Eastern San Luis Obispo Wildflowers

Wildflower season is winding down in Eastern SLO County as the hillside grasses are already fading from spring green to summer tan.  The photo below was from the Shell Creek area on Sunday 4/7.

About the only thing blooming in Shell Creek was Thistle Sage, which happens to be one of my favorites.

The wildflower show was slightly better along Highway 58 east of Santa Margarita - the section of the road through Calf Canyon.  Here the grasses are still green, and bright pink Prickly Phlox bushes dot the stony hillsides.

A variety of sage plants could be found in the road cuts along the highway - chia sage, thistle sage and black sage.

Additionally, there were scattered stalks of Owl's Clover, and a bright red orange bush growing on rocky slopes - it's not Indian Paintbrush, but I'm not sure what it is.

Eye Contact

I was going to call the three panel photo series "No you can't have my ice cream".  But I think a more fitting title is "Eye Contact".

Silver, a fluffy tabby at the North County Humane Society in Atascadero, looked at me briefly for this photo, then went back to staring at the fly she was watching intently across the room.

Zebra on the Central Coast

Zebra were originally introduced to San Luis Obispo as part of the "zoo" at Hearst Castle.  Now they range wild across the Hearst Ranch and the hillsides around San Simeon.  They cause quite a stir when grazing along Highway 1, resulting in "zebra jams" as motorists pull off the road to take pictures.

Last weekend found about a half dozen zebra near the roadway, and twice as many cars pulled over to take photos.  I had a long lens on the camera (600 mm) and had to switch to 300 mm because the critters were too close for the big lens.