Picture of the Day - Hurricane

Tonight at the Dodgers-Padres game I encountered this mass-produced, corporate product that really surprised me. Calling it a cocktail is a stretch but it is tasty. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)

Sitting Pat in Petco Park

Tonight I had the honor of attending only my second Los Angeles Dodgers game ever (the previous one was last year which I talked about HERE) this time against the San Diego Padres in the newish Petco Park downtown San Diego, CA. The stadium is small compared to Dodger Stadium but it is intimate and beautifully designed and at sunset looks awesome, especially with the adjacent downtown skyline and the bay. My dear friend Patsy treated me while my friends the Marshes made the arrangements and all of us enjoyed the game together. The Blue Crew lost 7-10, but the game was exciting! Also, I made an alcoholic discovery tonight HERE.

Note: below are some other posts relating to this visit to San Diego.

My Last Night Into Morning At Bannister House
No Whaley House Wailing
Of Giant Sloth Turds and Ammonite Bites
Snakebitten By Mojave Green 

The scene was gorgeous at sunset in this place.

Laura Marsh hamming it up with a Blue Crew faithful.

It seemed like there were a lot of lefties in tonight's game and I don't refer to their political persuasion.

I caught the ball mid-flight. 

Giving up ten runs meant that I saw quite a number of Dodger pitchers on the mound.

.... to which I responded in chant aloud, "Beat S.D., it rhymes with STD!"
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all photos by Kim Patrick Noyes). 

Of Giant Sloth Turds and Ammonite Bites

My friends Jon Marsh and Patsy Dow availed ourselves of the "museum free Tuesday" deal at Balboa Park in San Diego, CA, to enjoy the Natural History Museum. Below are the high points for me.

Note: below are some other posts relating to this visit to San Diego.

My Last Night Into Morning At Bannister House
No Whaley House Wailing
Sitting Pat In Petco Park
Snakebitten by Mojave Green

I love banyan trees. 

San Diego Museum of Natural History. 

The museum is in Balboa Park so plants figure prominently. 

Megalodon manikin.

Petrified wood is one of my favorite mineral items of interest. 

The fossil sample above seen being removed from its discovery site.

My friends Jon & Patsy. 

Mastodon skeleton

Mastodon mouth parts and tusks.

Finding one of these is on my bucket list,

Giant ground sloth

This cave is in Mojave County, Arizona, to which I'm well-aquainted and it contains awesome extinct sloth poops.

Fossilized extinct giant ground sloth coprolite.

I LOVE fossilized whale bone as much as petrified wood. 

Fossilized walrus skulls and tusks.

I LOVE megalodon teeth!

I was surprised to discover that the infamous Don Wobber nephrite jade boulder "Big Thumper" erroneously declared the largest jade boulder ever extracted from the Big Sur Coast of Central California (retrieved in 1969) was not only here but now owned by the CFMS.

I love slickenslided surfaces!

Orbicular gabbro which is a new thing to me... this from San Diego County. 

         

Twenty-eight million year-old carnivorous goat-like Oreodont skeleton from Carlsbad, CA. 

Twenty-nine million year-old cat-like Nimravid skull from John Day Fossil Beds, OR. 

Forty million year-old rhino-like Brontothere skull.

Forty-three million year-old tortoise carapace from El Cajon, CA. 

Not sure if this is authentic or a mock-up but it shows the K-T Boundary (End Cretaceous Boundary) caused by the Chicxulub Impact and the Deccan Traps flood basalt event at the same time in geologic history. This is from Sussex, WY, or is a model of material from there. 

The ammonites and the ones below are all 75 million years old and were found in Carlsbad, CA. 

I LOVE ammonites!

I love it when a fossil does this: notice what I'm talking about?

THIS! (secondary crystalization within the chambers of the chambered mollusk fossil. 

Whom, I wonder what bit this puncture holes in this ammonite?

Oh this did it! I'm not certain but I do believe that is a mosasaur skeleton on the attack. 

This 500,000 year-old fossilized Colombian Mammoth was discovered in 2009 in downtown San Diego in a construction project. 

I found these modern turtle and tortoise skull collection most intriguing. 

The layout and architecture of this museum is most pleasing to the eye.
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Snakebitten by Mojave Green

Tonight I was in San Diego as part of a trip to the area to visit my friend Jannine in the hospital (and throw in a little vacation in the process). A mutual friend of our's named Jon Marsh with whom we grew up joined us (Jannine's mom Patsy who is also my friend) for a small concert at The Merrow in the Hillcrest District of San Diego. The concert featured several local bands the best of which was one led by a mutual friend of Jannine, Jon, and I (we all grew up together in Atascadero and were Class of 1989) named Mike Mariotti. Mike is the frontman of Mojave Green and they brought down the house to the degree it could be considering the place was not packed. This photo was captured with my iPhone 3 so it is what it is quality-wise.
Image by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved). 

The Four Best Cuesta Fire Images

With the 2,446 acre Cuesta Fire now effectively out and nearly contained and following a week of my priorities and attention being focused elsewhere I want to return to that fire on this blog and give it a bit of a farewell send-off with a posting of what I feel are the best images captured of the event per my perusal of Twitter.

This image was captured by Brady Cabe on the night of August 17, 2015 or Night Two of the fire.

This image was captured by Erick Rickorian on the night of August 16, 2015, or Night One of the fire.

This image was captured by Julie NoName on the night of August 17, 2015, or Night Two of the fire.

This image was captured by Nick Tyree on the night of August 17, 2015, or Night Two of the fire.
All image courtesy of their respective photographers (all rights reserved).