Alpine Pedal-Path Morning---Slightly Smoky

~Wildfire Smoke from Upstate~

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2009 jim otterstrom

For the past couple of mornings smoke has been blowing into the valley from the wildfires burning in the more northern parts of the state, near Santa Cruz, and Santa Maria, to name a couple of them.

We started off this morning intending to ride around the lake but breathing the smoke at our end of the lake (east) was already bothering us a bit, and when we saw how thick it was on the west side, over the dam and Fawnskin, we decided to alter our plan and ride the Alpine Pedal-Path along the North shore instead.

So, our near 20 mile planned ride turned out to be somewhere between 10 & 15 miles instead, but still very enjoyable, as you will see.

~Sagebrush Delight~

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2009 jim otterstrom

It seems that everything has it's benefits, the smoke from the fires made for a gently-muted light this morning, almost as if I had a light-diffusing color-saturating filter on my camera.

A Meadow Along The Bike Path
Click on photo to enlarge - © 2009 jim otterstrom

We stopped for awhile by a little stream to contemplate the soft loveliness of a smoke-tinged light falling on this meadow, all the time acutely aware that the sources of this very smoke are causing great anxiety in other parts of California ( and I hope our friends in those parts are out of harms way).

Ancient Juniper - A Veteran Of Many Wildfires
Click on photo to enlarge - © 2009 jim otterstrom

This Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) along the bike path is probably somewhere between 500 to 1,000 years old, and possibly older, which means it has lived through many, many wildfires during its life, and, as raggedy as it looks at the base, it's still very much alive. One tough old tree!

Enjoy your day...

7:47 This Morning.

LOOK MA! NO HANDS!

Click on photo to enlarge - ©2009 jim otterstrom

Peg and I enjoyed a nice relaxing 17 mile ride around Big Bear Lake on this perfectly beautiful summer morning.

The photo was taken on Highway 18, along the north shore beside Grout Bay as we approached the little town of Fawnskin.

And, no kids, I'm not really riding hands-free!

I stopped and had Peggy pass me while I took the picture. We left home at 6 A.M., stopping for pictures and a cup of coffee along the way, and rolled back in the front gate at 9:20 feeling refreshed and ready for a day in the garden.

This evening I'm planning on posting a bunch of photos from our recent Santa Barbara train/bicycle trip.

We were up there for 4 days visiting our friends Alver & Judyl.

Winter Sunrise Walk...

TODAY, at 6:45 A.M.

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

6:50 A.M.
Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

7:12 A.M.

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

Three views along our sunrise walk this morning as Peggy, Dallas, and I happily trudged a few miles through nearly a foot of snow that fell Sunday night.

We came across two coyotes right after the second picture was taken and Dallas took off after them, having a ball and getting more than his share of the morning workout.

We saw the coyotes again on the way home, a few blocks from our house, after Dallas was back on the leash. One of them sat there just 25 feet away posing for us, but my camera batteries picked that particular moment to go dead. Dang It!

But what a brisk and exhilarating way to start the day!!!

Stanfield Marsh, August 19th, 7:32 A.M.

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Clouds reflecting on the waters of Stanfield Marsh as Peggy, Dallas, and I, walk along the east end of the eastermost boardwalk this Saturday morning.

Another day begins to once more leave me in awe of the beauty in nature.

Another Beautiful Morning Ride...

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Peggy at 8:10 this morning on the Alpine Pedal Path, the last leg of our 20 mile ride around the lake.

We left home before 6 A.M. but stopped a bunch of times, once for coffee, and many more to take in the scenery of this beautiful mountain valley we live in.

We got home about 8:30 making this the longest it's taken us yet. Our fastest time riding it together was 1 1/2 hours, and I rode it once in just under an hour on my road bike (when I was in my 40s). Peggy and I both enjoy lollygagging, we're just not in a hurry, so our bike rides are more than exercise, for us they're pleasure cruises not time trials.

So when I write about how long our rides take, it's not because we're trying to improve upon that time, I'm just attempting to give you an idea of how long it takes to ride 20 miles at a leisurely pace. At our pace, riding that distance isn't a grueling experience, it's more like an enjoyable walk in the park.

