Today's walk report: 092522

Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.

This event certainly put a damper on things. I was on the phone with Docken and soon as I entered the local botanical garden, I exclaimed, uh oh, this isn't good. 

Even male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty seemed a bit perturbed about, well, something.

Docken mentioned calling the campus Sheriff's office which was a good thing because the first idea racing through my head was to walk over there and that's counter to my general state of mind. It was only about 350 yards from where I was standing but that's not the point. Thanks Dockie. So, I hung up with her and called the Sheriff's office. A few minutes later, while I was pursuing a better shot of Dusty, a Sheriff's deputy came walking into the garden. I pointed out the source of the problem and thanked him. I thanked him a couple of times until he thanked me. We're in a serious drought. We're under some rather severe restrictions for water usage. Best I could surmise, this had been going on for hours, perhaps all night.

Here was the problem, about 20 yards from where I took the first image.

Water had pooled up inside the garden and was running off in all directions. I found it difficult to convey the scope of the problem with just having a 70-300mm lens.

It was like a small creek in some areas and I measured it out at least 130 yards from the source.

This shot was taken 100 yards north of the source.

After circling the almost 2 acre garden, about half of which was reasonably flooded, I went back to where I had left the Sheriff's Deputy and saw the water had been shut off. On a Sunday, with no maintenance staff and perhaps few visitors who knows how much more water may have been wasted. 

From here I did my loop west and back to the car. No ancient car worshipers this week. Instead a large crowd of people was accumulating for a vintage fair day. I could turn this house into a vintage fair if I had the wherewithal. Trust me. 

 I drove up to the top of the hill, looking for birds of prey as usual but there was nothing. I added about a half mile to the walk and drove home.

Big brother was watching.

When the flood calls, you have no home, you have no walls
In the thunder crash, you're a thousand minds within a flash
Don't be afraid to cry at what you see
The actor's gone, there's only you and me
And if we break before the dawn, they'll use up what we used to be

Shameless self promotion

 But you know, somebody's got to do it.

Sponsored by the folks where I get my wildflower seeds. One of my photos has been chosen as a finalist for their Summer, 2022 photo contest. They will be awarding a $100 Grand Prize to one winner, and $50 Prizes for the runners-up. Either prize helps me a lot. I believe it's a gift certificate. That works for me.

My photo is labeled: Gulf Fritillary Butterfly on Tithonia rotundifolia (Mexican Sunflower) | By Eric P.

Just so there's no confusion and to add a little pizazz to this post, it is this image.

That's a full frame image by the way. It was taken with a Canon 70-300 mm lens coupled with a Canon 500D close-up lens, which means I was a mere 19.6" away from that butterfly.

Anyway, I'm asking for votes. Voting takes place at this link. Simply click the action button for my image at the bottom of the page and then scroll down the list of finalists, enter an email address (you can unsubscribe anytime, I have) and then click “submit your vote.” Thanks! 

Voting for the Grand Prize Winner will be open until Sunday, October 2, 2022.

Today's walk report: 091822

I made me do it.

Docken joined me on the phone. Thanks Doc.

I took some pictures along the way.

When I turned the bend into the garden, I realized it was a much prettier day than my head was trying to tell me.

And there was male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty. He seemed perfectly normal, on his favorite twig.

He boldly flew up and south to chase a mockingbird. I thought, good for you Dusty, you show 'em who's boss around here! It's not about size, it's about courage and conviction. You can't let the fat loudmouth intimidate you.

 The bunny exclaims, right on! Let's end the clown show and stop the cruelty!

Meanwhile, I did what has become my recent lower level ritual lap around the the northwest 40 and spotted some more ancient car worshipers. This time it was an association that calls themselves, Classic Chevys of Southern California. "A Dedicated Group of Chevy Owners, and Enthusiasts, Established in 1976." You know, the cars weren't really that classic in 1976. I drive a car today that's almost 20 years old and have another one that's close to 30--like a month away from 30. I wouldn't call them "classic." But hey, I hope they're having fun and staying out of trouble. 

I did a second lap around the garden and then headed for my car to drive up the hill. On the way I spotted this little female Selaphorus sasin keeping her eye out on a crop of Tacoma stans flowers below.

Last week I walked over to the west edge of the hilltop to check out the livestock below and that's when I spotted a red-tailed hawk. No hawks today, so here's the livestock I was referring to.

Angus.

The groovy goats.

Some Jersey cattle.

I went for a lap around the the top of the hill.

It appears some witch forgot where she parked her broom.

The sky was laughing somewhat ominously.

Coming back around to the car I spotted this pair of American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos). They were beak to beak when I first saw them. American crows are socially monogamous cooperative breeding birds. I believe they are much smarter than humans.

Breaking News... The Depth of Self-Delusion.

Today's walk report: 091122

Change in the weather, change in the weather,
Somethin's happenin' here.

And it's about time. I was out early, 74º with a relative humidity of 76%. Not exactly comfortable but after a week and a half of triple digit temps dragging on for up to 8 hours a day, I'll take it. Currently it's 12:35 PM, 84º with a RH of 54%. Late Friday night and just barely seeping into Saturday SoCal was on the fringes of Tropical Storm, Kay. You know, as in every kiss begins with K. For me this meant .16" of rain. 

