Teens Archives

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Barb — 3 Comments

Yesterday’s Hike: Our Familiar Trail

I love having a “familiar trail”. The subtle changes that take place from week to week sometimes escape my notice until I look at them through the lens of my camera. The light is different this time of year and the colors so very different. This trail that is bursting with wildflowers in the spring and early summer is now just a palette of browns and greens, with an occasional splash of color if you really look for it along the edges.

Although this may sound like a complaint, it really isn’t. I love having the contrasts between seasons, anticipating the next progression of growing. It is something at the core of me that knows this is the natural way to keep time. Thinking about it…perhaps this is why I don’t wear a watch or carry my phone with me at all times. I just like to feel the natural rhythm of the day and the seasons without fussing too much with the minute by minute ticking of time. It’s cloudy, rainy, cold, the oaks have lost their leaves, the buckeyes are sprouting on the ground, the ferns are unfurling…..it must be close to the first day of winter.

Guess I’m feeling sort of reflective on this cold, gray afternoon. 🙂

What to see a few images from our walk? Enjoy!

It was still wet from the melted frost we had overnight and the mood was very somber.

It is a steep hike back up the canyon after we hike down. Great exercise for humans and canines. (If you want to see what this place on the trail looks like in the spring, you can click HERE.

Dried up blackberries still hanging on the vines next to the trail. This is near the mushy part of the trail and soon we will have a little creek to hop over at this point.

Wet wintery weeds are everywhere….I can visualize what the spring will bring but for now the landscape is pretty sad.

The most colorful spot we found on our hike was right near the top where the ferns, mosses, and fungus are all bursting out.

So there you have it….a December day on our familiar trail. We are now facing ten forecasted days of rain so we may not make it back for another week or so down this trail. If the weather clears, we will jump on the chance to get out and hike again on this path so close to home.

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Barb — 11 Comments

An Autumn Tree Observation Extraordinaire

We decided that our autumn study of leaves was going to be incorporated into our annual fall trip to see the colors of the aspens up in the high country of the Sierra Nevada. The trip is about 100 miles round trip from our front door but it goes through magnificent forests, by snow fed lakes, and in view of some of the most breathtaking mountains in existence.

The first leg of the trip goes through the pine forests and we thought our day had come to an end before it really started when we encountered a control burn of the forest floor by the US Forest Service. They clean out the underbrush by setting fires and then controlling the burns. It makes a lot of smoke but we were able to drive down the highway and past the fires onto our destination.

The second part of the forest is actually in Alpine County and the forests are mixed in with aspen groves to make wonderful color in the fall. You know the minute you hit this part of the habitat because you start to see the yellows, oranges, and golds of the leaves.

We have a favorite side road that has the prettiest meadow. Yes, that is my son out there taking just as many photos as I am on this day….it is awesome to share a hobby with your grown up kids.

Here you can see the shape of the aspen leaf and the trunk of the tree in all its beauty. I never tire of looking at aspens.

It was fairly cloudy this afternoon but for a few minutes the clouds parted and we had a chance to capture the blue sky in contrast to the bright yellow leaves.

We drove the next leg of the road which leads through a place called Hope Valley. This is “the” place to see fall color in our area. There were many of us lined up on the side of the road to capture the oranges and yellows and golds of the trees on the mountain. Isn’t it dreamy?

Then as we headed back around to Christmas Valley, we saw this scene. There were some people on horses rounding up a herd of cattle. Stop the car! Yes, we had to take a few photos of this and it was the perfect way to end up this part of drive.

We observed some of the leaves “quaking”. We learned from our field guide that the reason they shake that way is because the stem is flattened near the leaf and so when the wind blows they shake or quake. It sounds sort of like the ocean to me when you hear them quaking and is a nice sound. Here is a link to try: USDA Quaking Aspens.

There was more to this trip but I will save that for another post. We actually went to see the salmon spawning and there were quite a few ducks to observe as well. Stay tuned for a salmon post when that challenge comes up in a few weeks.

