Sandhill Cranes--My World

Two things California's central valley has in abundance; historic gold rush sites and birds. I told Hubby I wanted to go to Stockton, 60 miles to the south. He was perplexed, he never thought of Stockton as a vacation spot. It is if your a sandhill crane or if you want to see them in the winter.

Woodbridge Ecological Reserve is a few miles north of Stockton. The cranes fly in to the reserve each evening in great numbers. During the day they can be seen foraging in the surrounding rice fields. Bird watchers are asked not to approach the birds. Without a super telephoto at this distance the shots are not as sharp as I might like.
The birds call to there friends flying by "come join us"

"Don't mind if we do"

" Shall we dance? "


You can find more worlds here at That's my World, hosted each week by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Louise and Sylvia.

Thank you all

I am overwhelmed with recognition. Storyteller at Sacred Ruminations and Lindy at Photoblog by Lindy MacDuff have each found me deserving of the best blogger award. My thanks to both of you!

Falling Shadows

Fallen leaves



Spent grass and twigs, blown by the wind

Cast their shadows as Apollo's chariot hastens to the west.

To see more shadows, visit Hey Harriet.

Update Nov 11 Post

If you wonder about the driver in my post Stop! The local paper said he was transported for medical obeservation and then booked for a DUI.

Red Tail Rising--Sky Watch

I am always watching the sky and the trees when we walk. It's a wonder I don't trip and fall.
We spotted this hawk, a Red Tail I think and although he moved around, hunting and feeding I was able to get some pretty good shots.

He flew from his perch in a tree before I could get my camera up. He didn't go far though and perched on a fence.

He took off, went to ground and I think found a tidbit that he took to this tree.

Then he was off again.

See more skies here.

Sky Watch Friday is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Louise and Sylvia. A round of applause to you all for giving us this wonderful meme.

Heron Takes Flight

We spotted this heron on one of our recent walks.
He didn't like us watching him and took off across the pond

I like the look of the water in these and of course, I like the heron.

Its feathers are so beautiful.

He seemed happier across the pond.

You can find more watery sites here.
Watery Wednesday is hosted by 2sweetnsaxy.

Garden Update--My World

I showed you this last spring, the beginning of my project to remove the lawn.

Drought seems to be a permanent feature of California weather and I wanted to reduce our use of water.

After I removed the sod I dug down 12-18 inches and removed the larger rocks. My garden consists of river cobble cemented together with clay. I then dug in compost and turned over the sod in some places and piled the rest of it high to make a berm at the back of what had been the lawn. I couldn't afford to lose the sod, the only decent soil in the yard.

You might ask why I have river rock when I live on a hill. The sign at the right explains how this came to be. In brief, at one time this was a valley which filled with volcanic ash. Since the ash was so hard it did not erode easily, thus the valley became a hill and the former hill became a valley.

The rock I removed I used to make raised beds and dry streams.

I covered the old sod with layers of newspaper and cardboard. Then I got 8 yards of bark mulch and put it down thick.

I made three raised beds for vegetables. I'll wait to plant the rest of the garden and allow the sod to decompose. I'll use drip irrigation as we have in other areas of the garden.

See more worlds here.

My World Tuesday is brought to us by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Louise and Sylvia.