It's Tuesday!

Having taken out the trash yesterday I felt no real need to get up and out any time soon, but a sense of guilt finally drove me from the house around three in the afternoon.  I had managed to pay the bills earlier, so I mailed them and headed off to Home Depot, where I purchased two bags of potting soil and two bags of mulch.

Now I remember why I got a truck!

I hauled the two big bags to the backyard on the top of the rolling garbage cans.
I gotta get a handcart some day!

I also bought a bolt for the kickstand project, which would probably be going along somewhat swimmingly if not for the shifter cable that crosses right through the space taken by one of the top plates, or this case, a top plate that is on the bottom. So it's a bottom plate, right?  I think there is some law that prevents two objects from occupying the same space.  Or possibly I don't know what I am talking about.

I spent a lovely couple of hours last evening listening to the KRNN streaming audio, then watching several British sitcoms on  Hulu.

Oh, I forgot, one thing I did today is dump baking soda and vinegar down the bathroom drains. Lots of bubbles!  Hope they smell better!

Later!

Up To The Mountains!

Matt came and picked me up around lunch time, so we stopped by a Mexican restaurant in Kearny Mesa that I cannot remember the name of, but it is in the same little strip-mall as the Boll Weevil (Beer and burgers, how can you go wrong?) at Ruffin Road and Clairmont Mesa Blvd.. Oh, I just looked at the BACK of the building on Google StreetView, it is Harvest Mexican Food, if you can imagine.  Anyway, I really loved the taco and quesadilla I had.  Last month at another place a few miles away I had a taco that tasted fishy. This one tasted just fine.  And the quesadilla was fabulous.  Just plain cheese it was, but it was cooked so that the tortilla "bubbles" were nearly burnt, but not, so it had a great taste that, mixed with a chipotle sauce lasted long after I had finished eating.

Well, after the eating we headed up to Palomar Mountain State Park for a little geocaching.  I don't remember ever being here before.  The trail was shady with pine and oak (and cedar!) trees, plus there were tons of ferns..Almost like a Washington forest, but not raining and maybe not nearly as green.

Here we see Matt being stalked by a giant snake!

Here, he is resting beside a tree that I thought was filled with buzzing bees, but turned out to be flies.  And I don't want to know why.

So I climbed up a nearby electrical pole to get this shot of some bird, looks like hawk or something.

I took a bunch of pictures of these butterflies, this was the best one!

I took a picture of Matt at one end of the culvert, and he took a picture of me at the other end.  This is the Doane Creek culvert under the park road.

We found two geocaches along the way.

While resting on the trail at a conveniently placed bench we found (carved with a chainsaw from a log.), a small child approached and asked about my hiking stick.  I explained it was my hiking stick, and showed him where I had carved my nickname, which quite amused him and his companion, presumably his little sister, who was quite precocious and asked me many questions about my nickname and how I got it.

We took the slow road back to the freeway, getting stuck behind a very large truck that may have been carrying oranges.

We had dinner at Panera.  I had broccoli soup and some sandwich that I cannot remember.  And a Diet Pepsi. And an apple, instead of chips.  So there is healthy for you.

Friday Round-Up

I went down to the rose garden at Balboa Park today.  Did not find what I was looking for, but there were a lot of pretty roses.  Was not as rosy-smelly as I would have thought, though.


The white roses are Gourmet Popcorn.  I do not know what the red ones are.

Another angle/cropping, another image.

Since I didn't find what I was looking for at the rose garden, my back up plan was to stop by the Marston House.  I did find what I was looking for there, and it was my 2,000th.  I got a congratulatory email from the CO (cache owner) just after logging my find.

So here are some pics from around the estate.

Long red brick chimney.  I was going for some kind of artistic selfie, as the kids say, here.

Too much sun.

Well, so much for art.

These gutters look like copper, I wonder if they are?  Very antique-y looking!

I guess you can bring your dog in, too.

I love the stately pines.  If you visit the Wikipedia page for the George W. Marston House you will see a photo showing the house with no trees around at all!

