I'm on a little sojourn with my friend Barbara. We drove north to Fort Bragg. Instead of my usual route north on Highway 5 from Sacramento - a boring-as-hell stretch of
freeway - got to Woodland, there picking up Highway 16. That highway rambles through a v. scenic route along the agricultural Capay Valley.
Stopping to stretch our legs, we stopped to stare at the Capay hillsides. Barbara and her Boxer doggie Chori took a little stroll.
A Capay hillside lined with pale yellow Lupines
Yellowy Lupines
Hidden in the lupines were a few purple lupines I've seen in flower guides, but haven't previously found. I thought they might just be imaginary.
Not in any focus, but Eureka: Chinese Houses!
Along the way we stopped so Barb could take a phone call. I took the dog for another walk. I found a wonderful Mulberry tree, chock full of ripe black juicy mulberries. Um.... I ate them right off the tree, but didn't take any pictures and more's the pity.
All in all, I now have a new scenic route to Highway 20, that leads to Highway 101, and bonus: Bear Valley Road, a well known wildflower haven.
Cattle corral on first mile of Bear Valley Road
Chori ran up and down Bear Valley Road
After viewing what wildflowers were left in the pastures a mile in, we
got on Highway 20 headed west & north. A few hours later, we arrived at Jo's house by Fort Bragg. Jo is doing well, which is saying a lot as her husband Sean passed on last year. HUGE void left when that guy left. He was so cool - a long time Ranger in state parks and in my opinion he was quite the artist, but more on that later.
Jo in her front garden
To fill up a teeny bit of her aching heart, Jo adopted a little shaggy white poodle mix, she calls 'Finn'. Mr. Finn is a cutie pie and reigning indoor wee-wee king, but hey, we can't all be Lassie. When introduced to Chori, it was touch and go if the 2 dogs would get on, as Boxers aren't called boxers for nothing. Chori bats at her playmates with her paws and it can freak a small dog out. Miraculously, happily the two soon played like long time friends as the 'humans' in resident chatted until the proverbial cows came home.
We are visiting with Jo for about a week. We'll continue talking 'til we're hoarse, and we will also visit the town of Fort Bragg and it's attractions (actually that'd be the Botanical Garden's gift shop) and maybe the nearby hippy town of Mendocino, all to the south. Suspect I'll be staring out the window doing lots of casual birding in Jo's garden and in the nearby pond.
Senioras Jo and Barbara enjoying Italian food at Fort Bragg's Cucina Veron
Roadrunners, Rattlers and Roads. OK, I put that last one in there because I ran out of relevant R's pretty quickly. I was on my way back home from Castroville, and my route took me onto the infamous Pacheco Pass. I stopped at Dinosaur Point Pacheco State Park. Goal: add a roadrunner to my annual bird list. Sure enough, once there, I found a roadrunner inside of five minutes. The little speed-devil shot by on the gravel road, disappearing into the shrubbery. My Yellowstone U-turn didn't help as the bird was long gone by the time I was done. Tickled with my mid-state Roadrunner, I was off downhill towards the San Luis Reservoir. The Reservoir is so low on water it looks like a drained bathtub with a massive rim ring.
I drove slowly, enjoying the yellow Sticky Monkey-flowers along the roadside. I spotted what I assumed was a Gopher Snake. I think every 4 out of 5 snakes I see are Gopher Snakes, but this one seemed to have a v. pale tail. Yikes! I rushed over to the snake for a nice photo and video opt.
As the quickie video above shows, the Western Diamondback was a handsome creature, and was bent out of shape what with me interrupting its nap on the nice warm conglomerate. The photo looks like we were nose to nose, but I was using the telephoto setting on my little Panasonic camera.
When our little photo session ended, and I left, the snake hightailed itself to places otherwise occupied by roadrunners. I continued on down toward the reservoir, but it was road blocked - for what, I do not know. There was a trailer and a ranger/guard viewing me suspiciously. I drove up to him and told him I'd only come down for a quick look around and what with the roadrunner and rattler, I was pretty damned pleased; he cracked a smile.
I then headed back uphill where, just before I drove off, I spotted a nice pair of California Quail that were also amiable to a photo session.
I swear, at first, I thought he was grinning
But he wasn't happy - he read me the riot act
The Mrs., sleepy, grumpy and hadn't gotten around to grooming that topknot
The whole mini-flock
There must have been other birds in the park, but the Roadrunner and Quail were the only ones I could find, but that's all you get if you don't do more than a quick drive through. Still, I was satisfied and got back on the Pacheco Pass, headed for home.
Top to bottom, left to right Nancy, Rhonda, Ingrid, Barbara, Robbie and some chick in a red shirt
It's been three years since our last Hen Party. So Roberta, aka Robbie dusted off the welcome mat and in we all blasted in like an April storm; chat, chat, yak, yak, and not to be overlooked, eat, eat, EAT.
Robbie making her now famous, 'Khao soi' a Thai Curried Chicken Soup
Hen Ingrid, back from Peru She brought Peruvian Prezzies for everyone
Barbara & Nancy model attractive alpaca scarves; their pick of Ingrid's presents... Hey! Is that a non-hen back there in the kitchen?
Hen Robbie brandishing the sacred pecking hens - only to be enjoyed by she-who-hosts the latest Hen Party
Modeling one of the Peruvian gifts, an Alpaca wool glove
Hen Rhonda pouring out the oh-so-delish, after dinner aperitif
Um... Ice Wine, which along with other wines and some delightful cheeses were brought by farm adviser, Hen Rhonda. Ice wine, made from frozen grapes, is quite sweet.
There's that not-a-hen again. Bill, Hen Robbie's hubby Very nice man, quite tolerant of chattering, nattering hens in his domicile
Also not-a-hen, girlie kitty 'Baby Cakes' wonders why no feast food made it to her dish
All in all it was a great Hen Party weekend. It's nice getting together with old friends ever once in a bit, to share a little of our lives. It has been 3 years since our last get together so we hope to make up for that with another H.P. by year's end. Stay tuned.
