MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Isn't it amazing how quickly the Holiday Season comes around?  Time seems to be on permanent warp speed!

I was blessed with a terrific present from Santa Claus this year:  A used 2006 VW New Beetle Convertible!  Salsa red with tan top and interior--perfect for my palate.  I have never owned a convertible in my life--I haven't even driven one, so it's about time!

Thanks Santa for finally giving me something I really wanted!  And I don't care if people mumble about me being too old to have a mid-life crises; as they say, it's not over until it's over.

To honor such a precious (for me) gift,  I put together the video below:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Every Fall the creative spirit(s) of Cambrians blossom forth during the Halloween/Thanksgiving Scarecrow Festival.  Citizens and visitors are treated to a myriad assortment of straw stuffed apparitions throughout our hamlet.  You never know when you will come across one; sometimes they may startle you instead of the intended bird.  Speaking of which, note the crow hanging around every figure--obviously the crows are not very intimidated!.  All in all, it is great fun!

TOBY...CONTINUED


I thought I would give everyone a brief update on Toby, our rescue Brittany.  We originally were fostering him after he was picked-up wondering around in a field outside Bakersfield, CA with a severely broken leg, some broken teeth, infected ears, and several inches of matted hair and debris.


We decided, in conjunction with American Brittany Rescue and numerous veterinarians, to amputate Toby's damaged leg.  He came through that traumatic (to Diana and I, not Toby)  operation with flying colors!


It has been a couple of months since his operation and, I'm thankful to report, Toby is doing wonderfully!  He has learned to live around and with his limitations, and to develop new ways of doing things.  He loves to go to the Cambria dog park, chew-up tennis balls, and to ride in the car.  He's energetic, friendly, loving, and enthusiastic to do things--anything!  Most of all, Toby loves to snuggle with us in bed!


I am totally amazed at Toby's resiliency...his enthusiasm for life.  He is an inspiration to me; he has taught me so many life lessons and I feel very blessed to have him in my life.

THE SAGA OF TOBY TEETZEL

This chapter of Toby's life begins on 08/14/2010 when Diana and I received him from American Brittany Rescue in Kettleman City, CA (in the middle of no-where).  We had volunteered to foster Toby.

Many of you might have already seen this video that contains more early information on Toby:

After hours upon hours of research on the internet, input from a myriad of different sources, and the consultation with American Brittany Rescue, we finally came to the conclusion that it was in Toby's best interest overall to have his damaged right hind leg amputated.  This was one of the most agonizing decisions Diana and I have had to make.  There were many sleepless nights at the Teetzel House in the past few weeks!

Here is the video of Toby's experience of the amputation:

Early One Cold and Foggy Morning...

...I went on a whale watching excursion with fellow docents from the Coastal Discovery Center.  The R/V Fulmer had been in Morro Bay for the prior week doing several research projects for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.  Since CDC is part of MBNMS, they kindly agreed to lay over an extra day and take us to hunt for whales off the Central Coast of California.

We left Morro Bay early in the morning of Saturday September 4th.  Since this really isn't an ideal time to see whales, we didn't have great expectations.  Boy, we we surprised:  We saw three humpback whales, two of which hung around the boat for over half an hour, and many Dall's porpoise, a rarity in these waters.


The map below show the actual route of the R/V Fulmer (in red) and where I took the photographs (tiny cameras) in the accompanying video:

It was an exciting adventure and I would like to share it with you:

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF…..

Senior Deputy Todd Steeb

Several Fridays ago, I had the opportunity and the privilege to participate in the Ride-A-Long Program of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department.  The program entails spending a shift (or a part of) with a SLO Deputy Sheriff while he/she is on routine patrol in the County.

I was lucky enough to be teamed with Senior Deputy Todd Steeb.  I say lucky because Todd is the Resident Deputy for Cambria.  Translation:  He and his SLO Sheriff’s patrol cruiser live in Cambria.  In Todd’s case, most of his and his wife’s family also live in Cambria.  Furthermore, Todd grew up here and attended the local schools.  To say Senior Deputy Steeb is committed to Cambria and motivated to protect it’s welfare would be a major understatement.

Deputy Steeb running a background
check on a person of interest.

Todd knew from the moment he graduated from Coast Union High School that he wanted to become a public safety officer.  First, he trained to be a firefighter here in Cambria.  He then graduated from Cuesta’s paramedic program and transferred to the Cambria Health Care District’s Paramedic Unit.  Continuing on his career path meant a stop at the San Luis Obispo County Jail as a corrections officer. From there he went to the police academy and joined the San Luis Obispo County’s Sheriff’s Department. 

