Proud mom

The Success

This past week has been spent transitioning...from one house to another (where'd I put that???), to another climate (grey, damp, cool), and a little bit of time difference (OK, so it's only an hour, but any excuse to sleep in).  The best part has been being able to see my daughter in law, who I adore, and the grand kids, who seem to grow hourly.  They fill me with a love that is so special, sometimes I feel I could burst. 

A 132 lb. Grouper

My son is at sea right now, and will be through the end of the year, most likely.  He's the owner operator of a sport fishing boat here in San Diego.  It's darned hard work, one that takes his entire family to support the business.  He is definitely a Pisces; I have long suspected he is truly part fish.  He is a man of the sea and isn't happy for long if he's not connected to it in some way.  One of his great loves is free diving and spear fishing; he does this as often as he can on his days off.  (Please note:  I respect his love for this but not being someone who eats fish, would just as soon they keep swimming out there.)

This morning these photos came my way, via Facebook.    The last few years, he has taken on a second season after San Diego's ends, one that takes him down into Magdalena Bay in Baja California.  Mag Bay is known for being a destination for the whales that head south every winter to calve.  There are some tiny villages there that are literally off the beaten path, with no hotels or restaurants. There he takes charters for both sport fishermen and fly fishermen; they go out for several days at a time. 

My boy, all grown up.

When he headed down to Mag Bay this trip, he took a charter with him: a group of professional surfers and photographers, shooting for an international surfing magazine whose name I don't know.  I guess it was an amazing trip.  Here are some photos I'd like to share of my son and his boat.  It all seems so warm and tropical after having been freezing here for the last week.  I'm thrilled for him to have had some fun along the way. 

Thanks for indulging me.  I couldn't help myself.

Post post script

Sorry I've left some of you hanging on the bear story.  He/she never came back again, which more than surprised us.  Needless to say, we are grateful.  I hope it manages to find enough food to hibernate this winter and grow up to be a strong and healthy bear in another summer...a summer that is more fruitful than the one we've just finished, that is.

I've been busy relocating again these last few days.  I brought two huge suitcases of spinning fiber with me this time; I will post on that soon as I can find my camera.  And now...off to fight the early morning geriatric crowd at the grocery store (that would include me, BTW).

:0)

The morning after report

Well, it seems our little visitor wasn't easily discouraged.  About 10:30 last night, Ani called us from her place and reported he was back, peering in her window.  This morning we've just learned that he/she returned, snuffling on the windows, about every two hours.  At least it didn't try the skylight.

So...in answer to your question, Shawn...I don't know what we'll do. Hope it stops on its own, although it's clearly starving.  I don't think it has many options this close to winter.  It's just heart breaking.

I really don't want to call Fish and Game over this and have them "relocate" or worse.  I've heard there have been so many incidences this summer they're just killing them.  I couldn't live with myself after that.  It's a youngster...based on Ani's experience, we guessing about two years old, so I don't know if they even consider relocating youngsters.  Not to mention there is no place better to take it...the whole state is in crisis.

Sad, sad, sad.

Guess who came to dinner

Picture this on your kitchen table!

Because of our severe drought this summer, it's been a horrible year for wildlife having to encroach into urban areas searching for food.  I suspect that the lucky ones (meaning the ones that are tranquilized and relocated, versus killed) don't always have such a great story to tell once they find themselves suddenly plopped down in a new territory, either.  It's a sad scene, all around.  Tales of bears and coyotes killing chickens and pets abound this summer, and no trash can shall go unturned.

This past week, our two dogs have been on hyper alert during the night, barking wildly when they can smell or hear coyotes or bears in the yard.  I'm sure it's as frustrating for them as it is for us.  They want to protect, we want to sleep.  After the first two nights, I stopped catapulting out of bed in hope of seeing a bear out the window.  I'm SO over it.  Until tonight, that is.

After we happily finished watching Part II of the Martin Scorsese documentary on George Harrison, I walked Ani to the door, wishing her a good night's sleep.  Suddenly she started yelling for me...I stepped outside, and from our porch, we could see through the screen door into her room.  There it was, ursus americanus, in living color...climbing around on her kitchen table looking for snacks.

What ensued was probably something that should have been filmed.  Ani and I grabbed pans and utensils to bang on them with.  Roger grabbed an air horn and a monster spotlight.  Together we marched up to her room, unsure of our plan, but knowing we had to do something (it was after 9:00 p.m., and since the sheriff's department is probably off duty on a weekend night or wouldn't respond anyway, what to do??).  As we banged on our kettles, Roger honked the horn and pushed the screen door open with a broom.  After a few moments, we crept up and peeked inside; it turned out it had come and gone through a window that it had accessed by climbing up on the roof of the dye studio.  Our next concern was finding Ani's sweet little cat, Badger Baby...who was hiding in the bathroom sink.  Total loss appears to be a bowl of cat food.  Seems like we caught it early in its exploration.

Meanwhile, back at the horn...Roger was shining the light and blasting the horn around the other side of the building.  It turned out the bear was still hanging out on the roof, so he "guided" it with the light and watched as it took off across the yard and down into one of the big arroyos.  Suddenly I got creeped out...we were all three outside, not knowing who else might be around.  Have I mentioned how dark it is up here at night without a full moon? 

So that's our story, and I'm sticking to it.  Our poor dogs...they missed all the excitement!

So early!

From the kitchen window

I don't recall ever having snow fall at our elevation so early in the fall.  This is what we woke up to yesterday morning; it is, for the most part, gone here at our place this morning (except for some patches on the ground).  It was a good drill...we learned a thermocouple is out on the water heater that heats our floors, and the firewood has not been brought up to the porch yet.  All fixable, but reminders, nonetheless.

Facing south...the Pecos Wilderness

Facing southwest towards Georgia O'Keefe country

Monday, Monday

The sale on Friday was a moderate success, given that there isn't much money floating around for discretionary spending right now.  It was fun to see some of my former customer friends and blog readers (thanks for saying hi in person, that was awesome to know someone has hung with me that long).  Best of all, I got to spend the day hanging out with my buddy Monte (of MyMixMix.Etsy), and Anila (Michelle of Widdershin Woolworks.Etsy) and Monte's daughter Shelley, who is relatively new on the spinning and dyeing scene but is doing some great fiber bundles and handspun yarn that makes me want to lose my cool and starting buying and stashing again (Shelley can be found on HeadleyGrange.Etsy).

So here's the ridiculous thing...I was so tired from the build up all week to the sale, I never even made it the 15 miles down the mountain to attend the Wool Festival.  Boy, I must be getting old.  I also admit to being a little jaded about what I think the festival has become over the years, and, as things often happen, as a result of having been a board member and a vendor there for a lot of years, I think I just got burned out on the political end of it.  So the moral of the story probably is that if you love something a lot, don't look behind the curtain or get too involved or you might end up spoiling your fun.

My photos this morning have nothing at all to do with this posting.  They're from a super lunch my friend Terri treated me to, just before leaving CA last month.  Steamed mussels and clams, sweet potato French fries with Chipolte Ranch dip, and a crab salad.  What isn't shown is the loaf of fresh, hot, sour dough bread we ravaged with lots of butter...all of which is making me swoon right now, because I'm going on week 5 of watching my food again (as in counting points and trying to lose weight) and this is the point where I am starting to lose my resolve.  Ah, for that bread and a plate of pasta...