For a Laugh

As I sit at our table, facing the back or kitchen area of our trailer, I look out on a slight hillside that is right behind the trailer. About twelve feet from our door and half way up the hill is the hole of a ground squirrel. He has another door over and behind our neighbor's trailer; about thirty feet apart.


While working at the computer I was watching him venture out and eat grass and seeds. He came down to the picnic table, close to us and out of the hole came another head. Now, maybe the ONE we say was actually sometimes the other one. (At the hole and lower left corner.)

B was out cleaning on the front of the trailer. All of a sudden I saw a flash of white out of the corner of my eye. There he was, making a mad dash for his door way with a prized possession that he had just swiped from B.

He kept smoothing down the sides with his paws. Maybe he wasn't sure it would fit down the hole. He kept looking back as if to say, "It's mine now and you are not going to get it."

This, That, and Other Things

I have been waiting to post a picture of the balloon that we keep trying to go up in with the hopes that we would make it. We will try again this Thur. eve but I've decided to just show this picture from when we were first there. It was B's idea.

Do you remember that giant asparagus plant that B was standing next to? (It was in the "Hiking" blog.) I went on the net and found out that it is a yucca whipplei plant. It lasts for one year. We were hiking last week, I'll tell more about that next, when we found one in bloom. This is what the top turns into. I know you can eat the root of some yucca but I think that is the one that is more of a tree. From what the site said, you can eat the pods that form from the blooms. I'm not sure that I would want to as it takes a moth to pollinate the blooms. She stuffs pollen down on top of the eggs that she has laid so that the seed will provide food when they hatch. They are in the pods.
Last week B and I decided to do some exploring by truck. We had seen a paved road that went S off of the main highway just W of the top before dropping down to Lake Elsinore.

For some of the way, it winds along the top of the ridge, sometimes on the west side and sometimes on the east side looking at Lake Elsinore, and then drops off into a canyon. At one point we could see a housing development but no road over to it. We also came across an area for four wheel vehicles to ride on. You can see some of those trails and the housing below.
Shortly after turning off the main highway we saw a sign, at a trail head, showing another trail head for going into Tenaja Falls, a hike of about 7/10 of a mile. We had seen the falls marked on the map at the trail head we take here at the park but it is some seven plus miles in to it on this side. This sounded like a much better way to get to it. So we drove about twelve miles on one lane, very twisty, however paved, road and finally got to the trail head. The whole time we were driving, we were wondering why they ever built this road as they went to some work to do it. I guess there are some ranches someplace up there and that it is good for getting to fires. (When we told W about this, he said that he had taken this road on his motorbike all the way to Interstate 15.) After hiking to the falls we back tracked.

The hike wasn't that steep although, since it was the mid afternoon, it was a little warm. At times the falls must be really something to see, but there wasn't much water going over now. This was the first view we had of it. We did hike around to the top of it. There is not water flowing, at this time, into it from the draw above it. There is some coming in to the left above the shaded area.
This drops down into a small pool.
This is on the trail just before you break out at the top of the falls. I thought the water flowing through here was pretty. That is a concrete slap that it is flowing across. Don't ask me how or who put it there.The trail head is just at the left end of the road that you can see. The trail is the darker line that circles around the hill just above the rocks in the foreground.In all, it was a nice hike and sure beat going in the other way.

While driving into Dana Point we had been seeing signs advertising a bike race. Last Sunday was it.

Since it is only about seven blocks from W's place, B and I walked down to it. We caught the last six laps of the Cat 2 race. W was back grading some papers but, after we called him, decided to join us to see the Cat 1 race. He had never gone to it. This drew some big names as the money was $15,ooo.
Check out the legs! B did.
Yes, the riders are blurry. I was hoping for even more as I was trying to show their speed.W was watching up at one of the corners with the riders coming towards him. He said that after the racers were around the corner, the wind from them just kept coming straight.

Now for the other thing.

There is a tree, or bush, that started blooming a few days ago here at the park. I decided I needed to send on a picture of it as the blooms are interesting.

The next picture shows some of the blossoms just starting to open. This is better if you double click it.
The light color on the ends of the red are pollen.
Further up the stem, you can see some of the seed pods from last year. The base of the red fibers also has this shape.
Apparently humming birds like this bloom also as when I was taking these pictures I heard a whirring sound and looked up to see a pair of them. I didn't have time to change the setting on my camera from micro, but here is what I got. They were gone in a flash. He is in the center of the picture.

Sunset

We went in to town yesterday afternoon so that I could take some pictures of the sunset on the beach. We had been on the beach previously for a sunset but I had left my camera at W's place. I keep it in my purse and I didn't take my purse to the beach. One of the things that was interesting before was as the waves came in they took on a purple cast. We were higher up last evening so I didn't get this effect.

We fixed some salads and took them along. Oh yes, we had fruit dessert. W and C were discussing if fruit is dessert or part of the main course. Since C didn't dish it up with the salads, it was dessert this time.
Each sunset seems to be different, depending on the atmosphere, moisture, etc.
As the sun goes down, sometimes it becomes different shapes. Double click on the below picture to really see it.
There were some surfers out as there were a few good waves. The waves weren't very big but were good ones, according to W. I didn't get any good pictures of them. There were a few boats out on the water fishing. It took them forever to turn on their running lights.
There is a path that runs along where the lights are. On the other side of the path are bushes and then it drops down onto the beach. After the sun was set, out of the bushes came four little rabbits. They lined up on the walk way, across from the bushes, and started nibbling on the grass at the edge of the path. We call them the new lawn edgers. That lasted until someone came along with their dog.It was cooler here, note the jackets, and a nice way to spend the evening. This is also a nice little park area above the sand. It is very close to W's place. No wonder he likes it here.

The Trail

Did I mention that we had hot weather yesterday? It got to around 90 with just about no wind moving. However we do have air conditioning. It is trying to get there again today but I don't think it will make it. Our neighbor went down to the beach yesterday. He said that the sand was so hot that you couldn't stand on it. He thought it was about 89 degrees and there was no surf, and no wind. That is not usual for the beach. They had to come back to cool down.

I did the hike this morning and I took my camera. Since the weather was clear I took some pictures. I guess the weather didn't need to be clear to see the trail, but it did need to be clear to see down towards the coast. The first one is without the zoom. Look closely in the V and you can see a distant hill.
With the zoom.These houses are actually part of San Juan Capistrano. Yes, where the swallows come back to.

As the crow flies, it is about 19 miles to the town of Dana Point. As the road turns, it is about 29 miles to W's place. The buildings that you see are much before you get to Dana Point.

This shows what some of the trail is like.As you can see there is a lot of growth on both sides of the trail. There are also lots of rocks, some put in to reroute the water when it rains. The next two show some of the up hill. It is steeper than it looks in the picture. From the trailer to where I turn around, it is about a 300 foot gain in height. Some times, however, you go down and then back up. Not only does the trail twist and turn, sometimes you have to twist and turn to go around/over rocks.
Horse back riders also use this trail. Sometimes it has to be hard for the horses. Note the evidence, above picture, to the left of the trail. Most of the time it is in the middle.

This is more up. You can see some of the rocks to divert the run off. This also is good for showing the color of most of the ground. It is sandy soil on top of sand stone, sometimes making it slick. I am standing at one bend in the trail and you can see the next, very close.
Sometimes it does level out some.
And sometimes it goes down. This is one of the places that you can see around some. Follow the draw left, from the tree to the right of center, and you will see some taller trees. The trail goes up into this draw. This is one of the nicer parts of the trail. The two pictures after this one were taken there.
I like this area because I am usually hot and tired. It is just a gradual up hill here. The ground is also much moister. I am amazed how damp the sides of the trail are in this area in the morning. I think from the dew. The air is also much cooler here and since there are some tall trees that form a canopy, there is not as much brush, so it is more open. Usually there are some birds here singing.
B just for perspective. It is maybe a tenth of a mile across this area.

