Movement in the storm-muddied pond caught my eye yesterday afternoon. This member of the Salamander family put on quite a show for my camera. I believe it's a male and he is definitely in his aquatic form. He is brown on top and a bright orange on the bottom.
The Pacific Ocean is wind-whipped today, not a good weekend for the start of the abalone season. There is nothing "pacific" about the ocean today. Stay home and be safe - calmer days are ahead.
The sunrise reflected on the clouds over the Pacific Ocean this morning was beautiful. Carolyn André captured a lovely photo from her home at Sea Ranch and kindly gave me permission to share it here. Are sunrises and sunsets like snowflakes? Are no two exactly alike? We could spend a lifetime trying to find out.
One of the joys of living by the Pacific Ocean is watching the storms come in. We have two more lined up and then we are promised some warm and dry weather. When the storm let up late yesterday morning, locals headed to the grocery store where we hugged each other and asked how long each other had been out of power. This morning on our walk the beautiful sound of the song of a male American Goldfinch filled the air. We heard more bird chirps behind us and stopped to let them catch up with us. Soon a flock of Pygmy Nuthatches and Chestnut-backed Chickadees were surrounding us with their calls. Now that's what I call magic time.
Mother Nature keeps throwing storm after storm at the Mendonoma Coast. For quite a ways out the Pacific Ocean is a muddy brown from all the creeks and rivers that empty into it. There is nothing subtle about the ocean today. You can hear its roar from miles away. On a walk in the forest, our golden retriever, Huckleberry, discovered a large moss-covered boulder had tumbled down a bank onto our trail. A little furniture arranging had been taking place overnight! You can see in the other photo that Quinliven Creek is doing its best impression of a mighty river, running fast and muddy, but oh so beautiful to watch.
The sunrise is reflected on the clouds out on the Pacific Ocean. The Mendocino Coast, in particular Gualala, has been hit with numerous power outages from the last storm and four more storms are lined up before we get a chance to dry out a bit. In this picture you can see the big swells coming straight in. A few hours later the winds shifted in the storm direction and the surface water ran south to north. The ocean was telling all who were paying attention that another storm was on the way. Still, on this morning's walk with Huckleberry, our golden retriever, we found signs that spring really is here.
