This Way To The Airport, We Flying South!

Wild Turkeys

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Wild Turkeys  

A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but couldn’t find one big enough for her family. She asked the stock boy, ‘Do these turkeys get any bigger?’

The stock boy answered, ‘No ma’am, they’re dead.’

Interesting Fact: When they need to, Turkeys can swim by tucking their wings in close, spreading their tails, and kicking. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wild_Turkey/lifehistory )

A Change May Be Just Around The Corner!

canyon road malibu

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California Week Two

Why didn’t the bicycle cross the road?

Because it was two tired

Interesting Fact: Explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo is believed to have moored at Malibu Lagoon, at the mouth of Malibu Creek, to obtain fresh water in 1542. The Spanish presence returned with the California mission system, and the area was part of Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit—a 13,000-acre (53 km2) land grant—in 1802. That ranch passed intact to Frederick Hastings Rindge in 1891. He and his widow, May K. Rindge, guarded their privacy zealously by hiring guards to evict all trespassers and fighting a lengthy court battle to prevent the building of a Southern Pacific railroad line through the ranch. Interstate Commerce Commission regulations would not support a railroad condemning property in order to build tracks that paralleled an existing line, so Frederick H. Rindge decided to build his own railroad through his property first. He died, and May K. Rindge followed through with the plans, building a line starting just inside the ranch’s property eastern boundary at Las Flores Canyon, and running 15 miles westward, past Pt. Dume. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malibu,_California#History )

Okay, Don’t Make Any Sudden Moves. Hop Inside My Mouth… If You Want To Live.

Brown Pelicans

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Brown Pelicans

California Week Two 

Why was the pelican kicked out of the hotel?

Because he had a big bill!

Interesting Fact: While the Brown Pelican is draining the water from its bill after a dive, gulls often try to steal the fish right out of its pouch—sometimes while perching on the pelican’s head. Pelicans themselves are not above stealing fish, as they follow fishing boats and hang around piers for handouts. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Pelican/lifehistory )

Reverse Mohawk Is In!

Elegant Tern

F/5.6, 1/500, ISO 220.

Elegant Tern

California Week Two 

A sailor trying to sneak back to his ship about 3 o’clock in the morning was spotted by a chief petty officer who ordered him to explain his tardiness. The lame explanation didn’t work. “Take this broom and sweep every link on this anchor chain by morning or it’s the brig for you,” the chief said. The sailor began to sweep, but a tern landed on the broom handle and he couldn’t continue. He yelled at the bird, but it didn’t budge. He finally plucked it off the broom and gave it a toss. But the bird came right back and again landed on the handle. Over and over, the same routine was repeated. A toss, one sweep, and the bird was back. When morning came, the chief also was back. “What have you been doing all night? This chain is no cleaner than when you started!” “Honest, chief,” said the sailor, “I tossed a tern all night and couldn’t sweep a link.”

Interesting Fact: Unlike some of the smaller white terns, it is not very aggressive toward potential predators, relying on the sheer density of the nests and nesting close to other more aggressive species such as Heermann’s Gulls to avoid predation. ( http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/467/_/Elegant_Tern.aspx )

 

It’s Magical!

Getty Center

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Getty Center

California Week Two

It had been anything but an easy afternoon for the teacher who took six of her pupils through the Museum of Natural History, but their enthusiastic interest in the stuffed animals and their open-eyed wonder at the prehistoric fossils amply repaid her.

“Well, boys, where have you been all afternoon?” asked the father of two of the party that evening.

The answer came back with joyous promptness: “Oh, pop! Teacher took us to a dead circus.”

Interesting Fact: In 1984, Richard Meier was chosen to be the architect of the Center.[8] After an extensive conditional-use permit process,[4] construction by the Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company[9] began in August 1989.[10] The construction was significantly delayed, with the planned completion date moved from 1988 to 1995 (as of 1990).[11] By 1995, however, the campus was described as only “more than halfway complete”. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getty_Center#Location_and_history )

 

Life Is A Garden, Dig It!

