Good morning, sunrise fans. There has been a lot of excitement in the air but not much has been much going on in the central coast skies. As a former hand model and stunt man for Brad Pitt, I am looking to photograph the spectacular when it comes to sunrises, sunsets and Sunday brunches. Tuesday night’s sunset had its moments but for this blog I am thinking only the best. That’s why we are going back in the time tunnel to the year 2006 when Barack Obama was just a twinkle in the Illinois galaxy. This was my favorite sunrise from our eleventh month that year. I am very much into capturing the magnificent colors in the morning sky and I believe this photo sequence conveys that thought.

People often say to me, “Geoff, what is this thing you’ve got with sunrises?” I always reply, “I don’t know and don’t call me Geoff.” The sunrise thing has been happening for a few years now or as the Doobie Brothers put it, “What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits.” Under oath before a grand jury I would have to admit that I enjoy shooting the sunrise. I guess a website named SunriseSantaCruz would be somewhat of a dead giveaway. Like the dawn delight that I am showcasing today, what started out as a dark canvas exploded into colors that only Walt Disney, Timothy Leary or my Ultimate Fighting instructer could dream of.

This harmonic convergence of morning colors took place between 6-6:30 am. Most people awoke this day to see a few white clouds lounging on the horizon. That’s one of the things I love about this early a.m. experience-colors fill the sky for a few intensely beautiful minutes and then they’re gone. I love capturing those moments and sharing them with American League fans. Santa Cruz is known for its “world class sunsets.” Without being too presumptuous, I think we could include “sunrises” in that mix.

Some of you may know that I occasionally watch a little TV. No, it is not true that a start my day saying the Pledge of Allegiance to my TiVo box but in the words of former Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly, “It’s the greatest invention since beer.” So here are my three favorite TiVo moments from Tuesday morning, the first courtesy of David Letterman. “The big transition began today at the White House as the President-elect met with the President-inept. But there was a little confusion a the White House. When President Bush was told Obama was coming he said, “Oh, you mean we caught him?” Thanks, Dave.

We then move on to the king of monologues, Jay Leno. “President-elect Barack Obama promised his daughters a puppy if they moved to the White House and he’s already getting advice on what breed of dog to get. For example, President Clinton told him the Oval Office would be a great place for a husky female. And according to a new post election survey, people want Sarah Palin to run for President in 2012. They say she’s been getting thousands of calls from people pleading with her to run-all Democrats.

There’s a little late night humor for you. Or in the words of Mr. Stairway to Heaven himself, Robert Plant, “Doesn’t anyone remember laughter?” For the next couple of weeks we’ll be strolling down memory lane with some November highlights that don’t include turkey, stuffing or Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce. So enjoy the November sky and be ready for the onside kick. Later, New York Giants fans.

Good morning and greetings, electorial college fans. Well, Tuesday’s gone with the wind and we are still buzzing about the history made by Barack Obama. That was a day like no other. While we were in the process of electing the first black President since the first season of Jack Bauer and “24,” I thought I would showcase what this historic morning looked like on the westside of Santa Cruz. The place was Natural Bridges State Beach, and the time was for change.

It was a beautiful morning as the sky was filled with interesting clouds, pelicans lined the both sides of the rock and the beach was a gathering place for local gulls. Add to the mix the great blue heron reflecting in the pond and it was great to be there just Joe Biden my time. At one point the heron took off and flew up into the iceplants. That’s where I took my final shot but my foot was on the line so it wasn’t a three-pointer.

To quote the late Buddy Miles, who was the drummer in Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys, “Well, my mind is going thru them changes.” It’s hard to believe we are finally done with this moron in the White House who has done a tremendous job of dividing this country while getting the rest of the world to depise us. Those days are over. The fact that Bush feels he has done the country no wrong and that history will prove him right on Iraq is somewhat galling, but with any luck Karl Rove, Condy Rice or his dog Barney will explain to him that the Obama landslide victory was a huge statement against everything he stands for.

A couple thoughts on Johnny McCain. I thought his gracious concession stand speech was the best thing he’d done in the campaign. If he had spoken like that more often instead of espousing “Joe the Plumber” or Obama as an “elitist” or “socialist” who parties with terrorists, he might be on his way to the White House instead of the early bird special. His choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate still blows what’s left of my mind. That he would actually believe that she was his best choice is just stupefying. As I’ve written before, I think she was a huge insult to the intelligence of the American voter and Americans spoke in huge volumes to this point at the ballot box on Tuesday. Goodbye Sarah, and don’t come back real soon.

