IS IT TIME FOR WINTER?

at least all the signs point to that. This morning just after daylight we saw our first Bufflehead ducks on our pond at the park. Two pair....right out of the north. Alaska maybe?

And how about this snow last Tuesday! This is the way it looked on the Chipmunk Ridge road above Hell Hole reservoir. And last Saturday we were checking for Sandhill Cranes near Lodi and among the thousands we saw was the bird with the tags on its legs above....right down from the north but we can't be sure where because at least 2 of the tags are missing. We photograph S.H. Cranes for the International Crane Foundation and they gave us that information. The River Otters ( two half grown ones) have returned to our park pond like they do most winters. The Great Egret above still thinks it is only Fall....since the Willows in the background still have some red leaves..... but the pain in my right knee tells me...."WE GOT THE WINTER TIME FEELING". Might as well get up...bundle up...and enjoy. It is really winter again!!

Let's Go Deer Hunting

LET’S GO DEER HUNTING

By Jim and Shirley White

In the dim night- light of the bedroom, I pushed my knees up against the mattress to rock the bed gently, my sleeping wife too. “It is 4 am…time to get up” I said to Shirley. A moan with an angry “what time is it? I said “let’s go deer hunting”. “It is snowing on your chickens and they have fallen and can’t get up” I often say that to wake her…since she then has to think what is really happening. She looks at the clock and slowly starts her move to get up and get ready for our planned “deer hunting adventure”. She really won’t know what we are really going to do until she walks in to the kitchen for that first cup of coffee.

We eased the jeep down the Ponderosa Way below Foresthill in a very low gear. The road is rough, dirt and with no guard rails. Not a road to put a tire over the edge with careless steering in the poor light from the jeep’s headlights. It is a long way down to the canyon below…so steep in places one would have to use a rope to get back up. That is if you could still stand and walk after that fall. We are going to stake out a hundred yards of open land where the deer trails are everywhere, mostly from deer going down to water in the North Fork and then coming back to feed and bed down for the day. Our plan… to intercept the big buck we saw two weeks ago in this very spot. My Nikon D-600 with the 80-400 zoom attached lay across my lap, ready to fill the frame with that beautiful 4 point rack on that nice fat buck…now we need just enough daylight so I can hand-hold this camera and lens very still, without shaking from all the excitement.

When it is light enough to see, I see movement on the ground. It is a covey of Mountain Quail. What the heck are they doing down the mountain at this low elevation? It has been so warm and dry this October that most of the high mountain species are still up high. It is the very first time I have seen Mountain Quail at this low elevation, ever! Our first “payoff” for getting up so early” I say, slurping on another cup of coffee from our thermos. “Let’s drive up and down the road and see if there are any deer moving” I say. We do our up and down and see nothing. Back to our clearing and while we are still moving we see them! A doe with this year’s fawn, and a little forked horn buck. They see us in the dim light and start a little dancing back and forth….as if to try and see us better. I kill the engine in the jeep, parked at an angle so I can shoot out of the window if I need to. The dance continues and I peer thru the viewfinder and read “¼ sec. at f5.6”. The shot will be blurry or soft at least at this slow shutter speed. I need more light. Shirley fires a time or two thru the windshield, “You’re wasting pixels” I growl.  “Try to shoot out the window, but we need more light” The buck and doe dance around with the buck mostly trying to hide in the tall grass behind the doe. They don’t really know what we are. The fawn is somewhere but in the tall grass it is hard to see. A little lighter and the camera meter reads 1/20^th of a second at f 5.6. I start shooting, bracing the heavy lens on the window sill. Maybe the new improved “sharpen filter” In the new Photoshop CC will save the day…but I don’t think they are going to stay where they are much longer. First I shoot the buck and doe together, then the buck, several times. Then I shoot the doe by itself.  Looking at the LCD screen it sure looks drab! No color for sure. Well maybe I’ll make B&W’s out of them. We have got to come out of this effort with something!  Dam…there they go…up the hill. Straight into the brush. We are done for this day.

We are parked in front of the “Dash and Dine” in Colfax. Before I get out, I ease the Winchester Model 94 in its gun case out of the front seat into the back of the Jeep along with the shell belt I have around my waist. 30-30 shells in a gun belt might draw attention in the restaurant.  My huge skinning knife on my belt comes off too.  Shirley’s says “are you glad you did not shoot”? “Hay man” I say. “I ain’t about to shoot no young buck in front of his mommy and sister” So I guess we eat beef this winter again.

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Eastern Sierra Magic

EASTERN SIERRA MAGIC

By Shirley and Jim White

“Pass the fried chicken” I said to Shirley. Last night’s fried chicken at Nicely’s restaurant in Leevining had been more than we could eat last night, but really hit the spot today. We were sitting in our lawn chairs on the shores of Rock Lake at 9500 feet in the Eastern Sierra. It was October 2, 2013 and we were photographing the fall colors in the Eastern High Sierra on what was to be one of our most fun trips. We were out for 5 days and had camped our first night at the Virginia Lakes. We camped along the shore of one of the smaller lakes where one could walk along the shore in the dry grass and fly cast into the shallows with a strike now and then from a good size trout. The Aspens along the highways from Carson Pass were O.K. but the real vivid colors were to be found in the higher mountains south. We photographed the colorful Willows and Aspens in the open high valleys to the north from along the Virginia Lakes road first.  Really nice!

Above Rock Lake at the 10,000 foot level the leaves were already blown from the Aspens. As we ate our fried chicken the wind picked up with a little icier bite to it and we slipped on our light fleece sweaters, which were to stay on the rest of the trip. The Rock Creek drainage is always one of our favorite places to shoot yellow and red colored Aspens. Shooting from along the road up, following the creek with the mountains in the background is hard to beat.

Our trip to Bodie, the old gold mining ghost town and State Park was great because of our encounter with the sheep along the road going in. Two bands of about 500 sheep each were grazing along the road, with the sheep herder and his dogs. Some of the dogs were the Great Pyrenees Herding dogs which are very large and white. One of the dogs broke from the herd and ran up the hill to the road into the arms of my wife Shirley. She believes that this dog must be the grown-up pup she had played with last fall, and that the dog remembered her! Who am I to argue with real dog and women love in the Sierra?

We camped at Convict Lake with the weather lady in Bishop forecasting winds 25 to 35 knots with gusts up to 45 knots in the evening. Our pop-up camper has a solid aluminum roof which flexes and pops like a gunshot when the wind hit the 45 mark. Shirley said “she now knows what real rock and roll feels like”. While listening to the wind blow we heard the Coyotes howl about 3:30 am and I just had to go out and stand in the lee of the camper to hear them better. Wow, I had forgotten how bright and icy sharp the stars are in the really high mountains.

Shooting Convict Lake the next morning was a challenge. My tripod would blow over if I did not hang a rock from the middle hook. I wanted to photograph the lake before the sun hit the peaks but I was about 10 minutes late. I was amazed the D-600 picked up so much detail in the shadows with the sun so bright on the peak above the lake. I am not sure yet, but I think I like it.

When we think of the Owens River Road we think first of horses, Cowboys, Hot Creek, a Cow Camp I know, and the wind. We went there this time because of the Cow Camp. I really love a picture I took of the camp many years ago, with an old stuffed sofa alongside the cabin. I know two other Cow Camps like this one, but you have to ride for hours on a horse to get to them. The one in Owens Valley you can drive up on a hill behind the camp and photograph the cabin and horses in the background if you are lucky. We were not lucky this time but we shot it anyway. The Cowboys had driven into the camp just before us and were un-loading horses to go move some cattle. The wind picked up and later when glassing the valley I saw a Cowboy lunging his horse. Horses get spooky real easy when the wind blows hard and he was trying to take some of the fire out of the critter. Been there and done that.

