Hiking: Los Angeles, CA: La Tuna Canyon Park

Thank you Donald Weller for editing this panoramic!

This two hour walk felt like coming home from a long stint away from family.  You start your ascent by the 210 fwy that crosses over La Tuna Canyon.  After 1/2 a mile you have choices.  You can explore the back roads that follow the freeway.  Or you can take the right "Y" upward.  I stuck to the main fire road on the right. 

 

You can make this hike more difficult by taking left forks.  All in all you'll get to the same place.  Now I went to the top and turned back, but you can go down the other side of the mountain and wind up in Burbank .  The trails go everywhere in La Tuna Canyon so you can spend a whole day walking.  I didn't, but you can!

 

Bee warning!  There is a honey collection station.  I had three buzz-by's and a handful of curious bees circling me and Emma.  I'm not allergic or afraid and once up in elevation the ratio from bee to butterfly switches. 

 

Black butterflies with yellow and orange striped wings passed me so much I thought where's the convention?  

Yes, dogs on leashes are allowed.  Bring your own turd bags and be prepared to take them home.  There isn't a disposal at the trail head.  

Summary: This trail is perfect for someone wanting a long hike but not a challenging one.  It's up hill, yes, but I didn't find it extreme.  I watched a lady that must have been 94 on a trail bike peddling up the hill, so...after walking it myself and seeing that, I don't classify this trail extreme.  The view at the top is panoramic!  Highly recommend!  Bring extra water and your puppy for this one.  Best time to go is in the afternoon.  The hillside is such that it's mostly shade after 4pm.

 

Here's the stats:

 

Miles: 4.5

Speed: 2.4 mi/hr

Climb: 463 yrds

Time: 2 hours (to the top and back)

Dogs: On leash
Notes: Bring extra water, go during the afternoon 

The Secret Of Coffee

The true secret of coffee is temperature.  

Scald the beans and you have crappy coffee.  This applies to tea as well. 

Now, my dad wants his coffee to remove the layer of morning mouth, which is way too hot.  He likes crappy coffee.  Or he might not care what it tastes like.  Just as long as the shoe-bottom taste of his mouth is gone.  Which has it's own merit.  Because crappy coffee breath might be better than breath that wrinkles plutonium.  Wow.  Mom--I'm so sorry. 

 

There is also a time as to when to drink coffee.  Unless it's iced, drink it at the perfect temperature for you and don't dally.  

I've also found that hard water/soft water makes a difference. I think of hard water as "mineral water".  Not really the same as mineral water -- those minerals are not there intentionally I don't think, but hard water makes coffee taste bitter.  Soft water tends to make coffee taste sweet.  

And then there are the fru-fru coffee's we drink to lessen the bitter taste.  Whatever your prefrence DON'T BURN YOUR BEANS!

Marketing Strategies Of A Not Yet Published Author

As a writer I'm always looking for new methods, expressions and ways of marketing.  I like to bring what I've learned to my peers.  

I've learned, when you find a method to your madness, stick to it!  

I'm not outgoing.  I don't have the gumption to go up to a crowd and hock.  What I do have are written words.  I can express myself on paper.  But marketing takes a savvy of prescribed instruction and self creativity.  

Marketing isn't going to work unless you buy into your own plan.  Yes, a murder-mystery dinner set against the theme of your book might be brilliant!  Unless you're not sold on the idea.  

Before you buy that next book on marketing, use yourself as a marketing tool and think about what things you'd like to do to promote your book.  Because marketing is in essence creative expression of an item or idea you're excited about. 

TMI

That dream you had as a kid -- the naked one standing in a room full of strangers/peers?  

Yeah, that can become a real life situation.  

When people start calling you boo-boo-snooki-nu-nu and ask what position your going to try tonight to redeem yourself from last night...ouch.  Maybe you don't go into sexual detail, but when we're frustrated, social media can be an outlet.  

Just maybe put those exploits in a journal capable of being marked personal or private, as in your eyes only. 

Also, why do you want to break that level of trust?  Is it going to improve your relationship?  How is everyone knowing about your exploits going to help you?  Are you expecting a shrink to give you answers?  You risk people giving you even worse advice or pointing and laughing.

My point being the 24 hour rule.  Don't DO anything until 24 hours have passed.  You'll avoid embarrassment.  This rule has saved me many a time.   

 

Untitled Poem

In my dreams I have spiraled in eternity.  I have lived forever.  I have seen lives lived for many and few years.  I can feel the years I've lived each moment lasting till the universe collapses on itself, giving in to the chaos that threatens order.  

I have been a demon, an angel, a wizard, a cranky bemused detective that roams the streets every night searching for purpose.  I have been that man, that woman, that child.  

In hours time I've carried through ordeals that have lasted weeks.  This is what it means to me, as a writer.  To see, observe, identify, classify and experience.  It is also what it means to me to be a reader.