Showing posts with label deer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deer. Show all posts

9/12/2024

Tea Cakes



As of the past couple of years, my brother Rick and I have grown to watch after our centenarian + mother very closely.  So I come up to check on her every couple of weeks, do a few light chores, and pretty much just keep her company enough that I don't over-stay my welcome.

Rick and my sister-in-law, Debbie took a company trip to Greece, Egypt, and Italy for 3 weeks, so that was the perfect opportunity to bring her back to south Louisiana for a few days.   My wife, Darlene and I figured she'd get pretty bored rapidly so, we were always thinking of something to keep her occupied.  You can only enjoy so many episodes of The Andy Griffith Show and Gunsmoke...just sayin'.

After trying to put a couple of puzzles together, we abandoned them for some trips to visit grandkids and see one of them perform at a local hamburger joint.

After counting her meds, she realized that she was running low, so after 9 days, we made the decision to head back to her home, pick up some meds and check on the condition of her place.  As it was, we left just in time to avoid Hurricane Francine.  I had not checked the weather and had no idea it was imminent, so it was a good thing we left when we did.   


Settling back into life in the piney woods, it was good to see a few deer in the back yard, put up a new hummingbird feeder and re-pot some amaryllis bulbs I brought up from our place.


Somewhere along, we thought about tea cakes and began to look into recipes.  We found one that looked promising so I took it upon myself to whip up a batch.  My grandmother, Lizzie Reppond Pilgreen used to sometimes have some stashed away in her "safe", a screened cupboard in the dining room.


Anyway, I think they turned out pretty well.  Although the recipe said to cook them for 8 minutes at 350°. it took more like 15 to get them done.  

You have to be careful not to cook them too long because they're much better if they're not hard or crunchy. 

Mama wrote down the recipe for me, but I get in her way in her kitchen, so if I make them again, it likely will be at my place.

9/28/2013

Another shot at Yosemite

After a week's vacation, once again, I'm back in Modesto.

Saturday morning, I began to figure out what I could do to amuse myself.  I eliminated San Francisco because, there's just too many people, traffic and ...just too many people.  So, I thought I'd take another shot at Yosemite National Park.
















The ride down and over from Modesto was pretty nice, riding through the rolling hills through very little traffic.  Arriving there, I once again presented my (I hate to admit this) Senior National Parks pass to get in free.  A couple of miles on the road winding around boulders as big as houses, I found myself stopping several times just to soak it all in.
















I climbed down the the very low flowing river, found a couple of ducks that had no more fear of humans than the deer I  had seen a few weeks ago when Darlene came up to visit.

 














Even squirrels and chipmunks were sometimes within arm's reach.
















The road into Yosemite Valley is not a through road.  There are the iconic monuments such as El Capitan, Half Dome, Bridal Veil Falls, Mirror Lake and Yosemite falls, most of which can actually be observed from the comforts of your car if you're so inclined but you really can't appreciate it until you get out and walk.


The last time we were in Yosemite, the falls were completely dry but today, Bridal Veil had began to spray a little water over the top but not the signature Yosemite Falls.



































I had hoped to see some fall flowers and colors other than brown grass but there just wasn't any flowers left.  I did find some tiny purple flowers near the edge of the road.  They were the last hold outs of the year.  Bear in mind, this is an extreme closeup shot and they are not larger than a half inch in diameter.  So that tiny bug in the center ( if you know how to zoom in on it - click the photo, hold down the ctrl key and scroll the wheel of your mouse) is very, very small.
















This time of year, the crowds and traffic are greatly diminished but there were still plenty of cars, motorcycles, bicycles and buses.
















Several times, I had passed a group of people with telescopes on tripods at the base of El Capitan.  A poster on the tailgate of a van encourage passers to "Ask A Climber".  OK, I believe I will.



































I got out and walked over to a group of other curiosity seekers and eventually began to talk to a young woman who seemed very knowledgeable about climbers and what was actually going on.  It seemed her husband and a climbing partner were up on the side of that piece of solid granite, climbing to the top.  I've found amusement in a lot of dangerous things but I figure I have a lot more things to do before I run out of other things to do closer to the ground.  I believe that has to be worse than sky diving.  Again, if you can zoom in, there are 3 climbers in the very middle of this photo.
















The lady told me that the trip up the side of that mountain would take 2 ½ days to reach the top and another half a day to walk down the trail behind it. She herself, was a climber.


































It was virtually impossible to make them out without the benefit of a telescope or in my case, a 200 mm zoom lens on my camera.  Even that was really insufficient for a good look.

I watched for an hour or so, soaking in a lot of information I probably didn't really need to know.  She told me those big bags they were pulling up with them, was supplies including bedding (I don't know how they could sleep), food, climbing ropes and (you won't believe this) an orange colored bag to carry body waste in.  The rules are, you bring everything back with you, including that.  They also had a few beers that they would pop a top on to celebrate when they reached the top.

Of the climbers, there were four distinct groups in various places and heights on El Capitan.  One group of three were all females.
















Anyway, it was a nice trip and really hated to head back into the setting sun.


6/02/2012

As the days get longer...

..there is a lot more daylight now, so after work Friday, I drove up to Sunspot, NM.  Sunspot sits on the plateau above Alamogordo and is the home of the National Solar Observatory.

(clicking on the photo will enlarge them)

My intent was to get there, find a spot overlooking the White Sands National Monument and photograph a sunset but due to recent fires in the Gila National Forest and lots of clouds from a light cool front, visibility was limited.  I had also hoped to do some timed photos that would create circular star trails, but that's for another time.




Even though I was a bit disappointed that the clouds and weather were not cooperating, wildlife was everywhere.  This is a protected area so the animals aren't all that spooky if you don't come to a complete stop and/or get out of the car.  Forgive me if I have this wrong but I'm thinking these are Mule Deer.  I know I've never seen one in Louisiana and never claimed to be an expert.                    










(Update!  A knowledgeable friend tells me, he's pretty sure they are Elk.)


A young doe.





On the way back home (the hotel) I pulled off onto a less than wonderful road to check out cactus flowers under the approaching full moon.













And from the opposite direction, a sunset.



Probably, it wasn't a great idea getting too far off the pavement in a VW Passat rental car (National Car frowns on those activities) but it's not because I didn't want too.