The Dog Days of Summer -- in DUBLIN!!

I can't get over how many hot days you guys are suffering through. I mean, seriously! I sit here with my window wide open, getting a nice cool breeze blowing through my room and it's a nice 63 degrees outside. I look at Dublin's temp and it's 73 already. AND you had a bit of a bounce with the earthquake. Cal said he felt the jolt, heard a crash and looked in the hallway to see a bunch of my books on the floor. At least they didn't fall off the high shelf. Lesson: when there's an earthquake, stay away from the bookshelves.

My sister, Lynne, sent an email that reminded me of something I forgot to tell you. When I was staying at her house for Amber's (her daughter, my niece) wedding reception, I was sitting on the living room sofa, minding my own business, when a squirrel caught my eye. He'd just wandered in from the back door. He saw me sitting there, working on my laptop, but that didn't seem to bother him. Lynne has a ficus tree in a huge pot and he climbed up in the pot and started digging around, probably looking for nuts he may have buried there! David was in the other room working on his computer so I said "uh, is it normal to have a squirrel in your living room?" He came out and chased it away. Said the darned thing just keeps getting more brazen and has wandered in a few times. Too funny!

Yesterday Tami, Heather, Carol, Heather's mom and I did a day trip. Tami drove us to Cannon Beach (or Eco Beach, I'm not sure which one). Once we CAREFULLY traversed the huge pebbles and rocks section, (wearing inappropriate Birkies) we made it safely to the sand. Keep in mind, these are not like southern CA beaches. The white sand is minimal. Although we didn't need to wear a jacket! There was fog just off the coast but it wasn't cold.

We took a nice long stroll along the waterline and Tami had fun showing us how she could make a quicksand spot. She'd step on the wet sand, which looked very firm, and when she removed her foot, the sand would jiggle. I confess I was giving her the "uh huh" look until I tried it myself. It was sort of like the cornstarch phenomenon. If you've ever played with a mixture of cornstarch and water, you'll know what I mean.

We saw 2 jellyfish washed up on the beach and one was still alive. Tami wanted to help it back into the water in the worst way, but none of us was going to touch it and we wouldn't let her touch it either. There were no sticks readily available so we left it to it's own fate.

A bit further on we saw a small black plastic bag sitting by itself, so Tami wondered what might be in it. We were speculating about diamonds, somebody's finger, a roll of money. On the way back Tami mentioned it again and Carol said it was probably dog poop. Took the wind right out of our sails!!

We had a fun lunch up on the bluff. There were several picnic benches and we had a great view. Ahead of us we could see the rock formations and then we'd look to the right and it was all fog-shrouded. And SEAGULLS! Little buggers. Just waiting for someone to drop something. They'd walk right up to our table and squawk at us. One family mistakenly threw some food to a couple and the rest descended like a cloud. They immediately had 20 birds surrounding them and flying in low. One of the little girls started screaming and the dad had to get up and chase them off. Lesson: NEVER feed the gulls!

After lunch we drove to Cannon Beach and walked through the downtown area. Wandered through a few stores and a gallery. By this time I was so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open. Too much fresh air I guess. We piled back into the car and headed home. Since we missed the opportunity to stop for drinking water on the way up, we stopped on the way back. Again, it just tastes like water. I didn't dump out my bottled water, but I did top it off with the spring water. I can't tell any difference. And it's coming through metal pipes so it has to be picking up stuff from that, right? Anyway, we had a really fun day and came home worn out.

Carol started a movie but I'd already seen it so I came up to my room to finish listening to a book I was almost done with. Sat on my bed playing with my electronic solitaire game and listening to my book. Went to bed early and slept until 7:30 this morning. Rolled over and went back to sleep until 8:30. PERFECT day! Now I have to clean out the 'frig and clean my bathroom. So much for the perfect day.

Carol's making pancakes so I'd better hurry downstairs and look like I'm going to do something besides just talk to you guys. Hey, hang in there with that crappy weather you're having and start planning a trip to OR!!

Until next time.