Besides being a highly trained public safety officer, Todd is on the SLO Sherriff’s Marine Patrol Unit, the SLO Dive Team, SLO Search and Rescue, SLO Emergency Response Team, DOJ Helicopter Drug Abatement Unit, ad infinitum.  We could not ask for a better-trained and skilled deputy who pretty much does it all.   He spends most of his spare time attending advanced training courses sponsored by local, state, and national law enforcement agencies. Senior Deputy Steeb is the consummate professional.

His cruiser's store of "office" equipment.

My day with Deputy Steeb began when he picked me up at 10:00 AM (my neighbors had a field day with that one!) and ended at 6:00 PM when I got back home. 

During that one shift, I observed the following actions, procedures, or events:

• ·     The running of background checks on persons of interest.  I had to laugh; he ran one on me before we left the sub station!  I told you he is on top of everything!
• ·      Toured the Los Osos Sheriff’s Substation (one of 3) and reviewed the seven patrol precincts in San Luis Obispo County.  Precinct 3, which includes Cambria and is Todd’s normal patrol area, is approximately 550 square miles!
• ·      Observed how their Ford Crown Victoria patrol cars were outfitted and equipped.  Also, toured vehicle maintenance and communication repair facilities.
• 
  
  

  

  Getting additional information about
  a situation to which we had responded.

• ·      Got a first hand demonstration of the capabilities and performance of these cruisers (they’re very fast and nimble, believe me)!
• ·      Learned the SLO County Sherriff’s communication protocol and terminology, call signs, etc. We were 20-Henry-30 (or something like that).
• ·      Went on many calls throughout the county from Cambria to Guadalupe (we were on roving duty throughout the County rather than a particular precinct assignment).  Everything from domestic problems, house security checks, suspicious persons, etc.
• ·      Saw an arrest and observed the transport and booking procedure into the San Luis Obispo County Jail.
• ·      Logged in evidence and chain of control procedures.
• ·      Learned the reporting paperwork flow and lines of communication.
• 
  
  

  

  Pine tree vs. Vehicle:  An accident scene. The tree won!

• ·      Toured the 911 Dispatch Office and the SLO County Office of Emergency Services facility (very interesting—both the technology and inter-agency planning aspect).
• ·      Observed traffic accident procedures where a young lady demolished her car and a tree while “huffing” some kinds of aerosol spray.
• ·      Discussed enforcement strategies under different types of scenarios.
• ·      Passed out sheriff’s badge stickers to all the kids at Mickey Ds during a quick lunch break.
• 
  
  

  

  This guy was found under a bridge in Oceano.
  He was arrested for allegedly
  assaulting a nearby liquor store owner.  

• ·      Cruised by areas that seemed to have chronic public complaint problems.            
• .         Offered safety tips to drivers he had pulled over (!).

Gathering evidence for booking a suspect
into the San Luis Obispo County Jail.

By the time Senior Deputy Steeb dropped me off back home, I was exhausted.  I had a very enlightening and fascinating day. 

I took away some good news and some bad news for my fellow Cambrians: The good news is that we can rest assured that our safety and well being is in excellent hands with Senior Deputy Steeb. The bad news is that Todd does not miss a THING!

ONE VERY BIG FOOTNOTE: Our own Senior Deputy Steeb will be featured on tru TV's new cop/crime series Over The Limit, scheduled to be shown on national television sometime in September! Watch for it!

THE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER
If you want to get an ideal of what we do at TMMC you can watch a NOVA PBS Special here:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ocean911/.  I know and have worked with most of the people you'll see.  Very exciting stuff, at least to me!


A PALO ALTO AFTERNOON
I took a quick trip up to Palo Alto to visit the kids (all four of them) yesterday.  I thought a quick slideshow of the two little omes might be fun for all:

THE YEARS JUST KEEP ROLLIN' ON BY!

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary's Coastal Discovery Center held it's fourth annual Fair last week. Diana and I volunteered to help at the event again this year, something we've had the pleasure of doing since the Grand Opening of the MBNMS/CSP Coastal Discovery Center in 2007. That ceremony/event was the precursor for THE FAIR.

This year's fair was the best yet (of course) with a bright, sunny, and cool day. The exhibitors went above and beyond, having developed more interactive and interesting educational activities for our guests. Practically all the organizations that participated in The Fair were non-profit or governmental (state and Federal) agencies involved in natural history, environmental advocacy, or regulatory arenas. Of course there was a bunch of fun stuff to do for the kids to do, besides hands-on exhibits.

It was very satisfying to participate in an event that was both educational for the public AND fun at the same time! I thought I'd share some photographs I took at The Fair, enjoy!

