Fun Raven visits to Mt. Veeder

On Friday afternoon we went up to Mt. Veeder to visit our former next door neighbors.  They have a lovely deck and I was enjoying myself when I heard the ravens somewhere in the neighborhood.  I began calling RAVENS, RAVENS, and here they came.  I walked down to the meadow to see the ravens and to put out a treat.  They were very agitated however and flew off.  I was very disappointed not be to able to spend some time with them.  Then I HEARD the problem.  I heard a crow calling.  The raven pair DO NOT like it when crows try to invade their territory.  This had happened when we were living next door.  Crows tried to come into our little creek canyon environment and the ravens succeeded in running them off.  Looks like it was happening again.  There was alot of cawing and croaking going on.  In the end the crow/crows left and the juvenile ravens started coming in for the night.  Quite a few were flying about checking out the redwood trees for the perfect over night tree.  How wonderful to see nature close up.  Thus fell the night with all the ravens tucked up safely in a redwood tree.  How lucky is that?
Next day we went to a wonderful barbq party across the way and down hill a bit from our former residence.  There is a raven pair that lives in the vicinity. They are fed treats by our wonderful former neighbor who used to take care of Andy cat.   These ravens were flying all around and very close to me.  The hosts of the party have two very tall poles with red and white flags located by their swimming pool.  A raven sat on the top of each pole and looked quite majestic.  I was sorry to hear that their two daughters, 12 and 14 years of age, are afraid of the birds.  Ravens and black birds in general get such a bad rap in western European and thus American derived culture.  So different from the Northwest Indian tribes of the North American continent who had it right.  Raven brought the sun and thus the light to the world.  That is what I prefer to believe.

Summertime RAVEN Idyll Ends

It was a sad day, September 30, 2013, when we moved our belongings out of the Lokoya cabin and headed for home in the flat lands of Napa Valley.  Bold and Shy raven sat very quietly on a tree branch above us as we moved our few possessions out of the cabin and stowed them in the car.  It was like a repeat of the day three years ago when we left our home on Mt. Veeder.  I swear they knew what was happening and they were very solemn.  I left them lots of peanuts and three eggs.  As we left I saw that they were on the deck railing enjoying the bounty of peanuts in the shell.  I had two months to enjoy their company and the very beautiful views from the cabin deck and for this I am very grateful.  I also enjoyed the opportunity to paint watercolors without any distractions of normal life (laundry and all that).  So all and all it was a lovely experience which I hope to repeat next year.  As ravens live 35 years, I hope Bold and Shy will still be around next year.  This afternoon I am going up to Mt. Veeder to visit my former next door neighbors.  The raven pair often hang around their house and root around in a spot below their deck.  I am taking a couple of eggs just in case.  I will yell RAVENS and see if they appear.  Could be a good thing.