Today's walk report: 122421

 Merry Christmas. Happy winter 2021-2022.

Another wonderful couple of rainstorms began 12/23/21 at 0140 with rainfall here totaling a whopping 2.42", ending around 10:00 this morning. I left shortly thereafter in search of some picture taking and to get at least a little walking in. Skies were still somewhat foreboding and I happened to get rained on just a tad as I was heading back to my car. That rain apparently wasn't measurable by the campus weather station but it was enough to get me damp and the car wet on the way home. 

I started out looking for birds but I was distracted by pretty colors, sort of rare signs of seasonal change in SoCal, so I made a project of it. Plus everything was so very clean and shiny. This experience was reminiscent of my one and only photo "assignment" here on this blog. That was this. 

It was also a great excuse to show random images without dialogue so here we go...

Colors please grow for me, paint my world rosily,
Keep me just sheltered and warm.
Save my lost blossomy, values I trusted in
Show me ...

Today's walk report: 121821

There was a modest amount of walking involved.

Onto the campus parking, right out of the car, I was on the phone with Docken and I simply did not have the courage to tell her but yes, indeed, it appears the monkeys are back.

Next I walked to the garden but activity was pretty much nil so I moseyed over to the oak trees and mustered up about 1/2 lb of acorns for Bowie and Mr. B. The campus got a pretty good soaking between 12/16 and 12/17 with 2.29" of rain. That's 5.8 cm. The acorns were not too plentiful and many were sunk into the gravel around the base of the trees. I find bending over and picking up acorns quite taxing on the old rectus femoris, vastus lateralis and even the vastus medialis muscles. In fact, I didn't care to walk stairs or hills after that and then Docken provided a most excellent idea... drive up the hill. So I did.

Right out of the car this time, I played peek-a-boo with a red-tailed hawk.

The star of the day was this Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus), Prairie Falcons are similar in size and markings to Peregrine Falcons. 

Note: the second to last image, where its beak is slightly open. See the little bit of fur. Yep, I wondered what it was pecking at inside its talons.

Moving over a few trees south.

Down below there was a sizable gaggle of Canada geese (Branta canadensis).

Nearby the goats were waiting on the other team to arrive for their soccer game.

Another red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis).

The Prairie Falcon was ultimately chased away by two of these birds, European starling (Sturnus vulgaris).

 Finally, on the way home, I happened to detour into an anti-vaxxer Christmas party.

And so it goes...

Today's walk report: 121421

Rainy day, rain all day
Ain't no use in gettin' uptight, just let it groove its own way
Let it drain your worries away
Lay back and groove on a rainy day*

Okay. it's not true, this isn't really a walk report but to make it qualify just a wee bit I'll mention my last walk, briefly. Yesterday, Monday December 13th I went for my typical early morning walk and I wasn't especially enthusiastic about it. It was the crack of dawn and about 39º F. Despite my Nordic roots I find that to be pretty cold, especially just wearing Levi's, a t-shirt and a light hoodie. I bought a pair of $10 gloves on Amazon awhile back and as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. I prefer to put my fists into the sleeves of the hoodie and after about a mile my hands seem to warm up a bit. So, there was that.

The thing is, I felt I had to walk yesterday because walks were absent this past weekend and today, well today it was a lot warmer, same time as Monday's walk it was 54º but it was also pouring rain. In fact from about 10:40 last night until right now (near 10 AM) we got a charming 1.84" of rain. I'm really thankful for that but I'm not walking in it. Those days are gone forever. 

Young wildflower plants, which were being meticulously cared for over many days since our first rain on October 24th, were having to deal with some nonseasonal temps up into the mid-90ºs. They were looking a little sorry the past few days but I felt I should wait on the rain. They've perked up significantly this morning. I hope they can handle tomorrow morning's near freezing predicted temps. Up until today I had only seen .87" precipitation for the season. Average rainfall for this valley is 17". Last season the total was around 5.5". I water roughly 6,000 square feet by hand. Wildflower seeds to seedlings in 90º+ temps needed to be watered as many as 4 times a day. I do that with a sprayer on a hose, 3 of them actually. I don't mind the activity but I do mind using the water in a drought (read, guilt) and also having to pay for it. I'm gonna see the water bill for the last two months in a day or two. I'm hoping not to flip out. Last wildflower season I did nothing due to Covid. This year I felt like I deserved some flowers. Last year there was some self-seeding and I relied on that little bit of rain. This year I threw down 1/4 lb of Dimorphotheca sinuata seed (it's an African daisy) and... package said, 100,000 Pavaver rhoeas (common poppy, Shirley poppy) seeds. To top it off I get a lot of common storksbill, common mallow and in the backyard, chickweed. They're all invasive but not horrible looking plants.

Anyway, that's more than I was going to say about any of that. What I wanted to do was to post some more pictures of my two scrub jay (Aphelocoma californica) friends, Bowie and Mr. B. They visit me daily. In fact, I believe they both look for me and why not, they get food. I have conversations with them both now, they listen to me. Bowie talks back the most.

These were all taken between November 29th and December 12th, I think... close enough.

Bowie.

Mr. B and I'll point out that one reason I don't have nearly as many pictures of Mr. B as I do of Bowie is because she often chases him away, especially when the food offering includes acorns. All of the acorns get buried and it seems Bowie wants to be in charge of that process. As you'll see, he does manage to get some. Scrub jays have an amazing ability to remember where they hide their food caches. They also have a huge impact on the distribution of oak trees.

Rain has been coming and going during the production of this post, we're up to 1.95" for the current storm.

* Rainy Day, Dream Away
by Jimi Hendrix
Album: Electric Ladyland (1968)