Fourth of July Fireworks Freak Accident in San Diego

Fireworks Explosion over downtown San Diego as a freak accident results in all of the Fourth of July fireworks launching at the same time.  The "Big Bay Boom" was targeted to be San Diego's biggest fireworks display ever, with multiple, synchronized launching barges timed to music broadcast on a local radio station.  The organizers have promised to put on a replacement show at their own expense.

The light of the fireworks became so bright, you could eventually see nothing but the exploding fireworks, as they lit up the cloudy skies above.

The fireworks in Mission Bay/Beach also went off at the same time in synchronized explosions.  Shown here, the smoke from the fireworks, still undispersed by the light breeze, literally glows with the explosions from the succeeding launches.  It was quite spectacular, if admittedly brief.

Random Beach Shot of Sunnier Days

Looking down Mission Beach from the Pacific Beach Pier on a bright sunny day.

It's been cold and rainy here. The good news is I don't have to water the yard. The sprinklers are off! The bad news: it is awful hard to get the dog to go outside (and yes, dog does need to go outside to avert calamity) when it is raining outside. OMG, what a fiasco.

Got a plumbing leak somewhere too. Not good. Plumbers crawling around under the house trying to track it down. There goes the Christmas kitty. Gosh, it's hard to save any money. I just need them to get it fixed.

Meanwhile, I had my first final tonight. Done. I think I did a decent job of it but you never know until the grades come back. 6pm-9pm. Came home hungry as a dog but otherwise in good spirits. One more tomorrow so I have to study. That's it for tonight.

Hot Weather

Hot day at Mission Beach. Hot, hot, hot. In the 90s and rising. Thank goodness for that ocean breeze...

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax, Mission Beach. The grunion were running tonight, at least the charts said they were. Note, however, that the charts do not say what beach they are spawing at. I drove down to Mission Beach hoping to snap a few pictures of the amazing grunion spawns. Well, the sand turtles were there in great numbers, possibly hoping for some grunion eggs. The Black-crowned Night Herons were also out in numbers, also likely longing for a grunion feast. As Black-crowned Night Herons are typically nocturnal, however, they might simply be beach regulars. Sadly, the Grunion never showed up to the party or at least not in any numbers. We went up and down the beach with flashlights and there did not appear to be anthing looking like a grunion spawning in the sand. I did see the herons snap up a little silver fish that was roughly sardine size (grunion candidate). However, there's no way to know what it was as it was up in that sharp beak and then down into the gullet in one fell swoop.

The Hot Weather Is Back

The weather is back in the 80s and 90s. The windows are open and it's time to head to the beach! Unfortunately, the hot fall weather brings fires as well and Santa Barbara is having a rough go of it. Still, it's a shame to waste some good beach weather.

Open Sand

Mission Beach. Not as crowded as it normally would be on a nice hot Saturday. Could it be that the recession has got everyone hunkered down at home? There are quite a few beachfront condos for sale as well. Developers bought up the older homes, knocked them down and put up these fancy, multi-unit condos just in time for the recession. Ow. The beachfront ones are still going for about $1.4M. I've no idea how much money they threw into them. They're pretty though. If only I had money...grin.

What San Diegans Do When It Gets Hot

Surf Contest, Mission Beach. It was just too nice to stay inside and study... So I started off hacking the coral tree down to the main trunk for fire season since it was rubbing on the neighbors house. Not too bad other than the thorns. Not thinking that chopping trees was enough exercise, it was off to the beach to skate the boardwalk. On the tail end of the beach, there was a surf contest in full swing. As you can see, the waves weren't great but they made the best of it. I, of course, had the wrong lens but here you go...

Brutal Hot

The Boardwalk, Mission Beach. Weather's been up around 90F! Wow, Summer in the middle of October. Go figure.

Went down to campaign HQ to look for more yard signs to replace the one that was stolen right out of my friend's front yard. They were all out. I'm thinking that is because of high demand and not because we're having to replace a bunch of them but you never know. Nasty bigots never do play fair.

