I was at Trader Joe’s today to pick up a couple of free range chickens for Thanksgiving. It was very busy due to the holiday. At the checkout, I let the young cashier know I was a bossy bagger so no need to bag my groceries, I’d do it. “Oh cool, thanks! That helps a […]
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One day this summer, at low tide on a waveless day, I was walking parallel to shore in the shallow water to rehab my injured knee. A lobster wandering the sea floor startled me enough that I let out a tiny, little wee scream but he left me alone and I went on my way. […]
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So my cheap landlord hired a grifting contractor that has suddenly found a thousand things that have to get done with our apartment. The contractor decided that he needed to fix our bathroom subfloor around our toilet even though we’ve never had our toilet leak before. He casually informed my husband that they’d be doing […]
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I’ve been feeling kind of, “Whah! Poor me!” lately. Will I ever get to where I want to be professionally? Is anybody out there who cares? Maybe it’s the political situation that is seeping into me and bumming me out. The entire shutdown of the US government is not reassuring. Or it’s last week’s head […]
Read more »A couple of years ago, outside of my apartment, a pigeon flew past me frantically flapping his wings but barely being able to fly higher than about my shoulder. A pink plastic bag was attached to his foot. With each attempt to fly, just as he was becoming airborne, the bag would fill with air […]
Read more »I woke up to an orange sky and a heavy brown haze hanging over the city. Smoke from a fire a few hundred miles away was pressing down on San Francisco. For the second year in a row I dawned my dust mask every time I left the house and a coating of ash settled […]
Read more »Last week a couple of American cities were wiped out from a giant hurricane. The people in Florida are still in desperate need of help so please visit AmericanRedCross.org if you’d like to help. I watched Hurricane Michael on TV as it was coming to shore. It pulled sheets of steel off of gymnasiums, uprooted […]
Read more »I took a walk early one morning in a nice neighborhood up the hill from mine. Half way through, I came upon two crows eating a rat. Of course I was totally grossed out but also worried because maybe the rat had been poisoned.
Read more »I used to take care of a lonely cockatoo named Buddy. His home was a greenhouse in the backyard of his owner’s house that was rarely there. I was supposed to clean his glass house and feed him when Tony, the owner, was out of town. At first I was terrified of the big bird […]
Read more »Because my dog ReRe is an innovative go getter she made the decision early on that when she has to poop at the beach it’s best to wade knee deep into the ocean and let the waves immediately dissolve and wash away any evidence of it. This makes people furious. They like to lecture me […]
Read more »Last week there was a break in the incessant wind and fog of spring on the coast. The sun came out and the surf calmed down at my favorite beach. It was a Tuesday so the beach was empty. The dogs and I were the only ones that saw the big grey whale surface just […]
Read more »I recently witnessed the greatest moment of work rebellion ever. You know when you’re at work and you’re like, “No one’s the boss of me. You may have my physical body for the next 8 hours, but you can’t have my mind.” ? It was basically that sentiment being acted out with a six wheel […]
Read more »I’ve had a dream of growing grass in my mud pit of a backyard ever since I got my big, glorious dog Jasmine. Her two favorite things to do are relaxing and luxuriating and relaxing and luxuriating on grass. So this September I dug out all the useless clay soil around my patio and replaced […]
Read more »One morning last year, I got up before dawn to move my truck so I wouldn’t get a street cleaning ticket. I swung the door open and gasped. There he was, my neighbor’s raccoon. She had told me recently that there was a family of them living under her house. He was sitting on my […]
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