Lunar Eclipse

The bad news is that I had to go to work today.

The Good news is that since I had to go to work, I had a reason to get up and view the lunar eclipse. I am so amazed and thankful that we had mostly clear skies. So many times we have the marine layer and it obscures the celestial events.

I got up at 0530 and the moon was already halfway eclipsed. So the first pictures were taken from the office and I could not steady the camera enough to really zoom in. After I took my shower and woke up a little more I braved the cold weather, 40°F and yes that is cold for San Diego, and steadied my camera outside. By this time it was in a full eclipse and the moon had turned red. I must way it was very cool looking. I kept snapping photos until I lost it in the atmospheric haze.

Unfortunately I was losing it on the horizon haze

Fountain almost complete

Finally it didn't rain this last weekeknd and I was able to mortar the bricks for the seating area. The last three weekends we have had rain and were suppose to get more on Thanksgiving but it passed us by. Alhough I won't complain about rain, I just whish it was during the workweek.

I did make a mistake, it was really warm and somewhat dry and I was in the sun. I should have wet the bricks and the suface. I think the mortar dried out too fast and I am not sure they are set real well. The hard part was to get the joint mortar to stay where they overhang. I had to use a board and hold it until it set. I could to about 5 joints at a time.

I guess if they come loose I can always fix it.   Just don't dance on them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.

Courtyard Lighting

Since our grass is St. Augustine it really needed to be de-thached. Luis took care of that and also seeded it, without charging me, with another type of grass to give it substance and keep it green in the winter.

Once the G-man got all the plants situated the next order of business was to put in the lighting. When we got our "expensive" quote, the lighting was quoted around $3,500. I know!!!! We could not believe it either.

So we turned to our friend, Mr. eBay. We were able to get the lights (6 up lights, 7 large mushroom path lights, 4 small mushroom path lights, and a 600w transformer) for around $450. Then I needed 500ft of wire, so that ran me another $280 for 10-2 AWG (Home Depot). All in all not too bad and a far cry under $3,500.

**Truth disclaimer**- I had some issues with installing the lighting. For some reason I was getting serious voltage drop and could not figure out why. So I had to call our electrician Ray. Turns out at the end of the first run I had both the wires tied together, apparently that is frowned upon in the electrical world.

Once that was brought to my attention the rest was pretty easy. I daisy chained each light in each run and then filled the wire nut connectors with silicone to seal them up.

We are very pleased so far. Next we need to build the gates and finish the fountain.

HAPPY 236TH BIRTHDAY MARINES!!!!!

Rainbow

Rain, Rain...

Friday and today were rain events very much needed. In 2003 and 2007 we had major fires here and since we are still in fire season it was nice to have the rain. Hopefully this will get us through another year.
We were lucky and the sun broke through near sunset and were treated to a rainbow.

From the back porch

From the courtyard

G. Gordon Liddy planted my garden

The plants are finally in!!! Over 160 of them. Louis brought his crew on Saturday and Monday to put them in the ground. He still has to install the irrigation and put the mulch. I still have to install the lighting, complete the fountain, and build the gates. We are almost there.

I swear I had to do a double take because I thought he brought G. Gordon Liddy to plant. You be the judge. It was hard to get a photo of him, being a celebrity and all.

G. Gordon Liddy

Another photo of the G-Man

Museum Nursery

When I think of Museum I don't think of nurseries and vice versa. This last weekend we were on our final push to get all the plants. Tomorrow, Louis from Brothers Landscape, will come and begin the garden work. We hope to plant by next Saturday.

Sunday we went to Simpson's nursery and they also boast as having a car museum and it was darn impressive. It would have been so much easier to go to one nursery, give them a list and then have them deliver. But then we would not have had the opportunity to visit these wonderful places.
      Evergreen Nursery
      Terra Bella Nursery
      Simpson's Nursery

We are almost done with the exception of a few species of plants and one tree. We have finally decided upon the Crepe Myrtle 'Muskogee'. It is a beautiful tree that has purple flowers.

Pop Quiz: Is it Crape Myrtle or Crepe Myrtle? I have seen it both ways. First person to answer correctly gets a gold star. Unfortunately I have no clue if you are correct or not.

So far we have 150 pots to plant. Actually Louis had 150 pots to plant, not sure if he knows what he has got himself into ☺.

The Front entrance

Yes those are real, they just don't work

Yep that looks familiar

Panoramic view from Evergreen Nursery

Crepe Myrtle 'Muskogee'

Panoramic Sunset

So here is the deal. I learned how to make panoramic shots from multiple photos. So why is this important? It means to standby for many more panoramic photos. I know I have several posts of our sunsets but they are so gorgeous I just can't help it. Kinda like someone I know who took a LOT of photos of ducks. Also kinda like someone else I know who always cut off peoples head. You know who you are. But I digress.

hint-click on it to get the big picture ☺

October Storm

Our first storm of the fall/winter. I took a time lapse from our living room. Enjoy!!

To see a High Definition video click here.

Block Party

Yesterday was our annual block party. This is my third party and the second year that I was on the committee and I enjoyed this party a lot more. Last year we had a taco vendor and for the people to pay for a taco we used the raffle tickets that we sell. Since it was the first year that we had a vendor at the party it was all new and we used committee members to collect the tickets. The vendor was late and tried to leave early. Over all they were present for 3 1/2 and guess who got stuck there for 2 1/2 hours? If you guessed me then... ding ding ding... you when the prize!!! It was freaking miserable. That year we held it in September and it was close to 100F. Add that to the fact that I was standing next to a hot grill well, you do the math.

Since my momma didn't raise a fool, when it came time to decide who would find the food vendor this year I volunteered in a heartbeat. That way I could call the shots. I got a much better vendor and had them collect the tickets. And guess who didn't volunteer for anything else....?

Overall fun was had by all. Below you can check out the video for Chopper the biker dog.  The guy that owns Chopper also had Bandit the biker dog. Bandit was quite famous in San Diego and Chopper is getting quite a good reputation too.

If you want to see a High Definition of this video click HERE.

♫ Saturday in the Park ♫

 We arrived at Seau's at 0900 to watch the SDSU Aztecs take on the Michigan Wolverines. By halftime we were on our way for a sight seeing trip to Mt. Helix. Yes, unfortunately, the game did not go very well.

After our sight seeing trip it was back home, where I had a well deserved nap ☺.  Later we decided to go to Balboa Park for inspiration on the fountain and landscape.

It is always an adventure in California and today was not different. We first witnessed a group of people doing "Thriller". A guy was actually helping people learn choreography to the dance. It was kinda cool. He is the one in the black tank top.

Today there were a lot of Quinceañera happening. Also we noticed some people in CosPlay on the Spreckles stage. There was a small art fair and some guy with his face painted like a cat playing some kind of instrument and there was also a harp player.
 
We wanted to put some rocks at the bottom of our fountain pool and we just happened to find an example at The Prado. We will use darker rocks but it has a really nice effect.


All in all a very nice day at the park.

quinceañera

CosPlay..AKA...freaks.

She was actually really good

I told you his face was like a cat ☺

 

If you would like to see the high resolution video click here.