Another weird CA thing

Something that has baffled us since moving to CA is the size of the sticks of butter. They don't fit into a regular butter dish and, frankly, this drives us (Andrew in particular) batty. . . I finally thought to look it up online; the different sizes confuse other people too. Wikipedia discusses it in their entry on butter:

There you have it. A reason to never move West.

New Year, New Car?

So, we traded this:


for this:


Any questions?

Yolo Causeway and Andrew's Birthday

Saturday was Andrew's birthday. . . We celebrated at 6AM just before heading off for a visit to the Yolo Causeway. . .
We hardly ever get to the Causeway in the early AM, so this was a real treat for us. In the Summer, the area dries up and there are few birds because of the aridity and because many have flown North. But, as September rolls in, the migrating birds are flying through and some will even stay for the Winter. However, most of the below photos are of year-long residents:

A red-tailed hawk watching us watch it:
White-faced ibis:
Green heron:
An egret:
American white pelican:
Immature night heron:

Mature night heron:
Green heron:

Bee on a flower:
Dragonfly:

Damselfly:
Butterfly:
Haystacks:

Yolo Causeway

Some cheesy sunset photos from the Yolo Causeway this week:

Lassen Volcanic National Park

This past weekend, we drove 3 hrs North to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Andrew and I had visited in 2000 when we drove cross-country for the first time. We needed a quick vacation from Davis and Lassen was a great destination for a weekend of fishing, walking in the woods, birding, and observing hydrothermal fumaroles and mudpots.


On Saturday, we awoke at 5AM and got into the park by 6:15AM; it was quiescent and visitor-free.

Sulfur Works is the first sign of hydrothermal activity one sees upon entering the park - steam and strange-colored ground:


Our real goal was to get down to Bumpass Hell before other park visitors. Here is Andrew watching the sun rise and begin to light up the surrounding mountains:

Leigh, trying to warm up. . .

Besides being the sole car parked in the lot, it was clear that we were the first people down the trail as we ran into a few rare birds; this is one of three Blue Grouse we saw:

Bumpass Hell is named after Kendall Vanhook Bumpass, a cowboy who worked in the Lassen area in the 1860s. One day Bumpass stumbled upon the area and his leg was badly scalded when it broke though a thin crust above a mud pot. He told his friends and townspeople about it, describing it as "Hell." A newspaper editor was interested in the story and convinced Bumpass to take him to this place. Unfortunately, Bumpass' leg broke through the crust again - this time it had to be amputated. Because of this cautionary tale, we were frequently told to stay on the trail and boardwalk once we arrived in the hydrothermal area. The scenery is gorgeous, but what you cannot tell from these photos is the overwhelming smell of sulfur.





We hiked into and out of Bumpass by 11AM, giving us ample time to go to an area outside the National Park to fish. We chose a gorgeous location, but there were very few catches. . . We set up our gear next to the largest, squishiest fungi we'd ever seen:

On Sunday, we went on another fishing expedition, but this time we fished along a stream within the National Park. We observed more unusual fungi:


Some views of the stream:
... and the sweet little trout Andrew caught:
As Andrew fished, I watched the birds, butterflies, bees, and deer:

Andrew caught enough trout (11) for dinner. After the fish were gutted (note the roe below), we hiked out and placed the fish on ice for cooking at home later on that night.






Delicious!!