Category Archives: Nature
Squirrel Battles
Not sure what the squirrel wants from the Spanish Moss but nesting material, but this one seems determined, yet there’s a whole area full of Spanish Moss that he’s completely ignoring.
Snoopy followed by foster Moe checks out the taunting squirrel yet along, but the squirrel doesn’t give a fuck.
Kayaking with Daughter and Shea
Lazybear 2024 Root Bear Float
Butterfly Friends
We went to visit Shani Simmons today in her lovely home and yard. She’s a board member of the Bay Area Butterfly Festival and had a garden tour. There were many monarchs and finches in the yard, so she takes her volunteerism seriously! I’m glad Shea got a chance to meet her and I got to meet Shani’s husband Steve. I just realized I neglected to take a picture of the huge portion of her garden which was comprised of milkweed!
Half Moon Bay Visit
Shea’s aunt, cousin, cousin’s wife and cousin’s son, from Pittsburg, California (his hometown) were camping in Half Moon Bay. That happens to also be my dad’s old stomping ground from after his retirement from the Coast Guard since he had a commercial fishing boat there. We went out to see them (my first time meeting Shea’s family), which also served to escape the heat wave that was in the Bay Area. For those who aren’t familiar with the various microclimates in the area, the coast is almost always more pleasant during times like this. Surprisingly there was very little traffic for a Saturday, and we even got back in time for some pool time with friends in Vallejo, which was still well above 90 degrees when we returned around 6pm.
While in Half Moon Bay we did a lot of outdoor activities, including taking a long walk along the beach, rode the bikes with the cart for dogs hitched to one of them, which completely inspired me to get one for my electric bike. We also had some food al fresco, and played Rummy Tile, a board game inspired by Mahjong. I didn’t win either game, but at least I didn’t come in last the second time I played!
You’ll see in the videos that I come to a sudden stop at least once to make sure the dogs were okay behind me. They were carefully strapped in, but were probably unsure of what to make of the situation. Shea is filming when I did this so he almost ran into me. You can see it from two perspectives which we laughed about in the end. Fortunately no one was hurt during the making of these videos, least of all the dogs.
Glen Cove Sunset
Mare Island Hike on Father’s Day
Carquinez Summit
For the first time I hiked ALL the way up the hill to the point in the Glen Cove neighborhood of Vallejo where pme cam look down on the Carquinez Bridge and back at the toll plaza with Napa, Sonoma and Marin counties in one direction and Contra Costa in the other. Snoopy and Bonnie kept up incredibly well while tethered to each other on the tandem leash.
This picture was from a separate hike we took four days later:
Butterfly Festival on Mare Island
Very busy day in Vallejo (unusually so for a Sunday) but before hours of resting by the pool with the dogs, we did the Vallejo Garden Tour and was able to make a pit-stop at the Mare Island dock for this first annual event, a Bay Area Butterfly Festival. It was very well attended and I’m so proud of my friend Shani Simmons for helping to organize this with a team of dedicated nature fans!
Shea Grove and Greg Haretos are shown here with me as we took a bathroom break to stop by and show our support.











































































































































