Copper Canyon to the second mine

 I didn't waste time this afternoon.  As soon as I got home from school, I packed the four current front yard dogs into the truck and headed to Copper Canyon.  It's a 45-minute drive; we started our hike at 1:45pm.  Hansel, Gretchen, Sweetie and Wolfie were the hiking dogs.

This time I made sure I took the left turn instead of the right turn at the quarter-mile mark.  The road, once cobble-stoned, now is heavily storm damaged.  What once looked like an Italian village street is now a boulder-smitten path heavily water-damaged in parts.  There are now two piles of fallen debris over the road that are ATV barriers.  The uneven road and the steepness make this short trail a moderate hike.  Elevation gain is just under 1000' in the first mile.

Sweetie had trouble climbing over the many snags and rocks, even the small ones, and was visibly exhausted after two miles.  She is the reason I stopped and turned around at the mile mark.  The other dogs ran all over the place, but Sweetie stayed by my side as I stayed by her side on the walk back.  I think her hiking days are over.

We stopped at the first flooded mine, then continued up a well-worm migrant trail which led us to a rusted pick-up hanging over the edge, and right after that a second mine I don't remember seeing before.  Both mines were flooded.

We explored just a bit higher from that second mine, following the creek that now is climbing steeply up to the saddle.  The trees opened up here, but I turned around because Sweetie was still at the upper mine and I didn't want her to panic. 

There were still plenty of wildflowers and butterflies today.

Once again it began to drizzle on the drive back.  We should be getting more rain this weekend from two tropical depressions forming off the Bay of California.

A day in Tucson

 I like Tucson.  Despite the 90-mile drive, I always enjoy my visit in the Old Pueblo.  I took Hansel as my canine companion.  SteveT and his dog Trace came along.

Spending time in Tucson means getting all the dogs who stay behind ready for my absence.  The front yard dogs need their exercise before I leave for the day. So there's always a lot of preparation when I venture on a day trip. 

I got up early to walk all the front-yard dogs: Wolfie, Sweetie, Hansel and Gretchen.  Wolfie did very well sleeping outside with his sister.  He may just come around as another mellow boy like his dad, with some training to keep him from jumping up on people.  He shows reactivity toward other dogs, but he seems fine around people.  Fritz is the one who tends to attack him, though. Wolfie needs to develop some confidence.  In that regard, he's much like Gretchen.

Today's goal in Tucson was to fulfill a Yelp Elite meal at Buendia, a Mexican restaurant that opened late last year.  I have been an elite Elite reviewer going on five years now, and the status grants me free meals or partial free meals to new restaurants in the greater Tucson area.   These "freebies" come with an invite from Yelp. I have to request a spot for each invite, and I get accepted to half of them.  Despite the long drive to Tucson, it's a great excuse for me to visit the town that I'm beginning to appreciate quite a bit.  The town has great restaurants and plenty of greens space with scattered parks and multi-use trails.  And, more recently, I'm beginning to appreciate its many professionally-painted murals.

The Buendia marquee and building is an old 1950s rootbeer diner  that is clearly too small for its passionate clientele.  It looks odd: a 1950s relic and a modern Sonoran restaurant. There are still quite a few old 1950s marquees on North First Avenue.  I want to check out all the other nostalgic spots soon.

We had to wait 30 minutes for a table while the dogs were in the truck.  It was a warm afternoon but I kept the windows open and made sure they had water.  A palo verde tree next to the truck provided some shade.

Buendia has no outside patio, but with its popularity, it should really consider expanding its eating space. The drawback to that is cutting down on its parking, which is already very limited.

I don't normally review diners in this blog, but this meal was exquisite.  I'm glad I brought my hunger.  The Yelp Elite gave us a free appetizer, a cheesy quesadilla, and a free dessert, flan.  I had chicken mole and Steve had ranchero chicken burritos.  Most customers were local Hispanics conversing in colloquial Spanish. Our server, Patricia, hustled,  We both left so full; I never ate another thing today.  We had spent almost two hours at this little diner.

