Hell Fire vs. Holy Fire

Hell Fire viewed from Air Attack. Image courtesy of Cal Fire (all rights reserved).

This afternoon en route home from Atascadero High School I noticed an impressive header up north somewhere apparently out west from Paso Robles. It turned out it was a then-serious-looking wildfire christened the Hell Fire burning along Nacimiento Lake Drive (G-14) in heavy fuels. Fortunately, with all the firefighting resources in the area due to the now-winding-down Chimney Fire, this new fire was heavily assaulted on the initial attack which succeeded in limiting it to about eight acres. Upon my return home I noticed mentions on Twitter of an incident in Southern California christened the Holy Fire in Trabuco Canyon in the O.C. In the same day there was a Hell Fire and a Holy Fire in California! What's up with that?! Note: by this evening I'm noticing that the Hell Fire is alternately being referred to as the Hill Fire. However, I'm sticking with the original version because that's what it was known as most of the day.

Holy Fire as viewed from Trabuco Canyon area. Image courtesy of Cal Fire (all rights reserved)

Graphic of the Day - Current Wildfires (8/30/16)

A very bad new one was added to the map today as the Gap Fire exploded west of Yreka, CA, producing pyrocumulus clouds visible from across the CA-OR border up in Medford and environs.

Sherpa Fire Found Footage

While never itself or its creators missing (if you know what I mean by "found footage"), I did find this stuff for myself just now. Being duly impressed with it I am sharing it here now over two months later. It features footage from June 16, 2016, sundowner wind event seen on television and widely reported and recorded, capturing a different angle (to me) of the incident of the Sherpa Fire jumping into the median of Highway 101 and being doused by a Skycrane.

Sherpa Fire - Big Night from Bright Eye Cinema on Vimeo.

Picture of the Day - Chimney Fire-Related Pics

Last week I captured these two images with the intent of posting them as Pics of the Day here on this blog. However, last week life got interrupted and that never worked out, but better late than never.

Last Wednesday evening I was on the Cal Poly campus and these two Type-3 engines from Cal Fire's San Bernardino Unit. They were on the Cal Poly campus as the campus has been housing some Chimney Fire overflow from the North County.

Last Thursday afternoon as I headed out to my spiritual father's house for a decompression session, I found myself behind this KSBY-TV van as I pulled onto 24th Street from Riverside Street where the Chimney Fire command post is located on the Mid-State Fairgrounds. Both images by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Graphic of the Day - Current Wildfires (8/29/16)

Just as some of the more major wildfires calm down, new ones break forth.

Quote of the Day - Hiam Ginott

A week ago today, Atascadero High School hosted two major staff meetings in the Ewing Gymnasium. The first one was emceed by AUSD superintendent Tom Butler addressed the entirety of staff of AUSD from teachers at all school levels to classified staff to admins with a rousing ra-ra speech competitively comparing AHS to the other two main school districts in the North County against which it compares favorably. The second meeting of the morning involved only the staff at Atascadero High School and was emceed by Principal Bill Neely who gave a similar speech but relating specifically to Atascadero High School.

At one point in his speech he pointed to a quote on a piece of card stock paper placed at each place setting at each table. Neely revealed that his brother-in-law, former AHS and AJHS coach Mark Anderson shared the quote with him. I was blown away by both the insightfulness of the quote and the fact Anderson ever took any interest in it let alone shared it with anybody. I still remember the day back in Fall 1984 or Spring 1985 at Atascadero Junior High School when Anderson caught young stoner Jason Flood spitting on the blacktop near the P.E. offices and grabbed him, yelled at him, and either forced him to lick up his spittle or choose between that and suffering some major administrative sanction. I suppose he matured and mellowed with time and in later years would have handled the situation differently given his interest in this quote from the late Haim Ginott.

