More Rain--But No Fires This Year

I woke up to the sound of rain water gurgling off the roof and into the new drainage system yesterday morning.

We got about 15 hundredths of an inch according to the Union Trib, although it seemed like more to me.  That brings us up to over two inches since July 1st.  It's very unusual to have this much rain at this time of year, but it's very welcome; because of the rainfall, we haven't had to worry about wild fire danger this year.

October is usually a very dangerous month for fire in Southern California.  Without rain, the brush is usually so dry at this time of year that it doesn't take much to get a fire started.  When the Santa Ana winds start to blow hot, dry air in from the desert, the wind can push a fire at an incredible pace.  It takes on a life of its own, like the Fiendfyre spell in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

We used to think that we were relatively safe from them because we're surrounded by freeways.  The vast oceans of cement would keep the fires contained, so we thought.  We continued to think that way until the Cedar fire in October 2003, when we saw that fire leap across Interstate 15 and continue to race toward the ocean.  Tumbleweeds on one side of the freeway catch fire and blow across the road to set numerous fires on the other side.  That's when we brought the cat carriers up from the basement and stacked them up in the dining room, preparing to evacuate quickly if we had to do so.

Canyon Fire October 2007

Four years later, just two weeks before the major Witch Creek fire in October 2007, we had or own mini fire in the canyon behind our house.  Cindy had been to a class on wildfire that day and was telling a visiting friend about it, when she smelled smoke.  Fortunately, we discovered it before it got out of hand--there was no wind that day--and the fire department arrived promptly and got it out.

Bravo, San Diego Fire Department!

Anyway, it scared the bejazus out of us.  We've been very careful ever since about trying to keep a defensible fire space around the house, particularly in the back because, although it was across the canyon from us, with a bit of wind it could have gone anywhere in nothing flat.  So we're very happy about the rain this October.

Making Sure It's Out

All Gone

Damn.  I am so bummed out.  Shortly after I published the post yesterday about the remaining Monarch Butterfly caterpillar, I went out to take another look at it and it was gone.  It had stripped off most of the leaves on the stem it was on, so it was pretty much exposed, as was one of them the day before, so we're thinking the birds got them all.

But which bird?  Was it one of the House Finches?  The Bushtits that are flocking in the neighbor's Trumpet Creeper right now?  The shy, reclusive California Thrasher that flits in and out of the hedge to break off chunks of suet?  Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick?

My money's on the Scrub Jay.  Members of the Corvid family, they are highly intelligent and opportunistic birds.  Cindy had just hung a feeder full of peanuts out because we knew there was at least one around, so we're guessing the Jay just thought we were providing yet another tasty snack for it.

While we were watching the Monarch Butterfly flitting around and looking at the caterpillar earlier in the afternoon, Cindy had made the remark that maybe we should take the remaining caterpillar into protective custody, but unfortunately we didn't actually do that.  Lesson learned, too late.

So now we will move the Asclepia to the front yard, where there is less cover for birds.  They tend to hang around the feeders in the back yard, so future butterfly larvae should have a better chance of survival.  And maybe eventually we'll get to see the whole metamorphosis process.

Then There Was One

Yesterday morning we had three large Monarch caterpillars, but by the afternoon there was only one visible.  I looked all over but didn't see the other two; we're hoping the birds didn't pick them off.  They were each about two inches long and as big as my little finger, so we're hoping they crawled up into the boxwood hedge somewhere to form their chrysalises.

The remaining caterpillar is busy munching away at the asclepia leaves.  I was surprised at how active they are--they just keep eating or moving into position to eat more leaves.  Several of the stems are entirely bare of leaves now, but there were enough leaves to make it identifiable as milkweed to another Monarch butterfly today.   I tried to get a picture of the Monarch, but it kept flitting from plant to plant, then back to the asclepia, then over the hedge, then to the tomatoes, then back to the asclepia.

So maybe there will be more caterpillars in the future.

Monarch Butterfly Bush

Cindy planted a Monarch Butterfly Bush (asclepia), a form of milkweed, to attract Monarch butterflies this fall.  Other Master Gardeners have reported fewer Monarchs (Danaus plexippus)  than normal, but we noticed a couple of caterpillars on the stems of the bush the other day.

The caterpillars may consume most of the bush before they form a chrysalis and pupate.  This is normal and the bush will grow back.  The larvae use the food from the bush to feed themselves before they pupate.

