On the 1st, a busy day at the office. Kathy saw Jan at the clinic.

On the 2nd, saw 1 patient at the office and drove to MD appointment in SD, after which we shopped til we dropped - Kathy finally found a good pair of shoes. We stopped for Thai food on way home in Ramona.

Dining at Pinto's

On the 3rd, Jef started playing in tennis tournament, but lost all matches this day (but not by a lot). Jef & Kathy walked around area of tennis club after the tournament, hitting visitor center, campground, Krazy Coyote and nearby neighborhood.

On the 4th, Jef completed the tennis tournament, winning both matches this day. This is the first time Jef played upper division in 3 1/2 years. Jef & Kathy went on a second 1 hour walk this weekend, going by the old country club.

Eileen dressed in gag elf costume when awarding prizes after tourney

We saw these weird tracks near Country Club Dr.

On the 5th, back to work a long day at the office.

On the 6th, after a medium day at the office, Kathy finally made it in to see a dentist, finding out that after skipping dentists for decades, she'd be seeing them a lot.

On the 7th, a very busy day at the office.

On the 8th, a medium day at the office, after which we went out our mid-week walk (a day late this week).

On the 9th, a very busy day at the office.

On the 10th, did chores & took it easy. We only did 1 walk this weekend.

We took doggies on a lap around our circle before doing a 2nd lap without them

View from spur that ends on top of giant sand dune

Heading down the spur, clouds are very colourful

Panorama of sky

Got a kick out of Phil's decoration on our 2nd lap

On the 11th, did chores & took it easy.

After completing table on which to erect raised garden

On the 12th, busy day at the office of another busy week.

Meter going up this time of year (not so much solar & very cold winter)

On the 13th, another busy day at the office.

On the 14th, after a busy day at the office, we went on our mid-week walk.

On the 15th, another busy day at the office.

Panorama showing interesting clouds

On the 16th, after scheduling the most patient visits on a day ever, we had problems: David had a sore throat and had to be sent home, so we were shorthanded all day. The weather was stormy this day, altho mostly sunny, but the power went down the the last 2-3 hours of daylight. Kathy had extremely low BP all day and wasn't all there. We cancelled the last 2 patients, but still a very long day.

Double rainbow and the moon

Rainbow in Ocotillo Heights

Double rainbow at the Mall with a couple of birds

This rainbow lasted most of the day!

Panorama showing full double rainbow, looking due north at noon!

Rainbow with huge sandstorm blowing out of Coyote Canyon

On the 17th, Jef did chores around the house, including replacing fluorescents in bathroom with LEDs, and preparing more material for new raised garden.

On the 18th, Jef walked to the office and updated this journal from Oct. 23 to Dec. 4., going over spur and seeing a hiker for the first time in the least used section of trails, and arriving at office 49 minutes after leaving home - a good time.

Midway in walk home from office, everything seems to be dead despite rains we've gotten

On the 19th, a fairly busy day at the office, even when Kathy went to a dental appointment.

On the 20th, another long day at the office.

Dark piles of dirt appeared recently - only progress on these community raised gardens for over a year

On the 21st, a short day at the office, so that we might walk this afternoon, but weather was too cold/windy for Kathy.

On the 22nd, another very long day at the office.

Rainy this day and foggy in the mountains

On the 23rd, a very long day at the office, after which we took xmas tree from office to home for the holiday weekend.

Weather starting to break

On the 24th, cleaned up around house in prep for xmas. Holley came by with "bull in china shop dog", Gigi. We had Kessler Kitchen pizza for dinner (Calico's was closed).

Snow in the mountains - down below 6000'

On the 25th, we gathered around the xmas tree and opened a few gifts. Kathy made her "Tom and Jerry's", and spent a good part of the rest of the day preparing a feast. We didn't go walking all weekend due to cold/wind.

On the 26th, took it easy at home, recovering from the weekend, but Kathy decided to take Jef, Holley and Roger to Font's Point, after which we visited Roger's place (the house Julie lived in when she graduated high skool).

Kathy & Roger

Possibly ROger had never been here!

Kathy & Holley returning from visiting the camp with the llamas (we saw a llama near the point as we drove up!)

Never set up chairs at actual point before, but it was really cool!

360° panorama

Looking towards the sunset

Kathy & Jef

Ant Hill is in foreground

Back yard of Hopi house has a creek with several pools - these are the lowest 2 of those pools

A carport was added to the Hopi house on the east side. This is where Roger keeps his Thing and '59 Impala - lighted opening is his garage which he built on the lot just to the east

Roger showing off his '39 La Salle

Yes, he put a Corvette engine in it!

Suicide doors

Holley sitting in rumple seat

Kathy gets in, too

Back in the main house - this is where Jef & Julie learned how to play pool (table was where rug is now) - this patio room now sports a bathroom and jacuzzi(bottom right)

Front patio - cereus cacti are gone, replaced by barrels, and cement is now tiled

History of house - we rented it from the first owners, the Ronis's, toward the end of their ownership

View from the renovated kitchen

Julie in 1970 - this TV is in about the same location as the TV in the above pic!

Kathy & Holley on front patio

On the 27th, Kathy was not feeling well, so Jef had to cancel a very full day of patients.

On the 28th, Kathy felt better, so did a medium day at the office. She was not able to hike this afternoon, however.

On the 29th, a very busy day at the office - Jef took a webinar in the middle of the day, so it was even more chaotic.

Meter this day

On the 30th, a fairly long day at the office.

Cool colouring in clouds today

On the 31st, spent the day cleaning up and preparing for NYE party. We only had about a dozen show up, despite having 2 dozen promise to come and bring more, so we wound up with a lot of leftovers. Kathy baked Jan a cake for her b'day, but Jan was in no condition to receive it, so we dropped it by a couple days later.

Looming clouds and sandstorm in Coyote Canyon

Tracey, Jan, Kathy & Rebecca at NY Eve Party

Grace, Ann, Jeff, Shirley & Tracy's friend/sister?

Jef at left finished his jug of wine, Jim, and the rest

On the 1st, Kathy did not get enough sleep, so Jef cancelled most of the patients that day, leaving only a few in the afternoon

On the 2nd, we had a fairly short day so we could get out walk in after work.

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

On the 4th, a busy day at the office, but Jef took off early to go to eye MD appt. in SD and do some shopping. He got back in time to finish up.

On the 5th, mostly took it easy, but we did walk to town & had dinner & walked back.

Jef at Red Ocotillo - Stacey & Erik's gift certificate paid for our entire meal

We walked by Kessler's Kitchen and noticed they had a fire feature in addition to their water feature

On the 6th, mostly took it easy.

This healthy wolf spider was near the guinea pig cage

On the 7th, a very busy day at the office.

On the 8th, after a ridiculously long day at the office, we both arrived at the polls just before they closed and cast our worthless votes.

Sporting our "I voted" stickers

On the 9th, after a fairly busy day at the office, we did our mid-week 1 hour walk.

On the 10th, a busy day at the office despite 4 cancellations.

On the 11th, another busy day at the office, despite 3 more cancellations. We met John at La Casa and Kathy worked him out in their gym, after which, we had meals and drinks in the Fox Den.

Jef, Kathy, John

Our Sewanee renter, Henry, was playing piano this night, and stopped by to say hi

Night pic as we left for home

On the 12th, Kathy had a couple home care patients and Jef worked on taking out dirt from raised planter.

Mostly oleander roots slowed dirt removal

State of dirt removal this afternoon

On the 13th, Jef finally took some time to update this journal, which hadn't been updated for nearly a month and was a month and a half behind.

On the 14th, back to work a very full day at the office.

On the 15th, an extremely full day at the office.

