You may have seen in the papers that Southern California has experienced some flooding rains recently.  This water has come in short bursts of very heavy rains (3-5 inhes per hour, for a few minutes).  The water has come so fast that it could not soak in -- needing to find the lowest possible location, it ran downhill in muddy torrents! 

The last couple of days have been cooler, but the afternoons have come with similar rains.  Yesterday, I took the camera for a ride to see the thunder clouds that carry the water towards the mountains -- the following are what I was able to capture:

As the sun went down and the clouds bumped into mountains on their way eastward, they again dropped huge amounts of rain for a very short time.  This does not help the drought, but it is an indication that Mother Nature has not completely forgotten Southern California!

This evening is the second full moon this year that is a Super Moon.  As the moon rose behind the roof across the street, I was able to capture these two shots -- the camera didn't focus well on the other shots I tried.

As a member of the San Diego Zoo, I was invited to an awards luncheon held at one of the hotels on Harbor Island, in the middle of San Diego Harbor.  When San Diego Harbor was dredged to create an area deep enough for the Naval Base and for the Port of San Diego, the dredged earth created a peninsula, known as Harbor Island.  It is 2 miles long, very narrow, and has a park down the harbor side.  I arrived a little early, and sat for a few minutes by the park before moving to the event hotel.  From this park, one has a lovely view of the skyline of downtown San Diego -- it was a pretty day without much of the humidity that we've had for the last week or so.  The airport is across the road from the park, and planes fly down through that skyline as they approach their landing!

Turning to the right, one sees Point Loma, and North Island Naval Air Base in the foreground.

And directly across is one of the largest, most active Naval bases on the West Coast.  There was some boat activity connected with the base -- during the short time I was there, I saw these two boats moving to their destinations.

When the event was over, I drove directly home, without taking further photos.

For the last week or so of July, I was in Santa Barbara, once again visiting family and friends.  A part of this post will be an update on "the Lake that Isn't," and part will be a wonderful surprise.  On Friday, 7/25, my friend and I went to see the lake that is Santa Barbara's water supply.  The newspaper prints statistics on a daily basis -- that particular day, there was 67, 708 acre feet of water in the lake (last time I was there, I believe the level was 74,000 acre feet).  During the previous 24 hours, 38.4 acre feet had evaporated, and there was invlow of 52.3 acre feet (from State water purchases as well as whatever small amount flowed in from tributaries of the dry Santa Ynez River).  The storage had dropped by 91 acre feet during the previous day, and the day's usage was 93.9 acre feet.  The lake is visibly lower, as shown in the following photos.

The next shot is probably the most graphic evidence of the droppinig lake level -- the little green peninsula in the middle of this inlet was not there the last time I saw it.

While we stood at the vista point, a group of about a dozen hawks flew up from the lake level, behind some trees.  They circled around and then settled down again where they had come from.  There must have been some dead animal by the shore of the lake.

 

  

On another day, I went alone, and about twice as far from 'home' as the lake -- to a little town named Arroyo Grande, along the coastal plane just south of San Luis Obispo.  The town reminded me of photos I've seen of middle-American towns of the early 1900's -- probably renovated to do just that!

The purpose of this trip was a visit with our Xanga friend jaynebug and her oldest son, Teen Dude.  We had a delightful lunch, followed by dessert.

It was a wonderful get-together, well worth the hour and a half drive each way,  For those of you who remember her, Lyne is very busy keeping the family together, and Teen Dude will graduate from CSU Monterey in the coming spring (I think maybe the last time she wrote of him, she called him College Dude!!

The last couple of days have been very hot and sticky as we have a "monsoonal flow" weather pattern bringing moist air in from the southeast.  We had a little rain yesterday -- well -- just enough large spots of water on the ground to fill in all the blanks, then it stopped.  There are thunderstorms in the mountains and deserts now, and flash flood warnings to go with them.  The ground is so dry that the water doesn't soak in -- it just runs downhill in torrents until it reaches the nearest storm drains.  Probably the most good it does at this point is to be reassuring that there is water in the sky that might come to land at some time in the future!

