January 2008 Storm

In January 2008 we had one of the most massive storms I've experienced in my 15 years as a Monterey resident. It was a classic; the wind howled at 50 mph and more, rain came down in sheets, and the next day, surf as large as I had ever seen here roared ashore. The breakers in the video are a good 20 feet high, and the water raced two feet deep through the parking lot at Carmel River State Beach. For those of you who know the spot, you can appreciate that; the lot is usually about 100 yards from the ocean's edge.I shot some video of the oak trees next to my condo during the storm. These are stout trees; they normally don't move much! There were a couple trees and many large branches knocked down by the storm at my condo complex. With a cozy spot in which to ride out the storm, it was neat! My power went out for an hour or two, but no problem.

Bill Hearst's Crib

Last week I visited Hearst Castle for the first time since Sep 19, 1970; I remember the date precisely since it was one day after my 19th birthday, and one day after Jimi Hendrix died. (RIP guitar master!) After 38 years plus, I reckoned it was time for another tour, so I visited on the way home from Pismo. This is the Neptune Pool...wouldn't be shabby to have this in your back yard! This is the third pool built on the site...Hearst rejected the first two. It's closed to the public, but our tour guide said that he and his fellow employees can swim in it during the summer when the water warms up...it's no longer heated. The portico at the far end of the pool is genuine Roman architecture imported by Hearst from Italy.

This is the main house, 1600 feet above sea level with a vast view down to the Pacific. This place had 42 bedrooms, if I remember correctly. There are also guest houses on the property that have another dozen or so bedrooms. Hearst had large parties, including lots of Hollywood types; most of the folks who were stars in the 1930s came up. There are movies of Charlie Chaplin playing tennis here. Clark Gable and Carol Lombard were also visitors, and many others. One remarkable thing that I remember from my 1970 tour, reiterated by our guide this time, is that Hearst imported entire centuries old ceilings from Italian buildings, then nailed them into place in various rooms here. Never heard of another bloke who collected antique ceilings! I toured the Castle with about half a dozen adults, and around 50 Australian teenagers.

There is also an indoor pool at San Simeon, ideal when it got a bit chilly in the winter. It was tough to get photos of the interior; you could use cameras, but not flashes, and I didn't have a tripod. I got this pic by propping the camera on a rail and taking a time exposure. It's all very opulent; as our guide said, Hearst was just showin' off in many cases. I don't think I would have particularly enjoyed a visit here in the old days. You had to dress formally for dinner (yeech!) and I read once that at least most of the time Hearst would only let people have one drink per evening...he disliked folks who drank heavily. Except for swimming in the Neptune Pool, the place would have been a bit too foofoo and sober for me.

Lennox Head Bird Symphony

This is a test video...I was hangin' on the veranda at my rental condo at Lenox Head, NSW, Australia, in Dec 2007, waiting out a rainshower, when this bird perched right above my head and began singing a symphony! It's almost worth going to Australia just for the birds, who are magnificent.

Awesone Pismo Day!

Well, today I once again survived the rigors of the California winter. As is the case in most of the country 'bout now, the weather here is less than ideal...too hot and desiccating! 87 degrees with an arid offshore wind. Only thing for it was to head for the beach, alternating with the motel pool for swimming purposes...ocean temps in the 50s as usual. Here's a shot of Avila Beach from out on the pier. It's a quiet, mellow little beach town about 5 miles west of Pismo. Had a pleasant alfresco brekky at Fat Cats prior to the beach gig.

This is Pismo Beach, seen from the cliffs next to my motel. Like Avila, Pismo has a fine pier,

along with a long, wide strip of sand. Pismo reminds me of some of the fine Australian beach towns. It's informal, friendly, all the modcons, and of course has an excellent beach. However...some of the downtown parking spots now charge fees. Zounds! Not all, though...free parking is still fairly abundant a couple blocks off the main drag.

Just a few yards from where the previous pic was taken, the pelicans have a long established rookery on the cliffs. You can see them here every winter. There were several groups of them today...probably over a hundred in all. They swoop down to the ocean to fish, then hang out on the cliffs to enjoy their catch. Actually, if you blow up the previous pic you can see another group of pelicans on the cliff in the foreground.

The end of a fine day, and the lizards and I are chillin' on my balcony enjoying the sunset.

Active Sloat Day

Drove down to Pismo Beach today. It was absolutely awesome weather...warm and sunny, top down all the way! Naturally, I had to stop and visit the elephant sloats at Point Piedras Blancas. It...was...80 (eighty) degrees at the sloat viewpoint!! Those of you who know the local climate realize how incredible that is. The temperature at this point reaches 80 maybe twice a year if you're lucky...and NEVER in July or August. It's almost always cold and foggy here, or sunny, windy, and cold. But it was virtually hot today, with a strong offshore wind. The elephant sloats appeared oblivious to the heat...they were soakin' up the rays.

Pups have been born...there are hundreds of them on the beach. So it's time for the bull sloats to begin competing to see who will hang with the sheila sloats and sire the next crop of keikis for 2010. Here a couple of bulls are posturing, squaring off for a grapple.

The bloke sloat in the middle of the pic has gotten his opponent down on the sand; bit him a couple of times too, and jumped on top of him, which had to hurt...these guys weigh up to 3 tons! Right after this pic was shot the loser hightailed it off the sand into the ocean, later reappearing farther down the beach, bloody and a bit bedraggled. The sloat in the background near the water line was not involved in the fracas.

On another section of the beach, a bunch of seagulls were hanging out. A mama sloat had just given birth...unfortunately I didn't see that...and when she ejected the placenta several dozen gulls instantly swarmed on it and started playing tug of war with the bloody scraps. Apparently the afterbirth is a delicacy among seagulls. Different tastes for different species, I reckon! I prefer spaghetti and meatballs myself. Blow the pic up for a better view of the chaos.

Ridin' out the Drought

Central Cali is immersed in a drought. About halfway through the wet season, Monterey has had only about four inches of rain...normal would be 8 or 9. This is the third straight year that moisture has been well below average in our region, and north thru the Bay area and south to San Luis Obispo. Reservoirs are low; water rationing looms.

Most types of extreme weather are short term wild in one way or another. Heat, cold, wind, rain, snow, floods; all have an immediate impact on us. Drought is different. It creeps in and slowly deepens. In many cases, it's barely perceptible; we have had enough rain this winter to pretty well green up the countryside; it doesn't look barren. But the rivers are trickles...or less. Ponds that are usually full at this time of year aren't. Here, at Carmel River beach, the lagoon is not connected to the ocean, and the river remains bone dry just a mile inland at highway 1.

Another characteristic of a drought is that the weather is not necessarily "bad" in the usual sense. Here on the Central Coast, quite the contrary; we're having one beautiful day after another. Today was crystal clear...so clear you can actually see the curvature of the earth in this photo! Temp in the low 60s, just fabulous! But we need some "lousy" weather this time of year...you can't drink sunshine!

We had a strong offshore flow today, coming out of the Carmel River valley and blowing off the tops of the waves. The pelican remained unflappable.