Panorama at the Mall showing recently put up xmas lights

On the 16th, a full day at the office, but Kathy was not up to hiking.

At sunrise this morning

Wierd cloud stretching from horizon to horizon

Xmas laser light writing in front yard

On the 17th, another very full day at the office.

On the 18th, Kathy put in a full day, but had extreme hypertension after falling and hitting her head previous nite.

On the 19th, Jef did chores and Kathy took it easy.

On the 20th, Kathy still on disabled list, but did chores around the house, as did Jef, who continued dismantling raised planter.

State of raised garden demolition this day

This giant stinky flower is designed to attract flies for polination

Where roots penetrated landscape cloth to get into raised planter

Weststar meter this day

On the 21st, Kathy still had hypertension and headache, so cancelled a full day at the office. Went with Kathy to see MD - she got meds, but forgot to mention here symptoms appeared after bonking her head hard on Friday. Jef worked at the office.

Sunrise this morning

On the 22nd, Kathy saw 1 home care patient, Jef worked at the office, including on this journal.

On the 23rd, Jef cancelled another full day at the office, as Kathy was still taking it easy at home. Jef did some shopping for turkey day, did some work at the office & dropped off Amanda II at J&T's tire for a check engine lite and oil change, and walked home over the hill.

On the 24th, Kathy was well enough to cook Thanksgiving meal, including turkey. Holley joined us for dinner after dropping off a rambunctious, but sweet, pitbull (that SHE was supposed to be dog sitting). Also, Fred and Barbara joined us and we had a nice dinner with the 5 of us. We went thru a few of the wines we brought back from Oregon.

Cars on Montezuma this evening

On the 25th, mostly took it easy at home, eating leftovers from Thanksgiving.

On the 26th, Kathy saw 1 home care patient. Jef worked on chores.

On the 27th, continued taking it easy at home.

More threatening weather in foothills

What Gigi would look like in grass (this is Peanuts digestive aid grass)

On the 28th, Kathy resumed work despite still having high BP and survived a busy day at the office.

On the 29th, another busy day at the office.

On the 30th, a busy day at the office. Kathy cancelled her dental appointment to address her toothache.

Danny and Kathy next to tree that was in a pot when they used to be neighbors

Kathy, Danny, Wendy & Jef

Panorama in front of Landa Street house

Kathy & Jef at Taix

On the 2nd, continued north, encountering a few downpours before and after Sacramento. We briefly broke down north of Sacramento when our battery died, but we got it jumped, drove to a nearby Walmart and had a new battery installed. We got to Yreka before dark, seeing early snow in the mountains and stayed at another Best Western. We walked to italian restaurant recommended by John.

Heading for one of the downpours

Eating dinner

Main "Old drag" of Yreka this evening

On the 3rd, we drove into Oregon, dropped by our first 2 wineries(Del Rio and Paul O'Brien), stopping at a hotel in Sutherland. We walked to dinner where we ate at Sol de Sutherland - not bad.

First winery

Adjusting shoes on our Sutherland walk

On the 4th, we drove north, stopping at next town Oakland where we had a great lunch at a cool restaurant, Tollys, where Kathy got an opened bottle of wine from closed winery next door. We stopped in Salem OR, where we discovered you can't pump your own gas in this old-fashioned state! We drove thru Portland and up the Columbia Gorge to Rogue River where we checked into the Riverview Lodge. We walked around town (our usual 1 hour walk) and made sandwiches for dinner.

in Oakland

Note that we got some fall colour

One section of Tolly's

At our lunch table

Early Halloween decorations

The "Triple Oak Wine Vault" was closed

We pulled off at overlook of first settlement for Portland

On our Rogue River hike

Crossing the Rogue

Marina just off the Columbia

Kathy preferred 2 beds so she could do this special stretch

On the 5th, we left Rogue River and stopped by a couple of waterfalls along the river - going on an hour hike in the rain to the top of 700' high Multnomah Falls. We braved Portland traffic and wound up in Astoria, where we spent the next 5 days at a Comfort Inn. We dined that evening at the Silver Salmon Restaurant - a good venue for Kathy to celebrate her birthday, as food was excellent.

