25 February 08
Rattling Around Upstairs
Yesterday morning I dreamt that I was with my brother and nephew who were wondering if I had been following the Tour de France this time, which had just ended. I hadn’t, but the news in the paper and the highlights on TV were discussing Jelle Nijdam’s victory in the Tour. At which point the cat wakes me up, and I’m wondering where on earth I came up with that name, so I write it down. When I get up in the morning I search on the name and find his Wikipedia entry. It turns out he is a Dutch former professional cyclist who had held the yellow jersey in the Tour for one day in the 1987 Tour, for two days in the 1988 Tour, and won a couple of stages in 1991. I probably haven’t run into his name since!
24 February 08
Duck Days and a Bag of Rice
A postdoc arrived from Spain a fortnight ago. He’s working in Plant Sciences under the direction of a faculty member — Numenius is working on a project concerning climate change and agriculture with her, so he met Fernando.
Fernando’s from Madrid, where I grew up. He’s also a birder; a really, really good birder. But he doesn’t know our birds. There’s something wonderful about having a newcomer enthuse over your robins and white-breasted nuthatches (we all went out on bikes last weekend; today it’s raining hard, time to catch up on laundry).
Apparently in Spain (in Europe? Richard? ) people are now taking bags of rice — large bean bags, in effect — along with them when they’re birding to anchor their spotting scope (and long camera lens) from the car window without having to set up a tripod. Since we got handed bags of sushi rice at the California Duck Days reception on Friday night, I might just cobble this together. Might be useful on the bike, too…
20 February 08
Meeting Around The Moon
I’ve become quite a fan of the Clear Sky Clock. This is a set of weather forecasts for astronomers, telling when the skies will be clear and transparent. Anyway, it correctly predicted we’d have a break from clouds and rain this evening just in time for tonight’s lunar eclipse.
The eclipse had to fit in around Yolo Audubon activities though — tonight was the monthly general meeting, preceded by the dinner for the speaker. I cycled over to the dinner in downtown Davis and while riding eastward saw the moon rising with a bit of shadow nibbled out of it. I got out the binoculars to have a better look, only to discover I had to be standing right in the middle of the road to see the moon. It was a quick look.
The meeting was at 7:30 so I got to see the moon at totality. Not a prolonged look, but at least lunar eclipses are easily seen from the middle of town. After all, we saw the last one while watching quite an historic event.
19 February 08
Before it Rains Again
It’s predicted to start raining this afternoon or evening; I wanted to get one of the vegetable beds lined against gophers and filled before the whole place gets turned to mud again.
There’s always four times as much soil as you think. Then I wanted to incorporate a lot of horse manure into it to let the bed sit a while. That’s a lot of trips across the road (I caught a horse that had escaped and spent some time weeding with Mary on separate trips). Heavy barrow. I have blisters on my hands. I also loosened all the soil in the herb garden, where a gopher is busily working its way through my artichokes (and the latest victim, the yarrow). I’ve ordered more plant cages against the varmints…
This wooden gizmo at right is a fantastic tool for turning newspaper strips into small pots, which can then be planted straight into the ground without disturbing root systems. I may try to get the ones I filled to soak in rainwater this afternoon.
18 February 08
Great Backyard Bird Count
It’s not too late to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count! This citizen science project has been happening this weekend and ends Monday February 18. Basically you count all the birds you see at a single location over a period of time of at least 15 minutes and report this online. Between the two of us we did three counts today: one from our backyard, one over by Putah Creek, and one in the Arboretum.
16 February 08
First Bigby Flat
Poor Numenius got his first Bigby flat tire today at the Davis Wetlands. We had seen our first cliff swallows of the year; our first Bigby cattle egret; American avocets — and then he felt the tire. I stopped at a pond to scan while he pumped it up and saw a horned grebe there, definitely a nice surprise. We limped home — he stopped to pump it up twice — and ran and got a new tube while I ordered burritos for lunch.
After lunch we met up with a postdoc from Spain who just arrived last week and wanted to go out birding — on his bike. He was excited about every bird, since they’re all new; it’s a great thrill to take someone who isn’t jaded by American robins out into our fields and creek and through West Campus. My memory of Spanish names for birds is definitely rusty but lots came back: “mito,” for instance, is the Spanish name for long-tailed tit, a word I haven’t seen or heard for over 20 years…
The binoculars were hauled out once again this evening so we could see the International Space Station on its way overhead. My but it’s bright. No wonder people report flying saucers.
15 February 08
Signs Of Spring
The first almond blossoms on our tree have opened.
14 February 08
Xocolatl Ecstasy
We just made this as a concession to Valentine’s Day. It’s off the scale. The recipe was taken from the Sunday paper which got it here. It comes from Chef Jesús González and his Rancho La Puerta in Tecate. I roasted the butternut squash in the solar cooker; we used 4 oz. Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate and 2 oz. Dagoba Xocolatl.
Mayan Hot Chocolate
1 small butternut squash
2-1/2 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
large pinch nutmeg
large pinch cardamom
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Cut squash in half; place halves, cut sides down, in a roasting pan. Fill with water up to 1 inch. Bake 30 minutes or until squash is tender. Discard seeds and scoop out pulp to measure 2/3 cup. Purée squash with 1/2 cup milk in a food processor until smooth.
2. In a large saucepan, mix remaining 2 cups milk, chocolate and spices. Heat over a double boiler or in a heavy-tottomed pan, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted and creamy. Remove from heat and whisk in puréed squash. Reheat. Serves 4.
13 February 08
Five Owl Night
Yesterday evening following a tip from one of the bird lists we bicycled out to Road 28H several miles northeast of Davis to go look for short-eared owls. The day before about 10 of these owls had been seen flying at dusk low over fields west of their presumed roost site. We arrived well after sunset, and were immediately joined by our fellow Bigbyer Steve, also on bike. We were successful and saw the short-ears, about a half-dozen all told, hunting languidly over the fields.
More owls on the way back — also on Road 28H we spotted one of the resident burrowing owls, and then riding through Davis and campus we heard several barn owls and a great horned owl.
At that point I figured I could make it a five owl evening by hunting down the Owl Nebula (M97) in Ursa Major. It was not a great night for doing this, with a waxing moon in the sky and high thin clouds, but I managed to see the nebula through my 7” Dob. Not a great view of the nebula, but it wasn’t at the threshold of visibility either.
11 February 08
Maine Caucuses II
Well, my mother braved a blizzard and waited in line for three hours to try and vote yesterday. She had two women with her, fellow alumnae from Mount Holyoke, who were in their upper 80s.
The line went out for 1/5 mile. It was so slow, and so overwhelming, they ran out of registration forms, had to send someone to City Hall to copy more.
In the end they left before they got a chance to vote. But she’s never seen anything like it and wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
In my sister’s town of Norway it was also a mob scene, where the officials gave up and just asked people to raise their hands for Clinton or Obama. (More hands up for Obama.)
On another, sadder, note, I just learned from a friend of the death of Sheldon Brown, founder of Harris Cyclery in Newton, Massachusetts, and known affectionately in the cycling world as “Uncle Sheldon.” Tailwinds, Uncle Sheldon…