Sunday, December 27, 2020

My Crystal Court Bold and Shy Ravens

 It has been a long time since I wrote about my Raven friends.  It took quite awhile to attract a pair of

ravens to my house on Crystal Court in Napa Valley.  Fortunately we are located very close to open space and vineyards where there lives a pair of nice perky ravens.  In their flyovers of the neighborhood they finally noticed the white chicken eggs that were placed on the ground in hopes they would attract a raven or two.  Now a days they come every morning around 8 AM and hoot and call for their breakfast.  I jump? out of bed and deliver their feast of chicken eggs, meat scraps and unsalted peanuts in the shell.  What more could a raven want??  Jack the cat also goes out with me to deliver the food.  He likes to watch the ravens.  They pay no attention to my 20 lb cat!  They are all about getting the food before the turkey vultures notice there is something to eat.  

2020 has been a really weird year with lockdowns, then stores and restaurants open, then closed again.  Since I am in the age group that is subject to the virus I have been staying home most of the time, especially since there is nowhere to go!  But I have the RAVENS to entertain me.  I have been going to estate sales with my friend who buys vintage clothes for Etsy site.  I have a look around at the sale for odd things that I might need?  I bought a very nice metal table and chairs at one sale.  I put it under the redwood trees in the front of the house near the raven feeding site.  I can sit out there.. FOREST BATHING..under the redwood trees and watch the ravens. Sometimes they hang upside down from a redwood branch just over my head.  They are very tricky birds.  We entertain each other  and I appreciate the break in what could otherwise be a boring Covid day.

2020 has also been a weird year for the Napa area due to the wildfires.  The fires did not come close to us this year like they did in 2017 but the air quality this year was horrible during the fires.  The entire town of Calistoga had to evacuate for a week.  My fiber group friends all had to leave home and hole up wherever they could with their pets.  The power was off and then it was on here in Napa.  We have a generator now to power the house when PG&E power goes down.  I thought when we left Mt. Veeder we were done with generators..not so!  My daughter in Sonoma has a generator now too.  Life can be very uncertain in these times.

Well I am back with tales of ravens and life in the valley.  The raven flies by the windows in the morning to let me know he is here and ready to eat.  Up on Mt Veeder we had floor to ceiling windows.  Raven figured out where I slept.  He would perch on the window frame and bang on the window glass to make sure I knew he wanted some food.  Chuck was worried raven would break the glass.  It was double paned and did not break. Raven cannot perch on the windows here on Crystal Court so he does the fly by.  Really these birds are very smart.  And so in this time of Covid I am entertained by my raven friends, reading many book, crocheting, cooking too many good things and Zooming with friends and planting a hummingbird garden.  Life is good with my very nice husband Chuck, my fat cat Jack and those opportunistic RAVEN friends!