Kathy stretching after 20 minutes - her back was hurting quite a bit, as usual.

On the 2nd, returned to office to start catch-up of paperwork.

After returning, the post office felt sorry for me and loaned me a box to carry mail to office

On the 3rd, we returned to work for a very long day at the office.

On the 4th, another long day at the office.

Solar is not keeping up with the steadily rising meter

On the 5th, mostly took it easy, but did a little work at the office. Kathy saw a homecare patient. We walked about 3.5 miles this evening. We had to bring Gypsi home after 15 minutes, due to a loose collar, but walked Mia & Peanut the rest of the way.

Kathy & Jef walked Mia & Peanut to old country club & back this night - an artistic entrance gate has been added

On the 6th, took it easy, except for mostly cleaning Frau Bleu Car. Kathy made a batch of beans. We walked another 3.5 miles late this afternoon with Mia & Peanut.

On the 7th, drove to work & spent a couple hours catching up on paperwork - including this journal. Thunder surrounded the valley this afternoon & southern part got drenched with heavy showers.

Deep Well and Glorietta Canyon got nailed in this storm which never made it to the center of the valley

Sun winning against storm clouds

Sunset this evening

Kathy asked for a pic of her red cactus flower in front yard

On the 8th, Kathy had problems with her hands, so I cancelled about half the patients. Her hand improved later in the day, however.

On the 9th, back to work at the office - Kathy felt better, but an oppressively hot/humid day.

Humidity was so oppressive this day, it seemed somewhat foggy

On the 10th, another busy day at the office.

Meter still going up!

On the 11th, after another long day at the office Kathy & Jef went out to the Red Ocotillo for dinner. Jef ordered an awesome burger, but Kathy ordered a patty melt which she was unhappy with and railed on how bad thousand island dressing is, as is anything with sweet relish - strange that she likes ketchup, which is pretty similar. Also, we had Caesar salads & she didn't like that they actually put in anchovies.

Wierd clouds with panorama of Borrego Physical Therapy

Sunset this evening

On the 12th, hosed down the solar array, but could only wipe about 20% - still some dust on most of panels. Drove to SD, did a lot of shopping & then lost 9 at poker.

...and up!

Thunderhead over Sunshine Summit area - pic taken in Ranchita on way to SD

On the 13th, hosed and squee-geed the solar array with sqeegee purchased prior day. Took it easy between chores at home. That night, took doggies on walk, going mostly to town & back, stretching out hike to 1h 20min.

On the 14th, worked on diversion project along berm behind Sewanee house, installing 2 more posts, and 4 more boards. Went to the office & did some work, but got to take it easy at home a little bit.

Before working on berm-guard this morning

and after working on it

We just walked the doggies around the circle this afternoon - Mia had a sore shoulder & Kathy still has a sore foot - here is Peanut jumping up to Kathy - we let doggies go without leashes for most of this little walk

Mia, the "devil dog" a-commin' ta git ya!!!

On the 15th, we woke up to cloudy skies, and it was mainly cloudy all day. In fact we got a fair amount of rain mid-day. We had a busy day at the office.

RAIN!!!!

Low clouds hugging mountain

Clouds hung around most of the day

Low clouds starting to fade in late afternoon

On the 16th, another fairly busy day at the office. Weather was dry and we had moderately cool temperatures for a change.

On the 17th, a long day turned into a medium day at the office with 3 cancellations.

On the 18th, a medium day at the office. Jef and Kathy went out & ate at El Borrego for the first time since both our vacations.

On the 19th, took it easy. Later that day, Jef went shopping in Temecula & dined & won 2 at poker at Hank's new home there.

