The world is on fire... or at least California is.

This freaky sunset brought to you by the Butte Fire (taken last Friday)

This was my drive into Sonora, Calif., last Thursday afternoon...

 The Butte Fire started the previous afternoon, about 43 miles from Sonora,

and since spread quickly and moved a lot closer.

Drive to Sonora Friday afternoon... a wee bit smokier.

Note how dark it is, at 5:30 p.m. Spooky stuff.

I've never been anywhere with such thick smoke.

Tiny bits of white ash fell like a very light snow. Odd.

I have relatives who've been evacuated from their home for days, now,

due to this fire. Happily the fire missed their house,

now they're waiting for the power to come back on,

so they can move back (no power=no water if you're on a well).

Last Sunday afternoon DH and I tore ourselves away from scanning fire info

(re: the Butte Fire, the Valley Fire, and the Rough fire)

and head to the golf course.

DH golfs, I bird/peruse nature.

Acorn woodpeckers living up to their name.

"This one goes here..."

I love how this branch is so densely drilled

that in parts it's see-through. 

I love the white eyeliner on this California ground squirrel (Spermophilus beecheyi).

Cutie. 

Non-native mullein affected by fasciation

(note normal mullein bloom on lower left).

I love fasciation and the super interesting shapes it brings about.

Another herbivore (desert cottontail, Sylvilagus audubonii), diggin' the golf course habitat.

Their habit of freezing when startled is great for photography. =)

Canada geese, another herbivore species that favors this place.

Considering I didn't have the auto-focus telephoto lens,

I'm very happy with how sharp this shot is. Luck!

So, with a couple soothing, non-fire-focused hours under our belt,

we see this...

Oh, dear. Another fire?!?

It was the Sundance Fire, near Oakhurst.

Happily, we also saw this large air tanker a little while later,

 and the smoke cleared pretty soon thereafter.

Phew!

And last night it actually rained a little bit (minor miracle),

which is very exciting.

I hope it helps quiet some of these fires.

It's also about 20 degrees cooler than it was last week.

Also good.

Anyhow, I don't have a profound way to end this post.

It's been very sobering seeing what's been happening

in Middletown (via the Valley Fire) and elsewhere.

If there's a vote re: whether or not summer should end now & fall should start?

I'd vote YES, please.

Let's do that.

Stay cool, everyone.

xoxoxobb

Late summer: Yosemite, clouds, cowboys & cutting out California wine...

Home...

Tiny, gorgeous fork-tailed (I think) bush katydid nymph on California poppy, chez-nous.

This young creature is backing verrrry slowwwly away from yours truly. =) 

Got a twitter-heads up that "mares tails" were in the Mariposa county sky,

so I looked out the window:

They're lonnnnng, thin clouds

(streaky left-to-right thing, not the vertical contrail).

And this one had a rainbow in it. BONUS.

The garden is underwhelming this year (I'm being very stingy with water),

but these pea flowers really do have the golden sparkles you can see, here.

It's one of the few things our local Anna's hummingbird gets excited about in my garden.

I need more flowers, next year.

I'll have to make additional drought tolerant, flowering plants happen.

Maybe next year the (very drought-tolerant) pomegranates I planted will bloom?

And the baby California roses? Maybe? Crossing fingers. =)

And Away

Hiking to Lukens Lake in Yosemite, recently, 

we happened upon a family of

one of my favorite & most rarely-seen birds: mountain quail.

Can you see them atop the log?

Cropped.

Adults have exclamation points atop their heads (v. Calif. quail have commas).

And cropped again. Such a stunning bird, jeepers.

Crap photos, but I was thrilled.

A stunning bird with a haunting call that can

send a chill up your spine when you're hiking in the forest.

The ever-picturesque Lukens Lake. A super easy hike, even at ~ 8,000 feet in elevation.

Note smoke on horizon, from the Rough Fire.

At the lake, I ogled this beautiful snag.

I have a thing for dead trees...

 I love how 'neath the bark is what looks like

a mysterious language scrawled into the tree.

What does it say?!?

 I wanna know.

Sat at the edge of Lukens lake with dozens of blue damselflies.

Sharpest shot I got (via my non-telephoto lens):

Such gorgeous animals, jeepers.

A favorite plant, California corn lily (Veratrum californicum).

See the little damselfly, center right, resting on a leaf?

Most of the corn lily was past blooming,

but this one, in the shade by the lake, was still going.

There were numerous happy bees merrily visiting these flowers.

Recently, in Tuolumne county, I was later to a work site than I'd planned, due to a traffic jam.

They had a bunch of cows & their young on the road. Poor creatures sounded stressed.

It took several men & horses, a dog & lots of yelling & arm-waving to get the job done.

Finally, cattle off the road, I drove past slowly, stealing a shot of this horse & its super fit bod.

Check out that crazy butt. This was back in August,

so you probably want to be lean in that heat

(daily over 100F in central CA).

Horses are SO beautiful (IMHO), I find it confusing.

Why do they affect us this way (from an evolutionary perspective)?

Did we co-evolve with them, so a desire to have horses could be selected for?

Or have we just selectively bred them to increase what we consider attractive traits?

Last, but not least, a tiny conservation vignette,

and why I may never accompany DH to this golf course again.

This sign calls the vineyards an "ecologically sensitive area."

