snowy Sierra spring -- 6 days ago... Thilent Thurthday?

 

bb

California poppy hills 3 days ago vs. 2 years 10 days ago

 

The highway 140 corridor (west of Yosemite NP) 3 days ago:

Snow!

Green, but no flowers visible...

The same hill as above, 2 years and 10 days ago:

Color above doesn't come across well, but it was awesome.

Yup, things are a bit slower this year than 2009.

And I don't expect it to be as insanely amazing this year as "The Year of the Poppy," but variation in seasonal timing and precipitation, etc., always benefits some species, so you never know who will be the wildflower stars from year to year.

Other gratuitous shots from 2009, just 'cause. =)

A pretty good representation of the habitat type ( including foothill pine, Pinus sabiniana).

The nuttiest hillside I was on that year. Seriously retina burning.

Hm, the color in the photo above got really washed out (the bigger version vibrates!), but I love this photo 'cause it's like pointillism, and I like the watercolor-like washes from white to orange.

Did 2 reports in high school on George Seurat, so pointillism is ever emblazoned on my brain. 

To be honest I manipulated the situation so I could do 1 report twice: once in French for French class, once in English for English class, but don't tell--yikes! =) I like to think of it as early evidence of strategic thinking....

So apparently simple yet so enchanting... (sigh)

I am SO looking forward to what this unusual spring
(huge snow in late March) will bring us.

Who will the wildflower stars be?!?

In the mean time, I think the redbud is starting...

 (This is from April 21st, last year )

....so if you're a fan and nearby, I'd made plans
to get out soon, if I were you!

In the meantime, I'll be nursing my ankle to better health, and looking for a photography place to clean my camera up properly, so it's ready for spring.

Sweet!

 

xobb

Saw first-of-the-year turkey wooing at our house this a.m.!

(this is from April 3, 2009, so looks like they're right on schedule...)

He was trotting after females, of course, as the group skirted our house. Of course they saw us, so I didn't get a good shot. Apparently, turkeys have amazing eyesight, three times better than ours in daylight, tho' I cannot find a really solid (as in scientific study) source confirming this.

(Deer paying much more attention to bb crouching under a huge oak than the turkey was.)

While trying to find that citation (still looking, if you find one lemmeno via comments) I came this cool factoid at about.com:

"The wild turkey’s bald head can change color in seconds with excitement or emotion. The birds’ heads can be red, pink, white or blue."

(this is from April 5th, 2009, just about the same time of year.

pardon blurry smears from kitty nose prints on glass)

I had NO idea about this. And considering I'm a total sucker for cuttlefish (inCREDible manipulators of color), my interest is officially piqued.

I'm guessing the (sky blue) mood in the above photo translates to:

"I am SPEC-TAC-U-LAR!!!"

Hard to argue. =)


Welcome, Dancers of Spring!


=) bb

super sneaky tentacled snake...

 
This video on Scientific American shows how this animal takes advantage of the prey's normally helpful reflexes and SNAP! Lunch. And reveals what those tentacles are for.

Dastardly! =)

bb

2 of the freakiest life-history strategies I've ever heard of...

 

A must read: "Spider-boarding insect preserved in amber." 

(image is from the story)

Prepare to FREAK out.

You REALLY cannot make this stuff up.

(phew!)

xobiobabbler

Mumday from Yosemite Valley & Ahwahnee!

 

bb

And the ankle says "Snap!": amid huge Yosemite snowstorm, dodging self-pity...

  
In the aftermath of El Jumbo Snow Dump in Yosemite (well, really, it's still happening), Bear is thinking he'll maybe ski this weekend (he supresses a drooling-and-jumping-up-and-down-clapping response every time skiing and all this fresh snow are the topic).

And he's in Yosemite valley today, all day, for meetings.

My first thought last night was "Can I go to the valley tomorrow, too?"

Then I can hike in the freshly snowed valley, take amazing photographs, get them back to you (yes, I think about you a lot), then work (day job) on my computer in the Yosemite bar.

PERFECT!

Then I remembered.


biobabbler is lame


On my last day in New Orleans, after a week of hazards,

• super busy conference so overwhelmed-by-sessions-and-socializing-from-8am-9pm
• speed-walking back and forth between my hotel and the conference in new-professional-person-shoes (NOT used to them, trust me, I live in running shoes) amid traffic & construction
• sleeping-away-from-home exhaustion stupor
• getting yelled at by hotel security at 10:30 at night (guy was 10 feet tall, I SWEAR!) for TALKING (yes, talking)
• exploring French Quarter streets day and night with all the attendant people-freakiness and crowded, cobbly, bumpy streets
• eating famously fatty/hazardous food
• a pontoon boat tour of the bayou, rubbing shoulders with alligators

I injured myself.


