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May, May, Go Away...
There are many reasons May was not a fun month, but none of them are particularly public whine-worthy. I've got friends who can trump me in misfortune in almost every way, so I feel bad about woe-is-me-ing. On the whole, though, things are positive-- so I'll dwell on that.
R0ndo makes me laugh:
He's waiting (hoping) that I'll turn the hose on him. I'm not sure what he gets out of that, but he's passionate about biting water. The goofy expression is his "hopeful" face.
A week ago Sunday I was waiting in the sun (for three hours) to get autographs from a Korean Kpop boy-band (Epik High). We were surrounded by little Asian girls doing little Asian girl things. Ack! My niece is a HUGE fan and wasn't able to get autographs from them herself because they had to cancel their SF autographing. So first thing Sunday I roped a long-suffering friend into waiting with me to get their autographs. Success!! I am now a hero in her world! Plenty of validation for a bad sunburn and a spent Sunday!
A silver lining of having friends who are out of work is that we can hike on weekdays, when there aren't a lot of other people out. The dogs are certainly always ready. We've been trying to avoid areas with a lot of foxtails (not easy) ever since Apache got one in her ear (ow) and a half-dozen in her hoo-haa. I didn't even know dogs could -get- them there, but it was like a quiver full of tiny arrows! Poor thing!
On one walk in a nearby canyon, Roz noticed a gopher snake dozing in an unusual spot: suspended in the mustard plants about two feet off the ground! With snakes it's hard to tell when they're asleep (no eyelids), but she could have easily picked him up-- not typical behavior for a wild snake! She decided to let him sleep, though. He was gone by the time we got back.
One mystery solved...sort of. Apache kept getting covered with these sticky leaves on certain walks. I finally found the plants responsible for them. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out what this plant is, exactly. If anyone has any idea what this is, I'd love to know.
Down in Devil's Canyon, Roz noticed some Mystery Pawprints. She thought they might belong to a coatimundi. I didn't think they ranged this far north and west, but she once saw a dead one in Malibu Canyon, so it's possible. I've never seen one myself, but I've never seen prints like this deep in a canyon before (or I'd guess housecat).
Roz also found a colorful worm there. Roz: did you figure out what this turns into?
Speaking of Devil's Canyon: I'm not sure -what- they're doing there. The entrance to the creek area has been totally reamed out by the developers. I'm not sure what they're trying to accomplish, since this area is so far down from the houses they're building. You can see where the original willow-lined creek bed used to be up near the top of the gouge where the brush line is. This trail is really degrading noticeably: because of the new gated housing above the trailhead, fewer people are hiking down here. The result is that the trail is starting to revert and disappear. Too bad: it's where we used to get all the frog spawn for Roz.
Back at Two Rivers (the South Fork of the Santa Clara River), we found an area that always has a stream of clear water running through it! I had thought it was outflow from the local reservoir, but it turns out to be "reclaimed" water. Well, if it wasn't clean, they wouldn't release it...(I hope). R0ndo thinks it's fine!
We have also found some interesting wildlife here (in the middle of Valencia). A few weeks ago the dogs disturbed a kangaroo rat that scuttled off into the brush. They were so focused on digging that they had no interest in the rat. I barely saw it as it shot into some nearby brush. I didn't think kangaroo rats lived in the area-- but there it was: a brown poof with a long, tasseled tail. Cute! I also saw my first Horned Toad!
You know those giant, inflatable slides for kids parties? I recently saw a giant tiger slide. How do you get in?! It looks...naughty.
Lastly, I finally turned over my pull-tab collection to the lady I was collecting them for. She had mentioned how elated her sister was when an acquaintance gave her a coffee can filled with tabs. Aha! The competition is on! For two years I collected them obsessively-- mostly my own, but also from anyone who would let me grab them off their cans. A few friends (hi, Eric!) also saved them for me. I would still have them, except the same long-suffering friend convinced me that I was getting neurotic about them (never enough!) and that I should give them up before I went completely koo-koo and ended up with a house filled with them. The final tally? A little over two kilos of pull tabs! Woo!
All in all, a net-positive month. Next year can't come soon enough for me, though. Hopefully things will be better all-around by then.
Here's the full Flickr set
R0ndo makes me laugh:
He's waiting (hoping) that I'll turn the hose on him. I'm not sure what he gets out of that, but he's passionate about biting water. The goofy expression is his "hopeful" face.