Flowers and Roads

My mother didn't grow most flowers around the yard or next to the house. She grew her flowers in an area beside her garden, her "flower garden." One of the flowers that she always had that would reseed itself was California Poppies. They didn't last for long but they were pretty. I don't every remember her cutting any and bringing them inside.

As we got closer to the California coast I started seeing them growing along side the road. There are some growing in the trailer park, even one right close to the trailer.
Last week we were in Lake Elsinore to do some shopping so I took a few pictures so that you can see what the climb is like. The east side is where the plate lifted up, so it is a steeper drop. The west side was the slope of the hill and has eroded, forming many canyons and hills that the road now twists around. Some day I may get a picture of some of it. Here is the east side, with pictures from below and pictures from the top looking back.
In the distance, below the clouds, is another mountain range, not that far away. The peaks have snow on them. These are the peaks that we could see when we were hiking with W and C.

Of course there are lots of twists and turns in the road. If you are interested in seeing what it is like go to www.gmap-pedometer.com and type in Ortega Hwy, CA. The trailer park is located between the "N" and the double hair pin turn.

Hanging Out

Think of some of Dr. Seuss's stories and the trees that are in his book. C pointed out to us some of the local trees. I tried to get a picture of one. Do they look familiar? Their trunks are bare, no bark, and they only have leaves at the ends.

We went to one of W's soccer games. They lost 6-1 but were short three of their players. It was a no count game. They will play them again this week-end and it will count. So they are hoping all their players are there. W says they will beat them.

Here are a few pics from his game.
This is the way he spent most of the first half.

He liked this one, " Boy my face was flaccid."
The next two are actually in a series.

He plays defense but got a couple shot on goal. The one point that they had was not his.

Auck

As a kid growing up I learned to sew, not because I thought it would be fun, but because I thought that maybe I could get cloths to fit me. Prior to this my mother did the alterations. That was to the few things that were not hand-me-downs from my sister. Everything was about five years out of style, even though there are only three years between us. I was just always small.

I did come to love sewing, because things did fit. I still had to shorten just about everything I bought. Once in a blue moon it was the right length.

Yesterday B and I did some shopping as my summer cloths are about nonexistent or about worn out. I found a couple pants. Since I am so short, I needed to shorten the long pair. That is the pair that is suppose to be long. The other pair is suppose to be short. Since it is now in style to have a cuff in your Capri's I can just roll them up.

A cuff in the other pair is not the answer. Therefore the problem. Oh, for a sewing machine. Originally, there was a double row of sewing at the bottom. So I had to take out the stitching, saving the thread, (no thread to match in the trailer) and hem them by hand. Someday when I get to a sewing machine, I'll put those machine stitches back in.

Hiking

Tuesday W and C came up to the trailer. I think I may have mentioned that there are lots of hiking trails up here, on both sides of the highway. B and I have done some.

I packed a lunch and we took off on what was a 6.9 mile hike and took us just over four hours, including time out for lunch.

The trail does a lot of climbing for the first mile. That is as far as I had gone. Bob had gone the next mile plus and said that it was just up and down. He neglected to say that the up was on the way going and the down was on the way back.
The above picture was take soon after starting out. The building in the Lt. center is where we turn off to go into the trailer park. The far distant hill is the one that the road crosses to go to Lake Elsinore. You can see a bit of the road above the building. Just a little above this and looking in the opposite direction you can look into a gap and see how the weather is on the coast.

C didn't think I would catch this.
We say lots of flowers on the hike and lots of plants that we didn't know the name of.

This one looks like a wild peony.These had pretty blue blossoms.
C calls this one a giant asparagus. It is actually a cactus and this is the bloom stalk. We saw one just starting to blossom. I have seen lots on the hill sides as we have driven to W's place. Some are old from last year.
This part of the trail opened up. It looked like an old road. Most was just one person wide.
You can see what the hill sides look like. This was some of the down hill.

If you look just to the right of W's head and above the close ridge, you can see the top that the road goes over. So we are now as high as it. From here we could also see the snow caped mountain that is several miles east of Lake Elsinore.
Along the trails are also lots of small lizards. C kept trying to catch them but couldn't. Finally she got this one. It is broader and hornier that most of the others.