This evening I was enjoying the quiet of the evening, when I looked up and saw a pretty pink hue on the neighbor's house.  Quickly I ran for the camera and went outside.  The following shots are what I saw:

And looking a little closer to where the sun was setting:

On July 4, I took a quick trip down to the waterfront -- there was NO parking by early afternoon, as people were setting up for evening fireworks.  I stopped at a favorite viewpoint for a few shots of the clouds.  Even in our drought, when the weather is hot, the eastward flow of air brings clouds to the mountains behind Los Angeles.  They are thunder clouds -- and they will drop a little water during the afternoon.  They build up into beautiful thunderheads like these, then suddenly collapse, and drop their water in quick rain squalls.  There's not enough rain to be measured in these little storms -- just enough to wet the pavement, and to cool the air for a few minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a row of houses across from the park where I took the cloud shots -- one of these houses was wonderfully decorated for the holiday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And while I was there, I looked into the canyon and shot the following shot of the local Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach) water recycling plant.  In this complex, waste water is filtered and treated, and converted into water that, although not potable, is useful for landscape watering.  This water is most often used in civic locations (lawns, water fountains), golf courses, community landscaping, etc., and helps keep our towns from looking completely brown in the drought.

 

 

 

 

For the past couple of months, I've not been posting as frequently as I used to do -- life has been in the way of photo expeditions.  I was finally able to get out during the last week and take a jaunt to Dana Point.  On the way, I stopped at a bluff-top lookout to see how the development is progressing at the Dana Point Strand, a row of very exclusive, very expensive, and very controversial homes being built along the coast just north of Dana Point Harbor.

 

 

Moving down toward the harbor, I saw that it was a busy afternoon!

The Pilgrim was on its way out for a sail.  The Pilgrim, built in 1825, was Richard Henry Dana's ship, and sailed into Dana Point Harbor (then just a bay without enhancements).  It is now housed at the Ocean Institute within the harbor, and is used as a teaching tool for history classesl and for ocean issues. 

So why did I title this post "102 years"?  102 years ago, my dad was born.  This portrait was probably taken in about 1950, when he and his partner joined the Santa Barbara Medical Clinic, where he practiced Pediatrics until his death in 1969.

For some time I have been considering installing artificial grass in my pocket-sized back yard.  The goals of this are several -- it takes no maintenance, it takes no water, it looks better than the bare earth (or weeds that have made a lawn of their own) I've had for the last couple of years, and it adds to the general appearance of the yard and the house.  Last Friday, the 13th, was the day that this finally happened. 

Looking from one end of the yard to the other,  There are 2 camellia bushes in the corner, a lone rose bush, and irises around the air conditioner unit.  The building behind the fence at the end is my next-door neighbor in a 5-unit townhome building.  I have no overhead shade, so the blue table umbrella provides some shade, and protects the grass from reflections from the upstairs bedroom windows.

 

The gardeners cleaned up the camellia bushes, removed a lawn of dying weeds, and cleaned out the irises, as well as installing the grass.

I'm excited that I'll have a place to enjoy the outdoors in my back yard!

During our visit to the County Courthouse, we took the elevator to the top of the Clock Tower.  During WWII, this was used by spotters as a lookout point, watching for incoming Japanese airplanes.  In March, 1942, the Japanese had shelled the oil fields in Ellwood, just north of Santa Barbara, and people of Japanese heritage were moved from coastal towns to internment camps farther inland out of concern that there might be some sort of communication going on if they were allowed to remain on the coast.  In the years after WWII, the Clock Tower has become a favorite place for weddings, in part because of the amazing views.  I had never been to the top, and found that it was a real treat.

The view to the northwest.  In the center distance is the Santa Barbara Mission, and to the left of that is St. Anthony's Seminary.

In the opposite direction is a view towards the harbor and the ocean.  There is a map, with some landmarks pointed out.

And here is the view itself.

Turning to the west is the Mesa View.

Directly ahead, across from the Courthouse is a City parking lot.  The top level is almost completely empty because it's hard to find this lot unless you know where it is -- the  City would not allow the normal international signage or other visible signs!  If you do know about it, it's free parking for the first 1-1/4 hours.

Looking towards the mountains, one of the main cross-streets , and an old church.  Just towards us from the church is the retirement home where my mother stayed for about 2 years.

 

While I was in Santa Barbara last month, we took the opportunity to explore the newly renovated County Courthouse.  I had known the building was being renovated, because as you drive by there is a sculpture that was also being redone because the sandstone had begun to crumble.  We began with a look at the new sculpture.

The sculpture is identical to the old one, and is very detailed and lovely.

Walking towards the main entrance, there are some grand vistas -- of a turret,

of the clock tower,

of the main entrance,

and of the clock tower again, just to the right of the main entrance.

Out one side of the building is a courtyard garden, known as the "Sunken Garden."  This area is frequently used for celebrations, from weddings all the way to the city-wide Fiesta, when the whole city comes alive with music and dancing in the Sunken Garden and on its steps.  This shot shows the door to the steps of the Sunken Garden.

The portion of the building on the other side of the Sunken Garden was once the Santa Barbara County Jail -- it is now used for offices.

