England and Ireland: Ireland. Part 3: The Road to Dingle

Kinsale, Co. Cork to Dingle, Co. Kerry

Road Trip!

We reluctantly left the charming Kinsale and our wonderful B&B and headed west toward the Dingle Peninsula.

On the way, we stopped at Kilkenny, where some of Trish's kin hailed from, and stopped at the nearby Killarney National Park, enjoying the area around the Muckross House, before hitting the road again.

Today's post is mostly photos. Enjoy.

We stopped at a roadside-ish attraction: a metal miniature factory. It was kinda fun.

The proprietors of the factory collected American LEO and Fire badges. Odd, but cool.

Setting off  again in our little car!

 The countryside was beautiful!

Just outside of Killarney National Park, we noticed some horse carriages. We found out that tourists can hire them for a jaunt around the grounds and the lake.

Photo by Trish

Photo by Trish

Hard-working pony gets his reward.

Muckross house

It was a stunningly beautiful day, one of the warmest, sunniest days that Ireland ever sees. Indeed, it was one of the most beautiful days of anywhere on Earth! Many families from around Ireland and the world came to the park to enjoy the outdoors.

Photo by Trish

 Part of our mission of the day was finding homes of Trish's ancestors. We were partially successful. A tchotchke shop stood at the address of one of her kin in Killarney. We shopped there.

And we drove in the countryside looking for other ancestral homes.

Photo by Trish

Photo by Trish

Photo by Trish

We're in Gaelic country now! (photo by Trish)

Then we motored the rest of the way to Dingle. It's a beautiful country!

Self-portrait of an Out-the-Window photog.

Police seek suspects in alleged assault

Police seek suspects in alleged assault

by Morgan Hoover

News-Press Staff Writer

    After a 29-year-old Santa Barbara man was hit by a car and possibly stabbed Sunday night in what police say was likely gang-related, authorities are seeking information on suspects who fled the scene in the 800 block of East Carrillo Road.

     Sgt. Mike McGrew of the Santa Barbara Police Deparment told the News-Press after the incident that authorities recieved reports in the area of an incident after which two vehicles--a dark-colored Jeep Cherokee and a Volkswagen--fled the area.

    Authorities arrived to find skid marks and a blood puddle, said Sgt. McGrew.  A blood trail was followed up the driveway at 817 E. Carrillo Rd.

    Hiding in a bedroom, according to Sgt. McGrew, was the victim, who has a Goleta gang tattoo across his chest reading "Old Town."

    The victim was bleeding and had a "bump on his head," said police, who were told by the man that he did not know what had happened.

    Sgt. McGrew said the victim told authorities that he may have been hit by a car, but he was uncertain.

    The victim's girlfriend told police that the victim had gotten in a fight over a football game at a bar on the corner of West Haley Street and Fig Avenue over a football.

    The men with whom the victim had fought, she told police, followed them back to the East Carrillo Road address.

    Police hope witnesses will come forward with information related to the incident.  At least two 911 calls were made by witnesses, and multiple witnesses contacted authoriteies on-scene. 

    

    Though the victim appears to not want to press charges, said Sgt. McGrew, the suspects could still be arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

    

    Any information, contact SBPD at 897-2300.

(note:  there are no typos here.  This is the quality of the writing these days in the local "newspaper")

Serving and Protecting

Watch closely for one of Santa Barbara's Finest!

Cops keep busy

Shooting on Eastside last night.

Welcome to America!

Last week I got to experience --twice-- a rare (for me) yet typical (for Santa Barbara) event.

On Tuesday, I, along with the other field staff at Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care of Santa Barbara were invited to a VNCH board member's home for wine and hors d'oeuvre as a thank-you for our work.  Her husband is the retired CEO of a large global corporation which makes $21 billion in revenue yearly.

What. a. home. Of all the wonderful homes that I've seen as a home care clinician, this was the most opulent. It sits on 21 acres of prime Montecito hilltop; the house is surrounded by avocado orchards.  They built it over 4 1/2 years and made every detail perfect.  A few examples: the oven is a four-parter; each little oven has its own temperature (150º, 250º, 350º and 450º).  The laundry room/flower arranging room is beautiful! As I was playing with the light switch, the Mister came and explained the workings of it. It was pretty complex, but I'm sure it let them control the lights in just the way they wanted!  The landscaping is gorgeous: a rose garden and plenty of native plants. The pool is very pretty, and I noticed the water level comes exactly to the bottom of the layer of decorative tile.

