As I started to wrangle my week under control, I slipped out on a break to snap some shots of the pipevine swallowtails. I had company. Neither of us got what we were after. Here’s a start to Kinta stalking butterflies on newly blossomed Blue dicks.
WIP – Kinta stalking butterflies
Our California drought is getting bouts of wild wet weather. Over the weekend through Monday we received 4 inches of rain at our place. It was accompanied by high winds and power outages.
On Tuesday we heard barking on the deck, however no dog was in view. Sailor was under the deck, barking up a storm. Kinta kept trying to go under the deck and Blitz kept sniffing it in a search pattern she uses for bird hunting.
We didn’t give it much thought, then yesterday morning I blocked the under deck access enough to keep the dogs out and still allow the cat or whatever else was hiding to egress. Sure enough, look who wondered out…
He or she was soaked and tattered. A friend from Shasta Wildlife Rescue stopped by to pick up a donation and we observed the turkey vulture together. It looked old and a bit bedraggled, but appeared to be getting drier and stronger. This time of year, birds are fighting over nesting spots. Perhaps this one took a dunk in the pond during one such struggle, and then took shelter under the deck while the storms passed.
Dogs, being dogs, found it and sounded the alarm. Who knows, perhaps they plucked a feather or two. Lucky dogs, the vulture didn’t vomit. That’s the usual defense mechanism.
Once dried, the turkey vulture safely made its way into a tree to roost for the night. Tap on the any image and enjoy the slide show.
Meet Sailor, he’s my new boy. At 17 months old he’s still a puppy discovering his world. This morning, it was ducks on the pond. He kept running to the pond then returning to me…Look! Ducks! Come on, DUCKS! Yep, Whimsday Bliss!
Practicing for demo. Hmm, I may ask for a student volunteer, otherwise I’ll look like a crazy scientist after 8 presentations!
I’ve been told that my presentations to students get pretty animated. Doesn’t look like this year will be any different. Tomorrow, I’ll be demonstrating Electrostatic Precipitator to nearly 400 school kids. They’ll divide into 8 groups spread over the morning. I predict lots of funny faces and a bad hair day!
My 2013 presentation on Hydrophobic Soil. Thanks, Tim (The Forester Artist) for the fun shots.
A welcome shower today.
I love where I live. It’s the perfect time to be a morning person. Simply bliss. 🙂
The area where the trail cam is located has blackberries and some old apple trees. Both favorites of the local black bears. They come by to check the ripening status of the fruit.
We like our little get away up in the mountains. No cell phone coverage, no electricity, it is a place we can truly be unplugged.
Enjoying the view of our neighbors, even if it is their backside – bliss.
A composite of bear images with our rig to show size comparisons.
Finally a smile for the camera.
This is a young black bear, we think a young female. We saw her on our drive in, just up the hill a bit.
The bare foot of the black bear.
Our little get away. No amenities to speak of, just the bare bear necessities. 😉
We were in San Francisco yesterday, where it was a balmy 73° F. Quite a few folks I hear from online think this temp is the norm for California, but please don’t judge California by San Francisco norms.
It topped the mercury at 116°F at our house, 3½ hours to the north and inland. Not to be outdone, in Death Valley, California, it reached 129° F.
We weren’t home on the hottest day so far this year, but today has been nearly as toasty. Triple digit heat is all a part of the normal summer for us. As we drove up the valley on the I-5 corridor the outside temperature quickly rose to 115° F / 46°C.
Air-conditioning, essential.
Thermally cooled seats…bliss.
Not the hottest temp this year, but still pretty toasty. Welcome to Northern California summers.
This gallery contains 6 photos.
We originally set up hidden cams at various locations to catch claim jumpers. It’s a nice treat to capture the local critter population. Here is a sampling of what passed through the last 2 weeks. Of course, panning a little … Continue reading
This is the oldest of the two fledgling age vultures in our backyard. I think it is pretty cool that we can see clean through its nose.
This vulture fledgling let me get pretty close yesterday. It has been spending most of the day out of the hole, up in the tree, while its younger sibling still retreats to the nest cavity.
It is the oldest and the boldest of the two. I don’t know for certain, but it is about a day or two older than its sibling. I believe it has embraced being the oldest with a certain measure of bliss.
Sneaking Bliss 