Getty Museum

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Getty Center

California Week

Two elderly women are walking through a museum and get separated.
As soon as they meet up with each other again, one of them appears quite flustered and says, “Goodness, gracious! Did you see the statue of the naked man back there? I’ve never been so shocked. How can they possibly display such a thing. My gosh, the penis on it was so large!”
Whereupon, the other old lady accidentally blurts out, “Yes, and cold, too!”

Interesting Fact:  Originally, the Getty Museum started in J. Paul Getty‘s house located in Pacific Palisades in 1954. He expanded the house with a museum wing. In the 1970s, Getty built a replica of an Italian villa on his home’s property to better house his collection, which opened in 1974. After Getty’s death in 1976, the entire property was turned over to the Getty Trust for museum purposes. However, the collection outgrew the site, which has since been renamed the Getty Villa, and management sought a location more accessible to Los Angeles. The purchase of the land upon which the Center is located, a campus of 24 acres (9.7 ha) on a 110-acre (45 ha) site in the Santa Monica Mountains above Interstate 405, surrounded by 600 acres (240 ha) kept in a natural state, was announced in 1983.[4] The site cost $25 million.[5] The top of the hill is 900 feet (270 m) above I-405, high enough that on a clear day it is possible to see not only the Los Angeles skyline but also the San Bernardino Mountains, and San Gabriel Mountains to the east as well as the Pacific Ocean to the west. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getty_Center#Location_and_history )

 

Show Me, Wax The Floor

Getty Villa

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Getty Villa

California Week

Visiting the modern art museum, a lady turned to an attendant standing nearby.” This,” she said, “I suppose, is one of those hideous representations you call modern art? ” “No, madam,” replied the attendant. “That one’s called a mirror.”

Interesting Fact: In 1954, oil tycoon J. Paul Getty opened a gallery adjacent to his home in Pacific Palisades.[3][4][5] Quickly running out of room, he built a second museum, the Getty Villa, on the property down the hill from the original gallery.[4][6] The villa design was inspired by the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum[6] and incorporated additional details from several other ancient sites. It was designed by architects Robert E. Langdon, Jr. and Ernest C. Wilson, Jr..[7][8] It opened in 1974,[9] but was never visited by Getty, who died in 1976.[5] Following his death, the museum inherited $661 million[10] and began planning a much larger campus, the Getty Center, in nearby Brentwood. The museum overcame neighborhood opposition to its new campus plan by agreeing to limit the total size of the development on the Getty Center site.[11] To meet the museum’s total space needs, the museum decided to split between the two locations with the Getty Villa housing the Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities.[11] In 1993, the Getty Trust selected Rodolpho Machado and Jorge Silvetti to design the renovation of the Getty Villa and its campus.[11] In 1997, portions of the museum’s collection of Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities were moved to the Getty Center for display, and the Getty Villa was closed for renovation.[12] The collection was restored during the renovation. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getty_Villa#History )

Hum With Me

Rufous Hummingbird

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Rufous Hummingbird

California Week

Why do hummingbirds hum?

Because they forgot the words!

Interesting Fact: The Rufous Hummingbird makes one of the longest migratory journeys of any bird in the world, as measured by body size. At just over 3 inches long, its roughly 3,900-mile movement (one-way) from Alaska to Mexico is equivalent to 78,470,000 body lengths. In comparison, the 13-inch-long Arctic Tern’s one-way flight of about 11,185 mi is only 51,430,000 body lengths. (AAB) ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rufous_Hummingbird/lifehistory )

 

Day Is Behind Us, Watch Out Night, Here We Go!

cali sunset

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California Week

Three men were in a NASA conference room to decide how to spend $10 billion.
“I think we should put our men on Mars!” said the first man.
“Ooh, good idea,” said the other two.
“I think we should put our men on Venus!” said the second man.
“Ooh, good idea,” said the other two.
“I think we should put our men on the Sun!”
“How are you going to do that?”
“Easy. We go at night.”

Interesting Fact: The 16th-century astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to present to the world a detailed and eventually widely accepted mathematical model supporting the premise that the Earth is moving and the Sun actually stays still, despite the impression from our point of view of a moving Sun. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset#Historically )