BajaNomad

Top 10 Quiz Photos (What the heck is this?)

Pompano - 8-23-2009 at 07:50 AM

1. Found in odds-and-ends shop in Santa Rosalia. Can you identify this object?




[Edited on 8-24-2009 by Pompano]

Ken Bondy - 8-23-2009 at 08:27 AM

First generation scuba tank?

Pompano - 8-23-2009 at 08:35 AM

Nein...and nei. It does look a lot like something scuba..but No.

BMG - 8-23-2009 at 08:40 AM

Kinda looks like wood paneling and a formica countertop with a thingamajiggy on it.

Russ - 8-23-2009 at 08:57 AM

My thought is a pressure relief valve like you see along the highway here in those little fenced enclosures.

BajaKeela - 8-23-2009 at 08:57 AM

My husband thinks it's a steam whistle from an old train..

Crusoe - 8-23-2009 at 09:02 AM

Its a early version of an Italian orange juice squeezer. Does the oarnge. ++C++:lol::lol:

Taco de Baja - 8-23-2009 at 10:05 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaKeela
My husband thinks it's a steam whistle from an old train..



Toot toot! We have a winner :)


This Steam Whistle was donated to Caloco in memory of Christopher Bolms at the Fillmore March 2008 Railfest
link


More on whistles here

akbear - 8-23-2009 at 10:23 AM

Yes, it's a steam whistle. Could have come off a train or since it was in Santa Rosalia maybe from the mine. Used to signal shift starting/stopping time. Or could have come off a ship. There should be a name on valve body of manufacture. Or you can use compressed air.

akbear

vgabndo - 8-23-2009 at 03:54 PM

Some of them are really quite valuable. Pieces of chiite recently stole the whistle from the locomotive at the park in Dunsmuir California. They probably tried to sell it for the brass. Dispicable punks.

2. Next Quiz. Taken from about 1 foot away.

Pompano - 8-23-2009 at 08:20 PM

This is a little harder, I hope.

I took this photo very quick as the subject came to me. Pretty wild event.

What the heck is it?



[Edited on 8-24-2009 by Pompano]

Diver - 8-24-2009 at 07:06 AM

Geez, I was sure the first one was a Mexican bidet !! :lol:

And the second one looks like my mother-in-law, first thing in the morning !!

Taco de Baja - 8-24-2009 at 07:10 AM

a sun fish, aka a Mola?

Pompano - 8-24-2009 at 07:37 AM

Ira, watch your back when your mother-in-law visits...I sent her this thread.

No, not a Mola, Taco de Baja...but a damn good guess.

Paulclark - 8-24-2009 at 08:22 AM

Moray eel

Pompano - 8-24-2009 at 09:31 AM

Paulclark, Nope, but another great guess, Getting closer...I think.

Russ - 8-24-2009 at 09:44 AM

Some kind of ray? Maybe a small sting ray? But the skin doesn't seem rough enough.

Pompano - 8-24-2009 at 09:59 AM

No Russ, not a ray...but al those guesses are soooo close. It's definetely a marine creature and is under water..and that is it's actual eye.

Cypress - 8-24-2009 at 10:42 AM

A trigger fish?;)

El Camote - 8-24-2009 at 10:51 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Pompano
...and is under water..and that is it's actual eye.



Could it be Jimmy Hoffa? :lol:

[Edited on 8-24-2009 by El Camote]

Pompano - 8-24-2009 at 10:51 AM

Nope, Cypress..but...It IS a fish.

Pompano - 8-24-2009 at 11:02 AM

This one was about 10 feet long, but these can reach up to 15ft and weigh in at over 1500 lbs. Classified as a 'bony fish', meaning it belongs to a class of fish that have skeletons of bone. No scales, but rather has rows of bony plates.

Hint: I took the that close-up of the eye photo on dry land, but the fish was in the water.

Taco de Baja - 8-24-2009 at 11:14 AM

Meow?

Cypress - 8-24-2009 at 11:16 AM

A sturgeon?:?:

toneart - 8-24-2009 at 11:24 AM

Halibut:light:

Pompano - 8-24-2009 at 11:47 AM

One of those was RIGHT!

toneart - 8-24-2009 at 11:51 AM

I think I will concede to Cypress because of the size. :(

Sharksbaja - 8-24-2009 at 11:59 AM

So it can't be a sturgeon because they are a cartilaginous fish, meaning they have no real bones just cartilage.

A halibut so it be? :?:

btw, my current dinner special is Columbia River tributary sturgeon served with a hazelnut shallot sauce.:biggrin:

Cypress is correcto...

