By all estimations, last night must have been a VERY good night because within a two block radius I passed no less than 3 piles.

Did I mention I want to live in the country?

The hosts had just bought an apartment in the city, right on the corner of Haight and Asbury. An apartment that is in the background of a lot of famous pictures, particularly of the Grateful Dead. (A band that one of the hosts really loves…)

Point of the story: Great night. I wish we could do it more often.

We went camping Mendocino this past weekend. I had worked enough overtime to take Friday off, thank goodness! It was a zillion degrees here in Northern CA and we (Winemonkey, Pebz, along with Siea and Brown Bear) wanted to escape to the coast! Winemonkey, Pebz and I got there on Friday night and found one of the last few spots in Van Damme State Park. It is one of my favorite places to camp because it is always incredibly lush with ferns, berries, and stinging nettle. Well… the stinging nettle doesn’t make it all that wonderful… The other thing that makes Van Damme such a great place is that it is in a gully, so the walk to the ocean is really really easy. No mountain climbing gear necessary.

Anyway, we took a chance going out on Friday as there were no reservations available online. I typically don’t like making reservations, but I knew with the heat everyone was going to run to the coast. Even there it was abnormally hot, in the 80’s (a far cry from the inland hundreds…). Our spot was really nice, good shading, level, pretty little flowers all around and no stinging nettle. It was nestled right next to a babbling creek. The bathrooms were located right across the street from the site, but it didn’t matter much as the light didn’t both us.

We spent the weekend cooking and relaxing, going to the beach, hanging out at a local bar in Mendocino, where they let my “service dog” in. The weather was perfect the entire time. The food was amazing. Winemonkey and I had our first grilled chicken thighs and grilled zucchini of the season. This is always one of my more favorite grilled dinners. We had tri-tip on Saturday night for dinner along with Siea’s perfect fruit salad and grilled sweet potatoes. I won’t even go into the killer ‘zza apps’ that Siea brought.

All in all, this weekend was beautiful. Even Pebz had a good time.

Click the picture to see the rest of the trip!

No.

It is because there are three women who get off the bus a stop early so that they can see Pebs. And they give Pebs tons of love for about 2 minutes and then we finish our walk and come home to snuggle for about 10 minutes before I leave for work.

Yes. I plan my day around when my dog will get the most love on the street. How many people will admit to that?!?

More pictures are posted on my kodakgallery space.

This new apartment is a little bigger, much cleaner, and doesn’t stink. Pebbles seems to be getting used to it. She hasn’t had it easy these last few days. During the move she got a cut in her eye. I had to take her to the emergency vet and now she has prescription ointment for her little eyeball. The cut is healed already, but I have to continue the treatment for a week.

I haven’t been posting much because with the move and the going to Santa Rosa for Sie’s birthday… well… quite frankly, I just haven’t had time.

So I am in negotiations with the rental agency, trying to get relocated ta their expense. We’ll see how it goes.

But at least this move isn’t spurred on because of a discontent with life. Just a discontent with raw sewage.

p.s. the apartment they want to move me to is even cuter than this apartment and it is on the second floor so I wouldn’t have to worry about everyone’s crap ending up in my bathtub.

I decided that if my car was vandalized again, I would get a parking space. I did not determine the “level” of vandalism that would make me pay an additional $100 a month to keep my car off the street.

So this past weekend I was packing up to head to Santa Rosa, when I discovered that someone stole the Toyota symbol off the front of my car. I was so pissed! But it was also kind of funny because the emblem has a bunch of dirt underneath that never washed off during the carwashes, so there is now a “dirt” emblem where the true metal emblem used to be. But why take it?!? That is my question. Because every time I pass another yota I am tempted to steal their emblem to replace mine.

The resale value of my car is going down every day I have it parked on the street.

So was this vandalism enough for me to get a parking space? Probably not. This was a level 2 vandalism. If it had been closer to a level 5, or 9 (like breaking a window, slashing a tire, etc.) I would consider it.

Do you other city dwellers face a similar dilemma? Or is it just me?

Living in downtown Sacramento I am faced with many sad images every day. I have written about the homeless, who are coming out in droves now that the weather is nice. On my walks home I wonder where they hid during the colder rainy months. I wonder how they ended up in their particular situation. But ultimately, I avoid eye contact and charge past them so as to dodge getting sucked into their story.

I see a handful of stray dogs, all on their own, never finding one another or a home. And my first instinct is “don’t poop by my apartment”, but my second instinct is find them a home. Or some food. Because what do these dogs eat? These instincts are met with unfulfilled actions. I am hit with the fact that it is only a matter of time before they end up at the shelter.

But what the city brings in sadness, it also brings with appreciation. There is something special about the sunshine and warm days here. It is almost surreal to me when I am walking through the shadow of a tall building, only to reach the corner and see the sun bouncing through the street. The green of the parks feels more special than my back yard in Santa Rosa because I share this space with a city and not just a handful of other residents in my building. I don’t think about basking in the sun much when I am in my suburban apartment, but here in the city, every walk on a sunny day is a treat.

I have only been here for 4 months, but having passed through the winter into the spring, I am seeing a new beauty in the parks. The trees have flowered and my walks are now bursting with color, squirrels and birds. More people are out walking their dogs. More people are throwing their blankets out onto the grass and napping. I don’t know how long I am going to stay here in the city, but I hope that I get to enjoy these activities before I go.

What is spring like where you are?

So this evening, around 7:00 there is a knock on my door. And there is a woman and the plumber who came out the first time my tub backed up. It turns out that the laundry sink down in the basement is backed up and my apartment is the only apartment in the building that goes straight to the line. Everyone else’s toilets are linked together. So as we speak, my toilet is off to the side and I have this big machine hanging out in my bathroom. My only hope is that they fix the laundry sink without causing my bathtub to start backing up again.

Oh and I hope that he finishes sometime soon so that I can pee. Because as soon as you know you can’t go to the bathroom, that is when you need to go.