….I want to come back as one of his dogs

I recently met a man who claims to have fourteen dogs. I could only find nine of them. However, if I get reincarnated, I want to come back as one of his dogs!

There was nowhere for me to sit; I sat on the floor so I could pet the dogs….

Need a unique gift?
Consider Photographic Art!Visit Russel Ray Photos.

►►►►◄◄◄◄

Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend James Frimmer, Realtor, CDPE
CA BRE #01458572

►►►►◄◄◄◄

If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!

A good stretch makes everything okay

Today I’m meeting a blogging friend that I’ve known since I started blogging back in 2008. She and her husband, Liz and Bryan, are flying in from Houston. They have asked if the best San Diego docent (that’s me!) can give them a private tour. Apparently the Zoo and the Botanic Garden are on their minds. My private tours are very competitive with other tour operators. In most cases, all you have to do is give me 24-hours notice of what day you want your tour and then call me when you actually arrive. Simple, really.

While I’m waiting on their call, I’m cataloging pictures and videos. Here is a picture of Zoey the Cool Cat laying out a good stretch:

Did you see her open eye between her legs, keeping watch on exactly what I’m doing?

Once she wakes up and decides to go outside her new paper sack, she spends the majority of the day stalking birds from the desktop. I have had to move my computer monitor over to the right about six inches so she has a corner spot from which best to stalk the birds. Here’s a flash video of her hoping this will be the time when she finally gets one of those mourning doves:

Yesterday on my walk home from the auto shop, I saw a homeless person with a beautiful dog. She saw me staring at the dog while holding this big camera in my hand and asked me if I wanted to take a picture. I said yes:

I gave her $5 for the picture and talked with her for about 15 minutes. Mr. Dog (his name, not just something I made up) is a golden labrador retriever rescued a few months ago on what was supposed to have been his last day at the animal shelter. He was to be put to rest at closing time that evening because he hadn’t been adopted. He’s an older dog, obviously a big dog, and for some reason older big dogs don’t get adopted as often as the cute little puppies. Isn’t he just adorable though? Look at those big eyes just happy as can be that he has a chance to live out his life with someone who adores him.

Lastly, as I got to the driveway to my place, a beautiful black and white cat was staring at me from under a neighbor’s shrub:

She’s a feral cat that one of my neighbors is feeding and trying to adopt. I think she’s on her way to success with this little one because kitty is always hanging out at my neighbor’s house, usually under this shrub or under the car. I do worry about the under the car part. I think she looks sad in the picture, but maybe she’s just frightened of 6’4″ me pointing my big ol’ camera at her.

I’m Zoey the Cool cat,
and I approve this post.

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!

A man and his dog

I keep my camera at the ready when I’m driving so if you ever hear of California passing a law prohibiting photography while driving, you’ll know who it’s directed at.

This old guy was driving an old historic vehicle down the street the other day. I made a U-turn to catch up with him and eventually was able to get a picture while at a red light.

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 want a dog house

My wise old grandmother used to say that if you live long enough, things come full circle. I’m just hoping I don’t live long enough to see the return of bell bottoms and leisure suits………..

Except for short periods of time, I’ve always had pets — dogs, cats, birds, snake, rabbit, mice, rats, pigs, cows, horses, armadillo, monkey, fish, guinea pigs, hamsters. I have always considered myself a dog person, though (shhhh! Don’t tell Zoey the Cool Cat).

Two pictures of Penney (long-haired dachsund) and Sugar (Chow Chow/Basenji mix), my dogs from 1980 when I was living in Houston:

That’s Sugar on the motorcycle. I used to let her come outside with me as Ii was putting on my motorcycle helmet. One day she jumped up on the seat. That gave me an idea, based on seeing people on both bikes and motorcycles carrying their dogs either on the seat in front of them or in a front handlebar basket.

Instead of going wherever it was I was going, I let Sugar stay there, got on the motorcycle (A Yamaga 700 Virago), started the engine, revved her up to see if Sugar could tolerate the noise (she could!), and took off slowing down the street and around the neighborhood. Sugar had no problem and was as happy as could be.

Eventually, she was riding with me to Dallas, Waco, and Houston. The speed limit then was 55 mph, but we got up to 59 mph. Going 4 mph over the speed limit was a habit of mine based on hearsay that the highway patrol didn’t give tickets if you were doing less than 5 mph over the speed limit.

Now, with the newfangled dog houses that I’m seeing, I’m thinking I need a dog. Or maybe I just need a dog house:

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!

