GONE GREEN AND GOING GREEN $$ & GO DAWGS!

THIS IS THE SEASON

       The extraordinary rain season on the Central Coast has painted a lush green world.

I've measured more than 34 inches in what was said to be a "La Nina year," a colder Pacific meaning an expectation of less rain than last year's "El Nino" year that produced 25+ inches. The reasoning, a the warmer "El Nino means" more rain. So much for the forecast and the prediction models.  

          It will be green in the Sierra as well and lakes the like one above, vital to California's water shed, will be replenished. More than 61 feet of snow has fallen in the Sierra Nevada High Country, second highest to the 1950-51 season when 65 feet fell.  Governor Jerry Brown declared the state's three year drought is officially over.

          ANOTHER MEASURE OF GREEN

$

       Nick Wilson writes in the San Luis Obispo Tribune that San Luis Obispo County's crop values reached $713 Million in 2010.

       Last year's ample rain fall contributed to the good news.  Grapes were the top value crop with a record value of $173,558,00.

TOP VALUE CROPS

             Grapes             $173.5 Million

             Strawberries     $123.5 Million

             Broccoli           $ 55.8  Million

             Cattle&Calves   $ 53.3  Million

        A variety of other vegetables and produce rounded out the top 20 but were significantly lower in individual value than the top 4.

       A television commercial talks about California cows being happy cows.  Well those cows grazing maybe happy about the spring green, but their owners are as well. Grazing this season will be very healthy, and the concluding rain season is likely to produce even better numbers for vineyards and farmers next year.

       When most of the US is under winter's gray and drab, California comes alive. The green season provides a special visual delight and is good for the bottom line as well.

GO DAWGS!

       Pardon my partisanship, but I simply want to express admiration for a favorite basketball team, the BUTLER BULLDOGS. I grew up in an era when Paul D. "Tony" Hinkle took the small Indianapolis university to national prominence.  In the last few years the  basketball program has again proven itself to be a force.  Back to back national championship appearances is a victory in itself.  

       This years team struggled early in the season having lost a great kid and super talent to the pros.  But coach Brad Stevens and his charges adjusted and surprised even die hard fans.  As a good friend, a Butler Alum and former University employee said "...not supposed to be a final four team, but they just refuse to lose.  Why stop the train now?"

        Butler boasts a high graduation rate of its student athletes and this years squad features an academic All American.  They evince team work and spirit.  Coach Stevens, one of the youngest in Division 1, joined the Butler program as a volunteer.  He has now guided a team to the national championship for a successive year, a fete very few achieve.

       In an age of "one and done", "face time" players, NCAA violations and sanctions, it is good to see a championship calibre team with the off court class of Butler.  On the court these guys are tenacious, disciplined, hard working and have been giant killers.  Here's to hoping they get one more win-tonight.  

      See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) HUGS, CHEERLEADERS AND A PAINTED SKY

SMILE

YOU'LL FEEL BETTER

       The local recording studio and venue for many wonderful intimate "house style" concerts is called the Painted Sky.  We were not here long before I discerned the origin of the name.  This is a recent "masterpiece."

       NCAA Final Four weekend is here.  Enjoy.  If you are not a hoops fans we've got a couple of items for you in keeping with our young "Weekender :) tradition" of fun.

THIS IS LIFE AFFIRMATIVE, FEATURES LEONARD COHEN'S GREAT WORK AND WILL MAKE YOU FEEL YOUNG. BE JOYFUL BY LINKING HERE.

and we've got cheerleaders!

MORE SMILES HERE AND FOR A GREAT CAUSE. THIS ALSO ANSWERS THE QUESTION "WHAT HAPPENS TO FORMER NFL CHEERLEADERS?" LINK HERE, ROCK ON AND BE WELL.

Remember to SMILE.

SEE YOU DOWN THE TRAIL.

DRIVING CALIFORNIA & BEING DRIVEN CRAZY

NOT CONNECTED

       I'm sorry for not posting yesterday.  Internet problems!!!! Just finished crawling around under the desk, connecting and disconnecting and reconnecting for the umpteenth time.  Finally the automated service on the other end of the phone was able to do whatever he/she/it did and now we are back on the information highway.

       These kinds of service interruptions bug me but they also worry me.  It demonstrates just how dependent we have become on a technological infrastructure.  Not being able to process email, browse and interact with social networks exposes a vulnerability and induces  a kind of withdrawal.  True, life continues.  I even went to the beach and enjoyed a gorgeous California day, but not before fretting about, what I was not "getting done" or "missing."

        Modernity requires this kind of fragile connectivity, though there is so little we can do to exercise power or influence over it, its service or reliability.  That feeling of helplessness angers me. It also worries me about forces of nature or man that can disconnect us.  Oh well-Off to play tennis and happy to be back in the world. 

       What a great segue to thoughts about kind of connectivity- commuting.

MORE THAN A COMMUTE

      French and Italian drivers can be aggressive-one finger in the air and another on the horn.  Mexican and Brazilian drivers can be fast and daring-who is going to back off first on a two lane road?  African drivers are heroes, because of the condition of African roads. But California drivers are in a class of their own. They can put up with the "commute" everyday.

      And California drivers are creators of what I call the bubble jams.  

      There you cruising the freeway and suddenly things jam and slow, even if there is no on or off ramp, no repair, no accident.  Stop and go and lane hopping until you hit a another bubble of open space and return to high speed until another mystery jam.

       Naturally you expect it when the (5) (10) (210) (405) (101) (etc) splits from the 

(5) (10) (210) (405) (101) (etc). But I am mystified by what causes some slow downs. They disappear as rapidly as the brake lights begin flashing on.

Now, what would you prefer.  This

or this.

