Oso Creek Trail

This weekend was another fun two days learning about plants and how to care for them at the Garden Study School. Friday was a "field trip" at the Oso Creek Trail and community centers in Mission Viejo. What a lovely place!

"Oso" means bear

Spring "Snain"

"Snain" is my word for the wierd snow/rain combo we sometimes get in Tehachapi. I'm sure it has a more formal term, but I like saying 'snain' just 'cause it's fun to say! Well, to "celebrate" spring, apparently the Tehachapi mountains wanted to give a final send-off to winter with a brief snow storm yesterday. It was largely rain, but mid morning there were some nice sized snowflakes and some even stuck to the ground and roof. This is why we 'locals' wait just a bit longer to start full gardening for the season - but I think overall I can probably start pulling out my hummingbird feeder and watch for their return. :)

What's Under Your Couch?

A bit of spring cleaning -- Michelyn shampoo-ed the sofa while Derek cleaned up the garage. I think there were two green peanut M&M's, a poker chip, pistachio shell and several other unidentifiable objects...let us not even mention the amount of dog hair and dust bunnies I swept up as we moved the couch sections away from the wall! No money unfortunately!!! So tonight we're hanging out in the blue room while we wait for it all to dry. I think it took me about 2 hours but will be well worth it!

Wii

OK...Derek and I figure that we are pretty well caught up to date with electronics! This weekend we got ourselves an early combined birthday gift and splurged for a Wii...competition will be fast and furious in the Devine household!

We played bowling for a while and then moved on to tennis. Of course in real life, I barely am able to make contact between racket and ball. Unfortunately, the same still seems to be true for the virtual world. For some reason I do better when I'm serving, but it's still so sad to see my little Mii fall flat on her face after swinging the racket spasmodically!

And apparently you know that you live a very sedentary lifestyle when just a few games of Wii tennis makes your right arm sore for the whole next day!

San Joaquin Kit Fox

Tuesday night I went to a monthly meeting of the Tehachapi Mountains Birding Club -- just to do something interesting to me and nurture my nature interest :) They had a speaker about these cute little foxes that are endangered but inhabit the Bakersfield area. So many of the pictures they showed were actually right around my office building and where I drive/go to stores on lunch breaks. Of course, now I look for little foxes everywhere but none spotted so far!!! Apparently these little guys don't go up into the hills of Tehachapi (we have only grey foxes up here, so I learned) but aren't they just too cute!...and apparently when they're studying them and trapping them for research (they release them afterward), they bait them chicken and of all things hot dogs!

Spring is on It's Way!

This morning was a BEAUTIFUL drive to work. The hills between Tehachapi and Bakersfield have been very green with the rain and snow in the last weeks. And now...the reward...blankets of orange flowers nestled on the green hillsides. I think they may be poppies but driving by them at 70mph, I'm not entirely sure. I didn't actually take this picture, I found it on the internet - but it's very much like what I saw!!!

I've also noticed my own plants at home "waking up" with little shoots of new growth. I'm very excited for the gardening season to arrive! Yay for Spring!

Out and About

Derek and I wanted to get out of the house as it has been rainy and snowy the last few weekends. So we headed towards Bakersfield and went to the CALM zoo - a small little place that has some rescued animals like reptiles, eagles, raccoons, foxes etc. The reptile house was actually pretty interesting because most of the snakes were fairly alert -- we even saw a rattlesnake yawn :) and we saw a raccoon play wrestling with a fox. Pictures were a challenge because of the bars of the cages, but I was pleased to see that the animals had generous amounts of space and had lots of logs, trees, branches, etc. in their cages. The staff make a point to let visitors know that these animals are either injured or have become too dependent on humans making their release back into the wild unlikely. I like that we get to enjoy their beauty and they get a safe home.

I actually also just liked seeing the trees and birds. Because CALM is so beautifully landscaped, they have signs listing the names of the plants/trees and all kinds of birds like to come hang out in the foliage. They had picnic benches all around also so it would probably be fun to brink a picnic and just relax!

Cupids & Hearts

Another Valentine's day with my honey. We had a wonderful dinner at Jake's Steakhouse -- little heart and cupid confetti under the glass table. Then we headed to our local coffeehouse for some live music and gourmet/organic hot cocoa. It was so relaxing....Thank you for a great evening, my love. :)

Inside Weather

Weather this weekend was pretty dreary - off and on rain and grey skies. We mostly hung out inside....here's Monkey and Derek lounging around. (Monkey's eyes don't really glow :)

Shasta wanted her picture taken too.