A trip to Pine Creek Wilderness in Cleveland National Forest

This past Monday was a holiday here — Martin Luther King Jr. Day — and one of my Meetup groups, San Diego Urban Exploration, was going exploring. First you have to understand that we urban explorers don’t explore urbanity. No. Rather, we get out of the city and go explore the, uh, the boondocks. The boondocks look somewhat like this:

In fact, the boondocks we were going to explore looked exactly like that! And this:

Our goal was to get to “the pool” in the Pine Creek Wilderness Area:

View Larger Map

Since Jim needed the car yesterday, I took the San Diego Trolley to the Grantville Station, which is where all of us were meeting anyway. Convenient!

There were some fall colors lingering at the Grantville Station.

A great start to what obviously was going to be a great day!

I was going to carpool with Jason, an important part of this story. There were thirteen in our group, and seven of them had dogs, another important part of this story. Jason had his dog, a most adorable beagle named Koa. Sadly (you’ll under the “sadly” part at the end of this story), I don’t have a picture of Koa.

The drive out to the parking area is about thirty miles.

On the way we saw a helicopter.

Now helicopters aren’t exactly rare here in San Diego since the military and the California Department of Foresty uses them.

However, this helicopter was a little unusual:

The trailhead looked inviting….

….until I started reading some of the signs:

Whomever was in charge of marketing for this place certainly knew their business. The trail looked absolutely nothing like the trailhead — a nice wide trail? Ha! Within a couple hundred feet (and we were going 8½ miles), it was barely wide enough for a dog, much less an adult person.

For about eight miles of the trail, the only way I knew that it was a trail was because there were twelve people in front of me. Thus I had to stay rather close to them, or risk getting lost in the boondocks!

There were lots of horses on the trail, which really amazed me.

I don’t trust my own steps on trails like this, so I’m sure not going to trust a horse that weighs ten times what I do. One misstep and it’s a thousand feet down the rocky hillside.

The horses in that second horse picture we had met in the parking lot. The second horse, the one being walked, is “inexperienced.” They were across the valley and halfway up the mountainside, which is where we were going, the Secret Canyon Trail.

Those two horses are another important part of this story. Remember, we had dogs with us:

The scenery was beautiful:

There are mortar holes at the pool. Mortar holes look like this:

Mortar holes are found mostly in areas that have oak trees. They were created and used by Indians to ground acorns and wash the resulting mash to leach it of toxins.

I also found a rock that reminded me of a big cat in profile, ears and eye whisker poking up and nose pointing out:

We caught up with the two horses at about 8½ miles. Perhaps I should say that one of our dogs caught up with them. Both of the horses apparently were being walked in the oak valley (you can see the oak valley clearly in the center of the very first picture), and Ash, our largest dog, started barking, spooking the two horses. The two ladies lost control of their horses, which them came running up the rocky hillside trail, which is where we were. It was a thousand feet straight up on one side of the trail and a thousand feet straight down on the other side. The trail was only wide enough for one person, certainly not thirteen frightened people and two frightened, stampeding horses.

At this time I was the second to the last in our group and Jason and Koa, his beagle, were behind me. I had only a split second to try to climb the sheer rocks or make myself as flat as possible against them to make way for the stampeding horses. Jason did the same, but Koa took off running in front of the horses.

Jason went after Koa and after about 15 minutes waiting for them to come back, we decided we better turn around and go back. I had a bloody arm from bashing into the rocks and manzanita, but fortunately, I was the only one injured, and it was just superficial scratches. The blood everywhere made it look worse than it was.

On the hike back, everyone we met said that they had seen “two horses chasing a dog.” Eight and a half miles later, back in the parking lot, we found the two ladies and their horses relaxing. Koa was nowhere to be found.

The two ladies didn’t bother inquiring if we were alright. All they did was curse the dogs and us for having the dogs. Since this is a family blog, the cursing cannot be repeated here. Quite frankly, I’ve never heard such language come from a female.

Jason and I went down to the Forestry Fire Station hoping that someone might have found Koa and turned him in there. No. Koa is microchipped and has a collar with owner information tag, but Jason didn’t have his cell phone. Jason and I went back to San Diego. He dropped me off at my place, went to get his phone, and headed back out to the Wilderness, intent on spending the night in the parking lot hoping that Koa would eventually find his way back there.

As far as I know right now, Jason and Koa were not reunited.

I’m still sore physically from traipsing seventeen miles through the boondocks, and I’m still stunned mentally from someone I was with losing his dog out there. I feel so bad. I can’t imagine what Jason must be going through.

I know there are stories about dogs and cats wandering around for months at a time and finding their way home, and beagles have excellent noses, so let’s hope and pray that our little Koa eventually finds his way home.

