fireball, day 3

It's almost embarrassing, really, to continue to start our day at the beach. When many of our peeps are wondering if their house is still standing while staying with friends (or geez, at a shelter), we're sipping our coffee while spending hours watching our pups frolic.

On our way to the "B" (this is what we say when we don't want TempTide to know what we're saying) this morning, we drove up the hill to see what SD Harbor looked like. Wind from the fire SE of the city gave us this interesting sunrise. At one time you'd be able to see the skyline of San Diego. This morning... not so much.

[Left-center is downtown. On a regular day, you can see the skyline.]

[Just on the other side of the hill is serene OB/Dog Beach. A slight hint of smoke offshore.]

[The Motley Crew spends its morning discussing those who have it so much worse than us.]

[Good ol' Saatchi. She had a visit set up with the vet today. She could care less about the fires. She's a strong bird, but she has tumors in her snout. Sneezing blood clots. We wish her the best. We tried to get a shot of her snarling (her best side), but it wasn't going to happen today.]

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san diego is a fireball

Dog Beach was one of the very few places this morning not covered in smoke and soot. We can smell the smoke, and it made for an interesting sunrise, but we're safe. Many other people and animals are not so lucky.

It's going to be a long week...

[Facing NE]

[The sunlight had a tough time penetrating the smoky haze]

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clear, but noisy

The Santa Ana's brought peace this AM with clear, sunny skies. All the dogs had an extra spring in their step and couldn't help but check out the piles of kelp along the beach just waiting to be picked up.

There are all kinds of birds around here: gulls, pigeons, blue herons, pelicans. But the really noisy ones were around this AM, too. The beach is in the flight path. On a clear day, they aren't as loud, but there were quite a few today.

And then they brought in the big guns. The trucks and tractors came to remove the kelp (I wonder where it goes?). After much beeping when backing up, loud engines roaring back and forth, and people yelling at each other and their dogs to avoid the machinery, it's time to go home for some silence. That is, until TempTide starts snoring.

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wet, quick visit

It was a wet, cold morning, so we walked down to the end of the beach and back as quick as we can along with Nate, Diva, Beaker, Carol, Sammy, Saatchi, Felix & his two doggies.

Wet, unsatisfied Riptide on the way home.

Wet, unsatisfied Tempest on the way home.

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if a picture's worth 1,000 words...

What are these worth? Sean, Stefano, Rich, Wayne and the whole lot spent quite a bit of time this morning just chatting it up while the dogs entertained themselves. Sometimes it's just easy.

[This is Bella's ball. Don't even think about it.]

[Dude's a bit tired after digging his 10th hole this week.]

[Redcloud darts for the frisbee; Tempest thinks about it.]

[It grew to be chilly an hour after this, but what a lovely morning.]

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bright eyed and bushy tailed

I had a meeting to attend this morning, so we were down at the shore bright and early today. Nice and quiet, with just a few of the regulars. The early ones I haven't seen in months.

There was also a small crew shooting stills and video of a Volvo SUV with "Surf Rescue", or something like that, up by the lifeguard tower. The morning light was fantastic. I bet they got some amazing shots.

I'll just live with this one of my babies butts. :)

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the treat source

This here is Pete (of Pete, Muriel & Sera). He always has treats for the dogs, and they love him for it. The toll for my Frenchies is that they let him pet their wrinkles. Easy swap for a treat, eh? They can spot him from miles away. This morning, there was a pack of dogs who quickly ran for "the treat source".

I know you've seen this pic before most likely, but the 3-way tug-o-war between TempTide and Dude is just too great not to share. And I just love Tempest's face in this one.

This is just funny. Riptide and Heidi look like canine Legos.

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you win some, you lose some

I've lost count of how many times we've found a ball or other toy abandoned (or rescued?) on the beach early in the morning at the tide comes in. You know someone lost it in the water the night or week before, and that it's finally returned to shore.

This morning, Riptide's ball was swept up with the waves, and neither he nor Alfie could catch it. And it was a bit nippy this morning, so I wasn't about to go for a swim. We watched in head down the river side hoping to catch it when the current returned to the sand.

Riptide caught site of the orange orb bobbing and swam out to catch it. After two darts with his head, he failed to catch it with his teeth. He succeeded, though, in pushing the ball out of the current and down middle of the river. We watched as it floated on down well out of reach.

Some lucky puppy will enjoy the surprise of a new ball tomorrow.

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please go away

Sometimes I just want to quietly walk along the beach, alone, sipping my coffee and watching TempTide wrestle. Most of the time, I like to meet up with some of the regulars - Sean & Kelly, Wayne, Carol, Pete & Muriel, Jane, etc. - and talk and laugh away while our dogs chase discs and balls, wrestle, bark (okay, don't love that part so much) and entertain themselves and us.

Once thing I never want is for someone to interrupt my conversation or mood by standing a few feet away and listen in, waiting for a time to rudely insert themselves in to the mix. I'm all for meeting new folks at the beach. I've met some great people this way (see list above). But there is just something wrong about the guy that stands a stone's throw away, listens to a sometimes personal conversation and then chimes in with an opinion that wasn't requested.

Then you have the guy (or gal in this case) who visits the beach sparingly with their dog and doesn't control it. A girl this morning could not (would not) keep her 9-month old intact Pit Bull mix off Dude. It mounted him over and over again. Dude is usually pretty easy going, but he's not going to just sit there and let someone try to dominate him. The human lamely noted "stop it" to her dog, but I'm sure you can guess how well that worked. So while we're all annoyed with the constant interruption of having to pull her dog off Dude repeatedly to avoid a fight, she starts chatting it up with us like we're old friends. When you get your dog under some kind of control (or at least get it fixed, for Christ's sake), then we'll have a chat.

The worst of all are the mostly men who sit at the top of the jetty and let their dog run around the beach free to do what they want at all times. Charge at every dog it encounters? Sure. Repeatedly mount others? You betcha. Their response to "can you please get your dog off mine?"... "What do you expect. It's Dog Beach!"

So, like it says on the sign. If you can't control your dog or allow it to be aggressive, go home.

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staying at the beach

Thanks to a little water main break at the homestead, TempTide, Ronnie and I are enjoying a two-night stay at the Ocean Beach Hotel. It's not home, but the new owners have done a nice job of remodeling it. It was a bit of a pit there for years, even though it had a great location just near the OB pier. Now, it has a tranquil courtyard and decent rooms - and yes, WiFi.

And, of course, the 1st floor of rooms are pet friendly! So, TempTide got to walk to the beach this morning (and tomorrow). At night, we watched the sun set over the pier from our little patio. If you don't have animals, you can get a room on an upper floor that has a much better view than the above. :)

We might just have to get a room this year for the Christmas Parade. The whole lot of guests looked like they were having a blast last year.

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