So things are looking up. The country is in a mess but unlike the Oakland Raiders, at least we’re headed in the right direction. It’s a new dawn and there’s finally hope but it will not be easy. If we could backtrack for just a moment, here’s my favorite pre-election line of the week courtesy of David Letterman. “Today Barack Obama was compaigning in Florida and Virginia. And McCain campaigned in two states-panic and desperation.” On that note, enjoy the fall weather, the sights at the beach and have a fabulous sports weekend. We’ll catch you somewhere near the sideline marker. Later, Michelle Obama fans.

Good morning and welcome to the west coast. Sunrise Santa Cruz is back with our first blog of October 2008. We always like to start off the month with something colorful so let’s journey back to the evening of January 23, 2008. Our last blog featured the sunset from the evening before so we are looking at back to back epic nights. The way the clouds were lining up along West Cliff Drive I knew we were peaking into the realm of spectacular, like my defense on the freshman basketball team back at Fort Lee High School. As you can see from the photos, the sky changed from a goldish rust to a peach-like salmon spread before finishing off with a outrageous red alert.

I was shooting at Natural Bridges State Beach this evening and still feeling the effects of the extreme low tide from the day before. As I was taking the final group of shots I realized that at this moment there was no place (besides Hawaii, Magic Mountain and Legoland) that I’d rather be. I’ve blogged out this sunset before but these are shots that never made it off the cutting room floor. To see more of this westside magic I am inviting you to attend my Open Studios on the westside on the second and third weekends in October. I’ll have more information about this next week.

BUT ON TO THE BIG NEWS OF THE DAY. MY HARD DRIVE CRASHED LAST WEEK AND WITH IT WENT MY ADDRESS BOOK WITH ALL YOUR ADDRESSES. AND NO, I DID NOT HAVE IT BACKED UP. I GUESS THAT COMES WITH LIVING ON THE EDGE. SO IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND ARE INTERESTED IN RECEIVING THESE BLOGS PLEASE EMAIL ME BACK AT GEOFFNBA@ATT.NET. AND PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.

So that our October debut. May this be a sweet year for everyone out there in cyber space land. So enjoy the sky, savor your good health and have a fabulous sports weekend. Aloha, Raider fans.

Good morning and welcome to our final blog for August 2008. For the last two weeks we have perused the North Shore of Oahu. We’ve looked at the natural beauty of this tropical paradise that featured rainbows, geckos, plumerias and a cast of thousands of macadmia nuts. For today’s Hawaiian finale we’ll take a look at why this marvelous stretch of sand is called Sunset Beach.

This dusk delight appeared in the sky on our final night at what has to be one of the most beautiful beaches on earth. What made this sunset exceptional was that after the sun hit the horizon the sky turned red (photo #6) and then shades of Linda gray. As I pondered the meaning of life in the less than chilly, crystal clear 80 degree water, I watched the sky as it once again turned red, a phenomena I don’t recall seeing before, except in a dream I had about “John From Cincinatti.” The sky glowed for at least 45 minutes and it was an incredibly beautiful way to end our North Shore excursion. I hadn’t felt inner peace and tranquility like that since I learned that “Law & Order-Criminal Intent” was being renewed for another season.

A large part of Hawaii’s spiritual draw and shelves is attributed to its unique and inspirational sunsets and the phrase, “Book em’, Dano.” Gorgeous red, orange, pink and purple hues fill the skies as the orange barrel sunshine that provided 12 hours of beach fun dips gently into the ocean, very similar to the way I sink into my pillow at night right after downing my soy milk and vegan cookies.

At sunset, more light is piercing the atmosphere than at other times during the day except during Magnum P.I. reruns. The heating process and old episodes of Hawaii Five-O during the day create large numbers of particles in the air, which are able to scatter more light. Sunsets derive their red hues because the long wavelengths are the least scattered. The combination of the unique geographical location of Hawaii, tropical temperatures, humidity levels and never having to put on a sweatshirt combine to give Hawaii its world class sunsets. Twilight is also relatively short in Hawaii. After the sun disappears, you may only have 15 or fewer minutes of residual light. That is what makes this night’s sunset so unusual.

