WHERE THE DEER AND THE ANTELOPE PLAY

My second post today. I came downstairs a little after seven this evening. There were three deer in Donna and Laif's backyard. I grabbed my downstairs camera. In the top picture I was able to get a good shot of the smaller deer. The other two were larger and moving fast. They hopped the fence leaving the little one behind. Laif came down to help him out and he ran up to the front of the house. By that time the other two were in the neighbor's yard across the street. I think they all got together again. In the picture below are all three deer but they are hard to spot. It was getting dark.

All three are in the bottom picture also.

It is nice to have a camera handy. You never know when you might see something interesting.

If you click onto the last two pictures you can see the deer pretty well.

FALL IS HERE--WHAT HAPPENED TO SUMMER?

I have not written anything for awhile. I had the surgery on my right eye on the 13th and will have my left eye done Monday. I am really looking forward to it this time because now I know what a difference it makes in my vision.

I am putting this picture of my Snake plant on so that you can see how much it has grown. On the left you can see that the leaves do not come up to the tieback on the curtain. On the right they have grown past the tieback. I just love these plants. You hardly ever have to water them. You don't want to repot them. The roots like to be crowded. If you repot them, you can kill them. Other than that, they are almost impossible to kill. The plant is a lot larger than the picture shows when you see it in my room.

ONE MORE PICTURE

Just one more picture from my trip with Debbie. On our last day we had breakfast in Gilroy (Garlic Capitol of the World). We ate breakfast at Minis. We really pigged out. We had huge bowls of Oatmeal, toast. A huge muffin that we shared. We also wanted Strawberry-Banana Smoothies. We did not realize how huge they were. They were delicious.
I had my Cataract surgery Monday on my right eye. It went just fine. Today I went back for the day after checkup. The doctor says my eye looks great. Hopefully I will be a little more relaxed when I get my left eye done. I didn't really think I was that nervous when I went in yesterday but when the nurse took my blood pressure it was 180/77. I was shocked. My blood pressure usually runs around 128/70. I said to the nurse I was probably going to have a heart attack. She said "no you aren't" because we don't have time for that kind of paperwork. Anyway, by the time I was relaxed with the IV, my blood pressure was down to 135/72. The real nuisance about this kind of surgery is the eye drops. Three different kinds. I have the chart they gave me to keep track of when and which drops to take. I am doing eye drops 4 times a day. It will be at least a month of drops by the time I get the other eye done.

Anyway, the good news is that I can see so much better. The colors are so vivid and I can see things at a distance and really make them out. I am sure now that I can tell the difference between a tractor and a red flowering bush and I am sure I will be able to see a Squirrel on a tree. It just opens up a new world when you can see good.

Donna and I are going to Relief Society tonight. The meeting is about food preservation, canning, etc. Donna and I are supposed to answer questions about canning. I have canned thousands of jars of food over the years. I started canning on a Kerosene stove when we lived in Moses Lake.

WILDLIFE AT HEARST RANCH

This is the only wildlife I was able to see on our tour. We were boarding the bus to go back to the Visitor Center and one of the guides saw this Tarantula. The guides were so excited because it was the first Tarantula of the season. The guide said this one was a male and that it was out hunting for a female. I was so excited too because I have never seen a Tarantula except in pictures. It was so neat to see. Debbie, bless her heart, got off the bus and took a picture for me. There is supposed to be Bears. Zebras run with the Black Angus beef. We didn't see any. The guide says the Zebras are a little further South.We went on the Garden tour in the evening. All kinds of flowers, shrubs, orange, lime and lemon trees too.

How would you like to work in this kitchen?

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Puyallup Fair with Donna and Laif. I wasn't going to go but Donna talked me into it. I am glad I went because I really did enjoy myself. We all had to have Scones, of course. We were at the Fair for 5 hours. I did something I didn't think I would be able to do. I did not take my walker. I got along really well. My feet got tired from walking so far but your feet always get tired walking at the Fair. I think from walking around in California gave me the courage to do it.

Monday is my cataract surgery for my right eye. I am beginning to feel more relaxed about it. I know I need it done.

HEARST CASTLE

Just a few pictures from our tour of the Hearst Ranch. Hearst referred to it as "the ranch in San Simeon." Hearst is still a working ranch and has been since 1865. To fulfill Hearst's dream for the site, he hired California Architect Julia Morgan.She designed the Mediterranean Revival Style Estate over twenty-eight years, from 1919-1947. The Neptune pool ranges in depth from three feet to ten feet. It holds 345,000 gallons of water. It was heated year-round to the mid-70's. and is still filtered using a sand filtering system. Stairs lead up to the bath house, containing seventeen dressing rooms. On the rooftop Neptune Terrace you have an expansive view of the 250,000-acre ranch W.R. Hearst owned. There are Tennis courts, guest cottages and on and on.

HILLS IN SAN FRANCISCO

Oakland Bridge A street in San Francisco. I took a lot of pictures from the window of our car.

The pictures below are of Lombard Street in San Franciso. Lombard Street is an east-west street in San Francisco. It is famous for having a steep one-block section that consists of tight hairpin turns. It felt like a roller-coaster ride.

Today is a beautiful day in Sequim. I went downtown while Donna was at the school to get out in the sun.

SAN FRANCISCO

Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. We went early before it was too crowded. It is such an interesting place.

I never thought I would ever see San Francisco. We had great weather on our trip.

From the picture it looks like crabs and lobsters but the figures are Sourdough bread. Last picture shows where the Sourdough bread is made. People line up in front of the windows to watch the bread being made, including us.

I hardly ever eat any kind of fish and the Fisherman's Wharf has crabs and lobsters and all other kinds of stuff I don't eat. On one street we found a store that had icecream so Debbie and I had icecream cones for a second breakfast.

SUNNY CALIFORNIA

Picture of Palm trees from the patio in the hotel we stayed in Thursday night, Sept. 2nd. We sat out on the patio watching the Palm trees sway in the breeze. We got to our hotel about 6pm and it was 85 degrees. I just loved it.

Debbie took me on a mini vacation to California. We flew into the San Jose Airport. It is a relatively small airport. We left Sea-Tac Airport Thursday afternoon. We spent Thursday night, Friday, Saturday and we came back on Sunday,the fifth. Our main goal was to see the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. We got to see quite a few things starting out with San Francisco. We rented a car. That kind of travel is so much easier for me. Our rental car was a Kia Soul. As most of you know, I have a Kia Rio but this car had a lot more Chipmunks under the hood than mine does. I took a lot of pictures. I will pick out a few of the best or interesting over the next few days and tell you about them. It was so sweet of Debbie to take me because she is so busy at work or flying to some warehouse. We had a real nice time.