Windy City

Back when we lived in Illinois, I was told we were in one of the suburbs of The Windy City, aka ChiTown, aka Chicago. But I don’t recall it ever getting as windy as what went through here yesterday. *

After lunch we went to the drug store to pick up a script and while there we did some supercharging and took a stroll. When we got back to our neighborhood, we had to take an alternative route given that there were TWO trees down close to our house.

Then Zoe and I went for a romp in our backyard and the wind was so fierce my ears flew in every direction – like they do when I have my head sticking out the car window! There were also some big branches that apparently fell out of the redwoods in our yard that the two of us had a blast carrying around – however, the Scribe was too slow with the camera to capture those antics.

Today, Dad had to go into work and when he went to meet a colleague he noticed these bits of broken tiles which he surmised was from the roof of the building he was going to – he was just happy he wasn’t there when they came down.

Which reminds me. Yesterday Mom had biked into work before the winds had picked up. She texted Dad something about the storm and he (along with a number of her co-workers) suggested that she not bike home…given all the trees and branches that were flying around the city. She was going to bike home until Dad showed her the downed tree. So the three of us piled into the car and went to her work place. Turns out they have a mini-dog park near her job where she found us running amok and Zoe barking. And barking. And barking.

And this just reminded me we have some other stories that have not yet been transcribed by the Scribe…hopefully soon though!

And for anyone who is interested, here is a longer video showing the damage done to Dakin St. The poor family at the end of the road had just finished work on their fence in the last week or so and then a different section got knocked over when their tree fell.

More storms are supposed to be headed our way and across the rest of the country apparently. So stay safe. Stay warm. Stay awesome…like me!

The Tempest

*Sammy did tell me some stories about tornadoes close to our house where the winds got the place rockin’, but that was before my time and thus I did interpret them with a bit of skepticism given his propensity for hyperbole.

Muddy Hill

This weekend we were scheduled to take a hike with Dad’s co-workers at Stanford.

The afternoon started with a stop over at our fave neighborhood eatery. Unfortunately, we were left in the car and did not get another big slab of pastrami from the proprietor.

The location chosen for the walk was one of our favorite places around here – outside of Zoe’s obsession with the ocean: Windy Hill! The lab picked this one so the two of us could join everyone…a lot of trails around here are not dog friendly ?!?!? Turns out it was more than a year since the last time we started from the base and made the full 3.4 miles to the peak.*

On the drive to Windy Hill, Dad out of the blue asked Mom if she had ever gotten back to her cousin K and his wife A – they had recently texted to see if we were interested in meeting up with them as they had recently moved to the area. We had seen a man and woman walking and the man looked some like cousin K’s Dad. Like Dad, Mom had not responded to them much to Zoe’s and my surprise as they seemed excited by the opportunity.

We arrived first at the main parking lot and were just putting around waiting for the rest of the group. Then through the magic of communication that occurs on our parent’s phones, it was discovered that everyone else was at another trail head. Looking at the map it was first suggested that we start walking and meet where the two paths meet, as it wasn’t that far away. So off we went. Then another text message popped up on Dad’s phone changing the plan to meeting in the parking lot where our car was parked to avoid missing one another.

Therefore, we decided to turn around and go back to the start to meet them. Well that is Zoe, Dad, and myself returned, Mom stayed behind to read a sign about a pond and all the flora, fauna, and wildlife in the area.

We didn’t have to wait long before the car load of the lab team pulled up and everyone piled out. I should mention that despite the forecast for the day (no rain), the clouds had move in and rain had started coming down. After everyone got their backpacks and other gear (something we forgot the first time we went there) and we introduced ourselves to each of them, we headed back to where M om was located.

As we approached her, we noticed she was talking to some strangers. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence – she being good with people. Then the man came over and shook Dad’s hand like he knew him. After saying hello to him, he introduced us to cousin K…and then his wife A! Weren’t we just talking about them? I thought our parents had said they hadn’t gotten back to them. But then how were they here, now? Some mysteries I’ll never be able to figure out I guess.