So here’s the bottom line. I’ve experienced a few sunrises and sunsets in the islands and they are Hawaiian Tropic gorgeous. But when it comes to world class sunrises and sunsets, Santa Cruz blows this South Pacific paradise off the map. Maybe I’m being provincial but from what I’ve seen there’s no comparison. I’ve checked out the calendars, post cards and photos in many gift shops and the work of local photographers of the islands. Of course there are many mornings and evenings of incredible tropical beauty. But if you like mind-blowing colors and skies and clouds that change by the moment into even more spectacular splendor, then you’ve come to the right site as Sunrise Santa Cruz will continue to be the place to see the best of what the central coast skies of our Golden State have to offer.

That’s it for August. We’ll take Labor Day off but coming up next Wednesday we’re going to blast out the most beautiful Santa Cruz sunset of the summer. And we’ll have information about the upcoming Capitola Art & Wine Festival that yours truly will be doing next weekend. And even though the flame has been doused, we’ll have a recap about the Olympic medals you won’t want to miss. So have a fabulous holiday weekend, enjoy the sky and we’ll catch you in September. Later, Monte Ellis fans.

Good morning and greetings, island lovers. The Hawaii siege continues here on day three as we head to the skies for some cloud and sun convergence. But before we harmonically do that, let’s take a look at some fun facts about our 50th state that happens to lie in the middle of the South Pacific. How and why this tropical paradise is part of the United States I don’t know, but as the locals say. Kauai not?

Hawaii is the most isolated population center on the face and neck of the earth. It is 2,390 miles from California, 3,850 from Japan and light years from my home state of New Jersey. It is the only state that grows coffee and donuts and supplies the world with one-third of its commercial supply of pineapples. Speaking of which, we bought a fresh golden pineapple every afternoon from our local roadside stand and each day it tasted like sugar-as sweet as Misty May and Kerri Walsh’s gold medal win in beach volleyball over the Chinese.

There are only twelve letters in the Hawaiian alphabet and from east to west Hawaii (and not Charles Barkley) is the widest state in the U.S. Undersea volcanoes that erupted thousands of years ago formed the islands of Hawaii and the ABC stores scattered throughout the islands. Hawaii has its own time zone ((Hawaiian Standard Time) and there is no daylight savings time or school closings on snow days. It is our only state completely surrounded by water and not geographically located in North America. Yet, somehow it is part of the good old USA although there are many native Hawaiians who are not in agreement with this American vacation reality.

So let’s move on to today’s photos of Sunset Beach. At night before sunset, clouds would move across the sky (photo #1) faster than John McCain buys houses. These white puffy pillows of magnificent moisture would blow by overhead at amazing speeds. Sunrises on the North Shore are nothing to text message home about but the best occurred on our first morning (photo #3 and my 11th daughter’s birthday.) With the air temperature around 72-75 degrees and the northeast trades blowing its it’s just a delightful way to start the day. Well, that and a trip to the fabulous Ted’s Bakery, another legendary spot on the North Shore. Throw in some fresh papaya and I’m a happy Hawaiian camper.

The last three shots are from the end of another action packed day of chanting, meditation and tackling those 1-2 foot waves at Sunset Beach. The most colorful sunset to decorate the sky presented itself to us on our final night and we’ll take a look at that next week. Also coming in week two we’ll take a look at some Hawaiian flowers, exotic plants and different flavors of smoothies across the island. So enjoy the sky, have a fabulous weekend and we’ll catch you Monday. Mahalo, Olympic fans.

Good morning and welcome to our final blog for July 2008. This month has flown by faster than John McCain flip flops on economic issues. Anyway, during the summertime here on Monterey Bay the skies are usually bankrupt of the clouds needed for our world-class sunrises and sunsets. I actually had not taken any sunset shots this summer until this past Monday evening when out of nowhere, clouds appeared in the western sky. Before you could say, “Let’s drill for oil off the coast” I headed down to Natural Bridges for a light changing experience.

As you can see from the first few photos, the sky was not hurting for clouds. At this point I was just amazed because summer sunsets come around as often as I praise the Bush administration. But it was cloud central as along the coast the gulls were screaming, the cormorants were clustering and the pelicans were flying in formation . But the most fascinating part of this evening extravaganza was when the sky started to change color, almost out of nowhere the whole sky filled with clouds, (photo #3) with an texture I had rarely seen. Overall, just a spectacular display of color and pageantry along the edge of the continent.

