Chaparral Web

Often on our morning walks we’ll spy the classic ring-and-spoke webs of an orb-weaving spider that is common in the chaparral. In the fall, when the mornings are often moist, these webs will be covered with a very fine mist that refracts the morning light, making them highly visible with great contrast against the background. This is especially true in the very early morning light, and even more so if you can catch a web lit by the sun with the background still in the dark.

The web at right is from our walk this morning.

Misty Morning

I took the picture at right on our morning walk (Debi, and our field spaniels Mo’i and Lea). It’s common for us to be able to see fog or mist in the valleys to the west of us while on these walks. It’s a little less common, but certainly not uncommon, for the tendrils of mist and fog to waft their way to our house. And occasionally we get well and truly “socked in”.

This morning, as we left our house on our walk, the sun was out (the birds were chirping, too!). As we climbed the hill we normally walk up, and our views of the western valleys got more expansive, we saw the mist creeping our way. When we reached the top of the hill and turned around to come home, the mist crept toward us. The hill poking through the mist in the picture at right is about 200' higher than our house — which by this time was completely socked in. In the distance you can see Cajon Mountain.

As we walked back toward home, we decended right into that mist — and the next thing we knew, the world looked like the fogged-in scene at right. Kinda weird, to start out in the sunlight and come back in the fog!

The weather forecast claims that we have a 50% chance of showers tonight and tomorrow. Here’s hoping!

Rhus Ovata

This chaparral plant is very common on the north-facing valley slopes where we live. Commonly known as the “sugar sumac” (why, I have no idea!) or the “lemonade berry” (because you can make a refreshing lemonade-like drink by soaking its berries in water), Rhus ovata is a member of the sumac family and is extraordinarily well-adapted to the hot, dry climate of the chaparral.

I took the picture at right on our walk this morning. The red/pink/white structures are, I believe, the beginnings of the fruit which will form during the fall.

The drought-resistance of this plant is legendary. During our recent five years of drought, Rhus ovata was, on many hillsides, the only vibrantly green plant left. I’ve never seen one that looked sickly, even in the driest, nastiest summer. And they’re fire-resistant — we may be planting some of these!

Making Us Crazy

Early this morning I cut up a big pork loin roast into cubes and stuffed it into our slow-cooker, along with some onion, garlic, cumin, and a chipotle pepper. Ten hours later — about 5 hours from now — we will have carnitas, probably my all-time favorite Mexican food.

But in the meantime, the delicious, intoxicating aroma of cooking carnitas is wafting through our house. And it’s making us crazy. Crazier, anyway.

Somehow the dogs don’t seem to care about this smell. Isn’t that weird? With their sensitive noses, I figured the intense meatness of this smell would reduce them to quivering, whining, begging lumps of canine protoplasm. But they’re asleep, as though nothing were going on.

Go figure!

Update: Well, maybe the dogs knew something we didn’t. Despite the glorious odor while it was cooking, the resulting carnitas were less than excellent. Not even very good. In fact, they were just barely on the right side of awful. Somewhere between the slow-cookery and the final saute, something went horribly wrong…

Dog's Prayer

A Dog’s Prayer

by Beth Norman Harris

Treat me kindly , my beloved master, for no heart in all the world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of me. Do not break my spirit with a stick, for although I should lick your hand between blows, your patience and understanding will more quickly teach me the things you would have me do.

Speak to me often, for your voice is the world’s sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footstep falls upon my waiting ear.

When it is cold and wet, please take me inside, for I am now a domesticated animal, no longer used to bitter elements. And I ask no greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the hearth.

Though had you no home, I would rather follow you through ice and snow than rest upon the softest pillow in the warmest home in the land, for you are my god and I am your devoted worshipper.

Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for although I should not reproach you were it dry, I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst.

Feed me clean food so that I may stay well to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side, and stand ready willing and able to protect you with my life should your life be in danger.

And beloved master , should the Great Master see fit to deprive me of my health or sight, do not turn me away from you. Rather, hold me gently in your arms as skilled hands grant me the merciful boon of eternal rest … and I will leave you knowing with the last breath I draw, my fate was ever safest in your hands.

