How are you doing out there? A little smokey? UPDATE

rare

     We don't see much of this after winter and spring-green.

A network of springs under lace Cambria and this property not far from the east Village bears witness. The hills in the distance provide the dry counterpoint. 

thanks for the concern

    Friends back east write or call and ask how we are doing in this fire season. Two of California's wild fires have created air quality issues and some ash, but we are fortunate.
    Those "clouds" you see in the center of the picture are smoke from the Chimney Fire burning south of Lake Nacimiento. The map below provides a setting and relationship to Cambria, on the coast.

    The peak is Rocky Butte, some 3,200 feet.  Friends who live near the summit have a commanding view toward the ocean and back toward Lake Nacimiento, though now they are often inundated with smoke.

    **New Statistics--11PM PT  8/18
   The Chimney Fire has burned more than 11,000 acres and destroyed 45 homes in six days. 2,459firefighters are on the scene along with 170 engines, 7 air tankers, 13 helicopters, 28 dozers, 34 water tenders and 71crews. It is less than 35% contained.
   In the scene below you see dark and white smoke. Generally the darker smoke indicates a hotter burn producing more carbon.

      Fire season is the negative of living in rural or small town California.  

     Tourists do not always appreciate the frequent summer fog that rolls in during the evening and hangs around until mid-day, but locals love and depend on it. We call it May Gray, June Gloom, No Sky July and Fogust.

     Our native Monterey Pine survives by capturing the fog. Many of our other drought tolerant and Mediterranean climate flora get the only moisture they need from the atmosphere.

     The fog is a creation of the ocean temperature and the heat of the arid climate on the eastern side of our Santa Lucia coastal mountain range. In essence the heat of Paso Robles and the east side "draws" or "sucks" the cooler air through the mountain passes and canyons and a by product is our blessed flog.

      Rain is rare before October and rain season ends in March so every ounce of fog, marine haze, mist or humidity is a source of gratitude. 

       Last week ash from the Soberness fire North of Big Sur

some 45 minutes to an hour north created enough ash that it collected on surfaces here in Cambria. The last few days the wind direction has kept the ash away and the air has been cleaner.

     This is a portion of the burn area of the Soberness fire that has burned 79 thousand acres and destroyed 57 homes and structures. The top end of the blaze is toward Carmel Valley. It has forced the closure of the legendary Pacific Coast Highway, just north of the top of the frame.  It is now 60% contained.

     So thanks for your concerns. Keep the brave fire fighters in your thoughts and prayers. Many of the crews are hand fighting in rugged terrain, along mountain sides and in bone dry forests and scrub woodland.  

    
      See you down the trail.

    

Prescription-Mellow

Happy Hour Morro Bay, Ca

Halter Ranch Vineyard, Paso Robles appellation

      At risk of sounding self evident, everything is relative.

      I was sinking into depression as I read a favored blogger who lamented his approaching turn to 61. He reflected how quickly the last year passed and how in just a few more quick passes he will be 70 when he noted it will be "hard to ignore the reality," the reality of which he wrote are "the intimations of mortality!"  Gosh, thanks a lot pal!

      I raised it at coffee after a 90 minute tennis slug fest with another elder boomer and a couple of battlers a few years ahead. The gents in our circle on the coffee deck at Lily's are of a similar age. We noted village elders in their 90's who are dynamos of activity, including tennis and pickle ball and civic groups. The number of 80 somethings who run, play court games, lawn bowl, hike, kayak, bike, dance or find romance are too numerous to count. 70 year olds are like the 40-50 year old's back east, with full engagement in everything, including surfing that stretches the body in extraordinary ways. 60 year olds here are teeny boppers. 50 and below are the kids.
      Our "circle of wisdom" agreed that attitudes about age in our village on the Central California Coast are schematically different than those back east. Given the blessing of health, age is relative, and relatively younger here. Or so we have convinced ourselves. 

