Finally...

The rattlers have gone back into the earth for a few months.We only had two of them visit us this year. One, found behind the house, overstepped its boundaries, put my dogs in harms way and is now in snake heaven.

 The second one was on the road below the house... a small, but angry little guy, crossing in front of my car when I was driving home. Even the small ones carry quite an attitude. It flipped into a coil and wiggled his rattle-less tail at me. I had to laugh. It was so tiny. I let it pass.
The Prospector says I will regret this act of kindness when it comes back next summer bigger and meaner.
But,I couldn't run over it.
So be it.

Today it's beautiful. Sunny, clear and there's a fragrance of Fall in the air. This morning we worked on the hillside below the house cutting bushes and clearing debris from under them. The Prospector and I don't know when to stop and we worked way too long. We will probably regret this tonight.
The rain arrived a few days ago.  RAIN... glorious RAIN,  and it was cold, by California standards.
After a night of rain, I woke up with a desire for hot cereal. So I cooked some Cream of Wheat with some blueberries in it.

One of my favorite "cold weather" breakfasts.

 Then I went for a walk up to the orchard and our well. It's safe to walk into the grass now while it's wet, but I still watch were I'm walking just to be sure that an arrant Rattler hasn't decided to hibernate yet. I wear boots and long pants as well. You can't be too careful.

You never know what lurks in the grass. 

The hillside was glistening with raindrops. 

I took the low road because it is still a better road to walk on and I can see what's coming. The upper road continues up to the top of the hill and on to a distant farm. This was our escape route in last summer's fire.
The road to the right stops at the orchard and burn barrel. There is a turn around at the end.  It's just a utility road for us. Maybe some day we will have a storage barn there, even though it's quite a distance from the house. The road is good and we can drive it with any of our vehicles... even the "other women", (the 38' Chevy) can make it up there.

The sun was trying to break though the clouds. I felt like I was under a dome of  backlit cotton.

The fence gate had rows of raindrops lining the wire.

Many of the barbs on the fence had drops of water dripping from them.

This one had a complete miniature, upside down, reflection of its surroundings.

And, on the fence gate, I found a cocoon. I wonder what wonderful life force is developing inside that amazing little work of art.

I found a tiny bird egg lying on the ground. The ants had found it too.

I walked back toward the house thinking about the long hot summer that I dread so. I thought about the way that each season comes, with unique gifts, and leaves quietly, with the promise of their habitual return.
I will miss the flowers of summer, the vegetables... the smell of dry oaks and Toyon. I will miss sitting in the middle of the Mokelumne River with a gold pan. I will even miss the snakes. Yes... even the snakes.
But...I will not miss summer now... for a while. I was ready for this day... the cool wind, the cloudy sky and the changing leaves crunching under my feet. The berries of the Toyon are darkening and will soon be my outdoor decorations for Christmas.

   This is what I have been waiting for. This is when all fears leave and my soul remembers why we chose to live in this beautiful place.
I think I will make soup tonight...

Haiku

A pear tree leaf blows...

Onto the rain watered porch...

 Reflecting heaven.

Capturing Pinecrest wildlife with my Nikon D5100

“To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.” 

~Henri Cartier-Bresson~

This crow was captured on the beach using my new camera's continuous release mode (up to 4 frames per second). I'm able to take pictures in quick session when I want a series of the same subject. I love the sequence of its landing, almost like a moving video but more affective because you don't see movement, so it doesn't distract from the other parts of the photo... like the rocks and the shadows.

When the crow landed, I realized that he had a broken foot. It was bent and he couldn't stand on it.  This series of photos show the bird trying to keep its balance while it hopped around looking for food. It fell a few times, but eventually decided that flying was easier and flew away. Again, I love the ability of this camera to take quick photos in sequence. They kind of tell a story.

The first afternoon I saw a squirrel emerging from a drain near the tennis courts. With fast shutter speed and continuous release I was able to catch his bold little move up onto the concrete walk before he saw me and did an about face back into the drain. This all happen within seconds and I would never have caught this little guy in action without the continuous shutter release and subject tracking autofocus.
I need to work on all of these controls. There are so many and I haven't even gotten to the manual modes yet.

This Blue Jay would have been so much clearer with a tripod or monopod. I have both. I hate to admit it but they were left at home. This is another reason to have all your equipment with you. No matter how still you hold the camera you will always get a better photo with a tripod. The crow sequence would have been more difficult to take with a tripod  because I was on sand and moving around. In that case a monopod can be a more flexible choice. I find the monopod is more likely to be used (as compared to the tripod) when I have it with me. It's easy and I can move it faster. I just like my monopod better.  But, both were sitting in my extra room at home... a lot of good either did me.

I love this photo. Footprints in the muddy sand. This was a very large crow or maybe a Raven. I'm not sure. All that was there were its silent footsteps. I love the contrast of the pale rocks, the dark sand and the deep prints of the bird.

Then there was this guy...

protecting its space on the porch of our motel. It had a huge web attached to a fire extinguisher on the motel wall, right next to our room's front window. SOMEONE needs to sweep that porch down once in a while.
 If there was a fire? Do you think I would have reached into that box to use the extinguisher? I think not. Let the place burn. There's no way that I would touch this spider or its web. I know. I'm a wimp when it comes to Arachnids.

That fluffy, gray and indistinguishable mass that the spider was heading for?...That would be me, in my worst nightmare. The spider carried the small insect across the wall and into a hole on the side of the fire box. My spine shivered as I watched. I think it was a moth or small butterfly, but the poor thing's nightmare was over. The moth was food for the spider or its babies now. Eck!

This Daddy Longleg was quietly watching the whole thing.  I decided it was time to go for a walk. Sitting on that porch was like waiting for the next scene in a horror film.

The motel was clean and had no spiders inside. NONE! I checked. It would have been kind of cold and uncomfortable but I would have slept in the car if these guys had been on the inside... or the Prospector would have had to do a Woody Allen /Annie Hall/ "spider in the bathroom" re-creation. He has saved the day before.

An Overnighter with the Prospector's Mom

When my husband was a little boy, his parents took him camping and fishing... a lot.
One of the places that they went, every year, was called Pinecrest Lake. 

This is where the Prospector, his brother, our sons and our grandsons go for a week every summer.
It had been many years since my husband's Mom had been up there so a few weeks ago, we called her and asked if she wanted to drive up to Pinecrest and stay overnight. She said "Yes!!". My mother-in-law's name is Vi.
She is 91 years old... and still full of spit and vinegar.

So last Wednesday we drove the back roads from Jackson to Sonora and then east up into the mountains. Her daughter drove Vi from Stockton, through Oakdale and up to Sonora.  We met at the Lake.
We got settled into our motel room. Ours was on the very end. There were only six rooms in this motel. We were the only ones there until late that night, when one other couple came in.
Pinecrest is a busy, popular place in the summer but now it is peaceful and quiet.

The resort has cabins and condos for rent too.

 I wish I could include the smells of Pinecrest...the pines, firs and oaks, the campfires and "mountain misery". The familiar sounds of crows and mountain jays and a red tailed hawk sailing over head.

 We checked in and then drove down to the lake.

The Fall color was just starting. The weather was beautiful.

 We took a walk down to the lake. Look at that woman go. She has cruise control on that walker. She walks almost a mile every day around her neighborhood with her niece. She's a lesson to us all.
We finally made Vi sit and rest for a while. I sat with her and the Prospector and his sister went down to the water.

They came back with two homemade anchors that were found because the water level was so low.

 One was very old. The Prospector lost two when he was here a few months ago.
The weather was beautiful. Probably the last good week. It's suppose to snow here on Wednesday.

 This lake is regulated by the Pacific, Gas and Electric Co. Right now it's very low. You can see a lot of huge boulders and tree stumps in the water.
 We also drove to Strawberry... just a few miles up the highway. 

This is the south fork of the Stanislaus River... and it's a beautiful stretch of wilderness. It comes out of Pinecrest Lake, flows downstream joining its north and middle fork and then flows into New Melones reservoir.

This river has been extensively dammed and diverted and is a river of controversy. Here is some information about what happens when too many people need too much water and the "wars" that ensue. It's an ongoing problem with all the rivers in California.

This is looking upriver from the bridge on Old Strawberry Rd. I learned the art of fishing from the Prospector here before we were married. I learned the art of river fishing... and patience. I learned how to read a river and where the fish hide.
I don't fish much now, but this is where it started.

