CALIFORNIA WILD (AND TAME) LIFE

I'm always surprised, it seems, by the variety of wildlife in our beautiful lands.  On our recent trip to California I took some photos of what I could.  You probably saw the elephant seals in yesterday's post.  But on a quieter beach, the dominant species seems to be sea gulls.

If they're not scrounging for food along the shore they seem to spend a lot of time perched and just watching.  And who could blame them with a view like this at the W.R. Hearst Memorial State Beach at San Simeon.

"All right Mr. Demille, I'm ready for my close-up."

In this same area a couple of crows were courting.  (They might have been ravens.  I can never seem to tell them apart.)

Away from the coast, SWMBO and I were amazed at the numbers of cows grazing on what seemed to us like very steep hillsides.  We wondered if a strong gust of wind might send them rolling down the slopes.  But they remain unconcerned and sure-footed.

Whenever something out of the ordinary occurs, the cows stop and stare . . as when a tourist photographer pauses to take pictures.  These cows graze just across a small road separating them from tennis courts where Tom and his friends play in the mornings.  Tom says the cattle make up the audience.

Now how could a cat lover like myself go anywhere without bringing back a photo of cats.  These are two of Tom and Lana's trio, Hemingway on the left, Luke on the right.  Hemingway is so named because like Ernest Hemingway's cats he has six toes on each foot.  Such an animal is known as a "polydactyl".

And finally there's the third cat.  I caught this picture of her staring inside the house but too early for feeding time.  What a face!  Her name is Joy though she doesn't look too joyful at the moment.

There's still more to our California tour but we'll continue with that tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

THE GREAT ELEPHANT SEAL SAGA

As you know from yesterday's post (if you read it), SWMBO and I have just returned from a visit with our friends, the Cochruns, on the central California coast.  While there they took us to view the birthing area of the elephant seals.

This may look like the seals' graveyard but I can assure you it is not. There are upwards of a thousand males, females and newborn babies along this sandy beach nearly directly across the highway from the Hearst Castle.

When the pups are born they first identify with their mothers by sounds.  You can hear them yelping in their high pitched voices, which I assume means they want more milk from their mothers.  And they get it.

There is considerable territoriality among the seals.  Occasionally a couple of females will get into a roaring session.

The male, having found a secluded spot, naps and naps and naps.  After all he's fathered as many as 40 pups in his harem.  By the way, the males can weigh as much as 5,000 pounds!

The pups are weaned after about four weeks as the mother abruptly leaves them, mates and heads out to sea once more.  The males swim north along the coast as far as the furthest Aleutian Islands.  The females have been tracked two-thirds of the way to Japan.

It is important that the pups gain up to 300 pounds by the time they become "weaners", as they are called then because it takes 8 to 10 weeks for it to learn to swim well enough to head north looking for food.

I was surprised, with their huge weight, how fast the animals can move.  Take a look at this female moving across the beach.

And one more video.  This one shows a male driving a competitor away.  Amazingly he backs right over a young pup but he seems not the worse for wear.

The area is protected by a volunteer non-profit organization, Friends of the Elephant Seal.  There is a wooden walkway with railings along a lengthy section of the beach for visitors from all over the world.  You can learn more and view a LiveCam of the activity on the beach by visiting their website at Friends of the Elephant Seal.  

BACK FROM CALIFORNIA

SWMBO and I returned yesterday from a week-long trip to central California to visit our friends, Tom and Lana Cochrun.  If you read Tom's blog, Light Breezes, regularly you're probably already aware of that.  We went, in January . . . in the midst of a cold wave that produced much laughter about the Golden California Weather . . . because Lana was opening a new show of her art at the Windward Vineyard just outside of Paso Robles.  Along with us, it drew a crowd that delighted the artist.

This show was a new venture for Lana as she added abstract art to her ouevre.

Previously she was known for her plein air art, which we found hanging at another winery, Stolo near Cambria.

But wait!  There's more!  But you'll have to wait a bit for that.

At the abstract show, I linked up with a pal from "the good old days", Mike Griffin, on the right here with Tom.

Tom and Mike and I all worked for a couple of radio stations in Indianapolis, Indiana, back in 1969 - 1972.  Mike branched out, got into racing and is now one of the owners of Panther Racing which placed second at the Indianapolis 500 four years in a row.  We all think it's about time to find him in Victory Circle.

While in Cambria, we stayed at the legendary Cambria Pines Lodge and ate a couple of meals there.  

It's a wonderful, funky old place.  But we didn't explore the many gardens on the property or follow any of the trails.  We were too busy with our friends.

When you visit friends who live at the ocean, you must see the ocean.  I've always been drawn to it and we spent as much time as we could there.

This last picture is the view from the rear deck of a house owned by a friend of Tom's.  Not bad.

One day we drove just down the coast to Morro Bay.  We had to stop for a picture of the Morro Rock framed by fishing boats.