Checking In With "T"

Di and I haven't been to Todd and Melissa's new apartment in Culver City, CA since they came back from Indonesia late last year. 

We had a good excuse to go for a visit since Todd had surgery to have his tonsils removed last week.  Of course, we had to wait in line, behind his wife, Melissa, his mom, Holly, and his mother-in-law, Brenda, before we had a chance to get him alone.  Fortunately he got a week off from teaching a class in photography/Photo Shop at summer school.  More importantly, he was feeling better from the surgery and is fully recovered from his bicycle accident several months ago.

Todd played tour guide and showed us around Culver City.  Most interesting was the Baldwin Hill Scenic Overlook, a very nice California State Park, and the school where he teaches, Culver City Middle School.  Unfortunately Melissa had to work and we were able only to see her at dinner one night.

We had a great time and I thought I'd share some photos of our trip:

Where did you say they cut your tonsils out?

Todd's pain killers.

Feeling better, Todd took us to Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook.

A very proud father and his son.

Todd's classroom.

Mr.Teetzel in front of his infamous classroom, Room 110!

The front of Culver City Middle School.

SNAP SHOT DAY 2010

For the fourth year in a row, Diana and I participated in the annual Coastal Watershed Council's Snap Shot Day, with our good friend P J Webb. As usual we had a blast. For once the weather was beautiful!

Snap Shot Day is always the first Saturday in May. Fortunately for us, MBNMS/CWC researchers give us refresher training on the equipment, the data required, and the locations of the sampling sites. We generally do the same four sites each year. We did do a new one this year because of water quality concerns in one of our creeks. The CWC's website, www.coastal-watershed.org/, will give you a more complete idea of what Snap Shot Day is all about.

Below is a copy of our date sheet for each individual site which we fully complete by the end of the day:

We are also asked to document our work photographically for their files. Being the team photographer, I added that task to my other duties. I just couldn't resist adding a little humor to the process by including captions for each photograph I sent them. Each caption is proceeded by the location code, i.e. 310-SANSI-41, etc.

I hope you enjoy this clip:

MS. NIEVE TEETZEL, PART DEUX!!!

Last week Diana and I drove up to Palo Alto to spend a few days getting to know our just launched granddaughter, Nieve (see my CAMBRIAN PATHWAYS Post of April 4, 2010).  Besides the photographs in that blog and on Picasa Web, I did attempt some video; but please remember, Nieve was only several days old and she was prone to inactivity, so don't expect fast and furious action like the San Jose Sharks annihilation (oh, pain!) of the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL Playoffs!  I did get some great scenes (the subjects, not the video) of Ronan getting ready for preschool and his entrance into that very neat facility, aptly named The Wetlands. Please enjoy!

Nieve D. Teetzel

WELCOME NIEVE!
Diana and I drove up to Palo Alto last week to meet our new granddaughter, NIEVE DAVIDSON TEETZEL.  Nieve (rhymes with Eve) was born April 18, 2010--just two days after Ronan's second birthday!  It would be an understatement to say that Erik and Rachel are ecstatic; even little Ronan is very enthusiastic about the new addition to their family.

Nieve is absolutely the prettiest and cutest little girl ever born, next to Allison, of course...but it's really close!  Add to that her calm and very quiet disposition, and you have the perfect child. We're all lucky to have her!

Grandma Di admiring little Nieve

Proud Grandpa Roger cuddling Nieve

Rachel and Erik playing with the new Miss Teetzel.

Ronan and Grandpa had plenty of time to play hide and seek!

Grandma and Nieve bonding.

If you would like to see more photos from our trip, visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/CalBadger/TripToERRNSPaloAltoCA42010?feat=blogger#

Last Thursday afternoon the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Coastal Discovery Center in San Simeon, CA hosted a class of the OLLI (Osher Life Long Learning Institute) at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Below is the course description from their catalog:

Discovering San Simeon Bay

The Coastal Discovery Center, located in William Randolph Hearst Memorial Beach, is an environmental and cultural history education center with a focus on the interaction of land and sea. Opened in July 2006, the Center includes, among other exhibits, videos of local undersea exploration, living steelhead trout, and an interactive display covering 300 years of history at San Simeon Bay.

The course will start with a brief introduction to the Center and its exhibits. Following this, there will be a guided walking tour of the W. H. Hearst Memorial Beach focusing on its diverse history as a whaling center, a fishing port and a shipping port. 

In a second segment, participants will collect and examine marine plankton, the invisible life in the sea, and learn to identify them using a video microscope.

I was one of the "volunteer" professors lecturing that afternoon, along with Leslie McGarry. We have done the History of San Simeon Bay program at the CDC for several groups and on a monthly regularly scheduled basis for several years now.