One quick news item. Our good friends at Exxon Mobil just reported a record profit over the last quarter (3 months) of $12 billion dollars. In laymen’s terms, that’s $90,000 a minute, or $1,500 a second, which is actually not much compared to over the $3,000 a second we spend in Iraq. Anyway, congratulation, oil boys. You deserve it. While American motorists spend their paycheck at the pump, you guys can go out and party. I guess oil is fair in love and war.

So Sunrise Santa Cruz is going on hiatus from the blogging business for a couple of weeks while I head over to Sunset Beach for some papaya therapy, macadamia nut meditation and trade winds analysis. Throw in some 80 degree water temperature on the North Shore and I’m a happy camper. When I return, we’ll see show you some shots of this tropical paradise in the middle of the South Pacific.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard from a lot of you out there in cyber space. I would love to hear your thoughts on the blog, the baseball races or life in general. You know, reach out, connect. Get in touch. Check in. You know the drill. Until then, enjoy the summer sky, your good health and we’ll catch you around the 18th of August. Aloha, mahalo and Derek Jeter rocks. Later, Olympic fans.

Good morning and greetings, weather fans. Today we are going to go back to my roots. No, I’m not talking my blonde-haired days as a young child growing up in New Jersey but rather what inspired me to create this site-shooting spectacular sunrises over the Pacific Ocean. And today I’ve got a fabulous one for you. This early morning magnificence is from a few years back in late November. As you can see from photo #5, my dog Summer also enjoyed the experience and insisted I call this shot “Golden Dreams.” I’m so fond of photo #3 that I’m using in this year’s calendar for Open Studios. One word describes this morning-epic!

Over the next week or so I’ll be hitting the archives and showcasing a few more feature presentations from Lighthouse Point, starring Dawn Skies, Its Beach and a cast of waves that have traveled thousands of miles to appear in these moments. So stayed tuned because the color and the drama of Santa Cruz’s world class sunrises are coming your way.

Speaking of magical moments, good news for those of you planning that dream vacation in North Korea. This much talked about country, located to the north of the DMZ, is home to a phantom hotel that is stirring back to life. Once dubbed by Esquire magazine as “the worst building in the history of mankind,” the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel is back under construction after a 16-year lull in the capital of one of the world’s most reclusive and destitute countries. They’re literally starving for tourists.

According to foreign residents in Pyongyang, North Korea, Egypt’s Orascom group has recently begun refurbishing the top floors of the three-sided pyramid-shaped hotel whose frame dominates the Pyongyang skyline the same way I used to dominate Mr. Universe contests. The firm has put glass panels into the concrete shell and installed telecommunications antennas, even though the North forbids its citizens to own mobile phones, ham radios or Batman decoder rings.

The hotel consists of three wings, a couple of thighs and a drumstick, rising at 75 degree angles capped by several floors arranged in rings that are supposed to hold five revolving restaurants, an observation deck and a miniature golf course. A building crane has for years sat unused at the top of the 3,000-room hotel in a city where tourists are only occasionally allowed to visit but are forbidden to buy souvenirs, post cards and infants.

“It is not a beautiful design. It carries little iconic or monumental significance, but (much like myself) is a sheer muscular and massive presence,” said Lee Sang Jun, a professor of architecture at Yonsei University in Seoul. The communist North started construction in 1987, in a possible fit of jealousy at South Korea, which was about to host the 1988 Summer Olympics. They apparently wanted to show off to the world the success of its rapidly developing economy and its many different recipes for braising short ribs.

A concrete shell built by North Korean architects emerged over the next few years. This proud country put a likeness of the hotel on postage stamps and packs of baseball cards and boasted about the structure in official media. According to intelligence sources, then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung saw the hotel as a symbol of his big dreams for the state he founded, while his son and current leader Kim Jong-il was a driving force in its construction and choice of movies in the hotel’s pay-per-view.

