Visiting in California

Getting behind on my blogging....

Julie and I made a trip to California this past week. Our first stop was in Laguna Beach to visit Jim and Carmella Saunders, great friends and neighbors from back in Raleigh.  Jim's company has a condo which is primarily used for business, but provides an occasional place to vacation.

As you can see, the view from the condo doesn't suck.  There's something wonderful about being on the ocean where you can hear the waves and feel the breeze.  You have to like the weather along the California beaches: highs in the mid 70s and lows around 60.

The Saunders have two beautiful daughters, Alexandra (right) and Brianna (left).  They were kind enough to let us steal their bedroom for our visit.

Another terrible evening, as viewed from our condo.

It wouldn't be California without some odd people.  These folks were having a very lethargic, easy going protest.  The sign?  "Give me liberty or give me hemp!"  Huh?  Does that mean give me liberty or I'm going off to smoke some dope?  Perhaps give me liberty, or by the way, can I bum a joint?

Julie and I went for a walk around Laguna Beach.  We decided this was the least walkable town we have ever been in.  First, every neighborhood and apartment complex is fenced and gated.  I think Jim had it right when he said "these are to keep the other rich people from coming in and stealing something." Second, sidewalks seem to seem to be few and far between.  Thank God they have a free transit system.  I would hate to have to walk on the main road to get to the Main St area.

We found a place to walk up into the hills, but this sign was a serious warning, especially with Julie's foot hurting.

Right around the corner from that sign, they were excavating a lot to build a new house.  Think this is a steep lot?  That's a full sized piece of heavy equipment up there.  I would love to see the house when they are done.  The garage is going in at street level where the dirt ramp is on the right.  The house will have not one, but two elevators.

These are the ladies sitting on the back of our whale watching boat.  It was a little chilly out on the water, but the weather was great for mammal spotting.

The picture sucks, but that is a blue whale.  We saw them a number of times but we were a good ways off and all I had was a pocket camera.  They say a blue whale is as big as 40 elephants.  I believe it!

In addition to the whales, we had some excellent, close-up views of dolphin.  They were swimming around our boat and would cruise along right in front of us.  Unfortunately, a big wave a swamped all of us on the front of the catamaran and my little lens had salty water on it.  I could wipe it off with my shirt, but it also had salty water on it.

By the time I got the camera cleaned up, we were on our way back to port.  No more dolphins but we did see some sun bathing seals.

On Friday night we caught a show called The Pageant of the Masters.  This was a very unique art exhibition and if you are near Laguna Beach in the summer, you should definitely go.  They combined painting and humans on the stage to "copy" some of the works of the master painters.  It's very hard to describe, but essentially the humans are so well integrated into the look and feel of the painting, it is almost impossible to know for sure whether they are live or a painting. Click on the link above for a better description.

From Laguna, we rode an hour north to Santa Monica. After some shopping and people watching, Julie and I said goodbye to Jim and Carm and went to visit with another friend from Raleigh, Liz Hervatic. It was Liz's birthday, so we celebrated with Liz's fiance Karen, her sister Cindy, and Cindy's boyfriend.  I popped back to Park City the next morning, and Julie stayed another two days to visit.

California is such and interesting place.  The beaches are gorgeous, but the water is frigid.  The temperatures are incredibly comfortable, but every morning starts with a blanket of fog.  The scenery is gorgeous, but because of that, traffic is bad and housing prices make Park City look like an affordable housing project.  So far I think it has to stay in my list of great places to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there, or have to pay taxes there.

Yet Another Full Moon

I was a little ticked off that after staying up late to watch the Olympics, I still woke up early.  It turns out it was photography destiny. When I took Jasper out to go to the bathroom, I noticed that the full moon was in the last 5 minutes of setting.

This is one of my favorite things to see here in the mountains. The full moon always sets just as the sun comes up.

Not quite a Master Gardener

My dad became a Master Gardener in NC.  I thought I was fairly good at growing things until I came to Park City.  I have mentioned in my blog that I got a plot at the Summit County Community Garden.  So far it has been a bust.  I could become a certified Inadequate Gardener.

Does this look like a great tomato harvest?  Perhaps I just have giant hands?

I think I will be getting a good bit more by the end of the season, but it took me a while to realize that the "great" soil we were planting in looked nice, but actually lacked any nitrogen.  That was after they finally got the irrigation working consistently.

Live and learn.

Those kids grow up so quickly

I have taken a ton of photos of Sandhill Cranes.  You can look here and see what a tiny colt looks like, just after being born.

This is what they look like about two months later.  Junior (on the right) is just about as big as mom and dad.

I guess that's what you need when you are going to be migrating soon, although the tiny hummingbirds somehow manage.

The Landscapers

Some people do their own landscaping. Others hire professionals. Here in Park City, we just use the local talent. When the bushes start getting a little shaggy, we call in the deer.  The wire between him and the camera was my poor attempt at separating that which is wild from that which is my yard.  This is one of the few times they have honored this request.

Sometimes you have some serious work, and you need some serious help. For this we bring in the A team.

He can get up to those hard to reach spots.

And look at that smile.  Where else are you going to find this kind of friendly service?

And the best part is they do it all for free.

Of course the moose can snap a $300 aspen tree in half and the deer seem to prefer the most tender new plantings in your yard.  Free is relative.

Bark in the Park 5k

Julie and I have worked at several of Friends of Animal's annual Bark in the Park. This year we got to just be participants. It was more interesting now that Julie is running and we have a 7 year old track start next door.

Here are Renae, Julie and Sally just before the race. You can tell because everyone is all smiles.

