Santa Barbara Trip

Nick and I spent the week in Santa Barbara, and had a very pleasant time visiting Mom/Grandma, Nora, and Maggie.

Nick, Maggie, Mom, and Nora at Shoreline Park. It was probably warmer in Anchorage.

Nick enjoyed having a temporary replacement for his dog, Rocket.

Nora made over 50 tacos - we ate 27 of them for Thanksgiving dinner. Yumm!

Nick and I went to the harbor early Tuesday morning. Captain gull greeted us.

I can't resist snowy egrets. They were almost exterminated for their plumes to make hats.

The words Santa Barbara and beauty go together often.

That far peak, left of middle, is La Cumbre Peak. Nick and I climbed it the next day.

Mom's house is just behind the first hill with all the homes on it.

Brown Pelicans, some in breeding colors.

This is a Heermann's Gull.

Wednesday, Nick and I set out up Rattlesnake Canyon to Lacumbre Peak which is almost 4,000 feet elevation.

An interesting array of seeds.

The peak is on the horizon. You can see the faint line of the trail in the foreground.

Near the top, parts of the ground were covered in these little fallen icicles.

Midday frost on the leaves above.

Santa Barbara County is mostly rugged back country.

Looking out to the Channel Islands, 20 some miles offshore.

A telephoto view of the islands and a freighter beyond the islands.

Looking down at the harbor where we were the morning before. The end.

Blue Whale at Bean Hollow

Today, we stopped at Bean Hollow State Beach, on the way to Santa Cruz, to take a look at the 80 foot female Blue Whale and her fetus that washed up on the beach about 5 weeks ago. She was struck by a ship.

There isn't a whole lot left, but there are hundreds of gulls in the area that are still feeding on the remaining blubber. We were told by a ranger that sharks had been eating on the whale, also. When Nick saw the whale several weeks ago, she was a few hundred yards to the south.

There were signs posted that prohibited the taking of any bones or other remains.

Toby Gets Jiggy

Di Rosa

Wednesday, Cousin Sue and I went to the Di Rosa Preserve, where two of David Best's art cars are displayed. There are also many other art works exclusively by Northern California artists, including one of my favorites, Roy DeForest. Here, Sue poses by "Mother Tina's Car". These cars are street legal and drivable.

This hanging Volkswagon is one of the few art piece's by Rene di Rosa, who was primarily a collector. He died eleven days ago.

Look closely at this picture, one of Sue's favorites. The painting is by Napa artist Wesley Poole, who was a font designer, wine label designer, and painted the mural that was on Val's Liquor for so long in Napa. He just recently passed away.

The preserve has a lake with a palm tree island.

This is "Rhino Car". You'll see why in a few seconds.

Someone wishing he could get behind the wheel of this beast.

Someone almost succeeding.

Yes, it really is a Rhino Car. From here it was off to Artesa Winery where my neighbor Gary took care of us. Well, today the vacation is over. I'm back at work, Sue flew home, and house projects are pestering me.

Cousin Sue Comes to Town

My cousin Sue, from Fairfax, Virginia, is here for a few days. One of the first things she wanted to do was get a pumpkin. From the parking lot of CVS we drove up valley to go hiking on the Oat Hill Mine Trail above Calistoga.

Our yet to be named pumpkin - probably should have a booster seat.

Here is where we stopped to have lunch, and then headed back down.

There are no Jack In the Boxes in Virginia, so Sue's second request was, of course, to get 3 tacos and a Dr. Pepper as an appetizer on the way to a restaurant for dinner. Granted, we were hungry from hiking most of the day. I went with her last year to the Jack In the Box in Bishop, where we launched our backpacking trip. This may become a series.

This morning, we named the pumpkin Toby, and carved out his insides only, for the trip to Point Reyes, and Drakes Beach. This way he wouldn't throw up on the drive out there, as some have been prone to do when riding in the back of the Previa.

We arrived, and were the only car in the parking lot. Toby gets his first beach experience, even though he has no eyes, ears, or mouth yet.

It was a glorious day after the fog lifted. We did the hike down the beach to Drakes Estero. To the left of that spit of sand is where Sir Francis Drake repaired the bottom of his ship in 1597, I believe. This has to be my favorite spot within 300 miles of Napa.

When we got back to the car, we gave Toby the gift of life right there on the beach.

Sue trying not to cut off her thumb.

Sue and Toby.

That Toby is a crack-up! We headed back towards Pt. Reyes Station...

where, ironically, was a little market named Toby's. We had to take him in and enjoy this amazing coincidence.

We also went out to see the elephant seals near Chimney Rock, saw dozens of hawks, and a variety of shore birds, loons, grebes, and scoters. Tomorrow, we are starting out at the Di Rosa Preserve; Art and Nature. It sure has been fun getting away from house remodeling!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's ... What?

Since things have been a little slow at IBRRC, lately, four of us got to go release one cattle egret. This egret was a youngster when he arrived August 16, but today he passed his tests - mainly, good bloodwork, and the ability to fly well.

Monique, a fellow volunteer, is on the left. Thomas is a new intern from the South Bay area, and Dana is an intern from New Zealand. Interns live at IBRRC in rooms about half the size of a prison cell. Here, we anticipate the moment we have all been waiting for...
Drumroll....

The egret was so fast shooting out of the box, that no one actually got a picture of it. I guess that is a good sign. Oh, well.

So, it was back to IBRRC and time to do the afternoon feeding. This handsome, strong, Brandt's Cormorant wasted no time going for his fish.

We still have a few gulls on the mend.

Kramer was particularly pesky, today, almost grabbing fish out of my hand that I was trying to toss ("biff") to a loon. He looks very much like the cattle egret we released.

Donna and I were in charge of this sweet, but extremely thin, little Aleutian Goose. She only weighs 905 grams. We think she made good progress today. She has not been eating, and has to be tube fed 3 times a day. This morning, we took her out to a spa with several ducks. Ducks and geese are very social, and often just having company changes their will to live and eat. This seemd to be the case today, because this afternoon, she was dabbling in the water, and it looked like she was eating sprouts from Marie's sandwich. When we brought her in at the end of the day, she seemed to have a new perkiness. We hope for the best. Since she had to leave her duck friends behind, Donna thoughtfully provided a mirror so she would have a companion.