what are you?

me and my brothers (August 1976)

Nature ID is my learning tool to help me find answers when I take pictures of little living things, here and there, plants, butterflies, what have you, and I ask, "What are you?" The funny thing is, I get asked this question all the time of me. Even when it's not Halloween. By complete strangers.  "What...  are...  you?" in a loud, slow, measured way, as if I can't hear (uh, yes, I have a hearing impairment, but that's beside the point).  I get asked as if I were somehow not human.  As if I were a chair, or a dog.  "What are you?"  I've been asked so often in my life that I count down, 3, 2, 1, for the follow-up questions that are sure to come in rapid-fire succession, "Chinese?  Japanese?  No?  What are you?"  It used to piss me off.  Okay.  It still pisses me off. I have yet to come up with a witty reply, because so often I'm stunned into silence by the sheer surprise of the question.  Any suggestions?

Andy has been lamenting that I haven't been posting to my blog very much recently.  He's been extremely supportive of this hobby I started over 5 years ago, which is now a huge part of my life.  After a couple crappy job interviews this past spring, I decided to use what I love about Nature ID and what I've learned and direct all my energies into something new, something yet undefined, something of my own creation.  And, it's scary.

I'm now asking myself that same funny, pissy question, "What are you?"  Haha.  I'm in one of those awkward developing and gangly growing stages, and more than ever, I'm afraid of looking like an idiot.  Am I merely one of those annoying people who asks far too many inappropriate questions?  Am I a naturalist?  Am I a lepidopterist?  Am I a botanist?  Am I a phenologist?  Am I a citizen scientist?  Am I an actual scientist?  What does that even mean?  Where will I be in another 5 years?

So, I don't know how to proceed with this blog.   I've learned a lot this year, and it's difficult to translate that as a continuing process in an online format that gets forever saved in time by RSS feeds and search engine spiders.  Hey, as I find errors on Nature ID, I've gone back and corrected them.  And, there are a lot of errors.  Eh-hem.

Time and time again, I've seen how misinformation gets spread around by people who act like they know everything.  I think we all fool ourselves at times, some more than others, even though I'd like to believe I'm self-aware and forthright when I don't know something.  It's been called to my attention that this gives off the impression that I don't know much of anything, especially among folks who apparently know even less and who actually advised me to shut up and blindly defer to the old guys.

This does not sit well with me.

There were a couple years or so while I was learning English, when I could understand what people were saying, but I could not speak it.  My mother told me that I was a chatterbox when I first arrived, but as soon as I figured out that no one around could understand me in my native language, she said I went quiet for a very long time.  Quite frankly, I was scared silent by the strange, slow monster speak coming from these fair-skinned giants with big, blue eyes.  Once I got the hang of English, she joked that she could never get me to shut up again.  Ha!

I've discovered I'm in a similar situation now, in that I understand a lot more than I have the vocabulary to express.  It's frustrating as hell.  However, just like when I was a kid playing with the big boys, I can stand up for myself, even if I can't speak the speak of all the -ists out there. Yet.  Watch out, guys!

ps - It's National Adoption Month, btw.

pss 01/15/15 - For those still hung up on the question "What are you?" that I purposely did not answer, please refer to this New York Times article on adoptees returning to their home country.  It's not an easy question to answer when you've lived it like I have.

pss 05/18/19 - The thoughts and words I typed out here were completely my own in 2014.  Imagine my surprise to find people's comments about Keanu Reeves and their own experiences regarding the ridiculously offensive question of "What are you?"

wordless Wednesday

habitat ~ 02/22/14 ~ Fort Ord - BLM InterGarrison

 Fort Ord National Monument - InterGarrison entrance

February 22, 2014

Andy wanted to run some trails, and I tagged along for the ride.  I don't enjoy running like he does, so we often do our own thing.  We've gotten pretty good at setting a time limit and meeting up at the end.  He only wanted to do an 1 1/2 hour run, but I asked to push it to 2 hours (he's so accommodating to my whims) because I thought I'd have plenty of early spring sightings to keep me busy.  Nope.  Oh sure, under the oaks there's a gorgeous flush of green grasses and poison oak, as expected, but out in the wide open spaces...  

... grey, dried, dead.  This year's record-breaking drought has bleached the landscape into a flat monotone wash.  It doesn't even pretend to have the usual golden winter tinge.  Shown here is one of the larger vernal pool sites at Fort Ord.  Um, nope.  To compare how wet this spot can be, check out the 2nd picture from my habitat post taken March 20, 2011.

