A friend and I kayaked the river last year, an eye-opening experience no matter how well you think you know our embattled waterway.
So it's great news to learn today the state of California has allowed the LA River to officially reclaimed its river status. Details here.
Driving home from the store yesterday morning when suddenly, the road sounded loud. Then it sounded specific, like hey, I can hear the ruts, and that rock and that stick, and then oh no, are we riding at a bit of an angle?
We were. The inner tread on the right front tire had worn so thin, it turned permeable. And just like that, we had a flat. (Channeling the Cat in the Hat. Sorry.)
I left the car and walked home because I had a meeting from 10 until 1, so by the time I called AAA and met the very nice (and hot and sunburned) tow truck guy back at the car, it was at least 130 degrees in the shade, and by the time he changed the tire and urged me not to drive more than a few miles on the cartoonishly small spare, my brain was fried and Saturday was shot.
So I took the back roads to the local CostCo, bought four new tires, and as I waited for them to be mounted (long line) spent close to three hours in the AC of the store, surrounded by glazed shoppers pushing enormous carts filled with enormous sizes of so much stuff that you know, once they got home and started blinking their eyes again, they were going to think, wtf? and, one more time, resolve to stick to the shopping list.
BUT I DIGRESS.
The point being (and I may actually have one) is that what with the heat and the traffic and the flat and the heat (and have I mentioned the heat? And the humidity? I mean, if it's going to be this humid, shouldn't there be ukeleles and leis and handsome men twirling flaming batons?) sorry, where was I? Oh, right.
The point being I haven't used my camera much the last few days so here's an easy, uncomplicated shot, sand and water and sea grass that, with the slightest flight of fancy, you can actually feel your bare feet sink into wetness, and know if you looked up, there it would be, blue horizon, as far as the eye can see.
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Sometime last year, Heather Armstrong linked to a fledgling web site by Shreve Stockton, who was raising an orphaned coyote pup in the wilds of Wyoming. Since Heather, aka Dooce, has a vast and loyal following, and since Shreve is a gifted photographer with an irresistible subject set in a gorgeous part of the world, the story of Charlie the coyote soon went viral. (And promptly -- and predictably -- started some fairly acrimonious conversations about whether it's right or wrong to raise a coyote.)
For a time, Shreve's first blog went dark as she worked on a book. She's back with a new blog, The Daily Coyote, and recently began posting again. Long story long (sorry), this is a video Shreve posted of Charlie playing with his new pal, Chloe. (If the Beastie Boys played at high volume don't sound appealing, get your mute button ready.) And if you're in the market for some good workplace distraction, the archives of both blogs are worth a look.
Yeah, because that would be the stupid part.
(SoCal twister here.)