It was too hot to walk the dogs in Tucson by mid-day, so our next alternative was to hang out at Borderlands Brewing.  They have the best dog-friendly patio in town, complete with palo verde trees along the fence line, sunshades, and misters.  We arrived at 2:16pm and sat outside, sharing the patio with several other dog owners.  A country-rock-swing band was setting up, but we only stayed another 90 minutes.  I had a pint of prickly pear wheat and a pint of their mango wheat ale.  Both are very good!

At 4pm it was still in the 90Fs. Steve suggested we just drive home at this point and walk the dogs in French Joe Canyon, right of SR90. The two-mile access road into the canyon is a gentle upgrade.  We arrived at 5:15pm and were long enough to see the sunset colors an hour and 2.5 miles later.

I got home at 7:30pm and walked the dogs again: Wolfie, Gretchen, Sweetie.  Only Wolfie slept with me while Sweetie stayed with Hansel in the truck and Gretchen napped in the CRV overnight.  He was very calm tonight and never moved off the bed.

Copper Canyon

 I didn't know which area to explore, either the Mormon Battalion Monument off the San Pedro River east of Palominas, or Copper Canyon in the southern Huachucas.  I ended up doing both.  I took Wolfie, Gretchen, Hansel, Sahne and Sweetie.  Wolfie got the lucky dog for the weekend.

It was a warm and sunny morning when I got to Palominas and let the dogs out at the trailhead behind the old Trading Post restaurant off SR92.   That place has been vacant since it closed in 2005, but the building, despite its fading paint and rotting wood, is still standing.  A shame it has not been upgraded and turned into a diner of sorts.

The dogs did fine on both hikes.  I was afraid they'd explore the backyards of the homes along SR92, but they stayed near me on the trail.  Field fencing kept them off private property.  The road to the monument is a wide dirt road, but near the entrance to the Mormon campsite, the trail got muddy and then saturated in water.  It was too deep to walk through.  The dogs didn't mind the mud.

I really wanted to take the dogs to the river and tried a second approach.  According to my tracker, there was another dirt road going south just a bit west of the river, but that proved to be an overgrown road that also ended in mud.  Again I turned around and tried a third road south.  By now it was getting too warm and too boring, fighting the growing heat and the prickly pig weed that I just scraped the idea.  I found a Guatemalan passport off the trail.  The dogs found a few mud puddles in that last half mile.  Those puddles always seem to be on the way back to the truck!

We had walked a mere 2.25 miles.  I wasn't ready to go home just yet with four muddy dogs, so I drove another 20 miles to Copper Canyon, the first major canyon west of Montezuma's Pass along the border.  There is always water running here, and water was the main goal today. 

Copper Canyon was once the site of a busy copper mine, which is at the end of the short, steep, rocky trail just 0.75 miles up the road.  This short hike is perfect on hot days due to the heavy shade and reliable water.  But I somehow didn't pay attention and took a left turn at the Y and ended up at the former miners' site, instead of going right at the Y and continuing to the mine.

This error wasn't so bad, though, as storm clouds moved overhead and loud thunder soon came while we were walking up the drainage.  There were yellow wildflowers everywhere!  A photographer's delight!  But Sweetie had trouble jumping over the fallen snags and I turned around at the half-mile mark.  I didn't want to be caught in a downpour with four wet dogs.  I must come back and explore this canyon while the flowers are out.

Not wanting to stop the hike just yet, I put Sweetie in the truck and walked another mile with the younger dogs, heading south to the old cattle corral. Sweetie looked tired. I could see the dark clouds above the Huachucas now, and rain was moving from the southeast toward my location.  We shortcut around the corral on the way back to the truck, stopping at a stockpond where the dogs jumped in yet again.

We had hiked a mere two miles more.

