Water Baby!

My sweet niece jetskiing with her daddy at Mission Bay - San Diego.

I grew up on Misson Bay in San Diego, California and have many wonderful childhood memories of spending time there with my family. Mission Bay Park is the largest man-made aquatic park in the US! It consists of over 4,200 acres and more than half of it is water.

Surfing the Sunset

San Diego Daily On Leave

I am sorry my friends but I need to take a leave from this blog for a while.

See you soon!

-Nancy

Bernar VENET

The Port of San Diego, in partnership with Scott White Contemporary Art, is proud to present a monumental exhibition of large-scale sculptures by world-renowned artist, Bernar Venet. This historic exhibition encompasses thirteen steel sculptures placed at key locations within the Port’s waterfront district as well as at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the San Diego Museum of Art, the San Diego International Airport, Liberty Station (NTC), the Marriott Hotel & Marina and the Omni Hotel. This is the first solo exhibition of this caliber and magnitude to take place in Southern California.

This is an exciting time culturally for San Diego. The working waterfront provides a powerful landscape for the artist’s work. The exhibit is free and can be enjoyed by residents and visitors at key locations.

Anticipation

I'm very excited about the upcoming "long weekend".  Frenchie and I both have next  Monday off in celebration of Memorial Day.   We plan on taking many long walks on the beach.  I can't wait!

Felis concolor

At Torrey Pines State Park, you will find "The Lodge" which is a small museum you'll miss if you aren't looking. Inside, they have a fantastic display of the animals and plants of the region. It's a shame that man has squeezed these large cats out.

What’s in a name?
Mountain lion, puma, cougar, panther—this cat is known by more names than just about any other mammal! But no matter what you call it, it’s still the same cat, Felis concolor, the largest of the small cat species. So how did it get so many names? Mostly because it has such a large range, and people from different countries have called it different things. Early Spanish explorers to North and South America called it leon (lion) and gato monte (cat of the mountain), from which we get the name "mountain lion." Puma is the name the Incas gave this cat in their language. Cougar seems to have come from an old South American Indian word, cuguacuarana, which was shortened to cuguar and then spelled differently. And panther is a general term for cats that have solid-colored coats, so it was used for pumas as well as black jaguars. All of these names are considered correct, but scientists usually use the name puma.

Here in Southern California they are commonly called mountain lions. You may have heard of the Florida panther. This is a subspecies of mountain lion that used to be found from Texas throughout the southeast, but is now only found in Florida. It is endangered, with only about 50 cats left, and conservation efforts are underway to try to save it.

Mountain lions and people
As more people have moved into the mountain lion's territory, the number of encounters with these cats has increased. This is often "big news" and frightens people. But overall, meeting a mountain lion is an unlikely event. The cats don’t want to confront humans, and they will do their best to avoid us. You can avoid them, too, by not hiking alone, or at dusk and dawn when mountain lions are hunting. Make noise as you hike, and don’t leave food out around a cabin or campsite, especially at night. If you do happen across a mountain lion, never approach it—always give it a way to escape.
Some people have considered mountain lions to be pests and shot them on sight, or trapped or poisoned them. That’s one of the reasons the cats have become scarce across North America. It’s important to remember that mountain lions have an essential role to play in their ecosystems. They are one of the top predators, and without them populations of deer and other animals would become unhealthy and too large for the habitat. It’s true that mountain lions can be dangerous, and problem cats should be reported to local animal control agencies, like the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife. But people like to live and play in or near wild places, so we need to understand and respect the wildlife that also lives there. If we take responsibility for our own actions, pets, livestock, and property, we can learn to live with mountain lions and appreciate their power and grace.

Fun Facts

• Mountain lions can jump 18 feet (5.5 meters) from the ground into a tree, and they have been known to jump 20 feet (6.1 meters) up or down a hillside. That’s the height of many two-story buildings!


• Mountain lions are good swimmers, but they’d rather not get in the water because they don’t seem to like being wet.


• Even though we hear it a lot in movies and on TV, mountain lions don’t make that "wild cat scream" very often. More common vocalizations are whistles, squeaks, growls, purrs, hisses, and yowls.


• Some mountain lions eat porcupines, quills and all, apparently without any harm!
  See them at The San Diego Zoo: Cat Canyon

Merci http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes for the above information!

Butterfly

Did you know that butterflies are found on all continents except Antarctica?

Beautiful butterfly exhibits are held every year at at The San Diego zoo and Wild Animal Park

Butterfly or moth: what's the difference?
Technically speaking, butterflies are types of moths. But there are some ways to tell them apart. Butterflies generally have long, smooth antennae that are rounded on the ends, while most moths have thick, feathery antennae. Moths also tend to have larger, fuzzier bodies than butterflies. Most moths fly at night, while most butterflies fly during the day. Because of when they're active, butterflies tend to be more colorful than moths, but that's not always the case. You can see another difference when they're resting: most moths flatten their wings out over their bodies, while most butterflies raise them up and against each other. And although both butterflies and moths develop in a chrysalis, most moths also spin a protective cocoon. When people talk about this family of insects in general, they may use "butterflies" or "moths" to describe them, and both are considered correct.

Fun facts
• In some places, the number of caterpillars feeding on plants is so large that you can actually hear them munching.
• The Asian vampire moth lives up to its name! It has a tough proboscis to break through thick-skinned fruits, but sometimes it also sucks the blood of water buffalo or deer.
• Many adult butterflies never excrete waste—they use up all they eat for energy!
• "Puddle clubs" are groups of butterflies that gather at mud puddles and wet soil to suck up salts and minerals.
• Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow, but they also see color in the ultraviolet range, which reveals patterns on flowers—and other butterflies—that we can't see.
• Some Arctic moths may spend 14 years as caterpillars, only active a few weeks each summer.
• Butterfly wings are actually clear—the colors and patterns we see are made by the reflection of the tiny scales covering them.

Thank you San Diego Zoo/Animalbytes for the above info!