The house has a tower just in case you want to see a few more miles out over the channel.   As some of us were walking up the staircase to the tower, some other folks, recent immigrants, were walking down.  One of them exclaimed, "Welcome to America!"  Indeed.

Both Mister and Missus are kind, down-to-earth people.  Her interest in supporting VNHC came from her personal experience with a hospice organization in Texas.  Both of them came from humble beginnings, and I guess they just can't help it that our society worships corporations and they reaped the benefits.  It was really a pleasure to visit their house.

Then, on Sunday, the four of us were privileged to tour the Dreier Collection, a private collection of television and movie memorabilia, fossils and minerals, and sports memorabilia, among other collectibles. Doug Dreier is president of the board of directors of the Police Activities League, and police and fire personnel were invited to an open house of the collection over the weekend.

Wow.  Wow.

Here is another CEO, this time a building company, whose family's personal interests have become a huge collection.

A Harry Potter room!  As Erin was geeking, Mr. Dreier let her hold Dumbledore's wand!

Erin made a list of a few of the items from the Harry Potter films. 

• Tom Felton's (Draco Malfoy) Quidditch robe 
• Harry's Acceptance Letter
• The flying car's License plate
• A Nimbus 2001
• Fleur Delacour's costume  
• The basilisk fang 
• Harry's glasses
• Dumbledore's glasses
• Dumbledore's robe (Mr. Drier showed us the electronics inside that made it spark!)
  
• The Sorting Scroll 
• McGonagall's wand
• Hagrid's shirt
• Filch's costume
• Sweater worn by Daniel Radcliff
• A Howler
• A Chocolate Frog card -it has a tiny green screen for the wizard picture!
• A Snitch
• Harry's Trunk

A Star Wars room.  Chewie's mask!  Costumes!  All the original art for the original poster, beginning with drawings before any cast members were cast.

A Lucille Ball room, with costumes, scripts, divorce papers...and her Emmy (and that dress she wore for the Emmy Awards)!

Other movie memorabilia:
Edward Scissorhands's hands!
An Oompa loompa costume
The original Original Willy Wonka suit
Grandpa Joe's suit
Everlasting Gobstopper
Golden egg
Veruca Salt's golden ticket
A golden ticket from the 2005 movie
The candy bar from which Charlie got his ticket
Willy Wonka's cane (Johnny Depp's)
Wonka candy from each movie

Austin Powers's costume and costumes of his friends Fook Yu and Fook Me
Map of Middle Earth
Ferris Beuller's jacket
Forrest Gump's costume
The prop cardboard ad campaign in Forrest Gump
Spartan costume from 300
The Terminator's jacket and weapons
Fonzie's jacket
Ricky Bobby's driving suit
Kal-El's and Lara's costumes
Officer Poncharelli's uniform
Michael Jackson costumes, and the Glove
Autographed guitars from a lot of rock musicians

And there were non-movie collectibles: Pez, WWII toys and memorabilia, collections of lion tchotchkes (including a couple Picasso lion sketches),  a sun room, frog tchotchkes, and oh, my too much to list or remember.

There was a G.I. Joe room with a large diorama of a battle scene.  Next to it, a case of just about every G.I. Joe ever made.

And that is just a very few!

I didn't spend much time in the enormous sports room, because frankly by that time I had started hyperventilating and becoming overwhelmed after being in the First Edition room.

A bat used by Babe Ruth
Mickey Mantle's bat
Shaq's shoes (they are ENORMOUS)
uniforms from various players, in all sports
Tons of autographed baseballs and TONS of baseball cards, going all the way back to the very first baseball card from 1869

The Gem and Fossil room had minerals and gems of every kind, meteorites, and an impressive collection of fossils of all kinds.  Hard to imagine the hours and care it took to excavate the hundreds of fossilized spiney sea creatures!

