First Snow

We woke this morning to falling snow. We'd expected what the weather report called "a dusting", but it snowed off and on all day, mostly on, and by dark we had a good 6" of snow on the ground, the deck, the tables, the cars, the railings, etc. Like children we bundled up and went out to play. ~B

Burning Hot for Winter

So we went to the Fire Safe Council meeting last month (it was my first and Brock's second). These are groups (65 in San Diego county now) set up and formed to keep our cities, woods and mountains free of wild fires. The Fire Chief responsible for the National Forest where our cabins are located spoke as well as the cabin owners who have been elected Pres., VP, Secy, etc. I found it fascinating . . . more so than this man . . .

. . . an elected SD county Board of Education official (and cabin owner) who comes to all the meetings and functions up here on the mountain . . . but within about 15 minutes (no matter what the event - picnic, meeting, social dinner) falls asleep. I wonder what the Board of Education does with him - he's not a real heavy snorer, so that helps . . .

But after the meeting we got a chance to ask the President of the Cabin Owner's Assoc. where we might find/buy some firewood for the winter. He told us he had more than he could use (is that possible?) and we were welcome to use the old Fire Safe Council pick-up and haul it to our cabin.

He even helped us load the truck - TWO FULL truck loads of clean, nicely chopped/split oak and pine from trees near his cabin.

So after a few weeks, Brock built these cribs - other stuff is still in piles on the ground for now . . . my wagon, ready to roll! ~N

Shutting it Down

Bird house #2 got made the other night. We poured some wine, B showed me how to use his Dremel tool for woodpecker holes and edges (that's really neat!). We poured more wine and I went through twigs, leaves, dried plants, feathers, acorns and tiny branches I've been collecting . . . then we poured more wine and then we poured still more wine.

We have to pack up this morning. We've basically been living at this cabin now for over 2 months. I'm saying a silent 'good-bye' to my favorite Snaggle Tree across the meadow. He stands guard over all his fallen forest mates.

I'm going to miss all the pine cones I keep collecting. I set them on the deck and within a few days spiders have created new homes in them.

I'm going to miss all my favorite rotten logs. I check them out each day or so . . . looking for good light or just new critters who have recently customized them.

I'm definitely going to miss the sunsets like this one last night. ~N

Spoiled Birds

I saw the cutest thing yesterday. I couldn't get photos of it, it happened so fast . . .

- a very young acorn woodpecker (no red crest yet) landed on our deck railing and started picking up the seeds to eat. He was busy doing his thing and enjoying the taste I guess. In a minute or so, either his mom or dad flew down to join him and picked up a few seeds to eat as well . . .

- at that point the baby started cheeping and squawking like crazy - sounded like his foot was stuck or something! The parent looked long at the kid (and ~sighed~ I bet) - then started picking up individual seeds to feed to the baby . . . one by one & one by one . . .

After the parent had landed, the baby absolutely refused to pick up his own seeds. He just made the most annoying squeaking sounds so the parent would give him undivided attention and FEED HIM seeds! Isn't that just like little kids!? ~N

Falling Stars, Mt. Laguna, CA

We drove up to the cabin late last night. It was totally black and dark in the woods when B hiked to the top of our little hill to turn on the water. We just knew he'd get eaten by a hungry mountain lion . . . but Davy Crocket pressed on . . .


We brought up some old wooden lounge chairs I meant to Freecycle months ago. They're cheap, rickety, splintery and not very comfortable, but great for a cabin. After we unpacked and settled in, about midnight we poured some wine and sat out to star gaze. The stars are amazing up here, the Milky Way is a huge white swath spreading wide across the night sky! And then a loud SNAP, CRACKLE and POP!!! - over he goes - feet up pointing to the stars, head and shoulders wacking the ground . . . but he spilled very little wine (my kinda experienced boozer). It sounded like a tall pine cracking as several of the supports in the flimsy lounge hit the dirt and threw B over.

The damages this morning . . . we couldn't see last night. I guess we're lucky nobody got impaled and bled out from splinters - but we were laughing so hard, we couldn't stop . . . brought back the old days when we were first married and had a Sunbeam Alpine sports car. The latch on the driver's seatback would fail (like just about everything else on that car eventually did) . . . we'd be driving down the freeway and WHAMMMMMMMMMM FLOOOOOP the seatback would totally disappear behind the driver. Keystone Kops. We laughed a lot then too.

