Garage Sale Weekend

Lyndsey assured me that it was time to start getting rid of some of the extra junk we have been accumulating and moving around with us. For example three window AC units that we brought out from Texas. We are in San Diego, by the beach, we do not need the those any more. Plus we had allot of extra junk we have collected from our stores and offices over the past 8 years.

We decided to ask our front neighbor if we could have the sale in his yard because we live in an alley house. We knew that we would get more traffic if we were on a street. He was fine with that so we got an early start. Lyndsey had everything ready to go at around 6:30 am. This is important because you get allot of your migrant shoppers first thing in the morning. At around 8 am you start to get some neighbor shoppers then around 10 am you start to get some younger family shoppers. We wrapped up the event at around noon, and afterward continued on with the rest our Saturday chores ie. going to the beach and relaxing.

Overall it was a success as we got to unload some of our junk to our neighbors around our community and south of the border. It was pretty funny to us that we actually got a couple of complaints from our patrons. People would actually complain about what you had and didn't have to sale to them. It reminded us of an old quote that we read in a retail book about people called "Why We Buy" by Paco Underhill. It said that 1 out of 5 people are natural complainers. They will complain about everything, even when there is no reason to complain. The book went on to say that if you are not getting one out of five patrons complaining about your prices then your prices are to low. In retail that is good to know, during a garage sale you just have to laugh quietly to yourself . Having worked in the service industry for a number of years I can agree with this statement. Spoiled kids grow into spoiled adolescents that grow into spoiled adults. I remember seeing grown men in their 30's act like un-diciplined 5 year olds for no other reason then to get their way. This reminds me of the truth found in an Hebrew Proverb, "Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child." Our Garage Sale complainers were not so bad, just a couple of old dudes in cars so full of junk that you couldn't tell where the vehicle ended and the junk began. They informed Lyndsey that this was a girly garage sell, one even called it a foo foo sell. They probably felt that way because of all the old books and jewelry she was selling and lack of tools and hardware I was holding onto. She told them AC units were pretty manly and so were our old
computer cords and accessories. I think that they were taken away by her determination because she actually managed to sell something to both of them.

Some Fun Little Waves

We finally got some fun little waves a week ago so Lyndsey & Judah decided to come down to the cliffs and snap some shots of me trying to surf.

It was pretty small but I manged to get in a couple of turns. Lyndsey caught this sequence on small chest high wave.

Now it will be easier to pay rent next month knowing that we had some fun
surf.

Hanging Out

We added a few extra perches in the chicken coop so that the chickens could get off of the ground if they wanted.

Every morning we catch them hanging out on their new perches. They like to sit up as high as they can and cluck away at each other. So far they have been quite a treat. We are expecting our first set of eggs in the next month or so. Can't wait.

Big Fat Stinker

So our dog likes to eat. Well that might be an understatement. Our dog, likes to eat allot. He likes to eat so much that if he finds food he will eat as much of it that he can until he gets sick. Then he mopes around and wines for a couple of days until his body digests and passes everything he just devoured. We have learned to add locks/latches to all of our cabinets because Fatso, aka. Judah, will wait until he is home alone and then help himself to anything he can get his paws on. In one week he devoured, three loaves of bread, a couple of packs of tortillas and two bags of chips. We finally agreed we were losing this battle so we figured out how to latch the cabinets shut with a loose nail. Once he couldn't get into our pantry anymore he started to look for new options. We keep some extra kibble on hand, just in case we run out of raw food for him, and he found out how to get to that. This was a little more complicated because not only did he figure out how to open the bottom cabinet, but he also figured out how to undo two latches on the Tupperware container to get his food out. All this from a dog that doesn't know the command STAY for longer than 10 seconds. So that's all cute and annoying, especially when you have to hear him moan and groan as he embarks upon a night of having to empty his bowls twice an hour for the next 12 hours.

