Kerfuffle-to-Go

Baby Fix!

2012-01-27T20:43:00.000-08:00

Drove over to the Bay Area today for a baby fix. Here's the deal, the fraternal twin boys are the sons of my buddy Barbara's foster son James. His adorable widdle 10 day old boys are named Wyatt and Virgil. Names sound familiar? Anyway, I got to cuddle and play with the boys who are so young that playing with them amounts to holding them and gawking at their teeny fingers and toes. Cool! Hey, how come babies don't have puppy breath?

Virgil (l), with brown hair looks like his Dad,
Wyatt (r) has black hair and looks like Mommy

Thank heavens Angie's Mom came to stay and help with the boys for their first few weeks. I thought they were pretty kind to let me visit while the boys are so ensie. Talk about hectic! The babies need to be fed every two hours, day and night.

Grandmother, Mom, other Grandma Barbara w/Wyatt, Uncle Eric w/Virgil
Uncle Eric and Daddy James holding Wyatt
who, despite photo is not eating an apple
I had fun visit. Barbara with Eric, drove up from Monterey. It's been ages since I got to play with a v. young baby. I got to cuddle Adan when he was a newborn and he's away at college now - told you it was a long time!

Birdies in My Neighborhood

2012-01-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

Exchanging stares with a Red-shouldered Hawk
Bleck! Despite it being a gray, drippy and dreary sort of day, I ran a few errands then visited a few local parks to see what was hanging around - uh... not much. Still, I always enjoy checking out the chickens in Old Fair Oaks Village. I probably drive through the village park at least once a week to admire the feral chickens.

A few of the usual roosters, taking it easy
I blew a perfectly good photo op when I spotted a full size rooster and a bantam strolling side by side, but I was too slow. Two minutes sooner I'd of had a shot of them side by side - identical in every feather but a HUGE size difference between them. I've seen such rooster 'twins' in Fair Oaks Village on several occasions.

Full size rooster left, ensie identical Bantam, right
Speaking of bantams, a few days ago I noticed a new comer that stuck out because of his exotic looks. This little cockerel has the longest tail feathers in the park as well as a strange white ear skin and a fancy rose comb. I did a little on line research and I think he's a black Rosecomb Bantam. What a pretty little fellow! How did he ever end up at the park? Why would someone buy such a nice looking bantam then dump it in the park? I doubt anyone would accidently lose such a nice little bird. I keep having to shake off my urge to scoop him up and bring him home.

A little lost waif; a Rosecomb Bantam

Check out Pretty Boy's fancy rose comb
I stopped by Sailor Bar and Rossmar Bar on the American River and was amazed how common Lark Sparrows actually are. I used to think of them as being rare and exotic - I guess I just wasn't getting out much. I found some Gold-crowned Sparrows, first of the year and Cedar Waxwings. I was stunned earlier this week to find Western Bluebirds which I didn't think would show up until at least late March. They seem - at least to me - to be back early, and I can say the same for American Robins, which I saw today for the first time this year.

A couple of Acorn Woodpeckers
At Rossmar Bar I spent a fair amount of time watching Common Goldeneyes and Common Mergansers fishing in the river but then it started to drizzle again. I gave up and returned home to to a nice hot cup of coffee.

Back to the Kitchen!

2012-01-24T08:10:00.000-08:00

My last bagel baking attempt a year or so ago was dreadful. The recipe was complex and taking my best guess, I overshot the amount of yeast needed by about a quarter cup. Yes, you read that right - a quarter cup. Despite the excess yeast the bagels were flatter than Ma and Pa Kettle's tires and they tasted yeasty. Thought I'd NE-VER attempt bagels again.

Flash forward, or back, to today and I decided to give it another shot using a different and far easier bagel recipe. .

This recipe was a cinch. I dumped 2 cups of rye flour (my innovation), 2 cups of white flour, 2 scanty little teaspoons of yeast, sugar, salt and water into my food processor which did the mixing and initial kneading for me. A little razzle (more kneading), a little dazzle (time for the dough to rise) I had raw poofy bagels. Actual recipe HERE.

A couple of my raw, misshapen bagels
The thing that makes bagels bagels is boiling them before baking. You ever wait for a dutch oven's worth of water to boil? Takes forever.

The bagels boiling 1 minute on each side
The boiled bagels were out of the hot water and onto poppyseeds or sesame seeds, then onto the baking sheet. Ten minutes on each side and I had freakn' bagels! Didn't have to go fetch them from Noah's Bagels or anything!

Boiled and baked Claire-type bagels

Whooo hooo! Wonderfully chewy and as I suspected, not quite as pumpernickely as I would like. No surprises there because I didn't add malt syrup or use brown sugar - so as to make real pumpernickel bagels. Maybe next time, if I'm feeling brave, I'll give pumpernickel bagels, using all rye flour, a go. You hear that Pumpernickle bagels? You are my density!

Tada! Home made breakfast sandwich;
delicious, nutritious & ugly

What the Winds Blew In

2012-01-13T21:47:00.000-08:00

Every now and again the winds blow some poor bird out of Asia or Russia and into California; December 2011 was such a time. A Eurasian teal of the species know as 'Falcated Duck', found itself in the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge.

What's the big deal? Well imagine for a minute if mammals could get blown off course, ending up in California's central valley. You might be driving along Highway 50, look out the window and see a bewildered looking Prezwalski's wild horse, or perhaps a forlorn Panda or lost Snow Leopard. Is finding a lost bird blown so far off course is really less worthy of comment than finding a lost Eurasian mammal? Of course not, and that's why birders are driving & flying from all over North America to see one little lost duck.

Here below is a license plate I spotted in the Colusa NWR parking lot. If I've ruined some Montanin's "...Gee boss, I've *cough, cough* got the flu. I'm staying home this week..." excuse, I hereby offer my sincere apologies.

A license seen in Colusa NWR car lot

I first went up to see the Falcated Duck by myself on December 15, 2011. The duck was there, and I marveled at how convenient it made itself. Parked in the refuge car lot, it was only a 3 minute walk to the wooden viewing platform where a dozen birders happily peered through binoculars and spotting scopes.

The Colusa wooden viewing platform; 1/13/2012
The birders present were mesmerized by the little male duck, and everyone was impressed with it's brilliant feathering and cheeky attitude as it tried to court nearby female American Wigeon ducks. I'll bet it had a thick Slavic accent. "Here you wee-dle girl ducks, I am for buying you many it pretty things eef you come leetle closer."

Don on the right, chatting up some birders
Just in front of the Colusa viewing platform
Three Northern Shovelers just to right of platform
Leap ahead to January, and I again headed up to Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, this time with my birder buddy Don, who avidly anticipated seeing the duck. I was fretful when we left Sacramento as it was Friday. The duck had a habit of being scarse between Fridays and Sundays, due to increased visitation on those days. So, when we arrived at the refuge and walked up the ramp on the viewing platform, my heart sunk when we heard the duck was not present.

Flights of Greater White-fronted Geese
overhead, but no Falcated Duck
We hung around and Don chatted with other birders for a bit, then we drove the Colusa Refuge's auto tour loop.

Our drive was barely underway when Don spotted a Bald Eagle perched in a distant tree. With my usual alert nature, I totally missed seeing the bird. Drat! The Colusa Refuge is huge, and full of overwintering Snow, Greater White-fronted Geese and the less common and smaller Ross's and Cackling Geese.

I'm always fascinated by Ross's Geese, as they look like mini-Snow Geese with snub bills and short necks. Here below are some Snow geese.

Snow Geese with big, fat long bills
Now here for contrast are several little Ross's Geese, with their snub bills and petite stature. See the difference? No? Well, join the club! I'm kidding, if you study them, the difference begins to stuck out after a bit. The little Ross Geese look like they're Snow Geese that underwent nose (bill) reduction surgeries.

Petite, Ross's Geese with dainty bills

We didn't see anything to unusual at the Colusa Refuge, but as we rounded the last bit of the circular auto route, we spotted a bank full of little white poofy blotches.

The magical wall of Black-crowned Night Herons
The poofy blotches were Black-crowned Night Herons. I can't remember ever seeing so many Night Herons in one spot.

Close up of the scarlet-eyed Night Herons
When our short tour was over, the disappointment remained; the Falcated drake was nowhere to be seen. So, we headed further north for the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge.

These days the refuges all seem to have auto tour routes, that forbid getting out of vehicles, least the wildlife get spooked. That's a plus for a lazy birder like myself. I can sit immobile and yet appear adventurous, instead of lazy. Winters are the time of year the central valley refuges are chock full of activity as waterfowl fly in to spend their winter in R&R before flying back to the arctic in the spring for a vigorous season of nesting & rearing chicks.

Along the Sacramento Wildlife refuge tour we spotted a grounded, annoyed looking Cooper's Hawk, just off road. Mind - all Cooper's Hawks look annoyed.

Cooper's Hawk
I was rather taken by a magical view of an ordinary doe, grazing mid day in a patch of teasel. The scene looked all silvery and rather enchanting. Little Doe among the Teasels
A closer look at the doe
We got out of the car and had a nice look around at the Sacramento Refuge's wooden platform, which unlike the Colusa platform, didn't host any lost vagrant waterfowl, just the usual motley crew. When lunch was over we drove back down to the Colusa Refuge and nearly held our breath as we approached the platform - duck or no duck? DUCK!

I was flabberghasted - the Falcated Duck flew in only a few minutes before we arrived at the viewing platform. There was back patting and high five-ing galore - the Duck of the day was in! There is no joy like that of a mob of birders, who driving in from near and far, get their lifer duck, as did myself a month ago, and Don today.

Here below I give you my crap shots of the Falcated that I took back on 12/15/11. I used my big SLR camera, but actually got better photos - shown below - shooting the duck through my Kowa scope with my iPhone.

Not nearly as brilliant on an overcast day Photo: digiPhoned
The curved feathers on his rear give the name Falcated or sword shaped
The overcast day meant no metallic glint off this boy's head
Full frontal Falcated - showing his white nose spot.
For a finale, I recommend watching this well edited, music enhanced video, of the Falcated Drake. This video is so beautiful I get all sentimental edging on weepiness, watching it. This shows off the Falcated Duck's lovely green metallic head as he swims circles, but more impressively you can see the scimitar-like 'falcated' feathers and how they are located on the drake's wing.

Is it December 21st yet?

2012-01-10T16:00:00.000-08:00

It occurred to me I haven't yet posted for 2012, so we may all assume the year is off to a slow and steady pace. I barfed in the New Year & am only just feeling back to normal post-flu. The weather has been v. cold, particularly nights & my hens whom for unknown reasons, chose this frigid weather as their opportunity to molt. The back yard looks like a pit-bull pulled off a fight with a feather bed.

The two-legged Hens have all individually begun pushing for a Hen Party. I think everyone just woke up one morning and were agog that our last Hen Party was in September of 2010. Dates are being trounced about and late March will most probably fit the bill for our get together. We're particularly antsy to get things rolling as Hen Ingrid will be going into the Peace Corps this August. Ooooo we are all so proud of our adventurous hen!

I'm participating in a free on line program called Codeacademy, sworn to teach a b'jillion people computer programing in 2012. So... started the program this week and already feel like a moron. Problems is, as with most programing types, the person who wrote the lessons seems to think people reading the lessons already know programming. Why aren't these things either tested on computer know-nothings, or why aren't they tested on people with I.Q.s under Sheldon levels? HA! See what I did there? If you don't watch Big Bang Theory you can read that last sentence and have barely a clue what the hell I'm talking about. If you're comfortable with that, you might as well take the Codeacademy class with me, that way we can both be frustrated and pissy.

For You, For Boxing Day

2011-12-26T15:00:00.000-08:00

This seems to work in Foxfire, but not at all in Explorer Internet. So, try going HERE.

Oh, and after you view it, think "What a Wonderful World" a lot, watching BBC, not so much.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

2011-12-25T08:08:00.000-08:00

My niece Sydney and Nephew James
all decked out for the holidays

2011-12-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

My Sister Dolores, my niece Doris and her two sons William-Allen and Marion-Elliot are on the other side of the country from me. Ah! Looking so hale and hearty, they make my heart warm.

My family in NYC
Warm is important just now. I got up this morning and the temp was a not-so-balmy 28 degrees. Burrrr...

They're HOME!

2011-11-21T10:01:00.000-08:00

Only two days after returning from Texas, I was off south to Monterey County to pick up my poor girlies, who had been at Barbara's house from mid August. While I took two hens to Barbara for baby... or rather, hen-sitting, I brought home, not two, not three, but five birds!

As I wrote back in August, both Barbara and I bought several new chicks of which I was to have two. My two chicks hung out with a broody hen, wandering far and wide on Barbara's property. Sadly, when the two half grown chicks were to be put back in the separation pen with my two... rather 'chicken' hens, the chicks were wild and wanted to beat up on my hens. So, a decision was made to keep the two wild little Americana chicks wild, with the rest of Barbara's flock.

A portion of Barbara's flock,
including the v. mean rooster
Barb also has some Toulouse Geese, whose eggs I savor...
Then Barbara had an idea. She knew I'd long considered having Maran hens - which will ultimately lay the darkest of dark chocolate colored egg shells. So, Barbara acquired for me, 2 half grown Black Copper Maran pullets. The 2 new pullets went right into the desperate pen with my 2 hens, and the four of them got along right from the start. My salmon Faverolles hen Babette began to mother the pullets immediately, even putting her wings over them on their roost at night. Am sad photos of that miracle were not able to be caught.

The new Black Copper Maran Pullets with
my pair of 2-year old hens
So I had a flock of four chickens. But didn't I say I brought home five? Here's that story...

Barbara had an Amerucana hen (Easter Egger actually), who was the favorite of Barbara's mean rooster's harem - *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*. The poor hen was sooo very popular, she had no feathers on her back - at all. She looked like dinner waiting to hop on a plate. Add to that, because she was so popular with the rooster, or more likely because she looked picked on, the other hens of the flock regularly beat the crap out of her. Poor hen had no neck feathers either. I have no photos of her in that state, but take my word for it, she looked dreadful.

Barbara asked if I would take the hen, out of mercy for her, to save her from being picked on all the time. Well, what's one more, right? So I adopted the little Amerucana. Here she is about two weeks after I took her. She had already filled her bald spots with pin feathers. She still shows a bald spot on the back crook of her wings. Didn't she look raggedy? Poor little hen!

Poor raggedy hen, feathers grown in a bit
When I got all five birds home, I kept them in the chicken coop and run for a full week - so they could all settle in and know where they lived. After a week, when let loose, my 2 old hens were out like a shot, flapping, racing around the yard like their tail feathers were on fire. The new pullets looked startled - they knew they wanted to be with their 'Mama' Babette, but didn't know where the door was. It took most the day before one, then the other, ventured outside the chicken run.

Poor American hen took better part of 2 days before she had the courage to venture out of the run. But by the following day, when I'd go out after dawn to 'RELEASE THE HENS' they all eagerly shoot out the door and commence their daily hunting for worms and other tidbits.

four of my five hens under the Hawthorn tree
For those worrying - no, I am not going to be a chicken hoarder. Five is enough really, and I have room for a half dozen so I'm not even at full capacity. Five is quite enough hen-age, thank you very much! I'm so excited, three breeds, five hens! I'm RICH I tell you, RICH! A cow and maybe a goat or two, and I can buy a husband!

Oh! Before I forget. The names of my 2 older hens are as you may recall, Babette and Adele. My Great-nephew William suggested 'Lucy' for the was-naked Amerucana. That is Lucy, as in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. A capital name for a now capital hen. The pair of Black Copper Maran Pullets? Right now I'm leaning towards the names 'Godiva' and 'Dove', in reference to their up and coming dark chocolate colored eggs. If you have any better ideas, just drop a comment. Oh, and if you have any cows or goats to spare...

Whooping it up on the Skimmer

2011-11-14T17:22:00.000-08:00

I ought to have seen Whooping Cranes already. I mean, back in 1998 I was Aransas National Wildlife Refuge but there were no cranes about at the time. Back then I could have gone out on a boat to see them but my luck, there were no boats available for crane seeking due to a major Coast Guard boat inspection.

Add to the above, I saw two wild Whooping Cranes in Florida. But noooo... they didn't count for my life list either; Whoopers being recent re-introductions to the sunshine state. So! Texas, 2011 had to be my year for adding Whooping Cranes to my life list. Or so I hoped when I left Harlingen on Sunday night, heading north west on the Texas coast.

Aransas Visitor Center
On Monday morning when I arrived at Aransas it was Deja vu time - well no wonder. In 1998 on arriving at the Aransas Visitor Center, I sheepishly asked the docents for a 'lady Ranger'. The were baffled as to why I requested a 'lady' Ranger at first. I told them, and after they laughed, they fetched one for me. The lady Ranger and I climbed into a broom closet so I could pull up my shirt and have her pull an embedded Lone Star tick out of my back. Deja vu? Yeah, well you don't forget that sort of mini-adventure in a hurry.

The scene of the Great Tick Adventure of 1998
- the Aransas Visitor Center's former broom closet

Flash forward to 2011 and this visit, I was totally tick & chigger free. Sadly, on the birdie front, the news remained the same: no visible cranes that could be seen from the land portion of the refuge. Bugger! But this time, there were boats available for Crane tours. Hurrah! I headed south to Fulton Harbor where I caught a ride on the Skimmer.

The Skimmer's captain, Tommy, is himself a birder who knows what birders are looking for.

The Skimmer
When all the birders were aboard, the Skimmer headed out of the harbor, and on the way, a small school of Bottle-nosed Dolphins tailed us, on the far side of the harbor break.

Bottlenosed Dolphins cresting
Soon we were out crusing along the coast of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in areas that can't be accessed without a boat - or fins.

View from Captain's level
The captain had his eye out, and inside of say a half hour, he spotted our first Whooping Cranes - my LIFER Whooping Cranes - lifer #600 for me!

My wwwaaayyy out there lifer whoopers
What? You're saying there's nothing in that photo above? Can't you see the four little white specks? Those were live, walking, Whooping Cranes! Honestly - take my word for it.

Ok, I was disappointed the first look was of birds so far away, but the day was young. After checking out the cranes with spotting scopes, the Captain promised us better views and we were off again. He pointed out all sorts of coastal birds of wetlands as we sailed along. The Captain spotted Roseate Spoonbills. He shouted, "Hey! There are some Spoonbills! Who doesn't love a BIG PINK BIRD!"

I cracked up. He was right. Who doesn't love a giant, baby pink birdie?

Everyone loves BIG PINK BIRDS!
One thing about the Skimmer, something special that most, if not all, of the other tour boats ca not do is - it can quietly lodge itself onto the sandy shore of little islets, turn off the engines and then... SHUT THE **** UP! That means one can happily bird without terrifying the birds with engine noises. Ahhh! Soon Captain Tommy has nestled the boat onto a sand bank and just beyond, were a pair of Whooping Cranes so close I could see the color of their eyes with my binoculars.

Pair of Whoopers
Aren't they majestic? They're HUGE! Larger than Great Blue Herons and I just adore their white feathery bussles, the height of fashion - if it were the 1800s. We sated ourselves watching the two cranes walk elegantly along, bent over, watching for a snack.

Whooper close-up
You may want to click on the photos for a larger look. After taking a good b'jillion photos of these birds, I looked overboard and noticed there were Moon Jellies floating around in the algaed waters around the Skimmer. You may as well know now - jelly fish get me all excited and squeally. Embarrassing really.

Moon Jelly!
After nice long looks at the Whoopers, we were off again to see what we could see. There were loads of water birds. Fosters terns, numerous shorebird species, and humongous White Pelicans.

White Pelicans
Captain Tommy took us to some islets, one of which had strange looking platforms, built so Herons - Reddish and/or Great Blue - could have places on which to build their nests. One such structure had a surprise on it - a Peregrine Falcon with piercing eyes.

Built by volunteers - Heron/Egret Rookery
Close-up Peregrine
Just opposite the isle of Peregrine, was a narrow strip of sand, and on it were American Oystercatchers. Here is a close up of one below. I love how the light shown right through its crayon orange bill.

This Oystercatcher had ID bands, one on each leg
Another bird that was a pleasure to see were dozens of Sandwich Terns. I only ever saw this species once before in Florida. They crack me up for this silly reason: they are called Sandwich Terns - and if you look carefully, you can see a big dab of mustard on the end of their bills, after all, we all like a little mustard on our Sandwich. Check out the third bird from the left, it's most obvious on its bill. Too cute! Click photo for a better look.

Squabbling Sandwich Terns, with mustard
Reddish Egret on one breezy islette
The Skimmer, back at port
What a fun way to spend an afternoon, and to pick up one's landmark 600th ABA area lifer. After Aransas I returned to Harlingen and had another day worth of adventures. Then before I knew it, I was flying back to Sacramento for a rest up from my vacationing. Retirement is AWESOME I'm telling you!

Estero Grande State Park

2011-11-13T20:58:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know, I'm taking forever to post my TX trip. Well suck it up, I'm almost caught up now. Really. So! Sunday, the last day of the Rio Grande Birding Festival was a bit of a chase, with several different vans headed out to find vagrant birds that got their feathered rears lost in south Texas during the festival. There was a Black-vented Oriole to be found in Bentsen Rio State Park, and a Tropical Parula (a tiny warbler) flitting about the Laguna Altacosa Refuge, but I was off in a van headed after a Rose-throated Becard. This one was a female, and they are sort of brownish with adorable little beanie cap'd noggins.

I'll shorten this story by say, many of the people who joined the hunt saw the female Rose-throated Becard, but I wasn't one of them. $#*%, of the birdie variety happens, even if there are no windshields or freshy washed cars involved. Still, I had a fun time exploring Estero Grande State Park in Weslaco (WES-la-co), TX, where roamed the girlie Becard, unseen by me.

First thing I noted was that as many birds there were at the Center, there were just as many butterflies. Now, normally I don't mess much with butterflies unless there aren't any birds around to gawk at. But honestly, could you ignore a butterfly that looked like this?

Can't believe I saw a Mexican Bluewing!
Is that a pretty insect or what? Ugh! Even the word insect is repugnant to me, but when it comes with gift wrapping for wings, you have to admire it, even if it has 2 more legs than necessary for any normal creature of nature.

Hanging Butterfly Feeder Branch
There are lots of tropical butterflies in south Texas, and at Estero, they not only have bird feeders, but butterfly feeders. The feeders are stocked with a secret formula of fermented bananas and- get this - Guiness Stout. Butterflies can't get by on looks alone you know! Here are more of the little beauties I was lucky enough to see, and photograph at Estero Grande.

Zilpa Longwing

Question Mark Butterfly
Tawny Emperors
Not a butterfly, but still rather striking: a Carmine Skimmer
The most amazing butterfly was buzz-bombing around so fast, I didn't even notice it until someone pointed it out to me. It was a Clearwing Hummingbird moth! They so resemble hummingbirds in their behavior, I was told some people think they have an incredibly tiny hummingbird in their yard, unknown to science. Imagine the rush they feel before they find out their cryptozoology discovery is a glorified bug! For you butterfly scientists out there, I know this is actually a 'lep', and that bugs are 'hemips'. See? I almost even speak your jargon.

Almost too fast for me to photograph:
a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth
Really, what I ought to have done was shoot video of that fast moving moth, but I didn't. So, in a semi-apology below is a post I got off YouTube that demonstrates how bird-like, strangely beautiful and yet creepy, these moths are.

Kinda beautiful. Kind of Creepy.

Back to birds! There were what I now think of as 'the usual line-up' in south Texas. Several Altimira Orioles were about, and there was an Oriole nest hanging off a telephone line. The guide told us he had watched the Oriole that started the nest, weaving grass strands into a sort of triangle shape over the telephone line. The birds are master weavers as you can see. This nest below was used to raise a family of orioles.

Altimira Oriole Nest
This Oriole eyed us, eying its nest. Probably
though we'd want to lay our eggs in it

I spent a while watching an area set up for birds, and enjoyed watching this Black-throated Gray Warbler take his morning bath.

Black-throated Gray Warbler, prior to his bath

Nearby dozens of bird feeders kept Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, Inca and White-tipped Doves and quite a few other birdie species occupied.

Box o' Birds

Of course there are those birds who know they are too good for handouts. Ok, maybe it's just because they don't eat seed, prefering to catch insects - butterflies included - for their meals.

Too proud for handouts? A Couch's Kingbird

Black-crested Titmouse looking like it belongs
in the North Pole with all the other elves
A couple of days earlier at another Nature Center I saw a Parauque. Well, Estero Grande had two good spots where Parauques could be spotted - if you had a clue where to look. I was so happy to see them! They were one of the birds I most looked forward to seeing and photographing in Texas.

This Parauque gave looks as good as it got
zzzzzz....

Last but not least, 2nd favorite bird at Estero wasn't exactly out there in the open. This little Eastern Screech Owl, which wasn't found by me, was hidden in the branches of a large tree. The gray blotch with white spots under the green leaves (dead center of photo) is the side of the owl. Eastern Screech Owls are only about 6 inches long. Yes, you can't see much of this bird, but wow! What an awesome little mite that owl is! Its seated facing left, only it's side and fuzzy talons visible - sort of.

Hidden away, Eastern Screech Owl

The Atascosa Armadillos

2011-11-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

My day began with a pontoon trip down the Rio Grande, and a tour of a lovely Nature Center in McAllen, and you might think I'd done enough for one day, and you would be wrong.

It was around 2PM I headed south again, this time for Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. As I headed for the refuge, I kept thinking, hadn't something interesting happened there in 1998 the last time I visited? What happened?

Laguna Atascosa NWR offers a wiff of wildcat

Oh yes, that's right! A coyote had slunk around the entrance road. Well oh my sweet Deja vu! This time too, a coyote was lackadaisically skulked around the roadway, totally ignoring me.

I took this photo with my iPhone,
expecting the animal to trot off
The coyote not only didn't leave, but it began to walk around the car, looking at me, as if expecting me to toss a box of coyote treats out the window. When no treats were forthcoming, the young coyote simply laid down.

Sit Ubu, sit. Good boy.
When I finally stopped shooting photos of the skinny thing and drove on, it lay on the roadside, passing the time like an obedient German Shepard waiting for its master's return.

The unofficial greeter of Laguna Altacosa
Once again, I did what I always swear I will not do when visiting wildlife refuges - I went shopping. I bought several cool t-shirts and oh well, I'd behaved quite well so far, I guess it was time to support the refuge via my clothing dollars. I also got my highly valued, by me, refuge stamp. Then, errand and shopping complete, I headed off to drive the auto route through the refuge, an hour's drive. The first 15 minutes or so minutes of the drive, the refuge looks like a desert, and nothing more.

Palms in Refuge
Shrike pausing in a Palm
The arid area rather magically gave way to a lovely drive along the sea shore.

Tada! Sea shore
Dotted along the passage were Reddish Egrets and other shore & water birds.

A couple of Western Willets wing past a Reddish Egret
On this trip in general, I saw as many Ospreys as I normally see pigeons. At the refuge I not only spotted an Osprey sitting in a desert wallow, but found one in a former parking lot, eating something between its toes while Ruddy Turnstones raced around it's feet. Very strange indeed.

Osprey digging into fish dinner while pestered by tinyTurnstones
The shore line must have lasted for a half hour of my usual stop - photos - drive - stop - photos - drive routine. When the road headed back into the arid landscape, I spotted a Ocelot crossing sign. I had to get a photo of it, particularly after my sign bloggy of last September.

Ocelot Sign
In my usual overkill manner, I took loads of shots of the sign - one would have thought the sign was an ocelot. Mind, I would have killed to have managed a sighting of an ocelot, but that is extremely rare. The refuge estimates there are no more than 30 of the little wild cats on the site. However, as I photographed the ocelot sign, a car full of birders from the Festival stopped alongside my car. I looked over at them, and they sort of shrugged to the road opposite me. GAK!

One genuine, wild armadillo!
There, rooting along the roadside, was a LIVE armadillo! I was flabbergasted. I've seen loads of dead armadillos, but a live one? This was my first. I took a b'jillion photos of the small and strange mammalian tank, and even shot a bit of movie footage, as seen below.

You'd be wise to turn off the sound on this, which is just the wind on microphone.

Oh, and at no point, does this mini-tank do anything more interesting than seen in the first 20 seconds of this video.

Armadillo grootin' n' rootin'
After a good 15 minutes, the other car took off, and I wondered if I'd have missed ever seeing an armadillo if they hadn't pointed the critter out to me.

Eventually the dillo headed off into the scrub, and full of amazement, I headed onward. I passed a doe and fawn that, were not the usual White-tails, but were a different species, Black-tails. Just when I'd forgotten they live in Texas too!

Galloping doe and fawn
In the same meadow, numerous Long-billed Curlews marched about on their endless hunt for insects and other tidbits.

Long-billed Curlew hunting its tiny prey

At the end of my auto tour, I took to my feet (how rare) taking a mini-tour of the areas around the Visitor Center which had closed for the day. There is a little viewing area with seating, where Curve-billed Thrashers, Northern Cardinals, Plain Chachalacas and the like check out feeders.

A Northern Cardinal, adding some color to its surroundings
I ran into a guide for the birding festival, who told me he searched for a Tropical Parula, in hopes of bring festival visitors to see the vagrant. In chatting I told him about the coyote on the entrance road to the refuge. He told me he had been greeted on his way in, no by the coyote, but by a small pack of Javalina. I was envious! Well, heck, I can see coyotes in my neighborhood at home.

As I drove out of the visitor center parking lot, I saw a huge truck barrel down the entrance road. Tempted by the thought of possibly seeing some more wildlife, I decided to wait until the dust settled a bit before I drove out. I was not rewarded with Javalina, but didn't fare to poorly. I spotted yet another Black-tailed doe and fawn, and yet another armadillo, I am proud to announce, I spotted all by myself, I'm so chuffed!

Rather a cross between a pig and a pail
I wondered the beasties get the pink spots from rubbing all over the shrubbery, but then again, maybe not. While I photographed this one, I noticed it didn't care I was there. Later in the week I was told they have horrid eyesight and if you're downwind from them, they never even know you are there. Oh! If I had known that when I saw this particular dillo, there'd have been mischief, I can tell you!

And that's the end for today

El Grande Rio by water and Quinta Mazatlan

2011-11-12T18:33:00.000-08:00

Courtyard by the River
Hurrah! No hiking today, just a nice float on the pontoon Riverside Dreamer, for a float down El Rio Grande. This was wonderful because birds, and other wildlife for that matter, ignore boats and just go about their business unmolested. So, it was nice floating along the heavily wooded shores, having a look see at whatever was flying along.

Enjoying a little, casual, off-shore birding
The first thing that got my v. slow blood moving was a ratty looking dock from which a little emerald, Green Kingfisher bird sat. You can see it below on a post, busily ignoring all the people watching it.

Tiny Green Kingfisher on a ramshackle dock
Below is close up of the girlie Green Kingfisher, who looks as if her bill was a bit tweaked (& by the by, it's a perfectly normal bill).

This bird looked a bit anxious

I was amused there were really very few ducks about. A couple of Redheads flapped downriver and one little Least Grebe poked about in the water by the shoreline. There were a couple of Anhingas, one adult, wings spread out catching rays, and below, this little juvenile.

I was a teenaged Anhinga
So much for water birds, but if one was out for perching birds, there were plenty to be seen; a tree full of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (too badly back lit to bother posting a photo thereof). Kiskadees and Altamira Orioles perched in snags like brightly colored Christmas baubles.

'Ornamental' yellow & rust Kiskadees and orange Orioles galore
Aside from a several Green Kingfishers, the other two north American Kingfishers zipped up and down the river too; Belted and Ringed Kingfishers. This female Ringed Kingfisher below gave us a piece of her mind as we passed by.

"WHAT 'CHA LOOKIN' AT?!"
or perhaps, "QUE PASA?!"
Up river, the captain turned the boat around and headed slowing back down the river, but along the Mexican shore. Very different from the American side.

Mexico, passing itself off as a bit of Greece
There was a bit of Mexican shore that reminded me of a Grecian Colosseum. We were told the place was a municipal park. Very interesting! I think the columns were sheltered picnic tables.

But there were other ways the Mexican side of the River was interesting. For one thing... there was a very large bird of Jurassic proportions strolling along the bank. Was a pontoon full of birders undergoing mass hypnosis?

Mexican shore, or coastline of Jurassic Park?
And just when we rubbed our eyes and agreed we had seen something out of the ordinary, a huge monkey, at least 4 feet hight, walked along, then plopped itself down by a boat. Pet or Mexican yeti? Hum... probably a v. exotic pet. Mexico seems as loose on wildlife ownership as Texas. I'm only surprised we didn't see any giraffes or hippos.

If only a human were close enough
to show how HUGE El Mexicano Ape was!
Our captain told us in 2010 there was a massive flood that did quite a bit of destruction along the Rio Grande. Below you can see ruins on the American shore. I think it used to be a restaurant before the river overshot its shore.

