Next Question

What's up with cows?  As I was taking those photographs the other day of the sandpiper, I felt "someone" watching me.  I turned around and saw this.  Middle-aged, sweaty ladies with camera bags can't be *that* interesting, can we?

Help Identifying Wildflowers

It's nearly as bad as the fungus obsession - this time of year - well anytime of year I see a wildflower is more accurate.  I have a semi-real goal of photographing all of the wildflowers on or around Dryad Ranch.  "Semi" in that I doubt I'll ever see them all. 

I work with four wildflower field guides, including John Muir Law's Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada.  I also spent a lot of time on the Calflora web site trying to track down what species of flora I've just photographed.  Sometimes, I can only get as close as family and then get stumped.  Sometimes I don't even get that far.  I suspect that many times I've photographed something that is non-native and therefore isn't included in any of the guides. 

The next two images show two I've gotten nowhere with.  Any ideas on where to start looking?  Both of these were found in the mostly dry creek bed that runs below the road from the ford (just past the green gate) to the Chowchilla River.

Number 94: Spotted Sandpiper

I hadn't walked along the river near the bridge in quite some time, so I decided to head that direction just to see what could be seen.  I had wildflowers in mind, mostly, but one must always keep an open mind because lovely surprises could be waiting around the next corner.  After spending some time watching a pair of killdeers calling and scurrying along the sides of the Chowchilla, I headed upriver for a ways in hopes of possibly spotting a turtle.  Instead, I saw a pair of these Spotted Sandpipers:  number 94 for our bird list!  I didn't know the species until I was able to get home and consult the Sibley's; I just knew we hadn't seen them here before.

It's at times like this that I'm glad for always having the big lens in my camera bag.  It's extra weight to carry but worth it.  (This time of year I start carrying lots of water because it's starting to heat up a bit. The bag weighs somewhere upwards of 30 pounds; it's a good workout.)

















For good measure, I'll throw in a wildflower picture.  This is yellow sweet clover - unfortunately not native.  I saw quite a lot of it in the dry creek just below the ford. 



Spiders, Beetles, Birds

I took this week off work meaning that the days flew by.  I've been getting a lot of weeding done and believe I have only a few more days work to go on that and then it'll be more or less done for the year. 

Of course I've also been out looking for wildflowers and other neat things.  I found these beetles enjoying themselves on some white whorled lupines.  I'm pretty sure they are Hoplia dispar - they have an interesting silver sheen on the underside.  Evidently they prefer white flowers to any other and can be garden pests although evidently they usually aren't a scourge.  The ones I saw were way down near the river so I remain hopeful they don't find their way up to our roses.  A friend of mine saw this picture and helped me with the ID and the only reason she knew about them was because they had munched on her garden, especially her roses.

This next picture I got because I was originally interested in the wildflower - a winecup clarkia.  When I noticed the spider I refocused on that since I already have a decent image of the clarkia (I'm pretty sure).  I used the black case I have in my camera bag as a makeshift backdrop.  I don't know what kind of spider it is.

 

 

I've seen a blue heron the last two times I've walked down to the river - it's not impossible that there is a pair.

 

 

 





Wildflowers that Walk on the Darker Side

Usually one would think of wildflower pictures as pretty and springlike.  Sometimes, the image doesn't call for that.  Or possibly the photographer has noticed current events, and the play of light and dark changes.

Purple Milkweed



Backlit Common Madia

Yours Truly and Her Very Own Website

I've been thinking about doing this for a while and finally wedged enough time into the weekends and evenings to get it finished.  I've put up my favorite images as well as some silk scarves that I designed and had digitally printed.

The site is:  http://www.prayinghorse.com

I'm sorting through quite a few wildflower pics - even though it's been a dreadfully dry winter, some sturdy flowers are popping up.  I'll post some of those soon, but in the meantime, enjoy these Wild Pea Leaves (sorry don't know the species, as there are no flowers yet).  Taken with my Lensbaby, after a lovely spring rainfall.

Rural Living (Dino's Adventure Getting Home)

Photo by Megan (iphone camera) on her way home Thursday

 Dispatch from Dino about his day on Wednesday:

I had an errand in Mariposa, and since it was dry, went to Eastman Lake to remove two Kestrel nest boxes temporarily for a construction project. Since it was still dry after that, I completed another task at Hensley Lake. I thought a town trip was warranted, since I was close, so off to Madera I went. It just started to sprinkle as I was heading to Madera. When I was in Evan's Feed at about 16:00 hours, I could really hear the rain, and the gutters on the streets were full. I left Madera at 18:00 hours, and with the rain and darkness, drove like an old man at 50 mph.

Pulling the grade just past the Raymond church, I noticed that the road cuts were more white than I'm used to seeing. At the Road 600/415 split, snow was sticking to the road. I proceeded up Road 600 and finally hit a curve where I was slipping a bit, so engaged 4WD. At the high point just past the old stage stop, there were a bunch of cars stopped. Some pickup had spun out and blocked traffic. A 4WD towed him out and down towards Raymond, but the half dozen cars that had stopped were stuck. 3 inches of snow were on the ground. At least the stuck cars could get a cell signal, and the ones I talked to had called their husbands or friends to come get them. I found out this morning that the highway into Oakhurst was closed at Deadwood summit, so a few of those cars had tried a detour via Raymond and up Road 600.

Going down Road 810 was another matter. This is a one-lane dirt road dropping 1000 feet. The #$*! automatic with 3:1 first gear hardly held me to a slow speed, but would require more brakes than I'd like to stop. A few bushes were encroaching upon the roadway with the snow, but there was plenty of room to get by. At one sharp corner on the dirt, there was a larger oak in part of the road that covered the tracks of the previous vehicle. Not a good sign, I was thinking. At the paved 10% grade I had to put the Lemon in low range to hold me back on compression, and before the cattle guard, there was a live oak across the road. Damn!

I was not thrilled about backing up the 10 % grade with the ice and snow before I could turn around, and who knows what troubles I'd find on Road 600 back to Raymond and up Bailey Flats Road. I had my nest box installer's tool bag with me, which had a 10-inch folding pruning saw. Working on the trees, I kept hearing trees and limbs falling around me. A reassuring sound to some, no doubt. One hour later, I was back on my way with soaked gloves and numb fingers.

A few hundred feet later, there was a car in the middle of the one lane road, and another live oak down across the road in front of the car. No one was in the locked car. I used some Nixon presidential language about then! My tow chains were at the house where I've been using them to pick up and move moss rocks for a wall I'm building. Besides, this isn't Montana where you need to keep all types of supplies in your vehicle because the weather can change suddenly.  I had some 1-1/2 inch tie-down straps, and was able to use them to drag the vehicle over the ice and snow to where I could push it off the road so I could get by. (I was nice, it was pushed off on the uphill side)

Another hour and I was on the road again. On Bessie Jacobs Road, there are a few trees I'll have to prune back so I can get by with the trailer on Thursday.  On one of the notoriously steeper hills, I lost traction in the clay and was all over the road. I'll have to get a more aggressive tire for the Lemon for winter use. (I was telling Megan earlier she could go with a less aggressive tire for the Toyota, but this storm showed me to stay with what she has.)

End result was 47 miles in 3hours 50 minutes.

Thursday, I cut up parts of seven trees on our road, including two that fell after I had passed by Wednesday night. Since I had the saws in the Ford, I cleared the trees off the remainder of the road that passes through our land, and took one path I have through another parcel, and cut my way through a total of thirty limbs until the sun was setting, and I had to backtrack home. Maybe this weekend I can finish the trail, and see what is across the fences. When it is all said and done, this sure beats living in the city!