Water in the Desert

We spent the long weekend in Yuma, AZ, about three hours away from Cherry Valley, with our friends from Sleepy Valley, from our old neighbourhood. It's Presidents' Day in the US, but Family Day back home. These friends are the next best thing when we can't be with family.

Our laundry dries quickly in the hot sun.

We experienced a heat wave, unseasonable shorts and shirt weather, quite a switch from the rainy and temperate climate in northern California.

Next was a tooth fixed in Los Algodones, Mexico. It didn't take long to replace one of my fillings.

Most of our weekend was spent birding, though. We drove along dusty levees along irrigation canals.

Life giving water is pumped into the fields
earning Yuma the name of Winter Vegetable Capital.

                                     

Here is a field with green and red lettuce, actually there were two shades of green.

                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Terry in his classic birding pose, by the Colorado River.

Blooming Salt Cedar

A fire blackened the shrubs and the trunk of the palm

 Brittle Bush on the banks of the Colorado River

Debbie and Erica

Uh oh! The camp stove wouldn't light. Roland fiddled with the connection to the little propane tank. We glumly contemplated eating bread and tomatoes

“Lord,” I prayed. “We really would like those burgers!” Everyone laughed in agreement. Finally we heard the hiss of the propane, but it wasn't flowing consistently through the connection. Roland sat and held the tank upside down. Somehow this kept the propane flowing so the hamburgers could cook. “Thank you for the sizzle,” we prayed before joyously attacking the picnic supper.

At the pond, people were sitting close to the edge and fishing. Apparently anything that swam in the Colorado River was here, such as catfish, trout, or tilapia. A girl scooped out a trout with a net, just like that.


As dark came early, we packed up chairs, table, stove and food, and headed for home.

Great Egret

Clinging Vines

On our last weekend at Pacifica, CA, the principal of the school where we had been working took us on a tour of San Francisco.  We enjoyed driving down, not only the famous Lombard Street with its many turns in a short distance, but down another, lesser known street, Vermont Street, that was even windier.

Many of the streets were so steep that cars parked straight across so they couldn't roll downhill.  No angle parking on these angled streets! 

We had driven to Pacifica when we arrived via the Golden Gate Bridge, so I didn't think I wanted to walk across it, but we did, about halfway across.  Since the sun suddenly came out, and the sky cleared, it was a pleasant experience








"Do you want me to take a picture of both of you?"  asked the principal.

If you look closely, you can see scratches on Terry's neck.  They were healing nicely and forming scabs.
That night he started to get terribly itchy, and his neck, arms where he had more scratches developed red patches.  Then his arm blistered.  His face started to swell.
"Uh-oh, I think I encountered something poisonous," said Terry. That was two days previously! He remembered how they had been asked to clear and trim the brush behind a fence.  With his usual enthusiasm, Terry remembered how he had dived into the bush, and how the vines had wrapped themselves around his neck.
Internet research revealed pictures of poison ivy and poison oak.  Apparently poison oak is common in California, and poison ivy grows only east of the Rockies.  All our lives in BC and Alberta we'd never seen any specimens of these plants.

Benedryl didn't seem to do much. Calamine lotion and ice cold facecloths helped to some extent. A week later we were on our way to the next project, and were staying the night at Walmart.  Would you believe Walmart sells aloe vera? Not in a bottle, but a giant two foot spear of it!

The soothing jelly scraped out of the leaf helped for a while.  Meanwhile Terry wasn't getting much sleep because of the terrible itching on his face, neck, chest, and unmentionable parts of his body.
This is how swollen his face looked. He's downright scary!

The time came to take stronger measures.  We decided to go to Urgent Care in Beaumont, near Cherry Valley, where we are beginning our second project.  The swelling wasn't going down, and he could hardly see out of his right eye.
The doctor gave him an injection into his hip, as well as prescriptions for a steroid drug and some medicated cream. The cost of all this was less than the deductible, so we decided to use our Visa card. 
"Transaction denied," said the machine.  After a call to Visa, the problem was solved. Some machines need you to use a pin number, and Americans don't use pins, so the clerk bypassed the instructions on the screen.  Finally we paid, picked up our meds, and drove away in relief.