I managed to evade any rain while on the drive back home, but to the east and north it looked dark.  It finally rained in the early evening.  It was brief and intense.

Run-aways...again!

 Yesterday was a stressful day with auto shop students, so I was glad to get out of school and do my after-school meal shopping before heading home.  This has become my standard where I shop at Fry's for a day or two worth of food before heading home.

I stopped at PetSmart to look at deals and picked up several Kong collars and leashes.  Kong still makes the best collars and leashes and Wolfie and Fritz both need new ones.  I met Susan there and we chatted a bit, with Susan telling me the detailed story of Allie needing another vet visit for bladder leakage.

I met Susan again at Frys, where I picked up several pasta salads for dinner and the usual chicken legs for the dogs. We agreed to get together at 5:30pm to let my four dogs run on her acreage.

Storm clouds were moving in from the south as I neared home, and it looked like it was raining over Susan's house.  I already had Hansel and Sweetie in the truck waiting for the drive to Susan's when  she called to  cancel the invite because heavy rains were moving toward her.  I packed the other two dogs, Gretel and Gretchen, into the truck for a quick drive to the maintenance road.

But then heavy rain came over me from the north and I turned around to head home where rain had evaded me.

Here's when I noticed the side gate ajar.  No sign of Sahne, Fritz or Wolfie.  Oh shit.

How long were the dogs missing?  Had I left the gate unsecured, or had one of the dogs pushed the lever up?  Sahne is pretty smart and watches my moves closely and she has pushed on the lever in the past.  But now all my desire to walk the dogs separately before the rain were dashed.  I had to find the missing dogs, but if they had been running free all day, someone would have called animal control and this time send them directly to the Douglas shelter.  And/or I could have three less dogs moving forward.

Again I felt defeated.  How can I have a total of five dogs running the streets in a span of three days?  I went on Facebook but this time found no "Found dogs" post anywhere.  If the dogs were loose all day, they would have been picked up for sure.  Then I saw a notice from Lesley dated 4:29pm with "...a gentleman down the block said that there are two of your dogs running loose by the mailboxes." It was 5:25pm.   I drove over there with Sweetie but saw nothing.  I went back home.

Indeed dark storm clouds were over the mountains.  Lightning flashed to the north. I had the start of my Asian salad outside on Kevin's chair when I heard dogs barking north of me, the kind of excited barking I hear when dogs fence fight.  I jumped up to get into the truck  again and didn't have to drive far to see all three dogs in the back alley.  All three came to me and jumped into the truck heavily panting.  They looked exhausted.  Their heads were caked in mud.

I sat in the truck with all four dogs as storm clouds continued to move closer.  This storm is the last of the storms for this month. I waited for them to get their breathing back.  Fritz vomited some digested kibble in the front passenger leg area but luckily there were so many paper napkins on the floor to absorb the mess. There's a reason why I hold on to all those fast-food paper napkins!  Once the breathing went down to normal, I decided to walk them in twos.  The first set was Fritz and Sahne, leaving Wolfie with Sweetie.

I always enjoy seeing what I call my three backyard dogs out on a walk.  Sahne pranced ahead of me, but Fritz was slow and dragging behind me.  He did not look well.  It was perhaps exhaustion and dehydration.  I was barely back at the RV when it began to rain, so I placed Sahne in the CRV and tied Fritz to the RV, but then the rain came down hard and I had to loosen Gretel and Gretchen and bring them inside. 

Fritz slept in the RV with Gretel and Gretchen, but he stayed in the living room watching me.  Hansel slept outside but he didn't seem to mind.