Well, that is an unfortunate branch, I did not notice that!



I did not take the tour, but one could, I guess.

Some will be interested to know I drove on the freeway there and back.  It wasn't too bad.

I went to Albertsons afterwards and bought a bunch of stuff, mostly what was on the list I forgot to bring, but I did forget the oatmeal.

Ta ta for now!

Baked Cardboard

Just baked a frozen pizza without removing the cardboard underneath.  At least I DID get the plastic off!

If I'm dead tomorrow, you know why.

Is It Friday Yet?

If I ever get wifi going, I am naming my network this:   

PorqueFi    

(Saw this on Reddit.)

Lake Miramar Redux

So I headed out to Miramar Lake again this morning.  Same time, same whatever, but without any coffee.  And only one water bottle. But WITH the GPSr and my extensive aerial photo printous and cache listings.

So here we are at around six AM.  Sunrise was around 5:53 AM or so. A little mist on the lake, and the ducks are calm.  The geese, on the the other hand, were honking.

And here is the lake from a higher vantage point, and from the north, looking south towards the parking lot way over there.

Found twenty-one geocaches, DNF (Did Not Find) two caches.  I walked about 6.2 miles, which seems like a tremendous distance to me, but there are zillions of people of all ages walking (and running and cycling) the distance at Miramar. I have 1,975 geocache finds to date, so I'm thinking that sometime this month I will be able to reach my goal of 2,000.

Curses, Foiled Again!

I got up real early this morning and hit the road around 5:00 AM to go up to Miramar Lake for a spot of geocaching. I had five hours worth of hiking ahead of me, figuring a pace of one mile per hour, and it being five-some miles around the lake. So I even put on sun screen!

Driving up there was a pain. I mean, really, I have MY turn signals on, you do NOT, why are you moving into my lane, jerk? Flashed my highs at HIM, I tell you!

Got to the lake, after several wrongs turns and backtracks, and found a parking place. Sure is quiet, not many people out, about twenty cars parked. Found I had left both the GPSr and my print outs at home. Well, that tears it, not much point in hanging around HERE! What am I going to do, walk around the lake?

Driving back down the 15 I decided to head for the beach area and look for a cache I didn't need the GPSr for, as I have looked for it several times. I KNOW where it is, I just can't find it. I parked at a strip mall on Midway which featured prominent signs threatening to tow any non-customer vehicles. Well, since I aspire to be a first-world anarchist, I parked there anyway. I walked under the Kumeyaay Highway/Ocean Beach Freeway (which is it?) to the cache area. No urban campers in evidence today! The cache had been re-located since my last Did Not Find. Remembered the (new) hint, made the find. Pen leaked, my fingers are now black. Tossed pen in trash can, walked back, vehicle not towed, went home.

And now it's 7:38 AM. Back to bed.

Down To The Sea

Went down to the tidelands to do a little geocaching and bike riding this morning.  Did not find the first cache I looked for, but I did find a watch!  I starting to think that it was "left behind" because of the sweat stink in the band.  I have washed my wrist FOUR TIMES and the stench is barely mitigated!  And what do I need with another watch?  I have two excellent Casio watches, one with a compass.  And a Seiko, and the American Eagle pocket watch C. got me, and of course my Mickey Mouse pocket watch from the 70s.  Still a tickin'!

Some big ol' sailboat being worked on at some shipyard. EDIT:  It the Californian.  The shipyard has a webpage telling what ships are there. Who knew?

I saw this boat being launched and I talked to the owner/builder for a few minutes. He said it is a McKenzie River dory.  The Wikipedia article says the transom is pointed, and the bow is flat, and that is where the motor is mounted. On the bow.  I am confused.  I wish I had known this when I was talking to the guy!

Sure is a cutie, ain't it!

I found eight geocaches today, and didn't find seven. I rode the bike to most of the caches.  I really have to get a kickstand!

So there you go, that is what is happening today!

Out By The Bay

Went down to Mission Bay area to pick up some caches this morning.   Biked around the San Diego River area.