       You could argue that we are surrounded by beauty, without freeways, urban sprawl or high density humanity. True and that helps but one of the youngest people I know is our friend Tod, who lives in the heart of New York City. A dancer, choreographer, artist and renaissance thinker, Tod has mentored generations of creative spirits. He is north of 80 but his passion for life, learning and expression makes me think he has the fountain of youth on tap in his kitchen. It is a mind set, like so many of our friends here. 
      In Indianapolis I served on the board of an historical, Presidential Home and was surprised when two powerful and influential men, still fully engaged, needed to retire from the board when they reached 65. They had years of experience and yet had years of service to give, but "retirement age" was a custom, part of the cultural mores. 

        Relativity-age and vitality, creativity and passion, setting and culture. If fate smiles health upon you, the calendar need not imprison or limit. I wish my mid-western Geezer writing friend good recovery from a blown knee, success in his goal of walking every street in his city and 9 years to get younger so when he reaches 70 he won't be thinking of the end of things but rather the continuation of the sweetness and opportunity that comes with each sunrise. 

harvest is for grapes

    Grape growers and wine makers expect an earlier harvest this year. In some vineyards, that means soon.

          From the "captain of the watch," Cheers!

    See you down the trail.

GOLDEN OLDIES & OTHER SENTIMENTS

a throwback 

    Old images come back to haunt. This was a billboard in the 1970's when Gold Cards were the big thing. Cris Conner and I hosted a morning show on WNAP. Cris, the "Salvador Dali" of radio jocks and yours truly, the sedate investigative journalist, made an odd couple though enormously compatible. Halcyon, salad days they were. 
    Cris was and is a supremely talented photographer. He also handcrafted a walking stick that has gotten miles of California trail time. 

when a plan comes together

     June Lake in the Sierras

    Karen, a friend and former colleague and her husband Larry have just completed a move from Indianapolis to California, something I am familiar with. Karen reminds me that 5 years ago when she decided on the move I told her how quickly the 5 years would go. Joy of joy, they have located in the Republic and have been reborn as Californians.

   Karen and her eldest are planning a trip up to the Sierra and was asking for info. It gave me a chance to evangelize my absolute love of the eastern slope and that area from June Lake to Yosemite. It is our favorite place to hike.

the continuing saga of

an electoral college drop out

    Those of us who have been around the block a few times and especially those of us who were paid to cover politics  are seeing something without precedent, political pros who boldly question the competence and intelligence of a candidate who could be given the nuclear codes. Nor have I seen national security experts en masse warn the nation about the danger of electing said candidate. One former director of the CIA gave up a compensated post at a network and membership on boards of directors, also at personal financial loss to warn us about the danger of Donald Trump. 

     It is my view Trump lacks the character, skill, experience and emotional balance required of the job. He is irrationally irresponsible. His remark of  the "second Amendment people" stopping Hillary Clinton is "morally criminal" at least. 

     He and his apologists can try to explain this away as a joke or an off the cuff comment that is now being overplayed, but that is bullshit. He knows everything a presidential candidate says will be scrutinized or he is stupid. The comment is either another nail in his coffin of incompetence or he is advocating violence. Either disqualifies him. I wish there was a prosecutor out there with the stones to file a charge of some sort to punctuate the gravity of such mindless trash talk.

     You don't have to like Hillary Clinton to realize Donald Trump and his campaign should be flushed. 

     See you down the trail.

    

ELVIS IS ON THE ROAD and I'M AN ELECTORAL COLLEGE DROP OUT

sun and shadow play in morro bay

enrolling in electoral college

     I'm waiting for the New York Times or Wall Street Journal to break the news that wiki leaks discovered a check made payable  to Donald Trump for "services rendered" signed by the Clinton Campaign.

elvis and the crusher 

     Friend and former colleague John, once known as Elvis, was a recent guest.

    He was in the midst of a loop of the west that had him log an extraordinary number of miles and hours on what he affectionately calls "the crusher!"

    The day after the frame below was snapped he set his personal best for miles in a day. He was bound from LA to Las Vegas and wanted to beat the expected 112 degrees in the desert. John left LA at 4AM and arrived Vegas a little before 9AM.  He calculated he averaged 85 MPH. He noted that BMW's and Mercedes also inbound to LA from Vegas were flying by him. But that was just the warm up. He decided not to hang around Vegas.
    Before he got back to his truck and bike carrier he drove 849 miles in some 16 1/2 hours. He caught a nap and drove straight through to Indiana, where he proceeded the mow the acerage of his home. 

