Rain in the Topa Topa Mountains

the rain always starts in the mountains first.

Fire in Green Valley Lake

There is a fire in Green Valley Lake, and Josh has found pictures of cabins near the beer rock burning down. There aren't enough resources to stop this fire. I don't know if it burned the cabin down but if it did, I will let you all know. Then I'll go get drunk and cry. (but not while at the plant conference.)

Hi

Hello from Ventura!

Things are going well here, although they are quite busy. Sara is living with me now, and will soon be spending much of her time on the Channel Islands. Work is good, but busy, and I am getting a chance to do some vegetation mapping.

I haven't been posting many photos in this blog, because there is something wrong with the uploader, and it doesn't work very well. However, if anyone reading this has interest in weather, they can visit my occasionally-updated weather blog at

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/Inyo/show.html

I also have some pictures up at that site.

a hotel for white ladies only? racist!

This area of southern Ireland reminded me of Georgia.

One branch of the river that flows through Cork.

"Street Love" in Cork

St. Patrick's Street in downtown Cork, Ireland

This is the little road I could walk down every day to get a pint or go to the internet cafe or get on a bus to go to other cities.

The city of Cork from up on a hill

This would be considered a major highway in Ireland.

Ireland is a mix of old and new things... once a rather poor country, the 21st century is bringing economic expansion. The entire island basically is skipping from the early 1800s to the 2000s in a decade... which is a good thing.

Of course... some things are the same

It's on the wrong side!

Over the next few days (weeks?), I will be posting pictures of my trip to Ireland.

I will start them off with this... a car with the steering wheel on the right side.

Of course, it is not the 'wrong' side in Ireland... but it is a little symbol of how different other parts of the world are.

Me as a developer! (scary)

This is my neighborhood!

This is my neighborhood!

An oak in Ojai

Matrimony Spring

This is a spring coming out of the bedrock near the road. You can drink out of it without getting guiardia. It's good water.

A few Moab trip pictures

Sorry about the long delay in updating the blog.

Earlier this month, me and Sara drove to Moab, Utah, where we saw my friend Eli, Sara's friend Pete, and various other old and new friends. Here are a few pictures... I have more I may post later.


This is a crazy dust storm in the Antelope Valley. It was very windy, but the ground was also disturbed by poor land management, making the dust storm worse. It messed with the joints in my car door, which still seems to be damaged. It was also very disturbing to drive through, because visibility was near zero at times.



Sara drove for a lot of the trip. She did a good job.



This is tamarisk, a bad, bad plant that is infesting Utah and other areas.



The high passes of Utah were covered in snow when we drove over. Through the first portion of the trip, there was quite a bit of rain and snow.. which was nice to see in contrast with the unpleasant drought in California.



Rain and melting snow filled up some washes in the area. Water coming out of the mountains was red from all of the red rocks, sand, and dirt it passed through.

I miss the rain, and running water. Drought is no fun.

This year has been full of windstorms, and since it has been so dry, there have also been some dust storms. This is dust blowing its way towards Santa Cruz Island from the mainland. Dust storms have happened in this part of the world for hundreds of thousands of years (at least), and you can actually find thick, buried layers of dust on the islands.




A hummingbird





Another windstorm formed these wave clouds over the Topa Topas (as seen from Piedras Blancas)




Me and the rocks

standing in the sandstone as the world unravels

Sara and Mormon Rocks




Me with silverwood lake and a bromus fire



the fire from the high ridge behind Green Valley Lake



not much snow



sunset point, as tradition dictates, and always good.



Little Green Valley

More storming over the Topa Topas. This was in late March.

More Oaks

The sun in an oak

A storm over the Topa Topas, and the back of Anna's head.
This storm made a ton of wind but no rain in Ventura.