NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:Our relatives and friends, acting out of love

Our weekend excitement began early last Thursday, when we had a surprise visit from our 9-month-old grandbabies, Allison and Lauren, and their parents, Scott and Nicole.

The babies had just come from their first “acting” job. They landed a big part in “Big Love,” an HBO series about a polygamous Mormon family.

Lauren was cast as the baby of one of star Bill Paxton’s wives. Allison was on standby in case Lauren got timed out. Babies can only “work” for a limited amount of time, which is why identical twins are in demand. We hope that her scene doesn’t land on the cutting room floor.

On Friday, Vic and I participated in the monthly bird survey at Shipley Nature Center. Lena Hayashi and others have conducted a census there every month for nearly three years now. It’s been thrilling to watch the number of species that use the center grow as restoration continues.

Vic and I were assigned to census the southeast corner, which includes Sage Hill and Blackbird Pond.

In truth, Vic did most of the birding while I admired how much my plantings had grown. Sage Hill, which was covered with invasive giant reed and castor bean in 2002, is now a lush landscape of sages and other native plants.

While I was admiring California poppies, Vic found the Southwestern willow flycatcher that has been hanging out at Shipley. This had been a target bird for the restoration project, so its presence at Shipley was electrifying. In fact, three willow flycatchers have been sighted in and around Shipley Nature Center over the past couple of weeks, including a singing male. Perhaps a pair will nest there next spring.

Carol Williams and half a dozen helpers were busy in Shipley’s native plant nursery, getting ready for the big plant sale that the Friends are holding on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Go early for the best selection. They’ll have 100 species of beautiful California native plants, plus demonstrations of composting, restoration work and other activities.

On Saturday, Vic taught his bird class while I went to Bolsa Chica to collect some prickly pear cactus for a restoration project. Last spring, I wrote a grant application to the Southern California Wetland Recovery Project on behalf of the Orange County Conservation Corps.

In partnership with the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, the Bolsa Chica Conservancy and the California Department of Fish and Game, we proposed to restore the strip of sand dune and wetland south of the south parking lot, adjacent to Pacific Coast Highway.

The Wetland Recovery Project funded our proposal. Over the next two or three months, a chainsaw crew from the corps will remove Myoporum and other invasive non-native plants. Volunteers from the public will pull iceplant and plant natives.

Our next public workday is Oct. 21, so come have fun with us from 9 a.m. until noon.

The conservancy has partnered with Pacifica High School in Garden Grove to grow out some native plants for this project. I’ve already had my corps crew take cuttings from mulefat.

These plants needed to be pruned back from the south parking lot boundary. We took about 50 cuttings from the pruned branches. I put them in water and they’ve already sprouted roots.

They will be planted in pots this week, and will be ready for planting in the ground at Bolsa Chica in a couple of months.

Cactus pads root readily, so that’s another species that we can propagate to save money on restoration. On Saturday, I needed some volunteers to help me collect cactus pads from the Hearthside Homes property. The conservancy had already arranged permission for collection.

The Down 2 Earth Club from Long Beach Poly High School arrived about the same time I did. They jumped at the chance to participate in a restoration project.

We put tongs, clippers and paper grocery bags in a wheelbarrow and set off on the mesa trail. Along the way, I stopped at various vantage points to deliver short talks on Bolsa Chica history, ecology and restoration.

We admired the restoration work being done on the mesa by the Bolsa Chica Stewards, the restoration arm of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust.

I couldn’t have collected the cactus alone, so I am very grateful to Maxwell Kushner-Lenhoff, Billionrosannea (Roseannae) Chhouk, Allan Tolkoff, Sokcheat Pov, Mary Sao, Brooke Holstad, Brian Johnston and Sam Kushner-Lenhoff for their help.

These students were delightful. To find a high school group that already knew about the population crisis, carrying capacity of the earth, global warming and other environmental issues was heartwarming.

This club is working to get their school to reduce carbon emissions, because buildings contribute as much to global warming as vehicles.

We topped our weekend on Sunday with another visit from Scott, Nicole and the grand- babies. This time, Scott came to paint my new home office.

Global warming has finally driven me out of my old office. I’m switching from my current west-facing home office to a room that doesn’t get as hot in the afternoon.

After it too gets painted, my old office will become our new library/guest room. Then we’ll redo Vic’s office. Our home renovation continues unabated as we clean, toss, recycle and reorganize.

We expect the house to be in chaos for many weeks to come. The more things change, the more they stay the same!