Dinosaur eggs!
A complete dinosaur fossil! (Their's was more complete and more beautiful than this one, but in similar substrate)
Fossilized turtles!
Fossilized colonies of sand dollars (dozens, not just two like in this photo)!
Tons of trilobites...all species, very amazingly preserved and excavated
A fossil of a fish eating a smaller fish
Several meteorites, including large ones
A meteorite that was embedded in a tree
A large ammonite that was fossilized by pyrite.  Ooooh!  pretty! (the specimen we saw was both halves and much more stunning than this picture)
...and many, many more specimens too numerous to list or remember!

And the book room.  First editions.  (Breathe, Izzy, breathe!).  First editions of British Harry Potter, John Steinbeck, Dr. Seuss, Mark Twain!  Oh, my!  And of course, not only first editions, but PERFECT first editions.  Gotta keep breathing....

Of course, none of us brought cameras (WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!).  But here are a couple links to see a little.

From infive.com We didn't see the cars or walk around the grounds for the sculptures.

An article from Window Magazine.  And a narrated slideshow.


Welcome to America!

The Night Before Sunday

You know I was a prolific writer when I was a wee lass.  And when I was a wee bit bigger lass.  In the Great Garage Clean-up of 2010, I found some treasures. Yeah, treasures!  Believe it!

Here is one, circa PJHS.  There's no date or class notation, so I'm not sure if this was for fun or for a class!

'Twas the Night Before Sunday

'Twas the night before Sunday, when all through the house
Every wino was stirring, even the souse.

They brought out the pot and they brought out the beer
Uncle Charley was hung by the chimney with care.

The children were nestled all snug in their bed
While Susie was necking so busy with Ted.

When out on the lawn there rose such a clatter
As Butch strutted in and said, "What is the matter?"

Away to the window I few with a flash
As a cop hit his cycle with a bang and a crash.

He cried, "It's a raid!  The cops is here!
Hide all the pot and hide all the beer!"

When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But a tiny cop-car and some cops; it was clear.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick
I knew in a moment it must be "Cop Nick."

More rapid than eagles Butch dived under a chair
And he whistled, and shouted, and beckoned them there:

"Come Susie! Come Ronald! Come Rachel and Ted!
Come Alex, and Carol get yourselves out of bed!"

To the top of the porch came the cops one and all
"Now Dash away! Dash away!" cried Butch with a bawl.

So up on the housetop the coppers they flew,
The chopper with tear-gas and hand-grenades, too.

And then in a twinkling, Butch was up on the top,
Prancing and hitting each little cop.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney Cop Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in blue from his head to his foot.
And his clothes were all covered in ashes and soot.

Right after, Butch came, and drew out a knife.
Whoops!  That was the end of that cop's life.

Butch's eyes twinkled!  His dimples--how merry!
His cheeks were like roses; his nose like a cherry.

The stump of an arm he held tight in his hands
And the blood, it encircled his feet like some ma'ams.

One cop-a broad face and a round little belly
That shook when he cried like a bowlful of jelly.

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon brought in the troops to knock us all dead.

Baker to Vegas

Last month Officer Squid took part in the Baker to Vegas relay run.  It is an annual event in which teams from law enforcement agencies around Southern California relay race on foot from Baker, CA to Las Vegas, NV, a distance of about 120 miles.  About 250 teams participated.  There were twenty runners on each team, plus support people.  The desert was full of cops!

I was fortunate enough to be able to go and cheer them on.  I helped relay three runners and their catcher (all cops) in the first leg.  Squid ran the first leg, about 5.5 miles,  and his teammates ran about 6+ miles and 8+ miles.  Uphill.  Through the desert. On a very hot afternoon.

The race is really well organized.  They start the slower teams at 8:00 or 9:00am, and every hour another two dozen or so teams start, with the fastest teams starting at about 4:00pm.  The idea is that all the teams end at the same time, at approximately 6:00am, in Las Vegas!  Our team started at 1:00pm.  Hot!

They finished 171st, with a time of 18:35:02. 

Here are some pictures.

Team 258, Leg 1.  Three runners and a catcher.

The first hand-off

Officer Squid, hot and tired.


Waiting to get the baton.







And leg 2 is off!