It was mostly walking and talking on the phone with Docken, there wasn't a lot of action on the photo front. Here are some snapshots along the way...

Drimia maritima, AKA, Sea Squill. Last year around this same time there were three stalks on this plant and the flowering was much more robust. Please note the photos of a year younger male Calypte anna hummingbird known as Dusty in that post.

And here's Dusty today. He was pretty darn active and every time I'd stop to wait for a picture the humidity started to get to me so I preferred not to wait for photos and kept moving. Every time I moved in on Dusty he'd fly off to chase an intruder. It was also all gray skies at this time and that wasn't helping much with the lighting.

I circled around the garden a few times. I also went far west of the garden to look for other photo ops. The only one I encountered was a dime-sized spider on a single strand of silk. It was in the process of finishing breakfast but by the time I got my close-up lens attached, it had scurried off, meal and all.

On my way back to the car so I could drive up the hill and look for birds of prey I stopped here for a moment. I believe this is some type of Cylindropuntia. Maybe not. I'm posting this mostly for Doc because I was talking to her about of piece of it which had broken off and I was actually contemplating taking it home to propagate. What was I thinking? Granted it would take some time to get to these proportions but even at a foot or two, this would not be an appropriate addition to any portion of my yard. Hmm, well, there is the curb strip where neighbors park their cars.

Up on the hill...

You wicked old witch!  Uncle Henry, Auntie Em, don't let 'em take Toto!  Don't let her take him -- please!

Oh, I'm sure she's a very nice person and certainly nothing like Miss Gulch. It was odd though to see this electric bike, flying up along side me with a woman in what appeared to be her pajamas. The little Yorkie seemed perfectly happy too, you know, considering it's oblivious to what a sudden stop might mean. FYI... Toto was a Cairn Terrier. I believe Toto was a Yorkshire Terrier in the book though. Miss Gulch was, of course, a republican. It's all about the cruelty.

The good news, for me anyway, was that the construction on the top of the hill appeared to be about over and I was able to meander around a lot more than I have for the last few months. The Fine Arts part of the campus was now available.

Dozens of trees have been removed from the hillside in recent years. Perhaps this was left for the "still life" class.

I'm not quite sure what this is supposed to be other than to keep people from sitting on the tree stump. I'm sure it took considerable time to make these. If you can't tell, they're bolted down.

Back in the 1970s there was a beautiful (as drinking fountains go) blue tile multi-faucet drinking fountain in this spot. Here's the modernized emplacement. I think it's a good idea.

Back around to the east side of the hill, here's a wide shot of Elephant Mountain along with a perspective of what the weather was like.

Heading back to the west side of the parking lot I almost got in the car but wanted to take a look at the campus livestock below and I'm glad I did. My last outing afforded me some fun shots of a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and once again... the star of the day...

This was funny, this was the hawk yawning.

Until next time, I bid you adieu.

Some people's hot
Some people's cold
Some people's not very
Swift to behold
Some people do it
Some see right through it
Some wear pajamas
If only they knew it

The Heat Goes On

 We're having a heatwave and it's stifling in more ways than one. Today will be the 6th day of triple digit temperatures for over seven hours. The highest temperature so far was on Wednesday, August 31st at 1:30 in the afternoon, coming in at a blistering 112.3º F. Yesterday topped out at 110.6º F. My house is inadequately prepared for these kinds of temperatures on a few fronts but most significantly it's the absence of central air conditioning. Currently, it's 4:20 AM, I've been up for over an hour. The house is about 85º. I'm making an effort to bring as much of a 76º outdoor air temp inside before resorting to air conditioning. When I went to bed air conditioning was on a timer with an outdoor temperature still hovering around 90º F. There will be no walk today. I will only have about a one hour opportunity to get some watering done outside. I suspect I'll be in triple digits before 11:00 AM. 

Anyway, since I'm up so early and I have a somewhat cooler breeze being pulled in by a tower fan blowing on me I wanted to take this opportunity to post some pictures. I'm afraid I might not get a whole lot of butterfly photos after this heatwave since it's taking a toll on my few flowers outside. Here are some images from this summer, some of these may have already been posted on this blog. I'm bored and I'm going a little stir-crazy with this heatwave. PS, I just learned... 

Stir-crazy originated as a word to describe a prisoner who became distraught after prolonged confinement. Stir is a 19th-century slang word for "prison" that some word historians have suspected to be from Romani stariben, of the same meaning. But a convincing argument of that origin has yet been made. Today, stir-crazy describes any person who has become restless, agitated, or anxious from being or feeling entrapped in some place. (Thank you Merriam-Webster)

Butterflies are, giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes), Gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) and the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). Flowers are, Tithonia rotundifolia, Plumbago auriculata and Bougainvillea. There's also a Salvia leucantha plant in here.

In no particular order.

That's all. Hopefully next week provides some cooler climes and less humidity. Mother Nature seems to frequently sneak in an extra little SoCal heatwave in October. We'll see. By the way, despite my efforts, it's still 85º F in this room. In less than two hours I need to close things up.