It's A Jungle Out There

A couple weeks ago, I got a trail camera with night vision.  I wanted to see what the animals were up to along our back fence, and also thought it would be fun to place it on animal trails when camping.

The camera straps onto a tree or other object and is triggered by motion.  At night, it uses infrared imagery, and during the day it is a regular camera.  It can take stills and video.  In operation, it makes no sound, and has no flash or lights - very stealthy!  The night quality varies quite a bit, so I'm working on fine tuning placement and settings.

For the first 10 days or so, I only got a picture of a rat and a cat, then last night things began to happen.  Below are pictures showing the chronology of events.

 6:46 p.m.  possum

 9:03 p.m. cat

 9:18 p.m. different cat and pair of eyes staring through fence.

 9:24 p.m. coyote.

 Coyote one second later.

1:37 a.m. two raccoons.  They look like a mother and a youngster.

Can't wait to capture a mountain lion slinking down a desert wash - maybe next week, ha!

Boden Canyon

Sunday, we wanted a long hike, so we returned to Boden Canyon.  Access is now only allowed from a long dirt road northwest of Ramona.

 The 3.6 mile road made us glad we had a somewhat high clearance vehicle.

 The last half mile to the trail head was heavily used by gun nuts for years.

 Shell casings littered the ground in drifts.

There were several warning signs in the area due to the amount of lead from bullets.  Fortunately, shooting is no longer allowed in the area.

 The trail in the canyon is still quite wild and remote.  We paused for this mountain lion scat which was solid fur.

 This is the skeleton of a wild cucumber.  It looked like a puffer fish from the side!

There were some magnificent live oaks in the canyon bottom.  Last year, by chance, we found some Native American morteros and walls in a brushy area a few hundred feet above the trail. Since the poison oak was thick in that area, and Gail suffered for days, we stayed on the trail this time.

Compost Team

 Gail and I are now on the Compost Team for the Carlsbad Community Garden, which means we are assigned one week a month to do a few hours of chores.  This is our second week of service.

Last month, we had a two hour training from Paige, a master composter.

The system is quite organized.  I must say, the people who have garden plots are getting quite a deal, as we make the compost for them.  There are about 100 people on the waiting list for one of the garden plots. Each plot has its own faucet, too.

There are three batches cooking and a box for "resting" compost.

Gail sifted a big pile of resting compost to make this luscious, dark, fine finished product.  She sifted about 25 more gallons that she stored in a garbage can.

I'm checking one of the composters.  Usually, we empty the batch, fluff it back in, and add layers of coffee grounds and chopped up compostable material.  Maintaining the right moisture level is important, too.

Gail is pleased with the final product - go team!

Big Bear Lake

Monday, we headed to Big Bear Lake for a three day getaway in the San Bernardino Mountains.  Neither of us had been there.  The lake is at 6,752 feet elevation, and the area hosts lake recreation in the summer, and snow sports in the winter.  Since this was the slack season, we were able to enjoy the sights economically and without crowds.  The population of Big Bear Lake is just over 5,000, but on some summer weekends swells to over 100,000!

 There is a multi-use trail along the north side of  the lake that we rode our bikes on.  We were treated to some fall color - a rarity in Southern California.

A solar observatory, originally built in 1969 by Caltech, is surrounded by water to provide a cooling effect on the air around the building to help eliminate ground heat radiation waves that would normally cause optical aberrations. The high elevation means the sky is much clearer, also.

 The evening "alpenglow".

 We love dedicated bike paths!

 Just before sunset.

 The lone fisherman in his boat.

 Tuesday morning, we did a six mile hike up Cougar Crest Trail to a peak above the lake.

 Near the crest we paused for this dead tree.

 We looked west out over the distant fog.  There appeared to be a vortex in the fog that's not so apparent in this picture.

 Gail, give me that camera back!

 I loved this old snow cat, with its handmade bodywork.  After our hike, we headed down to the Himalayan Restaurant.

 The Himalayan Restaurant in the Big Bear Village billed itself as the best Nepalese restaurant in California, which is quite likely true.  Mustang beer from Nepal made for a perfect pairing.

 The flavors were divine!  We have been inspired to try a little Himalayan style cooking this winter.

 The main street of  The Village had a fun fall atmosphere.  We got a little silly when we kept "seeing" characters from Orange is the New Black, which Gail and I started watching in the evenings on this trip.

Highway 18 is a mere ledge stuck on the side of  the mountain as it drops about 5,000 to the flat lands.  All along it are potential rock falls - you wouldn't want to be on this one during a rainy night!  The traffic gods were kind to us, however, and we returned home to our awaiting kitties in good time.

Beach Walk

A couple Sundays ago, we rode our bikes from Camp Pendleton to San Onofre State Beach.

 The beach abuts a large cliff, and is currently mostly cobblestone, which makes for relatively few people.  We marveled at the "keyhole" formations on the cliff.

We can't go outdoors anymore without picking up some garbage.  We get particularly excited to find a Mylar balloon!

A Few More from Halloween...

 Andria's photo of us as the Village People.

The original members.

Gail as Felipe.

Me as Glenn.

Oh yeah!

Andria's amazing alien cake.

After tick or treating with the fam, Gail and I headed up to the  Oceanside Museum of Art for their Freak Show which included a contortionist, bearded ladies, and other oddities.

...and a dancing jellyfish!

Until next year!!!