3 Ocak 2013 Perşembe
Garrett's Log Entry
To contact us Click HERE
Today is the 24th of May, and i had a long day. We started the day by leaving a little earlier then noon to go to the aquarium. An institute that has problems with its mission prerogative. To save animals is important, to enclose and monitor nature is not within that goal. But, it was cool, i saw an octopus! Then we went to Virginia Beach, where the water is suprisingly welcome after getting used to it. Swimming is fun! Sand, clinging to every part of your body, is not. Following that, we had our dinner at a really good pizza place, i had a pitcher of tea! The last activity of my day was a walk along the beach, which was very relaxing, and helped me with my zen, sorta. The moon is behind clouds right now, which makes me a little bit sad, but i am going to bed! Hi mom! This was a blog post by Garrett VanHecke.
Busy Weather='s A Busy Me
To contact us Click HERE
Hey everyone,You may have noticed a lack of updates both here and on my website. Between work and chasing storms I've been pretty darn busy. I chased 3 days in a row last week. The 12th, 13th, and 14th of April. I figured I would make a blog post with a preview of some images so you would know what to expect when I get the actual accounts up on my website. Once that is done I will finally be working on uploading more images to my galleries. Anyway... the first day on the 12th (Thursday) looked good for some storms over Western and Northwest Kansas. There were some concerns about the strength of the cap the further south you went, but also concerns about gulf moisture making it far enough north to create favorable conditions for storms. We started the day in Nebraska and drove to Garden City, Kansas. Making it around 2pm. Soon after a tornado watch was issued for much of Northwestern Kansas and parts of Colorado and Nebraska. We moved slightly north and sat near Tribune watching storm towers rise and fall. It became obvious that the cap was going to hold and we needed to head north... so we went for developing storms near Goodland, Kansas along interstate 70. Once we caught up to the storm the wind shear was so strong it was of the low precipitation variety. Which made the storm visually interesting but not very strong. Here is a preview! 
We stayed in Colby, Kansas for the night and awoke in the morning to a forecast that doubted whether we could get storms to form in Oklahoma before dark. But we decided to chance it. Storms fired very early (around noon) as we were just crossing the Oklahoma border. We finally reached a line of developing storms around 3pm. The cell we had targeted rapidly weakened as we approached near Chickasha, Oklahoma. As new storms developed to the southwest. We headed down interstate 44 towards Lawton, Oklahoma and then west. Reaching a high precipitation supercell near the Snyder, Oklahoma area in the Wichita Mountains area. Here is a quick preview from that storm! 
We stayed that night in Oklahoma City... and Saturday was supposed to be the big day. A rare 'high risk' of severe weather was issued by the Storm Prediction Center and they called for a tornado outbreak. We awoke early and crossed the Kansas border. Reaching the McPherson, Kansas area before heading west towards developing storms flying northeast across the state at 55mph. After being stuck in fog and low clouds on the early storms we elected to head to the south and west and get into clearer and more unstable air as more storms fired near Dodge City, Kansas and rapidly started to rotate. Here is a shot with a funnel cloud on the storm near Greensburg, Kansas! It ended up as a rather frustrating day as we would get in perfect positions on storms and they wouldn't produce. While the ones we had just left to the north had tornadoes on the ground, or another storm to the south would produce. Sometimes thats just the luck of chasing storms.
Finally I'll sneak in one last photo from my trips to Badlands National Park (I'm working on an image account for this as well) Enjoy! Feel free to let me know what you think, and thanks for your patience as I complete all of these updates! 