This is one of the few races where you can, and are actually encouraged to bring your dogs.  In the past years, it seemed like about 50% of the people ran with a dog.  This year it seemed more like 80%, and some people ran with two or three.

I was running with Jasper and dog runners had to start the race after the non-dog runners. I eventually caught up with Julie and Sally, who have been great training partners.

 At several stops along the way, there were pools for the dogs to drink out of, or in this lab's case, just lay down in.  Jasper wasn't terribly disappointed that there wasn't enough room for him.

Although they ran together the whole race, Julie started kicking towards the finish just as Sally was losing steam.  Sally found a kick and they finished together.  In the few weeks since the July 4th race, they managed to knock off about 30 seconds per mile.  Go ladies!

Of course Hannah destroyed us all.  She also knocked off about 2 minutes from her July 4th race time.  I haven't seen her final time and they screwed up her timing chip, but I think she was right around 8:00 minute miles.

Jim Covaleski got into town last night and he joined us for the race.  He beat me by a long ways, finishing right up with Hannah. I would include a picture of him running, but as a non-dogger, he started ahead of me.  As a faster runner, I never saw him.

My knee has been hurting for weeks, so Jasper and I found a nice easy pace.  I think my final time was around 27:00, about 5 minutes slower than last year.  Funny though, apparently I won my age group and got a $10 gift certificate at Petco.  I have to guess that I won "men, 50-51, running with a dog, black, age 7-9, one white paw".  With 300 people in the race, there had to be someone else in my age category.

UPDATE:

I found the race results.  I did actually beat the other 8 competitors in the Male, 41-50, With Dog category.  Interestingly enough, I would NOT have won:

• 31-40 Mens
• 51-60 Mens
• 61-70 Mens (a 70 year old ran a 7:38 pace)
• 41-50 Womens
• 51-60 Womens (would have been 4th)
• Almost all of those same categories, but Without Dog

It pays to be in the right group.

As for 7 year old Hannah, she won the Female, 1-11, No Dog category.  Her nearest competitor was 17 minutes behind her. She also would have won the Without Dog for:

• Males 1-11
• Females 12-20

She would have placed 2nd in the women 21-30 group and was in the top 10% of all finishers.  Just WOW!

Rufous Hummingbird

A few days ago, I blogged about a hummingbird in the yard that wouldn't sit still long enough for a photo.Well, good thins come to those who wait, and wait with a camera.

 He's a cute little guy, but he's still a hummingbird feeder bully.

Next step is to try and get some good pictures in flight.

Jasper the Kayaker

I bought an inflatable kayak a few weeks ago, but today was my first trip, and who better to help paddle than Jasper?  When we had a boat in Beaufort, I bought our dog Buster a life jacket so he could go with us. He was too old to start being a boater, so it has sat around unused.  It fits Jasper though, so he was styling a nice red floaty coat.

It took me about 20 minutes to inflate the boat and get everything tied down.  I can do it faster, but I was trying to develop some good processes and habits.  Any time I was working on the boat, Jasper would help by swimming out into the water and waiting for me to throw him something.

 I finally gave up and found him something to fetch. 

Jasper did remarkably well.  He wasn't completely comfortable but was very well behaved.  I could get him to sit still...

and I could get him to lay down, but I just couldn't get him to turn around and face forward.  He would for a few minutes, but he would decide he would like to keep an eye on me as well.  No spills, but I chose to take these photos with a little pocket camera that was replaced years ago.

Today's lessons:

• The wind on open water is not your friend in an inflatable boat.
• I need to think about taking Jasper out to the Great Salt Lake.  He smelled bad enough diving home from a near by, clean reservoir.  GSL is further away and nasty smelling.
• I should add a floating fetch toy to my kayak bag
• I need an entirely different system for carrying spare stuff and my dry bag.  Today the kayak looked like a street person's shopping cart.

Hunting for elk and bear

I went out with my friend Chad Rexroad to try and photograph some elk and/or a bear that were seen out beyond the Strawberry Reservoir.

After a few hours of hiking and searching, our total was:

• 8 cows, none of which wanted to get out of the truck's path
• 4 deer, all too fast or far away for photos
• Quite a few elk footprints, but no elk
• No sign of bear

Since we weren't having luck with the mammals, we stopped at the reservoir.  There were quite a few Western Grebes swimming around.  Their call is quite loud for such a reasonably sized bird.

I shouldn't be surprised to find them, but I'm sorry, pelicans do not belong in Utah.  They belong at the beach.  I wish I could have seen them feeding.  I may have to go back and try to photograph that, but it is almost an hour away. I might use this as a test photo location for my kayak.

The water was pretty smooth, so the reflections were better than I would expect for almost 11:00.

The White Pelicans are prettiest when they are flying.  They look prehistoric and the white and black contrast is gorgeous.

Our next elk hunt probably won't occur until September or so when the rutting season starts and I think to find a bear, I am just going to have to get very lucky.

Thanks tour guide Chad!

Birds on crack

I know that hummingbirds can be fast little things, but this guy is ridiculous. I am fairly certain it is a Rufous Hummingbird, and even with three feeders in the yard, he feels obligated to be the bully. 

He sits in the trees and watches for other hummingbirds and then dives bombs them. That seems to be common around almost any feeders.

He is colorful enough that I wanted a picture of him sitting in a tree. My problem is that when he is sitting in a tree to watch, he moves about every 3 seconds. Branch to branch.  Tree to tree.  This is one hyped up hummingbird! 

I will get a good picture of him eventually.  After all, I know where he lives.