The rock's in - even leveled!

We actually have usable space, parking, and room to drive on the side of the house. What a treat!

We got two loads of road base delivered and spread out in the parking area.

I'm thinking I'll make a little herb garden at the side of the house. We've even got road base in the area leading to the dog door so they don't bring in mud.




The parking area will be back by the propane tank. Some time, maybe next year, we'll put a carport back there. And, we've actually got room to back out and drive out forward - what a concept!



Just to the back of the oak trees, but not visible in the photo, are my steps so I can access the little area above. I managed to scrounge enough of the road base to put on those too.



This will turn more brown over time from the dirt getting on it from tire wheels, etc. Don't know if we'll have the polymer stuff that was used on the driveway put on this.




And why is it wet?



Puppers got baths today.

Since I have to tie them so they can't go roll in the dirt, we do the baths on the porch. Before the road base that meant more mud to deal with.

Aren't they gorgeous? Cocoa is so shiny and her muscles show up beautifully; and Buck actually shows his real white coloration. That ought to be good overnight, not much more.

We are doing a big break with tradition this year. Scottie and I are going to eat out for Thanksgiving - at a nice place, may even dress up a bit.

And, we're going to do an open house on Christmas day. Time to start building our own traditions in Three Rivers and this is a good way to start. We also have a couple of sets of good friends visiting soon. Michele and Dawn arrive on Friday, November 30 and leave early the following Monday, a quick visit. Then a couple of Scottie's guy buddies arrive for a couple of days. And we're hoping Sarah, Bobby, Justin and Grandpa Hughie (oh, and Foxy) may come up for Christmas.

Hope your Thanksgiving plans are as easy as ours!

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.

Gaining space

So, one evening this past week, I arrived home to find the propane tank moved right next to the house, blocking the dog door. Why, you might ask, would anyone do that?


Well, it's all part of the gaining space movement.








If you look carefully at the next photo, the broom marks the present location of the drain. The dog bowl in the middle of the track marks the prior location. Given that the bank used to come down right beside the drain, you can see we had NO space to drive through this area. That has been rectified, and the drain now sits so far into the bank area that it doesn't need a grate over it.

The pipe is large enough, and our water volume gets big enough, that we are told it will "self-clean" meaning we don't need to worry about leaves, etc. Cool, huh?

Dirt was removed all along the bank and around the corner back to the lot line.

The hole in the ground is where the propane tank used to sit.

Thanks to Fred Lowe we aren't even going to have to pour more concrete! He moved the old pad and will reposition it to the back of the newly flat area then re-plumb it. We'll also need to get gravel brought in soon as the clay will turn to red mud as soon as the rains get going.



At some point we'll add on a roof at the point where it will it attach to the current back porch roof and bring that out to form a carport. The area gained by moving the tank will give us plenty of room to back out and be able to exit forward rather than in reverse.

And, we'll be able to put the garden shed to the back also, near the propane tank and out of the way.


I'm kinda thinkin' there's nuttin' that Fred can't do.

After the storm

BIG storm last night. The show was totally amazing.

We stood outside for quite a while watching the storm come up the valley and into the foothills. Then it hit us. Power was off and on for several hours. Wind blew like crazy - the news says gusts up to 70 mph. Rain poured but right here we had no hail.





So, this morning we surveyed the damage.

This was our little garden storage shed. Gone.






Although the shed itself was in pieces, the things in it survived with just a few exceptions. Most needed all the mud cleaned off; not much more.












The shade structure that once provided shelter for the dogs then moved over by the Tuff Shed to protect Scottie's tool area also bit the dust.


For this we ended up with bolt cutters to dismantle it since it was so twisted that we couldn't fold it up any more.

Kinda left us with a tad - just a tiny tad - of the idea of cleaning up after a flood or such.


Then, we moved on.

Fred Lowe, earth mover supreme, showed up to work on a project for us.

Fred is one of those amazing people who has made an art of what he does! We've thought for months that we needed a big bunch of fill dirt to finish off the east side of our yard.

Not so. Fred peeled so much dirt off the bank I simply couldn't believe it.

We, especially Scottie, got to man the hoses providing water to help the soil compact as he moved it.

So, the biggest part of the "hole" where our carport will ultimately go has been filled in. Drainage issues are being corrected.

I got to watch Fred swing the bucket of the end loader around and practically do finish grading with it! Amazing.

Fred comes back tomorrow. He and Scottie will extend the drain that runs under and build a collection area at the bottom of the steep bank. No more water problems on that side!


