Monday, September 7, 2015

All Things Raven

I have been having a very Raven month.  I have had the fortune to spend time up on Mt. Veeder at a cabin behind my former house.  This allows me to visit with my raven pair, Bold and Shy.  What is amazing to me is that remember me and my EGGS!!!!  And my Peanuts!!   As soon as I arrive up at the cabin, I set up my project for the day at a table on the deck.  I am usually painting a watercolor card for my three old grand daughter.. who appreciates my art!  As soon as I am all set up, I yell RAVEN at the top of my lungs. After a short while, here come the ravens.  They are probably thinking, who is this fool and what does she have for us today?  This past visit I played with the ravens by placing the peanuts on the road which is quite steep.  The ravens would peck the peanut shell to get the nut out.  They would do this by putting one foot on the peanut shell and banging on the peanut with their bill.  Once the peanut was free of the shell it would start rolling down the steep hill.  Then the fun began!!!  Ravens hop hop hopping trying to catch up with errant peanut, jumping up and down until they got it!!! Since I would not be back for some days for another visit... they received six eggs over the span of my visit.  They were very satisfied with this arrangement.

This morning I am enjoying a cup of Black Raven tea, a darkly delicious blackcurrant tea.  This was a gift from my friend Ruth.  It is so nice that my friends indulge my obsession with the big black birds!  It is from, the Eastern Shore Tea Company and I can recommend it.

Another person who indulges my raven obsession is my daughter Alexis.  She recently attended the Gravenstine Apple Fair.  She found there a great Raven card for me.  It is drawing of the Twin Peaks in San Francisco with a raven sitting atop each peak.  I have visited Twin Peaks several times to commune with the resident ravens there.  They are a hardy happy lot from all appearances and they rule the peaks.

We recently revisited Anchor Bay.  It is on the northern coast of California where the redwoods come down to the ocean.  It is a lovely spot and oh how many ravens there are there!  There are ravens in the trees and on the cliffs overlooking the ocean.  They are constantly flying all around.  They are used to people and come looking for treats.  If you do not produce a treat within a reasonable time- they squawk and fly off- disgusted!  Alas I had no eggs or peanuts with me.

 There was a HORD of acorn woodpeckers living in a telephone pole near our lodgings.  I could not believe it.  They had hollowed out the pole to a great degree.  At nightfall there was a woodpecker head sticking out of every hole up and down the tree.  A number of the birds were also inside the pole which they accessed from the top of the hollowed out pole.  It was a pole FULL of woodpeckers!  The lodging also had a water tank that had been painted with a flying raven- what a great place to stay.  It was truly a great visit to the north coast.