County Official Points Gun at Compost Guru?

Earlier this year I posted about my meeting with local legend, Tim Dundon.   I recounted my visit to his home in northwest Altadena, which is more or less a monument to compost.   Chickens and geese run loose at Tim's place and have for more than three decades.  That's Tim pictured above dumping a a load of compost in our yard.  

The Pasadena Star News has posted an excellent video interview with Tim.   The piece was filmed by Walt Mancini at Tim's home, which Tim refers to as the "Wormisphere."   The video captures Tim as an entertaining and eccentric lyricist and compost guru.  It also touches on Tim's most recent encounter with The County.  As Tim describes it on the video, The County's actions are absolutely shocking.

Now, if you want to get real technical about things, conditions at the Wormisphere might violate one or two County rules.   And, apparently a new neighbor called with a complaint.   So,it is not surprising to me that The County would send someone to check out the Wormisphere.  

But, I'm shocked to hear that The County sent officials to Tim's place with weapons drawn.  Yeah, that is what is reported in the video and in a companion PSN story.   In the video, Tim reports and demonstrates that a gun was pointed at him.       

And, earlier this week, the PSN ran a story by James Figueroa reporting that, according to Tim, Los Angeles County officials came onto his property,  "held a gun to his face" and threatened to kill his dog.  In a creepy parallel, the story also quoted a County building official urging Tim to cooperate with The County and stating, "We're pretty good about working with the public." 

What am I missing here?   How on earth does a complaint about loose chickens and plants lead to The County entering Tim's property with guns drawn?

You can call Tim visionary or eccentric, but he's hardly dangerous.   The County's actions are outrageous, scary, and need to be immediately redressed.     

Bear Attack Kills Two Chickens

 

Early Tuesday morning I took one step outside and saw this.  Sometime during the night, the side of our chicken house had been ripped off. 

Right away I knew it was bears.   A mother bear and two cubs have been in the area for weeks now.  Sunday night they were in a yard up our street and attracted the attention of the police, animal control and a helicopter.   On Monday morning, which is our trash pick up, they upended our trash cans and those of many up and down the street.    

As I put on my shoes, I was stunned, mad and sad all at the same time.  I knew we had lost chickens and I knew the bears had gotten them.   I walked to the hen house and saw a mass of feathers inside.   And the nesting boxes I made had been broken apart.   It was not hard to envision what had happened.    

I counted five chickens.   All were intact and looked fine.   Two of our flock were missing.   

I walked the yard and quickly found the remains of our two hens.    One hen, dubbed Speedy by our daughter, had been eaten no more than 20 feet from our back door.   The other hen, a pretty buff and white feathered chicken, had been taken to the front of the yard.   Very little was left of either bird.

I also saw plenty of other bear evidence -- two piles of bear poop, a broken fence and punctured volleyball.  

Though we live in the City of Pasadena, we're no strangers to wildlife.  I've devoted more space on this blog to wildlife than anything else for the simple reason that I'm amazed by it.   It is fascinating to see a hawk, coyote or bear in real life. 

Until now, I've thought we coexisted reasonably well with the wildlife.  But, the bears present an unusual challenge.  They're just so big and strong.   Coyotes can be fenced out. But, bears -- they go where they want and do what they want, including breaking through fences and ripping the siding off a chicken coop.        

I have to admit they're wearing on me.   I can deal with the trash barrels.    I don't like it, but I can fix a fence or two.   But, I hate losing our chickens. 

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As I post this, I'm not sure what we're going to do.  We hear from others that bears are still in the neighborhood.   As things stand, we have no way to stop them from breaking into the coop again.   And, if we left our remaining chickens in the coop, the bears would certainly return for more.   So, while we figure things out, we've temporarily  relocated our chickens to another home.

Saturday Morning Cardoons

Bee in cardoons

 Our cardoon plant took off this year and is now about eight feet tall.  It is related to the artichoke, and grows dramatic purple flowers on top of a spiky globe.   The bees love them.  Supposedly, cardoon stalks and flowers are popular food items in the Mediterranean.     We tried the stalks and found them stringy.  Maybe we harvested too late in the year.  

Memorial Day 2012

As I've done for past Memorial Days, today's photo is of the base of the Gold Star Mothers flagpole at Victory Park which was built in remembrance of those who died in service to their county in WWII.   Today, one who remembers adorned the plaque with flowers and a United States flag.

Roses aligned in a "V" remind us that, in 1952,  the City of Pasadena dedicated all of Victory Park as “a living memorial to those who fell in World War II."

A couple of years ago, Ann Erdman did a fine piece on  the founding of Victory Park.  She tells the park's story from the end of the war to the 1952 park dedication.    Eleanor Boyd, national president of the American Gold Star Mothers, and Pasadena's Mayor, Alson Abernathy, presided over the opening festivities.

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Today is a day to honor those who died in service to our country.  It is a day to remember.

A Morning Bear

We were having breakfast this morning, sitting at the table right next to the screen door.   I had my back to the door and was enjoying some morning eggs and coffee, when our daughter says, "there's a bear."    My first thought was that she was kidding.  Her voice was a little too calm.  So, I took another bite of eggs.

My second thought was that it was strange for her to kid about a bear.  Why kid about that?  So, I turned around and looked outside.  There, on the other side of the screen door, not more than ten feet from us, was a young bear.

He roamed over to our chickens, which sent the birds scurrying inside their pen.   The bear sniffed around the chicken wire, pushed on it a bit, thankfully not hard enough to push it over.  Then he moved on.

The bear climbed our apricot tree.  It is not a very good shot, but I got a picture of him in the middle of the tree looking back at me.   There's not much fruit left on the tree. Most all of our apricots are eaten by kids doing exactly what the bear was doing -- climbing around the tree looking for ripe apricots.

After about ten minutes we watched the bear move on.

Signs -- Geese Crossing

About this time of year, geese have a habit of hanging around Pasadena High School.   In past years, we've seen geese resting on the median grass in front of PHS and have even seen goslings tottering up Washington Blvd. on the east side of PHS.   Last year, I did a post with photos titled The Geese of Pasadena High and this year, it looks like the geese are back again.    So much so, that someone has posted this geese crossing sign on the Sierra Madre Blvd. median in front of the school.  So, watch out for geese when you're near PHS.