California 2020 Revisited

I was doing a bit of a look-back and realized I needed to write a catch up blog. So, let's roll back the time machine ...

In March 2020, we made a very hurried return to Canada when Mr. Trudeau recommended that all Canadians get themselves homes soon as possible. In our rush to get back, and with all the new things we were learning about CoVid on a daily basis, I never got around to finishing up our 2020 winter stay.  

After talking about it every year, finally in March 2020, we took ourselves on a touristy trip to Los Angeles. We stayed in a hotel not far from Santa Monica Boulevard and upon our arrival, enjoyed a nice walk along the boulevard to the pier.

The Santa Monica Pier, Late Afternoon

We spent some time walking the length of the pier, taking in the buskers, and having some ice cream before we made our way along the beach and back to the hotel. 

Early sunset along the beach

The next day, we went on a city hop-on-hop-off bus tour. This was an interesting way to see a lot of the sites and hear interesting stories shared by the guides. We rode past the gates to Beverly Hills, walked along Rodeo Drive, looked up at the famous Hollywood sign, and went passed Universal Studios and other production lots as well as the theatre where the Jimmy Kimmel show is filmed. My sister and I were big Beatles fans, and I was amazed to see the Capitol Records building looking just as it did in our ’60s teen magazines. (Capitol Records was the Beatles' recording label at the time.)

Capitol Records building

A fascinating stop was the La Brea Tar Pits and Park.  From the website (tarpits.org), “The black gooey substance bubbling to the surface is actually asphalt. That this heavy, viscous substance is commonly called tar is misleading. Asphalt is the lowest grade of crude oil, and it can be found seeping to the surface throughout the Tar Pits park.”  We found lots of spots where the goo was right at the surface and were careful not to step in any of it.  Staff set out makers so one can try to avoid the goo, but not all of spots were marked as new seepages can arise anywhere, any time.  

Sandy says, "Mind the gooey stuff!"

I have always been a HUGE Carol Burnett fan, so I made it my mission to find her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame along Hollywood Boulevard. This, of course, is a tourist heavy area and also frequented by street people. Dodging the crowds, I quickly made my move and had Sandy take a picture of me by my favourite star’s star.  

Star-struck Kate

Our timing for this tourist trip was pretty good. Shortly after we returned to our La Quinta home, a nasty storm made its way over the mountains and into the desert.  We don’t get much rain there, but when we do, it makes it worth it’s while and this storm caused flash flood warnings to be issued.      

Storm Coming Over the Mountains

A Whole Lotta Rain (2 1/4 inches)

Flooded Road on Next Day's Ride

Because of the new arrival of CoVid (remember when it didn’t exist?) things were changing rapidly. While the Coachella Valley dried up from the storm, things heated up with regards to CoVid-19. With news of its spread internationally, I told Sandy that I thought it was a pandemic and we should head home. Sure enough, two days later, WHO officially declared the pandemic, and shortly there after, Mr. Trudeau said “get home!”  

The First CoVid Information Poster 

Panic Buying Had Begun

We heeded the call, and in one and a half days (record time!) we had our house shut down and the vehicle packed up, a process that usually takes about a week.  We started to make our way home more than a month earlier than planned. There was an upside to this in that there was next to no traffic on freeways that are usually bumper to bumper, especially through Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.  

Next to No Traffic in Las Vegas

Although we knew he was getting up in years, at the time, we didn't know this would be Benny's last road trip.  He always loved spending time in the vehicle and a long road trip was his idea of a great time.

Benny (on the right) Enjoying the View 

After our usual three days of driving, we were safely back home and started our compulsory 14 days of quarantine.  We didn’t complain about that too much cuz it was -20C when we got back and we weren’t keen to go out in that kind of cold after being in shorts the last 4 months!  Many thanks to our friends Deb C and Vivian H who kindly did grocery drop-offs for us. The only place we could go was outside for short walks and a bit of fresh air. 

Braving the Cold During Our Quarantine Walk

So, that was just over two years ago. Hopefully, we are getting closer to CoVid being a lot more manageable than the beast it has been.  Wouldn't it be great if it would just go away? We wish you lots of happiness and good health.  

Probably Still Good Advice

Creature Feature

Well, I decided it was time for something a little different, so here we go with our first Creature Feature. 