So, the guys got together to talk about what else could be done with just a little more effort.


Scottie will frame up an area for concrete and pour same. Fred will return, re-set our propane tank running the opposite way and re-plumb the gas line - and oh by the way, at the same time we'll gain a flat area for a turn around at the end of the future carport area.


So, out of the storm comes a silver lining. Cost us some money we didn't want to spend right now, but in the long run will have solved 2 or 3 major site problems at once. Fred's a master. Really.

I'm basically exhausted, in my jammies and in bed with my handy laptop before 7 PM. But, much was done today.

Evening Skies

A warning: If you don't like storm clouds, skies pictures, etc., you might want to tune out for the next few weeks/months. We are heading into rainy season. I love storms. Therefore - storm clouds will appear in this blog.







We have glorious storm clouds but so far nothing more than dribbles of moisture.


So, we have this view, fairly early:








Same view a tad later when the sun just kisses the top of the rock formation.














And, this view, off to the West. . . .














And the same shot later as the night sky melts into the storm clouds leaving just a tiny bit of breathing room between.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we got a nice storm our of this???

Scottie's Birthday Fundraiser - you can participate

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, little Scottie McArthur was born in San Diego. Rumor has it he was a bit of a handful for his parents and sometimes even rode his bike down the Juan Street hill with his feet up on the handlebars.

Well, not a lot has changed. Little Scottie will be 69 on October 29th. No one thought he'd last this long. He's still a bike-ridin' maniac. While it may not be feet up on the handlebars, it's now century rides, riding in 115+ degree heat, and basically obsessing big time over his BIKE.

So, it's time for a little fundraiser:

Please print this page, check your participation level, and mail with your check (or cash) to Little Scottie.

Level One - The Ex-Friend. Just $5 gets you into this beginning category. _______

Level Two - The Recent Acquaintance. $10 acknowledges you haven't known Scottie very long, but you undoubtedly plan to move up in the categories in the future. _______

Level Three - The Good Buddy. $25 lets the world know that you really Care _______

Level Four - The Relative. $50 - surely it's worth more than a buddy. ________

Level Five - The Dear Friend. $100. You know how important you are. ________

Level Six - The Close Family Member. $200. You want to be close, don't you? ________

Level Seven - The Sponsor. $500. You really want to see Scottie go Pro. ________

Level Eight - The Mentor. $1000. You feel a certain responsibility for having started him down this road, and you know the high cost of bike gear. ________

Level Nine - The Patron. $1500. You want him to keep on ridin' ________

AND

Level Ten - The Godfather/mother. $2500. It's a level you can't refuse, plus you want him in your debt for a loooong time. ________

Just remember: It could be worse. He could have taken up sailing.

We've been havin' FUN!

Good friends Yvonne and Shari visited from Illinois and we've been playing, and eating, and laughing, and eating, and more eating. . . .

I TRIED to be really careful and drive slowly on the curvy roads, but Shari still got sick our first touring day out. We managed to stop to look at a tarantula, take photos of twisty manzanita trees, and pick a few buckeye pods.



Our second day was a trip up the mountain to see the big trees and visit Crystal Cave. Scottie suggested that riding on the hood in the fresh air would prevent the car sickness. Even though Shari had been the one to get sick, Yvonne was the only one game enough to try the trick. Think her little fingers were pretty worn out by the time we made the cave parking lot.

We had misty weather and low clouds so we skipped the climbing of Moro Rock. I'm not sure, but I think I heard big sighs of relief when that decision was announced. Flatlanders have a tough time with the hills around here.



The trees were absolutely gorgeous and the mosses and lichen have come to life with the wet weather so I had to sneak in a couple of artsy-fartsy photos.

Let's see, we managed to visit down-town Visalia and my favorite Mexican restaurant there, and my favorite Mexican restaurant in Three Rivers, and a fabulous dinner at the Gateway, and a dinner party for friends at our house. Yep, we ate too much.



We finally ran out of energy, money, and room for any more food in our tummies, so the girls left this morning for a flight out of LA.

We had our obligatory good-bye photo. . .










And one with THE MAN (who, by the way, was a totally charming host while the girls were here).


WHY does he always take a better photo than anyone else???


Next guests are the end of the month for Scottie's birthday (watch this blog for his special birthday fund-raiser) and then the first of December for friends. Get your reservations in - space fills up quickly.

Outdoors and In

WE GOT RAIN!

Which means things will be getting green.

