55th Annual Cayucos Gem & Mineral Show

This weekend I participated in the 55th Annual Cayucos Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show at the Cayucos Vets Hall next to the Cayucos Pier. The show was a huge success again this year. In fact, it may have actually expanded in visitation and lucrativeness for the dealers relative to previous years. This was a result of a convergence of factors including my efforts in promoting the show (if I may say so without fear of coming across as tooting my own horn). As important was the hot weather inland driving folks from the Central Valley and inland valleys of the Central Coast to escape to Cayucos. It also helped that this year Cal Poly's graduation ceremony occurred the previous weekend and not the weekend of our show as is often the case. In any case, I had a great time helping out setting up the show (on Friday morning) and breaking it down (this evening) and with security throughout many hours of it both yesterday and today. My good friends Diana Enscoe and her awesome husband Max could not be with us this show which bummed me out and made for less eye candy to include in this blog post compared to usual.

The weather was perfect at the coast and made coming to our show here at the Cayucos Vets Hall seem attractive.

Anna Pense at the front welcome counter giving me the evil eye.

Don Pense looking at me with quiet desperation. Beyond him the show beckoned.

Esteemed club member Leslie Nelson in her booth.

Esteemed club member Beverly Brown (right) in her side room booth space.

Kirk Brock's Rock Solid Jade booth as viewed from the backside.

Esteemed club member and show chairman Mike Lyons in his Gem Cove booth.

Looking from one Richter booth into another Richter booth... a one-time convergence!

David "Shaft" Richter wearing a Cheshire Cat grin.

Esteemed club member Lynette Bayless helping out in Keith Olivas' booth.

Santos Sarabia's new brand label is rather catchy, even from across the room.

Great color in Richard Sittinger's Wonderwork booth.

Shaft with the reason for his aforementioned Cheshire Cat grin.

Jesse, Josie, & company did another wonderful barbeque performance at our show.

My friend Mike's Lyon's new display case looks awesome!

Jenn and Anja of Team Dave (Rocks & Relics) honored us with their presence this year. Nice to visit with old friends.

Garnet on Fluorite from China on display in Mike Shirey's booth.

Keith Olivas was selling this awesome smokey quartz point.

The material in the necklace at left was amazing... it contained an assortment of inclusions in quartz kind of like Super Seven. 

My dear old friends Crazy Gary From Tulare Gary Robertson and his lovely wife Janice.

It must have been the new display case: Mike's booth was rocking this weekend.
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Parkhill Fire - Day One

This afternoon while working at the 55th Annual Cayucos Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show I received a phone call from mom. I missed it but 15 minutes later noticed she had called and left a message. On it she informed me there was a major wildfire burning somewhere out to the southeast of where she lives in Atascadero and she thought it might be the Parkhill area. As it turns out she was spot-on. I immediately left the show and drove to her house and from there we carpooled down to what turned out to be the Parkhill Fire which has burned about 1,000 acres as of this writing and destroyed an unknown number of structures including homes. What follows is a photographic account of our fire chase this afternoon.

Note: given I was not in a fire season frame of mind prior to the advent of this fire, therefore I did not have a scanner with me nor was my camera properly maintained. Consequently, many of my images have specks of dust or even a fiber on them. Also, many of my images were captured with the camera on the wrong setting. In any case I hope you get something out of these best images of the bunch which are shown in the order they were taken.

Update: damage assessment has revealed this fire destroyed 8 residences, 10 outbuildings, and 7 vehicles. 

View from mom's house... how often since my family moved to this house in 1983 have we seen something similar to this in that direction to the southeast out in the Parkhill area which is some of the most wildfire conducive real estate in the country if not the state with an overabundance of chaparral and innumerable spur ridges to support nearly constant running.

View from El Camino Real near Carmel Road.

View from Santa Margarita Lake Road at the KOA Campground.

Better view from further down the road.

View from River Road near the intersection with Parkhill Road looking north to northwestward as will the remaining images.

Notice the hawk?

Jet lead plane.

The convection column starting to get the barber-pole look as it rotates.

Unidentified CALFIRE S-2V air tanker approaching the fire for a retardant drop.

Santa Margarita Fire Department Type-3 engine.

Aside from the dirty lens artifacts notice the vultures circling below the CALFIRE S-2V air tanker.

Another CALFIRE S-2V retardant drop.

Tanker 105, a new MD-87 jet air tanker dropping behind the ridge to our north.

The same tanker exiting the same drop as previous image.

Tanker 105 on another retardant drop exit....

.... and yet another.

The sharpest image of Tanker 105 I was able to capture today.

The first flames we spotted today.

All images by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Quote of the Day - Friedrich Nietzsche

I heard this quote in church several weeks ago and it has fixed in my mind as a sort of mantra for what I'm experiencing with my Cal Poly career as I feel a bit overwhelmed as the quarter and academic year come to a close.

"The essential thing ‘in heaven and earth’ is that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living."  ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Picture of the Day - Pomar Sunset

Tonight I worked at the Pomar Junction Train Wreck. Thunderstorms formed to the north throughout the afternoon into early evening as well as elsewhere to the east and northeast. One approached our event and threatened to menace it, but fortunately the storm died before that happened and just in time for sunset. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).