Catching white sea bass in Monterey Bay has been a great bet lately and may continue through the next full moon. Meanwhile, the red tide has established itself along the southern beaches of Santa Cruz, and water watchers wonder why it occurs.
OK, I’ll admit it. Much as I love being outdoors, and nice as the weather has been, I’ve already started the transition to one important part of my winter routine: hanging out around the TV on Sunday and Monday nights. It’s football. I’d intended to resist until the weather changed, but then the 49ers were on the Monday night broadcast a few weeks back, and that was it.
In the past couple of years, it seems as if the political pundits and media have done a good job of alerting us to the ballooning federal budget deficits, with little focus on our collective retirement deficit — the shortfall of our present savings to meet our future retirement income requirements.
Mother Nature sure knows how to throw a curveball. She can dish out balmy, 75-degree weather one day, then switch it up to 107 in a heartbeat. Cold and windy steps to the mound next, followed by “What’s next?” from the pitch hitter.
The first large northwest swell rolled through Monterey Bay with a vengeance. The buoys were reading 14 feet, and when the swells hit the beaches and local reefs, things got rolled up.