I also am going to post a separate entry for our leaf comparisons since this post became rather long. Stay tuned for part two. We also have picked a new tree in our backyard to observe for a year-long tree study and I will share our fall observations with the leaf post.

Today we will be working on the apple challenge but the horse challenge is still in the works.

Posted on October 9, 2010 by Barb — 5 Comments

Trees Do Fall Down in the Woods

Now this could pose a problem…..a big pine tree down across our hiking trail.

We actually noticed before that this particular tree is *full* of acorn holes where the woodpeckers have made a huge storehouse of acorns in the trunk. We think this is what led to the demise of this big tree. That looks like a fresh acorn inside the hole.

When it fell, big pieces of the bark came off and exposed all the acorn holes. We climbed up and over to continue our hike. The dog decided to crawl underneath but either way it worked.

Further down the trail my son spotted this section of a wasp nest on the trail. These are amazing creations and hard to believe that an insect made this out of their spit and plant fibers. Once again the Handbook of Nature Study helped us to learn a little bit more about the process of building the nest on page 381 (Lesson 95). The whole section is fascinating…here is an excerpt:

“The nest is of paper made of bits of wood which the wasps pull off with their jaws from weather-worn fences or boards. This wood is reduced to pulp by saliva which is secreted from the wasp’s mouth, and is laid on in little layers which can be easily seen by examining the outside of the nest.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 381.

We also noticed these puffy growths on the oak branches along the trail. We thought maybe they were some sort of gall. I am still working on figuring out what exactly they are so if anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate an email.

It is nice to be out hiking again as the weather is cooling down a bit. My sons have been down off and on this week with a cold/flu. Mr. A said it was nice to get out and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine and I know it always makes me feel better too.

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Barb — 11 Comments

Yosemite Trip: Summer 2010: Bears, Wildflowers, and A Cool River

I have been trying all week to find time to post an entry sharing a little of our time in Yosemite last week. We had a great camping trip under the big trees and hiking was glorious. There were crowds of people in the valley but once you made a little effort to get on the trail, there were quiet and open spaces to enjoy with only a few other people to share the path.

Our camping was made exciting by the visit of a black bear. Two campsites away they left out some food and the bear was quick to find a tasty meal of peanuts and chips. We were up early and making our way to the restroom and back when I spotted what I thought was a bear in the campsite. I did not have my glasses on and it was still early and dark. My husband assured me it was a bear.

We made some noise and eventually grabbed some pots and pans to bang together to scare the bear away from the campsite. There is a meadow and wild space behind the campground and the bear eventually made its way off into the trees…not until after he tried to climb a tree. When he stood up he was taller than my 6′ tall husband. We never felt in danger but we know that once a bear gets accustomed to people food that they become a nuisance and the rangers have to take action. (Sorry for the blurry photos but it was really early morning and I just had my point and shoot.)

We had two great hikes during our visit. The first was to McGurks Meadow which is off Glacier Point Road. It is the perfect time of year to visit the meadow to view the wildflowers. I can’t keep up with my boys anymore. They take off ahead of me but our family has come up with a way to stay together…a family whistle. They need to be able to hear me whistle and whistle back or they are too far ahead.

The most abundant wildflower blooming was the Indian Paintbrush.

The corn lilies were starting to bloom as well. We saw loads of butterflies and when we stopped to sit on a log to rest, a tree frog jumped right up next to us.

Our second hike of the week was up to May Lake which is a High Sierra Camp. You can hike up there and spend the night in tent cabins or bring your own tent. We just went for the day. Believe it or not, there is a trail there across the granite.

Here is some more of what the terrain looks like as you hike up to the lake. The lake itself is at about 9,200 feet in elevation. I can feel it in my lungs as we hike up at that altitude. I hike a lot but in combination with the heat and the altitude, it slows me down.

On this particular day, there were two separate mule teams coming down from the High Sierra Camp. They bring the trash and stuff down the mountain and then after resupplying the packs, they head back up. They seem so sure of their footing even on the granite slabs.

The lake itself is not very big but so sparkling clear and cold…you just want to sit and enjoy the view for awhile before exploring around the edge. Here my son gives his dad a helping hand up after our time resting.