I thought I'd share some photos one of the "students" sent us:

OH, DEAR ME, PART 2!

You met this young buck on my 4/2/2010 Post about photographing him out our kitchen window after doing the dinner dishes.

We met him again yesterday morning; this time just down the block.  This time he decided to bring some friends to check out the neighborhood.

I counted 18 deer but they wouldn't cooperate by gathering more tightly together for a group shot.  It didn't help that I lacked a wide angle lens.

They did thoroughly inspect things in the "'hood."  I think that they were particularly interest in the landscape and gardens of our homes.

I just couldn't resist trying to create something a bit more artsy.

Our dogs are not the only ones who suffer from the abundant tick population here in Cambria.

In the end, though, in always comes down to what there is to eat!

Romper Room of the Pacific

I was giving a lighthouse tour at Piedras Blancas last week when we came across a bunch of elephant seal wieners romping in the cove on the south shore of the peninsula.  These little cuties (well, not so little at 125+ lbs.) have a merry time learning how to swim and hunt before they take the big step of following their parents to the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean. These guys were born in December and January and bulk up on their mother very rich milk for a month or so.  The mother abruptly leaves her baby to fend for itself and heads to the northern Pacific to finally feed after months on the beach. The wieners gradually learn the skills for survival by playing and trying things out in the relative safety of coves and the protection of rocks close to the beach where they were born.  Very soon now, they will begin their real life as an northern elephant seal out at sea.

OH, DEAR ME!

It's not an uncommon experience to see various kinds of wildlife wondering around the streets of Cambria.  There is an abundance of wildlife here.  The populace and the wild animals live in peace in our little hamlet by the sea.  So it was not unusual for me to have seen this handsome young buck.  What was unusual is that I had my camera handy and that it had a fully charged battery!

I was just finishing doing the dinner dishes one evening when I noticed the young buck just outside the window over our kitchen sink.  It was a great way to end the day.  Life is good!

The Fantastic Week That Was.....

Our daughter, Allison, and her husband, Danny, flew out to Cambria from their home at Ft. Hood, TX to spend spring vacation with us. Of course, our grandchildren Drew and Lexi came with them!

We all spent the week constantly on the go running around Central California.   Todd and his wife, Melissa drove up from Culver City to spend the weekend visiting, hiking with the dogs on Fiscalini Ranch, and checking out the elephant seals at the rookery at Piedras Blancas.

A drive up the Coast brought us to Monterey and an afternoon whale-watching trip.  The gods were with us that afternoon as we saw over 40 migrating grey whales heading north—unbelievable luck!

That evening we continued our trek north to Palo Alto to visit Erik, Rachel and little Ronan.  As several photos show, we are about to have another addition to the family—VERY soon!

The next day we went south to Santa Clara to enjoy the beach and quaint little town.  It was a gorgeous day and the Texans relished the cool breeze and surf.  We regretfully headed home and spent the next day tide pooling along Moonstone Beach, and checking out Moonstone Redwood, an artist friend of ours shop and garden.

We had a fantastic week and once again reinforced how import our family is to Diana and myself!

I hope you enjoy sharing a few memories from our week with us:

BIG, BAD, LeROY BROWN IS BACK IN TOWN!

The December-January period is the most exciting time of the year at the Northern Elephant Seal Rookery at Piedras Blancas,California. During the early portion of this period, the entire herd of northern elephant seals slowly drift onto the beaches surrounding the Piedras Blancas Light Station. By Christmas all hell brakes loose; imagine 17,000+ elephant seals (males can weigh north of 5,000 pounds!) are on the beaches--wall-to-wall would be an understatement! The mature females give live birth to babes (know as blackcoats). Females bicker constantly with each other. The blackcoats are barking at their moms for food, all the while trying to avoid being crushed by rampaging males. Sub adult animals try to stay out of the way of everyone else so they can sleep. The real action is when the bull male elephant seals seek to acquire a goodly number of females for what is euphemistically called breeding purposes. They also have the very strong intention of dominating and controlling everything in their sphere of influence on the beach. The male who achieves these objectives is known as the Beachmaster, but he has to constantly fight other males coming in from the Pacific Ocean. Life ain't easy for these big guys, as the following photographs show:

LeRoy Brown shows up at the Rookery looking for some action

This young lady is what old LeRoy has in mind!

Unfortunately for Mr. Brown, the reigning beachmaster took exception to LeRoy's desires!

The "discussions" begin.

Boys will be boys, especially if there are beau coup voluptuous ladies around.

These guys are intense! Those ladies must be really sexy!

This activity isn't for sissies!

Ouch!

Uncle! You can have those bitches!

For those of you that insist on a video, here you go: