Whitecrowns Arrive! And Trip to SoCal

Whitecrowns arrive Oct 7 2011, a week later than last year.
We've been down to SoCal for the big wedding!
Drove down w F on Friday. She flew back up on Sunday evening and we drove home on Monday.
The wedding was very fun and we sincerely wish the bride and groom happy.

Stephanie and Thomas

Pyramid Lake from visitor center

Halloween fun in the US Forest Service display

Stopped at the Pyramid Lake visitor center on the way home. They have a very nice visitor center. Found out this morning when I stepped on the scale that I managed to gain five pounds in 3 days! According to the scale in the visitor center it could have been mostly water, but maybe I just ate too many candy corns and sat around way too much!  Time to get back on the bike.

My water weight

The times they are a changing...

...and I don't like it.  We've past the autumnal equinox now, and the days are getting shorter.  Where are my little white crown sparrow buddies? The orb spinners seem to have already disappeared.

At this time of year I wonder how summer can disappear so quickly. Last weekend I made a big batch of quince sauce and I plan to make the last batch today.  The quince harvest this year is lighter than last year. But my green beans are still producing! Variety Improved Tendergreen- these have been the best green beans yet.

Reflections

Sept 7 2011

Sept 7 2011

Sept 7 2011

July 8 2011

July 8 2011

It has been such a lovely summer.  We've been biking in the morning all summer, and there have only been these two mornings when the wind didn't blow and the lake was like glass.

Sporting Clay Shoot Fundraiser

I talked Ted into doing this fundraiser for the land trust with me.  Not that it took too much convincing.
We had to rent our shotguns.  Luckily Ted warned me to rent a 20 gauge. He wanted to rent a 20 gauge too, but they only had four of them and I got the last one. 
I had some worries the night before (what have I gotten us in to), but the whole thing was conducted in a very safe manner, and I felt very comfortable about the shoot. Ted and I both ended up getting the same score.  It was very fun, but note to self, don't even think about doing this if you can't get a 20 gauge shotgun.  We shot 50 rounds, and I did have a sore shoulder for a day or two (as did Ted).

Crooked Lakes Trail hike to Penner Lake

Snow level is obvious from the moss.

Island Lake

Penner Lake

We took this hike on August 18.  Left home at 8.45 am.
The weather was perfect and the flowers, thanks to our very late spring, were about peak.  We picked up F and D in Sacramento, but poor F turned out to have some awful respiratory bug, and so did not feel up to hiking.  We left them sitting beside Feeley Lake and proceeded post haste to our destination which was Penner Lake. To get back sooner, we truncated our planned loop hike into an out and back.  We left them the map but if we had been smart we would have taken a photo of it for reference, because we got confused at several points and it would have been helpful to have the map.  Now why didn't we think of that before we were halfway along the trail??
The hike only has about 500 feet of elevation gain over the 3 mile plus distance from trailhead to Penner Lake, so the hike was quite easy.  The trail is remarkably pretty, with one lake after another popping into view.  We ate lunch on a large smooth granite outcrop overlooking the edge of Island Lake, where we were entertained by the antics of an osprey.
The water at Penner Lake was just perfect for a quick dip: pretty cool but not frigid.
Dinner at Gatsby's in Sac. $60 for 3 burger plates and 3 milkshakes (includes tax and tip).  A bit (!!!) on the pricey side but good. Home at 10 pm.

Trout Lake 2011

Had a wonderful family reunion at Trout Lake this year.  The plane rides were delayed in both directions !ugh! 1 one hour delay going and 3 hours coming back.  Met Barb at MSP and shared a rental car w her for the 5 hour drive to the lake.  We had terrific thunderstorms for the first night and most of the first day, but the weather was quite nice after that.  We got in the usual mongo bike rides and the wonderful ice cream rewards at Mad Dog Jake's.

The nieghbors have a pontoon plane which was fun to see land and takeoff.  Takeoff is on one ski.

As usual we slept on the porch, which allowed us to carefully monitor the sunrise every day.  This picture was taken at 5:19AM and my brother was already up fishing!

Plum Sauce

The neighbor's plum tree overhangs the fence and has a bumper crop of beautiful fruit this year. And since we don't have any apricots or peaches this year, we have been busy making and freezing plum sauce.  Using about a cup of sugar per 6 cups plum puree.  Also made a great nonfat plum frozen yogurt. Yum! 2 cups nonfat yogurt, 3/4 C unsweetened plum puree, 1 C sugar.  Processed and resulted into 4 C frozen yogurt.

Update Feb 6 2012
My neighbor cut down her plum tree!!!!!!!!!!! So we went out and bought a bare root Santa Rosa from Lowe's and planted it today back where the cherries came out.