River Ruins from 2010
Oh well, enough of the weird. I was tickled to see a Vermillion Flycatcher - a brilliant ruby of a flycatcher. It was hunting insects and fluttering about.

Vermillion in flight
Below is a highly magnified shot of the bird. The bird was a lifer for many people on the tour.

Vermillion Flycatcher
As usual, getting near the river means seeing loads of Ospreys, that are common all along it's length. I was lucky enough to get a few shots of this Osprey, Taking off from a post, its lunch in tow.

Ospreys always carry fish, heads
first, for aerodynamic reasons
One of the last and most interesting birding ops for watery journey, was a huge funnel of Vultures, consisting of two species; Black and Turkey Vultures. But wait... not so fast! Was one of those 'vultures' a fraud?

No ordinary vulture funnel
Amid the vultures was one deceptive little raptor, conspicuous at first sight only by a white band on its tail. The boatload of birders frantically all tried to key in on the 'suspect' amid the 25 or so vultures. Once you really stared at the flock, the imposter became easier and easier to track with binoculars; a Zone-tailed Hawk. The sneaky things fly with vultures, which small rodents and such ignore. Then... when the rodents least expect it, that one not-the-vulture, swoops down and BAM! Dinner time. Rather cunning don't you think?

I was pleased to not only see the Zone-tailed Hawk - and I haven' seen one in a decade - but get a half decent photo of the pseudo-vulture.

Zone-tailed Hawk, an incognito Vulture
The boat ride was about 2 hours long, and soon all birders were off the pontoon and on a bus, headed for McAllen Texas, and it's fairly new Nature Center. We were barely off the bus when I was so distracted at the Center's gate, wondered if I would ever get around to actually entering the place. First there was a convenient Golden-fronted Woodpecker, one of the few which actually offered a view of it's lightly golden feathered belly.

Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Even more distracting was something that caused quite a commotion under a funny little tree called a Guamuchil. There were several of the native trees planted around the gateway of the Center.

Kerfuffle around a Guamuchil
The cause of the little foot traffic jam was a single black - yes, black butterfly, called a Red-banded Pixie. I kid you not, this was the most amazing butterfly I've ever seen. There was only the one butterfly on the tree, which the butterfly species exclusively lays its eggs. This flutterby is so interesting it is the McAllen Texas City butterfly. It is as auspicious as an insect can get.

Wish I'd spent more time photographing this living Pixie
Eventually I tore myself away from the Pixie and entered the gates of Quinta Mazatlan Nature Center.

Finally though the Gate
Our lady tour guide is quite devoted to Quinta Mazatlan, having been involved in the homestead's acquisition for the city. She told us some tantalizing gossip about its origins and said there would be a short tour of the mansion, if we could tear ourselves away from the birds and butterfly gardens. She was not joking!

Right off the bat, as we walked up the path, there was an orange traffic cone, and just inside the shrubbery in the vicinity of the cone was a treat. Two Parauques were day napping there on the ground among the leaves. I was so excited I could barely maintain my dignity (ok, I lost it). Stare at the photo below. Can you make out the Parauque?

Cryptically feathered Parauque,
slumbering on the ground
No one who saw the Parauques could be un-enthused about them. The birds were not easy to see, even if they were only 3 or 4 feet from your own feet. They weren't easy to see if they were at your feet! Once I learned to spot them I was quite full of myself. I could pick them out easier and easier as the week progressed. The bird above will not be the only Parauque I will shove in your face during my trip.

Buff-bellied Hummingbird buzzing a Turk's Cap (flower)
What lovely gardens, all planted with native species. They were grouped together along pristine walkways and maze-like paths. Dozens and dozens of butterflies fluttered about near whatever plants were actually planted with the winged candy in mind.

Queen Butterflies
Our tour guide sent half the birders to the mansion for a tour, and the remainder of us, down a path to a bird feeding area. We all headed through a maze of shrubbery, and finally we turned a corner to see dozens of bird feeders. There were peanut butter feeders, suet feeders, oranges were jammed onto sticks ever where we looked.

But there was more than peanut butter - there was a young girl, standing over a small, scenic bird pond. She held up the voluminous skirts of her purple, poofy Quinceañera dress. Her mother hoovered nearby and chattered instructions. A photographer snapped away, also shouting instructions to the girl, who seemed to be in danger of being engulfed by her own dress. So there the girl was, in the middle of this grand, giant sized bird feeder area, while some 25 perturbed birders stood around looking - wildly disappointed. The little photo shoot picked up and left the area and the birders happily settled onto many benches that faced the bird feeders. Later on, the tour lady told us most of the income that keeps the Nature Center going comes from Weddings and Quinceañera. Oh the residual guilt!

Birdie Garden and scene of
the cut short, Quinceañera shoot.
It was wonderous how quickly the birds returned once the photo shoot stopped.

Presto! Birds galore
The birds didn't care who sat watching, so they shot in, raiding the feeders and putting on a show: Kiskadees, Clay-colored Thrushes by the dozens, several Curve-billed Thrashers, A good dozen or 2 of Plain Chachalacas and more House Sparrows than anyone cared to see.

Clay-colored Thrush

Kisskadee perusing the lunch menu
After much time spent sitting to watch birds, chasing birds - in other words, the usual - it was my turn for a tour of the 1930s Quinta Mazatlan adobe hacienda.

The courtyard
The swimming pool
An elegant cockfight in tiling

Thick red tiles line the hallway

The tour allowed close looks at some of the many nooks and crannies. My favorite spot was a room used by modern brides and their bridesmaids for changing in & out of their gowns. That room featured a gated, Romanesque bathtub, fit for an emperor.

The Roman bath

There was a great room, featuring a giant tiled archway. Glass inlets housed fancy dinnerware from the hacienda's hay day.

Archway, and view of the inlet cupboards of fancy dinnerware

Antique Plate featuring, what else... a bird

Fireplace featuring a lovely tapestry
A skyward view of the hacienda greenhouse
The tour ended at a small gift shop, where I meagerly gave into my penchant for a Quinta Mazatlan pin and patch. I then enjoyed a little more outside viewing, but soon it was time to leave McAllen and return to Harlingen.

It had been a long morning, and as the tour group unloaded from the bus, I thought I'd done enough for the day - NOT! I was off to yet another National Wildlife Refuge, but more on that in my next post.

On to Salineno and South Padre Island

2011-11-11T23:45:00.000-08:00

The group heading toward the foggy Rio
As usual it was dark when the bus pulled out of the Community Center, headed for Saeneno, where my tour group would bird the shorebank of the Rio Grande River. When we got there and got off the bus, it looked like we were invading a quaint little Mexican village, but we were still in Texas. We tromped off down a short slope to the river. On the short walk I was excited to see and photograph the Pyrrhuloxias, which look like hybrids of red Cardinals and parrots. Pyrrhuloxias and various sparrows fluttered on the road, White-winged doves sat watching us from the telephone lines, and the dawn chorus was in bullhorn mode.

A noisy Pyrrhuloxia
Across El Rio, was Mexico. Out of the Mexican shrubbery, a herd of creamy cows headed gingerly to sip on the river's edge. Later on a small heard of horses did like, one horse wearing a humongous cow bell that we could easy hear from our side of El Rio.

Facing Mexico and creamy cows
Overhead flock after flock of ducks - Gadwall, Canvasback and Redheads - shot by, as did Double-crested and Neotropic Cormorants. There were plenty of other birds up there too.

A Crested Caracara floats by; note it's 4 white corner:
a white spot each on the wings, the tail, the head.

There were also lots of Kiskadees and several noisy Ringed Kingfishers we could spot, even from across the river. I had fun showing one birder how to digiscope (relatively fitfully) with an iPhone. We agreed it was a fun project when one is goofing off during down time when birding.

A Ringed Kingfisher on the far shore
There were loads of birds around; doves of several species, Bobwhite Quail fluttered in a brief appearance, Gnatcatchers, Phoebes, Harriers, Ospreys, and the ever present, ever loud Great Kiskadees. What was conspicuous in abscence however, were Red-billed Pigeons. Que Lastima! I missed that species back in 1998 too. Birds keep to their own little schedules, even if there are desperate birders around. Oh well! I consoled myself with a the odd butterfly.

A Phaon Crescent
The group was not done yet. We headed over to Falcon State Park. The park has an arid sort of desert scrub habitat, one of the many habitats that makes south Texas so fruitful for birders. Right off the bat we saw Lark, & Chipping Sparrows. The guides located Black-throated Sparrows which I couldn't get a glimpse of to save my life, poor me.

The rather barren at first look, Falcon State Park
I did get more than a glimpse of a Cactus Wren that sat in a tall Century type tree singing, and it didn't care who or how many birders stood around staring at it.

accommodating Cactus WrenEarly afternoon, I was no sooner off the bus, when the trip bus parked again in Harlingen, than I was in my rental car, headed south on HWY 77. When I was in south Texas in 1998, I visited South Padre Island but was dismayed that I couldn't even manage to access any shore there. I'd heard there were loads of shore birds to be seen, and I felt pretty stupid not being able to find a beach, much less a sandpiper.

'Interesting scenery on the drive south
Skip ahead and only 2 years ago a Nature Center opened up on South Padre Island. Hurrah! It required a modest fee to access it's mile or so of wooden boardwalks. It was a great little habitat for wetland birds, and a few gaitors and was well worth the drive. For one thing I bought there an adorable tan sun hat with 8 different embroidered shore birds on it (Weee!).

Hurrah! Wetland Access!
South Padre Island Nature Center
The Nature Center looked like it had been on the coast 100 years, not 24 months. Once I entered the center and paid my fee, it wasn't long before I was strolling the boardwalk.

Looking back towards the Nature Center and
its tall tower that overlooks the south shore

Oh the birdies! Least Sandpipers, Dunlin, Snowy & Great Egrets, White Ibis, Common Moorhens and many other marshy types walked the mudflats and creek-lettes under the wooden boardwalk.

Dunlin
What was most fun about the boardwalk, is the birds are so used to it, they either do not notice, or do not care about the humans on it, so you can get great close up views of birds, with or without binoculars. I watched a Great Egret catch and eat a fish, and the Tricolor Egret below that tried to catch a fish, with little success.

a fishing Tricolor Heron
White Ibis
A nice cliche, the Nature Center is an oasis amid an over developed area
Sheltered bird blinds dot the wooden boardwalks
In the photo above, you can see a Reddish Egret that was busy either grooming or practicing it's Tae Kwon Do moves. You can see it better below.

A true master of marshal arts; a Reddish Egret
Click on this picture to see how far the boardwalk trails
I was thrilled to wander by an ordinary mudflat where I saw several extraordinary little birds; endangered Piping Plovers. They have cartoonishly tiny bills and crayon orange legs and the hyper little things race around like preschoolers on Sugar Pops.

ZIP! A Piping Plover speeds by
I could easily imagine packing a lunch and spending an entire day at the Nature Center, but unfortunately I'd arrived late in the day, and closing time was 5PM. In case I didn't take the hint, numerous flocks of ducks and such shot by overhead, headed for their nighty-night roosts.

Roseate Spoonbill headed for a feathery nighttime roost
A Long-billed Curlew searches for its last snack of the day
Oh well. Hopefully some day in the future I'll be able to put in some more time at South Padre Island. Meanwhile, time to head back to Harlingen & rest up for tomorrow's birding.

The sun sets on the boardwalks

Yippy Skippy!

2011-11-11T23:06:00.000-08:00

New computer: Check!

New computer running all peripherals: Uh... not exactly.

The new computer runs Windows 7, 64 bit, and doesn't necessarily like my old Windows XP, 32 bit stuff. Drat! The biggest bone of contention is, although the new computer & my old & fully able printer are made by HP, they do not supply drivers for this old printer. Why? *fume*

In other news, I was generously given a cast off laptop that ran like molasses in the antarctic - slow. I hated to see an otherwise nice laptop lie fallow. So at Thanksgiving, I asked a genuine, bonified young person - Rick & Nancy's oldest boy, Diego - why the laptop was running so painfully slow. His answer; RAM memory. So, I checked and sure enough, the laptop only had 256MB of Ram. Well, DUH! I ought to have realized that was the problem.

Long story short, I ordered 2 Gigs of RAM memory on line, and all on my very own, installed the memory on the laptop which now runs with the blazing speed of molasses on the equator (i.e., quite speedy)!

So, happy ending, I now have two fully functioning computers and this blog will be up and running like a penguin on the antarctic or a jaguar on the equator (i.e., blazing) any time now.

[Management regrets Ms. Miller now believes she is Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs all rolled into one, insufferable Poindexter, just because she managed, on her own, to install Ram in her new used laptop. Warning: whatever you do, do not encourage Ms. Miller to discuss computers just now, she'll rail on and on until your ears bleed. You have been warned.]

Aw, #%$^!

2011-11-11T11:15:00.000-08:00

So computer ceased acknowledging my printer... then the storage drive... the read/write CD/DVR Rom drive. Now, not quite suddenly, it no longer has the able to 'see' its optical mouse.
Claire attempts repair.

Mouse is back! But, $#&^%! - sound is gone. Computer is more silent than a dwarf butterfly sitting on a cushion & farting.

Claire: "Piece of $%#&@ computer! Why, I ought to $#%*ing toss yer bits out on yer[Management: Ms. Miller is having a tirade. Worry not; she'll be back on line to continue her November postings when her new computer arrives. That is if she is released from that nice "Home for the Perpetually Pissed Off" down the street.]

Birding South Texas, Y'all!

2011-11-10T20:34:00.000-08:00

Already silt covered at the get-go; La Laja Ranch, south Texas
At some point in the past few months, I decided that as my trip to North Carolina was rudely canceled by that $#*&% Irene, I deserved a replacement treat. I decided to re-visit the birding festival that got my life list past 400 back in 1998; the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. So, new camera and steadfast old binocs in hand, I flew down to Harlingen, Texas, the heart of tropical birding in the U.S. A.

I enjoyed the sojourn to La Laja Ranch, a private ranch that allowed the festival to drag us birder types on in search of the now scarce White-collared Seedeater. The La Laja Ranch added 2 new birds to my life list; this pretty little male Seedeater and a Clay-colored Thrush. I was amazed I managed to get half decent shot of the tiny seedeater. The thrush was not so accommodating. The little south Texas 'speciality', the White-collared Seedeaters prefer to inhabit stands of canes that grown along the shores of the Rio Grande River.

Tada! The golden ring: a White-collared Seedeater
The tour spotted more than 100 species on the Seedeater tour. Below is a horrible photo I took, and love. I took it facing Mexico, on the other side of the Rio Grande River. Why do I love it? First, because it's taken from the spot where I saw the Seedeater, but on the lower left, there is a sunning Neotropical Cormorant and the three brown spotches on the Mexican bank are a species I don't see more than once a decade; Mottled Ducks. There had been Egrets, Spotted Sandpiper and even a Greater Roadrunner in the scene before I aimed my camera, but they proved camera shy.

Yes! You have to find the Neotropic Cormorant
and Mottled Ducks all for yourself

Birds don't just pop out of the shrubbery because one shows up, so I had time to experiment while we all waited patiently for White-collared Seedeaters to appear. Because my camera already weights a ton, I didn't bring my spotting scope to Texas. But happily, others did. I took the photo below using my iPhone. It was tough, but not impossible for me to align the lens so I could snap a shot of a Long-billed Thrasher, through a spotting scope. The bullet hole look is called 'vignetting' in digiscoping lingo.

Long-billed Thrasher photographed
with iPhone, through spotting scope
As soon as I had the shot, I stretched the photo in my iPhone and took a screen shot of it. Here below is the result - much finer than I expected.

Not bad for a slip-shod, wild arse photographic method, eh?
Getting the initial shot is tricky and rather a painstaking pain-in-the-butt, but if one is in a pinch, the end result certainly would beat not having a photo at all. Decided to continue the experiment when the opportunity arises. I can't wait to take my time and try iPhone digiscoping with my own spotting scope when I get home.

There were many small birds along the river, and I saw Blue-headed and White-eyed Vireo, Northern Cardinals, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Ladder-backed & Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, and Olive Sparrows.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, flashing its tail at La Laja Ranch
On Thursday morning I was up for my trip to the famous GIGANTIC King Ranch, the Norias Unit. The King Ranch is larger than Rhode Island and is famous for it's Santa Gertrudas cattle, an amazing history, hunting, wildlife & the management thereof.