This morning I did another round of laps with the dogs starting at 4:40am. I started with Fritz and Hansel.  Both did well, but Fritz had diarrhea that he luckily saved for the outdoors.  Thankfully no one saw him poop in the dark! He was walking faster now compared to last night.  Neither dog pulled hard.  It was the same with the second two dogs: Gretel and Sahne.  These two dogs act like loving siblings, always jumping on and over each other like puppies.  Neither pulled hard, either.  It was the same with Wolfie and Sweetie next.  Wolfie always seems so happy to be near me and doesn't pull at all.  I'm sure he could be a loving and obedient leash walker with more practice. Sweetie followed us off-leash. Gretchen walked the final loop but she pulled the entire time.  She probably smelled her entire pack all over the neighborhood, and the darting rabbits didn't help much, either.

Thus ends another summary of the life of a single mom to seven dogs.

Run-aways

 This was bound to happen one day.

I didn't get the dogs walked until 5:50pm, 35 minutes before sunset yesterday.  I took Hansel, Gretel, Gretchen and Sweetie to the Maintenance Road to let them run of-leash for two miles, up and down the straight-away and a short section up north, before ending at the hidden stock pond.  This is the usual two-mile run for them, enough to get them exhausted.

But something went wrong from the start.  The younger dogs were all anxious to get out of the truck and pushed their way out the door.  Only Sweetie, with her arthritis, took her time as I unleashed her.  She never strays far from me.  However, as soon as I got Sweetie out of the truck, the other three dogs were no where to be seen until I saw Gretchen down the road jumping north into the desert.  Had the dogs taken chase to some rabbits, or a deer?

 I followed the usual route, first east and then north on the old ATV road, yelling out the dogs' names. I turned around at the wash to return to the truck, still calling their names. Only Gretel came back, panting and drooling from the mouth.  Where were the other two dogs?  It had now been over 30 minutes and they hadn't come back yet.  Sunlight was fading fast, too. A distant storm from the south flashed behind storm clouds.

I had to act fast.  I drove north on SR92 and turned east at the Rancho de San Pedro housing division, where now new and spacious homes are going up.  No sign of the dogs.  I drove home, hoping to see Hansel and Gretchen waiting by the gate.  Again, no sign of them.  I drove back to the maintenance road, driving now in the dark and yelling their names.  Still nothing.  It was now too dark to see anything and I drove back home, defeated.  I had lost two dogs in a flash.

As soon as I got back to the RV, Susan called.  "Have you lost two dogs?" she asked.  Yes, I replied.  She had seen a photo of Hansel and Gretchen in someone's car.  I got on Facebook and sure enough, their two panting faces were clearly visible.  Gretchen even drooled on the window's ledge.  A woman had picked up the dogs as they were running south on SR92, but added that she couldn't get the third dog, Gretel, who had run back to me.

I now knew that the dogs were at least safe and not hit by cars or attacked by coyotes. Another woman, with the same last name at the first woman, posted on another site that the dogs were taken to the Nancy J Brua shelter in town.   The photos were blurry, but it was clearly Hansel, Gretel and Gretchen in the photos, running south down the center of SR92! The fading sun light was visible, so these dogs were running down the highway shortly after they took off.   

The shelter closes at 5pm and it was now 7:30pm but I drove there anyway, just in case there was a night shift person on duty.

The shelter was dark, with only the front parking lot lighted. I called the dispatch and all I was told was to call tomorrow after 8am and come by the shelter at 10am when it opens.  Both are hard to do while at school.  There was nothing more I could do now.  The dogs were safe from dangers and I would pick them up on Tuesday after school.

Gretel and I were alone in bed that night.  It felt odd having only one dog with me, with Sweetie outside as she seems to prefer being out when it's in the 60s at night.  I didn't sleep well, though, getting only two hours of deep sleep before getting up for school again.  I was exhausted from the start.

Walking Gretel Tuesday morning by herself was also a breeze.  She didn't pull and she didn't seem so obsessed with hunting rabbits.  Even Sweetie did well with her own solo laps before I drove off to school.

The woman who picked up the dogs  called me as I was getting ready to leave for school to remind me to call the county animal control office right away to arrange for pick-up at the city shelter.  If county picks up the dogs they will go to the Douglas shelter 52 miles away, a dirty shelter where dogs are doomed to die if not claimed within 72 hours.  The Douglas shelter closes at 3pm; not very conducive for anyone driving from Sierra Vista 56 miles away. The daily kennel fee would be expensive, too.