Here I am on the trip down the mountain. Not very glamorous but it keeps the sun off this freckle face.

The boys still have enough energy to do a little rock scrambling on the way down. They love this stuff and I think they need to do this sort of thing in order to grow up healthy and happy.

Our last day was spent in Yosemite Valley itself. We checked out the meadows with milkweed blooming and monarch butterflies fluttering.

I almost captured the monarch on the milkweed…see him peeking out?

The milkweed is just glorious right now…so many butterflies and other insects in the meadows. Coexisting, growing so pretty.

We spent the afternoon pedaling at bike speed around the whole valley. What a great way to slow down and really see a lot of ground in a short time. Guess where we are parked?

The Merced River. Talk about refreshing! Most people were drifting down on rafts but we decided to jump in and get wet. No kidding, it was perfect.

One last shot at sunset of this massive granite rock that we have come to love. Half Dome in all its splendor…until next time.

Hope you enjoyed seeing a few of our adventures.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Posted on July 24, 2010 by Barb — 5 Comments

Raptors of the Night-Owls: Summer Series #5

As much as we tried over the past few months to observe an owl up close, we just were not able to make it happen this time around. We are hoping to at least hear some owls when we go on our next camping trip to Yosemite National Park in a few weeks. We heard Western screech owls last year. Don’t you think they sound like bouncing rubber balls?

We listened to Western Screech Owls, Great Horned Owls, and Spotted Owls online as part of this challenge. We rarely see owls but we do hear them frequently in our part of the world.

We took the challenge to dissect an owl pellet. One of my sons was eager and the other one was not so eager to complete this activity. The mood changed once we got started and they each ended up learning quite a bit about owls from this activity.

(Maybe we should have found some smaller gloves.)

We each had our own pellet to dissect and I decided I am not very good at this sort of thing. I am not a “detail” sort of person so this was a frustrating activity. In the end, I let the boys finish my pellet. The boys on the other hand were awesome at this activity. I was amazed at the minute bones they were able to extract from the mass of fur.

We all think we had mole and mouse bones in our pellets and we each found skulls and jaws with teeth.

Now that was interesting to me! Little tiny jaws with tiny little teeth!

There were amazing amounts of bones in each little pellet.

Although this was not a challenge where we were able to see the owls in person or even hear them in the night, we learned so much from our reading, online research, and the dissection. We are all looking forward to being on the lookout for both hearing the owls and seeing owl pellets during nature walks.

“Owls and hawks are predators that have an ecological relationship with each other. This means that whereas owls hunt predominantly at night, hawks fill their niche during the day. Both birds hunt similar prey species.”
Discover Nature at Sundown, page 49.

Just one interesting thing we have been thinking about: There is a cycle of raptor activity-owls at night and other raptors like hawks and falcons during the day. There is always some sort of raptor activity going on in the woods. Fascinating.

Whose-Awake-Me-Too…..hopefully we hear a little of that call on our camping trip this time.

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Barb — 5 Comments

Summer is For Hiking

I really mean to post our Outdoor Hour Challenges but somehow I just keep getting distracted. I am avoiding too much work this week because it feels like the summer sort of thing to do.

Hiking is our activity of choice these days when we have family time. The boys are old enough now that we can take some fairly decent day hikes and enjoy some awesome Sierra landscapes. Wake up, pack a lunch, and lace on your hiking shoes….out the door.

Last week we took the one hour trip over the mountain to the Cascade Falls trailhead. We had two choices…the falls or Desolation Wilderness. Since this was a day hike we opted for the easy mile and a half, out and back trail to the falls.

You actually hike to the top of the falls and look down over Lake Tahoe.

It was not too hot so we decided to find a place and just enjoy the scenery. The sound of the falls, the blue Sierra sky, and the warm air is so refreshing and worth the effort to get there.

It always amazes me that anything can grow on these giant slabs of granite. They seem to find little cracks and spaces to hold fast to like this wildflower at the top of the falls. In the top right of the photo you can catch a glimpse of the lake and how high we are up on the waterfall.

