and back to the garden...
 |
| Cattail flower |
 |
| Chilopsis linearis, desert willow |
 |
| Palo verde flowers |
 |
| Penstemon centranthifolius, scarlet bugler |
 |
| Agapanthus flowers |
Friday, June 7, 2013
Today's walk report: 060713
"If 6 Was 9."
and back to the garden...
For my sister...
and finally... I reported sighting a coyote on the campus in an earlier post. I don't believe this is the same coyote, it looks more scraggly than the one from my first encounter. I would think this would be a concern for the campus considering students, an animal husbandry division with livestock scattered about and the proximity to the regular community. Coyotes have been known to be quite fond of cats and small dogs. Yes, it was concerned about my presence. According to a quick measure on Google Earth I was about 65m away when I took this picture. It's a tight crop from a much bigger image.
and back to the garden...
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Today's walk report: 060513
Getting out the door...
Sometimes that's a hard thing to do. I'm trying to pick up the pace here a bit and get more things I'd like to get done, done. This in order to create an environment which is more conducive for uncovering and discovering and doing what I NEED to do. Today I felt like I was in the middle of a 1/2 dozen different tasks, all loosely related and it was getting late for heading out. But I did, 6:40 I was out the door and I was still thinking about all the stuff I didn't finish today.
Good news on the walk... Graduation day at the school! YIPPEE!!! That means no annoying Jr. college kids at least for awhile. Seriously 18-20, these kids are a mess. Summer session last year also didn't seem to invade my space too much so perhaps smooth sailing for awhile.
Look at all those young people getting an AA degree. I wonder what's next.
The only other semi amusing thing on the walk today was this. I felt some flying insect run into my upper lip and I think it ended up in my chewing gum. I had just put a fresh piece of gum in my mouth so... what the hey, I kept chewing.
I'll leave you with one of the anthems of my generation...
Sometimes that's a hard thing to do. I'm trying to pick up the pace here a bit and get more things I'd like to get done, done. This in order to create an environment which is more conducive for uncovering and discovering and doing what I NEED to do. Today I felt like I was in the middle of a 1/2 dozen different tasks, all loosely related and it was getting late for heading out. But I did, 6:40 I was out the door and I was still thinking about all the stuff I didn't finish today.
Good news on the walk... Graduation day at the school! YIPPEE!!! That means no annoying Jr. college kids at least for awhile. Seriously 18-20, these kids are a mess. Summer session last year also didn't seem to invade my space too much so perhaps smooth sailing for awhile.
The only other semi amusing thing on the walk today was this. I felt some flying insect run into my upper lip and I think it ended up in my chewing gum. I had just put a fresh piece of gum in my mouth so... what the hey, I kept chewing.
I'll leave you with one of the anthems of my generation...
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Today's walk report: 060413
Almost as exciting as a Monday walk...
Here are the highlights...
Some kid (red t-shirt), end of the school term with school out in just 2 or 3 days, allegedly set fire to one of the lunch benches at the nearby elementary school, also mentioned here. This is after school, 6:39 PM. I smelled smoke and was indeed in the smoke looking all around trying to figure out where it was and if it was something I needed to take some action on. Then down the hallway I saw this scene. I could see it a little better than my sorry point and shoot camera can convey--my apologies. The guy with the hose is presumably a teacher who also manages the after school playground. My suspicions are that kid isn't going to have the best of summers. The school also, at least used to, have a summer playground schedule. I don't think he's going to be invited.
When I attended this school the person who managed the playground was Mr. Slane. Mr. Slane was one of my 4th grade teachers. This is how Mr. Slane signed my autograph book upon leaving the school for middle school after completing the 6th grade. I visited Mr. Slane one last time before entering High School which back in those days started with the 10th grade. Mr. Slane admitted he always really liked me despite my tendencies to disrupt class.
This is what Mr. Slane looked like. There's a shadow just behind him, although it's hard to tell here. That is my shadow, 1965. In 1965 I was 9 years old and I was already taller than Mr. Slane.
I don't know exactly who Ester and Tom were but I believe they were lunch area "supervisors." What I do remember was we got out of class to go collect signatures and that's what I was gonna do. Mrs. Ardinger was the once a week, for an hour or so, music teacher. She had us singing horrible songs like, The Boll Weevil Song...
She was nice though. I liked her chalk holder for making a music staff. I thought that was pretty cool. I always liked the way music notation looked. At the time I was just starting to learn to read music outside of school. I never got especially good at that.