The birding tour I was on had it's sites set on finding a Ferrugineous Pygmy Owl. When I visited the Ranch in 1998 I saw at least a half dozen of the amazing bitty owls. Alas, this trip the owls called, but stubbornly remained hidden to most of the tour, including myself. Happily, Harris's Hawks, White-tailed Hawks, Northern Beardless Tyrannosaurus (a tiny adorable flycatcher), Audubon's Orioles, Greater Kiskadees, and many other Texas birds were readily visible, and many of them are south Texas specialities.

Harris's Hawk
Soaring White-tailed Hawk, are unique to
south Texas in the ABA checklist area,

There were plenty of mammals to enjoy as well. I was tickled to also see, in broad daylight, buck White-tailed deer, Rio Grande wild Turkeys by the hundreds, two mischievous raccoons and this Javalina below - that's a pig-thingie formerly known as Collared Peccary.

This adorable nearly-a-piggy was curious, taking
time to watch the weird humans nearby
The King Ranch is has it's share of exotic species, that thrive - perhaps better than one would hope - on the scrub, shrub and thorns on the Ranch. Here is a massive Nilgai doe - native to India - heading into the outback.

Exotic, Nilgai doe leaps gracefully away
I got no new birds on the King Ranch, but saw at least 50 that were fun to see, many for the first time since my last visit in 1998. Post-Ranch tour, I drove on down to Brownsville, where I put in a visit to Audubon's Sabal Palm Sanctuary.

Sabal Palms patio and main office

I could barely tear myself away from the feeders next to the office. Plain Chachalacas bounced about and raided the feeders and those gems of the Jay family, Green Jays, kept an eye on everything and raided a feeder or two themselves.

One of the ever present Plain Chachalacas
Green Jay - probably the crown jewel of Jay birds
I recall the last time I visited the Sanctuary, a Barred Owl hooted the entirety of my visit. This time the place was quiet and I took the short hike over to blinds from which I could watch and photograph loads of wild Redhead ducks and loads of the utterly adorable ensie Least Grebes. The grebes were the size of ducklings and thoroughly charming.

Least Grebe
I arrived so late to the Sanctuary, I had less than an hour to explore it. My last ten minutes were spent by a butterfly garden behind the visitor center. As I waited by a hummingbird feeder, a beautiful male Buff-bellied Hummingbird zipped up to the feeder, darted about like a fairy on methamphetamine and buzzed off. Hurrah! I was rewarded with a lifer bird, one that miraculously evaded me in 1998, because a cold winter had nearly wiped the birds out.

I was bummed I didn't get a photo of my lifer Buff-belly Hummer, but then again, LIFER number five hundred ninty-nine! One more to go.

That's right, I'm totally adorable!

I'm Back, But Then...

2011-11-06T12:20:00.000-08:00

... I never said I was gone. I've had a wonderful time visiting my family in Baltimore Maryland and I even went north to the Big Apple for more of same. What a rare - for me - treat!

in the BIG APPLE - a town I never expected to ever visit again - I visited with my big sister Dolores. We spent a week seeing everyone and everything I could think of; people I love.

Dolores (sister), William (nephew) and Rhonda (cousin)
My practically long-lost big brother Juan
The biggest treat was seeing my niece Doris, who since I last saw her in 1992 added a couple of lovies to our family, her boys, James-Allen and Marion-Elliot.

My niece Doris, and her boys
I even got in a visit with my Godmother Bernice. She is 80-something and troops about the city like she were 20-something. She is one of my 'when I get old' role models, meaning keep active and don't stop doing what you love.

Godmother Bernice

On my last night in New York City, my sister Dolores, cousin Rhonda, my godmother Bernice and I got together. We treked to MoBays, a Caribbean Restaurant for a cheerful dinner. Come to think of it, there were loads of dinners out on this trip. In Baltimore, on my last night in town we had a celebratory dinner at Oceanaire to celebrate my nephew-in-law Avon's Birthday.

(L to R) Ain, Avon, Sydney, Bea,
James Dolores, Nicole and Kirk

And here they all are again when that phenomenal bill came!

Just a bit of a shock

So, I'm tickled that seeing my family is no longer a semi-decade (or two) event. Now I see them all at least once a year, and believe me, that hardly seems enough. Oh well, nothing to do but look forward to seeing some of them this coming Spring!

On Sandy Shores and Salty Marsh

2011-11-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

Canada Geese winging past historic Sandy
Point Shoal Lighthouse; circa 1883
Today my Nephew Kirk drove us over the Chesapeake Bridge over to Sandy Point State Park. There was a guard at the entrance... of a sort.

Loiterer by the Entrance Station
The first thing we noticed entering the park was it is full of light structures, used in the park's annual Holiday season light display. Many of the displays I guess use animation, such as a lit froggie that leaps up and over to a lily pad - a 5 foot long froggie. I know Kirk will be back with wife and kids to see the show.

I was rather surprised by the sand at Sandy Point - it was sandy, yes, but it was quite yellow in color and not at all like west coast sand. I guess it'd be too expensive to take it all up and replace it with San Francisco grade white sand.

View of the Chesapeake Bay & Bridge from the beach
Certainly, I was the only one fussy about the sand. There were loads of others at Sandy Point who were busy, albeit on a November day, soaking up some rays.

Sandy Point is good for a little sunning
Others prefer a game of volley ball
Birdwise, I strolled along a berm by the shore, and watched Bluebirds and Tufted Titmouses fluttering busily about. My primary target was - it being a bay - was shorebirds. My shorebird count for the day was three; these lovely little Sanderlings that probed a floating pine tree off shore. The birds were pretty far from shore, but I'm reasonably sure they were Sandies.

Sanderlings afloat on a fallen log
The most numerous bird on the shore - ignoring the Ring-billed Gulls, and a tiny number of Lesser and Greater Black-backed Gulls - were hunting Eastern Bluebirds. They were everywhere, sallying after what must have been a meager amount of insects and landing in the grasses. Why haven't these lazy migrants headed south yet? Apparently the Bluebirds were not impressed by last weekend's snow storm.

Bayside Bluebird
Near the beach there were a few White-tailed Deer and we were tickled to sit in the picnic area and watch the deer goofing off, playing reindeer games and such.

Flick, flick, flick, this buck's tail was a traffic signal for the others
The Mama doe flicked her tail quite a bit too
I was a bit surprised the White-tails were out in broad daylight, meandering about like they owned the place, which, if you ignore we silly humans, they do.

What.. and where are you going young fawn?
Keep your hooves on Ma,
I'm checking out these light things
The deer floor, or rather, lawn show was great entertainment. We wended our way back to the car which took us past a beautiful historic mansion with a long sweeping driveway, a little under the weeds, but still impressive. Later I read the house is under reconstruction, returning it to its 1700s roots when it was HQ for a farm. Currently it's a private residence - for someone immune to drafts I reckon.

The grand Sandy Point Mansion
Having time for one more stop, Kirk headed for the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center, which is a large conservation reserve. There were was trail you could drive or walk - guess which one I went for?

Boardwalk at the end of the trail - must be great for rails!
There were, as expected lots of wet, loads of marshland and a surprisingly modest number of Canada Geese and a Great Blue Heron and Great Egret or two.

Lovely Loblolly Pine hammock in the marsh
Kirk headed in to check out the Visitor Center
The Environmental Center was modest but well equiped with a spotting scope and many pairs of binoculars and more importantly, loads of turtles and birds to stare at.

Uh.. not one of the turtles I mentioned
it's one of the center's roadway signs
This girlie Northern Cardinal enjoyed scrounging
under the bird feeder - less competition I guess
For me a trip to the east coast isn't complete without seeing some Blue Jays, which I always say are bird # 1 on my ABA area life list. The jays are one of the prettiest birds anywhere in my opinion.

This Jay was too hyper - or too busy -
to visit long at the feeder
To shell a seed, place between toes and POUND it!

Happy Hallow-daze!

2011-10-31T22:20:00.000-07:00

Never let it be said that I'm never available for the big holidays! After spending most the day with my sister, I joined Nephew Kirk for some Trick or Treating with my nephew/niecelette and their even tiny buddy Patrick. Here they are at the start of the festivities.

Left to Right, Patrick is Batman, James is a Ninja
Knight and Sidney is Minny Mouse
There were loads of Halloween characters out. I was amused to see Winnie the Pooh, who apparently had nothing to do with a tiny honey bee that was working the other side of the street with Daddy.

Character assault on the candy bag; Sydney's on the far right
Yumm... someone left out a bag of candy
on the honor system
And on to the next conquest
A kindly Hot Dog dishes out the treats

I had fun Trick or Treating with the niece/nephew tonight! I also enjoyed seeing all the costumes, as always an intriguing mix of store-bought & home made costumes. My favorite for the night? This costume below:

This guy said he is a 'Classic Nerd'
He is the classic Nerd all right; I particularly like his pen/pencil jammed pocket, complete with plastic ruler because we all know how difficult it is to drum up a slide rule these days.

Bwah ha ha ha! Nice haul o' Treats for one night's work

Birdin' Baltimore

2011-10-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

Time out for some birding this week, hosted by my Nephew Kirk. He did his birding homework and found some hopeful places to take me around the Baltimore area. We started out at North Point State Park. Although the shoreline was depressingly bereft of birds. The autumn color filled woods were full of hyper Hermit Thrushes, flashy Northern Cardinals, and loads of Dark-eyed (Slaty) Juncos and still-exotic-to-me White-throated Sparrows.

I thought I was done for the morning when surprise, an adult Bald Eagle hoovered over the trees, as I stared from the parking lot. By the time I called Kirk over to see it, the bird had floated out of view. Happily, a short walk toward the eagle's position revealed a juvenile eagle. Kirk got a nice look at the Baldie baby, probably hatched out earlier this year. Kirk told me he chose the park because he'd heard a pair of eagles nested at North Point.

I managed a few shots of the soaring adult Baldie
There was a remaining treat in store for me though. As we walked back from the baby Baldie viewing I spotted something skulking along in low lying shrubbery. At first, lost glance I assumed it might be a House Wren - then the bird popped into view - a WINTER WREN! I got my lifer Winter Wren! I'd hoped for one when I visited Baltimore last year but gave up on the idea. Figures - when you quit fretting, things happen. I'm at 3 lifers for 2011.

Winter Wren photo by Christian Artuso
Our second stop was a year overdue. Last year we couldn't find the park entrance but this year it just popped up: Robert E. Lee Park. As it turns out, even had we found the park last year it was closed. Recently it reopened, and as we drove in, the first thing we saw was a waterfall.

Jones Falls, your first sight in Robert E. Lee Park
Lovely birding spot. Birds were everywhere; Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Bluebirds, Chipping Sparrows, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-bellied Woodpecker that disappeared into a hole in a huge snag and a Red-tailed Hawk, overseeing everyone else's activities.

We had fun following the peregrinations of this little guy. You find the bird in this photo I took with my mini-digital?

It's just to the left of center... see it?
He's here but he's tiny.
It was fun watching this chuffy little Golden-crowned Kinglet.
One fun little sighting at Robert E. Lee was what I at first quick glimpse in flight, thought was a chickadee. The bird landed quite close and was an as yet undetermined species of Sparrow with a snowy white head, and pale-ish belly; a partial albino. Kirk and I were agog at the weird little flutterby. I was chagrined that what ought to have been a great shot of the bird was thrown by the reflectiveness of its white head. The bird managed to hold on to most of the coloring of its crown. What species? I'm guessing a White-throated Sparrow, but here's its photo, you tell me!

Partially albino sparrow

Hum... maybe the Leyba family has been infected with the birding bug?

Spooky Time!

2011-10-30T05:19:00.000-07:00

Jack o' Lanterns at Colorado's Stanley Hotel

Now I ask you to put down your Halloween nog and ask yourself, what's October week without me carrying on, & posting any spooky shite of the past year? Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

The only truly, very nearly spooky shite I've personally experienced took place in my home, in my bedroom. One night I was crawling into bed and I out of the blue I smelt a flower. Now, there were no flowers in my bedroom, the windows were closed, and even if there were windows, there were no flowers in the vicinity. I have a spray bottle of lavender by my bed, but what I smelt; that wasn't it. It wasn't lavender and I couldn't quite recall the fragrance. All I knew was it was a fresh flower, just picked sort of fragrance. What the... I dismissed the incidence.

Some weeks later, I was again in bed, and I suddenly got a strong whiff of a flower. This time the scent rang the right bell in my noggin; plumeria, my mother's favorite fragrance. Where did it come from? It was so fresh, like a bouquet just under my nose and it completely disappeared after about 30 seconds or so. Ma? I swear, I wonder if that scent was just my mother saying hello. yeah, you're right, I'm nuts.

In other spooky shite this year I visited loads of spooky places the most renowned of which was the Stanley Hotel.

Come on, nothing spooky looking about the Stanley, right?
The Stanley Hotel is mostly famous for spooking the king of the horror genre, Stephan King and inspiring him to write his horror classic; The Shining. Without admitting their hotel contains any spooks, the Stanley hotel tips its hat to its spirits by playing The Shining on its televisions, all day, every day.

The telly in our room, played The Shining, 24/7 - really!
Can't say we didn't stay there solely because it is reportedly haunted. The place is also a beautiful facility that is steeped in local and American history. Who wouldn't want to stay at a hotel that once hosted the Unsinkable Molly Brown, the Emperor of Japan and the fore mentioned Stephan King?

Room 217, was Stephan King's room, where he
ultimately wrote about Jack, the mad boy
The elegant Georgian style hotel has an elegant set of stairs.
This beautiful lobby piano is said to surreptitiously play itself
One of Freelan O. Stanley's Steamers
What's spooky about the Stanley Hotel? The forth floor, which has elegant gables, was where servants, nannies and their little charges stayed. People staying on the forth floor are said to sometimes report that children are running up & down the 4th floor halls - and of course, there are never any kids up there at the time.

The gables of the 4th floor haunted by
the sound of romping ghostly children

There are other haunts about, including a maid that is said to approve or disapprove of people in a certain room. If she likes you she might unload your suitcase for you, but meet her disapproval and she will dump your things about the room.

Barbara and I were booked in the Mansion House, next door to the main hotel. Haunted? We weren't certain, but I hoped we would find out. I could have taken part in an overnight Ghost Hunt at the Stanley but frankly... I didn't have the energy.

The Manor House, where we stayed
Shortly after checking in a did a quick tour of the Manor House, which looks like it'd be a fantastic place to film a horror movie.

A gloomy-ish room in the rejuvenated Manor House
So is the Manor house haunted? I sure didn't think so. I was in a tiny roll away bed and was sleepy enough to not care. Well into the wee hours of the night I woke to an eerie sound.... a long whiney call, that echoed through the halls and into our room. WHAT THE...! I mean, I was prepared for something unusual, but this was so loud, so haunting so... stupid. It was a fire alarm. The damned thing whined on and flashed lights for about an hour before the local fire fighters showed up to turn off the annoying thing. Ghostly? Uh... not really!

Me scared? Heck no. I was just admiring the view

Well, someone seems to have
enjoyed her stay at the Stanley...

Follow up on yesterday's Chicken Chat

2011-10-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

Bed time... I mean, time to roost!
Hurrah! Barbara sent these photos; the new Black Copper Maran pullets on the coop perch with Babette and Adele. Awww... I can't wait to get them back up here. Adele, on the far right, has her feathers so puffed up you can't even see her eyes.

Sleep tight my little feathered girlies.

So... these little black chick things... we don't
have to sit on them or anything, do we?

Change of Pullets Plan

2011-10-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

So... my poor girlies have been in Monterey at their Auntie Barbara's house since mid August. All alone, they have to be separated from Barbara's flock whose hobby it is to beat the $%*# out of my girls, Babette & Adele. Oh well, I guess even chickens are entitled to hobbies, right?

My poor girls think they got 20 to life in Sing-sing.
Anyway, mid August Barbara and I got new chicks, of which I was going to take 2 'Easter Eggers', which Barbara was raising for me. Easter Eggers lay either blue or green eggs and I do like a lovely palette with my morning egg.

undyed blue & green eggs laid by Easter Egger Hens
You might remember that Ms. Pink, Barbara's buff (in all senses) hen, the dozen new chicks, and my 2 girls were all in a pen together. Ms. Pink's hobby was beating the daylights out of Babette & Adele.

Yeah, Ms. Pink's what they call a tough old bird.
So, Ms. Pink had to be kept out of the pen where my girls were boarded, and of course, Ms. Pink took her foster chicks with her. End results: Ms. Pink and her chicks ran free range and that means Ms. Pink's babies grew to be tough, buff and pugilistic pullets.

