Trinidad…

One of the most beautiful places on the California coast is Trinidad in the far northwestern section of California (just a short drive from the Oregon border).  It offers both wild rugged coastline, and protected harbor (as shown in this photo)… all within a short walk.  It’s a truly remarkable place to visit. This photo was taken at the local dock on a pleasant warm mid-February day… no jacket or sweater required.

Lost Photo #3

Taken in late January… a flock of Canadian Geese flying above the fog towards us.  The mountain behind them had quite a bit of snow at the time, and almost looks like a wave coming in.

We’re getting a break in the weather after today, so hopefully some new photo opportunities are coming.

Lost Photo #2…

As promised… here’s a second photo that I had missed from the Panasonic camera… This is of Wagner Butte which is just south of Talent, Oregon.  The peak is 7,255 feet in elevation  so snow is not unusual up here.  This photo was taken at sunset in mid-March as a storm was clearing.

Lost Photos…

I actually use two cameras (three if you count the drone).  One is an older camera, a Panasonic FZ1000, which is actually a great “bridge” camera (they call it bridge as it straddles between an entry level consumer camera and a pro-camera).  It doesn’t get used a lot, and the other day I realized I had shot some photos with it over the last few months, but had not downloaded them.  That was a mistake… there were some nice photos in there that are worth sharing on this web site, which I’ll do over the next few days.  Here’s the first one… a shot taken looking at a neighbor’s ranch near sunset from our home.  As you can see, the trees are starting to bloom now. 

We are expecting the Pear Orchards nearby to start blooming in the next week or two (and that’s really a beautiful sight!).  Hopefully if we’re not in a total lockdown by then, I can share some with you too.

Spring showers…

Although the weather forecast did not mention showers, we got a few that showed up this afternoon in dramatic fashion.  

This photo is looking southeast towards Mt. Ashland this afternoon.  The clouds (and showers) stayed around for an hour or two, then disappeared.

Welcome Spring!

Today is the first day of spring, and the weather has definitely warmed up over the last few days.  Birds are active, and we’re busy preparing the garden, clearing the irrigation ditches in the hay field, mowing, and general outdoor clean-up.  It feels nice to be outside and not have to wear a jacket.  The mountains nearby are still covered with snow (and we certainly could use more!), while in the valley everything is starting to bloom.  Hopefully we’ll get some more rain soon, but in the meantime, the warmer weather is certainly enjoyable!

Coast trip…

Nothing is better than a trip to the coast to clear one’s mind.  We had just lost our beloved dog Taiko a few days earlier, and it was good to get away and reflect on things that had affected our lives recently.  Trinidad, California is a wonderful area to visit.. both the harbor and beach are extraordinary in their beauty with amazing rock formations both on the beach and just offshore.  The Trinidad Head Trail offers stunning views of the town, harbor, and coast, and is a relatively easy hike.  So much to do here… and the weather turned out to be fantastic (especially for being in the middle of winter).  All in all… it was the perfect trip to get away and reflect on the important things in life.

Beautifulvista added security…

An update that actually took a bit of time… the Beautifulvista web site added the SSL certificate to make the site secure now.  Before the web browsers would state this site was not secure, and even though there was no issue, it was kind of annoying to see this, and I’m sure first-time visitors would be reluctant to visit the site as a result.  Now that has changed, and you should see the lock icon showing this site is now secure.

BTW…I’ve been a little under the weather the last few days, but am better now.  Hope to get back outdoors again soon!  In the meantime, here’s a photo taken a few weeks ago from above.  This is looking west towards Medford (which is covered by fog).  You can see the Rogue Valley Manor peek above the fog in the upper right side…. Arrowhead Ranch is below.

Looking west towards Medford from above Marigold Lane.

Turbulent Air…

There were some beautiful clouds drifting overhead as the cold arctic air moved in… It seemed like a good time to get the drone up and take some photos.  The air on the surface had a very slight breeze, so all seemed good.  However about 150 feet up, I got a warning from the drone that it was encountering very strong winds.  I’ve seen this warning before and nothing happened as a result, so I thought I’d take a few photos first, then come back.  Within a minute, I was suddenly seeing the drone’s view of the horizon completely sideways as it was trying to stabilize to the sudden gusts of winds up there. Immediately action was taken to get it to lower elevation first, and then get it back to home safely.  As soon as the drone landed, the turbulent winds that it encountered above, reached the ground, and they were indeed very strong.  Lesson learned…  pay attention to the warnings!

Just before the turbulence hit…

A few updates…

Now that the Scenic Photos (Top, 2019, and 2018) have been updated, some background updates are now in process.  In addition, in going through the last six years of photos, I’m finding ones that I missed for the Top Scenic Photos… so that has been updated.

We’re in the midst of some very cold weather (for southern Oregon that is).  This morning was 23 degrees F at dawn.  The hummingbird feeders were frozen, so they were brought in, heated up in the microwave, and returned outside.  The hummers were pretty cold, and would not spend time chasing each other off like they normally do… just feed and get some calories in to stay warm.  Which reminds me of one photo that I had missed… this was taken a few years ago (in the summer) of one hummingbird getting interrupted by another.

Dinner Interruption…