Picture of the Day - My Field of Dreams

I have decided to christen this "Secret Hill" which is a joke if you know where this is. Overlying it is what I think of as my field of dreams over which I have trodden down many and various trails of tears. What I mean by that is that I have oftentimes the past few months cried about a great many heavy things that have been revealed to me by God over that period of time as I traced trails and paced paths over this field's doubly-plowed surface meditatively looking for petrified whale bone and biconoids. Ah, biconoids: well that gives away generally where this is located. At other times I have not been sad but my medative rockhounding ramblings here have been my escape from thinking about heavy things or the mundanities of modern living. Heavy rains are slated for the coming days and I fear those who farm this land (from whom we have permission to be on it for rockhounding purposes) will soon seed this surface and we will have to wait until after the next harvest.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Fire & Water

Today I had a modified Kim Day in which I took the day off but in this case I did not go solo but joined the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen on a business roadtrip to Santa Barbara with lunch at Harry's, book browsing at Chaucer's, and then a visit to the Gaviota Coast on the way home to hunt petrified whale bone. We took Highway 154 down in order to get to our destination quicker as well as to see the aftermath of last summer's Whittier Fire (which was not fully controlled until earlier this winter), an aftermath I had not heretofore seen with mine own eyes and it was eye-opening. Dangerous weather with the potential for flashflooding and mudslides is predicted for the overnight period into tomorrow. We were chased off of Gaviota Beach at Gaviota State Park late this afternoon by the first major rain bands of this strong Pacific Storm whose circulation will pass over the Central Coast overnight into tomorrow. Above is the view along Highway 154 looking eastward across the burn scar with ominous skies clabbering up and lowering. The long story of modern California history is that of wildfire followed by flashfloods and mudslides. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)

Picture of the Day - Here It Comes!

Late this afternoon/early this evening I was out rockhounding in my usual location of late and could not avoid noticing the spectacular sky yet with a note of foreboding as the ongoing fetch of subtropical moisture that has overridden the Central Coast the past several days is slated to finally bring in a powerful Pacific Storm in the days ahead. The story of this impending storm is written in this skyscape. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

My Big Whaleboner

Today while hunting for Miocene petrified whalebone from the Monterey Formation and biconoids from the Franciscan Melange in Templeton, CA, I discovered this end-piece of a large petrified Miocene whalebone, parts of which are highly silicated. This is the first such piece of I have ever found in regards to end-pieces with ball-joints. It is also one of the largest pieces of petrified whalebone I have ever found.

Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Tropical Storm Lidia Sunset

I was out rockhounding in Templeton early this evening and captured this image of the sun setting through a gathering gloam as a line of dying thunderstorms approached from the east. A bit later it rained in the area shortly after sunset. This moisture originated from the death of Tropical Storm Lidia which expended itself in the area of Baja California. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Quote of the Day - Dixon PD

I spotted this on Twitter the other day and had to chuckle:

"If anyone has the #MayweatherMcGregor fight on at their home and also has a warrant, let us know.

We're super chill.#TweetAlong pic.twitter.com/kBOFBvz8od "

— Dixon Police (@DixonPolice) August 27, 2017

Meme of the Week - California State Bird