Talented People

I have made a few hypertufa pots, and I give myself credit for getting my friends involved. Little did I know what I was starting!

My friend Vicki and her husband have been going hog wild with making the hypertufa pots. Once they got the basics down they started embellishing the pots with carved designs and most spectacularly adding shells to the outside.

Here are just a few examples. This is a two tiered pot that fits on the rail of the porch.

I love this little feature! It's a drainage hole that incorporates the shells in a unique way.

Some more rail pots.
A "regular" pot.

Two pots on either side of the front door. After this picture was taken the existing plants were replaced with matching golden cypress. (The other pot on the right was a purchased pot.)

I only hope that one of these days I'll be able to make something so beautiful too!

A Walk Along Moonstone Beach

Cambria is a great place for walkers. There are several walking paths in different areas of town. One of the oldest is the boardwalk along Moonstone Beach. When we go on this walk it's about a 3 mile route for us. Of course we could go further, and we have on occasion, but the three mile walk is the usual.

Along the way we see the ocean birds. Sometimes we see dolphins and even whales, but this time it was just the birds.

Yesterday there was also a lot more surfers than usual. (Click on the picture to enlarge.)

I heard there was an earthquake in US Samoa the other day with a tsunami. I wonder if they were expecting waves from that event to eventually reach our shores?

Grass Fire, Deer, And Turkeys

As we got closer to the coast yesterday we could see a plume of smoke rising from the area of Cambria, right for where we were headed! Uh oh!

As we neared town we could actually see the fire from the road. It was a small grass fire.

Fortunately it wasn't a big fire and it was put out in short order. There were two of these planes flying around the area of the fire until it was out.

Since my friend Vicki lives near the edge of town it seems there is a lot of wildlife that visits the area. Here's a few deer passing by on the road.

And there's always a few turkeys strolling by too.

I wonder if they realize Thanksgiving is just around the corner?

Horse Injuries

My trip to Cambria was a bit fortuitous. The weather is perfect right now and both my horse and my sister's horse have little injuries. Nikki's injury is worse than Star's because I can still ride her, but Nikki can't be ridden at this time.

It all started about a week or so ago with Nikki. It was during the time when Star and Nikki were still getting to know each other and truthfully, we don't even know for sure if Star is to blame (but I suspect she is). Nikki has a good cut on her back leg that left her swollen and sore and initially she could barely walk.

I am happy to say that after tender loving care from both my sister and the very generous stable owners who helped with the daily care of this wound Nikki is most definately getting better.

Not long after Nikki was first injured I noticed a small bump on Star's back. We thought maybe it was Nikkie biting back, or a bug bite, or a scrape from one of the trees.

She was a little tender to the touch but it seemed far back enough that I could still ride her. The problem was that it wasn't getting better.

So I had to call the vet. He thought it looked like a pressure bump, probably from my western saddle. He said if I rode it should be with my English saddle. I had been waiting for a new girth to arrive anyway.

So hopefully with my not riding her for a few days the bump will go away and everything will back to normal when I get back in a few days.