Category Archives: Photos
A good stretch makes everything okay
Today I’m meeting a blogging friend that I’ve known since I started blogging back in 2008. She and her husband, Liz and Bryan, are flying in from Houston. They have asked if the best San Diego docent (that’s me!) can give them a private tour. Apparently the Zoo and the Botanic Garden are on their minds. My private tours are very competitive with other tour operators. In most cases, all you have to do is give me 24-hours notice of what day you want your tour and then call me when you actually arrive. Simple, really.
While I’m waiting on their call, I’m cataloging pictures and videos. Here is a picture of Zoey the Cool Cat laying out a good stretch:
Did you see her open eye between her legs, keeping watch on exactly what I’m doing?
Once she wakes up and decides to go outside her new paper sack, she spends the majority of the day stalking birds from the desktop. I have had to move my computer monitor over to the right about six inches so she has a corner spot from which best to stalk the birds. Here’s a flash video of her hoping this will be the time when she finally gets one of those mourning doves:
Yesterday on my walk home from the auto shop, I saw a homeless person with a beautiful dog. She saw me staring at the dog while holding this big camera in my hand and asked me if I wanted to take a picture. I said yes:
I gave her $5 for the picture and talked with her for about 15 minutes. Mr. Dog (his name, not just something I made up) is a golden labrador retriever rescued a few months ago on what was supposed to have been his last day at the animal shelter. He was to be put to rest at closing time that evening because he hadn’t been adopted. He’s an older dog, obviously a big dog, and for some reason older big dogs don’t get adopted as often as the cute little puppies. Isn’t he just adorable though? Look at those big eyes just happy as can be that he has a chance to live out his life with someone who adores him.
Lastly, as I got to the driveway to my place, a beautiful black and white cat was staring at me from under a neighbor’s shrub:
She’s a feral cat that one of my neighbors is feeding and trying to adopt. I think she’s on her way to success with this little one because kitty is always hanging out at my neighbor’s house, usually under this shrub or under the car. I do worry about the under the car part. I think she looks sad in the picture, but maybe she’s just frightened of 6’4″ me pointing my big ol’ camera at her.
I’m Zoey the Cool cat,
and I approve this post.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Caring makes you a better person and the world a better place
I went to public schools — grade school in Brigham City, Utah, and Kingsville, Texas; and junior high and high school in Kingsville. Then I went to a public university, Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Although I never had children (never wanted them), if they had existed, they would have gone to public schools because I think public schools do a better job of actually proving to children that there are good and bad in anything. If you go to an elite, private school, all you get exposed to are elite, private peers. Who wants that? I need variety in my life!
With no children, and no desire to serve on a school board, I do have an interest in what our public schools are teaching. I think John Green said it best about why he has no problem paying school taxes:
Just a block from me is the Harriet Tubman School:
Even though it’s only a block from me, it is in San Diego, not La Mesa.
I’m a big history buff so I know who Harriet Tubman was. She was born Araminta Harriet Ross and is known as an African-American abolitionist, a humanitarian, and a Union spy during the Civil War. Although she was born into slavery, she escaped and, during the Civil War period, made 19 missions to rescue more than 300 slaves using a network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad.
Did you get that? The Underground Railroad! It should be obvious to many of my readers that when I found a book in our school library titled something like “Harriet Tubman & the Underground Railroad,” well, I had to read it. Satisfied my insatiable thirst for both history and railroads!
As I was walking home from Pep Boys today (three blocks from me), I walked by the Harriet Tubman School. It is an elementary school and I was intrigued by some sort of art that had been placed above the auditorium entrance. As I got closer, I could see that it was tile art. Looks like this:
Looks like a mess to me, but I suspect it was done by K-5 students. Perhaps if I were to study it longer, I could make something out of it.
As I continued to walk by the school, I saw some interesting hangings on the fence and went to take a closer look. Here are some of the dastardly stuff that this school is teaching its students (ack!):
I’m thinking that the teachers at the Harriet Tubman School might be able to teach our politicians a thing or two. Then again, maybe it is too late to help politicians.
As I was stepping away from the fence, a young woman came out of the door with several books under her arms. I was pretty sure she was a teacher. I walked up to her and asked, “Are you a teacher?” She said, “Yes.” I said, “Thank you” and walked away. I don’t have eyes in the back of my head, but I could feel surprise and happiness exuding from the body behind me. I think I made her day.
I’m Zoey the Cool Cat
and I approve this post!
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Track warrants and the Hobart Railyard
My ride on the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner from San Diego’s Santa Fe Depot to Union Station in Los Angeles ranks as the best train ride I’ve ever been on, made specifically memorable by the engineer, who just happened to leave the door open to the cab and didn’t mind talking with me during the trip.
One of the interesting items I learned about were track warrants. Track warrants are issued to grant a train’s use of the main track between two points, and sometimes at specific times. The main track warrant used on my trip was a Form B. The engineer, Tim, gave me one:
A Form B is used most often when there is track maintenance going on. It would be a good idea if a fast-moving train didn’t run over any maintenance workers or their equipment, so the train engineer asks permission to move on the main line.
Since the engineer left the cab compartment door open, I stood for the whole 2h45m trip watching us roll on down the track. (I felt like I was a student back at Texas A&M University where students stand for the whole football game.) I was able to see what was coming up and get some really good videos, better than I’ve ever gotten before. The engineer also graciously told me what was coming up, where to point the camera for good pictures, etc.
One of the most exciting areas was the BNSF Hobart Railyard in Commerce, California.
Hobart covers 245 acres and is the largest intermodal freight rail yard in the nation. Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in a container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation (rail, ship, and truck) without any handling of the freight itself when changing transportation modes. It reduces cargo handling and improves security, reduces damage and loss, and allows freight to be transported faster. So when you see a long train of containers, as in the picture below, those containers have, or will be, additionally transported by ship or truck.
More than 1.5 million containers move through the Hobart Railyard each year. On my trip I got two videos of us going through the Hobart Railyard, one with our northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner meeting a southbound Pacific Surfliner, and another with three intermodal trains, lots of containers, and several idling engines in the Hobart Railyard.
As many times as I have made the San Diego/Los Angeles trip by rail, I never knew how fast the train goes. In some areas it is approved for 90 mph. The fastest I saw the speedometer get to was 92 mph. Here we are at 87 mph:
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Zoey the Cool Cat on Mother’s Day 2013
Zoey the Cool Cat knows that Sunday is a day of rest, especially Mother’s Day Sunday.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Happy Mother’s Day from the Queen!
Yesterday, the Queen’s subjects left at 5:40 a.m. (that’s in the morning before the sun comes up!), rode the trains for National Train Day (San Diego Trolley, Amtrak, and Los Angeles Metro), and arrived back home at 9:05 p.m. (that’s after the sun goes down!).
We expected to find Zoey the Cool Cat sleeping in her favorite chair, or on whatever clothes of mine she could find, or in a place where she’s not supposed to be (like on top of the piano).
There she was stretching her claws on the carpet with her rump and tail in the air, a sure sign that she was asleep until she heard the car pull into the driveway.
Then she was up and at ‘em, playing, jumping, running up and down the hall, checking out all the new stuff on the bed….
Ah, cats……..
In honor of mothers everywhere, following are some of my favorite cats. Happy Mothers Day!
And now we
for a word from our sponsor:
Again, Happy Mother’s Day to mothers everywhere from the Queen herself:
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Tigers in Carlsbad California
When I canceled my subscription to the San Diego Union-Tribune after Doug Manchester bought it and turned it into a Republican right wing religious conservative rah-rah rag tribute to his family and his ego, I subscribed to all of the Patch newsletters for cities in San Diego County.
In the Carlsbad Patch this morning was an article about three tigers in Carlsbad.
Since Jim and I were driving up that way to go out to eat with my mother-in-law and her boyfriend, we stopped in Carlsbad to get a picture of the three tigers.
They are really cute!
Did you see the baby tiger?
This mural is on the Witch Creek Winery building at 2906 Carlsbad Boulevard (intersection of Carlsbad Boulevard and Grand Avenue).
Here are the credits:
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Friday Flower Fiesta (5/9/13) — The best for the best
I would like to dedicate this Friday Flower Fiesta to two people:
First, to the memory of Wendy Stone, 41, of Riverside, who was killed in an automobile accident on Tuesday, April 23. Wendy was riding her motorcycle northbound on Interstate 15 at Indian Truck Trail (halfway between Corona and Lake Elsinore) when a truck going southbound veered into the center divider, hit the K-rail, jumped it, and flew into the northbound lanes. Debris from the K-rail hit Wendy Stone, throwing her from her motorcycle and killing her; the motorcycle traveled another 1,000 yards (that’s over half a mile!) before crashing.
Second, to Harvey Oshrin. Harvey was driving a Mercedes in the northbound lanes in front of Wendy that was destroyed when the truck landed on it. Harvey is my mother-in-law’s boyfriend. Here is Harvey’s car after the crash:
Harvey spent a few days in the hospital due to injuries but he’s at home now and apparently feeling well enough to go out this afternoon with me, Jim, and Joan (my mother-in-law) for a Mother’s Day meal at Famous Dave’s in Vista, best barbecue in San Diego County.
I’m a firm believer that when it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go. If it’s not your time to go, you can say prayers of thanks to God, thank modern medicine, call it a miracle, whatever. All it means to me is that it wasn’t your time to go. If you look at Harvey’s car, the passenger area is completely destroyed. That’s normally where Joan sits. She wasn’t with Harvey that day, so it obviously wasn’t her time to go.
Here’s an NBC web site report on the crash. I think it’s interesting that the last line of the article says, “The drivers of the truck and sedan were not seriously injured.” Granted, any injury won’t be as serious as death, but personally I think a few days in the hospital due to injuries would warrant calling them serious injuries. Of course, NBC didn’t know how serious the injuries were at the time they posted the article.
Readers who have been with me a long time might recognize the following pictures. All have been used in Friday Flower Fiestas before. I consider them some of my best and I use them here for two of the best people in my life: Joan and Harvey.
Angel’s trumpet
California poppy
Bird of Paradise
Iris
Aloe
Protea
Columbine
Columbine
Pansy
Rose
Clivia
Aloe
Iris
Blue Agave
Tulips
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I can recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Look! Up in the air! It’s a silk floss tree!
When I was a young boy, I was always tripping. Didn’t matter what I was walking on or what kind of shoes I had on, or no shoes. If I walked more than ten steps, I was going to trip. I had bruised knees, torn jeans (my wise old grandmother despised torn jeans), bloody elbows and hands….
My youngest uncle (still living at home and going to college) used to blame my tripping on my feet…. feet and tripping…. Hmmm. Logical…. He was reading “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” at the time, and one of the illustrations in the book was of Ichabod Crane, a tall, gangly man with huge feet. He took to calling me Ichabod Crane because of my tall (6’3″), skinny body (150 pounds), and my huge feet (size 11). What my uncle did to me might be considered verbal abuse in today’s world, but I survived.
My wise old grandmother blamed my tripping on me not looking at where I was going. She would always say, “Pick up your feet! Get your nose out of the air! Look down to see what you’re about to step on! It might be a rattlesnake!”
Alas, I have solved the tripping problem by picking up my feet and looking down to see what I was about to step on.
However, when I’m out and about, like at the Zoo or SeaWorld, I do like to look up often to see what’s above me, what’s sitting in the tree and about to poop on me. The fun part about doing that is that if you stand there long enough looking up, people will gather round you and look up, too. They don’t want to miss anything! If only I could train a bird to sit up there and wait until everyone is looking up and then, when I look down, let go….!
The other day I was at SeaWorld. I looked up and saw a huge (probably size 11) cotton ball hanging in the tree:
That’s a seed pod of the silk floss tree (Ceiba speciosa). I was quite familiar with the silk floss tree’s flowers but had never seen its seed pods, especially bursting open with cotton like that.
