Black Sheep Gathering Part 3

/

   

We had such a good time at Black Sheep Gathering this year.

 

I never thought that I'd have fun "camping" in a parking lot but when it's with the right people at the right event it's a great time!

 

I'm used to seeing the Jacob horns, but I sure noticed when I saw this Angora goat's horns.

Sunday evening I left for Bend to pick up a Blue Face Leicester (BFL) ram.

Here is the reception I had at Tumble Creek Farm.

 

 

 

 

Robina's BFL ewes come when called.

 

We set up a pen outside so that my sheep could get out of the truck overnight. This morning we loaded Faulkner in the front of the truck bed with the Jacobs behind.

As much fun as I had this weekend I'm always glad to get back to California.

 

 

 

Jepson Prairie

/

I wasn't sure if I had missed most of the wildflower show at Jepson Prairie Reserve but I thought I'd go see this morning. Jepson Prairie is a natural area owned by the Solano Land Trust. The website says: The reserve protects one of the best few remaining vernal-pool habitats, which are found only in the western United States and few other places in the world, as well as precious remnants of native bunchgrass prairie that once covered one-fourth of California.

Today's weather is a bit crazy for May. The reserve is just about 10-15 miles southeast of our place and I was watching the black clouds as I got closer.  As I got out of the car I saw lightening and decided to wait it out for awhile (in the car). So I drove down the road through the reserve.

I can't find my bird book so I'm going to count on my best birding friend (I was going to say Claire, but now there are more birding friends out there) to chime in here.

No that's not snow in the background. It's the hills that are drying out.

As green as it is in my pasture and in the surrounding farm land, the Central Valley would be a desert without water. So the prairie is drying out and I missed a lot of the wildflowers for the year, but not all.

The flowers that are blooming now are the ones that can handle the drying conditions. Now I don't have the excuse of "I can't find my wildflower book." I used to know most of these flowers and now I can't remember them. But I still enjoy them.

I think I remember this one -  Calochortus, Mariposa Lily.

Even the dry grass is pretty since I'm not worrying about foxtails here.

Here is the spectacular show. The rings of flowers around the lake change as the lake dries up later in the spring.

I think this is Gold Fields.

When you look closely you see another flower. Downingia comes from the recesses of my brain, but i don't know if that is right.

Exploring our County

/

I've lived in Solano County for 25 years but I had never been to Lynch Canyon until today. Lynch  Canyon is only about 1/2 hour from our place and offers an "open space" experience just minutes from urban centers. It is about 1000 acres managed by the Solano Land Trust and open to the public for hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking.

The Lynch Canyon property is just off the freeway between Vallejo and Fairfield, both good size cities. As we approached Vallejo we saw the fog lingering over the hills. Coming from our end of the county we were dressed in shorts and t-shirts and couldn't imagine being cold. It's easy to forget how different the weather can be when you get closer to the S.F. Bay. However, the fog was burning off, and even with the wind we didn't stay cold long.

I can imagine how pretty this area must be in the spring when everything is green and the wild flowers are blooming. It is very dry now, but the sky was a gorgeous blue and the views were amazing.

The green valley below is where Hwy. 12 enters the Napa Valley.

Not too many wildflowers right now--or at least not much variety. There was plenty of yellow star thistle...

...and purple star thistle...

...and tarweed. None of these are desirable plants, but the sweet smell of the tarweed brings back thoughts of riding my horse in the dry hills during high school. Isn't it amazing how smells can trigger memories?

Surprise! There were two dry ponds where these purple flowers (mint family) gave a valiant show of color.

This view is looking north.

Can you get the feel of the prevailing wind from this photo? Those are bay trees which are sculpted by the constant wind.

Even though the dry hills are not as appealing as hills covered with green grass and flowers  there is beauty here.

Trip to Santa Barbara - Part 2

/

I left off the last post with only a couple of the dozens of photos I took of Hebe's wonderful creations. Kenna and I took the dogs to the beach in the afternoon. There is an off-leash beach to the delight of dozens of dogs.

This was Rusty's first time at the beach.  It didn't take him too long to figure out that he shouldn't drink the water.

