Garden Flowers

You remember last fall I planted drought resistant native California plants in the front. They are doing pretty well. The weeds are doing really well.

Many of the plants are flowering. I took some of these photos earlier this winter, and some this week.

The two varieties of Monkey Flowers are doing the best. Both plants had tons of blossoms through the winter, and they are growing fast, too. I love this flower, and they greet me every day as I walk up the driveway.

Mimulus Robin

Mimulus aurantiacus

The Ceanothus Concha is blooming really well. It is also known as California Mountain Lilac.

The above picture was taken late January. The ones below were taken today.






The Guadalupe Island Rock Daisy (Perityle incana) has interesting blooms:


I didn't get great pictures of this Salvia Dara's Choice, but here is what I have.


Here is a picture of the Wooly Blue Curls. I should've taken a picture in the fall or winter. Now the wooly stuff is fading and drying up.


I showed you pictures of the Dancing Embers Sage before. It has a couple buds that look like they'll open soon.

The rock rose hasn't bloomed at all! I'll look forward to that, and will share when it does.

And, even though they aren't native California plants, these Camellias


and these Azaleas that we've had for years have been blooming like mad all winter.

Police Blotter

From the Daily Sound

March 7, 1:06 a.m. — An officer flagged down near the intersection of Haley and Anacapa streets found a subject nearby who was so intoxicated he could not follow instructions. The 24-year-old local man had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, confirming the officer’s suspicions of public intoxication.

When being placed in handcuffs, the man became verbally abusive and resisted. During a subsequent search, authorities found a large chunk of hashish in his possession. Police booked him on $10,000 bail for public intoxication and possession of marijuana.

San Antonio Creek Walk

Sunday was a spectacular day! It was perfect weather, and I got myself into it. After some icky indoor work, I went for a walk along San Antonio Creek. Yay!


View Larger Map

There aren't too many wildflowers yet, but here are some of the treasures I found.

I was greeted early by this poor guy in the trail:



I didn't do a good job shooting these pretty blue flowers, but here they are. I think they are called Fiesta Flowers.

Mr. Stink Bug

Oxalis flowers are such cheerful harbingers of Spring!

And so are Swallowtail Butterflies!




I think she had just emerged. She was fluttering around just a bit, but mostly just sitting in the sun airing her wings. She was still in the same area when I returned. A closer look at the pictures shows that she is sipping water from the sand with her long proboscis!

After I got home from my walk, I weed-whacked the front. My new plants are all doing pretty well, and many are blooming. Stay tuned for photos!

Sleep "walking"?

Crackery Cheese Puffs

Or Cheese Cracker Puffers.

I tried Chuckbert's recipe again, this time with the proper half-n-half, unsalted butter, and salt.

I wasn't shy about really working the dough and rolling it out thin. I could see the cutting board through the dough. I cooked it in two batches it was so thin.

I put Kosher flake salt on one and the flake salt and fresh ground pepper on the other. They took far shorter to bake than my first thicker try.

They came out puffery good! YUMMERS!

It's simple.

Stop Worrying!

I want everyone to stop worrying about me in my new career as bad-guy chaser. After all, don't you know the best part about being a cop?

Good Day!

...and good night to Paul Harvey.

I remember Jack listening to him at lunch break at home. Mr. Hinajosa, my 6th grade teacher, made us listen to him, too. I thought he was annoying as heck! He was part of the fabric of my childhood.

Police Blotter

From the Daily Sound:

Feb. 14, 1:22 a.m. — Police arrived at City Lot #5 after receiving reports of a non-injury traffic collision possibly involving a drunken driver. While some officers spoke with the possible DUI suspect, a 43-year-old woman, other officers spoke with the 27-year-old woman who had been driving the other vehicle involved in the collision.

Based on their investigation, authorities determined both women were driving under the influence. After citing and releasing the two suspects, police arranged for the suspects’ vehicles to be towed.

From the Izzy Files:

At approximately 11:00 am on Monday, February 23, police were called to the intersection of Hot Springs Road and Coast Village Road where a non-injury traffic collision had occurred. According to witness Izzy, the driver of a brand new pickup crossed the center line and collided at slow speed with a late-model VW Jetta. When the driver of the Jetta instructed the driver of the pick-up to back up, the pick-up driver gunned the truck into drive, causing more damage to both vehicles.

Witness Izzy handed the Jetta driver her card in case he needed a witness account and planned to leave the scene, having a busy work-day planned.

However, she noticed the driver of the truck exiting the vehicle, carrying a tan piece of clothing bundled around something. Decribed as acting "hyper," the bald suspect then started walking away from the scene.

Witness-turned-detective Izzy followed the man, abandoning her plans to continue her work day. The man walked around a shopping center, and when she caught up to him, the bundle was missing. She encouraged him to go back to the scene and wait for the police. "I'm dizzy," he explained.