As we were waiting at the top of the 8-mile-long hill for our third runner, a guy came in an had to be cared for by paramedics.  They eventually took him away in an ambulance.  As we made our way back, a couple more ambulances were on their way up.  Luckily, all of Team 258 finished in fine shape.

It was a really good weekend away, just the two of us (well, for part of the time, anyway!).  That doesn't happen often!

More action from Santa Barbara's Finest

From the Daily Sound 02-27-10:

Man tells police to shoot him, gets Tased

By COLBY FRAZIER — Feb. 27, 2010

A 65-year-old man was arrested on Thursday for allegedly discharging a handgun inside his Mesa home, and for resisting arrest, telling police when they arrived, “Go ahead and shoot me,” a Santa Barbara police spokesman said.

“It was a very touchy situation,” said Lt. Paul McCaffrey. “Officers showed a lot of restraint, under the circumstances.”

Police were dispatched to the 100 block of Mohawk Rd. shortly at 5 p.m. after a resident reported hearing shots fired.  When officers arrived, McCaffrey said they discovered that the shots were fired at a nearby residence in the 100 block of Palisades Dr.

Officers spotted the man, whose name was not released, in his back yard, and asked him to exit his home. At first, McCaffrey said the man refused, but he eventually stepped onto the front porch.

At this point, McCaffrey said the man told police to shoot him. 

Once police noticed that the man’s hands were empty, they shot him with a Taser and took him into custody.

Police searched the home and found a loaded .357-caliber Magnum sitting on a chair near the front door.

“The gun was near the guy,” he said. He added later, “It’s hard to know what was in the guy’s mind.”

The incident occurred in the midst of a bloody standoff in Fresno County during which one sheriff’s deputy was fatally shot and two others were injured — facts that weren’t lost on the officer’s who responded to the Mesa incident.

“We got him in custody, we took the gun, we weren’t hurt,” he said. “The officers handled it properly.”

Police Blotter

From the Daily Sound 02/17/10

Feb. 11, 2:35 p.m. — Officers responded to reports of a theft at Buena Tool Co., 433 Laguna St., and learned that witnesses had followed the suspect and took a photo of him with a cell phone. The 37-year-old would-be thief had dropped three pairs of pants he took from the store as he fled.

An officer recognized the man and tracked him down in the 500 block of E. Yanonali Street. The suspect admitted to being at the store, but denied trying to steal anything. Employees said they recognized him from a prior theft of a jacket from the store.

Authorities booked the 37-year-old for burglary. Bail was set at $20,000.

"Lawlessness Knows No Holiday"

As promised, the story of Officer Squid's Christmas morning. 

You can also see the video in full screen by clicking the little "Full Screen" icon to the bottom right of the picture (look for a rectangle-within-a-rectangle).

Watch for a few of my heroes, especially one special hero!

From the Santa Barbara Independent:

Christmas Morning Stabbing on Eastside

Suspect Sergio Quintana, 36, Arrested; Victim Cesar Ortega, 32, Recovering in Hospital

Saturday, December 26, 2009

By MATT KETTMANN

Christmas morning started off on a particularly naughty foot for Sergio Quintana, the 36-year-old resident of Soledad Street on Santa Barbara’s Eastside who allegedly stabbed an acquaintance on Milpas Street near Haley in broad daylight Friday morning. The victim, 32-year-old Cesar Ortega, managed to flee in his vehicle and escape to his neighborhood on the 100 block of South Soledad Street, where he called police at about 10 a.m. from outside his apartment.

Once the police arrived, they found Ortega suffering from “several stab wounds to the chest and abdomen,” said Sgt. John Corre, amounting to what they thought were life-threatening wounds. He told them that he’d been stabbed by Quintana, and pointed up the street, to the 100 block of North Soledad, where the attacker’s car was parked. The police were able to quickly find Quintana, and he was arrested without incident for attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.

Upon being admitted to the hospital, Ortega was treated and, according to Corre, “his wounds were not as serious as we had anticipated.” He’s now being classified as in “guarded but stable condition.”