Got my "Get Outdoors Day" geocaching badge.  Woohoo!

Made pancakes for dinner.  Turned out MUCH better than last time.  Bottom couple still  need a bit more cooking, though.  Realized I am using REAL butter.  Huh.

Out and About

I got up early and went geocaching, around six AM or so.

From the top of Horseshoe Bend (which is now bisected by a freeway) we see Sweetwater Reservoir to the north.



All these pictures (except some of the flowers) were taken on the top of Horseshoe Bend. Link goes to an interesting little map, but the pointer is on the wrong side of the bend, which is, as I said, bisected by the toll freeway. My part of the ridge is to the west, on the other side of the tollway..

A mysterious "T", set in cement.



Artistic shot of rocks, nuts, and bolt.



With Gobbler's Knob in the sort of in the background, we see the other side of the balancing rocks.  The knob is down there where the houses are.  An unprepossessing "peak".



A benchmark I noted and logged.



The trailhead and the truck are way down there!



Now we got flowers.  I do not know what most of them are, so don't ask.  I'm not too good at taking macro images.  A clean leans might help it auto focus!



I know this one.  Buckwheat!  California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum), I'm pretty sure.




I wish I had taken a better picture, this one is kinda odd looking.



Is anything on this photo in focus?



 I found two caches on top of Horseshoe Bend. I found four caches over north of Mt. San Miguel Community Park.

That is about it for geocaching today!

Now, for television last night...

I watched several episodes of The Book Group, finishing with the last episode of the series.  Just loved it.  I don't usually laugh at television when there is no one to share it which, but I did watching this!  Not for kids, though.  It is described as a "black comedy". Could be helpful if you speak some Swedish, Spanish, and Dutch.  And some of Scottish speakers might as well be speaking ancient Greek.

I then watched two episodes of The Librarians, one of Black Books (about a bookstore), and finally an episode of my beloved Coupling.

On The Trail In The AM

I got up not as early as I would have liked to hike about three-quarters of the way up Cowles Mt. to look for a couple of geocaches.  Along the way I nearly stepped on a tarantula of which a fellow was taking a picture. Of.

One of the geocaches was a tiny little ammunition box. Very cute!

Here is the view of Lake Murray from the sittin' spot of the other cache.



I have, by 7:30 this morning, already accomplished more than I did yesterday!

Up and Down

I got up this morning and headed out to Kwaay Paay Peak to get that geocache that some dastardly person put there.  I was talking to a fellow in the parking lot who asked about the dam. Turned out he used to live in the area when just a lad, and was visiting some of his old haunts.  But everything looks so different from the 80s!

As I was heading up the trail I met up with another guy, Gary, who had asked questions about the trail earlier.  We pretty much stayed together all the way up.  I told him about geocaching, and show him the the cache when I found it.  Good thing it was a pretty nice cache!  I may have got him interested.  Turned out his wife went to the same high school as I did, graduating five years before me.

After we got back down, we went our separate ways.  I have been wanting to find the Horse Coffin, and I had an idea where it might be, so I walked by along the road/trail to the south quite a ways past where I thought it might be, and finally spotted it.

Shootin' shells embedded in the concrete.



I saw the figure 5 in shells.



Sittin' by the old oak tree. On a horse coffin?



Well, that's about it for this morning. Time for a nap!

I Seen A Bird

We went over to Grandma's house today.  We saw these birds flying around, and were told they live in the area and are seen frequently. There were three birds we saw at various times.



Not sure why kind of bird, though.  Cooper's Hawk? Red-tail Hawk?  There was some mention of Peregrine Falcon, but we are thinking not.



Up in a tree.



Taking flight. Or landing?



Who are YOU looking at?



You lookin' at ME?



Up on the roof.



He is flying up to the roof to join the other one.



Well, there you go.  We had a nice visit with the relatives.  We were going to go to see fireworks, but I kept falling asleep and so I decided I would just go home a take a nap.  Which I have done.

What Is Today?

Spent yesterday not doing anything much.

Spent today lamenting not doing anything much yesterday.