Things I have learned: Don't try to picnic at the dog park

Today’s post would be aptly described with a side-by-side picture of “what I envisioned” and “what actually happened” … however what happened was such a disaster we didn’t have time to take a picture!

Let me paint you a picture…

We were thinking how nice it would be to go to the beach and eat dinner while watching the sunset, and that we should take the dog. Which of course necessitated going to “the dog beach”.

 

It'll be nice we thought, it isn't summer yet, it shouldn't be too busy...

The reality was that every time we opened the chicken salad, dogs came out of nowhere stretching their noses as close as they could get to the foods… it was chaotic to say the least.

The best one by far was a Beagle named Ares, he snuffled, circled, and sat down in front of the Ninja… did all his tricks and then barked a distinct “C’mon!” when he didn’t get a treat as his owner called him away :)

To be fair, we *were* at the dog beach... 

Next time we will eat at the park *then* go to the dog beach!

Ocean magic

After a period of attempting to self-quarantine, during which we manged to get our grocery shopping trips down to approximately every two weeks (which I'm pretty pleased with)... the rest of our contact with society while significantly reduced which has been both a blessing and a curse.

I have completed a number of house projects uninterrupted which has been absolutely wondeeeeerful.

I didn't realize how much social obligations such as dinner out and weekends at friend's were eating into my projecting time!  Don't get me wrong, there are things (people?) I miss and I certainly don't want to be quarantined forever but it has been kind of nice to be able to step back, take a deep breath and tackle some of the things that don't usually make it onto the list.

This step back has allowed me to take a closer look at things and living in a house with two other women, well don't let anyone fool you, the future should not be all female. There needs to be a happy medium in which we temper and balance each other out... male/female/everyone in between - because despite being lucky enough to have a significant amount of room per person in this house... lets just say it was past time for an outing.

And so with the tentative lifting of some of the beach and trail bans we made our way down to San Clemente.  We arrived just as the sun slipped quietly below the horizon and settled in to wait.  The Ninja having never seen bioluminescence before was edgy and excited but without really knowing what to look for or what to expect.

In contrast the beach and ocean had a completely calming effect on me. Soothing my soul the way the outgoing waves in their chaotic motion smooth the sand and wipe it clean.  This was my reset, and having grown up near the ocean I was content to settle in and wait. It will be time when it's time.

The thing with bioluminescence is that everything has to be just right. It needs to be relatively dark, with no moon light because even that light will drown out the magic.

As it grew darker I started to get excited though and went down to the water to check a couple times to no avail, finally to burn off some energy decided to go for a wander down the beach.  A little further away I thought it was a trick of the light at first, that in my excitement I was seeing what I hoped to see rather than what was actually there... but no, there it was again! We were in the right place, at the right time and the conditions were perfect!!

I went and got the Ninja and her Mom and settled in to attempt to take some pictures.  Of course, I forgot my tripod, and after cursing the photographer with his light that was so bright he could probably see what I was thinking I later realized he was using it to adjust his focus... *le sigh* perhaps I'll bring my own "see into the future" flashlight next time *note to self.

After fiddling with settings, and taking photos on long exposure without breathing I think I ended up with about 3 out of 50 that while nowhere near magazine quality are all mine.  There is a certain satisfaction to that, and maybe next time I'll be able to get some better ones.

It was interesting, often I spend a lot of time behind the lens and end up with hundreds of similar pictures, but knowing that this would be difficult to capture on film, and in my case more likely luck than anything else... I spent more time just watching it.  You see, it's the motion that makes it magical, the way the light chases itself along the wave like slow sheet lightning that is difficult to capture in a still photo... my respect to those photographers who have managed it - I've seen some shots infinitely more awesome than these.

Oh and note to self - if you're going to leave the camera bag above the high tide line... leave it even higher than you think you need to.

I had just convinced the Ninja to take her shoes off and venture out into the sand where the ocean meets the shore, so I could scoop up some of the incoming wash and swoosh it around in my hands to show her the bioluminescence up close, when I realized that the next wave was "Comin' in hot!" We both backpedaled and I sprinted up the beach stretched out as far as I could dug my hands in under my camera bag and flipped it as far as I could gently!

It was enough.

The ocean kissed my camera bag and I ended up with sand everywhere but the camera itself survived yet another close encounter with nature.  Horseshoes... seriously horseshoes. Some are born with charm others with good looks, I'm pretty sure I was born with horseshoes ;)

Damp up to mid-thigh with sand in places that never touched the beach we called it a night before we got cold and made our way back up to our rock-star parking.  The mood had significantly improved from the ride down with small smiles of wonder gracing the corners of our mouths, testament to having experienced a natural wonder in person.

Thank you mother nature for few more magical moments to add to my collection.

Some things you have to be older to understand

Dear Grandpa,

I understand now why crows in the hedge across from your condo were the bane of your existence.  How they occupied many of your waking thoughts, from spending your walks collecting the perfect pea-sized pebbles to waking up early to shoot them with your sling shot.

I get it now.

Love always,

Samantha

"Quit while you're ahead" they say...

There are expressions that are as much a part of the language as the words it is made of, and yet we do not appreciate them for the wisdom they contain until we fully understand them... at which point it's too late.

I had an incredibly productive weekend, I got a veritable $#!-tonne of stuff done upstairs but the feeling of accomplishment was negated in the space between thoughts. That moment when you get the sinking feeling that something is most likely about to go horribly wrong, when I dropped... *inhale*... and exploded *sigh* one of those stupid twisty cfl lightbulbs at the very top of the stairs *rolls eyes* of course it was at the top of the stairs.

Theeennnn I dropped the LED light bulb I was replacing it with... and killed that one as well (it didn't break... it just doesn't work now! - go figure)

So the price for trying to do *justonemorething* before bed was at least a half an hour of clean up, and a dark tarnish on the previously glowing golden accomplishment of having replaced the bathroom light fixture, moved the bathroom light fixture into the walk in closet, finishing painting the walk in closet, removing all carpet from said walk in closet AND the final remaining piece from my sports closet which was no small task as both closets had to be completely emptied first... and then I put everything back before anyone got home!

*sigh*

Maintenance gas check... Check!

Sure fire way to get the gas inspection lady to show up - make a dribbly pulled pork sandwich, take a couple bites and get drippings all over your hands... Presto! She'll show up, the dogs will bark, there will be chaos.

Watched her check the vent operation with the smoke from a match, I know it's probably *the* single best way to do it, but it's only slightly concerning lighting matches around gas lines that you're checking... I guess that's why she's a trained professional ;)

Turns out that based on the connector used on the hot water tank it's probably as old as the house (early 50's!) and being a two piece brass connector is no longer deemed "safe" so it needs to be swapped out for a new shiny-er stainless steel model. 

I must admit though I'm a little confused as to why this passed the "health and safety inspection" we had to get before we bought the place?

Next I hear beeping upstairs and figure it's one of her measurement devices, then it cuts to "Fire! Fire! Fire!" and I realize it's our smoke alarm, followed shortly by her hollering down "Don't worry, that's normal" *chuckles* turns out it doesn't bother her any as it's all in a day's work even though the sound of it drives me crazy she assured me it was fine and to just open some windows... I did, and retreated downstairs.

Official voice: *self important throat clearing* Thank you, thank you, thank you... this concludes our test. I would like to express my appreciation to the responsiveness of our neighbours for checking that we were home and knew our smoke detectors were going off. I sincerely appreciate your concern and the haste with which you checked to make sure everything was okay.

More dog chaos.

Should I be concerned that her sniffer sounds like she's flying a model airplane?  Yep, I'm pretty sure that means something is leaking... good thing I shut that one off after we moved in!

Of course she's in a different truck and doesn't have all her parts, so she had to get the connector delivered. Naturally my department meeting started 10 mins ago, and he showed up immediately *after* I was asked to speak *rolls eyes*

I had to go on mute so I could yell at the dogs to stop barking - seems pretty hypocritical of me, yelling at them, for barking... but still.

Oh, right and to top it all off? *while* I was on my conference call, the street sweeper came by. I had a minor heart attack because there's a $50 ticket you if you're parked on the street, and I had completely forgotten to mention it. I watched in horror as the street sweeper went around both trucks, and the enforcement car slowed down in front of the second truck... still on the phone knowing that there wasn't enough time to run and get them to move their vehicles...  I dashed back to my computer and discovered that thankfully they don't ticket professionals like the phone or gas company unless it becomes a habit in front of your house. *sigh of relief*

Nonetheless adventures aside, I can finally check this off the list! Everything has been electronically sniffed, tightened, fixed and cleared for use save the heater downstairs in the living where we might actually use it... (figures) That one needs to be professionally cleaned. Other than that she showed me how to light the pilot lights on our super old gas heaters, and the gas fireplace and I now have some level of confidence that in doing so I'm not going to blow the house up.

