Veterans Memorial Park
November 14, 2010

Yep, this is a bit of a different view point from my usual sunrise pics from home. Andy had a last minute invite to run the Big Sur Half Marathon in place of his running friend Bill Gates who was in Geneva or something. No, not THE Bill Gates, but we still had a good chuckle over people calling him Bill and being announced at the finish line. After I dropped him off for a 1 mile warm-up, I found this pretty view from the hill as I was wending my way back home by car, because the main road was closed for the run.

habitat ~ 11/11/10 ~ Garland Ranch - Garzas Creek

Garland Ranch Regional Park - Garzas Creek

November 11, 2010

Showing the end of autumn color around these parts. Hey, it's California on the coast. I've been very tempted to take pictures of garden trees in town with their bright reds, oranges, and yellows, but that wouldn't feel honest for a nature blog. The best native show, besides poison-oak, comes from the bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) and western sycamore (Platanus racemosa) with their massive yellow-orange crunchy leaves now nourishing the ground. Once we get a little more rain in the next month, everything will start turning bright spring green in time for Christmas. For a great blog post on native California fall color, check out Town Mouse and Country Mouse and for a series of California fall color links, check out Natural History Wanderings.

In case you missed it, I linked to Las Pilitas Nursery in the common name above. Be sure to read to the end of the description. Whoever writes their descriptions has a healthy sense of humor. My favorite is still their description of the California wild rose.

ps 11/20/11 - Andy took these pictures during one of his trail runs. I also added western sycamore above.

wordless Wednesday

painted tiger moth
Arachnis picta

I'm setting the caterpillars free in one of my compost containers, because there's a nice supply of various young shoots. The 2nd instar caterpillars are now over 5mm in length and about ready to molt again. I turned the vinca over for the last pic to show how they seem to like a bit of overhead protection during the day. Here are my blog posts to when the mother laid eggs (10/17/10) and when they hatched (10/26/10).

ps 11/08/10 - They ate my 2 tomato shoots to the nub in one day. Good golly, they are little pigs!

pss 02/23/11 - Those small, heart-shaped leaves are hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta), a non-native wildflower in the Brassicaceae family. Thanks to a friend who pointed them out in her garden I now know what they are. Both of ours have grown enough to set seed with tiny, thin seed pods that pop when touched. Not wanting them to spread to my container plants, I pulled them all out. I hope the caterpillars, if any are left in this compost container, are okay.