In other words, both Barbara and I feared - quite literally - for the lives of my 2 Faverolle hens if they had to live together with the 2 young Easter Egger pullets at my home. Ever heard of pecked to death by ducks? Well, pecked to death by chickens is a real deal.

Well, HAPPY DAY! Barbara got an idea. She found a local chicken person who is raising a type of chicken I have had my eye on breed wise, the breed being Black Copper Marans. Now, Marans lay deep chocolate brown eggs, as such...

undyed dark chocolate colored Copper Maran Eggs
Cool, heh? So, long story short - and you know I could make this post, a zillion pages longer if I felt like it , so count your lucky stars - here are my new little Black Copper Maran girlies, Barbara picked up this afternoon for me. They're now penned up with Babette and Adele, and as they are smaller than my Faverolle hens, the idea is they'll all get used to each other, thus avoiding a chicken blood bath of Friday the 13th intensity.

Now I'm even more excited about bringing my girlies home. And what am I going to name my new Black Copper Maran pullets? Penny and Onyx? Oh well. No worries. Probably won't be able to tell them apart anyway.

So, where's the wall-to-wall
carpeting we were promised?

The Big Year

2011-10-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

So, bright and early today I raced off to the early bird showing of The Big Year. I'm mentioning it here because anyone who wonders whattheeff is up with birders, this flick offers just the tinest glimpse of what makes birders tick. I enjoyed the heck out of it, and even found myself a little weepy at some of the sites - I was all sort of 'awww... yeah, Attu was awesome' and 'yeah, the Brownsville landfill sure reeked', and '$#%@!, I have got to get to High Island '.

Anybirder will love the movie just for the joy of bitchn' over movie errors. For example, on Attu a blizzard is a good thing; and I mean freakn' spectacular good. There was a blizzard when I was there that blew wonderful vagrant birds to the island (yes!) AND it bought me several extra days on the island because Reeves airline couldn't fly in to get us. GO BLIZZARDS! Awesome. I'm tellin' you. Freakn' feathered awesomeness.

So, go see the movie. And remember, you don't have to sink a b'jillion dollars into seeing all the North American species in one year. You can see them all over your lifetime, like I'm doing. Just look out your window at some birdie passing by and think about it... it can FLY for free, and chances are, you can't.

Honestly... I can't believe they got Martin, Black & Owen to do this movie, AND not a fart joke to be heard.

Icy cold, wet, salty and still a FANTASTIC Pelagic voyage day

2011-10-09T19:04:00.001-07:00

Whimbrel on the rocks
I love pelagic birding. Nothing like that fresh air, salt scented breeze and a shite load of gulls squealing at the back of a boat. In August I had 3 pelagics Hatteras North Carolina canceled because of Hurricane Irene. So tagging along with my birder buddy Don for some pelagic birding off Half Moon Bay will be my soul pelagic adventure for 2011. Pathetic, neh?

That's trip organizer/leader/birdie_guru Alvero 2nd from left

Birder Bud Don who tossed out popcorn to gulls like a trooper
The short shut out of Half Moon Bay was heartening - loads of cormorants, shore bird types and pretty good photo opts. I got numerous shots of Black Oystercatchers.

Black Oystercatcher calling on the wing
Little Black Turnstones sat on the jetty and on top of the jetty were all three species of cormorants; Double-crested, Brants and Pelagic. My favorite jetty bird was a nice Surfbird and I was tickled to get a fairly nice photo of it.

Surfbird - yes, the bird is smiling!
Once the boat made it past the harbor opening, we spotted the 'little ones' that always amaze me. They're often barely up to a robin in size, yet there they are, out on the frigid ocean, their little bills not even chattering with the cold. How do they do it?

Common Murre, late afternoon, on cold, choppy waters
One of the crew said he's heard people who see Common Murres from the shore, think the little birds are penguins. Well, at least the little birds are in the right color palette; black & white.

North American Penguin or another Common Murre?
The nice sharpish photo above makes it seem the photos are as easy as point and shoot. Nope. Try standing on a teeter totter while trying to photograph a ping pong ball balanced on another teeter totter, that someone keeps throwing a blanket over; that's what ocean photography is like. I'm lucky all my photos aren't as shaky as this little Rhinoceros Auklet below.

Rhinoceros Auklet
I must have taken 30 shots of the preceding, adorable Auklet and that was the best shot I managed.

I took maybe 50 shots of this Tufted Puffin, and most of them were shots of empty waves, which kept churning up and blocking my view of the little bright billed mite.

Tufted Puffin
After a couple of hours, we made it out to where the deep sea bird life hang out. Suddenly there were Black-footed Albatross and several species of Shearwaters. Shearwaters are like fast cruising fighter jets, shooting just above the waves. Get it? They shear the waters. They beat Nascar any day of the week.

Flock of Buller's Shearwaters and a
Pink-footed Shearwater on the far right
Arguably the prettiest Shearwater is the Buller's. By the way, their mantles (back of the wings) are designed by the same people who design the Nascar race cars. Snazzy birds.

Buller's Shearwater
Marin County Weather Bouy was
accompanied by a herd of California Sea Lions
Some birds you see on almost all pelagic trips, but that doesn't mean you don't love seeing them again. The Northern Fulmars are one of my favorites. I think I enjoy them because they have really fancy noses that drip salt instead of snot, and I guess I appreciate that. Can you drink salt water instead of fresh, and dribble salt from your nostrils? Don't you admire a bird that can do that? Sure you do!

Northern Fulmar
Northern Fulmar
Pink-footed Shearwater
Pink-footed Shearwater on take off
There were nice views of 2 of the 3 local species of the Jaeger species; Pomerine and Parasitic Jaegers. The name Jaeger means 'hunter' and these birds are playground bullies, as they still rip off the lunch money (caught fish) from other pelagic birds. Yes, I know that's not cool, but at least they don't torment the other birdies to suicide so they're still better than real school yard bullies. Today we didn't see any Jaegers tormenting other birds. I think the weather was doing such a good job of that, the Jaegers didn't have to.

Parasitic Jaeger
Pomerine Jaeger
And while I'm on the topic of bullies, there is another bully that came to the boat and did its thing; the South Polar Skua. They're the gulls on steroids you see picking up and eating baby penguins on National Geographic specials. They're hard core but I really like them anyway, after all, I'm not a penguin.

South Polar Skua
I'd high hopes we'd see lots of whales on this trip, but I knew the chances were slim. Whales are usually plentiful when there is cold waters, which is like saying 'when the dinner plate is full'. Unfortunately, the dinner plate was kind of skimpy (waters were warm) so I was lucky to get a quick glimpse of 3 passing Pacific White-sided Dolphins and one long lovely look at the back of a Humpback. That was it! Early in the day a few Harbor Porpoise were seen but I didn't see them.

The ride back to Half Moon pier was so rough, it rained salt water. I was so cold my teeth chattered and my core temperature must have been 3 degrees. Happily, post trip, Don cooked up some nice New England Clam Chowder from scratch. Yum, nothing like hot food to warm the cockles or whatever else you have in your heart region.

Next morning Don gave me directions to Sunnyvale Baylands Park, where I checked out half the park for the mini warbler fall out that happened a day or two ago. No luck, the only warblers I found were an Orange-crowned and some Yellow-rumped (AKA butter-butts). I did manage to get a fairly nice pic of a Bewick's Wren. So it was a fun weeekend, even if wet and cold. Honestly, any cold, wet salty birdy weekend, beats a warm, sunny birdless weekend.

Bewick's Wren showing of its good side

Orange-crowned Warbler staring at me

End of Vacation: Crescent City

2011-09-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

Crescent City's Battery Point Lighthouse at dusk
The last few days of vacation took Barbara and I driving from Klamath Falls, Oregon to a favored destination, Crescent City, CA. The drive there was uneventful other than a 'Zambini Sisters' U-turn so we could visit a rock shop. We were thrilled because each of us found our birthstones. Barbara bought a beautiful silver set turquoise pendant, while I got a natural pink star sapphire (corundum ruby) which I all but snatched off the shop keeper's neck.

In sunlight, the rough sapphire
shows a fantastic six-rayed star
How wonderful to squeeze in a visit to Crescent City! Barbara and I were happy not only to get our usual motel room on the beach, but we got to visit with our friend Inez too.

We started out early our second morning, Inez volunteered to drive in her faithful car Ivy, so Barbara and I could stare out the windows and take in the towering redwoods. Inez is fun to tour with. From the time she was a child, she gathered ferns, Salal and other wild plants for the florist trade down in San Francisco. Growing up in the redwoods means she learned loads of really cool stuff. For example, she pointed out to us what I never would have noticed at all; red disruption of soil on a slope. Inez told us either deer or bear slid down the slope, accessing the road below. Is that cool or what?

Bear or Deer slide

Bear Berries
Inez also really knows her redwood forest plants. She was good at pointing out little snacks for me as we wended our way through the forest too!

Red Huckleberries

Mid morning snack; Red Huckleberries

Redwood stump burl

A wee Barbie deep in the woods
I was pleased to realize I've known Inez for more than ten years now. We met at a Passports in Time event called "Follow the Smoke" in 2001. On that week event we both helped the Karuk elders collect several different plants for basket weaving and dying. We ran across one of our favorite such plants, the Five-finger Fern, whose stalks make the shiny black roving in Karok and Yakut Indian basketry.

Five-finger Ferns

Five-finger Fern's shiny black stems

Inez hiked downhill to look at river rocks

Inez checking out the river rocks

Nice fat Banana Slug
I was tickled to hear Inez call the fungus below a 'conk'. I haven't ever heard such tree hugging fungus called that before. Cool!

A Redwood forest 'Conk'
After our driving tour with Inez, Barbara and I hung out in our beachfront room at the Crescent Beach Motel. Neither of us were inclined to actually go out and walk on the beautiful beach, but it has been a long vacation and we were at the vacation point where your brain is focused more on home than seeing anything else. Oh well, we had a fun couple of weeks!

Quite mysterious, when we arrived in town on Monday afternoon there was nothing along the shore by the piers but gulls. Two afternoons later, Barbara and I saw this incredible sight; a ship wreck on the beach!

Ship wreck by the pier
Maybe this is one of the boats destroyed by the recent Tsunami that hit Crescent City. And how amazing it should decide to wash ashore during our visit.

The Shipwreck at high tide
After behaving ourselves for most of our trip, eating humbly, and mostly buying and eating groceries, we ate out every chance we got in Crescent City. We adore the local Thai House Restaurant which has my favorite food in the world, bar none - Thai chicken lemongrass soup. We also had one of Barbara's favorites, Thai Vegetable rolls. Oh yum! We also have a favorite breakfast spot, which is new and the decor celebrates Plains Indians.

On the morning we left, heading out, we saw this local Crescent City car parked outside the breakfast restaurant. The back of this little car was so wonderfully colorful and interesting to read, it made a nice good bye before heading down the coast, through the Avenue of the Giants and on home to Fair Oaks.

The car tilts a bit to the left

Along the Avenue of the Americas

Who's Crossing the Road?

2011-09-26T18:17:00.000-07:00

Nevada - land of cool mesas
After a nice evening in Winnemucca, which featured a lovely HUMONGOUS dinner at a local Basque restaurant, we were northbound to Klamath Falls. After a week in Colorado and Wyoming, you can understand how we didn't expect a single thing of interest along the way, but we were wrong - the signage was awesome. Periodically the signs warned to be careful of whatever critter was apt to leap on the road in a Kamikaze stupor.

Deer crossing
No deer here, just sagebrush,
sagebrush and more sagebrush
*sigh* no pronghorn crossing here
A lovely mini-mesa, but no pronghorns
Cattle Crossing - *yawn*
We actually got excited over a sort-of Devil's Postpile, despite the power lines that ruined the view.

Hey! Now there was a promise of wild horses afoot. But signs or no signs, we found no equine critters crossing the road.

Domestic or Wild Horses?
A bit after we passed the ensie Oregon town of Adel, we saw this sign promising Bighorn Sheep - empty promise for us!

Bighorn Sheep
But we did run across a sign that delivered on its promise.

Wild Burros?
Hurrah! What we thought were fat cows, were black burros, out browsing on savory sage shrubberies. Yum...

Check out those funny looking black cows... wait a minute!
BINGO! Wild Burros!
After we tore ourselves from the distant burros, we came across a Burro mare and her little black foal. They were too cute!

This Mom wolfed down sagebrush while her foal chilled.
sweet little burro foal

Hurrah! And as for any critters on the road, Barbara did nearly hit a Mule Deer doe, but the doe made good her get away. I can't for the life of me find the photo of the doe, but I suspect you've seen enough photos for today.

Estes Park and on to Winnemucca

2011-09-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

A view from our room at the Stanley
The morning at Stanley Hotel this morning was AWESOME. The sky as blue as the little Mountain Bluebirds, and not an angry looking cloud in the sky. We had our breakfast at the Stanley Hotel restaurant, as delicious a breakfast as we'd hoped for, Eggs Benedict for Barbara and an omelet for me.

Soon we were on the road again, headed for our overnight stay in Salt Lake City. As I drove the winding way through beautiful canyon land along highway 34 I was already having a touch of post-vacation blues. I saw 2 Red Foxes and didn't get photos of either, and for this trip to Colorado there were no Bighorn Sheep to be seen, insert large self pitying sigh HERE.

Just as those thoughts wound its way through my windier than any Colorado road mind of mine, up ahead on a curvy road shoulder were several cars, and drivers aiming cameras binoculars and huge smiles at a cliff face.

Here's what everyone saw... look closely, there are 3 ewes in the shot
Did you see this leaping ewe in the shot above?
Me neither, until I viewed my shots later!
They weren't in any hurry
Climbing slowly skyward
All too soon, the lively ewes disappeared beyond our view and we were on the road again.

Not long after were left Colorado for Wyoming we stopped to photograph some pronghorn grazing in the distance. This was our first pronghorn photo op of the trip because at 75 mph we no sooner spotted pronghorn than we were way past getting any shots of them.

Heads down
Heads up!
We spotted hundreds of pronghorn along the highways
I thought these 'so-so' photos were all I was going to get, but later, as we drove along an entrance ramp, we spotted some pronghorns, much closer in.

A doe eyes us curiously
I suspect this is a doe (far right) and her twins
Mom, are we there yet?
Examining the photos later I noticed I had taken the second of my 'Udder Shots of North American Ungulates'. Too bad National Geographic isn't interested in my udderly facinating series.

Certainly the buck noticed those udders
The Pronghorn buck was certainly the most handsome I've ever photographed.

Pretty boy
Just when you think there is nothing interesting between you and your rest stop for the night, you run into one of those strange little highway tributes. We ran into a Wyoming tribute to, of all non-Wyomining heroes: Abraham Lincoln.

Four Score and what-the-hell am I doing in Wyoming?
Nearby the humongous Lincoln pillar was a Visitor Center that was not too interesting looking from the outside and homages to Wyoming all over a parking lot rest area. Inside however was pretty nifty. There were book cases full of free for the taking pamphlets on Wyoming attractions and history. I was happy to take several free-bee issues of Wyoming Wildlife. There was also the most compact state museum you can imagine.

The outdoor placards were outnumbered
by a bumper crop of grasshoppers
In short, every little thing you could ever have imagined about Wyoming, it's people, wildlife and history were bill boarded and expanded on one little mini-museum. Did you know Wyoming has as many pronghorn antelopes as humans? One of many tidbits available for the curious at the rest stop.

Here, click on this photo and learn yerself up something!
A bit of Grizzly Wyoming History
A little Pronghorn interest
Not much other than wonderful scenery happened for the remainder of our journey other than some interesting spots of autumn in the hills of Utah outside Salt Lake City, where we happily bedded ourselves down for the night.

Autumn approaches

Here Ptarmigan, Ptarmigan, Ptarmigan!

2011-09-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

Approaching the aptly named, Rock Cut area
Day two visiting Rocky Mountain National Park and Barbara and I were up very nearly bright and early. Fortified with warm clothing (Barb's jacket, and new hat & gloves for 'moi') it was time for my final assault on Rocky Mountain alpine peaks. In an attempt to not freeze to death Barbara decided to stay behind in the car - made plenty of sense to me.

I look back as I head up the Rock Cut tundra trail

I was a pleased to find at least the local alpine wildflowers were neither cryptic nor hidden. Note: photographing tundra plants is another excellent way to disguise wheezing & panting along the trail.