You have no idea how stoked I am to finally be able to have a fire in the livingroom while it's still winter here!

Cheaper, but it'll take twice as long ;)

Dad was lamenting that while doing something yourself can be a whole lot cheaper, sometimes it ends up taking longer because you end up having to do it twice, and I'm definitely starting to feel that way...

So far we've put in two shower cartridges, I don't know what was wrong with the first one, but the second one worked like a charm...

We've done the caulking in Faith's shower twice because I didn't read it carefully enough and bought clear caulk... now I know better :/

I've done the touch up paint twice because apparently the sun has bleached my room more than the hallway where the paint match chip came from *sigh* it still isn't *quite* right but at this point it's "good enough"

I had to patch the holes our sweet shelf left in the bathroom wall twice because they were just big enough that it fell in a bit as it dried and wasn't flush like it should have been.

Needless to say, I've fixed the things I wasn't happy with, and corrected some of the other patch jobs that weren't up to snuff lest they think *I* did it like that ;)

At very least I can honestly say I've stayed true to one of the life lessons I learned so very long ago in Girl Guides, and that's that I've left things better than I found them.

Staying out of the way

Ah the sound of someone else working, it's comforting and strangely enough has brought back memories of when I was three and my parents were able to afford to put carpet in the house.  I don't remember a whole lot, but I do remember running around on the really fine particle board that's now under the carpet... running into the living room and stepping on the thin strip of carpet tack they'd just laid and then sitting in the rocking chair my Grandfather made me nursing my foot... and feeling indignantly angry at that carpet tack, because it hurt!

Adventures in house repairs

We're prepping the house to move, and I think I'm just about at the point of breaking even between things I wanted to fix, things I have actually fixed, and things that I had to fix even though they weren't on the list because I accidentally broke them...

So far I've learned that you shouldn't leave the open paint can lid I on the floor where the dog might step on it, she didn't mind you, and she sat down immediately if quizzically when she heard the panic in my voice, but it was an eternity of a minor heart attack when I thought she had.

I've learned that there's no incentive for getting the water turned back on when you're doing a plumbing job like having to poop.

I've also learned that I have no idea how the bathtub cartridge works, and that no matter how simple it looks, its probably worth my time to pay someone who knows what they're doing. I can admit that now right? Even though I just spent two days, more than a fair amount of time,  and two cartridges from home depot... I was successful which is the important part, and now looking back on the fun times we had. No? Okay no. But it is pretty satisfying that it works now.

I've learned that reading the directions, and realizing you might have done something wrong, can be enough to make something that appeared to be working, not work.

I've learned that adventures in plumbing will wait until you're naked and in the shower to start leaking into the kitchen through the light downstairs.

I already knew I hated vinyl flourescent light covers, but I've just learned that they hate me too.

Dog Barf... Achievement Unlocked!

After a year of living here, I finally managed to catch dog barf on a scrap piece of paper, rather than with the carpet. My previous attempt at "the football carry" to the bathroom was unsuccessful, and nowhere near the desired outcome. 

I'm sorry blank piece of paper, you may not have been scrap before... but you were the closest one, and I'm willing to sacrifice you for the cleanliness of the carpet.

Patience isn't always a virtue

Someone said something along these lines the other day, and before asking if they meant "infinitely" I thought about it... and realized that it described certain situations perfectly:

"There are some people in our lives that we are intimately patient with."

 

Monkey see, monkey do

A friend of mine recently re-laced his ball glove with paracord, which didn't seem like a bad idea... and when I got to thinking, I realized that it meant I could pick from any number of the brilliant colours that paracord now comes in *grins*

Of course having thought that, it didn't take long for the pocket of my glove to blow out... so after limping through an afternoon of catch using a shoelace, I picked up some pretty green paracord and embarked on my own re-lacing journey...

You know that moment, when you reach a natural breaking point in something you're working on? That moment where you should stop and call it done, but you're feeling overly confident with your recent progress so you keep going. Like the longer you keep at it the faster you're going to get... that is until you hit that plateau...

Yeap, definitely should have stopped at re-lacing the pocket and the sides...

I've learned a few things though, be ye so foolish; 

You should undo the lacing around the bottom of the palm first rather than last... as it would have opened up waaaay more options for fishing the other lacing pieces through.  I've learned that although handy, forceps, needle-nose pliers, zip ties and masking tape in any of the combinations you can think of... are not the appropriate tools for the job.  Also the tensile strength of a paperclip is not up to the task of fishing doubled over paracord through a leather hole with pliers...