This past weekend we took another one hour drive in a different direction and ended up at Woods Lake. A short, short hike around the lake takes you to a small but pleasant waterfall.

We let the boys blaze the trail back and at some points there was a lot of scurrying over rocks. They always assure me that it is “easy”. They forget that I am getting a little old to scramble over rocks and to jump down from logs.

Yes, that is snow. There were actually still numerous spots around this high altitude lake that still had snow.

The rest of the afternoon my husband and I were planted firmly in chairs on the side of this gorgeous lake. I did some watercoloring in my nature journal and he took a little snooze. Perfect.

The boys didn’t sit still very long and they were lured around the opposite side of the lake for a little more exploring. Let’s just say that shoes got wet on this little outing. 🙂

We found a long time ago that we can explore so many different places by using a simple idea. Take a map and place a big dot on your home town. Now determine an hour’s distance from your home and draw a circle around your home at that distance. Make a list of all the places you can go that are within that hour’s distance and then start one by one giving them a try. We have been following this concept for over a decade and it always amazes us what we can find to do that is within that short distance range.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Posted on July 6, 2010 by Barb — 4 Comments

Redwood Dreams

After we left the Oregon coast and the wonderful tidepools, we headed south back down into California and to the redwood forests. We stayed two days near Redwood National Park and then inland to Humboldt Redwoods. Both places were refreshing and awe inspiring. I know that many of you dream of seeing the big trees and I hope you get to in real life someday. It is worth the effort and the dreaming.

In the meantime, I will give a little glimpse into our few days there this time around.

The majesty of these trees has inspired many before us. I spent some time this trip meditating on the men and women who dedicated parts of their lives to saving these forests and their ancient giants. Many of these trees have been alive since at least the time of Christ….that gives you something to think about as you walk alongside these living things so tall they make your neck hurt to look up at them.

One person that I learned about on this trip was John D. Rockefeller. He played a huge part in saving thousands of acres of these trees at a time that it was crucial. These trees were being cut down for a growing nation’s hunger for timber. He was invited to visit these groves of trees early in the 20th century and he immediately jumped in with a million dollars to purchase great forests of the redwood trees. He donated another million later on and saved many more. Today you can walk through the Rockefeller Redwood Forest and see many of these ancient giants up close because of efforts of the Save the Redwoods League and others.

I prayed a silent prayer first to our Grand Creator thanking him for these unique and special trees. Noting their qualities and their beauty and how they so wonderfully tell us of God’s qualities and beauty. Then a prayer of thanks to having created us with the ability to appreciate these trees and forests. Lastly for those that have appreciated and loved the forests before us, keeping them safe for our families to enjoy.

These forests just seem to make you want to seek a little solitude as you hike, even my energetic teens are struck with their awesomeness.

But boys will be boys and they tend to want to climb up on the fallen trees to get a new perspective on the scene.

Hiking in the redwoods is quiet because the trails are softened with “duff” which makes a matted forest floor. It is spongy and easy to walk on with little dust. I find it very enjoyable and your eyes are free to take in the contrasts of light and dark of the forest. The sky is bright above but under the canopy of the trees it is sometimes quite dark. This is the stuff that storybooks are filled with…lots of interesting sounds, smells, and curious sights.

We took a drive one of our days to a place that we had never ventured to before…the Lost Coast of California. What a day!

Leaving the dense forest and heading down into the coastal valleys was an awesome experience. The road was crazy with potholes, narrow sections, crazy curves, steep ups and downs, and wild drivers.

We stopped at several spots along the way to take in the view and snap a few photos. Here is my oldest son setting up his photo with the redwoods, the rolling hills, and the ocean in the distance.

Here is one of his photos from the day’s trip along the Lost Coast. Amazing color in the water. We spent the whole day exploring and taking in this unique place in California…..a little off the beaten path. We had a picnic lunch along and stopped in a little town called Petrolia to sit at a picnic table and enjoy our afternoon.

There is so much to write about but at the sake of turning this into a travel journal, I will finish here. If you have any questions about anything I have shared in this post, please feel free to email me for more details.

