In front of a furniture store having an outdoor sale. It has lobster claws but I swear that's the face of a spot prawn.

Giant prawn
Fountain Valley CA
Canon EOS 1000D
05 September 2009

( goofing around... )

Watching Avatar: The Last Airbender at McDonald's
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
04 September 2009

( Earlier... )

The City has been doing a lot of revamping down in the Harbor area - these are some pretty new lamps put up in an area where we often park to watch for fishing boats coming into the harbor.

Seahorses and flying fish
San Pedro CA
Canon EOS 1000D
03 September 2009

( +3 )

Mustard
Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
30 August 2009

( More Station Fire... )

These were growing in my friends front yard. I don't know what they're called, but they sure are neat-looking.

Purple flower
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
29 August 2009

I noticed a strange-looking cloud out of my office window. Turned out it was smoke from the Station Fire, north of Los Angeles.

Pyrocumulus cloud
Los Alamitos CA
EOS Canon 1000D
28 August 2009

Sure you are...
San Pedro CA
Canon 1000D EOS
27 August 2009

Went to Dismalland for Avalon's B-day. We've never bought any of these balloons because not only are they hella expensive for something that's going to be lying on the floor by the next morning when all the helium leaks out ($14 for one of these), but I think they loose their effect singly. They look much better in a big bunch. Oh, and the sea-turtle killing thing, that too.

Bubbles
Anaheim CA
Canon EOS 1000D
21 August 2009

Some kelp I found in a load of sardines - I hadn't seen it before and we're supposed to be documenting bycatch. I noticed that some of it was bright green and other specimens were brown, like this one. Luckily I still have my handy, dandy Marine Algae of California from my Marine Phycology class in college, and discovered it's a species of Desmarestia. Some of it was green because this type of kelp harbors acids in its tissues - so much so that it will bleach out anything else caught with it (and why some of it looked green).

Acid Kelp
San Pedro CA
Canon EOS 1000D
17 August 2009

Avalon picked out this cookbook at the bookstore, and wanted to make this recipe from it. A little heavy on the cream cheese, but still tasty. I'm not sure whether the recipe actually called for the Fruit Snacks on the top, but she thought they'd be a good idea.

Perfect Parfaits
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
16 August 2009

This place is less than mile from my home, and I actually worked for about three years at the fast-food place visible in the background more than two decades ago. But in all the time I've lived in the neighborhood, I've never ventured inside, despite my father making use of the services there for my grandmother. Specifically, for my grandmother's beloved Boo-Boo.

Sea Breeze Pet Cemetery
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
14 August 2009

( +3 )

Bob is not quite officially retired just yet, and he and my boss visited our office as well...and he got another cake. I don't think I actually took this picture; Paul borrowed my camera and got this niftly angle, which I'll have to keep in mind.

Frosting Octopus
Los Alamitos CA
Canon EOS 1000D
13 August 2009

(and I have to remember to make Bob a CD of all these pics and mail it to him in Utah...)

The ugly new house across the street.

Nearing completion
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
12 August 2009

The soap my spouse brought home made me snerk.

Soap
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
9 August 2009

My daughter had a dental appointment this morning, so afterward we stopped at Starbucks and had a muffin, then walked around the nearby Westminster Civic Center for a little bit. Now, Westminster, the next town over from mine, likes to emulate its namesake in Merrie Olde Englande, thus an old red phonebooth near City Hall...

Red Telephone Booth
Westminster CA
Canon EOS 1000D
7 August 2009

( and... )

I have no idea what this is. It was on my cell phone. Looks kinda cool tho'.

Use your imagination
Don't know where...
Kyocera Switchback phone camera
5 August 2009

Had to take an online ethics training course for work today. Some of the people's pictures they used just made me shake my head. This woman is supposed to be congratulating a co-workers retirement, but then finds out what he's planning after the big day. So glad most of the situations in the training I will never be in, as I'm hourly and not elected.

Ethics training
Los Alamitos CA
Canon EOS 1000D
04 August 2009

Out to do some fun stuff with the fry today; I had the bright idea of showing them the Point Fermin Lighthouse, but unfortunately there was some fair going on, and you couldn't get near it. So we just went up the hill a little bit to the Korean Friendship Bell, a gift to the city of Los Angeles from the people of Korea in 1976.