“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It’s my personal approach that creates the climate.
It’s my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”

Picture of the Day - Ify Slurpee Spelling

This afternoon my work carpool driver stopped to get gas at the 7-Eleven in north Atascadero at Del Rio Road and El Camino Real. Carpool mate Max spotted this problematic posting of an advertisement poster combo. The responsible party works at a 7-Eleven store and not at 7-Eleven corporate for good reason. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Chimney Fire - Day Twelve

This gets us caught up on SLOStringer daily video synopses of the Chimney Fire burning nearby, which is to say, on Day 16 of the fire I am sharing with you the Day 12 daily video synopsis. Better late than never I suppose. Check out the previous installment of this daily video synopsis series, to wit, Day 10.

Chimney Fire - Day Ten

Due to the five-day black hole in my life last week, I got behind in the task of keeping this space updated with the latest wildfire stuff. This especially galls me as I would have liked to have been more engaged in following this story which even had a local component (Chimney Fire). I tossed my meager time and spiritual and emotional energy into a hopeless black hole. Therefore, I am sharing with you the Day 10 video synopsis on Day 16 of the fire. Check out the previous installment of SLOStringer's daily video synopses of this incident, to wit Day 9.

Graphic of the Day - Current Wildfires (8/26/16)

I didn't resume blogging until 8/27/16 but the day before was the last day Cal OES updated this map as they are closed for the weekend as it pertains to endeavors such as this apparently. I'll post the updated Monday version tomorrow.

La La Land's Architectural Rememberer in Miniature

I can't explain why I find this documentary short so compelling and perhaps even a bit haunting. Perhaps it is the skill of the documentarian Matthew Arnold-Ladensack and the score by Rhian Sheehan or perhaps it is the history being discussed or perhaps is the story of the miniature-maker-turned-amateur-historian Gerald William Cox. Probably it is a bit of each. Watch and enjoy!

LA // 1:87 from Humanity Pictures on Vimeo.

Scripture of the Day - Jesus Christ (John 8:32)

Today, fairly early on I actually sat down with the Lord and read in my Bible a little bit for a change of pace instead of running screaming out the door attacking my day under-prepared for the impending and inevitable spiritual battles to follow.  I read the entirety of John 8 and when I reached verse 32 it jumped off the page at me. I immediately knew it referred to what God has been revealing to me this week about my Loved One. These are unpleasant and heart-wrenching and bitterly disappointing revelations. However, they explain so much that has made no sense to me for so long and has felt so terribly frustrating. Indeed, I feel like I am being released even as my heart breaks and I feel lonelier than I ever have before.... at least in a familial context.

".... And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free." 

~ John 8:32 (Kimicus ad Absurdum translation)

I Told You So Tonight

Earlier this evening I worked a wedding at Avila Beach Golf Resort for over seven hours. I heard a lot of music I did not care for with some exceptions. The stuff I liked I had heard before such as Eddie Grant's "Electric Avenue" which I may not have ever heard before in a wedding music mix until tonight so props to the deejay. One track in particular struck a chord with me and really stood out from everything else. I loved its dance-inducing house sound and jazzy coolness so much I felt compelled to amble over to the deejay and inquire as to the name of the song and artist. Here it is in all its funky, jazzy, house glory: "I Told You So" from the Album Burning Bright by Cameo Culture a.k.a. Dave Robertson out of Brooklyn, New York.

Cthulhu-Worshipping CERN Sacrifices Rare Virgin

Recently, a lost-footage reel was released revealing a seemingly darkly pagan-looking nocturnal ritual occurring outdoors on a lawn on campus of CERN culminating in the ritualistic human sacrifice of a seemingly mind-controlled female volunteer sacrifant. The footage concludes with the young-ish-sounding male film-maker reacting to the murder in horror and shock and then running for his life through the campus building from whence he filmed which appeared to be adjacent to the aforementioned lawn. It suddenly concludes mid-flight.

