Red Crossbill

After late Breakfast, paddled back to the Creek and sat awhile by Duck Harbor...quiet....picked up and sat awhile on the Fallen Log in front of the Deer House...quiet too...scenic pic, with tourists all along the Paths....sunny hot blue..a breeze rustling the Cottonwoods, the Oaks, the Pines, the Meadow...often these days there is a breeze...at Lunch: paddled out to Ozone Beach and the Fallen Cedar, and sat awhile...Song Sparrows, Black Phoebe, thereabout...Blue Jay call back in the Woods...walked back to looksee, but quiet, and back to work...pics up are from Monday afternoon....I hiked out Lyell Canyon about five miles, to the start of the Trail that goes to Lake Ireland...twice before I've passed this area, once on way to Devil's Postpile, second on way to Lake Ireland, and both times thought to camp....amongst the Trees, third pic down, are scattered campsites...the days of just camping any old place are kinda gone...it's recommended to use established sites...I set up the Tent, and thought to sleep, but was so tired from no sleep the night before, that I wasn't really that sleepy...so I walked about a bit, and found the Red Crossbill right where Ireland Creek reaches the Tuolumne...this area is really cool...a new Bird sighting for me...and I missed the forgotten tripod...with the mini scope I could have gotten a very good clip...as it is, farfar away blurry clip and pics...I walked back to the Meadow, and found a place beside the River, with a wide long view, second pic, and took a nap...opened my eyes, and Three Does were browsing in the distance...took some pics, and walked out, and took some more, but all far away...took some Marmot pics too.....sat awhile and watched, until the Canyon was in shade....picked up, and back at the Tent, had tuna fish and crackers, being careful not to spill on the Sleeping Bag and Tent!....put things away, and just gazed out the Tent as Sunlight faded...thought to read the book I brought, Lady with a Spear, and listen to the ipod, and, I just went to sleep!....and too early for my usual sleep time, and woke up...Moon and Stars out, and Coyotes howling...three I think...and the sound of the River....more tomorrow....

The Avenue Of Marmots

Paddled over to the Little Store to pick up Breakfast snack (woke up too late for usual meal!), and then back to the Creek...yesterday, left a banana behind chasing after Hawk...Banana gone, but found my fingernail clips...snacked: coffee cake, (have stopped drinking coffee, just tired of it!) (sodas too!), corn chips, cran grape....Warblers in the Fig Tree on the way...pics...Tanagers, Song Sparrow, Grosbeak, Mallard flyby, Sandpiper, by the Creek....sunny hot blue....at Lunch: sat awhile at Ozone Beach on the Cliff...Raven, Sandpiper, about...it's gotten very quiet at the Beach!....sighted Ouzel on the far shore..pic...have to check if I have previous mid summer pics of Ouzel...oh...Pee-wees wheezy call therabout....and Bear ambling behind the Cabin when I came home from work...thought to get pic with the waterproof...but came to my senses...flash only goes out about four feet!....ranger rover came around with Owl light searching....pics up from hike...all along the way out and back, Marmots here and there, usually where there were Low Boulders, but sometime out in the Meadow, and once under one of the Bushes shaped like Tops...dont know how they get that way...Lyell Canyon is a good day hike..busy as it's the Muir Trail, and midsummer problematic to get permit...where I camped next...fortunately on the out hike, rain showers and wind kept things cooled down...on another note: being around, and eating, the same foods day after day, (Last Chance's menu wears thin after three days or so, and it's been almost seven years!), there are some things I just dont eat very much anymore, like hamburgers....and some things not at all, like sodas...tonight I had pork loin and broccoli for dinner...day old pastries, banana, and apple juice for night snack....ham and cheese sandwich at lunch, and cookie...the Valley's tap water is like perfect, and that and fruit drinks is about it for drinks...this food contemplation comes from wondering what food to take on the hikes!....what I'm used to eating has a lot to do with what I'm hungry for on a hike....it's a bit of a dilemma, only so much fits in the Bear Cans!!