   John was an ace in his job in television news and smart as a fox, though mostly he was always a very wise cat. On this trip he was a traveling cat-Elvis on the Orange Crush.

another orange cat looking for cool

taking out the trash

     Taking, keeping and then making light of "always wanting" one-the Purple Heart business by trump-is a low point. He mocked the honor, reverence and respect due all men and women who have been injured in defense of the US. How can such a social and egotistical cretin be a potential president? In many ways he is the poster boy for how toxic and dysfunctional American electoral politics has become.

     See you down the trail.

Originals

originals
ideas

     What if the new President empanelled a "blue ribbon" task force to tackle what looms as precipitous threats to the republic?

•      how to unlock government grid lock
•      how to create a new job generating economy
•      how to initiate a multi decade rebuilding of America's infrastructure
•      how to shorten federal elections and pull the big money out of politics
•      how to bring accountability and greater efficiency to the federal bureaucracy 

       There is certainly more on the horizon but almost everything else follows these critical needs.

        The panel would consist of economists, theorists, scientists, political scientists, big data analysts and be led by real doers. Who would be the leaders? People like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Amory Lovin, Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Larry Page, Safra Catz, Mary Barra, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Meg Whitman, Mary Daly, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Michael Bloomberg, Lawrence Ellison, Jamie Diamond and that caliber of person. With a group think process "managed" by these innovative thinkers, the process would produce more results than leaving politicians to sort it out.

       Political leadership would be there to listen and to be questioned. Writers and thinkers as diverse as Noam Chomsky to Charles Krauthammer, Tom Friedman to David Brooks, Midge Decker to Peggy Noonan, Barbara Ehrenreich and others would also be invited to be quizzed and asked to feed ideas. 

       The work process would glean ideas right to left. It would amount to a huge intellectual product, idea and data dump that would then be assimilated, studied and processed by the blue ribbon managers. They would author a document.

        Nothing like this has happened in American governance. Dwight Eisenhower began to approach the concept when he'd invite eminent scientists and scholars to have a sandwich and talk about what's new.  Eventually bureaucrats took it over and it morphed into something else as is typical in Washington.

       Getting the full range of problems, potential solutions, practical applications and real political understanding would help not only probe the depth of the crisis, but would begin to build a road map to solution.

       The world has changed since I began studying political science. The complexity of problems facing our government and others, has woven so intricately and our guardians have so blown their assignments we now face waves of pressure and force than can force modern civilization into a tail spin.

Partisan politics has replaced a desire to fix, solve, lead and serve. This presidential election is a marker as to how bad it is. 

       Congress cannot function, but they have created a special class for themselves. The White House, under almost any person, is terribly outgunned and over worked. Our Supreme Court is not at capacity and is more political now than in a century. The political class has failed. It is past time for a new Ap, an application of innovation and professionalism.  We need the help. It would be hard to say no the President.

original skills

    Cowboy is a job description here on the California central coast. Skills we used to see in the old movie westerns are still well practiced here.

         Below a young male is being branded and is about to be castrated. The missing parts are put into the bucket you see to the right of the frame, and moved promptly to a grill where they become Rocky Mountain Oysters. 

     Fisherman still go down to the sea off the central coast with Morro Bay being the nearest local port. 

     On this day this particular catch was taken some 30 miles off shore.

     As seals and gulls hope for a snack, a couple of fishermen 
prepare the catch of slimy eels. 

    They are  processed and put in a transportation tank to be sent to Asia.

original genius

the young lion 

who should have been president

    In 1979 Senator Richard Lugar, a runner, sponsored a fitness festival. Years later the highly respected Senator made a bid for the Republican nomination for the Presidency. 

    I've often wondered what a difference that would have made. Lugar was admired by both sides of the aisle and played a key role in stabilizing the world by controlling nuclear war heads and biological weapons that fell to local control when the former Soviet Union collapsed. He and Senator Sam Nunn intervened and kept weapons of mass destruction off the black market. 

    In this post featuring American originals I wanted to pay tribute an original political thinker. 

