It was sunny yesterday, so we went to the beach. Going to the beach on a sunny day in Eureka is a whole different concept from going to beach back home on a sunny day. As we left the hotel, I shivered and asked Toby how this could be called a “warm day.” He said when you live up here, you just learn to think of this as warm. To me it felt like something right out of November. But the sun was shining and if you could find a spot out of the icy breeze, it did feel nice. It certainly made everything look nicer.

The funny thing about the beach here is that nobody has “beach front property”. They do, but they just let their cows roam on it, or it’s parkland. It’s not like down south where the houses squeeze in so tight, you can have a conversation with your neighbors right through the wall. Eureka is a harbor town and the harbor is so big you have to drive quite a ways out into the country to get to the beach. And when you do, it’s usually so windswept by weather, it’s not anywhere you want to spread out a towel and read a book.

I was surprised how pleasant it actually was though, once we started walking on the sand. The sand was so warm! I just wanted to lay down on it like it was a heated floor. But then I forgot all about the sand when I saw the smooth polished rocks along the shore.

I’m such a sucker for rocks! I love rocks. I always have. Ever since I was a kid I’ve had collections. Right up into my teens, I had a little shelf in my closet with various rocks labeled with the names of places where I had collected them from. Later as an adult, I started keeping jars of rocks but that got to be too much clutter so now I just keep them in my plants and in the little space in my car by the seat lever. (I asked Toby what that space is called and he said the “knick-knack depression” (!).) Anyway, I’m kind of a nut about rocks. Toby thinks it’s really silly and stupid. Maybe it is. People have told me there’s some “I Love Lucy” episode about just such a hobby but I haven’t seen it. I try to keep the rock collecting to a minimum but it sure does make the hiking around in the outdoors more fun.

Toby gave me a rock collecting minimum this trip. I wasn’t allowed to take any sort of bag or container to the beach. I could only bring back what I could carry, which wasn’t much since I had to carry my shoes and on the way back a yellow jacket chased me all the way to the car. Oh well, today we are going to Agate Beach and I’ll find lots of rocks there.

I know I’ve said this before and before that and before that too! (Enough about the dogs already, right?) But going up north to visit the family is really all about the dogs.

We often sit in the family room talking and before we know it we are playing complicated games of fetch with the long haired dachshund. He’s too smart. He’s attached to this little blue rubber ball as if it’s his pacifier or something. You can ignore him but he will “accidentally” drop the ball on your feet and bark at you until you can ignore him no longer. Throwing the ball is a mistake because then it means the “games have begun” and you will be stuck playing fetch with him for hours on end. So in order to give us some peace from the never ending fetching and barking we hide the ball in places we think he won’t be able to get it out of.

Nothing works. No matter how well you hide it, or ignore it, he will bark and root around until he finds it. Toby’s Dad stacked the ball inside three empty dog food bowls and he STILL found his ball. It took a lot of pushing the bowl around the living room with his nose but nothing comes between the determined little German dog and his little blue rubber ball.

Too bad I didn’t get any action shots and all I have to show you are some cute dogs sleeping.

We did take some pictures of this giant mosquito eater. I’d have to ask my Dad, the bug man, what it’s proper name is. It was so huge! I’ve never seen a mosquito eater that big. Maybe he got so big from eating all the mosquitos! They are out in droves this year. Even in the middle of the day you have to watch it or you could get bitten to pieces.

The sun came out for a little bit yesterday. Actually it was setting and there was a little gap between the fog and the ocean where the sun managed to shine through. I took advantage of the pretty light and got some pictures of my mother-in-law’s beautiful dahlias.

p.s. I finally updated the spy cam pages! Whoo Hooo! Happy Viewing!