Pattee Pond, Corral de Tierra

Sunday was a perfect day at Corral De Tierra; the recent rains had filled Pattee Pond to more normal levels. The walk around the pond always brings new observations and today, a new bird on the California Bird List.

After visiting the Boekenoogen Tasting Room in Carmel valley, a leisurely drive over Laureles Grade brought us to Corral De Tierra. A walk around the Pond was a pleasant outing. There were lots of clouds with patches of sun. This view greeted us as we began the walk around the pond.

This Red-tailed Hawk was patrolling over the pond and made a serious attack on the Great Egret which took off at the last moment and headed across the pond. The Hawk swooped low, missed and climbed back to the hunting altitude. The Egret continued his feeding routine with an ever watchful eye on the hawk-filled sky above.

We see one American Wigeon at the left of the shot above. A closer shot of a pair of American Wigeons follows below. Although new to us, they are reported to be almost as common as Mallards on inland ponds. The Wigeon is a new bird on our California bird list.

We did see the usual Mallards and caught one of the many swallows passing by.

This rabbit was sunning himself but well out of sight under thick brush, protecting him from the hawks circling above.

 Always in view from the pond - Castle Rock in The Pastures of Heaven.

Monterey River Road Wine Trail on Valentine's Day Weekend

First Stop - Hahn Estates Winery, one of the early Monterey County vineyards.

In 1988 Hahn advocated establishing a new appellation: Santa Lucia Highlands. Hahn now owns 650 vineyard acres in this area; grows, produces and bottles their wines on the Estate. We sampled the 2008 Pinot Gris and the 2007 Central Coast Cabernet Franc - now in our wine racks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our second stop was at Wrath Vineyards - a take-off on the "Grapes of Wrath" we gather. Here we sampled more reds and enjoyed the ambiance of the pond while soaking in the sun. Below, the tasting room that is yet-to-be surrounded by acres of vineyards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was surprising that this was the aging room at Wrath. These are boutique wineries and operate on a smaller scale. This was the inventory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the Boot Room. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop was at Boekenoogen Winery, family owned and operated in the heart of the Santa Lucia Highlands. Here, more fine wines soothed our palates while we contemplated joining the Wine Club. Now we can look forward to quarterly selections for the next year. We established ourselves at a picnic table overlooking the vineyards and valley beyond. While others enjoyed the Boekennogen prime rib, we had our own special picnic enjoying a lovely Salinas Valley view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Boekenoogen we stopped at Manznoi Vineyards where Dave and Jeff enjoyed the busy tasting room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Manzoni we headed to the Pessagno Winery where we enjoyed their wines, the duck pond and their large tasting room ambiance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we saw unusual ducks and identified them later as Ring-necked Ducks, new on our California bird list.

Then on home to Jeff & Melissa's for more wine, a great meal and the happy Valentine's Day Wine Trail celebration family photo. Until next year when we hope Jodi and Paul can join us.

The End of the Rainbow, Pacific Grove, CA

Earlier this week we had dire predictions of very heavy rain sweeping in off the ocean for days on end. We went to Pebble Beach for Caroline's riding lesson and found that the overnight rain had canceled all lessons. So, on the way back to PG, we stopped at some of the usual touristy spots along 17 Mile Drive.
Pebble Beach was very busy as there were crews dismantling the support logistics for the AT&T Pro Am the week before. Fortunately all the crowds had gone and we had a pleasant drive along the ocean.
We naturally had to stop at the well known Lone Cyprus. The light was favorable but we could see the storm clouds building off-shore.

Further along 17 Mile Drive we stopped to watch the beginning of the rain sweeping in off the ocean.

Another view of the approaching storm shows Bird Rock in the foreground. It was a menacing sight.

As the storm got closer, we could see through the veil of rain revealing the blue sky and puffy clouds further out over the ocean. An unusual sight.

Further on I stopped in the middle of the road, car door open and caught this White-tailed Kite hovering over the edge of a fairway just off the road. The light wasn't the best but I did recover some detail by "processing" the image using the iPhoto tools.

The rain finally reached us as we were getting back into PG but it was a brief deluge - followed by an almost immediate clearing and an impressive double rainbow. I got a little wet but this kind of shot doesn't come along every day. Maybe only a few times in a lifetime. 

The rainbow faded quickly and I got a final shot of the brighter inner band. It was all over in a few minutes. Only the vivid memories and these few photos record the event.

boys on berm

Reasons why we love our neighborhood.  Thank you Leon Panetta.
Recently:  Noah and Ellis on Goat Trail with Jeff. Canon point and shoot.

Harry in the Air at the Skull Bowl

Paul sent this fantastic shot of Harry in the AIR at the Skull Bowl in San Jose. Paul has sent shots made by Steve Potwin (<spotwin@hotmail.com>) before but this one is fantastic. This shot has to be one of the best skateboarding shots of all time - and Harry is the star.

I looked at the EXIF data for this shot; it was shot with a Nikon D300 camera using a 10.5 mm wide angle lens set at f4.0, shutter speed at 1/200. There were two obvious flash units positioned to the left and right of Harry - note the two shadows. All-in-all this shot is a great composition and perfectly exposed. It doesn't get much better than this.

And, from a skateboarding standpoint the same can be said of Harry's skating. It doesn't get much better than this!

Learning the Eskimo Roll in Monterey Harbor

Another perfect Winter day in Monterey. Temperature was in the mid 60's with light winds and clear skies so we decided to head for the Harbor on the way back from errands in Monterey.

We came across this guy learning the Eskimo Kayak Roll with an instructor - good thing the instructor was there! The sequence tells the story. We also got some good cormorant shots which are on the Wildlife Blog.

This sequence was just over 6 seconds. Makes you pause to think about just how fast you can get into trouble in a kayak. Best place it learn is a place where you can stand up if you get into trouble.

I'm really liking the new Nikon D7000. 

Here we are, getting ready for the next dunking.

Going over

Under

The Rescue, where's the paddle?

Back up!  Whew!, Glad that's over!

You have to admire real "true grit" to even attempt this. What a guy!

And some nice color from Fisherman's wharf.

 

A Nice Day in PG

Today has been a nice day and a successful one too, for sure. I have had virus-like problems with my MacBook and with some good advice from Apple on-line tech support and at the Del Monte Center Genius Bar, I ordered a new hard drive and more RAM. The stuff arrived yeaterday and I installed it last night. Spent the night recovering from Apple Time Machine (if you're not using it, you should consider it) which was a real life saver.
After some scrambling this morning and a few restarts, I have it all up and running on the new 500 gig Seagate Momentus hard drive and new 4 gigs of Kingston RAM. Whew!
So, to celebrate we went out and got a few local shots of the ocean.

The Gulls were out, the ocean was roaring and a lone surfer braved the cold water - barefoot. These first gulls are a mature Heermann's Gull behind with a first winter Heermann's in front. Note the similar size and shape but totally different coloring.

We further celebrated at Toasties for lunch - only popcorn, Pepsi and a movie tonight. Wall Street - the new one.

Bayview Ave in the Sun