L.A. Street Color

We gotta be grateful for what we got

Couple Los Angeles Pics

The great city of the "beauty and the ugly."

Couple fauna pix

Here's the fox,coyote and bobcat.

Local fauna

Interesting creatures found somtimes in the local hills, mountains, deserts and semi wild areas. The grey fox is rarely seen in the canyons. This animal is amazing in that it can walk "glide" on dead leaves without a sound. Many bobcats often seen in the afternoon. This cat gets to 70 pounds in weight and has a short stubby tail.

The mule deer often seen after rains. They can prance well up steep side ridges...they are often in groups.

The coyote can be seen or heard at any time. They often go in packs. Many seen of late because of the drought and they forage the garbage for easy food.

Wide varieties of birds seen at any time of the year. The sparrow very common and often heard singing around 4PM. The mockingbird common and has a habit of singing well through the night. There's even a robin with orange chest that comes about in the autumn. It's amazing to watch a hawk glide in the air...especially on a windy day...1000s of feet above the basin. Many black birds (similar to crows) fly in groups of 50 or more...especially around twilight. If you watch an owl, the bird can almost turn its head in a 360 degree fashion. The "who who who" often heard by dusk...

A Free Golf Course-Frisbee Golf/Oak Grove Park

Here's a groovy way to spend a Saturday (or any day laden with the "rat race stress")...go to Hahamonga Watershed Park (formerly Oak Grove Park)...just south of JPL/NASA off Berkshire Drive La Canada Flintridge. One throws a long range, mid range, and putter frisbee into a chained basket...trying to lower the number of throws. There's 18 holes here in a beautiful pacific live oak laden park near the Arroyo Seco (and Devil's Gate Dam). Excellent hiking trails around the area as well and great for dogs.

This started originally by a JPL enginer in the early 70s. Originally all you had to do was throw the frisbee and hit the pole. By the late 70s it was hit the pole. Soon they devised a chain link basket to throw the frisbee into. Yours truly has done this here since 1981 and even had one "hole in one" in 1985. Had a tonne of hole in twos and thousands of hole in 3s.

Many wanabee hippies (a few real from the Era) and vagabonds in the park/many generational X and a few generation Y...but they are friendly and M gets there every Saturday morning in the white van to sell the best frisbees or $1 rentals for a few hours.

Even small red lights can be attached the frisbee for night playing. Great stuff and a very beautiful and generally serene setting near the mego mego megopolis.

Great hiking trails around the Arroyo...EG to Devil's Gate Dam; El Prieto Canyon [someone left a doobie there!]; Millard Canyon; Bear Canyon; Brown Mountain; Switzers; Gabrieleno National Recreation Trail; and so on. Saw my first live mountain lion here in 2001. A big cat to over 250 pounds and 8 feet long. On the dam many mud swallow nest in the dam and dart 100 feet down to feed. Night time the dam bats come out...sometimes to the tens and hundreds. Many frogs/toads in the canyon beginning in June. Owls at night. And many "Nuttals Woodpecker" heard in the day time over here. Great area to watch wildlife and watch the flora and fauna change over time. (more flora and fauna soon)

TYPES OF XMAS LIGHTING

Is anybody gonna light the yard all around? How about the Xmas tree...plastic or cut evergreen? Do you use old fashioned Xmas lights or only modern stuff? Like I remember the "bubble" lights from 40 years ago to adorn the Xmas tree. At one point even candles were put on the branches. One neat way is to get pie pans and put lights with red cover on them...These found Hastings Ranch. Another cool trip is "Christmas Tree Lane" in Altadena. Most of the deodores are adorned a good 5-10 blocks. Probably best bet is to buy a potted tree each year and plant them after Christmas (with loving landscape care).

Good site for all to see

Check www.hubblesite.org. Excellent pics coming from the previously unknown galaxies.

JAZZ TALK

Anytime of your all time favorite jazz bands?

Landscaping chat

Anybody describe your garden to me...any issues with your trees/plants? Sprinkler lay out? Timers?

Some of my favorites are the California natives. At this time the Toyon berry comes out with bunches of red berries. Dots the local hillsides with a seasonal red ness. There are several types of sage...white sage great for spiritual burning sessions. Buckwheat. Sumac. The prickly pear cactus and cholla do great in this Meditarranean (or maybe desert) type marine belt climate.

Cyanothus has great blue flowers in the spring. The "candle" yucca great between May and July...1000s dot the mountainsides and make a great candle light type appearance in sunrise and twilight. These found up to about 8000 feet above the sea.

The chamise needs very little water. 10 or more types of oak dot the canyon sides. The big cone spruce can grow off cliff sides well up to 5000 feet above the sea. An amazing conifer. Native sycamores and poplars nice as they get a nice orange color at this time. Pumpkin Halloween orange in the colder canyons.

The yurba santa has sandal like thick leaves and 1000s of purple flowers come out in the spring.

Hiking the local foothills was great in early 2005...that year the bloom lasted 5 months.

Jim Morrison/John Lennon

Today is Jim's Birthday...maybe he is somewhere in Africa at 64 years young. We "break on through" the doors of perception.

We also remember John and his saying, "when there's life there's hope." And hope beyond the new Orwellian morass coming upon humanity. Shouldn't we "peace for peace?" Is love the only reality? Anybody got a take on this?