Bad Onion!

Ooooooh, those folks at The Onion are sooooo naughty!

Gotta laugh to keep from crying.


Californians Gather To Celebrate Annual Wildfire Tradition

Twilight Zone: The After Hours

Squidsan's comment reminded me of this. Enjoy!

Twilight Zone - Half Hour Video - The After Hours - CBS.com

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Beach Day!

We don't go to the beach too often, and even less often all together as a family! We joined the volleyball gang today. Our weekly volleyball game has been happening for nearly 20 years! We don't make it very often anymore with our various schedules. It is always a treat when we do!

It was another gorgeous day! The promised cooling did not arrive. It is still in the mid-80s to low-90s depending on where you are in town. It was really perfect at East Beach.

That's Erin heading to the buoy on the boogie board.


And back again.

Treasures

After the beachtime, we headed to the skate park for a bit.

Police Stories

A couple items from the local paper this week.

From August 25 Santa Barbara Daily Sound police blotter:

August 23, 12:15 a.m. — Officers responding to an audible alarm at Tienda Ho, 1105 State St., learned police had been called to that location the day prior after employees believed a man had hidden himself somewhere in the store.

Police had searched the store at that time but were unable to find any sign of the suspect. They did find clothing and a backpack that were booked into evidence. After the alarm sounded, authorities brought in a police dog and located a 33-year-old man lying behind the cash register.

The suspect had apparently hidden in a crawl space in the store during business hours. However, the owner had locked the door to the crawl space and blocked it with wooden furniture. The suspect had apparently forced his way out of the space, causing damage to store property.

Authorities booked the 33-year-old for prowling, vandalism, interfering with a business and providing false identification to peace officers.

(What this story does not say is who was able to find the guy hiding when even the dog missed him. Can you guess who?)

From August 29 Santa Barbara Daily Sound:

Road rage incident leads to shots fired

By DAILY SOUND STAFF — Aug. 29, 2009

Road rage apparently led a 59-year-old man to fire a pistol into the air several times in a Santa Barbara neighborhood before police caught up to him on Highway 101.

Authorities said William Anthony, of Atascadero, had been driving his vehicle along Alisos Street near Cacique Street at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday when he apparently became involved in a road rage incident with another driver.

After the two motorists pulled over and exchanged words, Anthony allegedly pulled out a pistol and fired it into the air three times, Sgt. James Ella said. Police responded to reports of shots fired and eventually stopped the suspect on Highway 101 near Sheffield Drive.

Following a DUI evaluation, authorities took the 59-year-old into custody on suspicion of possession of a loaded firearm, brandishing, negligent discharge of a firearm and driving while intoxicated.

Hot Dogs at the Beach!

Record-breaking heat is expected today in Santa Barbara, so the hot dogs and I headed to the beach this morning! Wheee!

There was time to explore the rocks, too!



Cocoa fell behind at one point (she always has to stop and chat with the other pooches), and she lost us. She ran the other way to look for us! Luckily, we found her as she tried heading back the way she came.

It was BEAUTIFUL at the beach!

Happy hot dogs!

Happy Sweet Sixteen!

My baby is growing up!

Erin had a good day. Low-key, but nice, with presents, dinner at the Beachside and cake! I made the usual Black Magic Cake, and this time tried some mint frosting on part of it. We affectionately call it "Ugly Cake."

H*A*P*P*Y**B*I*R*T*H*D*A*Y, S*W*E*E*T**S*I*X*T*E*E*N*!

M/S Splendor - Cabo San Lucas

Friday we stopped for a few hours in Cabo San Lucas.

Erin and I chose to stay on the ship, while Kevin, Mike, and Trish headed ashore. Kevin body-surfed and snorkeled. Here are some pictures from Trish.











Iguana Time at the Mango Deck:

















I enjoyed time on the pool deck, reading and sunning. It was a nice, relaxing day!

That night was our second elegant night.


The napkins were folded like little tuxedos!


Trish bought the photos that were taken that night. Here is our whole table. We sat with a family from Miami, Florida.






























Our towel animal for the day was this guy.

The umbrellas are from our cocktails through the week.

M/S Splendor - Mázatlan

Haiku by Erin:

Saddle up the beasts.
They have leadership issues.
Mázatlan horses.


Wednesday morning, Trish, Erin and I disembarked in Mázatlan, made our way past the soldiers,

dock cargo, vendors, and time-share sellers, and met Randi at the dock. Randi owns Randi's Happy Horses!

Near the boat dock where we caught a water taxi to Stone Island, there is a fish market. The pelicans love it there!

German immigrants came to Mázatlan in the mid-1800s and started the Pacifico brewery in 1900.

It was raining pretty steadily on our boat ride to the island. We were a little worried about the weather for our ride. Luckily, the rain stopped by the time we got to see our steeds saddled up!

A little boy who lived at the ranch.

Of course, Erin was able to find a kitty.

Erin on Pinto.


Trish, mounted on her old nag trusty steed.

Portrait of Pinto








Heading back to the ship.

The ride was great fun. You may remember me telling you last year that in true non-USA fashion, the rules and regulations are quite relaxed in Mexico. We got on the beach and could run the horses as we and they liked. And they did like! Erin's, mine, and a couple others all wanted to be first! It was a blast galloping down the beach.

After our ride, we spent some time at Victor's, a beachside restaurant, where we ate good food --shrimp quesadilla and shrimp ceviche-- and drank good cold beer. Trish bought trinkets from the vendors. I was called on to bargain for her. I'm getting better at that. It was a lot of fun!

This is a shot of the beach we rode from the other side, as we were sailing away.

While we were riding, Mike and Kevin took a hike up to this lighthouse. See it at the top of the hill?

Kevin also got to snorkel while in Mazatlan.

Back at the ship, some maintenance workers were keeping the Splendor ship-shape.






Mojito Time!

Yo! Mázatlan was fun!