Retirement Time

Since beginning of this month I started my 'semi'-retirement. I did not want to completely stop working (a bit too young for that at 47) and want to keep paying into my state pension, but I also wanted a lot more free time to travel.

Managed to negotiate a 60% contract, so need to work only 3 days a week. But the contract permits me working 4 days a week and to use the overtime day as a holiday day. What it all boils down to is a schedule of working 2 weeks of 4 days followed by a week off. But can take longer holidays too (work 4 weeks take 2 weeks to fly to US to look at Saturn V, rinse repeat). Money is not great but still ok, above median for the area here so I'm not complaining :D
 
Now it's officially fire season, with smoke from the Star Fire in Chino Hills visible from I-15 around 50 miles away. A hundred and nine acres and one nice home burned and only 50% contained. :twisted:

All the dry farmers have harvested their wheat crop and are either disking in fertilizer or renting out flocks of sheep to graze on the stubble. In addition to a bumper wheat crop, chinese tumhleweeds are popping up everywhere. They can really spread wildfires when it's windy. The root is edible but nobody cares, I guess its too hot and snakey out there to dig them up. If you pile the plants up they can blow away and spread elsewhere. They should dump them off the coast to provide cover for bait fish, since the kelp beds are mostly gone.z

My wife says on the full moon night out the bathroom window she saw a cougar on top of the neighbor's house just laying there not 20 feet away. :shock: We are surrounded by many large dogs who bark like crazy, but Oliver sometimes will not go out back at night. Was even a skunk nearby a couple of nights ago out front. Might have to keep a gun handy and a closer eye on him, the nearby hills and orange groves have water sources for wildlife. Have not seen a coyote in this neighborhood yet. They were quite numerous where we used to live just east of the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge.

104°f yesterday, only 95°f today and less humidity so today was probably the nicest day this week. :)
 
Thought I saw smoke this morning above one of the hills but when I turned south and crested the top it turned out to be dense dark ground fog. Not like the normal Temeku mist that Temecula is named for. People in Cali can’t get fire insurance in some areas after the recent disastrous wildfires the news reported this morning.
 
Lebowski said:
Since beginning of this month I started my 'semi'-retirement. I did not want to completely stop working (a bit too young for that at 47

Good for you!

I did the same 'semi rerirement' thing 3 weeks before my 40th birthday. I had a chance to sell my business and took it. Best decision I ever made.
 
Got the lawn mowed and filled up the green can completely with grass clippings. Weather has been warm but not too hot compared to last year. Wish the neighbor would trim his pepper tree, it drops stuff all over the driveway. His apple tree drops apples all over the fence also. I don't like green apples to eat but they make good apple pie.
Going to visit grandma in Desert Hot Springs soon, looks like the thunderstorms are subsiding for a while. She lives up on a hill with a nice view of the valley and the lights look pretty at night. :)
 
While weeding yesterday I found some tracks and a disturbed area in the bark ground cover where an animal jumped either over the fence or more likely onto the roof of the shed. The paw print in the mud measuring 3” wide, along with a few apples further from the tree than they are likely to have fallen leads me to believe that a bobcat was toying with them before exiting the yard. None had signs of being eaten and where they were couldn’t have rolled there without help. No cougar, raccoon or skunk track would match these left by an obviously solitary animal. The launch hole in the bark was around 12-14” wide. Might tape some butcher paper to the roof of the shed to get more proof, or buy a game camera for some critter pix. Most people believe that the bobcat has a shorter tail than it actually does, and furthermore my wife revealed that the cat she saw was darker than a cougar.
 
Courthouse has no cafe, just a couple of vending machines, a fridge and a microwave. In beautiful downtown Banning there’s lots of eateries though. An interesting historical area from the photos on the walls. Highway 243 still closed, so no side trip through Idyllwild. :confused:
 
Made the trip to Desert Hot Springs today. Lots of dove, valley quail and cottontail rabbits around. Was much cooler today than it has been and not too windy.
Had dinner at Sherman’s Deli and Bakery in Palm Springs, an awesome restaurant in every way. Not quite cool enough to dine curbside, even with misters along the length of the north side of the building along Tahquitz Avenue. :)
 
https://www.pe.com/2019/09/04/this-map-shows-where-the-tenaja-fire-is-burning-near-murrieta/amp/ :twisted:
Not far from my work, had today and tomorrow off. TV news saying was started by lightning. :bolt:
Update:
https://abc7.com/tenaja-fire-in-ie-scorches-1400-acres;-evacuations-in-effect/5517707/
 
Attended the Sand Sports Super Show @ OC Fairgrounds today. Was 89 miles over SR 74 via Ortega Highway. A car was fully engulfed in flames as we neared Capistrano, starting a small brush fire on the eastbound side. Barely made it through. Fire crews arrived immediately and putting it out before the fire got out of control. :mrgreen:
https://ktla.com/2019/09/13/ortega-highway-shut-down-after-car-fire-ignites-brush-near-rancho-mission-viejo/

Glad we moved away when we did. Still got recognized right away by some folks from Murrietta. :)
 
https://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/wfo/sgx/h5-loop-ir2f.html

Fire enhancement loop shows a suspicious white spot east of San Diego. :twisted:


https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Brush-Fire-Burning-in-Dehesa-561264911.html
 
Coming home tonight there was a brush fire north of Diamond Valley Lake headed towards homes on Alamar Mesa. The first fire trucks went by on the other side of the road before I got home. :twisted:

Heat signature is visible as a growing white spot in this satellite view:
https://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/wfo/sgx/h5-loop-ir2f.html
 
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