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Now for something completely different. This photo is the closest thing I have to a high school senior picture.


Check out the suit and tie. That's how one traveled in those days.

Our family moved to Kano, Nigeria the summer before my senior year. I completed my last year in high school through correspondence studies while living in Kano. It was a blast. I may have missed all the senior year activities but I would not trade it for the time I spent in Kano. What could be better than to spend a year in a totally foreign culture at such an impressionable age.

Given Nigeria was a former British colony, still with close ties to the mother country, and The Beatles were in the middle of their career, it was a teenager's paradise. We, there were six kids about the same age, would listen to "Pick of the Pops" on the Beeb (BBC) and get the latest news about music in England. Each week we would go into town and check out the latest British record releases at the Kingsway department store. At Christmas, the English kids came home from school in England and brought with them the brand new "Beatles For Sale" LP. Did I mention heaven?

The photo was taken on a Seine River cruise in Paris. I was on my way back to the States to attend university. I have the fondest memories of that year. One of the most wonderful years of my life.

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Bloomin' Rebloomers

We are excited. Two of our rebloomer iris are reblooming, even if Suzy sat on one and broke the stalk. The growers said they have yet to have this happen on their farm for this variety. Not the dog sitting part.


A reblooming "Midnight Caller".

Will be getting ready to plant our newly arrived iris in several weeks.

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"Paul Robeson" Heirloom

We enjoyed our first "Paul Robeson" heirloom tomato today. It was very yummy.


Heirloom, the only way to go.

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LibriVox Podcasts

Recently I have listened to #podcasts from LibriVox on my #iPodTouch... "Princess of Mars"-Edgar Rice Burroughs, "Gulliver's Travels"-Jonathan Swift, "An Antarctic Adventure"-Jules Verne, "Captains Courageous"- Rudyard Kipling, "Captain Blood"-Rafael Sabatini, "Murders of the Rue Morgue"-Edgar Allan Poe, "The Daffodil Murder" by Edgar Wallace. Just began "Allen Quartermain"-H. Rider Haggard. Try it. You can follow #Librivox at @librivox on Twitter.

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Not That Common

Clouds in July. A strange site in this neck of the woods.




Something on the way.

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Books of June

June was a busy month for reading. I finished four books: "Friends in High Places" and "Fatal Remedies", by Donna Leon, "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton and Frederick Forsyth's "The Afghan". Donna Leon's books follow Commissario Guido Brunetti as he fights crime and the customs of Venice. "State of Fear" concerns itself with the opposing forces of global warming/climate change as Crichton challenges us to question who we can believe. The workings of al Qaeda are explored in Forsyth's "The Afghan". June was an interesting and educational month thanks to these very enjoyable and readable titles.

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Mink and Otters

Until the other day, we had not seen any signs of mammal activity at the Watson Hollow pond. One morning we observed what looked like a mink swim out of the cattails and across the pond. That was exciting.


Mink running along the bank of the Watson Hollow pond. 2008

We have not seen any otters at Watson Hollow going on two summers. Watson Hollow was dredged about 18 months ago and that may have something to do with the change in wildlife activity here.


Approximately nine otters enjoying the waters of a Watson
Hollow pond one week after a fire blackened an adjoining field.
Interestingly, the otters' toilet area was not burned. 16 Aug 2007

Nature is not static and changes will always occur but it seems we tend to get upset when those changes happen during our lifetime.

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Grass Fire

We had a grass fire about 3/4 of a mile from us this afternoon. We just happened to have turned on the television to check the weather when we heard the report of the fire. Like moths to the flame we drove over to see what was going on. By the time we got there the fire crews were in a mop up operation.



The video shows that several homes here in Trilogy at Rio Vista were in some danger. The golf course grounds crew turned on the irrigation system to help quell the flames before more damage was done.

Thanks to several city and volunteer fire departments for a job well done. They included the Rio Vista Fire Department, the Montezuma Fire District and the Isleton Fire Department.

Let's keep the summer fire free.

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Changes in Our Local Bird Life

This year our spring rainfall was near normal. That's been good for the human urban dwellers and particularly the farmers but we've noticed a change in the activity of local bird life. This year there have been more robins and robin fledglings than normal. Over the past several weeks, we have seen the adults searching for food in the grass, returning to the nest to feed the young. The adult robins have become quite courageous, coming to within 15 feet of us. The chicks have fledged and have been following their parents on their food forays. Many of the young birds are now on their own.

Things appear to be different for the killdeer. The two previous springs were very dry, and by this time of year we would have seen two or three clutches of killdeer chicks. This year we have seen signs of killdeer nesting, egg laying and parent protective behavior but no chicks. I first thought it might be the wet spring causing the lack of chicks but that should not disrupt the nesting success of these plovers entirely. Then a possible answer occurred to me. We have noticed an increase in the number of feral cats in the area. This can prove very detrimental to the success of any ground nesting bird. I hope our community can tackle this situation soon and painlessly.


Clutch of four eggs found by Suzy and myself.

Last year, due to a bridge replacement, the cliff swallows lost their long time nesting location and relocated to the eaves of nearby homes. Please see 2 May posting for video. This year the majority of the birds have returned to the new bridge. Below they can be seen collecting mud for their nests on the sixth fairway during the spring of last year.


Swallows collecting mud 23 Apr 2008.

Also, we have seen fewer egrets and green herons at Watson Hollow this spring. Hopefully the wet fields have attracted these birds with a larger concentration of insects and small vertebrates than years past.

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Killdeer Discovery

On a very blustery day, Suzy and I discovered a killdeer nest while walking behind the fourth green on the golf course.


The sound of the strong Delta breeze.


Not too close Suzy.


Such pretty eggs.

Let's hope they survive the grounds keepers and golfers.

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