A Pacific Rattlesnake…..
I parked my truck yesterday, and got out, and this snake was laying in the shade about two feet from me. This is the same snake I’ve asked to leave… and sometimes he likes to startle me by buzzing when I walk by. Ten years ago I’d have killed him…. I don’t know what’s the matter with me nowadays that I don’t. But when one of the dogs gets bit I’ll be angry and blame myself, not the snake.
The local tarantulas come out of their burrows every fall….
There are a couple of roads known for waves of tarantulas roaming across and down the road… one local surf-spot is called ‘Tarantula Point’ due to the number of spiders seen there.
We know they are males in search of a mate. They time their searches with the coming of rain, so that the eggs have the proper humidity levels.
I’ve held many tarantulas through the years…. some of them will walk from hand to hand, and can be shown to other people to show them they really have nothing to fear from these VERY interesting little creatures. Tarantulas do you no harm, there is no need to fear or to kill them. Only once have I been bitten by one.. and it was a hurt spider that had one leg stuck forever pointing at the sky…. our cats found it and were using the stuck leg as a handle with which to pick the spider up and run with him until he grabbed at them and scared them enough that they’d drop him… then they’d run back and pick him up again and toss him. I took him from the cats to rescue him…. he sat on my hand… that one leg pointing at the sky… his big fangs came out (they are surprisingly large and a shocking violet hue)…. his fangs gently stroked backwards along my skin three times, then he rared his head back, and brought down his head driving the fangs into my skin…. the entire time I was transfixed watching his actions… and when the fangs began their journey into my skin I shook him off… I suffered no injury other than two pinholes which each exuded one drop of blood apiece, like a miniature vampire bite.
In the Autumn the male mule deer come down from the higher hills where hunting pressure is lower. They come seeking the female deer which seem to know they are not hunted locally. I took photos of this fellow from our front porch. One photo shows he is smelling a female deer nearby. This is called ‘Flehmen Resonse’.
The calender says Autumn is still two days away.. but we’ve had signs of Autumn appearing for a few weeks. It seems like it might be an early autumn at least, if not winter also.
A friend is starting a non-profit organization that really sounds like the type of thing that can make a difference. Please read and consider….
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Greetings family and friends,
With little free time, in the middle of post production on my first feature film, I finally started a non profit organization that I have been wanting to do for a few years now. It is called “Hoods To Woods” I want to take disadvantaged and critically ill children on camping adventures. It kills me that so many kids live so close to the mountains and beach and have never been out of their neighborhood. There is a temp web site up www.hoodstowoods.org.
Per the advice of a supporter, I am writing to ask if you could find the time to please write a brief letter of support, on your official letterhead if you have any.
We are going to take the letters and use them to get grants and other support from sporting goods companies etc.
Please simply write, in your own words, how you think this is a good idea, a worthwhile effort, you fully support helping children etc. (no need to write “Duh! who would not want to help poor kids?”)
So far I have the interest of the Los Angeles Sheriffs department and some other cool names.
I am really excited to make a difference in these kids lives and to spend more time camping too!
Spring is usually pretty nice here. It’s not yet gotten hot.. most days are mild, and the hills are still green from the winter rains. And the flowers are superb…. in their many shades of gold and yellow which gave the state the nickname “The Golden State”.
Let us rise up and be thankful,
for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little,
and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick,
and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die;
so, let us all be thankful.
~Buddha~
There is no balance in nature…. it is more like a see-saw on a child’s playground. The populations of one animal might be affected by any number of factors. As the populations of one animal rise and fall through any number of years, they might open resources for another animal, or they may reduce the opportunities for another.
Right now we are seeing a rise in the local coyote population… and I have seen no foxes for many months. The local foxes have been decimated in the last few years by a disease (distemper)… perhaps this opened the area to exploitation by coyotes who moved here after the large La Brea Fire this last summer pushed them from their wilderness areas that were scoured by flame. Those areas should be greening soon with the rains we’ve had…. populations of small mammals will rise and the area will be able to sustain coyotes again. Perhaps they’ll leave this area where the human presence though scattered is generally not well disposed to them. This will again open a ‘hole’ in the local ecosystem for eaters of rabbits and rodents, and surely one day it’ll be exploited by some predator.
Like nature our emotions can run up and down…. try to keep to the middle… but occasional forays into sadness and happiness are to be expected. If you journey outside the middle… upward is generally better.
But people so often sabotage themselves….
The world is full of cactus, but we don’t have to sit on it.
~Will Foley~
I’ve heard philosophers debate the relative merits of seeking happiness…. some say that to aim for personal happiness is a falsehood…. that we are too insignificant in the grand scheme of creation to desire for anything other than existence… that to banish all perceptions of joy and sadness is the ultimate goal… existence on an even plane is the aim….