If you look carefully at the photo at right you'll see snow on Moro Rock.

The view up-canyon is fantastic in a storm. Of course, it helps that I love storms.








And, having celebrated 10 years married (ha, ha to all you who had low numbers in the pool), we bought ourselves an area rug for the dining room.

It had always been our thought that we'd get a rug for under the table, and I love how it is now set off. With dark wood floors and a dark wood table it all ran together, but the rug makes the table pop!

It also ties in nicely to the red in the kilm rug in the living room, and manages to set off the entryway to the left of the dining area at the same time.

That's a lot to get out of one rug.

On the list today is pick up the tree that Scottie surprised me by buying as an extra anniversary gift. We'll now have two sycamores on the SW corner of the house. Perfect.

The Century Ride

OK, it's taken me a month to get this photo up on the blog. . . .

The photos Scottie took were of other riders, scenery, etc., so I've been waiting for the "official" photo that he ordered.

While this area looks flat, much of his ride was very hilly. I'm not sure if he was the absolute oldest, but he was certainly one of them - he will be 69 at the end of the month. So 100 miles at altitude, in heat, with big hills, after a 6 hour drive the day before and camping the night before - and it's his idea of "fun".

Dr. Hannan's Answers

This is direct from Dr. Hannan in response to my queries about the hoof prints in our yard:

Looks like deer, and here in California that means
Mule Deer not Whitetail (which only enter the extreme
NE part of Calif). The animal was walking. Putting
the hind foot into the forefoot is common. The
advantage is that it halves the probability of braking
a twig as there is only one footprint for two feet.

There is a term for this, but I can't remember it.

Big means buck.

The Sierra deer spend the summer in the high country
and then migrate down the canyons to winter pasture in
the lowlands. This produces an hour glass range. You
are probably at the neck of the hour glass, although
with development of the lowlands, the deer have had to
stop further uphill.

Eddie,

Have Scott ask about deer trails. In some herds (each
hour glass is a herd) the paths are dramatic. Often a
foot wide and six inches deep. The deer follow the
same paths year after year.

DFG in Sacramento produces a pamphlet on each deer
herd. You should be able to get the right one from
the local DFG game biologist. Find out who it is and
ask. It should be free and have all kinds of great
info in it. Could lead to some great fall sights as
puma converge on these trails for obvious reasons.

I should have thought of this earlier. Look up the
local game biologist. There maybe two, one for game
and the other for endangered species. Both will be
fun to talk to.

Doc


So there you have it. I have yet to come up with a biology related question that Jim can't answer!

Lichen and Moss and Hoof-prints - OH MY!

We are nearing autumn weather for real. It's quite chilly at night and pleasant in the day time. We even had a rain while we were out of town.

As a consequence of cooler weather and some moisture, things are getting pretty.


This is one of my favorite rocks. It sits at the base of one of our oaks and has a fair amount of both lichen and moss on it. In the hot summer weather, both are brown and appear dead. It's taken some getting used to the seasons here, and I still have a ways to go. In the mid-West, the dormant season is winter. The same was true when I lived in Mississippi, in San Diego (as much as it has a dormant season), and in New Mexico.

Not so here. The plant kingdom chooses its period of rest to coincide with the ridiculously hot, dry weather that we get in the summer. Granted, there are a trees that lose leaves in our relatively mild winter, and few flowers bloom then, but Summer is the season of brown.


This was taken at the base of our rock wall. I suspect it was made after the rain, but what I don't understand is how one hoof-print is inside another. . . . anyone got an answer?

I'm guessing deer, but it seems awfully large for that. Speculation??


Then there's my latest bit of movie review cum philosophy.

We went to see In the Valley of Elah today. What an incredibly good but incredibly disturbing movie! See it.

I'm convinced that most young Americans, those of the age to be serving in Iraq, are simply not equipped mentally or emotionally for a war of this type. And we, as a nation, are equally ill-equipped politically and philosophically.

These young people are sent off to fight a war with an invisible enemy. No one, including a child, can be assumed trustworthy and presumed bomb-free. Into that go our warriors who have grown up in a world that believes you don't shoot a man in the back, protect women and children, and play "fair". Faced with a situation in reality that means that simply stopping to offer aid may endanger their life and that of their mates, they are forced to take actions that they were taught since childhood were abhorrent. I don't want to say too much and ruin the movie for others, but being based on a true story, it brings the result of this other-worldly experience home in a most disturbing fashion.