Korean Friendship Bell
Angel's Gate Park, San Pedro CA
Caonon EOS 1000D
02 August 2009

( +2 )

Made a trip down to San Diego today, ostensibly for a project staff meeting and to deliver things from our office to theirs, but also to take Bob, who is retiring, out to lunch. The Karl Straus Brewery there is situated right next to a beautiful Japanese garden. This was part of the view from our table. Good food, too - I heard the beer was great as well, but I'm not a beer drinker, so I'm no judge. Supposedly, Sony was supposed to move some corporate offices here and installed the garden in the office park, then backed out of the deal.

Karl Straus Brewery
Sorrento Mesa CA
Canon EOS 1000D
30 July 2009

( +2 )

We went for a walk downtown after the US Open of Surfing was done for the day. Lots of people watching still be had and we cooled off with some Dairy Queen, strolling around as we ate. These old beach bungalows down there are getting fewer and farther between.

Sunflowers and prayer flags
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
25 July 2009

( +2 )

Another Waymark; I noticed there was a category for "Lion statues" so I thought I'd enter the one at the top of the auditorium of my old high school, since he's a bit high up and I'm not sure anyone notices him all that much. The buildings were just recently renovated; although, apparently, he was in fine shape and didn't need anything. These buildings are about 84 years old.

Darryl Stilwagon Auditorium and Tower
Huntington Beach High School
Canon EOS 1000D
22 July 2009

( entire building, which I've probably posted before... )

When you're a warden, you can park right the hell in front of the office door. The rest of us have to carry everything out to the parking lot.

(I should give him a break - it was very heavy and breakable computer equipment, but still...)

Work
Los Alamitos CA
Canon 1000D
20 July 2009

A pot I like on a neighbor's porch. Although I think it needs something else in it.

Lips
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
19 July 2009

Damage to the cat food box
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
16 July 2009

Woke up a little before 5 am to get runsamuck some coffee - he woke up having trouble breathing and that always helps - and Gareth also got up, saying he couldn't sleep. He spent the day at a friends and they both got sunburned - I did n't think to send sunscreen with him, and his arms and the tops of his feet just got fried. I got him settled in the living room and John his coffee, and was trying to figure out whether I should go back to bed or just stay up, when Gareth came in and said he heard noises on the patio.

The last couple of days we've found the cat food box - a sturdy plywood thing with a snap lock on a chain that my dad made, decades ago - dragged clear across the patio into the fountain (which does not contain any water at present), and the corners of the lid shredded as if something had been chewing on them. We told Gareth to turn on the light, and saw movement on the rock fountain. I looked closer and saw not one, but about five masked furry shapes, one large and four small. One by one they clambered back up the rocks and along the fence to the hawthorne hedge.

Well. We'd suspected a raccoon, but not an entire family of them! I know they live around here but this is the first time I've actually seen any. I guess we'll have to bring the box inside.

There's been very little Waymarking (the alternative to Geocaching, finding places and objects instead of containers, that people otherwise might not see) in Huntington Beach, so I thought I would enter some from around me that hadn't been done yet. This is one of a set of tile murals up at the Civic Center that I entered as a waymark - they came from a shopping center that was kitty-corner across the street. You can find a bit of the history where I entered it.

Pelican Dive Mural
Huntington Beach Civic Center
Canon EOS 1000D
15 July 2009

( construction... )

Trip to AOP today; this was a new resident I had not seen before. This is a ribbon seadragon.

Ribbon seadragon
Aquarium of the Pacific
Long Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
12 July 2009

Cmdr. Scott Carpenter, Lt. Gen. Thomas Stafford, and Capt. Gene Cernan, astronauts, gave a talk at at a mall near us. Cernan was quite the inspirational speaker, in addition to being the last person to walk on the moon. My kids were absolutely thrilled to get to meet them, especially Gareth, who wants to be an astronaut himself one day. They even got in the paper for it; Gareth was quoted and my daughter is the one giving Cernan a high-five.

Astronauts @ South Coast Plaza
Costa Mesa CA
Canon EOS 1000D
11 July 2009

( +2 )

Bowtie for woodworkers
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
10 July 2009

Maybe runsamuck should start selling them...

Someone at work liked a comment online about our big boss, so she printed and stuck it on her door.

The Governator
Los Alamitos CA
Canon EOS 1000D
9 July 2009

Am I the only one who sees the irony?

The culprits are black phoebes; they use the sign for perching while hunting insects. 

All Pets must be Leashed
Los Alamitos CA
Canon EOS 1000D
7 July 2009