Category: Family Outdoor Life

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Sierra Newts on the Trail

This month has been full of reptiles and amphibians! My husband sent me this image of a Sierra newt that he took on a hike with a friend. He sees newts a few times a year on this particular trail and I think he did a great job of capturing this colorful amphibian so I could share with all of you.

Taricha sierrae- Sierra Newt

  •  Medium sized salamander
  • Subspecies of the California Newt
  • They breathe through lungs and not gills.
  • The Sierra newt spends most of his time on the land.
  • The Sierra newt has very few predators because they contain tetrodotoxin. The only real predator is the garter snake. The Sierra news bright orange color is a warning to other potential predators.
  • One source said they can live 12-15 years in the wild.
  • Their habitat is forested areas, migrating to breeds pools or rivers during breeding season.

This amphibian has been added to my list of reptiles and amphibians in my nature journal and recorded in a journal entry. My sons and I saw newts in a breeding pool a long time ago and I wrote about it in this entry: California Newts and Tree Frogs.

CaliforniaHerps.com has an informative entry for the Sierra newt.

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Using Less Plastics – Better Trash Bags

This month we tackled another of our big plastic uses…..trash bags. I love my convenient lovely trash bags with their nice easy to use handles. But, after taking a really good look at our consumption of these regular plastic trash bags…we felt that this was an area we could reduce the number of bags or to use a more environment-friendly alternative.

Enter the Google Search!

Normal plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to naturally breakdown.

Trash bags for our household trash –  
Pride Green Life Cycle Bags
Who knew there were such easy to find alternatives? We had always purchased our trash bags from Costco in bulk but a quick Google Search and we had some options to look for on Amazon.com. We found an alternative to our regular plastic trash bag that is a biodegradable plastic that says it will breakdown in 18-36 months which sounds a whole lot better than 1000 years! We went with these bags from Pride Green because they had the best reviews online. We have used them for a little over a month now and I honestly have seen no change in durability and ease of use. They have quickly replaced our normal plastic trash bags.

Compost Bucket Bags-
BioBag Food Waste Bags 

We use a small under-the-counter compost bucket for collecting our kitchen wastes. We have switched to using BioBag Food Waste Bags which are completely compostable. They are made from starches and will be consumed by micro-organisms in our soil. No fussing with these bags…we can just remove the full bag and throw the whole thing in our compost bin! No one complains about taking the compost bucket to the composter anymore.

Just in case you want to know about our under the counter kitchen composter looks like. We have used this for many years and are very happy with the convenience of having it right there for kitchen clean-up and food preparation time.

Any tips or suggestions for reusable produce bags? 

Next month I will be sharing our experience with our reusable sandwich and snack bags. 🙂

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Singing Bird Studios – April Sponsor and Giveaway!

“A singing bird is one who enjoys life and spreads happiness.” 

I am so very pleased to share with you April’s Blog Sponsor! Singing Bird Studios specializes in unique jewelry and other special handmade items that I know you be happy to know about. I was introduced to Singing Bird Studios at the BEECH Retreat back in January where I received a special key chain as a gift from Stephanie the owner and creator of Singing Bird Studios.

Here is a little introduction from Stephanie @ Singing Bird Studios:

I am a mom who works full time. I have been making jewelry for ten years and decided just last year to turn it into a business. Singing Bird Studios is my creative outlet. A singing bird is one who enjoys life and spreads happiness. That’s what I want to create for myself and those around me. I design many of the images you see, but I also use digital art, vintage papers, and scrapbook papers to achieve the look I want. I make all items by hand in my home studio. I am excited to launch a Wedding Party collection this summer so brides can thank their wedding party {in style}. I  LOVE what I DO!


Stephanie graciously accepted my offer to be my blog sponsor and I will be sharing her work during the month of April. I love every piece she sent for my review…my favorite is this lovely Blue Butterfly necklace that has been worn on quite a few occasions lately. Everyone compliments me on the design and I love the way it feels and looks with the silver snake chain.


But this week I am going to be giving away one of the pieces from her Vintage Collection – This gorgeous orange butterfly with the pretty copper plated pendant and chain. Click over and see all the pieces in this collection. These are sure to be a favorite and I already am planning on purchasing one from this collection as a gift for a special friend.

Stay tuned for more giveaways this month and please take advantage of her generous special discount offer code for my readers: Enter “sweet” and receive 30% off your entire order!

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Using Less Plastic Update #2

Another month of using less plastic and I can already see a huge difference in our attitudes and lifestyle. But, there are still some areas we could improve in. Our family is not seeking to totally eliminate all plastic but to greatly reduce the wasteful practices we were falling into without thinking.