More open-minded people have taken this to be a real event surreptitiously recorded by a now-vanished videographer while officials and more skeptical people have declared it a hoax. If the latter were the case, it was perpetrated contrary to the professional code and possibly the regulations binding the facility. Of course, you and I know our fellow cultists at CERN are devoted followers of Cthulhu who gives them unfathomable revelations through madness-inducing dreams regarding what amounts to the magic of the Old Ones which CERN publishes as if it were new discoveries in particle physics. These devoted cultist-researchers if one could have heard them in the found footage were chanting "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn." Cthulhu approves this blog post

*NOTE: for my unhip and literary-impaired readers, the above post is utterly tongue-in-cheek.

Admin Read: I'm Baaaaaaack!

After being nearly crippled emotionally and logistically all week long by the latest disruption and heartache and disappointment and provocation and treachery from Loved One, I am I hope back home and back on track in my life. Well, at least until the next Great Crisis although it is possible I am still in the previous one and am merely being overly-optimistic and self-deluded. That would certainly make sense if being self-deluded is contagious. If I seem bitter I assure you that you are not reading me wrong. Anywho, regardless, I am back to blogging, perhaps now to save my ever-lovin' sanity.

Chimney Fire - Day Nine

This is the latest Chimney Fire video synopsis from SLOStringer: Day Nine video synoposis which was yesterday. Check out the previous video synopsis for this fire, to wit, Day Four video synopsis as well.

Graphic of the Day - Current Wildfires (8/22/16)

No new large fires present on this latest California Summer 2016 Fire Siege map. However, since this was put together, a new fire has erupted at the north end of the state in Humboldt County which has already burned structures and escaped initial and extended attacks. More to come in the next edition.

Picture of the Day - The King From The Presidio

Laine Martens captured this wonderful image of the Rey Fire from in front of the Presidio of Santa Barbara which I'm ashamed to admit I had not even heard of until I saw this image. Note the impressive pyrocumulus clouds over the main convection column of the smoke updraft. Ms. Martens retains all rights. 

Chimney Fire - Day Three

Well I sure suck. Somehow I managed to not realize that SLOStringer had a Chimney Fire Day Three video synopsis until just now, Day Ten. As you might have noticed, I did not realize until day-before-yesterday that he had a Day Four synopsis. I hate posting these not on the day they were first published, let alone out of order (#4 and then #3), but here goes and as always it is great stuff.
*NOTE: be sure to check out Day One and Day Two video synopses.

A Memorable Thank You

I saw this tweeted recently in regards to the now month-long Soberanes Fire in Monterey County. It is a memorable and heartfelt thank you from an Escondido firefighter to the people of Big Sur with whom he bonded and grew attached during his posting there. Image courtesy of BigSurKate or other via Twitter.

Graphic of the Day - Best Chimney Fire Visual

This is the second Graphic of the Day I have posted for this day making them both co-Graphics-of-the-Day. This one is the most effective map depiction of the Chimney Fire I have seen yet as it shows the fire in the context of land-forms with vertical exaggeration.

Graphic of the Day - Current Wildfires (8/21/16)

California's Summer 2016 Fire Siege continues to mount in acreage burned, while containments remain the same, structures burning seems to be on brief pause, and no new large fires have entered the picture.

Chimney Fire - Day Four

SLOStringer has been sporadic producing these whole-day synopses of his experiences of the now-27,546 acre Chimney Fire. I feel they are great and wish there were more of them than just just this one (belatedly posted by me as I had not noticed it until yesterday) and Day One and Day Two video synopses when it is now Day Nine. We need more of these, SLOStringer!
*UPDATE: somehow I missed Day Three synopsis until 8/22/16. 

Graphic of the Day - Current Wildfires (8/20/16)

Twenty-four hours later the situation has gotten much worse despite no new major wildfires. The three newest wildfires have simply gotten much worse. Air N.G. are MAFFS are now in the game.

