Peeking into the rock

We're all geared up for First Flush, but there's no sign of imminent rain.  I thought I heard the surf rats who work the Farmer's Market on Saturday talking about incoming storms, but they were actually talking about something to do with waves.  Of course.  I think an extra high tide.  I have misplaced my tide book and I can't be bothered tolook it up otherwise.  And speaking of waves, the season has turned at the beach: It's Beach on Saturday was carved almost in half, with a really steep drop between the high and low part of the beach.  I forgot it happened this early.  

I heard something last night that sounded like rain -- rather, early this morning.  I was really puzzled as I woke up from my twentieth try to sleep: I thought "it's too early.  Wouldn't somebody have said something if a storm was coming in?  Wouldn't we be on alert?  I'm not really ready!!"  But it wasn't rain.  Probably the neighbor was taking a shower.  That's happened before.

It was really, really hot yesterday for probably the first time all summer.  It's been a bit hot before, but we haven't gotten a real, knock-your-socks-off, can't-sleep, burning-up heat wave all summer.  But last night I was hot enough that I was a bit worried and went to drink more water.

I had my first pomegranate today and it was a mistake.  It looked good but it was really bad.  Not weird and sour like the ones in my yard, just truly bad.  Flavorless and not sweet and faintly bitter, like not food at all.  I will wait for the real pomegranate season starting around Halloween, thank you.

There's something sweet and tropical smelling blooming around the corner but I can't find it.  There's a narrow front strip in front of an apartment building with a couple of plum trees, some star jasmine, some lantana, and some agapanthus, and that thing that hedges like box but has big fat leaves with red backs and fuzz on them.  The lantana is the only thing visibly blooming, and it smells like lantana (like nasty musky sharp pennyroyal or mint, but more pleasant than that sounds).  The agapanthus has just finished blooming and there are dead flowers clinging to the seed pods.  The plum is of course tryuing to decide whether or not to be altogether dormant, and since it just got cruely bitchered it's really confused and putting out a few measly untimely leaves.  The star jasmine is out of bloom and the smell isn't like sar jasmine anyway.

It's a mystery.

I saw a bunch of things on the beach that I think I ought to have known, but I don't. I took a bunch of pictures of them, and we even cut one open, deciding that they were probably already dead (naturally I'm a little worried that they weren't and that we unnecessarily killed some creature who might even be endangered).

( lookity. what the hell is it? )

I worked really hard this afternoon to produce a few good pictures. But I guess I did it, even though the dogs kept walking out of the frame or looking away when I wanted to take their picture.   Click the picture to find the rest of them, including the tug pictures.  Meanwhile, while I was getting behind in posting pictures, LiveJournal changed how the galleries look and unilaterally changed my settings to no copies allowed.  I've gone through and fixed almost all the galleries to copies allowed.  Though I hope if anybody finds any of these pictures interesting enough to use for something they will let me know about it.


On another front, I have prepared five stories to take to the post office tomorrow.  This is because I actually spent time looking at what's out and what's not and discovered these stories were either unsubmitted at the time or have been languishing long enough to consider them rejected.

On another front yet, I spent the morning getting trained for Snapshot Day next Saturday when volunteers up and down the coast will be testing water quality in the coastal watershed streams.  I'm signed up for the Moore Creek watershed in Natural Bridges Park, but I might be reassigned since I said they could.

Dissolved Oxygen tests are amazingly complex and tedious.

By the way, if you happen to live in any of the California coastal counties, you should totally consider volunteering this Saturday: it doesn't matter if you haven't had the training, they'll find a spot for you.  You can find out more here.
Other volunteer things: Santa Cruz County is short about a hundred election day workers. Here's the announcement, but it's not the current one -- it's from way last November.  I heard about it on the news but since I heard late Friday I haven't called yet.

And finally: we've got Summer Pattern Weather, guys.  Overcast and chilly in the morning, hot and bright in the afternoon, and windy in the evening.  It's not summer yet, though, because the grass is green yet.