I headed directly to a road lined with large lilac trees (Ceanothus sp.), because I was hoping to see blooms considering the Ceanothus in gardens around town are going gangbusters right now.  Um, nope, again.  Grey.  Dried.  Dead?  In my head, I rationalized the moderate amount of rain 2 weeks ago was enough to kick things into gear.  It looks like it's going to take a lot more rain to catch up to what I expect.  I'm hoping this is not becoming the new normal.

So, I'll admit I've been in a bit of a foul mood lately, which may just be an annual February thing, but... Argh!  Seriously?  Once again there are new closed trail signs, this time "No Trespassing", and once again they're being promptly vandalized.  Many of the metal signs were completely ripped off their hefty posts and tossed into the poison oak.  In the summer of 2009, the BLM first started adding "closed trail" stickers to their brown trail markers, which were ripped out by May 2010.  Then sometime during the winter of 2011-2012, somebody added new "area closed" red markers, which were defaced immediately by February 2012.  I say "somebody", because I'm not sure if it was the BLM or the owners of the neighboring private property, who apparently host bicycling races as I discovered this day with all the traffic.  Was there a transfer of land somewhere in the last 5 years?  I don't know.  You gotta figure the signs are spendy to make and install, and I just don't see how vandalizing them is productive in any way. There's obviously a kerfuffle going on.  Look at the tire tracks behind the sign.  There you go.

habitat ~ 02/21/14 ~ Hatton Canyon State Property

Hatton Canyon State Park Property
February 21, 2014

Heavy sigh... patience is a virtue I am frequently short on.  Whatever happened to the plans to pave a bike trail here?  Does anything ever get done anymore?  Seriously, I look around at every level of government and wonder how do we actually make progress?  How did they do it during so much turmoil in the 30's and 40's?  My uncle, the archetypal retired history teacher, talks all the time about how our current situation parallels that era.  I don't have an answer, mainly because there's so much I simply don't understand.  I'm putting all my faith in the people who claim they want to figure it out and get it done, i.e, elected officials.  Groan.

Where was I?  Oh, yeah... the best accounting of the bike path drama I could find is this July 23, 2008 Herald article hosted by the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC).  Erg.  I'm totally guessing a handful of homeowners may be threatening a lawsuit that CA State Parks can ill afford, if it's not currently being battled out.  I'm not sure why I hold such a bad opinion of some local homeowners, but, in their defense, they're often unduly cowed by the cities they live in.  However, they already won in court while rejecting a Hwy 1 reroute through Hatton Canyon back in 1997.  I'm glad they saved the canyon, but the predicted result has been horrific highway gridlock, especially around the high school and during regular commuter hours.  My understanding is that as part of the agreement of land transfer from Caltrans to State Parks in 2001 (scroll halfway down page), the bike path legally has to be put in as a condition of not building the Hwy there.  Poor State Parks can't even provide an online description of Hatton Canyon after 13 years.  So, who has more rights, the homeowners with all their negativity towards change, who I might point out technically do not own Hatton Canyon, or the people of California?  Who has more money?

As a daily user of the extremely successful Rec Trail, I am totally for this new bike path.  Currently, there is no easy way to get from Monterey/PG to the Mouth of the Valley by bike or on foot without having to traverse busy sections of Hwy 1.  Andy and his Saturday morning, trail-running cohorts have tried several times to find a better route, with no success.  I'm sure there are plenty of people who would prefer biking to work or school through a beautiful wooded area, rather than sitting in stinky exhaust, standstill traffic.  Isn't that a good thing?  For every commuter bicyclist, there's gotta be one less car on the road.  I would think the surrounding homeowners would find they prefer reduced traffic congestion and a way to get from place to place without getting in the car themselves.  Maybe the problem lies in connecting the trail safely on the north end, closer to Hwy 68?

As it is, Hatton Canyon is being used as a personal dog pooping park with private trails to many backyards.  I'm wondering if someone with enough money wants to keep it that way, despite the total neglect otherwise.  Fortunately, I saw very little dog poop this time compared to the first time I visited Hatton Canyon.  I don't know if the new dog poop bag dispensers have anything to do with the improvement.  Who pays and supplies the bags?  The whole thing is ironic, because there's been so much vocal opposition to putting in a dog park in Carmel Valley.  Obviously, our area needs one.