     I remain stunned how young we both were. I was producing a documentary on running and this was a break in that day's shooting. 

author, author

   Kudos to a tennis friend for his creative writing. Ray Derouin plays a skilled game of tennis and writes with depth and aplomb as well. The Pewter Plough Playhouse, an historic Cambria theatre presented readings of three of his one act plays, Perfect Strangers, Tea Time and A Week of Mondays. 

   Intricate and thoughtful scripts and nicely read by Janice Peters, Randall Lyon, Viv Goff and Mikaele Alicia.

original defense

    Why not outlaw open fires unless in the rainy season and why not find a stepped up enforcement plan?

     I ask this as 5,552 men and women continue to battle the fire north of Big Sur that has spread to 71 square miles, 51 thousand acres and has destroyed 57 homes with thousands more threatened. The most terrible thing about the fire is that it cost the life of a bulldozer operating trying to prepare a firebreak.

    How did this fire get started? A camp fire. True it was an illegal camp fire, but open fires are permitted in state and national parks and that is just wrong. We all have memories of sitting around a campfire, sure, but in the future those memories should be written only in the rainy season. The idiots who caused this fire are being pursued. Nothing can undo the damage, but justice can be punitive and in that way make an example of the fools who in all honesty may never have been taught about the danger of a camp fire.  

    See you down the trail.

INSPIRED II

A DOSE OF GOOD MEDICINE

   This is a new top to a post that drew much interest. It has been revised. We gathered these images on a visit with dear friends. It was a tonic.
   Now this focus is brought to our current political rumble, which includes a fight with the media. We'll revisit that below. 

INSPIRED

   Frequent readers remember I'm a First Amendment fanatic. I'm the kind of goof who reads the Declaration of Independence each Fourth of July, and who is adamant about protecting our liberties and who holds dear the extraordinary set of bones upon which this republic hangs-the Constitution.

  All of us are entitled the full extension of  rights, privileges and responsibilities laid out for us by the founders, protected by sacrifices through generations and increased by our perpetually growing enlightenment. 

   So Washington DC is the touchstone, in so many ways.

   Ingrained in the raison d'être of these monuments and memorials are intellects, sacrifices, leadership, vision and a devotion to an ideal-a nation where all live in equality. 
   Personalities who have risen to lead are honored, beyond their days, as a challenge to us in our time.  These stone reminders are a tonic. We are humbled and inspired by what we see and remember.

Memorial to journalists killed in the line of duty.

Newseum, Washington DC

     Service personnel and journalists have given much, including their all so that we may know and live free. They inspire me.
   Politicians who rise above petty politics to move the arc of history as statesmen inspire me.

    Temples that celebrate the best of our creative dreams,  reaching and artistic output, inspire and offer a healing balm.

    And so our divided and dysfunctional Congress, beleaguered Presidency and questionable Supreme Court do not detract from the wide and long sweep of the true greatness that can and has emerged in and from this Capitol of human longings and achievement. It is not perfect.  None of the heroes who are memorialized were perfect. Like all of us, they had feet of clay and were made of the same star matter. 
   We have eras of which to be proud and periods of shame and embarrassment but it is always on a human scale, moving toward an ideal, an inch, a day, a moment at a time.

    So I take from all of it an inspiration and renewed zeal to stay stalwart in my belief that all of us, regardless of birthright, are children under the same heaven, brothers and sisters of planet earth. I may not like you, I may not agree with you, but neither that, nor how and who you were born should stand between you and full equality, even in a church.

    Your color, your gender, your ethnic heritage, your sexual orientation, your physical or mental challenges simply make you a human being, entitled to the full privileges of life.

    I thank the good Lord for a vision that it is so, and for a nation where we get better at making it so and for a place where we build monuments and temples to remind us to make sure it is always so and to recall those who have said so.
   
    Afterthoughts in this political season. Reporters and other journalists have been barred by the Trump campaign. That is stupid and it is wrong. It is also critical to note.
   If there is anything our generation should take from the history of 1933 forward is the rise of Hitler, his coopting of workers and his use of power. We witness warning signs and similar behavior. Trying to manipulate the press is troubling.
    Recourse? Some have suggested a fight back-refuse to cover his candidacy. If one outlet is barred, no coverage from everyone else. That may "vent," but it's not right nor effective.
My friend Frank, who hosted our Washington visit observes it keenly.
      "The media is always stuck between principles (protesting this kind of treatment) and responsibility (continuing to report on craziness.)
     This election offers American voters an opportunity to do a reality check and to think in view of US history and all that implies.
     