The suspect returned briefly to the scene and again walked away. Izzy followed a second time and was informed by other witnesses that he had entered the Vons store. At that time, she looked into the trash can and found the clothing bundle that the suspect has deposited there.

Izzy returned to the scene to wait for the police. After they interviewed both subjects and placed the pick-up driver into the back of the squad car, Detective Izzy showed an officer the trash can which contained the deposited bundle. The officer retrieved a tan sweatshirt wrapped around a six-back of Budwieser and a plastic bag containing an aeresol can of compressed air.

Further reports of the suspect's arrest are unavailable. Thank goodness there were no injuries and the huffer was taken off the streets.

Dontcha love Trader Joe's?

Lovin' the Kitchenaide

OK. I've fallen in love with baking bread. Pagrs pointed me to King Arthur Flour's recipes, and they really are great recipes! The Kitchenaide Stand Mixer makes it sooooo easy!

So far, I've made one loaf of white bread (recipe from the Kitchenaide recipe book), four loaves (2 batches) of Classic 100% Whole Wheat, and two loaves of 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread. This last recipe is my favorite. The first loaf was great, though not perfect. The second one just came out of the oven. It looks and smells fantastic. I have a feeling this one will be near-perfect!





I can't keep up with the demand for bread! I have a teenage boy in the house, you know. I have a feeling I'll need to adjust my weekly routine to include a bread-baking day. I'll enjoy that, though, because it smells so good!

Thanks again, BobBIE!

Jumping in the Cracker Barrel

Seems like every one else has tried Chuckbert's cracker recipe, so I had to follow suit tonight.

My recipe changes included:

• I used salted butter, and then left out the salt (I was going to add part of the amount, but plumb forgot),
• I sprinkled Kosher salt on top,
• I used non-fat half-n-half.

"What's that? Non-fat half-n-half? I didn't know there was such a thing!"

Neither did I. Never buying half-n-half, I grabbed the one that my hand reached for first, not reading the label. It wasn't until I got it out for the crackers did I notice. Fat-free half-n-half. Isn't that an oxymoron?

I don't think I got the crackers thin enough, as they were soft-ish, except the ones on the edges, which were crispety.



They were good, and we enjoyed them!





They were plenty salty. I'll try the recipe again with real half-n-half, I'll roll them out thinner and maybe work them more to make them flakier (the added fat of real half-n-half should help, too), and I think I'll try Poss's technique of separating them before baking, as that will make them brown better, I think.


What's the story with fat-free half-n-half???

Despondex: New Medication on the Market

From The Onion

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

My third use of my new Kitchenaide was making Valentine's Day cupcakes. I used the White Cake recipe from the Kitchenaide recipe booklet. It was fast n' easy! The hardest part was separating the eggs, but Erin did that part!

All I had was bread flour. I had grabbed bread flour instead of all-purpose flour the other day. So they probably aren't the best they could've been.

Here they are:

There is one missing because some little Elf came home in the wee hours of the morning and sampled them. By "little Elf" I mean "Little Mikey," my Valentine!

I am going shopping with E. today to Bed Bath 'n' Beyond to get some new baking pans for my invigorated baking career!

Sony's new gadget according to The Onion.

From The Onion.

For anyone who has tried to install new gizmos.

****DO NOT CLICK IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY "BAD" WORDS*****

Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

A Brand! New! Kichenaid! Stand Mixer!

Today I got a surprise on the porch. It was a big, heavy box! What a mystery!

I had worked a full day, went to Trader Joe's, had to do laundry and make dinner, so I didn't get a chance to open the prize until late (8:30pm)!

Imagine my surprise, a new Kitchenaid Stand Mixer! With attachments! It mixes! It whisks! It kneads!

Wow! I am the proud owner of a beeeautiful Kitchenaid mixer! It is something that I have always wanted! I am not much of a chef, but I love to bake, and this will keep me baking and baking! Wow! I'm so happy!

COOOOOOOLLLLL!

Izzy's New Love

There was another mystery.....just who sent this wonderful present? The return address listed the UPEX shipper in Lost Almost. There was no note. There was no packing slip. Was it a secret admirer? Detective Karen went to work and found in tiny little writing on the shipping label: "FROM BOBBIE S______N"

COOOOOLLLLLL! My big sister loves me!

THANKS, BobBIEEEEEEEE! It's the coolest present ever!


I've got a Kitchenaide mixer.....I've got a Kitchenaide mixer.......tra-la.....I've got a Kitchenaide mixer!

Watch out, crooks!

After 11 weeks nursing his broken clavicle, Officer Squid is back on the beat tonight.

Congratulations!

