SJ-May 2007
May. 7th, 2007 01:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
furtechI've been very distracted in recent weeks: taxes, then surgery, then more taxes, a new pup, family stuff...the end result being that I'm more likely to read LJ, make a few comments and then pass out. In an effort to catch up on posts, I'm going to post the most recent and then work my way back. Puppy updates, too.
About a week ago, I made a trip up to the BArea to deal with some family business. The fun part of those trips is staying at my sister's house. My brother-in-law takes these 6am walks with some interesting locals and the conversation (not to mention the great dogwalk) is worth getting up at 5:30 for. One of the interesting things to happen there is that a mated pair of white tailed kites is nesting (2nd year) in a neighbor's tree. That means we hear them all day and often see them roosting in some redwoods .
[I took the close-ups by holding my little digital camera up to the eyepiece of my binoculars-- not a bad way to get a closer shot]
They have a distinct but not terribly annoying cry they make to each other and it's fun to watch them interact. One morning I saw the female being harassed by a bored crow (not terribly aggressive). The male sat on his perch and merely watched the action. When the crow (losing interest) flew off, she angrily flew over to her mate and knocked him off his perch atop the tree. That'll show him for not helping!
Speaking of birds of prey, saw this unusual " lost pet sign " on the morning walk. Hope they find her!
On Sunday,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
brokkentwolf offered to let me tag along to the carnivorous plant mecca, California Carnivores . I've always been interested in flytraps, pitcher plants and sundews -- I even had the book "The Savage Garden".
The drive up was gorgeous and the place is well-worth the drive if bug-eating plants are your passion ! I was familiar with your basic pitcher plant, but here there was an amazing variety of pitchers ! Turns out the owner is also the author of "The Savage Garden"! Lots of good info and encouragement as to beginners and the hellish climate of L.A. I ended up buying a starter set of pitchers and sundews, two of which I'm giving tomartes (for her schadenfreude garden). We'll see how well I do...
About a week ago, I made a trip up to the BArea to deal with some family business. The fun part of those trips is staying at my sister's house. My brother-in-law takes these 6am walks with some interesting locals and the conversation (not to mention the great dogwalk) is worth getting up at 5:30 for. One of the interesting things to happen there is that a mated pair of white tailed kites is nesting (2nd year) in a neighbor's tree. That means we hear them all day and often see them roosting in some redwoods .
[I took the close-ups by holding my little digital camera up to the eyepiece of my binoculars-- not a bad way to get a closer shot]
They have a distinct but not terribly annoying cry they make to each other and it's fun to watch them interact. One morning I saw the female being harassed by a bored crow (not terribly aggressive). The male sat on his perch and merely watched the action. When the crow (losing interest) flew off, she angrily flew over to her mate and knocked him off his perch atop the tree. That'll show him for not helping!
Speaking of birds of prey, saw this unusual " lost pet sign " on the morning walk. Hope they find her!
On Sunday,
brokkentwolf offered to let me tag along to the carnivorous plant mecca, California Carnivores . I've always been interested in flytraps, pitcher plants and sundews -- I even had the book "The Savage Garden". The drive up was gorgeous and the place is well-worth the drive if bug-eating plants are your passion ! I was familiar with your basic pitcher plant, but here there was an amazing variety of pitchers ! Turns out the owner is also the author of "The Savage Garden"! Lots of good info and encouragement as to beginners and the hellish climate of L.A. I ended up buying a starter set of pitchers and sundews, two of which I'm giving to
martes (for her schadenfreude garden). We'll see how well I do...