    See you down the trail.

GAVEL TO GAVEL-THE FENCE-DONALD dumb to dumber

gavel to gavel

     The nation owes immense gratitude to Brian Lamb, the founder of C-SPAN. A crowning glory of his vision has been full screen the last couple of weeks, true reality television in C-SPAN's coverage of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. It is television for adults and the best kind of history teaching for students.

     In 1979 Lamb's C-SPAN opened the proceedings of the US Congress to constituent oversight by winning the right to broadcast from the House and Senate. Since then C-SPAN has created a larger footprint in the nation's public affairs. Book TV, studio interview and phone in segments, coverage of committee hearings, panels, seminars, symposiums, political-cultural events, historical programs and more have graced American television screens with a seat for viewers. C-SPAN treats us with respect.

        an American ritual

      It was a family ritual in our home to watch the conventions, as was possible in those days, gavel to gavel courtesy of extended network coverage. Even before remote controls (!) we would switch from NBC's Huntley Brinkley team to CBS's coverage as Walter Cronkite began to emerge. (btw I was the remote control, switching the dial with such speed that my mother warned "don't break it.")

      By the late 1960's I was covering politics as a young reporter. I covered the nominating conventions in the '70s, 80's and 90's. By the time I was ceo of a documentary and production company or a news executive, the networks had pared coverage. 

      With all of the media available, there is the obligatory yacking head panels combined with a penchant for the broadcast anchors to blather.  Not so with C-SPAN.

      C-SPAN makes no editorial judgment or interruption. What it does is provide uninterrupted coverage of everything at the podium and an opportunity to view all of the produced video segments and musical interludes. Gavel to Gavel, for real. 

no talking, please

     By the time of a certain intellectual age, most of us can navigate the dramas without the arbitrary intrusion of anchors, reporters, producers, gee whiz graphics and the droning "experts." At the end of the day or during the rest of the news cycle we can seek out those folks, but as the "show" plays forth on the convention floor, we should be permitted to watch, do our own analysis, and render our own judgments. 

      Indeed there is a lot of good journalism and reporting, on the air, in print and on-line, but there is a freedom and quality in being permitted to watch proceedings without intrusion. We would not want interruptions at a theater or movie. I've taken to frequently doing as my long time friend and fellow media veteran Frank does during ball games, turn down the sound and watch the action. Instant replays are a nice touch, but unless I'm a particular fan of the sportscaster, I watch without sound. I'm old enough to know who's scoring and who's not and how well someone is playing. As Yogi may have said, "you can see a lot just by watching."

cheers!

       The depth and essence of a political party can be measured by how they put themselves forward, even in the non prime time segments. Gavel to Gavel has purpose and is enlightening. C-SPAN is the real star of the political season. Indiana born and educated, Purdue graduate, Brian Lamb has given the American body politic a gift of true intelligence and the best seats in the house.

      

why there is a fence

Donald

dumb and dumber

     Not that one is necessary but if you need another reason to worry about Donald Trump's suitability to be president this last stunt encouraging the Russian government to hack American computers and to get involved in our domestic politics is off the charts. It could also be treasonous. 

       I can't help but think if Hillary Clinton had said what Trump said, the Fox News? crowd would be leading a pitchfork and club brigade into Philadelphia to "lock her up" until they can "string her up" or shoot her as one Republican said last week. 

      Trump is a demagogue of the worst kind, he's a con artist and entirely out of his league when it comes to the complexities of international diplomacy. I've watched as friends who are conservative or traditional Republicans have struggled with has happened to their party. As difficult as it is to concede, several have done so. They will not vote for Trump. I've watched in disbelief as people of conscience and intelligence have migrated from their abhorrence of Trump to being reluctant supporters. Donald Trump is dangerous.

      Wouldn't it be something if a federal attorney somewhere brought espionage or sedition charges against him? It won't happen, but maybe it should.

       See you down the trail