The other day our folks were in town visiting from Oklahoma. Now Judah and his Gammy (Lyndsey's mom) have a special relationship. He likes her so much that whenever she is in town he manages to forget everything that he has learned and turn into a Anarchist puppy, complete with wagging tale and mad slobber. It is when Gammy is in town that his skill level as an Anarchist dog goes up a couple of notches. In the past he has taken drugs by helping himself to her meds, learned the art of opening a refrigerator without a thumb, and also learned how to unpack Gammy's bag that just might have some food, treats or more drugs in it. As soon as he hears her voice his ears perk and he goes into overdrive, so needless to say it wasn't too much of a surprise that he figured out how to brake into the cabinet and managed to eat over 5 lbs of his dog food the day she got in.

Now, believe it or not, but this post isn't even really about our Anarchist dog and his neurotic relationship with his Gammy. This post is about what happened the night we had to leave the back door open so he could use the bathroom without having to wake us up. We said goodnight to the folks and then went to lay down ourselves around 10pm. At about 12am we start to hear dog crying form outside. We got up to see what it was and Judah decided to hop the gate and climb up to the roof, even though he had no way of getting down. A little adventurous for a sick dog, but whatever, we have yet to mistake him for being too smart or anything like that. After lying down for another hour we start to hear him barking around 1am. Lyndsey jumped up to see what it was then all of the sudden I heard the back door slam. He got sprayed by a skunk, and everything was starting to smell. This wasn't the first time this happened so we knew not to let him into the house. Now it was tough luck for the Puppy, he was going to spend the rest of the night outside.

Later on that night, or early the next morning, we decided to check on him. He had spent a good portion of the night trying to rub the oil off of his face, so his face was covered in Mud. He looked kind of cute but more pathetic. We walked him around the house to the hose and started washing him. Now we learned last time that tomato juice just doesn't work. So don't use it it is a waist of time. The only thing that it does is cover the smell to you. You may feel after a few hours that the skunk smell is gone, but if a friend comes over they can assure you that not only does your house reek like skunk, but it also reeks like tomato juice as well. The best thing to use we have found is a home made concoction of 1 Quart of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (fresh and unopened). 1/4 cup of Baking Soda. 1 teaspoon of Liquid Soap. We wash him while mixture is still bubbling. Then we rinse him water and repeat if necessary. This mixture is good for around 20 minutes before the chemicals start loosing their power. We gave him a couple of baths around 10 minutes apart and the smell pretty mush dissipated that morning. Unfortunately for us he managed to find where the skunk sprayed in the yard and rubbed in it again later that afternoon, but that wasn't nearly as bad as the actual spray itself.

Sunset at the Cliffs

The waves have been pretty small for the most part with the exception of a a few days of chest to head high sets.

Whenever we have time it is nice for us to take a quick trip down to the Sunset Cliffs to check out the sunset while we let the wild animal run around. The Sunset Cliffs is a state park that is a couple of mile from our house. It extends for a few mile stretch south of Ocean Beach and dead ends into the Point Loma Nazarene University. Lyndsey likes to run from our house to the end of the road which is around a 5 mile trek there and back. The park has a number of beaches and reef's to hang out at or explore. When the tide is super low, which happens a couple of days a month, we like to explore the beaches with Judah. You can walk for miles down the beach until you start to get nervous about being stranded on a beach if the tide decides to turn and come up to fast.

When the North West swells come in a few weeks the cliffs will start to light up with some fun waves. The set up at the Sunset Cliff's is ideal for surfing. The point blocks allot of the wind, and the kelp bed about a 1/2 mile off the beach keeps down the wind chop. This leaves the conditions glassy, which is ideal for surfing, while many of the other spots are blown out. The Sunset Cliff's got its name for the fact that this is where the cliffs dump into the sea. There a few scattered beaches but for the most part it is just cliff and reef. This makes getting in and out of the water a little tricky with options changing with the tides. Entry into some some of waves consists of jumping off of a cliff into the water. This can get a little harry if you do not know what you are doing. Timing and wave knowledge can make it a fun easy entry, lack there of can get a little messy. Getting in is the easy part, getting out is a whole another monster. I've had to paddle 1/2 mile up or down the beach at times to find a place to get out. Needless to say many of the spots are not for beginners which assists with crowd control on big days.