That day we were on our way to San Luis Obispo where Lana's third show was hanging at Alegria Wine and Ware.  And this was yet another example of the artiste's talent and range.

She calls these her divas and since glasses or bottles of wine are featured and because they are framed with wine corks, they seemed perfect for a modern wine store.

You may notice that the eyes are obscured in most of the paintings.  That's something Lana decided on when she first began doing the divas back in the 1960's.  

I have to admit, though I am proud to own one of Lana's plein air paintings, I think I like the divas the best of all her styles.  I call them whimsical and she agrees, though she thinks this may be the last of them.

But, y'know, every day in California brings a beautiful sunet.

And the next day . . there's another one.

That's enough for this day.  Tomorrow, the saga of the elephant seals.

BIRTHDAY PALS

Today is the day once celebrated as the birthdays of two wildly disparate people.  The first one you all know.

It's hard to believe that this handsome young man turned into this before he died.

Elvis Presley would have been 78 today and probably still would have been singing had not the drugs and weight problems taken him at the age of 42 . . far too soon.

Another whose birthday I always remember on this day is this young man.

Well, actually I don't remember Reed Schonfeldt in his cowboy suit as a young boy.  I didn't meet him until after he had moved to California, to Alaska and finally to Arizona.  Wherever Reed went he made lifelong friends.  I don't know anyone who ever had a harsh word for him.  I met him when SWMBO and I were running our bookstore.  Reed was selling advertising for a small weekly newspaper.  Occasionally we'd place an ad in it.  More likely Reed would buy a book to add to his collection of Native American history.

Reed became one of my best friends, especially after I learned he was suffering from a disease that finally claimed his life, muscular dystrophy.  When he became housebound I would stop by for a visit and occasionally run an errand for him.  I talked to him on the telephone the afternoon before he died in the evening.  He seemed fine then, though I knew he was unlikely to ever come back to his home.

He was a gentle, kind man and he, too, died much earlier than he should have.  It's been several years now and I still think about him and miss him.

Reed Schonfeldt

January 8, 1947 - April 18, 2010

FACE-OFFS

What is it, I wonder, in a man who has worn a beard for many years to suddenly decide he wants to try life without one?

I received a photo in my email this morning from an old friend and former colleague, Roger Ball, of his completely unshaven face.  As he noted it is "for the first time in 40 years, four months and three weeks" that he has been barefaced.

So first, we have a photo of Roger from a few years ago.

And then (brace yourselves) here's the photo of Roger after he administered the razor on January 1st.

Curiously, I have another friend and former colleague who has done the same trip as Roger.  First, a picture of a great photographer/videographer Steve Torbeck.

My buddy, Baseball Steve, had his beard for many years, too.  Maybe not as long as Roger but still, it was a distinctive part of his face and his personality for a long time.  

And then . . . what happened?  I don't really know but one day his beard was gone.

Steve is about 10 years younger than Roger and I so he has maintained his youthful looks better than we have.

The last time I was clean-shaven was in 1991, just before we left Mexico.  As I told Roger today, I was shocked to find my father under that beard.  I quickly grew it back and have been hirsute, in varying degrees, ever since.  We'll see how long Roger keeps his current "look".

Which brings me, of course, to the Gratuitous Critter picture of the day.

"I'm keepin' my plumage!"

AND THE WINNER IS . . .

. . . SWMBO, not to my surprise.  She's spent many decades (I won't say how many) standing over a stove so she correctly identified yesterday's Mystery Nuclei as . . . butter melting in a hot pan.  To be absolutely correct it was butter melting in oil in a hot pan but I'm picking no nits here.

I must say that Steve from Germany gave her a run for her money with his guess of pancake batter testing the heat of a hot pan.  So I'll award him a light blue ribbon. 

Other guessers?  Like me, you have to spend more time in the kitchen.

Which, incidentally, I did this morning making an Apple Oven Cake, which was delicious.  You can find the recipe in the January issue of  Sunset Magazine.  It's very simple and quick.

SWMBO had just returned from the BRD's where she'd been house-sitting for the past 36 hours.  I welcomed her home with a spicy Bloody Mary and the cake for breakfast.

She was glad to be home.  The BRD apparently keeps her thermostat set at 64 degrees and that's just too cold for her.  She's tried several times to turn it up with no success.  With these new thermostats I guess you have to be a rocket scientist to adjust them.

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Apropos of absolutely nothing, here's an entertaining picture I found on the Internet this morning.

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So . . . on to the Gratuitous Critter picture.  (Sorry.  I've been neglecting them recently.

"C'mon, take your best shot.  I dare ya!"

THE MYSTERY NUCLEI

Anybody know what this is?

I know.  It's kind of blurry.  Blame the photographer.

So, have you figured out what you're seeing, even though blurry?

All guesses will be accepted.

The answer  - - - - - tomorrow!