This is the key…think about what you are purchasing and then how you are going to reduce your plastic consumption before you bring it home.

We have not cleansed the kitchen of all plastic. We decided that since we already owned all those reusable plastic containers, we would use them for now. They will be replaced with non-plastic alternatives when the time comes. For our family, this is a gradual process that will probably take a year to totally figure out how to make it work.

Thanks for all the suggestions from last month in your comments. I appreciate every one and hope you will keep the suggestions coming this month.

#3 Bringing less plastic home from the grocery.
Last month I shared how we are attempting to use all reusable bags for shopping….well, I still forget sometimes. But, I found an answer that is simple and easy…a reusable stuff bag. This bag from Chico Bag unfolds into a full size bag with shoulder straps (Diana’s suggestion from last month’s comments). You can purchase one on Amazon: ChicoBag Reusable Shopping Tote/Grocery Bag.I can attach it to my purse or keys using the clip provided and this way I always have at least one reusable bag to use at all times.

The other brilliant idea that my husband had was to ask at the meat counter and the deli counter if they could wrap our meats in paper rather than a ziplock bag. No problem! The meats come home and we put them in reusable containers at home instead which is one extra step but we don’t end up with plastic bags that we can’t reuse.

If all else fails, take the item without a bag if possible. We have done this at Home Depot a number of times this month and now it seems silly when they want to use a plastic bag to carry out one small item. It is just a bad habit.  (Makita spoke about doing this in her comment from last month.)

It only makes sense to bring less plastic home if we are trying to reduce our wasteful plastic usage.

Have you found a product you like for packaging sandwiches for lunches? Leave me a comment!

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Using Less Plastics Update – Cutting Back

Using less plastic is one of my long term goals this year and we started off January with a great gusto! If nothing else, focusing on where we use plastic and how it comes into our house everyday has made us aware that we need to make a conscious effort to eliminate the lazy ways we have developed in our family.

I decided I will keep a running list of all the ways we have either cutback or eliminated the use of plastic as we go through each month, sharing a few ideas each month. At the end of the year it will fun to see our improvement in this area of using less and reusing more.

#1 Organize our collection of reusable water containers.
By far the most wasteful use of plastic we have in our family is the use of plastic water bottles. The convenience of grabbing a plastic bottle as we go about our day was just too tempting. Of course we have reusable water containers and Mr. A pretty much always uses them for his water needs, the rest of us did not. That changed this month. I organized our collection of reusable water containers and put them in a convenient location in the kitchen instead of in the pantry. Now, we can grab a container at the beginning of each day and use it whether we are around the house, out hiking, or going to school or work. I decided I actually like the taste of the water from the stainless steel container better than from the plastic bottle and it keeps the water colder for a longer period of time.


#2 Use consistently our reusable shopping bags. 
We have a nice collection of reusable shopping bags that go back and forth between the store, the house, and then back into the car. We have used these for a long time now but we not always as consistent as we could have been. I kept track this month and I only had to use six plastic bags this month – two from Target, two from the grocery, and two from Home Depot. I need to remember to bring in my bags to ALL stores. But, those six bags were recycled in various ways during the month so they were not wasted.

This month has been pretty exciting as our whole family has worked together to come up with ways to decrease our use of plastics. I know that we will never totally eliminate the plastic from our lives but that is not our aim. We are striving to be better at not being wasteful when there are alternatives that fit our lifestyle. 

What is your best tip for our family in achieving our goal of using less plastic? Leave me a comment!

See the newsletter for a discount code on these two fantastic DVD’s. You can read my review of each of them and then click over to get your copy with the super discount available.
Your Backyard: Birds
Your Backyard: Monarch Butterflies

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Hoo-Rag Bandanas for Active People – Review and Giveaway


The Hoo-Rag is a seamless bandana that can be worn in a variety of ways by both men and women. I received several Hoo-Rag bandanas to review and share with you here on my blog.

  • Features: Lightweight and compact to add to your daypack
  • Versatile uses: Headband, beanie, neck wrap, balaclava, pirate-style cap
  • Variety of Choices: Fun styles and prints…even custom if you want
  • Fit: Stretchy but snug enough to stay in place. Comfortable one size fits all.
  • Where we used our Hoo-Rags: Snowboarding, mountain biking, construction, hiking, around the house
  • Value: $14.95

My men tested out their own Hoo-rag and found it functioned well as a balaclava for snowboarding because it is thin enough to fit under their helmets. They also used it as a neck wrap when they went mountain biking, keeping them warm but not hot.