Humm... Arctic Gentian! Me panting? Harumph! Course not.
Avens.. pant, pant, pant, Avens...
Slowly I toodled up the trail. At one point a couple of hikers passed me by (show offs!) and I looked up indignantly as their dog ran across the path. Then I noticed, it was not a dog, but the biggest marmot I'd ever seen! The marmot could have backed off a grizzly bear - it was HUGE.

Oh, the grow them BIG in the tundra!
There were numerous slate and gold, informative and artful placards along the way. Staring at them intently helps disguise that one has actually stopped to gasp for the thin arctic air.

Lovely gold and slate interpretive posts
Cold, tree-less and uniquely beautiful
Trudging up the mountainside, I marveled at the enormous rock outcroppings. Occasionally I heard the sharp peeps of little birds, but they shot by like bullets and I couldn't begin to guess what they might be. Happily, the rock formations stayed put.

Peculiar looking landscape
pillowy rock outcroppings
I read a trail marker, telling of 'mushroom rocks', formed when shiest layers on top eroded slower than the granit layers on the bottom.

An Alice worthy mushroom formation
So, I stood amidst the mushroom formations, surveying the area. Yep, there were White-tailed Ptarmigan out there all right and I was going to... hey... what IS that screeching, yammering, bustling noise?

ARRRRGGGHHH! Effing HUMONGOUS work party!
"Go away!" I wanted to scream, "Be do-gooders some other day!"
I was distraught. For a bit I pondered just leaving the mountain top, but having come so far, I trudged on to the end of the trail, every step of the way accompanied by teens and young adults, all happily and noisily sweeping up gravel from the trail.

HEY! Come back! I got yer Ptarmigan RIGHT HERE!
I think I was on the trail about an hour or two, and can you believe it: NO ptarmigans. The only bird I could actually get a brief identifying look at was an American Water Pipit. Oh well! Missing the White-tailed Ptarmigan only means some day I get to return to the park.

Following my failed Ptarmigan adventure we drove down to the flats on the west side of the park. Barbara got to visit the Kawuneeche Visitor Center where there was hubbub: there were moose at the Beaver Ponds. Soon we were in the car and back up the road and Barbara got to see some nice Rocky Mountain moose.

This lounging cow is visible only by her big ears
And this cow kept her bum facing the crowd
This shows how far we were from the moose
click here and try to find them!
Post moose adventure we settled in a nice little open meadow for a quick lunch. Across the road a nice grove of aspens showed the first glimpse of fall color.

Aspens tipping into their autumn palette of color

Post moose, post lunch, on our return trip back up and over the tundra road, we found loads of tourists watching loads of elk. Not far from the road a bull elk sought to keep rival males - the too young bulls, the too old bulls, the too like so uncool bulls - from stealing away HIS honeys. One could get exhausted just watching that poor bull as one rival after another sought to nick off with a cow or two.

"HEY! Didn't I chase you away twice already today?"
A coquettish cow leads two bulls on in come hither manner
Oy! A bull gets winded chasing rivals away all day
In the late afternoon, we checked into the Stanley hotel's Manson wing. We hadn't planned to stay at the Stanley Hotel originally, but curiosity and a sense of fun loosened our purse strings and soon we were ooing and aahing over our room at the notoriously haunted and spectacularly elegant Stanley Hotel. But more on the Stanley Hotel come Halloween week...

Stephen King had nightmares here....

On to Estes Park & Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

2011-09-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

OMG Scenery at the top of Rocky Mountain National Park
After some long goodbyes to our friends at the Peaceful Meadow Retreat, Barbara and I were off for the second leg of our vacation at Estes Park, Colorado, the gateway of Rocky National Park. We had a rocky start all right, with the condo by a river we booked - unbeknownst to me - for a three night stay. I thought I'd booked it for 2 nights with a 'potential' 3rd night. I'll stick to less condo-ish places next time around.

Dropping elevation into Estes Park
Entering Estes Park
Another view of Estes Park
We were so excited it was hard to decide what to do first - I know - EAT! We headed over to the Stanley Hotel where we had a lovely lunch and walked around enjoying the elegance. Then later in the afternoon we took a quick drive up into park, high into the alpine tundra. I was anxious to see it, as on our last trip to Colorado in 2009, there was so much snow, the tundra heights were bared to the public. When we got up onto the mountain, it was snowing!

SNOW on the windshield!
Finally we decided it was time to head back down hill, and to my amazement, there were elk bulls on the tundra - bellowing, and better yet, POSING!

I had no clue elk would wander so high in the mountains
Bellowing Bull Elk
As for wildlife, right at the get-go, I was thrilled when Barbara casually pointed out a beautiful Red Fox that sat yawning on a driveway off Hwy 36. I had a small conniption fit when my digital camera carefully focused on the fox, then as I snapped the shutter the camera shutter the focus dulled into a white cotton ball. I thought I was going to cry! I'd consider displaying the out-of-focus shot, but no point in you crying too. Later that evening after dark, a second Red Fox offered me a mulligan on a photo shoot, but alas - too dark out. Drat!

The following morning, leaving Barbara behind in our rental - she wanted some serious R&R time - I got up fairly early for my first quest for White-tailed Ptarmigan. I drove way up to the Rock Cut Pass of the Park, but it was no good; it was just too damned cold! I settled for peering down the sweeping vistas and enjoyed short sojourns at the tundra edge, to enjoy the ensie wild tundra flowers and plants.

Alpine Stonecrop; a hearty wildflower

Petite, White Mountain Avens

When I tired of stooping, I looked up and enjoyed a herd of fat elk lolling on the tundra slopes. Maybe yesterday's Bull elk were the vanguard for the cows?

Elk put the scenery into perspective.
Click for a better look, those aren't bunnies, they're elk

The drive up the alpine tundra was amazingly bright as compared to the previous evening's dark and snowy look. The near-glacial patches of snow were bright enough to blind angels and the clouds were amazing.

A topping of alpine snow
Approaching the Alpine Visitor Center
Alpine Visitor Center, open & under construction
I nearly had the Alpine Visitor Center to myself, as it wasn't to open until 10:30. So I enjoyed watching fat Yellow-bellied Marmots that nibbled their morning grass and surveyed their Sound-of-Music-ish surroundings.

His hills are alive, with the sound of munching...
What? I'm, like, meditating here.
Maybe the smaller, yellower are this year's marmot pups
A faded alpine wildflower; Elk Thistle
View below the marmots and the Alpine Visitor Center
Because I was so high on the valley rim, I had the rare treat of watching a little Sharp-shinned Hawk soaring by, resisting my attempts of identifying the little accepiter as a Northern Goshawk (I should live so long!). I decided to continue on down to the valley floor, on the west side of Rocky Mt. Park. I birded a bit on the way but my luck, I was only able to scare up a few Mountain Chickadees.

Meadows on western edge of park, reminded me of Yellowstone
I decided I might as well drive to the Kawuneeche Visitor Center. It's a cute little spot, and I was sure to get a stamp in my National Parks Passbook. I was surprised to hear the ranger tell someone, there were moose up and down the road along the valley and driving along one was likely to see one or two in the creek, eating willow. Really? Only the previous day I told Barbara there weren't any this far south. So much for Ms. Smarty-pants here!

Kawuneeche Visitor Center, on the park's SW border

So, after unnecessarily harassing the Ranger, who resembled a Weasley brother, about Dusky Grouse, I decided it was time to drive back along the valley floor and on back to the Alpine Visitor Center which had only just opened for the day. So up the road I tootled, until I saw what is known in Yellowstone as a critter road block. What could it be? I quickly parked and grabbing my dinky digital camera peered over the road's edge. EUREKA! DAR BE MOOSE!

The view below the roadway
The Princess daintily leaves her private pond
This little lady was so cute, I swear,
she had bangs on her forehead!
Nothing like a little willow munching after
some nice soak in a cold tub
So! Seems I had some 'splanin' to do, having told Barbara there are no moose this far south in the Rockies. Oh well! Post Moose I headed back up hill for some a hot mocha & new T-shirt at the Alpine Visitor Center and in Estes Park I got a wool hat and gloves because I'm telling you - the tundra is $%#ing COLD!

Looking down on tundra meadows at Alpine Visitor Center

Boulder Colorado Retreat

2011-09-17T22:29:00.000-07:00

A view at Peaceful Meadows Retreat
A four day visit to the Peaceful Meadows Retreat was the core of our sojourn to Boulder, Colorado. Shortly after we arrived, we were escorted to our little room at the head of the stairs, which I excitedly noticed contained, not only our own personal robes & slippers, but also baskets. Joy of joys - the baskets included toiletries, but most notably lovely dark chocolates! The beds were only twins, but it wasn't like there would be much time for lolling around.

Who IS that in the mirror over there?

The Retreat gardens
There is a lovely veggie garden which supplied us with nice super-fresh veggies for every meal - yes, that included a few veggies at breakfast.

Veggie Garden
We ate quite well at the retreat, all of our meals provided by the lovely lady below. I will definitely trying some of the retreat recipes, which are conveniently on line, for myself.

The Chef presents our din-din! Yum!
Two mornings there were hot air balloons floating by, at some distance. I wonder if there was a balloon race or demo going on?

Hot Air Balloon wafted by

I was tickled to find several great garden areas, including the mineral inspired "Angelic Gateway of Grace" shown below.

Mineral Crystal meditation area
Top of a mineral post
There were loads of interesting things inside the retreat's main building also. We attended spa treatments (think acupuncture energy stimulation - sans needles, crossed with chakra treatments) in a room featuring this lovely little stained glass window. I was intrigued by the window's colorful reflection on the rug.

Stained glass
There was also a little chapel upstairs, which holds Sunday services. It used to be the balleywick of a famous holy woman, Reverend Hanna Kroeger, master herbalist and healer. She was known throughout the world as the “Grandmother of Health.” Of course her healing powers irked the crap out of the medical profession so she was often sued for having the audacity to help people achieve better health.

The chapel

Ascended Masters surround wishes

Our classes began within an hour of arriving at the Retreat site, late Friday afternoon, and continued on through Sunday night, 10PM. Barbara and I were exhausted! We did complete the program however, and on Monday night there was a celebratory dinner in the honor of all class participants. The music played was the sort played at British Royal coronations, which needless to say, made me all giggly & happy.

Our celebratory feast
Our numerous classmates were all delightful to meet and get to know. Many had amazing life stories that to me seemed worth the price of the classes in themselves; stories of survival, stories of woe and triumph.

Some classmates pose at Graduation
A toast to our progress & excellence!

Oh, and did I mention how yummy dessert was graduation night?
As special ordered, there was a beautiful pink and blue sky our last night at the retreat.

A memorable sky over our retreat on Grads night

Doing Time in Rawlins, Wyoming

2011-09-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

So Long Winnemucca!
Monday morning, leaving Winnemucca behind, Barbara and I were on the road to Salt Lake City, part II of winding our way to Colorado. We've driven the route to Salt Lake City a few times over the years with Barb's boys Eric and James, on our way to Yellowstone National Park. But this go-round after a night in Salt Lake City, instead of north, we headed east towards Wyoming.

The road between Winnemucca and Salt Lake City would be totally devoid of interest if it were not for the white alkali desert.

Utah Alkali Salt Flats
The only other note of interest is the weird mirages that make the highway look as if it dissolves into a patch of water in the distance ahead. How there are mirages when the daytime temperatures were in the 80s is even more amazing.

A highway mirage
The night we spent in Salt Lake City was uneventful, and next day we were headed further east toward Wyoming. I was amazed by the high number of wild Pronghorn antelope that browsed and laid along side the highway. I bet we saw at least 10 herds of antelope between Salt Lake City and Rawlins. However with a 75 miles an hour speed limit, and a jillion massive semi trucks, not to mention a nearly non-existent road shoulder, we didn't dare stop for any photos, least we wind up a greasy spot on the byway.

First of a zillion mesas along Highway 80
Even without the fun of seeing wildlife, the highway was far more interesting once we left Salt Lake behind. Mesas, sheer rock cliffs and amazingly artful rock outcroppings were around every corner.

a mirror-like lake, Utah
We were going so fast whomever was driving shotgun had to get most of their shots through the windshield or passenger side window. That necessity made some of the shots borderline awesome.

Heavenly rays = car window reflection
Lots of steep cliffs handy for drive by photo ops
After a fairly short driving day, we were checked checked in and snug in our motel suite in Rawlins. As soon as we were we were off to explore what there is of Rawlins, Wyoming.

There are several pretty Victorians in Rawlins. The Ferry Mansion is the showiest.

The Ferry Mansion, a Queen Anne Victorian - now a B&B
Another smaller Victorian

We soon discovered the pride of Rawlins is it's old time Wyoming Penitentiary. The old Pen held prisoners from the early 1901 on to 1981. 'If the walls could only talk - and also plunder, rape & pillage - the stories they could tell!

The Rawlins Penetentiary
Click on the picture below (or any photos here for that matter) for a closer look at the Pen's history.

Click on photo for details
On first sight of the cold stone walls my first thought was 'Oh joy! I bet this place is haunted!'. A quick web search proved me right in that assumption. Too bad this the prison is so far from home, it might be a nice place to tour around Halloween - I mean, there were loads of creepiness and hangings here!

The prison barber shop where nice
shaves were had with dull blades

The prison has been closed for prisoners but is open for visitors to its museum. There are daily tours and I ought to have gone on one but I too bushed. I was up for a walk around the museum...

Note to self: next time SKIP the section containing deadly weaponry produced by prisoners from plastic cutlery/toothbrushes and such. Eeeeww...

Loads of law enforcement & prison artifacts

Obligatory "License Plates Through the Ages" Exhibit
Aw geez... you can be certain that George "Butch" Cassidy was just a low down thief when he checked into the Wyoming Pen, but one cool movie and he is now an old time honored guest. Not complaining... just pointing out the facts there Butch.

Proof old Butch Cassidy cooled his heels in Rawlins
If you're interested on who HUNG at the Pen,
there are loads of creepy photos
Model of a ghastly gallows famous
for its slow lingering death

The museum is interesting if not down right disturbing. Around the time Barbara noticed the proudly displayed photos of those hung at the Pen. Then Barbara noticed the eagerly displayed lengths of rope, each labeled with the name of the man the rope was used to hung. That was it! She was OUTTA there on the spot, but due to unfortunate circumstances involving her screams disturbing the peace...

So, like I have to go on to Colorado alone now?

Oops. I guess I put up too much of a fuss about having to leave Barb behind in the pokey.

GAK! Talk about your low down law breakers, just have a look below.

I swear, you steal one stupid horse
and the bushpoppers are all over yer arse.
Front door to the Penitentiary Museum

By the time we secured our release - we traded Snickers bars for our freedom - we were rarin' for some grub. We found a little dinner at the end of town and had one of the most memorable bad meals we've had in a long time. I wonder if there are any chefs in Wyoming's history that did time for serving crappy salad?

I guess I really did!

First stop: Winnemucca Nevada

2011-09-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

Semi-early, kinda late on Sunday morning, Barbara and I started our journey to Colorado with a drive over the Donner Pass and on to Winnemucca Nevada. To pass the time we listened to a cassette touring tape that covers the history of the Donner Pass - its geology, peoples, history and even the icky bits about the infamous Donner ~~Dinner~~ Party.

Storms in them hills
I used to drive back and forth from Sacramento to Winnemucca Nevada when I worked in Winnemucca for the BLM in the summer of 1981. So it is nice to have a short visit to my old, state income tax free, home in the desert.

Winnemucca Nevada Country
After a few hours of barren seeming stretches we made it to Winnemucca and checked into a nice little motel. Settled in we were off for a drive so I could tour a bit and try to perhaps see some desert birds. No luck was to be had on the birds; I only managed to scare up some California Quail and some Eurasian Collared-doves.

Why did the Quail cross the road
Who cares! Where were the Sage Sparrows?
A motel room pamphlet stated Winnemucca has more Basque restaurants per capita than any other town in the U.S.A. Will have to hit one on our way home. Meanwhile, as I looked at the mural of a Basque herder and his sheep I thought of lamb chops, lamb shanks... *drool*

Winnemucca is Basque Country
All the northwest desert Nevada towns have their initials on the mountains behind them, to guide air pilots. This one on a hill behind Battle Mountain has been making me giggle since the summer of 1981 when I worked for the BLM out of Winnemucca for 4 months.

BM on the Mountain *giggle, giggle*
I drove around town seeing how it's grown since my last visit in the 1990s. The tiny Humboldt Museum is no longer a fading wooden building in the foreground. It's grown into this 2 story brick building.

The new Humboldt Museum
Part of the old Humboldt Museum
Barbara and I got a big laugh out of this pair of piglets outside an eating establishment in downtown Winnemucca.