A week ago Sunday I was waiting in the sun (for three hours) to get autographs from a Korean Kpop boy-band (Epik High). We were surrounded by little Asian girls doing little Asian girl things. Ack! My niece is a HUGE fan and wasn't able to get autographs from them herself because they had to cancel their SF autographing. So first thing Sunday I roped a long-suffering friend into waiting with me to get their autographs. Success!! I am now a hero in her world! Plenty of validation for a bad sunburn and a spent Sunday!
A silver lining of having friends who are out of work is that we can hike on weekdays, when there aren't a lot of other people out. The dogs are certainly always ready. We've been trying to avoid areas with a lot of foxtails (not easy) ever since Apache got one in her ear (ow) and a half-dozen in her hoo-haa. I didn't even know dogs could -get- them there, but it was like a quiver full of tiny arrows! Poor thing!
On one walk in a nearby canyon, Roz noticed a gopher snake dozing in an unusual spot: suspended in the mustard plants about two feet off the ground! With snakes it's hard to tell when they're asleep (no eyelids), but she could have easily picked him up-- not typical behavior for a wild snake! She decided to let him sleep, though. He was gone by the time we got back.
One mystery solved...sort of. Apache kept getting covered with these sticky leaves on certain walks. I finally found the plants responsible for them. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out what this plant is, exactly. If anyone has any idea what this is, I'd love to know.
Down in Devil's Canyon, Roz noticed some Mystery Pawprints. She thought they might belong to a coatimundi. I didn't think they ranged this far north and west, but she once saw a dead one in Malibu Canyon, so it's possible. I've never seen one myself, but I've never seen prints like this deep in a canyon before (or I'd guess housecat).
Roz also found a colorful worm there. Roz: did you figure out what this turns into?
Speaking of Devil's Canyon: I'm not sure -what- they're doing there. The entrance to the creek area has been totally reamed out by the developers. I'm not sure what they're trying to accomplish, since this area is so far down from the houses they're building. You can see where the original willow-lined creek bed used to be up near the top of the gouge where the brush line is. This trail is really degrading noticeably: because of the new gated housing above the trailhead, fewer people are hiking down here. The result is that the trail is starting to revert and disappear. Too bad: it's where we used to get all the frog spawn for Roz.
Back at Two Rivers (the South Fork of the Santa Clara River), we found an area that always has a stream of clear water running through it! I had thought it was outflow from the local reservoir, but it turns out to be "reclaimed" water. Well, if it wasn't clean, they wouldn't release it...(I hope). R0ndo thinks it's fine!
We have also found some interesting wildlife here (in the middle of Valencia). A few weeks ago the dogs disturbed a kangaroo rat that scuttled off into the brush. They were so focused on digging that they had no interest in the rat. I barely saw it as it shot into some nearby brush. I didn't think kangaroo rats lived in the area-- but there it was: a brown poof with a long, tasseled tail. Cute! I also saw my first Horned Toad!
You know those giant, inflatable slides for kids parties? I recently saw a giant tiger slide. How do you get in?! It looks...naughty.
Lastly, I finally turned over my pull-tab collection to the lady I was collecting them for. She had mentioned how elated her sister was when an acquaintance gave her a coffee can filled with tabs. Aha! The competition is on! For two years I collected them obsessively-- mostly my own, but also from anyone who would let me grab them off their cans. A few friends (hi, Eric!) also saved them for me. I would still have them, except the same long-suffering friend convinced me that I was getting neurotic about them (never enough!) and that I should give them up before I went completely koo-koo and ended up with a house filled with them. The final tally? A little over two kilos of pull tabs! Woo!
All in all, a net-positive month. Next year can't come soon enough for me, though. Hopefully things will be better all-around by then.
Here's the full Flickr set
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Yeah, that's R0ndo's, "I'm-hopeful-but-ready-to-be-disappointed," look.
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Yay gopher snake! I think I wuld have poked it to force it down into the mustard- it looks like a hawk might get it.
I love the doggie pics! Poor Apache, covered in leaves...
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Here's the link for the RMcDH program. (http://rmhc.org/how-you-can-help/other-ways-to-get-involved/pop-tab-collections/)
Oddly, I think this started out as an internet hoax about saving tabs for something and the response was so huge that several orgs created a real program for it. The real value isn't the tabs themselves, it's the everyday awareness of the kidney dialysis donation program that it brings to every person who asks, "Why are you saving those tabs?"
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My patch-eyed dog is nuts. She'll go tearing through the thickest brush just because she can. She coyote-hops through foxtail-grass that is so thick she can't run through it (and comes out looking like a pin-cushion). Wild child.
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The footprints are from a ringtail cat, almost positive. (5 toes instead of 4 for a regular cat.)
awwww sad sad doggy face!
Sure has been great hiking weather ^v^
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