Kym's meter this day

Elec. meter this day

Possibly Argentinian ants protecting aphids on my pepper leaves

Mia at new Steele Burnand gate

Kathy & doggies at gate - as we went on this 3 mile expedition in middle of hot day, doggies had to be watered down a couple times(we used hoses in front yards of a couple of houses along the way)

Left gate has mtn, ocotillo, rabit

Right gate has ram & fan palm - with real fan palm behind it

I drove by Hank's old house on Chenin Blanc - new owner replaced the "see-thru" fence in backyard I erected with a solid one, grew hedge in front, so privacy is more important to new owner. I worked on things at this house 10-15 years prior including taking out bottlebrush tree in front, fixing irrigation leak, & painting interior

Hank gave me the nickle tour after I arrived at his new house - this is the park 1 block away (note the spooky light pole at right in this panorama)

Sid, Eddie, Flaco, Hank, (Ken & Bryan are obscured), & Jef at poker table

On the 20th, mostly took it easy. Was going to work on berm protection project, but remembered I brought shovel & post-hole digger home to spruce up handles, so instead I sanded, filled cracks & painted handles of 3 tools. Was too tired after prior day's activities & crashed most of the afternoon. Helped Kathy cook albacore & carne asada on grille.

A rodent had gotten into this "rodent repellent" and scattered it over the garage floor

Meter has crept up a little more

Pained handles of these 3 tools this day

On the 21st, drove to SD to see dentist for filling & replaced crown with temporary. Stopped by Big Rock house, got a couple things, did some shopping & returned to Borrego. Worked a couple hours at office before going home. Kathy had to see 2 patients on her "day off".

Low clouds started forming this morning

About an hour later, low clouds greatly expanded, but as I drove into what should have been fog, I found Culp Vally was not yet fogged in - I am on my way to the dentist here

On the 22nd, back to work another long day at the office.

On the 23rd, another long day at the office.

On the 24th, after Jef painted more tool handles, another long day at the office. Weather again turned hot.

Painted a rake handle and wheelbarrow handles and touched up other painted handles this day

On the 25th, a medium day at the office. Had dinner at El Borrego. I had fish ranchero dinner - not good at all! Think they used moldy talapia (probably from China).

On the 26th, mostly took it easy, but did start constructing new firewood holder under the solar array.

On the 27th, hung around house doing various chores, including completing building of new firewood holder.

After finishing new firewood table, started loading up with firewood

Note scale of rabbit den tailings partially burying old wood pile

Half of old wood pile left after partial move this day

Meter passed 5800 - still going up

Blood moon due to lunar eclipse this evening

Patched air mattress, but it still leaks somewhere

On the 28th, attended phone conference with new software company before heading to see Kathy's MD in SD. New MD actually spent over an hour with her & had some good ideas for how to proceed with fixing her back problem. Stopped by Big Rock, talked to neighbor Lupe about possibly using her dtr. to clean our house. Did a lot of shopping before heading home to Borrego.

Nearly full moon rising this evening

On the 29th, got up early and finished moving woodpile to new area and removing old wood holder from wall behind guest house. Then off to work a full day at the office.

New wood pile location

Meter still going up due to late heat wave, but soon after started going backwards

After removing entire wood pile and wood holder, still have rabbit-made mountain nearly 2' high to level off

Trepidation on the design of this new wood holder will prevent me from putting the entire ton of logs on it - some in pile will go to other house, some to next camp trip

Whirlpool pattern on top of tea - reminds me of whirlpool galaxies & possible viscosity causing this pattern in them as well

On the 30th, another busy day at the office. Started moving san back towards (hopefully exterminated) rabbit den under guest house.

Sunset at the backyard living room

by the pool

On the 2nd, painted exposed PVC conduit gray at both WestStar and Sewanee. Mostly took it easy.

Completed conduit at Sewanee by painting it gray today

Jef picked this homegrown habanero for the salsa he made this evening

On the 3rd, during a medium busy day at the office, spent half the day addressing the situation described below:

Anthem Medicare Advantage had yet another delaying scam - for claims dating back to January, their original scam was to have Kathy's info messed up in their system, and so they ignored all claims and pleaded ignorance for them not getting in their system. After tracking down (very difficult) someone to fix the problem, I resent claims (for about the 4th time). They sent back this pile of mail with dozens of letters (3 pages per claim) weighing about 2# asking for justification supporting each claim

On the 4th, a long day at the office.

On the 5th, another medium day at the office.

Lunch today - a fried egg sandwich - yum!

On the 6th, another medium long day at the office.