The radio said roads to the south were closing to campers and trailers because of the wind and we could barely see the mountains thru the heavy blowing dust. We headed north looking for some color and clear air to breathe. The Little Walker River just south of the Sonora Pass road was our home for the night. This is one of the most beautiful river valleys in the eastern Sierra. This was our first time to camp in the campground at the upper end of this valley. The temperature dropped like a rock that night. The temperature in the truck read 13 degrees at 7 am the next morning before sunrise. I was so excited to photograph the nearby Aspens before sunrise I wore nothing but my long johns and a down jacket. My knees burned but hay…I had a nice warm camper to retreat to. The coffee was hot so what else could you want?

On the way out we photographed the Aspens along the Little Walker River below the road and perched on a high dead limb in a tree along the road was a Red Shoulder hawk, with his feathers puffed out looking like a football. Outdoor photography at its best! We stopped at the Meadow Cliff restaurant in Coleville and had their Spanish omelet which was their special…Yum.

Go give it a try. We have found that even if our pictures are not great, you can’t fool our eyes. What we see has got to be magic.

   

THE WILD SUMMER ENDS--bring on the Fall and Winter

THE WILD SUMMER ENDS

I was greeted by Shirley all breathless and excited after I drove in our driveway! What happened I asked...expecting a report on a bird in our feeders or something usual. " A doe just jumped into our pasture, walked over to the Willow tree, and then jumped out on the other side". It was 12 noon on a warm summer day in early September. In 52 years of living here we have never had that happen. A few minutes later I looked out the kitchen window and the doe was looking at me thru the deck railing as if wondering if anyone was home. O.K....so we have some wildlife living around us but now my neighbor Marty is yelling at me...he did not get much sleep last night...."did the coyotes wake you guys up last night?" It appears a small pack of coyotes had howled early this morning outside his open bedroom window. An outside inspection showed some digging and peeing  under his window. "What's going on" Marty yelled " we lost half our night's sleep to these guys. Well, welcome to "Wildlife in the Suburbs" I said....They're moving in with us!

It has been that kind of Summer. First the nesting and fledgling of the Killdeers. Then the Red Shoulder hawks moved in, then yesterday 4 Canada Geese spent the morning under my Weeping Willow tree. Hay!! maybe that mud hole under the Weeping Willow is causing all this fuss? This has been the first year I ever let the water run slowly under the Willow and it does seem like all this visiting wildlife ends up under that tree. We usually irrigate all the pasture and have a steer back there but for lots of reasons...we do not raise livestock here any more. We do have two very large, very black Crows that spend the day pulling red worms out of my front lawn. I wish they would not keep knocking over my sprinklers on the lawn however. That and re-setting the way the Rain Birds turn is driving me crazy. I tried to talk to them about this this morning but one of them screamed at me and the other one crapped in the driveway as they flew away. I just want to get along with ALL my neighbors. Maybe I should get Shirley a pet lizard? She is having way too much fun with the wildlife.

Wilderness Cabins We Have Known

It was one of our normal Canadian wilderness canoe trips. The Dease River in northern B.C. Canada. Our trips had to be at least 200 miles long, few or no roads, and a take-out that permitted me to hitch-hike back to pick up the truck. We were about 75 miles down the river, soft rain falling most of the time, and a heavy narrow chute of white-water, with a log right in the middle, pointed up-stream, just under the water. There is no walking out in this kind of dense country and I was not sure we would miss the spear of this log pointed right up-stream. We took out on the right side, up-stream of the chute and I scouted for a portage trail. There was none to be found. I used an axe to blaze a trail in the dense, wet timber, surprised that there was not a trail. It was hard sweaty work, with 5 carries of our gear to the top of a ten foot cliff where we lowered our canoe and gear down to the river. The bugs were bad. Our bug jackets and head-nets helped but black flies got under my shirt and my back was covered with red welts. The rain continued but much colder now. It was time to camp but cliffs on both sides were not inviting. Shirley and I were both feeling some numbness and were getting colder. Around a big bend and high on the left bank I saw it. A trappers cabin. But how the heck do you get up the cliff? I finally found steps carved in the cliff side and we climbed up to our home for the night. Plenty of split fire wood, a vegetable garden with all kinds of greens. The out house behind the garden and Grizzly tracks everywhere. A hot fire, stripped ourselves to the bone to dry in the warm heat of the cabin, and Shirley's hot beef & vegetable stew. I stood guard with our shotgun while Shirley used the out-house. We slept like babies that night. Warm and dry. A warm morning sun made the world seem right. We will not forget our wilderness cabin on the Dease.   

PHOTOGRAPHING THE SACRAMENTO ZOO

BY Jim & Shirley White

Bread soaked in whipped eggs, toasted and folded into a boat like shape and filled with fresh fruit compote with house made whipped cream. Wow! I love it. It is 0800, Shirley’s birthday and we are on a photo adventure. First we fuel up at the Tower Restaurant which used to be famous for a drugstore that sold records. I can’t help but to look nervously over to my right where 70 years ago were about 6 card tables where a kid by the name of Russ Solomon sold vinyl records in his Dad’s drug store. That is where I bought all my Dinna Shore records. We could buy records from a department store down town, but this was in our neighborhood and sold by one of us. Wow….spooky to remember. Russ’s big gamble really paid off.

We try to get to Russ’s   err… the Tower Restaurant by 0800 have breakfast and drive down Land Park drive to the Zoo and get there by 0900, when the zoo opens. We are after the big cats and they become active about that time. This trip (Sept.5) every cat in the zoo came out, stretched and yawned right in front of us. No packs of school kids to deal with and since it was a Thursday, it was “bone day”. Yep, plan your trip to go on a Thursday and even the very young Snow Leopard will chew and play with his bone right in front of you. Fall and winter are great times to go to the zoo too, since some days you will have it all to yourselves.

Equipment notes: take the fastest zoom you have…hopefully at least up to a 200mm. We shot steady for about two hours and I shot most of my exposures at f2.8. They have planted bamboo everywhere and most of the cages are very dark. I used the pop-up flash many times. It is almost like shooting in a jungle. Pray for your animal to walk around and stop in a sun-beam for you. Even the Orange Panda did it for us. You think it was luck? You bet!!

We left the zoo by 11:00 and went down to Fat City, in old town, for lunch. I recommend Frank Fats on O Street as being the best. I do miss Posey’s and when at Frank Fat’s having Frank stop by our table for a chat. But then I miss Russ Solomon and my Dinna Shore records too. 

The Summer Time Blues.....I can't wait much longer..

When you look out our window in the early morning light, looking down on the Oak covered ridge below, every thing is blue. It almost looks like a blue fog, but it is not. It is a heavy blue-grey smoke from the American and Rim forest fires burning for days now. You dare not take a deep breath outside! Little particulates can and will go into your lungs and may never leave. The down-slope air in the morning pushes the smoke down from the fires and when the valley below warms, maybe along with a Delta breeze, the smoke funnels right back up the canyons and over the Sierra. It strangles everything from Auburn on the west, to Reno on the east. What is a guy to do? Stay inside or plan your day to go where the smoke seems thinner? Couple that with the fact that it is August, and we have a case of the Summer Time Blues.

The grass is brown and crisp, the birds are sparse, the fish are down deep in the Sierra lakes and all the frogs have gone too. Where the frogs have gone, nobody knows. They think they all died from a world-wide fungus that is killing amphibians everywhere. Some of the deer are coming at night into our green pasture to feed, but are gone somewhere when the smoke comes. I want to go with them but don't know where to go?

I like every day I wake up breathing and feeling no pain. But now soon after I wake, I try not to breathe and my pain is a longing for that chill that's a coming, with the rain and the wind. And I long for the snow on that high ridge above. I want to breath that cold searing wind and chill-out my face. You see....we have the Summer Time Blues and I can't wait much longer.