Thanks again,Chris
We stayed in Colby, Kansas for the night and awoke in the morning to a forecast that doubted whether we could get storms to form in Oklahoma before dark. But we decided to chance it. Storms fired very early (around noon) as we were just crossing the Oklahoma border. We finally reached a line of developing storms around 3pm. The cell we had targeted rapidly weakened as we approached near Chickasha, Oklahoma. As new storms developed to the southwest. We headed down interstate 44 towards Lawton, Oklahoma and then west. Reaching a high precipitation supercell near the Snyder, Oklahoma area in the Wichita Mountains area. Here is a quick preview from that storm! We stayed that night in Oklahoma City... and Saturday was supposed to be the big day. A rare 'high risk' of severe weather was issued by the Storm Prediction Center and they called for a tornado outbreak. We awoke early and crossed the Kansas border. Reaching the McPherson, Kansas area before heading west towards developing storms flying northeast across the state at 55mph. After being stuck in fog and low clouds on the early storms we elected to head to the south and west and get into clearer and more unstable air as more storms fired near Dodge City, Kansas and rapidly started to rotate. Here is a shot with a funnel cloud on the storm near Greensburg, Kansas! It ended up as a rather frustrating day as we would get in perfect positions on storms and they wouldn't produce. While the ones we had just left to the north had tornadoes on the ground, or another storm to the south would produce. Sometimes thats just the luck of chasing storms.Finally I'll sneak in one last photo from my trips to Badlands National Park (I'm working on an image account for this as well) Enjoy! Feel free to let me know what you think, and thanks for your patience as I complete all of these updates! Thanks again,Chris
If it's May... you chase!
To contact us Click HERE
Hey everyone... I have so much work to do after the last week. I have been planning to make quite a few website updates but have been chasing storms for the past week. May 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th were all chase days. I also went out locally around sunset to timelapse some distant storms on May 3rd. After all of that time in the car I've been recovering and getting some work done the last few days and am finally getting around to work on things. On May 1st... I chased in Southwestern Minnesota and Northwest Iowa and got a brief tornado warned supercell! 
There was also a decent light show after dark! 
Then on May 2nd, I chased in Southern Nebraska where the cap finally broke just before dark. A supercell tried to wrap up above my head! 
Then I captured the best cloud to ground strike I had ever gotten on the way home! 
On May 3rd... I went out around sunset to timelapse some local convection, I also included a timelapse of the supercell developing near Fullerton the previous day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDiZ1RAS0TIMay 4th was a very frustrating day, where supercells tried to get going and constantly weakened right as we would get to them. Here is a quick shot of some mammatus from a dying storm and then a stack of lightning images after dark near Norfolk.
May 5th was the worst day of the bunch... a strong cap stopped storms from developing and we basically got a tan with 1000 other chasers. That being said it was great to chat with friends and put some facebook faces to names in the real world. Ill keep you updated here as I get these accounts done! Thanks,Chris
There was also a decent light show after dark! Then on May 2nd, I chased in Southern Nebraska where the cap finally broke just before dark. A supercell tried to wrap up above my head! Then I captured the best cloud to ground strike I had ever gotten on the way home! On May 3rd... I went out around sunset to timelapse some local convection, I also included a timelapse of the supercell developing near Fullerton the previous day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDiZ1RAS0TIMay 4th was a very frustrating day, where supercells tried to get going and constantly weakened right as we would get to them. Here is a quick shot of some mammatus from a dying storm and then a stack of lightning images after dark near Norfolk.May 5th was the worst day of the bunch... a strong cap stopped storms from developing and we basically got a tan with 1000 other chasers. That being said it was great to chat with friends and put some facebook faces to names in the real world. Ill keep you updated here as I get these accounts done! Thanks,Chris
Three ROCKIN' Scenic Geology Roadways
To contact us Click HERE
This summer I had the great pleasure of driving the Needles Highway (South Dakota Highway 87), the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and the Beartooth All American Road (US Highway 212) for the first time on a trip to Bozeman, MT. I had heard and read great things about these routes and they certainly delivered stunning vistas and fantastic geology (even thought it was raining and incredibly windy in some locations). I've driven across the country a dozen or so times and taken various routes, but I would have to agree that these three highways provide some of the best geology 'watching' in the country!
The Needles Highway was a bit congested since Sturgis was in full swing but luckily the views looking up weren't impeded by the traffic. However, the day was cut short by a hail-producing thunderstorm.
