Dog Days of Summer

The East wind has been blowing all day. The falling oak leaves are skittering and skipping all over, including into the house as it is quite warm and we have the doors open.

Our morning got off to an inauspicious start with the discovery of a bad smell in the guest bathroom....targeted sniffing didn't make our morning any better, but eliminated the most obvious culprits. Much as he didn't want to, OilMan finally donned his 'rat suit' (Nomex overalls left over from his Chevron days) and a mask (left over from last year's fires) and went under the house looking for either a leak or a corpse. It turned out to be the latter and OIlMan gets a big gold star and many 'attaboys' for solving the problem before company arrives for drinks this afternoon.  One demerit for bringing the corpse through the house in search of a plastic bag...

We had a nice conversation with son Tim. Joni was having a garage sale during which their dog Olive would NOT be an asset, so after he helped Owen make some lemonade to sell at the garage sale, he got on his bike and rode off with Olive, banned for four hours. He stopped and sat on a ridge with a sweeping view of the San Francisco Bay to call us. He sent a picture. I sent today's blip to him.... 

OilMan was out sweeping the porch which was filling up with leaves as fast as he could sweep them up. I commented to Tim that we had a nice place to sit outside but there always seemed to be some reason preventing us from actually doing it....too hot, too cold, too wet, too many bugs, too windy....His only comment was, "first world problem...." which is certainly true, although sometimes I wonder....