No More "I Love You's"

Part of me died tonight. I am too soon an orphan. My heart is broken: betrayed, exploited, taken for granted..... lied to too often. My best friend died long ago.... replaced by my very worst enemy: Enemy Mine! Tonight I wish I had never existed.... had never been born. I'm a broken sinner and deserve far worse than I have endured or ever will endure. Yet, I do not deserve this from that person.... the one who should have always been in my corner from my cradle to their grave. What the fuck happened? I am certain I have done all I can for them and then some; now I must save myself. Their ship is sinking.... if I'm too close they will suck me down with them. Tonight I feel that pull already acting upon me. Tomorrow I say goodbye until eternity. I guess I hardly knew ye. The song below is a perfect anthem for this Greek tragedy.


Tonight I also got to thinking about this song HERE which I shared on this space nearly 3 years ago. I did not realize then it would later likewise speak perfectly for me in regards to how I feel in this moment.

Graphic of the Day - Current Wildfires (8/19/16)

This is getting out of hand rather rapidly. California on both the state and federal level is in fire siege draw-down mode with resources stretched thin soon to the breaking point. If any more major wildfires break out concurrent with the current wildfires then Katy Bar The Door!

Picture of the Day - Bloody Sunset +1

Here it is: two weeks later and smoke is still the object of a sunset at a Pomar Junction Train Wreck I worked this evening.

Bonus image: a blood sun as opposed to a blood moon. The smoke this time is from a new fire relative to the previous Train Wreck two weeks ago, to wit, the Chimney Fire. Both images by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Graphic of the Day - Friday's Smokey Skies

This from the National Weather Service Monterey/San Francisco showing my atmospheric reality today.

Picture of the Day - My Home Group Fam

Earlier tonight my church home group family met for a warm-up get-together before resuming regular weekly gatherings next month. Present was much of the regular crew plus one occasional and two noobs.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Brilliant Bluecut Nocturnal Timelapse

Earlier today on Twitter I encountered this spectacular timelapse video of the Bluecut Fire in the Cajon Pass and adjacent regions of San Bernardino County. The only way this piece could be improved is by way of accompaniment by some ominous-sounding or ethereal-sounding ambient music.

ECR-View of Chimney Fire

Today I was in Atascadero for a few hours visiting mom and helping her a little bit. While up town running an errand I was in awe with how dramatic the Chimney Fire west of Paso Robles appeared from the main thoroughfare of town, to wit, El Camino Real (known to many locals as ECR for brevity). As the fire blew up this afternoon, finally exceeding 11,000 acres, it was visible right up the street looking northwestwards. It has essentially made its way into the eastern reaches of the Santa Lucia Mountains and will be around for awhile.

I'm having some issues with my DSLR but I was able to capture this which features the Chimney Fire's header in the background and a Cal Fire crew bus turning north onto El Camino Real from the freeway off-ramp.

I took this image of the fire from the same location (on El Camino Real in front of Adobe Plaza) but with my iPhone 4 camera for which I am not yet proficient, having only recently acquired it. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

I'm Letting It All Out

I have not posted much modern contemporary electronica lately but I have been keeping this one around for awhile having for a time forgotten it until I rediscovered a bookmarked link to it. Enjoy this nice little gem of progressive house by Kap Slap (American Jared Lucas) featuring vocals by Angelika Vee entitled "Let It All Out" (original version HERE) remixed by LTN (Indonesian progressive house and progressive trance DJ Louis Tan whose been posted on this blog previously HERE). By the way, the accompanying video is a video visit to Iceland and features some spectacular scenery. 

Sobering Soberanes Diurnal Timelapse

Finally I have found in recent days a good Soberanes Fire timelapse video accompanied by appropriately atmospheric and moody music. I'm slightly annoyed that I did not find this until a few days ago when it is now Day 27 of the fire and this excellent video is from Day Two of the fire back on July 23, 2016. 

