I am a big fan of repurposing. Take that thing and use it another way. Even when buying something new, I look first for multi-purpose uses. What else can this thang be used for?
But I don’t know about this! I see the rationale, though, and can’t argue with it. One of my neighbors repurposed his Halloween decorations for Christmas. The Featured Image and companion tell the story.
Two weeks to Christmas, time comes to start spreading holiday cheer—decorations, too—and pledge to keep the spirit alive all through the upcoming year. My wife and I dispatched holiday cards today, for the first time in a couple of ages (yeah, too long a time). A final batch goes in the mail tomorrow—followed by, during the coming days, distribution to local friends and neighbors.
The candy canes come courtesy of San Diego Zoo, where we saw them on Nov. 10, 2025. Yeah, Christmas starts early there but means less this year because of the big bah, humbug coming on January 5. Parking will no longer be free for everyone at the zoo, nor in adjoining Balboa Park.
San Diego’s three-season Summer makes motorcycle riding an enticing transportation option for many residents. Then there is California law, which permits cutting the lane; it’s a common practice, too. You’re stuck in traffic, for example, while a motorcyclist weaves between vehicles and advances.
The practice is all the more unsettling, when a motorcycle suddenly races up from behind between you and other fast-moving cars, SUVs, trucks, and more! I am surprised that there aren’t more accidents caused by the driving tactic. I needn’t say but must: Don’t text and ride, please.
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history means millions of people are not receiving federal funds for basics—you know, things like food. People employed by Uncle Sam are either furloughed or working without pay (and delayed only, hopefully). Don’t get me going about families who count on SNAP benefits and won’t receive them for November.
To the Congress, I say this: Do your job! Pass a damn budget. Stop pissing away days whining over line items like expiring subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. Agree to punt! Fund the damn government for X number of days and fight among yourselves meantime about a final budget. Don’t punish people while you bicker like kids in the schoolyard or, worse, an angry soon-to-be-divorced couple gouging one another in spiteful rages over splitting assets (or assigning child custody).
The homeless are increasingly pariahs, across San Diego County. The public policy is discourage and displace, rather than meaningfully address fundamental causes. The Featured Image and companion reveal one tactic: Piling jagged rocks where until recently there was grass, punctuated by shrub-like trees.
But the homeless would somewhat frequently hangout or campout on the grass. Honestly, the rocks are more unsightly than the homeless tents. Grass is great! We need more. The city destroys a lovely green space to deter the so-called unhoused? Solve the problem! Don’t create one as band-aid for another. The rocks look weird, and they are weapons. Lots of damage can be done with rocks like these.
Halloween may be over—and Day of the Dead with it—but I have one seasonal yard decoration to share, as you can see from the Featured Image and companion. There is no optical illusion here. The skeleton really is giant size.
Both photos come from Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra on Oct. 30, 2025. Vitals, first: f/2.4, ISO 50, 1/1600 sec. 70mm (film equivalent); 10 a.m. PDT. Vitals, other: f/1.7, ISO 50, 1/500 sec, 115mm (film equivalent); 10:01 a.m.
According to the Camelot Climate Index, San Diego has the best weather in the United States. San Francisco and Los Angeles follow close behind. But even with three seasons of Summer, October can prove to be unpredictable. Cooler, cloudier days are common enough to spoil outdoor public events.
Organizers of the University Heights Fall Festival, and all the locals attending, lucked out on Oct. 18, 2025. Blue skies, drier air, and pleasant 28 degrees Celsius (83 Fahrenheit) made the annual gathering the outdoor destination of the area. Families abounded, and I wondered where hide all these young parents and kids. I don’t see many about otherwise.
I do hope that you like felines. My “Cats of University Heights” series languishes, and the backlog of photographed but unpublished kitties goes back a couple of years. That’s in part because my posting overall is in a lull that needs to be culled.
So, I make a half-promise to pick up the pace, which must include more furballs than you could ever want to see. If fulfilled, overall posting should uptick significantly. Get ready!
On this date, in 2007, the Wilcox family arrived in San Diego. We had left the Washington, DC-metro area to be close to my aged father-in-law, who luckily found us an apartment one block from his place. Our presence meant that in January 2017 he could pass way at age 95 in his own bed, rather than in some sterile institution.
The city is hardly recognizable from the one we moved to. San Diego seemed sleepy, small town-like for the size. Communities were tight knit, even with the massive number of renters; congestion was a rare occurrence on the roadways; neighborhood streets were wide; housing architecture was surprisingly varied and charming; and homeowners kept attractive green spaces, among many other attractive attributes, with the three-summer season weather being among them.
According to Sperling’s Best Places, San Diego “has a mild and pleasant Mediterranean climate…The summers are warm and dry, with temperatures usually reaching the mid-70s Fahrenheit (25 Celsius)”. Rainfall: About 12 inches annually. Such an environment practically preserves Volkswagen cars and minivans, which are spared the otherwise audacious expansion of rust.
Hence, old Volkswagen Beetle and minivan sightings are not uncommon. But black ragtop and red body? With two aged mutts that look like they could be as old or older than the vehicle?
Around the village of University Heights, one can see logos, murals, paintings, signs, and statues all depicting ostriches. At the turn of the last century, Bentley Ostrich Farm relocated to the neighborhood—and it brought visitors from across Southern California.
But the place closed in 1929. The feathers were less in demand as a luxury, and economic crisis began its grip on the nation. Many, but not all, of the birds were relocated to San Diego Zoo.
A strange, dystopian drama of greed and malice plays out in San Diego—as the mayor and city council seemingly punish citizens for failing to approve a ballot measure last November that would have raised the local sales tax. The taste of recently reaped parking revenues, from a new ordinance, has the city chasing cash like sharks drawn to blood in the water.
On Jan. 1, 2025, but not fully enforced for another two months, a new statewide daylighting law went into effect that technically prohibits parking vehicles any closer than 20 feet from a crosswalk. But practically, any intersection where someone can cross applies. Initially, San Diego meter men and women handed out $77.50 tickets—more than 4,000 in less than the first 60 days. The, ah, program was so successful that the city quickly raised the fine to $117.50.