Bear’s-Eye View of Alameda for July 14, 2024

Mirage?

This past week saw near record temperatures around the bay, and several Alameda residents thought they were suffering from heat exhaustion and seeing a mirage when my human companion took me out for the last walk of the day on Wednesday night around midnight. For those of you that don’t know him, “HC” complains about being cold when the temperature drops below 70 degrees.

He normally walks me wearing one of those Russian-looking fur caps with the ear flaps, a long-sleeved flannel shirt underneath a hoodie—with the hood up, and ski gloves when we go out. So, when our neighbors saw the same guy wearing a Panama hat and a short sleeved “surf dude” shirt walking me at 11:45 p.m., they though the heat had finally gotten to them. Either that, or I was being dognapped. So, while my “HC” was in his glory for a day or two, it is fortunate for the rest of us that this heat wave has subsided.

Speaking of seeing things, I observed a new form of transportation that I had never seen before. While walking down Alameda Avenue, I heard a strange sound and looked around to see this woman with mini skateboards attached to her shoes. It was amazing to watch her glide by so effortlessly.

It has been a while since I walked along Otis Drive. So, I took a detour from my regular route to see what was happening at the former Lum Elementary School . Wow! A lot has happened since the buildings got demo’ed. Its my understanding that this will be the temporary location of Wood Middle School while it is being renovated. It looks like the temp buildings will be ready for the new school year, which I understand starts in the middle of August!  Is that true?

I also noticed another AUSD project going on over at Alameda High. Looks like the gym is getting a new roof in addition to the pool replacement I covered last month .

And speaking of construction projects, there are two in particular I have been following. The old telephone company building, which is now occupied by the California Historical Radio Society is really moving along. With all the demo work done , the crew has switched to restoration mode and is doing a great job at adding back the architectural details that were removed during previous renovations.

The other project that is close to my heart is the Great Deck Project. This week, the stairs were added. Things have slowed down, because my “HC” has not had the time to get out there and stain the new decking. Apparently, it’s not good to apply stain in full sun on a hot day.

When this deck is completed, I will have 24-hour access to my backyard area. No more barking through the double French doors at Jupiter— the neighbor’s cat—and not being able to get into the yard to chase those darn squirrels.

On the topic of my backyard, the Santa Rosa Plum tree finally bore fruit this year after it was planted three seasons ago, and I spied the first almost ripe tomatoes in the garden. Caprese salad and roasted tomato salsa, here we come!

To close out this week’s report, I am including pictures of two messages that I hope will inspire some thoughts about how all human companions relate to each other and might be a little more kind to each other.

Then again, do you want to hear a scary thought? There are only 164 days left ’til Christmas.

Mouf, Roving Reporter
Bear’s-Eye View of Alameda

Mouf and his human companion can be reached via jeffcambraalameda@gmail.com . Their stories are collected at AlamedaPost.com/Jeff-Cambra/ . All photos by Jeff Cambra.

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