Another fire!

So far this summer we've had a HUGE fire up in the high desert, by Big Bear and Morongo.  That one got extinguished with all of our rain last weekend. Now there is another one about 25 miles from where I board my horses.  It started near Mt. Palomar and is moving down toward Aguanga, which is where Highways 371 and 79 split.  One way goes over to Warner Springs.  The other way goes down to Temecula.  It's already at 200 acres and spreading and yes, the wind is blowing eastward today.

Yes, the bridge that collapsed affected the Interstate 10 route from California to Arizona.  It reopened yesterday at noon.  I drove down to our daughter's house in Indio on Thursday to help babysit and I was amazed by the lack of semi trucks on the highway.  They either went out Interstate 40, or went down near Alpine, near San Diego, and then to Yuma.  I saw the California Highway Patrol closure of the interstate down in Indio.  Traffic, to say the least, was VERY light!

Finally, there was a 4.3 earthquake near Los Angeles last night which apparently shook people out of their sleep!  What a weird summer we are having!

Vet visit

I sent my mobile vet an email last week asking her to come out and give the herd their shots and to check their teeth.  So, she came Wednesday afternoon.  Sunni and Gigondas have good teeth and don't need any dental work (phew!).  Quad can wait until Christmas break to have his filed down again, but Scout and Lucille were in need NOW!  All were good about their shots (including Sunni, who was "worried" for a while, but couldn't resist my female vet and her assistant!)  He's SUCH a ladies' man! :-)

Fortunately she did Lucille first.  Lucille frankly loved all the attention and was a GOOD GIRL!  We've noticed that she is dribbling her food and taking FOREVER to eat it.  But now, she has nice, smooth teeth!  NO hooks!

Scout, OF COURSE, was another story!  It took the vet about 15 minutes to get the sedative into her and that was the FIRST one!  Yes, she needed two!  The second one took about 25-30 minutes!  She backed up.  She nearly reared.  She got circled and circled in her corral and FINALLY the vet was able to get the second shot in her.  By then, she was so wobbly she could hardly walk.  I actually felt sorry for her!  But, she got her teeth done!  Turns out, she still had her wolf teeth, which the vet wasn't too happy about, but she came last summer, so she could have caught that then.  So, Scout took a LONG time.  The vet tried to remove them, but one was so close to the artery, she just decided to file them down.  She'll have to check Scout again during Christmas break.

I'm glad this got done before I head back to school in a couple of weeks...ugh...

I LOVE my vet!  She's very gentle, relaxed, and has a soothing voice with the horses.  She's also young.  She assisted Lady, our German Shepherd, when she passed over the Rainbow Bridge.

Rain, lightning, and thunder...oh, my!

Hurricane Delores arrived in the valley Friday and boy, did she pack a punch!  First, we had a haboob.  A haboob is a wall of dirt and dust that moves across the land.  One minute I was looking out at our mountains and 10 minutes later, they were GONE!  Here's a photo from the Toro Peak webcam showing the wall of dust (the haboob):

Then the winds hit.  Then, all day yesterday we had lightning, thunder, and RAIN!  REAL RAIN!  It rained on and off for nearly 24 hours!   :-)  Power went out in Indio and lightning hit a palm tree there, which started a fire.  New "low" temperatures were set yesterday, too, and more rain is in the forecast for today, although this morning, the sky is clear.  I do see some clouds popping up over the mountains, however, and it will probably be raining again by 2:00 p.m.  I didn't even bother going up to the horses yesterday, since it was raining there by 8:00 a.m.  I'm not sure about today, either.  If I can get going by 8, I think I will miss the storm...we'll see...

Kitten update

Both of the feral kittens are still with us.  The black & white one hides under the huge Chinaberry tree out back and only comes out to eat breakfast and dinner.  The little tabby (male) greets me at the back door every day now for breakfast & dinner.  He's fascinated with all the birds that come out front and I am watching him right now.  He's hunkered down next to one of my old lavender bushes and earlier this morning, he threw himself at a couple of doves, who laughed at him as they flew away.  He's quite a character!  He now lets me touch him and if I'm late with a meal, he's complaining at the door!  He makes his morning around to the water bowls, then lies in the mud next to them and watches the birds.  Right now, he's so sleepy, he can barely keep his eyes open!  Well, maybe he'll open them for a bird!  Here he is this morning, exhausted after trying to catch a dove or two! :-)