That’s in, “The Beach is Cool,” which is quite different from me merely mentioning the rocks at the beach. It’s a subtle difference, but an important one nonetheless.

So I’m at the beach every other day now, I kid you not. It’s pretty, it’s not crowded, and my dogs absolutely love it. I want to say Miles, my Black Lab, loves it most, because he just can’t stand to not be playing in the water & waves, but Zoey, our terrier mix, loves to run silly circles in the sand about as much. Oh, and pester Miles once he gets back from chasing his toy I throw out there for him. Which actually, has been a challenge.

We’re on our 4th beach toy. First was a regular tennis ball. Hard for him to see, plus once you take your eyes off of him, it’s in little pieces. I got one of those “Jolly Balls,” which is quite decidedly not what it sounds like, you pervert(s). It’s just a big blue ball (perverts!) with a throw handle on it that floats. It was nice for the day it lasted before Miles destroyed it. A long-lost friend (see below) gave me some crab trap buoys he found. Cool because it floats easy. Strike one was that they’re so light you can’t get any distance on them, and strike two was that it’s soft enough that Miles can eat one in a single bound or something. Strike Three was that the rope on it was the manilla rope that’s really rough, and it was eating up my hands every time I threw it.

So I decided to make my own. It actually turned out pretty good. I got this large-ish hard plastic toy from the makers of the Jolly Ball. It has holes all around, kinda like an oversized wiffle ball. On the inside, however, is the key to it all: a smaller, air-filled ball that allows it to float. It’s not designed to do this duty, but it works. Then I went to Ace Hardware (a mere 30 second walk from my house) and got a length of soft rope that I used to tie handles onto opposite sides. It works pretty well, Miles has yet to destroy it in 2 outings thus far with it, and the only real strike it has against it is that it’s still pretty light, especially for its size, so it doesn’t go too far again. Which is probably prudent, considering Miles is 11 years old now anyways.

Actually, its strong points caused a bad point for me the first time we went out with it. Since it didn’t get eaten in 45 minutes, we ended up out on the beach forever, which is like twice as long as 45 minutes, and I burned something fierce. I’m actually surprised I didn’t turn out as bad as I thought I would – I was bordering on purple that night. But hey – Live, Learn, & get a base tan so you don’t burn again. Words of Wisdom from the 2006 Tanning Champion of the World. I think.



Long Lost Friend. Found. Reward to be determined.
So anyway, about that long lost friend. When I was growing up, I had a good handful of friends. Possibly my best friend, Mr. Daniel, was actually up here to visit last weekend. Across the street from him (he lived behind me) was a set of brothers, the eldest close to our age, and we’d hang out together rather frequently. Well years went by, and the eldest brother, “Smyle Kith” (name changed to protect identities) got drawn into a world into which me & Danny did not follow. He’s been trying to clean himself up recently, but disappeared from view some time ago...

Anyway, the weekend I moved up here, I called Mr. Daniel and informed him I had found a place to take him to breakfast that he’d enjoy. He asks me rather bluntly what my address is. It was a strange request, as it’s not like I’m a few streets away from him anymore, I’m a rather good 700+ miles away. But I offered the address, and I hear him repeat it to someone else, and then a familiar voice says that he lives just a few streets down from there.

Smyle Kith was in my OLD home town, visiting his parents, and ran into Mr. Daniel, and lo-and-behold, it turns out that 20 years later & 700 miles north, we ended up not much further away than we were as little kids. Strange, huh?

So even as I thought we were going to be up here all alone, turns out I have friends down the street. How freaking cool is that, huh? I’m trying to set up a dinner for us all (me, him, & our girls), but with my schedule anything but constant (Walgreens has me all over the map!), it’s been really hard to get together. Shit, it’s only been 3 weeks, though. I’m sure it’ll all calm down soon enough, and we’ll be able to hang out & catch up on old times.

Moral of the story? When you move, take a buddy with you. Even if you didn’t intend or plan to. Oh, and be more creative when protecting identities.
:-)



EnergyStar
So for the entire time I was shacked up down south, the parents complained that I was a wasteful energy user. I didn’t think so, but what do I know, right? I was not actually viewing my usage separate to anyone else’s that was plugged into the same grid. So when the bill came the other day from PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric), I was sort of scared to open it. Scared enough, in fact, that I did NOT open it for a few days, as I worked up the courage to face the truth.

And the Truth? I’m a damn energy superstar, dammit. Our bill for the first 3 weeks? A hair over $5. Yeah, eat that. And our stove is even electric! And we managed a $5 bill. Hell, I bet PG&E felt silly wasting everyone’s time sending a bill to us for that amount. Crap, it wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on.

I guess what I’m sayin’ is that you don’t question The Man, and The Man is ME. I say I’m efficient & engergy-wise? I’m efficient & energy-wise, and that’s all there is to it.

Peace.

Tags: Animals