North Again

[And once agian, Ms Miller is passes off the past tense as the present tense - tsk, tsk, tsk]

Full of Spring and energy, I've decided it's high time to visit the redwoods. My buddy Barb decided to escape her place for a bit so she and I are once again travel buddies. We drove 3 hours north to Redding, stopping at the Sacramento Wildlife refuge for an hour's quick look-see.

The refuge wildflower display was so-so when compared to
Bear Valley or Vernal Pools, but it had its own panache
unassuming wildflower - Brass Buttons
Barbara was amazed that I liked Bindweed -
a noxious weed you don't want in your garden
From Redding we headed west to the coast, passing through BIGFOOT territory.

We were too late in the day to visit the Bigfoot Museum,
but I like to think they watched us as we passed through Trinity County
We were supposed to overnight in Redding, but we continued on the four hours through to Crescent City only just below the Oregon border on the coast.

It really is a hecka long drive up up there - sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get tired of going up there to relax, visit with my friend Inez and walk among the redwoods. Right - as if. The views, cool ocean breezes always make it worthwhile. I've made the pilgramage once, sometimes twice a year since 2001. It really does a soul good. I mean, just check out the view from the motel window.

Can't get views like this in Sac-o-tomatoes
Crescent City Lighthouse

Apparently we're not the only ones glad for a few days at the beach

SPRING! Can't Get Enough

Aw gee. The sunshine is working on me; lately I can't get enough of it but that came to a screeching halt today. During the week the weather was a lovely 60-ish, 70-ish but today the temps hit the 90s. GAK!

Oh well. I sucked up as much fresh air, sunshine - pollen - birds & flowers as I could up to now.

Have lived in Fair Oaks for 15 years and only this week discovered there is a park only a mile or so from my house that has an area set aside for Vernal Pools in Phoenix Field. The park is sandwiched between a Little League field, parking lots, and loads of residential homes. It is amazing the natural Vernal Pools there survived at all. Unlike Mather Field & its Vernal Pools, which is a bit further away, this Phoenix Park doesn't allow visitors to tromp on the pool areas so it looks so... pristine.


Only vandals tread on these yellow brick roads
Looks like a rainbow of sorts - I can't get in enough staring at flower rainbows
Mind, the rainbow doesn't last forever - in a couple of months these flowery fields will look dead as a doornail - all withered, brown and stark. That's part of the Vernal Pool ecology, so gotta see 'em while they're HOT - in a pretty flower sort of way.

Here's flowers I've been enjoying staring at this past month or so.

I looked forward to these for weeks knowing they'd pop up eventually: Checkerblooms
Close-ups of Vernal Pool Checkerblooms

Hyacinth Brodiea

These next few flowers I can still find out in pasture land. They're not necessarily associated with Vernal Pools. The first is Valley Tassel, or Slender Owl's Clover.

Can you see the owl's faces on this pinky sized tuft of white bloom?
Royal Larkspur - King of the wildflowers in my book
This next one I found growing all over rocks in a field. They're tiny suculents, and they cling to rocks like lichens. Close up they are rather pretty, like tiny golden starbursts.

Extreme close-up of Sierra Stonecrop.
Ooo! Check out the Stonecrop here... you see it growing on the rocks in the foreground, and all that yellow in the distance is more of it growing like a golden crust on rock outcroppings.

My mother would have LOVED this stuff! Here's yet another look at Sierra Stonecrop or it's other name, Dwarf Cliff Sedum.

My mother had quite the green thumb for succulents
So about now you're thinking I've forgotten about my feathered homies. As if!

Western Bluebird

These birdie pictures were taken with my tiny digital, not my big-arse SLR Canon, so no close-ups, just casual snap shots.

Poofed up Red-winged Blackbird, who knows he's the sharpest bird in the field

The Day After Easter

The day after Easter, I was off romping in search of fresh air, birdies & wildflowers and I discovered this about a mile from my house. I committed a daring drive by digital shooting. As there is such a thing as a pride of lions, a skulk of foxes, an exultation of larks, there is apparently, also a flush of toilets.

Oooo nooo, I couldn't 'go' there
I have no idea what the point of this sitting salute is. Maybe a celebration of the history of the toilet? Maybe the neighbors are just making do - no pun intended? Or perhaps they just appreciate the hell out of porcelain.

Oh, and as proof this all went down the day after Easter, did you notice the little bunny in both photos?

Perhaps Bun-bun is readying to Hop on the Pot