I'm up in San Francisco for the night. I have a presentation at a convention tomorrow. No sweat. It'll be fun. Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying the view of the bay from my hotel bedroom. I'll post a picture or two when I get back but here's the Golden Gate Bridge for now.
Saw this duck doing a deep stretch at the Wild Animal Park the other day. They spend a lot of time on their feet, perhaps most of the day, so a good stretch is obviously welcome. It reminded me of some of those yoga poses with one leg and an arm pointed off in some unnatural direction (owww).
Birds like handouts. Herons are no exception. This Heron was camped out strategically by one of the many cafes at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, apparently looking for handouts. I had no idea they ate anything but fish but this plump Heron was proof that they are (a) not shy when there's food involved; and (b) likely are eating something besides fresh fish (since fresh fish is not for sale at the cafeteria). In any case, the Heron (we'll call him Bob just for chuckles) was friendly enough to let me pose by him without giving me a nasty peck or two so here we are in all of our glory!
We like to think humans are pretty special and that we're different from all of the other animals. We've come up with all sorts of reasons. Humans can recognize themselves. Humans can use tools. Humans can do abstract thought. Ironically, one by one, we are discovering animals doing each of the things that we thought unique to mankind. This young gorilla was throwing branches into the tree to knock off leaves which he would then eat, once they fell to the ground. His brother, nearby, grabbed a big, solid turd and tossed it a good 15 feet. Luckily, he was not apparently aiming for the audience which, as thickly crowded as it was, would have been an easy target. Of course, if he did, perhaps it would have proved a point about being locked in an enclosure and put on display.
It was a particularly cold January and the banana trees and citrus just about went to the big compost heap in the sky. I spent the morning cutting down dead, brown banana leaves. Notably not too brown to get me covered in banana sap from head to toe (bleah). The yard almost looks respectable again.
Even better still, the flowers are blooming in fierce profusion. Peaches, Aloe, Penstemon, Kangaroo Paw and many more. The parks are awash in color (and the front yard's doing pretty decent too, complete with daffodils and Aloe). I snapped a picture one of the double blooming peaches in the park this morning. They were putting on a gorgeous show.
I snapped this shot of a Gulf Fritillary along the trail to the source of the Seven Sacred Pools out past Hana, Maui. The trail was really beautiful although the water level was a little low since they had just gotten through a dry spell. The weather compensated by drenching us silly up at the falls and along the way back to the car. Luckily, that Hawaiian rain is wonderfully warm, refreshing stuff although the camera was probably none too appreciative (stayed in the backpack on the way back).
It has been raining all day long. My tree frog, out front, was singing happily. Perhaps it was washing the car that did it? Whatever the case, I want it to stop. No more rain. No more rain. No more rain. Heheheh. Third times a charm, right? As long as it stops before tomorrow morning's rush hour, I'll be happy.
The poisoin dart frog was in the "dangerous and deadly" exhibit at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Apparently, Amazon natives used the poison from the frog's skin to tip their darts for hunting small prey. This particular frog was in an aquarium on display and probably received all the crickets he could eat. Not a bad life for a frog!
The dog's getting old on me. She has a hard time with steps, especially in the morning when her joints are a little creaky. This morning her legs slipped out from under her while she was going up the steps. I tried to catch her to keep her from sliding down the steps and, in the process sent dog food flying everywhere. I did manage to catch the dog, however. As I cleaned up the dog food (luckily it's the dry stuff), she comes back and looks at me with one of those, "hey, what's taking you so long" kind of looks. I had to laugh at that. I gotta give that dog credit; there was no whining and she didn't slow down a bit. In fact, she was out sniffing in the grass for squirrels as soon as I opened the door. I suppose we could learn something from dogs, creaky or not.
We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach today. It's about a two hour drive North of San Diego. The aquarium is fairly large, as aquariums go, and there were all sorts of fun things to see including seals, otters, sea lions and gazillions (aka, a lot) of different types of fish. I've included a snap shot of a large school of unidentified catfish.
I found this Royal tern, Sterna maxima, hanging out with a flock of gulls. He's showing full breeding plumage. He allowed me to get close enough to snap a few pictures before flying off over the water. He's shown here stretching out his wings.
I went to Twigg's last night to hear Sacha Sacket. You can hear him on his MySpace page linked above (click on Sacha Sacket). It was a nice break from the crazy work schedule to hang out and listen to the music. No pressure. No stress. Not too shabby.
Well okay, it's really still Winter but you wouldn't know it in San Diego. The Aloes are bursting into bloom and my Penstemon and Kangaroo paw are as well. The ice plant is blooming in huge purple waves alongside the highways. I love this time of year when the weather warms up a little and the flowers start to gain some momentum. It reminds me of why I moved out here in the first place.
Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you are spending the night with someone you love!
Whew. Rough day. Everything feels like it's going to hell in a handbasket at work. I suppose I should be working right now but I'm going to wish you a happy valentine's day instead! Hmmm maybe some V-Day poetry. Let's see...
Not a creature was stirring
Not even a mouse
When in through the window,
And into the house
Came Cupid and Eros,
To wish you good cheer,
The Happiest of V-Days
With chocolate and beer
LOL. Okay, no Nobel Laureate here! Happy Valentine's Day to one and to all!
Some divers in Carry Redonne, France getting ready for a boat dive. They were going out in shifts leaving a crowd of them waiting at the shore at any given time.
These two lobsters give new definition to the term "food fight!" For some reason, they both wanted top spot on the rock. The big lobster was perched on the top of the rock and was absolutely not budging. The little lobster would climb up the front of the rock and try to poke at the bigger lobster. In turn, the big lobster would rear up and pounce on the little lobster with its front legs. It was one of the odder things I've seen and it gathered quite an audience. Obviously, neither one of them was worried about being spotted and ending up on the dinner table.
There was another possibility. They might have been boy lobster and girl lobster. Hmmm...or maybe boy lobster and boy lobster? Do you suppose?