“Reach for the stars, even if you have to stand on a cactus.” ~Susan Longacre~
I’ve heard others endorse an attitude of reaching for and pursuing happiness….. I feel this is a worthy goal as long as you realize that when you push a pendulum hard, it will swing back eventually…. so don’t go rushing for hard-to-reach goals that you’re likely never to attain. Plan and work steadily for a wholesome life without a lot of anxiety and distractions. Free yourself from needless worry by reducing wants and desires…. aim for simplicity…. and try to cultivate an even-tempered emotional state. It’s fine if you don’t go reaching for the stars…. but do look up and see them, and know they are there…. but don’t yearn to be on them…. that’s not gonna happen.
I’ve heard it said that
“it’s not a disgrace to not reach for the stars….
but it is a shame if you have no stars to reach for”
Tao teh Ching
Chapter 23
Nature says only a few words:
To speak little is natural.
Express yourself completely,
and then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
a gale seldom blows the whole morning,
nor does a downpour last a whole day.
When the clouds pass, the sun shines through.
If nature’s words do not last,
why should those of man?
If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.
The Tao accepts this accordance gladly.
Virtue accepts this accordance gladly.
Loss also accepts this accordance gladly.
He who does not have trust in others
should not himself be trusted.
Be happy for the good things that come your way… be grateful for the life you have… an attitude of gratitude is one of the most attributes to cultivate within yourself…. you are your own Master Gardener…. you hold the trowel and water can…. you must do your own digging…. others might counsel you where and how to dig…. but you will select the seeds of your future…. and you plant them daily with every action you take…. you cultivate them with every thought good or ill…. would that the seeds you sow grow strong and full, giving you beauty and strength within yourself.
~Kahlil Gibran~
‘The Prophet’
Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.
But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart’s knowledge.
You would know in words that which you have always known in thought.
You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.
And it is well you should.
The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea;
And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.
But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;
And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.
For self is a sea boundless and measureless.
Say not, “I have found the truth,” but rather, “I have found a truth.”
Say not, “I have found the path of the soul.”
Say rather, “I have met the soul walking upon my path.”
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself like a lotus of countless petals.
I ran across the Gregorian Chants with the old song ‘Losing My Religion’. It is a different way of hearing this song.
REM
‘Losing My Religion’
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you tryBut that was just a dream
That was just a dream
It’s been said that we live our life “one foot in the cradle, and one foot in the grave”.
Here in these hills we live our lives around two distinct realities, fire and rain.
One represents the killing off of all life it touches… and the other one represents the giving of life, and renewal, but is also a double-edged sword.
Fire is the great leveler, bringing all down in a cataclysm of ash…. capricious, often passing one home over, and destroying those around. It can be prepared for, and the home can be shielded somewhat, but you are still at the whims of a force of nature, as awesome, uncaring and terrible as a hurricane, tornado, or artillery, and the devastation afterward can resemble an apocalyptal moonscape. There is not a whole lot more sad than to drive through an area of burned homes, steaming stumps and chimneys marking habitations.
Rain can come as the great cleanser after a fire. While it gives life and renewal to the natural landscape… on fire-devastated land it is the affliction that follows the curse. The heat-sealed soil will lock tightly after a fire, creating a ‘terra-cotta’ effect, sealing off much of the soil from the water. The water will run down ashen slopes that were covered with chaparral and trees that previously shielded the soil, preventing erosion and allowing entry of the water reducing run-off…. as the water rolls down following the contours, it will pick up stones and rocks which will break through the locked soil surface…. as they all roll into the opened raw soil, they will scour the soil creating a channel, a gully, this can quickly open pulling many tons of soil away, washing it downstream to silt watersheds, rivers and creeks… and taking the good soil from the slopes.
The rain we got the last two days came at a good steady rate for us… we did not have any creeks running, the dry soil took all the rain that fell. We are glad it was enough to get the ground wet, and we’re glad is was not enough to cause run-off on our place. We pray for the places that had burns, hoping they gain a cover of green before the big rains come in Jan and Feb.
