If you're on Pembroke Drive and see several cars pulled over, look around for a bald eagle.The one I saw before Christmas stayed around for a few days. It was even joined by another one, and they perched in a tree on or near the university farm north of the Rosewood Lakes golf course. My husband saw one eating something (a bird? a fish?) in Steamboat Creek.

I just received and posted a news release to This Is Reno about the annual Eagles & Agriculture event in Carson Valley. Tours and workshops conducted Feb. 19-21  focus on the influx of bald eagles and other birds of prey in the Carson Valley each year during the winter calving season (they feed on the afterbirth). If you would like more information, here are a couple of links:
Eagles & Agriculture tours and workshops
Event registration form

        

I don't know anything about animal tracks, but I've become interested in them lately. We had a brief snowstorm yesterday that left less than an inch of snow, and this morning we could see where a critter had traveled all over our yard. In fact, it had clearly come up the driveway, moved around the backyard and across our patio, and come out on the other side of the house, going back to the street by crossing the lawn. I guessed the tracks were made by a rabbit and confirmed it on line. I'm further assuming it was a cottontail since that's what we see around here.



Apparently the two small marks, which almost look like one mark, are from the front paws, and the bigger marks are from the back feet. (Was this rabbit pigeon-toed?) In this photo, the rabbit would have been moving toward the camera and to the right of the picture.

I'm including this picture mainly to show off the clear, deep blue sky, although the photo doesn't do it justice. It's absolutely beautiful today. There's nothing like the combination of  fresh snow and clean, blue sky. (Although I'm partial to the lavender sky at dusk, too, but I digress.)

Back to the tracks, I think the blurry tracks near the rabbit tracks were left by a feral cat in last week's snow. However, I'm going to have to start learning more about tracks because I'm curious whenever I see them. I bet I'd be amazed to see how many creatures' visits are recorded in the snow if I paid attention.

        

Forty winter solstice observances are listed in Wikipedia's entry on the subject. The most popular now, of course, is Christmas. I just like to note the shortest day of the year.



I took this photo of the sunset yesterday, so it's not technically a photo of the shortest day. However, I can't count on remembering to do it today, and besides, it's probably going to be cloudy and raining at sunset today anyway. Well, I suppose I could have taken a photo of this morning's sunrise, but that would have taken some kind of miracle since I'm not a morning person.

Merry Christmas, Good Yule, and Happy Whatever-Other-Winter-Solstice-Celebration-You-Celebrate!

        

My husband came home a little while ago and told me a bald eagle was perched near Pembroke Drive. I grabbed my camera, and it was still there when we went back.



I took this picture from the bridge on Pembroke over Steamboat Creek. At a time like this, I realize how limited my simple little camera is. I regret not being able to get a closer view, but at least you can see the creek, which the eagle was apparently watching for food.

In a quick visit to Wikipedia, I learned that bald eagles are "found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting." As you can see, our neighborhood doesn't exactly fit that description (the creek flows into the Truckee River, but I wouldn't call that open water, either), so maybe that's why I've never seen a bald eagle here before.

Phil and I weren't the only ones who were interested. A steady of stream of vehicles stopped so people could get out for a closer look and take pictures. The eagle didn't seem at all concerned by the attention; it didn't move except to swivel its head back and forth.

In case you haven't been keeping up, the bald eagle was reclassified from "Endangered" to just "Threatened" in 1995, and it was completely removed from the "Endangered and Threatened" list in 2007. Maybe this will become a common sight!

        

This hawk in the neighbors' cottonwood tree stood out in the wintry sky yesterday morning. The temperature was in the single digits when I took the picture.



I hope it was watching for voles to eat.

        

The wild horse that's been wandering around our neighborhood made it to our yard early this morning.



The tracks in the snow are where it dug down to the lawn to eat some grass. Here's a closer view of the visitor.



It stood there soaking up the sun (it was still 5 degrees) until the neighbor left to take her kids to school. Then it trotted down the street in front of her vehicle. It's probably hard to tell from this photo, but it has a thick winter coat. Note the souvenir it left in the middle of the street.

As I wrote yesterday, I worry about the horses. Yes, they are nuisances, but they don't deserve to have bad things happen to them. This morning I called a wild animal rescue organization (they're not considered wild animals) and Washoe County Animal Control (they're not pets). They referred me to the US Bureau of Land Management and Nevada Division of Wildlife, which I didn't expect to be helpful.

Instead, I called the president of the Hidden Valley Homeowners Association because I know we have a herd living just outside the neighborhood and some of the residents feed it regularly. He said the people feeding the horses have a permit for it and also herd them back onto BLM land whenever they come into the neighborhood. He is reporting this horse to someone who will do that.

        

This is what zero degrees Fahrenheit looked like here this morning.



We make a big deal about snowstorms and single digit temperatures around here because we don't have them very often. We have several snowstorms a year, but we can never count on a white Christmas. We got 6 inches between Sunday afternoon and yesterday afternoon. Our record low temperature is 19 below zero, but it's been a long time since it's been zero or below.

I love the way snow covers up my undone chores and makes everything look pretty. I'm also struck every time I go out in a snowstorm by how quiet it is. I am very aware that I would not see it like this if I could not retreat to my cozy house whenever I wanted.

By the time I thought about covering the remaining carrots, it was too cold to go out and do it. Maybe the snow will insulate them.

I worry about the wild horses who live in the hills around here. I may be posting photos soon because we have been seeing them in the next block lately. There was one pawing through the snow on a neighbor's lawn when we left this morning; it was up to 7 degrees by then. I have mixed feelings about them. On one hand, horses are beautiful and I used to read all the Marguerite Henry books about wild horses. On the other hand, they are not a native species and they can do a lot of damage when they are forced to eat landscaping to survive. I'm also scared of hitting one in the middle of the street at night (we don't have streetlights, and most of the horses are dark brown). No one can agree on the best thing to do with them or about them.

