Fall Migration (continued)

In a climate lacking drastic seasonal weather changes, Andrew and I are marking this Fall by observing the seasonal return of many bird species. A few weeks ago, we noticed the reappearance of Northern Flickers. Today, I watched Lesser Goldfinches timidly feed from our feeders for the first time since early Spring:
In addition, there is an increase in numbers of wood ducks in the arboretum:

chilifest vi and atraves web launch

A good night was had - thanks for all who came, ate, chatted about ATRAVES, and moreover had a good time.

chilifest vi timelapse:

ChiliFest VI Preparations

As we mentioned, CA confuses us. Last year we thought as soon as it felt like Winter was interminable, we would continue our annual ChiliFest . . . but the Winter never seemed to really hit hard. This year, we decided to combine Chili Fest with a fundraising event for ATRAVES, the Nicaraguan organization for which Andrew is a board member. We are coordinating our party with several in the US and Nicaragua and if you want to contribute, you can donate online.

Some pictures from our chili preparations:
many onions:
safe onion eyewear:
beans:
pre-chopped meat:
shrooms:
tomatoes and peppers:
3 pots - vege, normal, and spicy:
hot peppers from our garden:
much stirring:

Maize Maze

California does not cease to confuse us; it is late October, and flowers are blooming in our backyard.
Regardless, according to the calendar, Halloween is around the corner and exploring Dixon's maize seemed to be in order...
Ben, Brad, Paula, Andrew and I took a drive to last year's Guinness World Record holding maze and got fairly lost. Some photos:

weekend summary:

no wind = no sailing

Despite no water outings, we're happy to report that the flickers have returned. Here's one we spotted just down the street atop a pine tree:

...and another landing on a neighbor's tree:

We're Sailing! We're Sailing!

Yes. . . It finally happened. . . we took our boat (tentatively named the Homogeneous Saturn) out for a spin. . . good times!

The boat sails beautifully (yes we did also have the jib up) - everything worked just about perfectly - even in pretty light wind the boat was easy to control. . . We had a few decent gusts and got a bit of a feel for how the boat can really haul around. . .

We're looking forward to a more serious outing soon!

Leigh also wanted me to carefully add the wind report from our first day out. . .

Land Sailing?

Before taking the boat 'on the road', we wanted to make sure we had all the parts and understood the basics of getting the mast up and setting the sails. We previously spent 1.5hr on the mast; yesterday, it took under 5min. For our first attempt at the sails, it took about 60min to rig them. We're ready. Now if we only had time.
Yes, the neighbors in the cul-de-sac thought we were crazy. One even offered to let his 9 year old daughter hose us down so we could pretend we were on the water.
Andrew sort of demonstrates 'hiking out' . . . [Really, he's thinking about a Halloween costume.]

bruce in philly

A Walk in the Davis Arboretum

We spotted an immature and a mature green heron:
Although one cannot see from the picture, these bumble bees were the biggest we've ever seen:
Cheezy, yet irresistable - perhaps best with curry?
a female wood duck: