Del Mar Fair

Dennis and I made our annual trek to the Del Mar fair today. The first thing I noticed, after observing the long lines, was that they had turned Don Diego into a spaceman. The Don Diego building was now a spaceship. Then I saw that the theme this year was "Out of this World."

Anyway, we had our obligatory cinnamon roll (we split it) and I had my morning coffee finally at 11 a.m. That's because before we went to the fair I had to fast for a lab blood test. We walked through the plant exhibits, then Dennis wanted his usual homemade potato chips, so we split that, too. Then we got thirsty, so Dennis had a lemonade and I had my once-a-year Orange Julius. In other words, the fair is getting to be a little repetitive--for us anyway. We couldn't even find one new gadget to buy.

So we did the fair in about 3 hours and came home. Either the fair is boring or we are.

50-50 gets a hair cut

Kittens' Aviary

This is the kitten's new abode. The fine wire enclosure is not very visible in this picture, but it's on top of the wire fence below. Now they have a nice, airy enclosure.

Kittens Playing

We took down the Tijuana cardboard fence since it wasn't keeping the kittens in and substituted a fine wire fence that both keeps the kittens in and the raccoons out. Now the kittens can climb the high shelves and have lots of fun. They are getting big as you can see from these photos.

Cindy Crawford's high wire act

Bubba just hanging out

Sambo's a sleepy cat

Precious 

Nothing wrong with picture--Cindy Crawford is trying to eat the laces on my shoe.

Bubba tries to fly

bubba

Cindy Crawford

Bubba

Sambo

Kittens on the Loose

Although they stayed in their compound during the night, this morning 3 of the 4 kittens were over the wall again. Poor Sambo was crying because he's too little to escape. I thought it might be better to just open their door and let them run around outside. So I did that and they did run around...in the back yard, the green house, and in the back yard of the guest house. Busy, busy kittens.

In the afternoon, the kittens were all back in their "house" stretched out and sleeping. At first I couldn't find Cindy Crawford, but then I looked up...she was on the top shelf. She is still a devil kitty. I hope they are still there when it gets dark.

I left them alone while Flash and I visited Mom for dinner. Actually, Flash visited Honey in the back yard of Mom's house. Mom and I had pasta inside. I think Honey was aware of the pasta because she kept scratching on the dining room sliding glass door. Honey loves pasta.

Devil Kitty

We built up the Tijuana cardboard fence so the kittens would stay safely in their area until they are big enough to escape any predators around the ranch.

This morning when I got back from the groomer with Flash, I found Cindy Crawford relaxing on top of the cardboard.

Devil kitty.

Riding

I rode again Friday, but it didn't get any easier.

Riding

Yesterday Betsy came over to give me another lesson on Doc. I managed to get on and ride for a little while. It's getting very painful to ride any more, but today I rode my sweet horse again. We rode in the arena and then around the ranch. I'm going to try to ride every day for awhile to see if the pain lessens.

I took several dichroic glass barrettes out of the kiln this morning. Thankfully, they all turned out well. After working with Flash in the back yard, I spent the rest of the day creating a form for Dennis and the company.

Mom came over for dinner tonight. I cleaned some artichokes and she stuffed them. We also had a tomato-cucumber-basil salad.

After dinner I worked with Flash again. Then I sat on the sofa and vegged out for the rest of the night.

Kittens Playing with Toys

 The kittens love their new toys.

Something new

I just finished this set of chain and freshwater pearl necklace and earrings.

My new jewelry

I started early on Christmas jewelry.

 Valentine's Day

Any day

4th of July

Movie Tuesday

Our Tuesday movie was "Snow White and the Huntsman," clearly not a fairy tale for children. We big kids, however, enjoyed the movie with all of its fantasy. The wicked queen was played by Charliez Theron, who was alternately beautiful and way old and ugly. It all depended on her inhaling the essence of young maidens leaving them dead, of course. What she really needed was the heart of Snow White, hence the huntsman. The only thing missing was Prince Charming. I won't say who took on his role. We all (Dennis, Mom and I) thought it was a good movie.

Power Link Fire in Alpine

It didn't take long for a fire to start after the Power Link went on line. On Monday there was a fire on a tower in Alpine that wouldn't go out until they shut off the power. I don't have photos, but it was on the news.

"Old" Fire

Sunday brought another fire in East County. For some reason, the media is calling it the "Old Fire." Maybe because it was at Old Hwy. 80? I don't know, but the fire was located near the Golden Acorn Casino, about 7 miles from us. That fire has burned about 900+ acres, including one home. We drove up and took some photos when it first started and then again in the evening. The fire had spread so much that they closed Old Hwy. 80. Since we couldn't go that way, we took the freeway so we could see how bad the fire had gotten. Here are some photos.