"It's Only a Shed"

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Hi all, Dianne here.  As shown above, the cattle next to our dog park have watched our return with interest!  Our coach house sits right behind the tree line in the background of the photo.  

Not much to update, but I wanted to share a link to a blog which recently showcased our tiny coach house in Texas.  Even if you've seen photos of our coach house on our own blog, there are some great photos which really showcase it here:

"It's Only a Shed"

I've added a permanent link to this blog at the left margin of ours, if you are interested in future tiny coach house posts.

Aside from that, here's a quick update:



I've been riding my bike through the state park next door for exercise, and Tuesday morning I came upon this large bobcat. 

He ignored me for a while, turning to look at me from time to time, then hopped into the brush along the road.






This morning on my bike ride I saw a road runner.  By the time I got my camera out and rode up to him, he ran into the brush to hide.  You can just see his shadow in this photo.  Maybe next time....


Then I had to stop and wait for this flock of chachalachas to cross the road.



Our plantings are growing like weeds!  My tomato plants already have blooms --

They are growing in big pots that we can roll inside in case we get an overnight frost in January.  


My morning glory experiment has been a success! They have already grown to the top of the wire trellises, and each day have more and more blooms.




My wildlife cam has mostly captured opossums and early morning birds, but I did find two rabbits...


A cottontail...









And a jack rabbit...








That's all for now.   We'll post again if and when there's something to report.


Our pet photo of the day shows Bandido taking a break in the water tub at the doggie park after retrieving his beloved blue whistle ball a hundred times (exaggeration -- just seemed that way).  November is here, and a lot more of his Texas buddies are on their way south for some winter fun.  Bandido and Tequila can't wait to see them, and neither can I!

Visitors, Christmas in Paradise, then a Nor'easter

To contact us Click HERE
Roger here....  Since we are not posting as often while stationary in south Texas, we are combining the events of our lives into a few blogs.

VISITORS....  Our first visitor is pictured in the opening photo.  Dianne has a motion-activated wildlife cam that she attaches to the fence behind our coach house.  We are usually visited by jackrabbits, armadillos, feral cats, and an occasional coyote.  A few evenings ago we discovered a LARGE bobcat.  Bandido occasionally barks in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.  Now we know why.  Living in the wild!  What fun!


Speaking of wild (just kidding), my brother, Dick (my only sibling), and his wife, Pam, came to see us for a couple of days.  It was their first visit to our home in south Texas.  Since their visit was short, we spent most of our time swimming, hot-tubbing, and just catching up.  Oh!  And eating Dianne's delicious food. 

 We spent a wonderful day bicycling through Bentsen Rio Grande State Park --- looking at the birds, and cycling to the National Butterfly Park, just down the road.  During our obligatory daily visit to the dog park, they enjoyed watching me take Bandido through the portions of the agility course that he could master.  This shot shows a feeble attempt going through the criss-cross stakes (We need to work on that).


In this shot, Bandido had just jumped over the hurdle and was looking for his treat. Good boy!  Tequila was also looking for a treat, even though her only effort in the event was watching.  I honestly do think that with some effort on our part  Tequila could also learn to do some of the agility tricks.  She learns things quickly.


On the morning of Dick and Pam's departure, we took them to one of our favorite local restaurants, the Diaz Diner, for breakfast.  Good food, great local atmosphere.  Sorry to see them leave so soon.


Christmas in Paradise....  The weather on Christmas day was perfect.  86 degrees with a cooling breeze.  We sat in the shade of a tall palm tree, pool-side, enjoying Christmas dinner with friends.  (Anne, Mike, Lorraine, me, Dianne).  Anne's husband, Graeme, took the picture.

Then, a Nor'easter....  The weather changed the day after Christmas.  Brrr!  Well, it really was not a Nor'easter, in the New England sense.  Here in Texas they call them blue northers.   But, the wind was from the north and it did get really cold, well cool.  We spent some time covering our plants so that they would not frost in the predicted 39 degree approaching weather. 

 I thought the protection for Dianne's morning glories resembled a New England fisherman wearing a slicker.



All the plants that could have frosted were covered.










Our neighbors, Bob and Linda, are in Sacramento with their family.  They had just planted an extensive garden area behind their coach house.  Dianne was worried about their new, tender plantings and made sure that the new plants were protected.  Does anyone else think that Dianne's protection of their tomatoes looks like a big girl's giant pair of pantaloons?  I know, sick mind.