How, you ask, did the ever-so-light-of-foot and (semi-) adventurous biobabbler succumb?


NOT running from alligators, as was suggested I proffer in lieu of the real story.*

(photo by Matthew Field)

NOT running from New Orleans muggers or cops or defending a helpless child using my new mixed-martial-arts-fitness-class skills.

(photo wikipedia user Nt2bd)

NOT dancing with the handsome kilted Irish men in the nighttime St. Patrick's Day parade.

NOT battling for beads.

NOT lugging 10,000 lbs of over-packed luggage 6 blocks from one hotel to the other 'cause I'm too cheap and carbon-embarrassed to use a taxi.

Nope, here's the pitiless marauder, the heartless villain:

(Paul Frederickson photo)

A lawn. I hurt myself walking across a lawn.

A LAWN.

Mind you, biobabbler has:

• Tromped MILES across the rocky intertidal zone, through ocean waves, on slippery kelp, teetering boulders, carrying piles of equipment. For YEARS.

• Climbed then hung head first off of the edge of crumbling sea stacks to measure owl limpets, dangling 20 feet above ocean and rock.

• Walked 27 miles in one day.

• Hiked down into, camped overnight at the bottom of (in rain), then climbed back out of the Grand Canyon, with rain-soaked (tent leaked, so everything was 20 lbs heavier) camping gear during a SNOWstorm that was blowing snow sideways (a friend I saw at the conference last week reminded me of that, and said that my face was blue) days after being really sick.

• Rafted down 87.5 miles down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, including some of its most notorious rapids (and learned that only there and on major roller coasters can I scream at a bat-like high pitch).

This is the Hance rapid. It's the highest rated rapid of those I experienced (rated 7-8 on a scale of 1-10 for the Colorado River Grand Canyon, 10 is most crazy, 1 is mildest. Pretty sure our guides said the water level made it an 8).

• Been complimented on my balance by people I barely know.

• Been paid to relocate rattlesnakes.

(photo Tigerhawkvok)

• Was in a burning car once, briefly trapped, then escaped with just a slightly melted jacket and an irrational fear of the smell (so diesel exhaust freaked me out years afterward--I'd always look to make sure there weren't flames at my side).

And a lawn brings biobabbler down, making her ankle go "SNAP!" Sprained, not broken.

So I am biohobbler, once again.

And with all this (possibly record breaking?) SNOWY GLORY I do NOT get to SNOWSHOE IN AT LEAST EIGHT FEET of fresh snow in MARCH.

ARRRRRRGH!

Logic equation: If bb = snowshoeing, then bb = happy.

And today it's been snowing for hours at my house, so it's STILL piling up at Badger Pass.


Anyhow, I've not exercised for days, now. Too busy pouting.

And the options are pretty much pilates or sitting down/one-legged yoga and possibly free weights and pushups and sit ups (wheeee!).


However, I've decided on a new mental approach.

I will try to view this exercise as the start of my summer-hiking-get-in-shape program.

In high country with trail-dirty bum: bb happy.
Gaylor Lakes, Yosemite NP.

Work on building strength (since cardio will be hard to come by for a while), muscular endurance (lotsa situps, pushups, back exercises, core stuff), so I will not tire as easily as I might if I hike with bony back and arms.

The thought arose this a.m. while viewing photos of summertime Yosemite high country.

Trail side creek on hike to Elizabeth Lake,

Yosemite NP.

Unicorn Peak, from Elizabeth Lake,

Yosemite NP.

View south (I believe) from Gaylor Lakes,

Yosemite NP.

Yeah, could be worse.

And at least my legs usually work.

And I live pretty near a staggeringly beautiful place, and have the time and health to explore and enjoy it.

For that I am truly grateful.

bb

* BTW (by the way): who knew re: many sites telling you how to avoid, and most interestingly, survive an alligator attack. Think you don't need to know what and where an alligator's palatal valve is? THINK AGAIN! And, by the way, it can only be reached if your ARM is in the animal's MOUTH!


P.S. Do they really need to suggest you see a doctor promptly if you've been attacked by an alligator? How stoic can people be?!?


P.P.S. I just LOVE that there's a "crocodilian biology database"--that's where the palatal valve link takes you. TOO cool! University of Florida, of course. =) )

Yosemite storm, park still power-less, friends still shower-free

 
Ate breakfast in town today, running into several people we know, including one couple who've been without power for 3 days.

You can spot them a mile away since they are double their normal girth, they have SO many layers on. Their house is 40 dF inside. Yeesh! And for them no power = no water = trundling to friend's for a bath.

