Like everyone, I had a bit of eclipse party here. My friend Tracy came up to the house with her two grandkids, Paislee and Greyson to see what there was to see. I put some of Reagan's toys out in the patio for Paislee and she was happy as could be while us adults attempted to burn our retinas out.
Tracy and I split a welding mask to see the eclipse while Paislee and Greyson were oblivious of the whole event.
We'd take turns with the welding mask to watch the progress of this fantastical lunar/solar event.
It's hard to tell from the photo, but the colors got really intense like an Instagram photo with the contrast and saturation turned up a bit.
The sky was an intense shade of blue.
Is there anything cuter than a little girl with a watering can? Paislee enjoyed watering my plants just like Reagan does.
She also enjoyed making it rain in the tundra or wherever zebras live. Zebras love a good rainy season.
Considering our eclipse was 95% here, it was still pretty bright outside. Our eclipse was scarred by a big ol' jet trail running across the face of it.
Nitro watched the eclipse from his upstairs catio addition with his total lack of interest cattidude. Unlike what we'd been hearing none of the animals around here, including Nitro, even noticed their world was going dark.
The next day I headed for California to visit Auntie Karen and Uncle Bill. I was in total awe of seeing a freeway with no traffic on it. In all fairness, this is a tolled freeway and I guess a lot of folks just choose not to pay to use the "Lexus lanes".
Uncle Bill is the best BBQer ever. Auntie Karen preps his food and Uncle Bill does the cooking. He has always grilled some very memorable meals over the years. This is rotisserie chicken that seemed like it cooked forever and was well worth it!
The ribs were to die for as well! They were topped with a family sauce recipe that was just perfect for the ribs.
We went to San Juan Capistrano, just a short drive from Auntie Karen's house. The old San Juan Capistrano mission where the swallows return each year is in the center of town. Karen had an errand there and then I took the opportunity to introduce her to Geocaching and look for a couple of caches located in this old Spanish-rooted town. I found a cache near this old stage coach stop which is now a Mexican restaurant.
I don't remember if this is the one I found here or not, but you get the idea. It was a teeny-tiny one for sure.
There are so many cool plants in San Juan. Not really desert, tropical, cactus or succulent. They are just their own kind of plants in this part of California.
You can see the crumbling old wall of the original San Juan Capistrano mission over the wall of the mission compound. I think it's so cool to have that stuff so close to where you live. Never mind that I live close to cool stuff too and don't even think twice about it.
Auntie Karen has always loved lizards. I remember her climbing around in the rocks with me at the family cabin on Mt. Baldy in California looking for lizards. I guess you could say they have been a lifelong love of hers...we also skinned rattlesnakes but I don't think that was a love of hers, just plain old curiosity to see what a snake looked like without it's skin on.
I digress. She knows all of her lizards, which is their favorite rocks, and how many litters of eggs have hatched.
These are some of the smaller ones that live in the comfort of her yard.
This little teeny guy likes to sun himself on the "This place is for the birds" rock in Karen's garden.
We went to the Dana Point Marina to walk around and grab a couple more caches. While we were walking along the breakwater...they call it a "rip rap" we saw a bunch of white squirrels. Here's an article on the white squirrels of Dana Point Harbor in the Orange County newspaper.
There is also a short story book (Kindle edition only) about these white squirrels. It looks like an interesting story but one our local library probably doesn't offer.
As usual, I got so caught up in my trip that I forgot to take a photo of the people but a stroll to my fridge took care of that one. It's not so current, but I look at it every day.
All too soon enough I was headed home. I've seen a lot of things on airplane flights before, but I've never seen anyone crouch in their seat like this for their entire flight. Whatever.
All too soon enough I was headed home. I've seen a lot of things on airplane flights before, but I've never seen anyone crouch in their seat like this for their entire flight. Whatever.
What I did find annoying this trip...and there is always something...is that there was a flight attendant on every leg of the flight wearing (a lot) of strong perfume. One even stuffed up my nose and made me cough every time she walked by. It seems like it would be policy not to wear fragrances because of customer sensitivities.
Nitro was glad to have me home again, he wouldn't leave me alone for a while.
Me thinks we are going to be overrun with little Tom Thumb pumpkins this year. There are many, many, many more on the plant in the garden yet.
Today's distasteful task, mainly for Bob, was to power wash the house in preparation for painting it soon. I just hate seeing him up on tippy ladders reaching out to blast green stuff off the house.
Gratuitous photo of Nitro ignoring the power washing racket.
So, while we are working hard here, the "kids" rented a boat from the base and toured around the waterways on these beautiful days. They saw sea lions, osprey, seals, and fish, but no whales. Reagan has come to expect whales because they often visit the same waters.
Reagan heading for open waters to look for whales.
Bear seemed to be enjoying himself as well.
Even better than being able to stick his head out the car window!
Have a good week Everyone!
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