We had gone to the top of the clock tower by elevator.  Coming down, though, we walked the stairs.  There is an opportunity to see part of the clockworks in a dimly lit room part way down -- no photos there, but it was fascinating to see the old clock striking the time.  Continuing on down the stairs, there were a number of different lighting features.

And keyhole windows through which the stairway was lighted, but also which provided interesting vistas, this one of the Sunken Gardens.

At the bottom of the stairs, we exited the building to the Garden.

There are more sculptures on the side walls.

And a magnificent doorway at the far end of the building, leading to the Hall of Records.

 

The next post will show the views of Santa Barbara from the top of the Clock Tower.  I believe this was the first time I've ever been to the top, so the views were really exciting for me as a tourist!

 

On Memorial Day, we noticed in the newspaper a report of a memorial walk in a park close to where I was staying.  That day we explored the park in the late afternoon, and the next day we walked the memorial.  Elings Park is a City Park developed by a private donation on the site of an old, unused landfill dump. 

It has been developed since the mid-1950's, and is still under development.  It's hard to develop anything on top of a landfill, due to the gasses that remain under the topsoil.  They continually have to grade and level and change the contours -- there are tennis courts, a baseball diamond, a soccer field (being regraded), a BMX track, and on top a memorial garden.  It also has a nice view across the canyon (the house on top of that hill was once owned by the sister of the Shah of Iran).

At the top, in the memorial garden, there is a memorial dedicated to all Santa Barbarans killed in battle.  There are separate plaques for each conflict, and a central one including all the conflicts.

The path is paved; after the Terrace of Remembrance it continues up the hill and around a corner, with natural plants along the way.

At the top of the hill there is a personal memorial to a young man who died of a drug overdose.

After our walk in the Memorial Garden, we visited my nephew and his family -- here's my just-turned-2 great nephew.

Lake Cachuma, the reservoir for Santa Barbara's water, continues to dry up.  During the last month, the authorities have been able to purchase some water from other sources (Vandenberg AFB, and some farmers who will use the funds to allow their fields to go fallow for the next year).  That outside water is becoming more and more scarce, and more and more expensive, while there is no rain in sight now for several months.  As of Monday, Memorial Day, there were 72,478 acre feet of water in storage, or just over 38% of the capacity of the lake.   And the daily usage remains at 106 acre feet a day (an acre foot is 325,851 gallons, or the annual consumption of 10 people in an urban environment).  The following photos were taken last Sunday, May 25, a pre-holiday outing we did to avoid holiday traffic.

Looking back at the County Park from a pullout alongside the road.

And from the official vista point overlooking the dam itself.

There are three hoses coming out of the lake, one across the flat portion, and two over the slope of the dam.  Those are pumping water over the dam and down to agricultural use downstream.  This is mandated by law, and adheres to old agreements that farmers and fish have senior water rights -- they get their water, even if it means that the people don't.

The spillway gates are all wide open at this time -- there is no water to hold back, and this would seem a good time to do any necessary maintenance work.

After viewing the "lake that isn't," we drove on to Santa Ynez, and had a delightful lunch within sound of the old water mill.

Yesterday I returned home from a week in Santa Barbara – I was there to celebrate Memorial Day with a friend, but it turned into one of the most bizarre weekends I can remember.  The news was hijacked by yet another mass-shooting incident on Friday evening, and by Monday there still was no other news in the front section of the local newspaper!  This will be long, but it may shed some light on possible issues and on solutions to some of the mass shootings we have seen recently (and I will follow up with some photo posts from the rest of my trip).  Many of the facts of this case are very clear – but others will take months to determine for certain. 

First, let me set the scene.  About 15 miles north – or west – of Santa Barbara is the University of California Santa Barbara, sitting on a bluff overlooking the Goleta Beach and the Pacific Ocean.  Just beyond the campus is a 2 square mile unincorporated community with a population of 22,000 people, of whom the great majority are students living in absentee-landlord apartment buildings.  Mixed in with UCSB students are about 5,000 students from Santa Barbara City College (SBCC)), which is in Santa Barbara, in an area with no appropriate student housing, and a few permanent residents.  The apartments are all two story – near the bluff, they are older, and some are noticing the effects of bluff erosion.  It is from this area that UCSB derives its reputation as a party school.  The area is not part of Santa Barbara, or of the neighboring town of Goleta – in fact when Goleta was recently incorporated, they specifically excluded Isla Vista – it remains an isolated part of the County of Santa Barbara. 

