Altadena Urban Farmers Market - Sunday Dec. 19

This Sunday brings the third Altadena Urban Farmers Market. It all starts at 1 pm at the Zane Grey Estate, at East Mariposa St. and Marengo Ave.

You can go to the market's Facebook for the latest information about vendors. Prolific blogger Victor Caballero has a great review of the October market here and photos of the November market here.

This market is something you really should do. You'll be supporting an emerging local economy and, even if just for a moment, disengaging from all the wasteful trappings of commerce as we typically know it.

You'll find wonderful handmade foods and products - all locally produced and all first rate. The folks who run this thing make the best goat cheese in the county and they've scouted out other top quality local vendors. The range of offerings has expanded each month, but already includes cheese, coffee, honey, breads, garden produce, eggs, plants, soaps, bbq sauce, granola, and home remedies -- all of which you can purchase directly from the person that made the product. It doesn't get any better than that.

And, when you go, please visit my wife's table. Marcia has a line of items that she's made for our family for years and is now offering through her new business, HomeBody Botanicals. It is all nontoxic and all made right here in our kitchen. So far, she offers detergent, household cleaner, salves and skin treatments. She will also have her Fire Cider, a traditional anti-cold remedy that has been infusing for weeks. It is strong stuff, but works when you've got a tickle in the back of your throat.

Hummingbirds

It had been a busy day. While working in the yard, I watched hummingbirds and bees flying around the lemon tree. I heard them buzz by me a couple of times.

Hummingbirds are interesting little birds. They feed by opening their beaks slightly to allow their long tube-like tongue to slip into the flower for nectar. I've never seen this, but hummingbirds also eat insects by nabbing small bugs in flight or picking them off of spider webs.

If you're prone to hyperventilation, you don't want to hang out with a hummingbird. At rest, they take about 250 breaths per minute. Their little heart races as fast -- up to 1,200 beats per minute in flight.

There is a lot interesting hummingbird history. Hummingbirds don't exist in the Eastern Hemisphere. So, when Europeans arrived in the Americas, they had never seen anything like these colorful little birds that could fly every which way. The Europeans were fascinated. Columbus was so impressed that he presented the Pope with a hummingbird skin.

By the 1800's hummingbird skins were popular items in Europe. According to Hummingbird World, millions of hummingbird skins were shipped from South America to Europe for use in artificial flowers, dust catchers and ornaments.

Hummingbirds were also hot fashion items. Seems barbaric today, but in the early 1900's, hummingbird feathers and sometimes whole hummingbirds were used to decorate women's hats. Fortunately wearing dead birds held fashion for only a short period of time. By 1921, both the US and England passed laws limiting the feather trade.

Happy Thanksgiving

A cautious step forward and a wary eye looking back, this wild turkey is not a bad image for the times. Wary times or not, there is much to be thankful for and it is good to pause and count our blessings. Happy Thanksgiving!

Election Day

When we first moved to Pasadena, our polling place was at the old mortuary at Orange Grove and Mentor. I know votes count the same no matter where they are cast, but entering a mortuary to vote just kind of messed with the symbolism of the whole day. I didn't like it.

I much prefer voting at Victory Park. You can't get a more appropriate polling place.

Had a double privilege today. I did my voting early today, then later traveled out to my dad's to help him cast his votes.

Let it Rain -- at least a little

This photo, taken this evening from Gwinn Park (on Orange Grove just west of Eaton Wash), shows the park's pines in the foreground and Mt. Wilson in the background with dark clouds gathered around. I saw quite a bit of lightening against the mountains and to the west.

Oh, there was a light rain at the park as I took this shot. Ahhhhh, a cool respite from all the recent heat.

Very, very unusual weather we're having.

Hot

The Weather Channel on my computer says it reached 105 degrees -- just a few degrees shy of the record for the day of 108 hit in 1963. But my car thinks it hit 112 degrees.

Owl Talk

Lately, after nightfall, we've been hearing the hoot of an owl. Tonight we heard two owls. If you click on the video and turn the sound up you can hear the owls. In mid-video, I saw the two very large birds fly away.

The owls are likely Great Horned Owls. The Eaton Canyon bird page says Great Horned Owls are common to our area. Other owls (like the western screech owl and northern pygmy) have been seen, but only rarely.

The Great Horned Owl is a fascinating bird. As I heard tonight, male and female owls call together - each in its own pitch. They hunt at night by swooping down from a perch to snatch their prey in their strong talons. Don't even think about shaking hands with a Great Horned Owl. The crushing power of their talons is almost ten times that of a adult human hand. Like most other raptors, they have extraordinary eyesight and hearing, but a very poor sense of smell. The later quality probably explains why skunks are a regular part of their diet.