Forgot Again About The Rail Road Tracks

Actually I remembered these tracks rather well after destroying my self crossing them a few years back. Thursday i slowed down to cross the dam things on my road bike and even with the slower speed my from wheel got sucked up and I found myself cussing as I lay in the street. For some unknown

reason I was wearing a helmet and gloves. Here in San Pedro around the harbor there are lots of old no longer used rail road tracks. One would think at an advanced age one could remember these things at various locations especially when there is dirt or sand there also. Some of us never learn but road rash is a true badge of a warrior.

Currently I have two road bikes, one frame is only a few years old and I bought it on E-Bay after cracking my Carbon Frame. Just took the components off the cracked frame and put them on the newer one. My other road bike is a Bob Jackson I purchased in Santa Monica at the first Super Go. That was the first year of Dura-Ace and I still have all the OEM hardware in mint condition.

Riding along the coast here is really nice is the sun is warm and the wind is not blowing. The wind here does like to blow and even riding to the store going uphill into the wind can be a chore. 

My mentioning of these Lime Green earlier in another blog suggests that these could be good or evil. In the picture above you see where someone has thrown a bike over a fence. Two days later it was gone which would indicate that they track these things. This morning while walking the two dogs I saw a homeless person riding one of the Lime bikes with his plastic bags of cans and bottles going through the dumpster in search of more money for cigarettes 

Whites Point

Tried riding hills on my road bike and often the rear cog isn't big enough. Either I have gotten older and slower (which I doubt) or the hills have grown steeper due to something from global warming.

Yesterday my neighbor came and told me there was this unusual bird on our dock. He had never seen one like this before. The bird shown above is a Black-Crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax). I see them in the trees around Ports of Call and also around the Plaza south

Gotta to love these terns

of here.
Riding a bike has its advantages over walking the dogs though at one time I tried riding my tricycle with the German Shepherd pulling and Lucky the Yorkie sitting in the back carrier.

Punk Rockers

Trying To Remember What I forgot

Playing Superlotto Plus cost me $5.00 and after the purchase the ticket goes into my wallet where it gets lost in time. Bought a ticket last Friday at local market and here it is Tuesday and I finally remembered it. Probably would have been better to leave it n wallet as the numbers were not winners.

Yesterday I rode my road bike and of course I had forgot the left hand shifter (STI) doesn't like to drop from the top ring to the lower one but I ride the small ring most of the time anyway. Also need to buy a spare tube and a new butt. 

To ride I had to find my bib shorts,pump up the Michelins and of course shave my legs. Considering how old I am I must admit my legs look pretty good. Might have to buy a small backpack to carry a camera while riding as my little not so smart phone does not take great pictures. 

So this morning I took my Mini Sony Cam along with the dogs to try it again. You have to use these gadgets all the time or you will never push the right button. Two commands are "Play" and "Movie". That always confused me which is simple to do. I am thinking about  importing a New Caledonia Crow to help me with these puzzles. 

Cruise Chip in town

With the Sony this morning I got a nice movie of Happy barking at a squirrel he treed but my thumb is also in the shot. Then I then tried to shoot a Cooper Hawk on a branch but could not find the bird in the viewfinder. Where is my smart crow when I need him.

The Corvus family is good at remembering faces so maybe I could get one that remembers instructions too. After a couple of miles walking I put the two dogs in the Nissan and returned the Sony to the boat and got a Nikon. Though I was only gone for a few minutes Lucky was pawing on the drivers window waiting to get out and walk some more.

Lots of Mocking Birds in the park today and darting ground swallows. I don't rush the dogs and they have plenty of time to smell around.