I'd love to see some attention and management paid to this lovely spot.  There is so much potential!  Here's the Carmel Area State Parks General Plan from 2012 that looks interesting. As I was searching for information, I noticed the Big Sur Land Trust has quietly removed themselves since the last time I wrote about this.  Rana Creek has been involved, too.  Their work is distinctive, and I've seen them really grow as a company in the 11 years I've been in the area.  I personally think the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District (MPRPD) would do an excellent job at balancing nature, access, and the neighbors at Hatton Canyon, but it's not their property to manage.  However, this kind of arrangement is not without precedent - the Morro Bay Golf Course is run by the San Luis Obispo County Parks on CA State Parks property.  If given my druthers, an agreement between MPRPD and CA State Parks could be a great solution.

Sigh... it's been difficult to find any information, so I honestly don't know what the current situation is.  I'm writing someone, TAMC or the District 5 County Supervisor Potter, to find out.  It's such a shame this lovely public land isn't being better utilized.

Some things to note on my pictures above...  It just occurred to me that the year-round crick of water is Hatton Creek, which provides a lush green that is hard to find right now during our severe drought.  Someone must be using this water, because there are pipes and manholes scattered throughout the property. Are the Hatton Canyon environmental lawsuits a facade for water rights?  I'm not serious, but nothing would surprise me anymore.  I'm including the oaks above, because I've neglected them in previous habitat posts.  And, the Monterey pines are looking sorry indeed with lots of dried up parts.  I'm looking forward to more rain.

ps 02/27/14 - I apologize if anyone's blog feed got messed up.  I edited this a gazillion times, because I kept finding biased errors in my assumptions.  I feel a sense of responsibility in getting my facts straight when expressing my opinions.  I'm sure there's a lot I don't understand.

Todd Muck, Deputy Executive Director of TAMC, kindly replied to my query and gave me permission to quote him on my blog.  He said, "Due to the opposition to converting the dirt service road into a paved bike path, the Transportation Agency for Monterey County's Board of Directors elected to not construct that portion of the project when we constructed the tunnel under Carmel Valley Road and the paved path to Rio Road.  The unpaved portion remains in TAMC's Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan as a potential future project, but there is no longer any funding dedicated to pursing the project."  He also pointed me in the direction of Victoria Beach, a Carmel City Council Member, who's organizing a citizens trails group.  Interesting.  I'll check it out.

pet peeves ~ 12/07/13 ~ Fort Ord

filled dog poop bag

I'm not sure this is any better than fuzzy, mold-covered, open-air poop that I used to see at Fort Ord.  Can anyone tell me why dog owners leave used poop bags on the trails?  This makes no sense to me.  The now-common dispensers at trailheads indicate these green bags are degradable.  Is that different from compostable?  I don't see how individual bags would degrade/compost properly.  Are the dog owners expecting someone else will come along, pick up all those randomly dropped filled bags, and properly compost them like they do in a State Park in Ithaca, NY?  My going assumption has been, if it's your dog, then you need to take care of it and pack it out. Erg.

ps 03/19/14 - OK, this is too funny.  Santa Cruz now has "There's No Poop Fairy" signs.

habitat ~ 02/18/12 ~ Fort Ord - BLM InterGarrison

Fort Ord Public Lands - InterGarrison entrance

February 18, 2012

Lately, I've been trying to focus on the positive on Nature ID and was hoping if I waited a few days to post about this excursion, my grumpy attitude would mellow out. Unfortunately, I still have pet peeves to report from this hike, and those pet peeves are more hot to me than describing my other photos.

Right as we pulled into the very limited sandy parking at InterGarrison, we met a couple of dogs off leash. As soon as I got out of the car, one promptly stuck its slobbery nose up where it didn't belong, and the other pooped not more than a few feet away in the sand (I was very careful not to step in the steaming pile of poo). I don't blame the dogs. I blame the dogs' owner. The regulation of having a dog under voice command does not mean a verbal remonstration after the fact of "Bad Barkie, leave the nice lady alone!" Plus, the owner made no movements to pick up after his other pet. (Oh, did I mention he was a mountain biker? I'll get to that in a mo'.) At the very least, I'm glad none of the dogs jumped into my car, which Andy experienced a little more than a year ago. When Andy tried to get Lola out of his car, he ended up with his 3rd worst poison-oak rash ever. His arms oozed for weeks thanks to a careless dog owner who couldn't find her way on the trails, let alone find her own dog. Given my last several encounters with dogs on trails (muddy footprints all over me, scaring me during my first ever bobcat encounter, pooping not 3 feet away in the ocean waves from my friend's toddler, and other incidents), really, I do like dogs... just not run amok where common courtesy seems to be forgotten.