Two Fat Ladies touring the West
The start of big sky country
There are green things in the desert

So! We ended the first day of vacation in Nevada. Tomorrow it's on to Utah.

Birding Abbott's Bay, Point Reyes National Seashore

2011-09-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

This morning, bright and early, the Happy Birthday Fairy flew in on gossamer wings, to greet Claire with good wishes! Unfortunately Claire, who hadn't yet had her coffee, smacked the shine off the good Fairy's face. Tsk, tsk. In the wee dawn hours, Claire and her birding buddy headed off to Point Reyes, with hopes of seeing a Buff-breasted and Stilt Sandpipers that were seen there the previous day or two.

It was lovely, cool and foggy as Claire grudgingly headed onto the long trail that headed to Abbott's Lagoon where the target birds had been seen. Along the trail a California Quail sat all puffed up and grouchy as it had its picture taken.

Cranky California Quail
You know Claire doesn't hike unless there is promise of a rare bird, held up like a carrot at the end of the trail. Honestly, she also loves wildflowers, but the wildflower hasn't sprouted that will get her out on a hike.

Monkey Flowers dot the pathway to the Lagoon
Approaching Abbott's Lagoon
Bridge Crossing to Abbott's Lagoon
The first view of the Lagoon was promising, loads of basking Gulls, and patches of little shorebirds working the shoreline.

Sanderlings and Least Sandpiper hunting their breakfast
Alas! No Buff-breasted or Stilt Sandpipers, but there were adorable little Snowy Plovers on the beach. Across the lagoon, aided by my spotting scope, I could even see a couple of Snowy Plover chicks, racing around, keeping their concerned parents on guard. They needed to be on guard! There was a HUMONGOUS Peregrine Falcon patrolling the beach. It sat for a while on a dune keeping a close eye on the nervous shorebirds.

Endangered Snowy Plovers raced along the beach
Red-necked Phalarope swimming loopty loops

By the time I got to the far edge of Abbott's lagoon, I was starting to feel a bit foot weary. Still, I'd made it that far, might as well climb the last dune and see the ocean, so I could say I'd been there, done that!

Proof I hiked to the Ocean!

Below is one of the lovely Abbott's Lagoon sand dunes, covered with succulent wildflowers, looking soft as a pillow, but offering all the rigours - for tubby Claire - of an elliptical treadmill. *WHEEW!*

Lovely sand dune to you, a laborious treadmill for me

I took my time on the walk back to the parking lot, and along the way saw a beautiful blue striped garter snake that was too quick for me to get in a snapshot. However later this lovely little garter snake was sunning on the pathway. I think it was a red-sided Garter, but it's color was a bit faded - I think it will be shedding that old skin before too long.

Red-sided Garter Snake

There were lots of nice birds along the path, American Goldfinches, White Crowned Sparrows, Common Yellowthroats and many Barn Swallows darted through the air, as if engaged in dogfights with the Scarlet Dragonflies.

Scarlet Dragonfly

As I trudged back to the car, I pondered the distance I had hiked: 5 miles? Maybe ten? Uh... not exactly. At the trailhead a sign indicated the distance to the beach and back was about 1.25 each way, so I walked approximately 2.5 miles. Glad I didn't see that sign BEFORE I'd headed out!

For our next stop, we drove to a couple of the dairy farms. We spotted a very large coyote along the way. Didn't find any interesting warblers at the dairy farms but our next stop was Drake's Bay. I requested a Great Horned Owl, and darn if Don didn't pull one out of the air for me! It sat at the top of a pine tree, in plain view and I hadn't noticed it on my own because it looked rather like a giant pine cone.

Great Horned Owl sunning at Drake's Bay

Don spotted a mess of small birds in the same area as the Owl; Western Bluebirds, Townsend's Warblers, and a surprise, an immature American Redstart! A very lost little birdie I can tell you!

Drake's Bay

I was a bit disappointed the cafe by the beach was unexpectly closed, because I love their clam chowder. Oh well! We settled in my Honda for sandwiches and home baked ginger snapes which is great because I was post-hike ravenous. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend one's birthday.

Good little gulls bask by the Pacific!

The Door Shut, but a Window Opened and a Bird Flew In

2011-08-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

Today was supposed to be my first day on the Hatteras strip in North Carolina for three days of birding fun on the Gulf Stream. Then an earthquake hit Virginia and Hurricane Irene opted to blow towards the East Coast, which is due to hit Hatteras this weekend. People are evacuating at some locations. Oh dear.

Reluctantly I canceled out of the trip, because 2 of the 3 voyages was canceled and the remaining trip now seems unlikely. Sad, but what's a birder to do? Well, head out to the Davis Water Treatment Plant to see the 3 Ring Circus... I mean, to see the Common Ringed Plover.

I drove out this morning and to my total joy, the bird was not only there, but it was being adorably cooperative. There were loads of birders, many who flew in from other states just to see this bird. Of course the bird, is supposed to be over wintering in Africa, so it flew a long way to be here too.

My best shot of the Common Ringed Plover'
This amazing birdie was discovered last Friday by Todd Easteria, who has found many wonderous vagrant birds in his day, but this one is his best. This is only the 4th record of a Common Ringed Plover in the lower 48 states, and the 1st ever found in California.

The belly band is at least twice as thick
as on the similar looking Semipalmated Plover
Below you can compare the Semipalmated Plover with the Common Ringed Plover. What you can't see is the Semipalmateds have dark legs with semi-webbed toes, while the Common Ringed has no toe webbing at all on its crayola bright legs - orange or flesh colored (when not covered in mud). The Common Ringed is also a little larger than Semipalmateds, and at least in this plumage, more rufous in coloration.

Comparison of Semi-palmated Plovers and the
Common Ringed Plover; photo by Todd 'The MAN' Easteria
Even the Swallows buzzed in for a look a the celebrity Plover
Nice belly shot & view of most of the white on its head

Friends often try to preen my ego by telling my shots are great. No. Sorry, they aren't. I haven't been able to get my newish digital camera and spotting scope to work in unison yet. Here is what all of my shots look like before I trim them down. They are 'vignetted' which is too say they resemble a bullet hole in a black wall.

A seriously vingetted, 'bullet hole' digiscoped photo

I took this last photo to give an idea of how far we were from the Plover. It's nice that no matter how many showed up for gawking, we were too far away for the birds to be bothered by happy birders. The Plover is in the photo below, the lone speck, near center on the mud flat. The speck on the far right is a lump of mud and did not fly all the way over from Eurasia to be here.

Ok, FIND THAT BIRD!
[Management is happy to say Ms. Miller will receive a full refund for her 3 pelagic trips, canceled due to Hurricane Irene. Of course Ms. Miller had nothing to do with Irene blowing in, or at least we think she had nothing to do with it. If you think otherwise, please contact the Coast Guard, but you may wish to have a chat with a good shrink first.]

Happy Hen Summer Camp

2011-08-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

Summertime! All good girls get to go to summer camp, and my 2 hens are no exception.
So, when the girls weren't looking, I bundled them up in the old dog carrier and we were off to ~~Das Huhnlager~~ Happy Hen Summer Camp! The girls were a little taken aback when they saw their new summer home - not as posh as they expected.

Holy Mother of Yolks! Where are the Chippendale Roosters
Claire promised? The canoes? The worm dispenser?
Adele and Babette didn't have a room to themselves, they had to share their 'cabin' with Miss Pink - the camp counselor - and ten little foster ~~brats~~ chicks. Counselor Pink runs a tight ship, no slackers here.

Ms. Pink preparing to put her chicks
through their daily calistentics
Now, as I ought to have expected, all newbies at camp can suffer some harassment, and Happy Hen Summer Camp is no exception. However, this was a sorry case, because the one who did all the harassment was the Counselor Pink. She decided she needed to get the upper hand on the two newbies fast, so she proceeded to peck the stuffings out of Adele and Babette.

Now, the girls were pretty upset by the unexpected treatment, and I, their 'hen Mom' was close to hysterical. I tell you, I gave some strong consideration to preparing some nice "Coq Au Pink Vin" for dinner. My girls were upset, and understandably so - they lost a great deal of their neck feathering and suffered numerous beak bite marks.

Maybe if we hide our heads, Commandant Pink won't see us
Next morning, I was still rather frazzled, though not near as frazzled as poor Adele and Babette, who were on the verge of resembling 'turkens'.
NO, that isn't Adele on the left, but I admit, both of the girls were on the verge of looking like the turken hen on the left.

Over the breakfast table a meeting took place on what to do with the de-feathering of my poor girls. Oscar had the winning plan, suggesting giving Commandant Pink and her fledglings their freedom, leaving my hens alone in the pen. The only question was whether or not the rapidly growing chicks were just the right size, or not, to be lightly feathered & seasoned bite-sized snacks for the local feline population.

I am pleased to announce, so far, so good. The chicks enjoy full time freedom to roam with the 'grown-up' chickens. They are teen-aged chicks now, and are certain they know a lot more than Miss Pink or any of the other chickens so their freedom came in the nick of time for everyone's nerves. As for ~~Commandant~~ Miss Pink is now so frazzled with chick rearing she often goes to roost at the early hour of 3 PM; anyone caring for ten rowdy youngsters can relate.

Teen-age Chicks, trying to look innocent

Adele and Babette? Well, they seem set on 'flying the coop', which of course would put them back on the firing line, not just from Commandant Pink, but also the rest of Barbara's chickens, which number in excess of a dozen chickens and 3 large, silly geese. So, against their own wishes, my 2 hens are staying in isolation for a while. They are regularly laying so they can't be too fussed.

Barbara's 3 Silly Geese
Yes. It's cruel to abandon one's feathered children while I fly my own coop and go about gathering vacation memories, but in my own defense, uh... well, I'm still working on that...

Double-header on the Way Home

2011-08-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

Time to head for home and we opted taking the scenic/historic route. So, south on 101 in Hopland we visited the Solar Living Center. It's the ultra hippy, green, eensie carbon footprint center. I've stopped by there a zillion times and it's always prettier and more informative than the previous visit.

At the entrance, a wrought iron sun greets all
By the parking lot are four columns to which Morning Glory flowers in deep purple and pale lavendar climb. It emits a cool spritz of water, which is heavenly on a hot day.

Source of a nice Morning spritz
Along side the columns you walk up a hill to a shady patio covered over with fruited grape vines. I had my eyes on the grapes but they're not quite ripe yet. Bugger!

Tempting Bunches of grapes line the extensive arbor
The reason for visiting the Center is its large shop full of eco-friendly products. I managed to keep my wallet in my purse this go-round, but Barbara gave up the bucks for several nifty items.

The patio, lined with live shade cover
Not quite an hour after leaving the Center, we drove south to Cotati California. Both of us were initially reluctant, but finally we opted to visit the old Albertson homestead, where Hans & Irmgard Albertson lived with their rambunctious girls; Barbara and Suzi. Now of course, the place was vacated by the family more than a decade ago when Hans and Irmgard moved to the Napa Valley.

The old homestead was vacated so home care for the Albertsons wouldn't include tree felling and meadow mowing. Still, despite the wisdom of their move, it took me ages to reconcile to myself the abandonment my holiday refuge! From my twenties right on through my forties, I'd spent countless happy mini-breaks at the Cotati home, including countless Christmases, Easters and Thanksgivings under the loving hospitality of the Albertsons. Sometimes stayed in Susi and Barbara's childhood bedrooms, and I roomed in the 'guest house' which the old pet hospital became after Dr. Albertson retired. Many a night I happily snuggled down in a big feather-bed, happily reading Hans' old National Geographic and Der Spiegel magazines before a good night's rest.

That was then, this is now. Here below can be seen the old parking lot, the asphalt now overgrown with weeds. Behind the lot a low stone wall used to sit. Between what are now twin shrubs sit between which, used to sit, a pretty, wrought iron gate. On entering the little gate, a cow bell rang out, warning that in later years warned Irmgard there were guests afoot. I have to laugh! I remember how Irmgarrd would run out to nab me by the collar and pull me into the back door of the house before Bismark, their hundred pound plus black Great Dane arrived, yowling like a banshee! Poor boy, in his dotage what with poor eyesight, he developed a 'bite now, sniff and identify later' attitude. I can still hear the resounding WHOMP! of Bismark crashing against the front door only seconds after Irmgard hauled me inside the door.

Weeds have overwhelmed the parking lot,
home remains on left, old pet hospital on right
The house sold maybe ten years ago, to a developer (grrrrr...) who vowed to let the home stay standing as the oldest historic home in Cotati. So, imagine everyone's 'surprise' when the stalward old home, without the benefit of anyone living in it, 'accidentally' caught on fire. Accidentally. Right. I believe there is a special spot reserved in hell for land developers, particularly the selfish, lying, running capitalist dog type, which I think is most of 'em.

View of the front of the property where
my old pony Suzy roamed for several years

The old garage with Sister Suzi's painted, 'troupe l'oeil ' grape vine
If you look at the little terra cotta colored window above, you can see a heart, shown close-up below. Isn't it sweet?

Closeup of Hans & Irmgard's heart
Even the old driveway is now covered over in weeds from neglect. Happily, you can still see the green and gold hillsides in the distance.

The old driveway up to the 'Alpine Pet Hospital and the Albertson's Homestead
It was fun and depressing to see the old Albertson homestead. I feel sorry for the people now living in the homes surrounding the property. I wonder if they realize their homes are former agricultural lands? I believe the reason the farms are gone has as much to do with disappearing ground water as it does development plans gone wild. Either way, I wish there was a way to convey how much living happened on that then acres of Cotati.

Visiting in Fort Bragg

2011-08-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

Lovely Marin County Fog - COOL in every sense
As long as Barbara and I had driven all the way to northern Marin, we figured might as well drive over to Fort Bragg for a visit with Jo Beach. She used to teach elementary school with Barbara back in the day. Aside from catching up with Jo, there is the joy of smelling that lovely coastal air and those cool, cool temperatures that I for one can never take for granted.

Jo planted a classically beautiful 'cottage garden' in the front yard
Get a better view of Jo's cottage garden visit Gulag Garden post HERE. Mother Nature currently decorated the whole field surrounding the house with tiny yellow daisies, quite picturesque.

I had an unexpected treat at Jo's place. Her husband Sean is a retired State Park Ranger. They were entertaining a pair of guests who arrived only an hour or so before Barbara and I got there. A former lady ranger and her 15 year old son.

Now I, being a nit, never got the kid's name, but he is a highly gifted birder. I was in 7th heaven! The child is like David Sibley in minature. I had fun torturing him... I mean, having him go through the 300-something photos of North American birds on my iPhone. Honestly, the kid identified birds most adult birders would miss, even those in crap photos. He has already birded some birding hot spots such as south Texas and the Dry Tortugas. At his age I didn't know a Western Scrub Jay from a hole in the road. Meeting an ace birder in fledgling form gives me hope for America's wildlife.

Someone else enjoying Jo's front yard

After loads of chatting, we absconded with Jo, heading off to the Noyo Harbor for a nice lunch at a Bay side restaurant. I'd eaten there years ago, and the view hadn't changed - still often fog shrouded and the waters full of recreational boaters, harbor seals and the occasional loon.

Noyo Bay Bridge

After lunch, the three of us were attached by a fit of naughtiness and we visited the Mendicino Chocolate Company. Lord love a duck, I love me some dark chocolate drenched marzapan!

Late afternoon we delivered a chocolate-infused Jo Beach back to her husband and house guests after which Barbara and I found our way to our motel. I had to laugh; when I reserved the room, I requested a quiet corner of the grounds. Our luck, when we got the room - and the motel was jammed with summer travelers - a group of fifty b'jillion holiday fishermen were in the midst of a tail gate party in the parking lot by our room. Happily, the rooms had no windows facing the parking lot so the noise was minimal. Whew! Quite a narrow escape we had there.

Must laugh - over the years my luck with rooms in Fort Bragg often involved non smoking rooms, with windows and or/patios on which happy men smoke HUMONGOUS cigarettes, if not stogies.

We toyed with the idea of staying a second night, but decided not to press our luck. For a one night visit I must say we got our money's worth in Fort Bragg.

Jo's Calico kitty chows down:
how's this for a country comfort scene?

Nate & Rose's Wedding

2011-08-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Nate and Rose's Nuptuals
I am off on a lovely short mini-break, which began with a fairy tale wedding of my birder buddy Don's pretty daughter Rose and her handsome groom Nate. So I would not have to attend the wedding 'Doe' (i.e. 'stag') buddy Barbara came along as my 'plus one' I feel so sophisticated using that term!.