In 1970, Isla Vista was the scene of violence when members of “The Chicago 7” spoke at the stadium on the north edge, and finished with an exhortation to the audience to “burn, baby, burn.”  The students moved from the stadium to the center of ‘IV’ and burned down the large brick building that housed the Bank of America (the staff had filled the vault that evening with everything that would fit, and came back to find a pile of bricks and a remaining vault that was fused shut by the heat of the fire).  And in 2001, a student, self-proclaimed as the “angel of death,” mowed down several students as he drove through the area bent on killing as many students as he could. 

Thinking it was a normal Friday afternoon, my friend and I drove through Isla Vista in the late afternoon – as we did, I commented that I would not want my child to live in ‘IV,’ as the buildings appeared in disrepair, and the roads were full of people walking and riding their bikes with no regard to anybody other than themselves.  Every building was overflowing with drunk students on front lawns and on second floor balconies – apparently normal for a Friday afternoon.  It was truly an ugly place! 

During this academic year, there have been several instances of students falling off the bluff (or being found deceased on the beach below), and in April, during Spring Break, there was an incident in which Isla Vista was the scene of “Deltopia,” an area-wide block party that got out of hand and turned into a major riot.  Originally the Spring Break party was called "Floatopia" -- it morphed into "Deltopia" because several years ago there were several students who died as a result of the beach party at the bottom of the bluff, and the University required that the party be contained to the top of the bluff on a road called Del Playa.  It became clear to me that the environment of bluff-top Isla Vista will always be a problem, and there will always be “Deltopias” and other tragedies there. 

Friday was the day chosen by a very sick student to carry out his “retribution” against all the students of UCSB.  Elliott Rodger, the son of a co-producer of the “Hunger Games,” was being supported by his parents as he lived in IV and supposedly attended SBCC – at the very least, he had withdrawn from SBCC, if he ever attended at all.  His parents had set up psychiatric and psychological support for him, and a month or so earlier had actually called the police to perform a welfare check – they were concerned over the tone of some videos he had posted (since taken down) on YouTube.  The police visited (7 of them), and determined that there was no immediate danger of harm to himself or others, and the case was closed.  They did not know that there were 3 semi-automatic guns in his room, or that his roommates were anxious for the school year to end so they could move away from him, or that over the last year or two he had written a 141-page “manifesto," which he titled ”My Twisted Life," outlining what he planned.  They did what they could legally do, and the contact stopped there.  They had prior contact with Elliott – he had accused a roommate of stealing $22 worth of candles from his room (that student now has a police record!), and he had instigated a fight in a rather strange incident at one of the bluff-top house parties earlier in the year.  

Elliott believed himself to be “the perfect man,” and could not understand why all the (pretty) girls would fall all over all the other “douchebags” in IV while paying no attention to him.  He planned to kill his roommates so as to clear his room – he would lure victims in so he could kill them too.  This was accomplished, perhaps as early as Thursday night (he said in the manifesto that he would knock them out with a hammer, then slit their throats).  Having done that, he would go to his dad’s home in Woodland Hills, kill his dad and little brother and maybe his step-mother, and take the Mercedes that his dad drove (this did not happen – instead, he used the BMW that his dad had given him).  Next he would go to the sorority house he felt was the most prestigious, make his way in and kill everybody there – fortunately, nobody answered his frantic knocks on the door, but his next two victims (and one injury) were shot outside the house.  He then would drive through IV, ramming pedestrians and bikers with his car – many of his other injury victims were hurt this way.  Along the way, he stopped, entered the local deli, and shot one more student.  And finally he would shoot himself – he had 3 guns so that he could use 2 and the spare was in case 2 of them jammed.  It all took 10 minutes. 

Because of the incidents in 2001, the area is patrolled by the Isla Vista Foot Patrol, a unit of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, as well as by UC Police, and, when needed, the Santa Barbara Police Department.  The Foot Patrol was instrumental in stopping this rampage – they responded to the sorority house very quickly, and ran from there to the deli, and across a field towards the bluff as the incident dictated.  Twice they engaged in gun battles with Elliott, hitting him at least once – he continued on until he crashed the car. 

What can be done to prevent this type of incident?  The entire town of Santa Barbara was asking a lot of questions all weekend as the details were released.  Did the police do enough when asked to check on him?  The answer seems to be that they did everything they were allowed to do – they were not invited in to the apartment, so could not search the room (Elliott was shaking, believing that they would locate the guns and all would be finished), and they found no reason to hospitalize him, even for a 72-hour evaluation.  Did the parents provide sufficient warning?  They warned about the earlier videos; they knew nothing more about what was happening until he posted one more video and sent the manifesto to psychologists (and who else?) just as he began his rampage.  Upon seeing the manifesto, they raced to Isla Vista to try to find him and stop his actions – by then, though, it was too late.  Did the police do enough?  It was generally agreed that the police did what they could in the prior contacts, including the welfare check.  And the Foot Patrol clearly stopped the violence.  What about gun control?  The three guns were legally purchased in a state that has very tight laws about purchase and registration of guns.  There was apparently nothing wrong in the way this happened.  Did the IV environment make a difference?  I am certain that the density of unsupervised college students living in a small area had some influence 

