Sunrise 7:14: How foggy was it?

On their drive over to Baylands, the Dawn Joggers called their Portland friends Ricki and David, who they'd enjoyed a Baylands outing with one Saturday last fall. David reported the usual Portland foggy gloom in contrast to the bright sunny skies in Menlo. But about 1/2 mile west of 101, the fog appeared, clearly some kind of low lying bay fog as opposed to coastal fog that blows in from the west. It was so foggy at Baylands, in fact, that the female DJ actually took a wrong turn as she traversed Byxbee Park and later along she was stopped by two couples who couldn't get their bearings, even though they had a map. The usual clues of east and west were cloaked in the thick fog (thicker than the photo indicates). The male DJ called the female DJ's shot "Wyeth like"...

Sunrise 7:15: Not regular and confused

Before taking off on her morning run, the female Dawn Jogger goes out and picks up the two morning papers (yes the DJs cling to the idea of print, both having started out as 'newspaper people' in their careers). It was not surprising to see the San Francisco Chronicle's headline "Worse Drought Ever" on the front page given the lack of rain this year and the past few. The experts are saying it's California's worst ever. As a person who's out before sunrise five out of seven days and who's been doing so for 25 years, the female DJ thinks there's something else different about this January. The birds are singing and the bare tress are starting to bud. It just seems awfully early for both...

Sunrise 7:15: From prayer guy to rodeo queen

At the beginning of the fall quarter, the "prayer guy" appeared on the Stanford campus. The female Dawn Jogger saw him with regularity facing east at sunrise from the dry lake bed of Lake Lagunita. When the winter term began, his appearances ceased, but Miss Rodeo California - or at least her horse trailer parked adjacent to the open paddock area of Stanford's equestrian complex - all of a sudden showed up. Because the female DJ's parents had very good friends in Salinas, she grew up going to the annual California Rodeo held in that town and remembers the Rodeo Queen (usually on a paint or palomino?). It just seemed a bit incongruous that the she'd be on campus, home to few rodeos. Turns out she's a graduate and is an assistant coach of the team in addition to her many official appearances, which she blogs about. The female DJ will keep an eye out for the queen and her horse...

Sunrise 7:16: A kindness Kitty understood instantly

It was with a heavy heart that the female Dawn Jogger set out for her Wednesday Dish run this morning. When she came home from a meeting last night, the male DJ told her that their friend Donn Reisen had died on Monday. Professionally, Donn was President of Ridge Winery - and it's clear from a blogpost on Wine Spectator that the industry feels his loss and held him in the highest esteem. Personally, Donn was husband of Marilyn, who the female DJ went all through Hillview School with (back when it was a K through 8). To the DJs, Donn will always be known as the man whose kindness and gentle manner won over Kitty (their cat who took a while to get the hang of being social). On a night many years ago when the Reisens were at their home for dinner, Kitty did not hesitate to cuddle up in Donn's arms for some petting and attention. There must be some adage about animals knowing the goodness of a person. The DJs hold Marilyn and the rest of Donn's family in their prayers...

Sunrise 7:17: Clear but cold

The male Dawn Jogger and his walking companion Scott are talking about the same thing the female Dawn Jogger experienced this morning - it's cold outside. If you didn't feel it, the frost showed it. Of course compared to the rest of the country, temperatures in the 30s in January are mild. So we Californians are spoiled. Not only by the mild climate but the grandeur of the live oaks...

Sunrise 7:18: Plugged in for the work week

As she's mentioned many time, things are barely stirring on the Stanford campus when she jogs across in the predawn hours. Some things, like the electric cars getting their overnight charge, seemed primed for the week ago. The university is at the forefront of alternative energy research, announcing a couple weeks back that it is establishing a $100 million institute to focus on energy issues and work toward development of more affordable and efficient ways to capture the power of the sun. Given this - and its fleet of electric cars - the female DJ remains puzzled why the university persists in using gas-powered vehicles to patrol the Big Dish area. Even rattlesnakes dislike gasoline emissions...

Sunrise 7:19: Saturday wildlife

It's usually on a Saturday Arastradero Preserve outing that the female Dawn Jogger encounters creatures of nature. But wanting to avoid the mud - and the possibility of getting caught in heavier rain showers - she headed from the house to do the Dish. She was still along the paved path between the golf course and Alpine Rd when she interrupted a good-sized hawk munching its breakfast in the bush. The bird immediately took flight to a nearby tree limb and stared down at the female DJ, lest she make a move to the meal in progress. A half a mile later, she came upon a banana slug smack in the middle of Piers Lane. All the rest of the critters encountered were of the human kind...