Pompano - 8-24-2009 at 12:12 PM

Sorry Taco de Baja and Tony...not a catfish nor a halibut, although both of those can reach huge sizes.

Some sturgeon facts:

http://www.earthsendangered.com/profile.asp?ID=9&sp=884

This is a White Sturgeon named Harry. He is at the Bonneville Dam & Bradford Island Visitor Center on the Columbia River near Cascade Locks and The Dalles.



I snapped a few good photos of Harry, salmon, and rainbows. I stood next to the viewing plate and looked deep into his eyes......deep, deep...deeep..zz!..Say, does anyone have a glob of worms you can spare? I have this urge...




[Edited on 8-24-2009 by Pompano]

Russ - 8-24-2009 at 12:16 PM

Maaaaan, I found it but was looking for a good pic. Use to fish for them near Bonniville Dam. They pull hard.

bilde.jpg - 25kB

Pompano - 8-24-2009 at 12:16 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Sharksbaja
So it can't be a sturgeon because they are a cartilaginous fish, meaning they have no real bones just cartilage.

A halibut so it be? :?:

btw, my current dinner special is Columbia River tributary sturgeon served with a hazelnut shallot sauce.:biggrin:


Corky, hang onto some of that sturgeon. We are slowly heading your way. Tillamook right now.

Pompano - 8-24-2009 at 12:22 PM

Russ, too bad...you had it nailed, too.

El Camote..you made me spit coffee. :yes:

Russ - 8-24-2009 at 12:23 PM

We'd go near the damn spillway at Bonneville to catch shad on 4# test with 1/16oz jigs (shade darts) for bait and occasionally snag a sturgeon. I don't think they even knew they'd been hooked but what a way to burn a drag on your reel!

Pompano - 8-24-2009 at 12:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Russ
We'd go near the damn spillway at Bonneville to catch shad on 4# test with 1/16oz jigs (shade darts) for bait and occasionally snag a sturgeon. I don't think they even knew they'd been hooked but what a way to burn a drag on your reel!


Russ, I stood right there just a couple days ago and saw a big sturgeon breach right below me...of course I was way too late to snap a photo..but he was HUGE. Now way are you going to handle on of these brutes on light tackle from shore in that current.



I recieved this photo in the mail just now.

Cypress - 8-24-2009 at 12:54 PM

Biggest I ever caught was 11 feet long, measured it with a tape, was unable to wiegh it. Catch and release.:)

toneart - 8-24-2009 at 01:01 PM

Oh....Harry! Why didn't you say so in the beginning, Pompano? :lol::lol:

Pompano - 8-24-2009 at 01:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by toneart
Oh....Harry! Why didn't you say so in the beginning, Pompano? :lol::lol:


Tony, Harry seemed to like me...or maybe he was stalking me!

The lagoon-viewing room was full of tourists when I came down the stairs. Lots of little fish were right next to the windows, but Harry was being a little camera-shy .. as he was continually swimming away from the people pressed up the panels.

Then I came up closer to the window... and Harry suddenly rushed the window with a mighty whoosh of his tail...stopped broadside within a foot of my face... and looked me directly in the eye. Shades of Herman Melville!!...I shivered and felt what Capn. Ahab must have felt when Moby Dick's huge eye transfixed him! I wonder..Am I now cursed? My scalp now has a lightning bolt of white running down the side.

Maybe I could use another cup of hi-test coffee?

Just fer the record

Sharksbaja - 8-25-2009 at 01:39 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Pompano
Classified as a 'bony fish', meaning it belongs to a class of fish that have skeletons of bone. No scales, but rather has rows of bony plates.


It would seem logical that a "bony fish" would have real bones for a skeleton. Not the case with sturgeon, they don't have bones much like rays and shark. They have cartilage skeletons.

Cypress - 8-25-2009 at 01:53 PM

Sharksbaja, You're right, but it was a picture of a sturgeon.:rolleyes:

Sharksbaja - 8-25-2009 at 03:33 PM

Yeah, had me fooled. I thought it was a skate. That Pompano sure has some interesting stuff!:D

Natalie Ann - 8-25-2009 at 03:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Pompano
Tony, Harry seemed to like me...or maybe he was stalking me!

...... I came up closer to the window... and Harry suddenly rushed the window with a mighty whoosh of his tail...stopped broadside within a foot of my face... and looked me directly in the eye. Shades of Herman Melville!!...I shivered and felt what Capn. Ahab must have felt when Moby Dick's huge eye transfixed him! I wonder..Am I now cursed? My scalp now has a lightning bolt of white running down the side.



