Wonderfully eerie bike ride on beach in morning fog, visibility 200 feet, birds the only grounding influence.  Many more waders have returned to take up territory left by departing gulls and skimmers.  Cycle, cycle.  Saw a small group of ducks or coots headed north in near the shorebreak, but because of the fog, I think they may just have been a little disoriented.  I don’t know.  In the fall you see great flights of migratories headed south out over the water in a generally brief span of weeks, but the return is more of a trickle, I think, and harder to see.  Good to see the stilts and plover back; sand fleas will be appearing soon.  Rhythm, rhythm.

Still no whales; season pretty much gone, though there could be fifty out there this morning in this pea soup, led by Moby Grape himself, and I wouldn’t know it.

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Hammer in hand, pocketful of nails, making the rounds of the decks and connecting walkways seeking out loose boards.  The wood is all pressure-treated, and while certainly worn (that nice, gray, exposed look) it remains intact.  Not so many of the nails.  The decks and walks are now close to fifteen years old, and beginning about two years ago I began noticing some of the boards popping up from the joists.  The nails were deteriorating; I mean dissolved!, by the salt air, and these were #10 galvanized!  Found and corrected three offenders.  This should get interesting when I can’t keep up anymore.

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Acceptable Garden Footwear

Fog lifted, revealing gorgeous (spring-like?) day.  Spread compost in several areas over the hay, then planted bean, basil, and green onion seeds.  Covered them with layer of compost and watered. Grapevine, which apparently died in freeze, looks like it may bud!  New leaves and buds on small fig and lemon trees as well.  Little joys.  Mango I started last summer from seed did not make it.

Preferred Garden Footwear

I can think of nothing more spiritually gratifying than working in the dirt, putting in seeds and plants, witnessing the magic of their first appearance, then nurturing and living with their cycle, not just as an observer, but a participant. What a connection.

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The first Anole lizards I’ve seen in months showed up on the back deck in the warm afternoon sun today, two of them chasing each other around and acting stupid.

An Anole

Pretty soon we’ll see them doing this kind of stuff, puffing out their little throat sacs and acting all bad.  They get up on their forelegs and do little aggressive push-ups, too; it’s quite a sight.  I have learned how to distract them with one hand while they are acting out like this, then catch them with the other.  I almost never miss, and boy, are they surprised.  A little upside down belly rub, and they’re off to La-La Land. Don’t worry, no animals were injured in the filming or writing of this post.  They actually can make good little pets, though, and it’s fun to scare kids by letting them latch onto that fleshy skin between your thumb and forefinger with their toothless jaws.  The Lizards, not the kids.  Take a hike.