Crows

Two crows on a fence, low-hanging fog, and a golden sunrise at the Ponds - what more could one want?

Sunday sunrise

A little while after the blue moon faded on Sunday, the sun began to fill the sky over the Ponds.

Blue moon

Dick & I got out to the Ponds early Sunday morning for a little exercise and photographing.  The first thing I shot was the waning Blue Moon of December - not blue, of course, but just the second full moon in the month.  It doesn't happen very often; hence, 'once in a blue moon'.  I couldn't get a photo when it was full because we have have been socked in every night with solid fog.

Black necked stilt

A black necked stilt is getting his breakfast at the Ponds.

Island

This is a green island at the Sanitary District Ponds which are surrounded by one of our favorite walks in nature.

Yesterday's tennis ball nest brought a couple of interesting comments from Muriel and Leon:

A man uses the balls to play fetch with his dog. When he loses sight of his dog he gets on the ladder to look for him.

I always wondered where tennis balls come from. Looks like one is trying to leave the nest early.

Grass

Dry grass at the Ponds.

Stilts

These are some stilt-type birds at the Ponds; I'm too lazy to look them up!

Yesterday's 'Mystery', yielded some interesting comments:

Maybe it was "Jacob's ladder", and he thought Heaven was closer than it is.

A clever photographer brought it there and then decided to leave it .

somebody has a marvelous, philosophical sense of humor, perhaps?

to take a better picture?

High water?

hmm, maybe a diving board for an adventurous soul.

That is a mystery. It could be superimposed, I guess. (Margie says - oh no! I have witnesses. See the next two comments.)

Last week, we decided the ladder is there for photographers but we meant for photographers to stand on to take photos, not for photographers to photograph and ask why it is there...........

OH, I AM SO GLAD YOU GOT THIS PICTURE.

It's there so that Margie can get a better angle for her photo across the creek.

the ladder came down the creek, was washed ashore, and somebody took pity on it an righted it (stood it up?)

And my favorite:


It appears to be the director's stand for the evening bullfrog concert, Be sure to buy your tickets early, for it's a croakingly good show.

Iditarod?

Do we have mushers right here in California training for the Iditarod? It's all I could think as I saw two people with teams of dogs pulling carts/tricycles on the dikes at the Ponds.

The 2009 Iditarod starts in just 19 days on March 7. If you are interested in knowing more, go here http://www.iditarod.com/race/ Seventy-three mushers are scheduled to race from Anchorage to Nome, a distance of over 1,100 miles.

Eagle?

I knew I had an eagle at the Ponds last week (they are there) - until I enlarged it and saw that spot of red - darn, just an ordinary turkey vulture!

Quartet

A quartet at the ponds last week.

And for a change of mood - Doesn't one of them look like a stem of broccoli?

Why fly when you can walk?

At The Ponds the other day, these ducks wanted to get from the shore to the water. And did they fly? No, they walked!

Why do cows all face the same direction? I got some wonderfully imaginative answers to my question. And in the Internet world there seems to be little consensus. It seems that: 1) no one knows why they do it, and 2) many disagree that cows do it at all. This web site talks about cows perhaps having a sense of the magnetic north and south: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,410284,00.html

And here's some hilarious craziness about the subject:
http://mikesledge.blogspot.com/2006/08/why-cows-do-what-they-do.html

Green sign

This old, worn green sign that has lost its message still speaks to me - it's more interesting than when it was new.

Thistle - Autumn

These thistles appear in many places that I walk but the best examples are - guess where - at the Ponds. Here's one with its thistledown ready to be carried away by the next breeze.

Sunrise at the Ponds

Last Tuesday was foggy at the Water Treatment Ponds and began to burn off pretty quickly. But I managed to get a shot of the sun before it was unbearable to look at. There are many wonderful things to see and photo at the Ponds.

Forest

Is this a forest seen from a height? No, it's just a patch of weeds in the fog at the 'Ponds'. It's a plant I've never noticed before, growing in a big patch next to one of the ponds.