TerryJohnson's travel site

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Lewis & Clark Crusher

Saturday was the last race of the Psycowpath Series for the year. The race was held at Lewis & Clark Monument trails, Council Bluffs. This is a tough course. Many riders succumbed so "Never Rest" hill near the end of the race lap.

My photos of the race are posted on my race & event web site:

http://win-photo.photoreflect.com

THE CAT IN THE TREE AND BILLIE THE BEAK

Much as we enjoyed our trip to Gunby Hall on Thursday it was something of a mistake to have done it. My fault, not Gunby's. My foot just wasn't up to it and I have spent much of the time since then with my foot on a stool to reduce the swelling.

I sneaked out earlier today (before the ogre, who is your father and guardian of my foot, was about) and took a couple of quick photos to brighten up a dull post.

The weather has been amazing, very hot (for England) sunny, beautiful - all of this has left the grass looking dry and parched, but that will soon recover, while the leaves are beginning to take on their autumnal colours and texture. The trees and hedgerows are dripping in red berries and hips and lots of plants in the garden are having a brief second-flowering.

Even my short walk through the vegetable garden to the woodland gate was crunchy - when the hens came running they made a huge amount of noise as they scattered the dry leaves around them. Nothing can move quietly through there at the moment.

While I was talking to the hens, as they devoured the chard and spinach leaves, I looked up to find

little Miss Sparky in the fork of a tree watching them, Billie in particular. There is no love lost there. I think Sparky regards her as a special challenge - but I think Billie the Beak is well able to defend herself. Toby is terrified of her again, after she made a very painful stab at him the other day!!

For anyone who doesn't know Billie, I should explain that she is an ex-battery farm hen and she has a twisted beak. She can't really eat in quite the same way as the others, but she manages pretty well - and she can certainly give a nasty stab with it.

I 'borrowed' this image of her from Vintage Photographer's Blogspot, as I can never quite capture that beak of hers, but I think this photo shows it very well.

So, while your father has been busy about the place - rubbing down the wooden window frames at the back of the house and applying several coats of oil - I have been confined to quarters much of the time. I haven't wasted my time entirely as I have been doing some more sewing - making origami-style gift bags out of fabric (I enjoyed the challenge) and small gifts for later in the year. I would much rather have been out and about doing all the jobs which I really should be doing in the garden.

While I have been typing this I have been quietly surrounded by critters - two dogs and two cats. It is amazing how quickly the cats have learned what time the dogs get fed and have adopted that time as their afternoon feed time too. I must say I am quite pleased really, it saves time and helps to make sure that Pip doesn't have too much opportunity to steal the cat food as she is too busy eating her own! It takes her ages to eat her meal, whereas before it used to disappear in seconds.

No Skype call today - is that because you have the week off? I really would like to know whether you are pleased with the new clothes.

Lots of love,

Mum

xxx

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Baby barn swallows

Juvenile Barn swallow, Hirundo rustica
It's that time of year, when baby barn swallows are out of the nest and zooming around with the adults, catching bugs and generally having fun. Looks that way, anyhow.
It was a good year for them here. I counted 60 on the wires near the pond. I haven't figured out where they nest -- maybe in the neighbor's actual barn. But they definitely like to spend their days here after the babies have fledged.

At first I thought they were begging, but then realized it must have been the gular fluttering that Swamp Things told me about a while back.

Sadly, most of the Google searches concerning Barn swallows that the blog receives are along the lines of "how to get rid of barn swallows". I can't help but wonder why you'd want to! I guess they can be messy if they're nesting over your front door, but...
1) They're not going to be there that long. Eggs hatch in about 14 days and the young fledge about 3 weeks after that. When they're gone from the nest, you can tear it down and put a rubber snake in its place if you don't want them to return the next year.
2) They eat bugs! Lots and lots of bugs!
3) Watching them fly around, swooping and diving in search of insects, is a sure-fire natural blood pressure medicine.

The better to see you with

Here's a recent game camera shot of a reddish coyote. I still haven't managed to get a better photo of the suspected melanistic (black) coyote. I think this one may be his/her mate. I've gotten a couple of shots of them together, but Red here is always the one in the foreground.
After viewing our previous shots, the local Extension agent agreed that the black canid was most likely a coyote. He advised me to bait the area with meat for a better photo. I'm a little afraid that would attract the wrong element though... stray dogs. There have been a few more of those around lately.

Daytrip to Dillon Beach

As Ma was snapping this picture, she tripped over something and...

...well aren't these gorgeous? So here's where the peeps kinda had breakfast!

Dillon Beach is located in Sonoma County, just north of where we live. It's a great doggeh beach, cause we can go unleashed! It's about a mile long and ends at a lookout across a channel that divides the Pacific Ocean from Tomales Bay - right on the San Andreas Fault Line hehehe!

Instead of parking at Dillon Beach today, we decided to drive on through to Lawson's Landing.
The Landing is a campground at the very end of Dillon Beach; there's a wonderful view of one arm "end" of the Point Reyes National Seashore where you can see Tule Elk. Here's a little movie of Avalon and me having some Zoomies which we needed badly after the long car ride!

And here are some more pictures of us having a cool time on Dillon Beach as the tide let out.

Yuuuummmmmzers! Something smells absolutely splendid!

My sis needs to learn sand management.

Mo' zoomers!

A pelican hunting for dinner - never saw what he caught, but his dive was impressive!

And a million gulls...

Smellin' them... on your mark...

Gotta get me one!

Then we checked out the boardwalk/fishermans' area at Lawsons'. What do you think these kids were lookin' at?

Ewwwwwwwwww! Neither me or Av were even slightly interested in those.

But we got lots of attention from this guy! Look at all the doggehs!

And here's another, if you look closely! He did not appreciate our coming too close.

It was too cool to witness the boat launch here. $20.00 gets you tractor service; boat to truck or the reverse!

Then you won't believe what we saw on the way home. Turkeys! And a baby turkey!

And then Mom finally looked to her left and saw that! What a great day! Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Sending golden vibes to our pals who are in need.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Best Reason for Simplicity

"We simplify, not just to be less busy, even though we may be right to pursue that. Rather, we simplify to remove distractions from our pursuit of Christ. WE prune activities from our lives, not only to get organized, but also that our devotion to Christ and service for His kingdom will be more fruitful. We simplify, not merely to save time, but to eliminate hindrances to the time we devote to knowing Christ. All the reasons we simplify should eventually lead us to Jesus Christ." ~Donald S. Whitney
Thanks, Wayside Wanderer, for the above quote. It's the reason for simplicity to the Christian. I need to keep this utmost in my mind so I'll remember that my life isn't "all about me".