I also stopped at Dead Indian Hill Pass (see my Gigpan of this location here). This stretch of the road is full of switchbacks and quite steep (stay in low gear!):
This is one of my favorite vantage points on the Beartooth - it isn't as 'scenic' as some other photos I took, but I really like the sense of scale, isolation, serenity, and rugged nature of this landscape:
And these are a view other views driving the Beartooth, I think the partly cloudy drizzle really adds a nice effect to this landscape:
The paternoster lake system you can see in the photos from the Beartooth Highway are spectacular, I personally haven't seen such an easily accessible view of this stunning an alpine landscape. I've always enjoyed paternosters, as much for their morphology as the etymology of the word - it roughly translates from Latin as "Lords Prayer" and the fact that they look like a chain of rosary beads. None of the photos or Photosynths do the drives justice, if you like driving and you like geology, then put these on your list of must-do drives in the western United States!
The Needles Highway was a bit congested since Sturgis was in full swing but luckily the views looking up weren't impeded by the traffic. However, the day was cut short by a hail-producing thunderstorm.
I also stopped at Dead Indian Hill Pass (see my Gigpan of this location here). This stretch of the road is full of switchbacks and quite steep (stay in low gear!):
This is one of my favorite vantage points on the Beartooth - it isn't as 'scenic' as some other photos I took, but I really like the sense of scale, isolation, serenity, and rugged nature of this landscape:
And these are a view other views driving the Beartooth, I think the partly cloudy drizzle really adds a nice effect to this landscape:
The paternoster lake system you can see in the photos from the Beartooth Highway are spectacular, I personally haven't seen such an easily accessible view of this stunning an alpine landscape. I've always enjoyed paternosters, as much for their morphology as the etymology of the word - it roughly translates from Latin as "Lords Prayer" and the fact that they look like a chain of rosary beads. None of the photos or Photosynths do the drives justice, if you like driving and you like geology, then put these on your list of must-do drives in the western United States!
Living in a Seismic Gap Isn't So Bad... Yet.
To contact us Click HERE
After the magnitude 8.8 (MM) occurred just north of Conception Chile many friends, family, and colleagues were concerned my trip could be canceled. After quelling those fears, many became concerned about the idea that I would be living in 'earthquake and volcano country' with the added threat of possible tsunami activity. So I thought I would create a few maps to hopefully minimize concern while being honest, keeping in mind that anything is possible when you live on an active subduction zone. Subduction in this area occurs between the Nazca and South America Plates, producing dramatic topography, explosive volcanoes and powerful earthquakes.
Source: Allmendinger and González (2010)
Arica is a coastal city with approximately 190,000 residents located at 18° south latitude on the extreme northwestern edge of Chile. While historical earthquakes have indeed occurred within this region, little seismic activity has occurred here since 1877 because Arica resides within a seismic gap. This is generally not settling news since it represents a region where strain is and has been accumulating without release - meaning a considerable earthquake could hypothetically occur and Spence et al. (1999), and Berrocal et al (2004) have suggested that earthquakes in the late 1990s were precursors to a major event in the Arica 'elbow.' This is illustrated below as white ellipses, representing sections along the subduction zone that haven't experienced slip in the last century.
Source: Pritchard and Simmons (2006)
The last major event occurred in 1868 and completely leveled Arica and numerous coastal cities. This earthquake also produced a tsunami that added to both the local devastation and caused damage in New Zealand and Hawaii. This tsunami also left numerous ships stranded on land - similar to the events following the eruption of Krakatoa - such as the U.S. Wateree:
Source: Scribners Monthly
So I created some simple maps illustrating the tsunami inundation zone and historical earthquakes in the Arica region. To accomplish this I downloaded an inundation map produce by the Chilean Navy, exported the PDF as a tiff file and georeferenced it. Then I digitized the approximate boundary of the inundation zone and draped it over the topography (in relation to where I'm living and working) in ArcGIS and ArcScene to produce the following visualizations:
A simple 3D model illustrating how far both work and home are from the predicted inundation zone. The red flag represents the house, which is approximately 2.0 miles inland and the green flag is work and approximately 0.8 miles inland.