Blocking the sidewalk

There has to be some Pros and Cons about these Lime Green bikes. Now what if a person in a wheelchair or a walker wanted to use the sidewalk? There are lots of dumpsters and trash cans around the harbor and an regular army of people who pick through the trash for bottles and cans, One very old grandmother walks around using her crane or walker collecting. She really has to struggle to go up the hill on 22nd Street. Yesterday she was standing in from of the Vons waiting in front o pickup discarded plastic water bottles. I always smile and say hello to her but never give her any money as she might have a Porsche in her garage (I don't have a Porsche or garage anymore). There are two regular dumpster divers here that drive Prius. They arrive in their hybrid get out and walk the marinas carrying a bag collecting bottles and cans.

Monday Morning Mists

Another day in paradise, well maybe not. Commenting about the local weather is similar to the weatherman in Yuma talking about the rain. As Yuma doesn't get much rain we get fog, overcast, drizzle, and sunshine. Today we cut the dog walking short and went just over three miles not the usual 5 miles.

white skate

The water here is murky at times and ugly after it rains. A red (green tide) also makes it unpleasant. To view sealife underwater bright overhead sunshine works best.

What you see next to the rocks that line the marina vary with the seasons and mating behaviors. Garibaldi's swim by and stay close to the rocks and are easy to spot. Spotted skates are usually in groups. Skates are not string rays.

Larger rays do show up here but they stay in the deeper water between the docks, Large bat rays show up and while paddling my stand up I have gone over several large ones. 

Sea Stars are rare here 

Too many idiots remove the sea stars from the rocks and idiots may out number the rocks.

Have been trying to sell my Fuji track bike on Craigslist and this morning the ad need to be renewed,  Last week the price was lowered but this morning the higher old price was still showing. Friday a buyer said he was going to come by Saturday but never did. Rode my mountain bike yesterday and even got mud on the tires. Today I am going to put the S-Works back in my double shore closet and get out a road bike. My go to store bike is a road bike with flat bars and a single free wheel. It was set up as a fixie but the chain gets sloppy as the frame has vertical drop outs. 

I Forgot Earth Day Yesterday

Actually I didn't forget it I avoided it. Why just one day? The hypocrisy of inviting people to the beach here to clean up a beach that is supposed to be cleaned daily by the city is upsetting to me. Weekends at Cabrillo Beach is a weekly holiday celebrated by bringing a years supply of bottle water, several outdoor grills and more. During our walk this morning (the dogs and me) didn't see any difference and the place was a trashed as normal with the homeless tent camper next to the County Life Guard Station and the beer bottles in the sand by the swing set. Several broken sprinklers by the bath house spraying the grass and sand. Happy, the German Shepherd, thought it was a new doggie drinking fountain

One of the life guards was washing his new personal pickup which is standard practice. Nice to be able to get paid $26.00 an hour to wash your own truck. 

Inside the breakwater there was a nice 1 foot right break running that would be great for SUP learning.

My cameras are in my backpack when I start out. I stop at the tennis tables to take off my jacket and get a camera out. On the walk to the beach I saw a small bird with a bright red breast that was smaller than a Robin. One needs to be prepared: Every tenderfoot knows that

Need to enjoy the sunshine today and stop my grousing. Maybe ride a bicycle other than traveling to the store but again I need to go to the store again today.

These pictures are from my archives and an earlier date. Percy the Pelican shown here hung out by my sailboat for a while and I took him for a walk.

Most people don't realize that pelicans eat things you would never have thought of.  If it will fit they will eat it. Pigeons, dogs, muskrats and even poodles are fair prey.

Found several nice Cooper Hawk tail feathers and put one in my hat.

Short Term Memories on 420 Day

Yesterday I remembered to pay a past due bill that the bank didn't forget. No rain this morning but the afternoon wind has been coming over the hill the last couple of days making it cooler  The dogs were ready to go early as usually is the case each day. The Telly was on for a few minutes as I got dressed as I listened to the latest freeway reports, shootings, missing hikers or teenagers, but maybe that was yesterday, I can remember.

