Sandhill Cranes On Desmond Road

“Every story begins somewhere, some in the rain of forgotten yesterdays

 and some in the scent of autumn leaves...”

 
~Jayita Bhattacharjee 

 

 Finally! I spotted them on Desmond road yesterday, at 4:00 pm. My beautiful Sandhill Cranes are back! Well, actually, they have been back for over a week, but they are officially back for me now. They weren't making much noise, so I didn't hear that beautiful call and chatter of theirs, but soon they will be back in large numbers, and then good luck not hearing them! And I wouldn't want it any other way!

 

Here's where you can find them today!

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #5

 

“There is great beauty in each season, but autumn has a pinch of something more.”

 
~Laura Jaworski 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #4

“A lifespan of a leaf is equal to the seasons. And its purpose though small, contributes to the bigger picture. Being who you are—even if you are a leaf—is no ordinary thing.”

 
~Reena Doss,

  The Last Leaf Of Autumn: Barefoot and falling, infinity is a number that has none to end  

 

 

Grasshopper, GRASSHOPPER!

 

“Even tiny plants experience autumn.” 

 
~Devika Todi,

  Dreaming in A Fish Bowl

 

 

 

Okay, first, let me share, I hate bugs, but love and appreciate what they do for the ecosystem, but damn they are spooky looking! Like a mean spirited alien from some unknown planet. I've learned about different insects since moving to the San Joaquin Valley, but I hadn't gotten around to the grasshopper. As it turns out, I learned that they are actually fascinating creatures, and not bad to have around. Most cannot possibly be less interested in humans. But you see, I visited, Mount Diablo State Park, last week, and I met a bug a little less harmless. The Black wasp. Ugly, and come to find out, it has a really painful stinger. To their credit, they are not really aggressive, but you know, sometimes you meet someone and you just don't get along with them, the chemistry is just off!

 

To be fair, it was mostly me I guess. It flew into the car window and landed on my hand, surprising me, and I panicked! It bit/stung me, I went to smash it on the door, and it bit/stung me for the second time. It. FUCKING. HURT! We had only just arrived at the top of park, at 3,848  feet! What a way to begin a pleasant day. I am very sentimental about Mount Diablo, it has soothed my nerves to know that even if you live in the valley, if you can see that mountain, then the Bay Area is close by. I get a little bogged down out here, my nerves fray, my depression gets to me, and of course, there is gun fire all around me, but I can always see Diablo from anywhere along Hwy 5, and feel like I am home when I need it. 

 

As for the grasshopper, I didn't find him on Mount Diablo, I found him at the Yolo Bypass wildlife area, in Davis. And he got nowhere near me, but damn did I have a tiny flashback of panic! I was not interested in being stung by yet another insect, especially since I haven't been stung once, since visiting the bypass for the first time several years ago. Lets keep that place pure. Soon, the ducks, geese, cranes, and stilts will arrive, and I plan to visit... often! So no drama please. I also have not ruled another visit to Mount Diablo! They have a lot of wonderful creatures to see, like the tarantulas, especially during their mating season in October, and foxes, coyotes and on occasion, the California Condors. I'm kinda planning for a visit there next month, but I have a long list of places I would like to visit. I dunno, who knows, it could happen!

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #3

 

“The autumn leaves remind me of my own faded memories.
The leaves hold their own precious stories,
which drift about in the wind,
finding a new place to settle
and continue to exist.

The bare branches of the elm tree
still stand tall and strong, like I do.
It is a reminder that life still continues
even during the most adverse times.

As I land gently on the grassy plain,
my attention is drawn to the sight of fallen autumn leaves,
floating across the steady stream of water.

Sherwin has presented me with
many of these beautiful leaves in the past.
They are symbols of our steadfast endurance as a couple
and bring warmth and joy to my heart.”

 
~Susan L. Marshall,

   Fleur of Yesterday

 

Go visit a park. Spend time in your garden. Visit a river, or the beach. Sit on your front or back porch and study the world around you. See the colors. Listen to the sounds. Just step out of this life we are forced to endure. There is so much more than the stupidity of the moment. Stepping away from it all, is the best way to be in the here and now. Make new memories by letting go for a little while!

 

 

Oh, There You Are!

 

“Thoughts swirled around her head like the leaves in the breeze.”

 
~Diana Jaques,

 The Falling Leaves

 

 I have been looking for a Green Heron this whole year, but as luck, and the rules of birding, would have you, I found one completely by accident, months after I should have. They are usually, dependably, everywhere! You remember me mentioning that birding is Sometimes about being in the right place, at the right time? Well once again, my avian friends proved it's true! I am still on a quest to find the Sandhill Crane, which have arrived in the San Joaquin Valley. The map says they are in Lodi, Mokelumne City, the Cosumnes Reserve, and Staten Island on the delta. They are here, I know they are, because you can track them here. I am just not seeing them. Yikes!

 

 So, a couple days ago, we decided to pick a spot on the map, and see if our luck could change a bit. The spot on the map we chose was Staten Island. We had never been there before, so it would be an adventure. As it ended up, there wasn't much to see yet, but it's only a matter of time until the rice is harvested, and will be replaced with water, to provide grain for the wild birds, but aren't quite there yet, so we left. On our way home, I spotted this lovely Green Heron, sitting on a telephone wire. I saw him just by chance! He moved to this tree, while I photographed him, and engaged in a little fishing in the ditch line. He was very accommodating of me, and made my time very happy, as he moved about into one beautiful pose to another. There's the rule of birding, you see what you didn't even know you wanted or needed, to see! 

 

I love it when that Pacific Flyway opens each Autumn. I have to thank the gorgeous migrating cranes, for helping me finally spot my Green Heron.

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #2

 “Autumn is a love affair with the earth, where every leaf is a love letter.”

 
~Jayita Bhattacharjee 

 

 

On The First Day Of Autumn

 

Crimson Marsh Glider

Yolo Bypass Wilderness Area

Davis, Ca

September 22nd, 2025 

 

 “I wish autumn came around twice in a year

 — first as a season, then as an event.”

 
~Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu

 

What a beautiful little creature! Yesterday, as a way of celebrating the first day of autumn, we took a little trip to the Yolo Bypass Wilderness Area, and our time there was definitely not wasted! There were few birds, but the insect world was working overtime! There were tons of dragonflies, and yellow jackets, which could be a little intimidating at times. I didn't photograph any of the yellow jackets, but it was definitely not for lack of opportunity! The Mexican Free-tailed bats should have quite a banquet this fall. I did photograph some really pretty dragonflies, and I will be sharing them this week, plus a new bug that I have never photographed before. A funny fella with BIG eyes! You'll see! Yolo Bypass should be full of all kinds of birds in October, it should be downright glorious! There is a lot of natural beauty to look forward to!

 

It was a good day!

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #1

 

“That old September feeling, left over from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air ... Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year's mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.”

 
~Wallace Stegner,

  Angle of Repose

 

 How beautiful is that leaf?

And it's only the first leaf of the day for 2025!

I can't wait to find all the beauty autumn has to offer!

 

  

Welcome Delicious Autumn, 2025

 

“But when fall comes, kicking summer out on its 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 pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since last he saw you.”

 

~Stephen King,

  ’Salem’s Lot

 

And Autumn begins. I love beginning the season with one of my favorite Stephen King quotes, and it also happens to be one of my favorite books. I fits. Although this year, it seems that summer wasn't as treacherous as previous years. I am almost... almost... feeling sentimental about it. It was like summer found it's empathy. Maybe that was it's treachery this year, or maybe it was just it was giving me a break, as it let me transition from such deep grief at losing my Hendrix, to my immense joy at finding two more loves in Simon and Tyler. But Autumn is here, and with each day to come, I will feel better and better. Autumn always heals me. And I never have to guess at it's motives!

 

Check back later today for the very first, Autumn Leaf Of The Day, for 2025! 

Sunflowers And Thistles

 

 

 

“Outside the leaves on the trees constricted slightly; they were the deep done green of the beginning of autumn. It was a Sunday in September. There would only be four. The clouds were high and the swallows would be here for another month or so before they left for the south before they returned again next summer.”
 

― Ali Smith, 

 The Whole Story and Other Stories

 

 

Summer is coming to a close. Tomorrow is it's last partial day. It will breathe it's last breath at 2:18 PM, EDT. The roadside sunflowers are withering, and the thistle has gone from it's stunning purple shade, to its white haired end. Sigh. To my dismay, I am beginning to see the beauty and tragedy of summer. It's been a bittersweet season this year for me this year, as I lost my wonderful Hendrix on June 9th, yet gained silly Simon on the 4th of July! Then, in August, Tyler came along. They make every day happy. The tears, are replaced with smiles.

 

 The bats are gone now, at least at the Cosumnes River Preserve. It was a colder than average summer. Perhaps they will be at the Yolo Basin in great numbers, we'll see. That is an autumn task. On one of the few hot summer nights that we had, we spotted a barn owl for the first time! Now if I can find a Burrowing owl, I will have yet another beautiful bird for my life list! No other season transitions quite like summer into autumn. This year I will be sad to see it go, but I am enjoying the amazing morning autumn light. I am ready for autumn. See you tomorrow!

 

 

Summer Berries And Cobwebs

 

Night is brushed aside like so much cobweb. The day is wound up and begins even before the last haunted dreams, the last of the fog, those spectral and evanescent residues, have faded away.”

 ~Gregory Maguire,

 After Alice

 

I hoped to see a spider, but alas they were nowhere to be found. But there is amazing beauty in cobwebs left behind, so I took my time searching for the dazzling, romantic strands of silver thread, and daydreamed of time well spent.

 

 

With 410 Days To Go... Are You Any Better Off?

 

Some thoughts... 

 

“Decades ago, George Orwell suggested that the best one-word description of a Fascist was “bully,” and on the day of the Normandy invasion, Franklin Roosevelt prayed to the Almighty for a “peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men.” By contrast, President Trump’s eyes light up when strongmen steamroll opposition, brush aside legal constraints, ignore criticism, and do whatever it takes to get their way."

     
~Madeleine K. Albright,

 Fascism: A Warning

“Do not obey in advance.

Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

 
~Timothy Snyder

  On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

“If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.”

 
~Hannah Arendt

“Social conservatism and neoconservatism have revived authoritarian conservatism, and not for the better of conservatism or American democracy. True conservatism is cautious and prudent. Authoritarianism is rash and radical. American democracy has benefited from true conservatism, but authoritarianism offers potentially serious trouble for any democracy.” 

~John W. Dean,

  Conservatives Without Conscience

 

“[No] social principle in the world is more foolish and dangerous than the rapidly rising notion that hurtful words and ideas are a form of violence or torture (e.g., “harassment”) and that their perpetrators should be treated accordingly. That notion leads to the criminalization of criticism and the empowerment of authorities to regulate it. The new sensitivity is the old authoritarianism in disguise, and it is just as noxious.”

 
~Jonathan Rauch,

  Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought  

 

 “The authoritarian character worships the past. What has been, will eternally be. To wish or to work for something that has not yet been before is crime or madness. The miracle of creation—and creation is always a miracle—is outside of his range of emotional experience.”
 

~Erich Fromm,

        Escape from Freedom

 

“Flattery is directly proportional to authoritarianism. For this reason, flattery can be said to be one of the main signs of the non-existence of freedom and democracy in the political system. The more "honeyed words", the greater the deprivation of personal liberty.”

 
~Elmar Hussein  

 

  “Democracy can exist only in the countries where people are brave! Coward nations always live under the authoritarian regimes!”

 
~Mehmet Murat ildan 

 

 “Patriotism is a villain's last refuge.”

 

 ~Xiaobo Liu,

  June Fourth Elegies

 

 “One need only to admit that public tranquillity is in danger and any action finds a justification. All the horrors of the reign of terror were based only on solicitude for public tranquillity.”
 

~Leo Tolstoy, 

  War and Peace

 

 “Who is watching the Watchers?”

 
~James Hauenstein  

 

There are 410 days left until the 2026 midterm elections. 

 

Are you any better off then you were 4 years ago?

Are you any better off then you were 4 weeks ago?

Are you any better off then you were 4 days ago?

Are you any better off then you were 4 hours ago?

Are you any better off then you were 4 minutes ago?

Are you any better off then you were 4 seconds ago? 

 

VOTE

 

 

So This Happened...

 “If liberty means anything at all,

 it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” 

― George Orwell

 

 “If freedom of speech is taken away,

 then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” 

― George Washington 

 

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."

[Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States, August 8, 1950]”

 
― Harry S. Truman  

 

“This is slavery, not to speak one's thought.”
― Euripides,

  The Phoenician Women  

 

We are in a very dark time. President Asshole is not going to be happy until he ruins every corner of our lives. Every single day some nightmare, courtesy of Trump, will happen, sometimes several times a day, sometimes hourly. He is a petty little asshole, who is leaving my nerves fried. Culture and the arts is so important to the psyche, and the soul, and the well being that I worry about someone who just can't take it anymore, acting out. When folks reach the deepest points of despair, they fall to the principles of fight or flight. They express their feeling by hurting others in the attempt to make them feel their level of pain, or they turn it all inside, ultimately harming themselves. I am neither of those things. I am numb. Intellectually I know it's bad, but I don't feel panic anymore. Still, I get tired. Some days all I want to do is sleep, but when I am awake I am ready for the fight of just absorbing it all. 

 

 

 

WE MUST GET UP, AND FIGHT BACK!

Rashes In The Hinge

“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”

 
~Markus Herz

 

A couple days ago I shared a post about a sign I saw at the hospital, which for whatever reason tickled my funny-bone. The post contained a couple photos of signs for the rash clinic at Kaiser. "Rash Entrance" and "Exit" on the ceiling right next to it. It pretty much told the story, but I neglected to include this photo. It is the actual door to the rash entrance, the "Rash Waiting Room." Beyond the choice of words, is the fact that if you look closely at the door, on the right side hinge, there appears to be something red just on the other side, giving the appearance, at least to me, of the door actually having a rash. But I see stupid stuff, so really I suppose it's just my imagination goofing on me. Or maybe you see it too. Shrug. 

 

Just remember, laughter is the best medicine. 

 

But if you have a rash, especially in the hinge, seek a doctors advice. 

 

Read my original post here. 

 

 

 

    

I Miss You, Baby

 "What greater gift, than the love of a cat?

 

~Charles Dickens

 

I loved Dylan so much! I cannot believe he passed over the rainbow bridge a year ago today. He was my soul mate. No one, human or otherwise, loved me as purely as he did. He was soft, and cuddly. He loved nom-noms, and anything that contained butter! He talked to me, and did weird things with his poop. He was difficult, yet self correcting at times. He was complicated, and yet the simplest cats I have ever known. He sang twice a day, just before sunrise and again, just before sundown. Out of the three cats I owned, he was the best behaved in the car, when we needed to check in with Dr. Barrett. It's a 60 mile trip round trip, and he wouldn't complain a bit, he just relaxed and enjoyed the ride! His nicknames were, Mr. Pissypants, Dillybean, Old Bean, Corn Muffin, The Baby, and believe me, he lived up to all those names. And if those weren't enough names for him, his middle name was Andrew!

 

Dylan was my child. And I miss him so much. He was a force of nature.

 

And he loved me. 

 

I miss you, baby. 

 

 

 

A Blurry Photo, Of An Old Friend

“This morning I stopped to watch the geese fly, even though I didn’t have the time to do so. And I realized that not having the time to do something might be the very reason why I need to do it.” 

 
~Craig D. Lounsbrough 

 

I wish I could have taken a better photo, but I just couldn't get a clear shot, and my camera wasn't being particularly helpful. There were too many weeds in the way. But who cares? Today was the first day I have spotted my favorite geese, the Greater White-fronted. I saw only 4 of them, but I am sure there were more way in the back of the pond. I saw all kinds of birds frolicking today, among them, Northern Pintail, Stilts, and Greater Yellowlegs! Desmond road is paradise to me, I have seen so many amazing birds for the first time, such as the Bald Eagle! I actually went out today in search of the Sandhill Crane, which has been spotted here and there, but with no luck. That's okay, as it happens often with birds, you go looking for a certain bird, and you might just spot someone else you weren't expecting! And that's a good thing!

 

The suspense continues, maybe tomorrow will be the day

 I spot my amazing Sandhill crane!

Don't Be Rash

 

“Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.” 

 
~Charles Bukowski 

 

Am I the only one who sees the humor in something like this? I was at the hospital the other day, when I saw this and kinda snickered to myself. No one else seemed to be sharing my sense of humor at that particular moment, in fact most walked past me and glanced at me like I was nuts, and I am of course, but I couldn't help it, the 12 year old in me found it endlessly amusing! I suppose when a rash begins on one's body, it would be the rashes entrance into one's life, and, if cured, it would take it's exit! It's the natural flow ... right?

 

 I wish more things, and people knew when to just fuck all the way off!.

 

 

Summer's Twilight

 

“Dusk is just an illusion because the sun is either above the horizon or below it. And that means that day and night are linked in a way that few things are there cannot be one without the other yet they cannot exist at the same time. How would it feel I remember wondering to be always together yet forever apart?” 

 
~Nicholas Sparks

 The Notebook

 

Those summer twilight's...

 

 

   ... on the Franklin blvd and Desmond Road.