 
The next day his face looked so much better! And he feels so much better!  Thank You, God.

Weekend Walks

On Friday I dragged a reluctant Terry out for a walk the minute it stopped raining.
"It's cold and wet out there," he objected.
"Here's some hand warmers.  You can have one in each pocket."
We decided to walk on a fairly "tame" trail, protected from the majority of the ocean gusts, the trail veering inland.  Even so, it was too gusty for umbrellas, but it turned out we didn't need them. The path was even paved.  At the end was a small garden.   A Townsend's Warbler with beautiful yellow markings on its head perched on a feeder. A couple of ordinary people appeared to fill the feeder up with more seed.

On the way back we stood where run-off water trickled into the ocean on Linda Mar Beach, at our end of Pacifica.

"There's a black one,"  I pointed to a flock of gulls. 
"It's a Black Oyster Catcher." 
Two hours later, Terry admitted, "That wasn't too bad."

On Saturday we walked the Devil's Slide Trail.  Originally a part of Highway 1, the Coastal Highway, it was eventually closed off to vehicle traffic due to rock slides.  The highway is now diverted through two tunnels, two km long.

Unexpected sunshine made me long for my sunglasses which I'd completely gotten out of the habit of wearing. We were bundled up against the wind, but it wasn't really cold. The views, as usual, were spectacular.

This is after the shower.  We walked right under a rain cloud on the way back and got drenched. Lots of people walked;
the road was wide enough, with a bike lane on the side.














On Sunday the sun came out, and so did the people on Linda Mar Beach.

A few more people than usual surfed, but the waves were not nearly as high as they had been during our three storms in a row.  "Weather systems", as they are now called.  Of course surfers wear wet suits, supposedly to keep warm.  Terry doesn't believe such a thing is possible.

I can never resist taking shots of kelp, and...

a Sea Star tight rope walking!

No, it's not snow, but waves whipped into foam on the beach. Closer to the road , scrubby vegetation is carefully roped off as sensitive area.  Western Snowy Plovers nest amid the weeds, but since it's not nesting season yet, we didn't see any.

Although I've tried to be content in our circumstances, I was happy to hear that
the weather forecast says no rain for the next week.

Lighthouse

Point Montara Lighthouse

The Point Montara Lighthouse is one of many on the West Coast.  This smaller one is about 12 miles south of Pacifica, and although operating, shares its buildings and property with an overnight hostel for travellers. 

 The lighthouse's unique design of metal plates allowed it to be dismantled and moved from its original location in Maine, on the East Coast of USA, early in the 20th century.

I had just finished reading a novel (Light) about a lighthouse off the coast of Man, by Scottish author Margaret Elphinstone.  With our constant views of sea, rocks and crashing waves, it was not hard to imagine the setting.

A narrow path through succulent covered rocks, probably the Iceplant, leads down to a tiny beach. A light, misty, off-and-on rain has us in raincoats.

I stay on this side of the "creek", while Terry jumps over. The sand isn't that stable, and I don't want to get my shoes wet.

Terry's binoculars pick out this far off bird, later identified as a Black Turnstone. 

Better still, the black thing bobbing in the waves is this  happy looking Harbour Seal!

I could've watched the waves forever, but we had exceeded our "recommended stay" of an hour, and Terry's hands were white and uncomfortable. 

So I reluctantly  head back to the vehicle where the heater quickly warms up Terry's fingers.  That was our short Saturday adventure.

Benedictus: Declaring my blessings

It's time to declare my blessings
The Latin word "Benedictus" is the first words a man called Zechariah sang in the temple immediately after speaking again after being mute for months. He declared his praise to the Lord for the birth of his son, who would be later called John the Baptist.
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel...(Luke 1:68)
One of the purposes of this blog is to acknowledge good things that happen in our lives--the blessings.
Here are some blessings from our trip so far:

1.  Successful cable repair.  Baby B's

batteries were stolen out of their cases; of course
we were warned not to leave them outside for
three months when the trailer was parked at a
friend's house in BC. The cables were long enough to be easily fixed, and with new batteries bought at home, the repairs were quickly accomplished.  It could've been worse.







