Raindrops on not-roses

According to the great and all-knowing Microsoft Excel, this is my best selling raindrops picture and my #9 best-selling picture overall.

It might rank higher but it hasn’t been available as long as the other best-sellers.

I think it will make a great (that is, difficult) 1,014-piece, 30″ x 20″ puzzle. Yes?

Surprisingly, I have never entered it in either a cactus & succulent show (the plant is an aeonium, one of my favorite succulent species) or a photography show.

I think I shall have to do something about that next year.

Double R Creations

Several years ago, just before I retired on December 31, 2016, I created Double R Creations with the intent of using the billions of pictures that I have taken since 1966 to create unique stuff, like leather pillows, coffee cups, drinking glasses, 8″x8″ tiles and huge 30″ x 20″ tile pictures, calendars, playing cards, and more.

I’m in the process of creating several calendars featuring my Photographic Art, cacti & succulents, flowers, animals, and one featuring nature’s geometry. Speaking of nature’s geometry, the proof book of Nature’s Geometry: Succulents by Russel Ray (that’s me!) arrived yesterday. Looks like this:

I already have found a place to create leather pillows, as well as canvas, metal, acrylic, and glass prints, all at reasonable prices.

A couple of weeks ago I found a place that can create quality puzzles for me, also at reasonable prices. I ordered two puzzles, and they arrived yesterday. Looks like this:

As items are developed with prices, I’ll announce regularly here at my blog, so stay tuned!

Share this:

Out & About—The All-American Canal

Canals always have fascinated me. When I was running around as a juvenile delinquent in Brigham City, Utah, in the earl 1960s, I used to climb in the canal that directed water around the Mormon Temple and ride the water all around the plaza.

When I was over in Yuma, Arizona, this past week, I saw a lot of the All-American Canal. Looks like this:

Yes. I wanted to jump in.

The All-American Canal is an aqueduct 82 miles long in southeastern California and is the only water source for the massive Imperial Valley. It provides drinking water for nine cities, irrigation water for the Imperial Valley, and electricity via its many hydroelectric dams.

Along with the Hoover Dam, the All-American Canal was authorized by the 1928 Boulder Canyon Project Act. Construction began in the 1930s and was completed in 1942. It is the largest irrigation canal in the world and moves a maximum of 26,155 cubic feet of water per second. Most water for the Canal is diverted from the Colorado River by the Imperial Dam, located about 30 miles northeast of Yuma.

Originally one of the driest places on earth, the Imperial Valley now is a huge crop land comprising about 630,000 acres, all due to the All-American Canal. Agricultural runoff from the Canal, comprising silt, selenium, and sales, drains into the Salton Sea, sadly, because there is no way for water to drain out of the Salton Sea, leaving a large, polluted lake with pollution becoming even more concentrated due to evaporation. Any fish caught in the Canal should not be eaten since they are known to have high levels of mercury, PCBs, and selenium.

There are five smaller canals which branch off the All-American Canal to help move water through the Imperial Valley, as well as a large network of even smaller canals. The main canal has a total drop of 175 feet, a width between 150 feet  and 700 feet, and a depth ranging from 7 feet to 50 feet.

Eight hydroelectric power plants have been constructed along drops in the All-American Canal system, all relatively small and providing a combined capacity of 58 MW.

The Canal runs through the Algodones Dunes, an extraordinarily dry and hot area, losing a lot of water due to evaporation. It used to lose 68,000 acre feet per year due to seepage, especially in the Algodones Dunes. Eventually, 23 miles of the canal was lined with concrete to prevent seepage, but that created other environmental problems. In some areas, a parallel, lined canal was constructed and water diverted into it to help control seepage.

Over 500 people, mostly Mexican citizens attempting to cross have into the United States, have drowned in the Canal since its completion because of deep, cold water, steep sides that make escape difficult, and swift currents of up to 5½ miles per hour. It has been called “the Most Dangerous Body of Water in the U.S.” In 2011 the Imperial Irrigation District started installing lifesaving buoy lines across the canal in 105 locations, as well as bilingual signs reading “Warning: Dangerous Water” in 1,414 locations.

Out & About—Laguna Dam

 

Dams always have fascinated me. I remember making dams along the street curbs when it rained and then playing in the huge lake the dam created.

When I was in Yuma, Arizona, a few days ago, I discovered the history of dams on the Colorado River.

Laguna Diversion Dam, 1905
Price-Stubb Dam, 1911
Hoover Dam, 1936
Imperial Dam, 1938
Parker Dam, 1938
Headgate Rock Dam, 1941
Shadow Mountain Dam, 1946
Morelos Dam, 1950
Granby Dam, 1950
Davis Dam, 1951
Palo Verde Dam, 1958
Glen Canyon Dam, 1966
Windy Gap Dam 1970

Hoover Dam, original named Boulder Dam, created Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume. The Glen Canyon Dam created Lake Powell. Both Lake Mead and Lake Powell are huge recreational areas.

