There were three.....

And then there were two....We had one of the sycamore trees removed last week.  It caught a virus, and we had been nursing it along - giving it vitamin shots in the spring, but it just wasn't getting better.  Not only were most of the big branches dead, it kept putting leaves on, and then loosing them - making my annual leaf clean-up a weekly clean-up.  Now I have a big pile of wood chips in that spot, and no idea what to do with the empty space....

I need to take more "before" pictures - I spent Sunday cleaning up the yard, and part of that project was the rose garden.  It got tidied up, and new bark.  I really wish I had remembered to take pictures before I started!

So - I took "before" pictures of my project - cleaning up the garden.....next weekend...

 

I took Leona out for her first Kayaking trip last night after work.  And of, course, she loved it!  What's not to love?   We put in at Whiskey Creek, and paddled toward the bridge, and then found a sandy beach to take a swim, have some cheese and crackers and chat a bit.  It was a beautiful evening on the lake.

The Carr Fire burned down to the lake, and my selfie needed to show the dead trees - you don't really see the devastation in the other photos.

When we were hauling the kayaks out, there was a family of ducks hanging out by the docks.  The light was pretty much gone at that point, so these aren't the best photos.

 

I actually finished a crochet project!  I think this is the only crochet project I've finished this year, which is quite sad....

Alex has been bugging me for a long time to watch The Princess Bride with him - a movie that is one of his favorites, and one I always wanted to watch, but never made myself sit down and watch when it was on.  Now, thanks to Netflix and Disney+, I can watch it whenever I want, which usually means I still don't sit down and watch anything...

Unfortunately, the day we watched it was a bad day for Alli - it took us all afternoon/early evening to watch the movie.  Poor Alli was having a tough day, with lots of meltdowns.  We finished watching it after she went to bed - early because she was exhausted (meltdowns are very tiring - for both of us!)  All in all, a good movie though!  What does The Princess Bride have to do with my first crochet project?  I started this bag while watching the movie....and finished it yesterday while watching the Giants lose to the Dodgers.

 

We got a new addition to the office on Friday - Plexiglas shields dividing the desks.  I admit that they look better than I thought they would, and if they enable us to 'get back to work', I'm all for them, but....it's kind of sad, too.  I only go in once a week now, but it will be nice to be able to go back full time and not be too concerned about catching/spreading COVID.  Going to the office 'full time' would mean less hours I work, too!  Having the laptop at home expands my work day to an easy 10-11 hours....when I actually 'go to the office', I only work 9-10 hours!

Thursday was my first kayaking trip of the year - wow!  I'm usually out long before this!  Time gets away from you when you're in a pandemic (and the parks are closed, etc.)  It was a nice day out there though - just a touch of wind, and a bit chippy, but not bad.  We put in at Brandy Creek, and it was easy to see the fire damage.  We were at the two-year anniversary of the fire - it started 7/23/18 near the Carr Powerhouse Road at Whiskeytown.

Some of the dead trees down by the lake edge.

The mountains look beautiful in the far distance, but....

Closer up, you can see that the entire mountain was burned over.

We saw several osprey in their nests - hard to get a good photo, and I'm blaming the choppy water - it's hard to take a good telephoto picture when you're bobbing around!  Here's one of the nests:

And a parent peaking over the edge at us (if you look closely!)

I think this might be one of the babies - it was out on the limb the entire time we were in view.  The other nests had parent flying in and out and around them.,

It's the last day of vacation - bummer!  I could get used to being retired, I think.  A trip to the beach on Monday, Book Club (virtual again) on Wednesday, and a kayaking trip to Whiskeytown on Thursday, with the rest of the day spent with Meredith - lunch (eaten on an outside patio), shopping (without masks!), and then dinner.  That evening, I went out with the Fisher fam to see the Neowise comet....and I saw it, but I think we were a little late to the party, it wasn't that spectacular.  I had binoculars, and could see it only with those (but then again, it could be that my eyes are just really bad...) Unfortunately for me, the next morning was a morning that Alli was up at 4:00.  Friday was a bit rough.....though Alli did get a nice nap in (I didn't!)

