San Gabriel Mountains -- From Santa Anita

I think I've posted more pictures of the San Gabriel Mountains than anything else. The mountains are our "most dominant scenic assets."

Views of the mountains -- really good panoramic views -- are few and far between. Though the mountains loom a mile high behind us, it is hard to see or feel the full force of their presence. The built out city predominates.

But, if you're looking, there are mountain views to be had. Among the reasons I like East Pas are the many ground level mountain vistas that still remain. Victory Park has great views to the east. Neighboring cities have some great views too.

For this view, I travelled all the way to Arcadia. The view from Santa Anita is hard to beat.

We were there yesterday, which was Free Friday (admission is free every Friday). Watched the horses, lost a little money, but enjoyed terrific mountain views.

Bear Sightings -- Bear Swimming in Upper Hastings Ranch

The Star News reports today that a bear raided some trash cans and then strolled through an Upper Hastings Ranch neighborhood apparently chased by Animal Control officers. No pictures, but the story says the bear stopped periodically to swim in some backyard pools.

Here's the part of the story I didn't like: "Had the bear damaged property, the law would have required that it be destroyed, California Department of Fish and Game spokesman Harry Morse said."

It is hard to know what has gone on before with bears in this neighborhood, but the state response seems a little heavy handed and premature. For the most part, I think folks who live near the mountain's edge welcome sightings of wildlife and take responsibility for themselves and their property. That seems right to me. There are many things you can do to deter wildlife from getting into your trash for instance.

But, is it really that stark for the state authorities. You call them and if there's any property damage -- bang the bear's gone? Isn't there something else they can do? I would think a little more measured response is in order from the state authorities. There must be some reasonable alternatives that have not been explored.

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This summer we've seen an increase in wildlife activity in NE Pas neighborhoods. I think the increase started even before the fires. The Station Fire burned a lot of wildlife habitat and presumably either killed many wild animals or forced them into unburned areas of the mountains. Since the unburned areas are closest to neighborhoods, it will be interesting to see whether we see even more bears and other wildlife in our NE Pas neighborhoods.

Wallpaper and Nails

One of the joys of rehabbing an old house is uncovering what was done by those who came before. In painting a small bedroom we found three different papers on the wall. Actually all of these were hidden under a fourth wall paper -- a solid rattan kind of paper. That paper had been painted over in green and then tan.

I think there should be a rule that prohibits more than three layers of wallpaper. Kind of like a roof. If you get to three layers of wallpaper, you have to tear it all off and start new.

We also found some square cut nails. Very cool stuff. These old nails didn't have the pointy ends of newer wire nails. Can't imagine hammering these blunt metal things into wood all day.

Spiders

Every morning around day-break I take the dog out. It is a great time to see stuff.

Like this spider. I see it every morning. Same spot. Just hanging out seemingly in mid-air.

We have a little game going -- the spider and I. Spider sits motionless in the center of its web. I watch the spider from a distance. It makes not one move. Probably sleeping, I think, or tired from a long night at work. So, I try to sneak up for a picture, a really good one. I don't make a sound and carefully move to within a few feet. Somehow spider hasn't yet noticed a couple hundred pounds of human creeping toward it. I'm gonna get a great shot. I slowly raise my camera, focus, and just before the click -- BAM -- the spider is gone scampering over its web and out of sight. Spider wins. I lose. One more blurry picture to delete.

If not great with the camera; I am persistent. This morning I finally got a passable shot. I couldn't get the spider in mid-web, but did get an interesting shot of it working away at the edge of its web. I'll take it.

I'm not a big spider guy. But they are fascinating to look at close up.


I don't know what kind of spider this is. It is big. The body is about the size of a quarter. The web is well constructed and about three to four feet across. Above is a side view of the web. Not something I'd like to run into at night. Fun stuff first thing in the morning.

Alligator Pears

I've been watching our avocado tree for many many moons. Going on six years to be exact. No production. Not a single avocado. Nada.