On Tuesday, there was a memorial service in the stadium – the same stadium where the incident in 1970 began!  There were some 20,000 students at that memorial.  The father of one of the victims spoke with a great deal of passion about the fact that “this madness has to stop,” and asked the audience to stand up and shout to the lawmakers in Sacramento and Washington, “Not One More” – there must not be one more “campus shooting.”  Virtually the entire audience stood and shouted “Not One More” several times, each louder than the others.  On Wednesday there were already bills in the California Assembly to strengthen the police powers when called for mental health checks – and to require them to review the records for gun registrations in the name of persons they check. 

I have read about such incidents, as we all have, but it amazed me how strongly this one grabbed hold of the entire town of Santa Barbara and influenced the mood of Memorial Day celebrations and other gatherings for several days.  It was almost as if there was a pall over the entire town.  I am certain that there will be ongoing discussion of ‘what can be done about IV?’ and ‘how do we make next year a better year?’  I’m not sure there are answers, but I do believe this incident has captured the attention of the legislature!

Edit 5/18/14

This evening the fires are no longer "breaking news."  The temperature topped out at 73 today (that's 30 degrees lower than a couple of days ago), the humidity is up, and the winds have been around 5 mph.  The evacuations have all been lifted.  They are now saying that 47 homes were destroyed (including one apartment building with 18 homes), and three of the fires are still not completely contained, but burning in the back country of Camp Pendleton. 

The weather forecast is for a May Gray week, followed by more warming next weekend.  I haven't seen temps higher than 90 for next weekend, and I don't know what the winds will do.  With a long weekend next week, this could bring another tough weekend!

This is all connected with our drought, and, even if the air becomes drippy this week, we are still in drought.  I'm not certain whether this fire storm has been the end of last year's fire season or the beginning of the 2014 season -- it seems that we no longer have a distinct fire season.  CalFire, our wildfire fighting agency is gearing up for a long hot summer, and hopefully we will not make the news in this way again for a long time!

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Thank you all for your expressions of concern over the fires that have been raging in San Diego County this week. Although I have been safely at least 20-25 miles from the closest of the fires, it has been somewhat stressful, since the weather conditions have been just as bad here, and just as unusual for this time of year. Today, the air has still been smoky, but the sky is returning to its blue color, and the temperature is about 20 degrees cooler than it was on Thursday! It is always a concern during Santana wind episodes that fires could break out anywhere at any time -- there have been many small fires this week.  They are telling us that firemen have quelled 1,700 fires already this year in Southern California -- most have been just a few acres, and quickly extinguished.

Because the week's news reports have been all over the place in terms of accuracy, especially for those of you far away from Southern California, the following is from an Associated Press article, and puts the damage into better perspective.

"At least 10 fires spanning 39 square miles have chewed a destructive path through San Diego County since Tuesday, destroying 11 houses, an 18-unit apartment complex and two businesses. A badly burned body was found in a transient camp, and one firefighter suffered heat exhaustion.

"The first blaze was caused by a spark from construction equipment, according to state officials, but it could take months to get to the bottom of the most damaging fires. Alberto Serrato, 57, pleaded not guilty Friday to an arson charge in connection with one of the smaller fires, but authorities say they don't believe he started it, just added brush to it."

Considering that something over 20,000 homes were evacuated between Carlsbad and San Marcos, and many more on base at Camp Pendleton, and as tragic as the loss of even one home is, the firefighters did an amazing job of protecting life and property!  And the hope is that they won't have to work so hard again for a long time!!!

This morning when I left home it was clear that there had been changes overnight.  The sky was once again brown, but this time it smelled strongly of smoke!  The winds had changed, and they were blowing smoke away from the sea and towards the northwest -- towards Los Angeles.  There have been air quality advisories all day.  Some of the fires are still flaring up, particularly on base at Camp Pendleton; some people are being allowed to go home in San Marcos and in Carlsbad, but there are still many evacuees; and work continues to put out 11 fires!  This afternoon, I went to Dana Point again to see how things had really changed -- these were taken this late afternoon:

 

The smoke is spreading out as yesterday, but the majority of the air flow is in the opposite direction.

The wind was less strong, and more boats were enjoying the water.

The Sheriff's boat rushed in with lights on and horn blaring.  He was moving quickly, and I almost missed him completely!