Alli was having a rough day yesterday, so I tossed her in the pool for an hour, and I 'rested' on a floaty in the pool.  That's doing double duty - watching Alli swim AND getting a break after yard work.....we were over 100 again yesterday - a bit hot for yard work.  But, the yard looks good now, and I don't have a lot left outside to do now.  

I did quite a bit of sewing this week - mainly masks, but I also got caught up on my Quilt Club quilt, and started working on my 'other' quilt.  It's been a while since I did anything with it.  I even did some reading - what a thought!

What I did on my summer vacation....not what you would think - I raked leaves!  I had a huge amount (like 8 piles) of leaves in the front yard, so many that I had to rake leaves before I could mow.  Not what I think of as usual summer activities.  I have a couple of tree companies coming in today to give me a quote on either saving my tree or taking it out.  Of the three sycamore trees in the front, one has not been doing well, so I need to see what can be done.  

My fatso cat - in a food coma evidently....(the food bowl is behind him - empty)

Road Trip!  Okay - as much of a road trip as I can do in a day, at least.  Since I'm pretty much limited to day trips, Chris, Meredith and I went to Eureka/Arcata on Monday for a day at the beach.  The trip over took forever - we lost probably an hour due to road construction.  

Since we were a little late getting started, and ran into a lot of road construction, we got into McKinleyville right at lunch time.  Due to COVID, the restaurants are all take-out now, so we started looking for a place to eat, and found a Fish Taco Truck.  The best fish tacos ever!!!  

Our view while eating.....

After lunch, we went out to Mad River Beach.  Neither Meredith or Chris had been there, and it'a beautiful drive there, out through the old dairy farms.  Lots of old houses and barns, and lots of dairy cows.  Mad River Beach also has a lot of sand dunes - Here's Chris waiting for us (not so) patiently....Meredith and I weren't quite as anxious to get to the beach...

I don't know which is better - a selfie with my sunglasses on and you can't see me, or one where I'm squinting, and you can't see me....

We put up our chairs and just sat on the beach, soaking up the cool.  Last week was close to 110, so it was fabulous to sit in the 62 degrees on the beach, and just listen to the waves!

On the way back from the beach, we stopped at an old bridge that is now a bike path.  Here's a view of Mad River.

And while Meredith was picking blackberries we found by the bridge, I found some thistles to shoot....

And the bed saga continue.....this time Koori took BOTH beds.....

Masks, masks, and more masks!  I finished up a bunch this weekend - two not shown in these pictures.  Dave asked for some more - the ones I sent before were too big.  These were the ones he had to choose from - the other two already had homes.  Since then, I've found home for two of these (Dave hasn't told me which ones he wants yet, but I didn't think he wanted the purple stripe or purple flowers masks....)  I have another 10 cut out that I'll work on this week.  Sad to say, but I'm having fun putting these masks together.  If we have to wear one, it should at least be cute!!!

My koi are finally getting used to me - they don't scatter (as much) when I show up, and calm down pretty quickly if I stand still.  I was able to stand by the edge while they ate last night - that was a first!

My newest concession to the 'new normal':

Not only do I NOT want to go to the gym now, even though it has reopened, it is no longer "on my way home" from work.  (If I found it hard to make myself go to the gym when it was 1/2 block from bank, it is really hard to make myself drive into town to go....)  So....I invested in a weight bench and some weights.  And even better, I've actually used it!  It may be the novelty of having it, but it is pretty easy to make myself lift some weights if I don't have to go anywhere, do anything.  (And weights aren't quite so boring if I have something to do in between sets, like press a few seams on some masks in process - since they are right by my sewing area, organize a drawer, pick up/clean up, etc.)

I put up a temporary mirror by leaning one against the wall, and Chewie keeps trying to find the dog in the window.  

He was making such a fuss, Luna came over to see if SHE could find the dog....and then walked away, giving Chewie the side-eye...

Another shot of Chewie, my protector.  Alex had the flyswatter out, and Chewie was behind me for protection.