I was on it.  I called the county Animal Control office at 8am and got a pleasant officer on the other end who told me she would talk to the city shelter to see if my dogs could stay there until I pick them up after work.  All that is contingent on space, as the city shelter is overcrowded with adoptable dogs. She called me thirty minutes later that the dogs will stay at the city shelter but that I must pick them up as soon as possible.

And I did. I was nervous about what I would be told about the dogs' behavior overnight, being kenneled in a strange place with odd smells and lots of dogs barking.  German Shepherd Dogs do not take to being kenneled in a shelter very well and quickly become stressed and then aggressive. The woman in charge told me that Hansel was snarling and growling at the workers there, and would get in front of Gretchen to protect her.  "He almost bit a few workers" she added.  Because of Hansel's behavior I was asked to drive around to the back of the shelter where the holding kennels were easily accessible and away from the front lobby and its employees. Both dogs were in a corner kennel and huddling closely with each other.  I was led to their cage with leashes in hand.

I saw Hansel's aggression.  He was clearly scared and protecting his daughter.  I was proud of that.  But I saw his demonic side, a side that quickly dispersed as soon as I called out their names. They immediately perked up.  Leaps of joy overcame both dogs. They were so excited to see me again, they were jumping on top of me and wouldn't calm down until I had both in the truck.  My little heathens!  But at least I had them back.  What a relief!  I didn't even have to post bond for my two felons.

Their good behavior was short-lived. Gretchen darted out of the truck as soon as I got back home and darted toward Prince's yard across the street.  Luckily Prince wasn't out, but she ran around looking for him to bark at.  He is her favorite fence-fighting partner.  That ungrateful dog!  I was in no mood to be chasing her around, still with her nylon shelter leash dangling from her neck.  With Prince no where to be seen, she began running toward Robbie's two GSDs around the corner.  By now I was wanting none of that behavior, so I got in the truck to take off after her.  The sound of the engine got her attention and she came right back.

I had all dogs in the yard, leashed up.  Only Sweetie was allowed to walk freely. By now I was very tired from lack of sleep and lay down to nap.  The local school board had its 6pm public meeting broadcast on a local Facebook page.  School board members were going to discuss, after their usual budget announcements, the current status of the teachers who have been alleged to have had sexual abuse complaints against them.  I was up to watch that meeting, but the audio was poor and I fell asleep during the broadcast.  I didn't wake up until a violent storm woke me up at 10:30pm, with my laptop right next to me.  The storm forecasted for Wednesday afternoon came early.

This was a vicious storm!  I heard the empty tin cans I recycle rattling on the cement driveway.  Both Gretel and Gretchen, still tied up, were whimpering in the pouring rain. They normally come inside for the night. I got them unleashed and they ran inside right away, leaving only Sweetie outside. She didn't want to come in, so I left her to fend for herself, seeking shelter under the RV. Normally I would put her in the truck for the night, but I was not about to brave the pouring rain.  The storm rattled against the RV for two hours.

For a few hours I had three wet dogs huddled next to me.  Hansel lay by my feet, Gretchen to my left and Gretel to my right.  I couldn't move! I finally fell asleep after the storm had ended and woke up Wednesday morning feeling refreshed.  It was then that I discovered that the front awning on the RV had blown off from the high winds.  One pole was bent and still attached to the RV, but the other one torn off and causing the rolled-up awning to hang at a 45-degree angle. 

 

The old beaver dam

It was another sunny and mild day. I slept in and didn't walk any dogs until i took all four dogs down to Lehner Kill site to walk the wash down to the river to the old beaver dam

The grass, as everywhere else, is overgrown  now starting to dry up. I looked like I had a fight with a porcupine by the time I got to the main trail, from the many long, thin seeds stuck to my clothing.