Serious Air

Kite surfing at Mission Beach. This guy was getting serious air time while kite surfing at mission beach yesterday. Wow. That's got to be a total rush being up in the air like that. You'd almost think that kite would fly away with him in tow, almost as if he were attached to a big, fluffy ballon!

Almost Friday!!!

Almost Friday! Friday, Friday, Friday! Another hectic day today. It started with a presentation to an auditorium full of people at 7:30am and then technical discussions with customers after that. I am pooped. The beach is sounding better all the time.

Surfing Semi-Finals

They had a surfing contest semi-finals (sponsored by Monster) at Mission Beach on Sunday. The waves were actually decent sized, considering it was just Mission Beach. There were some pretty cool maneuvers like this one of a guy going down the wave face backwards. I was certainly impressed.

3 Days Left

3 days until the LSAT. I'm still studying like crazy and trying not to stress. How do you not stress out about something like that? Hmmm...happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts... (there, all better, LOL).

Gull Frenzy

The child in the picture was feeding the gulls. As you can tell, gulls are not at all shy about taking handouts. In fact, they're downright aggressive, swarming around the little guy begging for food. Yet another fine way to spend a warm Christmas afternoon.

A Mission Beach Christmas Tree

I ran across this happy little tree along Mission Bay. While there are more stately trees out there, there are few in a more lovely setting along the bay in warm San Diego. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Slow Day at the Beach

It was actually fairly nice out today although there was a light cold breeze. The weather man claims that the cold air has taken a vacation until just past Christmas day. We shall soon find out I suppose. Nevertheless, I took that as an excuse to go roller blading for a little bit as well as to work in the yard for a bit. I'm guessing everyone else was at the mall as the beach parking lot was about 80% empty. Wow. Wish it was like that all the time!

Happy Holidays!

Funky Tatoos

People get the funkiest tatoos. Sometimes you wonder what motivated the owner to get them. Were they drunk? Was this supposed to be his girlfriend on his arm? If so, what happens if they break up? His girlfriend was there lying on the grass next to him and she "kinda" looked like the tatoo (sort of). Grin.

This is a closeup from Saturday's posting. The other thing that always amazes me is the details that pop out of pictures that you don't notice in real life. Things like markings on a bird, veins in a dragonfly's wings and tatoos...

Night Heron on a Rock

Sounds kind of Zen doesn't it?

Night Heron on a Rock.

Water lapping gently.

Breeze ruffles feathers.

Evening sunlight waning.

That heron didn't budge, even as I walked up to get a picture. That little bit of water between myself and the heron was enough to convince him that it was okay to pose without flinching.

The "Doggie Eye"

Shelties are generally not water dogs; however, this sheltie is being braver then most, entering the cold salty water up to his shins. However, he is definitely giving his master the "doggy eye" and perhaps thinking that cold salty water is no place for a sheltie. I had to laugh at this since it is the same look my dog gives me when she doesn't get treats in her dogfood.

Digging for Worms

Snapped this picture yesterday of a guy digging for sea worms in the mud. They use the worms for bait. I was amazed at how tame the birds are, eagerly hanging around for a stray worm or two that someone else labored to dig out.

Saturday Bike Ride

It was a gloriously sunny day. My allergies have been kicking up for the last few days so it was nice to have a little reprieve from the sniffling, enough to get out in the Sun on the bicycle anyhow.

I snapped a fair number of bird shots and, with the setting sun reflecting off of the water, some of the shots were quite spectacular. I also found a slowly moving unknown heron to take a picture of. It's always a exciting to see a bird you've never seen before. This one looked like a heron, walked like a heron but was just too small and too darkly colored for your typical great blue heron. As is often the case, when you stare at the pictures for a while, you become aware of new details that you may not have noticed under the original conditions. While staring at the photo of the "mystery bird," I decided that it is likely a juvenile great blue heron (explaining the smaller size and lack of cascading feather plumage).