The worst part is the initial conditioning of the butt to the bicycle seat!
And don't attempt this ride if you've just come up for the day from sea-level!!

It takes weeks or months for a persons lung capacity to expand enough to do even moderately strenuous exercise at nearly 7,000 feet. Over the years, four visiting friends have tried to make that ride that with me. Two of them made it---both physically fit males much younger than I---and swore they'd never do it again. All of them could have easily done it at sea-level.

I finally realized that no matter how great of shape you are in, you can't come up for the weekend and expect to make that ride and have it be an enjoyable experience, you'll get way too winded very early in the ride.

Peggy just now reminded me that, during the Xeriscape Garden Tour Wrap Party, we won two tickets (for us and our bikes) on the scenic chair lift to the top of Snow Summit. The tickets expire in September so I guess we better use them soon. A short distance from the top of the chairlift is Skyline Drive, a gravel forest road, that runs miles along the ridge overlooking the San Bernardino Valley. Skyline Drive connects to more miles of dirt roads and trails leading in all directions. Peggy and I have ridden back to the valley from there down Mill Creek Road before, and our daughter Jamie and I rode it once too. It's much more hilly and challenging than the ride around the lake but it's exhilarating and scenic to the extreme. So, in the near future, when Peggy and I make the ride again, I'll try and remember to take my camera, with the SD card installed. ;~)

Anyhow, right now, the garden is calling, so maybe I'll post more later on.

Have a good day all.

PS

I realize it probably bothers some people that I add to or edit my posts for some time after they initially appear. But this is a journal of sorts, and I don't always have time to complete each entry at one sitting, and I apologize for that.

Just be aware that many of the posts may not be complete for about 24 hours or so, as time allows, events progress, and my thoughts come back to the day or the subject.

I've noticed when I make more than one or two posts in a day, most people don't read the earlier ones anyway. Who has the time? So I've just taken to expanding my entries until I feel it's time to move on to something else.

Jim ;~)

She'll Be Comin' 'Round The Mountain...

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Peggy and I both rode around the lake this morning and here she is, at 8:24, coming around the last bend before the dam.
There's nothing quite like the sight of a cute 54 year-old chick rolling down a mountain road on a bicycle with a big smile going and bugs in her teeth!
;~)

Handelbar View - 8:33 This Morning

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Another bike ride around the lake today found me here on the north shore home stretch about 10 miles from Big Bear City at 8:30. The ride took under two hours today because I didn't stop as much. There's a slight chance of thunderstorms today and I could already feel the humidity in the air when I started the ride. We could use a little rain to wash away the layer of green dust on everything, it seems to be a banner year for pine pollen, which makes many people a bit itchy & sneezy, including me.
How do you like the width of the bike lanes we have up here?

Boulder Bay From A Bicycle

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I took off at 7:40 this morning for a bicycle ride around the lake, about a 20 mile trip. It's such a beautiful day that I stopped several times to take pictures, talk with some fisherman, and just enjoy the natural beauty of this place we call home.
This photo of the Boulder Bay Islands was taken at 8:39 after stopping for a cup of coffee, a bottle of water, and quick pit-stop to air up the tires a little.
I've posted a few more pictures from the ride, in sequence, below this one...

Grout Bay

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I stopped here at Grout Bay, near the north shore town of Fawnskin, for a water break.
At this point I'm something more than 1/2 way around the lake.

One More Water Stop...

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I stopped along the Alpine Pedal Path about 5 miles from home for one last water break in the shade and to take in the nice view here to the southwest across the lake.

Rolling Right Along...

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Peggy rolls out of Earth Home Garden at 7:40 A.M. today.
The Big Bear Xeriscape Garden Tour is this coming Saturday and the weeds are still winning so you know where I'll be for the next few days anyway.
;~)

Mill Creek Crossing

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This photo was taken while crossing Mill Creek last Thursday evening at 7:41 P.M. on our way to a Spotted Owl territory.

Mill Creek is a tributary of the Santa Ana River and is part of the Mount San Gorgonio watershed. At 11,502 feet above sea level Mount San Gorgonio (Ol' Greyback) is the highest peak in Southern California.

The picture was taken to the east just outside of the tiny mountain enclave of Forest Falls, about 35 miles from our house (by road), in these same San Bernardino Mountains.