State of raised garden today - a few peppers, cantalopes & tomatoes, but tomatoes are not producing new fruit & cantalopes are about done - mostly due to hot weather

Whatever this bright gleaming thing(at least part of a wrecked car, I would think) in Dry Canyon is, it was beaming brightly this afternoon

Before I took this pic, the rain band to right of this thunderhead was rainbowy - this is towards Ocotillo Wells

After arriving home, took this panorama of storm over OW

360° panorama showing rain coming down over OW, corpuscular rays emanating from sun, and 2 storms brewing to left of OW storm

Storm over Santa Rosas eventually rained on the lowest peaks and all the way to Clark Lake - this eventually turned into a very big storm which mostly doused Coachella and provided a continuous lightning storm into the night

Impressive thunderhead kept growing into the night

Nice colour just before sunset

On the 7th, despite the monsoonal weather prior day, the first of a long string of dry hot days. After a medium long day at the office, Jef & Kathy met Jan for dinner at Red Ocotillo, finding food and atmosphere very good.

On the 8th, drove Elaine to Santee where we did shopping. Jef stopped at Santee house to review carnage by pigpen tenant Holley (pretty bad - in fact FAR worse than other pigpen tenant Ted - even Elaine who just caught a glimpse thought it disgusting) and to finish mowing the lawn. When Jef got home, he found his home desktop computer had failed. He took it apart to check for loose cables, but new computers require much more dismantling to get to the point where you can even SEE a cable, so while apart, he tried it and noticed a repair screen had showed up, so he went thru that. After putting computer back together, he logged onto the system, checked an email & system crashed and burned shortly thereafter.

Front yard in Santee this day

Jef viewed disaster area that is our Santee bedroom/bathroom - Kathy later urged Holley to clean it up before we arrived in Santee several days later in preparation for our Rhode Island trip

On the 9th, Jef set up Kathy's backup laptop for home care job & did some work for her on it, but the browser crashed and burned, so Jef now suspects a possible common virus sweeping the world. He then went to work to update this journal on his obsolete system, and if this made it up, it still works.

Jef joined Kathy & Kym in pool this afternoon

Mia going for a swim

She found a big fat island to land on

Action shot!

Mia drying off in outdoor living room

On the 10th, antother long day at the office.

Kym's meter was zero in April of this year

Main meter was almost back up to its starting reading in April after heavy usage of A/Cs this hot summer

on the 11th, another long day at the office - Jef prepared for long absence.

On the 12th, after a half day at the office where hatches were battened, we packed and drove to Santee.

On the 13th, we took it easy, outside of cleaning house. We went out to sushi with Holley at Okawa's this evening.

Anza fire burned for a few hours this afternoon.

Clouds in distance may have been smoke from Anza fire, which was mostly out by this time

Kathy admiring a succulent garden on Big Rock

On the 14th, after some clean up and final packing, Holley drove us to the airport. We had drinks and bar-b-q at Phil's at the airport before flying to Newark. We had a nice meal there before flying to Providence. We picked up our rental car - an inferior Buick LaCross - the last car in Thrify's lot, which we exchanged for a better, but still non-premium car the next day. After driving to Anthony Street, we met Marley, Stacey & Eric at their home and they settled us into the guest room for our stay.

We worried on Holley's cracked windshield

...like looking thru some prisms!

Kathy liked this fountain at Lindberg Field

On the 15th, Stacey & Eric made a great breakfast that featured fritatas and then took us on a grand tour of Providence. Late that afternoon, they took us out to dinner. After dinner we again went out and viewed "WaterFire" along the river. Very impressive! About 100,000 people lined the river and as darkness dropped, a great sound system started playing wierd music all along the river. Various boats roamed by and lit many bonfires in the middle of the little river.

We stuffed the rest of Stacey's Halloween friends in our suitcases before leaving Santee. Here they are hanging out at her Anthony Street house this morning

Panorama of main square in Brown University

In this building is housed a large pipe organ and portraits of every president of Brown University

Building in background is headquarters of the university

Jef & Kathy at Brown

Main entrance to university

Lots of old, impressive building on a very green campus

Interesting sculpture - looks like 'tin foil' construction

...however, a little more subtantial than that!

Community garden on campus

...with flowers AND veggies

Vertical panorama

The Fleur de Lys building was an art studio build 120 years prior

Kathy has a full voice, but her accompanying musicians were a bit "flat"

Cannons used as posts at the Providence Armory!

Stacey and Eric used our dinner at Los Andes this afternoon to gather info for their dating blog - here Stacey is photographing the ceviche(which was awesome). The calamari in foreground was also awesome!

Great food! We were seated under this aquarium at Los Andes

We had to detour on our walk down to the river - a few dozen were involved in making this zombie movie (note zombie by tree)

Had to settle on this site - not ideal but okay

For some reason, small boats with a fish 'sail' seemed to be the theme for this Water Fire event

We were in sight of about 14 bonfire platforms in the river

Nearly dark when some bonfires were finally lighted (we had been waiting about an hour and 30 minutes up to this point) - music started about 15 minutes before this

The closer(to us) row of bonfires are not lit, but behind the far row of bonfires

Eric, Stacey & Kathy look are nearer bonfires with a few visible on other side of bridge

Bonfires starting to heat up

Now going pretty strong

Lady in back of boat is lighting this bonfire

Gondolier taking passengers on a ride thru the bonfires

Picture from behind crowd on shore - one of the 'fish sail' boats going by. There were other kinds of boats going back & forth during the event, including gondolas and barges carrying more firewood

On the 16th, we got a good breakfast before setting off for New Hampshire in our rental car, a Camry(exchanged prior day from original LaCross). We arrived at a B&B in Conway and toured a few covered bridges and eating out before calling it a day.

Breakfast at Anthony Street

Eric & Stacey occupied the 2nd floor of this building on Anthony Street

We drove to this covered bridge, altho it was within walking distance of our hotel

Panorama of one of the pedestrian walkways of this 1890 bridge over the Saco River

Bridge was at edge of local park - some families were having an outing at this beach

Kathy would break her toe around this time by accidentally kicking a rock with her sandaled foot

Kayakers floating under the bridge with an ice chest in tow

Stacey pic: of island looking W from bridge

Stacey pic: note boaters

Stacey pic: close-up

Stacey pic: detail in bridge

Stacey pic: roadway on bridge

Another nearby older covered bridge (1869)

Looking upriver from inside the bridge - note the island as the river flows from 2 directions upstream, and the start of some fall colour

Ghostly Eric & Kathy on this panorama on the far side - this is a less travelled bridge and it seems it only connects to this isolated house

Panorama showing internal construction of the bridge

Interesting spider webs in the bridge

Stacey pic: same web

Stacey pic: looking thru bridge

Stacey pic: looking further thru bridge

We drove to this remote bridge further upstream - this bridge built for the town of Albany in 1859

Stacey pic: better pic of same

Stacey pic: bridge from river, with Eric below

Stacey pic: action shot of Eric - who's worse? Erik for throwing rocks, or Stacey for shooting him?

On the 17th, we left the hotel and drove to Mt. Washington Cograil, rode that to the top, rode it down and drove to fancy hotel in Bretton Woods where we had a nice dinner before returning to our hotel.

We took a shortcut over this very iffy, but scenic road to cog rail

After parking in middle of road for 5 minutes, a car came along, so we shooed Kathy back in the car and continued to cograil

One of the cograil trains at the bottom station

While waiting for the train, Eric & Jef walked around the area and found a little early fall folliage

360° panorama at lower station before we boarded this train

Many areas sported these August flowers

Our conductor telling us stories on way up - note how track steepens behind him

Stacey & Eric on ride up

Stacey pic: hikers on Appalachian Trail - note all the cairns (to spot trail in fog/deep snow)

Stacey pic: another view

We actually stood in line to take our picture at the highest point in New England

Looking south towards largest hiking chalet on the Appalachian Trail

Jef hung this blue & white shirt up in hotel in NY, but forgot to pack it out. This is view to north where Appalachian Trail continues north with large cairns every quarter mile to find trail in heavy fog

Eric & Stacey

Kathy is in center of this 400° panorama with line to board train going down at both left and right

Panorama showing train coming up the hill - to the right of photographer at left you can see 2 of the large cairns marking the Appalachian Trail

Behind the train you can see a car descending down the road on the east side of the mountain (the train comes from the west)

Kathy ready to board the train

Jef standing up straight as train proceeds down "Jacobs Ladder" which is at a near record 37.4° at this point

Mt. Washington Resort at Bretton Woods

Dining at this hotel

Mt. Washington is above Kathy's head in this pic & vertical scar at its base is the cograil. This pic was taken in the back of this resort near where we dined

On the 18th, we checked out of our Conway B&B and drove to Bar Harbor, Maine. We checked into our hotel there (the priciest hotel on our trip because it had an ocean view). We then took the free tram to the tourist part of Bar Harbor & walked around there - eating at a restaurant in the area - Kathy had Maine lobster in Maine for the first time!

Kathy at small park overlooking Bar Harbor marina

Stacey pic: ships at anchor with an island in the distance

Erik & Stacey with Stacey's camera

Stacey pic: Jef & Kathy

On the 19th, we drove to downtown Bar Harbor from hotel & walked across bar at low tide to island. Everyone beachcombed, looking for sea glass. Noticed washed up lobster traps along beach on island. We then drove into Acadia National Park, making a few stops along the coast.

Walking over bar to island behind the fog

Many cairns were constructed at edge of island - Jef found this shell resembling a scream mask or skull & propped it atop one of the cairns

Kathy found this big ole sea cucumber!

We hung out at this beach for a while

Stacey pic: catching the "wicked strong" Maine surf

Stacey pic: close up of crashing wave

Stacey pic: showing horizon obscured by fog

Stacey pic: looking away from surf, land also fades in the fog

Stacey pic: Eric challenging the wicked surf

Stacey pic: and actually swimming

Erik pic: posing with other beachgoers shrouded in fog

Erik pic: Stacey at this Maine beach

Crowd at "Thunder Hole" - sea wasn't thundering this day

Kathy eating her lobster with Stacey

We walked around checking tidepools

A Maine bug on a Maine flower!

Stacey pic: the Maine coast

Stacey pic: Flowers, Rocks & surf

Stacey pic: Flowers close up

Stacey pic: Eric by surfier area

Eric pic: Stacey in Acadia National Park

Eric pic: Stacey: "This is the coast of Maine"

We ate at a nicer restaurant this evening, getting 2# lobsters, but Kathy determined the hole in the wall restaurant with smaller lobsters was better lobsers.

On the 20th, we checked out of the Hilton Resort in Bar Harbor and drove to Portland, where we spent a good part of the day. We stopped at a rocky beach & walked to the lighthouse near Portland, walked around the restaurant district & had some lunch. Later we stopped at $3 Dewey for dinner (Name was from a brothel advertisement: $1 Lookey, $2 Feeley, $3 Dewey) and then visited a desert bar. We drove partway back to Rhode Island and stayed at a freeway hotel.

On deck of harborside restaurant, Stacey points to her profession

Eating lunch - kathy had clams & got an upset stomach later (certain parts had to removed she determined later). Jef tried a lobster roll (not particularly good)

Posing by the Portland Lighthouse - note same group leaving at left - vertical panorama was a bit botched

On the 21st, checked out of hotel and drove back to East Providence. Eric took Jef & Marley on a 4 mile walk to other side of Naraganset Bay from house. I think Stacey & Eric made us tacos for dinner this evening. No tortilla in stores on east coast (!!!!), so they had to make 'em in frying pan.

Crossing bridge

On the 22nd, we drove across Bay & hiked along parkway hiking trail, ending at a Cemetary. Stacey ran into her boss in this 4 mile hike & we talked for a couple minutes.

Taking detour into cemetary - Jef was interested in bathroom as he was still recovering from a UTI

Main street in cemetary was lined with "Pin Oaks" - you could say it was "Pin-oaky-O" ver there

On the 23rd, we went on a 4 mile walk to downtown Providence from Anthony Street house.

Before crossing the river

We checked out this older area downtown

Inside a reconstructed Mall - the oldest enclosed Mall in the world, dating back to 1828

On the 24th, Eric drove Jef & Kathy down to the train station after another nice breakfast & we rode down to Penn Station in NYC. We walked a mile thru Times Square and checked into our hotel "Park Central" - after having a drink at a local bar. We then walked over to visit John & Bill, who cooked us a nice dinner.

Stacey found a camera for Jef to use (the Olympus Tuff battery was dead & no chargers could be found in RI). This morning, here is Kathy having to deal with stupid game controller for stupid Xbox to view Netflix & sleep on not so comfortable futon at Berglind residence - it was better than any hotel, tho

Jef & Kathy on train - camped out in Dining Car

We walked thru Times Square on way to hotel this afternoon (from Penn Station)

Waiting for our hotel room (we were half an hour early), we had a drink nearby at Tanner Smith's

View from our hotel room at the Park Central - we later found out the brown building across the street is Carnegy Hall!

Our only kingsize bed on the east coast - they seem to be rare there

John & Bill fed us, and Bill's kid, Cory who is staying there joined us

Kathy crossing street (maybe 5th Avenue?) while walking the 1 mile back to our hotel

On the 25th, we stopped by an Irish pub around lunchtime and Jef ordered an "Irish breakfast". Kathy checked out the Irish Consulate, finding out she could gain citizenship only online. We then stopped by John & Bill's and they made us another nice dinner. We did some souveneir shopping on way back to hotel.

We stopped & had lunch at this Irish Pub this day, as we also visited the Irish Consulate - Jef tried the authentic Irish breakfast - interesting, but not great

Panorama of John & Bill's apartment - at left is giant $9M building maintenance project scaffolding and towards right is John & Kathy looking at old pix

...such as this one

Panorama looking out 2 corner windows - East River at left, scaffolding at right

Nice rooftop landscaping on nearby buildings

John & Bill cooked for us a 2nd nite in a row - here is Cory, Bill & John

John mentioned this wall art was constructed completely out of eggshells!

A 2nd eggshell work displayed in one of the bathrooms

Once again, Kathy crossing some street on walk back to hotel

On the 26th, we checked out of our hotel and hauled our luggage to John & Bill's. We all went out for lunch at a local Thai restaurant after running an errand at a local drug store with them. We took subway at rush hour to Penn Station & had to wait an extra half hour, as our train was late, but we got on and rode to Providence where Stacey & Eric picked up up at the train station.

Panorama of our hotel room bathroom - nice, but odd!

Carnegy Hall again - goodbye hotel - it was nice!

Jef & Kathy waiting for our train in Penn Station

On the 27th, Eric picked up Jef at airport after he dropped off rental car. Stacey & Eric made pizza for dinner this night.

Cutting up pizza

On the 28th, Jef & Kathy went on a hike, similar to the one Eric showed Jef, but detoured to the drug store and then the liquor store, bringing back bags from each on this 5 mile walk. I think we made pizza from scratch for dinner this evening.

Jef & Kathy crossing Naraganset Bay from East Providence to Providence - Red Bridge in background

Pond in park area alongside bay

Wild cucumbers blooming behind Kathy

We exited via this little path thru a forrested area, detouring to Pharmacy & liquor store before returning home

On the 29th, after visting local beach park(where we had clam chowder at Blount's) & one of Brown University's private beaches (both times, Kathy & Stacey looked for more sea glass - Kathy brought back huge bucket from first beach), we went to Sakura's sushi, where we BYOB - they opened our sake & wine that we brought at no charge.

Kathy by a dead horseshoe crab

Jef - dead? Eiuuu! Yep!

Jef laid down on beach as Stacey, Eric, Marley & Kathy searched for sea glass (seach? a new word?) - and this panorama was his view

Marley & Kathy - holding her tub of beach glass

Panorama of Brown's private beach

Stacey & Kathy decided to set up camp here - we only stayed about 20 minutes

On the 30th, Jef & Kathy packed up and after Stacey & Eric drove them to the airport, they flew first to Detroit, where Jef had a "Chicago dog" & salad at the airport, and then flew to SD, where Holley picked us up - still with the defective windshield. Kathy was not pleased being behind that windshield as Holley drove 80mph & tailgated all the way home.

On the 31st, Jef & Kathy took it easy, resting up in Santee. Holley & Kathy went out to a local Pho place & brought back Vietnamese dinners, which were excellent.

On the 1st, after a medium day at work, Kathy, Jef & Alicia took a medical CPR class at the fire house.

End of an overcast day at the fire house

In CPR class

On the 2nd, a very busy day at the office.

