Maximum Bird (Max) 1972 - 2007

This is my saddest blog to date, but I feel that Max should have a little tribute. My baby bird had to be put down as a result of paralysis due to a fractured spine after falling off his perch. He spent five days in the bird hospital and and never recovered. Mellissa and I talked a lot about it and ultimately made the tough decision.

I've had Max for 30 years and was told that he was five years old when I bought him in 1977 for $550.00. He was a Blue-Front Amazon parrot. You can read about the species here (although, unless you are a bird nut, skip it and just keep reading.)

In this old converted slide,we are getting to know each other many years ago. Max could be ornery, but actually liked Molly, my Blue and Gold Macaw. Well, he tolerated her. (I'm the thin one in the middle.)

Wild, and caught in the Amazon, Max wasn't the typical hand-fed, friendly pet, especially with strangers. What few realized is what a big wimp he was. Although extremely affectionate with me, I wish he had been that way with others, especially Mellissa, who always took good care of him. But, such is the nature of the Blue Front Amazon - tough birds.

Max and I have been through thick and thin together. Jobs, apartments, homes, and relationships have come and gone, but Max was always with me throughout all of it. Years later, when I traveled for work, I always knew Max was OK when Mellissa complained that he snapped, lunged, bit, threw water on, or otherwise threatened her. Although I was never happy that he tormented her, I always felt better because I then knew that he was doing fine.

Most people don't know much about large parrots (and why would they?) but the perfect bird is loud, noisy, destructive, messy, curious, fun, interesting, and affectionate. Max, therefore, was the perfect bird. Into, and onto everything he was.

Blue Fronts are rated as the fifth best talker among the Amazon parrots, but Max was a little slow. He was, as some phrased it, "special." But, he did talk often in two voices, mine or Mellissa's. Check out this video by clicking on the play button.

I'm heartbroken that I've lost my pal, but it's been a great 30 years for him - and even more so for me, something that many people don't get to experience. I think that we were both pretty fortunate having been together for so long.

No, we're not getting another bird, as many have asked, since we have new adventures ahead of us, but Max Bird will be greatly missed.

Here's to you, buddy.

Ten Days at the Trailer

For the 10 days since September 6th, I have been staying ("camping?") in our trailer near Sacramento, California. Fortunately, Mellissa was able to stay with me for seven of those days. We had a great time, relaxing, reading, taking pictures, and hiking around the lake and to the Cosumnes River. No one wanted the nearby forest fires, but because of them, sunrises and sunsets were spectacular.




Every morning, I awoke and went outside to watch the sunrise which was different every time. (Click on the photo to enlarge and then the back button.)







Pop out the trailer's "slide-out", hook up the water and electric, and you are good to go. You regular readers have seen this all before, but hey, I'm here for 10 days and need to shoot something.



...oh yeah, don't forget to prop up the awning....






Mellissa sets up the inside while I work on the outside.







All the comforts of home... In 30 years of working, I never took more than one week of vacation at a time, so it was wonderful to be able to stay out for such a long time.










OK for the first time, I can load video on this site and have a lame vid of the trailer here. Let me know if you are able to view this 34 second masterpiece. This will give you yet another view of inside the trailer and a shot of the lake. There is an extra bonus in it for those of you who, like me, love listening to hillbilly gospel. C'mon, that's everyone, right?

After a day or two in the trailer, I woke up early and decided to take a hike out to the Cosumnes River. Early morning is the best time at the lake. Quiet and beautiful, and no one is around.







I wander around the lake and head west. It's mid-week and early morning, so no people are out yet and the lake is calm. Perfect reflection huh?





(Photo buffs: white balance set to Tungsten lighting for this "blue effect.)

It was great to be out hiking again and to look for wildflowers. And, I always get a kick out of the reflections on the lake.







Even though it is so late in the year, I was pleased to find several wildflowers, like this cool sunflower.







...and his friends....







Unfortunately, the Cosumnes River was dried up this late in the year. It was really bone dry in parts, so I continued my walk and looked for photo ops like this one.







I hiked for a while up-river, but saw nothing and walking along a dried riverbed wasn't too interesting. I remember when this section was a swift flowing S-curve of a river just a few months ago. (Actually, I would have gone much farther, but the truth is that my Crocks were filling up with sand and I could barely walk.)

Check this out: here's a pic of the exact same spot in May of this year....




I did find these bi-valve mollusks, uh...freshwater clams in the riverbed. OK, any way you cut it, dead bi-valves are dead-ass boring, but I liked finding them.





The next morning brought another great sunrise even though the fires in Plumas County had been contained.

Probably the most common question we get regarding our trailer time is, "what do you guys do there?" In addition to the aforementioned reading, relaxing, hiking, and taking pictures, is good ol' cooking.

I should add searching for, and collecting fruits, vegies, and nuts has become a crowd favotite.We found zucchini, peppers, and two kinds of tomatoes in the free peace garden grown in the park. We also found ripe, sweet figs and a walnut tree. Our friends Bob and Roger gave us a fun recipe for white bean and ham soup in an 8-hour crock pot. We added the squash to the soup and used the rest for....

...GRILLING!

Mellissa taught me about figs and I am hooked. I am surprised that I like something that looks kinda weird and has a funny texture. If you have never had a fresh fig, give it a try; they're wonderful.

Other meals, snacks and desserts included these beauties~ Looks good, huh?

OK, what else is there to do? Well, there is fly fishing from an inner tube....

...and boating....

...bicycling around the area is very popular.

You can sit and watch Lou pull out the trailers from the storage area to a coveted lakeview spot.

Of course, kayaking works pretty well here~

Putting soapy water in a bucket, running your flexible wand through it, and waving it through the air is lots of fun too. The kids call it "blowing bubbles."

You can watch the sunrise, guaranteed to come up once a day .

Lately though, we like talking to the big green turtle. Cool huh? This huge turtle was built by some guy who took it to Burning Man where it was immensely popular. At night, all the yellow markings you see on the turtle are lit up by neon lights.

You hop in and turn the pedals and away you go. A front tire under the neck helps to steer. It's just amazing.

Or, you can just walk around and enjoy the beauty. Thanks for visiting the site and hope you like the pics. Until the next posting....

Mt. Diablo State Park Hike

Yay! We get to go hiking again! Yanni (my trusted friend and sidekick) and I have not been hiking together for over a month or two and are glad to be out again. Yanni knows a place in Mount Diablo State Park and we set out into the foothills. I don my hiking shoes, grab my hiking stick and we're off.



It's dry and hot, but we are happy to be walking around the hills and just being out among the wilderness; the outside.



The ubiquitous vulture followed us everywhere we went. I've written often about these magnificent birds and frankly, I was glad to see them again. As ugly as they are, they are rather gentle and glide effortlessly above our heads.



As we wander up, up, up the mountain (Mt. Diablo), we get some awesome views of the valley below. Check out this house. Seems quite rich, but I like the layout. Looks like something that Madonna would have. Nice driveway.



As we hike along, the trail continues toward the mountain. It's hot and I wonder if my water will hold out for the 8 - 10 miles, but we do fine. It's late summer and we see few wildflowers, but it is quiet and peaceful. It smells nice.



And, we have friends overhead.





Another cool house. I really like this one as it wraps around the pool. We saw no one out there, figuring that if you have a house this nice, you probably have a job that requires that you are at work a lot. Still, we wanted to be invited over for a pool party, so we hang around this place for about an hour waiting for the invitation that never came.

More vultures overhead. It was beginning to look like Hitchcock's The Birds as more and more began circling above.

We continue our hike up the mountain knowing that we will have to come back down this same path.

We get hungry and decide that it's time to take a break and have lunch. Here's our little spot in Paradise: cool, breezy and restful. Wondering what's on the menu? Peaches, bananas, almonds, cheese, salami, raisins, granola bar, and my peanut butter/jelly sandwhich. Yeah, nobody starves.

Not surprisingly, we have company. Turkey Vultures always sit in one tree according to the pecking order of the flock.

Yanni points out the beauty of the valley below us. Cool REI hiking chairs, huh? These really work. Only 22 ounces and they fold up small and compact.

We head out and cross through this ridge. You can see the trial that we took. It looks more rugged than it was.

Our constant companions...

It was so hot that I needed to take several breaks. Actually I was OK, but Yanni was crying, "Please stop so I can rest. You are so strong, but I am weak." (OK, Yanni went on ahead, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

I read a story in Popular Photography about how to get a white background, so I thought I'd try it. Came out OK, eh?

After the hike, we went to a local park to have a beer and found this lovely spot.

Does it get any better? Hanging out with my bud, drinking beer, talking about the hike, enjoying the park, and looking forward to seeing my wife (after she returns from work.) No, it doesn't get any better.