We found an old star chart/wheel we used to use - brought it up last night (that's the Milky Way in blue). The top sheet rotates to the current month, day and hour (for this latitude) - it's pretty neat. The only problem is, there's SO many stars to see up here (6,000 ft) it's hard to pick out the constellations, planets, etc. ~N

The (Our) Meadow

The cabin overlooks a meadow. Once upon a time the meadow held a stable, but, purchased with drug money, IRS confiscated it and turned it over to the National Forest Service. Our gain.

Between the cabin and the meadow is a dirt road leading down a ravine and into the forest.

The light in the meadow highlights the grasses...

Filters through the trees...

And, in the late afternoon, turns the meadow a rich reddish gold.

Bordering the meadow are Jeffrey Pines. A favorite of Acorn Woodpeckers, their bark is riddled with holes into which acorns are stuffed. These 'granery trees' store acorns until the larvae infesting them hatch. Then the woodpeckers return to harvest this delicacy.

~B

A Cabin Tour

If you looked in our cabin's kitchen window - this is the reflection you might see.



This is the kitchen.


This is the living room.


This is the living area looking looking towards the kitchen in the back.

This is the front bedroom with a king size bed, desks and lots of windows to the woods.


This is the other side of the large front room with 2 twin beds for now. We have a smaller bedroom in the back of the cabin (not shown). ~N

Hot Birds

This is my newest best friend. It's been very hot today and he sits on the railing by our cabin door and scolds me if I don't put out cold water. He may be getting too friendly - about 20 minutes ago he just misjudged a window facing this computer desk. I heard a loud THUNK as he flew into it, picked himself up, shook himself off, looked embarrassed and then flew off up onto an oak branch.

This little woodpecker has been visiting all day too - hanging over the water bowl sucking up water. ~N

Dusty Sunsets

We did some back road driving last night as the sun was setting. The light in the canyons gets a mysterious eerie color (probably dust particles). Some parts of our mountains were badly burned in the Cedar Fires of 2003 and oaks and pines still haven't grown back. ~N

Too Fat to Fit

We woke up yesterday to this view outside our kitchen window --- WHAT THE. .. .!? . . . someone trying to squeeze between the planks of our tool shed.

I really freaked out, it sure looked like a rattlesnake to me - and it was BIG and it was STUCK. Maybe it even had a meal of some poor rodent (the wide belly) and then slipped down where the planks were closer together. I'm thinking - 'What do we do with a stuck rattlesnake!?'

Turns out what I thought was a head in the grass, was really a tail. I braved getting closer because this beast wasn't going anywhere too soon - but squirming like crazy . . . then I could see he didn't have any rattles on his tail . . . a gopher snake . . . but still, are these going in and out of our tool shed ----- OH ME! (he finally wriggled loose and disappeared i.n.s.i.d.e our shed!) {{{{{shiver}}}}} ~N

Unfortunately mountain women don't change...

We'd hoped that spending time in the mountains would change Nola. Alas, she hasn't changed at all. ~B

For the Birds

For my 42 wedding anniversary I received 2 Japanese fine woodworking saws, a glue gun, extra glue and some acrylic paints to paint the little eyes peering out. Feathers were added for the final touch . . .

Mountain air changes men . . . ~N

It's About Time!

I'm spending my second night alone at the cabin tonite. I drove up here last night after dark and I've never seen dark in the woods so BLACK! (I don't think it ever gets that dark unless you're alone). I used a flashlight to walk all around before I unlocked it. I had a minor case of the spookies, but kept at it. No one else is out here and it feels like I'm dozens of miles from civilization - just me and the woodpeckers.

I guess I've always wondered if I could spend nights alone in the woods . . . now I'm finding out. Saturday was the annual picnic of the cabin owners association. We were introduced as the new kids on the block. It was very interesting meeting other owners - a woman who now owns the cabin her parents owned since 1950 - she used to trailer her horse up here every summer . . . a mother/daughter/grandkids group who own a cabin that isn't hooked up to the mountain's electricity. The grandmother told me her daughter doesn't want her kids watching TV or playing Nintendo in the woods.

