Ogii bought this little tree for my office in Los Angeles.
The laser doesn't turn on with the rest of the lights.
I thought maybe it's because it has its own light detector and won't turn on if it's not dark enough.
So I put some tape over the light sensor.
Although it still won't turn on with the rest; we still have to manually turn it on.
We got this timer for the backyard lights but it doesn't seem to work.
Until we talked to Mom on the phone and she mentioned you have to pull these pins on the edges up for what time you want it on.
Now the work fine.
A few more lights in front.
It's been cold, especially the east side of the house, so we put this towel down to help a bit.
Ogii really likes the whipped cream on her pumpkin pie.
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Ogii got a picture of an airplane near the moon.
I like this YouTube channel LGR where the guy goes over old computer technology from the 1980s and 1990s. I remember having to mess with ports and IRQs and DMAs to get all of the components to work correctly; now it's all automatic.
At Bixby Bridge to get a sunset picture. Most people hang around the front here.
But if you go on this little dirt road, you can get a view from behind the bridge. Also, most people leave right at sunset, but the colors are best 20-30 minutes later.
Like this over the ocean.
A local grocery store had a porterhouse steak.
We normally eat ribeyes, so I figured we'd give this a try. I Googled the difference.
A nice thick piece of fat along the side.
It was good, but we still prefer ribeyes as they have more marbling throughout.
Monica mentioned she uses these noise-cancelling headphones to sleep, so I bought Ogii some.
I had put my clothes in the car for a trip to Yosemite, but it was cold out there, so I threw them in the bed to warm them up.
That was taking to long, so I hit the with the hair dryer.
They're going to base stay-at-home orders by region based on ICU capacity. Yosemite is going to largely close down on Monday, so we better get in and out for the weekend.
There aren't even any rangers at the entrance station.
There's now a sign at the spring we like to fill water at that says the water is non-potable. I wonder if that's true or if they put up the sign to keep people away or for legal reasons.
A bit of frost, although no real snow in the valley.
Yosemite Falls is dry.
We were staying at the Yosemite Valley Lodge. Right beside it was the Base Camp Eatery.
Not many people there right now.
And the tables are all spread out.
A large mural with different ascensions of El Capitan.
Going back to 1962.
Meatloaf and potatoes.
Ogii by their Christmas tree.
Which had climbing rope and carbiners as gift ribbon.
We were hiking towards Yosemite Falls.
Although we were probably only going partway up to Columbia Rock.
As the full hike is much longer, it's a bit cold out, especially once the sun goes down, and there's no water anyway.
Face masks in the vending machine.
The start of the trail.
Some rock climbers.
Some scramblers.
Different trails.
Hopefully nothing falls on us.
The trail had a lot of switchbacks.
A very tall tree.
Ogii in her woods hoodie.
We can see Half Dome from this area.
A big rock held in place by a chain.
And two trees held together with a chair between them.
I think that's a bear box.
Lots of rocks here.
A view over the valley.
With me sitting on the ledge.
There are some areas which look like people have created shortcuts.
Although they have signs asking you to stay on the normal trails.
We reached Columbia Rock.
The trail up to Yosemite Falls.
Although we were hiking slowly and were a bit tired already, so maybe next time.
Great view from here.
With us in it.
Now back down again. Ogii is way down there by the tree.
Another little outlook area.
These bushes look like they have red liquid metal on them.
We followed the no-shortcut signs, although Ogii did take this one shortcut which saved about 2 seconds.
Lots of rocks in this falled tree.
So many holes.
I wonder if they're all from woodpeckers or something else. They go all the way to the bottom of the tree.
A wide tree.
Ogii practicing rock climbing.
Some real rock climbers.
There are three in this picture, although they look quite small.
The sun is about to set.
A bridge.
Lots of photographers at Tunnel View.
A decent sunset, although not amazing.
Some colorful clouds above the trees.
Our room.
We went to The Mountain Room Lodge for dinner.
They had a nice fire going.
The Mountain Room restaurant was closed, but they took your order at the lodge, made it at the restaurant, and then brought it over.
They had a limit to the number of people they could have in the lodge, though, so we had to wait outside in the cold.
Back in our warm room with our pizza.
Our room had a nice patio.
Although it was a bit too cold to sit outside.
A woman below us was cooking bacon.
A long line for Starbucks.
But again, almost nobody at the Base Camp Eatery.
We were on our way home, but we still had two things on our todo list: see a deer and make a snow angel. Ogii spotted this deer.
Check item number one.
There was a little frost at valley view, but you couldn't really make a snow angel in that.
Although you could slide along it.
Nice clouds.
Which this guy was getting a picture of with what appears to be a very old camera.
This crow was eating the snow on the fence.
This area had some really big chunks of frost.
Snow angel time in front of El Capitan.
These trees had been burned and now are covered in frost.
Fire and ice.
Some frost on these plants.
El Capitan reflected in the stream.
Punched out holes in the clouds.
Ogii hiding in the bucket.
We saw this yurt at a campsite on the drive home.
And an Amtrak train. I wonder where this one goes?