Speaking of Kim Jong-il, or as he likes to be referred to as, the “Dear Leader,” I find something very charming about a diminutive (5’2″,) platform shoe wearing, bouffant hair-styled dictator whose draconian economic policies have caused the starvation of MILLIONS of his people. He is also the commander of the 4th largest standing army in the world and major film buff who is a lover of fast cars, gourmet foods and fine liquors, which are tough to procure north of the 38th Parallel. The Korean people worship this little Napoleon like he is God, but we all know there’s only one God and that was Michael Jordan.

By 1992, work on this non-Holiday Inn was halted. The North’s main benefactor, the Soviet Union had dissolved a year earlier and funding for the hotel had vanished like the San Francisco Giant’s hope for a pennant this year. For a time, the North airbrushed images of the Ryugyong Hotel and centerfolds from photographs. As the North’s economy took a deeper turn for the worse in the 1990s the empty shell became a symbol of the country’s failure, earning nicknames “Hotel of Doom,” “Phantom Hotel” and “Hotel California.”

Yonsei’s Lee, Sara Lee, Bruce Lee and other architects said there were questions raised about whether the hotel was structurally sound and a few believed completing the structure could cause it to collapse. It would cost up to $2 billion to finish the Ryugyong Hotel and make it safe for room service, according to estimates in South Korean media. That is equivalent to about 10 percent of the North’s annual economic output or what a washed-up Shaq earns per season.

Bruno Giberti (no relation,) associate head of California Polytechnic State University’s Department of Architecture, said the project was typical of what has been produced recently in many cities trying to show their emerging wealth by constructing gigantic edifices that were not related in scale to anything else around them. “If this is the worst building in the world, the runners up are in Las Vegas, Shanghai and Fort Lee, New Jersey,” said Giberti.

So if you’re looking for a place to rest your head in North Korea, I hope today’s post has been helpful. I’d like to welcome some new people to today’s blog who I met on Sunday at the Art, er, Wind on the Wharf festival. So enjoy my second favorite Santa Cruz sunrise, these waning days of July and we’ll catch you on Friday. Aloha, summer league fans.

Good morning and greetings, baseball fans. In the two previous blogs we’ve gone back to my days of shooting with film at 11. Today we will return there for one final time, but instead of viewing the horizontal highlights, we’ll be exploring the vertical vortexes of my photographic mind.

We start off along West Cliff Drive at Swift Street with some double rainbow action before moving down to Lighthouse Point for a shot I took in the late 70’s of the white water smashing up against the cliff. These were the days before fences, surf museums and the internet. Next it’s another West Cliff classic as on this morning I somehow mistimed the sunset but caught the sun rising up with these glorious clouds in the sky.

Next it’s out to Palm Desert for another sunrise delight and then it’s back to Lighthouse Point. This is actually an early digital shot but I liked the reflection and the verticality for this montage. We then head to Stockton Avenue for the sunset cruise as the group of cormorants flew by on their way to Happy Hour at the Crow’s Nest. You know what they say, birds will be birds.

I’ve written about the war in Iraq and our escalating and deadly conflict in Afghanistan. Well, there’s another battle going on with much at steak. America’s two largest hot dog makers are waging a wiener war, hoping to win over customers and secure the No. 1 spot atop the stagnating frankfurter market. The latest round in the long-running feud comes as Kraft Foods Inc.’s Oscar Mayer brand gives its signature hot dog a perm and a makeover aimed at stealing momentum from Sara Lee Corporation’s Ball Park Franks. To quote Laker Coach Phil Jackson from this year’s NBA Finals, “Momentum is a strange girl.”

Kraft hopes its reformulation, a massive promotional campaign and free relish will attract new customers with a zestier, meatier recipe for its all-beef dog. “Consumers are continuing to look for higher flavors, beefier, juicier hot dogs and we saw that as an opportunity to grow that portion of our business,” said Sean Marks, the top dog in the marketing department for Oscar Mayer. Both suburban Chicago food manufacturers claim the designation as the nation’s top hot dog brand, based on separate readings of market research, sales data and mustard connoiseurs. Hot dog consumption, at least among adults and pro athletes, has hit its lowest level since the mid-1980s. What a bunner.

About 956 million packages of hot dogs were sold to U.S. retailers in the past year. That’s on top of the estimated 30 million hot dogs that Major League Baseball fans down each season at the nation’s ballparks along with droves of garlic fries. And with grocery sales of about $2 billion last year hot dogs are far from being discounted. And here’s a number for you stat fans. 48 percent of American children aged 18 and under will eat at least one hot dog in the next two weeks. A few might even open a book.