Added to that is the political reality that says our leaders aren't free to "bomb them to dust" as one character in the movie suggests. We've become so sensitive - oh, I guess it's really so attuned to the media and polls - that we will put our soldiers lives at risk rather than risk the bad publicity of civilian deaths. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not in favor of killing civilians, but I don't know how you tell who the civilians are in this war. And I've yet to figure what we are accomplishing.

Let's see, no weapons of mass destruction, no chemical weapons, conditions for residents are worse than when we landed. . . . oh, I remember, Shrub said we needed to invade Iraq 'cuz "they tried to kill my Daddy." For real. I couldn't make that crap up. Do you suppose the Shrubbettes think we've evened the score yet?

WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

We are just back from San Diego where we went to celebrate my father-in-law's 96th birthday. That's Hughie on the left in this photo. He still lives alone in a big ol' house in Mission Hills, walks, works in his rose garden and has a pretty darned good life.









Then we have my long time friend, Mae Lou. She's 93 or 94, actually went to high school with Hughie and my mother-in-law Ruth a few decades back. Mae Lou is in a "care facility" with damned little caring being provided. Lost her hearing aides and "they" won't get new ones. Offspring all live out of state so she has little company. She's in a room with two other people with just flimsy curtains to pull for privacy. And, lest you think that's where we all go if we have no money, there is plenty of money in a trust for her care; it's just not being used well.

I get extremely upset when I visit and see the ungodly situation she's been left in; but other than "encourage" her offspring to make other arrangements there is little I can do. Did find an Ombudsman (actually an Ombudswoman) in place this time since someone had complained about Mae Lou having been over medicated, presumably for the convenience of the staff.

Take another look back up at the top photo. That's a good friend Jim Hannan on the right. Jim's a biology professor who presently has a female tarantula. My Spousal Unit decided to take him a male to see if he could breed them. I'm told that one can tell the males from the females based on behavior rather than needing to get close enough to look at sex organs. Anyway, Scottie captured a male, who we named Tommy Tarantula, and put him in a box to take to Jim. That meant that on the trip down we had Lucy Cat, who is ill with a bladder infection, in her carrier as well as Tommy T in his box. Jim happened to be out of town so Mr. T got to reside in the garage for a few days. Well, the Unit got worried that little Tommy might not be faring well so he opened the box to check him out. Tommy was just fine. Ever the concerned soul, the Spousal Unit decided to leave the top of the box open "just a crack" to be sure little Tommy was getting adequate air (did I not say he was FINE). You guessed it - when Scottie went to make the presentation to Jim - no Tommy. He had escaped into my father-in-law's garage where he's probably lurking in the vain hope of a female wandering by. I have the horrible feeling that we'll be capturing another so the breeding program can go on.

Almost rainy season

We're off to San Diego to celebrate Grandpa Hughie's 96th birthday!

He's amazing. Still up and at 'em, living alone in a big old house, keeping his roses. Just amazing.

Think we'll miss the first rain here.

This is our view almost North. I have to learn the names of these various peaks here. Love how the clouds are hanging low.










Looking more East is the view toward Moro Rock.

Lady Moro is shrouded in clouds today also.



This is one of my favorite seasons. Unlike Autumn in the midwest, we don't have the color display, but we have cool nights, fog and clouds moving in, the smell of rain in the air.

Give it a few more weeks and we'll get to Edgar Allen Poe weather - then I really love it!


Meanwhile, I'm over my little hissy fit about the latest medical news and just focused on learning how to manage it. All's well.

What State are you from?

The past few days mine's been named "Discontent".

This is my morning view:

Eagles' Nest or Eagles' Peak, I can never remember. Either way, it's a beautiful and inspiring piece of rock.

Moving my focus this morning to ABUNDANCE.

I don't yet have photos of Scottie's bike ride, but he did complete it, a bit worse for wear. Think that driving 6 hours plus, camping, riding 100 miles including portions up to 8000 feet elevation, then having another 6 hour drive home the next day might have been a bit much. He's had a neck ache and a back ache much of the week and been very tired.

Finally have found someone to work with for landscape planning. Check out www.lamontscapes.com. Susan Lamont, written up in the latest issue of Sunset, and an absolutely fabulous landscape architect, is (I hope) working with us long distance. I sent her a bunch of info and she has promised to get back to me next week after reviewing all of it. She's north of San Francisco, so it will have to be done via internet and telephone and mail. I've been holding out for someone whose work was "right", and Susan is most definitely right! It's reminiscent of when I found the guy who made our table - saw his work and knew "this is it". Same thing with Susan.

