Numbers 102 and 103

After a Christmas road trip to the Bay Area to attend various family festivities, at which yours truly consumed far too many rich foods and/or sweet goodies, we've returned to what passed for normal here.  The building project is starting back up after a short hiatus to allow Dino to get a few items accomplished - the roofers finally started getting the actual roof on this week.

Saturday, I hitched a ride with Dino to the red gate.  He had a meeting to attend in Madera, so he headed left up the hill, while I headed right toward the river.  I was torn between enjoying the lovely day and fretting about the drought. 

It was a great day for birding.  Number 102:  Hooded Merganser:  I saw two males and a female.  Number 103:  American Wigeon - not sure how many, at least four. 

I got photos of the Wigeons but again these images were good enough to confirm the ID but sort of embarrassing otherwise.  This Hooded Merganser shot isn't the greatest either, but at least it gives you the idea.

I had some fun taking pictures of this female Yellow-rumped Warbler, a species I am quite fond of and who has been given the nickname Butterbutts. 

In Which We Recall Our Heroine's Last Post

I'm sure I've discussed Acton Grade in the past. The cute little snow I mentioned last time translated to snow and ice all the way up the grade - and it stuck for days. Tuesday morning (the week before Christmas) was a more eventful drive to work than usual; in fact it took me nearly 5 hours to get there.  I was making my way up the grade, repeating my crappy-road mantra "slow and steady", when I turned a corner and there in front of me was someone else's pickup truck, stopped and blocking the road.  The mantra changed to something more like "are you kidding me?".  I lucked out in that only a few feet ahead of me was a great spot to pull over so my truck wouldn't have to stop in the middle of the road.  I rather thought that being out of the way would be useful later on when whoever was going to have to unjam this mess showed up.  And in case you are wondering nothing was going to tempt me to attempt to back down the hill.

By some miracle of modern technology, I was able to get a cell signal and called the sheriff.  A few minutes after my call, one of the men working on our house remodel started down the hill but he was still on good pavement and was able to back up and out of the way.  I told him to go back up to the top of the grade to prevent anyone else from starting down.

I'll spare you a lot of the other details, but in time a sheriff's deputy showed up at the top.  And finally, a county road crew showed up at the bottom.  Some time after that, a big tow truck arrived, also at the bottom of the hill.  All of the rescuers put their heads together and the plan turned into:  chains from the tow truck were walked up the hill, attached to the stuck truck and to the sheriff's vehicle (big 4 wheel drive thing), and the truck was hauled out.

I spent my time waiting by watching birds, enjoying the view, and generally practicing my patience skills.  Occasionally, someone would ask to use my cell phone.  I had dressed appropriately in lots of warm layers, had my hat, gloves and uggs on, plus had a stash of snacks in my truck so I knew I was fine.

101 and a Snowfall

Friday night/Saturday morning brought us a couple inches of snow.  According to Dino's fancy weather station, that translated to a half inch of rain.  OK, better than nothing, plus all the white stuff was pretty.

When I took the above picture of the tree and the snow with the woodshed and the Ford in the background, I did not know that the Ford had narrowly escaped being crushed by a falling oak limb. That Ford is our ranch truck..., it's not legal for the road, but since it never leaves the ranch that's not a problem. This looks like a big mess, but the limb came down just in front of the truck. To get the limb off, Dino put forks on the front tractor blade, stuck the forks under the limb and lifted. 

I had all sorts of fun taking pictures near the bird feeders of our usual visitors, this one is of a treetop full of House Finches.  I think it looks a bit seasonal, like a Christmas wreath.

Number 101 - Golden-crowned Kinglet.  Regrettably, the picture I took was good enough to confirm the ID, but not good enough to share.  These little birds have almost certainly been around as they are not rare by any means, but we just hadn't seen one yet.  What a great year for birds!

November. Plus We Got Our Century

Bird news:  we've finally reached the 100 species identified mark.  Friday's walk took me to the area of the river just above the bridge.  As I was walking downstream, I noticed a big white bird.  Egret, I thought, until it started walking.  It was a Snow Goose!  Not the usual critter for around here, and I was able to spend some minutes watching it until it flew downriver.  I ran into some neighbors later as I was walking home - they told me that the bird has been hanging around for a week or so.

I'm on the tail end of taking a week off work - actually I'll have been off a total of 11 days since I was able to capitalize on the long Thanksgiving weekend.  I don't want to sound ungrateful for my good job, but when I checked my most recent lotto ticket and found that I'd lost again, I entertained yet another a micro-second of disappointment.

Dino has been nursing a sore leg.  On one of his walks last week, he stepped over a log and got whapped hard by an unseen branch that landed on the juncture between the bottom of the calf and the top of the Achilles tendon.  He said initially he wondered if it was a snake strike, even though those critters are well underground by now, it all happened so fast. 

In spite of that, he's been busy with getting the rough electric done.  I've done my part there by doing lots of "shopping" on lighting web sites.  Let's say that there are lights and lamps for every taste - thousands upon thousands of combinations. 

We've also worked on getting the work area around the house tidied up to as great an extent as possible.  The other day, Dino put the fork blades on the tractor and moved several piles of stuff away from the front area and re-organized it all near the new carport.  I had lots of fun working the big magnet finding all the nails scattered about - they make a nice "clunk" when they attach to the tool.

Of course, I've squeezed in several excellent walks.  My favorite shot of the past couple weeks is of this big cedar. It lives near the river and is a magnificent big tree.  I've been contemplating the best method of photographing and tried a wide angle shot from directly below.  It smelled lovely there.

Latest Book - Volume 6

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Hot Diggity, Number 99

On my walk Saturday - where I got totally taken up by the wonderful fall weather while exploring the river - I spotted our 99th bird species.  I didn't know at the time it was 99, that had to wait till I looked at the photos when I got home.

This Savannah Sparrow was with a mixed flock of other sparrows and juncos with a few bluebirds in the mix.

In further good news, Dino reported over a half inch of rainfall by noon(ish) today.  Excellent.

In Appreciation of the Pomegranate Tree

Aside from the fact that they create a very delicious fruit, pomegranate trees are altogether a beautiful tree.  In spring, their leaves are a satisfyingly fresh green, the blossoms are a lively red/pink/fuschia and in fall: