Hail!

We hardly get weather out here in California so the heavy rain has been pretty exciting. The hail, though short lived, is even more exciting. As soon as we heard it tapping on the windows, we ran outside and sure enough, this is what we saw



I don't know why, but I was surprised that they were little round balls like this. Maybe I was expecting random shapes of all sorts.



When we got back inside my husband pointed out Revelation 16:21: "And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe."

Hmmm... might want to avoid that one!

Weather Report

Hawks at Gum Grove

There's so much fun in being able to identify something you see, or hear in this case, in nature. Last week as we headed down our usual path at Gum Grove Park in Seal Beach, we heard these hawks calling to each other. We'd heard them a few times before and had even seen them perched on one of the branches high up in the Blue Gum Eucalyptus trees.




Whatbird.com has some good audios of bird calls and after listening to a few; the Cooper's hawk, the Red-tailed hawk, it led me to the Red Shouldered Hawk, BINGO! The call matches our mystery hawk's exactly :)

Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain and more Rain!

When they predict rain in California, it's relative. But when they say it's going to rain for 5 days in a row - you know you're going to get some spurts of real rain in there. It is a rather momentous thing around here since we've been in a heavy duty drought for some time now.

Figuring they meant some sprinkling here and there, we headed out for a Sunday afternoon hike. I've seen this trail called Ladera Ridge, but I'm not sure what it's official name is. I took these pictures on the way home so it's much wetter than it was when we started.

Here's the start of the paved road that leads up to the trail...



You can see it from the parking lot of The Ranch Sports and Grill in Ladera Ranch.



Heading up the paved road, there's a water tower up on the left.



Here's the start of the trail off on the right, about 3/4 of the way up to the water tower.



This is a short, but steep uphill climb up to the ridgeline



Here are the views looking back over Ladera





Here's the communications tower at the top of the hill



And here's why it's so worth the climb...



Even with it being overcast, it is still a fantastic view. Pictures don't do justice. The hills just keep rolling and rolling into the mountains beyond. Invigorating... completely. And look, it's turned green from the last time we had rain

At the top, you can go right or left. We headed to the right this time, I believe it's Southeast.



I was amazed at how much life has already sprung up in response to the last rainfall we had.

Dodder...



Lemonadeberry...



Deerweed...



I thought this might be wild grape, but I came home and looked it up...



It's wild cucumber or "manroot" which produces spiky fruit in the spring.



See how it travels? I've seen this stuff take over an entire oak tree.



I'm not sure what this is, but it's cute :)



Bindweed...



More views... those mountains all the way over there are the same ones I blogged pictures of on the Vista trail post a couple weeks ago. They're also in this blog's header. They are the twin peaks of the Santa Ana Mountains. Santiago Peak (5,687ft) and Modjeska Peak (5496ft) named after a world famous Polish stage actress whose historic home, by the way, is available for tours.


Mountain Lion bait.



The Hills Are Alive...



A little friend found along the way. I wonder where he'll go in the rain.



It was worth the trip - even on a rainy day!

Chino HIlls State Park

We headed out to Chino Hills State Park today. I was soooo disappointed when I realized I'd left my camera at home - so all the pictures here are from my cell phone. Except the one below is a map of the park from their website.



Instead of parking outside the gate on Elinvar Rd. like we did on our last visit, we saved ourselves the almost three mile walk and drove the fire road to the campgrounds. As soon as we parked, the kids hopped out and my son opened what looked like a bear box by a campsite and found this:



It was as dead as a doornail, and completely hollow. Which lead me to think maybe a tarantula hawk had gotten to it.



We hiked up Ranger Ridge Trail, the view was beautiful. The snow on the top of that mountain way out there is as close as we've gotten to it this winter.



Once we got past the first steep hill, the rest was pretty easy going, my 2 year old could walk the rest.


Here's what this same area looked like last May - only four more months, I can't wait!



There were many of these scats around - they are pretty common in SoCal. I still don't know what it is. I wonder what fruit it is eating because I haven't seen any reddish fruit anywhere around.



The black mustard has been dry and dead since Summer. Makes for great sword fighting practice for a boy who just watched Lord of the Rings.








And a great "stick forest" for kids who like that kind of thing



It is no doubt a contributor to the fires that rage through the hills of California every year. It was only a little over a year ago when 90% of the park burned.

There are a few eye sores that run through the park... but the views are still spectacular and worth the trip.



Mule deer tracks



Thanks to the recent rains, there was a bit of fresh greenery along the trail.



And signs of Spring to come. I believe this is some sort of Lupine.



There were several trails of calabazilla. The leaves were all dead, but some of the gourd fruit was still laying around.



For pitching practice of course!



And for kicking down the hill and watching it roll.



We headed left and down towards Telegraph Canyon Trail.
You can see the burned Black Walnut trees here showing promising new growth. These trees are rare in California and are lucky to have survived the recent fires.






We found the walnuts all over the ground, all of them open like this. Don't they look like little pig noses?



As we headed back to our car, it was getting late. At the entrance gate, there were two signs. One that said "Closes at Sunset" the other said "8:00am - 5:00pm" with notification that they were closed Monday - Thursday now. Due to the budget crisis here in California, the State Parks have had to cut back significantly. We figured if we got out by dark, we'd be okay, you know, like at Target, when they say they close at a certain time, they're still checking people out thirty minutes later. You're safe as long as you get there before the last person in line is checked out. Plus the rangers do a sweep and all to make sure everyone's out before they lock the gates... right?

Well we got to the car at 5:10 pm. By the time we got the kids in the car, packed up, drove back up the fire road to the gate, it was around 5:20 and it was dark and...

the gate was locked!




They locked us in!

No rangers in sight, just darkness and this big chain of locks between us and freedom.



First course of action - try and get it to unlock or open! No luck.
Second course of action - call the park! No phone number... anywhere. (Thank God we had cell phone coverage)
Third course of action - call the police. Yes! They answer and say they're coming!

By the time the police got there it was 6:00 p.m. Let me tell you, 40 minutes is a LONG time to look at a locked fence in the dark contemplating your fate. Just as we were driving out, the park rangers drove up.

The whole situation reminded me of a parenting conversation I was having with my friends last week about first-time obedience with our kids. If you dish out the consequence the first time, every time, kids really will obey the first time. If you let it go the first, second, third time - you're training them to disobey. Sometimes we train them not to respond until our voice gets to a certain decibel level. But I digress...

We were effectively trained today to get out of a state park BEFORE the closing time. After we narrowly escaped with our freedom, we headed to the City Broiler, where my hubby had left over trade certificates from when he worked for an advertising firm. What a treat! The food there is just fantastic.

A nice dinner and their blueberry pomegranate martini helped ease the painful experience.

Here's what's in the drink:
PAMA
Blueberry Vodka
Sweet & Sour
and the juice of 2 limes, or was it 2 wedges?

Shake and serve



Now I'm going to bed thankful to be sleeping in my own bed tonight!