I used mine as a beanie and as a headband…loved the feel of it on my head as it kept my hair up out of my face and my ears warm on the chilly days. The Hoo-Rag is just a fun item that is functional but stylish too. I threw it in with my regular laundry and hung it to dry which didn’t take too long. I imagine this summer I will be wetting it to wear on the hot dusty trail to keep my head cool and shaded from the sun. My Hoo-Rag is the Groovy-Hoo just in case you like the print.

I really liked the how-to video on the Hoo-Rag website since it showed me how to actually fold, twist, and manipulate the Hoo-Rag into the various accessories.Take a look and see just how to make those cool beanies and pirate rags.

Would you like a chance to win a Hoo-Rag? I have one of the Sunflower Power print Hoo-Rags to give to one lucky person. See the Rafflecopter widget below for ways to enter and giveaway details. Winner will be drawn at random and announced Monday, January 28, 2013.

Please note: You must leave a way for me to get in contact with you if you leave an anonymous comment. If I don’t have a way to contact you, I will have to choose another winner.
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Family Seasons Nature Study Walk – Winter Edition

A week ago, our family took a trip up to the mountains to spend some time together and enjoy the beauty of an alpine lake. I thought this would be the perfect time to take a Seasonal Weather walk as part of the Outdoor Hour Challenge. The weekend started off with rain, sunshine, and then rainbows. We actually saw a double rainbow a couple of times….amazing!

Boy, did we have weather! The rain turned to snow and dusted the landscape with clean bright snow. The ducks and geese in the lake didn’t seem to mind much. The clouds covered the mountains in the distance but left us with a pocket of sunshine to get out into and explore.
We would watch for the sun to come out, taking advantage of the time to warm up in the bright mountain sunshine and see some more rainbows.
The snow would really fall at times and we enjoyed the beauty of it…we didn’t have to go outside unless we wanted to do so. Mr. A met up with some friends and went snowboarding one of the days we were up at the lake….crazy teenage snowboarders. (Sorry Mr. T that you dislocated your shoulder.)
This was pretty much the pattern for our whole weekend…rainbows and sunshine…snowing in the distance.

One of the days we took a drive around the lake to a spot we like to hike at but the wind was blowing so very hard that just getting out of the car was difficult. This video is just showing how much the large pines were swaying back and forth in the gusts of wind…it also was really super loud just like on the video. Amazing power of the wind! We experienced 50 mph winds (gusts higher than that).

It was hard to even stand up in the blasts of wind….we ended up taking a short hike over to Fallen Leaf Lake where the waves were high enough you could have surfed. This lake is usually calm, flat, and crystal blue but on this day it looked more like the gray ocean. Mr. D bundled up against the wind…it really was that cold!

While we were up enjoying the lakes of the Sierra, back at home the rain gauge was getting filled up. We had to dump it since it was overflowing at 8 inches! There was flooding and our basement sump pump didn’t work once the power went off….wet floors and furniture. The phones were out for a week and so was our DSL. The weather really gave us something to talk about this past week…more than I anticipated.

There is still time for you to take your weather walk and share your experiences with all of us at the Outdoor Hour Challenge. Make sure to send in your blog entries for the up-coming OHC Blog Carnival (due date 12/30/12).

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He Sees A Pile of Leaves – I See A Mosaic of Color

Autumn in our part of the world has been very mild and sunny. We would have a few days of rain and then the sunshine would be back to draw us outdoors again. Our garden has never been so tidy and neat for the autumn season. We have been able to work in some new bulbs and replant our deck containers. The leaves have fallen in small batches so we have easily kept up with the raking and composting.


That all changed this week.

We had wind and lots of rain. The leaves fell from the trees like crazy and made big mounds in the street gutters. At last, it seemed like a true autumn. The leaves made beautiful mosaics of color on the ground.

My husband sees the leaves differently since has spent the last few weeks being able to keep up with the leaves that fell.

Now he is overwhelmed.

It really is a case of whether you see the glass half full or half empty.

I see the colors and shapes as an inspiration so I run inside to find my camera and to capture the moment.

Here are some more of the images I was able to gather from my yard on this beautiful autumn morning.

This is on the side yard where in the spring I have my daffodils.

Kona was glad to be able to get outdoors with her ball between rain storms.

The birds have cleaned out this birdfeeder in less than a day. This time of year I need to fill them up more often for the finches, sparrows, nuthatches, juncos, towhees, and jays that come to enjoy their daily seeds.

Kona doesn’t see the problem with the piles of leaves since exploring the yard and sniffing the smells of autumn delight her and she never tires of it. She is an optimist like me.