On the 3rd, another very busy day at the office.

Nice clouds at sunset this evening

Fonts Point looking down Palm Canyon

Jef was waiting for takeout from El Borrego during the sunset

Fonts Point looking thru gas station next door to El Borrego

180° panorama of sky

360° panorama

Colour in clouds

360° panorama on Weststar

Sunset reflecting in pool

On the 4th, Kathy had to work a full day to make up for taking class on Monday.

On the 5th, mostly took it easy, but Kathy failed to get a complete day of rest with an emergency call to patch a wound of one of her patients.

On the 6th, back to work another long day.

On the 7th, yet another long day at the office.

on the 8th, Kathy did homecare all day, but still another long day for her.

On the 9th, a long day at the office.

On the 10th, Jef had a full day at the office & Kathy in the field.

On the 11th, drove Kathy & Peanut to vet & did some shopping in Brawley. Kathy cooked up some carne asada we got at a market in Westmorland this evening. Yummy!

On the 12th, drove to Cuyamaca to rendezvous with Paco & Eddie - did not have the patience to wait more than 20 minutes, so went on a 7 mile hike with about 1000' elevation gain/loss (looping on Black Oak Trail around Middle Peak).

Flowers at side of Milk Ranch Road - Cuyamaca Peak in distance - this is about 1/4 mile from the high point of the road(next picture) and 1.5 miles from Trout Pond Trailhead

This burnt-oat oak at the top of Milk Ranch Road has been photographed by me several other times before the Cedar Fire, which further burnt it out

360° panorama at start of backside of Black Oak Trail - on left side of mountain in center you can see radio towers atop Cuyamaca Peak, to the right of that is looking towards San Diego (on a clearer day you might see the ocean)

Startled this wild turkey resting just along the trail with it's babie turkeys

Crossing a patch of ferns

Wash crossing road is dark with charcoal from Cedar Fire

I remember pulling out many a tangleweed in Socorro

New pine in front of giant burnt stump (still heading up backside of Black Oak Trail

Fork in Middle Peak Fire Road - I turn right (the front half of the Black Oak Trail) - at this point I am near the summit of Middle Peak

Panorama on trail as I pass thru a patch of Yerba Santa - Stonewall Peak rises just above background on the right - almost directly in path of trail

Panorama as I descended the front side of Black Oak Trail passing a patch of yellow flowers - at this point I am heading towards Cuyamaca Peak (behind trail at left)

On the 13th, back to work with a very long day at the office and 2 new patients.

On the 14th, a very long day at the office with 2 new patients.

On the 15th, a brutally long day at the office, evaluated first patient with new software - very difficult with a couple of calls to the tech guys.

On the 16th, Carlos & Rodrigo came by, and I put them to work on landscaping. Then off to another very long day at the office. Still relatively nice weather for July (dry, not too hot).

SW row of oleanders was trimmed & new pile formed

Rodrigo also trimmed all our palms

On the 17th, after working part of the morning picked up Elaine & drove her to shopping & an MD appointment. Returning to Borrego, we saw same weather forming, which turned out to be Haboob weather - from the remnants of Hurricane Dolores.

Elaine pointed out that this cloud looked like a turtle

Haboob in the making

360° panorama at Crawford Overlook

Haboob (behind orange Hacienda del Sol sign) hitting Clark Lake/Rockhouse Canyon

Panorama at Mall showing haboob running into Indianhead after hitting De Anza area

Waiting for pick up at El Borrego, looking down Palm Canyon Drive - Fonts Point is obscured by dust left over from Haboob

360°+ panorama at El Borrego

On the 18th, Carlos & Rodrigo finished picking up and hauling away our piles before the rain hit. THen it got a bit thunder-stormy and we got some good rain. Kathy had to do some home care work & catch up on paperwork.

Rain coming down as viewed from bathroom

Rainy back yard

Meter has been going forward, but still 600kwh less than after solar was installed.

No more piles!

All the junk was also hauled away

That afternoon, the normal wind patterns pushed sand back towards the Imperial Valley (opposite to Haboob prior day)

120° panorama showing escalating dust in the air from left (Coyote Canyon) to Ocotillo Wells near right.

