Life in San Diego: A Tired Appetite After Fall Temperatures

[zoobyshoe]

Even here in San Diego there is a Fall temperature drop that does an evil thing to your appetite. Last night I broke into a barn, ate four horses, a sack of corn, and then attacked two Halloween pumpkins from the farmer's front porch for dessert. Between meals all I want to do is sleep.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Are you preparing for winter hibernation?

 

[hypatia]

Yes, Michiganders feel it too! I spent a weekend in Caro Michigan {home of the sugar beet and gateway to the thumb} by the time I left{chased out by villagers with pitch forks}, there wasen't a scrap of food left in the town.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Are you preparing for winter hibernation?

No, I have a full Winter of leaving mysteriously large footprints in the snow ahead of me. In principle, anyway.

Yes, Michiganders feel it too! I spent a weekend in Caro Michigan {home of the sugar beet and gateway to the thumb} by the time I left{chased out by villagers with pitch forks}, there wasen't a scrap of food left in the town.

I hope tonight to find a herd of cattle or flock of sheep, and some orange grove or apple orchard to strip clean.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I hope tonight to find a herd of cattle or flock of sheep, and some orange grove or apple orchard to strip clean.

I'd lay off the sheep. A couple of PF'ers have mentioned their involvement as sheep census takers. They are likely to be on alert when they see this.

Moonbear would be especially cross if you ate her research.

 

[Moonbear]

Yeah, don't eat any sheep with strange looking caps on their heads.

We haven't gotten that fall dip in temperature yet here...well...actually, I think we JUST got it, tonight. But it's going to be a couple more days before we have real fall weather. It's been just plain strange to have 75 and 80 degree days in the middle of October. I like spring and fall weather (I'm in no rush for the cold winter weather, but cool fall weather is really nice), and bought some new fall clothes last month in anticipation of it getting chilly, and it's just been hot.

I don't get those cravings until later in winter though. I know it's okay to start pigging out when I see those huge footprints appear in the snow.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I'd lay off the sheep. A couple of PF'ers have mentioned their involvement as sheep census takers. They are likely to be on alert when they see this.

Moonbear would be especially cross if you ate her research.

I'm hungry. I'll silence her lambs and eat her census taking liver, too. SSSSSLLUUUUUURRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPP!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Even here in San Diego there is a Fall temperature drop that does an evil thing to your appetite.

Is that when it drops from 75 to 72?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Is that when it drops from 75 to 72?

I wish. It's probably a little over 50 F. out there now. Later, around Christmas/New Years it hovers a little above freezing for long periods.

We had an exceptionally hot spell of about three weeks recently during which I think I gained 5 pounds due to the inability to move. Temperatures were in the 90's and got over 100 a couple times. This drop into the 50's feels like an arctic cold front after that.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I wish. It's probably a little over 50 F. out there now. Later, around Christmas/New Years it hovers a little above freezing for long periods.

We had an exceptionally hot spell of about three weeks recently during which I think I gained 5 pounds due to the inability to move. Temperatures were in the 90's and got over 100 a couple times. This drop into the 50's feels like an arctic cold front after that.

You must be inland quite a way? Surely you're not in San Diego proper?

 

[zoobyshoe]

You must be inland quite a way? Surely you're not in San Diego proper?

I'm 5 miles inland from Mission Bay, which is about 5 miles in width, which makes me 10 miles from the ocean itself. My neighborhood is part of San Diego proper: it's administered by the City of San Diego. San Diego is a collection of 50 or 60 of these little neighborhoods.

If I drive down to the beach now there won't be much difference in temperature, though there will be a wind chill factor that will make it seem colder. When it gets down into the thirties here, as it does every winter for a couple weeks, it will be that cold right on the beach as well.

A half hour east and you start to get much higher in elevation and/or more squarely into the scrub desert, so temperatures are more severe. If I recall correctly, the tourist town of Julian is only an hour's drive East from me, and they get snow there every winter.

 

[Moonbear]

I wish. It's probably a little over 50 F. out there now.

Wow, it's actually warmer here than in CA! It only got down to about 60 F here last night. 50 is more like what it should be by now. I didn't realize you were near San Diego. I always thought you were further south in the state. I'll warn the folks in the lab to pack warm when they go to San Diego in a couple weeks (I was supposed to go too, but am too busy to get away from work, but since we were already budgeting for me to go, it means a grad student gets to go instead now, so that worked out well for everyone).

 

[zoobyshoe]

Wow, it's actually warmer here than in CA! It only got down to about 60 F here last night. 50 is more like what it should be by now. I didn't realize you were near San Diego. I always thought you were further south in the state. I'll warn the folks in the lab to pack warm when they go to San Diego in a couple weeks (I was supposed to go too, but am too busy to get away from work, but since we were already budgeting for me to go, it means a grad student gets to go instead now, so that worked out well for everyone).

Can't get too much farther south: San Diego is about 20 miles from the Mexican border.

Winter is generally much colder here than people elsewhere realize. Your lab friends should definitely bring jackets and sweaters for after dark.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I'm 5 miles inland from Mission Bay, which is about 5 miles in width, which makes me 10 miles from the ocean itself. My neighborhood is part of San Diego proper: it's administered by the City of San Diego. San Diego is a collection of 50 or 60 of these little neighborhoods.