Bridge Over Icy Waters...

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Out playing with the camera again this morning, I thought I'd take some more pictures of the ice.

The ice always seems to crack outward from the pilings of the boardwalk, which sways slightly in the wind, or when groups of people are walking on it. The pilings are made out of some sort of plastic and aren't quite as rigid as wood.

Some of these cracks extend for hundreds of feet into the marsh, possibly even all the way across. The sound of the ice sheet resonating as a crack moves across the surface is fascinating, and to me rather hauntingly beautiful, but quite terrifying if you happen to be out on the stuff.

I was vacationing, at about age 12, with my aunt & uncle who owned a cabin up here, when my cousin David and I went tobogganing toward the lake down a slope from their place. We picked up too much speed and went way farther than we expected, ending up several hundred feet out on the ice which began cracking all around us.

I had never heard that sound before but it scared the hell out me when I realized what was happening. We knew we were in trouble but had enough sense to stay on the toboggan which evenly distributed our weight. By pushing our way backwards toward the shore, with very gentle hand-paddling motions against the ice, our mittens giving us some traction, we somehow made it.

We're very lucky we weren't any bigger, heavier, or riding on sharp-edged sleds, or I might not be writing this.

No one saw us out there, and we were afraid to tell anyone what we'd done when we got back.

But we never did it again!

Dirt Road Dogs...

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All bundled up in our warmest coats, Dallas and I walk toward the water at 8:14 this morning in one of the last best places on the south shore of Big Bear Lake. It's way below freezing and an icy wind blows strong out of the northeast. A very beautiful morning if you're dressed for it, and we are.

Dallas and I aren't big on roads, but if we have to travel one, this is the kind we like, two ruts in the dirt, minus the clunkers that it was made for.

I don't know why Dallas likes them so much, maybe because they're full of life, because they smell better than asphalt or concrete, or because he never has to be on a leash in a place like this.

I like them because they're quiet, slow, meandering, compelling, picturesque, interesting, pliant (as opposed to rigid), impermanent, and not the slightest bit oppressive, unless some drooling yay-hoo in a belching groaning 4X4 comes barrelling through, which hasn't happened to us here yet, knock on wood!

But most of all, for me I guess, it's nostalgia.

These are the kinds of roads I lived on when I was a kid, and I wish all kids could grow up someplace like this, running with their dogs, off the leash, dodging tumbleweeds & chasing dragonflies in the summer.

Tampa Avenue in Reseda, California was like this in 1952, except there was no lake. But the rutted little road did run right down through the Los Angeles River, just a cowpath through a meandering creek in those days.

Today, fifty-four years later, the kids on Tampa---now a six lane ribbon of hardened petroleum goop & gravel slathered through the midst of the 1,700,000 lost souls of The Greater San Fernando Valley---sit on their fat diabetes-prone asses in front of TVs, killing things in video games. Good practice for when they must go outside and dodge real bullets in the alleys behind their apartment slums, or in the prison yards they call schools, or in the future wars they're going to fight defending Halliburton & The Carlyle Group's freedom.

Progress? Sure, tell that to the family & friends of the suicidal 8th grader the cops shot to death as he wielded a pellet gun at his school in Longwood, Florida on Friday.

Right here, in our County of San Bernardino, kids are killing each other every week and the community solution is to hire more police, create a stronger Police State, and enforce the law!

"WE'LL TEACH THEM TO RESPECT THE LAW!", our newspaper headline screams.

Yeah, the law of private property, the law of growth, the law of profit, the law of Capitalism, the law of selfishness and greed, the law of the Military-Industrial State, the law of the rich & powerful, the law of the thief and gangster. The law of servitude & slavery, The law of No Trespassing, No Skateboarding, No Swimming, No Fishing, No Boating, No Loitering, the laws of self-annihilation.

In my 60 years I've seen enough of what we call progress, and its laws, thank you!

But, in my early childhood, I learned from the laws of Nature, the laws of beauty, magic and mystery that draw us into the world, not push us away and alienate us from it.

Generous inviting laws which point the way to our skills and nurture our interests, the laws of natural instinct that teach caution, self-preservation and wisdom.