After a few minutes, they took off at a pretty speedy clip while our group re-grouped and started trudging up the hill. Did I mention it was raining? And that the rain made most of the patch a slippery muddy mess – at least for those on 2-legs. We found the ruts to be filled with running water perfect for quenching our thirst.

We continued our trek and soon found K and A heading back down the hill (this being one of those paths that isn’t really circular but one you return the way you came. Mom was impressed at the speed in which the two of them got up and down to the point where we re-crossed paths. Turns out the conditions caused them to retreat before reaching the summit.

Not long after that, our group made the same decision as people were getting soaked by the unexpected rain and were getting tired trying to stay up right.

This was a great decision as the walk down was not without its own perils – with multiple people ending up falling in the mud at some point. Lest you think these falls were due to them all being oldish like Dad, some kids passed us going down (after not making the peak) and one of them also fell. With that said, no one walking on 4 paws ate it.

Once we got back to the parking lot we had to say goodbye to everyone (except our parents) and we jumped into the car and made it home without any other incidences (aside from the car and Mom’s pants maybe getting a bit muddy…Zoe waiting until she got into the car to shake off).

Best,

The Tempest

*We’ve been back multiple time to Windy Hill when people have visited us over the past year. However, we park at the UPPER parking lot which is a much easier walk to the summit.

Barred (II)

Friday morning Dad was awoken suddenly by a cry of distress from our Mother. He hurried – as much as one can do when waking up from a deep sleep – see what was up.

When he got downstairs the front door was open and Zoe was flying in from our front yard. Mom was still outside trying to convince me to come inside too, and when I heard that Zoe was being rewarded with treats for being a good girl for not running away, I decided whatever I was sniffing could wait until we took our lunch walk and I thus headed inside for those aforementioned treats.

So how did we get out of our backyard you ask? Well it wasn’t through the falling apart fence that we have used multiple times to visit Chef Mike next door.

Turns out one of the gates into our backyard was opened by someone…and it wasn’t the landscapers who came the day before (Mom always checks just to be sure). She realized shortly before we “escaped” that we had been over by the gate barking to ward off the intruder – although she didn’t understand what we were saying…a problem we often encounter when speaking to people. We have to learn a bunch of their language: sit, stay, down, dinner (that was an easy one), wait (that was harder especially when dinner was right in front of our noses), but they never bother to learn our language.

Back to the gate problem. We think it was one of the neighborhood kids who was trying to get one of their balls back – or something else they may have misplaced in our yard.

No matter the reason, it was decided that something should be done to prevent further intrusions but there really isn’t an obvious place to place a lock. Therefore, a simple wooden contraption was created to bar anyone else from “accidentally” leaving the gate open. After almost a whole week since its installation it seems to be working.

The Tempest

PS- my editor realized when I submitted this post for review that I had already used this title – for a very different story though:

Barred

A Dry January

So today I realized the calendar had flipped on another month and with it a whole month without a single post – despite the fact that a lot has been going on around here and me and my sis have had many adventures.

Once this realization became clear I realized I need to have a conversation with the Scribe that a lack of blogs was not what the phrase “dry January” was ever supposed to mean.

In fact, January was anything but dry here on The Peninsula.” Indeed, there was so much rain that good old Lake Lag – which last time we visited was a fenced off, dried up plot of land – is now filled for the first time in more years than I could even comprehend.

If you look carefully in the below photo you can see us enjoying the view of the full lake.

Suffice it to say that Zoe was bummed that she couldn’t go swimming but the last time the Lake was filled to this level, people went swimming, kayaking, and other such water sports, resulting in some fairly nasty skin rashes and other unfortunate health issues.

Therefore, the next day we took a stroll to good old “Lake” Sharon and took a quick dip in the strangely brownish water…which was enough to placate Zoe for the time being.

Especially after a few minutes on the serenity bench at the edge of the lake.

More soon.

The Tempest