I hope this gives you a glimpse into our time in the redwoods and along the redwood coast. Keep dreaming your redwood dreams.

More info on the Lost Coast Drive

Posted on June 3, 2010 by Barb — 3 Comments

Quick Thoughts from our World

The ebooks are finished. Our school year is officially over. Summer has begun.

Harvesting oregano and making some bundles to dry was first on the list. We also picked another quart of strawberries, a few peas, a couple of stray carrots, and the last of the spinach.

We planted zinnias, cosmos, Shasta daisies, Ireland Bells, more cilantro, moonflowers, and lots of seedlings. We were able to get all our seedlings into the ground: pumpkin, acorn squash, zucchini, tomatoes, a variety of peppers, dill, and a variety of sunflowers. It makes me tired just thinking about all that we planted. Now the weather needs to stay warm and I need to keep my eyes on all my babies. My husband and boys were such a great help this week in the garden.

Weeding and pruning the butterfly garden was next on the list.

Here is another photo. If you click over to Flickr for either of these photos, I have made notes telling you what we have planted there.

One last angle of the butterfly garden.

Checking the garden beds and seeing what is growing is always a fun task this time of year. We have a few big mulleins growing along the fence.

Our baby Western scrub jay is flying now and he regularly sits outside our window waiting for his mother.

Moving from our garden now to our other adventures.

Several long hikes this past week…one hike where we saw the snake and some that were not so exciting. Here is the predominant wildflower on our hiking trail right now, Purple Chinese Houses.

We also went on a long bike ride and the boys had a blast.

My oldest son and I shared some photo moments at the lake when we stopped for a break.

Sand angels and Canadian geese….sounds good to me, except for the sand in the shoes.

I had to stop my bike and take a photo of this phlox alongside the trail. It was just too pretty to pass by.

So I think that catches me up for the last week or so in our world. I love this time of year. We have two Outdoor Hour Challenges to finish up but they will be posted soon. I have emailed out all the orders for ebooks that I have received so if you ordered and did not receive your files, please email me and let me know. I am really looking forward to starting the summer series of challenges with our family.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Posted on May 11, 2010 by Barb — 4 Comments

Hike to the River: Spring Wildflowers

Friday we took a long afternoon hike to the river near our house. This is our usual trail but we went the entire distance to see how high the river is with some of the spring runoff from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The wildflowers are amazing right now…here are a few favorites.

This was really the star of the wildflowers on this particular hike, mustang clover. This flower is blanketing the hillsides. What a show!

Here is a photo of it along the trail.

The other wildflower making its glorious appearance is the California poppy.

We made it to the bottom of the river canyon and realized our beach is completely covered in water right now. We had to be content to sit on the rocks and watch the water rush by.

On the way back up, we stopped for a break in the shade. The insects were buzzing and we even saw our first mosquitoes of the season.

Here is a new to me wildflower on this trail, purple monkeyflower. There was a patch growing right along the trail on a moist bank.

I also saw for the very first time on this trail some pearly everlasting.

Two new wildflowers to add to our running list for this trail.

Hope you enjoyed seeing our outing. We definitely had a wonderful time on this spring afternoon.

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Barb — 3 Comments

Moon Gazing and A Few More Winter Sky Moments

We finally were able to view the moon and it was worth the wait! Mr. A and I spent quite a bit of time gazing, watching, and then photographing the moon.

It is very hard to get a good photo of the moon when it is super full and bright.

Here is our best attempt.

I took this photo of Mr. A up on the roof with the tripod where he was trying to capture a good shot of the moon. He decided all of his photos looked like UFOs. Too funny.

Now two last winter sky photos from the last week or so.

This one was about 4:45 in the afternoon when I was out in the garden. The sun was darkened by the clouds passing in front and it was very dramatic.

This was a different day at sunset…about 5:15 PM. Pink…pink sky.

I find myself watching the sky more and my boys are too. It is wonderful to have them notice a cloud formation or the moon before I do. I love sharing “moments” with them.

Tag: Teens