Notice the first dam on the list, the Laguna Diversion Dam. Prior to 1905, the Colorado River was a major steamboat passageway. The Laguna Dam effectively ended steamboat travel on the Colorado River.

Tourist displays in Yuma indicated that the Laguna Dam, Imperial Dam, and Morelos Dam were nearby, so I set off in search of them.

The Morelos Dam was closest, but it also happens to be in Mexico. Since I don’t have a passport, I did not go into Mexico.

Imperial Dam was not accessible because the dam is on U.S. Goverment property and the road was gated.

Laguna Dam, the first on the list, was accessible. Looks like this:

The Laguna Dam originally connected Arizona to California, but when the Imperial Dam was completed in 1938, the California part of the dam no longer was needed, and its diversion outlets were closed on June 23, 1948. What you see in the above pictures is on the Arizona side, all that is left of the original dam.

The Laguna Dam now regulates water outflow from the Imperial Dam into the All American Canal, a huge aqueduct 80 miles long that that feeds Colorado water into the Imperial Valley for irrigation, as well as providing water to nine cities. More on the All American Canal in tomorrow’s post.

Out & About—Ogilby, California

 

Long-time readers know that I’m a big baby when it comes to trains. I love them. Trains often are part of my explorations, so when I went exploring a couple of days ago looking for the Wood Plank Road, I spent a lot of time wandering around looking for trains, too.

Yuma, Arizona, happens to be one of those places where my favorite railroad, Union Pacific, runs a lot of trains, fifty or more each day. They are not short trains, either, some being up to two miles long. Sadly, the layout of Yuma with all its little mountains and valleys meant that there was not a place to get good pictures or videos of all the trains.

That left me wandering around out in the desert looking for trains and train history. I went down Ogilby Road where my source book told me there was an abandoned Southern Pacific settlement and an old mine. The settlement, Ogilby, is a ghost town, and although my source book said there were remnants of building foundations, I didn’t find any. My source book was published in 1994, so 25 years of drifting sands might have obscured the remaining foundations.

I did find the old Catholic cemetery. Looks like this:

Ogilby was founded in 1877 as a railroad stop for the Southern Pacific Railroad. The American Girl Mine in Obregon was on the other side of Ogilby Road. The mine was closed in 1939, and Obregon was abandoned the same year. Ogilby, named after E.R. Ogilby, mine promoter. The post office closed in 1942, and by 1961, the town was abandoned.

Interestingly, there were three grave markers that indicated people were buried there well after 1961, and one indicated that the person was born in 1963, a couple of years after the town was abandoned.

Although there are grave markers, I could not if there actually were graves there. If there were, they are well below ground as is done in modern times. My own belief is that a family would not bury a loved one out in the boondocks, in spite of the fact that they might have been born and raised there. I think the loved one is buried in a city cemetery somewhere and a memorial marker was placed in this cemetery.

The Ol’ Road Grader was 75, but the other two were 38 and 50, not only indicative of the lower life expectancy of the times but probably indicative of life in the area as well. There also were a lot of small graves typically of children and babies.

After having visited the area a couple of days ago in my nice, air conditioned 2019 Honda Insight, I really can’t imagine what life was like out there in the desert 150-200 years ago.

Out & About—The Plank Road

 

In January 2017, I found a book by Christopher Wray titled The Historic Backcountry. That led me to another of his books titled “Highways to History.”

Yesterday, I decided to embark on an Out & About expedition to find the Wood Plank Road because the pictures in his books were so intriguing.

I found it.

Looks like this:

The Plank Road was a 7-mile long road of wood planks built to get vehicles through the Imperial San Dunes in far southeastern California. It was comprised of sections eight feet long and twelve feet wide that were built off-site and moved into place using a team of horses. Double sections were installed at intervals to permit vehicles to pass. Horse-drawn plows were used to clear the drifting sand from the roadway.

According to some sources, the Plank Road was built from 1912-1914 and in use from 1915 through 1926. Tourist information displays at the site tell a different story:

The story of the Plank Road began with the era of automobile transportation and a spirit of competition between the cities of San Diego and Los Angeles. San Diego was determined to become the hub of the Southern California road network. Civic and business leaders recognized the benefits of establishing roads to link their communities and promote commerce. Businessman and road builder “Colonel” Ed Fletcher was a key promoter for San Diego who sponsored a race from Southern california to Phoenix, Arizona. The Examiner, a Los Angeles newspaper, issued a personal challenger to Fletcher for the race.

The race took place during October 1912. Fletcher completed the race from San Diego to Phoenix in 19½ hours. He beat the Examiner’s reporter who had been given a 24-hour head start and was racing from Los Angeles to Phoenix, by 10 hours! Fletcher managed to have his car pulled across the Imperial San Dunes before there was an established road by a team of horses. He also got his car across the Colorado River in Yuma on a railroad bridge, winning the race.

