I’ve been lying around, using a circulating ice machine for my operated-upon left knee (torn meniscus, thanks to dumb down-hill running during Dipsea Race). Walked out into living room a half hour ago and a little bird was flying around inside. I hobbled around after him, opening windows, but he kept flying into another room and banging into the glass on windows as he tried to escape. Finally I was able to pick him up. Took him outside and he made a few attempts to fly and just fluttered to the ground. I kept him a while, shot a few pics, then he looked at me and flew away. Looks like a baby sparrow.
Thursday afternoon, the river at Louie’s, went skinny-dipping, lay in sun. It’s about 7 ft. deep at far side. Day was hot, water co-o-old.
Although I grew up in San Francisco, I never got INTO the Pacific Ocean until one sunny Spring day in 1952. It was after a swim meet at Fleishacker Pool, a huge salt water pool at Ocean Beach. Jim Fisher, one of my swimming team mates, was a powerful swimmer and he said “Let’s go bodysurfing.” We walked across the Great Highway and swam out through the surf. There were good sized waves, and to this day I get a chill thinking of the joy I felt out there. The blue water, the movement of the surface, the power of the waves. I was a goner. Surfing, beachcombing, running on the beach, being on that edge of land/water ever since…
Yesterday I’d been in the studio working on the tiny houses book since 7 AM, so I took off about 3 to walk on the beach. When I got down there, Josh and Kenny were about to head out to fish for halibut.
“Want to come along, Lloyd, we’ve got an extra rod.”
Hoo-eee, did I! It was brilliantly sunny, a bit windy, a fog bank a half-mile out in the ocean.
Pretty soon we’re heading out through the surf and I’m the only one in the boat who’s nervous. We make it through the last wave and the boat slams down, and we’re in calm water. How different the land looks from the sea. Such a different perspective. They fished for an hour and a half (only one bite) and I shot pictures and exulted in just being out there.
Back to the beach for a long walk, shot a lot of pix, click below on “Read more:
Read More …
Yesterday I took a chainsaw and my pickup truck, and Marco and I went into the woods to cut up the oak tree that whacked me six weeks ago (to the day). I don’t suffer cracked ribs gladly; in fact I’m a real wimp about malfunctioning body parts. As I’ve been moping around the past month, I decided I wanted that tree. I had a connection…
A few weeks ago, I rode my bike out to where the tree was, and piled branches on top of it so no other homesteader would see that here was a half years’ supply of high quality firewood lying right there on the shoulder of the road.
It went perfectly. No rangers to stop us. I cut it up and Marco loaded it. It was a fine thing to do: we cleaned up the road; we’ve got oak to heat us this winter. As I explained to a ranger one day, this is a renewable resource, so that I’m not using non-renewable resources for heat, like coal to generate electricity, or oil or propane to run a furnace,
I’m going to slab out some 1 inch thick pieces, seal it, stick it, and clamp it to dry, then make a box, or a stool. Hey, I like the idea of a stool!
Around 3 yesterday afternoon, I took my paddle board down to the channel and paddled back up into the lagoon. The tide was going out, and the water was about as warm as it gets, maybe 63°. Parked my board on this sandbar, stripped down, smeared black thick mud on every part of my body I could reach, then let the sun bake it in for a few minutes, then took 5-10 minutes to rinse off. Going back, I let the tide carry me along (plus ribs were not feeling too great). It was totally still, not a person within miles. A young egret with black beak and chartreuse (I kid you not!) legs was standing on the bank. I didn’t move a muscle, just let the current carry me, and I got within 20 feet of him. Back at the dock, fisherman-surfer Andrew was tying up his boat, and loading 3 halibut into an ice chest. Then he jumped in the water and swam around for a bit. A magic afternoon.
Not sure about the big skull (which animal, that it). I’m going to bleach it in hydrogen peroxide. The seagull skull is a nice one, going to get it stripped down and bleach. I want to retain the yellow color of the beak. Most of the shells shown here are these thin translucent wafers. They have slight iridescence like abalone shell colors. I’ve strung them together to make windchimes. I don’t know what they are, can’t find them in our books on seashells.
Great website Lew discovered, with tons of info: making bows and arrows, atlatls, flutes, a dugout canoe hollowed out from a redwood log, tanning hides, building an Ohlone tule house (San Francisco Bay tribe). Scroll down on right side to see all the subjects. https://www.primitiveways.com/
Walked a few miles on the mountain yesterday, the heat felt good, then immersed in magic pool. Did wai bow to canyon, then in all 4 directions, homage to mountain spirits.
Lew discovered this great sleeping platform on https://thistinyhouse.com. I traced it back to https://is.gd/eFdz4, but there’s no indication of where it is, or who shot the photo. I might just build something like this. The roof keeps fog and dew off the bed, yet the steep angle allows you to see a lot of the sky. Can anyone track this down?
I’ve been lying around, using a circulating ice machine for my operated-upon left knee (torn meniscus, thanks to dumb down-hill running during Dipsea Race). Walked out into living room a half hour ago and a little bird was flying around inside. I hobbled around after him, opening windows, but he kept flying into another room and banging into the glass on windows as he tried to escape. Finally I was able to pick him up. Took him outside and he made a few attempts to fly and just fluttered to the ground. I kept him a while, shot a few pics, then he looked at me and flew away. Looks like a baby sparrow.