Until a more thorough report is issued Monday morning, Corre was unable to go into more details, as there are still a couple witnesses that police are tracking down. “Right now, all we would be giving would be the victim’s account,” said Corre, explaining that accuracy is most important before any public statement. But it sounds as if the motive has already been worked out, and while Corre made it seem that the case was pretty cut and dry, he did say that some of the underlying issues are “interesting.”

Corre could confirm, however, that the victim and suspect did know each other before the attack and that “we’ve seen nothing that shows any gang relationship.”

The Daily Sound's Story:

Man stabbed in Christmas morning altercation

by Colby Frazier • Dec 26 2009

One man spent Christmas in the hospital and another landed in Santa Barbara County Jail after an altercation ended with a vicious stabbing.

Just after 10 a.m. yesterday, authorities were dispatched to the 100 block of south Soledad St. on reports of a medical emergency. Upon arrival, they found 33-year-old Cesar Ortega suffering from multiple stab wounds to his chest and abdomen.

Lt. Brent Mandrell, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara Police Department, said Ortega identified the stabber as 36-year-old Sergio Osvaldo Quintana.

Investigators began a search for Quintana and located him driving a few blocks away on Ortega Street.

Mandrell said officers conducted a “high risk” traffic stop and arrested the man.

Mandrell did not know if the stabbing took place at one of the men’s homes, or how, if at all, they knew each other. He said investigators were not considering the stabbing gang related.

“It’s all under investigation,” he said.

Quintana was being held in county jail on suspicions of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Mandrell said Ortega was in stable condition.

November Police Blotter

From the Daily Sound

Nov. 28, 12:23 p.m. — Police were called to an apartment complex in the 600 block of Garden Street on reports of a woman refusing to leave a residence. The resident said the 35-year-old woman had come over to visit and take him to lunch, but had disappeared into the bathroom for an extended period of time.

When the resident checked on the woman, he saw her smoking meth from a pipe. The suspect refused to leave and locked the resident out of his apartment. With the help of the apartment manager, however, officers gained entry and found the suspect in the bathroom, naked with her belongings strewn about the room.

The 35-year-old appeared confused, had dilated pupils, complained of being extremely thirst and was constantly twitching. Police recovered a used meth pipe from the room. Authorities booked the woman for being under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail was set at $2,500.

From EdHat.com:

On 11/12 at 10:20 a.m., Officer Squid responded to the Brooks Photography campus at 801 Alston Road on a call of suspicious circumstances. A week before, employees discovered a room dead-bolted with a lock that did not belong to the school. They forced entry and discovered evidence of someone living in the room: Clothing, hygiene products, damp washcloths, and other personal items. Today, they found a room normally unlocked that was dead-bolted from the inside. They heard noises, but no one would answer or open the door. When Officer Squid arrived, employees forcibly removed the lock and out came the suspect: Michael Othello Shirley, age 40. Shirley said he has been secretly living at the school for 3 weeks. He was arrested for vandalism and trespass.

Shirley

Edison's Medicine

From The Colbert Report

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Current Events - Trucker, Soccer Mom and Taser X3
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Michael Moore

His sniffer is better than Brag's!

Remember I told you about this story? The Chief issued a commendation!


The chief's writing at the bottom reads, "Thanks for the great response & attn to duty. Chief Sanchez"

Congratulations, Officer Squid!

Hammer Time!

From the Santa Barbara News-Press. You have to buy the article to read on-line. I transcribe it here.

Homeowner hammers would-be burglar
Mountain Avenue resident struggles with her attacker; who flees after getting hit

By MARCI WORMSER
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

A transient who broke into a backyard in the 2100 block of Mountain Avenue, near Portesuello Avenue, on Friday afternoon got more than be bargained for after the homeowner hit him in the head with a hammer.

According to Santa Barbara Police Department Lt. Paul McCaffrey, the 51-year-old homeowner was working in her backyard at about 3:15 p.m. when her dogs began "making a commotion" and then ran over to a shed in the yard. After the woman followed her pets, she saw the suspect walking out of the shed.

The suspect lunged at her, grabbed her clothing and arms and slapped her, according to Lt. McCaffrey. Because the property is uneven, the suspect lost his footing as he was attacking his victim, which gave her a chance to grab a nearby hammer and swing it at the suspect's head.