Sounds like Harry mighta thought he found a long lost relative or something - one of his kind.;D:biggrin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agyQKI-Ip3E

Nena

The Mystery Tree

Pompano - 8-25-2009 at 06:22 PM

What is it and where is it?

Hint: This one is south of Mulege and north of Cabo...closer to the Cortez than to the Pacific.

For decades, many Don Juans have carved lover's intitials there.

Cypress - 8-25-2009 at 06:30 PM

Fig?

Pompano - 8-25-2009 at 06:39 PM

Yes, Cypress...it's a fig. Know where?

mulegemichael - 8-25-2009 at 07:11 PM

Pomp...it's a fig up west of santiago...by the river....beachgirl and i are up at east of bonneville RIGHT NOW fishing for steelhead...hooked over 20 the past two days....my brother was a sturgeon guide on the columbia for many years and we had one memorable trip with him...my two buddies and i joined him in portland then headed up the river for the adventiure.....we launched somewhere below bonneville and anchored up to catch our bait; shad...we caught a bunch of them then headed up to the great dam....we anchored in the boiling, churning maelstrom of water that is known as the columbia with a 50 lb anchor and put on a whole shad as a bait...took a 2 lb weight to get it to the bottom....the INSTANT it hit bottom a big ol sturgeon was on...two hours later we brought a 12 footer to boatside...fun..we have hooked dozens of steelhead these past couple of days...join us!...stop by our place in sequim...please

Cypress - 8-25-2009 at 08:00 PM

Pompano, No idea, but there are a couple of big ones east of Mulege on the back road to San Jose de Magdalena.

Pompano - 8-26-2009 at 05:52 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by mulegemichael
Pomp...it's a fig up west of santiago...by the river....beachgirl and i are up at east of bonneville RIGHT NOW fishing for steelhead...hooked over 20 the past two days....my brother was a sturgeon guide on the columbia for many years and we had one memorable trip with him...my two buddies and i joined him in portland then headed up the river for the adventiure.....we launched somewhere below bonneville and anchored up to catch our bait; shad...we caught a bunch of them then headed up to the great dam....we anchored in the boiling, churning maelstrom of water that is known as the columbia with a 50 lb anchor and put on a whole shad as a bait...took a 2 lb weight to get it to the bottom....the INSTANT it hit bottom a big ol sturgeon was on...two hours later we brought a 12 footer to boatside...fun..we have hooked dozens of steelhead these past couple of days...join us!...stop by our place in sequim...please


Hi Mike y Roz...hey, we must have just missed you guys at Bonneville Dam. We were there for a couple days about a week ago. Great place that I have passed by many, many time.. and I heard about the fishing! Those sturgeon are indeed huge. I saw a huge one 'poling' in the swift current below the dam. That fish came out of the water like a telephone pole..straight up and straight back down...an amazing sight. Reminds me of paddlefish on Ol Mo.

Salmon, you say? I decided to fish them in a more convenient spot .... perfected this technique on the Kenai River in Alaska next to some bears. :rolleyes:



Thanks for the invite, next trip for sure! See you later in Asuncion and Mulege, amigos. Remember to take time and smell the lavender....

Pompano - 8-26-2009 at 05:56 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Cypress
Pompano, No idea, but there are a couple of big ones east of Mulege on the back road to San Jose de Magdalena.


Cypress, this particular fig's location is too obscure, I'm afraid. So I'm disqualifying it for the photo quiz.

Good answer on the fig part, though.

Cypress - 8-26-2009 at 06:02 AM

Pompano, I meant to say west of Mulege. Have three nice silver salmon in the freezer. Smoking 'em one at a time.:)

4. What/where is this Baja playa?

Pompano - 8-26-2009 at 08:47 AM

..and what are these folks climbing to see?



[Edited on 8-29-2009 by Pompano]

Petroglyphs - Burros Bch.jpg - 50kB

Cypress - 8-26-2009 at 01:13 PM

Santispac? The Bay of Conception?

Sharksbaja - 8-26-2009 at 01:20 PM

Burro Beach and the Hwy1 construction bypass up over the ridge?

Pompano - 8-26-2009 at 07:35 PM

Just came back from the river, Sharks. Sorry to be so late in answering your good choice. Burro Beach iit is..although it looks a mite different today compared to that 1981 photo. Not too much was built then at Burros Beach except some ramshackle palapas...the kind we all liked.

