Edgar Allen Poe weather - and other thoughts

"Once upon a midnight dreary. . . ."

I absolutely love this time of year!

Sometime over night we got a touch of rain and this morning we have low hanging clouds. I love waking up and looking out my windows to a sense of living in the clouds!


I always have to grab a few photos of this kind of weather.



We aren't noted for fall color, but a few trees do get a golden color, and the grasses still retain some gold. Part of my planting will have to involve bringing in more fall color. Yep.


Missed one great photo op this morning - Buck and Cocoa were out, in their two shock collars. One keeps them home; the other is to prevent barking. I heard Cocoa yelp, the kind of help that means pain. When I went out - barefoot - to see what was up, a beautiful coyote was heading up the hill. By the time I went back inside for flip flops and camera he was too far away to get a photo. Darn. By the way, el coyote was wearing a heavy coat and a very full, fluffy tail. I'm thinking cold, wet winter.





OK, as you come down the driveway you no longer see the propane tank. Yeah!!!

(Notice the dogs? Whenever the camera comes out, they think it's to be directed at them. Do you suppose I take their photos too often?)






A platform is cut into the bank back of the oak trees and the propane tank hides back there. It's the required 5 feet off the property line and far enough from the house to be safe. Once we get fence up on those posts I'll plant the wild grape that I scrounged from a neighbor for screening so another neighbor won't have to look at our tank when they build and we'll both get fall color, a 2-fer.

Also figured out the a carport can't come off the house without putting a support post right in the way of where we'd need to back to turn. So, the car port, a long range project anyway, will go back near the tank. - Oh also got steps cut into the bank so I can access the little triangle at the top of same for planting, etc.

Moving on to philosophy (is that a collective groan I hear out there?). . . .

I'm feeling my "responsibility" soapbox forming again. Here's what set me off this time:

Reading online this AM, the San Diego Union-Tribune website, and stumbled on an article about how the foreclosures are helping first time home buyers get into the market with "affordable housing". The article mentioned how a guy was able to buy a 900 square foot house for about $305,000 - it had been on the market for $450,000. It also required some creative financing and government guarantees. OK, that's almost $340 a square foot, and we are not talking a nice house or a nice neighborhood. Since when does that constitute "affordable housing"? Same article mentions how prices in San Diego have more than doubled since 2000 (prior to this drop), but this certainly doesn't reflect a cut of half to $225,000. So, where's the bargain? And, aren't creative financing and government guarantees a major part of what got us in this mess in the first place?

Moving on from there, here's my dog walking story. Went out Monday walking the dogs. Dogs were being great; we were having a wonderful time. About 2/3's of the way into our walk, I saw a man jogging down Mineral King with a youngish dog on a retractable leash. He didn't notice us. As he got closer, I could see he was also wearing headphones. Still didn't notice us & the pup (looked like a young lab) was bouncing at the end of its leash obviously having seen us. Looked like a disaster waiting to happen. I took my dogs to the edge of the road and made them sit. Mr. Oblivious kept coming and just as he reached us the pup lunged (playfully, not threateningly) toward us. Well, I've learned this lesson the hard way. Big dogs, leashes, uh-uh. So, I let go of mine, knowing they'd go meet and greet doggie style and then be done. Mr. O held onto his retractable leash, got tangled up and fell. Skinned his elbow on the pavement.

Did I feel (a) bad and (b) at least partially responsible? You betcha. Did I apologize, etc? You betcha. Mr. O assured me he was fine, seemed embarrassed, and went on. So, what has this to do with my responsibility kick? Well, couple of days later, The Man and I are walking the dogs on the same route. He's got Cocoa and I've got Buck. We meet Mr. O, this time without his dog. Still with headphones and sunglasses. Bit more alert now though. He approaches us and in a very abrasive way demands to know, looking at me, if I'll be walking this time every day. I say yes. (That at least got him to take off the headphones.) He turns to Scottie and begins a rage about how my dogs "attacked" him, I can't control them, "you" weren't there and didn't see it, they're dangerous, blah, blah. I started to walk off, and Mr. O, says, actually demands "You're going to walk off when I'm trying to have a conversation here?" I reply that it's no conversation, just him letting off a bunch of anger, and I keep going. Scottie (being very patient) hears out the rest of the lecture and threat to "take things to the next level" should "it" happen again.

So, did Mr. O ever take responsibility for his part in a 3-dog action (dogs were all fine by the way, and all went on their separate ways without any problem)? Nope. Do I think he even sees that he has a part in this? Nope.

And the tie between this and the mortgage mess? A general lack of a sense of responsibility among we humans. Ticks me off big time. From kids running amuck in schools and parents taking no responsibility, to overweight America and the resulting health issues, to the Bushies taking on Iraq and forgetting Osama in the process, to the warming of the Earth and the hundreds - no thousands - of species we'll lose as a result we've lost all sense of direction.

And, for those who remember the neighbor at the place we rented - he who hates the landlady and tries to take it out on anyone who rents from her, works for her, etc.: Said neighbor threatened to "shoot your a**" - directed at a contractor who went there last week to take a look at doing some remodeling for the landlady. And the contractor doesn't want to file a police report. So, where's the responsibility there? Do we wait until someone IS shot???

Enough already. Think I'll take the dogs for a walk. Yep, on the same route.