During one of our first walks after relocating to our winter home, Rockie and I were approaching a bougainvillea shrub when a sparrow landed on it.  The bird just kept watching us and as I got closer, in a soft voice, I asked it to stay put so I could take its picture. Interestingly enough, it just kept watching me get nearer, tipping its head this way and that, patiently waiting for me to take the photo. It let me get quite close, chirping back at me each time I spoke to it.  Our friend Wendy P said he was probably telling me that Ben was okay and that we would be too. A nice thought, both from Wendy and the bird, as we still miss having Ben with us.

White Crowned Sparrow, the counsellor

A very common bird here is the Mockingbird.  They get their name from the fact that they imitate other birds’ songs and can have quite the repertoire.  We were on a Zoom call while out on our patio, a couple of weeks ago, and the other people on the call commented that they could hear all the birds in our yard. Nope, we said, it was just one bird sounding like a whole bunch taking turns. A mockingbird was perched on the neighbour’s rooftop, going through his own personal play list.  Interestingly, they are a member of the cuckoo family of birds, known for the behaviour of laying their eggs in the nests of other bird species, thus taking on absolutely no child rearing or family responsibilities.

Mockingbird

Probably the bird we were most excited to see when we first started coming down here is the Roadrunner. Sandy and I often see them run across the road when we are out cycling, and I have seen one with a rather larger lizard in its bill, lizards being their favourite food. They do waggle their tail up and down, but that’s about all I can see that they have in common with the cartoon roadrunner we grew up watching on TV.  Well, then again, if Rockie and I see one when we are out on a walk, it will invariably run just a bit down the sidewalk then as we start to approach it, it will run off just a bit further, again, and again, teasing Rockie as the cartoon version would tease Wile E. Coyote. 

Greater Roadrunner

A very pretty bird, that is quite stunning to see, is the Vermillion Fly Catcher.  They are fun to watch as they sally forth from a tree, catch a fly, then sally back … repeating until full. A rather small fly catcher, I had to zoom in with my new iPhone 13 Pro and then crop the photo to get this image. I do all my photography with my iPhone, now, as I always have it with me. I upgraded to the 13 Pro just before we left in the fall and its camera system is a major improvement versus my old iPhone 7.  

Vermillion Fly Catcher

Our former neighbour, Pat H, volunteers at the Living Desert Zoo and had one free guest pass to offer us.  Sandy decided she would go for a bike ride and happily sent me on my way to join Pat for an afternoon at the Zoo.  The Zoo had just opened a new exhibit to accommodate two Black Rhinos it has acquired. The Rhino Savanna is a remarkable “enclosure” that doesn’t look like an enclosure at all. The day I was there was just shortly after the exhibit had been opened to the public and only the female rhino was out.  Wow, she is one BIG creature. They also have a male, and the two will eventually be part of the international zoo system’s rhino breeding programme.  When these rhinos wallow in the mud in their native habitats, the dried mud on their hides makes them appear to be black, hence the name.

 Black Rhino

While at the zoo, Pat and I were quite entertained by the antics of the mob of meerkats on site.  As would be the case in the wild, there was always at least one standing tall on its haunches keeping watch while the others appeared to be obsessively digging … looking for food, creating tunnels, or maybe just burning off nervous energy.  They are pretty darn cute and quite fun to watch.

Off duty Meerkat sunbathing

The zoo is located right at the base of some of the hills/mountains that create the Coachella Valley.  The local bighorn sheep herds are of a protected species.   Some members of the herd can usually be spotted on the slopes of the zoo, looking at the humans looking at the animals.

Peninsular Bighorn Sheep

There are lots of geckos, lizards, and even a few chuckwallas around these days as the desert heats up and the cold blooded creatures come out to enjoy the warmth.  The warmer they get, the faster they move, much to Rockie’s chagrin. She has managed to catch some geckos and small lizards, but I think a chuckwalla could probably take her on as they are monster sized compared to a gecko.  The lizard, below, is just about to hide in the gap in the bricks of the retaining wall Rockie was walking on.

Lizard heading to safety

Speaking of Rockie hunting, here is a video of her hunting in a rosemary shrub.  Usually, I see a gecko or lizard run out the opposite side of the shrub before she even get there.  Unaware of its escape, Rockie tries to flush it out anyway.  Rosemary shrubs are quite tough, as you can see, and Rockie comes out very fragrant!

Rockie hunting

One evening, we had two of our cycling buddies, Rhonda M and Pat M, over for taco night as Rhonda and I prepared four different types of tacos for dinner. While we were eating outside on the patio, Pat spied a rather larger bird on a neighbour’s chimney stack across the street. Through our binoculars, we could see that it was a peregrine falcon, also having its dinner.  We watched as it would reach down and pull up bits of the prey it had caught and was holding in its claws.  I hope it enjoyed its meal as much as we enjoyed ours!  Unfortunately, it was just a bit too far for me to take a photo.  Creature fact:  Peregrines are the world’s fastest bird and use to fly by my 28th floor office window in downtown Edmonton in full zoom mode while on the hunt. 

Peregrine falcon dining
Internet photo by Craig Greer

The next evening, we were having a nice visit by our fire pit with Ted and Wendy P.  The sun was just setting when a Great Horned Owl flew across the length of our back yard, about 15 feet above us, and perched in a palm tree across the street. It called back and forth with another owl for a few minutes before flying off … perhaps for a romantic rendezvous, it is springtime, after all.  Again, we were not able to get a photo of our own.

Great Horned Owl
Internet photo by Judi Dressler

During their visit, Wendy asked if Rockie ever dug amongst the rocks in the fire pit.  Sandy replied that she had in the past but hadn’t done so for quite a while. Well that conversation must have planted an idea in Rockie’s head, as the next day she went hunting for geckos in the fire pit. By the time we discovered her antics, she had removed many of the big lava rocks, now with fresh coverings of soot from the previous nights’ fires.  Her face and legs would have betrayed her even if we hadn’t caught her in the act!

 Sooty Rockie

Rockie even managed to make a mess of herself while exploring Rhonda M's backyard while ignoring her dogs, Izzy and Angel.  She was too busy checking to see if there was anything worth hunting in their yard to visit with anyone.  The geckos and bugs were safe for another day.

Hunting at Rhonda's
Photo by Rhonda M

This year, we have increased our hummingbird feeders to three. Sandy checks them every morning to make sure the “nectar” is still clear and the feed holes aren’t plugged.  This is usually met by at least one of the little hummers giving her what for and hovering nearby to make sure she gets everything done correctly. They may be tiny, but they are bossy, demanding, and rather impatient.   

Sandy trying to hang up a fresh feeder 

The next short video may look like there is a hummingbird at the feeder, but it is not. It is an Orange Crowned Warbler doing its best to get itself a nice sweet meal. We saw it try this a number of times over a few days before it decided that it wasn’t a hummingbird after all.

*

Orange Crowned Warbler "Hummingbird"

That’s all for this, our first Creature Feature. We hope you found it interesting, perhaps informative, and a bit entertaining.  Our time in the desert is now winding down.  Soon we will be closing this house for the summer and will start getting ourselves ready to make the trip home. 

As always, we hope all is well with you and yours.  We look forward to hearing from you, so send us an email or post a message, below.

Altitude Training Road Trip

If I haven’t mentioned it before, where we are located during the winter is actually below sea level.  With my altimeter app providing a reading of -72 feet at our house, we decided we needed to spend some time on our bikes at a bit higher altitude. Sandy booked us a couple of nights in a hotel, I booked Rockie into the Grand Paw Pet Resort, and off we went. En route to our destination, of course, we got hungry so we stopped off at Chipotle’s and enjoyed excellent build-your-own bowl lunches. These came, not only with napkins, but advice offering toothpicks.

We arrived too early for check-in so we went for a short walk about and found these pretty flowers which are in the African Daisy family.

Osteospermum:  aka Freeway Daisy or Blue-Eyed Beauty

Whenever I am on an adventure, I like to look for something interesting that I can take home. That usually means I pick up stones here and there that have interesting shapes, colours, or markings. Interestingly enough, my nephew Evan and his son Brenden have inherited this same trait. We make quite the trio and drive my poor sister-in-law, Lynn, nuts as she is often the recipient of the various collected items!  Here I am, taking a photo of my interesting collection of the day.

Kate collecting                                    Collection of the day

So, by now, you are probably wondering just where this altitude training camp was located. Well, we went all the way over to the coast, about two hours west of here, to a little place called Sunset Beach, right adjacent to Huntington Beach.  

 Arriving at our hotel, we had already gained 77 feet of altitude.😉

After we finally checked in at the hotel, we headed out on a short bike ride, mostly along the paved beach “boardwalk.”  The beach here is part of a continuous stretch of 11 miles of sandy beach with many beachside communities, including Newport Beach, Sunset Beach, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, and Long Beach and probably more but I didn’t look them all up.  Part of the boardwalk we were on rose up to a bluff about 30 feet above the beach. In this section, there were lots of trees and grassy areas that were home to a zillion California ground squirrels. Compared to the Richardson’s ground squirrels (aka gophers) we have at home, these things are monsters! They are huge, weighing up to 3 pounds with bodies about 1 foot long and tails an additional 6 to 8 inches in length. They have extensive burrows, much evidenced but the ground being riddled with entrance holes.  They seem rather bold and this one just watched as I got closer and closer to take his picture. I love the trompe l’oeil this photo creates as one cannot appreciate the drop off from the bluff to the beach below making it appear as though the tent in the image belongs to the squirrel.  

California Ground Squirrel on a camping trip to the beach?

I am always on the look out for interesting signs and made Sandy pose by this one for obvious reasons.

We started out on this ride shortly after 4PM with Sandy thinking that if we timed our return just right, we would be able to watch the sun go down as we rode back along the beach to our hotel. Well, she called this one perfectly, and towards the end of our 40km ride, we stopped to take in the sunset.

 Sunset at Sunset Beach

Sandy watches as the sun sets right into the ocean

The next day, we headed out on our main ride of the trip.  From our hotel, we rode about 5km along the Pacific Cost Highway to Seal Beach where we got onto the San Gabriel River Bikeway. This is a paved two lane bike road, just bikes, no vehicles, which follows along the San Gabriel River as it flows between the base of the San Gabriel mountains and the ocean.

San Gabriel River channel to the left, huge greenhouse operation on the right

The river has been “channelized” for most of the portion that we rode, so  it was like riding along a cement canal. 

 A cyclist and his bike in the channel ... 🎵rollin' in the river🎵 

Pelicans on a pond to the side of the bikeway

We did eventually get to the natural portion of the river, however, that part of the river was dry at this time.  With the run-off from the spring melt in the San Gabriels expected in the next couple of weeks, the river should be flowing here soon.

A cowboy and his dogs in the river bed

The full length of the bikeway, as it connects the mountains to the ocean, is 38 miles.  Mile zero is posted at Seal Beach and that is where we got onto the bikeway.  We rode to mile 27 then turned back to Seal Beach.  We know exactly how far we rode along the bikeway as most of it is marked off at quarter mile increments with markings such as “mile 7.25 of the San Gabriel River Bikeway” stenciled on the pavement. We also encountered another marking on the pavement as noted in the photo.

We wondered what this "greeting" meant, or referred to.  A little further on, we think we found out.  A number of homeless people had established encampments at various locations along the middle section of the bikeway.  Many of these were set up under the shelter and in the shade of underpasses where the bikeway dips beneath major streets. Some camps, as the one in the photo, below, were quite large with a few people setting up together. Others were on their own and very rustic. All were surrounded by all sorts of items of importance or street value. We would say “hi" and acknowledge those who made eye contact with us, but respected their autonomy and turf and passed through as quickly as we could. Some of the people looked very rough and as though they were living through considerable difficulties. Out of respect, we did not take any photos of the more desperate appearing people or their homes.

Part of the largest homeless camp; it will have to relocate during the spring melt

At the mile 27 mark we decided to turned around so we could get back before the sun started to go down. The elevation at our turnaround point was 338 feet, a total of 410 feet above our house. So that was our “high altitude” training ride. The climb was so gradual, we hardly notice the gradient. 

Heading west, back to Seal Beach, towards the end of the afternoon

This was an out and back route, so the return trip was the reverse of the outgoing. By the time we got back to our hotel, the total distance for this ride was exactly 100 kilometers, or 62 miles.

Even Scotty, the Highlander, had a nice view of the beach

So, there you have it.  Probably only Kate and Sandy could turn a trip to the coast into an "altitude" camp. But what the heck, we all need to exercise our senses of humour once in a while. 

Heading back to our La Quinta home

We hope you enjoyed this little journey; we certainly did!  We'll sign off this blog update with another flower from our trip to the coast. Don't forget to comment and leave your name so we know who you are, or send us an email. Thanks!

The ever so showy Bird of Paradise

Winter in the Desert

While we are not enjoying another winter at home (thank goodness cuz it has been a brutal one in Alberta), it doesn't mean that it is all sunshine and blue skies here all the time and it even gets freezing cold!

But at least this was not -40 with the wind chill

December and January are the "wintery" months here, but this was something really unexpected:

Sandy trapped in a snow globe

As noted, it can get below freezing overnight, making for some some chilly starts to our rides. About a week before Christmas, lots of snow fell in the nearby mountains, so the locals said how nice it was that we would have a "white Christmas."  Well, not exactly what we would think of in that way, but it's nice to see the snow capped mountains when we are out on our bikes.  

Snow on the mountains

With the snow on the mountains, we got our selves in the Christmas spirit and set out our decorations. We have some pieces of our Christmas village here (police station, doctor's office, vet clinic, and the pet store) and set them up along with a small fibre optic tree, our nativity scene, and of course our Christmas stockings.

Bear-tivity

Due to local CoVid issues, we elected to celebrate Christmas on our own. I guess Santa felt sorry for us, as he left us some very special presents!

Sandy got a water softening system

I was very happy with my present from the jolly old fellow. We just wonder how the reindeer managed what must have been a very full and heavy sleigh. 

A new hot water tank!

Not to be left out, Rockie got something special from Santa as well:  a big stuffy to snuggle with. She loves it and gives it a bath and arranges it in her bed every evening. It's just that out of the corners of our eyes, we both think it is Benny laying there at times.

We were very grateful that Santa seemed to have a hand in finally arranging to get the world's ugliest tree removed from in front of our house. Following a few years of back and forth with our home owners' association, they finally agreed to us removing the tree at our, I mean Santa's, expense. On a chilly, rainy day, Saul, our wonderful gardener, took the beast down for us. 

   

    Image 1:  Saul ready to cut off the fronds

    Image 2:  clearing away the fronds

    Image 3:  with the ladder wedged between the house and the tree, the tree was pushed over as Saul sawed through the trunk. Clever!

    Image 4:  sawing the tree into manageable pieces

Images 1 through 4

    Image 5:  Saul chopping out the stump

    Image 6:  Unlike regular trees, palms do not produce annual growth rings. Instead, they have vertical tube like structures that form the vascular system that transports water and nutrients through the plant.  They are actually more closely related to grasses, corn, lilies, rice, and orchids than to woody trees.    

Surprisingly, inside of the tree was bright red, almost like it was bleeding!

The eyesore is finally gone, and we think the house looks much happier, now, thanks to Santa and Saul.

Before and After

As I was preparing this blog post, my iPhone alerted me with a memory album of photos from one year ago. So, in the spirit of remembering our winter in Edmonton last year, I thought I would share some of those photos.  First up, after the hair salons re-opened following a CoVid shutdown, we booked ourselves some much needed haircuts and decided to walk the 2km to the shop on a rather chilly day. On our way back, our neighbour, Deb, spotted us as she was driving home, and wondered who the heck would be out walking on such a day? When she saw it was us, she pulled over and commented, "Of course, it had to be you two!"

Nice rosy cheeks during our -25C walk to get our hair cuts

Rockie loves being outdoors, especially in the sun.  We get lots of bright sunny days during winter in Alberta, but frustratingly for her, it's definitely not warm enough for her to do her solar recharge by basking in the sun. She did, however, get a nice warm jacket (and boots) so she could go still go out for her walks.

A brief rest after running in the snow while Kate and Sandy snowshoed

And, finally, the memory album from a year ago included a photo of our dear Benny.

Ben in his TV chair

Well, that's all for this wintery issue of our blog. We love hearing from you so please send us an email or post a comment, below. If you post a comment, please leave your name, especially if you request a recipe, so we know who to reply to. Thanks!!