Beach Day and other stuff
It may seem weird to go to the beach in November, but I live in southern California where a chilly day at the beach is still about 60 degrees. Willow and I live about 20 minutes from the beach, and last weekend we decided to walk on it, having missed all beach opportunities the last time we lived in CA. We went again yesterday with JD and Keri, the original plan was to go in the morning at low tide, but my insomnia kept me up from 6am to 8am and I didn't get up "for real" until 11:30. With food and shower that meant we didn't get to the beach until about 1pm.
The beach was nice, though a different experience than last time. Tide was high, often crashing up against the sandstone cliffs. Willow wore shorts and shoes, Keri and I had pants (rolled them up) and shoes (removed them), JD kept his shoes on and used rocks and some quick dashes to avoid the water. Keri and I got soaked to the knees over the course of the afternoon. We picked up some neat mollusk shells (including some still attached to their mirror opposite) and rocks, which we intend to use with our Dwarven Forge conversions. We spotted some barnacles under the tide level, open and scooping food, which was neat. Saw a few playful dogs. Brought a bag to pick up trash, ended up with it full of bottles, plastic caps, and a waterlogged shoe. Eventually had to rush to drop the three of them at JD & Keri's place for dry clothes, I went home to vacuum and do laundry. They went to see Beowulf, which I have no interest in seeing.
One bit of annoyance: pulled into parking lot of our apartment complex, a guy in a car was talking to a guy outside his car (who was leaning down with his arms resting on the car's windowsill). Between the two of them they were blocking the driving area and I couldn't get past them to my part of the complex. Waited a bit. Outside guy stood up, turned my way (clearly saw me, big truck at 4pm, still daylight, 20 feet away), then leaned down and kept talking to his friend. I waited about 30 seconds, thinking he was going to finish up his conversation, and then when it was clear he was going to keep talking and make me wait, I held down on the horn for about 5 seconds. Not a little toot, I wanted to make it so he couldn't talk over the noise of the horn. The guy in the car pulls over more to his right and the standing guy moves over with him so I was finally able to pass. When really all he needed to do was just step around to the front of his friend's car for a sec to let me pass, or talk at him from the passenger side, or I dunno not idle in the middle of the driving lane so nobody can get by. Yes, he delayed me for about a minute and that should be a trivial amount of time, but bloody hell it's a driveway, not a stand-and-talk way....
Anyway, other than that it was a nice day.
The beach was nice, though a different experience than last time. Tide was high, often crashing up against the sandstone cliffs. Willow wore shorts and shoes, Keri and I had pants (rolled them up) and shoes (removed them), JD kept his shoes on and used rocks and some quick dashes to avoid the water. Keri and I got soaked to the knees over the course of the afternoon. We picked up some neat mollusk shells (including some still attached to their mirror opposite) and rocks, which we intend to use with our Dwarven Forge conversions. We spotted some barnacles under the tide level, open and scooping food, which was neat. Saw a few playful dogs. Brought a bag to pick up trash, ended up with it full of bottles, plastic caps, and a waterlogged shoe. Eventually had to rush to drop the three of them at JD & Keri's place for dry clothes, I went home to vacuum and do laundry. They went to see Beowulf, which I have no interest in seeing.
One bit of annoyance: pulled into parking lot of our apartment complex, a guy in a car was talking to a guy outside his car (who was leaning down with his arms resting on the car's windowsill). Between the two of them they were blocking the driving area and I couldn't get past them to my part of the complex. Waited a bit. Outside guy stood up, turned my way (clearly saw me, big truck at 4pm, still daylight, 20 feet away), then leaned down and kept talking to his friend. I waited about 30 seconds, thinking he was going to finish up his conversation, and then when it was clear he was going to keep talking and make me wait, I held down on the horn for about 5 seconds. Not a little toot, I wanted to make it so he couldn't talk over the noise of the horn. The guy in the car pulls over more to his right and the standing guy moves over with him so I was finally able to pass. When really all he needed to do was just step around to the front of his friend's car for a sec to let me pass, or talk at him from the passenger side, or I dunno not idle in the middle of the driving lane so nobody can get by. Yes, he delayed me for about a minute and that should be a trivial amount of time, but bloody hell it's a driveway, not a stand-and-talk way....
Anyway, other than that it was a nice day.