And below is Dawson's cabin, up on the hill to the south of the bridge. This belonged to a friend of my husband's father. It looked better in the 60's.  Then, there were no other cabins around it.
Remember the couple who came to visit us before our 50 year reunion? Al and Ginny... from Washington? Well the four of us stayed in this cabin one summer night in about 1964. We were young, not married yet... and well, it was scandalous behavior for all of us. I'm not even sure how we were able to use the cabin that night. We must have gotten the key from someone but I don't remember where or how. Maybe there wasn't a key.
I didn't want to sleep in the cabin because of all the spiders, (I'm sure it has a ton more now.) so the Prospector and I slept outside on the ground. That was a first for me... but a beautiful memory.

Now, no one is using it and it's in a state of decay. But it's still there, overlooking the river.

 We never told Vi that we stayed overnight up there. I'm sure she would not have approved, then. But the Prospector was conceived just up the road at another cabin in the Dardanelles and she loves to tell that story. Of course, she and grandpa were married... so that made it OK.

What are they looking at?

 They were all looking at a HUGE house that was being built up on the hill. It was one of those McMansions that are overwhelming and ostentatious. I guess some folks just have to flaunt their wealth. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and guess that this was a primary home and not a vacation home. I didn't take a picture of it.

When I was taking pictures and trying not to fall into the river, I found a very interesting metal marker in a huge rock that I was standing on. It's a US Coast and Geodetic Survey Bench Mark.

The term is generally applied to any item used that shows a point of elevation for reference. Bronze or aluminum disks are set in stone or concrete. Go here for more information. I thought this was interesting. It was put in this boulder in 1957 and I had to laugh because there's a $250. fine or imprisonment for disturbing it. Believe me, there is no way that this "bench mark" is going to come out of this rock unless you use dynamite. It looks really tamper proof.
Vi and I use to collect rocks up at the Dardanelle's campground. We would get the biggest ones we could carry and lug them back to the car where the Prospector and his dad would roll their eyes and complain about the extra weight. It got to be a joke. We would be driving along and I would call out "ROCK." and  Vi would yell, "Stop the car." and then we would laugh at the guys when they got mad about the whole thing.
We carried a lot of rock up from that river and took them home with us. To this day, Vi still has them lining her garden in Stockton. But we never saw any with "Benchmarks" in them. The boulders with benchmarks  were too big to carry home. Grandpa would have really had a fit.

Later that day, we went back to our motel, cleaned up and went out to dinner.Then we came back to the motel and crashed...
We slept well.
 Next time I will show you some photos of the beach at Pinecrest and  other interesting things that go on in the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The Bully Hen

Things are going fairly well in the chicken coop...

Everyone is finding their place in the pecking order... except for Squeaky and one of the new hens.

They seem to be at odds with each other.

The Ameraucana is throwing her weight around . She is not even laying eggs yet and for some reason she has decided to pick on Squeak'.

"What did you say, you little dwarf?"

 And while the other hens are out in the yard, eating lettuce and apple peels, this young hen is waiting at the entrance of the chicken house. She seems to be guarding the doorway...

And who is the only chicken inside the coop? Right...

 Look at her. She's stressed. "What's the matter with that upstart? Why is she picking on me?"

 I may be small... but I'm smart and have fine feathers. My parents had lineage. I think that I'm a fine hen. I'm just small."

Squeaky runs from this hen. Well, to be honest, Squeaky runs from all the big hens but this hen seems to have it out  for Squeak'. She is afraid of what will happen if this hen gets a hold of her. If Squeak' is eating a piece of lettuce, this hen will come over and snatch it away.  This hen seems to have a bone to pick with Squeaky. I don't know what her problem is.

The hen from hell is not a happy "Bully". 

She doesn't mingle with the other hens much . She hasn't grown her crop yet, so she's not laying eggs. She is one of the newbie hens and can't seem to find her place in the scheme of things. Right now she's just being a loner and picking on the littlest hen .

Bully's are usually victims too, so I will keep an eye on this new hen and see what happens. 

Squeaky can usually take care of herself. She has always been the underchicken. She accepts this fate most of the time. But, she told me, this morning, that she is tired of being picked on and will report this to the authorities if something isn't done about it. I think she is serious. The other hens never say anything or come to her defense. There seems to be a conspiracy of silence in the hen house.

This is National Bullying Prevention Month. Here is some information about the efforts being made to do something about this epidemic in our country.

Please pay attention to your children. Listen to them. It's time for someone to do something.