Here’s what the weather blogger Jeff Masters says about our latest storm:
The remains of Super Typhoon Melor dumped record-breaking amounts of rain over California over the past 24 hours, but the storm is now departing the state without having caused major damage. Mining Ridge in Monterey County had an extraordinary 21.34″ of rain, and several locations in Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Santa Clara counties had over 10″ of precipitation. Downtown San Francisco recorded 2.49 inches of rain, which is the greatest 24 hour rainfall for the month of October (records have been kept since 1849). Monterey also set a record for the greatest October rainfall, 2.66″. Strong winds accompanied the storm, with the Twin Peaks in San Francisco recording a hurricane-force gust of 75 mph, Angel Island, 77 mph, and Los Gatos in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 87 mph. Sustained winds in excess of tropical storm force were experienced at several locations along the coast. The Point Reyes Lighthouseexperienced sustained winds of 46 mph, gusting to 63 mph, at the peak of the storm. The Sierra Mountains probably experienced hurricane-force wind gusts, and received several feet of snow. California was lucky this storm came early in their rainy season, since the ground was dry from a year-long drought and the soils were able to absorb a great deal of the rain. Melor’s Deluge in California will be a great boon for the state, helping it to overcome one of the most severe droughts in the past 50 years.
‘Fire and Rain’
James Taylor
Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus?
You’ve got to help me make a stand
You’ve just got to see me through another day
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other way
Oh, I`ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again
Been walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it’ll turn your head around
Well, there’s hours of time on the telephone line
to talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground
Good morning Weathercock, how did you fare last night?
Did the cold wind bite you, did you stand up to the fright?
When the leaves spin from October, and whip around your tail;
Did you shake from the blast, did you shiver through the gale?
Give us direction; the best of goodwill,
Put us in touch with your fair winds.
Sing to us softly, hum evening’s song
Tell us what the blacksmith has done for you.
Kokapelli in our front yard
Kokapelli, the Zuni/Hopi fertility deity has a presence in our garden.
Kokapelli is also associated with chasing away the Winter,
and bringing in the Spring.
It is a good thing to remember that spring will come again,
even as we settle into the coming winter.
But Lord, we need the winter and some rain,
Just please, don’t give us too much at once, or any frost.
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Bring a song for the evening
Clean brass to flash the dawn
across these acres glistening like dew on a carpet lawn
In these dark towns folk lie sleeping
as the heavy horses thunder by
to wake the dying city with the living horseman’s cry
At once the old hands quicken —
bring pick and wisp and curry comb —
thrill to the sound of all the heavy horses coming home.
Heavy Horses
~Ian Anderson~
Do you simply reflect changes in the patterns of the sky?
Or is it true to say the weather heeds the twinkle in your eye?
Do you fight the rush of winter; do you hold snowflakes at bay?
Do you lift the dawn sun from the fields and help him on his way?
Good morning Weathercock: make this day bright.
Put us in touch with your fair winds.
Sing to us softly, hum evening’s song.
Point the way to better days we can share with you.
‘Variety is the spice of life’ say the old folks….
There’s some foods for instance that are great all alone…. tomatoes, watermelons etc…. but chop bits of them into a fruit salad, and you have nirvana in food. Life is made so much more enjoyable by having varied interests and scenes…
So too with the arts… weave poetry and tune together and you have a song….
Match a peerless singer such as Loreena McKennitt with a peerless poet such as William Butler Yeats…. you have Nirvana in the audio sphere.
This song by Loreena also has one of the most spectacular bagpipe intros I’ve ever heard.
This poem is not one to rush through… each stanza is so full, so deep in symbology
This is the California Live Oak in front of our house.
It is covered in pollen laden male flowers right now.
This particular tree is probably a good one hundred fifty years old.
This old Oak tree is about fifty feet across, and maybe forty feet high. These oaks are respected by almost anyone who sees them. Few people can regard a huge tree without some sense of awe at the huge mass of life they represent. They are a slow growing species, their reactions to stimuli such as flooding, changing water levels or disease are slow also. therefore they can have their conditions change radically and take some years for that to become apparent in the appearance of the tree. That is why you’ll often find people installing a lawn under such a tree, and it might take a few years before the constant moisture makes the tree start to die. The homeowners will be dumbfounded as they will not associate the conditions they have given the plant for three years with the recent changes in tree appearance.
These trees have adapted to and grown up with the prevailing California weather and soil conditions of the areas they inhabit. It is for this reason that they go into a short ‘aestivation’ in the heat of summer. This is a partial slowing down of processes so that the plant uses less moisture in the summer when we get no rain from May to October. But that same survival strategy can lead to death as the plant cannot tolerate constant moisture around their root zone through the summer.
We try to keep this old tree healthy, we don’t water too near the drip zone of the tree, and neither do we plant any water loving plants near it. This ensures that the tree gets no supplemental water in the summer.
The grasses under this tree are the ones that grow here naturally each year. We mow them down a few times a year, but they are annuals that will die down when the heat of summer comes. By July the area under the tree will be just the oak leaf mulch, the dried grasses, and the few cactus plants we’ve got near it.