On the 19th, mostly took it easy. Jef checked out Sewanee house & hit rain storm on way home, but rain only lasted about 15 minutes this day.

On the 20th, back to work another long day at the office. Semi-threatening clouds over the mountains, but sunny down in Borrego with no rain.

Nice clouds today

Made for cool corpuscular rays this evening

Cute that tomatoes & tomatillos made themselves home in the kitchen

...but then!!!! Aaaaaaa.....

....aaaaah!!! Killer tomatoes????

On the 21st, another busy day at the office.

Sunset this evening

On the 22nd, Kathy was so exhausted from the record breaking schedules, that she had to take a day off. Jef caught up on paperwork at the office.

Electric meter continues to edge forward, but still less than its start around 4600kwh

On the 23rd, another brutally busy day at the office.

On the 24th, worked a long day at the office. Took the last El Borrego takeout of the season home for dinner, as they will be closed after the 25th.

Palomar fire made for interesting sunset this evening - we even smelled some smoke later on that night

On the 25th, mostly took it easy at home, but worked on an irrigation wiring job at Sewanee that afternoon.

Permanently moved area rug of living room outside by pool

New science project is getting ginger started. The sweet potato is already potted and the tumeric has yet (after 2 weeks) to get going

Before attempting the conduit job

after compressing the 3 conduits into 1 pipe, found that I needed to solder the wires, as wire nuts wouldn't fit in the conduit(junction boxes wound up in wrong places) - so left for the day

On the 26th, after mostly taking it easy again, completed (sans painting) irrigation conduit project at Sewanee (found dad's old soldering gun, soldered & wrapped with PVC tape). Then after noticing one of the wiresets was too short, had to shorten other wires to lengthen short one - but managed to do that, then the entire controller came crashing down on my head as I tried to feed wiring into the controller, but managed to complete the project. Kathy bar-b-qued this evening, cooking up some albacore steaks and carne asada. She also made a batch of chicken salad for the week.

Completed project

Kathy had problems keeping carne asada from slipping into the grill

Holley and Henry joined us for dinner at the table for 3rd Sunday in a row

On the 27th, back to a long day at the office - Kathy had to skip first patient due to a headache.

On the 28th, due to cancellations, this turned out to be a very light day at the office.

On the 29th, Jef worked in office in the morning & Kathy had another light day due to cancellations. Jef drove to SD, picked up RX for Kathy, shopped at a handful of places, and surveyed Santee house for carnage (2 slobs now live there - Ted & Holley), and mowed lawn (but had to stop after mowing thru extension cord).

Clouds building behind WestStar house just before Jef left for SD around noon

Clouds continued building - this over Cuyamaca - mid-afternoon at one of Jef's shopping stops in Santee

Holley tends to trash every bathroom she uses

Holley managed to smear this black paint on the bedroom carpet - but look! the bed was made!!

Don't bother bringing dirty dishes to the kitchen - just let 'em pile up in the bedroom

Holley starting a new science project in the bedroom

Living room was okay - if you don't notice the dust

At least Ted doesn't store dirty dishes in his pigpen

Ted was SUPPOSED to only take half the garage - this panorama shows it to be closer to ALL

Just before starting to mow the back lawn - parts of it were between 1 and 2 feet tall

Midway thru mowing of back lawn

Panorama showing front lawn - a small rectangle in center was never finished due to running over the power cord

Stopped on drive home and took some sunset pix - this one looking both S and N on hwy 79 at Santa Ysabel

Snapped this one while driving

Stopped near Lake Henshaw to take this panorama (at left is 79 going south & at right 79 going north)

On the 30th, back to work a long day at the office - even with a cancellation.

Later in the afternoon, menacing clouds spread from the mountains over Borrego - but no rain

Clouds started diminishing over Borrego, but...

A line of thunderheads hovered over the Coachella Valley this afternoon

Distant thunderhead are visible in this WestStar panorama

On the 31st, a light day at the office due to even more cancellations (at least 7 this week). Had nice sunset this evening with a "blue moon".

Clouds were looking cool as Jef left office

Kathy called & told Jef to check out sunset

Kathy was "all over" this sunset!

Jef & Kathy at WestStar