January 2024: Enjoying California Outdoors

We had another day with extremely low tides. Everything you see in the picture below is under water at high tide. The sea birds find a lot to eat when this happens. These Black-Backed Gulls are the largest seagulls.

It's really fun to walk around and checkout the tidal pools. 

Here a picture showing the contrast between low and high tide. At high tide the water goes up to the rocks and cliffs on the right.

The Rahns had purchased a small turkey over the holidays and invited me to come to share it after things quieted down. The turkey dinner was great and Craig did an excellent job carving. They both made all the usual fixings. 

I brought butter creams and Talenti East Coast Pistachio Gelato for dessert. I highly recommend the Gelato. My sister Julia was able to find it in Cleveland.

Craig and Karen

As usual, I stayed overnight and enjoyed the Rahns' company. The next day the weather was perfect for a nice hike.

Rattlesnake Plant Day

I am still fascinated by Rebecca's rattlesnake plant that I rescued. It is doing great. I think It might need a bigger pot but it is already pretty big for my place. Here is a picture of it during the day and a picture of it at night when the leaves curl and stand straight up.

Rattlesnake Plant night

Also, good news to report on my succulents. You might recall me reporting that after 3 years they just don't do anything. They have decided to grow a lot. There are many small leaves sprouting. They are  still in the same small pots.

5 days of rain were forecast starting Sunday evening so I decided to get in a long walk at the San Elijo Lagoon. Its one of my favorites and the last time I was there I saw a number of ducks and Coots. I took my binoculars because the trails do not let you get real close to the birds.

I probably posted this sign in the past but in case you missed it here it is again. 

Torrey Pine at San Elijo Lagoon

These unique trees grow very large and have huge pine cones.

Also on one of the trails is this fun locator sign. Hopefully you can enlarge these signs to read them.

This turned out to be the best duck sighting day ever. February is a great month for migrating birds. I saw all of the birds/ducks I have included in the pictures below. Most are from an identifying sign at the visitor center. I could get a good view with my binoculars but pictures are tough. I included the best pictures, which aren't that great.

Coot

Coots are very fun to watch. They dive down to get something to eat. Their little white beaks really stand out against their black bodies. The picture at the video center had more gray than the ones I see.

Coot

snowy egrets

There were over 30 of these snowy egrets.

American Widgeon

This was the first time that I saw some American Widgeons. They have light blue beaks and the males in particular are quite colorful. There were a number of small flocks throughout the lagoon.

As I was walking on a trail up a hill I came upon some people I thought were looking down into the lagoon. Turned out they were watching a tiny Rufous hummingbird. He just sat there for a long time so I could get a picture. The one from the visitor center gives you a better look.

I happened to catch this Barrow's Goldeneye flapping its wings. 

Buffleheads

The Buffleheads are my favorites. They are small, very colorful and dive under the water a lot. Their colors are very defined and distinct.

Bufflehead

Moving around the trail and down into a lower area I saw some pintails.

In the same area I spotted a pair of very unusually colored ducks. I was able to identify it at the visitor center. They reminded me of a burnt sienna crayon. They were too far away to get even a poor picture but here's the one from the visitor center. I included a link which has some better pictures.  Cinnamon Teal

There were quite a few small birds but they moved very quickly. I did get a good look at this White Crowned Sparrow.

As I was walking across a bridge a large bird flew right in front of me and landed on the other side of the river. It was a Long Billed Curlew. It has a very impressive beak!

I was able to get a good picture of this bird. I thought Merlin, the bird identifying ap, would identify it. But no match was found. Perhaps my niece Stephanie can tell me what it is.

There were other birds. Great blue heron, mallards, numerous seagulls an osprey and some hawks.  It was the best day ever at the lagoon.

I learned a little bit about lemons from Wendy and a friend. Wendy has a nice, very prolific lemon tree in her back yard. A friend asked me if it was a Meyer lemon tree. I didn't know but Wendy did. My friend gave me one of her lemons to compare. Wendy knew if was a Meyer lemon. Here's a picture of both and a link about the Meyer Lemon Tree. Meyer Lemon Tree The Meyer lemon is on the right.

I signed up for a watercolor and multimedia art class at Mira Cost College. It is designed for beginners as well as more accomplished artists. Its been fun. I don't think my work is ready for sale but its been fun. Here are some of my pictures.

Guppy (Sort of)

The instructor is very encouraging. He encourages us to not overthink anything. Just draw it, paint it, keep moving to the next thing instead of trying to get things perfect. I like his approach.

I continue to help Fran with her boat. 

I had pointed out a couple issues I noticed when examining the boat engines. The boat sat for a long time and I recommended a mechanic do an assessment. She was able to find a great mechanic who has been working with us.  Craig, Fran, her brother and I joined the mechanic for a sea test. 

I drove the boat while the mechanic did numerous tests on the two 435 horsepower diesel Caterpiller 3208 engines. They are large and powerful! It was a beautiful day and quite enjoyable. 

When we returned to the dock I was looking through a box of records Fran had on board. The mechanic, Marcus, said, "Wait, let me see that record." Turns out he worked on the boat in 2003 when it was named Legacy. Fran and her husband bought it later and changed the name. Funny coincidence. Fran told Marcus he's like family now! She is anxiously waiting for his assessment. I believe most of the repairs relate to general maintenance but we haven't received the report yet.

I found a number of electrical issues but I didn't have the equipment I needed to pursue them. Nothing fancy but necessary. The equipment came in yesterday from Amazon. Some issues I can take care of and Fran is anxious to learn and help. We're going to work on the electrical issues Thursday. Something worthwhile to do in the rain.

The rain came in as forecast. We had a lot of rain a couple weeks ago. I decided to make one more batch of anise cookies. Sometimes they come out the way they should with little caps on them. But sometimes they don't. The rain helped me figure out why. I expected the cookies to come out great. The mixture and consistency needs to be just right. I've made enough I can get very close to perfect. This batch should have been great. But it wasn't. 

I started thinking what variables could be at work. Humidity dawned on me. The humidity was 97%. The cookies sit over night for the tops to harden and then you bake them the next morning. I searched on line and found someone who said they won't get caps if the humidity is over 50%. Really? Fortunately, the rain quit and the humidity dropped to 27%. So of course I had to try it. They came out perfect! 

Looks like a very rainy week. I'll continue pickleball at the YMCA and I also started swimming again. There are 2 Olympic size swimming pools under a glass enclosure. The enclosure opens partially when the weather is nice, which is most of the time! I'll also have plenty of time to practice my art. I will be visiting Tom again in Arizona February 22nd with Linda's brother Pat and his wife Becky.