And the final part of the story: Remember I said that Jim needed the car yesterday? Well, I took the car keys with me, so he had to take the San Diego Trolley to his work. I did pick him up, though, so he wouldn’t have to depend on the Trolley on a holiday to get home late at night.

The end.

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 am wondering………………

Remember my post from a few days ago with the lonely dog, ears flying in the wind, sore paw? Here is the dog:

The dog was not by itself. It had three ladies with it. The ladies were painting an electric utility box on the street corner. Today the dog and ladies were back, apparently finished with their work of art:

Art is supposed to make the viewer ponder, wonder…… Alright, then, I am wondering………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!

Eat like you mean it

I saw that dog on the street corner with no one around.

I had to take the picture between cars zooming by in the right turn lane.

The drink cups, the “Eat like you mean it” cup, the poor dog’s injured paw, the dog’s ears flying in the direction the cars were going….

It touched my heart with Thanksgiving just a couple of days away.

Added to this post one hour after original posting: I had to go back by that corner 35 minutes later and saw that the dog is not alone. There are three ladies with it. The ladies are painting the utility box on the corner. I’ll have to go back by late today or sometime tomorrow to see how they painted the utility box.

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!

My favorite participants at parades

This morning I went to the 66th Annual Mother Goose Parade.

I’ll have more about the parade in a future post but this evening I wanted to share with you some pictures of my favorite participants at parades:

This post approved by
Zoey the Cool Cat

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!

Beyond the boondocks, part 1: State Route 94, San Diego County

San Diego County is unique because there is such a variety of geography, and a variety of people to go with it. Going from west to east, there are the beautiful beaches, urban madness, suburbia, low mountains, high mountains, and……….

Arguably one of the most beautiful drives in San Diego County is State Route 94 (SR94), of which about 72% is beyond the boondocks:

SR94 was designated the Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway in September 1989 after years of brouhaha over San Diego (an arch-conservative, white majority city for many decades) not having a Martin Luther King Jr. freeway like most cities and states.

SR94 begins in downtown San Diego at the intersection with Interstate 5 and works its way east, from urban to suburban to boondocks to beyond the boondocks, connecting with Interstate 8 a little more than 63 miles to the east.

Although SR94 is eligible for inclusion in the State Scenic Highway System, for some reason Caltrans has not seen fit to add it. This is the same Caltrans that waters the freeways at 2:00 p.m. on 90°F days (that’s an editorial comment).

Communities served by SR94, from west to east:

1. San Diego (southeast) — urban
2. Lemon Grove — suburban
3. La Mesa — suburban
4. Spring Valley — boondocks
5. Casa de Oro — boondocks
6. Rancho San Diego — boondocks
7. Jamul — beyond the boondocks
8. Dulzura — beyond the boondocks
9. Tecate — beyond the boondocks
10. Potrero — beyond the boondocks
11. Campo — beyond the boondocks
12. Boulevard — beyond the boondocks

This post covers only the portion of SR94 from Jamul to Boulevard, so you city slickers can either enjoy the scenery or go look for a city slicker blog somewhere……….:)

SR 94 is very close to the border with Mexico, so you will see lots of Border Patrol cars and you’re bound to pass through at least one border patrol checkpoint. Be nice to the officers and their drug-sniffing and hidden people-sniffing dogs….

If you look off to the south, you can sometimes see the brown border fence built during the last few years to try to keep Mexican citizens from entering the United States illegally.

The road is winding, and dangerous, particularly in rainy weather. Although the speed limit is generally 50 mph, if you’ve never driven SR94 before, you’ll be hard pressed to do 50 mph around unfamiliar curves.

The mountains are beautiful, and there are many stopping points where you can get out and take pictures.

Below is a Photoshop Photomerge panorama using nine pictures. Click on the picture for a larger version.

Look at the tops of the mountains where you will often see some spectacular homes.

There are surface indications of faults beyond the boondocks, nothing like the San Andreas Fault, though.

Since people do live beyond the boondocks, there are places to eat and stores to buy souvenirs to prove to family and friends that you did, indeed, go beyond the boondocks.

Wildlife is plentiful — ospreys, rabbits, cows, coyotes, road runners, eagles, wild dogs, and, of course, snakes, including rattlesnakes.

Drive slowly (there are turnouts so you can let faster local traffic go by), keep your eyes open, and have your cameras handy.

If you’re interested in getting out of the car and doing something, there are several places that offer horse rides. Just be sure to obey all signs.

In Campo there is the Motor Transport Museum of San Diego. Admission is free but they are only open on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Click on the panorama below for a bigger picture.

