Blubberin' around Big Sur.

"YOU ALL IS TEH BORING! Yaawwn!"

"Take that Bertha... hrrmph!"
"Aaah! You're biting me... TIME OUT! YELLOW CARD TO SID!!! HELP! Aaaah!!!"

A few miles north of San Simeon along the Big Sur live the famous ELEPHANT SEALS.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun still high, the Elephant Seal stop is a popular one with tourists. So we left, since they (the seals) were snoozing soundly. We wanted to see more than just a mound of blubber piled on top of one another, so we returned, at sunset - and we were a little less disappointed.

Off in the distance, a pair of seals had a spot of neck-duelling in the ocean - closer by we saw more neck-duelling and grunting, with their funny nose or upper lip appendages flopping around.

I am SO BORED of waiting... all you do is blog and blog all day long... so STOP YER BLOODY BLOGGING!!!!!
Now get in the car like you said you would... we're going for a ride.

Paws, Whiskers, and lots and lots of animal love!

Me: "Would you like a snack?"

Sirius: "If I look cute she'll give me a strawberry!

Sirius: "The sad puppy look never fails, she will cave in and give me the STRAWBERRY!!!" 

(I gave him the strawberry)

This is Bobo, caught trying to escape.

Autumn Pumpkin Bread - Edible ALL YEAR ROUND!!!

 Yesterday, I decided that it would make economical sense to purchase flour from Costco. 
Yes, the whole 11.34kgs.
That's a lot of flour. 


That's about equivalent to three human babies!

(Above) Check out the 'spout' on the top so you can pour it into your hot-tub because the mixing bowl's too small. Then you're well on your way to baking enough cupcakes for the state of California! 

No giant projects for me today though.
I need just enough for a little loaf of pumpkin bread!

Autumn Pumpkin Bread

Adapted from: http://breakfast.betterrecipes.com/autumn-pumpkin-bread.html

INGREDIENTS

1 cup white flour

3/4 cup wheat flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon all spice

dash of ginger powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup soy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup canned pumpkin

1. Add white and wheat flour into mixing bowl.

2. Mix in sugar* and spice and everything nice - including salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

*I took the liberty to reduce the amount of sugar by a tad and it actually does need the entire 1/3 cup there - unless you plan to eat your loaf with honey or jam.

 3. Now add in pumpkin, oil, soymilk and vanilla and mix well the wet, the dry, and the ugly*.

*Canned pumpkin reminds me a little of baby turd. For you with the eagle-eyes, bottom-right is not a photo-bloop but an almost baker-bloop. Caught in the nick of time is a little string of paper from the canned pumpkin jacket courtesy of the can-opener.

4. Mixture, looking more and more like turd, can now go into loaf pan.

5. Bake for 40-45 minutes on 180 celcius or 350 farenheit.


I
                            I        (and then)
I
V

NOM NOM NOM!!!

The Bus of Horrors... Tobacco Horrors!

If it is as horrible as this bus looks, it truly is a horror. If that cigarette dangling between your fingers should now spontaneously combust and you swear "I quit!", the job of this school bus is then done, and with a tired wheeze, it will declare itself retired. Until then, I guess, the wheels will continue to go round and round.

Tucked back in a secret parking lot I discovered because all the good spots were taken, the old bus lay.

It looks like something Willy Wonka would have conjured with his throng of oompah loompahs when chocolates no longer interested the public - i.e. never - therefore he did not in fact paint this bus.

But somebody did. Someone who really wanted the world to know that cigarettes are lethal. And that smoking makes your insides look like a gaunt woman with crazy mustard hair and an oily pock-marked face.




Someone once told me that in Boulder, Colorado, you could not light-up beyond the walls of your house.

I wonder if it's true.

And it starts with...

waa waa waa from the alarm clock that my darned fingers set every night. Whatever fancies 97.1 FM's disc jockey at 6 o'clock in the morning is that which jostles my brain. It goes off (the alarm, and more oft than I desire, the brain too), every morning without fail.
And without fail, every morning, I drag myself out of bed at least an hour later. Some people have this gift; I know three: my mother, M.L., and Sirius.




Sirius is my docile husky-malamute yawning in the background, also attempting to awaken. He is more than a little annoyed at my shoving the camera in his face.



I am guilty of anthropomorphizing him (and the moss that I bought for the garden the other day), but how can I not when he (the dog) brings around with him a purple soft toy raccoon, crying in search for it when I hide it in the bath-tub? The scenario reminds me of Linus and his blue blanket. Everyone needs a little blue blanket... that cup of coffee in your favourite mug, that one song in your iP... (left blank for whatever it is they will come up with next for us to spend our money on), that one person you get on the phone with when that never-ending day has finally fizzled to an end...





The dog must have his raccoon.


It's alright Sirius, you just keep playing with toys at the age of forty-two (dog years of six multiplied by humanizing factor of seven). No need to hide it, we can all see it. Just one more photo please!
And now I must have my coffee.