Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Favorite recent pictures





These are a few of my favorite recent bird pictures. The top one is a goldfinch, the second is a great egret in a tree, and the third ian Anna's hummingbird. I have been trying to photograph owls and ducks and not having the best of luck, especially with the owls. I think I need a tripod AND a camera that works better in low light to make it work. The ducks are all so lovely this time of year. Mr. Geek and I are planning to go birding in Seattle and see even more glorious ducks in winter plumage and bald eagles. They are a pretty rare sighting here but extremely common in Seattle.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Weekend Fun!


We've been having a lot of adventures on the weekends lately. It's so nice to be out enjoying the cool weather, the wonderful migratory waterfowl, and crisp air. We went to Sutter's Fort in Sacramento this weekend. It was nice, although the boys weren't very into things there. Mr. Geek and I had to work hard to keep them interested. I suppose they are a bit young for that sort of thing, and they haven't been feeling well. It has sparked Rob's interest in "how things used to be." He's been asking for more and more information all weekend about "the old days when they didn't have plugs." Haha. It's hard for him to even fathom it, even though he has been camping and things like that. It may be time to find some historical fiction books from long ago and read them.

We stopped by Vic Fazio on the way home to do the auto tour and catch a glimpse of some birds. We saw a lot of shovelers and coots. Our very nice sighting was a burrowing owl, but it was a fair distance off, too far for my camera even. I remember seeing a bittern last time we were there, but no such luck this time.

Today we went to Tilden and visited the Little Farm and walked out to and around Jewel Lake. We saw some bufflehead and a merganser out there, which is a nice sighting. It's always fun to see the animals at the farm. The boys had such a good time watching the geese, chickens and turkeys. I took some fun pics of them there.

I can't believe the kids only have 4 more days a school, and just a few days after that it's Christmas! Where has the time gone??!! It's almost 2008!!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

A few of my favorite things!



Well, Christmas projects anyway!!

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Great birding last weekend!



We went to Cosumnes Preserve and took a nice long walk and saw lots of birds, including sandhill cranes and even a short-eared owl! I was pretty excited about that. Of course it was too dark to get a good picture. I did, however, get a few bad pictures of the owl.

On Sunday we went to Hayward Marsh, which is such a great place to see shorebirds. At least a hundred American avocets, long billed curlews galore, assorted adorable peeps, and quite a few shovelers, an eared grebe, some scaup, and the list goes on. I'll have to back in spring and see if we can find some skimmers and some other terns. The swallows are also great there in spring, we only saw a couple last weekend.

Cookie time!!

I have been busy making cookies and breads and candy. Must be December. Here's what I've made so far...

Chocolate crinkles
Cranberry Hootycreeks
Lemon cookies
Joe-Joes chocolate fudge
cranberry orange bread
spritz
pineapple coconut macadamia cookies
toffee bars
russian teacakes/mexican wedding cakes

I have more to go too!! We need lots of cookie gifts and treats for schools and others. It's fun but it gets to be a chore. :(

Andy hasn't had an accident this week! This makes more than 2 weeks without accidents. Yay!