San Pedro Homeless

Unless you have lived on a boat that is part of the changing ocean your morning starting place at home doesn't usually move. Mine goes up and down with the tide. That change is slow here and we feel no currents ebb or flow but the walk up the gangway can get steep at times. The first things we see this morning are some seagulls, cormorants flying, a few terns and the usual blue heron 

Next to old city hall

The German Shepherd loves to chase feral cats and thanks to several divers (boat cleaners) and a wacky lady that feed these things we try to walk around the stray cats. The dogs warm up with a simple mile walk then I get my camera and we head out again no knowing what we will find. The area around the San Pedro Main Post Office is usually a tent city of homeless and is quite depressing but this morning after going through 22nd Street Park without seeing a homeless sleeping there or a wacked out person we encountered our first person sleeping under a tree on Gulch Street (real name ).

When we got close to the main Post Office we found several shopping cart travelers sitting on park benches but only a few tents or folks living in cars. There has been a major face lift in the area with major street changes and the tearing down of parts of Ports of Call. Traffic on Harbor Blvd. is now rerouted and every time we walk over there something else has been removed.

Fire Boat, Tugs and Iowa

We walked by Vinegar Hill then down to the Old City Hall and I was quite surprised not to see a dozen homeless camping by the old drinking fountain. I stopped to read the plaque about "Bloody Thursday" and went down to see if my battleship was still a float. 

Yes it is still there.

San Pedro has a nice skyline but few take the time to enjoy it.

The flag on old city hall is at half mast for Mrs. Bush. 

After stopping by the fire boat building the dynamic duo and I headed back passing the restaurant Acapulco being torn down.

Post Office Overlooking Harbor

Ports of Call had been dying for years but no one was willing to shoot it. When we lived in Huntington Beach many moons ago I took the family up to Ports of Call and it was new and really nice. 

Swallow

Today I did not see the twin Brigs that the Youth sailing use docked here. Not sure where they went. Several Harbor Cruise Boats have moved from Ports of Call and three are at Cabrillo Way Marina.

In Flight

The Red Car Line that used to run the street cars on the weekend here has stopped while the streets are changed but there still is a Free Bus Trolley that goes from Downtown  Pedro to Cabrillo Beach on the weekends.

Our walk passes the old fishing harbor and we then cross over the railroad tracks and up the little hill past the baseball park where there is a nice grass area across from Crafters. Lots of swallows fly there skipping inches away from the grass in flight.

Trying to Remember What I forgot

Yesterday, the Wednesday  weather folks on the telly said it would rain and I forgot. My sailboat does not have a dodger so when you open the main hatch when it is raining more than likely you will get wet. So I have a routine done many times, put up my cockpit tent, cover port windows, cover vent on forward hatch and you will stay drier except when you walk the dogs in the rain.

what it looked like before I started living on it

The sunrise was a nice pink sky with a few clouds and some blue skies and dry out side. The two dogs went out as normal and smelled around. I put them in my Nissan for a few minutes and when I came back it had started to rain. I left the dogs in the car and went and got my yellow rain coat out of the closet and while doing that the cabin heater fell out and smashed my shin. With my yellow hat and coat we then together went for a walk.

Happy the German Shepherd isn't much of a problem when he gets wet but the Yorkie needs a good drying off with a towel. Happy likes to bark at the raccoons if he gets a scent or see one. This morning in the rain he got a whiff of something by the Youth Sailing Dock close to CBYC  and started pulling on the lead like a team of horses and barking. He stuck his nose under the fence rail and proceeded to bark louder and Lucky copied him too. 

My guess it was a raccoon but when I got closer and looked down I saw the whiskers of a sea lion pup. It was a very low tide and the pup was laying in the grass between the rocks and the sea wall. He was a long way from the water below. My cameras were on the boat as it was raining so I didn't take a picture of the pup. Finding a sea lion in your backyard is not unusual and the dogs seem to ignore them when they are swimming next to our boat but this pup was inches away from Happy, nose to nose.