I created the earthquake magnitude maps by draping a Landsat image over a 30-m Aster-derived DEM and incorporating historical seismic data obtained from the USGS. This isn't very helpful other than illustrating how few earthquakes have occurred in this region since 1877. The large earthquake depicted in the center of the map represents the 1868 earthquake that caused so much devastation as depicted below:
Source: U.S. Library of Congress
So, while the images are visually jolting there's no real way of predicting when an earthquake will occur so I won't - and hopefully friends and family won't - spend too much time worrying about what might happen. I would be more concerned if I was living in San Francisco given the height of their buildings; it is rare to find buildings over 3 stories in Arica and they are all downtown. I'm also confident that if an earthquake occurs that produces a tsunami, even if I'm within the inundation zone, I will have plenty of warning and time to flee the mile inland necessary to avoid harm. After living in Vermont for the last 7 years, I'm a little excited about living on an active margin and embrace all the possible processes that are at work beneath the city. So, to anyone out there who is worrying, don't!
Source: Allmendinger and González (2010)Arica is a coastal city with approximately 190,000 residents located at 18° south latitude on the extreme northwestern edge of Chile. While historical earthquakes have indeed occurred within this region, little seismic activity has occurred here since 1877 because Arica resides within a seismic gap. This is generally not settling news since it represents a region where strain is and has been accumulating without release - meaning a considerable earthquake could hypothetically occur and Spence et al. (1999), and Berrocal et al (2004) have suggested that earthquakes in the late 1990s were precursors to a major event in the Arica 'elbow.' This is illustrated below as white ellipses, representing sections along the subduction zone that haven't experienced slip in the last century.
Source: Pritchard and Simmons (2006)"as the only segment of the Chile-Peru Subduction Zone not to have ruptured within the last 100 years, the north Chile segment is now considered to be a region at high risk from an earthquake similar to, or larger than, the 1877 Tarapaca or Iquique earthquake (Mw 8.3)" - (Benfield 2010)
The last major event occurred in 1868 and completely leveled Arica and numerous coastal cities. This earthquake also produced a tsunami that added to both the local devastation and caused damage in New Zealand and Hawaii. This tsunami also left numerous ships stranded on land - similar to the events following the eruption of Krakatoa - such as the U.S. Wateree:
Source: Scribners MonthlySo I created some simple maps illustrating the tsunami inundation zone and historical earthquakes in the Arica region. To accomplish this I downloaded an inundation map produce by the Chilean Navy, exported the PDF as a tiff file and georeferenced it. Then I digitized the approximate boundary of the inundation zone and draped it over the topography (in relation to where I'm living and working) in ArcGIS and ArcScene to produce the following visualizations:
A simple 3D model illustrating how far both work and home are from the predicted inundation zone. The red flag represents the house, which is approximately 2.0 miles inland and the green flag is work and approximately 0.8 miles inland.I created the earthquake magnitude maps by draping a Landsat image over a 30-m Aster-derived DEM and incorporating historical seismic data obtained from the USGS. This isn't very helpful other than illustrating how few earthquakes have occurred in this region since 1877. The large earthquake depicted in the center of the map represents the 1868 earthquake that caused so much devastation as depicted below:
Source: U.S. Library of CongressSo, while the images are visually jolting there's no real way of predicting when an earthquake will occur so I won't - and hopefully friends and family won't - spend too much time worrying about what might happen. I would be more concerned if I was living in San Francisco given the height of their buildings; it is rare to find buildings over 3 stories in Arica and they are all downtown. I'm also confident that if an earthquake occurs that produces a tsunami, even if I'm within the inundation zone, I will have plenty of warning and time to flee the mile inland necessary to avoid harm. After living in Vermont for the last 7 years, I'm a little excited about living on an active margin and embrace all the possible processes that are at work beneath the city. So, to anyone out there who is worrying, don't!
2 Ocak 2013 Çarşamba
If it's May... you chase!