My Kiler Canyon Farm Fam Reunion

I have so missed my Kiler Canyon Farm family or as we hep cats call it: "fam." My Kiler Canyon Farm "fam" have become dear friends and adopted extended family members. This year it has not worked out at my end to subscribe to the Kiler Canyon Farm's amazing offering of healthy organic veggies. Each week this summer vacation I've forgotten to make arrangements to go out there for a visit. Finally, last night I remembered at the last minute to make such arrangements. This morning I headed out there for the last time this year as school starts next week for me. What follows is a brief photo essay of my reunion sans Quill who wasn't there this time.

Lower and main section of the Kiler Canyon Farm complex, the most coolest farm I've ever visited.

Organic, free-range, cruelty-free, non-GMO, fair-trade, grass-fed farming at its best.

Packing shed view east featuring Kaleen, new nice dude intern whose name I cannot recall, Chaponica, and Dan the Man.

Packing shed view west featuring Dan the Man avoiding me like the plague, Chaponica, that new dude intern again, and Kaleen hiding from view as she channels the spirit of Ernie Perlich at all costs avoiding being photographed.

Little House in the Canyon.

Everyone but a skeptical Dan the Man seemed in awe of the intern's elevated hand.
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Sobering Soberanes Nocturnal Timelapse

I found this incredibly beautiful and ominous timelapse footage of the Soberanes Fire as viewed from the Highway 1 corridor along the Big Sur Coast posted on Twitter this past morning. Enjoy!

Remembering Klau Mine Dave a.k.a. Studebaker Dave

David Brooks was my friend. We first met at a gun show in Paso Robles the weekend of December 9-10, 2007, at the Mid-state Fairgrounds. I was the oddball rock seller in the midst of guns and antiques and other gun show-requisite types of dealers like knife-sellers and jerky sellers and right-wing bumper-sticker sellers and army surplus sellers, etcetera. He liked rocks, too, and we clicked right away. He invited me out to where he lived which was on the Buena Vista Mine/Klaue Mine complex where he was the 20+ years caretaker. The day after the show ended we began to regularly exchange emails about obscure history and geology and other similar nerdy things. I soon took him up on the offer to visit the mines. My then-girlfriend and I paid him a visit and had a blast. The friendship continued beyond my relationship with that girl. We become brothers, he becoming the older brother I never had, sometimes quarreling as he was one of those angry atheists angry at the God in whom they claim to not believe and afraid they might be wrong. I tried to patiently battle him in such a way such as to show him the reality of the love of God and beauty of Christ in all my brokenness and still casting about trying to figure life out. By the end of his life I do believe he transformed and his perspective changed on this matter... I certainly hope so and am hopeful.

Dave was a combination of a trusty foreman, hardscrabble miner, master mechanic, fearless hunter, not to fail to mention de facto Nordic blacksmith, ancient mariner, epic poet (watch him read one of his poems HERE) and natural philosopher in the tradition of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment as he often did arcane research and wild experiments reminiscent of the sorts of things we recount Benjamin Franklin to have done. In short, he was a Renaissance Man disguised as a short Odin with a perpetual limp and grin. That limp and grin accompanied me on a number of adventures during the time of our friendship, some of them on the mine complex and some elsewhere. On the mine complex he and I explored an adit he had not explored in many years due to difficulty of access and we unsuccessfully searched for another nearby. We also participated in the March 2009 CFMS Ant Hill Field Trip.

Dave was always there for me as a friend, brother, mentor, and wingman as the occasion required. He helped me move when I lost my house and had a short time with lots to do. I lamented to him that I could not repay him for his time and gas and he famously responded, "some things just have to be done" meaning that he simply must help me regardless. I did repay him with spoils of a project in which I was paid with material things like an old motorcycle and such. I was also there for Dave as a sounding board and adventure sidekick. Sometimes Dave would drunk-call me awash in angst over a sense of eminent major life change due to his fear that his mentor and boss and landlord Harold Biagini would die of his cancer forcing him off the property. The irony is that Harold recovered from his cancer scare, dying several years later of old age in his 90s while Dave would die on Monday, August 16, 2010, six years ago today, at age 47.

