Rolling Stone

Today we went for a short walk along the top of Winded Hill* which included driving along winding roads up to the parking lot (La Honda Rd to Skyline) and then again on the way back home (Skyline to Page Mill Rd**). It was a lot of driving for such a short stroll but we don’t mind since there are lots of good sniffs along the sides of the road both on our ascent and descent…horses in particular.

While at the summit, we did see a whole bunch of motorcycles speeding down the road…

And I did some posing on one of the stones marking the top of the hill.

By the time we got home it was lunch time – well in fact well passed when Zoe usually gets her bowl of Zozymes and I chase around the house after bits of kibble tossed about to distract me. So while her lunch was “activating,” we walked up to the local corner store for some sandwiches, chips, and drinks.

On the way there, we passed a house we have passed many times. Mom started pointing at something in the yard which Dad thought was the pretty flowers but it really looked like a rock to me on the stones beyond.

I looked through the fence and got a whiff of something that was like no rock I had ever smelled before.

Zoe was a little bit further along the sidewalk than I was and she started doing her excited chirping noise so I got Dad to hurry along and meet up with her and Mom.

From this vantage point I saw the rock was rolling – well maybe actually walking (?) and chewing on a leaf (??).

Then I remembered this time back in Carlisle that I stepped on this stone that was sitting on a wall during one of our walks down to the Concord River.

Turns out this rock (which I was later told was called a turtle) had a head and legs and tail that could basically disappeared into the rest of the rock (which I learned is called a shell). Could this be the same thing even though it was so much larger?

My suspicions were confirmed that they were similar sorts of creatures, this one being called a tortoise instead of a turtle for some reason that wasn’t clear to me.

The Tempest

*more about this place soon

**Page Mill around us is a 4 lane mega road but up towards Skyline it is a narrow thing with many tight turns. This is the area, it turns out, where our Grandfather taught our Grandmother to drive!

Meal Time – NoCal Style

Our first few nights here – prior to the delivery of most of our stuff, meant dinners for our parents were a bit rough. With no chairs, silverware, or plates, they ate standing up and had to eat off of paper plates with plastic-ware. They survived despite their constant moaning and groaning (mostly about being environmentally unfriendly / how to reuse these items, but it annoyed me nonetheless).

We naturally had Kibble every meal – mine with water, my sisters with her Zozymes added to assist her digestion while standing (like always) without any complaints – such prima donnas those two! My Mom said we should be more appreciative that we were very well stocked in kibble and Zozymes (pretty much the bulk of what was brought in the car from MA), but whatever. Nevermind we had to buy them more socks at a stop In Sheffield OH, given all the rain. They also brought a few dog beds, so somehow thought they could use them…as you saw in slumber party. No respect.

Then they splurged on Christmas Eve on a Crab Pasta from the Flea Street restaurant down the street that I’ve already mentioned in my Chef Mike post:

Chef Mike

This meal, and Mom’s discovery of the Fishline app, got us the fresh crabs from Half Moon Bay. For forty dollars for the crab and a few bucks more for the pasta, etc. our parents concocted a meal that was a close approximation of their ~$100 Flea meal.

Then there were the two subsequent meals they had with the same crab – one as leftover crab pasta, and another as a crab louie (courtesy of Grandma, who suggested it after saying she loved this so much when she lived here)! And then there were the “scraps” we got after each meal. YUM!

Of course, each of these meals were packed with calories (unlike Dad’s Coke Zeros, or Mom’s Vitamin Water Zeros), but we all agreed the taste was worth it even if we had to take a few extra walks – which from our perspective was a win-win!!! More about the walks when I wake up.

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The Anchor

Not long ago, we went back to the coast in order to procure some fresh Dungeness crabs – which just came into season around here. Mom found an app on her phone that is called Fishline which tells us where to go to get seafood right off the fisherpeoples boats! In this case, the place was on Pier E at a harbor just up the road from Half Moon Bay where we went last time.

Mom took off down the dock to the fishing boats and we were left on the dock. While we were waiting, we watched what we wondered was a whale! Turns out they were another sea mammal with incredible capabilities for staying under water: SEALS!

Mom was victorious in her quest! (the photo below is when we got back home)

Success! Two fresh crabs!

After these two were thrown in a bag and mom had paid for them, placed them on ice, and lay them gently in a cooler in the trunk of our car, we decided that our good behavior on the drive warranted a walk along the beach.

The ocean was much more pacific on this day but I still stayed away from the water just in case. Zoe went bounding through the water trying to capture the birds floating about 100 feet out in the water. She being on her 30′ leash could not get to them even when she circled back and got a good running start.

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But she did not give up…

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Then mom espied a couple of birds even closer to the shore and thought she’d give Zoe a thrill at getting ever so close to her target. Unfortunately for Mom, Zoe got a REAL good running head start just as the sand under Mom’s feet washed back to the sea with the most recent wave. The combination of these two forces caused her (Mom) to lose her balance and Zoe to get even further out into the water. Unfortunately, her anchor (dead weight – Mom again) held fast and she (Zoe) was not able to get to the birds. However, both she and Mom did get pretty wet. It is amazing what a face plant in the ocean can do to jeans.

Dad and I went over to assist them (particularly trying to prevent Mom’s iPhone that was in her back pocket from getting wet). We did hear some snickering along the coast line during and after their adventure…but Dad says I was the only one laughing. It’s possible …🤷🏽🤣.

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Zoe and the Country Store

Shortly after we arrived in Menlo Park, we discovered this nice little store just around the corner (and a few blocks) away from our new abode. The first couple of times we went there was because we had an emergency need for chips – the lime flavored tortilla type…but to be honest, Zoe and I are not huge fans of citrus anything so we weren’t really certain what the emergency was.

On one of these occasions, there were some buttsniffers* in there buying sandwiches from the deli. While we were waiting outside, our Mother apparently learned that these kids had been coming here since they were 5 years old on account that these were the ONLY sandwiches their parents ever bought for them.

Our immediate response when she conveyed this story to us, was what’s up with the chips without the sandwiches?!?!?!

Today, was our first trip to what we refer to as “The Corner” for our first taste of their sandwiches – after a short walk in some nearby woods where the only thing we discovered was a tick on Dad! And what? You would thing we left the tick think in MA!

On the way there, our parents hatched up a plan to “knock over the joint”** (as in steal their lunch rather than paying for it). While Mom was in the store, the cops showed up in force…not one, not two, not three, but FOUR cop cars arrived. Fortunately, Dad got a text through to Mom before she made a break for it and we didn’t have to be on the get-away crew after all. Phew!

On the way home, we met the owner of two of our kind that we have been very interested in, who happen to be but a stones throw from our house…if the arm throwing the stone is Tom Brady (a Michigan Man who grew up in these parts).

They live in a cute house with some tiny fences bordering their yard. These would not contain Zoe for one minute – you may recall her jumping the fences at the dog park back in Illinois – but for some reason, these two just either stick their heads through the slats or hang over the top of the fence.

Since we’ve been here, we have always had civil interactions with these two pups – if you look closely at the picture on the left you’ll see a white shepherd/husky type dog. However, when talking to their mother on our return from the Country Corner, they started barking their heads off. All the humans thought this was due to them being “jealous” or “defending” their pack, but Zoe and I knew it had all to do with the goods in our parents goodie bag. Those were some good sandwiches!

During the conversation with the woman, our parents found out the “head through the fence” dog was named…no surprise to me…Zoe (or it could be Zooey). The white dog also had a name but due to all the chaos none of us caught her name.

What we knew was these pups rocked. What our parents were surprised about is that all four of us were females – something that I (in particular) have troubles with…at least with certain beeitches! 😇

The Tempest

* This terminology came from a story our Aunt Elaine told us years ago from something she overheard one of her pre-school students saying one day. To paraphrase, “See those kids over there? They are teenagers. My Dad says they are all buttsniffers.”

** Apparently, my parents (or Dad?) has been reading too many books from the 1940’s or something.

Slumber Party

For the first week or so in our new abode we had no furniture – aside from a couple of dog beds that we traveled with in the car, and a Sleep Innovations bed our Mom had the foresight to order from our friends at the Amazon which arrived the same day we did.

I just realized I have never provided you any information – aside from innuendo – about our move to Menlo Park CA. Yes, this move took us from one coast to the other and took about 5 days (or so) to get from point A to point B. Granted, the days spent in the car were not particularly long relative to some of our other road trips, and we were fortunate enough to miss most of the bad weather along the way. This was much different from our return trip from New Mexico this summer which I still have to fill you in on…due to the fact that Zoe hasn’t finished her video from our stay in Nebraska. But I wouldn’t want to throw her under the bus so I won’t talk about this fact.*

*this was a brilliant tactic I heard not too long ago on some media outlet. the woman speaking said it was someone’s fault (who she named) but followed that up with a not to blame clause – even though the person had already been run over by a 16-wheeler…win/win is what I took away from that interview.

Anywho, for the first week we had many slumber parties on the dog beds in front of the gas fire – which warmed us up but lacked that nice woody odor of our fireplace in Carlisle or the one at our Grandparents place in the NM mountains. It also turns out the the box the bed came in was a great dog crate in the absence of my normal one.

Then one day, all the rest of our stuff – well most of it, since we left some stuff back in Massachusetts since we are planning on returning there in 3-5 years – arrived! Most of it was still in boxes but our Big Barker Beds were available to us in almost no time. As were our favorite chairs and the couch we like hanging out on in the mornings with Mom and in the evenings while watching movies/binging on Netflix shows as a pack.

Then there was the added bonus of all those boxes and the packing paper contained within! Joyous!!!

Eventually the boxes and paper (well most of the paper) was put away and stored for our return trip to Massachusetts…whenever that may be. We were a bit bummed by the disappearance of these extra places to nap, but we got over it soon enough!

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Zoe vs. The Pacific Ocean

During a recent weekend which so happens to have closely followed all the festivities next door that we got stonewalled from, we took a morning to drive over to Half Moon Bay in order for Zoe and I to get our first look at (and more importantly to us – sniff of) the Pacific Ocean.

On the way, I thought things would be smooth sailing after we saw this rainbow (and presumably a pot of gold) splashing down in the middle of the road we were driving on!

But by the time we got there, someone else must have swiped the bounty as there was nothing there but wet pavement…ugh. So I turned my attention instead to our destination.

I had obviously already heard of this body of water but after spending my life next to the Great Lake of Michigan (which could freeze up during the winter and provide..create?… absolutely frigid winds that would blow over the coast of Illinois) and then spending the last year or two (or so) in Massachusetts and the beaches of Nahant that, if I understood it correctly was on the Atlantic Ocean and was, IMHO, less than spectacular the few times we visited the dog beaches there. I was therefore curious to what I could expect on this weekend journey to this other coast of our country. So I looked Pacific up on Dictionary.com: a) at peace; peaceful: b) calm; tranquil. There may have been a couple of other definitions but in short, what I saw was nothing but calm…and that included my sister.

At first I was all into running after Zoe on the soft sandy beaches – both of us in our swim costumes.

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Zoe and I running the beaches of Cali

This included a moment where I pulled hard enough at the right moment which resulted in me being free from Dad’s reign. He quickly stopped filming us in order to get the other end of the leash almost before I realized I was free…stupid 30 foot leashes – had it been our regular 6 footers I’d have run up and down the beach, taunting Zoe every so often (Mom having not lost her grip on the leash attached to Zoe) until I was exhausted and ready for a nap.

Breaking Away – I’m free!!

Instead, I watched as she started stomping through the surf which I’ve learned isn’t really my thing (and was reminded of when a little water washed over my toes).

Surveilling the Beach

While I was scanning the beach for any untoward entities or possible sources that could interrupt our day at the beach, and maybe getting distracted by some discarded food, Zoe spotted a crow behind me…and off she went!

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Zoe After a Bird

This whole bird thing might come up again – what us authors call foreshadowing – that girl LOVES chasing birds!

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After finding something of mutual interest to sniff at, Zoe decided to take the Pacific Ocean head on!

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The rest of our visit she tended to stay at the edge of the water since the waves were more than she was ready for on this afternoon.

Upon our return, Zoe sat looking longingly towards Chef Mike…but still we have no invitation.

More soon…promise.

The Tempest