We walked a little farther from where we found the pup then back to the boat to get the telephone number of Marine Rescue which is located here in San Pedro about two miles away. Their phone recording directed me to another number (the office doesn't open until ten) where I reported the pup on the rocks. Half an hour later I went back and the pup was gone, I hope he is all right.

After our early morning fun the rain stopped, the sun came out but the northern sky did not look good so I went and got some canvas for the port windows and the sun came out again. It is nice that the sun is out as I need to go to the Von's in the Ghetto. San Pedro has its ups and down The stores up on Western Ave are nice (San Pedro is located between the harbor in the east  and the hills in the west) and the farther up the hill the higher the prices are. Von's is on 13th Street about a mile and a half from my sailboat so I ride a bicycle there rather than drive my Nissan unless the dogs get lucky and get a car ride. 

Hooded homeless in San Pedro

We have a morning ritual here on the sailboat or what might be described as dog vs Ship Captain with frequent outburst such as "shut the fuck up" or stop that whining". The German Shepherd who's name is Happy wants to get off the boat first thing. Last year I had to stop making and drinking coffee in the morning because shithead whined too much to allow for coffee. Personal record was over a year with no coffee.

Rental Bike

As mentioned in the last blog we found a unlocked Lime Bike close to the Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club which is next to where we are docked. Happy escorted the bike pulling like a sled dog and Lucky ran along side having dog fun. These are rental bikes that are scattered around San Pedro that required an App on your smart phone to unlock the bike and you pay through your phone connection. There are Metro Bikes around San Pedro that are locked at docking stations and require returning to another docking station. The Slime Lime bikes are not docked and can be anywhere, blocking the sidewalk, on the pier or beach, in the middle of a dirt field. 

My neighbor who is a bike nut (a real Fred) found one of the Lime locks laying in the gutter across town. He gave it to me and I tried to return the lock but delays in returning e-mails and other messages getting buried in Voice Mail resulted in my decision to take the lock apart. I did and saved all the parts which I may display the internal parts later. 

Lucky in a Basket

I often see homeless using the Lime bikes which led me to the theory that these things could be hacked. Yesterday we took the bike (shown above with Lucky in the basket) out cruising. After a few minutes an audio alarm went off from the speaker attached to the bike lock announcing "the police would be called". WTF, I maybe come apart of a cop chase on the afternoon TV news. 

L

So the bike was parked next to my Nissan in the late afternoon and was gone when we got up this morning. Likely the circuit board inside the lock has GPS and some type of communication to report locations.

Homeless living on Cabrillo Beach

My morning bird watch started with my grousing about the homeless on Cabrillo Beach.

The picture above shows a homeless tent located west of the lifeguard station.

Homeless camping next to Life Guards

As you can see the windows in the Life Guard Station look out on the homeless sleeping next to the signs that say "no tents, no camping". That station is an LA County Life Guard with is part of the LA County Fire Department. This is not to be confused with the second Life Guard Station at Cabrillo next to the boat ramp which is ran and manned by the City of Los Angeles Life Guards.

Lots of shorebirds today

This morning after our beach trip we headed up to Pacific Ave to visit the Post Office at Fort MacArthur. My PO Box is located there not the larger one on Beacon Street close to downtown San Pedro where the homeless are headquartered. Homeless seem to be everywhere here and when I last lived in Orange County there was a family of a mother and two children living along the creek by our house and the children would bath in the creek before going to the public school in the morning.

italian Bakery now gone

Along the sidewalk by the Fort (now an Air Force Base) there are some signs from Old San Pedro on the buildings.

Fort MacArthur 

There is this plaque at the Fort and Richard Henry Dana name appears on it. Dana actually lived here above where my sailboat is located while he was handling the hides collected for the ships return to Boston. As our dog walk continues past the Post Office and back to 22nd Street where we can drop down to the harbor we go through a neighborhood that is not that pleasant to look at.

Homeless living on bus stop bench

This hooded person
lives next to "the Spot" a local dive bar and across from a Cafe that serves breakfast and lunch