I discovered Dave's body six years ago today. All through 2010 it seemed he was having respiratory problems. After a while it seemed he got better but then fixed a neighbor's tractor he had long before agreed to work on and he got a bad relapse of whatever it was afflicting him. As he worsened he seemed to glom onto me over his much better and more long-lived friends like Andy and Billy. I think each of his friends knew not too much about his other close friends and we each thought we were his best friend not knowing how close he was to the others. For whatever reason he kept us each apart. I was honored that a guy who could be somewhat cagey and distrusting of strangers opened up to me so quickly. He was a fairly good judge of character and I feel he could read my sincerity, genuineness, authenticity, and in some respects, innocence, relatively-speaking. What I now think was going on then was he felt his impending death and wanted to be with a Christian given I was his distinctly Christian friend. I was ministering to not only his physical and logistical needs but also his emotional and spiritual needs. I was the noob friend but I by the grace of God possessed the things he needed most. I also feel he did not want to worry his longer-term and closer friends like Andy and Billy whom he loved dearly.

Anywho, he was drawn to my support and care down the final stretch of his last days as his breathing became more labored and he became weaker and prepared for his grandmother to come up from Southern California and take him to the hospital and be there with him. I helped him prep his home space for an extended absence and was going to care for his dog. He also needed a lot of assistance like bringing fluids to drink and food as he found walking about the house incredibly laborious.

On the night of August 15, 2010, we had dinner after working all day and watched BBC's Planet Earth which we had been watching successive nights  previously. I went home to sleep and get ready to finish helping him in the morning before going back to Cuesta College later that day for the first time in over 20 years. When I arrived the next morning his outer lights were still on as they had been the night before and his radio was still on as it had been when I left. I immediately knew something had happened to him, either he was down on the ground and in trouble or he had already died. I walked through the front door, the same door threshold Billy May (different Billy friend-of-Dave than the aforementioned) would drop dead in when murdered in that house in 2014 after he took over the caretaker duties at the mines. Anywho, I immediately saw Dave still sitting on his sofa where I left him and it was clear he was dead. His eyes were looking straight on focused at a very great distance. I do believe he was seeing something when he died. He died awake, not in his sleep, but without any struggle or any more discomfort than he was already experiencing as evidenced by his positioning and facial expression which was a stare into the distance.

At that point I freaked out and did not think of using the phone in his house to call 911 but got in my pickup and started driving down Klau Mine Road looking for a neighbor from whom to get help. Of course, on that day nobody was around. Even the Cal Fire state at the intersection of Klau Mine Road and Chimney Rock Road was empty as the crew was out on a call. I drove up Chimney Rock Road to Justin Vineyards (pre-Resnick ownership) and placed a 911 call right in the tasting room with everybody watching and hearing me. I then drove back to Dave's and waited. The Cal Fire engine from the aforementioned nearby station arrived and went in and confirmed Dave was gone and then the crew stayed with me and comforted me while we awaited the sheriff's office to arrive. They did and got to work getting his guns out of his house so nobody stole them while the house was unoccupied until his family arrived which happened the next day. Later, his autopsy revealed he suffered from emphysema exacerbated by a right lung infection. Had he sought treatment sooner he would have been told to leave the mine and that would have killed him, too. He died on his terms. It would appear that for 20 years working and living on an EPA Superfund Site, working a coal-powered forge, regularly working on diesel motors, and living adjacent to a dusty road inside an unsealed house will ultimately be fatal for even the hardy likes of Super Dave.

I went on to class feeling overwhelmed and things felt surreal. It helped to be a bit numb but my sadness and sense of loss steeply deepened in the days and weeks and months to follow. From the grave, Dave gave his friends new friends as Billy and Andy and I all got to know each other and became friends with each other which we remain to this day even though our paths cause us not to see each other much anymore. However, Billy and Andy are now my buddies for life and Dave brought us together through his death. Dave remains with all three of us and I hope the four of us meet again in eternity.