Sunrise 7:20: Rainy day run

For the second morning in a row, the female Dawn Jogger awoke to the sound of rain drops. She mostly runs in the rain, although not in a real storm, but had used yesterday's precipitation to take the morning off. Two days off in a row, though, is inexcusable, even though sloshing through puddles in the dark is not exactly fun. The weather is coming up from the south so temperatures are mild...

Sunrise 7:21: Can it be just another day?

Wednesdays are probably the female Dawn Joggers favorite day of the work week - it's the morning she does her Dish run, which she looks forward to and finds wonderfully refreshing. So it was good that today is Wednesday because she woke up with a bit of an emotional hangover. Can all the celebrating really be over? The symbolic change has occurred but now what - with so much to be done? How does one answer Obama's call to national service...

Sunrise 7:21: Amen to a day of beginnings

The amens started last night when the Dawn Joggers went to an interfaith prayer service for [now] President Obama at Grace Cathedral. It concluded with the The Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, Episcopal Bishop of California reading the Rt Rev. Gene Robinson's invocation prayer that began the inaugural concert on Sunday night (that HBO did not broadcast) and leading those assembled at Grace in a hearty, "Amen." The DJs stayed in the City and the female DJ admits to waking a number of times during the night hoping she'd see the pink of dawn, much as she did when she was a child waiting for Santa. Or maybe, just maybe she'd wake up - and horrors it would all be a dream - this amazing man (a human being not a messiah reminded Robinson) really wasn't about to become the 44th President of the United States, pledging that "together we will change American." Finally the dawn came - for the DJs, and with God's help, for America...

Sunrise 7:22: Can't keep death at bay

Two weekends ago when the female Dawn Jogger was out for some morning exercise with friend Lisa while they were at the Vestry retreat, she commented that "at least no one is dying at the start of this year [unlike last]." She came home that Sunday to learn a good friend's Mom had suffered a massive stroke; she died the next day. This morning, she stopped to inspect the tree (pictured) she always associates the the dog Mister Buster, who Cassie would tumble with when they met at sunrise near the Stanford mausoleum. Both are now gone; Cassie almost a year (and spoken of by the DJs every day). Just 5 minutes later on her route, she came upon a lady she's seen walking her two dogs for the past three years. Sadly, Cesar the German Shepherd died last week. "It's like there's a big hole in my apartment," she said. And in her heart...

Sunrise 7:23: Up close with the herd

The female Dawn Jogger had seen plenty of evidence of this year's herd of young cattle on the Dish land - and a few had previously straggled into her range for closer inspection. But on this morning, when she did the full 7-plus mile Saturday Dish run, the whole herd showed up for inspection, accumulating mostly around the cattle grate on the Piers Lane side of the Dish. There are always one or two who seem curious about her picture taking...

Sunrise 7:23: Change is here, change is coming

The upcoming week is all about the change, starting with the commemoration Dr. King's lifetime and his call for a nation where all God's people could live as one and culminating in the inauguration of the Yes We Can president, Barack Obama. Sermons will be preached on change and songs sung. A vast amount of inaugural merchandise is available for purchase. The change in the female Dawn Jogger's life was smaller, a new model Lumix camera - yet unnamed - accompanied her on her jog this morning. The first photo shows change in progress...

Sunrise 7:23: No water, no boating

While it's just mid-month, meteorologists are predicting what may be the driest January ever, breaking the record set in 1920 when just 0.26 of an inch of rain fell in San Francisco. The experts saw there's no sign of the high pressure ridge - that's moving storms to the north - breaking up. Last year by the end of January, Lake Lagunita had water. This year it's completely dry, absent even a few puddles. Also absent since the the Christmas break is the morning prayer guy the female Dawn Jogger saw so faithfully all through the fall term. Maybe need to bring him back to prayer for rain...

Sunrise 7:24: Warm at the top

The Bay Area has been experiencing record breaking warm weather. And while it's cool at sunrise, the accumulated hot air stays at higher elevations. The female Dawn Jogger guesses it was at least 10 degrees warmer at the top of the Dish this morning than at street level. With clear skies, she continues to have the navigation of moonlight in the predawn hour. This morning the moon posed for a picture with Big Dish itself. One of the delightful surprises of jogging at dawn...

Sunrise 7:24: Lights, camera, action

It was last Tuesday that the female Dawn Jogger noticed swimmers for the first time in Roble Pool in the predawn darkness. She was on the other side of the pool this morning and decided to jog over and take a look. Only about half the lanes were occupied - everyone clearly doing exercise laps. What was fun was the photo she got - half movie set and half UFO landing. Good to find amusements in the dark...