Creek Sandpiper

After late Breakfast, paddled back to the Creek...flipflops on, and crossed over and sat awhile on a New Log delivered by High Water, then moved over to the RipRap above Duck Harbor, which is all filled in with the Fallen Black Oaks, and the debris from High Water caught in the Branches....just doesn't look the same, and I took so many clips and pics thereabout!....anyway, quiet, until I heard Two Ground Squirrels sounding the alarm up by the Twin Fallen Cedars...kept watch, hoped maybe Bobcat might show--report of Bobcat about last Friday...no luck, but Hawk showed!, swooping across the Creek into the Trees above the Giant Fallen Log...picked up, and flipflopped over, and just a glimpse of Hawk soaring off low through the Trees...dont know which Hawk, but report from Friday too of Redtail about...sunny hot blue...at Lunch: paddled over to Ozone Beach, and sat on the Shore, which is a kinda Cliff about three feet above the Merced...dangled my legs over...quiet...no rafts, no tourists... Pee-wee call, Sandpiper, Blue Jay, Grosbeak, about...and across the River, I sighted Merganserlings 7 or 8 with Mama Merganser...they fished along the shore, moving downstream as far as the Buoys, and then back....watched them the whole time, and some farfar away pics....time, and back to work...pics of Phoebe beside the Use Path....oh, Mallard about, and paddled over below my feet...pics....report of Mama Bear and Cub by El Conte Memorial....report of fatal Deer collision, (just Deer expired) during the evening exit commute out North Side....reporter was in one lane, the collision in the other, but it threw the Deer across their car's hood....report of recent Beaver chew marks on the Cottonwoods at Beaver Bend...need to paddle over there for looksee...

Redtail Hawk Canyon

no pics today...day taken up with returning from Tuolumne....almost missed the Hikers Bus Monday morning...lost track of time packing, and forgot the tripod...but have pics and clips for sometime, like the following evenings....at the Meadows, hiked out Lyle Canyon....not far along, sighted Redtail Hawk soaring...farfar away pic and clip...just two cameras with, the 20x and the waterproof....I've dropped the 20x so often, bending the bezel, that now I use it without the bezel...next drop will be disastrous, and without the bezel, dust is getting inside...since it's kinda broken anyway, I take it on the overnights, which are kinda rough on cameras...lots of dust, lots of jostling...but kinda wish I had one of the new dslrs along that do clips...had the mini scope too, but without the tripod, very hard to use...and didn't..and missed some pics and clips...anyway, pics up are scenics from the Canyon...Hawk soared ahead for aways, but only the first sighting had opportunity for pics and clips...more to come....it was a splendid backpack overnight!

Mallard Morning

Out and about early, with all the gear...paddled back to Creek's End, One Mallard, soon joined with Second--together they flew downstream....followed thataway....Mallards at Cottonwood Bend....and more Mallards at Ozone Beach...pics and clip from there up...continued out to Two Top Pine Meadow...Two Does, widely apart....clips....crossed Swinging Bridge and made the Outside Loop....Ravens feeding Fledglings, or Fledgelings wanting to be fed with much calling, in the Often Photographed Oak by the Boardwalk...clip for sometime...first time to see Young Ravens, these nearly full grown....crossed Chapel Bridge and Bobcat Meadow on the way to the Wilderness Center...and thereabout got permit for tomorrow for Lyle Canyon one night...checked mail, and Shuttled over to Siberia for Breakfast...and back same to the Cabin and nap...a short account of a Long Morning!...some pics and clips not mentioned for sometime....I need to get packed and it's very late...spent foolish time trying to download audio book, The Deerslayer, to the ipod, and Avatar to the new computer...and, I need to do such things when there is time for such things!!!!sunny hot blue with puff clouds, and tonight the clouds are reflecting the Moon and light up the Valley...would go for walk, but I need to sleep at least a little!!