Outside our hotel room this morning

Before packing and leaving

Scenes taken from moving car heading down the Columbia Gorge

Stopped & took some pix at Horsetail Falls

2 Kathys in this panorama

Kathy & Jef in front of falls

Multnomah Falls

The start of the trail going up the falls

Getting out of the rain

Got the start of some fall colour

Looking down at the visitor center from atop the falls - note we got a little damp!

Almost down to the bottom again

View from our hotel room

On the 6th, we took it easy, but did go on our usual 1 hour walk. Jef took advantage of the breakfast bar each day we were here. We dined at Clementes - good soup and salad.

On the 7th, we drove down to Seaside and then checked out area around Warrenton and parked and walked to Delaura Beach, getting our 1 hour hike in by walking along the beach. We dined at Tora Sushi this evening, which was pretty good.

Panorama before crossing the barrier dunes

Panorama from the beach side

Kathy entering the beach area

Kathy said the water was unusually warm, but perhaps this is from the outflow of the Columbia?

Jef and Kathy on their first Oregon beach

Beachcombing

Sand dollar

Razor clam

My long lost shoe?

At Toro Sushi

On the 8th, we went on our usual 1 hour walk along the riverfront. Kym came down. We visited the local Shallon Winery. Later that evening we dined at El Tapatio this evening - good Mexican cuisine. Afterwards we had a drink at the Triangle Bar across the street and then stopped and had another drink at the Moose Lodge.

Lights were still on in the early morning on this freighter

Kym & Kathy at the Shallon Winery - note that he had painted what would have been seen out these walls had there been windows to the past (Fort Astoria at left) and the Akron zeppelin, which Mr. Shallon saw in 1931 when he was about 7 years old

At the end of the tour/wine tasting, he is pouring us some chocolate wine into mini ice cream cones

Jef and Kathy dueled at pool at the 100 year old Triangle Bar

On the 9th, Kym was still staying with us. We drove up to Washington, reaching the northern part of the Long Beach peninsula with Kym and checked out houses there. Kym's sister's house was occupied by renters, so we only drove by that, but a realtor showed us 4 houses and a lot while we were there. Kathy picked out a house on a hill that she wanted to follow up on. We got souveneirs in Oysterville before heading south, stopping at Chen's for an early dinner.

Kathy examining a seashell pattern in front of one of the houses we looked at

Kym trying to duck out of a pic in the house Kathy liked - behind her is a "bookshelf drawer"

Kathy checking out the nearby beach in the rain

Kathy and Kym

Bigfoot is real!!!

On the 10th, Kym drove to her temporary home in Centralia WA, and we checked out of our Comfort Inn in Astoria and went on a hike up to the Astoria Tower. We then drove down the coast, winding up in Lincoln City where we checked into a Best Western on the beach.

Panorama showing some of the freightors on the Columbia - the bridge to WA is at the left

Panorama from inside our hotel

Our suite

The view from our suite

After starting our walk on our first sunny day in Oregon

At the local Episcopal church

Panorama of some neat old buildings

Cresting the hill with the Astoria Tower

Kathy & Jef by the tower

270° panorama from the tower

Jef & Kathy

Panorama of the mouth of the Columbia

Kathy at the base of the tower

Closer up

Kathy at bottom of the 125' tall tower

Hysterical landmark at the base of the tower

Took a couple of trails into the rainforest on the return trip

Spanish moss

Leaving on the lowest trail leaving the college campus parking lot

Cool Victorians

Raised gardens

Funky mailbox

The Moose lodge

Checking out the beach at Seaside

Panorama

We hiked down a neat trail to this beach

4 Kathys in this panorama

Panorama showing ocean, beach, and waterfall with Kathy in front

Kathy loved the waterfall on the beach

Jef & Kathy wearing their Oysterville WA shirts

Viewpoint showing where Jef & Kathy would stay this evening - towards the far end of this stretch of beach

Our hotel room at the Silver Sands hotel at Rockaway Beach - great hotel at reasonable rates!