Other newsworthy stuff... This pickup has been sitting in a red zone, away from the curb, trashed inside, with the ignition all pulled out of the steering column, for over a month. I think it's fair to conclude it was stolen and abandoned. Besides being in a red zone (yeah it looks pink, the city here has a lot of neglected curb painting to do--among other stuff) it's right at the intersection going into the college campus. It's also along side the local "Occupational Center" which I believe is still part of the L.A. Unified School District and the homes on the other side of the street are pretty upscale. You'd think it would have been reported but apparently not, well not until tonight anyway. You can do this online by the way. I don't really care except for one thing... Somebody's been using the cab of this vehicle for a bathroom and I walk past the thing everyday.
Lastly, I've been trying to get a decent picture of this for awhile. This is not it. Right about the 1 km mark toward home I frequently see this. Somebody, my guess is 2 or 3 houses south of where I'm standing has a small flock of 9-12 white doves. Every evening, I'll assume it's every evening I've seen this several times now, they fly a circle about 50-70m in diameter about 5 or 6 times and then go back home. It's quite nice. The first time I saw this was the walk during which I had the unpleasant encounter with the deputy from L.A. County Sheriff's and it had a wonderfully calming effect on me.
Here are the highlights...
Some kid (red t-shirt), end of the school term with school out in just 2 or 3 days, allegedly set fire to one of the lunch benches at the nearby elementary school, also mentioned here. This is after school, 6:39 PM. I smelled smoke and was indeed in the smoke looking all around trying to figure out where it was and if it was something I needed to take some action on. Then down the hallway I saw this scene. I could see it a little better than my sorry point and shoot camera can convey--my apologies. The guy with the hose is presumably a teacher who also manages the after school playground. My suspicions are that kid isn't going to have the best of summers. The school also, at least used to, have a summer playground schedule. I don't think he's going to be invited.
When I attended this school the person who managed the playground was Mr. Slane. Mr. Slane was one of my 4th grade teachers. This is how Mr. Slane signed my autograph book upon leaving the school for middle school after completing the 6th grade. I visited Mr. Slane one last time before entering High School which back in those days started with the 10th grade. Mr. Slane admitted he always really liked me despite my tendencies to disrupt class.
I don't know exactly who Ester and Tom were but I believe they were lunch area "supervisors." What I do remember was we got out of class to go collect signatures and that's what I was gonna do. Mrs. Ardinger was the once a week, for an hour or so, music teacher. She had us singing horrible songs like, The Boll Weevil Song...
She was nice though. I liked her chalk holder for making a music staff. I thought that was pretty cool. I always liked the way music notation looked. At the time I was just starting to learn to read music outside of school. I never got especially good at that.
Other newsworthy stuff... This pickup has been sitting in a red zone, away from the curb, trashed inside, with the ignition all pulled out of the steering column, for over a month. I think it's fair to conclude it was stolen and abandoned. Besides being in a red zone (yeah it looks pink, the city here has a lot of neglected curb painting to do--among other stuff) it's right at the intersection going into the college campus. It's also along side the local "Occupational Center" which I believe is still part of the L.A. Unified School District and the homes on the other side of the street are pretty upscale. You'd think it would have been reported but apparently not, well not until tonight anyway. You can do this online by the way. I don't really care except for one thing... Somebody's been using the cab of this vehicle for a bathroom and I walk past the thing everyday.
Lastly, I've been trying to get a decent picture of this for awhile. This is not it. Right about the 1 km mark toward home I frequently see this. Somebody, my guess is 2 or 3 houses south of where I'm standing has a small flock of 9-12 white doves. Every evening, I'll assume it's every evening I've seen this several times now, they fly a circle about 50-70m in diameter about 5 or 6 times and then go back home. It's quite nice. The first time I saw this was the walk during which I had the unpleasant encounter with the deputy from L.A. County Sheriff's and it had a wonderfully calming effect on me.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Today's walk report: 060313
Riding a bummer day...
I've been so looking forward to this highly overpriced "sensor cleaning kit" which wasn't due to arrive until Wednesday the 5th, two days from today. It could have waited too, at least I would have had my hopes up for two more days that this would be the solution to my camera problems. It was not. The story about the camera acting up starts here. I've pretty much determined now that lubricants inside the camera, probably those discussed here inside the mirror box, were released sometime during the shutter error problem the camera was having. I was shooting through the viewfinder, I wasn't seeing the error which was displayed on the LCD, I can only imagine that exacerbating potential problems by continuing to shoot. What I think should probably happen is the camera should shut down and not allow you to do that. At least have the error show somehow in the viewfinder. Although the splat itself is clearly visible from one image to the next. You can see quite clearly in two images taken just seconds apart exactly then the problem occurred.
Whatever it is that came in contact with my sensor it happened while shooting. When I first saw it the sensor looked like it had a spatter of some sort covering about 1/3 of the entire sensor. This splatter did not clean up well. The way it appears now is that whatever the splatter was it has damaged the UV coating on the low pass filter which is glass overing the actual sensor. It's better than it was but it's certainly not acceptable. By the way, somebody with some ethics and who has some other product line please come out with a reasonably priced sensor cleaning kit. This f'n thing was $31.45 delivered and it's a joke. They're all like that.
To give you an idea of what this looks like here's AFTER using all 3 of those miserable little swabs. I did a tonal adjustment in Photoshop so you can better see all of the filth. If you only have dust on your sensor, which is the only thing you should have if you take prudent care of your camera, just use a squeeze blower and get it out. You shouldn't need some ripoff, poorly packaged swabs, a soft brush you can probably get at an art store for a few bucks and some tiny bottle of methanol.
As far as the walk goes. It was a typical Monday get out and get it done sort of walk. I had ideas about better cleaning the sensor glass and was in hurry to get home and try that. I can't say it's much better though.
It is possible to shoot around the problem. It depends on the subject, lens, DOF, focal length, aperture, etc., but who wants to take pictures with that sort of handicap? A sunset or other wide scenic would be a disaster, so would most portraits. It REALLY sucks and I'm not quite sure what I should do.
This was right after the picture above of the wall. Bachelor Button (Centaurea cyanus), just showed up today. It doesn't make me happy though.
Whatever it is that came in contact with my sensor it happened while shooting. When I first saw it the sensor looked like it had a spatter of some sort covering about 1/3 of the entire sensor. This splatter did not clean up well. The way it appears now is that whatever the splatter was it has damaged the UV coating on the low pass filter which is glass overing the actual sensor. It's better than it was but it's certainly not acceptable. By the way, somebody with some ethics and who has some other product line please come out with a reasonably priced sensor cleaning kit. This f'n thing was $31.45 delivered and it's a joke. They're all like that.
To give you an idea of what this looks like here's AFTER using all 3 of those miserable little swabs. I did a tonal adjustment in Photoshop so you can better see all of the filth. If you only have dust on your sensor, which is the only thing you should have if you take prudent care of your camera, just use a squeeze blower and get it out. You shouldn't need some ripoff, poorly packaged swabs, a soft brush you can probably get at an art store for a few bucks and some tiny bottle of methanol.
As far as the walk goes. It was a typical Monday get out and get it done sort of walk. I had ideas about better cleaning the sensor glass and was in hurry to get home and try that. I can't say it's much better though.
It is possible to shoot around the problem. It depends on the subject, lens, DOF, focal length, aperture, etc., but who wants to take pictures with that sort of handicap? A sunset or other wide scenic would be a disaster, so would most portraits. It REALLY sucks and I'm not quite sure what I should do.
This was right after the picture above of the wall. Bachelor Button (Centaurea cyanus), just showed up today. It doesn't make me happy though.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Today's walk report: 060213
Every moment tells a story...
I've said this before about my walks. I'm not quite sure if I mentioned it here though. If so, excuse me but I think it's worth mentioning again. It occurred to me some years back that my walks are telling me a story. Without trying to get really deep here since it would probably bore us both I'll simply state that my walks often feel like an entity unto itself and that entity talks to me. Use your own imagination to figure out what that means, you can think that's wacky or deep, it doesn't matter to me.
My morning today was absorbed by one event, I needed to plant the crape myrtle tree I mentioned here both yesterday and the day before. What I did not mention was this tree had a dedication of sorts and that dedication was to my departed mother. She passed away at my side, here in this house on March 5 of this year, not quite 3 months ago. The tree tribute idea originates from my sister, Kris. I, however, was trying to make an effort for almost 2 years to make this house feel more like the home it once was while our mom was still alive and that included living things throughout the landscape outside. Just 5 months ago I was seeing myself taking care of my mother for some time to come. I was hoping to be able to take her outside so she might enjoy the yard. I was also hoping to take her to the garden I frequent during my walks. Over a year ago I worked hard to at least paint the front of the house so it looked OK once again. At the time mom was going out just once a week with me to see her hairdresser and once a week with my sister for lunch. Both of those dates were already showing decline by the time I put the paint away. Outside almost everything was dead and despite my rather black thumb I tried to get some stuff growing. I had, in fact, done alright with a sort of hopes and dreams casting of wildflower seeds last fall along with some not so strategic planting of California natives with fingers crossed.