Look at the wake he left behind!

The little yellow Ski-Doo was in a hurry too.

Hmm -- here comes a big fire engine with lights on -- no siren, but he was probably alerted before the boats got there.

 

Apparently there was a man on the Sheriff's boat who had dislocated a knee, and they were bringing him to shore for treatment -- an ambulance arrived, and loaded him onto a gurney.

As I look out the window, I see blue sky, with bright pink clouds -- not enough for a photo, but the clouds are very pink, as often happens when there's been a fire.  The weather predictions are for  cooling weather over the weekend, possibly with drizzle by Monday!  What next?!  About a mile from my home, this is the hillside that I see -- there are many of these througout Southern California that could go up in flames at any time.  The hope is that we won't have another hot Santana spell until the fall.

Today was another hot day -- it began with the fires feeling somewhat subdued, and the winds calmer.  As the day progressed, the temperature rose to the same level as yesterday, and the winds picked up in San Diego County.  As I left the movie I saw as a way to keep cool, I heard on the radio that two of the fires were whipping up again.  I returned home to get my camera, and drove to Dana Point to get a good view from a distance.  Along the way, from a stoplight, I shot one view of the signature 'cloud' that fire smoke creates.  The shots are from a distance of about 30 miles.

Almost to Dana Point, I spotted this view, and pulled over to the side of the road.

Zooming in, I could see the dark cloud of the flare-up, with a center of lighter smoke indicating that the firefighters were at work with their water, whether from hoses or from helicopters.

Again, shots of the signature smoke cloud as it spreads out and moves toward the ocean, and showing the brown air that is also typical (and that covered the area where I live yesterday).

Looking more directly out to sea, there is a line on the sea -- it is a shadow, through which the light was filtered before it shone directly on the water.

There were a couple of outrigger canoes practicing along the coast,

and just one bird sat in a nest.

On the way home this evening, I was able to see Saddleback Mountain, the mountain that was obliterated by smoky haze yesterday.

The red flag warnings have not been extended, and the temperature is expected to be cooler tomorrow.  Hopefully that will help the firefighters gain control of all 9 fires that are currently burning.  Rain is not a likely possibility, but cooler weather and calmed winds should help.  One of the fires was ignited by a bigrig fire by the side of the road -- the others are being considered crime scenes until proved otherwise.  There was a possible suspect in custody for 1/2 hour this afternoon, but he was released.  And this evening a charred body was found in the rubble of one of the fires. 

We are in the middle of a major heat wave this week.  There is a high pressure system just east of Los Angeles, which causes hot air to blow off the desert and into our area.  This time, it's blowing all the way to the ocean, blowing harder than usual, but bringing more hot air in with it.  We know these winds as Santana Winds, or Santa Ana Winds.  They usually don't happen at this time of year -- more commonly we have a couple of heat waves in August or September.  Santana Winds are usually the cause for Red Flag Warnings -- be extra careful about brushfires, parking restrictions go into effect, and so forth. 

Yesterday, there were two fires in the northern San Diego area.  Around 9:30 this morning, a group of fires began.  One was near San Onofre, the nuclear power plant that was recently decommissioned, started when a bigrig caught fire.  Then one about 20 miles south of that, in Carlsbad, near the Flower Fields and Legoland -- you've heard about this one on the news, as it's burned into housing tracts -- 8 homes lost, and 30 damaged by this evening.  Then, about 25 miles east of there, on base at Camp Pendleton, and this afternoon another near there, near California State University San Marcos.

By 11 am, the air here was brown and thick, although the closest fire was at least 20 miles away.  I could not see clearly the hills on the other side of the major canyon near my house, and could not see Saddleback Mountain at all.  It stayed that way until just before sunset, when the sky finally became blue, though not completely clear.  It is close to a full moon this evening, and I saw a brown moon rise -- this shot was taken about an hour after moonrise.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another hot day -- the temperatures broke records all over the area today, and it may be even hotter tomorrow.  Laguna Beach recorded 99 degrees, and it was about 102 here, just a few miles inland.  Over the weekend, the prediction is that it will cool down a bit -- perhaps 30 degrees or so to a more normal temperature!  This is the weather that everybody has been concerned about -- and the firestorm.  It is likely that we will have several more of these weather patterns during the summer.

I ran across this photo of my mother the other day -- it was taken in May 2000.  I believe she was attending a luncheon for a friend.

At that time, she was 86 years old -- September of this year would have been her 100th birthday.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

On the last day of April, I went to visit the great blue herons at Dana Point.  I had not been there for several days, and the day before had been quite windy.  There were only a few birds, and they were tucked in so not visible to people below.