See, I've just convinced myself that there is much to be grateful for!

Not a Fun Day

Back to my doctor today for lab results.

The good news: negative for Valley Fever which had been seeming a strong possibility.

The bad news: Cholesterol is ridiculously high, especially for a life-long vegetarian. Given that I'm already on meds, that's not good. Need to make some diet and exercise changes and add some herbal stuff. This seems to be a major hereditary thing in my family and I can only hope to achieve some control.

And - low thyroid; low enough that I start on meds tomorrow. That could well be yet another lifetime med. I'm hoping that getting this back in line will add to my energy level and help me take off the weight I've put on.

And - high blood sugar. No meds, but diet and blood testing and see what happens.

Add that to the existing crap, and I'm not a happy camper. Will it be OK? Sure. Is it a big deal in the grander scheme of things? Of course not. But, I'm claiming the right to be po'd about it today. Tomorrow I'll move on.

So, given my personal rule of not ending on a bad note. . . . Scottie took Cocoa with him yesterday while he worked on the water system down at the old cabin. She absolutely loved it! Came home with that happy dog face. And Buck, ever the slug, was quite happy to veg out with me. Scottie used to always take Mousse with him, but after Mousse died he hasn't been able to get his head, more likely his heart, around taking a dog along. Good for him and good for Cocoa!

FURMINATION!!

All the critters got brushed with the Furminator yesterday.

Buck's always a treat to do 'cuz his hair is coarse. I thought I'd gotten quite a bit of fluff of both Buck and Cocoa, but then I got to Lucy Cat:

We sat at the bottom of the steps, just Lucy and me. For those who remember Lucy's early days, it's now possible to brush this girl without wrapping her paws and claws in a towel to protect life and limb.

I brushed and brushed, and the fur kept coming.

I've been calling my girl Lucy-Lu-Fat-Cat, but I think the fat is just her thick, thick fur.





Since she has an amazing undercoat it's all soft and fluffy. Pretty if one is thinking of a sweater; not so much when you try to keep it corralled. This fluff floats through the air, sticks to walls and clothes, and generally is a major pain.

Once again, I recommend the Furminator to anyone with pets, especially long haired pets.

Musing, Meandering Mind - Mine that is

I'm in a strange state of mind today. The house is quiet. Scottie is out on his bike. The animals are all in their spots. And I'm meditating, musing, generally letting my brain go where it chooses. Sometimes that's good; sometimes not.

Here's where I've been so far:



Everyone says the kitchen is the heart of the home, yet the in thing for kitchens today seems to be so utterly streamlined as to have no feeling. It's all solid granite counters with nothing on them, sleek appliances and cabinets, and nothing that says warmth.

My kitchen is a bit on the messy side deliberately. We've a display shelf that runs around two walls and holds a bunch of mostly old things that matter. We have granite, but it's tile not a solid chunk and the counters are a tad cluttered. The island is totally different wood and we really do use the chopping block top.

The windows grow plants, especially orchids.

And, at the other end is a deliberately mis-matched cabinet. This one is the same styling, but less deep, has glass doors and a dark stain. It looks more like an old furniture piece. I'm thinking it needs old crystal pulls.

The blue and white pot that sits on the floor was my grandparents. Grandma Mitts, my mom's mother, made sour kraut, dill pickles and hominy in it. No, not all at once. I remember it sitting in their home with something fermenting and smelling yummy.

May be that this is where my interest in old pots comes from.

How's that for a segway into these?


Found this wonderful old pot in an antique store somewhere in Missouri at a great bargain. One of the wooden handles is missing, though the wire to hold it remains, and it had been marked way down. Practically stole it. It makes a great pot for the big fiddle leaf fig and the underplantings.






Some of the other pots have had a tough time finding just the right home in our new house, but I think we're getting closer.






In the dining room corner is this plant situated in a big old basket, but around it are a couple of old, old pots. The smaller, dark brown one was my mom's and probably came from her parents. It's been broken and re-glued. I don't mind a bit of imperfection in pots or life.


The other pot was another purchase. It's maybe 300 years old and from China. Bought it on line and on sale.

Most of the things of this type that I keep come from family or friends, but sometimes and old piece that calls to me just has to be purchased.





And, while we're talking a about plants, well sorta, this is my favorite orchid:

Phalaenopsis, also called the moth orchid. The blooms really do look like big, perfect moths.


