I've Been Robbed!!!

I cannot believe I have lived in Los Angeles for close to 21 years and have never had anything stolen. Sure, I've had my close calls and weird experiences but I've never had anything taken from me. Until now.

And the things that were stolen were so... dumb. Easily acquired for very little money. What was it? My sprinkler heads in my front yard!

It started innocently enough. Two days ago, I turned on the sprinklers. One near the street was a geyser. So I shut that section off and watered the other two sections of my front yard. As the ones on the street frequently get broken when school is in session, I didn't think much of it. Except that school is NOT in session...

Today, I decided I had to water. We hit 108 and I knew my roses desperately needed a drink. I took a new head out and was surprised to see there was no head to remove. I screwed the new one in and thought how strange. On occasion, I have water pressure issues. When that happens, it blows the heads off the pipes. But I usually find the head nearby. No such luck.

So I turn on the water and realize three more heads on that same section were geysering. I kill that section and turn on the next. Five geysers. What the...? I turn on section three... two more geysers.

I head out into the yard thinking someone had vandalized my heads... but there were no heads. I only have four left. So I went down to our local hardware store a few blocks from here and bought a bunch. I usually have to stock up at this time anyway because all the kids and their parents break the ones near the street. I spent a whopping 30 bucks. But I don't think I'm going to put them out for a few days... Maybe it'll give my thief time to finish his own sprinkler project with someone else's heads.

May he reap what he has sown.



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The Ponds

Another rottie owner on the hiking trail asked me why I don't take my little water lover to the ponds.

The ponds??

We apparently have natural spring ponds across the freeway from where I hike. I've seen them getting off the freeway...but how to get there?

The rottie lady brought one of her trio, met us at the usual spot and led the way. There are several problems hiking at the ponds. For one, there are exactly three parking spots... a huge deal in L.A.

The parking is on a terribly busy street and you must take a trail under the freeway...with easy access to the freeway! Not the best for off leash dogs! But once past the freeway, OH! It's a little slice of heaven! Two nice sized ponds with a natural creek flowing between and around them. And lovely vegetation.

I naturally had to go back with the Rhody pack-mates. And dear Sue has gotten Mabel to actually swim!

The dogs frolicked. The humans relaxed and laughed.

Hank took to Mabel's trick of just laying down for a drink...with Miss M supervising, naturally!
And... for the second time ever, I caught Mabel Lou leaping on film!
The black blob in the back is the girl doing her thing:
Ahh....

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Mabel's 8 Things Meme

Me, at the creek.

Hi there! Mabel Lou here. I got tagged by my Louisiana buddy, Butch. I must say, it's kinda hard to think of some things my mom hasn't blabbed told about me already... But here goes.

1) When I get lost while hiking with Mom, I run back to the car. If Mom's not there, I track her scent.

2) I love to pull tails to get others to chase me. It does not matter if you are a dog, a horse or a human. If I like you and want you to play, I will pull your tail.

3) Mom has a hundred nicknames for me. I know them all. I know what kind of mood she's in by which one she uses. Some of my names: Lucy, Lula, Lulu Belle, Mabel Babel, Baby Lou, May, Mabeline, Miss Piss, and The Stupervisor {That's Mom's nickname for most of her employers. Since she works from home most of the time, it's my name when I wander into the shop to try and get her to go to the creek NOW.)

4) My mom sings to me. I act like it hurts my ears... she's really not a good singer. But, secretly, I like the rhythm of her songs. She told me she makes up songs to teach her pups their names. My song goes like this:

Mabel, Mabel
Sleeps on my table,
Mabel Lou, I love you.
Mabel, Mabel
Oh, she's so able.
Mabel Lou, please be true.

When I was a puppy, pretending not to like my mom's voice, my tail would give me away on this one.... and the creek song.

And in case you're wondering -- I DID sleep on top of a glass table on our upper patio when Mom left me alone as a puppy. The raccoons were bigger than me and I was scared!


5) I wouldn't stay off my mom's fainting couch when I was a puppy. It would make her so mad. Now, she lets me cuddle with her (or my Granny - see below) on it.