Baby Carrots

Well, here are my first ever home-grown vegetables...two baby carrots. I have some more that aren't ready yet, but if they all turn out this teeny I'm going to have to plant MANY more seeds next season. My poor spinach has a couple clumps that are hanging in there, but something nibbled on them and they took a big hit. I have one or two baby beanstalks but that's it so far. So I think this season I will scrap it up to "experimenting" since there's NO way I could actually feed us with these :) Anyways, I'm still proud that I grew food in the dirt.

Fresh Snow

People might be sick of seeing snow pictures on the blog, but I can't help myself. It's all just so beautiful when it's fresh and bright. Here are some pics from last night's snowfall.

I like this picture because it shows snow IN the birdfeeder :)

My Husband LOVES Football!!!

For all those who know him, you know Derek is a die-hard Kurt Warner fan. So even though Kurt isn't with the Rams anymore, Derek still follows him AVIDLY! So here is my poor husband anxiously (complete with pacing and deep breathing) waiting to see how Kurt and his team will do...will they go to the Superbowl????

Yep!!!! They sure will! Way to go Kurt!

Derek and the pups join together for a celebratory hug!

Hawk Adventure

01-01-09 started off with some minor evening excitement. I let Monkey out the sliding glass door and noticed him standing there staring at something next to the slider -- I looked, and there was a hawk perched on our BBQ. By that time, Shasta had barged out and they both started going after the hawk which spread its wings. Then, I don't know if it tried to fly away or if the dogs got to it, but all I could see were the dogs and hawk running down our slope. I started to freak out because in my mind, all I could see was the hawks talons ripping apart the dogs. It all paused by the igloo next to the small oak tree in the back. I was desperately trying to call the dogs back to me (they weren't coming but they stopped and looked torn whether they should come to me or stay with the hawk) -- the hawk had its wings spread and mouth open posturing in front of the dogs, Derek was trying to find something to get the bird away from the dogs.

It almost seemed like there was something wrong with the hawk - we weren't sure if it could fly at all. So Derek got a shovel and flashlight (this was all in the dark) and tried to get it to move but it just stood there. By then the dogs were starting to come to me and I got them inside. We let the hawk be for awhile hoping it would just fly away.

It didn't! So a little while later, Derek and I traipsed back outside - him with the big shovel, me with a little one (I was totally freaking out! I love these birds and was so sad to think it might die if it's injured - but I didn't necessarily want to get within 2 feet of it!) But there we were, Derek and I talking to this hawk trying to tell it we wouldn't hurt it -- Derek scooped it up with his shovel, the hawk spread its wings and kind of fell backward like it could barely move - I helped support the hawk with my other small shovel best I could and then we moved him onto the other side of the fence so that we could let the dogs out without them hurting it more. It was so sad to see the hawk just lying there -- something wasn't right, but we didn't know what else to do. Admittedly, the thought came about whether we should put it out of its misery - but we just couldn't see any injuries. So we figured we would just let him be on the other side of the fence and either he would fly away, be dead in the morning, or another animal might come and take him away.

This morning - no sign of the hawk. No body, no feathers or any other kind of struggle - so we're crossing our fingers that somehow it made it. My only other thought was maybe it was a mother that had babies (but this doesn't seem like the right time of year) and wasn't going to leave them -- do hawks play possum?

Anyways, it was "exciting" -- whew!

New Year 2009

Michelyn had to work during the day and didn't get home until 7pm-ish. So, it was a low-key new year's eve. We did quickly stop by one of Derek's coworkers and learned a new card game...Nerts -- very fun! Has anyone else played it? A good group name based on Solitaire - very quick moving!

We got home before the ball dropped -- changed into our jammies, counted down and then Michelyn promptly went to bed!

Here's to a good 2009!!!!

Winter Casualty

{Michelyn makes a frowny face}...my first garden casualty of the season. My beautiful butterfly bush just toppled over -- I think maybe there was some kind of rot because it broke off right were the plant meets the dirt. Sigh....well at least we have a vacancy for a big new plant come spring!

Derek's Christmas

This is one blanket the dogs won't be using!

Derek's already practicing blowing the side wood chips back into their place!

Christmas 2008

A wonderful San Clemente Christmas!