Alex and Aja arrived home from Rocky Point at 11:30 last night (I was still up reading) and picked up Tyga.  Despite enjoying himself here at Dodge Doggy Daycare, he was happy to see them.  Because of the late hour I didn't chat with them, but assume they had a great time.  Here's a pic Alex posted on FB:

They'd gone to help a friend celebrate her birthday, and definitely were not slumming it; they stayed in a penthouse condo which belongs to the parents of one of their group.

Obviously there was a little drinking...

Today's it's not quite as steamy out, so this morning I took advantage of that and did a bunch of yardwork.  Trimmed more of the very overgrown bushes out front, and even got everything into the trashcan just in time as the trash truck was pulling up.  Then I trimmed a few bushes out back, and between that and all the downed pine needles I raked up I managed to completely fill one of the newly emptied trash cans.  By the time I finished it definitely felt good to get into the (only 84-degree) pool!

Tonight I'm on Dinner Duty, which means a trip to the grocery store after my doc appointment this afternoon. I'm trying to figure out why my thumb/wrist still have not recovered from when I overdid them at OT the end of May.

Time to post some more Hot Springs PIX

now that our electricity has been restored. 

It's always fun to see the various vehicles and their bumper stickers.  During the Members Weekend there was even a semi (technically, though just the cab without the trailer and with all its wheels 'scrunched' up.)

This is an organization in Alamosa that brings (disadvantaged?) kids up to the hot springs for all sorts of science activities.

I had heard about tents that connect to the back of vehicles, increasing storage capacity and eliminating the need to go outside in inclement weather to get stuff - and here one is.  Someone had a great idea!

Can't lose this vehicle in a parking lot...

and probably not this one, either.

Doug Bates customized his mini-van with a little pop-up.

This isn't exactly a vehicle, but they guys figured out a way to get Janet up to the bat cave.  Usually it's a 2-mile hike up (and then 2-miles back in the dark), with a steep trail at the end.  They drove her most of the way, and then rigged up this litter for the last 100 yards or so.  She was so thrilled to finally be able to see the outpouring of (estimated 25,000) bats at dusk, and was moved to tears.  I snapped a photo from this image on Michael's phone.  

And here are some of the bumper stickers and decals I 'collected' -

I WANT ONE OF THESE -

or maybe this one.

A couple more I wanted to post, but for some reason (because it's a computer?) the pictures show up in my folder but are NOT accessible when I use the add images button on my blog.

Here is the teepee where Cynthia has her massage table set up.

(I love those crisp puffy clouds!)

This is the Smoking Shack (not supposed to be smoking at any of the pools any more) with the Sunset Rooms just visible behind the red vehicle.

And here's the astronomy area, when it was still under construction this summer.  IF you look closely you can see one (of the four) wheel set-ups inside in the corner (look for a splash of red) which will be used to roll the hut over the telescopes when they're not being used.  Doesn't look like this arrangement be easy since the pad under the hut is exactly the width of the hut; if it gets moved to the side just an inch (highly likely since there's no track) it'll be off the pad.  In the future they may be pouring more cement...

This is the 10-inch telescope, awaiting its new home, 

and some smaller ones.

A day or so after I took these I did see part of the roof siding had been put on, but didn't have my camera with me to document the progress.  

Enough playing - things to do before I head off to Sunday's Boot Camp at the gym.  I'm not as sore as I had feared, though still predict I'll be lucky to make it through a reasonable portion of the session.  But here's my mantra:

When I couldn't access my Pinterest account on my iPad this summer to share pix of my quilts, I was glad that at least a good portion of them appear on the right side of my blog (when you scroll down.) I've just added some of the MIA ones that were easy to find.  When I find the others, I'll add them also.

It's been rewarding to see the pile of mail slowly disappear as I deal with things and then either toss or put away the paperwork.

Also made phone calls (some more productive than others) and took care of some e-mails, though with it being the weekend some stuff just needs to wait until Monday.

Patti came by for a bit this morning after her hike and we caught up a little.  The plan is to get together next weekend when she has a 3-day weekend.  Things are so busy in the office at school this time of year that she's slammed and having to bring stuff home to do.

Somehow my automatic payment to Netflix ended up on a different VISA card from everything else, and after all these years I decided today was the day I'd switch that over; it would be nice to only have to write/mail one check to Bank of America each month.  It was surprisingly easy to access my Netflix account and go to the page for changing my billing.  But after 3 tries of deleting the old info and typing in all the numbers for the new card, it still gave me the same error message, 'suggesting' I try a different card.  So I called Netflix - and even got to talk to a real person without much of a wait - hoping there would be more information at their end; if I knew what the actual problem is I could (possibly) fix whatever the computer is unhappy about.  No such luck, and will have to deal directly with Bank of America.  What should have taken just a  minute or two....

We had thunder and rain last night and also this morning (predictable because we had irrigation last evening) with lots of beautiful clouds.

Did some trimming of dead stuff in the raised planter by the garage, so that's looking better.  Sure is steamy out, and I am very grateful that our humidity only lasts a few weeks!  

Party Pool PIX  :-)

Whenever I need to visualize a calming thought, I have no trouble choosing a venue.  Following are just a few of the many shots I took this summer of the PP.  When I arrived the end of June the sunflowers were not blooming, but as the summer progressed so did the profusion of color; since I'm posting in chronological order you may also notice that.  FYI It's entirely possible I snapped as many pix at the Party Pool as all others combined, trying for that perfect shot, but of course <G> will not post all of them. 

This view, to the east, is what I would see upon my early morning arrival. The overexposed green on the right is a little meadow where the does often grazed, though the fawns tended to stay closer to the trees.

Now I'm in the pool,

swinging my view southward

until I am looking west, over the valley,

to where the water flows out of the pool

and down to the swimming pool.

I never tire of this view, and of course the clouds changed all the time -

it just got prettier and prettier as the sunflowers started blooming.

Even with my toes photo-bombing it's a wonderful view!

It's going to be hard to choose a favorite for my art quilt...

This is the trail from the swimming pool up to the party pool, which is 'hiding' right behind the sunflowers.  The creek on the left is the overflow from one pool to the other.

Yes, these sunflowers.

If you look past all the color you can see the beginning of the trail to the Top Pools.

This is the view from above, on the way back down  from the Top Pools.

Yes I know these next 4 shots are similar... just can't choose a favorite!

Of course much of the time there were other people in the pool. 

Warren was a master builder:

and he always had an approving audience, like Reina!

The deer were well aware of our presence, 

and there was never any need to stop conversation on their account!

Other critters included damselflies, much smaller (and I think prettier) than the dragonflies.  Damselflies were perfectly happy to land on me and visit, but usually my camera was safe on land.  I was lucky to catch these guys.

And speaking of critters, Bob was back 

prowling the pool over Members Weekend.

Will with Booster

who of course was not inclined to soak

 but instead hang out by the John Lennon memorial (at the base of the post with hooks for hanging towels/robes in the previous picture) until Will comes to his senses and gets out of the water.

Ilene and Mike

Artie and Donvan

Christine, 

who sculpted Ganesh

and a flutterby.

Lil with her family

and finally here I am.  

Forget who offered to take this picture, but it came out great!

Of course I wasn't always relaxing...here are the steps 

after I scrubbed them of moss and 'deslipperyized' them.

Now that I've played at the hot springs I really should get something done - like make a second pass at the mail!