Sea serpent rock as viewed from our hotel room

Sun setting from our hotel room

Our first ever GREEN FLASH!!!

This did definitely appear green to both of us!

On the 11th, we checked out of the Silver Sands at Rockaway Beach and drove south. We stopped for a hike, but it got so muddy that we didn't go as far as we wanted. When it got close to 4pm, we stopped driving and wound up staying at a Best Western on the beach in Lincoln City. We did another short hike (maybe 1/2 mile) checking out local eatery before looping back on the beach to our fancy hotel. We dined at Kyllo's later that evening - good food, nice atmosphere.

View from hotel room this morning

Panorama at the beach

Sea Serpent shaped island

Hiking on trail before it got muddy

Viewpoint on trail

After hiking a bit on muddy part of trail

Our hotel room in Lincoln City

Panorama on beach by Kyllos - the building on piers at left - this is where we dined this evening

Lots of seagulls

Found these peculiar footprints on beach

Panorama of our hotel room - jacuzzi bath is in center

Jef & Kathy enjoying sunset from our balcony

Kyllo's had this sign on their wall

On the 12th, we left Lincoln City and headed on down the coast. We stopped at a winery next to the Devil's Punchbowl. We stocked up on supplies at a Fred Meyer in Newport. After zipping thru Coos Bay, we stayed at the Bandon Inn and made dinner in our room after taking a 1 hour loop walk in Old Town Bandon, hitting the beach and walking thru the neighborhood up on the hill.

Panorama of moonset just before sunrise this morning

Some get-together at beach this morning

Devil's Punchbowl

This is pretty much the view of the local winemaker

We spotted this lighthouse on our drive

Jef, lighthouse, Kathy

Lotsa rocky islands off Oregon coast

Nicely landscaped house near beach in Bandon

Retirment home in Bandon

On the 13th, checked out of Bandon Inn and headed down the coast in off-and-on rainy weather. After stopping for souveneirs at "Trees of Mystery" we finally checked in to a motel in the dive town of Arcata. We walked around the neighborhood (our usual 1 hour walk) and then dined at the Kebab Cafe - which was pretty good.

View from our room at the Bandon Inn

Interesting side road

The rain came and went this day

Strong surf on this stormy day

Stopped and did a short hike in the rain

Kathy & Jef

We only went about 5 minutes down this trail

Pulled off & took quick pick of Whale Rock

Road came down to the surf for a while

Wind and surf

At the "Trees of Mystery" - Klamath, CA

Kathy? What are you doing to Babe?

The gift store

We bumped into Big Foot again!

Dinner in Arcata at Kabob Cafe

Interesting Mideastern stuff hanging on the wall

On the 14th, we checked out of the hotel in Arcata and drove south, going thru Eureka and a scenic drive thru the redwoods. We were at Clearlake Oaks around stopping time this afternoon and stayed at the Lake Point Lodge. We walked around the neighborhood, logging another hour of hiking before dining on sandwiches made from supplies bought in Newport OR.

We took the redwood scenic drive

Kathy in redwood

Redwood not that wide - 2 redwoods next to each other

Jef & Kathy in redwoods

Kathy by 350' tall redwood

Jef at base of redwood with cavern in trunk

Kathy

Note the size of these toothpick splinters!