After the suspect was hit with the hammer, he ran toward La Cumbre Junior High School and hasn't been seen since.

The victim, who only suffered minor injuries, told police officers she doesn't think anything was stolen from the shed.

Police officials are asking anyone who thinks they may have seen the suspect to call the department.

The suspect may have been hanging around the area, Lt. McCaffrey said.

He is described as a white man in his 30s, with long brown hair and a beard. He was wearing a khaki-colored jacket at the time of the incident.

But should people also be on the lookout for a man with a large hammer mark on his head? No, says Lt. McCaffrey. There is no evidence that the hapless suspect was gravely injured by the hammer.

A photograph accompanied the article. (Apologies for the scan; the website is set up very badly and I was afraid I was going to be subscribing to the rag instead of just buying one article.)

Santa Barbara police officers on Friday afternoon look through a hillside on Portesuello Avenue for a suspect who broke into a backyard shed in the 2100 block of Mountain Avenue and then attacked the homeowner. The homeowner broke free from the suspect after hitting him in the head with a hammer. The suspect then fled.

Police Stories

A couple items from the local paper this week.

From August 25 Santa Barbara Daily Sound police blotter:

August 23, 12:15 a.m. — Officers responding to an audible alarm at Tienda Ho, 1105 State St., learned police had been called to that location the day prior after employees believed a man had hidden himself somewhere in the store.

Police had searched the store at that time but were unable to find any sign of the suspect. They did find clothing and a backpack that were booked into evidence. After the alarm sounded, authorities brought in a police dog and located a 33-year-old man lying behind the cash register.

The suspect had apparently hidden in a crawl space in the store during business hours. However, the owner had locked the door to the crawl space and blocked it with wooden furniture. The suspect had apparently forced his way out of the space, causing damage to store property.

Authorities booked the 33-year-old for prowling, vandalism, interfering with a business and providing false identification to peace officers.

(What this story does not say is who was able to find the guy hiding when even the dog missed him. Can you guess who?)

From August 29 Santa Barbara Daily Sound:

Road rage incident leads to shots fired

By DAILY SOUND STAFF — Aug. 29, 2009

Road rage apparently led a 59-year-old man to fire a pistol into the air several times in a Santa Barbara neighborhood before police caught up to him on Highway 101.

Authorities said William Anthony, of Atascadero, had been driving his vehicle along Alisos Street near Cacique Street at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday when he apparently became involved in a road rage incident with another driver.

After the two motorists pulled over and exchanged words, Anthony allegedly pulled out a pistol and fired it into the air three times, Sgt. James Ella said. Police responded to reports of shots fired and eventually stopped the suspect on Highway 101 near Sheffield Drive.

Following a DUI evaluation, authorities took the 59-year-old into custody on suspicion of possession of a loaded firearm, brandishing, negligent discharge of a firearm and driving while intoxicated.

Cop Stuff!

I'm so proud of Officer Squid!

Chief's Commendation (click for bigger image). Another officer found the M.J., but it wouldn't have been found if these guys didn't work an extra shift to do the DUI checkpoint.



Here is a letter and a picture from a tourist. Below, I transcribe the letter.

23 June 2008

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!

I made from 1 Mai till 15 Mai a bus tour through USA. On 14th of Mai I visited Santa Barbara. Unfortunately was our stop very short and I couldn't realy enjoy the city with her sights places. The time had last for a visit of the court-house and the beach.

-2-
On the way to the court-house I met a colleague from you. He gave me something in her computer. Someone like him, I know only from criminal movies, so I made a picture for me. I don't know her name, but I'm sure you can find it out. Please, give him the photo and remember me to him. I hope, he is glad about.

-3-
Maybe I can visit you by my next holiday in Santa Barbara.

Best wishes from Monica.

(Excuse my mistakes)

[name and address in Germany]

The picture:

On the back of the photo is written, "Dirty Harry"

2009 Western Police and Fire Games

Last month, Mikey and some of his brethren headed to Santa Clarita to compete in the pistol shooting portion of the 2009 Western States Police and Fire Games. It was the first time the team competed, and they were happy with their middle-of-the-pack results. There were both individual and team competitions, where they had to complete shooting tasks given several different scenarios and situations.. Here are some photos.