Fall color makes Josh laugh.. or else he was laughing at Julie 

fall color makes Julie cry! 

Fall Color.. the black oaks were bright orange, not black. 

Here's an oak against a Jeffrey Pine. The fall color was really quite amazing. 

The last of the sun's light filtering through a White Fir. 

This weekend we were up at Hohn Sweet Home... me and Julie got there Friday night just in time to see the sunset. The sunset was lighting up the very first clouds of the very first winter storm of the year. 

This is Cheeseboro Canyon, the bane of Julie, Judy, and my existance this summer. Most of it burned off but the unburnt patches there are the Nassella plots, which survived just for Julie to resurvey. Thankfully, I don't work there anymore. :) 

The Topanga Fire this year burned most of the Simi Hills - one of the main areas our vegetation map covered. This is a map Julie made of all our plots which burned. Although it is a bit of a pain as we still wanted to do more surveying in the area, it will be neat to be able to go back and see how things change. 

This maple had lost almost all of its leaves. Then again, a black oak i found nearby was still green. It will be interesting to see this weekend if the black oaks in the San Bernadinos have changed yet. 

Today it is very hot.. but this isnt fooling the trees. The Bigleaf Maples up in the San Gabriels are changing. They know what they are doing, too. The weather forecast for this weekend calls for dramatically cooler temperatures and a chance of rain. There will even be snow on the highest peaks but these maples are a bit below the predicted snow level of 6500 feet. 

On the other side of the mountains, you could see all the way to the desert and the Tehachipi Mountains beyond. 

Yesterday i was on Gleason Peak in the San Gabriel Mountains where i work. This peak is the highest one in its particular part of the mountains, at almost 7000 feet tall... so it contains an island of ponderosa pine forest surrounded by chaparral and oak woodland. It is really neat up there. This is a viwe of the Santa Monica Mountains from the top. They look so tiny!  

Tropical System Strikes Spain, Portugal

This weekend a hurricane formed off the coast of Portugal - in an area of water temperatures which was believed to be too cold to support a hurricane. It was very small in size, but there could be no doubt that this was a hurricane, with sustained winds of at least 75 MPH and an well defined 'eye'.

Apparently there is record of a dying hurricane hitting Ireland in the 1960s, and of the 'Remnants' of tropical storms striking Spain and Portugal in the past. But this is the first time on record a tropical system actually maintained enough strength to strike the Iberian Peninsula.

From the National Hurricane Center:

The historical record shows no tropical cyclone ever making landfallon the iberian peninsula. Based on surface reports from FaroPortugal...the center passed just to the south of the coast ofPortugal...before becoming the first tropical cyclone to make landfall in Spain.

The area is in a severe drought so the rains were welcome, and by the time the storm hit land the winds were not strong enough to do much damage.

A 'hurricane-like' storm (like the one to hit Spain, this storm did not have all of the typical charactaristics of hurricanes) also hit Brazil this year, which is another first.

No one storm indicates a climate change, but all of these factors put together are definitely something to think about.

Everything put together falls apart.

Today i was doing a survey of impacts to a creek in a rather 'redneck' area. I will not post general details here, but suffice to say: do NOT drink out of a creek no matter how nice it looks. This particular creek is less than pristine but i had no idea that leaking septic tanks, etc, were so close to the water. There were some nice, fat trout in there too.. probably fat from bottom feeding off of the fecal matter... not to mention, the trout were probably meth addicts. Oh well. It isnt Yosemite here, but the work i do here is truly in the trenches of conservation. These lands, being so close to the city, are the most open to abuse of anything around, but they are also the most important in allowing people to appreciate and experience natural areas... if people do not experience them, they will see no value in their protection.
I worked late, and when i was driving home on the 210, the sun had already set. And lo and behold, as i approached Pasadena, my CAR TURNED OFF! Yep.. right on the freeway, going 65.. it turned off! I managed to coast to the side and had it towed to the ford dealer which is conveniently located a quarter mile from my house. So it could have been a lot worse. Tomorrow i will figure out what is wrong with it.
Upon arriving home I also made the pleasant discovery that my electronic door opener was dead. I was pretty disturbed, but i called John (my roommate) who is in Hawaii right now, and he told me where he stores the extra batteries. That is fixed now.
I am planning a fall trip up to the Cabin in a 2 weeks. It won't be the party that April was, but it will be good times with close friends, which is just as good. There could be some fall color, and there will be beer, and a good sunset, and hiking to do. Incidentally, i met one of the botanists who works in the area around Green Valley Lake. My first thought was 'OMG PLANT GIRL!' but i quickly realized she was dating one of the other employees of that forest. Anyway, they both seem cool, so I may invite them up to the cabin as well. (they also both live near major snowboarding areas so perhaps i will have more people to go boarding with now).
Anyway, other than the car, everything is good. My weekend plans call for hanging out in Pasadena friday night, going to Torrance on saturday night (i have friends to pick up at the airport early on Sunday) and seeing Dave on Sunday. Monday i also have off, it will probably be a Warcraft day, or else a visit to the close mountains.

October is here..

October has arrived and with it a typical fall weather forecast: hot, dry winds which could persst through the month. This is a quite common weather pattern for this time of year, and one which is largely responsible for the abundance of fires in the region. It is likely that fires similar to the ones last week will occur throughout the month.

The valleys and canyons in the hot winds will feel warm, but a trip to the mountain peaks reveal that winter is only a month or two away.. conditions at 7000 feet are downright cold. Up there the maples are all bright yellow. Also, the Santa Ana winds are warmed by dropping over the mountains, so while they are still on the high ridge, they are not warm yet.

Today i was walking to the mailbox down at the corner. After i deposited the mail i just kept walking. I went a long way before i got back... down Lake Street and around Cal Tech. It was a good walk and when i got back, i was inspired and made a new song. If you want to hear it, click on the 'Sonic Colonic' link to the right of this text, and then choose the song called 'To The End Times'.

The end times may be on the way.. but for now things are pretty good. The world is full of neat plants, cute girls, and possibility. I've got nothing to complain about.

Setting sun shining through smoke plume. 

the smoke plume from the Topanga Fire.. those are the Simi Hills burning there, about 50 miles away. 

A fire in Big Tujunga Canyon.. the first one of the new fire season, at least that I saw. This one was put out quickly and did not spread 

Pasadena red light 

more neat clouds