Take all you can carry; they're taking us to jail anyway!

Yesterday we bought Cocoa and Kibble some new toys. Guilt, you know. They are going to jail tomorrow.

Cocoa decided both the toys were for her.



Blogging will be on hiatus until we return. And then, look out!

Don LaFontaine

My favorite movie guy.

Rattlesnake Redux

Last time I hiked Rattlesnake Canyon, I told you that my knees hurt like crazy on the way down. I hiked it again today. I outfitted my fanny pack with ibuprofen and ace bandages, but I'm happy to report that I didn't need them! Except for varied intervals at the very end, I didn't have a twinge! I'm wondering if it may have been hormonal. Two weeks can mean a world of difference in a woman's body!

I must confess I thought about turning around after a rest at the meadow, but I didn't want to wimp out, so I went for the gold! I'm glad I did.

My favorite passer-by was a black lab who was carrying a ginormous "stick" in his mouth. It was about 4 inches in diameter and at least six feet long! I'm lucky he passed me at a wide point in the trail. It reminded me of Chris, who would also pick the largest log on the trail. I had to chuckle as he and his human friend passed.

It was a stunning day. And I was happy to see a TON more wildflowers. Not only were there more blooms of the species I showed you last time, there were many more species blooming. I took a lot of pictures, but my camera didn't do so well on close-ups, so I'm posting only some of the ones I saw. Please click on each picture for a bigger view.

Not all of them are labeled, because I couldn't quickly identify them. I wanted to share them tonight!

The rock rose was plentiful along the lower part of the hike! Bushes and bushes of neon pink blooms!

Fiesta Flower?

Wild Mustard

Lay-and-Collie's Indian Paintbrush

Bush Poppy

And, the Grande Dame:

Miss California Poppy

Herre are some critters that I saw:

Tiger Swallowtail

Alligator Lizard

And the scenery:

Balloon Beauty

They are getting ready for the Olympics

China hopes to have better signage up soon! Be sure to click on the slideshow!

Only 28 days....

...until Scurvy Awareness Day on May 2!

I urge everyone to drink your citrus in order to avoid this nasty disease. Here is one delicious way to do so.

Make A Mojito!

Take a few sprigs of fresh mint (this shows enough for 2 mojitos),

and muddle (smash) it with a couple teaspoons of sugar.




Add the juice of one lime (about two ounces) and stir well.



Pour lime juice and mint mixture over ice in a Tom Collins glass.

Add 2 ounces light rum.



Stir.

Top with an ounce or two of club soda.


Garnish with a mint sprig, and enjoy!

Hoppy Easter!

Hope you had a bang-up time!

The Gauchos Lost

And that's all I have to say about that.

Lucid Dreaming

For the past couple months, Kevin has been interested in Lucid Dreaming. A lucid dream is one in which the dreamer has some consciousness and control of the dream. I remember a few lucid dreams when I was a child. Indeed, children have an easier time at attaining the state.

Kevin wanted to develop this skill. He studied up on techniques, he kept a dream journal, he checked his wakeful state in waking life. Indeed, eventually he was able to take control of some of his dreams. We talked a lot about his efforts; it was pretty neat to have him try this. In his dreams, he variously shot fire from his hands, tried flying to other planets, and took control of a semi-truck. It was fun hearing about his dream control.

This morning, I had a lucid dream! I hadn't kept a dream journal or researched on websites, but talking to Kevin was enough to help me, I think.

My dream surrounded a man who I came upon who had been hit by a car and lay in a crumpled heap on the road. I called 9-1-1 and was actually able to reach the dispatcher (does anyone else have difficulty operating the telephone in dreams? Mechanical failure is one common feature of dreaming, and one that you can use to tip you off that you are dreaming.). Well, rescue didn't show, so I called again. This time, I dialed 9-1-0....and I said, "Darn! This happens when I'm dream... I'm dreaming!"

I bit my cheek to be sure, and then I started jumping up and down! I was so excited! "I'm dreaming! I'm lucid dreaming! I can't wait to tell Kevin! I can do anything I want!" And at that moment, like a movie, everything swirled to black.

