So it's August.
As is appropriate, because of Covid and quarantine, there’s not a lot of news to report and I pretty much haven’t been taking photos or going anywhere. There’s a couple things, though.
On April 1, Mia and I adopted a dog from a rescue foundation. The back story is that the dog was found lost and brought to the Bakersfield animal shelter. This rescue foundation based in LA seems to go to overcrowded shelters and probably picks the most rescue-able animals and then resells them. The story is that after the vet check she was a german shepherd or husky mix puppy around 3-4 months and the photos and videos were cute so we went for it. A few days later we brought her to a vet ourselves and the vet here said that she’s actually got all of her adult teeth and is likely full-grown at 8-9 months. This also meant that she wasn’t the breed we were under the impression of, and must have some small breed mix. We’ve done a lot of research and there’s nothing definitive, so she is whatever she is. We’ve been busy training and going on walks and trying to socialize a dog during social distanced times (not easy). Every day, though, we’re lucky to have the time to take her on at least one long walk
In May and June my primary house project was the backyard. After a quote of more than $4,000 for a simple fence that wasn’t even the design/fence we wanted. So I decided to see if I could build one myself - I got to digging holes for poles, 10 in total. Poured cement, stained posts and wood boards, and painted 5ft high wire fence with black rubber coating. Then we got 14,000 lbs of decomposed granite (fine rock) dumped in the driveway and I spent 2 days moving it to the backyard and a couple weeks tamping, grading, laying edging… the whole deal. It looks pretty good now with the finalized fence, a rolling gate, and the nice flat durable low-maintenance dirt.
In July we stayed home and washed fireworks across south LA from the backyard (photo above), and as one week leads to the next and one month rolls to the next month, things are in a routine of dog walks, exploring the neighborhood trails on foot and bike, long work days, and busy housework-filled weekends.
Also in the photos is my friend Connor’s new sailboat. He’s the one who was my liveaboard neighbor in Redondo and he sailed his old Hunter across the Pacific and then a different boat (the Hunter took a beating) to Australia. Now that he’s back in the states I heard him say he’s done with boats, and about 3 weeks later he got a Mariner 31 (ketch rigged, cutter) and these photos are from early August when he sailed it from Cabrillo to Ventura past me with my camera in Palos Verdes. I was hoping to join for the trip but it started on a Friday when I was working and I was dog sitting solo so had to stay home.
Finally, I’m going to publish this here so that I’m personally accountable: I will take more photos to make this more interesting.