Senior Exercise

I came across this exercise suggested for seniors, to build muscle strength in the arms and shoulders. It seems so easy, I thought I’d pass it on. The article suggested doing it three days a week. Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5-LB. potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides, and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, then relax.

Each day, you’ll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb. potato sacks. Then 50-lb. potato sacks, and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb. potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute.

Once you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each of the sacks.

Tip of the hat to the maternal one…

Brown Envelopes

A commentary piece in today’s WSJ (by Stuart Karle, the Wall Street Journal’s general counsel) contains this paragraph:

From the WSJ “In Defense of a Press Shield Law” ($) (emphasis added):

That’s the irony of Miller/Cooper. Shielding sources is supposed to enable journalists to report valuable information that the public otherwise couldn’t get; here, deals with sources deprived the public of perhaps the most relevant information: the identity not of Mr. Wilson’s wife, but of the sources. It’s hard to believe that if Miller/Cooper had refused to cloak Messrs. Rove’s and Libby’s identities forevermore the story wouldn’t have gotten out anyway. A brown envelope to a blogger would have served the purpose.

The WSJ is the blogger-friendliest MSM publication that I’ve seen. Their commentators frequently mention blogs, both as sources and as corroboration. James Taranto with his “Best of the Web Today” is a blogger who happens to work for the WSJ, and publishes the blog as part of his job. And this paragraph seems typical of the WSJ’s assumption that bloggers are part of the landscape of news reporting … and occasionally, they’re even useful <smile>.

What’s surprising isn’t what you see in the WSJ. The absence of such things in the rest of the MSM (and I know I’m over-generalizing here, but I believe the point is valid) is what’s surprising. What’s up with them, anyhow? Perhaps they just see bloggers as threatening? Or is that an overly simple way of dismissing their dissing?

Michael Yon

Michael Yon has filed another report in his remarkable series from Iraq, this one about the recent elections. A teaser:

From Michael Yon’s report “Purple Fingers":

Major Yayha laughed, “Yes, no longer afraid to talk with Police or Army. This is good change.” The moment was warm and fuzzy, but the true situation is not. There is little doubt that the people are getting more confident in their new world, but the under-theme is still Jungle Law. Major Yayha expressed gratitude to America for supporting Iraq, and I did not have the heart to say that many Americans are ready to abandon him powerless and adrift on windswept sands.

And his conclusion:

It had been quiet from my perch. The guns had been silenced long enough that we could hear the Iraqi voice speak for a second time. The voice was louder, stronger, and prouder than it had been in January.

You really don’t want to miss this — go read the whole thing at “Purple Fingers"…

Oh, and the photo at right (click for a larger view) is some GI humor that Michael Yon captured in passing: “Turn Your Hamster into a Fighting Machine!” <smile>…

Dog Rules

The evolution of dog rules in a household:

1. The dog is not allowed in the house.

2. Okay, the dog is allowed in the house, but only in certain rooms.

3. The dog is allowed in all rooms, but has to stay off the furniture.

4. The dog can get on the old furniture only.

5. Fine, the dog is allowed on all the furniture, but is not allowed to sleep with humans on the bed.

6. Okay, the dog is allowed on the bed, but only by invitation.

7. The dog can sleep on the bed whenever he wants, but not under the covers.

8. The dog can sleep under the covers by invitation only.

9. Okay, the dog can sleep under the covers every night.

10. Humans must ask permission to sleep under the covers with the dog.

That pretty much sums it up at our house, with Mo’i and Lea!

Tip of the hat to Tammy Bruce — I went to her blog expecting political commentary and got this smile-inducer instead. Good trade!

The Rottweiler Speaks

Just go read this right now. But put down your cup of coffee before your do it!

Hackaday

Here’s one of the geekliest blogs I’ve seen in a while: Hackaday, a blog that promises:

hack a day serves up a fresh hack each day, every day from around the web and a special how-to hack each week.

Tip 'o the hat to Simon for the link.

Simon recommended “Hacking Sleep", but my favorite of the still-current hacks was do-it-yourself railgun (pictured at right above). The Hackaday post on the railgun led me to the Railgun Blog — a classic technoblog, quite well done…

Wouldn’t a personal railgun be just the ticket for taking care of our gopher problem? Hmmmm…