good sun, terrible menudo, sore feet, water monsters

solar harvest

Forecast said foggy today, but it’s been completely clear since sun-up.  If it holds up this could be the first “full pull” charge in 10 days.

menudo

There’s a Latinx subpopulation in Newport, and a few Mexican restaurants.  One claimed “menudo every day” which to me is like a red flag to a bull.

The whole experience was pretty  bad, but the menudo was tragic.  I think it was just their pozole with some lovely honeycomb tripe and una pata thrown in.

Small bowl, $14 FFS.

feets

Dog and I do a lot of walking, and I did something to my feet in the last couple of days. I think it was a few trips up/down a long steep roadway 2 days ago that did it.   Not an unnoticed injury from an errant step or hole, as it;’s the same in both feet.

They are stiff and they hurt like they are half-cramped.  I hobble pretty good when I sit for a while but after a few minutes they are just uncomfortable.  I was walking in sneakers and may switch to hiking boots today to see if it helps.

water anomalies

One of the places I was hobbling walking yesterday was along the Newport pier area.   I saw something brownish break the surface and thought it might be a sea lion’s head crowning.  I’ve seen them do that in the immediate area.

When it came back up I realized it was _pulsing:  _it was a jellyfish floating right at the surface.  I hadn’t seen any jellies here so I watched for a while.  Those things are weird.

I walked a ways down the pier and saw a bunch of them in the shallows.  There are reflections and zoom issues but hopefully you can make them out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNnfpu-Y3Kg

I assume jellies don’t have a plan to go anywhere specific, although since some have photo- and other receptors they might be able to orient and control their depth in the water column.

Apparently their locomotion is hyperefficient:

...jellyfish have been shown to be the most energy efficient swimmers of all animals....  Muscles are used for the contraction of the body, which creates the first vortex and pushes the animal forward, but the mesoglea is so elastic that the expansion is powered exclusively by relaxing the bell, which releases the energy stored from the contraction.... Jellyfish achieved a 48 percent lower cost of transport (the amount of food and oxygen consumed, versus energy spent in movement) than other animals in similar studies.