Kraft, the world’s second-largest food company, is also spending the summer promoting its line of snack-sized hot dogs by sending its new “Mini Weinermobile” on a nationwide marketing tour along side the full-scale model. Funny, my salivary glands did not react to that last sentence. Meanwhile, Sara Lee is touting its angus beef franks, turkey franks, whole-grain buns and fluffy pound cake that it announced back in May. As I’ve sung in the shower many a time, “Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.” But in reality, “Oh, I’d love to be an Oscar Mayer Wiener. That is what I truly like to be. ‘Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer weiner. Everyone would be in love with me.”

Now that we’ve knocked off the main course, here’s some desert news. Americans last year spent $12.4 billion on ice cream, frozen yogurt, creamsicles, fudgicles, flying saucers, push-up pops and similar products in 2007. Though it may sound like a lot, the ice cream market is barely growing as sales rose just 1.8 percent between 2006 and 2007. What growth the industry is seeing comes from two contradictory trends. Increased demand for “decadent” products like ice cream with candy or other goodies mixed in and also for the healthier ice cream like the lower-fat slow churned kind. Yeah, you’ve got to love that slow churned double fudge brownie. Toss in a box of chocolate chocolate Haagen Daz bars and I’m climbing the stairway to sugar heaven.

That’s our Wednesday edition of Food for Thought. I hope you a caught a little bit of the all-star game last night from Yankee Stadium. My childhood home in New Jersey was just 20 minutes from “The House that Ruth Built” in the Bronx and going to the stadium was always a thrill. Bucky Dent, ‘Louisiana Lighting” Ron Guidry, Goose Goosage, Mickey Rivers, going to Yankee games was always a religious experience. Sort of like a bar mitzvah followed by a Hells Angels’ brunch. So enjoy the vertical colors, these summer days and we’ll catch you on Friday. Aloha, Derek Jeter fans.

Good morning, cumulus cloud lovers. This past Saturday was day number two of the Summer of Love, 2008. It was also one of the most unusual weather days I can recall from my 23 years and 8 days on the central coast. The morning started out with a baby blue, cloudless sky and it looked like another scorcher was on the way as the temperature had hit triple digits the day before. Then in late morning, before you could say “What happened to John Edwards?” storm clouds started to move in. The sky was completing a 180 degree turnabout-I hadn’t seen anything change that quickly since the TSA started denying airline passengers the right to bear water on flights.

So we went from a stifling hot morning to the sky turning shades of blue and darkening as the mammatus clouds rolled in. These tornado-like clouds visit us only a few times a year around Monterey Bay, as they prefer to hang in the midwest. You can see them in photos #1 & 2. These uniquely shaped white pillows of moisture make their appearance when thunderstorms are in the area and this day proved no different. All of a sudden ThunderClap Newman was rolling in, lightning bolts were flashing across the bay and giants raindrops were pelting beachgoers. It was very strange, indeed with these dark, threatening skies after a morning full of crystal blue persuasion. Meanwhile, the thunderstorms sparked 14 small wildfires in the Santa Cruz mountains to add to the problem of trying to put out the fire on Friday that destroyed numerous homes and burned 630 acres.

And then in early evening on the second longest day of the year, the clouds rolled away, the sky returned to its Pacific blue self and if you had left for the afternoon you never would have known that anything was amiss in the universe. But it was a wild ride as a friend said hail fell in Soquel. I know that the rain in Spain falls gently on the plain but hail in June? The only thing that was missing was Dorothy, the Wizard and a golden rainbow. And rest assured I was looking for that one, Toto.

So that’s it for the wildest weather day of 2008. Tune in again on Friday when we’ll give you a photo update on the continuing saga of the cormorants on the cliffs. We’ll also look at a surgical procedure performed on an endangered species that is a Sunrise Santa Cruz classic that you are not going to want to miss.

So I thought we’d end with a little weather humor. A Hollywood director was shooting a big budget movie on location in the desert. One day and old Indian came up to him and said, “Tomorrow rain.” And sure enough, the next day it rained.

A few days later the Indian appeared again and said to the director, “Tomorrow storm.” And sure enough the following day there was a terrible storm, which brought a temporary halt to the filming.