The approval to build the Plank Road through the Dunes was decided with support from Imperial County Supervisor Ed Boyd, the local newspapers and local communities. Also a factor in the decision was the recent State and Federal Government decision to build a bridge over the Colorado River in Yuma. With great fanfare, the first planks for a 2-track road were installed on February 14, 1915. Traffic and maintenance quickly wore the road. A second plank road, consisting of a continuous 8-foot planks was built in 1916. The second plank road remained in use until 1926 when a 20-foot swide, asphalt-like concrete road, was constructed by the State Highway Commission.

Through the years and with little use the Plank Road began degrading. In the 70s, a major effort took place to revitalize the area and create a monument in recognition of the Plank Road. The Bureau of Land Management, Imperial Valley Pioneer Historical Society, California Off-Road Vehicle Association and Air Force personnel collaborated to assemble a 1,500-foot section of the Plank Road using various portions of it remaining in the dunes. This revitalization stands today to memorialize the determination and vision of those who forged the first automobile highway across the dunes. CORVA’s volunteers and mission were recognized by the Bureau of Land Management naming their efforts the “Preservation Project of the Year.”

Over 400 volunteers worked to recover and preserve the Plank Road.
CORVA volunteers transported unearthed portions of the Plank Road and moved them to be reassembled at the monument site.

Before you go there, though, be sure your car is full of gas, that you have lots of water, and that your phone and/or GPS works, because it’s hotter than hell there.

The Plank Road is California Registered Historical Landmark #845.

How to become a native

 

After I retired on December 31, 2016, I got extremely bored.

When I get bored, I get depressed.

I endeavored to find something to do with all the time I had available to me (24 hours a day, 7 days a week), so I decided to try to find something to do which I had never done before.

After several months of searching, I settled on driver.

I got positions delivering packages for Amazon Prime and people for Uber.

Both companies suck, but it took me six months with Uber and eight months with Amazon to finally call it quits.

Both were minimum wage jobs, which really didn’t bother me per sé, but neither Uber nor Amazon allowed tipping. Courtesy of Microsoft Excel, it was very easy for me to determine that neither of the two jobs could provide long-term income to put a roof over one’s head, food on the table, clothes in the closet, and feed Zoey the Cool Cat.

Once one added in gas, maintenance (brakes, tires, etc.), and special insurance for multi-stop professions, a long-term driving job like these two would put one into bankruptcy unless one had a spouse who also worked, or had a higher-than-minimum-wage job, or more than one job.

Uber, however, could provide short-term income, especially if one’s car was bought and paid for by mom & dad (high school graduation present), a situation that I found was quite common, and insurance and maintenance also was provided by mom & dad.

College students would drive for Uber but not on a daily basis. Usually just on weekends, especially Friday & Saturday nights in nightlife areas. By sticking to those areas, and with Uber paying every Monday, one could make a couple hundred dollars for the weekend. For someone with a family, not good pay. For a college student whose expenses are paid for by mom & dad, said college student could make a little money so that mom & dad weren’t always lecturing said college student on how much money said college student spent, as if mom & dad really cared anyways.

One day I had an Uber request from an 87-year-old man in a wealthy area of San Diego. He needed to go to Irvine, about a 60-mile drive. Sounds like good pay, but unless one can find someone in Irvine coming to San Diego, the pay for 60 miles turned into pay for 120 miles roundtrip. Now the pay doesn’t look so good.

I took the excursion because it would eat up some time in that 24-hour day.

He was a talkative man, and friends (husband, mostly) say that I like to hear myself talk, so we had quite a good conversation about many things.

About half-way through our journey, he said, “Your accent sounds like you might be from Australia or the southern United States.”

“Texas,” I replied.

We talked about Texas and how long I had been in San Diego.

After a few minutes, he asked me if I was a native San Diegan.

Well, in his defense, he was 87.

I told him again that I was from Texas.

“I know that,” he said, “but are you a native San Diegan?”

“I don’t understand.”

He said, “You are a native when you no longer go home because you are home.”

Well, then, by that definition, I became a native San Diegan on April 30, 1993, after having spent four days in San Diego. I never went “home” to Texas again, and only set foot in the state 4 or 5 times between 1993 and 2001.

And that’s how you become a native, regardless of where you were born!

Pereskia, the grandmother of all cacti

When I was but a youth of 15, my wise old grandmother employed child labor (me!) to create a rose garden for her. I do admit that she had some beautiful roses, but that experience, as well as all those pokey pokeys hiding in that lush, green foliage forever soured me on roses. They are beautiful, as long as they are on someone else’s property.

Fast forward fifty years and I discovered the rose of the cactus world. Looks like this:

That’s Pereskia grandifolia var. violacea. It’s a very leafy plant, and the opened flowers look like miniature roses. Just like rose bushes, it has some serious pokey pokeys hiding in that lush foliage, albeit far worse than any rose bush I ever have come across. Here is a tall bush at Waterwise Botanicals in Fallbrook, California:

Mine is on its way to looking like that.

I discovered this plant in May 2018 and was so enamored of it that I did an education display at the Summer Show & Sale for the San Diego Cactus & Succulent Society, garnering second place:

Share this: