December 27, 2007

Today is a day of rest. Tomorrow, Steve and I will head back to Phoenix. Tonight we will watch home movies and get about three inches of snow. I'm packing the car and getting ready so we can leave early - we're going to try and make it all the way home which is about 13 hours.

This photo is taken from my parents' back porch.

December 26, 2007

The semi-annual family photo. Jerry, Amy, Steve, Me, Mom and Dad. Jerry and Amy are getting ready to head down the mountain back to Sacramento and Steve and I won't be far behind as we are going to visit my grandparents. Mom and Dad will have the whole day to themselves (huzzah!).

December 25, 2007

The Little Mother outdid herself with a traditional Christmas dinner including turkey and all the trimmings. Mom loves to cook and we love to eat so it all works out for everyone!

Christmas day was filled with family, phone calls (Steve's parents and my Grandma), and visits with the neighbors. We were toasty, gifted, and well fed. The best present was being with my family.

Dad making real honest-to-goodness whipped cream. It was fantastic on Mom's homemade pumpkin pie.

December 24, 2007

Christmas Eve...

...We're gathered 'round the table playing poker. It's loads of fun. On the Night of Our Dear Savior's Birth I am trying to remember if four of a kind beats a flush. I know that sounds wrong. On the other hand, happy times with family is so right. (I cannot believe my sister was bluffing her ass off with a pair of tens!)

Is it Wise Men or Wise Guys?

My Dad has the best laugh - when he laughs you can't help but laugh, too.

August 10, 2007

"What have YOU done to reduce your Carbon Footprint today?"

This question was posed at the beginning of a presentation at a reception I attended with my parents at the University of California, Berkeley, Sagehen Creek Field Station. The presentation by Matt Kiese of River Run Consulting, focused on the fluvial geomorphology of Coldstream Canyon and the adverse impacts that human activity in the area has had on the watershed. I found the talk so interesting, that when Steve arrived this morning we decided to go hike up the Canyon and observe firsthand and with new eyes what was happening to the riparian habitat and the streamcourse, itself.

It IS a bit confusing:
Donner Memorial State Park calls it Coldstream Valley.

This looks like a lovely alpine lake, but in actuality,
it is a water filled gravel quarry.

A buck in velvet.
Won't be long before those antlers are ready for the fall rut.

The culvert at horseshoe bend. This constriction has dramatically altered the characteristic of the stream channel. There is a backwater upstream that collects sediment, while immediately below the culvert the channel is eroding and becoming entrenched.

Railroad spikes from the line of tracks along the horseshoe bend.

Yours truly on the signal trestle (shhh!) over the tracks on the horseshoe bend.

Steve, the Little Mother, and Dad.

Amy and her birthday Cheesecake.
We celebrated a couple of days early.