Next to it you can see a branch of an orchid I've not identified, but have dubbed the spider orchid. Hard to appreciate this one unless it's seen up close.












Speaking of up close, I've had to grab my laptop and move to the day bed. Ellie Cat has taken over the desk top. OK, it's really a table top, but being used for a desk. Ellie loves to lie in the sun, and I hate to disturb her.








Lucy claims a spot in front of the doors to the little balcony off the master bedroom. In the evening she will claim the bed itself, moving on to the master bath at night. She seems to have decided that the entire master suite space is hers and the rest of us visit by her tolerance.





The dogs are preferring to be indoors these days as the heat wave continues.




Cocoa likes the living room rug. She how scared and submissive she looks? She's been reverting to behavior that she had when we first got her from the rescue, fearful, peeing when she's called to come, etc. I think Buck is bullying her too much, so I've set out on a program to let Buck know that Cocoa is the oldest dog, therefor the top dog. Not at all sure it's working, but we'll keep on for a while.






Speaking of that big boy, one of his spots is on the little rug in front of the doors off the living room. Later he will move to a tiled area that stays cooler.

Buck, who has no meanness in him, definitely has a protective streak, especially around me, and it comes out in odd ways. He likes both of the cats, even making friends with Lucy - not an easy trick. But, if either of them hisses, he takes it as a threat to be countered. Given that he's 115 or so, and the cats maybe 8 or 9 pounds, that's not a good thing.


This morning, Lucy joined me on the bed after Scottie went for his bike ride. It's not that she adores me, just that she wants me to get up and feed her.

Buck decided to come to the side of the bed, also to prompt me to get up, and Lucy hissed at him. Fortunately I was awake and about to get out of bed, 'cuz the next thing I knew Buck growled and lunged at Lucy. I jumped up and in between and caught a big Buck paw right in the tummy. Had to grab him by the scruff to remind him that he is not in charge.


Given that nothing on me heals quickly, I'll have this for weeks. Guess that's OK since I don't go around with my tummy hanging out to be seen very often - just a special treat for blog readers.


Finally, the Power of the Universe:

After Hurricane Dean spent his fury in Mexico, we got just the tip of his tail. Southern California had a good amount of rain. Even Visalia had enough to measure. We had just drops. Not enough to help the plants or break the heat.


But we did get a show. I love storm clouds, heck, I love storms. Love the lightening. Love the thunder. Love pounding rain.


For now I'll be satisfied with the clouds.

Do you feel it? Power, majesty. . . .

Do you smell it? Kinda like gunpowder. . . .

Do you hear the crash of the thunder and see the lightening flash?


Does it lift your soul and remind you how small and impermanent we humans are?


Maybe that's what I'm feeling today - this strange desire to sit and be very, very quiet - maybe I'm focused on the fragility of life.

Looking out the windows here, the late summer landscape of the California foothills just captures me. The grasses are a soft gold and most of their seeds have already spilled. The buckeye is a rusty brown, having given up its leaves to heat and drought. The wind blows hot and sucks even more moisture away from plants that are already tinder-dry. Even the oaks are feeling the effects of heat and drought. Many have dropped leaves. Some have aborted their acorns.

There is a sense of waiting, emptiness, almost foreboding. Something in my soul says it's going to be a cold, wet, bitter winter. I'm wanting to bake bread, cut firewood, lay in stores like the woodpeckers hiding the few acorns they can find in perfectly drilled holes in old trees or electrical poles.

For everything there is a season. True. We've separated ourselves from that as much as possible with our central air conditioning and our forced air heat. We have insulated windows and down comforters. We move our clocks forward and back to exercise some control over time itself. Ha. Mom Earth is not happy with our species. We are feeding her poison and trying to pretend that we won't be among the victims of her death.

And me. . . . Well, I write, the book progresses. I read and read some more. I take my little steps, plant a tree, drive an "efficient" car, buy very little "prepared" foods. It's not enough. My generation and ones before us have not taken good care of the Mother, and I'm afraid she's nearly terminal. We can apply our bandaids now, but the real solution must come with the next generations, our children, our grandchildren, their grandchildren.

And yet, I feel a certain optimism simply because we are so very small, fragile and impermanent. Mom Earth has survived this long through dinosaurs and ice ages, through floods and fires. Maybe she will simply shrug her mighty shoulders, sending out massive earthquakes, new mountain ranges rising, floods and tsunamis across the planet, and throw our measley species into oblivion like a mass of fleas

We are so small.