I stood there gazing upward and took a few more pictures of the seed pods in different stages of growth:
By the time I finished snapping my pictures, I had a crowd of about 15 or 20 people standing around me looking up to see what kind of animal (at SeaWorld!) was up in the tree that I was taking pictures of. One lady asked me and I told her, “Just the tree and the huge seed pods.” At that point, everyone left in disappointment. Folks, it’s okay to appreciate flora at a fauna park, or fauna at a botanical garden!
Here is the flower of the silk floss tree:
The flowers look similar to some orchids, and I have heard it called an orchid tree although I could find no sources that use that name. Maybe it’s just a San Diego thing.
The silk floss tree is native to South America. It is drought resistant (which explains why we have lots of them here in San Diego) but grows very rapidly, even in spurts, when water is plentiful. The trunk of the tree has huge (probably size 11) thorns on it which store water for those droughts:
At the entrance to the San Diego Zoo, just to the left of Flamingo Lagoon, is a huge (way bigger than size 11) silk floss tree that looks really strange during the winter when there are no leaves or flowers, just a tree full of seed pods, looking like this:
If you really want to have some fun with people and this tree, skip Flamingo Lagoon and go stand under this tree and look up. In the afternoon when the Zoo is really busy, you can get a hundred or more people standing around you looking up. It’s a lot of fun!
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Ocean Beach, where time stands still
I just realized that I’ve been here in San Diego for twenty years! April 27 was the big 2-0 anniversary. If you want to read about how I arrived here, read these two posts:
One of the first things I noticed about the San Diego metropolitan area is that there is a lot of civic pride indicated by the fabulousness of city and neighborhood signs, such as in Encinitas, which wins the award for most awesome intersection:
Eventually I’ll do a blog post about all the city and neighborhood signs, but I’m still in the process of collecting them.
Meanwhile, though, I’ll show you my favorite neighborhood sign because it made the news today. It’s the Ocean Beach sign as you enter Ocean Beach on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard coming off of Interstate 8:
That sign was installed in 1984 at a cost of about $3,000. The sign is made mostly of wood, and being so close to the ocean, it’s been abused by the sun, salt air, and termites. The Ocean Beach Town Council decided to replace it and seek input from the community on a new design. Nothing was said about why they didn’t like the old design.
Twenty designs were submitted; four of them and the original design were submitted to the community via the Town Council’s web site. After several months of voting, it was pretty obvious that Ocean Beach liked their 1984 sign: 58% voted to keep the design. The second place design was nearly identical except for the addition of two parrots. I don’t know where parrots fit in at Ocean Beach; two Cannabis plants would have been more appropriate…………lol
You might notice that the red O in the sign leans slightly to the left, often attributed to the left-leaning politics of Ocean Beach, although they are not “slightly to the left” and certainly are not red!
Like Berkeley up in northern California, Ocean Beach is a place where time stands still. The shops are locally owned and managed, and if a national chain tries to move in, prepare for all hell to break loose, as happened a few years ago when Starbucks moved in. Halloween seems like a holy day, seeming to compete with Christmas and Easter. However, if you’re looking for a little beach town with a lot of funk — antique stores, bars, Deadheads, restaurants, musicians, activists, bikers, artists, and feral cats — head on out to Ocean Beach for a day and enjoy a different kind of entertainment.
For more on Ocean Beach, see these posts:
The Pacific Ocean crashes ashore
A night stroll down Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach
Sunset at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
National Train Day is this Saturday!
This coming Saturday, May 11, is National Train Day.
In preparation for spending all day Saturday riding trains in San Diego County, Orange County, and Los Angeles County, I went out this morning and took lots of pictures and a few flash videos, all related to trains. Here is a 9-second flash video of the beautiful water fountain at the entrance to the historic Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego:
On the street corner in front of the Depot, one can loiter and catch lots of train action, including interaction with cars and people. Those videos are not Flash Videos, though, so they need more processing time. Meanwhile, following are a few pictures from my railroading adventure this morning.
The police vehicle was not occupied and I wandered all over the place hoping to see the fine, furry, four-legged K-9 unit, but no luck.
For those who want to watch a longer video, here’s a 2-minute video of San Diego Trolley action at the Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego:
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
