The Skunklets

A few of you have requested to see my photos of the baby skunks we saw while out in California. On Friday evening we went for a walk around the Loma Linda campus and somewhere along the way we spotted a group of baby skunks looking for supper. I carefully approached them and got within about 15-20 feet of them and then used my camera zoom to do the rest. Since we were there for a wedding I really didn't want to ruin things by getting sprayed... Most of the photos turned out blurry (because of the low-light), but a couple of them with the flash turned out good.

Enjoy!

It's Raining! (finally)

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Woohoo! It's raining! I don't think I've ever been so excited about rain before.

Let me explain. Here in Tennessee we are in the midst of an "exceptional" drought (the worst kind), and as a homeowner with a dry crispy lawn, struggling garden and thirsty trees this is a very happy occasion. I feel so old... . :)

The rain has been a steady downpour for the past hour, complete with lightning and thunder which Tofu doesn't care much for. In fact she's been hiding under the couch waiting for the storm to pass... .poor kitty.

• See also this blog entry from Jane11

Cloudland Canyon Hike

Later that same day Jane11, Er!c & Todd headed out to Cloudland Canyon to meet up with Gil & Jen for a late-afternoon hike.

We hiked down to the river (which was more like a trickling creek) and waded in the water. Then we climbed on rocks and also jumped a fence.

Here's a group photo of us from Gil & Jen's photo blog.

Old Friends

This weekend Er!c's cousin Wendy was in town visiting from her mountainous island in the Philippines (make a donation). Ami & Daniel drove down from Nashville to visit her, so we invited everyone over to our house for lunch. It was a fun get-together because we all knew each other from either college, academy (high school), or even earlier...

Todd, Er!c, Jane11, Ami, Daniel, Noah, Ruthie, Wendy

California Trip [Day6]

Tuesday was our last day in California. We (Er!c, Jane11 & Todd) made it to the airport in plenty of time and even made it to Atlanta on schedule. From Atlanta Todd had a direct flight to Chattanooga and the two of us (Jan'Er!c) had to fly to Nashville where our car was. After several departure delays (for all 3 of us) and then taking the wrong airport shuttle in Nashville, we finally made it to our car -- and after a long drive home we crawled into bed at 2:00 AM... Zzzzzz...

The infamous L.A. smog

Hungry Jane11 finds a treat in her purse. Hurray!!!

California Trip [Day5]

On Monday we headed into Los Angeles to experience a typical slice of California life. Our first stop was Venice Beach, a rather unique spot where the eccentric, eclectic, counter-culture crowd seems to gather. There were numerous drug paraphernalia shops, people openly selling "medical" marijuana, tattoo & piercing shops, and homeless people begging for beer, but it wasn't too scary (as long as we were in a group). There was also a famous outdoor gym there where Arnold "the Governator" use to frequent back in his musclebound, Mr. Universe days.

After experiencing the bizarre slice-of-life at Venice Beach, we headed over to the Farmers Market & The Grove which is a very trendy large partially-outdoor mall where Hollywood celebs are sometimes spotted. We met up with Jay and Christina at the Farmers Market and then all headed over to an Ethiopian restaurant for supper. Yummy! After supper Jay and Christina headed off to Fiji to continue their 2 week honeymoon.