“Thank you!” to everyone for the anniversary wishes yesterday.
As far as what Jim and I did, that will have to remain unknown for a little while longer while I catalog the billions and billions and billions of pictures I took.
However, LIKE if you recognize the title of this blog post because Jim and I were mesmerized by the bubbling crude at one place we went, shown in my 40-second video:
You also have my permission to LIKE if you know where the video was taken.
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Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
During the Summer of 1975 when I was a Junior at Texas A&M University, I pledged a Greek organization called Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity (hereafter, “APO”). When my friends asked me the difference between APO and other Greek fraternities and sororities, I explained it thusly:
Fraternities and sororities spend 80% of their time partying. APO spends 80% of its time helping others.
From August 1973 to June 1975, I was without my wise old grandmother. She was in Kingsville, Texas, and I was 300 miles away at Texas A&M. APO came into my life and continued to remind me, through today, that there is, indeed, always someone worse off than me.
My wise old grandother had always told me, “There is always someone worse off than you are.” She usually said that as I was complaining about pruning the oleanders, mowing the lawn, hanging the laundry, washing the dishes, cleaning my room………. APO continues in me with the words of my wise old grandmother.
So today, for those who love charities and real pumpkins, here’s what I want you to do. Yes, this involves planning and work, but it’s always fun. And I have some work music for you, too:
Before you do anything else, pick a number from 1 to 100. Write it down.
Now, since October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and October 31 is Halloween, take the family out to the pumpkin patch and get a real pumpkin, one that has seeds inside. Take the pumpkin home, cut off the top so you can get to the insides, and get all those seeds out of there. Young children often like this part of our project because they get to get all yukky and oogy.
Take the seeds, separate them from the rest of the pumpkin guts, wash the seeds, and set them aside to dry. Continue cleaning out your pumpkin and carving a face into it for use on the front porch for the next few days.
When the seeds have dried, count them! Write down the number of seeds. I usually get about 300 seeds out of my pumpkins, which are average size. Small pumpkins will have fewer seeds, and those really really really really big pumpkins will have more.
Once you have counted the seeds, roast them! They make great snacks, have lots of good fiber, and your children will be bragging to the neighborhood, “We roasted our pumpkin seeds to eat! I have some here. Do you want one?”
Okay, remember those two numbers we wrote down? Take the first number, that between 1 and 100, and multiple it by the second number, the number of seeds, to get a final number. For example, if you chose 25 and had 300 seeds, your final number would be 7,500. Drop the two zeroes, and you have 75.
Now I want you to write a check to your favorite charity, or to a cancer charity in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, for $75. If $75 is too much for you right now, that’s okay. Write a check for whatever amount you can. As we have seen in President Obama’s grassroots money-raising, every little bit helps.
Remember that your donation is often tax-deductible, so in addition to helping people who are less fortunate than you, you just lowered your taxes!
I donate to various charities on a quarterly basis, and since September is the end of the third quarter, I use pumpkin event to donate to cancer organizations during October. I also never complain about how the government spends its money, for two reasons:
Once I give my money to the government, it is no longer my money. It’s the government’s money.
The government rarely gets much money from me because I’m not from the rich 1% and I use deductions to lower my tax burden. I figure I can do a better job of spending my money than the government can do spending its money.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
I went train watching early yesterday morning, specifically trying to get a picture of Amtrak on a long bridge over the San Diego River.
Amtrak usually has trains going north to Los Angeles every hour, and trains coming south from Los Angeles every hour, too. Because some of the tracks through San Diego canyons are single instead of double, the north and south trains meet at the halfway point where there is double tracking, allowing them to pass each other at full speed.
The Coaster, a commuter train between downtown San Diego and Oceanside, about 30 miles, also uses the tracks, so watching trains can be a lot of fun during the day.
During the three hours I was at the bridge, not a single Amtrak train came by. Maybe the Republicans have already cut its funding? (That’s an editorial comment.) However, there were lots of Coasters. Here’s one:
Only in San Diego does a river have trees and bushes growing in it……..lol
While I was waiting for trains to show up, I also did a little exploring since this was an area that I was not familiar with. I found a newly constructed bike path along the river, and at one entrance to the bike path I found some beautiful murals. Click on the following images for larger sizes.
Each mural here was compiled from three or four pictures and stitched together using the Photomerge function in Photoshop CS6.
I went train watching early this morning in a place where I’ve never been trainwatching before. It was quite a bit of fun since there was a beautiful bridge over the San Diego River along with lots of train action. However, this directional sign was my prized picture for the day:
Which way is north again?
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
I know I’ve said it many times, but it pays to have an annual pass to attractions like the San Diego Zoo. The pass allows one to go to the Zoo at any time on any day and not have to spend the whole day there trying to get one’s money’s worth. If I actually spent $42 for a one-day pass, I would want to spend the whole day there to get my money’s worth.
Being able to go multiple times during the year allows one to see things that are seasonal, like animals mating in the fall or having babies in the spring. The other thing is that Zoos throughout the world regularly trade and loan animals to each other. For example, the koala exhibit here has been torn down (it was fifty years old) and is being replaced with a bigger, better exhibit. That means, though, that instead of the San Diego Zoo having the world’s largest population of koalas outside of Australia, we’re down to just two koalas. The others have been loaned out to other Zoos. So if your Zoo has an unexpected display of koalas, it’s a good bet that they are from the San Diego Zoo and are visiting your Zoo for a while.
Recently, defined as sometime between my last visit to the Reptile House and Monday’s visit to the Reptile House, the Zoo acquired a huge, monster, gigantic, really really big alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii):
The alligator snapping turtle is the only species in its genera, meaning it’s all alone in this world. I feel so sorry for it, but I still think it would snap my finger off if it got a chance. I should also add that Zoey the Cool Cat was impressed with the alligator snapping turtle’s claws. However, she wondered why I didn’t clip its claws like I do hers……….lol
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Located in Balboa Park, not too far from the San Diego Zoo, is Spanish Village, a collection of 41 artist studios located around a central courtyard.
One of the studios is the San Diego Sculptors Guild, which I visited for a couple of hours yesterday:
Sculptures are always on exhibit in the sculpture gallery and many sculptures are for sale. On any given day you might see some of San Diego’s best-known sculptors on site creating new works of art.
As I was wandering around Spanish Village early yesterday morning (before the gallery opened), Gerhard Anderson, Stone Sculptor, invited me in to look around. Imagine having a whole gallery just to yourself for a couple of hours! Man did I feel special!
Here are some pictures of the beautiful art at the San Diego Sculptors Guild, Gallery 36, Spanish Village in Balboa Park:
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Russel Ray Photos 