Dog Day In Autumn

Today I spent several hours helping my friend Janet at her place get some projects finished up before she goes in for surgery on her hand this next Tuesday. My little pet feline monster Tequila always enjoys going to Janet's little homestead as it gives her a chance to socialize with other dogs and cats and get outdoors a bit not to mention bark at Janet's birds. Below are some images of my little dog's deeds today.

Tequila always tries to dominate Janet's puppy Ruby (left) while avoiding getting munched by Munch (top).

Munch (left) having just rolled around in the dirt being distrustfully watched by Tequila (right).

Munch ominously sniffing Tequila's butt as if to say, "out of my way, bitch!"

Tequila is relentless in her domination attempts on Ruby making Gizmo (top), Janet's other dog jealous.

Tequila "hitting that". All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Boycotting The Bag Ban

San Luis Obispo County recently enacted an insane bag ban that altogether bans plastic bags and requires a 10-cent charge for each paper bag accepted by a customer at all retail stores over 10,000 square feet. This ban places steep fines on those who violate it. Now dirty reuseable bags will be reused by most people while in the meantime the plastic and paper will continue be produced as bi-products of other industrial activities, to wit, the petroleum and forest products industries. This asinine piece of local law has been a flaming stick up my ass the past several weeks since it took force October 1st. I am indefinitely observing a boycott of this ban by simply loading up my cart with my groceries and then placing them in my car directly sans bags and then once home unloading them from my car sans bags. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

An Autumn Storm Skyscape

This afternoon my friend Janet called me up needing help getting some straps tossed over a trailer she needed to haul to the Justin Winery processing facility here in Paso Robles, CA. She was out at a vineyard over on the East Side from which Justin was purchasing grapes and the trailer loaded with grape-filled tubs was Janet's job to transfer Justin. It was a nice change of pace to get out onto a vineyard I would normally not be welcome to enter and while their get a great view of a the sky and the passing storm cells that were over us today. In town where I live such a skyscape is more obscured by trees and buildings and utility poles and cables but out on that vineyard I was in prime position to see the sky. Below is what I captured and are shown in order taken.

View looking southeast.

View looking south.

View looking west with foreboding sky looming over the truck.

View looking northwest with cirrus outflow and anvil clouds showing.

Mammatus clouds showing under the anvil of this storm.

View looking southeast again.

View looking east from the Justin processing plant in Paso Robles, CA.

View looking southwest from the Justin Winery processing facility. All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

My Beloved Biconoid Tubes

In 2008 or 2009 my then-girlfriend and I purchased the only old collection that K&K Earthwerks ever purchased. It was small by old collection standards and was all that remained of the collection of an old rockhound and lapidary couple whose daughter then-living in Atascadero, CA, sold to us. During their lives the old couple had been members of the now-defunct(and still-defunct) Estero Bay Gem & Mineral Club. This collection contained a lot of leverite (leave-'er-right there) but there were some nice finds contained therein as well. One of them was a half-cut biconoid from Templeton, CA, from right in the middle of the now-legendary Twin Cities Hospital collecting zone now mostly covered by development. I held onto this piece keeping it as a yard rock but recently asked a fellow member of the Santa Lucia Rockhounds, to wit, Galen Moyer, to polish it for me which he did a fabulous job of and what this revealed within the stone blew me away: silica tubes!

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Meet "Munch"

My friend Janet owns a monstrous cat named "Munch". Munch is monstrously HUGE, heavy, fuzzy, friendly, funny and zany.  This image has not been altered in any way and he actually is that large.  He is even larger than my dog Tequila seen here in the background looking rather jealously at the attention given to Munch earlier this afternoon. He enjoys being held by his "momma" in the manner shown above and oft elects to sleep on her chest at night which as one might imagine is unnerving. Munch also possesses a fetish for plastic which is manifested in his penchant for nesting in it at every opportunity.  Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - ARTery Wall Mural

The controversial wall mural by local artist Reilly Baker on the west wall at The Artery in Atascadero, CA, as seen this afternoon. A fair number of A-Town "provincials" got their panties in a wad about this non-sign as it pertains to the city's rather draconian municipal signage ordinances.  Atascadero Conservatives get upset about any hint of culture aside from kitchy arts and crafts and "enlightened" Atascadero Liberals support ideological anality such as the new bag ban. I'm so glad that after serving a 27-year sentence I finally escaped the asylum known locally variously as Atascabama and Atrashcadero.

Picture of the Day - Dusk Over Paso Robles Inn

A view of the Paso Robles just after sunset tonight as I was walking to dinner.  Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).