One thing led to another

Early this morning, before breakfast, I decided to water the plants in the back yard. It was exceedingly hot yesterday and as it was up to 71 degrees at 8:00 AM when I got back inside, shows signs of being just as hot today. (But I already knew it was warm from the sweat I raised do the "other.")

While I was out there diligently watering, I noticed some obnoxious weeds growing over plants that were intentionally being grown. I plucked more than pulled but spent about an hour filling my green bin. While it looks better to me without those weeds, I fear it may have been too late for some of the plants they overtook. Unfortunately, the watering leading to weeding did not include my getting my gardening gloves. Some of those weeds had spines.

Part of my watering includes filling the bird bath. It doesn't appear to be used as much as it was before cats, BC. I did see a small bird using it the other day, more from the splashing of water than actually seeing a bird, which was my primary clue that the bird was small. I don't mind priming a hunting ground for the cats as I suspect the birds are faster. At least all that they've brought in so far have been snakes.

The above then led to my sitting down to write this, which further delayed breakfast, shower, ..., and the ton of other stuff I made a mental note of before I got up this morning. In fact, thinking about all those things was the primary reason I got up as additional sleep was out of the question.

Yesterday was a very good day. It was great to wake up in a campground again even though it was the first time I had done so alone. I now have a much longer list of the things that I need to make sure I take on future motorcycle camping trips and a much shorter list of things I won't be carrying the next time. I also was shown the light, repeatedly, on why it is not a good idea to camp near the bathrooms. Even though I didn't have a flashlight or lantern, there were frequent visitors to the bathrooms who were willing to share theirs for a moment or two, long enough to halt my progress into sleep. Of course, the progress was probably more affected by the latte I had had in Cambria with dinner. It was there I learned about Plasket Creek in the first place.

I've already written about the fellow motorcyclist I met but he ended up saving me $17. He had not read the camping instructions correctly and paid only $5 for his spot instead of the $22 he was supposed to pay, which I had. (The $5 fee was for a common area for hikers and bikers, pedal pushers not motorcyclists, although she would have allowed it.) Since the ranger didn't want to take the time to wake him up and collect the rest of the fee, she was heading into town for her day off, she refunded $17 to me since I was right there.

I intended to stop in at the Big Sur Lodge for breakfast but as I passed, the road looked very much under construction and the lodge looked very closed. I even toured Carmel but a breakfast place never jumped out at me. I was still looking for one when I decided to get gas in Watsonville. Again, I didn't see any. I also didn't see a way back onto Highway 1 at my debarking point. After five miles, I was back to my exit on Highway 1, which this time I wisely didn't take. (I never did get breakfast but had a good lunch at Chez Shea in Half Moon Bay.)

Then I was home. It was so hot, the cats thought they were back in Davis. As soon as I opened the cat door, they both scampered outside and mostly stayed there. From the odor emanating from their litter box, I don't blame them for not wanting to walk by it too frequently. Cleaning the litter box is one chore that doesn't lead to any other. All I want to do afterwards is take a shower. Hey, that sounds like a plan.