Friday, July 5, 2013

Ravens Delight!

The weather has been very hot here in Northern California this week.  Everyone is complaining, including me.  This hot weather reminds me of the weather in Napa when I was growing up.  It was hot, hot , hot and we spent the whole day at the high school swimming pool for $.25.  Wow- those days are long gone.  For relief from the heat we decided to go to Bodega Bay for the day.  We loaded the van with cushion, sleeping bags, pillows, books and snacks and off we went.  I was hoping to get cool and see the resident pair of ravens at Bodega Head. 
It was in the high 90's in Napa when we left home.  When we got to Bodega we could see a fog bank at a far distance out at sea.  At Bodega Head the wind was blowing very hard and it was COLD!!! Wow!!  We parked the van so that the back of the van opened with a great view of the pounding surf below.  We had to put on jackets and get under the sleeping bags.  This was wonderful.
We were there several hours and then the ravens showed up!  Not 2 but 3 ravens.  Number 3 must have been a juvenile.  They were having such a good time, diving, turning, wheeling around in the wind.  They let the wind carry them here and there.  They looked to be having such a great time in the wind.  They flew back and forth in front of the open van back door.  I didn't have anything to feed them- bad RavenMaven, bad, bad.  Where are the eggs, the peanuts, the dried cat food??  I forgot these essential items in my haste to get cool.  It was a wonderful treat to see the Ravens Delight in the cool ocean winds.
The week before we had an adventure of looking at a Mt. Veeder fixer.  This would be a cottage on Mt. Veeder built who knows when, falling off its foundation, with a bad well and an unknown septic system.  The attraction of the place was that it was 2 blocks from where we used to live on Mt. Veeder. While I was there I could hear Bold and Shy (my resident ravens) on one side of the property and the Smith's raven pair calling from the other side.  Wow- raven heaven for me.  The fixer is a short sale but alas and alack- my husband did a spreadsheet analysis of what it would take to make this place liveable.  What a money pit it would be, so no Mt. Veeder fixer for me, sigh, double sigh.
So for now, I am a crow's friend.  Mr. Crow comes every morning and every evening before dusk.  He gets his peanuts everyday.  Right now there is a young crow out front begging for food so I am off to sprinkle peanuts on the driveway.  The crows have to be quick as the blue jays are much quicker and get the peanuts before you know it!  Life among the corvids continues to be wonderful!