Mergansers Fishing

Slept in....sunny hot blue, some afternoon clouds...at Lunch: Mole crossed the Path between the Rooms, then scurried back to the Grasses, to the amusement of the tourists....tried for pic, but no luck....perched for a short while on Ozone Boulder, and sighted Merganserslings Six...too far for pic on the opposite Merced Shore.....followed to the other side of the Willow, then back to the Cottonwood, and at the Fallen Cottonwood and Cedar, Mama Merganser caught Trout, and the Merganserlings went primal!....very cool....things quieted down, but now and then more commotions, and the Merganserlings like run across the Water...pics up...Robin, Pee-Wee, Acorn, Grosbeak, Sandpiper, calls or sighted, about...report of Mama Doe and One Fawn behind the Rooms, and Bear, 'cinnamon with yellow tag' at Creek's End...

Backyard Deer

After looking through the Grasses beside the Path on the way back from Breakfast for Fledglings piping, no luck, but have clip of the Grasses and calling!, I sighted Mama Doe and One Fawn on the Dirt Road....near the Fig Tree on their way to the Creek, Young Buck appeared, and ran over to Mama Doe...and a Dust Up!...Mama Doe came forward, head lowered, ears waggling, and chased at Buck.....One Fawn waited by the Fig,,,Mama Doe returned, bleating...rejoined, Mama Doe and One Fawn walked out the Swath towards the Creek....I returned to the Cabin and napped until worktime...sunny hot blue...at Lunch: perched on Ozone Boulder awhile...Two Brown Creepers on the Cottonwood....tried for pics....Robin, Mallard, Sandpiper, Pee-Wee, Flicker, Acorn, Blackbird, Grosbeak, Yellow Warbler, Raven, Song Sparrow, about, calls or sighted....oh...Bandtail Pigeon beside the Path, same place I heard Bandtail while taking pics of Tanager the other day....Bandtail came flying over head and perched....pic up...this on way to work....Ground Squirrel earlier on way to Breakfast...

Acorns

no pics today, slept in....sunny hot blue...at Lunch: perched on Ozone Boulder...Robin, Blue Jays, Violet Green Swallows, Song Sparrow, Pee-Wees, Sandpiper, Grosbeak, about....Acorns pic from yesterday, thought to check the Young Black Oaks along the Path to see if there will be Acorns this year....saw a few, but not very many....not many Mosquitoes either, and no Phoebe, or Pee-Wee, on Phoebe's, or Pee-Wee's, Willow!

Curio of the Night: In Defense of Twitter--

Stephen Fry on Twitter

It's a remarkable little clip, insomuch Fry is in talkabout with Greg Ferguson, in some venue other than the usual--first saw Fry on Bones, and was impressed.

I dont use twitter, but one may note the blog posts' text looks like a gathering of twitters....

And there are some ancient antecedents, haiku, and other short poems, were wildly popular in Old Japan, and the old englyns of Ireland and Wales, and I'm trying to recall the old Scythians' pith...what I remember was the Sythians and Persians in battle array facing one another, and a hare runs between, and the Sythians took chase--seeing this the Persians withdrew--"“These fellows have a hearty contempt for us,” Darius is reported to have muttered to an aide. Running low on food and morale, Darius eventually withdrew his army. "

a clip about the Scythians...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p04OfNE_y5k

wiki's take has it that, while the descendants of the Scythians are likely in Eastern Europe, some have thought the Scots, Welsh, and Irish are descendants...and their culture resembles that of the Indians of the Great Plains...

anyway, diverted to all this by looking up Robert Burns on youTube, and realizing all kinds of poetry clips are up...very cool!

oh, and the other day, I opened the Cabin door, with an armload of laundry, and hair a fright (so I'm told by my hiking friend on seeing my early morning forays from the Cabin) to face a phalanx of Asian tourists with cameras sighted--the Tree in the Door their common interest of course, not the denizen within! But I must say, I tend not to regard the visage in the mirror at this age, while I shave--but vanity dies hard in some: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcJXrfwUiS4 (Robert Graves grooming)

Fawn

On the way back to the Cabin after Breakfast, happened on Fawn nestled in some Yellow Flowers...had been just looking at the Flowers, trying to remember what they are, and, 'blink', there was the Fawn!...Fawn hopped up and ran over to Mama Doe by the Path before I could get the waterproof sighted...still got some pics with the new camera...sunny hot blue...at Lunch: sat awhile at the Ponderosa with the View of Half Dome....Mallard, Redwings, Sandpiper, Pee-Wee, Robin, Violet Green Swallows, Ravens, Blue Jay, Song Sparrow, about...oh, the Dawn Chorus is quiet, and the Birds only here and there now...in Summertime, I'm guessing, the Birds scatter to the High Country with the Snow gone...Ouzel a good example...dont expect to see Ouzel until late September...clip is from evening a few days back....report of Mama Doe and One Fawn by Swinging Bridge...and Blond Bear, Glacier Point?...

New Quarter:http://www.coincollectingnews.org/2010-yosemite-national-park-quarter-ceremony-on-july-29/1012655

California Toad

Woke up early, with maybe the thought of going to Mariposa, anyway, and thought to look up how to enter photos in the Fair online, then looked up something about the Oil Spill, Norwegian Seafloor Landslides, and Methane Pockmarks...sheesh...after an hour or two, went back to sleep, and slept until like three...paddled over to Last Chance...croissant and salad and orange juice...and hopped on the Shuttle to check mail....oh...a diorama on Letterman, of guest on Letterman holding a diorama!...very cool, and reminds me to track down where the old Museum Dioramas went...oh, and after mail check, I went to the Museum...it has sorta the show that it had when I first came to the Valley...Paintings and Photos and things from early Valley Times...paddled back through Bobcat Meadow, past tour groups, photogs and ranger talks....and out Lodgepole Point, where I haven't been for awhile...the Plant growth from the wet Spring is very lush--Use Paths overgrown....Mallards at Creek's End amidst the rafters....walking back up the Creek, sighted Merganserlings9!...pics up....and out front of the Deer House, sat awhile...Trees here and there are like Baby Bird nurseries...can hear Chics piping, but cant locate...lucky pics of Grosbeak with Fledgling....back at the Cabin, picked up tuna and snapel and apple juice and panda licorece at the Store, and geared up, and, almost out the Cabin Door, but episode of Bones on I haven't seen, so sat a bit, and got a late start to El Cap...thought was to Owl Prowl thereabout...walk out quiet...unknown Bird pic up from along the way...and I reached El Cap Bridge at eight...just about right...paddled over to the locale across the Merced from where I saw the hoo hoos from the Hikers Bus two weeks back, and sighted Antlered Buck, or one very similar, that I missed pic of back then...tried for clips and pic, but light too low, well, I still might put up one sometime...Buck's Antlers were huge!...sat awhile on Beach...Two Mallards came by...pic...picked up, put the Headlamp on, and started back...looked back at the Meadow, one Star or Planet shining...pic...over on El Cap two climbers' Lights....aways along picked up Eye reflections of Three Bucks with large Antlers with my Headlamp, and a Doe....a marvel....further along, heard a stirring in Duff beside the Trail...after some Headlamp searching, located what I thought was Bullfrog, but id tonight, it's California Toad...very cool...and wish I'd taken more pics...Toad was sorta crawling, rather than hopping, which helped me in id--that's how they move...quiet the rest of the way back...Moon Shadows when I would turn off the Lamp...back in time for the Good Wife...part anyway...no hoo hoos, but a new critter, Toad, and maybe new Bird...and glad to be out and about...night walks in the Summer are cool...literally...and I like the locale by the Merced where I was at El Cap...usually things feel a bit alien thereabout....oh...Bats about...tried for flash pics, but no luck....