So this year we decided to do something dramatically different. We watered the tree. And ta-da. We have avocados! Lots of them.

I'm so excited to have avocados actually growing on our tree that I've gone a little overboard with documenting the tree -- from flowers to little fruit and now larger fruit. The photo above was taken a few months ago when the Jacarandas were in full flower and the moon happened to be out. If you look carefully you'll see baby avocados hanging toward the bottom of the photo.



This picture kind of shows why some call avocados "alligator pears." A nice descriptive name for a fruit I think.

I grew up with avocados. My grandfather grew them (and watered them I bet). He grew both Hass and Fuerte so we had avocados most of the year -- boxes of them.

To help them ripen up, my mom used to stuff avocados in the towel drawers. The towels were soft and warm and protected the fruit while it ripened. It was a common thing in our house to go to the towel drawers and dig around for a ripe avocado.

Then, of course, if you found a ripe avocado, you'd need some fresh lemon to go with it. And some toast. Salt and pepper. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I'm told we have a couple of months before it is time to pick. I can't wait.

Coyotes

Since our Coyote Encounter, I've been trying to get a good picture of one of these sneaky varmints. I see a lot of coyotes around here, but for a myriad of reasons have never taken a decent picture of one -- it is too early for good light, or I can't get the camera out in time, or I get the photo, but it is of the coyote's hind end as he escapes into the bush. Never a decent shot.

But, early this morning turning a corner, I caught this guy by surprise. He froze and we froze. The camera worked and I got this shot.

When we lived more toward central Pasadena, we occasionally saw coyotes who would roam the street early in the morning. They are very good at what they do, which is sneak around and scavenge any food they can find. And they are not picky eaters. So, with more people there is more food around to scavenge, which allows for more coyotes.

Since moving to NE Pas, near the foothills, we regularly see coyotes. Mostly they're out in the early morning. I've seen them at night eyeing our chickens through the chicken wire. We also hear their hyena-like yelps. Here's sample of what a pack of coyotes sounds like courtesy of the LA County Agricultural Dept.

Our big Coyote Encounter was a year and a half ago. We had just started keeping chickens and were introducing our young hens to their newly built outdoor coop. Well, the gate to our otherwise super-secure coop was apparently left open. I made it outside just in time to see a coyote grab a hen in his mouth and run away. It was a sad day.

But, fortunately it was still spring and we were undeterred. We went right out and got six more day old chicks and started over. Since then, we make sure the gate is latched. We also have a dog, who barks like crazy whenever predators are near.

Earthside Story Continues -- California Wild Grapes

These are California wild grapes growing at the Earthside Nature Center across the wash from Eaton Blanche Park. I've been watching these for months now, waiting for them to ripen up. And here they are. They are surprisingly tasty little things. They have a small seed in the middle, not much pulp, and resemble (to this connoisseur -pronounced with a long "e") a very light sweet concord grape.

The vines plainly had been loaded. Many grapes, however, have already turned into raisins. Others have been eaten by birds. But, plenty ripe purple fruit remains. We had alot of fun sampling the wild grapes and even some wild grape raisins.


Earthside was a nationally known native plant garden, but has not been tended since about 1996. That means these grapes have not been irrigated for a long long time. No matter. These have flourished on their own.

I took this picture last May and it shows how the vines sprawl over the fence at the northern edge of Earthside. Reportedly California wild grapes aren't good wine grapes. We may test that out. However, the wild grape is strong and disease resistant and is used as rootstock for wine grapes.

Bonus picture of Mt. Wilson from the nature center kiosk. Two dead redwood trees have been removed opening up this vista. As you can see, the transmission towers high atop Mt. Wilson still stand.

Extra bonus shot. Here's a bench under a sycamore where you can eat your wild grapes. As you can see, a tractor has turned under much of the brush that took over the garden this summer.