the coast. We missed even that by minutes. Stil, it was great to be around a small crowd of shuttle-enthusiasts also hoping that Endeavour would swing through the Valley.

I wasn't that disappointed, though: we knew we were taking a chance going there. I feel bad for the people at Huntington Pier: this -was- a scheduled fly-by and they got skipped. This had my original plan: go to the dog-beach and watch the flyby. I would have been MUCH more disappointed if I drove down there, paid for parking and did not see the shuttle.

The reason I wasn't as let-down as I might have been is that we did get some decent dog-frisbee time in. There's nothing like doing something with a happy dog to give you some perspective.



It's a good thing R0ndo isn't 800 feet tall: he would gladly have fetched the shuttle back for Valley-folk to see!

Introducing the Duck Bill Dog Muzzle!

...our dry, dusty home has one huge advantage over the deep greenery of the German forests: my little dog pack. We've gone on a number of sizeable local hikes and walks since I got back, mostly my attempt to assuage the guilt I feel when I have to board them. Because of the heat, we've had to walk either very later (midnight or so) or very early (about 6am). For one thing, it doesn't start to cool off until about then-- and even at that time the temps are still in the 70's (21+c), with about the 70% humidity.

Today we walked on a favorite trail and got to see the sun rise. The dogs were thrilled: while any walk would have been welcome, they love the squirrel, digging and sniffing ops that a real trail hike affords.

One creature that is loving this heat and humidity: my red habanero chili plant. This old guy is about four years old now (warm SoCal winters and taking them in during the rare freezing nights). He went nuts while I was away.



Good to be home.

...our dry, dusty home has one huge advantage over the deep greenery of the German forests: my little dog pack. We've gone on a number of sizeable local hikes and walks since I got back, mostly my attempt to assuage the guilt I feel when I have to board them. Because of the heat, we've had to walk either very later (midnight or so) or very early (about 6am). For one thing, it doesn't start to cool off until about then-- and even at that time the temps are still in the 70's (21+c), with about the 70% humidity.

Today we walked on a favorite trail and got to see the sun rise. The dogs were thrilled: while any walk would have been welcome, they love the squirrel, digging and sniffing ops that a real trail hike affords.

One creature that is loving this heat and humidity: my red habanero chili plant. This old guy is about four years old now (warm SoCal winters and taking them in during the rare freezing nights). He went nuts while I was away.



Good to be home.