There was a ton of poop on the trails. With minimal rain this season, poop seems to be holding its shape pretty well with fuzzy mold. Some were obviously from wild animals with bits of red berries in them, but I'm guessing most were from dogs. Does anyone know how to tell dog and coyote poop apart? Several bikers had dogs with them, and I can't imagine that they would stop their bike to pick up after their pet. As the biker in the parking area demonstrated, he wasn't the least bit concerned about cleaning up after his dog. All that dog poop has got to have a negative impact on the wildlife and the environment.

So, speaking of bicyclists, check out the bright red trail marker above. Can you also see the clear bike tire treads? These trail markers are new within the past couple of months. It's supposed to say "Area Closed," but it's already been defaced. These trails were closed 2 1/2 years ago, and even then the markers were promptly defaced or ripped out of the ground completely. Oh, did I mention? I witnessed the same dog/bike loving fellow promptly go down a brightly marked red trail to enjoy the beauty that is Fort Ord. If he and his cohorts continue, the place may not be so beautiful in the coming years. Considering there are still UXOs being found on previously opened trails, this could be really dangerous. Andy and I don't understand this behavior. We consider it a privilege, not a right, to have access to these lands.

edited 02/25/12 - Now that my rant is done, I've added descriptions for the rest of the photos:

vernal pool

There's a new definition of dry this year. I passed 3 vernal pools during my hike, and they were all this brown without a lick of water. Even on August 4, 2010 there was more green here. To see how filled with water the vernal pools can be, check out my March 20, 2011 post. Let's do a rain dance to get a flood of rain in March and April. Interestingly, I heard several frogs during this hike. I don't know where they'll lay eggs if there isn't some rain soon.

green grass under coast live oak

For how dry it was, I was impressed there were areas of new green under the tree canopies. The tree provides shade and extra moisture collection from fog and rain to the understory. I've asked this before, but what's the term for this natural occurrence? Is it a combination of throughfall and fog interception?

rototilled ground

While there are skunks and badgers at Fort Ord, I think the likely candidate that did this were wild California pigs (Sus scrofa), an odd cross between feral domestic pigs and Eurasian wild boar. They've only been seen at Fort Ord since 2004, and more than a hundred have been trapped since 2006. While I've never seen them, Andy has seen several during his many trail runs at Fort Ord.

dusky-footed woodrat house
Neotoma fuscipes

Normally, I'd have this as its own post, but now I'm starting to see dusky-footed woodrat houses as indicators of certain habitats. I most often see them in heavily forested coast live oak areas. I rarely see just one house, and more often than not there's a whole complex of multiple houses. The king of woodrat blogging is Nature of a Man. Check out his blog!

Fort Ord Army Lands

This picture was taken very near where I saw an incredible display of Indian warriors on March 20, 2011. There's a new Fort Ord map as of last September, but we believe it's already out of date. They've done quite a bit of new trail building that will make it easier to get from the BLM InterGarrison side through open Army Lands to the BLM Creekside entrance. I'm not quite sure what this corridor was since it's not a trail; I suspect it was a temporary road that was used for equipment to build the new trails. It's been exciting to see all the work being done to convert Fort Ord into a public access space. I just hope people can respect the land, the life, and the rules so that everyone can enjoy it for years to come.

ps 02/28/12 - Given my pet peeves above, particularly pets on public lands, Shaina of Middle of Everywhere has a decent post about where this might head.

pss 03/14/12 - Well, here's a different idea - just throw the poo into the bushes according to Rambling on...

habitat ~ 09/17/11 ~ Wilder Ranch State Park

Wilder Ranch State Park
September 17, 2011

I haven't been taking care of myself this past month like I should, and my hormones kicked in with a vengeance. I fully admit I was the grouchiest, foulest person around. To Andy's relief he quickly left on a trail run for a few hours, while I meandered through the ranch and then up a new trail on my own.

There were more people than we expected, even for a Saturday. It happened to be a special "farm day" at this State Park. Everyone was trying to talk to me about homemade ice cream and hand-churned butter. Leave me alone! I posted a couple of pictures on flickr, if you're into that kind of organized stuff.

So, up a new trail I went hoping to escape the people and spot some herps or even a bobcat. Dang dry grasses! Can't see much. I don't particularly like hiking this time of year because of all the dried plant matter. It's much more pleasant under the redwoods like at Nisene Marks, but there's also the increased possibility of yellowjacket stings there this time of year. Erg!

Then I encountered more people than I wanted to be around. First there was a large group of bikers with little kids. It became a game of walk past them as they rested, have them pass me with some of the little boys nearly knocking me over, even though I stepped off to the side of the trail to let them pass, then me walking pass them again, over and over. When a fork in the trail came, I made sure to take the one they did not. Big mistake! Second came several large groups of horse riders. The lead lady assured me their horses saw me and that all would be okay. The fifth horse decided my hat looked tasty and came right at me. Once they passed I had to watch my step for the prolific trail of horse poop they left behind. Crap! After becoming tired of more dry grasses and not a single tree available for shade, I looked at my map and realized the big group of bikers had taken the trail I had wanted for a decent loop to meet up with Andy in time. Like Andy, I rarely backtrack on the same trail, but this time I turned straight around. Sure enough, just my crabby luck, most of my return path was filled with a strolling lolling social hiking club consisting of at least 70 people, all chattering so loudly I couldn't believe they were even aware they were outside in nature. Blasted people!

Sigh... I did one small final loop to visit my favorite Wilder Ranch stream and encountered a buckeye butterfly. For whatever reason, that was enough to calm me down and feel okay about everything. Our timing was perfect and I met up with Andy on a return path to the farm.

For lunch we went to our favorite new Santa Cruz spot: burger. Their milkshakes with Marianne’s ice cream are super yummy. Given that I'm a cheap bastard, I had the idea to hit several State Parks on the way home, since we had already paid our $10 entry fee to Wilder Ranch. Here in CA, day use paid entry entitles you to visit as many State Parks in the same day as you want. We hit Seacliff State Beach (way too crowded with those picnic-type people who prefer to pack their entire house along for a day at the beach, and the "camping" is limited to a lengthy bare parking lot for RVs only), New Brighton State Beach (I have fond memories camping here as a kid with my uncle and aunt, and Andy and I might try this some time), Manresa State Beach (an unpopular day use only parking lot), and Manresa Upland State Beach (hike-in tent camping only that may be lovely in the spring, and despite what the link says, we are not in SoCal). Finally, we hit the relatively new Farm Fresh Produce in Moss Landing along Highway 1. What a pleasant surprise! They have seriously fresh produce for super cheap, and we ended up with more than we had intended. All in all, a day that started off not so pleasant ended up being a really fun outing.

habitat ~ 02/04/11 ~ Hatton Canyon State Property

Hatton Canyon State Park Property
February 4, 2011

There's been quite a bit of local controversy over Hatton Canyon from Caltrans to State Park ownership. Now, I hear there's more controversy over paving a trail through the canyon for bicycle access and concerns about a ban on being able to walk your dog on State Park property's unpaved trails. I have to say we spotted dog poo everywhere, which doesn't do the pro-dog folks any favors. Until I get my facts straight and instead of simply repeating what others have already written, here are 2 links that provide some basic information: Walking and Hiking on the Monterey Peninsula (scroll down 1/3 of the page) and Big Sur Land Trust. During this hike, we accessed the canyon through the newly constructed tunnel under Carmel Valley Road at Highway 1. Given the proliferation of invasive plant species here, it is definitely land that could use some management.

ps 02/26/14 - My original link to the Big Sur Land Trust no longer exists.  It was an informative page about how they're connecting trails.  I wonder what happened.  Instead, here's a nice map of the area under BSLT purview.  And here's a more recent Hatton Canyon habitat post.

pet peeves 2

posted 02/24/12 - I simply don't understand destroying trail signs that indicate a particular trail is closed.  We've seen this kind of vandalism since the summer of 2009 when they first started closing some of the previously opened trails.  Is someone protesting the closures?

pet peeves

Seriously, is oral hygene so important these days that one has to floss their teeth while out on a hike?

We see these plastic tooth flossers littered everywhere - in town, on the popular rec trail, and even deep in the woods away from any parking lot. My second trail pet peeve is finding used, green plastic bags for dog poo. Come on! If you took the care to clean up after your dog, wouldn't you pack the package out, too? My husband's biggest hiking pet peeve is finding orange peels on the trail; I'm still not sure if citrus peels are compostable. At least we didn't find abundant, used condoms during this hike, like we did behind La Sapienza's botanical garden in Rome!

Apologies to my blog followers! This post has undergone numerous revisions in the past day considering almost everything - from online arrogance to my frustration with not being able to find the information I want - has rubbed me the wrong way.