Luckily, I was able to hold on to the state, for I kept dreaming. In an instant, I was in a pub with a friend. I was explaining my lucid dream state to the friend. The dead guy from the street was laid out on the floor ("Just in case I'm not really dreaming," I explained). I said, "I can do anything I want!" I saw two cops standing nearby. I decided I was going to go up and hug one of the cops.

When I got there, the cop was a woman. I didn't want to hug her. So I spied another guy nearby and I decided that I was going to kiss him. He resembled Ashton Kutcher, but wasn't him. I don't think Ashton Kutcher is all that, but he was on a TV show that Erin watched the other night.

So, I went up and kissed him! The dream ended, and I was so excited to tell Kevin that I woke up and replayed it in my mind so I didn't forget the details. I was much too lazy to write it all down.

Cool, huh?

Have you ever had a lucid dream?

Beach Walk

Yesterday, I went to Isla Vista and walked from the end of Del Playa to Coal Oil Point and beyond. It was another stunningly beautiful day!


View Larger Map

My Destination

Among other unique features, Santa Barbara is home to some oil deposits. In ancient days, there were warm shallow seas along the coast. The soft parts of ancient plankton settled to the bottom. Heat, time, and pressure converted these little critters into oil. We have quite a bit of oil exploration off the coast. In many of my photos, in fact, you can see Platform Holly.

One of the charms of living near oil-rich waters is the natural seeps that occur. Oil and tar leak out of the ocean floor and is often washed up onto the beach. Here you see a rock on which the tar has draped itself over the years. That is wild mustard on the hill behind.




Of course, a walk on this beach leads to the inevitable:

Izzy becomes a Tar Heel.

The housekeepers used to keep a good supply of tar remover solution stocked in the UCSB dorm bathrooms. These days, a little baby oil does the trick.

The Chumash Indians used the tar to make their canoes (tomols) and baskets water tight.

Some of the other treasures of my walk:

Sand Pipers Piping

Brown Pelicans were recently nominated to be removed from the Endangered Species List. You'd never have known they were listed...as you can see, they are plentiful here!






I saw a couple of these pretty snail shells.....they are about 6 inches across at the base. I'm not sure what they are; I couldn't identify them with my Seashore Field Guide. It is a top snail of some sort!

It was low-tide, but I didn't stop to tidepool. Coal Oil Point is a great place to tidepool. It was one of the spring field-trip destinations in Mrs. Winn's Kindergarten class.

I did spot some surfers. This is another favorite spot of Kevin's.

If you can see little black dots, those are surfers.

After my walk, I went and had my favey potato taquitos for lunch! It was a good Friday! (a-har-har; it was Good Friday!)

Ten Commandments Trifecta

....Would that be 30 Commandments?

On Easter weekend, ABC annually broadcasts The Ten Commandments (1956). It is one of Mikey's favorite movies. I've never understood why they show it on Easter weekend, given that it has nothing at all to do with Easter, but show it they do.

Here are three of my favorite Ten Commandment-related videos. Mom (and anyone else who would be offended by poking fun and using the F-word in the same sentence as the ten commandments), skip the last one.

Moses.... Moses.....

Cartoon Talk

Kevin received an Easter card from his Gram today. Inside, there was a comic cut from the paper. My Gram used to send me envelopes full of cartoons: Marmaduke.

I thought about posting one in memory of Gram. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Sorry, Gram. Marmaduke is one of the worst comics of them all. Click the link if you dare.

Happy Vernal Equinox!

I love spring!

I know these aren't as good as Chuckbert's Spring Flower photos, but I wanted to share. I picked up 40 daffodils at Trader Joe's yesterday. Aren't they pretty?

On the 5th anniversary of the start of the war

Gotta laugh to keep from crying.


Army Holds Annual 'Bring Your Daughter To War' Day

Love that Satchel!

He doesn't get angry often, but when he does, watch out!

An Awareness Test

Post your comments after viewing.

Gauchos

The Gauchos are a 13th seed, playing in Norfolk, VA! Too bad they didn't get placed in the bracket that plays at Stanford.

They play on next Sunday, and the game will be on ESPN2. You can find me at Zodo's with a beer in my hand on Easter!

Follow along! Here is the bracket!

10 weeks and counting....

...Until May 22!

Gauchos win Big West

Mike and I drove down to Anaheim today to see the final game of the Big West Tournament. The Gauchos won. Check out this cool way you can see the play-by-play. The internet is so much fun!

