Category Archives: House

Birds Tortoise Dog

Birds on the fence eating the wild bird food Bruce puts out for them. We started out with only 4 or 5 birds, and that number has grown to sometimes losing count. They hang out and wait on nearby branches and wires until the food appears in the morning. 

Birds on a wire.

 
Tortoise v. Garden Ornament … Hogan seems to have gotten himself in a bind trying to navigate from one flower bed to another. 

 
Bear can’t seem to figure out how he got himself into such a dilemma. She’d help if she could. Really she would.

 
Yesterday this baby dove got itself stuck (hmm, do you see a pattern here?) on the deck outside our bedroom window. It tried to fly away but couldn’t get past about half way up the railing glass.  

   
I gave a little help by scooping it up. When I lifted it above the railing, it sat in the palm of my hand for a few seconds until a gray dog barged out and scared it away. As soon as it flew to a tree across the street, both its parents appeared from the neighbor’s yard and followed it. I was really close to getting a photo of it in my hand until Bear scared it away. Photo op of a lifetime – poof! 

 

iNdia countdown – 3 days.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Another empty nest

When I returned from the Bay Area we had two babies whose parents fled the scene, which if you’ve been following up on my blog would know that this is normal behavior in the dove world. There they are up above nestled (hmm, I wonder where that word came from …) together in one of our hanging pots. 

Here’s another picture Bruce captured. I think they were wondering if he was their mommy. 

 
Sunday night it appeared one of them (standing on the rim) got hungry enough to contemplate jumping. 

 
After the jump, I captured the mommy and baby on the next door neighbor’s roof. The quality isn’t the greatest because the picture was taken through the screen.

The other baby stayed in the nest overnight wondering where its sibling went.

 
By Monday evening this baby was also gone. So we’re now left with another empty nest, watching for doves and wondering if those we see might have been raised in one of our hanging plants.

It’s no wonder why the doves would choose our yard, with beautiful plants blooming randomly like the ones below I photographed this morning. 

    
   
Blogged on Amma’s iPhone from the new and beautiful Carmel Valley Kaiser Medical Office with LOVE!

Beautiful miracle

This baby’s due soon, and I can’t wait to see him! 

Speaking of babies, I came home to learn our new babies had already been deserted by their parents.   


This morning, wondering if anybody’s coming back to feed them. 

 
Aren’t they cute? The parent doves have been whoo whoo-ing close by trying to get them to fly down.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

 

Empty Nest – Full Nest

Our babies are gone – above is one of the babies after it left the nest last week.

We were so sad to see them go, we went to the pet store and bought a feeder, dove food and mealie worms hoping to keep them around. Plus I think Bruce thought the babies needed us to continue to support them. Isn’t that what parents do?

 
Now we have another hanging pot occupied by nesting mom and dad. This one we can see from the deck outside our bedroom. I’ll try to get a photo soon but don’t want to scare them at this early stage.

Yesterday I had NINE students in my yoga studio! Here they are doing inversions. The ones in the foreground are doing Halasana (plow pose), and the ones in the back are doing a variation of Salamba Sarvangasana (supported all limbs pose aka shoulder stand). One of my students is being scheduled for two shoulder replacements, so I’ve got her doing a variation with legs up the wall to keep the pressure off her shoulders.

 
 

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

A good morning

The rose was along our walk this morning.

Luckily for Bear, no other dogs were at our private beach so …

 
Bear ended up with a sandy tongue & a bad case of Ass Dragon on the way back up the hill.

In bloom – front yard.   

  
In bloom – patio (a Debi Lilly Nino’s daughter, Gina gave us a couple years ago)

The babies are still in the nest, but from my calculations today is the day they should begin their next journey.  Will keep you posted.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Home Again

I’m still struggling with this pesky cough and dizziness. I ended up at the doctor yesterday, and he thinks I’ve got bronchitis. I’m now on antibiotics and resting again today with Bear. She doesn’t seem to mind having me hang around with her all day.

Check out the hummingbird I saw in the yard over the weekend. 

 

We Skyped With Robb Akuch & Alo Sunday night. Had a horrible connection and needed to use our phones for the audio. Alo had a little too much sugar that day & was bouncing all over the place. 

 

Earlier in the week Akuch sent me this photo of Dr. Alo taking the shark’s temperature. At least he found the right end!

 

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone from bed with LOVE!

Winter Blooms & Sparty walks!

Ron took this short footage yesterday of Sparty walking. The music in the background is perfect for the event!

Such a cutie!

We have some beautiful orchids in winter bloom. I took these photos this morning.

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Ho hum … another beautiful sunny San Diego winter Santa Ana. Now if we could just find a good water source …

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Sparty, green beans & buds

Photo above stolen from Jen’s FB post.

I made these green beans last night using a recipe from Food.com. Not bad …

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And lastly, this orchid is quite happy in the patio. I really enjoy taking a stroll out there & checking out all the new growth, buds & flowers.

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Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Hey! That’s my pillow!

Don’t let me wake you up… Sheesh!

Sparty didn’t seem too upset about Jen going back to work Monday.

20140806-073303-27183074.jpgHe’s such a beautiful baby, and check out those chunky legs.

We have a new orchid in bloom.

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… and some other orchids that’ve been blooming for a while.

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20140806-073506-27306914.jpgThe bloom just above smells like pina colata.

If I get reincarnated as an orchid, I want to have this view:

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It was a little overcast, but still not too bad to look at.

Today’s my Friday. Tomorrow, something to look forward to – lunch with Bill! Akuch … are you going to join us??

Blogged on Amma’s iPad with LOVE!

Alo meets Hogan

Alo spent some time with us yesterday. We sat in the yard a while playing and watching airplanes fly over, then we ventured over into Hogan’s yard. We first gave him a good aerial view of the 4-legged desert wonder.

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Then he got to sit and interact with him at ground level. No fear …

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Afterwards, we played in the yoga studio for a while where Bruce and I tricked him into walking 3 steps and a few minutes later he walked 4 steps. Walking toward me both times, he had a look on his face that said “Yo, Dude, check me out. I’m walking.” Then when he finally figured out he was being tricked he played the “cling-on” game and he wouldn’t let go of his death grip. Watch out everybody! Alo’s well on his way to be a 2-footed traveller! Watch for videos here.

Our neighbors’ realtor held an open house yesterday, and sure enough they set up a cozy little wine & view corner, utilizing the plywood piece of junk overlooking our deck and yard. I like the way they used a scarf to conceal the unfinished seam in the two pieces of plywood.

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Watch out for those splinters!

Blogged on Amma’s iPad with LOVE!