We've been babysitting, or rather, dog-sitting Cooper a lot lately - Cindy has been out of town, and then has had some work done around the house, so Cooper gets to stay with us (instead of in his back yard, terrorizing the roofers....).  Cooper is a rescue dog, and is scared of men, so Alex worked hard to win his confidence, and then.....Alex was playing a game at lunch, got excited and yelled....the next thing I knew, I had Cooper as close to me as possible, laying on top of Koori.....so much for winning Cooper's confidence...

So what’s with all the veggies??? Where’s the kitten kibble???

One of my 'trips' while on vacation with Margene was a trip to Ikea.  Alex wanted a stand-up desk. and we were having a hard time coordinating a time we could both go, and neither of us wanted to go by ourselves, so...Margene volunteered to make the trip with me.  Of course, she had ulterior motives - we met up with a friend of hers in Woodland for dinner on the way back....

Margene had never been to Ikea before, and due to a work issue that cropped up for her, we got a late start to Sac, so she didn't have enough time to appreciate the experience....she honestly thought that an hour would be enough time to walk through Ikea!!  Now she knows better....

I made Alex measure the Volvo's space three times and compare to the measurements of the boxes before I went down - he ordered a fairly large desktop (72"??) and the last thing I wanted was to drive 2 1/2 hours one way and not be able to get it home.  As it was, Margene had a "companion" on the way home.  The desk is great, and now I want one too!  (Just no place for me to set one up in my current work area...)

 

The hummers have been plentiful this year - probably because the drought dried up all the native flowers early.

I love watching them take a bath in my bubbler fountain.

 

A couple of random kitten pictures.....

 

 We have a left sock thief….

Here are some more pictures of the beach that we walked down to, it was beautiful and well worth the hike back uphill. Margene is still considering whether it’s worth the “near death experience”….

 

On our trip back from Brookings, Margene and I took the scenic route off of Highway 101, and then took a little side track to follow a sign that said coastal trail. We found the coastal trail, and Margene wanted to hike it. Notice I say Margene wanted to hike it, because I advised her not to but she didn’t listen. It was .8 miles downhill to the beach which made it was .8 miles up back to the car. We made it but it wasn’t pretty sometimes. The trail started out fairly wide but quickly narrowed. We were passed by and lady with her son who was probably six and he was complaining he couldn’t see because the ferns were blocking his view as he was walking, that’s how narrow it got fairly quickly.  In many places it was barely a path. And then we got to almost to the end and the path actually washed away so it was very loose soil/sand to go through. Again we made it but it wasn’t pretty. The beach that was gorgeous well worth the trip.  Margene wasn’t sure if she was going to make it back across the “near death experience “part of the trail and then the whole slog uphill for almost a mile. But we persevered and made it!

The first part of the trail is fairly wide, but narrowed quickly

Here is the “near death experience” part of the trail

And the view right around the corner from that

A few more random photos from the coast....

 

Here are some random flower photos from our coastal trip....

 

Margene came in to town on the 1st, and we made a quick trip to Brookings over Labor Day weekend.  The coast was beautiful - sunny and 70 degrees (vs. smoky and 112 degrees in Redding).  We visited with Margene's ex-daughter-in-law and Margene's grandson in the afternoon, had a very fresh fish dinner, and then went to the harbor for sunset.

I provided a new toy for the kittens without meaning to.  I bought a new mattress pad for Alli and left the packing on the table “for just a minute”…. 

Margene and I are taking what has become our annual trip to the coast. This time it is to Brookings OR, and it’s been great!  The hotel is fabulous and I wish we were staying more than just one night to take advance of the kitchen.  It’s a suite with a separate bedroom / living room so we each have some privacy, and it down by the harbor within walking distance of the beach and restaurants (if we wanted to walk…). Last night after a wonderful dinner of fresh fish, we went down and watched the sun set. More pictures on my camera…. They’ll have to wait until we get home to post