Category Archives: Pets

Northern Coast Road Trip to Seattle

Bobby and I decided to take the dog and drive it, instead of fly, despite the high gas prices these days, and we had a great time seeing friends and family along the way.  My best friend from law school and his partner hosted us in Seattle.  Their two cats were kind enough not to eat Monte, and they all pretty much started getting along by the time we left.

I saw my Aunt Sharren.  She’s the sweetest thing, but she wouldn’t let me take her picture!  We stayed overnight at her place and did some major catching up through breakfast the next day.  I hadn’t seen her since I was probably about five years old!  Fortunately we chat regularly online.  Our two little dogs got along surprisingly well.

The road trip back was the slow one, and it included lots of beaches, redwoods, gorges, sand dunes and lighthouses.  Besides spending several days in Seattle, we made stops in Portland, Astoria, Canon Beach, Florence, Port Orford, Eureka, Orick, Fort Bragg, Mendocino, Guerneville and countless other unmarked places on Highways 101 and 1, mostly.

I split up the galleries to consist of one with people and dogs and one that consists of views and vistas.

Unfortunately it looks like the video part of my expensive Nikon 5100 is going south, as did my photography portion of the camera several months ago. I’ll see if there is a way to increase the contrast and decrease the flushed areas of sand and sky that seem to blur a lot of the details in some of the videos.

Ramblings

My Yorkie Monte got a stimulating two mile round trip walk to BART station this morning, that lucky dog.  Bobby joined me and made the walk much more interesting.  We’re thinking about dressing the dog  up as an ewok for a dog costume contest in Alameda if not too rainy on Halloween.

I wish I was with my friend Rick at Sanity rally in DC; I had my moment on Colbert once, though.  See the link on the contents here.

I’m excited about the permaculture yield from backyard that Bobby already orchestrated.  We worked pretty hard on it (more him than me).

I gave mom a lesson in the content management system called WordPress, and she seems to have it down.  She is going to help me with the Trupa.com genealogy site.

Spoke t my old high school friend  Jan today.  She married my other high school friend Mike and they live in Colorado.  Bobby and I are going to visit there for the holidays, so I will see them in Fort Collins, north of Denver.  She told me to be prepared for some really cold weather, but probably not as cold as New York.

I’m very surprised Christina Aguilera is already divorcing, and more surprised that I care. Love her pipes.  Supposedly she was going out with the lesbian DJ that Lindsay Lohan was seeing before rehab (again).

Auguri to Celine Dion on her twin boys. My favorites divas never have girls!  Very cool gesture that Celine named one of her sons after Nelson Mandela, who she met.

Had a great polyglot dinner and art discussion at Tropisueno with friends on Yerba Buena Lane last night before we went to the Badass Bear-aoke at Deco Lounge.

Oprah touring Yosemite is inspiring me to make concrete plans. We’re seeing Grand Canyon in 7 days!

Monte had an adventure!

Bobby and I were unloading some things from the car the other night and tested the extra key.  Monte, always up for going to my Mom’s house for her human food treats, like pasta, jumped into the car numerous times.  He had just gotten a great bath from Alexandra that day and was smelling wonderful.  When Alex gives him baths, that’s usually when she’s most apt to have him spend the night in her room, so I didn’t think much of it when Monte didn’t come to the master bedroom where Bobby and I were, but it was rather odd that he was so quiet and didn’t come up in the morning for his usually nagging, since he knows I give him a special treat, making him sit and shake his paw, before I go to work.  My daughter’s door was open when I went downstairs, and she said she did not have Monte.  With a lump in my throat, I started searching the backyard and calling for him.  Knowing he was not the kind of dog to run away, even if there was a breach in the fence, I started looking in all corners.  Then, it struck me.  Sure enough, I pop my head into the dark (well-ventilated) garage to see him comfortably stretching and yawning from a long nap and peeking through the open window of my driver’s seat.  He was actually better off and more comfortable in the car than he would have been on the garage floor even if he had been big enough (he’s only seven pounds) to jump out of the window.  Excited, I freed him and he quietly and happily came to me and followed me inside the house without even any thirst or hunger, as I deliberately led him to his dishes.  I honestly don’t think he realized if he was stuck there ten minutes or the actual ten hours, but I felt very bad.  No matter what, I will make sure to acknowledge him before I go to bed every night from now on.