Here's a partial view, from my mother's bedroom window taken just 2 weeks after she passed away. Her final morning I opened up those drapes and described what was happening outside. I told her about the weather and pointed out the 1st 4 California poppies had bloomed, visible from her window. While I sensed that visually she was no longer processing I also sensed that she could hear what I was saying and had some sense of understanding. When I needed to cry I left the room and did so, quickly gathered my composure and went back in to hold her hand, caress her hair and tell her I loved her.
The tree being dedicated as a lasting memory for my mother has no ties to any beliefs spiritual or otherwise. It is simply a living recognition to a woman who meant a lot to me.
That's the flavor which started my day, it stuck with me throughout my walk and of course is following me as I type these words and post these images. I brought my mother with me today.
This is a wall at the elementary school both my sister and I attended. The walls were simply beige back then. I attended part of my year, 1965, right behind that wall. Room 20. The expression on the wall I see everyday called out to me on this day. It has a story that goes along with my mother's passing away and that story is conveyed here on my sister's blog, posted two days after mom left us.
The bulk of the walk was from there a trigger for fond memories of my childhood. This is what the walk told me, to hold onto precious memories and that the past is part of who I am but it also sparked a new motivation in me to move forward and grow where I've been planted. Perhaps that should read where I've been replanted. I've been hanging onto a disconnect in a way, to a different past. One which took place 27 years ago when I left this Valley and said I would never live here again. Today jolted me into the reality that I do live here again and that I need to make the most of it and regain my focus on how, not where, I want my life to be.
So the balance of the walk was pretty much one of introspection but I'll leave you with a pretty picture. Callistemon pallidus, commonly known as Lemon Bottlebrush.
I've said this before about my walks. I'm not quite sure if I mentioned it here though. If so, excuse me but I think it's worth mentioning again. It occurred to me some years back that my walks are telling me a story. Without trying to get really deep here since it would probably bore us both I'll simply state that my walks often feel like an entity unto itself and that entity talks to me. Use your own imagination to figure out what that means, you can think that's wacky or deep, it doesn't matter to me.
Here's a partial view, from my mother's bedroom window taken just 2 weeks after she passed away. Her final morning I opened up those drapes and described what was happening outside. I told her about the weather and pointed out the 1st 4 California poppies had bloomed, visible from her window. While I sensed that visually she was no longer processing I also sensed that she could hear what I was saying and had some sense of understanding. When I needed to cry I left the room and did so, quickly gathered my composure and went back in to hold her hand, caress her hair and tell her I loved her.
That's the flavor which started my day, it stuck with me throughout my walk and of course is following me as I type these words and post these images. I brought my mother with me today.
This is a wall at the elementary school both my sister and I attended. The walls were simply beige back then. I attended part of my year, 1965, right behind that wall. Room 20. The expression on the wall I see everyday called out to me on this day. It has a story that goes along with my mother's passing away and that story is conveyed here on my sister's blog, posted two days after mom left us.
The bulk of the walk was from there a trigger for fond memories of my childhood. This is what the walk told me, to hold onto precious memories and that the past is part of who I am but it also sparked a new motivation in me to move forward and grow where I've been planted. Perhaps that should read where I've been replanted. I've been hanging onto a disconnect in a way, to a different past. One which took place 27 years ago when I left this Valley and said I would never live here again. Today jolted me into the reality that I do live here again and that I need to make the most of it and regain my focus on how, not where, I want my life to be.
So the balance of the walk was pretty much one of introspection but I'll leave you with a pretty picture. Callistemon pallidus, commonly known as Lemon Bottlebrush.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Today's walk report: 060113
June, she comes in blazing.
My A.M. plans were to get out early and start digging, moving plants and planting some others before it got too hot, only thing was I didn't foresee just how hot it was going to get and how long it was going to take me to get stuff done. In retrospect, I should have thrown some clothes on right at 6:30 AM and headed out but I didn't get started until about 8. If you glance at yesterday's report, you'll see what I was putting in the ground. I also had to move some stuff, like 4 perezii statice because I'm not very good at this gardening stuff and when I started I made a few poor logistical choices.
I only had one one hole left to dig but it was the biggest and I wanted to think about it because it's the first tree I am putting in (the Crape Myrtle) and a tree is a big deal isn't it? I mean at this stage in my life a newly planted tree could certainly out live me. So I took a break. Besides it was heading into noon and I hadn't eaten yet. As it turned out, that was it for the day's yard work effort. Temperatures went into the 90s quickly and by 2 PM it was pushing 100º. It felt worse though. When I went out to survey my earlier work at 3:20 it was slightly over 104º but it felt like I opened the door to the convection oven while baking cookies and stuck my head in. It was hot! So I showered, changed clothes and waited for my walk... and waited and waited...
Finally about 6:20 it was 83.2º outside and 84º with the AC on in my office so I figured, time to go.
Air quality was again pretty bad and my guess was the Santa Clarita, Powerhouse fire was still way out of control. Once I got some elevation that was confirmed.
But first....
Boxelder bugs. I always see these bugs coupled like this, usually walking across the sidewalk. This time there were several pairs on narrow-leafed milkweed along with 100s of these yellow aphids. Those are not the young of the boxelder bug. I have no clue as to who their parents are. For the most part the boxelder isn't considered an agricultural problem but they certainly are everywhere around here.
More tiny flowers. I thought I had a better composition than this. I have to say I was perspiring profusely. This "day cream" (there's so much of this crap here) I tried, Desert Essence SPF 15 just before leaving seemed to contribute to my perspiring and it was also beading up and sitting on my skin. I wasn't comfortable and the two paper towels I brought with me were quickly soaked. Anyway, this wasn't making picture taking any easier.
Yesterday I mentioned that I was waiting for this agave stalk to open its flowers. Today I started to think this might not be such a grand event, with a few rather banal looking flowers open. At least now I know this is, Agave celsii.
There are several mystery eucalyptus in the garden. This is one of them. I've mentioned before there are more than 700 species of eucalyptus, mostly native to Australia and I'm not about to figure out what's what. At this point I was trying to get a few more images to fill things out here.
One of the Opuntia genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae in bloom.
Finally, back to the air quality. Without going into the issues on my dirty camera sensor again but just to let you know this was cleaned up a bit on that level, this image should give you a pretty good idea of just how much smoke is surrounding the area. This is, of course, looking west. The fire is to the north. Santa Clarita is 23.34 km or 14.5 miles north of where I'm standing.
My A.M. plans were to get out early and start digging, moving plants and planting some others before it got too hot, only thing was I didn't foresee just how hot it was going to get and how long it was going to take me to get stuff done. In retrospect, I should have thrown some clothes on right at 6:30 AM and headed out but I didn't get started until about 8. If you glance at yesterday's report, you'll see what I was putting in the ground. I also had to move some stuff, like 4 perezii statice because I'm not very good at this gardening stuff and when I started I made a few poor logistical choices.
I only had one one hole left to dig but it was the biggest and I wanted to think about it because it's the first tree I am putting in (the Crape Myrtle) and a tree is a big deal isn't it? I mean at this stage in my life a newly planted tree could certainly out live me. So I took a break. Besides it was heading into noon and I hadn't eaten yet. As it turned out, that was it for the day's yard work effort. Temperatures went into the 90s quickly and by 2 PM it was pushing 100º. It felt worse though. When I went out to survey my earlier work at 3:20 it was slightly over 104º but it felt like I opened the door to the convection oven while baking cookies and stuck my head in. It was hot! So I showered, changed clothes and waited for my walk... and waited and waited...
Finally about 6:20 it was 83.2º outside and 84º with the AC on in my office so I figured, time to go.
Air quality was again pretty bad and my guess was the Santa Clarita, Powerhouse fire was still way out of control. Once I got some elevation that was confirmed.
But first....
Boxelder bugs. I always see these bugs coupled like this, usually walking across the sidewalk. This time there were several pairs on narrow-leafed milkweed along with 100s of these yellow aphids. Those are not the young of the boxelder bug. I have no clue as to who their parents are. For the most part the boxelder isn't considered an agricultural problem but they certainly are everywhere around here.
More tiny flowers. I thought I had a better composition than this. I have to say I was perspiring profusely. This "day cream" (there's so much of this crap here) I tried, Desert Essence SPF 15 just before leaving seemed to contribute to my perspiring and it was also beading up and sitting on my skin. I wasn't comfortable and the two paper towels I brought with me were quickly soaked. Anyway, this wasn't making picture taking any easier.
Yesterday I mentioned that I was waiting for this agave stalk to open its flowers. Today I started to think this might not be such a grand event, with a few rather banal looking flowers open. At least now I know this is, Agave celsii.
There are several mystery eucalyptus in the garden. This is one of them. I've mentioned before there are more than 700 species of eucalyptus, mostly native to Australia and I'm not about to figure out what's what. At this point I was trying to get a few more images to fill things out here.
One of the Opuntia genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae in bloom.
Finally, back to the air quality. Without going into the issues on my dirty camera sensor again but just to let you know this was cleaned up a bit on that level, this image should give you a pretty good idea of just how much smoke is surrounding the area. This is, of course, looking west. The fire is to the north. Santa Clarita is 23.34 km or 14.5 miles north of where I'm standing.
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