Paracord does not like to be tied the way nice rope likes to be tied, nor does it melt and shrink up neatly the way anything with the appropriate amount of nylon in it does... but a couple tubes of electrical shrink wrap and a hot glue gun later, I fixed it's little red green wagon. Ha!

So here you go, it may not last long... but I think it looks pretty!

What? you like my Granny's buns?

Heh, don't worry... you aren't the first person to say that.

It always takes me a few tries when I move to a new place, but I think I finally "got it"

Here are my Granny Buns:  

Ladies

When you're angry enough to bite your own ass, bite a Mars bar!

New bite sized Mars bars. Small enough to fit your diet, enough chocolate to take the edge off a jaguar.

Number of lives saved today: 1 and counting

"Weekend" DIY projects

We are in the midst of working on a "minor" weekend deck project that went big.  In fact, we're took it into the next weekend.

We decided last weekend that we wanted to put up a trellis, like the one our cool neighbors have, but in wood because it just looks so much warmer.  Of course the fence we want to put it on top of isn't level... and it's a 12' gap where prefab trellis comes in 8' lengths, aaaand then we decided we should put in a shelf for planter boxes... yeah, you know how it goes ;)

Anyways we spent a good couple hours wandering around Home Depot figuring out what we were going to do, comparing prices, sorting through wood all the way down. to. the. bottom. to get pieces that weren't bent and warped and otherwise munched or weird, and gathering random other supplies...

Checked out and realized that at the end of the day the prefab trellis was going to cost pretty much the same as all the parts AND wouldn't require nearly as much monkeying around with. 

We turned around right there in the parking lot, and returned half the stuff we had just purchased, went back to the lumber section and sorted down. to. the. bottom. to get the two prettiest prefab trellisesss.  As an added bonus it also fit in the car better, and was easier to tie down ;)

Once home, we cut, dismantled and otherwise mangled the one prefab section into a beautifully framed shorter trellis... only to discover that we had done it to the wrong half. *facepalm*  Seriously I was so proud of us, it looks like it came like that! (For those of you doing the math in your head and thinking that shouldn't matter because we cut the one trellis in half... I lied. The space is actually 12' at the bottom and ~146" at the top - It's California! Things get shifted and re-settled regularly)  Annnnd of course, the way we did it meant that we couldn't just "undo" it and "do" it to the other one... yeah, we "did" it good.

Two "emergency skype" calls to my Engineer Dad later and we had a few different options... along with various notes of things to watch out for, things to remember, and things to be careful of... and most importantly, how to level the fence. 

Another trip to home depot for paint... a few jugglings of which pieces are going where, an evening of painting the various pieces, and we're just about ready to put it all together! *phew*

Idle thoughts on the road

I thought it would be a bit of a demotion using a single speed bike after always have SO MANY GEARS TO CHOOSE FROM!!

Actually it's not so bad, in fact now that I have the right size cog on it's pretty awesome!

For the most part it's a pretty casual ride, it's pretty much flat between my place and work so there's no real reason that I *need* to be able to change gears, and if I want to go faster, I just do what I've always done regardless of my gearing options... stand up and pedal my little legs off!!!!

This conversation actually happened.

Yes Virginia, in America we protect against germs tranferred by toilet seats.  Welcome to the 21st century.

Me: "Okay, so I get that you pull up and then down to get the toilet tissue out of the little box thingee... but how do people rip the middle part out, and flip it in the right direction and get it on so fast!? I mean what if you gotta pee really bad?!"

Her: "Um wow."
        "Oh Canadian." *shakes head* (I'm sure that's what happened)
         "Well, I don't know about most people... but I just kind of just put it down..."

Me: *incredulous* "With..out ripping the middle bit out? But..." *tilts head*

Her: "Well, yeah I put it down and sit on it... and the weight of the pee just magically goes through it somehow"
        *heh* "I dunno, I never really thought about it"

Me: "Hm."
       "I don't think I like that."

Me: "How are you supposed to know this stuff anyways?! I feel like Stallone's character in Demolition man and the three shells in the bathroom thing"

Her: *giggles* "I dunno! I mean, it's not like anyone ever sat *me* down and said 'this is how you do this' I just kind of figured it out I guess"

Sharing the load

Sometimes you don't realize how hard you've been pushing against that wall until you turn sideways and just walk around it.  Which in hindsight seems ridiculously easier with the muscles you developed while pushing against it.

