Hank

Watching the wind blow in a rain storm.

Finch update

Mr and Mrs Finch have started their family. I tried to get a picture of them, but they will not hold still. It has been fun watching them. Mr. Finch brings food back to Mrs. Finch at the nest. She leaves sometimes, but for the most part, she gets room service. pretty cool.

A step back in time.

California, as with most states in the union these days, is having budget problems, some of our State parks are scheduled for closure, this one, Fort Tejon State Historical Park is one of them.

Lycra man and I have thought of stopping often on our trips through the Grapevine, this time we did.

Fort Tejon is situated in the Tejon Pass, the major north south route.

See the truck on I-5? its that close, in fact I-5 runs through the middle of what was the fort.

At one time camels were used as pack animals at Fort Tejon, it was a short experiment lasting about 5 months. The fort was established to protect the Indians from the settlers and the settlers from the Indians, and cut down on the cattle rustling problem.

There are only 2 buildings left on the fort site. All the buildings were made of adobe, which dissolves in the rain over time.

I love visiting historical parks, seeing how people lived in a time gone by. I always think of the women, the wife's, and mothers...

The barracks

Notice how thick the walls are, see the door jamb above and the window below. Adobe walls are thick , helps keep it cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It was 90 degrees when we visited, last weekend they had snow and the pass was closed.

The parade grounds outside the barracks.

Bracing the walls

Cistern

 

Captains Quarters

20 years prior to the forts founding, a trapper was killed by a grizzly and buried under a huge oak tree , the details carved into its trunk.. this marker shows what was originally carved into the tree.

I am glad we stopped to visit. I am sad it may be closed. 

What a live it must have been.

Four years already! It sure went fast.

Lycra man and I drove the 400 plus miles to see the oldest daughter at UC Davis and attend the annual Picnic Day. The next time we visit  will be in 2 months and it will be for Brenda's Graduation!

a couple of photos from the drive...

 The orange color are California poppies blooming up in the Tejon  Pass.

Tumble weeds caught in the fence along the freeway...just multiply that by 1000 add some citrus orchards, vineyards, almond orchards and sage brush and you have what we saw along the way, really green now, but by June it will be brown.

I couldn't help but remissness. After moving her into her dorm those almost 4  years ago, I almost had a panic attack. It felt like I was leaving her on the side of the road to fend for her self...

Freshman move in day 4 years ago

Guess what...she did alright. 

 

 

And now UC Davis Picnic day parade...

Davis is know for its bikes, they are everywhere, which Lycra man loves.

They are walking backwards, tour guides, get it????

5 DeLorean's in a row!!!!!!!!! followed by electric cars...

cool lion dance thing...

Tour de cluck....

We had a great visit!

This and That, the whatever it is edition

Turtle sunning himself this morning.

OK, those of you  my age know the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull......I loved seagulls after that book, not any more...lets see if I can explain why.

she used to have 5...she was darting here and there protecting the last one this morning, from

these guys.

There is a group of  ducklings that lost their mom, I thought they would be toast but they are really smart...

this was taken 2 weeks ago, this is where they sleep, they stay in a group and stay away from the center of the pond...so far the are still 5 in number. Maybe if momma duck above could keep the kid away from the center of the pond, the seagulls couldn't swoop in and get it...

OK on the other things...

Hank...doing the jungle cat thing again.

pilfering and plundering birdie momma

You know moms, we love  a bargain...I was watching Mrs. Finch build her nest. She was bringing in some really fluffy looking nest lining material.

After watching a while I noticed she was flying from her nest directly to the orange tree and back again......
so I think some other momma birdie is really confused, her nest is not growing! Probably thinks it is mister birdie not working hard enough....playing golf or something and not finding building material!

The Birds and the Butterflies

 Mr and Mrs House Finch are building a nests, right next door the the hummer family.

They were really relived when this guy went flitting by and caught my attention,(squirrel) leaving them to build in peace.

 

Hank, he is such a legend in his own mind but, I love him

The stealthy panther takes a break from patrolling his corner of the jungle to enjoy a cool drink from a pond...

Did you ever wonder????

Well as some of you may know, I have been watching a humming bird family, now that the hummer kids have left the next I decided to check out the nest.

It is really sticky, like cotton candy sticky. I was like, so does she spit on it..you know flower nectar, humming bird feeder juice???

No, I learned that humming birds use spider webs to hold their nest together!

That explains why I always see them darting up under the fish pond cover...

see the spider webs on the rafters?

I always thought they were stealing bugs...yes they eat bugs, I looked that up a few years ago when I noticed them up there poking at the webs...so nope, not a snack bar, more like a humming bird home depot...

the things you learn!

From teeny tiney birds to big birds, no, not the yellow one!

Canada geese flying over the park this morning.

update

Hansel left sometime around 11 this morning,

Gretel left some time around 4 this afternoon.

A real empty nest...almost

Hansel and Gretel are getting ready to leave the nest, Hansel there on the left was practicing flapping his wings all day today...well with hummers it doesn't look like flapping ,even this young and new at the game their wings are a blur. They froze in place every time I went out to take a picture.

Out of sight out of mind...

until the onion sprouts and pushes the lid off the container...

I have been  using already chopped onion when I cook...no tears, faster etc.,forgot all about this fellow. Humm, I wonder what would happen if I planted this......stay tuned!

Humming bird twins.

 They are so tiny, but it still looks crowded in there!

Wabbits

Can you find the baby bunny?

I , sadly, have no baby bunnies here at home.

I can't decide whether or not to keep on with this hobby,

showing rabbits.

I have other things I am interested in doing...but baby bunnies are so cute.

Change isn't easy...I should know that by now, why do I have to keep relearning that!

wind chime

Sometimes memories come out of now where, just like the breeze, you can't see it coming and then it is there. I was going about my day when the sound of the wind chimes caught my ear. Just like that, I could see Kathy three years ago, untangling and hanging them up for me.

I remember sitting on the deck at my granny's house, listening to the wind chimes fashioned out of all her old keys.

I remember calling home and talking to my mom, I knew it had to be a nice day there, the kitchen door was open and I could hear the wind chime out on the front porch.

 Then , the breeze stops, the chimes quiet , and I turn on the vacuum cleaner.

Did my little duck friends survive the big party?

It was a big celebration in the park this week end. I wrote about this last year, I love reading the paper puddles after this event. What are paper puddles you ask, the fliers that are left behind.

Car detailing, realtor's, home furnishings, up coming concerts, it is really fun.

They had arts and crafts booths, food booths and music, 3,000 cars by 11:00 a.m the paper said, wow. Every year I think about attending, maybe next year, I would love to see it.

so I was worried about the baby ducks, that is a heck of a lot of people and you and I know these little guys are um...bold shall we say...from my encounter last week.

never fear...here they are with mom and pop near by, dozing in the early morning sun.  By the time I made it back around to the pond, they were in the water.

the sun shining through their little fuzzy feathers, makes it looks like they are glowing.

I spied a baby rabbit this a.m too, so all is well at the park.