SWCAMBORNE

Yesterday was Giant Tortoise day:

I am failing at loading the picture.

We went to the Charles Darwwin research center and met Diego and Lonesome George.  Links and photos to follow.

This is a Blue footed Boobie for obvious reason:

“The future just ain’t what it used to be.”

Yogi Berra

We are spending a week in the Galapagos Islands with Lindblad cruises.  It appears that we can post blogs from on board ship.  This is the first test.  Tomorrow we’ll try to upload some pictures of Blue Footed Boobies.

The Men of Stone just finished a three stone installation in Arcadia.  It is in the front yard of Howard R’s house and looks terrific.

This was our best installation to date.  It was completed in one day, we solved the basin lip problem and “The Doctor” did all of the mechanical engineering.

Howard was in charge of the logistics I did the design and supervision and two day laborers did all of the heavy lifting.

The Men of Stone

We will be making three more installations this summer.  The sound of running water in the front garden is a great pleasure.  It is economical to run, low maintenance, artistic, and attracts birds.  Life is good.

Quoted by Barbara Ehrenreich in Forbes May 7th 2007. Ehrenreich wrote “Nickel and Dimed”. A book with some good insights into the life of the working poor.

“The best way out is often through.”

Robert Frost

Well Baseball season is under way and I was working on my list of ball parks and found one that we went to last year that I didn’t post. Nurit and Rebecca went to Busch Stadium in St Louis and watched the Dodgers beat the Cardinals.

They were driving home from Philadelphia so it must have been in July and the went to Columbus, Ohio the first night for the Nordstrom sale and then on to St Louis.

I have to check but I think we have now been to six stadiums in two years. Stay tuned we are planning a surge this summer. Denver, Arizona and Oakland. That will complete the West and then we will have to organize some trips East and South. Life is good.

I took a few more pictures of the poison oak on the trail up to Henniger Flats. The pictures I took just a few weeks ago were of the bushes in flower. Now they are covered in green berries:

Some of the leaves are starting to turn the characteristic red color:

But most of them still look deceptively green and lovely.

I warned a painter lady out of a patch of poison oak last week. Be careful out there.

There is a lot of whining going on about the price of gasoline. Politicians are seeing a conspiricy and threatening to regulate something. Here is a fact sheet from the API showing where the money goes:

Three Thoughts:

• Price is a signal that something needs to change. The government supresses that signal at its peril. Think about rent control. In this case if we want more supply the price has to rise which will also decrease demand.
• Gasoline even at the high prices we now have is still only the third most expensive thing about owning a car for most people. First is the cost of the car amortized, second is insurance and third is gasoline.
• If politicians are serious about lowering the cost of gasoline they should let us drill for it in Alaska, Florida and off the coast of Santa Barbara.