Conditions have been extreme this year - extreme drought conditions and heat have brought on multiple fires. On Sept. 12th Silverado Canyon burned again;1600 acres was the last I heard. Kings fire in the Sierra Nevadas burned over 75,000 acres shortly after - just massive.
Eastern Pacific hurricanes have come on, one after the other this year - I think it was Norbert, then Mary, then Simon. Surfers are in paradise. A friend's father visiting from out of town is believed to have drowned at Salt Creek. We've avoided the beach for some time. Our kids are strong swimmers, but the current is so strong it's not worth the risk. Plus the heat has been in the 100s for days on end. Here's a short clip of the surf at Dana Point Harbor during the Tall Ship festival this year.
The few times we did make it to the beach, I was hopeful the rough waters would wash up some amazing creatures, but we never seemed to make it at the right time. Everything had desiccated and died already.
The kids found this set of barnacles in a dried heap of kelp.
And this tiny white spotted crab. I haven't been able to identify it.
Here's our boy measuring the tide with sticks - I'm pretty sure the feet and inches are not measured by the amount of beach the tide recedes down, but by the vertical sea level? Leave him be, he's being industrious and he's clever. They work these things out on their own with their books eventually and are more learned for the experience than when we tell them everything.
Here are what we think are baby octopus. There were at least five of them in holes in the same area where we know two octopus live. The surface of the water rippled from it's 'breathing' just like with the other octopus and when we placed things on top of it, it blew it off with a blast. I'm convinced, but I need to go back to confirm it. How can you get an octopus to emerge? Poking it certainly didn't work. It retreated instead. Five baby octopus in the same rock - imagine finding that!
Here is my other great find. A skeleton shrimp. I found one a year and a month ago for the first time and I never saw one again until this. Such a funny, cute, curious, little creature. They are nearly impossible to find because of their tiny size, but you can learn how to find them when you have eyes to see and time to look.
Caspers Park up Ortega Highway has an astronomer who is passionate about stars up there every Saturday before the new moon. We went and had the opportunity to see Saturn - ring and all - with our very own eyes. He also gave us a tour of the stars with his high powered pointer - it was absolutely wonderful! Then a group of people showed up with Kona coffee straight from Hawaii that day and offered me a cup - stars and fresh coffee - it doesn't get much better than that!
There were bug people there too - with a sheet and some neon lights. I just love when people are passionate about nature. These are the people you want to get your kids around - they love what they do. They're not experts lecturing kids - they're people alive with interest and curiosity and joy in what they do. We spent some time looking at the beautiful moths and bugs that came to the lights with them.
I wish there was more, but summer is lazy.
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