A walk by the bay

Just over the Golden Gate bridge, in Marin, is a lovely setting that we used to call Fort Baker. We took a walk down there last weekend and discovered that about a year ago, the decommissioned fort had been turned into a luxury hotel named Cavallo Point. We used to take the boys down there to the Discovery Museum, which is still vital. Now there is more to see than the hands-on children's museum. The fort's old parade grounds are soft and green with grass, and there is a nice restaurant and bar that we will visit someday soon. There's a spa and a beautiful grove of pines and gum trees. The view of the bridge is quite unusual from this side of things. Most tourists go over to the headlands side of the bridge, or look down at the bridge from the view lot positioned just above this fort. The views of the city can be great from here, depending on the fog, of course. We enjoyed a sunny day with minimal mist across the water.



You can take a hike under the bridge on a bike path and look straight up at the freeway's struts. This funky little building looks like something out of a fairy tale, but in reality held the circuit breakers for the nearby bridge workers' setup.

Dogs unleashed

Our county seems to be full of people who are good with dogs. Everywhere, we meet dogs who were adopted from the humane society, have attended all the classes from "good puppy class" to "family dog two". The people know how to keep their dog close if an unfamiliar dog approaches, how to let the stranger dog sniff them first, and that it's best to ask first before dispensing treats to someone else's dog. The people all carry bags for the inevitable, and use them. There are strict leash laws in all the parks, and it's rare to see a dog who is unattended, romping free.

This leash law business has started to annoy me. Given all these well-behaved folks and their pets, why is it that the county and municipalities have gone the opposite direction? Instead of rewarding us for using positive reinforcement and special harnesses, the lawmakers have locked down even the least popular trails and parks. I suspect it has to do with the cost of insurance. One dog bite and the subsequent lawsuit could wipe out a park's slim budget.

In the media, we read about the huge numbers of dog owners who treat their pet like a child. The business of dog specialty food and accessories has exploded. I would like to see someone try to push back on all the laws against dog freedom. There should be laws protecting people from bad dogs, of course, and harsh penalties for those who let uncontrollable dogs do any damage. But let the good dogs be free!

Sweet bird song

This bird's song starts each day in the afternoon, and he thrills us until the sun goes down. Although the sound is very full and loud, I can't seem to spot the singer. Does anyone know what kind of bird this could be? We have never heard him before, in all the years we have lived here in northern California.

I found it interesting to look at the wave forms of this song, using Audacity (a free voice editing application). Look at how clear each tweet is, even the warbley part at the right. Each time the bird produced this sound, the pattern was virtually the same. There are some sites online where you can identify birds by comparing these wave forms. But so far, I haven't found my little friend.

Economics

There is so much discussion about what the government can and can't do for corporations and Wall St. companies. The amount already spent buoying up these companies is quite staggering. I'm not sure what it's up to - but doing a quick internet search, I see that in October 08, the estimate was already at 5 trillion. Now, that's 12 zeros. I pulled out the calculator and divided it by 300 million (US population). $16,666 each. So, it's probably higher now. Why not just give EVERYONE a million dollars? Forget bailing out the companies. Just put a million in everyone's account. What would happen? You can bet that a lot of people would buy a new house, or a car. Detroit - saved. Let's say they also made a rule that prices could not be raised for a year from their current rate. People would be spending in no time if they were millionaires.

What would you do if you suddenly had a million, tax free? Would it still seem like a lot of money? Would you travel, or save, or go on a wild spree? Lump sums have a funny way of quickly disappearing. But in this case, wouldn't that be a win for the country's economy?

Contest preparation

Here's a video of a dress rehearsal. We have one more coaching session and just a few more rehearsals before our quartet contest (the first week of April).

Marching

Here we are in the month of March. The ides of March. March hares. March of Time - remember that series? In grade school, they showed it to us as a history lesson. Most of it was like watching newsreel footage. The narrator had a very stentorian presentation voice. It was a good time to put your head down and take a snooze.

Marching bands - our high school band marched at football games, and also competed in Washington, D.C. We took one band trip up to Canada, too. Our director, Quayle Andrews, was a dictator (or so it seemed to us students), and was very strict about everything involved in the band. I remember several people quitting band because of him, but I think that his passion was what made our school music program a good one. He invited artists to come to the school for special classes and to take part in our concerts. I remember Urbie Green and Chuck Mangione coming to Brockport.

March: in like a lion and out like a lamb; or in like a lamb, out like a lion. This refers to the changible March weather. This year, it was in like a lion, so we'll look forward to better weather at the end of the month.

On top of the world

When I was 16, I travelled to Switzerland as part of an exchange program. After staying with a host family for a number of weeks, the students in our group and their host siblings took an expedition to the mountains, where we stayed in a beautiful valley called Fafleralp, and took day hikes, learning to rapel and cross glaciers. One hike was an overnight one, very high up in the mountains, where we could get views like this one. I remember the experience of hiking along a trail and looking down to see the tops of clouds.

On the back of this snapshot, I had written "View from the top of the world". I was a very lucky teenager.