An Important Lesson Learned

The other day, I knew I might need new batteries for the camera. So, on the way out of the house, I grabbed a couple AAs and threw 'em in my purse.

Lesson: Don't put batteries in the coin compartment!

Today I was waiting for Kevin to get his arm checked to be cleared for wrestling tomorrow, and I started looking through my purse to pass the time. I noticed today's reciepts were black. I thought, "These are heat sensitive. ....what the .....!" Then I quickly noticed that my purse was HOT. The bills were HOT! The reciepts were HOT!!

I remembered the batteries. I ran into the bathroom and dumped the coins and batteries in to the sink. The coins were HOT and stayed warm for 30 minutes afterward. It took quite a bit of strength to separate the melted-together batteries.



Remember the lesson: DON'T put batteries in the coin compartment! Unless you WANT your purse to burst into flames.

Shark!

More Karen and Doughie Love

This is my all-time favorite picture of Karen and Doughie. It is bad quality because it is off a computer print out that Chuckie made for me years ago. Do you have the original of this one, Chuckbert?

I may be spoiling the upcoming slides with the next two, but couldn't resist posting these cuties. (note the ubiquitous chocolate face)

June 1967

June 1967

I remember this as one of my all-time favorite activities. My earliest memories were of Gram reading to me, and Doughie was ever-present.

Christmas 1967

Baby Doughie

Chuckbert wondered where the photos were of Baby Dough. Guess what? I have them! Thanks to Mom's loving gesture to all of us when she put photos into albums, I got some of the original prints. Here are the photos that Chuckbert remembered.

(Captions are from mom's notes on back of photos)

8/19/65 --Doughie & sibs, 1 day old

9/21/65 -- 5 weeks


9/25/65 -- 5 1/2 weeks old

Thus began the life-long love affair between Karen and Doughie.

And as a bonus, here is a picture of the whole, big, happy family including Pough and Dough.

Saturday, November 28, 1965

Wrestling Bout

I used the video setting on my camera to record Kev's match on Thursday. He won 15 points to 2.



By the way, if you ever have a wrestler in the house, be sure to get good health insurance! Whatever afflicts a wrestler has afflicted Kevin: sore rib, staph skin infection, ringworm, sprained ankle, and Thursday he went to an ENT to have a cauliflower ear hematoma evacuated. Wear your headgear, Kevin! All we're missing is a break. KNOCK ON WOOD!

Another Man in the House

He's gone and done it. He has become a man.

Kevin, the emancipated.

Happy 18th Birthday, Kevin!!

I am not a number! I am a free man!

Another loss today: Patrick McGoohan, from the amazing British show The Prisoner.

Él era más macho.

No more soft Corinthian leather.

I enjoyed watching Ricardo Montalban.

He died this morning in Los Angeles.

One Week!

One more week till the dum-dum leaves the house!

Kevin will be 18! An adult!

But he won't be leaving quite yet.....the real dum-dum is leaving! A momentous day!

I'll be watching the inauguration!


Obama Countdown
created by James Miller

Your kibble will be docked.

Poor Cocoa!

On Thursday afternoon, I got home from work and went to put Cocoa's leash on for a walk, only to find that her neck was wet and bloody. Apparently Kibble had overturned our new garbage can and defended its contents. She has been very aggressive protecting her foodstuffs, despite being the submissive of the pair.

I took Cocoa to the vet the next day, and found that it was a pretty bad wound. The vet had to put a drain in so that it can heal, and put her on meds. A blood panel showed her liver enzymes out of whack (unrelated to the wound), so more meds. She is on four different medications, and boy she is good at hiding them and spitting them out. We'll just call her McMurphy.

Cocoa is finally starting to perk up and feel better. I felt bad when I took to the vet today to get it looked at. She was all a-tremble with fear. She hates the place. Who can blame her? It hurts to go there! They are leaving the drain in until Thursday.

We've been keeping the dogs separate, needless to say, and I'm afraid we may have to always keep them separate unless they are supervised. Cocoa was pretty traumatized.

In the meantime, Kibble's kibble will be docked until she pays off the vet bill. That's a lot of kibble, believe me.

******STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE PICTURES!******

Creek Watch Amendment

I was able to hike Rattlesnake Canyon on Friday. Here are the promised pictures!

Rattlesnake Creek, Upstream

Rattlesnake Creek, Downstream

Rattlesnake Pool

Rattlesnake Waterfall

Tin Can Meadow, looking Northwest

Tin Can Meadow, looking Northwest

Meadow, looking Southwest
It was a foggy day.

As Chuckbert predicted, the meadow is getting green!

As a bonus, here are a few pictures of the burn area. The fire was just seven weeks ago, but already there is new growth amidst the ashes.

And one more little pretty waterfall.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009! The years just seem to fly by, don't they?