I am going to take the colors from these images and make a color palette in my nature journal…yellows, greens, browns, reds, purples, and oranges. Watercolor crayons or pencils? I will share my colorful mosaic when I finish.

Happy Autumn!

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She Who Opens Her Heart to Nature Study

“Out in this, God’s beautiful world, there is everything waiting to heal lacerated nerves, to strengthen tired muscles, to please and content the soul that is torn to shreds with duty and care….nature study is not a trouble; it is a sweet, fresh breath of air…She who opens her eyes and her heart nature-ward even once a week finds nature study….a delight and an abiding joy.”
Handbook of Nature Study, Anna Botsford-Comstock

I was having a terrible day. Nothing was going right and I was in a very foul mood. My teenage son noticed my frustrations and suggested we take a mid-day, middle of the week hike to the river. It was a hot September day and the sun was blazing down and the last thing I thought I wanted to do was to go outside. He reminded me that I always feel better after getting some fresh air so I jumped in the car with Mr. A and Kona dog, still quite grumpy.

We chatted a bit on the way to the river but I continued feeling the effects of working too much and having some looming deadlines. As we rounded the bend and pulled into the parking lot, I realized that I was actually starting to feel bit better. We hiked down the familiar trail to the river through oaks and pines, smelling the hot oak leaves in the baking noontime sun. I could hear the river now as it traveled over the rocks and past the gravel shore. Kona heard it too and she got very excited. Swimming in the river is one of her favorite things to do. It wasn’t long before she had found a stick for us to throw in the water for her to retrieve…her favorite game of all.

We found a spot to sit and dip our feet in, watch the water roll by, and soak in some sunshine and fresh air.

I was feeling much better by now.

Before long the boy and the dog were off exploring this and that as I enjoyed the view.

  • The color of the rocks in the sparkling water.
  • The fresh smell of the air as it comes over the river.
  • The freezing cold temperature of the river water.
  • Birds flying overhead, along the water, and between the trees. I glimpsed a woodpecker and heard a crow.
  • The lapping of the water on the rocks.
  • Slippery moss at the water’s edge.

I was glad for the reminder from my teen. Yes, even I need to be reminded of the healing and refreshing aspects of just getting outside and breathing the air. I took a photo to remind me of this day, spending time with Mr. A, knowing that he soon will not be around to remind me to get outside even when I don’t feel like it and the weather is hot or cold or wet or whatever.

Just get outside for a few minutes if you are having a bad day. You will find your smile again too.

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Relaxed Gardening and Gleaning From Friends

This has been the summer that I have become the relaxed gardener. I haven’t done much but water and pick flowers. Have I missed the garden fussing? Honestly? Not at all…and it made me realize something that had not occurred to me before.

We have not been without summer veggies and it made some friends and my dad happy to share.

We have had an abundance!

My dad shared his tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, green beans, okra, strawberries, and eggplant.

My dad has quite the garden going this year and it is fun just to peek in and see what he has growing and of course pick a few things to bring home for our dining pleasure. I took the photos above earlier this morning as we toured his garden boxes together.

Apples, walnuts, figs, and grapes are all ready to eat or almost ready.

We do have lots of fruit ready or almost ready to eat. I decided relaxed gardeners can plant fruit trees and then wait ten or fifteen years and enjoy the yummy harvest almost labor free. We trim and water our trees but they pretty much take care of themselves for the better part of the year. The trick is to plant things that you like to eat, make sure they are planted in the right spot, and then harvest as soon as you see the fruit getting ripe….before birds and critters find them.


Of course we have created a garden and spaces for things besides edibles for humans….we feed a variety of creatures who happen to dwell in, under, above, and around our garden.

Birds continue to be our nature study subject of choice at this time of the summer. Our list from last month of feeder birds included: Western scrub jays, House finches, Lesser goldfinches, White-breasted nuthatches, Anna’s hummingbirds, Mourning doves, Oak titmouse, and Black-headed grosbeaks.

This video from Cornell University was in my inbox this week…it made me anxious for the annual Project Feederwatch that many of us participate in starting in November. (It also reminded me of my awesome trip to Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology last spring….which I didn’t ever blog about!) I found this video very interesting and it tells about how researchers are using common tracking technology to answer big questions about feeder birds:
Tracking Backyard Birds.

This may be my last official Tuesday Garden Party entry for the season. The summer has gone by so very fast but each time I post something garden related it makes me happy. Maybe next year will be more of a gardening year for me or I may just glean my summer veggies from friends and family again.

 

Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!