31 Dec late PM 0.05"
Sent from my iPhone at great expense
2016-12-31
2016-12-30
Rain 0.4"; seaonal total 5.97"
12-30-16 0.40" measured in the am
More rain is on the way later today
Sent from my iPhone at great expense
More rain is on the way later today
Sent from my iPhone at great expense
2016-12-27
2016-12-23
Rain 1.65"; season total 4.67"
22 Dec 1.65"
We're above the third quartile of rain for this time of year. This is good news, since it seems to predict that the rainy season will be a wet one. The LA Times also has picked up on this water optimism as well with an article quoting Bill Patzert of JPL.
“It looks like the door is open here,” said Patzert. “This looks like in the absence of La Niña, we’re getting it from the north and the south, which is a good omen for the wet months of January, February and March.” History suggests that the La Niña phenomenon, which brings an unusually dry winter, follows a wet El Niño year. But so far, this month’s rains have been better than previous Decembers’, Patzert said. “This is more of la nada than La Niña,” he quipped. The lack of something, ironically, is what could make this winter into something that could help Southern California’s drought outlook, Patzert said. “The kind of rain we’re having this week and last week, that’s just perfect,” Patzert said. “It doesn’t come at you like a fire hose.”
Sent from my iPhone at great expense
We're above the third quartile of rain for this time of year. This is good news, since it seems to predict that the rainy season will be a wet one. The LA Times also has picked up on this water optimism as well with an article quoting Bill Patzert of JPL.
“It looks like the door is open here,” said Patzert. “This looks like in the absence of La Niña, we’re getting it from the north and the south, which is a good omen for the wet months of January, February and March.” History suggests that the La Niña phenomenon, which brings an unusually dry winter, follows a wet El Niño year. But so far, this month’s rains have been better than previous Decembers’, Patzert said. “This is more of la nada than La Niña,” he quipped. The lack of something, ironically, is what could make this winter into something that could help Southern California’s drought outlook, Patzert said. “The kind of rain we’re having this week and last week, that’s just perfect,” Patzert said. “It doesn’t come at you like a fire hose.”
Sent from my iPhone at great expense
2016-12-22
Crappy Marquee Tree
2016-12-17
2016-12-12
Doomed to failure
Of course I signed up, since there's no down side. However, I think it's doomed to failure.
I received the following offer from my natural gas company:
![Congratulations! You have been randomly selected to participate in our “SoCalGas Advisory – A Call to Conserve Natural Gas” Pilot Rebate Program this winter. Enroll now and you will receive periodic email notifications through March 31, 2017. These email notifications will encourage you to conserve natural gas on designated SoCalGas Advisory days. They will include simple energy-saving tips to help you reduce your natural gas usage, such as “lower your thermostat to 68 degrees” and “wash clothes in cold water.”Stay enrolled in these email notifications until the end of the program and you can receive $2.50 for every therm you save on each SoCalGas Advisory day event. At the end of the winter, we will then add up all your savings on SoCalGas Advisory days and you will receive a rebate equal to your total therms saved multiplied by $2.50 per therm.[1]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0edi0SmxuGu82G-HjdUpZoJSkIx4okJjXhOuU-Ugcv3HGxfbm349HcyB3fU3NB7xtWpnMiDU2fzJ0ndSPwVqDHifQcGaBwNHdWoRXTMiy-4xK_f_JDR4EW0nMg2AqonU_KqGtIQ/s400/Capture.PNG)
I received the following offer from my natural gas company:
![Congratulations! You have been randomly selected to participate in our “SoCalGas Advisory – A Call to Conserve Natural Gas” Pilot Rebate Program this winter. Enroll now and you will receive periodic email notifications through March 31, 2017. These email notifications will encourage you to conserve natural gas on designated SoCalGas Advisory days. They will include simple energy-saving tips to help you reduce your natural gas usage, such as “lower your thermostat to 68 degrees” and “wash clothes in cold water.”Stay enrolled in these email notifications until the end of the program and you can receive $2.50 for every therm you save on each SoCalGas Advisory day event. At the end of the winter, we will then add up all your savings on SoCalGas Advisory days and you will receive a rebate equal to your total therms saved multiplied by $2.50 per therm.[1]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0edi0SmxuGu82G-HjdUpZoJSkIx4okJjXhOuU-Ugcv3HGxfbm349HcyB3fU3NB7xtWpnMiDU2fzJ0ndSPwVqDHifQcGaBwNHdWoRXTMiy-4xK_f_JDR4EW0nMg2AqonU_KqGtIQ/s1600/Capture.PNG)
2016-12-09
2016-12-07
2016-12-05
Good luck with that
What you see is an approximate 8" gap between two cinder block walls with a Brazilian Pepper growing between them.