Dave rockhounding at Ant Hill near Bakersfield in March, 2009. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Dave working his magic forge. Photo by Andy Randrup (all rights reserved).

Dave's life accomplishment that took years to complete and was completed within months of his death. This $20,000 gate is still located in Cayucos, CA. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes or Andy Randrup (all rights reserved).

Super Dave with his super friend Andy; they were brothers by other mothers. Photo by Wendy Randrup (all rights reserved).

Andy returning Dave to the sea from whence he arose in a Morro Bay ceremony in October, 2010.
Photo by Wendy Randrup (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Chimney Fire From Cal Poly

As I left a grad school workshop at Cal Poly my buddy Blake and I marveled at the smoky sunset visible from Dexter Lawn as caused by the Chimney Fire which blew up late today and crossed firebreaks. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Visiting a Rockhounding Legend

En route back home from Jalama Beach last weekend, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen visited the private museum of the arguably most legendary rockhound in California. I withhold his name for the sake and safety and sanctity of the man and his collection. Needless to say this infamously peripatetic rockhound and raconteur regaled us with many a tale of adventure and graciously showed us his fine collection of the fruits of his lifelong labor of love. To view the Jalama Beach part of this adventure go HERE.

The largest shark teeth are megalodon teeth.

Lots of Desmostylus teeth here as well as a tusk at right.

This is essentially a petrified shark skull sans the skull which is made of cartilage but the teeth are in their original configuration.

The collection of local petrified wood was the most interesting thing to me aside from the shark-related items.

Petrified burl or root.

This petrified limb was found encased in a concretion.

This is another concretion-encased petrified wood limb.

Since being a child I have been intrigued with Nipomo agate. Nipomo beanfield agate is at center in the geode.

Nipomo sagenitic agate.

Nipomo sagenitic (at left) and marcasitic (at right) agate.

Nipomo marcasitic agate.

A bit of everything Nipomo agate here: beanfield at bottom, marcasitic at left and top, sagenitic at right.

He told me he got this petrified whale skull for me but I did not follow up on it and now I fear he does not want to give this up having grown fond of it being in his yard. Let the game commence!
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all right reserved)

Revisiting Jalama Beach

This past weekend the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen embarked on their second expedition, this time to Jalama Beach in southwestern Santa Barbara County at the western end of the Gaviota Coast, one of the most magical stretches of California Coast on par with Malibu and Big Sur. Today it was three of us, Dennis, Ron, and myself. We turned left and headed eastward towards the better petrified whale bone prospects. Each of us found a piece, each one different: Dennis's piece was a naturally tumbled pebble featuring great bone cell structure, Ron's was palm-sized and naturally tumbled and polished, and mine was palm-sized and very rough with the bone mostly in its original configuration not long out of the matrix in which it was preserved and petrified. We each also had a good day finding beach agates which we knew were there but did not expect to find as much of as we did. We did get to the concretions and checked a few of them before heading back due to time constraints. Next time we visit we will get an earlier start and stay later and longer. Our time constraint was an appointment with the most legendary rockhound I know of the fruit of which encounter can be seen HERE.

View back towards the campground with Dennis and Ron at left and right, respectively.

These pebbles are predominately radiolarian chert pebbles.

My petrified whale bone find.

Jalama Beach sedimentary cliffs.

Natural tar snake

Natural tar shark. The natural tar detritus was quite prominent and the most I have ever observed here.

Tar shark head detail.

Note the stretch marks as this tar shark oozed out of a natural tar seep along a submarine fault-line nearby.

More mostly radiolarian chert and sandstone pebbles amidst stone outcroppings covered in weathered tar.

Note the concretions in the cliff face. All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).