Ode to Oakland

Greetings from Oakland, CA, more specifically the Rockridge section of Oakland. Bob and I really haven’t spent any time in the area prior to this house sit though Bob had a brief visit with his nephews and brother-in-law on their west coast baseball trip a few years ago. (Cue Bob story/joke/wish about having a big bat or being winked at by some blonde.). I’ll probably get to hear one of these jokes in a bit as Bob returns from today’s Oakland/LA game.

I’ll just stick with discussing what we are learning about Oakland this go round. First, courtesy of Wikipedia, you should know that Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County. It is the eighth largest city in CA (home to many large cities). I believe that many people think of it as the step sibling to San Francisco (which I believe I first heard of thru the Rice-a-Roni jingle, but I’m old and not from these parts).

Also courtesy of Wikipedia, Rockridge is the residential and commercial neighborhood in Oakland bordered by Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, Oakland Hills, and 51st Street.

Anyhoo, for us, the most important part of Oakland is the great home owners for whom we are house sitting and these four cuties —

This is Miss Trudy. She prefers to stay in her own quiet places — at least until feeding time.

Kimchi getting up from a nap in his scratch lounge. He is usually playing in the backyard.

This is Spot, and yes, he is that cute and sweet.

Spot’s sister Rubie. Just as sweet and cute.

We have been enjoying getting to see Rockridge while walking the dogs. We started out with each of us walking one dog with separate harnesses but have decided we prefer taking turns walking both of them on a shared leash as they walk so well side-by-side and actually walk us when they get going.

The other thing that we love about this area are the beautiful craftsman style homes and all the gorgeous flowers. I try not to creep people out by taking photos of their homes, but I’m not as restrained about the plants and flowers.