Also in Campo is the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum which offers rides on historic trains. They also are open only on weekends but have lots of interesting events throughout the year. Check them out for Halloween (Pumpkin Express), Thanksgiving, and Christmas (North Pole Limited) events. Click on the panoramas for bigger pictures.

Not on SR94 but accessible only via SR94 is Tecate, comprising both Tecate, California, and Tecate, Mexico. It is where Tecate beer is brewed, and there are free beer-tasting events throughout the year.

Much of the area beyond the boondocks burned in the October 2003 and October 2007 fires, and while I was out there, the Shockey Fire was burning, having burned 2,851 acres, destroyed 11 homes, and taken the life of an 82-year-old handicapped man who apparently had refused orders to evacuate. Folks, property and material possessions are not worth lives; if you are ordered to evacuate in advance of wildfires, please do so!

The main vegetation beyond the boondocks is manzanita. It’s a very beautiful bush but it is basically a flame thrower because when it gets overheated it bursts into flames. Maybe this might have been the bush in the Bible story.

If you get out to do a little walking, pay attention to where you are putting your feet. The infamous “jumping cactus” (Chollas sp.) makes its home beyond the boondocks. Chollas has extremely painful thorns, and the branches break off with barely any contact, resulting in its “jumping cactus” name. If it attaches to you, you will be in pain, and getting the little pieces of cactus off of you….. well, the ordeal will put a damper on your day.

Although that is a large specimen, easily seen, the little pieces that fall to the ground start growing, like any good cactus, and it’s those little ones that you really have to watch out for. Even an experienced botanist like me occasionally runs into these things. I brushed up against a small one while I was taking pictures for this post, and two days later I still have a painful whelp where one cactus thorn pierced me good, real good.

Also beyond the boondocks is a large, vining plant with very large, beautiful, and aromatic flowers. It looks like this:

As much as you’re going to want to pick a flower, DO NOT DO IT! This plant is a Datura species, also known as stinkweed, jimsonweed, angels trumpet, moonflowers, deadly nightshade, henbane, mandrake, thornapple, and witches weeds. It is extremely aromatic from dusk to dawn, but as soon as you touch a flower or leaf, it and you stink to high heaven, and it’s a smell that rivals the skunk and is just as difficult to remove. This will also put a damper on your trip beyond the boondocks.

Lastly, you will see a lot of trees with the bottom three feet of their trunks painted white. According to my wise old grandmother, who also did this, the paint prevents insects from attacking the trees. There is no scientific proof of that, but people who live beyond the boondocks probably don’t read very many scientific journals.

Keep your eyes on the mountains to the north and you can see remnants of an aqueduct that brought water to San Diego from the lower Colorado River many decades ago. Click on the panorama picture for a bigger picture.

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!

Bad pictures. Bad, bad pictures. Go to…………….Photoshop?

Slowly but surely I’m having fun going through my bad picture folders to salvage any pictures that might actually be salvageable. Sometimes it requires some critical and creative thinking to visualize if I might ever be able to make something out of the picture. If my final answer is a big, fat “NO!” then I’ll delete the picture. Sometimes I have duplicates and I simply pick the best duplicate and delete the others. Sometimes I get to really put Photoshop CS6 to task, such as in the pictures below. Remember, these are all salvaged pictures.

The picture is of the woodpecker featured in yesterday’s post (We’re moving in). The second picture is a great picture of the woodpeckers’ nest in the flower stalk of a century plant.

Various birds from my early birding adventures this past January:

Dogs always capture my attention:

Remember, these were all bad pictures, bad bad pictures that I was prepared to throw away if I couldn’t make something out of them. Let’s hear it for Photoshop:

Give me a P.

P!

Give me an H.

H!

Give me an O.

O!

Give me a T.

T!

Give me another O!

O!

Give me an S.

S!

Give me an H.

H!

Give me another O!

O

Give me a P!

P!

What does it spell?

I have no idea. That word was so long that I’ve forgotten the early letters.

For every picture, here are the steps I took:

1. Adjust overall exposure, usually lighter.
2. Adjust overall shadows, usually lighter.
3. Crop to 1000 pixels on long side.
4. Clone out offending objects — people parts, tree parts, etc.
5. Adjust overall contrast.
6. Use layers and masks to adjust shadows and contrast in specific areas.
7. Sharpen (I forgot to sharpen a couple of the pictures; you might be able to determine which ones.)

Note: Photography researchers seem to believe (probably based on research……lol) that most people prefer sharp, high contrast pictures. Once you believe that — and I do! — make contrast and sharpen adjustments the last thing you do to a picture. Otherwise you could have some unexpected results that clearly show what you’ve been up to in your photoshopping.

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!