Rainbow Lodge for snow and lunch

Today we headed up Interstate 80 for some fun in the snow and what turned out to be lunch at the Rainbow Lodge.

The nice thing about Sacramento, for those of you back east, is we can drive to the snow and then leave when we grow tired of it. It's still cold here in the valley, but we don't have to deal with the snow. We headed up toward Reno with no destination in particular. There are several snow parks on the way, and they were all full! There were even people parking on the side of the freeway and sledding right there. The gas station at Nyack was so crowded, there was a line to get off the freeway. At Blue Canyon, people were parked on the off/on ramps to the freeway. We got off at Rainbow Rd. and drove down to the lodge.


Today was only the third time the kid's have been in snow. I grew up with it, so I don't feel the need to go to it that often. I don't ski or snowboard and the kid's aren't big enough to do either on their own yet.



As per my own personal rule of only wearing pants when it snows, I wore pants today. Any one who knows me, knows I always wear shorts. These pictures are for you Ty.



After some snowtime, we went into the lodge and had one of the best cheeseburgers I have had the pleasure of eating. We all had cheeseburgers and fries and it was unanimous, that was "the best damn sandwich".



Well, this is probably my last post for 2008. I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!!


The Vintage Husband

Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area

Many of you who read my blog may be aware of my love of birding. This started some time ago thanks to my children. Always the outdoors person, and an avid fisherman, I am always looking forward to being outside. When my son Jake, joined the the Cub Scouts, I was looking through the Scout Handbook and found bird watching among the activities he would need to do. Sounding like fun for both of us, I soon was planning a trip for us to do some bird watching.

Living in Sacramento there are so may places to go bird watching or "birding" as it is now referred to. After a little searching on the Internet, I found out that Sacramento is in the middle of the Pacific Flyway and plays a vital role in the migration of hundreds of species of birds each year, many of which winter here in our very own backyard.

Among our favorites places are the American River Parkway, Cosumnes River Preserve, and the Yolo Bypass.

Christmas Day, Jake, Abbey and I tried to do a little striper fishing down at the Port of Sacramento. It turned out to be a little to windy and cold down by the water, so we jumped back in the truck for an impromptu trip out to the Yolo Bypass. I didn't have the camera or any binoculars, but we made the trip out any way. The birds are just starting to show up and we saw several that we recognized. Not having my camera, I missed several great photo ops. A red tail hawk was sitting on the road as we drove up. It would have made a great picture.

Today I headed back out to the Yolo Bypass by myself and I made sure to take my camera. It was a great day. A little crisp but clear with not a cloud in the sky. I spent a couple hours out there. Got some nice pictures and just enjoyed being alone with nature. There were several other people out there, but the place is so big, no one is the least bit crowded. If you live in Sacramento and have never made the trip (other than passing by on the way to San Francisco) you really need to go and check it out. Use this link for directions Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area.

You don't even have to get out of the car. There is an auto tour road that winds through several acres of the wetland area. You don't need a truck, you can take your car (I drove the BMW today) with no worries. Be sure to turn the car off at some point and get out. Just standing there in the middle of all those birds is an awesome experience. All the different calls that they make is just amazing.

Here is what I saw out there today:

Western Meadowlark
Savannah Sparrow
Red Winged Black Bird
Brewer's Black Bird
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Black Crowned Night Heron
Black Necked Stilt
Long Billed Curlew
Greater Yellow Legs
Norther Shoveler Duck
Cinnamon Teal Duck
Northern Harrier
White Tailed Kite
Turkey Vulture
Coots
California Gull
Pied Billed Grebe

I thought I saw some Sand hill Cranes fly over.

Here are some of the better photos


Great Egret

Black Crowned Night Heron

Northern Harrier

Northern Harrier in flight

Another Harrier flying by

Northern Harrier looking a little disheveled

Northern Shoveler Duck

Long Billed Curlew in flight

Long Billed Curlew

Black Necked Stilt

Cinnamon Teal Ducks - male and female

Savannah Sparrow

Looks like we may be heading up to the snow tomorrow. That's one thing I love about Sacramento you can be at the ocean 2 hrs one way and the snow 2 hours in the opposite direction. Having lived the first half of my life in the snow, I can tell you it's always fun to visit and even more fun to leave behind! :D

Hope everybody got what they wanted for Christmas. And if I don't post any snow pictures tomorrow, have a Happy New Year!!

The Vintage Husband

Back Yard Birding

Seems I'm on a roll today with posting. I thought I would share my second favorite past time with everyone. Fishing is #1, but "birding" run's a close 2nd. The great thing about birding is it doesn't require anyting more than a pair of eyes and a little observation. Sure, you can get some binoculars and a book on birds definately helps, but really, all it takes is some time and paying a little attention to what's around you. You don't even need to leave the house. The kids love it too, and they usually are better at it than I am.

Here in Sacramento, we usually have about 20 birds that regularly visit our yard all year long.

1. Purple Finch

2. Anna's Humming Bird

3. Chirping Sparrow

4. Scrub Jay

5. American Mocking Bird

6. American Crow

7. House Sparrow

8. Lesser Gold Finch

9. Gold Finch

10. Morning Dove

11. Bush Tit

12. European Starling

13. Black Pheobe

14. Oregon Junco

15. American Robin

16. Northern Flicker

17. White Crowned Sparrow

18. Nutall's Woodpecker

19. Autoban Warbler

20. Hermit Thrush

21. Cedar Waxwing

22. Yellow Billed Magpie

And on occasion, we get a few special visitors:

Coopers Hawk

Rufus Hummingbird

Black-Chinned Hummingbird

Red Tailed Hawk

Slate Junco

Ruby Crowned Kinglit

If your like me, once I start doing something, I usually need to take it to the next level. So the birding actually led to the photography. Here are some pictures of my back yard friends



























Being outside checking out the birds with the kids just naturally leads to them checking out other things in nature. Anything I can do to pry them away from the TV has to be a good thing. Here's just one of the 5 squirels that hang out in our back yard


Here's a couple praying mantis procreating!


So be sure to get outside and visit with Mother Nature! And as always, thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone enjoys the birds!

TVH

Gone Fishin' !

Big "Thanks" to my wife! I finally got out to go fishing yesterday. The whole family went, including Erika. With the weather in the high 70's this weekend, I can't think of a better way to spend the day. We loaded up the truck and headed down to the Delta for a little "bank fishing". Fished near the town of Locke for a while and then changed locations to the Hog Island Recreation Area. Lots of bites but never did hook into anything. We were trying for striper's but I would have settled for anything. Jake and Abbey both had some catfish followers, but no takers. Erika didn't actually fish, since she doesn't have a license, but instead she read some magazines and hung with us. We fished till sundown then came on home. Awesome Day!!!!

TVH

Cosumnes River Preserve

Today I got to do something I haven't done for a while. Jake and I, went to one of my favorite place to go bird watching, the Cosumnes River Wildlife Preserve.

It rained the last 2 days (Thank God! We need it!) and today was overcast, but off we went just to get out of the house. We spent a good 3 hours walking around and saw quite a few different birds. The sand hill cranes have just returned for the winter, and are always cool to see. Any bird that stands 5 feet tall and hes a 7 foot wingspan is an impressive site.






I apologize, some of the pictures are kind of dark.

Like I said, we saw a ton of birds today. Our list of birds for today includes the following:
1. Sand hill Cranes
2. Black Phoebe
3. Red Winged Black Bird
4. Tri-Colored Black Bird
5. Brewers Black Bird
6. Savannah Sparrow
7. Northern Shoveler
8. Mallard Duck
9. Black-Necked Stilt
1o. Great Egret
11. Northern Flicker
12. Anna's Humming Bird
13. Meadowlark
14. Northern Harrier
15. Red Tail Hawk
16. American Kestrel
17. White-Tail Kite
18. Scrub Jay
19. Oregon Junco
20. Mocking Bird
21. Canadian Geese
22. Greater White Fronted Geese
23. Pied Billed Grebe


Here are some of the photos we got:

Anna's Humming Bird


American Kestrel - Jake


Great Egret - Jake took this one


Savannah Sparrow - Jake - really nice job!


Black Necked Stilt


Pied Billed Grebe


Northern Flicker


Northern Harrier


Swainsons Hawk?

Northern Shoveler


Male Red Winged Black Bird


Female Red Winged Black Bird


Kite



Jake my photo assistant



Overall a great day - just me and the boy. Abbey stayed home with mom. She's got my cold.

Yesterday I started working on an 1920's East lake rocking chair that I've had for a while. Johnny's Grandma gave it to us. It was brought out from Wisconsin a long time ago. I had to completely disassemble it and make a new piece. Now I'm gluing it back together. Can't find the pictures of when I first got it. Too bad. It's going to need some paint and new upholstery. I hope to have it done soon. Then it will go over to the Tattered House.

Have a great week!

TVH