 

 
There was one nest on the ground, that had blown out of the tree.  While I sat waiting to see if any birds would emerge, the animal control truck came by and extracted a dead bird from under the nest.

 

I decided to come back another day to see the birds -- since then, until yesterday, I was busy with many different types of activities, and didn't get to the Harbor to see the birds.  Yesterday afternoon was a pretty day, and there were several birds in the nests.  The next few shots are of a nest which had at least two adult birds -- I couldn't decide if there was a third, but I think I was just seeing different positions of two birds.

While I watched, a 'sentinel' arrived, and sat on the top branch for the rest of the time I was there, looking out to sea.

 

And one other bird sat on a branch near the nest full of birds -- I was able to capture this majestic bird in several shots, some better than others -- you may have noticed this guy in some of the nest shots above.

Today is quite cloudy -- we are expecting another heat wave to come through in the next few days, though, so the clouds are rather welcome!

After watching the pandas for a while, it was time to move on down the hill.  The San Diego Zoo is on the side of a steep hill, with canyons through which one walks.  There are iconic symbols of the zoo along the way -- this one originally was a sand sculpture, and has become a permanent fixture, signalling that from the  intersection where it sits, in one direction is the Hippo pond.

But continuing on down the hill is a second flamingo pool -- with ducks, white pelicans and other birds.

At the very bottom of the hill is Polar Bear Plunge.

A few people were watching with concern as this bear exhibited some rather odd pacing behavior, repeatedly walking up to the back wall of this area, stopping and turning away.

A shift of my position showed a second bear lying almost motionless against the back wall.  When that bear awoke, it became obvious that this was a mating stalking behavior.  We learned from one of the keepers that the sleeping bear had been in estrus for a couple of weeks, and, although her season was now over, the male had not recognized that fact, and was still interested in mating.

I sat with some other people who had attended the morning's event, and watched these bears -- two males and a female while away the day.  As I left, I debated whether I wanted to walk up the hill or to take the "Skyfari," an aerial tram, back to the entrance.  After looking at the map, I decided to miss the elephants this trip, and to try the Skyfari, which I had never ridden.  From the Skyfari, one can see some of the museums of Balboa Park.

There is a section of the zoo that I virtually never visit -- the reptile house -- it's old, and small, and I'm not particularly excited by reptiles.  In fact, the last time I was there, with some friends from West Virginia, we experienced an earthquake!  However, while at the morning event, somebody had mentioned a collection of Galapagos Tortoises, which are housed in an area behind the reptile house.  I decided to walk around and visit the tortoises.

It is acceptable, though not encouraged, to pet the tortoises.  Banging a fist against the wall of the enclosure attracts the animals, who are used to this as a signal for food or reward.

The tortoises come up to the wall, and you can reach over and pet them.

As elsewhere in the zoo, there are volunteers in this area to ensure that the animals are not abused, and that the people are safe.  And people are strongly encouraged to wash hands after handling the tortoises because they can carry salmonella.  The males and females are kept separated by a center wall -- the major noticeable difference is size.  I stood and watched the tortoises for quite a while.  One of them came up to the wall, pushing past two others, and actually causing one of them to move out of the way.

The oldest tortoise in the Zoo's collection is known to be at least 150 years old, and could be as much as 170 years old.  Somehow I don't think I'd want to carry the weight of those shells for 150 years!

Having returned from Santa Barbara on Wednesday, I took off again on Friday for San Diego.  As a special treat, I was invited to a morning event at the San Diego Zoo, beginning with check-in at 7:45 am, and decided that it would be better to spend the night in close proximity to the Zoo.  After checking in for the event, I spotted a couple of  animals that I couldn't resist!  The first was a peacock in full mating attire -- walking back and forth across the pathway while there were few people around.

The second was an orangutan, one of the permanent greeters directly in front of you as you enter the Zoo.

The event was a thank you for donors, and it was fitting that I spotted this sign throughout the morning.

The event began with a talk about one of the "Zoo Ambassadors," a sort of show and tell with a Pangolin, a scaly anteater.

When the keeper put this guy on the floor, he would scamper about 3 feet at a time, look around, and scamper another 3 feet or so! 

After a nice breakfast, we moved to the "Learning Room," where we were treated to "up close and personal" views of several other animals -- first a kookaburra and a two-toed sloth (sorry, no photo of the sloth).

Jibbari the cat showed up next.  A young cat, this was the first time he had been in this room with so many people, and he was a little cautious.

 

And as a special treat, each of us had a photo taken with Jibbari -- these will be sent to us later.

