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Sunday, January 16, 2011

Sunday Promenade

Abbey Rose has gone off for a week at "socialization camp" to see if living with a pack can cure her of her bad manners when encountering other canines.  The barricades are down. The cat has emerged from hiding and I was allowed an extra hour of sleep this morning.
After breakfast, I cleaned up the mess I made in the garden yesterday. I had started out to spread "slug and snail death" (great product name) and been unable to resist some pruning and tidying of the "cruel to be kind" variety. Snip, chop, tear, yank and all the leaves, twigs, stalks and clippings created a bumpy carpet all over the front walkway. I retired to a luxurious bath and some pruning of another sort, as sunshine has been predicted and California frowns on overt displays of hairy toes, etc.
I was mentally prepared for this morning's efforts to be much more onerous. It turned out to be accomplished in a half hour, after which I started the washing machine full of grubby clothes and towels.
Hubby and I had decided to get out of the house today. We drove less than an hour through foggy pockets to San Juan Bautista, where the sun had broken through. Sunday Mass was in progress in the old Mission church next to the San Andreas fault line. We are early birds and a lot of the cafes, galleries and antique stores were not yet open. We window shopped along the main street, watching the brightly feathered roosters strut and pose for one another, claiming street, and sidewalk as their territory.
There is a Mexican restaurant we like, with outdoor garden tables. Later in the year the chickens roam around but our waiter said they have had a quiet winter and the birds must get used to people again. He served us a couple of Margaritas and we sipped away with the sun on our shoulders as we waited for our orders of crab salad, served in a crunchy homemade shell.
Even though the days are still short, the thermometer hovered around 69 F (20 C) for a few glorious hours mid-day. This is my first T-shirt moment this year and it felt so good.
We were done with our little excursion and back home before 3pm. Hubby went off to hone his napping skills and I did some light, but necessary, grocery shopping. I bought some Febreeze, fabric deodorizer to attempt to bring my car seats back from total wet-dog-dom. I gave a thought to washing the car, but gave up when I noticed that it is not only dirty but covered in a yellow crust of pollen on the outside. The black fabric seats on the inside smell a little better now but have a surprising padding of dog fur. I hate going to the car wash but this is obviously a job for professionals.

22 comments:

  1. Mmm, crab salad in t-shirt weather... sounds divine, we are months away from anything like that here. Good luck with Abbey's socialization training, and good luck with the layers of dog fur and pollen and wet dog smells... quite the cornucopia of challenges there. Sometimes honing ones napping skills is a fine form of avoidance for such things...

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  2. That sounds like a beautiful day indeed.
    Except that I wish you hadn't mentioned Slug-and-Snail-Death. It's really tasty to dogs, and my idiot brother left it out where Ms. Tanji could get into it... I came down one morning to find the dog going into convulsions. Thankfully, the emergency vet was close by and knew his stuff, but I threw that stuff out as soon as I got home. I give the pests Sluggo instead, or even beer if I'm desperate.

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  3. A bit north of you, but suddenly 48 degrees is ok for shorts, and 54 at 6pm is positively balmy, people wandering the streets like it's 75. A welcome break, but I feel like SUCH a wuss!

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  4. 69* in January.
    Tee shirt in January.
    Sounds like heaven...

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  5. Owen, winter is not over, but we do have our moments. The first Mimosa (yellow acacia) have flowered.

    Merry, don't worry, I use Sluggo in the back garden and I waited until Abbey was gone to do even that. All my gardening products are kept on a high, high shelf. I had a friend whose dog would lunge face first into the slow release fertilizer bag. My Diva was never a kamikaze dog but I take the idiot factor into consideration at all times.

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  6. Silliyak, we've all had our share of unusually cold weather this winter. By the way, that video you showed of the train inspector is still making me laugh.

    June, I'm sorry. I can't take credit for the temperature. It was lovely though.

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  7. "slug and snail death"? Do you have a vendetta against little boys?

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  8. Abbey Rose is away at camp and you get to sleep in a little. You deserve the extra rest. The crab salad sounds great. And the warm temp even better.

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  9. I hope that Rose learns the lessons she needs. We had to do that with Delilah too. It worked wonders on her.

    T-shirt weather AND crab salad, I am very jealous. I'm bundled up so much I can hardly move and I'm still in the house but cold. LOL I am reall a panty waist when it comes to cold.

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  10. in the depths of winter here in New Jersey....your weather sounds divine...*sigh*

    Gardening in January is mind boggling too. Around here the garden is under a foot of snow.

    But, my envy is actually joy for you. I'm glad you are having some relaxing time as is Slinkie with Abbey Rose off at boot camp for a spell. Sometimes it's just nice to sit back and relax without worrying about obligations to others. You deserve it.

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  11. Your weather is better than mine. It rained all day today, so did nothing to write home about inside with supervision from the resident felines. I hope Abbey Rose improves.

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  12. I have a friend who picks them off the garden at night and puts them in a baggie in the freezer to die. Too many chances of them ending up in a gin and tonic in our house. I'm glad you are enjoying the warm weather.

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  13. Steve, you can't really imagine me collecting puppy-dogs tails now, can you?

    TechnoBabe, We snatched a moment in the sun to ignore the world's problems.

    Rainbow, It's great that we have someone with a set-up conducive to
    teaching doggie social etiquette.

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  14. Jean, Abbey Rose has already had two applicants inquire about adopting her. One sounds like a good fit, if we can make progress with her public persona. I'd be thrilled if she went straight to a new home. (A lot to ask).

    e. rain can be peaceful. I only stopped enjoying rain when I started wearing glasses. No wiper blades.

    Legend, Ewww Gross! Only with parsley and garlic in our house.

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  15. Socializtion camps for dogs! Do they exist for humans??

    A day spent with you, even without a Mishap or a Real Adventure, is more than agreeable, ER. We too ate lunch à l'exterieur the other day, although I wore a couple of layers.

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  16. Deborah, the camp is not an official organization. It's the Collie Rescue area president who has lots of space and her own dogs.
    Re: Mr. Mishap, i just filed away a couple of new traffic citations.
    I'd much rather be lunching back in Provence.

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  17. that product is certainly well named! I wonder if they do behaviour camps for cats that would teach Giles to stop chasing Willow whenever he wakes up?

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  18. Hungry Pixie, "Cat Trainer" That may be one of the most frustrating jobs imaginable. Can you not pin a net over him whilst he sleeps, a la Gulliver's travels?

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  19. Oh, it's a whole different world. Greeting from c-c-cold England.

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  20. I was envious of your day... until you got to car washing and you know, I'm just too tired to think of all of that cleaning (the pruning and bathing and dining sounded wonderful though) ;-)

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  21. Argent, I still pine for England (and the English). It might just be worth the cold wet weather.

    Hostage, the main difference being that my daughter is now grown. No more late nights wondering where she was, or believing she was fast asleep when really she was out joy-riding. Arghh!

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  22. Hello English Rider - just a little sound of passing hoofbeats as wondering where have you gone for so long..I hope all is well. I do enjoy your effing posts ;)

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