Ragged Point, looking south

Another meditative video clip.
Enjoy.

(YouTube link to this video)

Sunset

(YouTube link)

Video taped on location at Mikie's Fun House
by Fast Mikie himself.

The hummingbirds make an appearance later in the video.

Turn up the volume on your device to
hear ambient and surf sounds,
or mute and play your own music.

Ragged Point

I was driving along the coast road,
north to Mountain View, CA
(a trip of about 8 hours driving time)
I decided to break it into two parts,
and stay over at Ragged Point,
about halfway up the coast.
It is of one of my favorite places on the planet.

Click here for link to YouTube
Ragged Point Video

or, click the play button, below:





Video of the surf and rocks,
looking south from my room at Ragged Point, CA,
which is about 12 miles north of San Simeon (Hearst Castle),
and just south of Big Sur.
It's a great place for peace and solitude and the sounds of the surf.

There are no phones in the rooms, but there is wireless.

Just outside my room, there is a path of about 15 feet,
then the low chain link fence right at the very edge of the cliff.
I balanced my camcorder on the top of this fence,
and let it capture a few moments of paradise.
I figured it would be good material for those meditative times
back at Mikie's Fun House, in Del Mar, CA.

I put this video on the internet and The Public Domain
as a gift to all who may find this clip,
and also find a moment of tranquility.


There may be more Ragged Point video clips coming soon.
To find them, search YouTube for "Ragged Point FastMikie"

(blog top)

Mandatory Immediate Evacuation!

Two hours after the order to prepare for it,
the call came from the police that
Del Mar residents must evacuate.

I chose to stay.

I drove to the top of Torrey Pines hill.
No fires visible anywhere.
Light winds.
Looked ok to me.

It was more than personal laziness.
The 90+ year old woman next door
had no place to go.
She has trouble breathing.
And since I kinda adopted her as my new mom,
I didn't want to take her out into the smoky night,
and subject her to living in some shelter,
so I decided to hunker down here,
and wait for it to get more urgent,
or for the threat to subside.

We got lucky.
The call came around noon the next day
that it was ok to return to our homes in Del Mar.

A lot of SoCal is still burning,
so I have my Go-bags still packed
and sitting by the door...

Be Prepared to Evacuate

All afternoon I've been watching the fire on TV,
feeling certain that my home is safe.

A few minutes after sunset, the phone rings:
"This is the San Diego Sheriff's Department,
with a message to all Del Mar residents to
be prepared to evacuate...
and drive north to El Toro Marine base
in Orange County..."

"Be Prepared to Evacuate"
(always good advice)

Before this fire's first spark,
several months ago, in fact,
I began disaster preparedness planning.
I have 3 bags already packed,
with clothes, provisions, emergency equipment,
supplies, communications equipment,
and more...

But even with such focused planning,
I'm realizing that the plan is missing some essentials.
And there needs to be a "Fast List"
which is stuff you grab when
you need to get out NOW.

It's an interesting exercise.
What do you take
when everything else may vaporize?
What do you need to survive
when your home,
and even your community,
and the homes of your friends and family,
are gone?

Heavy thoughts.

Fire!

For the last 24 hours
fire has raged through the hills east of San Diego,
and they are already calling this the
worst fire in San Diego history.
A quarter of a million people
have evacuated.

Now the smoke in the air is thick,
and ash is accumulating on the balcony.

Solana Beach, the town just north of here,
has told selected residents to prepare to evacuate.

Winds are strong and gusting,
blowing the fire this way,
and the forecast conditions are more of the same
for at least another day, maybe two.

All my windows are closed,
but still the air inside is bad enough
to irritate my eyes.
Light smoke is coming in under the front door,
so I blocked the space with a towel,
and that seemed to help.

I have a couple of breathing masks,
and gave one to my next door neighbor,
a 90+ year old saint of a woman,
who has trouble breathing,
and she will be my personal responsibility
to help her get to safety
if things get to that point.

I've taken a video of all my stuff
inside Mikie's Fun House,
for insurance purposes,
just in case.

And I have bags packed with essentials,
ready to evacuate if/when the call comes.

My children are safe.

We are lucky.
Many have lost their homes,
and worse.

Doing the Apple Thing

My last Apple computer was the Apple IIe
a little over a quarter century ago,
so I figure it was time to revisit
and see what's going on with them.

Actually, I want to do some video editing,
and I hear Mac is the hot ticket for that.
So I got a MacBook Pro, 17" screen
and added a wireless keyboard & mouse.

Nice hardware, nice software,
but lots of incompatibilities,
and general weirdness
when compared to the PC world.
Of course that's to be expected.

Maybe I'll be able to edit a video tomorrow...

The Flag Goes Home

This flag last flew at the Kennedy inauguration,
January 20, 1961
when I "liberated" it as a souvenir of the occasion.
(see original blog entry)

After several months hanging on the wall of the Fun House,
I had some time to consider its ultimate and proper fate...

I sent the flag back home to Washington, D.C.
Read the letter from the Mayor of the city
expressing his thanks for returning this relic.

Pool Vacation

After a week or so of pool vacation
a big change I have noticed is that
I'm getting a lot of stuff done.

In just the last couple of days I have
re-wired the desk computer system
(that big wad of wires under the desk)
dealt with iPod "touch" service issues
(several hours on the phone, and more off the phone)
major improvements to the computer systems
eliminating some software and hardware
and other simplifications,
redesigned the vestibule area
new layout for desk area,
new furniture ordered for both areas,
an update to the draft of the pool book
a couple of walks to the beach,
car wash,
visited friends,
entertained friends at the Fun House,
enjoyed several meals at local spots,
(actually ventured out in public!)
read a couple of books,
and the list goes on...

All these things would have gone undone
if I were still shooting some serious pool.

Serious pool requires serious Time.
Pool is a demanding mate.

But I'm on pool vacation,
and looking forward to all the stuff I'll do...