 It had rained hard overnight, and more rain was predicted during the morning, so the program was truncated in order to keep us indoors.  After the event was completed, we were free to visit the rest of the Zoo on our own.  I began with the Orangutans -- one of the first animals I would normally visit without the event, as there is a baby in the population.  The Zoo is very proud of its babies, and currently tells the story of a gorilla born by Caesarian Section last month -- UC San Diego doctors assisted, and the birth was successful, but a couple of days later the baby contracted pneumonia.  Mother and baby are now doing well, and have been gently reintroduced to the group at the Safari Park.  The baby Orang is a little older, but was off exhibit for the morning.  There were two Orangs in their exhibit at the Zoo, but first I had to stop at the sculpture of an entire grouping of animals.

Moving on into the Outback exhibit, there are several birds in a smallish aviary that are indigenous to Australia.  The Racquet-tailed Roller is a lovely bird:

The White-headed Buffalo-Weaver

And the Bearded Barbet
      

I believe this next one is the Racquet-tailed Roller again, viewed from behind!

Along the way, a takin (I believe) -- it's mating season at the Zoo, and the second shot of this animal is of two engaged in some head butting.

Next up is another favorite -- the pandas.  The San Diego Zoo is one of the foremost Zoos involved in panda research, and has animals on loan from China for breeding.  They have had six babies born at the Zoo, and when each reaches 4 years old, they are sent back to China and one parent is exchanged for another in order to maintain a healthy gene pool.

 

 

On Thursday, April 17, I drove to Santa Barbara for Easter weekend -- to avoid traffic, I returned on Wednesday, April 23, but then left again on Friday for an overnight trip to San Diego (more about that in the next post).  The welcome sign was out at my friend's home!
 

While in Santa Barbara, a day trip was in order to see the current status of the water supply, Lake Cachuma.

On that particular day, Easter Saturday, the lake held just over 74,000 acre feet of water, less than half its capacity, and less than two years worth of usable water!  A hawk soared over the lake -- the lake was stocked the previous weekend for a fishing competition, and there were still fish in the water.

The lake level is so low that this little canyon is no longer part of the lake!  The white line at lake level represents the decline since the last time I was there.

Looking back at the County Park, we could also see the decline since last time.

 

We noticed that one of the four spillway gates was open, perhaps to work on the mechanism that changes its position.

From the lake, we went on to Santa Ynez, a little town just outside of Solvang, where we had a delightful lunch.

Another day, we explored Santa Barbara, and found large numbers of wildflowers in a parking lot.

Both on the day I arrived in Santa Barbara and on the day I left, a week later, there was a Princess cruise ship anchored off the end of the wharf.  They anchor there, and bring the passengers in by tender for their day-long tours.

And, of course, there were local sailors out to see what the ship looked like.

Papers all turned in,
Waiting for the pros.
Can’t go out, lest
The work gets done.

Nothing to do
bored and frustrated
Can’t go out, lest
the work gets done.

Out for supper,
the work is done
the tax return is ready
and can be filed

Picked up the papers
A quick review
Returned the papers
The work is done

I'm a couple of days late with the cabin fever prompt -- and will probably not follow the days strictly going forward.  The last few days have been very frustrating for me -- I am not one to wait till the deadline to complete projects, but it was inevitable (I actually received one statement last Friday!).  Whew -- I was able to return the e-file authorizations this morning, and my taxes are done!

Last night there was a total eclipse of the moon at 12:07 am.  Although that is pretty late for me, I decided that if the sky was clear I would stay up to see it, as it was widely advertised that there would be blood moon -- a red glow while the moon was totally eclipsed.  I took several shots along the way -- the following are the best.  At 9 pm, the moon was fully risen, and a beautiful full moon in a clear sky (not quite in focus, but better than others).

By 11 pm, a shadow was beginning to show up on the left side of the moon.  The sky was still clear, and there was a fairly bright star just above the moon.

At midnight I took 2 more shots, but the moon was so far gone that it does not show up in the pictures, even fully blown up on the computer.  It was a tiny sliver of bright light on the right side, about half the size of a new moon, and somewhat hidden by the fog that was forming as part of our June gloom!

Neither of the above shots had any color enhancement -- I think the first had more color than the second because it was closer to the horizon's polluted air.  The second was much higher in the sky, and seen through much less pollution.

The morning's prompt is "wind chimes."  I nearly wrote a poem earlier this afternoon while I was waiting for a call from my CPA to say my tax return is ready -- but it seemed almost too simple to post.  When I came back to post it anyway, I found that it had already been posted by another April poet -- my idea had been taken!  However, there is an event this evening that is worthy of mention, and since I cannot pulse it, I'll mention it here as a poem!

The moon will turn red
The earth’s shadow blocks sunlight
It’s called an eclipse