2016-12-03
"clean-coast economy"
An apt phrase, but new to me. I'm just taking note of it here since it seems to capture a lot of ideas in a simple phrase.
As seen in the LA Times in this opinion piece by Steve Lopez.
“I think California’s clean-coast economy is hanging on by a thread right now,” said Ocean Foundation senior fellow Richard Charter, who has worked for decades to protect coastal waters from offshore oil and gas drilling.
Google's Ngram viewer doesn't have enough results to graph "clean-coast economy" or its variants, suggesting that it's a newer term of art and a few directed searches for the phrase "clean-coast economy" suggest that it's a newer term.
Never underestimate the power of a well-made turn of phrase to capture the zeitgeist of the moment.
As seen in the LA Times in this opinion piece by Steve Lopez.
“I think California’s clean-coast economy is hanging on by a thread right now,” said Ocean Foundation senior fellow Richard Charter, who has worked for decades to protect coastal waters from offshore oil and gas drilling.
Google's Ngram viewer doesn't have enough results to graph "clean-coast economy" or its variants, suggesting that it's a newer term of art and a few directed searches for the phrase "clean-coast economy" suggest that it's a newer term.
Never underestimate the power of a well-made turn of phrase to capture the zeitgeist of the moment.
2016-11-29
Sanctuary garden design
Originally introduced by Juli, I've met Terry Hershey before but in early November I had the opportunity to get to know him better as I participated in a workshop he gave in San Diego.
You can visit Terry's web site (www.terryhershey.com) to find out more about him, but in case you are not so inclined, here's a snip from his biography.
TERRY HERSHEY—author, humorist, inspirational speaker, dad, ordained minister, golf addict, and smitten by French wine. He divides his time between designing sanctuary gardens and sharing his practice of “pausing” and “sanctuary,” to help us do less and live more. Terry’s book, The Power of Pause, offers the permission to slow down and to be gentle with ourselves, in a world that demands More-Bigger-Faster. Most days, you can find Terry out in his garden–on Vashon Island in the Puget Sound—because he believes that there is something fundamentally spiritual about dirt under your fingernails.
The workshop focused on the idea of sanctuary -
TERRY HERSHEY—author, humorist, inspirational speaker, dad, ordained minister, golf addict, and smitten by French wine. He divides his time between designing sanctuary gardens and sharing his practice of “pausing” and “sanctuary,” to help us do less and live more. Terry’s book, The Power of Pause, offers the permission to slow down and to be gentle with ourselves, in a world that demands More-Bigger-Faster. Most days, you can find Terry out in his garden–on Vashon Island in the Puget Sound—because he believes that there is something fundamentally spiritual about dirt under your fingernails.
The workshop focused on the idea of sanctuary -
2016-11-28
Garden Adjectives
Juli and I argue about the garden - It's one thing that is sure to spark an argument. We have a garden guru / counselor / designer who has agreed to coach us lightly through a design process and our first assignment was to come up with five adjectives that describe how we want to feel in a garden.
I came up with the following not_five adjectives. Sitting with this a while in draft form on the blog has given me the chance to define and distill them as well as to link associated or somewhat duplicative ideas (for example, Wonder and Appreciation came to be linked in my list, though they started out as separate adjectives).