I especially sought out women who spend time alone. Several stay up here armed, but most don't and don't feel the need at all. One woman told me the story of her neighbor who comes up armed and isn't afraid to use it. She heard noises in a shed - loaded up to see what was going on, and nearly shot holes in her son's wetsuit that was hanging to dry (in the dark) . .. Before I went to bed I programmed my cell phone with the emergency numbers I got from those who know. Now I'm 2 clicks away from help - but mygawd, how on earth will they ever find me out here?

The US Forest Service is the first emergency number to call. Everyone assures me, they know 'exactly' where our cabin is, LOL. We won one of the silly door prizes at the picnic. The box is labeled - "Glitterama Clock" - the silliest clock with some kind of oil in it. When it gets hot the glitter flickers and rotates counter clockwise around the dial - but it puts out a large dim blue light at night. I feel like a kid again needing to sleep with the lights on. ~N

A Golden Hike

We've been hiking a 2 to 3 mile hike everyday now, up here on the mountain. We keep finding fun maps of the area and discovering new trails to explore. Some of our hikes are through dense wooded canyons - some get steep and are still a lung challenge at the 6,000 ft altitude . . . but I think everyday we're getting more fit. Some of our hikes are through huge mountain meadows that were formed when this area had more lakes. The name here, Mt. Laguna is Spanish for lake.

I've been doing a small short second hike each evening when the sun starts to set. Behind our cabin is a hill with very few trails (one deer trail I've found so far) but the vegetation is low and it's easy to just bushwhack without getting too many stickers in my socks. The low dense setting sunlight sets over the mountain and if I time it right, the warm glow in the forest is just about the best end of the day for sure.

This is the dirt road that leads back to the cabin. ~N

Lazy Boy

And there are other ways to relax...looking out across our meadow. ~B

Lazy Girl

There's something about being on the mountain and relaxing in your own cabin. This says it all.... ~B

Chipper is dead!

Early every morning for the past few weeks I've been watching Chipper and his brothers and sisters, through our kitchen window. They seem to be living in the big wood pile about 30 ft up the hill from our cabin. They run, play, attack each other and wrestle while tumbling off the logs. Often one will perch at the very top, like a meerkat - a lookout to protect the rest. They're full of life and energy . . . they search through the grass for snacks - then soon they're at play again, chasing each other.

Wow, what an awful shock as I was walking outside this evening. I saw a little form under a nearby small bush and looked closer. Chipper, not too long dead was already starting to be found by some ants . . . so sad, their little family won't be the same now . . . and a mystery about what happened . . . ~N

The Cabin

We drove out there again today - every time we see it now, it changes. I couldn't believe how green and full the trees are - nothing like back east woods, but for Southern California . . . well, I'm so excited. We don't have the keys yet, but soon - maybe it'll be this week. The real estate agent gave us the code to her lock box, so we let ourselves in this afternoon. We were anxious to see what the previous owners have left. This past weekend was their "good-bye" weekend with the cabin they've loved so much . . . they officially moved out. I couldn't believe . . .

Two champagne glasses were on the kitchen counter - along with a very nice note, welcoming us to the cabin - where some things are, where an extra set of keys is hidden outside . . .

. . . and inviting us to have a bottle of champagne they left chilling in the fridge! ~N

The Cabin in the Lagunas

Today we went up to the cabin to just hang out and then go for a walk in the woods. A week or so from now it will be ours - rustic, even worn on the outside (designated 'historic' and thus it must remain so). Inside - paneled in light knotty pine, open and airy with a view across a meadow from the two large windows in the 'we don't yet know what to call it' room. ~B

Patterns in the Sand

In the late afternoon on Imperial Beach a strand of kelp lay on the sand. ~B

The Watchers

The Children's Pool in La Jolla was given to the city if it continued to be used for the benefit of the children of San Diego. But in the past few years harbor seals have found it to be a great place to rest, breed and have their pups. Protected under the Marine Mammal Act they are now watched by many curious visitors each day.

The seals have a slightly different reaction ranging from apathy -

to hyper-active excitement at all the attention -

~B

Bovine Beach

La Jolla has gone to the cows - 20-some, colorfully and artistically painted and placed on street corners . . . some have pierced teats -

. . . and others just have a message. ~N