But don't worry about the voles—I'm sure they'll be fine.

        

Taking my own advice yesterday, I went out in the back yard to enjoy the sunshine for a few minutes. I noticed something unusual near the lawn, and when I moved clearer it looked like a gray, furry ball. At first I thought it was a dead mouse or baby rabbit, but then I saw that its head, which was buried in the grass stubble, was moving. I also saw a short tail, so I knew it was a vole.

Here's the picture I took after it moved to the lawn. It seemed to be having trouble digging into it; I suspect the ground is frozen.



When I came back in and told Phil about it, he said I should have killed it. There's no way I could have! I'm sorry, but it looks cuddly to me. (Do I miss our dogs that much?)

We've had voles here for years, and we've never had much damage other than their tunnels on the lawn. It's the moles that have done all the damage. But I couldn't kill a mole in cold blood, either.

Natural vole predators include snakes, raccoons, and cats, all of which we have here if you count the feral cats. If they want to take advantage of a vole's lack of caution when I'm not around, I'm OK with that. I just can't do it myself.

        

How was your Thanksgiving? We finally had ours Friday evening after a couple of weeks of crises, but all's well that ends well. I'm getting into the Christmas spirit now and have some odds and ends to write about today.

Feast for the birds

First I wanted to show the bird enjoying the crabapples next to our patio. Yes, those things that look like cherries are apples. Most of them stay in the tree all winter until the birds eat them, and the birds love them. I'm sorry to say I can't identify the bird in the photo.

Garden tools for Christmas

I've been meaning to write a post about the gardening tools I use and recommend, and what better time than the beginning of the Christmas shopping season? I have some suggestions for other gardeners or for your own wish list. I'm an Amazon Associate, so the links go to Amazon.com.

I always use gloves when I'm gardening. Sometimes they're a nuisance when they come between you and the plants or soil, but they save your hands (including rings and fingernails) from a lot of injuries and stains. I personally prefer goatskin gloves. They last longer than cowhide, and they're more flexible. I'm sorry, but fabric gloves wear out too fast when I use them. On the high end, you can get leather gauntlet gloves for pruning roses and other thorny plants. I could use some of those myself but have been too cheap to get them.

I skip the hat sometimes because it flattens my hair, but it's a really good idea to protect your face and eyes from the sun. Did you know the sun can contribute to cataracts?

A tool I like for weeding is the hula hoe. It makes quick work of new weed sprouts in loose soil. It has a few drawbacks, though, so you have to be selective about where you use it. One drawback is it lifts out everything at once, so it's not good where you have a few seedlings you want to save. It doesn't work very well in hard-packed soil, and it doesn't work at all on plants with established tap roots. Finally, it keeps the soil disturbed, which means weeds will keep sprouting there. It's taken me a long time to learn this, but one of the best weed deterrents is to leave soil in as natural a condition as possible if you're not planning on doing anything else in that spot.

My newest favorite tool is a big pair of loppers with "compound action" we bought this year. I don't have the strength to prune very thick branches with the plain kind, so I was amazed to try out the new ones and find I could slice though branches easily. I'm not going to try to explain the compound action, but it makes a huge difference.

You also can browse my Amazon store. While you're on Amazon, check out all the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals.

Indoor flowers

Is this a pretty poinsettia, or what? I bought it last night at Home Depot for $3.97. (Both Home Depot and Lowe's had them for 99 cents Friday, but I hate crowds.) I think this one is the freshest and most perfect I've ever bought.

I've never tried to keep poinsettias. I'll move them out to the patio if they make it to summer, but they are usually pretty ratty looking by then. That's why I try to spend as little as possible on them.

I've never been able to get amaryllises to bloom more than once, either. I'm keeping my eye out for a cheap one. (Before you think it, I've never been able to get expensive ones to bloom more than once, either!)

I also like to buy narcissus bulbs at this time of year. They can be divided and given as gifts if you like.

Decorating with greens from your yard

Yes, you have materials in your yard (or nearby) that would make pretty Christmas decorations. If I have them in my cold desert yard, I'm sure you do, too. See the entry I wrote about it last year. Sunset magazine's website has some really good ideas, too.

Stay in touch with your mother

Even though though it's cold and the days are short here in the Northern Hemisphere, it's good for us to stay in touch with Mother Nature. I'm writing this as much to remind myself as to remind my readers. I need to make time to get outdoors every day no matter how busy I am this season. I'm often surprised at how glad I am to be outside once I'm out there, even if I'm just walking into a store or taking out the garbage, and even if it's cold, windy, or snowing.

        

I came across this intriguing item while setting up an Amazon Associate store in preparation for the holiday season:



The solar-powered mole and gopher chaser. If it works, nothing could be easier. You stick it in the ground, and moles leave the area because it emits "sonic pulses." I'm skeptical because I think I've seen studies showing similar devices that plug into household outlets don't bother mice. But I really want to believe.

Reviews on things like this on Amazon are mixed—one person says the only way it will get rid of moles is if you stab one while you're inserting it in the ground, and another says moles have tunneled around hers and seem to enjoy the massages they get from it. However, another person says he's had success with devices like this and you need to use more than one.

I absolutely hate killing anything, but this is the first time I've had anything this destructive in my yard. Walking across our lawn feels like walking across rocks. They've redistributed soil, and seeds sprout in their mounds. So far the chicken wire seems to be keeping them out of the raised beds, but I'm not counting on that indefinitely.

We lived here mole-free for nearly 25 years before these varmints found us. Do I have to accept that they're here to stay?