Walking north of Clearlake Oaks

Manzanita showing some fall colour

Panorama above Clearlake Oaks

View from our hotel room

Sunset this evening

On the 15th, we checked out of the hotel and checked out the local Brassfield Winery, which was a pretty cool building. We got our last installment of wine here. We drove over to Highway 99, trying to hike along the way, but the trail went thru too many water crossings, so we only walked about 20 minutes. We continued south. We stopped around 5pm this afternoon in Madera CA where we checked into the Springhill Suites(Marriot), went on a walk and dined at the Burrito King. Madera was another dive town, and Kathy was freaked when she found someone had lifted her bottle of wine from the hotel room while we were out.

Brassfield Winery

Kathy by her bud, Francis

Kathy by grape loader

Kathy by a load of grapes

Kathy by the wine vault

We attempted to hike along creek, but there were too many creek crossings - this was about 30 miles out of Clearlake

View of offramp from our hotel in Madera

Sunset this evening

On the 16th, continued south. We turned west on the 58 at Bakersfield. We made a close approach to the cannon party, but as it was wrapping up and appeared to be very windy, skipped it. We tanked up in Kramer Junction and turned south on the 395. We cut over on Bear Valley and checked out the other Mexican Restaurant in Lucerne Valley - pretty good. Jef wanted to get home, so we pushed on the Borrego, getting home by 7pm.

We braved dust storms south of Madera

Coming into Mojave area - note yellow flowers on side of road

Had to wait for train before arriving in Kramer Junction

On the 17th, Jef started going thru mountain of mail at the office.

Elec. meter this day

Guest house meter reading this day

Our 1 hour hike found us above the old country club looking down on Montezuma Grade

On the 18th, Jef & Kathy got their flu shots. Jef continued tackling paperwork at the office.

On the 19th, Jef continued working at the office and prepared for patients following day.

We went up to Borrego Spur on our 90 minute hike this afternoon

On the 20th, back to work a fairly long day at the office.

On the 21st, a short day at the office followed by pizza at the Chapman's who dog-sat while were were in Oregon.

On the 22nd, we hiked to Borrego Days to watch the parade by going over the spur. After the parade, we hiked back the same long way, despite being very worn out - Kathy was especially struggling. We then drove to town and spent the evening listening to music.

Coming down to town from the spur

We camped in front of John's portable bar, where Kathy played bartender

One of the half dozen or so helicopters in the parade

5 to 7 of the 8 or so parade planes can be spotted in this pic

Panorama of parade route before the parade began

Start of the parade coming from the left

Jan rode for the Legion

Sylvia the local chiropractor is on bucking horse at left & Dave - who installed our power pole when getting solar - is at right

Kathy claims to have missed most of the parade due to her bartending duties

John's bar trailer is under blue shades to the right of this panorama

This is how we moved our parade supplies/equipment to/from our office and John's bar

Jef & Kathy had wine and cheese for the concert

Music was going as the skies grew dark - biergarten is at left, lighted stage is at right

On the 23rd, mostly took it easy at home.

Sunset on our 1 hour walk this afternoon

On the 24th, back to work a long day at the office.

Stormy weather in the mountains eventually dropped a little on us

On the 25th, Jef drove to SD for eye doctor and dental appointments and shopping. Kathy and David handled a fairly light day at the office.

Cool fog bank over Lake Henshaw as seen on drive to SD

Mums are blooming in unmaintained yard at Santee house - Jef picked up mail

On the 26th, a long day at the office, followed by our usual 1 hour walk.

Weststar meter this day

On our walk this afternoon

On the 27th, another long day at the office.

On the 28th, a very long day at the office.

On the 29th, Kathy had a difficult day with a new patient.

On the 30th, mostly took it easy, but Kathy was still working on computer work for new patient.

Cool sunset clouds this afternoon

On the 31st, a very busy Halloween at the office. Jef & Kathy had their "I've got your back" skeleton t-shirts and David had his bloody intern costume.

Funky clouds this afternoon at the office

Jef & Kathy in Halloween garb - with appropo prop for shirts. David had left, but had a scary outfit - white scrubs stained with blood!