street/tree

california cars

2008-04-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Cars, it seems, last forever in California. Even though I don't think of myself as a big car person, I sometimes cannot help but be amazed by the vehicles I see on the street. There are some amazing cars here.

bees!

2008-04-03T21:33:00.000-07:00

Ever since I wrote a post on Colony Collapse Disorder on Built Environment Blog last year, I've been obsessed with bees.

One of the perks of my Plant ID class is the chance to photograph bees. Unfortunately, they are elusive little bastards. Getting a good shot requires a quick finger on the macro button and a lot of luck.

Thanks mostly to a large number of opportunities, I've gathered enough bee photos to warrant a new flickr set: bees!

big sur

2008-03-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

Last week my buddy David and I went camping in Big Sur. It was awesome!

Early in the trip, we discovered that our planned pace was a bit ambitious. About a third of the way into our first day, we realized that we weren't going to reach our destination before sunset. We backtracked a bit and headed downhill to Danish Creek, where our guide book said there was a good camp. In the end, it should be noted, this was the path less traveled.

It turns out that Danish Creek camp kicks ass. We set up camp under a huge live oak and cooked jambalaya. Once the fire burned down, we called it a night.

The next morning, we re-planned a bit. The most important decision was to dispose of the soy milk powder and move the jam for PB&J's into the bag. This, in turn, freed the jam jar to hold the Maker's Mark I had brought in a medium sized water bottle. We gained a water bottle and flavored our whiskey a bit like strawberries.

We hiked back up to the ridge and headed west towards the coast. Our trail led us through thickets of Chamise and Ceonothus (Wild Lilac). Almost all the Ceanothus was blooming -- the smell was amazing. At times, we would be surrounded by the dull roar of thousands of buzzing of bees all around us.

At one point, we reached a bizarre deposit of green serpentine stone. Devoid of vegetation on a ridge otherwise verdant, it was a jarring place. Only a couple poppies and the remains of a yucca (which I initially thought it was an agave) showed evidence of life.

In the full midday sun, we were able to see our trail laid out in front of us for miles.

At lunch, we discovered that our newly re-purposed water bottle had gone missing: a major bummer. At least we still had the whiskey.

Hours later, having left the ridge and entered a forest of Ponderosa Pine, we encountered an area that seemed to have suffered a fire some years earlier. Surrounded by the hulking masses of dead and fallen trunks, we briefly lost track of the trail and were forced again to backtrack.

We got our bearings and found a 'shortcut' to Pat Springs Camp. The shortcut proved plenty long, though, and the sun was getting low when we finally reached Pat Springs. Heading up a steep hill, we reached a summit with an available campsite -- and one of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen.

We dropped the bulk of our gear at the site and quickly hiked back to a creek to fill our water bottles. We got back in time to watch the sunset in style, snacking on hors d'oeuvres and sipping the aforementioned jam jar whiskey

Although the sunset was awesome, it was accompanied by a dramatic temperature drop. Paired with a strong, incessant wind, the night turned very cold.

We woke up early the next day -- we had our longest hike of the trip in front of us. Midday, we passed through an eerie forest of Madrones. It was, fortunately, a very cool microclimate.

Amazingly, we came across the missing water bottle in the middle of the path! It had apparently fallen out of David's bag the previous day when I made him hold up a leaf so I could take a picture of a caterpillar.

We passed lots of fascinating plants on our hike, many of which I still haven't been able to identify. One of the most interesting was a tiny red plant that grew about one inch tall in the middle of the sandy path. I think it may be an introduced species from Mars.

We finally reached camp after an arduous day. We had an amazing show at one point when we discovered that one of the logs we found for firewood was home to an ant colony. As the log started to ignite, we witnessed a jawdropping exodus as the ant colony evacuated to find a new home. Ew!

The next morning -- our last -- Big Sur treated us to one last round of amazing views as we found our way back to Los Padres Dam.

Hundreds of California Newts also came out to bid us farewell. They are really weird looking little animals.

As a bonus, the day after getting out of Big Sur I was flying down to San Diego and I was able to find the area of our hike from above. You can see the Los Padres Dam reservoir and even the serpentine deposit. I also marked what I think our route and campsites were.

All in all, an awesome week in California.

Nice Rock

2008-03-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

I can't stop watching this.

my favorite trees

2008-03-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

I have unexpectedly and delightfully fallen in love with trees. (See blog name.) To honor this event, I have created a new flickr set: My Favorite Trees. Maybe you will like some of them too. The inaugural class includes:

Japanese Cryptomeria

Evergreen Pear

Coast Redwood and Canary Island Date Palm

And, of course,

Giant Sequoia!

clinton basin

2008-03-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

Clinton Basin, on the Oakland Estuary, is a pretty great place. (Click the image for a larger version.)

tin fan

2008-03-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

I am starting to work with Triangulated Irregular Networks and I am becoming a big fan.

traffic shockwave

2008-03-06T18:23:00.000-08:00

Another video from Be Now here. Thanks, Nathan!

McNear Brick

2008-03-05T14:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my construction class took a field trip to McNear Brick in Marin County. We were lucky enough to get a tour from Dan McNear, the great-great-grandson of founder John Augustus McNear.

From every perspective McNear Brick is fascinating.

The fundamentals of brick manufacturing are the same today as they were in 1868 when McNear opened, and parts of the McNear brickyard still feel of that era.

Some sections of the yard are completely abandoned, rendered obsolete by evolving technologies. One feels particularly strange inside the old kilns, dark catacombs that once contained infernos.

The machinery, which had ceased operations for the day by the time of our visit, still had an appearance of being from another time.

At the end of our tour, Dan McNear explained that the factory's days were numbered. Developers are attempting to acquire an adjacent quarry -- when they get it, the factory will be next in line.

McNear Brick, the company, is in the process of moving operations to a new factory closer to their source materials. (The original clay deposit was exhausted in 1989.) I feel strongly, though, that the site should survive as well. (I love mills)

From a historical angle, McNear is worthy of preservation. Bricks and concrete from McNear have been used for many important Bay Area projects; McNear lightweight concrete aggregate was used in the original pours for the roadbed of the Golden Gate Bridge.

From a practical angle, McNear is an important recycler of building materials. Demolition contractors, instead of dumping old bricks in to landfills, simply give them to McNear, which in turn makes them into the raw materials for new projects.

Regardless of its future, the McNear Brick factory is an incredible place. It achieves beauty through a combination of functionality, history, and materiality. I hope it survives.

McNear Brick homepage

Full photoset

More History

How To Prepare National Historic Landmark Nominations

CENTER PIVOT IRRIGATION

2008-03-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

Still totally rad.

Photo by Rodh

"timelapse all the time"

2008-03-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

sprouting basil phototropism from Nathan Hodges on Vimeo.

Awesome video from Be Now Here.

Tree. Now.

2008-03-01T01:11:00.000-08:00

The Canary Island Date Plam (Phoenix canariensis) is one of the largest trees that can be successfully transplanted.

Many mature specimens were transplanted onto the Embarcadero in San Francisco when the elevated freeway was demolished in the 1990s.

It is a truly beautiful tree with some interesting utility. (And an corresponding high cost.)

Best Place To Study Plants

2008-03-01T00:50:00.000-08:00

Berkeley Botanical Garden

Soil, Stone, Trees, Bees

2008-02-28T17:46:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, I took a field trip to American Soil & Stone.

American Soil & Stone is sandwiched between San Francisco Bay and I-80. There is an interesting jumble of uses for this strip of land.

Some of the rocks reminded me of trees.

Trees rhymes with bees.