When I first formulated the list, I had a tendency to fall into the trap of defining how I wanted the garden to be. I found that a way to help guide the process in the right direction was to start each item with the phrase, "I want to be/feel _____". The parts of the list that I couldn't phrase in such a way belong in a different list. There were two such items on this list prior to its most recent revision, but there were more earlier.
Seems like there's common purpose, doesn't there?
I came up with the following not_five adjectives. Sitting with this a while in draft form on the blog has given me the chance to define and distill them as well as to link associated or somewhat duplicative ideas (for example, Wonder and Appreciation came to be linked in my list, though they started out as separate adjectives).
When I first formulated the list, I had a tendency to fall into the trap of defining how I wanted the garden to be. I found that a way to help guide the process in the right direction was to start each item with the phrase, "I want to be/feel _____". The parts of the list that I couldn't phrase in such a way belong in a different list. There were two such items on this list prior to its most recent revision, but there were more earlier.
- I want to be Surprised and have my Curiosity Stimulated - I want to take a turn down a path and see something that is only visible from certain vantage points. I want to have my curiosity stimulated to find out what's behind a gap in a hedge. I want to have whimsical add-ins to the mulch, objects hidden among shrubs, funny or interesting or meaningful garden art. I want to find unexpected pollinators buzzing about. I want to see something that makes me take a closer look and photograph the moment. Blooms, bugs, birds, movement, hidden features, nooks.
- I want to feel a Sense of Discovery - This is linked to Surprise and Curiosity. An example might be to discover ethnobotanic uses for a plant or to learn by experience what grows best and what garden practices help. I think this is telling me that I want to garden rather than just be in the garden.
- I want to feel Wonder and Appreciation - I like to see unexpectedly heavy blooms, birds dive bombing among the plants, interdependence of one plant on another, flowers blooming in cracks
- I want to feel Joyful
- I want to feel Peaceful
- I want to feel Sheltered - There should be spots that cradle and surround
- I want to feel Restful - I want to be able to pull up a chair and rest while watching the garden move gently around me: in the breeze or with wildlife or to be still in the heat of the day.
- I want to feel Energized - Energy of others may be contagious. If the garden is full of wildlife (I'm definitely counting insects here) and motion and the stored energy of newly emerging growth at the right times of year then I would find that energizing.
- I want people, pets, and wildlife to feel Nurtured - I guess this means that I'd like them to share the feelings that I've listed above.
A related concept I found the on the web reads more like a bill of garden rights or a manifesto. There's a high probability that it came from Mother Nature's Backyard. I originally copied it as a group of well-formulated ideas, but I didn't keep track of where I found it nor if had I made modifications to it.
We deserve shade, beauty, and places that call us to spend time outdoors.
Beautiful - Trees, shrubs, flowers, diversity, seasonal interest, natural.
Purposeful - Gardens that tell a story, you write the narrative.
Functional - Save water, provide habitat, recreate microenvironments and ecosystems.
Experiential - Invite people into the garden, paths, benches, garden art, feature plants.
Restorative - Healing places. Both
the land and the visitors experience a new wellness. Ecologically sound.
Designed - Hodge-podge plant combinations are
not pretty, regardless of why they were planted in the first place.
Things to avoid (I don't think we will have problems avoiding these)
A bunch of random succulents and exotic grasses.
Extensive bare
earth or gravel in the name of drought tolerance.
Juli came up with these adjectives
Overwhelmed senses - sight, smell, sound.
A place to pause/sanctuary
Curious
Excitement - wonder
InvitingSeems like there's common purpose, doesn't there?
Rain 0.8"; 1.91" total for the season
11-26 0.70"
11-27 0.10" at 11am
This brings the total rainfall to 1.91" for the season, which is near the median rainfall at this time of year for my area of Southern California. Our usual rainiest months are still ahead of us.
Sent from my iPhone at great expense
11-27 0.10" at 11am
This brings the total rainfall to 1.91" for the season, which is near the median rainfall at this time of year for my area of Southern California. Our usual rainiest months are still ahead of us.
Sent from my iPhone at great expense
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