Category: Seasons

2013 – a 12-month retrospective

January 2013:

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February 2013 brought me Missy, the Mystery dog

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March 2013 this is what the Rock Shed and bridge looked like. I hear it in good authority that it will be open in January, but, of course, a new project has already begun that will put us back to one lane for an undisclosed length of time at Big Creek.
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April brought the fracking issue.20131230-213058.jpg

May brought quite a few fires, fortunately small. 5/20 there was a fire East of Cayucous; 5/24, the White Fire in the Los Padres, down near SB; 5/30, a fire near the shooting range on Highway One as well as a fire on FHL.

June brought the Super Moon.20131230-222029.jpg

In July, this blog celebrated five years! And blogged about 7 fires. 20140101-124246.jpg

In August, this photo got the most comments: The Color of August.
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In September, the first rain of the season brought hope of an early end to the fire season – a hope which was dashed and thrashed, and we are STILL hoping the fire season will end soonest!

October brought the 22nd Annual Jade Festival, a controlled burn at Ft Ord that got away, and a mud slide near Gorda that closed the Highway.

November, I saved a life.20140101-131346.jpg

December will forever be remembered for the Pfeiffer Fire.

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HAPPY SOLSTICE!

The shortest day of the year for the northern hemisphere, and I for one, am REALLY glad to see the days start to get longer tomorrow. I’m taking the day off!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

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Built entirely by the owner of Lugano’s Swiss Bistro in the Barnyard. It is almost entirely edible – not the speeding train, of course.

Happy Thanksving and Updates

I have a beautiful Thanksgiving photo from Dan I have been trying to upload for over 24 hours, and will continue to try between cooking. Got the turkey in at 9 am, my target time!

WEATHER UPDATE: looks like little or no rain today. It is all expected to stay of the coast.

AIRLIFT PATIENT UPDATE: he was transferred to Stanford ICU, where he stayed until Monday evening. I went to see him on Tuesday. He had some lucid moments, and some very confused moments. He was on a feeding tube. They ran a CAT Scan that day, and everything appeared normal. I called him last night and had a normal, lucid conversation with him. The feeding tube had been removed. There was one funny moment when I said, I’ll call you tomorrow, and he parroted that back, and added, if someone reminds me. It is hard to focus in here, it is just so busy! I laughed and said no need to remember, I’ll call you!

I am having a very thankful Thanksgiving. I hope you do as well. Life is too short for anything else!

Hunter’s Moon

From the Old Farmer’s Almanac:

This is the first Full Moon following the Harvest Moon last month. It rises around sunset and sets around sunrise, the only night of the month that the moon is in the sky all night long. See our October moon guide here: http://www.almanac.com/content/full-hunters-moon-Octobers-moon-guide

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And to my adventure partner/traveling partner, HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Last year Egypt, two years ago the Queen Mary! Alas, this year’s Calistoga was not in the cards for me!

Cambrian Scarecrows 2013, part 2

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These are from Moonstone Beach. After the Jade Festival, go to Cambria for an open, state-run campground, and see and photograph hundreds of scarecrows!

Scarecrows are back!

… And they have multiplied enormously and spread, as well! It is an amazing phenomena. Come see for yourself, but be careful when you stop to photograph to make sure you are not rear-ended!

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I will be putting up photos of this phenomena throughout the month!

Labor Day weekend

Labor Day traditionally marks the end of summer. Years ago, it also marked the beginning of the slowing of the tourist traffic. Not any more. Tourists flock all year, unless the road closes due to fire, flood, or rocks and mud. Even then, they come.

It is also prime fire season, and the conditions are critical. Labor Day is often a time for backyard BBQs, I’ve been invited to one, but I will probably pass, due to traffic. Make sure you don’t bring your BBQ into our backyard. Big Sur just can’t handle another big fire again so soon after the Basin Complex. Keep your BBQ in town. Even our campgrounds, at least those in the national forest, and maybe all of them, do not allow campfires, or even stoves right now.

Have a wonderful long weekend, enjoy the beauty of our coast, but treat it as the fragile entity it is right now – with caution, awe, and respect. Have a good one. Maybe some photos over the long weekend.