Monarch Butterfly Bush Flowers and Seeds

These butterflies are one of the most amazing creatures on the planet. Most generations of Monarchs live only four or five weeks, but in the late fall, a final generation migrates from locations in Canada and the United States to central Mexico, where they hibernate until they awaken in the Spring to mate and begin the northward migration through successive generations back to their northern locations.  The caterpillars we see on our bush now in San Diego in late October will continue the migration and may actually become the hibernation generation.  For more information see Monarchs of Migration.

Monarch Butterfly Larvae

I was just amazed at how beautiful these caterpillars are.  We have three of them industriously chomping away at the bush.  They've grown considerably larger in the three or four days since we first noticed them; they've already eaten most of the leaves off several of the stems and look like they're already about big enough to form the chrysalis.

To be continued (we hope) .....

Water, Water Everywhere

When we installed our new rain harvesting system a month ago, we anticipated that a good rain of about a half inch would fill up all three barrels.  What we didn't anticipate was that we would get about that much rain while we were still on our trip to Oregon.  Rain in San Diego in September is unusual and that much rain that early in the rain year, which starts July 1st, is really outside the normal pattern.

When we got home, we found that all of the barrels were already full of water, and had actually overflowed, digging trenches in the bare earth under the overflow ports.

Cindy used some of the water in the garden after we got home, but when we heard that more rain was expected this week, she got to work to create some drainage for the overflow to channel it into the canyon but away from the edge of the canyon behind our fence, since erosion of the edge of the back yard is our principal concern.

The biggest problem was how to route the overflow from the two big tanks behind the garage out over the fence and over into the canyon, but she solved that problem with some long pieces of piping pushed through the jungle behind the fence.  Someday we'll have to clear out some of that brush, but for now the overflow is routed away from the house and away from the fence.

We've now had almost two inches of rain this rain year and I know she's already regretting not getting bigger tanks, maybe the big mama 620 gallon tank or the REALLY big 2825 gallon tank.  It's probably a good thing our yard isn't any bigger than it is.

Where's Katy?

We've checked the rose bushes every day, looking for the katydid.  She's so well camoflaged that she's very difficult to see against the green leaves; she looks just like a leaf herself, but we haven't seen her since we got back from our trip to Oregon.

We really enjoyed trying to find her before we left.  One day before we left I looked for at least five minutes before I found her, directly in front of my nose about twelve inches away.  Another day I saw her in the morning, then Cindy and I looked again when we went for our walk about noon but we couldn't find her although we looked for about twenty minutes before we gave up.

Katydids apparently don't move around a lot; one may spend its entire life on the same tree or plant.  Ours seemed to move around at night and then be stationary during the daylight hours.  Although she never seemed to move very far from where she had been the previous day, her camouflage was so good that she was still difficult to spot unless she was on top of a leaf.  Even then you had to check every single leaf to be sure because her color was so close to the color of the leaves, the veining on her sides looked like leaf veining and her articulated legs looked like leaf stems.

Now we don't know where to start looking for her or even if she's still there.  Did she move on to another plant or leave altogether?  If she did, did she lay eggs before she left?

Who knows what katydid did, but we enjoyed her while she was here.

Esterlina

While we were in Mendocino, we took the opportunity to visit Esterlina Winery in the Anderson Valley.  We had been there the last time we were in the area and joined their wine club, which had shipped us a bottle of their wonderful 2006 Cole Ranch Merlot just before we left on the trip.

You have to make and appointment and it's a long drive from Highway 128 two miles up a dirt road to Esterlina's tasting room on top of a mountain, but the view from their deck overlooking the Anderson Valley below is more than worth it.

View of the Anderson Valley from Esterlina's Tasting Room 

Cabernet Grapes

And then you get to taste their wines.

We raved about the 06 Merlot so much that the host opened a bottle for everyone to taste although it wasn't on the tasting list.  It was as good as we remembered, but the 05 Alexander Valley Lazy S Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon and the 07 Sonoma Mountain Janian Vineyard Syrah were also great, so we bought some of each and had them ship it to us so we didn't have to worry about the wine getting too hot in the car on the trip home.

There were still cabernet grapes on the vine waiting to be picked.

Anderson Valley Vineyard

Then we went on to Yorkville Cellars tasting room and got another fabulous Anderson Valley view, as well as more wine.