Biobabbler's head exploded when she read this.

The quotation marks definitely indicate sarcasm, to me, in this case.

The baby vines are in the white tubes, in front of the mature vines (green in the background).

I never golf ('cause Imma conservation biologist), but I accompany DH and look at birds.

However, I used to love this course 'cause it had

large stretches of native California habitat in it

(vs. an entirely transformed, non-native landscape).

This is very unusual for golf courses in California.

But, this summer all those native spaces were razed and converted to vineyards.

=(

Vineyards are crawling across California,

taking out so much of California's remaining, unique native habitats,

it is a serious source of habitat destruction.

For something we do not need to survive.

And who knows how much water they are using?

Yours truly doing fieldwork in California habitat.

Thinking deep thoughts.  =)

Therefore, I've decided will not drink California wine, pretty much as of now.

I'm sure this decision won't be felt by the wine industry,

but I cannot reward this behavior (by giving them my money)

and feel OK about how I'm living my life.

So, thank you, darling peeps, for letting me express this.

I feel better, now.

=)

xoxoxobb

Getty goodies (eye candy), and county fair foto updates...

Getty Goodies

We hit the big town, L.A., on 4th of July weekend.

Took in a Dodgers game (great stadium, jeepers).

And, as per usual, jammed to the Getty (which is FREE*).

 The Getty provides SUCH great views, all over the place.

If you're a minimalist who adores the sky,

it's pretty heavenly.

My shabby view whilst munching on chips. Such a sad life...

Found a young fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) warming on the travertine stone, therein.

Ambitious vines. =)

Anyone know what that species is? I don't...

Bougainvillea is one of my favorite plants.

And I love these little iron trees it's growing upon.

County Fair Photo Exhibit Update

The view from the Ferris wheel.

SUPER quick update.

I was nervous 'cause it's a MUCH bigger county.

So "Bear" and I dove into the photo exhibit,

found nine of mine, and I got eight ribbons. EIGHT!

(ok, so most were actually stickers, not ribbons, but whatever.)

SUPER cool. I was stunned.

Of course I'd thought I'd turned in 10 photos, but wasn't positive.

So, even though it's a much bigger county (population-wise),

my theory re: how I won so many

is that they may get fewer photos entered

than our county 'cause we've got LOTS of retired folks w/time

versus the younger, working folks in that county?

Who knows.

ANYhow, I was thrilled to my toes.

Two hours later, Bear & I returned to the exhibit

'cause it was BOILING hot outside and we had time to kill before the rodeo.

So, strolling around the whole building,

I hear my husband laughing, and he says, "I found the 10th photo!"

And he's pointing to this:

Holy crap.

That's my photo (taken at the Getty, kisses to them!)

that I'd entered into the architecture category.

And we couldn't find my 10th photo earlier

'cause it was in a totally different place for all the FATTY ribbon winners.

WOW.

So, yes, that was bitchin. =)

I highly recommend joining the county fair photo fray

if you are photographically inclined.

It's FUN.

And winning or not, it gets your buns to the fair.

Which is always great.

As is the always-amazing Ferris wheel.

What a heavenly invention.

Next Fair Photo Exhibit: this weekend!

The day I turned in my photos for this next fair photo exhibit,

there were a LOT of BEAUTIFUL, interesting photos there already.

I was very impressed.

It's a multi-county fair.

Chatting with the woman working there,

one man turned in 100 photos. ONE HUNDRED.

Yow.

Took me three days to do 10.

So, even if I win nothing,

I'll have a pile of photographic eye-candy to pig out on. =)

And, of course, we'll always have the Ferris wheel...

xxoxo!bb

*parking is not free, but if you take public transportation there (city bus?),

I believe it won't cost you anything beyond your bus ticket. And it's AMAZING.

2 peas and a teeny tiny bee: Mumday post

An embarrassment of riches

 I was SUPER excited to find this ambush bug (possibly Pacific ambush bug, Phymata pacifica)
in my mint this week. 

Actually, the above photo should be rotated 180 degrees

to indicate its actual position ...

Ambushed.

Looks like its beak is going straight for the neck. Look elsewhere for mercy.

Common buckeye. LOVE these guys.

So beautiful, but subtle, so from a distance they just look brown.

This dahlia makes me think about math: fractals, specifically.

Wee moth sipping mint plant nectar; I bet it's extra refreshing. =)

According to Dan Rubinoff, my mothy friend, it's in the pyralid family

which bugguide.net succinctly describes as "cosmopolitan." =)

Ridiculously glorious dahlia bloom: but wait, there's more!

If you look very closely, the petals have cinnamon sparkles in them (near the lower edge).

An embarrassment of riches, to be sure.

This tachinid fly (tribe Cylindromyiini?) worked this flower

moving its buns in swoopy circles,

very much like how phalaropes feed.

Trying to figure out what this wasp is (still not sure, maybe a sand wasp?),

I kept repeating, while flipping through field guides,

"smiley-face-between-the-wings."

Because, I'm a professional biologist. =) 

Dahlia bunk bed for bumblebees (Bombus sp.).

Close up of how top bee has feet hooked onto petal edge.

Delightful.

While I enjoy all of these flowers & animals,

and I have more to ID and post later, 

 I'm EXTRA stoked my garden has an ambush bug--that was a first! =)

xoxobb