Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

California

Whack Job

I planted an umbrella tree in one corner of the yard a few years ago to provide a barrier between our yard and the neighbors. It does the job quite nicely, but, as you can see in the “before” panel above, it’ got a little out of control. Exacerbating the control problem, a group of several California palms popped up behind the umbrella, next to the wall in back. Many people consider this variety of palm a weed – in this case, it’s true.

For the “before” picture, Damsel posed me next to the garden project just as I began to whack away with the branch cutter and chain saw. Two green bins worth of tree parts later, she snapped the “after” picture. It was more work than it appears. The palms were a bitch to clean up, all intertwined and always with the little razor sharp spikes catching on stuff (luckily, I escaped any of them snagging a chunk outta me). Eventually, I will remove the palms completely, before they start moving the block walls.

Remember that little squirrel that kept popping up in people’s pictures on the web? Somehow, that little guy managed to get in the “after” picture. Maybe he was hiding there before – you just couldn’t see him through the thicket.

02 Nov 2009 by California Home & Garden

Pelican at Point Vicente Light

pelican-lighthouse.jpgOn a whim, we drove to Point Vicente on the south side of the Palos Verdes peninsula in the southwestern corner of Los Angeles County. We wanted to see the coastline and Catalina Island after the brisk winds we had in the area last night. Alas, when we got there, the wind had only kicked up the sea mist and the visibility was not as good as we had hoped. But, there’s always something to see along the coastline.

The sea was a little choppy, with a few whitecaps topping the waves offshore. The air was clear enough that we could see the island in the distance, but not as razor sharp as on some previous post-windstorm days. We watched the surf and the birds in this peaceful, relaxing environment. It’s good to be retired and able to enjoy indulging our whims.

I snapped a bunch of photos of pelicans, seagulls, the Point Vicente Lighthouse and the Interpretive Center. In one fortunate image, I managed to get a California Brown Pelican and the Point Vicente Lighthouse in the same frame with Catalina Island just visible in the background.

Click on the image to see full-sized.

28 Oct 2009 by California Critters Photography Retirement

Visit to Cabela’s in Glendale, AZ

It was almost a religious experience. The grandeur of a giant department store devoted to all things outdoors and shooting. Damsel wanted to camp in the parking lot. Her eyes glazed over with the faraway look of a shopaholic who sees something shiny. Me? I was drooling on the seemingly endless display cabinet of hand guns with lower-than-expected pricing. Oh, and there was that S&W M&P 15-22 that flirted with my brain – I had to avert my glance to avoid being totally mesmerized.

cabelas.jpg

California needs stores like this, but we know the creeps in Sacramento and the idiotic Governator will drive stores and revenues like this away from the Anti-Midas state government – everything they touch turns to sh*t. The “Golden State” paradigm is now a fond memory from the past.

19 Oct 2009 by Arizona California Firearms Second Amendment Something Shiny

BNSF Train Crossing

On the way to the range today, we heard the train coming down the track, so we decided to stop for the photo op. Damsel took some stills and I made a movie.

I have always been fascinated by trains, especially old steamers, but I like ’em all. In the summer of 2005, Damsel and I rode the Alaskan RR from Anchorage through Denali and on to Fairbanks. Seeing any trains always brings out a little wanderlust in me.

Pardon the crappy bandwidth compression. One of these days I’m going to upgrade the website for streaming video. I kept telling myself that I would do it when I get the time – well now that I’m retired, I no longer have much of an excuse. I’ll get on it real soon now, just as soon as I do a few chores and we make an out of towner or two . . .

11 Oct 2009 by Blogosphere California Cyberspace Travel

Relocation Planning

koko_pebble_md_wht.gifOnly a couple more days, and I will be enjoying retirement. Well, maybe not at first, since there are myriad chores and planning ahead until we can relocate to a place where:

  • the tax bite is a whole lot less
  • cost of living is lower
  • mild climate
  • lower crime rate
  • we can buy and shoot most firearms
  • we can exercise our Utah CCW privileges or qualify for local CCW
  • there is more Kokopelli

I’m sure there are many more items I can add to this list.

We have talked about relocating to Arizona, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico – the options are open. Some areas within those states meet our requirements and others do not. There is much to research.

It is desirable to make the move sooner than later, but there is the matter of getting a fairly large Southern California home full of aged furnishings (and our junk, of course) with some items in mild disrepair, in shape to put on the market. It’s a daunting project, but we can work on it more-or-less full time.

Fortunately, we are in an equity position in our home and most likely will be able to pay off the mortgage plus purchase outright or make a considerable down payment on a home in the new location. It will depend on how extravagant we want to be in choosing a new home. Keep in mind that we are not planning to take many furnishings and no appliances with us. It will be a zero-time baseline on most items like that, so we have to take that into consideration in choosing a home.

Now – I have to figure out how to do all this California work while being a resident of another state. Not an easy prospect . . .

UPDATE: Scott Adams’ timing for this strip was perfect:

wally-die.jpg

28 Sep 2009 by Arizona California Retirement

Deer in the Foothills

On our way into Yosemite a couple of weeks ago, we spotted some deer crossing the little country road we took to the lodge where we stayed the night. One deer bounded right through a barbed-wire fence and across a field. This is a two-frame movie that I captured as two photos combined into a Flash© animation.

23 Sep 2009 by California Critters Travel

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