There was thunder during the night Thursday, and wind - and it was chilly enough when I got up Friday morning to put on a robe! Once it got light out I could tell we got rain; it's been a very good monsoon season.  But the wind certainly had blown a bunch of stuff into the pool.  Even though the pool guy would be showing up I did scoop out most of the leaves and needles after I got Creepy happily situated.

Jim upped some of the weights, so it was a challenging workout yesterday morning.  I did have a reward in store, since we were lunching with Marcie & Mike and Wanda for Mike's 70th.  We pigged out at Pork on a Fork, where I enjoyed the beef brisket.  Though Tom and I had been there before (though quite some time ago) it was a 'new' place for the three of them - who were all impressed with their lunches and plan to return.

When we dropped off Wanda we went inside for a bit, and I tried to figure something out on her iPad for her.  Unfortunately I was not successful, but after a long time on the phone later with Apple Help she got it taken care of.  No wonder it was beyond me!

This morning I woke before 5:30, and once it was light I took care of the pool.  The weather is delightful, so around 7:00 I decided to take Brownie to the dog park.  He was beyond thrilled to "go" some place.  When we got there the Little Dog section was empty, so we started off in the Big Dog area.  There were close to two dozen happy dogs who really just wanted to play, but Brownie was having no part of that.  He was much happier when a small white dog showed up on the other side and we joined him.  Then a 7-month-old puppy showed up.  A shy rescue (black lab and border collie mix?) who'd only been in his new home less than a week, Tommy was new to the social situation, so Jeff was thrilled that Brownie taught him how to play.

For some time I've been wanting to use the electric hedge trimmer on some of the overgrown bushes, and today I tackled three of them.  

Our bird of paradise, 

the oleander by the side gate, 

and 'whatever' shrub <g> is growing in the corner of the front porch.

Not only do they all look much better after their major trimmage, but the walkway from the driveway to the front porch is no longer compromised.  At least that's what I thought, until I saw this photo taken from the other angle:

So while it's a lot better than before, obviously I didn't trim straight up.