While we were in our neighbors' back yard we could not help but take a picture of their new tropical-colored furniture (from Amish-country in Ohio).  Looks great!  We just ordered a couple of end tables from the same vendor to add some color to our patio area.


Back to the impending cold weather....  Bandido is looking for a place to protect one of his beloved tennis balls.

Tequila is saying "Cold weather?" What is that?



The temperature did not actually drop below the low 40s.  We did not experience anything like our friends who were in the blizzard in Indiana.  The lows for the next two weeks are supposed to be in the mid-fifties.  Tomorrow, it should get up to 75 degrees.  Ah!  We are in the right place.  

The pet picture of the day is of Tequila with one of her best friends at the dog park, Houdi.

Former Cinderella rescues, now playing in paradise together!

Walt Disney World's Behind the Seeds Tour at Epcot

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I’ve been to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, three times. That is to say, I’ve vacationed there in three different years for 7-10 days on each trip. The fact that I went back several times should be a hint as to whether I enjoyed it. Rather than review the entire thing, I’m going to break it down into several parts.  Today, I’m going to discuss the Behind the Seeds Tour at Disney’s Epcot theme park. The Behind the seeds tour takes you backstage of the Living with the Land ride. On the ride, you see brief glimpses of some of the amazing greenhouse plants that are growing in the pavilion, but you’re riding by at the pace set by the boat in which you ride, and you don’t get the opportunity to linger, ask questions, and see all the stuff that’s hiding behind the curtain.The Behind the Seeds tour is for those with a little more curiosity. Each tour group walks through the greenhouses and past the aquaculture tanks and gets to see how Disney grows mouse ears on pumpkins among other marvels.  In the greenhouse, for example, they have a giant tomato plant that, our tour guide told us, can produce more than 1150 pounds of tomatoes all by itself over the course of its 18 month lifespan. Guests of the Behind the Seeds tour will learn how to make basic hydroponics systems in their own home and will learn about the various kinds of hydroponics systems. Much of what Disney grows there is done hydroponically and the vegetables and fruits produced on site are used in the meals prepared by resort’s restaurants. The tour guides, as you would expect, are very knowledgeable and are willing to take as much time as it takes to make sure everyone’s questions are answered. Guests also get to feed the tilapia in the aquaculture tanks. There is also an alligator pond in the aquaculture area as well.  When you get a little tired of whizzing around on all the rides and want to stimulate your brain and actually learn a little something, The Behind the Seeds Tour is certainly one of my favorite attractions at Disney World.The tour lasts about an hour and costs $18 per person (on top of your Walt Disney World entrance fee). Children aged 3-9 pay just $14 each, but honestly, those at the younger end of that range should probably skip this tour. Sure, they’ll enjoy throwing a handful of feed to the fish and seeing the Mickey Mouse shaped pumpkins, but learning about nutrient film hydroponics systems is not nearly as exciting as Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and their patience will certainly be tested. Teens and naturally inquisitive kids will love it though and it makes a great change of pace for those who are spending several days on their Disney Vacation.

Three ROCKIN' Scenic Geology Roadways

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This summer I had the great pleasure of driving the Needles Highway (South Dakota Highway 87), the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and the Beartooth All American Road (US Highway 212) for the first time on a trip to Bozeman, MT. I had heard and read great things about these routes and they certainly delivered stunning vistas and fantastic geology (even thought it was raining and incredibly windy in some locations). I've driven across the country a dozen or so times and taken various routes, but I would have to agree that these three highways provide some of the best geology 'watching' in the country!

The Needles Highway was a bit congested since Sturgis was in full swing but luckily the views looking up weren't impeded by the traffic. However, the day was cut short by a hail-producing thunderstorm.



I also stopped at Dead Indian Hill Pass (see my Gigpan of this location here). This stretch of the road is full of switchbacks and quite steep (stay in low gear!):



This is one of my favorite vantage points on the Beartooth - it isn't as 'scenic' as some other photos I took, but I really like the sense of scale, isolation, serenity, and rugged nature of this landscape:



And these are a view other views driving the Beartooth, I think the partly cloudy drizzle really adds a nice effect to this landscape:



The paternoster lake system you can see in the photos from the Beartooth Highway are spectacular, I personally haven't seen such an easily accessible view of this stunning an alpine landscape. I've always enjoyed paternosters, as much for their morphology as the etymology of the word - it roughly translates from Latin as "Lords Prayer" and the fact that they look like a chain of rosary beads. None of the photos or Photosynths do the drives justice, if you like driving and you like geology, then put these on your list of must-do drives in the western United States!

