{"id":971,"date":"2005-10-17T09:30:53","date_gmt":"2005-10-17T14:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/?p=971"},"modified":"2005-10-17T09:30:53","modified_gmt":"2005-10-17T14:30:53","slug":"assorted-recent-pix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/2005\/10\/17\/assorted-recent-pix\/","title":{"rendered":"Assorted recent pix"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been awhile since I posted a bunch’ pix here, so what the heck. Haven’t
\ndone any notable hikes in awhile, but I do have a new camera I’m getting used
\nto. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

It’s in the owner’s manual: the first subject of all photography must be one’s
\ncat. Or dog. Or child. Well, we have only one of the three in our household,
\nso Floyd gets to be Camera Subject A, whether he likes it or not. From the look
\non his face I’m guessing, not. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

I’m posting this one to prove that Floyd does<\/i> come out of his hiding
\nplace in the closet. But this is as close as he’ll let me get to him. Oddly
\nenough, though Floyd would sooner gouge his eyes out than allow me to touch
\nhim, he gets very jumpy and irritable if I’m out of the house for too long.
\nWhen I go camping he keeps Melissa up all night, running out to the front door
\nand back, whining and making noises to the effect of "all my things are
\nnot in place here, and this must stop NOW." <\/p>\n

Now, for something completely different. A couple weeks back I sent my mom
\na link to an ad for a boat somebody
\nis trying to sell.<\/a> It’s 49-foot yacht built in 1951 for a grocery store
\nchain magnate. Sometime in the early ’90s it came into the possession of a documentary
\nfilmmaker who restored and remodeled it to gorgeous condition. She forwarded
\nthe link to Ed, my stepdad, who immediately called up the guy and told him he’d
\nbe out to the coast the next weekend to take a look at it. Ed has owned dozens
\nof boats in his life so I knew he’d appreciate this one. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Ed in his element, with boats on all sides. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Mom and Melissa wait for the boat’s owner to show it to us. <\/p>\n

The guy takes us through the boat, showing us its every detail, lovingly restored
\nby hand, by him. Shoulda seen the guy’s eyes light up, it’s like he was explaining
\nhow his son was the quarterback of the local high school team that had just
\nwon the state championship. I almost grabbed him by the shoulders and said "look,
\nmister, you must not sell this boat. Would you sell your own child?" We
\nwere tempted to put in an offer on it, fantasizing that we could own the boat
\nand live on it, but there are all sorts of regulations regarding people living
\non boats, and the cost of the boat plus the cost of keeping it berthed, insured
\nand afloat would’ve been quite a bit more than we’re paying in rent. Ed was
\neven more sorely tempted — there was no part of this boat in any condition
\nless than immaculate — but the notion of trucking it back to Illinois, where
\nthe water in the river isn’t really deep enough for it anyway, eventually returned
\nhim to his senses. <\/p>\n

Bottom line: You can see how easy it is for people to lose all sense of proportion
\nand rationality in the presence of the right boat. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Seals rest on a chunk of lumber in the Sausalito harbor. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

We had dinner in a restaurant at the waterfront. Nice view of San Francisco
\nthrough the window; I’m glad it’s not my job to wash it. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Lots of boats were in the bay to watch the Navy Blue Angels perform. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

A rock-balancing artist performs for the folks walking past on the sidewalk.\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

We took a quick jaunt up to the Headlands to gape at the coastline. This is
\none of my favorite spots in the Bay Area. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

You can’t take a bad picture of the Golden Gate Bridge, especially when it’s
\nnot fogged in. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

We spent the night in a hotel in San Francisco. The red blur is a a very cool
\nearly ’60s Chevy convertible. <\/p>\n

Something completely different, Part 2. <\/p>\n

My longtime online pal Gerald from Germany<\/a>
\nis visiting family in the Bay Area this month. We got together Sunday and took
\na nice walk around Lake Chabot. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

The lake has a marina where people rent boats, canoes and other vessels. We
\nopted for staying on the ground. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

It’s quite a scenic little lake, with campgrounds, trails, etc. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Here’ s an intriguing characteristic of my new camera: when the battery runs
\ndown, the lens cover doesn’t open all the way. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Gerald noticed this rattlesnake before the rest of us. It was perhaps 10 feet
\naway when we saw it. As we stopped to watch it slither away, it would shake
\nits rattle at us every few seconds. Suddenly it struck me that for all the rattler’s
\nnotorious reputation, it’s actually a rather polite little beastie. If you get
\ntoo close it turns on the rattle, as if to say "please take note of the
\nvenomous snake in your vicinity, and step away with caution." Vastly superior
\nto the bite-first-and-ask-questions-later variety of wildlife. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Gerald and Annette, his lovely wife. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

After walking ’round the lake we retired to a slurpee shop in Castro Valley.\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

There were many shops nearby, including a crafts shop full of Halloween decorations.
\n"In Germany we call this kitsch," Gerald said. "That’s what we
\ncall it here, too," I replied. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been awhile since I posted a bunch’ pix here, so what the heck. Haven’t done any notable hikes in awhile, but I do have a new camera I’m getting used to. It’s in the owner’s manual: the first subject…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[41],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}