To contact us Click HERE
Hey everyone... I have so much work to do after the last week. I have been planning to make quite a few website updates but have been chasing storms for the past week. May 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th were all chase days. I also went out locally around sunset to timelapse some distant storms on May 3rd. After all of that time in the car I've been recovering and getting some work done the last few days and am finally getting around to work on things. On May 1st... I chased in Southwestern Minnesota and Northwest Iowa and got a brief tornado warned supercell! There was also a decent light show after dark! Then on May 2nd, I chased in Southern Nebraska where the cap finally broke just before dark. A supercell tried to wrap up above my head! Then I captured the best cloud to ground strike I had ever gotten on the way home! On May 3rd... I went out around sunset to timelapse some local convection, I also included a timelapse of the supercell developing near Fullerton the previous day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDiZ1RAS0TIMay 4th was a very frustrating day, where supercells tried to get going and constantly weakened right as we would get to them. Here is a quick shot of some mammatus from a dying storm and then a stack of lightning images after dark near Norfolk.May 5th was the worst day of the bunch... a strong cap stopped storms from developing and we basically got a tan with 1000 other chasers. That being said it was great to chat with friends and put some facebook faces to names in the real world. Ill keep you updated here as I get these accounts done! Thanks,Chris
There was also a decent light show after dark! Then on May 2nd, I chased in Southern Nebraska where the cap finally broke just before dark. A supercell tried to wrap up above my head! Then I captured the best cloud to ground strike I had ever gotten on the way home! On May 3rd... I went out around sunset to timelapse some local convection, I also included a timelapse of the supercell developing near Fullerton the previous day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDiZ1RAS0TIMay 4th was a very frustrating day, where supercells tried to get going and constantly weakened right as we would get to them. Here is a quick shot of some mammatus from a dying storm and then a stack of lightning images after dark near Norfolk.May 5th was the worst day of the bunch... a strong cap stopped storms from developing and we basically got a tan with 1000 other chasers. That being said it was great to chat with friends and put some facebook faces to names in the real world. Ill keep you updated here as I get these accounts done! Thanks,Chris
"It's Only a Shed"
To contact us Click HERE
Hi all, Dianne here. As shown above, the cattle next to our dog park have watched our return with interest! Our coach house sits right behind the tree line in the background of the photo.
Not much to update, but I wanted to share a link to a blog which recently showcased our tiny coach house in Texas. Even if you've seen photos of our coach house on our own blog, there are some great photos which really showcase it here:
"It's Only a Shed"
I've added a permanent link to this blog at the left margin of ours, if you are interested in future tiny coach house posts.
Aside from that, here's a quick update:
I've been riding my bike through the state park next door for exercise, and Tuesday morning I came upon this large bobcat.
He ignored me for a while, turning to look at me from time to time, then hopped into the brush along the road.
This morning on my bike ride I saw a road runner. By the time I got my camera out and rode up to him, he ran into the brush to hide. You can just see his shadow in this photo. Maybe next time....
Then I had to stop and wait for this flock of chachalachas to cross the road.
Our plantings are growing like weeds! My tomato plants already have blooms --
They are growing in big pots that we can roll inside in case we get an overnight frost in January.
My morning glory experiment has been a success! They have already grown to the top of the wire trellises, and each day have more and more blooms.
My wildlife cam has mostly captured opossums and early morning birds, but I did find two rabbits...
A cottontail...
And a jack rabbit...
That's all for now. We'll post again if and when there's something to report.
Our pet photo of the day shows Bandido taking a break in the water tub at the doggie park after retrieving his beloved blue whistle ball a hundred times (exaggeration -- just seemed that way). November is here, and a lot more of his Texas buddies are on their way south for some winter fun. Bandido and Tequila can't wait to see them, and neither can I!
Hi all, Dianne here. As shown above, the cattle next to our dog park have watched our return with interest! Our coach house sits right behind the tree line in the background of the photo.
Not much to update, but I wanted to share a link to a blog which recently showcased our tiny coach house in Texas. Even if you've seen photos of our coach house on our own blog, there are some great photos which really showcase it here:
"It's Only a Shed"
I've added a permanent link to this blog at the left margin of ours, if you are interested in future tiny coach house posts.
Aside from that, here's a quick update:
I've been riding my bike through the state park next door for exercise, and Tuesday morning I came upon this large bobcat.
He ignored me for a while, turning to look at me from time to time, then hopped into the brush along the road.This morning on my bike ride I saw a road runner. By the time I got my camera out and rode up to him, he ran into the brush to hide. You can just see his shadow in this photo. Maybe next time....
Then I had to stop and wait for this flock of chachalachas to cross the road.Our plantings are growing like weeds! My tomato plants already have blooms --They are growing in big pots that we can roll inside in case we get an overnight frost in January.
My morning glory experiment has been a success! They have already grown to the top of the wire trellises, and each day have more and more blooms.My wildlife cam has mostly captured opossums and early morning birds, but I did find two rabbits...
A cottontail...And a jack rabbit...That's all for now. We'll post again if and when there's something to report.
Our pet photo of the day shows Bandido taking a break in the water tub at the doggie park after retrieving his beloved blue whistle ball a hundred times (exaggeration -- just seemed that way). November is here, and a lot more of his Texas buddies are on their way south for some winter fun. Bandido and Tequila can't wait to see them, and neither can I!
Visitors, Christmas in Paradise, then a Nor'easter
To contact us Click HERE
Roger here.... Since we are not posting as often while stationary in south Texas, we are combining the events of our lives into a few blogs.
VISITORS.... Our first visitor is pictured in the opening photo. Dianne has a motion-activated wildlife cam that she attaches to the fence behind our coach house. We are usually visited by jackrabbits, armadillos, feral cats, and an occasional coyote. A few evenings ago we discovered a LARGE bobcat. Bandido occasionally barks in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. Now we know why. Living in the wild! What fun!
Speaking of wild (just kidding), my brother, Dick (my only sibling), and his wife, Pam, came to see us for a couple of days. It was their first visit to our home in south Texas. Since their visit was short, we spent most of our time swimming, hot-tubbing, and just catching up. Oh! And eating Dianne's delicious food.
We spent a wonderful day bicycling through Bentsen Rio Grande State Park --- looking at the birds, and cycling to the National Butterfly Park, just down the road. During our obligatory daily visit to the dog park, they enjoyed watching me take Bandido through the portions of the agility course that he could master. This shot shows a feeble attempt going through the criss-cross stakes (We need to work on that).
In this shot, Bandido had just jumped over the hurdle and was looking for his treat. Good boy! Tequila was also looking for a treat, even though her only effort in the event was watching. I honestly do think that with some effort on our part Tequila could also learn to do some of the agility tricks. She learns things quickly.
On the morning of Dick and Pam's departure, we took them to one of our favorite local restaurants, the Diaz Diner, for breakfast. Good food, great local atmosphere. Sorry to see them leave so soon.
Christmas in Paradise.... The weather on Christmas day was perfect. 86 degrees with a cooling breeze. We sat in the shade of a tall palm tree, pool-side, enjoying Christmas dinner with friends. (Anne, Mike, Lorraine, me, Dianne). Anne's husband, Graeme, took the picture.
Then, a Nor'easter.... The weather changed the day after Christmas. Brrr! Well, it really was not a Nor'easter, in the New England sense. Here in Texas they call them blue northers. But, the wind was from the north and it did get really cold, well cool. We spent some time covering our plants so that they would not frost in the predicted 39 degree approaching weather.
I thought the protection for Dianne's morning glories resembled a New England fisherman wearing a slicker.
All the plants that could have frosted were covered.
Our neighbors, Bob and Linda, are in Sacramento with their family. They had just planted an extensive garden area behind their coach house. Dianne was worried about their new, tender plantings and made sure that the new plants were protected. Does anyone else think that Dianne's protection of their tomatoes looks like a big girl's giant pair of pantaloons? I know, sick mind.
While we were in our neighbors' back yard we could not help but take a picture of their new tropical-colored furniture (from Amish-country in Ohio). Looks great! We just ordered a couple of end tables from the same vendor to add some color to our patio area.
Back to the impending cold weather.... Bandido is looking for a place to protect one of his beloved tennis balls.
Tequila is saying "Cold weather?" What is that?
The temperature did not actually drop below the low 40s. We did not experience anything like our friends who were in the blizzard in Indiana. The lows for the next two weeks are supposed to be in the mid-fifties. Tomorrow, it should get up to 75 degrees. Ah! We are in the right place.
The pet picture of the day is of Tequila with one of her best friends at the dog park, Houdi.
Roger here.... Since we are not posting as often while stationary in south Texas, we are combining the events of our lives into a few blogs.VISITORS.... Our first visitor is pictured in the opening photo. Dianne has a motion-activated wildlife cam that she attaches to the fence behind our coach house. We are usually visited by jackrabbits, armadillos, feral cats, and an occasional coyote. A few evenings ago we discovered a LARGE bobcat. Bandido occasionally barks in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. Now we know why. Living in the wild! What fun!
Speaking of wild (just kidding), my brother, Dick (my only sibling), and his wife, Pam, came to see us for a couple of days. It was their first visit to our home in south Texas. Since their visit was short, we spent most of our time swimming, hot-tubbing, and just catching up. Oh! And eating Dianne's delicious food. We spent a wonderful day bicycling through Bentsen Rio Grande State Park --- looking at the birds, and cycling to the National Butterfly Park, just down the road. During our obligatory daily visit to the dog park, they enjoyed watching me take Bandido through the portions of the agility course that he could master. This shot shows a feeble attempt going through the criss-cross stakes (We need to work on that).
In this shot, Bandido had just jumped over the hurdle and was looking for his treat. Good boy! Tequila was also looking for a treat, even though her only effort in the event was watching. I honestly do think that with some effort on our part Tequila could also learn to do some of the agility tricks. She learns things quickly.On the morning of Dick and Pam's departure, we took them to one of our favorite local restaurants, the Diaz Diner, for breakfast. Good food, great local atmosphere. Sorry to see them leave so soon.Christmas in Paradise.... The weather on Christmas day was perfect. 86 degrees with a cooling breeze. We sat in the shade of a tall palm tree, pool-side, enjoying Christmas dinner with friends. (Anne, Mike, Lorraine, me, Dianne). Anne's husband, Graeme, took the picture.Then, a Nor'easter.... The weather changed the day after Christmas. Brrr! Well, it really was not a Nor'easter, in the New England sense. Here in Texas they call them blue northers. But, the wind was from the north and it did get really cold, well cool. We spent some time covering our plants so that they would not frost in the predicted 39 degree approaching weather.
I thought the protection for Dianne's morning glories resembled a New England fisherman wearing a slicker.
All the plants that could have frosted were covered.
Our neighbors, Bob and Linda, are in Sacramento with their family. They had just planted an extensive garden area behind their coach house. Dianne was worried about their new, tender plantings and made sure that the new plants were protected. Does anyone else think that Dianne's protection of their tomatoes looks like a big girl's giant pair of pantaloons? I know, sick mind.While we were in our neighbors' back yard we could not help but take a picture of their new tropical-colored furniture (from Amish-country in Ohio). Looks great! We just ordered a couple of end tables from the same vendor to add some color to our patio area.Back to the impending cold weather.... Bandido is looking for a place to protect one of his beloved tennis balls.Tequila is saying "Cold weather?" What is that?
The temperature did not actually drop below the low 40s. We did not experience anything like our friends who were in the blizzard in Indiana. The lows for the next two weeks are supposed to be in the mid-fifties. Tomorrow, it should get up to 75 degrees. Ah! We are in the right place.
The pet picture of the day is of Tequila with one of her best friends at the dog park, Houdi.
 |
| Former Cinderella rescues, now playing in paradise together! |
Kaydol:
Kayıtlar (Atom)