9 November 2013 - Evolution of a sunset

This evening I caught yet another rock squirrel. I put him in the trunk and drove up to Neff's Canyon to let him go.  As I was letting him out of the cage I looked up and saw the sun was just about to set and I could tell it was going to be magnificent. I drove home, got my camera and went back. I took a couple of pictures, walked back to my car and took a last look-- but wait a secy! It was changing so quickly, I had to walk back to the overlook and take yet more pictures to capture the transition. I ended up watching until it was almost dark. 

Here is the evolution from yellow to molten!

Moments like this fill me with a fierceness of emotion. 

Best stated here in this poem by C.K. Williams. 

Droplets

Even when the rain falls relatively hard,
only one leaf at a time of the little tree
you planted on the balcony last year,
then another leaf at its time, and one more,
is set trembling by the constant droplets,

but the rain, the clouds flocked over the city,
you at the piano inside, your hesitant music
mingling with the din of the downpour,
the gush of rivulets loosed from the eaves,
the iron railings and flowing gutters,

all of it fuses in me with such intensity
that I can't help wondering why my longing
to live forever has so abated that it hardly
comes to me anymore, and never as it did,
as regret for what I might not live to live,

but rather as a layering of instants like this,
transient as the mist drawn from the rooftops,
yet emphatic as any note of the nocturne
you practice, and, the storm faltering, fading
into its own radiant passing, you practice again.  

And speaking of transitions, let's talk about the moon. While I was gawking at the sunset, the moon was rising in the southeast over Mount Olympus. 

 I was admiring the split moon, and how straight the vertical line was in the graying sky. This was about 5:30pm.

But here is the surprise. Just now, thinking about bed, I glanced out the window and saw the moon had moved across the sky toward the northeast. 

The surprise is that the moon did not stay vertical, she rolled over on her back.  So now, at 11:40 pm she looks like this. Perhaps she is resting, too.

Note below:  Guess the sunset was more spectacular than normal. Today's (Sunday) paper featured a half page photo of the sunset similar to my last photo. 

2 November 2013 - Last good day?

What a gorgeous day today! Deep blue sky and 60 degrees. I worked really hard in the yard again, blowing leaves around then mowing them up to add to the compost piles. It was a noisy day in the neighborhood. I think every yard had someone using blowers or trimmers or mowers--the last gasp of fall yard work.

I moved the tomato cages to the outside of the deer fence around the veggie beds and staked them up. I'm hoping this will help keep them out of the garden over the winter. 

Last fall Jack planted garlic. I harvested it early summer and it was amazingly good. Scrumptious, actually.  I bought four different kinds of garlic and got it planted and mulched. Hope they come up in the spring!

I dragged the 10' ladder to the front of the house and raked pine needles off the roof. Ended up covering the small lawn in front with a foot high layer of needles, which I also had to mulch up, bag and spread. The valley on the backside of the roof is also deep in needles. I put the ladder up in the L of the roof, but not only could I not reach the needles, I couldn't bring myself to climb on the roof. I admit it. Heights do me in. 

I found a large dead bird in the yard while I was cleaning up.  Could not figure out what it was, so I posted some pictures on ubird. Discovered I had a Ruffed Grouse. Where the heck did that come from?  Pretty bird, and so soft. Guess I can put it on my list, even if wasn't breathing. 

While I was reading people's responses IDing the bird, others were talking about seeing a Lewis's Woodpecker up Parley's Nature Trail. I decided I had worked hard enough and since the weather was cooporating I needed to get out.  Did a bit of googling to find out where the heck this nature trail was. Five minutes away. Had no idea it was even there. 

To my delight I found the bird!  These woodpeckers are large-- about the size of a Flicker, and they are colorful! 

Greenish back, pinkish rose belly and the males have a red face with a whitish collar. I first saw him in the sun and he was gorgeous, but by the time I got the camera turned on, he had moved to the shaded side of the tree, and he was far enough away it was hard to get details. But it was a thrill for me. 

He is a bit blurry here, but you can get a good idea of the dark red face. 

The area where I found him was beside a crazy hard course for bike riders. These kids must have fallen on their heads too many times--they think it is fun! 

I thought it was pretty terrifying. It was quite a large course and maybe as many as ten teenagers were riding up these steep embankments.

To get to the nature trail head you walk through Tanner Park, where I ran into a group of 20 or so SCA folks in full costume engaged in ferocious one-on-one battles. That was quite amusing! At least five were women, holding their own in the broadsword duels. 

Then you walk a trail through a dog park-- hundreds of dogs, mostly big ones-- until you get to the nature trail where no dogs are allowed. Amazing how many people don't "see" the Absolutely NO  Dog signs. But nevertheless, it was a lovely day to be out.

 

The trail was wonderful, but there were some oddities along  the way that made me laugh and wonder what? 

First there was a doll hanging from a limb over the path. 

There were also quite a few large pipe cleaner spiders swinging along the side of the path as well. 

And finally, Barbie in a wedding dress. Hmm. It does make you wonder. 

The sun was close to setting as I was driving back home. At the bottom of my street, there is a house hidden behind a pyracantha hedge--easily 10 feet high, behind the pyracantha was a pear tree in full color. The low sun made them glow.

I hope the snow misses us tomorrow, because there is still so much of late fall to be enjoyed.


 

28 October 2013 - What a sunset can do

Funny how you can find the unexpected just about everywhere. 
From this. . .

to this . . .

25 October 2013 - Utah Lake and the elusive grebe

The bird list has been full of talk about a sighting of a rare Red-necked Grebe down on the dike road around the Provo Airport. I decided to drive down after work today and try to find it. Bad idea. I-15 was stop and go traffic for all but the last five minutes. My  40 minute drive turned into a 90 minute drive. Note to self. Do not drive south on I-15 after 3pm. It was a mess. 

The dike road was really pretty. Water channel on one side, and Utah Lake on the other. Very few birds to be seen. I watched a small kestrel harass a Northern Harrier. 

 There were a lot of butterflies busy in the rabbit brush. 

The valley was thick in smog today. So naturally I had to get out and add my own hydrocarbons to the air. 

The mountains were pretty hazed out by the smog.

 The road you see above is wide enough for one car and is rutted and full of pot holes. It is really hard to be in a place where your head wants to be swiveling on your neck to see everything, but you don't dare take your eyes off the road. 

I finally found the red-necked grebe! I was pretty excited about it, then I got closer and took a better look. Didn't know what it was.  I'd forgotten to take Sibley with me. Had to wait until I got home to look it up. 

Turns out it is a grebe, a new to me grebe, just not the elusive red-necked grebe. This is a pied-billed grebe, but the low sun was giving every thing a reddish glow, including the bird. For all of me, it could have been a red-necked. 

The sun was beginning to set, bathing the eastern mountains in the last light. I liked the pink reflections in the channel.
 

This sighting gives me four of the six grebes I'm likely to see in Utah--including the rare red-necked.  So it wasn't all bad--saw a new bird, some great new scenery and the drive home was much faster.

22 October 2013- Rodent redux

I have been fighting rodents again. Well, one actually. One wily rock squirrel. By the end of July I had trapped and relocated 1 rat, 2 raccoons, 13 rock squirrels and 3 red squirrels. At that point I decided I could live with whoever was left.  Now, two and a half months later I changed my mind about the state of detente.

At least one rock squirrel has been busy digging tunnels under the playhouse, under the cement pad behind the garage, adding more tunnels in the new rock wall by the shop. I was living with this until he decided to climb the pole to the bird feeder. 

The red squirrels used to wrap around the outside of the feeder like a fur stole. This squirrel figured out how to get inside the feeder. 

I decided enough was enough, baited a trap and set it up close to the feeder. Yay! This morning the trap was sprung. What? Not the squirrel? Caught a rat. Took him for a ride up the canyon. 

I moved the feeder--hanging it from a branch in a tree thinking he could no longer reach it.  

First, it climbed up the pole and was stunned to find the food source missing. 

I don't know what was funnier, the astonishment when the food was gone or the glare he gave me before sliding backwards down the pole. heh heh. 

It took him less than five minutes (doubt the pronoun? Check out the picture) to find the new location and get in. 

Although he did have a false start with the hummingbird feeder. 

After taking this next picture I walked over to see if I could hold the lid down on the feeder and have a captive squirrel. Not one of my best ideas. 

I took the feeder down, baited the trap again and caught him. Triumph!  Another trip up the canyon and the rest of my day? Squirrel-less.

9 October 2013 - Fall birds

Fall is definitely here. Not only are the trees swapping out their summer greens for brighter yellow and orange hues, but the birds frequenting my yard are changing. I haven't seen a hummingbird in a week, but the feeders are still out in case of migrating stragglers. 


The last two days have seen large flocks of cedar waxwings stopping in to eat Russian olive berries on their way down south.

 This group had many still in juvenile coloration. They have perky little crests, but his is not showing in this picture. 

I haven't seen any flickers since April and they are busy in the yard now as well. The undersides of their wings are the same orange as under the tail. They are gorgeous as they fly overhead. 

This last week, we had some colder mornings that brought the first towhees in. They like to flit about in the underbrush. 

The magpies are showing up again. These must be my regulars as they swoop in to check out the spot I put cat food out for them last winter. And yes, I am putting cat food out again. The boys don't like to eat the middles of the dry cat food. The magpies think it's great. Nothing like a no waste solution.

Today I saw the first junco. Just one, but it was checking out the feeders. 

Maybe it will be back with friends. We are supposed to have a chilly weekend, rain with possible snow showers. Could see more changes!








 

6 October 2013 - Deer Shish-ka-bobs

Today I decided it was time for a little fall decor out front. I bought a handful of gourds, drilled holes in their bottoms, impaled them on plant sticks and made a colorful row down the sidewalk. 

 I was admiring the fun and funkyness of the staked gourds when it occurred to me that I may have created snacks on a stick, or deer gourdsicles. 

Considering that deer suck the leaves off of the deadly sharp pyrancatha shrubs and enjoy rose bushes, my guess is that these gourds are goners. 

Or as my brother asked, "Have you lost your gourd?" 



Note below: A month later, the deer have not bothered the gourds at all.  My perverse thought is, what's wrong with the gourds? 

5 October 2013 - Snow and critters

As the weather prognosticators got more strident about freezing temperatures and possibilities of snow, I went about moving my potted plants into protected spots, and cutting flowers for inside. 

I brought in a handful of geraniums and some coleus cuttings to brighten up the kitchen. 

It was fun watching the hummingbirds check out the flowers from outside the window. 

 






Then several days later I noticed a lot of black speckles on the window sill. My first thought was how could it be seeds? 

Then I realized it looked a lot like caterpillar pellets.  Sure enough, even the culprit was there, even with more pellets. Great. 

I also brought in several house plants that had been summering outside. It was rather chilly when I brought them in. As they warmed up, so did  a passel of critters that I didn't realize were hitchhiking in. I had hover bees, honey bees, big buzzer flies, lacewings, lady bugs and who knows what else. The boys caught (and ate) the flies, I caught the bees, lacewings and lady bugs and let them go outside. 

The day of the storm, I was running errands and saw the leading edge coming east across the valley. On my way home I drove up to the Neff's Canyon trail head where you can get a good view of the valley. It was pretty spectactular. 

By the time I got home a mix of rain and snow was coming down. Ultimately we had two inches of snow, lots of hail--larger than peas but smaller than marbles, accompanied by thunder. The snow didn't last, but since all the trees are still green and fully leafed out, there were lots of limbs to pick up.  

1 October 2013 - Sky flares?

How do you celebrate the first day of new month? By seeing something totally new!  Walked outside this afternoon and saw this in the sky.  I was blown away. Spectacular! 

 The sun was passing behind a con trail. That is a prosaic description of something quite magical. 

Moving from the sublime to the ridiculous. . . here is a sky centipede.  If your mind is anything like mine, bet you are wondering which direction it is going. 

 It was a great day for skyscapes.

29 September 2013- City details

My brother recently spent three days attending a local blacksmithing conference. I took the opportunity to art bomb his house. Heh heh. Turned out pretty well, in my opinion, but what's not to like when you have spray paint? 

He had not yet trimmed back the flower stalks on the yucca. Now they look happy!

Took a trip downtown for a stop at TJs for coffee, I seem to be addicted to their pinon coffee. I needed a new set of fiddle strings and other odds and ends of errands. 

The city has changed so much since I left. Several downtown blocks were razed and a big plaza was put in. It has fountains in the summer, ice skating in the winter, and lots of art. 

I am particularly fond of the way this arbor doubles as a water feature with its curtains of rain. The sound is wonderful and it really cools off the area. 

This overhead walkway serves as an entrance to the Gallivan Plaza as well as an artistic (?) solution in connecting a parking structure to the Wells Fargo Building. I'm ambivalent about this. I like the circular shape, but think the two wings near the top just make it look messy.Without the wings you would have a very clean shape.

 In an alley way back behind what once was the best bookstore in the west (Sam Weller's) is a great mural. If this doesn't make you want to pull up a deep leather chair and sink in with a good book I don't know what will.

The books are one and a half stories high. So to speak. 

If you are in the older part of town you'll find some wonderful man hole covers.
The street lights have wonderful decorative bases. 

Many of the buildings have detailing that you just don't see anymore, such as this fabulous buffalo head over the door of what once was a trading exchange.

The top of that same building has lion heads between the windows. In my perfect world, new buildings would incorporate these details as well. 


Wouldn't you love to have this kind of thing on your own house?  Lions snarling on either side of your front door?

Buffalo (or other critters) gracing your chimney where it can keep watch over your yard?  

Another old building detail I like to look for are the building names and dates from when they were built. This once proud brick building has been updated with bright colors that look wonderful against the blue sky. The first floor now is host to a very busy restaurant and bar, and classy enough to valet parking.


Here is another romantic example with the numbers entwined in leaves.     


 
I am also fascinated by the new, but I don't think the new buildings will stand up over time, but check this one out -- it looks like it would blow over in a high wind. 

Actually, it isn't really this skinny. It is triangle shaped, but you can't see the other point from this side of the building. 

A new Federal Courthouse is under construction. I love the new-fangled streetlights in front of it.  
On the other side of the building, this huge sculptured awning marks the entrance to the underground parking lot.

Can't believe that in one more day it will be October. Last year we had our first accumulation of snow in mid-October. Fortunately it did not last and we went on to have a lovely Indian summer. Last Wednesday, September 25th, we had snow in the mountains down to 8000 feet. 

 I do not remember ever having snow in September. I'm not sure if this is just a fluke or a portent of things to come this winter. The snow on the ridge was accompanied by several nights in the low 30s and highs in the low 50s. It got cold enough that I had to turn the furnace on. The cats were grateful and spent most of their time sacked out in front of the registers. 

Sept 30
As a note below, I went out for the paper this morning and discovered that my own painted yucca stalks had been art bombed in retaliation. The top yellow portion has been repainted in metallic silver.  Now they really sparkle in the sun. 

Wonder what is next?  One upmanship is a road without stop signs.