The couple is on the way to view some well-known petroglyphs on that hillside.



Anyway, you have answered this photo quiz question and you should win some kind of prize. How about some salmon fillets?..walleye?..Rocky Mountain oysters?


[Edited on 8-28-2009 by Pompano]

5. Rock Piles

Pompano - 8-28-2009 at 08:56 AM

I was out dove hunting one day and came across some piles of rocks. Very meticulous endeavor. I liked the look of them and took some photos. Care to guess or explain what they are used for?




"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral." ..nice quote, eh?

I have to admit, though, the moment I saw those piles of rocks, I thought.."Wow, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris! No, wait..that's a dead ringer for Winchester Cathedral in London!"..uh, yeah..sure I was.

In reality I was thinking..."Hey, lookit those piles of rocks."

[Edited on 8-29-2009 by Pompano]

Cypress - 8-28-2009 at 03:56 PM

Feed or drying troughs?:?:

Taco de Baja - 8-28-2009 at 04:10 PM

Rock corrals to round-up small pebbles and sea shells.

Those rock piles are actually...

Mexray - 8-28-2009 at 10:48 PM

...all that's left of the foundation for a hidden V-2 rocket launching site built during the mid-40's by noted rocket scientist Wernher Von Bomb...

The Germans were planning on powering their rockets with an experimental fuel refined from local shell fish - you can see the shell remains in your photo...in fact you can find many large piles of shells in locations all around Baja, more evidence of the large amount of sea critters needed for this WWII secret project...:wow:

Fortunately for us above the border, the fuel conversion process was never a success, as the locals would 'dip' into the large vats of steaming shell fish for lunches and dinners before the elixir could be distilled...:P

BajaNuts - 8-28-2009 at 11:06 PM

they are sacrificial alters!


3 virgins once a year.............or is it one virgin 3x a year....:?::?::?::?:

Pompano - 8-29-2009 at 06:05 AM

Ray..you've been watching those "Weapons at War" Discovery reruns again, right?

Skipjack Joe - 8-29-2009 at 07:46 AM

Old wells that are no longer being used?

Mexitron - 8-29-2009 at 08:32 AM

I've seen rock piles that were mining claims but not two next to each other.....maybe there's something inside the rock pile.....???

Pompano - 8-29-2009 at 08:35 AM

No igor, not wells. Too many too close together for that..and also too close to the bay and saltwater levels.

Just carefully-laid ground level piles of rocks that don't appear sacred in any way, but are certainly unique. Graves?..probably not.

I suspect property markers of some sort...or a landclaim like the old mining laws of the west, when all a prospector had to do when making his mining claim was to put up a pile of rocks.

I am not ruling out alien visitations.

edit: Hey, Mexitron .. beat me to the mining claim idea. ;)





[Edited on 8-29-2009 by Pompano]

turtleandtoad - 8-29-2009 at 09:02 AM

These are shellfish work tables. There is a couple on top of the island at Requesion, surrounded by shell middens.

Bravo! y gracias Sr. Miquel

Pompano - 8-29-2009 at 10:13 AM

A great reminder of the past shellfish industry in the bay.

Skipjack Joe - 8-29-2009 at 11:02 AM

Yes, that sounds right. I can see the shells scattered around the far one.

Middens, however, are shell mounds left by prehistoric man where he cooked his food and left the uneaten remains. Is that likely here? Would the Indians build these tables for their daily meals?

Could these rockpiles have been made by the conception bay modern harvesters when they cleaned their shells to relieve the backbreking work? You would expect huge mounds of shells nearby as they do it commercially.

I guess I'm asking about the age of these 'tables'.

turtleandtoad - 8-29-2009 at 11:12 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
Yes, that sounds right. I can see the shells scattered around the far one.

Middens, however, are shell mounds left by prehistoric man where he cooked his food and left the uneaten remains. Is that likely here? Would the Indians build these tables for their daily meals?

Could these rockpiles have been made by the conception bay modern harvesters when they cleaned their shells to relieve the backbreking work? You would expect huge mounds of shells nearby as they do it commercially.

I guess I'm asking about the age of these 'tables'.


There ARE huge mounds of shells on top of Requesion Island. The next question was, why would anyone haul all those oysters all the way to the top of a mountain?

The answer is (to me) fairly obvious for anyone that has braved the swamp at the bottom of the mountain. Mosquitoes!!

The tribe setup their camp at the top where the breeze would keep the critters away.

I've got some photos of the middens somewhere, I'll see if I can find them.