It's only 1.3 miles to the river from the wash, but I treated carefully through the grass. Once at the river the dogs were all happy to be in the water. I let them frolic until they got tired.

The water at the old beaver dam is deep enough for the dogs to swim in. Only Hansel likes to swim and fetch. The others were happy just to squish their toes in the mud.

And boy, did they all get muddy, especially Gretel and Gretchen who both tussled with each other in the mud. Neither dog appreciated the attempted shower, either, when I got home.

San Pedro House Loop North

Took Hansel, Gretel Gretchen and Sweetie down along the North San Pedro House Loop after lunch in town. All that rain last month caused the flora to grow high, in parts over four feet tall. All that grass is now drying.

It was almost 1pm when we started, and quite warm. I stayed at the river almost an hour to let the dogs enjoy the water.

The high water is long gone, but water is still very silty.  The only wildflowers were the dominant sunflowers.

Hansel is the only dog who seems to enjoy diving into water to retrieve sticks.  The other dogs stayed high and dry and watched.

At times the trail was hard to follow with the tall overgrowth.  The dogs followed behind me as I bushwhacked through tall grass to find the original trail.  I came across what will one day be a secondary flow route for high water on the San Pedro.

We never came across other people.

At 6pm SteveT and I met in town to enjoy a few hours at the annual Oktoberfest, the first one since 2019 He brought Trace, I brought Hansel, and after we had our meal, we walked around the park perimeter with the dogs.  There were a lot of people at this year's festival.

Fall is in the air; monsoon is fading

 The news of the suicide of Tim Wells was still on my mind when I got up to walk Gretel and Gretchen.  I wasn't in the mood to be at the high school today, so I lay low and made it a doggie day.  I took Hansel with me for a drive-thru breakfast, then took him for a lap around the dog park.  

There weren't many people in the dog park section, so we played fetch solo, walked a lap around the park, then went home.  Hansel insisted on napping in the truck.  Fine.  At least it was cool and breezy.

I worked a bit on filling up the trash bin with backyard trash, then let Sahne and Fritz in the front yard for a bit. Fritz sniffed around, pooped under the mimosa tree, then sat by my side.  He's looking like he lost some weight.  He's tall and slender now, much like Sadie was in her prime, but with a much bigger and rounder head.

Sahne was hyper, though.  I can't blame her, as she's been in the back yard for over a week without an off-leash walk.  She was so hyper, though, that I called Susan to see if I could come over and let Sahne and Hansel run around her acreage.  She's always telling me I'm always welcome to bring the dogs over for some exercise. She had to decline because she had to make some phone calls to her mother-in-law in California and to her granddaughter Isabella, whose 19th birthday is today.

My only option now was a quick run down the maintenance road for Hansel and Sahne, and I only had 30 minutes before sunset at 6:33pm.  This gave me 52 minutes and 2.5 miles  with the two dogs while a distance storm to the south appeared to be coming my way.

The storm, however, never came.  It moved northeast instead, over New Mexico and far eastern Cochise County.  Heavy grey clouds around me diffused any sunset colors, with the fading sun only visible behind a low western cloud.

I rewarded both dogs with a stop at McDonald's afterward, where I ordered a McNugget meal and gave each dog five chicken nuggets while I feasted on fries and a Coke.  Not exactly my ideal meal, but I wanted an excuse to give the pups some personal time.

It was in the truck that I noticed a heavy cut on the tip of Sahne's right ear.  This wound was bleeding.  Whenever she shook her head, blood splattered on the dashboard.  She didn't seem to be in any pain, but I soaked up several napkins with her blood before the wound healed.  She mostly likely cut herself on a wire fence while running to the hidden stock pond with Hansel on our way back to the truck. It had stopped bleeding by the time I drove back home.