You don't realize how deep the footprints you're leaving behind you are as you trudge forward, one step at a time, until like dropping that pack at then end of a long trail you feel like you could fly... like the only thing holding you to this Earth is a tenuous strand of gravity, and that at any moment and you could be carried away up into the heavens like a helium balloon.

*deep breath* it's that feeling of not realizing how dangerous something was until you're through it, until you look back go "Holy crap" feel like you're going to barf... and think to yourself "Phew it worked out, mayyyyybe let's not do that again..."

Sooo what do we do when we're stressed? We talk, we share the load... as if in talking about it that load becomes familiar, and with understanding it become less scary and the previously impossible can be broken down into chunks that become manageable.

Then what do we do after we've conquered the impossible? That thing we weren't sure we could do in the first place? We talk about it, with those who helped us understand it. Thanking them for their support, and words of encouragement by pulling them up with us to our height by making it our shared success.

One person alone can be strong, but together we can accomplish so much more!  Share your loads, and successes in the end we all benefit, be it through a learned mistake or by making it okay to shine.

Baked apple win

Ahhhh the not so magic step is that you gotta bake the apples while *covered* with tinfoil!

Stand back! We are going to attempt the horizontal loop

I learned how to drive the Unimog this weekend *grins*

This Sunday just after checking in on the morning net Aaren and I got to thinking that we should get his horizontal loop up before the snow flies... and with summer slipping through our fingers, we got the bright idea that we should do it *right now*.

I'm sure we did at least half of the things on the list of "Things *not* to do when putting up a horizontal loop antenna" but I'd like to think we learned a few things along the way... and we had some fun.

Aaren on the Mog, next to his existing tower

Now two of the corners of the loop are going to be held up by his antenna tower, and his new wooden mast... the other two corners are going to be held up by willow trees.  That's the part where I come in, he let me back and forth the Mog all over the yard topark it at the base of the willow tree, as a reward for what was to follow...

We used a ladder *on top* of the Mog to get half way up the 40 foot height he was hoping to get his loop up to... I know right, safety first. Shhhh! we wont talk about the clippers and chainsaw I used just so that I could get up *into* the tree ;)

The Unimog ladder extension

 The first tree we did was tough, there was a 'Y' section that I needed to be standing in, but it didn't really have any branches to get up to it. I don't honestly know how I got up there (or down), only that it involved some scootching, and as I sat there with my shin wedged between the bark I distinctly remember thinking

"Yeap, definitely should've put on pants!"

After getting the pulley attached, and the rope that would pull the loop tight, we pulled it up and down and through a few times just to make sure the pulley worked get everything where it should have been.

The second tree was much quicker, other than the rope toss which we realized should have gone *over* the G5-RV... and you thought we were almost done ;)

Nope, those aren't my shoes either... figured big shoes were safer than flip flops ;)

"You would have some sexy legs if it weren't for all those scars!" ~Mich

It was pretty cool when we were done, although unfortunately next to impossible to get a decent picture of... I have a little bit of tree rash to show for it, and I had bark in places that no normal human being should have bark... Ever. But it just goes to show... I still got it *snaps*

Overthrown

Every once in awhile my body mounts a riot to overthrow the dictator and say enough is enough, and enforce primeval law.

The law is simple, thou shalt exist as closely as possible in an optimal state of warm, dry, rested and fed - not necessarily in that order. This coup occurs whenever I hit some secret threshold, and curfew isn't lifted until the imbalance has been restored.

Yesterday morning I was alright, but by noon I felt like I had been hit by a truck, I had a nap at lunch and a Montster just to make it through... I felt like I was hung over and dehydrated, but the worst of it was I hadn't even had the fun of deserving it! I mean yeah I've been going, and my body is still recovering from my weekend wipeout up at Silverstar... but during the drive home to let the dogs out I felt awful, like when you're so tired you're nauseous and your eyes itch.

I *barely* made it to 8:30 before I had to hit horizontal or my body was going to do it for me regardless of the location...

So I find out this morning, through talking to the cleaning lady at work that she feels exactly the same way I did yesterday.  So maybe I'm not crazy, maybe I was just fighting off a massive internal assault and didn't even know it!

Yes, this is also a long winded explanation as to why I didn't post the next installment of The Roadtrip last night :p