Remodeling

The best laid plans don't always work out as imagined. Maya and Owen and Olive the dog spent the night last night,. Dana's family joined us for dinner and we had all planned to go to the beach this morning, but OilMan and I both woke up with second thoughts about the advisability of having to keep Olive on a lead when every other dog on the beach was cavorting in the surf. Olive is nervous and can behave unpredictably when she's around strangers and their dogs. 

Plan B was to drive up to the regional park at the top of the road and walk down the trail to Santa Rosa Creek and, since there is hardly ever anybody there, let the dogs and the kids play in the water. There was a bit of a skirmish convincing Olive that in my car she rides in the back with Ozzie, not in the front seat which is where I sit….

We drove up the narrow, one lane in places, road and down into the canyon. The sight of a full parking lot with a ranger directing cars, tents, a FINISH line, music and people with cowbells milling around was so out of synch with what we usually find that it took us awhile to realize that, uninviting as it seemed to us in such rugged terrain on a hot day, it was indeed an 8 mile race. 

With no Plan C in mind, we decided to carry on with our plan and had a pleasant  walk down to the creek identifying wildflowers, admiring butterflies and picking up stones. Maya and I brought along our cameras, but I was so busy showing her what little I know about taking macro shots that I didn't take a single picture.

Just as we were settling down to exploring the creek, a couple of people hove into view and Olive growled at them, so not wanting to deal with an anxious dog and a hoard of exhausted runners, we headed back up the trail. Owen was not happy because he had just gotten started throwing rocks into the creek and didn't want to leave.  Ozzie wasn't happy because he thought Owen was throwing the rocks into the creek for him  and didn't want to leave.OilMan was unhappy because he could not get Ozzie to stand up and walk, and I was unhappy because I got whacked in the leg with  a very big stick that OilMan gave to Ozzie in hopes of getting him to forget about the creek and stand up and walk. The first runner crossed the finish line just as we arrived at the parking lot. 

Maya and I are making a quilt and we spent a pleasant afternoon making another square while OilMan, Owen and later Tim, made some renovations to the treehouse, replacing the missing ladder rung and designing a system for lifting items from ground level to treehouse level.

I began to understand why Olive sits in front when we filled the entire back of the car with bedding, suitcases, bags for the 'devices', a bag of food for the dog, a big bag of food for the kids, sweatshirts, sandals, hats, sunscreen, Maya's sewing machine and a big plastic container of hundreds, nay thousands,  of the tiniest Lego pieces I have ever seen…a classic example of what my brother refers to as G.D.I. s, short for the expletive that comes out when they are stepped on with bare feet in the middle of the night. The only way to get them all back into the container was with a broom and a dustpan….