Tomorrow the NCAA tourney will be seeded. If they are playing somewhere close-ish in CA for the first round, perhaps we'll get to see them play again.

It was a fun day, but tiring. LA traffic sucks!

Dumb criminals of the day

These young men picked the wrong "store" to rob.

See the video here.

Food Fight

American warfare from WWII - present as told with food.



It helps to watch a couple times (or more!). For more about the battles and the making of the film, go here.

Someone at the straw factory has a sense of humor...

...or not.

You decide.

Patrick Stewart

As you know, Patrick Stewart is my favey actor. (Here is my one-and-only name-dropping opportunity) I met him when I went to Theater in England in 1984. He co-taught the class with my favorite professor, Murph Swander. People know him as Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek, or as Professor Xavier in the X-Men, but they don't know that he first and foremost a Shakespearean actor. During one class in Theater in England, he performed a short scene as Shylock from Merchant of Venice. It gave me chills. Anyway, here is another fine performance from 1969.

Commendation by Chief Cam Sanchez

The text reads:

Title: Great teamwork leads to a 211pc arrest
Incident: 12/28/2007
Watch: T2 and T4
Addressed to: Mayor and Council, etc.

Remarks:

12-28-07, 0237 hours; Officers responded to a report of a robbery in the 600 block of Chapala St. The victim had been assaulted by two males, who then stole his bicycle. Ofc. Hall located two possible suspects walking away from the scene. Ofc. Little did an in field line up with the victim, who identified one of the people as the suspect in the robbery. The stolen bike was found in the 700 block of De La Vina Street.

Great teamwork by all involved. The bike was recovered, one of the suspects was arrested and information about the second suspect was developed.

Handwritten by the Chief:

Jared & Mike:
Outstanding work, thanks!
Chief Sanchez

Chad Vader - Day Shift Manager

Here's Episode 1. For more, look on YouTube.

Cruisin'

After waiting for work to OK the time off and some deliberation, we've decided! We're going on a cruise for Spring Break! It should be a lot of fun...something different for us. We're looking forward to a relaxing time.

Rattlesnake Canyon

I was so jealous of Chuckbert's (mostly) wild flower walk, that I chose Rattlesnake Canyon for Friday's hike. This trail has more sunny intervals, and it is at higher elevation (read: more rain), so I was hopeful that I'd get to enjoy some spring flowers.

It was another gorgeous day here! This is my favorite Santa Barbara hiking spot. The trail head starts at Skofield Park, crosses the creek several times and end up at Gibraltar Road.


View Larger Map

Unfortunately, Rattlesnake Canyon was woefully lacking in flowers, though there were a few species. I offer some to you:

Milk Maids

Rock Rose

Blue Dicks

Another victim of the drought: These guys. There are hardly any butterflies fluttering by! The winter before last, we had heavy rains late in the season. These late rains interrupted the butterflies' reproductive cycle, and they got wiped out! They've been slow to recover. I was lucky to see this guy on the way up the trail. Didn't he pose so nice for me?

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
(click the pic to see a bigger Mr. Butterfly)

Here is a picture taken from Tin Can Meadow. I'll be trekking up the Eastern flank (the mountain on the right). (by the way, I took this picture with my cell phone -- I'm so impressed with technology!)




Here is the reward for my hard climb. Isn't the view amazing?!






It took me a lot longer than normal to finish this hike. On the way up, I was pokey because I was stopping to smell the (rock)roses, and I had to stop to talk to the teens on my cell phone. Also, I was very pokey at the very end. It is quite a steep climb for the last 3/4 mile to Gibraltar Road--and I'm not in my top shape.

I enjoyed the view for a while, and then had to face the descent. For some reason, my knees did not do well on the way down. Both of them hurt like ba-jeezus with every step down even the mildest of declines. I was on the verge of tears a couple times! What goes up must come down, however, so I had no choice but to grimace and bear it! I really felt like calling a helicopter rescue, though!

I've never had that happen! I hike at least a couple times a month, and I do this hike at least once or twice a year. Why did I suddenly have so much trouble? I'll tell you one thing, though: I'm not going to let it beat me! I'll give it a couple weeks, but I'm going to tuck some ibuprofen in my fanny pack next time and tackle the mountain again! I can't resist!