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| Fog in the Monterey Cypress Forest at Land's End |
Although I started my walk to the beach in glorious, warm sunshine, I was soon immersed in fog as I crossed 19th Avenue. There was very little wind, though, so at least it wasn't cold. Other than encountering a large welcoming committee of gulls at the beach and picking up a couple packs of "smoky bacon" tempeh at Gus's Market on the way home, the walk was an uneventful pleasure.
I got home and stepped out the back door to cool down before heading out on the bike, and spotted a squirrel making its way through our little garden. The back door opens to a tiny deck and a staircase, so the garden is maybe 20 feet below, and the squirrel didn't notice me. It eventually reached the chewy antler I posted about back in June, and I was glad to see that it's not just the rat who likes to nibble on it.
Yesterday my wife and I decided to "ride the wild robot," taking our first trip in an autonomous Waymo car from the Inner Sunset to Cow Hollow (where we had an excellent brunch at Wildseed). It was an enjoyable novelty to see how autonomous driving works from inside the car, and to watch other vehicles, plus pedestrians and bicyclists, showing up on the monitor that lets you see what the car sees.
The only glitchy thing it did was inch along in the backed-up left-turn lane on Oak. Our "estimated arrival" time kept getting later and later. Then, when it finally reached Masonic, the bot abruptly changed lanes to the right instead of turning left! It continued on Oak before finally making the left at Divisadero. As we got close to our destination, the Waymo honked at a car that had stopped in the middle of the road, but quickly ascertained that it needed to back up so the other car could could maneuver into a parallel parking space.
In the end, my wife and I both thought the Waymo was pretty cool. We didn't think to compare the cost with a Lyft ride, but the fee seemed reasonable, and robots don't expect a tip. We got picked up at home within two minutes of requesting a car (a benefit of having them "rest" in our neighborhood, I guess), but the wait was going to be more than ten minutes on the return trip. Since we were in no rush, we took the bus instead!
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| Our fox squirrel neighbor made time for a tine, gnawing away at this antler for close to a minute. |
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| Disappearing Squirrel |
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| Mostly Heermann's Gulls |
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| Land's End |
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| A pair of young Herring Gulls tries to coax some food from an adult. |
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| While it was being harried by the youngsters, the sharp-eyed adult suddenly flew away from them, and it wasn't just to find some peace. |
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| The crab was still feisty when the gull got hold of it, raising its claws to try to defend itself. |
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| But once it got flipped onto its back, the jig was up. |
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| The jig was up for this surfer's ride as well, but at least he threw off a nice rooster-tail to finish with a flair. |
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| When I got home from the beach, the squirrel was still in the neighbor's oak tree, squawking away with an alarm call. I went down to see what the fuss was about, and the squirrel suddenly pounced from one branch to another, which frightened a cooper's hawk into a frenzy of flapping and fluttering as it escaped and flew right over my head. |
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| Random web cam shot of an interesting sky on Saturday. |
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| Every now and then I check Berkeley's falcon cams, and Friday there was someone home -- perhaps a bird fledged just this year from that nest box in the lower right corner of the frame. |
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| Look Ma, No Driver |
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