A Rainbow On The Day You Buy A Car

"What you see is what you get.

 It's not just black and white.

 It's a rainbow of fucked up colors too."

~Dana Husseini

RIP Basil

Wednesday, February 11th, 2026

So this squishy little rainbow appeared in the sky, as we drove to Sacramento to trade in our car. I hope that's a good omen, hopefully meaning that our old car would make it's way to someone who really needs it! Alas, I have a feeling that our Basil has gone on to it's glory. I am very sad about that. We had a lot of good times together. It truly had our back. But hey, 15 years isn't bad for a car. And it still got amazingly good gas mileage! But I digress. The point is, I am hopeful for the future, as soon as we learn to drive the new electric vehicle to get the most mileage. One thing is for sure, we will be saving a lot of money, and it's so much better for the natural world we enjoy so much! That's life in 2026!

One a side note... Donald Trump Can Kiss My Ass!

Read About it here.

Halloween Countdown Film #22... The Blob

 

 "Beware of the Blob. It creeps and leaps, and glides and slides across the floor. Indescribable... indestructible... insatiable ! Beware of the blob... " 

 

Gee, why would I be thinking about a giant orange-red blob that rolls over everyone and sucks the life out of humanity? Sorry, this is my happy place away from politics, but many of the early horror films were related in some way to politics. The Blob was a metaphor of the mid-20th century's fear of communism, the atomic age and ignorance of science. The dialog of the film addresses it fairly pointedly...

 

Steve Andrews: How do you get people to fear things they don't believe in?

 

Lieutenant Dave: At least we got it stopped!

Steve Andrews: Yeah, as long as the arctic stays cold.

 

This film came out in 1958, so it's pretty clear that Climate Change science was an issue, I didn't grow up in that era, but I remember it being taught to me in Junior High, in the late 1970's, and pretty much everything I was told would happen, is happening! Unprecedented wildfires. Storms gradually gaining strength to horrific levels, the warming of the oceans. There's a list and I am sure you can check many boxes of the continuing devastation. We just never learn. Maybe the scariest part of The Blob, is our slowness to accept the truth, because accepting it is just too frightening to see.

 

Americans went to see this movie in 1958.

 And we didn't learn a damn thing from it.

Can you believe there are still climate deniers in 2025? 

 

 

Oh well, take all the politics out of it, The Blob, is still an awesome movie. Campy, yes, "B" movie... yes, but it's got a really fun theme song, and actually has a bigger picture involved, and that's why it's a classic! 

 

 

Song Of Nature

 

“In their previous lives, poets were bats, and thinkers were owls.”

 
~Michael Bassey Johnson,

  Song of a Nature Lover

 

  

The bats of 2025 were beautiful, but that's not a new revelation. If you know me at all, you know I fell hopelessly in love with every single Mexican Free-tailed bat the visits each year. But this year I cherished them even more, as their numbers at the Franklin boulevard Bridge were noticeably fewer. As were the mosquitos. The two go together. It was disappointing and a little scary to witness such a change. In years past, the bridge would be lined with my fellow bat enthusiasts, the kids love it! But between the strangely cool summer we had, and the lack of our bat friends, it was an unusual year for nature in the San Joaquin Valley. I have also noticed less birds here as well! I am obviously not sure whether it is the decline of the ecosystem due to Climate Change, caused by greed and ignorance, or just one of those off years that happens sometimes! I have my suspicions. California has done better than most states in our fight for environmental causes, but we are far from perfect. There is discarded trash everywhere in the valley. Folks throw their old furniture and tires anywhere they think no one will notice. The folks around me just don't care! Stocktonians are dead inside.

 

Speaking of which, while I was working on this post,

 this happened, right outside my bedroom window... 

 

CBS 13 Sacramento

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG

SIREN, SIREN,SIREN, SIREN, SIREN

FIRETRUCK

 

(Silence)

 

Stockton Police helicopter circling, in a beautiful sky, above my home.

(Falcon One)

 

It's been 2 hours and the police still have the streets closed off.

 

DRAMA. Useless drama.

 

( Sad, Scared, Depressed, Silence) 

 

Man, this post went sideways fast! 

 

Okay, so lets just focus of the beauty, shall we?

 

 

Stay Safe My Friends,

 And Be Grateful For The Beautiful Things In Life.

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #25/Red Flag Warnings For All

 

"The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes

 from the summer cottons into its winter wools."

 

 ~Henry Beston

 

It has been hot. Really hot. Relentlessly hot, all summer, and now well into October, and it will be 78 degrees later today. Yes, that's hot for October! STOP IT ALREADY! There will be no appreciable rain or cool weather for at least the next month. Sigh. We, in the San Joaquin Valley, are under a fire watch for the next few days, with the possibility of rolling blackouts. Here's a question, that I guess history will have to answer, are either of the two candidates planning to address Climate Change in any serious way? One of them caves to big oil, the other hasn't said much. Are we all on our own as far as the change in the ecosystem goes? It feels like its late to help us. Is it everything almost over anyway? Why isn't the conversation taking place in any real way? Just look where Climate Change falls on the list of issues for voters this year...

Why are we still not having more meaningful conversations

 about this issue?

Thank You, President Biden!

 

Desmond Road

Galt, California

March 2024

 

 

“The sure way of sustainable management of the ecosystem

 is to make human kind environmental stewards.” 

~Lailah Gifty Akita 

 

 

The beauty of Desmond road will become even more beautiful because of the money being put into the Cosumnes River Preserve and it's ecosystem, by Joe Biden and his administration. Maybe next year there will be more birds. Maybe a fish will not end up on the endangered species list. It is critical to save this precious part of the wetlands, as it is so important for the birds who return year after year on the Pacific Flyway. Among them, my beloved Greater White-fronted Geese, and the Sandhill crane. Last year I witnessed so much damage that had been done by the storms of early 2023 and an especially dry summer, so I have so much hope for life along the river. Even the Mexican Free-tailed bat has an interest! They have been eating on the mosquitoes and living under that nifty bridge for years, and soon they will be back and ready to feed. Sometimes the ecosystem makes me sad, it is what it is, but knowing life is working as it should helps me sleep better at night. This is the only wetlands we have, on the only planet we have! Thank you, President Biden, for working for America, and for the small souls that save us!

“May it fill your heart with joy to extend your family to include every insect, native plant or animal and fluffy bird

 that finds sanctuary there with you.” 

~Mary Reynolds

 

 

Greater White-fronted Geese

American Avocet

Black-necked Stilt

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #16

 

“Each leaf tells us a story. The story of its struggle.

 The story of the storms that it faces in life.”
~Avijeet Das

 

  Why the Silhouette?

 

Atmospheric rivers. Droughts that last for decades. The avian flu that just ripped through the bird populations. The hottest temperatures on record keep breaking the records year after year. And this year, a monsoon struck southern Nevada, causing flooding and power outages throughout the city. The Earth is unhappy, and it can be seen in the amount of dead trees I am seeing everywhere. We had a really wet year, but water alone won't fix the damage humans have allowed to happen. Climate Change is real. Full stop!

 

Welcome Autumn And Leaf Of The Day #1

 

 "But when fall comes, kicking summer out on it's treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair and take out his favorite pipe and lights it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since he last saw you."

 

~Stephen King

 Salem's Lot

 

"But when fall comes, kicking summer out on it's treacherous ass... ."

Has there ever been a better description of how it feels to finally be rid of brutal summer days? It's finally here, weather that isn't 114 degrees! Yep, we broke records again this year, but the leaves that are still alive are off to a beautiful start. Life. Is. Good. Mostly.

~Me

 

 

Swainson's Thrush (Russet-Backed) And Ginko

 

 

"Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with hum how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells."

 

~John Keats

Complete Poems And Selected Letters

 

I have to keep reminding myself that we are in December! Honestly, it feels much more like November, than any December I can remember. Most days have been in the mid-60's and overnight hours about the low to mid-50's. As a consequence of that, there is some fire danger here in California. I spoke a little about how the fire season has been extended in recent years, by several months, but I was hoping at the time it would be declared over, long before now. Sadly, it looks like it will, in fact, remain in the red zone until the end of this month. There is a small chance of rain, but I don't think it will be enough to change the forecast as far as fire season goes.

 

It's very sad. I am praying for rain after the first of the year, to get a possible running start on the fire season of 2021, which will begin in March. Who knows what the temperatures will be by then. It kinda feels like California may not see another normal seasonal year. According to the Los Angeles Times, August, September and October, of 2020, were the hottest on record. That was easy to believe, judging by the lack of moisture in most of the leaves I collected, regardless of species. It's apparent, Climate Change will only continue to progress, and I can see the possibility that California could become unliveable within my lifetime. It's heartbreaking. Hopefully, the incoming Biden administration will be able to finally put some science, and of course, federal funds, into fighting the effects of Climate Change in not just California, but the other western states facing as much tragedy as we have.  

Autumn comes to an end in just a couple weeks, and it has me thinking about what it will be like next year. The ecosystem is changing so much, I wonder how things have already changed when it comes to the migratory path of the beautiful birds I am just beginning to get to know. What about the creepy crawlies? 5 or 10 years from now, will we be overrun with different bugs we haven't had in California, or at least not in this part of California? I'd rather not have that, particular if the birds begin a different migratory pattern. I am trying to not put too much thought into the possibilities and the what-ifs, but I am continuing to do my part. In fact, Alan suggested the other day, that we start taking a garbage bag with us, when we go to the wetland's to bird watch, because there always seems to be some amount of discarded items, ranging from aluminum cans, to masks, and we need to do more than our part if folks are going to be that damn careless, selfish and ignorant. 

Ginko 

 

 

 ~Carly

December 8th 2020

Stockton, California

 

1 In 10,000

 "Summer rushes in on the heels of spring, eager to take her turn; and then she dances with wild abandon. But the time soon comes when she gratefully falls, exhausted and sated, into the auburn arms of autumn."

~Cristen Rodgers

 

Earlier this year I spotted my very first black squirrel. A black squirrel is actually a gray squirrel, with different pigmant, but it is fairly rare, especially in California. That has been 2020. Lots of strange surprises and twists of nature. This one was at least a pleasant surprise, I think. They are rare in California, and this is the second I have seen in the same year, and it was in a neighborhood on the other side of Stockton. Black squirrels are about 1 in 10,000, so I am not sure what to think. I have seen the devastating effects of climate change on California in recent years. The extended fire season. The decline of the Monarch's at California sanctuaries. It is going to give me something to study this winter, when it will just be too cold to do much photography outside. I am looking forward to that. In addition to learning more about these squirrels, I also happened to spot a new bird in the East Bay that I haven't seen before, more on that later, so I have several topics to learn about. Vacation is almost over, and it will be nice to spend some time doing research into how California, and the nation, has changed in recent years, speciffically in regards to animal and bird life.

Note: If you are wondering about my thoughts on the election, it will all just have to wait. History and I will document things in their time. It's out of my hands. There is a strong chance that it will be several days before we finally know for sure, and that's if we aren't otherwise distracted by civil war. If I sound like I don't care... no... I do... but I just want to think about the squirrels. And the rest of my vacation. But I will say something when the time is right.

 

 

 ~Carly

Stockton, California

November 4th 2020

It Was August Two Weeks Gone

 

"The grass in the back field was almost waist high, and now there was goldenrod, that late summer gossip which comes to tattle on autumn every year. But there was no autumn in the air today; the sun was still all August, although calendar August was almost two weeks gone."

~Stephen King

Pet Cemetery

Of all the authors who have ever lived, I think Stephen King might understand autumn more completely than any than any other I can think of. The way it tastes, the way it has a way of stealing your last breath with it's beauty, and the way it can scare you. I photographed those beautiful ducks on September 11th, with the air so full of smoke that had drifted from the many wildfires, I could barely breathe, but there were those gorgeous creatures, minding their own business, without any real cares. I had a nice time with them. I knew things would improve, and they have, considerably, but this weekend is supposed to see higher temperatures, and winds, as it does in autumn, which is bringing renewed worries of more fires erupting.

 Fire season doesn't end now until December, ten years ago it was late October. The Earth is pissed, and frankly, so am I. I am sick of Republicans pretending Climate Change isn't real, but what can I do when a good part of the voting block would rather clutch their pearls over the irrational fear of losing their guns, then care the Earth is dying. All I, as one person, can do, is keep separating my plastic and aluminum, cut plastic can separators, and throw away as little trash as possible whenever possible, but I'll keep praying for the birds, butterflies, and the vegetation in California. In another decade, should we last that long, it's possible to see fire season not have a begin or end date, it will just be a constant threat. Autumn won't just be scary, for the chills of Halloween and the fun of being scared for the fun of it, it will be scary because it won't actually exist anymore.

~Carly

September 26th 2020

Stockton, California

Walking In Autumn In 2019

"It is autumn on tip-toe that silently walks the hills and treads the forested expanses, gracing in each step a billion leaves

 in a chorus of colors so brilliantly ingenious

 that a thousand museums or more will never possess

 the talent to produce what autumn effortlessly creates."

~Craig Lounsbrough

It's dark and cold, and the trees have finally started turning spicy autumn. Finally, I feel happy, and at ease. I hope the leaves will be able to carry me through winter, but the leaves, and sometimes whole branches, are falling to the ground dry and dead. It makes me sad, and worries me deeply. Climate change is apparent in so many ways. It's not just the devastating wild fires California has seen, but last year, when we visited the, Pacific Grove Butterfly Sanctuary, it was depressingly apparent that the Monarch grove had a lot less butterflies than in previous years. Yet another victim of Climate Change damage, which is happening all over California. It's scary and sad. I am committed to doing my part, as is Alan, but America needs to elect someone who understands basic science, and can be the living example of how to care for our nation and planet.

 I pray that folks will wake up, and vote for a president that can be a real leader on the issue of Climate Change, but the truth is, folks have free will to do what they will. So, either folks will wake up to the science or they won't. Our future, it would seem, is a 50/50 bet. Either we will survive or we won't, but if you take a closer look, a realistic look, it's more like if something doesn't change, regarding America's approach to the climate crisis, soon, it will be more accurate to say, that we have no chance at all. I first heard about climate change (global warming) when I was in 3rd grade, back in the old days when it wasn't controversial to take care of the earth. Now we live in the information age, where we can check statistics and facts on how things have changed, regarding global warming, over time, but it's being discouraged and deemed a hoax by the most powerful office in the world. And rather than think for themselves, those who put him in office would rather not have to think, or read, or do their own research.

A hoax?

How many more autumns will I see?

More and more damage to towns and communities yearly.

In every state.

How can anyone watch an entire community burn to the ground and believe Climate Change is a hoax? Or watch helpless as unprecedented floods or storms ravage two or three states at a time, and call it a hoax? 

When will I see the last California autumn? 

Right now, it's easy to believe that I am living it, right now.

#49 Leaf Of The Day

November 10th 2019

Photographed October 8th 2019

Berkeley, California

Nikon

~Mood: Quiet

~Me   

 

 

Fire In The Sky

Fire wants to burn

Water wants to flow

Air wants to rise

Earth wants to bind

Chaos want to devour

Cal wants to live.

~Cassandra Clare

 The Iron Trial

The light you see, is the reflection of the sun, bouncing off the tower of Preston Castle, in Ione, California. The sun has changed into an eerie red color, that I have photographed only a handful of times, mostly when there have been out of control wildfires, like we are experiencing right now in California, but honestly, this is the absolute worst I have ever seen it!

Alan and I live in Stockton, which is about 180 miles from the biggest fire, the Camp Fire, in Paradise, California. It has already been determined that this fire is the deadliest fire in California history! And the smoke has turned the air quality in the state into an unhealthy mess. But that isn't what hurts me. The loss of life does.  The lost of dreams. And all that's coming from is disparagement from out JACKASS of a president. 

History will record his words.

 I won't darken my blog quoting him!

Gallery

November 11th 2018

Communities of Galt

Ione

Lodi

Stockton

The Moon, turned blood red, by the smoke!

From 180 miles away!

Stockton, California

Ione, California

Ione, California

 Stockton, California

 #52 Leaf Of The Day

November 12th 2018

Photographed October 14th 2018

Cull Canyon, California

Samsung

~Mood: Sad

~Me