RenoVous

  Camp #2 at Robinson Creek. This site is more outside of Bridgeport, closer to home. Another named Twin Lakes. Tomorrow we head south again for some history.

 My Mutts! Mighty is Boston Terrier, Border Collie, and Chocolate Lab.  He loves to herd cattle and fetch. Bowie is a Golden Retriever and Alaskan Klee Kai.  He loves to watch the water and play with everything. It's a day to love your mutt, or maybe consider adopting one from your local shelter!

  From our camp site, we took a drive on a windy day into Downieville. The Gallows. California's oldest weekly newspaper. And back to Lake of the Woods.

  We took a drive through Greenville, still devastated and recovering from the fire.  A few scenes caught my attention, but I didn't want to photograph their loss like that.  So we found a reservoir to turn off at. I heard some scratching in the log here so I took a look. When I proved to be safe, he came out a little more. Sunday night was Sevendust.  They'll forever be one of my favorite live acts. Not my best seats or shots though.

 A quick shot just out of town and we're in nature. 4/20 Coffee The pups playing fetch.

  We took a drive up to Yuba Pass so the pups could enjoy some snow. We haven't seen much on the valley floor yet, and this wasn't much for the mountains either.  We used to come up here for snowmobile camping at New Year's. Trailhead, 2011. Take a walk on the winter side. (2010)

  Partly a celebration of finding a Christmas tree, and partly to appreciate the forests around us. Above is Tahoe National Forest, from Yuba Pass. The Douglas Fir is most popular for Christmas, but this year at Rockefeller Center they chose a Norway Spruce.  White Pine is considered most traditional.  Balsam Fir is said to be the most fragrant. Also in the spirit of Christmas, holly is an evergreen, and previously associated with Saturnalia. More from the Sierra Nevadas: Sequoia Evergreens have played an important role in many societies throughout the ages, selected for "their seemingly eternal nature even in a season of death." I've long loved that contrast of cold and white, life and green.

  We had a little friend in our camp, a lodgepole chipmunk.  They live throughout the Sierra Nevada mountain range and prefer an open-canopy pine habitat. They'll eat seeds, of course, and fungi, as well as berries. Their habit of burying seeds aids in reforestation.  Litters of 5 are born in June, and they hibernate from October/November to March/April. During this time, periods of dormancy last about 5-6 days, with short arousals to eat some stored food.  They are working to accumulate fat in the fall. I can definitely confirm we heard the "chucking" noise.

  15 years married, September 14th. ❤️

  Found this big boy on a walk through the forest we were camping in - if my research is correct, it is an amanita aprica, which grows in a mycorrhizal association with Doulgas fir and pines. Mycorrhizae are a symbiotic relationship between plant roots and fungi. These ones are harder to identify. A search regarding mushrooms on tree bark with moss did not return any clear results.  They could be puffballs. I came across a local foraging expert and cookbook author, Hank Shaw. Hunt Gather Cook And he recommends  this  pocket guide. Shaw states that foraging is a matter of time, not difficulty, but of course one must be cautious as well.  "You start with a very few edible mushrooms you are looking for, and you expand your knowledge bit by bit."  For the fall, he suggests keeping an eye out for porcinis. Podcast: Get into Mushroom Hunting