Tag Archives: Craig Tooley

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Craig Tooley and Rita Peck visited a local beach. Craig wrote, “We were walking along the beach and discovered this Crab, trying to escape from the big waves, I guess.”

Then a bad boy or girl appeared, a Common Raven. The Raven spotted the Crab and nabbed the Crab for its dinner.

Craig wrote further, “I guess this Raven heard that crab was the thing to have as part of a New Year's celebration.”

I was curious as to what kind of crab Craig had photographed so I send his photos to Bob Van Syoc. Bob wrote, “The crab looks like Cancer antennarius, a Rock Crab that lives in rocky (duh) intertidal reefs.”

ah, the food chain in action. It's not always easy to watch!

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Craig's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.ruffimage.com

A smaller storm is hitting the Mendonoma Coast this afternoon. When it is done, the forecast is for sunny and warmer weather. We need it to dry out!

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Seasonal creeks are full of water now, tumbling on their way to the Pacific Ocean. Craig Tooley recently photographed some of the cascades on Quinliven Creek.

And if you could hear the creek, you would find out it is singing!

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Craig's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.ruffimage.com

We received well over three inches from yesterday's storm. Season to date is 35.10 inches. And more rain coming in tonight.

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Scoliopus bigelovii has two strange common names - Fetid Adder's Tongue and Slink Pod. They are our earliest blooming wildflowers and they are found on the forest floor. The tiny, exquisite blooms come up first, with the stem barely cupped by the emerging leaves. The blooms are only about an inch or so high, so they are quite hard to spot. I recently showed photographer Craig Tooley where they were blooming on a neighbor's property.

They are members of the Lily family. The flowers will be long gone when the leaves fully emerge. If you find the large mottled leaves in the spring, note where they are growing so you can look for the flowers next winter. Rick and I always started looking for them on Christmas Day, and this year I found the first one on Dec. 26th.

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see much more of Craig's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.ruffimage.com

Much of the Mendonoma Coast has no power. The towns of Gualala, Anchor Bay and Point Arena are without power since yesterday's storm. I am posting this with the help of a backup generator. We had a wild and very windy storm, which was the culprit for the power outages. Many trees are down. It will be several days before power is restored. The rain totals for yesterday's storm was 2.45 inches, 29.95 season to date.

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We've had a series of storms hit the Mendonoma Coast. Craig Tooley photographed one of the storm clouds as it approached.

There is a lot of motion in this photo of Craig's!

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see much more of Craig's nature photography, here is his website: http://www.ruffimage.com

Thursday night/Friday early hours saw a good storm move through. At 7 am this morning, there was 3.40 inches in our rain gauge. More rain to come, but the weekend is looking dry for the New Year's festivities.

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Craig Tooley was thinking of fairies when he photographed a mushroom that looked like a tiny parasol. He wrote, “Undoubtedly you recognize this Fair-a-sol mushroom. Used by fairies and other magical forest creatures to accessorize for gatherings or just to keep the harsh sun off.  I know that they are not often seen but it is getting close to New Year's, and you know how those fairies love the New Year’s celebrations.”

We think this mushroom is in the amanita family. It is lovely how the edges have formed little "curtains." Fairies must certainly use mushrooms like this!

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see much more of Craig's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.ruffimage.com

Some overhead clouds  today which should make for a beautiful sunset. A little warmer today, which is nice! No rain predicted through the weekend.