6) I love the creek... no big news here. But, I don't really like to swim! In fact, I get very nervous when water touches my tummy. That's why you see me jumping in our logo photo above. That was a deep hole!


I like it when Mom's Godson sleeps over.

7) I get very flirty around men. I wiggle my butt and shimmy all over. Some of my favorite guys are Mom's Godson and his buddies and dad. We see them alot. I have a human uncle in Louisiana I adore too. But my favorite guy ever is Curt. He's married to one of my mom's friends. They live far away but when they come visit, he lays on the floor with me. I get so excited when I see him, I pee all over him!

8) I don't like carbs. Most canines will eat anything thrown at them. Not me. I wait for the good stuff. But there are exceptions to every rule. I will eat bread that has been touching hamburger or hot dog. In - n- Out Burger fries... but only when they are hot. And sweet potato fries. That's it. No other carbs allowed. I really don't get why my mom eats them.

Oh, I tag Kadi. It's not fair that Butch got to write about himself and poor Kadi didn't! Sorry Velvet! And Miss Kitty.

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Overheard on the Trail at Dusk

Creekhiker (squealing like a toddler): Oh, OOOOooo OOHH!

Hiking Buddy {HB}: What? What is it?

CH: Sa sa sn SNAKE!

HB: Where?

CH: OH oo! AND THE DOGS ARE RUNNNING RIGHT OVER IT!! OH!

HB: WHERE?

CH: COILED TO THE RIGHT OF THE TRAIL! IT'S A DIAMOND BACK!! And Hank just stepped on it!!!

HB: It's OK... just go around it.

CH: But it's COILED!

HB: The dogs have stepped on it at least three times... just go around it!

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Minutes later, well past the snake:

HB: Boy, that freaked you out!

CH: Yes! I HATE snakes! I thought about dropping this 10 lb. rock on it but I knew you really wanted it for your rock wall.

HB: Dropping a rock on it! YOU DON'T DROP A HUGE ROCK ON SNAKE! You throw pebbles at them to let them know which way you want them to go but you don't drop a rock on it!

CH: I do! The way I want it go is DEAD!

HB: DEAD?!?!?!?

CH: Dead. The only good snake is a dead snake in my book.


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Open Letter to Tony Cardenas

Dear Bloggers,

My small community won a tiny victory (for now) in our huge battle against Home Crapot. The City revoked the permit until an Environmental Impact report can be prepared showing the stores effect on our one road town and a location surrounded on three sides by residential housing. If interested, there's more info HERE.

What I find interesting is that Tony Cardenas was the one holdout in favor of Home Crapot. He is a man who once ran for office against our amazing City Councilperson - they were both running for the post at the same time.

I must admit, I voted for him. I had gone to several functions here in town and ... ok, ALL politicians LIE ... but he would stay for hours, talking, asking about our concerns. That impressed me. Wendy Greuel won. No big deal. Who cares? Really, what does the City Council do for us anyway - raise our garbage taxes?

I've never been so glad to be wrong. Wendy has done so much for our town. She's listened, appeared at every meeting and carried our torch. It is because of her we celebrate today.

Tony, however, hungry for political power went to another district and got elected there. Very smarmy move. And he is the only one to vote against the people yesterday. And now that I see his true colors, I want to post the letter I wrote to him today so future voters can see for all perpetuity - and know what kind of man he is.

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Dear Tony Cardenas,

Well, I guess you showed your true colors. I can't believe I supported you when you ran against Wendy! We would probably have a Home Crapot open here by now if you represented us. I pity your poor constituents... what big business will you allow to rape that community?

More importantly, was it worth it? Hope you got paid well for your one lone vote.

Now, everyone in L.A. knows you can be bought and sold... I'll never make the mistake of voting for you in any office ever again. In fact, I'll donate to your competition.

Hope you can still sleep well,
{Creekhiker}
Former supporter and resident of S/T


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Animal Videos

Velvet suggested a few posts back that I attempt to make a "movie" on purpose for a change. Here is Moonlight Magic, the baby mini horse from several posts back, shyly making her film debut.