The director was hugely impressed by the old Indian’s weather predictions and told his secretary to put him on the payroll. However, after a number of successful forecasts, the Indian didn’t show up for three weeks. Eventually, the director sent for him and said, “I have to shoot a big scene tomorrow and I’m relying on you. What is the weather going to be like?

The old Indian shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know. Radio broken.”

That’s it. Goodnight, everybody. Catch you on Friday.

Good morning and welcome to the central coast, where we’ve experienced two major forest fires in the last month. The first, the Summit Fire in the Santa Cruz mountains, burned 4,270 acres and destroyed 35 homes. The second began last Wednesday. I was cruising the westside at around 3:30 when all of a sudden white smoke appeared in the sky (photo #1) coming from the Bonny Doon area. As the fire spread it looked like a bomb had gone off (photo #2.) I was shooting at Natural Bridges as the smoke spread across the sky in a rather eerie fashion. Soon everything was changing color due to the smoke and the ocean (photo #5) turned into a coppertone sea. As the smoke got thicker the sun (photo #6) displayed shades of colors that signaled something is very wrong here today.

Fortunately, as of today the Martin Fire is pretty much contained. We have some friends living in Bonny Doon who refused to evacuate their home so things were kind of dicey for a while. Overall, 520 acres burned and the cause of the fire is under investigation. Investigators are speculating that hikers, trespassers or magic squirrels in the Moon Rocks area of the Bonny Dune Ecological Reserve might have accidentally ignited the blaze. Rumor has it that this area, which is closed off to the public, is a favorite spot for people who like to practice preventive glaucoma.

So I got to wondering, what’s the story with wildfires, these raging blazes that rapidly spread out of control, much like the Bush administration did after 9/11? Like vacations, they occur most frequently in the summer, when lightning and morons are roaming the sky and woods. We haven’t had any rain in months and the brush was dry and the flames moved unchecked through the woods like Ray Allen did through the lane at the end of the game 4 on Thursday night. Like the Bonny Doon blaze, fires often begins unnoticed and spread quickly with the wind carrying the flames from tree to tree. As you can see in photo #3, dense smoke is the first indication of either a fire or a Grateful Dead concert.

These intense displays by Mother Nature got me to wondering about other big-time fires. Here’s number one on the disaster hit list. On the evening of October 8, 1871 the worst recorded forest fire in North American history raged through northeastern Wisconsin and upper Michigan with hurricane force winds. By the time it was over, 1,875 square miles of forest had burned, an area twice the size of the state of Rhode Island and Donny Rumsfeld’s ego.

An accurate death toll has never been determined since local population records were destroyed in the fire. An estimate of between 1,200 and 2,500 people were thought to have lost their lives. Peshtigo, Wisconson, the town hardest hit, had an estimated 1,700 residents before the fire. The city was gone in an hour. In Peshtigo alone, 800 lives were lost. More than 350 bodies were buried in a mass grave, primarily because so many had died that no one remained alive who could identify many of them.

The fire was so intense it jumped several miles over the waters of Green Bay as well as jumping the Peshtigo River itself to burn on both sides of the inlet town. Surviving witnesses said that the firestorm generated a fire tornado which threw rail cars and houses into the air. The smoke blocked the sun, the rising moon turned red and witnesses thought it was a sure sign of the apocalypse.

This Peshtigo fire represents the greatest tragedy of its kind in North America. Yet amazingly, most people have never heard of it because it occurred at the same exact time as America’s most famous fire-the Great Chicago Fire that destroyed 17,450 structures, caused about $200 million in damage and left one-third of the city homeless. This makes the suffering of present day Cubs fans look like a romp in the park. As you can imagine, this fire grabbed all of the national headlines. But citizens of Wisconsin are well aware of this painful tragedy as well as the Packers losing to the Giants in this year’s NFL playoffs

So that’s our look at the Hall of Flames. If you follow the national news, you know the torrential floods in Iowa and killer tornadoes throughout the midwest have been dominating the headlines. Hurricanes, cyclones, earthquakes, reality television, we are living through some wild times. So get on board and enjoy the ride here at Sunrise Santa Cruz and we’ll catch you for some Larry bird action on Wednesday. And speaking of which, get ready for game 6 between the Lakers and the Celtics Tuesday night. With any luck, it will be a classic. Later, sports fans.