It's been at least a couple of years since I attended a wedding. This particular ceremony was full of good hearted laughter as the Bride's Maids and Man of Honor, gave readings from poems Hug O' War by Shel Silverstein, A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton and most specially an ode written by Rose to her late mother, Maurine Hales Pendleton.

There was a table by the wedding pair, on which sat a straw hat and the lovely photo below. Rose's loving mother attended the wedding in spirit.

Maurine and her adorable Rose, back when I first met them

Seldom to I attend a wedding for which I have such a strong feeling I'm watching two best friends joining their lots together for a life of love and all that good stuff. Doesn't get better than that, does it?

The Moth-er Load

2011-08-04T23:53:00.000-07:00

I've had an ongoing moth infestation for ages now. One source turned out to be a bag of birdseed that sat unutilized in a dining room corner and another was a bag of corn masa in my pantry cupboard. Those sources gone, I expected the house load of pantry moths to gradually dimminish and disappear - didn't happen! I was on the verge of deciding I am just cursed and doomed to flying scale-shedders for the remainder of my life. Then, on returning from a mini-break with my friend Barbara, she innocently mentioned, "...but what about that bag of birdseed in the garage?"

"What bag of birdseed? There is no more birdseed."

"The one I saw when I got out of the car. Near the driver's seat."

Poor deluded Barbara! Birdseed in the garage? As if! So, I walked off in to the garage expecting to see NOTHING. Here is a photo of the 'Nothing' I saw. Note the swiss cheese appearance of the non-existent birdseed bag.

Source of Winged Invasion
How could I have walked past that bag a thousand times without seeing it? Sigh... yet another notorious case of 'hidden in plain sight'.Oh well. Maybe now the numbers of pantry moths flying reconissance in my home will finally diminish.

Fair Oaks' Notorious Hen Fighting Ring

2011-08-04T10:13:00.001-07:00

This morning I had a frightful moment when I realized 50% of my flock (of 2) was not out roaming. With much trepidation I looked in the laying box, and there was Adele, sitting on a pair of newly laid eggs. Aha! Adele had gone broody. I pulled her off the eggs and gave her some hugs.

"Who's my pretty little hen? Who's my fluffy, wuffy boo-boo hen!?"

Bingo! My cooing had the desired effect of shifting Adele out of broodiness and into indignation; "HOW DARE YOU HUG & SHOW ME AFFECTION!". Soon she was prancing around the garden, looking all insulted. She is so cute when she's angry.

Adele claims the 'goodie dish' without Babette's permission
Adele's next action however lead to the show stopper of the day. She headed towards the chicken goodie bowl. Now let me explain; my hens get treats via their goodie bowl. Yesterday, for example, I gave them a quarter of a ripe juicy Tuscan cantalope. The melon was sweet as honey and so flavorful I almost couldn't bring myself to give any of it up, but I put several cantelope cubes on the grass. To my aggravation, the girls looked at the melon, but made no attempt to try it out. Eat something not contained in their goodie bowl? As if!

Back to this morning, Adele approached the newly stocked goodie bowl (which included the previously ignored melon). Babette (my 'Special Ed' hen) flew into a chicken rage against Adele, clucking, pecking and feather's flying!

"That's MY goodie bowl!" declared the furious Babette.

I was standing right there, without a camera to catch the action of course. Had visions of myself at the head of an illegal hen fighting ring. "Put your money down! See Babette kick Adele's feathered arse!"

Did I mention, that for all the hen fight action, the only feathers that were flying were those of the attacker - Babette? Seems the girl's feathers are not exactly glued on too well.

Anyway, that was it, about 4 or 5 wing-flapping attacks against Adele, during which Adele was only mildly distracted. In the end Babette subsided her attacks and clucked angrily as Adele helping herself to the goodie dish, without or without Babette's permission.

Adele (top) looks around to reclaim her lost feathers
Interesting; at Colette's death last month, for want of a leader, Adele took to following Babette around. I reckon that lead Babette to thinking she was, pardon the pun, the Big Cock of the Walk, so much so that she tried to 'discipline' her so-called follower, Adele.

Uh... sorry Babette. Adele does follow you, but she doesn't recognize your exclusive ownership of the goodie bowl. Ah yes, life's tough when you're a Special Ed chicken.

Once Upon a River

2011-08-01T11:37:00.001-07:00

I haven't done anything in such a long time, vultures were spotted, hoovering over my house. With that in mind, Mommy Nancy and I, made plans to spend yesterday, Sunday, doing something - anything that would get my pedal extremities to jiggling, or better yet, walking. After musing over options for the day, we settled on attending the Courtland Pear Festival (yee ha!) south a Sacramento a ways along the river delta.

So around 1:30 I turned up at Rick & Nancy's & the first order of the day was lunch, which Rick cooked up for us all - batter fried tilapia and pork tacos. *Yum* Honestly, the chatting and the food was so good that it was almost 4:30 by the time Nancy & I were out the door headed for the Fair. I was tickled Nancy drove, so I got to gawk out the window. The drive was lovely & unseasonably cool, on the highway that skirts the Sacramento River. It's another world down there on the Delta.

Driving along the Sacramento River
Hurrah, the Courtland Pear Fair!
Loads of elegant dining
And all you can drink!
Before long, Nancy was enjoying a raspberry pear smoothie and I was eating a forbidden fruit - an ice slushy, with loads of fruit syrups, none of which included Pear. Our primary goal had been to sample the Pear Pie, but you have to get to the fair a lot earlier in the day to enjoy that particular treat. Oh well, we settled on buying some yummy Pear Strudel. We sat enjoying our treats while a Mariachi band banged on in a nearby tent that must have been seating three hundred happy, pear munching fair visitors.

Insert Loud, Cheery, Horn Laiden Music HERE
By the time we finished our treats, the fair was closing down. We decided to continue south along the river, to see what we could see. One of the most frequent sights on the River are bridges, all of which can rise up when necessary for the passage of boats.

Approaching grand river crossing
Over the River & through the woods...
We stopped briefly at the Ryde Hotel - an elegant little Art Deco-ish spot along Sacto's Riviera. I think it would be an interesting place for friends to plan a get together.

Entrance at the Ryde Hotel -all the rage in 1925 and 2011
Next we headed south - only getting ourselves lost once along the way - to the tiny town of Isleton, once known as the “the Little Paris of the Delta". We decided to stroll up the main street, which to me looked lifted from some old Western movie; OK, maybe if you replaced the autos with cowponies.

Main Drag in Isleton
Along the main street were lots of very tiny plots of land overflowing with fruit trees and lush flowers. There even a little garden composed of a high wall of beaver cactus festooned with lush pink roses.

Rather Prickly Flower Arrangement
I was fascinated with the lots with fruit trees, probably planted some time in the early bits of the last century. We found Quince, plums, pears, flowing richly off tree branches. There were also flowers planted everywhere, giving bright punctuation to the street.

Juicy, Fat Peaches
Fuzzy Quince at the rear of one lot
Now, unfortunately, though I photographed loads of the fruit bearing trees, I didn't think to take pictures of the lots themselves; a shame, as they were so romantically reminiscent of small town America.

There was one spot with dozens and dozens of bright and tall sunflowers, some hoovering as high as 7 feet tall. As we admired the bright flowers, a man asked if we would like to take some to take with us? Would we, what a treat!

Towering Sunflowers
We ate peaches straight off the tree
We thanked our benefactor of the sunflowers and headed back to the car, for the drive home. Honestly, with those fresh & humongous sunflowers in hand, Nancy and I felt like we had a starring role in a rather small scale fairy tale. FLORUS HUMONGOUS!

Gig, the Second!

2011-07-25T23:36:00.000-07:00

Hurrah! Got a call back to usher for yet another gig at the Music Circus, a Sunday night performance of one of my old favorites, Oliver!

I was not keen on some of the changes in this particular staging of Oliver!, including stupid details such as making Oliver the long lost grandson, instead of grand nephew of the kindly gentleman Mr. Brownlow. No clue why such a change was made, I mean, did they can't think the audience is too dense to absorb that Oliver was the son of the man's niece? Talk about watering down the soup! There were other things that rather drew me up short about this particular production, but I certainly have no complaints about the singing voices of its performers. Oh, and I totally loved the kid who played the Artful Dodger, he looked and somewhat sounded like a very young Nathan Lane - I think it's all in the eyebrows. I wonder if he is one of the local talents that I am told stared in this production?

Long story short, I'm thrilled to have been called in to usher and hope I can get another gig or two this season. Oh! The bummer is I will out of State for the play I have been hoping to see Miss Sigon. 'ow is that for a stale bit of toast mate?

Dodger and Oliver belt out a song

Quick Chick Update

2011-07-25T16:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I got a chick up date from Barbara down in Monterey. "The chicks love to ride around on Miss Pink's back and fly around". Made me laugh at the thought of a row of chicks bronco riding on their foster Mom's back. However, the chicky escapades were indication it was high time for the family to move to spacier digs.

So, today Barbara sent a photo of the chicks and Mom in their new home, a spacious 10' X 20' area inside of the much, much larger chicken run. Word has it, the chicks enjoyed their first ever dust bathes today. Amazing how quickly chicks grow from fluffy-coated nubbins to feathered hell-raisers.

Miss Pink looks fairly frazzled under the
weight of her pin-feathered responsibilities

Under Mom, On Mom, what's the diff?
The new pen within a pen

Now Ulla Dance... or Maybe Not...

2011-07-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

Nothing can sooth one through a melancholy few days like visits from friends; Diane down from Washington State for a bit, and Lynda, another dear, local buddy who joined me at my house for a lovely chat over dinner Saturday afternoon. The only thing that even comes close enough to think about challenging comradely, is of course, a nice evening at the theater. Last night I ushered at the Sacramento Music Circus for the first play of the season, The Producers.

I've seen The Producers as the original non-musical movie & I've seen the musical movie & play previously, so I expected no surprises - Silly me! Last night was no production, it was a ticketed dress rehearsal, only the company's 8th rehearsal. It could have been subtitled, Anything Goes! because the audience was warned the director could stop the production if any problems cropped up.

So, at one point, the director, shouted out for the action to stop. I figured the halt had something to do with the character Roger De Brie, an actor in drag, who looked like he'd been trying to hold up his silver lame clad arse - literally - for the entire scene. Turned out it was his microphone pack that was dragging, not his glittery arse.

When De Brie left the stage for repairs, the actors playing Bialy and Bloom stood on stage, nothing to do - other than keep the audience in stitches with their off the cuff humor; awesome! For example, one of the stage's misbehaving microphones suddenly cracked like a cannon, Bialy feigned being shot in the chest, shouting, "I didn't know there was a critic in the house!"

Now Ulla ~~Dance~~ or maybe not!
The ad libbing made the dead time hilarious for all, the actors even cracking themselves up. But wait, there was more! When the Swedish bombshell 'Ulla' was doing her 'stoof", dancing, a leap onto a table top lead to her falling, sprawled on the floor, to everyone's shock. But she gamely got up, and finished dancing her scene. But later the director announced he wanted the actress to stay in a wheelchair for the remainder of the performance. So on stage rolled Ulla, pushed by a squatting assistant. ACTION!

'We're alone now', hesitantly announced Bloom to Ulla and her squatting assistant, to audience howls. Bloom and Ulla managed to dance (uh... wheel?) through their routine and I laughed at their improvisations until I very nearly did myself an injury. Talk about 'the show must go on'.

Der Storm Troopers dance to Spring Time for Hitler
Later on, Ulla made her entrances, out of costume and with a huge pair of crutches - now that's a trooper! I think she was more bruised than anything and should be fine by showtime on Tuesday night - or so everyone hopes. A couple of more stops to the play lead to the director actually calling a halt to dismiss all of the live musicians, save for the piano, because of union rules. The final blow, and face it, the audience was getting a little sluggish, the director called off the dress rehearsal but we only missed maybe five minutes of the final number. Bravo! Valiant dress rehearsal if I ever saw one, and truth be told, that was my first ever.

Here's to hoping I get a chance to help out at one or more of the remaining Music Circus shows for the 2011 season. I was happy to sign myself up last night for an August performance of Defending the Caveman at the Cosmopolitan Cabaret. Hurrah!

My Dear Little Hen

2011-07-08T18:22:00.000-07:00

R.I.P.

My dear little hen,

COLETTE

August 31, 2009 - July 7, 2011

Little Peeps

2011-07-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

Haven't visited Barbara on her home territory in ages, but I made the drive down this week; a BIG goal... or rather, little goals in mind - New Baby Chicks! So I was down for the trip to the feed store right after the new day old baby chicks came in.

Baby Jersey Giant - largest of chicken breeds
Easter Egger, future layer of green or blue eggs
Lovely Silver Laced Wyandotte chick
Now, first up - how to raise the chicks. Barbara had a plan - one of her two Buff Orpington hens was broody, and spent the past few weeks patiently sitting on eggs, waiting for the eggs to hatch - the eggs being wooden aren't expected to hatch any time soon.

So! At the feed store Barbara chose some new chicks, mostly 'Easter Eggers' that lay blue or green tinted eggs. She also picked out a couple of Silver Lace Wyandotte chicks, and one or two Jersey Giants, the largest chicken breed in the world. Unable to resist, at the nth minute I decided to add two Americana chicks to my own flock so I picked out a couple of the fawn and stripped babies.

Ten little chicks on the ride home to their new foster 'Mom'

Now it was time for the big switch - convincing Miss Pink these new frisky chicks were hers. Barbara fretted over how to make the switch for weeks. So, soon there we were, at the temporary rabbit hutch that was to serve as a chick nursery. Miss Pink looked rather dubious about the fuss.

The patient 'Miss Pink', Barbara's broody Buff Orpington Hen
Finally the moment came... Barbara gingerly unloaded the peeping chicks into the pen with Miss Pink.

Barbara puts chicks into their nursery while
Miss Pink gave us dirty looks

"What the... where'd these youngings come from?"
Suddenly Miss Pink, started clucking low and fussing with her bedding. We couldn't decide if she was upset or what... but suddenly a couple of chicks pushed their way under their new Mom, as if they'd been waiting all day just to do so.

Someone's little bill peeking out from under 'Maw'
So, all in all, the 'adoption' time for Miss Pink to accept her new babies was about .002 seconds. As far as she was concerned, what the heck took those babies so long to arrive?

"If you don't mind, get lost, I've got some
youngings to get ready for their nap"

So! No worries, all ten chicks were warm and snug. Visiting the little family during the next couple of days was great. Miss Pink taught her babies to drink and eat their scratch. She was kind enough to let us handle her sweeties without pecking us... ok, she got Barbara once, but as long as it wasn't me!

It was a nice visit at Barbara's. Haven't seen Oscar, her husband or Eric, her grown son in eons so it was nice visiting with them. Barb and I made up a list of chores for ourselves and to our amazement, we actually did everything on the list. The list included putting up wiring for a new hen pen. We lined the pen 'baby wire', The small holed wire will keep the new chicks safe from raccoon paws that reach in to snag babies. I'll nick my chicks in late September when they're old enough to be on their own in my little flock.

It was a lovely visit. I made it home in time for the Forth of July so I can celebrate the holiday with my beautiful and crazy 'old' girls.

"Holiday? Heck, where's our afternoon snack?"

Titans at Rossmoor Bar

2011-06-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

So, this morning, post dental appointment I was hanging out by the river. When taking this first photo I didn't even notice it was not an Anna's Hummingbird; it's a Black-chinned Hummer.

Not one of the titans
I decided to head for home so I drove up from the boat launch dock in Rossmoor Bar on the Parkway. Noticed there was a crowd down on a slope.

A view taken without using zoom - click for a look at who is there

I've never even seen deer in this particular park before, much less so many well pointed bucks.

The four bucks were only nominally interested in me
This buck is beautiful - love the dark forehead, something special to Mule Deer of the Bambi persuasion.

Four-pointer, if you don't count the tines
seemingly growing from his back
The sweep of the antlers on these bucks were reminiscent of elk.

That's right, we're spectacular.
And just when I thought the scene couldn't be more engaging, a wee little fawn walked out from some shrubbery. I was startled to see it was still spotted. Haven't seen a spotted fawn in quite a while, it is the season.

Dad?
What is this stuff the big guys are eating?
No idea where this baby's Mom was. I stared at the little herd of five (in sight) but no doe showed. Maybe this was Dad's custody week? Hey, I'm just saying...!

Well! Think I'll get the camera and figure out how the hell I turned on the date marking in the new little digital camera, and how the hell I can turn it back off again.