Happy Turkey Day!

Bevson at Behind the Bins and Murmuring Trees put forth a bird blogging challenge.  For Thanksgiving, let’s post Wild Turkeys.  Here are mine.

The above turkey was in my yard one afternoon.  He (she?) was being fed corn by the neighbors.  I had 2 labradors at that time and when the neighborhood kids showed too much interest in this guy, he headed toward my backyard.  I headed him off and so he lay down in my front yard and tried to pretend that he didn’t exist (he didn’t fool me though . . . I knew he existed!).  Eventually, the kids gave up and I stayed patient and he finally decided it was safe enough to exist again and he got up and headed back to the golf course.

My favorite wild turkey sighting was in Morro Bay. Three Turkey gentlemen were cruising down the street.  I loved these shots.  They just look like they are out for a stroll.  I found out later that they are well known in Morro Bay and that there are turkey crossing signs on some of the neighborhood streets.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am grateful for so much in my life.

My wonderful husband, sweet children, and loving family.
I am grateful for my good friends and a job that gives me joy and challenge.
I am grateful for my health and our financial recovery.
I am grateful for a new president who brings new hope in these frightening times.

What are you grateful for?

Oh, yea, one last thing,  Thanksgiving isn’t complete without my amazing turkey call.  As you can see in the following video, turkeys respond to it.

Damn, I’m good.

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Thanksgiving Trip, Report 1

The corrected route — how we actually drove!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

 

We left Boulder Creek around 9:40am. I consider that nothing short of miraculous considering we had a plumber at the house until 12:30pm clearing drain lines of the clog that was causing all our problems. And, we were off. We headed up and out of the Bay Area, along the Sacramento River, seeing tons of Canada geese and one show-off of a White-tailed Kite. We drove up Echo Summit (Hwy 50) and down into the Tahoe basin. Lake Tahoe was beautiful but we cruised right through heading down the backside of the Sierras into Carson City. We got there around 4pm, I think. We found my mom’s house and got settled in. It was lovely to see my mom and Igor (my step-dad). Their dog, Ushki, was happy to see us — even Ruby. The kids were thrilled to be there. It was all good!

 

Thursday, November 22, 2007

 

The day dawned cold and clear. It was 20 degrees when we got up that morning. The birds at my parent’s feeder did not seem to care much, however. They were up and at ’em. Even the dogs coming out to take care of business didn’t slow them down at all. They’d flutter to the higher branches of the trees and come right back again. My parents get a fantastic assortment of birds at their feeder. My favorites are the Chickadees — they have Mountain Chickadees. I did not get a great picture of them so I’ll point you to a better one! [click] We got turned around pretty quickly and while my Mom stayed home, the rest of us headed off on a hike. Mom likes hiking but it’s getting harder and harder for her to do with any degree of comfort. Given the way that *I* ached for the rest of the weekend, I think that was a wise move.

First stop was a small ranch that is run by the local 4H. They rescue wild burros and mustangs and the 4H kids train them and find them homes. These guys are permanant residents. They were delightful — if pretty bad beggers. I guess a lot of people ignore the “don’t feed the burros and mustangs” signs. We did not feed them.

Ruby was not impressed by the gigantic wild animals. They were much too big for her and she’d just as soon be held by Greg, thank you very much!  We walked back to the trailhead and started the hike.  The children were, poor things, already exhausted.  None of us were very much impressed.

Although, in retrospect, I think they had good instincts — this was a long uphill hike — about a mile and a half uphill.  You can imagine the joy of it with that grumpy-faced boy along.  It’s a little bit hard to tell on the map above but we went up and up and up.  Here’s a view looking back from partway up.  The small gray buildings in the middle of the picture are the ranch where we petted the mustang and burros.

 We found an old abandoned truck and the kids had a blast climbing on it and playing in it.  This is mining country and the hills are littered with old abandoned mines.  So, sights like this are fairly common.   The view from the top was well worth the walk up.  This is the view down at Carson City.

Of course, we had to have all sorts of Hero Photos from the tops of high rocks.  Gage is less than thrilled to be up there but he did it.  Ruth, on the other hand, totally thrilled!

On the way back down, Igor and Ruthie took a different route — cross country!  Greg, Gage, Ruby and I walked back down the trail.  Ruby was a hiking fool — she loved it.  She stayed close, didn’t protest, hiked 3 miles for our every 1 mile.  And, wasn’t even remotely tired at the end!  🙂

Our reward at the end of the day was Thanksgiving Dinner at the Atlantis Casino buffet.  It was truly decadent.  The kids loved it — they could eat whatever they wanted and no one bugged them about it.  We told them they could have dessert first but they both got “real” food first and then dove into the desserts.  We ate snow crab and prime rib and duckling and all sorts of other great foods.  It was amazingly good — and amazingly decadent.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone

I saw this lovely bird last Thanksgiving up in the White Mountains of Nevada. We are going back to Nevada this year — to Carson City. I know I’ll see some lovely birds again. Hopefully, I’ll get some pictures of them. I don’t know if any will pose as thoughtfully as this cooperative Mountain Bluebird but I can dream. We are planning a fun weekend of activities.

We drive up to Carson City on Wednesday. My mother says she’s making homemade Beef Pot Pie for when we arrive — yum! Thursday, we’re planning a big hike off to the eastern side of the Sierras along Hwy 395. Evidently, we may be lucky and see wild burros and mustangs. Okay, I’m for that. Gage will find rocks to hound and Ruthie will find rocks to climb. It’s all good. For Thanksgiving dinner, we’re going to go to the Atlantis Casino for their buffet. Sounds delish — and certainly different! On Friday, we’re heading for Virginia City and we’ll follow up with dinner at Q’s bbq in Carson City. Saturday we may split up — send Greg, Igor, and the kids off to the Train Museum and Mom and I’ll hit the shops. Weeee! Then, after lunch, I think we’ll head off to meet up with Greg’s sister and her beaux and her mom at his cabin in Bear Valley, California. We’ll spend the night and come on back to Boulder Creek on Sunday. A full weekend to be sure. But, I think I’ll find lots of good pictures and plenty to be thankful for as we travel around our great state and into our neighboring state.