Sunrise 7:24: Chasing clouds today

The one minute earlier sunrise wasn't the difference for the female Dawn Jogger this morning - it was the lack of overcast prevalent all last week and the light of still fairly full moon. So it's just seemed brighter from the time set out across the second fairway, moving south across campus. The sky was adorned with bright cigar-shaped clouds, their hues changing from pink to more orange as the the sun's light too affect. A good outing today...

Sunrise 7:24: Getting in a little snow shoeing

The female Dawn Jogger had left the crack of dawn on Saturday for an overnight at Sugar Bowl, the annual retreat of her church Vestry. While those who went early to ski complained about lack of snow and icy conditions, it was gorgeous weather for getting in a little snow shoeing, which she did at the crack of dawn this morning. Not enough light to get a good shot of friend Lisa, who accompanied the female DJ sans snow shoe...

Sunrise 7:25: Light in the barn

Deciding to do a Friday Dish run as she'll be up in the mountains this weekend with little time for exercising, the female Dawn Jogger concluded her week "looking for the light" with the warm and welcoming light of Stanford's Red Barn spotted from the first fairway of the golf course, which she cuts across to get to Junipero Serra. The horses had been fed...

Sunrise 7:25: Light on Yoko

The many lights on Stanford's White Plaza were shining on Yoko Ono this morning when the female Dawn Jogger passed by in the predawn darkness. Strange to realize that most undergraduates were not born when John Lennon died, so may only have a vague image of Yoko. And probably not on the impact on the Beatles when she hooked up with John...

Sunrise 7:25: Dish light

The sun is setting later each evening. But, in the morning, it's stuck on 7:25, where it's been over a week. So the female Dawn Jogger continues her week looking for light. She knew it would be a tough assignment today on her Wednesday Dish run. Sometimes there's the light of a lawn mowing machine on one of the two fairways she sprints across but not today. There's always the barrage of car headlights on Junipero Serra but they're more annoying than illuminating. The Dish itself is engulfed in darkness, except near the top where there's a shack that houses electrical equipment (she thinks). Hard to see even those lights today in the fog...

Sunrise 7:25: Lighting the lanes

On the second morning of her quest for light, the female Dawn Jogger stumbled upon something she'd never seen before in the many years she's run across the Stanford campus - at least in the dark before dawn. A stand of portable lights had been placed adjacent to Roble Pool, lighting the way for some swimmers who were cutting through the water on their backs. Two people in a parked car were monitoring the progress. Maybe part of some fitness class...

Sunrise 7:25: Looking for light

Thanks to the relaxed holiday schedule, it's been about two weeks since the female Dawn Jogger has had to run in the morning darkness. But it's back to business today and up with the radio alarm at 6:00 am. She's decided that this week she'll be purposeful about looking for light in the darkness. And maybe get a little arty...

Sunrise 7:25: White wonderland

The female Dawn Jogger - trying to prepare for a return to the normal routine tomorrow - went out as the sun rose this morning. It looked like it had snowed, the golf course was so white. And the frost was heaving on the railings...

Sunrise 7:25: Good morning Ms. Coyote!

Between the rain and fog, there have been few blue sky mornings this past week, so when the female Dawn Jogger spotted the sunshine today, she decided to head out to Arastradero Preserve for her Saturday outing. She was hoping that it wouldn't be too muddy; more than once the DJs have gotten bogged down in the wet, sticky adobe mud or have slipped and slid on top of it. And while she didn't escape from a few long stretches of muddy conditions, the pay off was sharing one stretch of the road with a female coyote (based on size), who trotted along in front of her for awhile. The animal paused just long enough to her portrait taken...

Sunrise 7:25: Lacking ambition

The female Dawn Jogger has had some good long runs lately but with a light rain falling - and a late start - she lacked ambition for anything longer than the tried and try Menlo loop that take her back through the open space along the creek. Evidently a neighborhood cat was similarly content not to stray...

Sunrise 7:25: Still life in the woods

While the male Dawn Jogger went for a later than usual morning walk with Scott and Tiger Lily, the female DJ headed out for hike up Los Trancos on the Portola Valley Ranch trails. She took the route DJs referred to as "short Portola," a great three plus miles outing that got the DJs and Cassie the Australian Shepherd in the woods without spending a lot of time. Like hiking Windy, it's a hard route to do alone and memories of doing it as a threesome were around every turn - and every puddle or stream of water that Cassie frolicked in. The fog was dense again, adding to the atmosphere. The female DJ concentrated on trying to photograph "still lifes"...