I was getting pretty stinky, so today the hoomins took me to the bath place. I like going there ’cause they are all nice to me except for when they get me wet. I hate water on the outside but it’s good to drink. After that, they take the buzzy thing and clip off some fur. Then they tie this pink bib on me and I don’t know what for. Oh well, the hoomins are back and now we’re going home so I can take a nap. Click on me for big.
It has been almost a year since our winter ’08 vacation. We still look through the vacation photos from time to time. Usually, we find one that we want to share here.
This red tail hawk flew across the road right in front of the camper as we were driving toward the Grand Canyon. It took me by surprise, but I had the camera up already and managed to snap this shot as the hawk climbed to gain altitude.
If you click on the thumbnail above you can see the greater context of the shot. Yes that is snow on the ground. I don’t know what hawks hunt in the snow, but they obviously thrive in that environment.
Back by popular demand, we enjoyed this for today’s main meal. It’s Chinese-style beef and broccoli. On the side, sticky rice – what else?
It starts out when Bob cuts and trims a medium top-sirloin into a julienne. Then, the beef marinates overnight in soy sauce, cooking sherry and corn starch. In the wok, I steamed the florets of broccoli until al dente and then removed the broccoli to drain. Add a little olive oil to the wok and then place the beef and marinade in the wok. When beef browns up, add in the florets and toss. Serve with rice.
Click the image to enlarge.
A few years ago, we put this bench in the yard and planted morning glories next to it hoping for a shaded sitting place in the garden. Long story short: it was badly overgrown, broke the bench and had to come out today.
Click to enlarge this picture that Verna snapped today.
We drove to Santa Monica for a dental appointment this morning. When we got there, we saw an ice rink a half-block away from the dentist office. Since we were there early, we went over to have a closer look.
The Ice at Santa Monica is part of a “celebrate the holidays” initiative sponsored by Bayside District. We saw mostly kids on the ice, including a few very small children in the “Tot Spot,” a scaled down supervised area for the little ones.
It was certainly strange to see outdoor ice skating on the streets of Santa Monica on a 68° fall day. Click on the image to enlarge.
I have a spot in the corner of the yard where about four or five California Fan Palms – a.k.a. ‘weeds,’ started up behind the umbrella tree growing there. I was afraid that they would grow to the point of uprooting the block walls, so I decided to start removing them. The first part of this is to remove the top of the tree, which I did on this past Monday.
I went out today to fill the bird feeders today and I noticed that the trees I just topped had continued growing at an astounding rate! The core of one of the trees that was flush cut on Monday with the chain saw grew about six inches in four days. Remarkable!
Like I said, weeds.
Click image for a closer look.