We humans can make all the laws & rules we want, but as long as they're incompatible with the laws of Nature, as long as we think we're separate from, and above Nature, as long as we treat this planet like it's ours to do with as we please, we'll continue toward our own destruction, and the demise of what we claim to hold sacred.

I personally, am way fed up with the patriarchal tyranny of the
Corporate State, the leadership of the almighty dollar, and I've also heard enough about an even more patriarchal GOD that says we're too helpless to change ourselves, that only HE can save us from the eternal misery of sin, for Christ's sake!

The GOD of the same religion that has ordained the barbaric murder & torture of millions of indigenous people around the world as their land was stolen and colonized. The same religion that still defends Capitalism and Imperialism everywhere, as we today, continue robbing people of their land and livelihoods, to satisfy our bottomless gluttony, with GOD on our side.

This isn't the Dark Ages, it's the 21st Century, and we're educated enough to know how we got here, what we're doing, and exactly why we're doing it.

Just pick up the paper, it's all there in black & white, although you'll need to read some non-Western press to get the whole picture.

So let's get real friends, the future of life as we know it is very likely in the hands of those of us living today, and it's our decisions that will determine where we go from here.

Civilizations, their myths, superstitions and religions come & go, just as species do, and our civilization, and species, though young in historical & geological terms respectively, are teetering on the brink of extinction.

But we now have the information to understand our predicament, and maybe even the tools to do something about it!

We no longer have to sacrifice victims to the Volcano God, The Earthquake God, The Tsunami God, The Hurricane God, The Automobile God, or even the Almighty Dollar God! We know where & why things happen, where & how we should, and shouldn't be living, it's our choice now, not blind fate.

Los Angeles is forever doomed to destruction, as is San Francisco or New Orleans, and any other location where we choose to live out of context, or scale, with the Nature of the place.

We can't escape disasters, tragedy, or death in our lives, but we certainly don't need to be this incredibly stupid anymore, by now we should know better.

And, there's certainly no desirable future for humanity in the Orwellian nightmare that civilization is becoming before our very eyes.

For the sake of our kids, of their future, of our species, of all species, everything we do & say now is important.

But to pretend there's hope in this system isn't optimism, it's either ignorance, foolishness or fraudulence. It's time to speak not of progress and growth, but of change, personal change, spiritual change and societal change, of paradigm shift in the true sense of the phrase.

I believe most people instinctively know this, but nobody knows what to do.

How do we change, where do we go, what do we do?

Well it's obvious that we can't stay here, we can't go back, and we can't continue on the course we're on.

I, for one, am going to try and be more thoughtful each day on how to discuss what change is (not compromise), so...

More police isn't change, it's more of the same!

More military isn't change, it's more of the same!

More corporate imperialism isn't change.

More paving, more freeways, more housing developments, more unsustainable livelihoods, more materialism, more celebrity worship, more corporate sports, more brand recognition, more slums, more bling-bling, more gangs, more people, more wars, is just more of the same.

And voting for any so-called leader who has enough corporate contributions to get elected isn't voting for change, it's voting for more of the same.

Less greed, fewer possessions, less cars, smaller families, smaller homes, less people, less private property, more community, less racism, less imperialism, less laws, less pollution, less extinctions, more commons, more wildness, more diversity, More Nature! That would be a change...

A welcome change, in my book.

As it is now, we are rapaciously changing the living planet into dead objects of our own creation.

So, if we don't change, where are we going?

You tell me, and please don't say, "To Heaven", or to "To Hell", lest I vomit.

If we don't all change radically, and soon, where are we going as a civilization, as a species, as part of this beautiful living planet?

So you tell me.

Then, go tell your kids...

...but don't lie, or tell them fairytales, most of them aren't buying it anymore either, or haven't you noticed?

There, you've heard my Martin Luther King Day rant!

And there's no apology for it.

So maybe we could turn off the fuckin' TVs, get out of the cars, and start talking with each other?

Peggy Power!

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Although we do plenty of bicycling, walking and hiking, and Peggy is trim as she can be, she's always had a weakness for exercise machines. At different times she had one that simulated cross-country skiing, a rowing machine, and one that she could set up differently depending on what she wanted to do. Trouble is she never used them, so they ended up at yard sales or the thrift store (I think one of these contraptions is still in a closet somewhere).

So when I saw this hydraulic splitter, I thought, now there's an exercise machine Peggy can use, while getting her chores done at the same time. Here she is splitting logs yesterday before the big snow hit, and building up muscles too!

Just kidding girls!

I do most of the wood splitting but Peggy did try it for a spell yesterday having no trouble operating it long enough to split several hefty logs.

Her part of this job is usually the placing & removing of logs from the splitter, and as a two-person operation the task is done quite efficiently.

The splitter is much like the gasoline powered ones in design, a long I-Beam frame with a sharp steel wedge at the far end, and a fluid-driven cylinder for pushing the log.

But instead of an engine, this one is powered by the hand-pumping a hydraulic jack with long handles that pump at two separate speeds. The one on the right is low speed, for easy pumping against strong resistance, where the high-speed handle on the left is for pushing the cylinder out rapidly to engage the log, and breaking through it faster after the end splits.

With a little practice you are using both handles in conjunction for fast, efficient, non-polluting, healthful log splitting.

The splitter will accomodate logs up to 18" long, the same length that fits our stove, and I've split logs up to 30" diameter with it so far.

The splitter is simple, sturdy, well-made, and the jack is rated at 10 tons which is 20,000 lbs of splitting force, and does the job just fine. We got ours online for $99 at Northern Tool but the shipping is very expensive for this heavy item. I think they had a deal on the shipping charges when we ordered ours, I had been looking at them for quite some time.

We spent a couple of hours yesterday having fun together in the brisk winter cold, getting great exercise, and moved, split & stacked over a 1/2 cord of wood.

This Morning In The Marsh

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A beautiful clear morning walk through Stanfield Marsh marked a nice beginning for the fifth day of 2006.

Happy New Year!

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Peggy and I spent New Years Eve by a warm fire listening to 40 some years worth of Bob Dylan songs and sipping Margaritas made with Patron Anejo Tequila while Jimmy went out with some of his friends.

About 11:30 P.M. we walked over to the Stanfield Marsh, and as 2006 arrived, we, and the wild things around us, wondered at the beautiful mystery of the blazing sky above.

Our city of 25,000 humans is swelled to maybe 150,000 for the holiday weekend but Peggy, Dallas, me, and the wildlife had a quiet peaceful marsh all to ourselves as the noisier revelers hooted, hollered and honked faintly from the distance.

Just after sunrise this morning we took our walk along the north shore of the lake while Dallas ran free, frolicking in the water, and this Bob Dylan song played over in my head.

If dogs run free, why not we
Across this swooping plain
My ears hear a symphony
Two mules, trains and rain
The best is always yet to come
That's what they explain to me
Just do your thing
You'll be king
If dogs run free.

If dogs run free, why not me
Across the swamp of time
My mind weaves a symphony
A tapestry of rhyme
Oh winds which rush my tale to thee
So it may flow, and be
To each his own
It's all unknown
If dogs run free.

If dogs run free, then what must be
Must be, and that is all
True love can make a blade of grass
Stand up straight and tall
In harmony with the cosmic sea
True love needs no company
It can cure the soul
It can make it whole
If dogs run free.


It rained lightly here on New Years Eve Day but we may be getting some real snow tonight, possibly a lot of it, we'll see.

Happy New Year...

A Morning Hike

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Peggy and I went up to explore this picturesque little waterfall alongside the Santa Ana River Trail at about 7 A.M. on our well-deserved hike today.
Sunrise was at 6:47 so it was still quite dark down in this canyon and I had to use a flash to get this picture.
The heavy snows of last winter and our wonderful monsoon summer have kept even some of the smaller tributaries of the Santa Ana River flowing nicely for this late in the season.
Just the sound of falling water refreshes the spirit...

Santa Ana River Trail

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Peggy and Dallas pose on the Santa Ana River Trail near the waterfall as we hiked back out.

A Cool Fall Morning On The Trail

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Hiking out from the waterfall on the Santa Ana River Trail at 7:30 A.M.
The recent cool mornings are a harbinger of the colder days soon to come and we were already bundled up, gloves & all, for this brisk walk.