The Past Couple Weeks

June 16, we hiked to the top of Bernardo Peak near Lake Hodges and were met by a swarm of mating harvester ants. I read the queen can live up to 40 years!  They have a nasty sting.

Major disruption! On the 20th, we had our house tented for termites, which meant Gail and I and the cats had to hole up in a motel in Oceanside for 3 days (2 for me).

Continuing the vicious insect theme, on Friday, I got stung under the left eye and on the side of my head by a yellow jacket or wasp while hiking at Calavera.  It chased me for about 30 yards while I was swinging wildly at it, the little bastard.

 On Saturday, we went to Summer Fun on the 101 in Leucadia.  It was an afternoon of a number of bands - very family and local.

We got to hear The Matson 2 again, after hearing them at In-Ko-Pah.  They are identical twins, Jared on guitar, and Jonathan on drums. they live close by in Cardiff.

Sunday, we saw this young Southern Pacific Rattlesnake at Calavera, the first in several weeks.

The girls, Gail and Wanda, goofing around.  Our dear friends Jerry and Wanda had us over for happy hour and light dinner to show us pictures from their fantastic transatlantic trip on the Queen Mary II, to England and Wales.  Wanda starts chemo this week.  She is a fighter, and we expect she will beat the Big C into remission with the help of some of the best medical staff in the country.

I finished on owl "sculpture" today, made from an old shovel, rebar, and odds and ends.

Stubby

About a month ago, we spotted an odd looking bird in our yard that had a short, round body. A day or two later we saw it begging from a Mockingbird and realized that it was a tailless Mockingbird. After seeing it often, we started calling "him" Stubby.  We usually see him several times a day, making the rounds through our yards and up to the surrounding roofs.  We don't know how he lost his tail.  Was he born without it, or did he lose it during a narrow escape?  He seems to be doing well, maybe flying a little slower and less gracefully than the other Mockingbirds we see.

Tracking Transect

Friday, I headed to the Anza-Borrego Desert to spend the night, and then meet some trackers from the San Diego Tracking Team to do a quarterly transect in Grapevine Canyon.

 I camped in Little Blair Valley.  The wind was really whipping, with gusts of 40 MPH.  I thought my tent was going to cave in during the night.

 Camp Bob

As evening approached, the wind died down quite a bit.  However, by dark, it started up with a vengeance.  There wasn't another soul for miles.

 The moon setting at 5 AM.

 Our transect followed this dirt road and then up a wash.  Unfortunately, the wind had blown out most of the tracks, but we did find definite tracks of deer, coyote, kangaroo rat, jack rabbits, and cotton tail rabbits.  We also found scat from bobcats, Big-eared Woodrat, Desert Woodrat, Roadrunner, and the animals listed above. The couple on the left is Micky and Evalyn.  The transect leader on the right is Dick Chadwick.  He and I share a big interest in reptiles, but he is by far the more knowledgeable and experienced.  The data collected from the transect is used by various entities to see how animals are moving through corridors and how their populations are doing.

 This pretty plant I found out is a Prickly Poppy.

Mountain Lion Update

Wednesday, we hiked back up Boden Canyon to retrieve our trail cam.  We were excited and thought we would have some really cool videos because we had placed the cam so close to where we saw the mountain lion exit the culvert.  Well, the only mammals we captured were a group of four women joggers and a woman hiker.  We did, however, catch a turkey hen with her chicks.

 This was the 30" diameter culvert that the mountain lion bolted from on May 27.  The tracks that we came back to see turned out to be canine in hard dried mud.  We couldn't find any definite mountain lion tracks.

Beautiful oaks guarded by all that lush poison oak.

Gail's Birthday at In-Ko-Pah

Last Saturday was Gail's birthday.  A few days earlier she had seen an announcement of a non-commercial music festival out in the desert mountains, a  mile from the Mexican border, about 90 miles east of San Diego, where you could stay the night and camp among the boulders. I initially thought it sounded a little sketchy, but, hey, it's Gail's birthday, and if this is what she wants to do, I'm in.

Some of the photos below are by Matthew Matingas.  I'll designate those with an MM.

At the parking area, we were greeted by an air conditioned bus to carry us, our ice chest, and camping gear the half mile to the venue.

We immediately sought out a good tent site, with this one having a shady cave as a bonus.  It was 94 degrees, with a gentle breeze.  It was a dry heat.

Gail finds a friend next to the cave.

The Desert View Tower was completed in 1923 to commemorate the pioneers and road and railroad builders who opened the area.

 The areas inside the tower includes cozy areas and displays of art and culture relevant to the area.

 This is definitely a little island of liberalism.

The view from the top of the tower to the venue below.

Gail found this handbag that had exquisitely stitched bighorn sheep on it.  Birthday present!

The music venue before the 2:30 start.

We found a shady spot for our beach chairs close to both stages.

 There were some choice spots in the boulders above the stage.  Notice the rock sculpture created by W.T. Ratcliffe, who worked in the 1930's for a dollar a day and a bottle of wine, making his many fantasy sculptures out of the granite.  MM

 One of our favorite early groups to play was led by Stephen El Rey.  There were 14 bands in all, playing 45 minute sets, alternating between the two stages.

 The Widows

 The Strawberry Moons.  No one between the ages of 12 and 21 were allowed at the festival.  Maybe unfair, but I think a wise decision.

 Buckfast Superbee

 You had free rein of the tower, too!

 Gail and the ladies dancing to Creepseed.  I think it was this band that jokingly said that their last song would be a dance contest. Gail and I boogied (I had no idea of what I was doing), and although no winners were announced, this man came up to us afterwards and said we should have won.  I felt very relaxed with this crowd, and my dance phobia seemed to have taken a vacation.

The Mattson 2 were awesome.  Coincidentally, Nick will see them this Friday in Sonoma.

 As I walked back to the tent to get sweaters and headlamps, I could see down over the desert below.  You can see a big wind farm way out there.  It turned out we didn't need sweaters and headlamps.  It stayed in the 70's all night, and the stars were bright.

 Transportation for late comers had now switched from the bus to Coyote's Flying Saucer Retrievals and Repairs Service.

At dusk, you could see the Moon and Jupiter above Radiator Stage.

Percussionist with Birdy Bardot.  MM

Birdy Bardot.  MM

 From near our campsite.  The desert sky was spectacular.  MM

 Fun with lights.  MM

 Looking down from the tower.  MM

 Light fun.  MM

 More light fun.  MM

 Even more light fun.  MM

 Playboy Manbaby was amusing, kind of reminded me of  The Tubes back in the 70's.  MM

 You can see me and Gail in the small crowd.  MM

 Birdy Bardot  MM

 Playboy Manbaby (can you find Bob and Gail?)   MM

The Strawberry Moons   MM

 Although the limit for tickets was 400, it never seemed there were more than 100 around the band area.  MM

 People attending were very respectful of others - a friendly bunch!   MM

As we left in the morning, we passed another of Coyote's vehicles.

Happy Birthday, Gail!