The heat has finally broken here in Mariposa County. I’ll be the first to admit that I had no understanding just how hot it was going to get here from early July until late August. It was the kind of heat where you wake up thinking it won’t be too bad but by 2 o’clock you just want to hide in the house.
(more…)Tag: san diego
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Our Journey to Ahwahnee
Last night, I sat on the porch of our century old workshop enjoying the timeless cool, evening breeze. The sun filtered through our towering pine trees. We sat in the silence with only the birds and mosquitoes as background music.
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Golf is Hard
Last week, I played in a mens club event and scored awful. Well actually, considering all of the bad things that happened to me during the course of the round, I managed to shoot 90 officially, which is pretty bad for me, I normally would score between 78-82. But I had one of those rounds where my ball just hit every little tree, weird bounce, and a person in my group incorrectly assessed an additional penalty on me because he didn’t know the rules… you know, abnormal stuff that added up.
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Mayor Gloria, Councilmember Elo-Rivera, let’s get Clay Park Improvements done right now.
Note: I sent the following message to my compatriots in the Clay Park Subcommittee of the Colina Del Sol Recreation Council. But this message needs to be shared broadly and directly with the decision-makers. For the sake of the community we can no longer be patient. We need to get this project done. Contact me at mclanea@gmail.com and let’s finish it.
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A Foot on Each Side
My life is in San Diego. We live here. I’m as involved locally as I’ve ever been. My work is here. My friends are here. My home is here. My bills are here. Everything is here.
I live here in Rolando.
My life is also in Tijuana and Ensenada, two cities in Baja California, Mexico. There’s simply no denying that.
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Building Up California’s Urban Core
A new report from the State of California’s Department of Finance came out this month showing that the population of California is in trouble. According to the report, “The reasons for the decline during this decade were, by order of magnitude, higher domestic out-migration, lower immigration to California, and fewer births.”
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In San Diego it’s now a crime to be poor
Somehow I missed The Jungle in high school.
When I read Upton Sinclair’s classic as a young adult it changed things. While most readers recall the horrifying details of Chicago’s turn-of-the-century meatpacking industry I saw myself in Jurgis Rudkus.
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San Diego via Timelapse
Oh baby, this captures so much of what makes San Diego a beautiful place to live.
I can’t wait for my little rail kit rail & dolly kit to arrive so I can start learning how to shoot these kinds of time-lapse shots.
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Adding shade in the garden
The front door of our house faces east towards the Pacific Ocean. (A mere 10 miles west!) Our backyard garden sit on the top of an exposed his with full eastern sun.
For three seasons that really isn’t a big deal. In fact, because we can get full sun for about 75% of the garden it means that the other three seasons are great. But right now, in the height of summer sun, with June Gloom giving way to coastal San Diego’s July Fry, our plants are suffering.
In both our tomato patch and where we currently have our melons, the plants obvious grow towards the north fence and away from the full glare of all day sun. Leaves on our cucumbers always look wilted. Once something gets established and can effectively shade itself we are totally fine. But often small plants never thrive.
Today we made a small investment in a fix by adding some shade for the melon patch & the tomatoes.
Here’s my supply list: (All from Home Depot)
- Tan sun screen (6’x20′ = $31)
- Garden stakes (9 x 4 feet each = $8.97)
- Grommets ($7.96)
- Zip ties (laying around the garage)
- 2 hooks (also in the garage)
The melon patch is 7 feet wide. I measured 24 inches from the fence and drove the 3 stakes down so 36 inches was out of the soil. I cut the sun shade to length and put 4 grommets across the top, 2 in the middle and 2 on the bottom. Next, I used a level to attach the 4 grommets to the fence securely. I draped the shade from the fence and over the stakes, making a little tent over the top.
It’s a very simple design aimed at just keeping the sun off of them in the heat of the day. While I could stake down the bottom I don’t have it staked right now so I can easily flip the ends up and weed underneath.
For the tomato patch I made it even simpler. I attached it to the fence on the north end draped it over the various bamboo stakes and then attached it to the fence on the other side.
Zip ties were my friend. They made the whole process simple and entirely portable.
The hope is that this solution helps lessen the direct sunlight and helps both the melons and tomatoes beat the heat to a better yield.
We should know in a couple weeks.
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Paul’s Fishing Trip
Kristen and I decided that we’d give each of the big kids an experience as part of their Christmas. So Megan is going whale watching with mom and I took Paul fishing out on the open ocean.
After a lot of research online I booked our day on the Daily Double out of Point Loma Sportfishing. (Yelp review) It was pretty reasonably priced and the reviews were good, especially for those with kids.
We weren’t disappointed! We both had a great time, made a lot of memories, caught some fish, and had plenty of stories to tell.
(click on the images to see them full-sized, sorry about the upside down ones!)
These are the fish bags… each hoping to be filled with fish.
A beautiful sight with San Diego beginning to fade into the distance
My boy, looking very serious before we left the docks
Boats in the harbor
A sunny day having a blast with Paul
A gorgeous tall ship sailing out of the harbor when we were coming in
Looking off the bow into the harbor
That’s Cabrio, the famous lighthouse on top. Now it’s a national landmark
Filleting our catch!
The seagulls & pelicans chasing the boat, hoping for some scraps
Not as interested in this one… “Dad, stop taking pictures!”
Hawaii in the distance…
Our fish getting sliced-n-diced
Our catch!
I’m sure there was something important here. Just enjoy…
There were whales over there.
We took a lot of these pictures. I love hanging with my boy!