2.  No major leaks!  The interior was dry when we left Canada.  We did have a lot of rain on our way through Oregon, though.  Every time we opened our slide, the water would pour in.  You can see this portion just in front of the vehicle. We haven't quite figured out how it's coming in. Finally we learned to remove the cushions off the seats, so the water would at least hit wood. A lot of condensation kept collecting on the windows as well.
At our destination in Pacifica, CA, we tipped up the mattress, and spent the morning drying the walls and platform with our extra heater.  The dry interior felt as good as the accumulation of

3. laundry clean, dry, and folded.

4. Lemons.  I wasn't prepared for an agricultural inspection at the border to California.  We had carefully not brought any produce from Canada, so stocked up at a wonderful Winco in Oregon.  My bag of lemons was in danger of confiscation as I showed them to the inspector. "I have to see if they were grown in California," he said. 
"Oooh,"  I squealed sadly, knowing what was most likely coming.  They were such nice lemons, too.  He checked the stickers, but they held no clue.  He examined the skin of a lemon, checking it carefully for scale.  Not seeing anything as he scraped and poked the lemon, he handed me my bag. 
Happy, happy!

5. Excellent birding right from the trailer, waiting for the walls to dry. Lots of species that we see in Alberta in the spring. Sorry, no pictures; it was raining!

6. Spectacular ocean views and Redwood forests

Our walk through the Redwood forest reminded me of Vancouver Island where I grew up.  I didn't even mind the light, misty rain.

These last two beaches are south of Pacifica.

Alma Heights Christian Academy, the old, elementary school building where my work partner and I spend our mornings.  The middle and high schools are a sprawling collection of low buildings across the street, and include a library and gymnasium. 

6.  An unexpected assignment.  As SOWERs, we are taught to accept any assignment our hosts want us to do.  Imagine my delight when I was asked to spend a few minutes with a little girl who will be going on a trip to France with her family. Today we learned some colours in French and she happily ran around finding the appropriate colours. I hope we can learn a few numbers tomorrow!

Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things.  Make known his praise around the world.

Isaiah 12:5

Another new beginning

Here we are again on our fifth winter adventure!  There is a newness about it, as we're travelling down south a different way, through Washington and down the coast of Oregon on our way to California.  We have more than a week to get to our first SOWER project in the San Francisco area, so are meandering, well, sort of... and exploring on our way. We took scenic Highway 101, which hugs the coast,  once we got past the congestion of Washington.  That was a good decision.
. 

Here is a beach at which we stopped, just north of Reedsport, on the coast.

One of the nine lighthouses along Oregon's coast

Beachgrass holds the dunes together, although the sand does shift a lot

It's not as warm as it looks.  I'm back to wearing six layers, as I did a couple of years ago in California, to keep warm.  With the wind blowing, it seems colder than in Alberta at minus temperatures! We eat our lunches very quickly at a picnic table, or in the car.  I'm not complaining; it could've been pouring rain, and we wouldn't have seen anything.

Our first "field trip" was to a natural cave just north of Florence, home of over one hundred Stellar Sea Lions.  Down 200 feet in an elevator brought us to this sheltered area, smelling very fishy, and noisy with the roaring of the sea lions.

Some of these giants, weighing up to 2,400 lbs, lay on the rocks, some slithered about, and some smaller ones rode the waves to get to these rocks. Maybe these were the kids playing!

 Trees on the cliffs hang on, permanently leaning in one direction from the force of the strong ocean winds. 

Back at our campsite at Winchester Bay, it was a short walk to this floating café, where we indulged in fish and chips. 

As we ate, the wind stopped and the sea turned to glass.  We quickly took the opportunity to walk the mile loop around the campsite, observing a Pacific Loon and...
What was that?  Is it a piece of wood?  No, it dove under...a harbour seal! 
Forgot to mention, earlier on, that we spotted several distant spouts of water, and a flash of the whale's body.  Not as close as the ones we saw on our Alaskan cruise, but whales nonetheless.

Funny how exhausted we are by early evening.  Terry says it's because we're not used to being at sea level. 
Beginning a new adventure is always hard in some way.
Happy New Year!