It is the same road. The first scene in LA, the second, just a little further north of LA.

I've live and worked urban but I much prefer these scenes for a commute.

Here are a few successive "road scenes" as we head further into the Central Coast

Almost home and feeling peaceful.

It is more than a commute. In LA it is a kind of battle.  Up here it is a kind of therapy.

AND IN FACT, THIS BEAUTY IS A THERAPY FOR 

INTERNET INTERRUPTION AS WELL!!

See you down the trail.

EXOTIC BOTANICS AND GOODBYE TO JACK

EXOTICS

       Our recent jaunt to Palm Springs gave us the chance to visit the Moorten Family Garden Center that Lana saw profiled on television. It features cactus and succulents which I have always thought looked as though they could have come from another planet. The family has maintained the unique garden since the 1930's.  It is a good find with  plenty of  photo opportunities.  Enjoy.

AND THEN THERE IS THE FOOT PRINT

       The display near this rock indicates the stone was found in Texas and is supposed to be the footprint of a dinosaur.  Well, it at least stops visitors for a double take.

SAYING GOOD BYE TO BROTHER JACK

       Lana is in Indiana today for the funeral and burial of her brother Jack.

As you can see, there was a big age difference, but she always held an admiration for her big brother.  It seems there was nothing Jack could not figure out, fix or restore.  

       After High School he and a few buddies drove a Model A across country, and traveled what then was the coast highway the length of California. There were plenty of fix it moments and some 37 flat tires along the way.  Later Jack was a pilot, husband, father, grandfather, builder, craftsman and one of the most mellow men I've met. His boys are great young men and his widow Joyce is a sweetheart.  Today, they and his sisters say good bye.

       Lana has many memories of Jack; eating cereal from a mixing bowl, building things, remodeling a kitchen, digging and building a fort, a playhouse and more.  She still delights in telling how she and her big brother had their moment of fame.

       When I called a friend who is an attorney near Jack's home town, he said everybody knew Jack and thought the same thing, "he was a great guy and everyone liked him. No one ever had anything but good things to say about him ."  And so it seemed to me. Goodbye to a great guy who could fix or build just about anything and who always wore a smile.

PALM SPRINGS IMPRESSIONS

FIRST LOOKS

        

       Our discovery of California continued as we made our first journey to Palm Springs and environs.

      The area continues to grow in the Coachella Valley, surrounded by mountains.

       Our route in via the 111 took us past a growing wind turbine range. Good to see this.

Part of the allure is the visual connection of palms and the San Jacinto Mountains including snow caps.

The mountains reach 8-10 Thousand and they are a constant companion.

That mix of sun saturated light, shadows on the mountains, clouds, green and dry mild air drew a Hollywood crowd in the 40's and 50's.

Palm Springs began it's growth in the mid 50's.  Now it has expanded to Palm Desert,

Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells and beyond.  Still it is a play ground and 

center of Modern Architecture.

The pool was designed by a fraternity brother who has created an impressive career as an artist.  

Another fraternity brother has recently moved to the peaceful beauty of Palm Springs.

I told Bill, his new place reminds me of a tranquil resort.

The area is still a magnet for the famous and wealthy. But many others are now able to enjoy what was once an exclusive playground.

The demographics tend toward boomers and up.

The Living Desert Park, though, was full of baby strollers and young ones.

And a few wild ones.

They too seem to enjoy the magnificent views.

I'd love to show you some of the spectacular Modern Architecture,

but most of it is behind walls, gates and tucked in private enclaves-though most of the

public structures reveal the influence.

In a future post-some incredible Palm Springs Botanical scenes.

See you down the trail.

UNDERSTANDING ELEPHANT SEALS

IT'S IN THE GRUNTS AND GROWLS

       Researcher from UC Santa Cruz's Institute of Marine Sciences have been spending time with west coast elephant seals, trying to learn they how communicate.  The researchers have recorded the snorts, snarls, grunts and growls that sound a bit like belches in a barrel.

        They figure the huge mammals settle disputes over breeding rights and prevent fights by their language code.  Their calls can reach 130 decibels, as loud as a jackhammer as pointed out by Nadia Drake of the San Jose Mercury News.  Each male has a unique sound or call.  Drake reports the UC Santa Cruz researchers believe much of the language is used to settle disputes before coming to bloody and brutal battle.

        There is a large colony of elephant seals on the central coast, just a few miles north of Cambria. Visitors from around the globe trek to the viewing area to watch the massive and blubbery beach dwellers, who are often comical.  They wallow, snort at each other, mate, give birth and simply nap, flipping sand with fins that are uncannily like human hands.

         Here you can see a few pups, newly born elephant seals.  They get about six weeks of attention and nursing from their mother, then they are on their own.  The mother's interest turns to mating, and once that is done, she swims off to feeding grounds in the north Pacific.  The pup then becomes a "weaner" as they are called and has to learn to swim on his or her own. When nature dictates, they swim off singularly to either the male or female feeding grounds.  Those who survive, come back to the same beach, year after year, to molt, mate and mostly nap and snore.

AND NOW ABOUT ANOTHER NAPPER

THE FELINE

SO IS THAT CUTE, OR PERHAPS PERSNICKETY CAT OF YOURS, A KILLER. LINK HERE FOR THE BRUTAL TRUTH.

See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) QUALITY BS AND A TIME BANDIT

FUN RIDES

In the spirit of our weekend fun, we offer a couple of cyber rides to entertainment.

This video has been around a while, but it has to rank as one of the all time great examples of salesmanship and bs.

And then for a diversion into creativity, and time burning

LINK HERE AND BE AN ARTIST. ENJOY!

Have a great weekend.  See you down the trail.