New Member in The Family

I have been a dog person all my life. I believe dogs go to Heaven and they are here on this earth to love unconditionally and be loved. For the last couple of years I have been an "empty nester" and I have decided that a lot of times, its not fun for the one left in the nest. It is a change that must come for the growth of those that have learned to fly and leave, but then what of the ones who must learn to live again. So long story short I decided I needed to be needed and where are there lots of souls needing love? Yep the Humane Society. I made a quick list of what I would look for... * An older dog (at least a year old) * Small (under 15lbs) * Doesn't shed * Male, preferably * House trained (ok this was what I thought was wishful thinking) * No yapper (you know what I mean, a little "ankle-biter") And here is who I found....

This is Otis : In this picture he's matted and smells .... well very wet doggish. I was just about to leave when this little guy was being put in to a kennel. He took one look at me with these eyes (Pretty wild huh?) and I was done. We belonged to each other.

From what the vet has figured out about this little guy, he's a Affinpincher (NOT a cute dog)

And Lhasa Apso (Better)

Thank goodness Otis got the best combo of the two. He is Hypo-allergenic and doesn't shed. She believes that my poor little guy is a kennel pup. This mean he hasn't been out in the open for any length of time. She could tell this because his heart rate is low for a small dog. Apparently, a small dogs heart rate should be any where between 90 - 105. Fast, I know. Anyway, Otis's heart rate was around 80, which she says means he was never allowed to exercise enough to get his heart rate up to normal. You don't like to think about what they have been through before you get them. What is important is how much love you can give them once you have them. Mark even likes him. That's a big deal. Anyway.... Otis part of our family now and I feel better and so does he.

3rd Day of Big Sur Trip

So I know I needed to finish my trip. I got two of the 3 days done so I wanted to make sure all of the trip was recorded. It was such a great trip, especially for Mark and I together. We needed this trip and it was wonderful. The last day we left our cute little place up in the mountain s and headed for Carmel and Monterrey. What a pretty area. We went up to the Monterrey wharf for breakfast.

If your ever up in that part of California, treat your self to Lou Lou's, it located on the "working wharf" in Monterrey. If you go all the way to the end of the wharf the smell gets pretty strong from the fishery. Just around the end though is a the market where you can buy what they brought in that morning.

The Sea-lions are every where and adding to the smell, but they are fun to watch.

We headed home and instead of taking the 1 back we headed south on the 5 and ran into a little construction. On each side of the Hwy almost all the way home we miles and miles of nut trees, everything from Almonds, Walnuts and Pistachios. If it wasn't nuts it was vineyards. California really is beautiful in so many different ways. We have decided our next trip will be top San Diego, Mark has been, but I have not. We may take the train down and go to Sea World. So ..... more adventures await.

Halloween Stuff I'm pretty much writing this so i can put my Halloween decoration pictures on Pinterest. I love Halloween and for several years my family and i have created haunted houses. The neighbors loved them and looked forward to them every year. The other reason I love the holiday is the next is my birthday!!!! Woo Hoo!

Yeah we kinda go all out.....

Trip Up Hwy 1 Day 2

Mark and I left San Luis Obispo, Ca on our way further north. Our next stop Moro Bay. The Bay is filled with fishing boats of all sizes bring in their catches of Halibut, Swordfish,Rock-fish and Albacore. The most amazing sight that greeted us as we enter the Bay was Moro Rock (One of the six volcanic plugs that line the coast, also known as the Six Sisters) Along the base of the rock are areas that you can go to and view the different wildlife that make this area their home. One of the smallest is the Rock Squirrel. These little guys are afraid of nothing and are several generations in of knowing that people will be more than happy to feed them. My favorite was seeing the Bay Otters. I honestly had no idea that they were as big as they were. We were told that the males can be as big as 4 1/2 feet long from nose to tail and weigh up to 65 pounds. They are still really cute, but now I don't think I want one as a pet. They spend most of their mornings feeding on clams, mussels, starfish and just about anything they can find. Once they are nice and full this is how we found them. They literately float. Too cute. We next traveled to Piedras Blancas in the southern range of Big Sur, near San Simeon. There we were told we would find a large herd of Elephant seals. They are far from being as cute as the sea-lion, but were still so amazing to see. They are massive and moving on the sand looked difficult for most, but in the water they were as agile as their smaller cousins. None of our stops were planned so the fun part was really just seeing something and going "OOOOO pull over." Ragged Rock is a beautiful stop with unbelievable views. We arrived at our next night accommodation mid afternoon. Still in time to enjoy the area. We stayed at Fernwood Resort under the Redwoods. Mark found out that there was a great hiking trail up the mountain behind the resort. See, I said Mark found this out, had I found out, I would have kept this information to myself. That was okay though, until I found out it was 2 1/4 miles up and 2 1/4 miles down. The most fabulous part of the hike was being under these HUGE Redwood trees. That's not quite true... the best part is that I made it to the top, without having a coronary. This was the view once we got to the top. I am taking the picture while trying to get my heart beat out of my ears and back into my chest. This was the first and last part of the hike. I love this golden field. We got back to our room and got ready to go eat dinner. We decided to try a place we saw on our way in. If you are ever in Big Sur, treat yourself to a meal at Deetjen. This is an unassuming restaurant built in 1937 and hasn't changed that much since then. Zagat's has Deetjen's rated as a top rated eating establishment. I so agree. Well that was day two and it was packed. I'm going to bed and I am sore and full and happy.

The Trip Up The 1 ..... Day 1

Started out this morning from Marina del Rey, Ca around 9 am and drove north up the HWY 1 toward Malibu. The ocean was the deepest shades of green today, it might have been due to the over cast that we started out with. The sun came out slowly as we headed north. We drove to Oxnard, just south of Santa Barbra. We were looking for a restaurant that we had seen on Food Network's Diner's Drive-Ins and Dives (Guy Feity's Triple D). Long story short. We arrived just before the diner a place called "The Kitchen" was to open so we went into a few shops on the same street. As we spoke to some of the locals and were told if we really wanted to have an experience we should go to Ocotlan Restaurant. We told that it's not fancy (and it wasn't), there are no menus ( and there weren't) and it is very authentic (boy was that an understatement) We were greeted by a young high school student (off for the summer) who was the only one who spoke English. mark ordered the Chicken Mole and I ordered Chicken Enchiladas. Both were very good. Mark said it was the best Mole he had had since his mission in San Jose. We continued our trip to our first stop for the evening in San Luis Obispo or as everything around there is marked "SLO" . We drove through beautiful vineyard country and the amazing agriculture growing on both sides of the road. I almost had a fit when I saw a sign that said "7 Avocados for $1.00) Then again they were growing on both sides of the road. We saw Kale, Cabbage, Spinach and of course strawberries. We are staying at a really beautiful place " San Luis Creek B&B " Our room looks out onto a treed area with a wonderful creek right outside our window. After checking in, we walked 15 down to the downtown area. So cute. In the middle of town was a sweet little park where they had "Concert in the Park" and trails and bridges and the creek that runs through the town. We started looking for something to eat and with so many places we finally decided on Italian. We found a great place called "Momma's Meatballs". We felt assured that we had a good place when we walked in and heard two chef speaking Italian and the smells were were more encouragement. Mamma's makes their own pasta, breads and desserts. Mark had a Beet Salad and Pasta Fagioli and I had a House Salad with homemade Balsamic with a main dish of Linguini Fradiavolo. The topper of the meal was the most delicious Creme Brule' EVER. If you are ever in SLO .... GO TO MOMMA"S. Going to bed listening to the creek ..... More tomorrow.