This handsome fellow planted himself in one of our walkways. But what is it? My guess is it’s some kind of verbascum.

Here’s a glimpse of the swimming pool that became a garden, now in its fourth year -hard to believe it’s been that many already.

Carol is thinking it might be too early this year to start our tomatoes.

It’s been cold and rainy for many days, and there is no break in sight. Last night there was spectacular thunder and lightning, which is rare in the Bay Area, and even a water spout over the ocean and a small tornado in Santa Rosa. We looked outside last night to see a winter wonderland, even though it should be spring here by the bay.

We’ve lived in the SF Bay Area since the 1970s, and only occasionally have we seen hail blanket the ground like this — and we’ve never seen it linger this way. The ground was cold enough that it didn’t melt for hours.

I know this won’t look like much to folks back east. Hey, I lived in Wisconsin once upon a time. But it’s damned strange for us here. It continues to rain as I write. They say more hail could be on its way tonight or tomorrow. And on it goes …

I visited Muir Woods yesterday (in the company of a couple of beautiful women) via the main entrance and found it quite crowded — the only parking was a good ways down the road from the auxiliary lot. That’s one of the reasons we normally enter from the Pantoll or Bootjack trails. But the main redwood grove by the entrance really is quite spectacular, and I took a few pictures..

I’ve been taking pictures in Muir Woods for decades, but I feel it’s a difficult subject: it’s both very low (and quite green) light and also — perversely enough from the photographer’s standpoint — high contrast. Probably the best as a general rule would be a low ASA setting, a small aperture, and a very long exposure using a tripod. I didn’t have that luxury however, as I was just shooting with my trusty Canon A630. Still, these low-res samples might capture something of the feel of the day. (Expand to full screen or click through to the Flickr page for better views.)

It would be a good thing. Urban Forest Map is trying to make a log of all of the trees in San Francisco. The group is made up of government agencies, nonprofits, and private businesses. By mapping the city’s trees they hope to calculate the environmental benefits the trees are providing: “how many gallons of stormwater they are helping to filter, how many pounds of air pollutants they are capturing, how many kilowatt-hours of energy they are conserving, and how many tons of carbon dioxide they are removing from the atmosphere. The information we gather will help urban foresters and city planners to better manage trees in specific areas, track and combat tree pests and diseases, and plan future tree plantings. Climatologists can use it to better understand the effects of urban forests on climates, and students and citizen scientists can use it to learn about the role trees play in the urban ecosystem.”

You can add some trees to the count.

Took advantage of the nice weekend weather and worked in the garden. This year our problem is that everything’s filling all the spaces and getting crowded. We’re going to have to be fairly ruthless.

Took some photos and posted them to flickr. Click the image or follow this link to my flickr garden set.

This seven-minute film taken from the front of a San Francisco streetcar going the length of Market Street toward the Ferry Building is said to have been shot four days before the earthquake and fire of 1906, and to have survived because it was sent by train to New York for processing before the quake. Virtually all of the buildings shown (except the Ferry Building itself) were destroyed in the quake.

The street scene is lively and chaotic, and many details are fascinating.

Most people would probably take BART and the Oakland International Airport connector shuttle. (The trip takes about 45 minutes and costs around $10.)

But Delta Airlines offers a new option. Their “Weekly Fare Specials” newsletters alerts travelers to the special fare of $69 from SFO to OAK.

You will go through Salt Lake City, where you will have about an hour layover. Your total time for the trip will be around four hours, not counting the usual air travel issues of security and the like.

Such a deal!

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image from Drewski2112′s photostream

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