Living in a Seismic Gap Isn't So Bad... Yet.

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After the magnitude 8.8 (MM) occurred just north of Conception Chile many friends, family, and colleagues were concerned my trip could be canceled. After quelling those fears, many became concerned about the idea that I would be living in 'earthquake and volcano country' with the added threat of possible tsunami activity. So I thought I would create a few maps to hopefully minimize concern while being honest, keeping in mind that anything is possible when you live on an active subduction zone. Subduction in this area occurs between the Nazca and South America Plates, producing dramatic topography, explosive volcanoes and powerful earthquakes.

Source: Allmendinger and González (2010)

Arica is a coastal city with approximately 190,000 residents located at 18° south latitude on the extreme northwestern edge of Chile. While historical earthquakes have indeed occurred within this region, little seismic activity has occurred here since 1877 because Arica resides within a seismic gap. This is generally not settling news since it represents a region where strain is and has been accumulating without release - meaning a considerable earthquake could hypothetically occur and Spence et al. (1999), and Berrocal et al (2004) have suggested that earthquakes in the late 1990s were precursors to a major event in the Arica 'elbow.' This is illustrated below as white ellipses, representing sections along the subduction zone that haven't experienced slip in the last century.
Source: Pritchard and Simmons (2006)

"as the only segment of the Chile-Peru Subduction Zone not to have ruptured within the last 100 years, the north Chile segment is now considered to be a region at high risk from an earthquake similar to, or larger than, the 1877 Tarapaca or Iquique earthquake (Mw 8.3)" - (Benfield 2010)

The last major event occurred in 1868 and completely leveled Arica and numerous coastal cities. This earthquake also produced a tsunami that added to both the local devastation and caused damage in New Zealand and Hawaii. This tsunami also left numerous ships stranded on land - similar to the events following the eruption of Krakatoa - such as the U.S. Wateree:

Source: Scribners Monthly


So I created some simple maps illustrating the tsunami inundation zone and historical earthquakes in the Arica region. To accomplish this I downloaded an inundation map produce by the Chilean Navy, exported the PDF as a tiff file and georeferenced it. Then I digitized the approximate boundary of the inundation zone and draped it over the topography (in relation to where I'm living and working) in ArcGIS and ArcScene to produce the following visualizations:

A simple 3D model illustrating how far both work and home are from the predicted inundation zone. The red flag represents the house, which is approximately 2.0 miles inland and the green flag is work and approximately 0.8 miles inland.


I created the earthquake magnitude maps by draping a Landsat image over a 30-m Aster-derived DEM and incorporating historical seismic data obtained from the USGS. This isn't very helpful other than illustrating how few earthquakes have occurred in this region since 1877. The large earthquake depicted in the center of the map represents the 1868 earthquake that caused so much devastation as depicted below:

Source: U.S. Library of Congress


So, while the images are visually jolting there's no real way of predicting when an earthquake will occur so I won't - and hopefully friends and family won't - spend too much time worrying about what might happen. I would be more concerned if I was living in San Francisco given the height of their buildings; it is rare to find buildings over 3 stories in Arica and they are all downtown. I'm also confident that if an earthquake occurs that produces a tsunami, even if I'm within the inundation zone, I will have plenty of warning and time to flee the mile inland necessary to avoid harm. After living in Vermont for the last 7 years, I'm a little excited about living on an active margin and embrace all the possible processes that are at work beneath the city. So, to anyone out there who is worrying, don't!

"It's Only a Shed"

To contact us Click HERE

Hi all, Dianne here.  As shown above, the cattle next to our dog park have watched our return with interest!  Our coach house sits right behind the tree line in the background of the photo.  

Not much to update, but I wanted to share a link to a blog which recently showcased our tiny coach house in Texas.  Even if you've seen photos of our coach house on our own blog, there are some great photos which really showcase it here:

"It's Only a Shed"

I've added a permanent link to this blog at the left margin of ours, if you are interested in future tiny coach house posts.

Aside from that, here's a quick update:



I've been riding my bike through the state park next door for exercise, and Tuesday morning I came upon this large bobcat. 

He ignored me for a while, turning to look at me from time to time, then hopped into the brush along the road.






This morning on my bike ride I saw a road runner.  By the time I got my camera out and rode up to him, he ran into the brush to hide.  You can just see his shadow in this photo.  Maybe next time....


Then I had to stop and wait for this flock of chachalachas to cross the road.



Our plantings are growing like weeds!  My tomato plants already have blooms --

They are growing in big pots that we can roll inside in case we get an overnight frost in January.  


My morning glory experiment has been a success! They have already grown to the top of the wire trellises, and each day have more and more blooms.




My wildlife cam has mostly captured opossums and early morning birds, but I did find two rabbits...


A cottontail...









And a jack rabbit...








That's all for now.   We'll post again if and when there's something to report.


Our pet photo of the day shows Bandido taking a break in the water tub at the doggie park after retrieving his beloved blue whistle ball a hundred times (exaggeration -- just seemed that way).  November is here, and a lot more of his Texas buddies are on their way south for some winter fun.  Bandido and Tequila can't wait to see them, and neither can I!

Visitors, Christmas in Paradise, then a Nor'easter

To contact us Click HERE
Roger here....  Since we are not posting as often while stationary in south Texas, we are combining the events of our lives into a few blogs.

VISITORS....  Our first visitor is pictured in the opening photo.  Dianne has a motion-activated wildlife cam that she attaches to the fence behind our coach house.  We are usually visited by jackrabbits, armadillos, feral cats, and an occasional coyote.  A few evenings ago we discovered a LARGE bobcat.  Bandido occasionally barks in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.  Now we know why.  Living in the wild!  What fun!


Speaking of wild (just kidding), my brother, Dick (my only sibling), and his wife, Pam, came to see us for a couple of days.  It was their first visit to our home in south Texas.  Since their visit was short, we spent most of our time swimming, hot-tubbing, and just catching up.  Oh!  And eating Dianne's delicious food. 

 We spent a wonderful day bicycling through Bentsen Rio Grande State Park --- looking at the birds, and cycling to the National Butterfly Park, just down the road.  During our obligatory daily visit to the dog park, they enjoyed watching me take Bandido through the portions of the agility course that he could master.  This shot shows a feeble attempt going through the criss-cross stakes (We need to work on that).


In this shot, Bandido had just jumped over the hurdle and was looking for his treat. Good boy!  Tequila was also looking for a treat, even though her only effort in the event was watching.  I honestly do think that with some effort on our part  Tequila could also learn to do some of the agility tricks.  She learns things quickly.


On the morning of Dick and Pam's departure, we took them to one of our favorite local restaurants, the Diaz Diner, for breakfast.  Good food, great local atmosphere.  Sorry to see them leave so soon.


Christmas in Paradise....  The weather on Christmas day was perfect.  86 degrees with a cooling breeze.  We sat in the shade of a tall palm tree, pool-side, enjoying Christmas dinner with friends.  (Anne, Mike, Lorraine, me, Dianne).  Anne's husband, Graeme, took the picture.

Then, a Nor'easter....  The weather changed the day after Christmas.  Brrr!  Well, it really was not a Nor'easter, in the New England sense.  Here in Texas they call them blue northers.   But, the wind was from the north and it did get really cold, well cool.  We spent some time covering our plants so that they would not frost in the predicted 39 degree approaching weather. 

 I thought the protection for Dianne's morning glories resembled a New England fisherman wearing a slicker.



All the plants that could have frosted were covered.










Our neighbors, Bob and Linda, are in Sacramento with their family.  They had just planted an extensive garden area behind their coach house.  Dianne was worried about their new, tender plantings and made sure that the new plants were protected.  Does anyone else think that Dianne's protection of their tomatoes looks like a big girl's giant pair of pantaloons?  I know, sick mind.




While we were in our neighbors' back yard we could not help but take a picture of their new tropical-colored furniture (from Amish-country in Ohio).  Looks great!  We just ordered a couple of end tables from the same vendor to add some color to our patio area.


Back to the impending cold weather....  Bandido is looking for a place to protect one of his beloved tennis balls.

Tequila is saying "Cold weather?" What is that?



The temperature did not actually drop below the low 40s.  We did not experience anything like our friends who were in the blizzard in Indiana.  The lows for the next two weeks are supposed to be in the mid-fifties.  Tomorrow, it should get up to 75 degrees.  Ah!  We are in the right place.  

The pet picture of the day is of Tequila with one of her best friends at the dog park, Houdi.

Former Cinderella rescues, now playing in paradise together!