Cooperative Poser

Steve and I are thinking of putting our two-story house on the market in mid-April. We've been talking about buying a one-story for a couple of years now, and have finally begun the search. There's a beautiful place not too far from here that's close to Folsom Lake, with access to great birdwatching habitat. We checked it out again yesterday, and came upon two western bluebirds, among a throng of bushtits (laugh all you want...go ahead, just get it out).

This little fellow was the most cooperative poser.

How Cruel Thou Art, Mother Nature

Brief hiatus as I recuperate from the chainsaw Mother Nature took to my throat, and the tree she felled on my head.

Please stay tuned...

Great Backyard Bird Count

This is the third year Steve and I have participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count, sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon, and Bird Studies Canada. The count takes place over four days, from Friday, February 12 through Monday, February 15. The count creates a real-time snapshot of birds across the continent, and anyone can join in -- you don't have to be an expert birder to record the birds in your area.

Steve took the photo above of these hooded mergansers on the pond near the house. And below, a few more snapshots...

A California towhee, eyeballing Steve near the trail.

And a yellow-rumped warbler, shortly after emerging from a bath in the creek.

This is a spotted towhee (formerly known as a rufous-sided towhee, the name I'll forever call it; why did they change it, anyway?)...

...and last, a dark-eyed junco (formerly known as the Oregon junco -- ditto above).

Leaving Cheyenne -- Review in Narrative Magazine

I have long, long, long been a fan of Larry McMurtry, so when Narrative Magazine asked if I'd be interested in reviewing LEAVING CHEYENNE for its First and Second Looks series, I was delighted to accept the invitation.

The review hit the magazine today, and if you love Larry as much as I do, please join me in the revelry here.

Great Horned Owl Chicks

Steve took this photo of these very fat and fluffy great horned owl chicks while working as a wildlife biologist at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon some 900 years ago. We're older now, but ever optimistic, and if we're lucky we'll have some owlets in the redwood trees next to the house this year. Only one problem: where's the nest?

Tree-huggers and leaf-lovers: our family of four

One of the really great gifts of living on or around wildlife refuges is the chance to hop onto a trail for a quick nature walk. When Jena was seven, and Maya was four, Steve worked as a wildlife biologist at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on southern Puget Sound, and we often plucked the binoculars from their hook in the kitchen and hit the refuge trails. On this day, the girls spotted a young garter snake, then scooped it up for a better look (click on the pic to see its flashing tongue) while Steve snapped a photo.

To this day, our girls are nature lovers; Jena works for a national conservation organization, and Maya has returned to school to pursue a degree in wildlife biology, while working part-time for her pops.

Never Take No Cutoffs

"Never take no cutoffs, and hurry along as fast as you can." Such was the advice of twelve-year-old Virginia Reed, as she chronicled her family's survival as members of the Donner Party.

Although I have twice read George R. Stewart's "Ordeal by Hunger: The Story of the Donner Party," and am familiar with the details -- the harrowing journey, the diaries, the hope and despair -- I was moved by last night's "The Donner Party," a documentary written and directed by Ric Burns, and featured on PBS's American Experience. While the account wasn't new, the treatment was, and it was the actors' portrayal of the Reeds, Donners and Breens (all in voiceover -- we never actually saw them) that made the film feel fresh.

The interviews (some new, some archived), too, were touching: Wallace Stegner (who died in 1993) said of the story, "Oh, it's got everything. It's a Greek tragedy. It's a great test of human character. Some people came through it heroically and some of the people in that party were far from heroes and they got worse as the conditions got worse, so that it was as if the sheep and the goats, the blessed and the unblessed, sorted themselves out against a background of terrible hardship and tragedy."

At 90 minutes, the film is just right -- although I would have gladly watched more.

Stories on Stage

Sacramento's newest monthly reading series, hosted by Valerie Fioravanti, Stories on Stage, debuted on January 29 at the Sacramento Poetry Center, and featured Jodi Angel's "The Skin from the Muscle" (read by actor William Kay) and Naomi Williams' "Snow Men" (read by actor Cynthia Mitchell Speakman).

The series will run on the last Friday of each month, and my own story, "Old Will Road," (which originally appeared in Narrative Magazine in May 2009) will be featured on April 30. Would love it if you'd pop in for a listen.

More details to come...