Velvet also suggested taking a video of my favorite blog muse, Miss Mabel Lou. She is a finicky and demanding little movie star but after several false starts, I finally got Mabel on film doing her favorite thing in the world: her daily dip in the creek.



Then Janet requested a video of the dogs drinking from water bottles. I should add, I'm one of those sick people that will eat after their dog. I have no problem sharing an ice cream cone with her. That is until I realized all the dogs were eating "horse d oeuvres" (horse droppings) on the trail! Now, the dogs drink from the spout and I unscrew it if I need a drink! Mabel struggled with this for weeks but she's gotten quite good at it.



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Mabel & Bessie

I know I mentioned car trouble a few posts back. Well, ol' Bessie (all cars in my family are named Bessie) has been in and out of the shop for a week now. And after $1200.00 in repairs (new catalytic converter, intake air valve thingy and new (from the Jeep junkyard) on board computer), she's purring like a kitten.

I picked her up from the shop today, took her up our one major road and brought her home.

Mabel was so happy, she actually kissed the car! Repeatedly. She was not a happy camper in the rentals... there was no seat for her. I think she missed Bessie more than I did.

I'm reposting the old photo of Mabel sitting on her seat:



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Creekhiker + 1 Old Friend = Lots of Stupid

Well, I dropped my college roommate off at LAX this morning in prime "rush" hour traffic. As I sat on the freeway headed home, I pondered the 21 years since we lived together.

Some things have changed: we're both older and a little worse for the wear. Some things havn't: I can still get ready in a fraction of the time it takes her to do whatever it is she does to go ... anywhere. She couldn't even go out to my little dive of a neighborhood breakfast joint to sit on a picnic bench in the damp morning air without curling her hair.

We still talk to each other in silly voices and we still laugh a lot. My best friend Barb tells me I haven't looked so happy in years. It was a great visit and I'm amazed at all the stupid things I've done this past week! A few of the highlights:

I forgot to feed Mabel! The first morning my guest was here, I got up early to head to the creek. She was awake when we came home and we got busy and left. Poor Mabel! After that, my friend made it her job to feed Mabel. Needless to say, Mabel is pouting now that her new friend is gone.
My car died mid trip in spite of me putting her in the shop for a tuneup two weeks ago. The catalytic converter had gone bad. Knowing I had to get my friend to San Diego for her high school reunion, I needed a car. Just goofing around, I went on Priceline and offered a stupid amount of money for a couple of days, certain we would not get a car. We did. Only we needed the car longer than that... which meant we had to trade rental cars and juggle things a bit, which was frustrating.

In the turmoil of getting my friend to the airport this morning, getting the rental back on time, I had her take my gas card for Costco out of my purse and I placed it under my thigh. I do this as I'm about to buy gas to save time. Only, we were going to the airport first and I was wearing shorts. Yep, the card stuck to my thigh and dropped somewhere on the pavement outside Terminal 5. So I had to come home and cancel my credit card.

And the dumbest thing of all - I got my first burn on the torch! My friend wanted me to make her some beads - I made one of my prettiest hearts ever for her. I had pulled a green rod to make her a Christmas light. I stuck the thing in the flame and something caught my eye. I have a coding system that I mark on my rods to know what kind of glass they are and realized my numbers were in the flame. I quickly turned the rod around and stuck the other end in the flame, melted the glass and started my bead. As I went to lay the rod down, my hand was at an awkward angle. The way I remedy this is I stick the rod under my arm, rearrange my hand and then lay the rod down. Yep... I have a burn in my armpit! To make matters worse, it was the first time ever I wore a tank top while working!

I was really cool about it... after I threw the rod across the table. I kept my bead in the flame, grabbed a handful of ice from my water cup and shoved it in my armpit. I didn't even look at it til after I finished the bead!

Since my friend in on her way back to Mississippi, maybe my mental faculties will soon return. Let's hope...

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