The Little "Ugly Duckling"

Look closely, you'll see our place (explanation at the end of this writing).

The pups had an appointment with the groomer this morning at 10:30. We had requested just bathes for them so we weren’t sure how long she’d tell us before we’d need to be back. When she said, “How would 4:30 be?” I think we both wanted to holler “Hooray!” Lesa, the groomer, knows that part of the reason we bring our pooches to her is because we just want a break and time to head out and do some lookey-loueying and shopping.

So we immediately pointed the car toward San Luis Obispo, also known as SLO or Slo-town, to do some shopping and some looking.

We first stopped at Target, a department store. We wanted to look for area rugs because our little house needs carpeting, not because the plain beige carpet is terribly worn, but it is badly stained. We’ve had it cleaned several months ago, but the stains do not remove.  At Target we did not find an area rug that suits us. Shucks!

We also wanted to purchase an 8’ x 8’ piece of quality Astro-turf for one small plot of ground in the backyard for the pooches to rest in the sun or do their business. This plot is in the small fenced-in portion of the yard where the dogs have a patch of pea-gravel or a patch of tree-bark to walk or sit or lie. The former resident here told us he had put down the pea-gravel and woodchips because the winter rain had transformed the yard into mud. What he did is really quite nice, but the way the dogs walk on the pea-gravel reveals that it’s not their favorite surface and neither are the chips of wood.

After leaving Target, we went to the Honda dealer to get Mr. Fun the extra key for the car that will allow him to get into the car if he should step out and mistakenly lock his keys inside. The car doors sometimes lock themselves – the fancy technology on cars is new to us and Mr. Fun has not quite figured-out how to get the car not to do that.

After that we stopped at a place called “House of Bread” for lunch. We each ordered sandwiches and both were delicious. Then we decided to look for a car-wash – our car had been filthy. We found one and in a few brief moments the car was washed and the inside was vacuumed clean and everything sparkled.

We were off and moving again, this time to just look and see some of San Luis Obispo that we were not much familiar with. Soon we passed a place called “Furniture Factory” and we stopped just to look. I had been hoping to find a tall chest of drawers for our little bedroom and WE DID! We told the gal we need to go back home to measure to make sure it was the correct dimensions. So maybe, just maybe, we’ve found the right chest.

Then we made a quick stop at Trader Joe’s to purchase a small load of groceries and some beverages. The clock was nearing 4:00 and we knew we needed to get back to the coast to put away the groceries that needed refrigerating and then get to the groomers to claim three clean pooches.

What a day. We were glad to get back to Cayucos-By-the-Sea; a lovely small traffic-less community. The pups were glad to get “set-free” from the groomers. Soon we were all home. We prepared an evening meal of salad, spaghetti, and sour dough bread.

When dinner was over, we put the pups harnesses on, hooked a leash to each one, and walked to the shore; actually to the beach overlook (a nice deck just above the sand). I turned back to capture a shot of our little house -- it is the the LITTLE one just under the curved portion of the tree. The window on the right side is open, and on the left side is a "MacMansion" with blue trim. Above the house is California's Hwy.#1 (which is not quite visible). The story of the house is on the previous two days.

This has been a good Friday!
Good night from California’s Central Coast,
Rosie (& Mr. Fun, and Chloe, Mitzi, & Max), aka Carol