If I drive down to the beach now there won't be much difference in temperature, though there will be a wind chill factor that will make it seem colder. When it gets down into the thirties here, as it does every winter for a couple weeks, it will be that cold right on the beach as well.

A half hour east and you start to get much higher in elevation and/or more squarely into the scrub desert, so temperatures are more severe. If I recall correctly, the tourist town of Julian is only an hour's drive East from me, and they get snow there every winter.

Strange; in all the time that I lived in S. California, I was never aware that San Diego would get this cold as the norm. In fact, many many moons ago I lived in Ocean Beach [right on Dog Beach, at least that's what it was called back then], and I don't think I ever saw anything below fifty-five degrees. But I only lived there for one winter.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Strange; in all the time that I lived in S. California, I was never aware that San Diego would get this cold as the norm. In fact, many many moons ago I lived in Ocean Beach [right on Dog Beach, at least that's what it was called back then], and I don't think I ever saw anything below fifty-five degrees. But I only lived there for one winter.

I've been here 20 years now and the mid-winter cold snap has happened every year I can think of. It has gotten below freezing a handfull of times. If it had happened to rain those nights, it would have been snow. There was snow a mere few miles east in El Cajon a few years back: a brief flurry that melted within an hour of falling.

When I first moved here Winter was Monsoon: lots and lots of pouring rain. Past few years it has rained less and less, and Winter is merely a cold season. Everyone liked the couple months of rain for the change it represented. No one likes these dry cold weeks.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I love the internet. Yep, they still call it Dog Beach. I lived right down along Spray St., only steps from the sand.

Even back then it was like living in a time warp - in OB the 60s never ended - but I was poor back then, and living right on the beach was just too cool. I used to do my daily five-mile run along that dike and then would go for a swim and some body surfing; with my dog at my side the entire time. He even learned how to body-surf the small waves!

I really did love living there. Unfortunately it was a temporary work assignment. Of course the growth since then has been tremendous. The last time I visited I barely recognized the area around the airport.

The only bad part was that I had those removable slatted windows that were common in beach houses in the old days, and when I visited my fiancé in LA on the weekends, the hippies [real hippies] would break into my house and steal my food! For a long time they were very discrete and I nearly thought I was imagining things. But they blew it when they started stealing my steaks!

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/7730/dogbeachae5.jpg

 

[hypatia]

Dang, I'm still hungry. Wonder if my neighbors have steaks in there fridge?

 

[Math Is Hard]

I thought hippies were vegetarians.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I love the internet. Yep, they still call it Dog Beach. I lived right down along Spray St., only steps from the sand.

Even back then it was like living in a time warp - in OB the 60s never ended - but I was poor back then, and living right on the beach was just too cool. I used to do my daily five-mile run along that dike and then would go for a swim and some body surfing; with my dog at my side the entire time. He even learned how to body-surf the small waves!

I really did love living there. Unfortunately it was a temporary work assignment. Of course the growth since then has been tremendous. The last time I visited I barely recognized the area around the airport.

The only bad part was that I had those removable slatted windows that were common in beach houses in the old days, and when I visited my fiancé in LA on the weekends, the hippies [real hippies] would break into my house and steal my food! For a long time they were very discrete and I nearly thought I was imagining things. But they blew it when they started stealing my steaks!

Dog Beach is a dedicated subset of Ocean Beach. It is literally a beach for dogs, where people can take them and let them play unleashed in the surf. Still very popular with dog owners and dogs. People drive their pets there from all over San Diego.

Ocean Beach has always been a cool, but sketchy, beach. At the same time there are nice antique stores on Newport Ave, there are also head shops and a biker bar. There aren't any hippies in evidence, just a lot of homeless people stationed at the end of Newport where it dead ends into the beach, in wait for hapless tourists. A kid I know who wants to be a writer befriended a bunch of these beach dwellers and found out certain factions of them actually make a much larger income than is apparent from their appearance by buying and selling pot. Others are too disorganized by alcoholism and methamphetamine use to maintain such a business and just beg.

There is a cool Cafe called Jungle Java which is a tent/canopy set up in a vacant lot between two buildings on Newport. It's a cafe/plant store: there are many potted plants for sale all over the place, hence jungle. The two tables out front are a great place to sit and people watch.

Ivan, the place you rented has probably not been renovated since you lived there yet probably rents for three grand a month now. In general rentals right on the ocean are astronomically expensive.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ivan, the place you rented has probably not been renovated since you lived there yet probably rents for three grand a month now. In general rentals right on the ocean are astronomically expensive.

I'm not surprised. Even then [early 80s] I knew that this was a rare find. I think I paid about $750 per month for rent, which I could hardly believe when I found the place! Nowhere in S Cal did one normally find such affordable housing only yards from the sand. To me it was like hitting a jackpot. The issues of the local hippy culture were easily offset by the location. And unlike the gangs in someplace like Central LA, these people weren't generally dangerous. They were just a bunch of lazy and easy going hippies... who liked my food.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I thought hippies were vegetarians.

Some were, but not all. My theory is that it depended on one's fondness for Big Macs.