I had planned on having Sahne stay in the RV with me overnight, but Gretchen had other plans.  Both dogs were immediately at each other's throats when I got through the gate, so I had no choice but to force Sahne back in the back yard.  I have to work tomorrow for sure, so this is one less dog to walk before school.

  

 

Harvest Moon over Brown Canyon

The official full moon is tomorrow, but I've learned that most people don't want to hike on a late weekend night, so I scheduled a hike in Brown canyon at 4:30pm for today.  This gave the group of six two hours for the five miles.  The only person I knew who came was SteveA.  Holly, Susan and SteveT all dropped out for various reasons.  I got to meet Chris, Laurie, Bob and Becky instead. Bob and Becky brought their dog Taffy along, whom I first met on my Perimeter Loop trail earlier this year.  Hansel was my canine partner and he did very well staying near me and getting along with Taffy, who kept wanting Hansel to chase him.  Hansel wasn't interested.

Two days ago we were forecasted to have a severe storm late evening; residual rains from TS Kay.  The sky did look menacing all afternoon, but radar showed no storms over our area.  It was a risk I took and I'm glad I did, as we managed a pretty moon rise in the end. The weather was calm with the hint of fall in the air. We had the trail all to ourselves.

There is still water trickling in the canyon, but the grass is now turning slowly brown. 

No one in the group wanted to go out for a beer or meal afterward, so I took SteveA up on his offer to stop by his place for dinner.  We watched "House of Gucci" on TV while Hansel napped by my side.

 

The full moon was high above us when I got home,  Hansel insisted on staying in the truck for the night.  I logged on to Facebook and immediately learned that one of history teachers at the local high school committed suicide in Miller Canyon earlier today.  His dying body was discovered at 1pm by a hiker who heard a gunshot.  The teacher was also one of my instructors at Cochise College 11 years ago when I took his "Diversity in Education" class, a required course for my certification.

The news of the suicide spread to several local Facebook pages I belong to.  Apparently the teacher was told yesterday that there were allegations of him sexually abusing students ten years ago that just now came to surface.  While the teacher was not my favorite instructor at Cochise Collete because he often made racist or ageist comments, but they were never sexual in nature.  He was a good teacher and I admired him for his good classroom management.  I never once heard any rumor of him sexually harassing any student in the 13 years I knew him.

I couldn't sleep after reading the news of his death.

https://www.kvoa.com/news/local/sierra-vista-teacher-accused-of-inappropriate-conduct-with-students-dies-by-suicide-officials-say/article_82d47090-32e0-11ed-b70c-2fa38c1a7041.html

 

TS Kay moving our way

This morning's walk with Gretel and Gretchen was a warm 66F with overcast skies.  The high clouds are the northern front to TS Kay that is moving northwest off the Baja Peninsula.  We had these clouds all day, creating both colorful sun rise and sunset colors.

I learned during a break in class that Queen Elizabeth II died in her Balmoral castle in Scotland.  She had just greeted the new PM of the UK, Liz Truss, on Tuesday there.  She reigned for 70 years, breaking any monarchal record.  Her son Charles will now be King Charles III.  There will be ten days of funereal ceremonies in the UK and the US media is also showing them.  This country fought off the tyranny of King George III in the 1770s-1790s.  Why continue to idolize monarchs today?!?!  I'd rather cuddle with any of my dogs.

I took Hansel, Gretel, Gretchen and Sweetie down the maintenance road after my stint with 8th-grade science students that left me questioning my competence.  Either I am losing my touch, or kids today are little Trumpies always demanding whatever they want.  This walk was therapeutic for me as I needed to walk off some stress.  I'm going to avoid the middle school as much as possible moving forward.

The sky continued to be overcast the rest of the day.  It was warm and humid going into the night. I'm hoping this means a good rain tomorrow night.

I went to bed with a wolf spider on the ceiling.  This must be an indicator of drenching rains?  Spiders don't like getting wet.  The spider never moved while I was awake. Hopefully it can take care of any flies or mosquitoes.