We've been REALLY really lucky, having power pretty much the whole time (knocking wood), even though we also lost a few trees. Just heard some people up higher in elevation, but not far from us, will probably have to wait until TUESDAY for power. YIKES! Apparently the Highway 140 corridor is swarming with PG&E folks.

Heard lots of stories of huge oak trees splitting, one crushed a car, apparently on the first day of the storm (Sunday? Monday?) folks in "Old El Portal" couldn't get out via car 'cause there were so many trees down. And, you know, trees falling can mash power lines down, too...

So, lots of chainsaws roaring down there. I did hear the road (Highway 140) to the park is open, but the PARK itself is NOT open.

With the big snow, some automated data collection stations are powered by solar panels, and they can get covered in snow so their power goes away. That may explain the black shots at this Yosemite web cam site.

One web cam shows just a pile of snow blocking the view. =)

Of course, always check with the park before you leave to be sure it's open, and for road conditions, check Caltrans--for heaven's sake, don't take MY word for it!

I hope you are all warm and dry, or whatever comfortable means to you.

=)

bb

Morning fawns visit post snowstorm

 

Fawns passing through, one eye on bb, one on mom.

Trotting up hill toward mom.

As in humans, the young ones are always great at yoga. =)

Happy Tuesday!

bb

Monday photo quiz + Yosemite snowstorm update--it's a doozy!

 
Photo Quiz Because-I-Wanna-&-I-Owe-You-for-Last-Week

If I saw this:

In Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, which is in Louisiana, who most likely created these holes?

=)

Good luck.


Wacky Yosemite Weather Update -- Yosemite NP is closed for now...

We are presently surrounded by 1 foot of snow (kinda snowed in and it's still falling), and Bear is on a conference call with park leadership to figure out what they'll do re: the park.

 (looking east from our house, note "sun" by the grey pine (top right),

biobabbler's garden, cloaked in a foot of snow, and in the foreground on the right, 

a fruitless tree that is, clearly, NOT from this climate. Tree comment: "Oof!")

As of this minute, per the Caltrans SUPER USEFUL road conditions web site (oops, and late update from overhearing Bear) all roads into Yosemite are closed right now (9:30 a.m.) due to snow, rock & mud slides, trees all over the place, etc.

Quite the storm we had, and it's still going.

(beautiful snow patterns at the top of a pine)

This is a good example of why some folks in the park are REQUIRED to live IN the park because if something like this happens, there are still NPS Rangers around to help.

Seems there is no power anywhere (as of 9:50 a.m. today) in the park and El Portal (a town just west of the park where many NPS offices are and staff live). Amazingly enough, we have power at our house, internet, etc. Phew!

Apparently folks at Badger Pass (ski resort in the park) could not get out last night, so I'm guessing they had quite a slumber party at the ski lodge.

 (Chicken coop. Note roof of "porch" wire mesh, NOT solid, yet snow is there. Also,

if you look very closely, you might see our Rhode Island Red (Fanny) on the right, 
just above the snow, saying Hi.)

And HERE is the forecast for Yosemite Valley...

More snow!

Sacramento and San Joaquin Valley Weather

Yesterday, Sacramento (where I flew into night before last) was experiencing flooding or almost flooding, and every single creek, pond, river, many fields, and even something called "Dry Creek" that I saw on my 3.5+ hour drive home (south on 99 then east on 140) was flowing with brown water.

Also, night before last was a crazy rain and wind storm in Sacramento, so my plane landing and van trip were rather exciting (details later), but I slept like a rock once I got to my friend's house, despite super loud storm.

Apparently, New Orleans tired me out.

I am very glad that my first time EVER driving home without stopping from Sacramento was yesterday, 'cause just before I got to our street, snow appeared laying everywhere, slush covered the road, and the rain changed to sleet. I'm amazed I got up our (1/4 mile long dirt uphill) driveway. Phew!


Biologist Perspective

We've got lots of precipitation. YAY!!! =)

Of course, this may, depending upon where the spring wildflowers were pre-storm, dampen or delay (or both) the wildflower display, but I'm all for super cool, put-you-in-your-place nature happenings so we remember how very small we really are relative to the power of the planet.

(Looks like a wintry creek. It's 4 feet from our back porch. =) )

Mother Nature throws down, and we just have to deal, 'cause, although we can affect nature, when it comes to big events like this, we are just tiny mammals scurrying about on the surface. She takes no notice.


xoxobb

New Orleans...

 

From the ridiculous,

to the sublime.

bb

garden update + new spring bloomer but few words

 
Have not started packing yet and hoping to leave for 4 hour drive in 1 hour (probably not going to happen), will be gone allllll next week, so this may be last post, and due to rush, it's a pseudo Mumday. Almost Silent Saturday?

Anyhow, enjoy, and feel free to interpret via comments any way you see fit. =)