Get those cooties off me!

One of my roommates in 1974 at Texas A&M University was from Waller, Texas, which is about half way between Houston and College Station.

I lost track of him when I moved to San Diego in April 1993. I moved with the intent of distancing myself from old family and friends. No more need to keep up with the Joneses.

In 2011, I was exploring the border area in South San Diego when I came upon San Diego Beach Rides. I rented a horse ride for the beach. Pretty cool.

When I got back, I told the owner that he looked like my college roommate from 1974. He said, “Oh, I’m from Texas.” That, of course, started a conversation. Turns out that he wasn’t my roommate, but he was my roommate’s younger brother.

I was able to get connected again to my old roommate who was living in Littleton CO. Small world. Unfortunately, as with all but two of my old friends and family in Texas, our politics didn’t mesh, so I disconnected again.

This horse picture is from October 4, 2011, at San Diego Beach Rides. It’s the horse that I rode. I guess it wanted to get those Russel cooties off. After I pet Little Queen Olivia, she proceeds to do the same thing.

And then there were three

Sixteen days ago, I got up with the sun (5:30 a.m.) and pulled a ton of weeds along the fence between my property and the open space preserve. I left a huge pile of weeds, figuring I would haul them to the trash later. I took a shower and a nap.

When I went out to the gardens to get my daily snapshots of flowers, I leaned in close near a hanging basket and something hit me in the head and flew away. I didn’t see what it was, but I did see this in the hanging basket:

That was not there six hours earlier. Mommy, presumably with help from daddy, found my pile of weeds, built a nest a few feet away, and deposited two eggs in only four or five hours. Fortunately, after me disturbing mommy (presumably), she came back to take care of those eggs:

Research indicates that it takes about 14 days for mourning dove eggs to hatch and another 15 days for the little ones to leave the nest and go exploring the world.

I got a picture of a little bird on Day 13.

And on Day 14, today!, I got a picture of two little birds!

And then there were three. I’m so happy! Now our goal is to help mommy protect these two little ones for the next couple of weeks so they can fly away, fly away.

Hoping I can’t go into one of my gardens for about a month

I got up at 5:30 this morning to go pull weeds and clear dead brush along the fence. Nothing unusual about that.

I just went out to take pictures of the cactus flowers that are blooming. I leaned in close with my 90mm macro lens and suddenly something hit me in the head and went flying away.

The last time I was hit in the head by something flying was 1968 under the Congress Avenue bridge in Austin. That time was a flying bat (if you’ve never seen the bats take to the skies at dusk at the Congress Avenue bridge, go!).

This time, it was a momma mourning dove. Interestingly, she and her nest were not there at 6:00 this morning. In a mere six hours she (and daddy?) built a nest out of brush laying in a pile nearby, and she laid two eggs in it.

I’m so happy because the last time I had baby birds was annually from 1968-1973 in my wise old grandmother’s yard. I had built a bird house using a Boy Scout handbook and attached it high in our ash tree. A family of screech owls moved in. They are known to use the same nesting site annually, and they did.

Research indicates that it takes 14 days for mourning dove eggs to hatch and another 15 days for the little ones to take off on their own.

Fortunately, I have most of the weeds pulled in this area, and the rest can wait for a month. The presence of momma and, hopefully, two little ones means that any future pictures from my retaining wall gardens will have to be taken through the window in my home office using my 600mm lens. Can’t wait to see how those turn out.

It takes me 4 minutes to walk from the sunny retaining wall gardens back to the home office. By the time I got back inside and looked out the window, momma bird was back on the nest.

Even with experience, it pays to explore new things

I got started in photography in sixth grade (1966) when the principal went around to all the home rooms asking for volunteers. When she said that volunteers got free access to all school events, including football, basketball, baseball, and tennis, well, I was an easy sell.

The school had Nikon equipment. By the time I got ready to buy my own equipment, Paul Simon had ruined Nikon with his top hit “Kodachrome.” Ever since then, all other things being equal, Nikon always has been more expensive than Canon. Thusly, I have been using Canon equipment since then, with my first being the incomparable Canon A1.

My current crop of cameras comprise three Canon Rebel EOS cameras:
XSi, T2i, and 760D (T6s in the U.S.). However, with my 54 years of photography experience, I rarely explore all the new stuff being included in cameras, specialty modes like Portrait, Close-up/Flowers, Landscape. Courtesy of a Facebook friend and her new Canon T6i camera, today I explored the Close-up/Flowers mode. Wow. Saved a lot of time.

Here’s one of my favorites today since today is its first day in bloom. It was labeled “Aloe ‘Grassy Lassie’ ” but I’m fairly certain it’s not an aloe. Nonetheless, the flowers are tiny but beautiful.

Picture of the Moment—Cactus Cats

There is a feral colony of cats living in San Diego’s Balboa Park in one of the cactus gardens.

I call them the “Cactus Cats.”

Here are five of them keeping watch over the cactus:

Climate change?

People usually don’t associate rain and snow with San Diego. Quite true with the city of San Diego. The county, however, is another story. There are mountains in east San Diego County that top out at 6,271 feet elevation. That’s high enough to get plenty of rain and snow.

Where I live at 682′ elevation, Mother & Father Nature have provided me with 70.3 inches of rain in 2019, of which 23.3 inches has arrived since November 19.

Rain at this time of the year usually means snow just 20 miles east of me.

In the 26½ years I have been in San Diego, I never fail to go visit the snowy mountains once a year.

This year has been completely different because we had significant snow in the mountains in February, November, and December, so I have been three times.

New Year’s Eve is supposed to bring another huge storm, so I might start off 2020 by heading to the snowy mountains.

Climate change?

I like snow as long as it’s about 20 miles away from me, I can go visit it, and I can come back to a warm home with a warm cat on my lap.

Meanwhile, here are some of my favorite snow pictures from 2019.

Mount Laguna National Recreation Area

Thin ice

Pacific Crest Trail, Mount Laguna

Snow people in the Cuyamaca Mountains

City slickers in the snow at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park

Snowy Lake Cuyamaca

City slickers clogging the roadway in Cuyamaca Mountains

Poor cacti

My poor car

Mommy told him to put on his coat

My poor feet

How to get a sunrise picture

There are many ways to get a picture of a sunrise:

1. 1. 1. Get up with the sunrise and take a picture.
      2. Take a picture of a sunset and say it was a sunrise.
      3. Do a Google Image search on “sunrise” and download one.
      4. Buy a sunrise picture from a stock image service.
      5. Borrow a sunrise picture from someone else.

Here’s today’s version of #1 from 682′ high in the East San Diego County boondocks.

A little late for Halloween

I am having a great time creating calendars for sale. I have six at my Etsy shop so far: Succulents, Spirals, Roses, Orchids, Cats and Dogs. My seventh calendar will feature birds. All priced at $20 with free USPS first class shipping in the United States. Not yet shipping internationally.

One thing that I am trying to do with my calendars is match colors to the months. For example, I use white flowers, white cats, and white dogs for December. For October, I’m using orange for Halloween. For my birds calendar, this little one obviously is going to be my October bird. Props if you know its name. No, it’s not Freddy or Chucky.

Picture of the Moment—Poser

A sea lion posing for me on August 31, 2019, at La Jolla Cove in La Jolla, California.

Lots of seals and sea lions enjoying the beautiful Pacific Ocean coast.

Sunset in Winter Gardens, California, on 9/25/19

Sunset on 9/25/19 in the East San Diego County boondocks at 682′ elevation. This is looking north northwest since a mountain blocks my view to the west.