There were a lot of pelicans and it seemed that the fishing was good. I put on my amateur wildlife photographer hat. After I cropped these photos to enlarge the birds I was surprised to see how direct the approach is when they are going after fish.

A group photo of Kenna and her dog, Molly, and Rusty and me.

Next stop for the day was Canzelle Alpacas in Carpinteria, not far from Santa Barbara. Kenna has taught Carol Ann, the owner, to spin  and we're discussing fiber classes for some of Carol Ann's customers.

Kenna lives in an area surrounded by the Los Padres National Forest. When you hear about raging southern CA wildfires, some of them are right here. Two years ago thousands of acres burned in the Gap Fire, the edge of which is just up the road from Kenna's house.

We took a hike through some of the burned area and it is incredible to see the regrowth of vegetation. The CA chaparral can become impenetrable after years with no fire. It is a tragedy when homes are destroyed by fire, but it's probably not a bad thing for wild areas to burn periodically. It is hard to manage an area for both wild ecosystems and human habitation.

There was fog  on the coast this morning but we were above it.

I drove home in the afternoon and visited another friend (since 6th grade!) along the way.

This is a view out my car window. I'm glad to live somewhere that has such a diversity of landscapes. I never tire of the views.

It would seem that Rusty was worn out from the weekend. However, this is how he always travels. In fact if my ice chest weren't on the floor that is where he'd be. He doesn't pant, doesn't look out the window. He just sleeps.  Not a bad way to travel if the scenery doesn't fascinate you.

Trip to Santa Barbara - Part 1

/

There has been plenty to blog about but not enough hours in the day. I keep meaning to share photos I took in Santa Barbara when I made a quick sheep-delivery trip. People from San Diego  met me to pick up sheep and then I spent the rest of the weekend visiting with my friend, Kenna. We crammed a lot into Sunday of that weekend.

Double checking before I left that I had the important things--my dog and my spinning wheel.

We had breakfast and a walk on the beach with my cousin, William, who lives in Santa Barbara.

Next stop was the Santa Barbara Mission where it was the date of the annual I Madonarri festival, a fund raiser for the mission. This is based on the tradition of Italian street painting. Local businesses pay for spaces in the parking lot and then fill the spaces with chalk art. Look at the incredible detail in this design.

This is not just your regular side-walk chalk.

Aren't these incredible?

After this Kenna and I went to her friend's house nearby. Hebe is an incredible person--she is a quilter, weaver, jeweler, felter, painter, and probably more. She was recovering from back surgery but was gracious enough to take her to her basement workshop and show us some of her treasures.

This is a recently completed weaving.

Hebe has completed 10 incredible felted figures and will have a show after she has finished 12. I can't remember the names of these ladies (and men), but the figures are created with humorous themes in mind. Attention to detail is incredible. You can't tell in this photo but the tennies are covered with sparkly red sequins.

The felted rocks alone are amazing, let alone the rest of the creation.

The afternoon's adventures will come later.

Nostalgia at Feather Falls

/

Last weekend my husband and I chose the absolute best day to go hiking in the Sierra foothills. Flowers were blooming in abundance, everything was green, and the weather was perfect. I hadn't been to Feather Falls in years--not since we carried one (or was it two?) of the kids on the trail. (And now the youngest is 19.) I have a lot of photos on my Facebook page, but here are a few of them.

There is a lot of poison oak along the trail. We could avoid it, but Rusty didn't seem to care. I knew that i'd need to give him a bath when we got home.

I wish I remembered all my wild flowers, but I enjoy them even if I don't remember all their names.

This delicate looking flower is a Ceanothus--Deer Brush or California lilac and the flowers cover bushes that are 6-8 feet high.

There were so many lupines that in places you could smell the sweet scent along the trail.

This is another kind of lupine that was closer to the falls.

Sticky monkey flower.

Feather Falls. The photo doesn't do it justice--600 feet of plunging water.

Clouds and green hills

/

I drove back to Rio Vista today to pick up the black wool from yesterday's shearing. It had been left in the barn for me.

No one was around. The shearing crew has moved on.

Here are the bales of white wool.

This is a beautiful time of year in the hills of Solano County and I am always fascinated by these huge windmills.

It's hard to realize how large these are until you see the truck at the base of this one.