Daily Walks - 2

I wasn't able to finish posting yesterday's walk, last night. Was too fatigued.
As I said on the previous thread, everyone is welcomed to join me on my walks. I welcome your posts, and someday some of you will share some of your daily walks. It could be anywhere, in your own yard, down the block, while visiting the beach. Whereever you walk.
I don't take the same path every day, so for me there is always something different to see and photograph.
I do hope you join me and that you enjoy the walks.
This is where we came from: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1070587/
Walk In Beauty!
SingingWolf

It was your Red-tailed hawk. How beautiful.
He has the beak to tear up those little field mice, he so loves.

Previous photo is of the root oak.
This one is approaching the root oak, with my favorite companion Spirit.

rrm,
Maybe he was hoping we'd scare something up. LOL!
This is one of my favorite places to sit and absorb the energy from the earth. Quail rock.

Right across the creek from Quail Rock is the Root Oak, with bales of straw protecting it from the kids. Yup, even big kids like me. I sit here a lot too. It's just so peaceful.

You can see more of her (Root Oak) in this photo.

I just couldn't resist I had to climb up on the bales of straw to show you the hollow inside the Oak where the water collects. Much better natural lighting and from the other side of the Root Oak from the previous photo I posted on the last page.

You can see QR, and the Root Oak in this photo looking downstream.

When the flood water come up against a deeply rooted bush (Pussy Willow) it was forced to go around it, and make a new channel. All that bank is gone. The willow used to be on the edge of the bank. Water sure is powerful!

The troll bridge needs a bunch of clean up so we don't have it overflowing the banks anymore! I sure hope DH and his guys get out there soon and take care of the mess, before the next storm comes in, otherwise me, my jeep and some rope will end up doing the job. Sigh . . .

Looking downsteam to towards the troll bridge. Look at all that dead brush!

And you all thought I was mis spelling toll bridge. LOL!
Meet one of the trolls! : - )
Seriously, it got it's name from my nephew who used to hide under the bridge during the Pumpkin Season and jump up and scare people, or reach out and grab their ankle when they crossed over to visit the "Haunted Oak" (really Grandmother Oak). It was great fun, and hey the kid got his photo in the paper a couple of times.
I really miss him, but he went and grew up, and now he is in the Navy. Bless him and all those who serve our country.

This is the broken branch that caused the water to be blocked from traveling under the troll bridge.

The young oaks which started sprouting up about 10 years ago are now towering over our pine trees. : - )

You can see the paved road, our green shed (we use it for storage and wreath making), but more importantly you can see where the water flows.
When we first started tree farming, the road was level with our parking lot. They've built it up a lot in the last 13 or 14 years. (remember it takes 4 - 5 years for the Monterrey Pine to reach a harvestable size.)

Another log jam, right behind the Oak that DH ran over with his tractor 20 years ago. It's recovered nicely, but I hope my jeep is up to all the work she is going to have to do. You can see the Oak in the previous Photo.

How often do you see ripple marks in the soil, here in the desert? Not often, also run off from the paved road.

Our other gate, which opens onto that paved road.

This log is from the tree next to it. We moved it there, and it used to be a good seat, but nature has been at work. I like the holes, kinda neat looking. Natural.

A close up of the hole on top of the log.

The water came under the fence line here from the paved road and their so called water channel which overflowed again. We'll probably loose this part of the land when they get around to widening the road. Sigh . . .

Side view of same thing.

The flood actually crossed the paved road according to Dave our caretaker. He said it didn't last for long, but he was wondering what to use for a paddle. LOL! Dave is in a previous photo sitting on a log. We haven't had any more break-in's since he's been out by the little store.

Hello Jule's
Thanks for the walk and a peaceful sleep for me last night. As I was sitting here looking at my wet backyard , had a hawk come to visit and being my son's faviorte birds was thinking he came by to let me know Robby is still here.
Was nice.And a feeling of warmth as knowing he still fly's .
Hug's
Carolyn

Carolyn,
I believe if you are open to it , life is full of beauty and wonder. More than we can comprehend with our poor five senses. Maybe six if you count Common Sense. LOL!
Happy the visit from the hawk brought you closer to your son, I know how much you still miss him. I guess itt's a good thing we are in different time zones. It gives us insomniacs someone to talk to. Thank each and every one of you.
I guess I was kicked off the Internet along with everyone else out here, while I was still posting my walk yesterday. They were doing some kind of maintenance to the internet? Somehow that doesn't sound right, but I'm the beginner when it comes to computer stuff.
Well, by then I had warmed up and I decided to tackle one of the items on my to do list. The GH.
After hosing off the mud from the concrete, I took a hike. I got some great photos I hope to post soon.
But I still got to finish yesterday first. : - )
So here we go.
This is the rock formation people can see from the paved road. The creek runs at it's base.

We think this is the oldest oak tree on the farm. We call it the Elder or The Ancient one. It's weathered a lot of floods in it's time.
We felt really bad when we had to cut off some of the branches that allowed people to build club houses in it. We couldn't handle the liability if they got hurt while trespassing, it would have been called, an Attractive Nuisance. Gosh that sure was a long time ago, and she does not seem to be the worse for it now.
I think that was the 2nd project we worked on, the first being well covers.
The Tree has a lot of character, and yes we brought power over to the tree. That is an outlet you see.

A better photo showing the course of the flooding. Good new is that the fungus grows best under this tree. Should be able to get some good photos this year. : - )

Flattened grass and mud entering the creek.

Isn't it amazing the way the waters whips the grasses around,
but they manage to untwist and grow right back.
Beautiful pictures.
we are still getting rain, our little creek will be up.

I kind of like the way the water moved the grass in a circular motion and that it helped hold the dirt in place. The burn Zones have to be a lot worse. Although during the crest of the flood here, we were seeing the charred remains of a fire upstream, across the paved road up in the hills to our south.

rrm, see what I mean, we are on the same wave-length since we cross posted. LOL!
We found this as we we approaching the paved road's drainage pipe. Amazing what the water turns up!

Where the drainage pipe enters our property.

Tore into the banks of the creek right here, and caused all that grass to be flooded.

A new baby oak tree. : - )

The water is flowing clear in this spot, so clear you can see the gravel underneath. : - )

The creek changed course here. It used to run down the channel on the right. We suspect that the pack rat nest in that tree was why. I wonder if he was able to climb high enough to survive the flood. Some of the nests were sweep away by the flood but some were built above the flood line and have survived.

A different view of Grandfather Oak. He does sort of dominate the landscape. LOL!



This message was edited Jan 24, 2010 4:30 PM

Photo looking at Peanut and Spirit under The Ancient One. That enclosure is where we used to have a petting zoo. As I said, we'll be loosing some of that to the road widening. We hope to save as many Oaks as we can. At least the people around here love them too.

These self sown, young oaks did a good job of holding their ground.

Grandfather Oak is easier to recognize from this direction for most people.
I used to do a lot of field trips under that tree.
Once when the Soil Conservation guy and I were walking the creekline, we saw a white tailed fox climbing up one of his limbs. Too bad I didn't have a camera then!
We backed off, and I learned that foxes can climb trees! I saw it with my own eyes!
Definitely a Wow! Moment.