The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond

So my return ticket is for the 5th January. I looked at it once about 2 months ago and noticed that the flight left late at night. However looking again just now by accident, I notice that the flight actually leaves at 12:05 am on 5 Jan. That is tonight! I have lost a day and but for a trick of fate would have shown up tomorrow and missed the plane. Here are a few random shots from a great stay in California.

James

We see breakfast

My coat.

Parking lot Nevada

Makes a change from Miso soup and seaweed for breakfast.

What?

Thanks James, thanks Ben

The goal of this  trip was to visit Ruby Lake Wildlife Reserve in Nevada. The website is very seductive, http://www.fws.gov/Refuge/Ruby_Lake/

It does not however mention that it is virtually inaccessible in the winter, that the lake is frozen and the whole region covered in feet of snow. I could have deduced this from study of weather reports but in balmy Okinawa it is difficult to integrate snow and ice into climate prognosis.

We, Ben and I, head off from San Francisco in the car with no name. It is a great car but uses a pint of oil every 100 miles, which points to something rotten in the motor. Will we get there? Will we get back?

It is really, really cold throughout the whole trip. The record being minus 18 fahrenheit -28 centigrade, in Battle  Mountain. The scenery is glorious.

East on I 80

We follow the California Trail that brought the wagon trains from the East. I 80 was essentially built over the ruts. America is big and after a day’s driving we stop in Winnemucca.

“Winnemucca’s brothel district, while smaller now than in the 1980s, is known as “The Line” or “The Ring Circle”, based on the layout of the street where the brothels are located. Sex workers in the town must register their vehicles with the local police.”^{[5]  Wikipedia.}

I thought you would like to know this.

We stay in a very cheap motel -$49.99- and eat KFC.

Next morning we head off to Battle Mountain for breakfast.

Model T in garden of collapsing house in Battle Mountain

– 3 fahrenheit ! Minus 18 centigrade

Main Street, Battle Mountain, Nevada. It is very ,very cold

On to Elko and then we head south towards Ruby lake. It starts fine as, although the road is narrow, it has been more or less cleared of snow and ice. This changes suddenly and we are confronted with a big decision – continue or turn back. The road is covered in snow, we are in the middle of nowhere, we have neither snow tyres nor chains, the car is hardly designed for off road stuff. If we slide off the road or get stuck it will be nasty as it it is way, way below freezing and there are no signs of humans. We have no gloves nor boots. Anyway there will be nothing to see when we get there as everything is frozen solid.  We go on.

Jack Rabbit dreams of Bermuda

The road to Ruby Lake.

Cosy

Log House

What is this? No field guide. I think it is a very pale Red Tailed Hawk. No it is a pale Ferruginous Hawk

We did see some birds on the way down the lonesome road. A very fine Golden Eagle who sat on his post until we were about 5 yards away and a Bald Eagle.

Trumpeter Swans, actually I now think they are Tundra Swans. Notice yellow spot on adult’s bill.

Ben at Ruby Lake. Spot the lake.

Nature Morte

Okinawa to Ruby Lake

Great trip. Here is a poor video:https://youtu.be/lcDwfAdqlsU

Well driven Ben.

Ben and I head towards the Sacramento wetlands in the car with no name  to observe geese and to check on my future home.

I intend to die in a camper on the back of a pickup truck and this necessitates purchasing both. I had better hurry as I hear the bell tolling. Accordingly we drive fast up 80 to the camper workshop

Casket

Have a look at the 4 Wheel Camper site:  http://www.fourwh.com/

We then head north as the evening draws in. Thousands of geese are flying into the wetlands to spend the night in ponds of freezing water.  It is an soul restoring sight. The vast majority are Snow Geese with some Ross Geese and White Fronted Geese, I think but I have left my field guide in Okinawa, thrown in.

Snow Geese settle for a freezing night in the swamp.

Snow Goose

Grace Slick Goose. No, White Fronted Goose

Ferruginous Hawk, I think

It gets dark so we head to Walmart.

Outside Walmart.

We are up before dawn to catch the early birds catching the worms.

Ben with the car with no name

We pass a unforgettable morning.

Don’t know what this is until I get back to Okinawa. I have got very rusty on American birds. Cooper’s Hawk

White Crowned Sparrow

We go for breakfast in the Black Bear Diner.

Eggs Benedict

We go back to the wetlands and have another glorious session of wildlife.

Bald Eagle! I have seen them before but usually a thousand miles away. This one sat on my knee.

Eggs Benedict

Some of a million Snow Geese that take off at the same time.

Glossy Ibis

I do not understand this. Gas was $4:50-$5:00 when I left 8 years ago

Such happiness, cheap gas and millions of rare birds.

So I wake up to a very wet and blowy Xmas day in Okinawa. Mind you it is still 20 degrees but it feels chilly. I bumble around and finally find myself at the airport. I fly to Taipei. I fly to San Francisco.

The boys pick me up at SFO at about 7:30 pm on Xmas day. I do not recognize James who now has a full beard. Ben’s car is working and we zing back to Fell.

Alan has arranged for a whole lot of beer to be delivered.

James has cooked roast duck, Chinese hairy potato and bok choi. It is delicious. We drink beer and open excellent gifts from around the world. We have a lot of fun.

Thanks everyone!

I go to bed and draw the cover, which seems a bit thin, over me. I am asleep in 2 seconds. I awake at 2:30 with my teeth chattering and chilled to the bone. I had not realized that the cover was only flimsy decoration and I was lying on top of a super warm sleeping bag. Too long in Okinawa where a sheet is usually sufficient cover. I feel truly awful and lie foetus like in the sleeping bag desperately trying to warm up. I have not been cold for years.

Another double Xmas. Lots of adventures programmed in the wild west.

I go to Tokyo for lunch.

I get up at 5:30; hightail it to the airport for the first flight. It is a 2.5 hours flight, which gives me a wonderful window to read a book that brother Ian recommended. It is about two guys who sail and row a small boat through the North West Passage. Great fun, a little blemished by Royal Marine officers spending too much time talking about their relationship. Are Marines allowed to talk about relationships these days?

Anyway their relationships, I mean adventures, are very similar to my own on the Scaffie. Mine tend to be warmer. However they do a great job describing the frustration and tedium of beating against the wind in a small dinghy with no motor.

Okinawa

So we beat our way into Tokyo against the wind as I am reading about sailing in a rock strewn passage in terrible conditions.  Suddenly the wind gets up and the fog comes in. We crash against huge waves of turbulence. We cannot see where we are going. We are kicked around by the wind and sea. The dread of the big wave that will be the end is ever present. We finally break through the fog and, oh no!, we are only 1oo metres above the reef, I mean runway. I don’t think we will make it. The tiller does not respond as we are buffeted up, down, port, starboard. The rain crashes against the widows.

There is a sickening crunch as we smash into the rocks.

Later, after lunch, I fly back but this time it is a smooth broad reach.

Flying can be a lot like sailing.

Why is it that very rare birds fly into windows more than common birds? Why is it that cats catch Bullfinches, Goldfinches and Hawfinches in preference to Sparrows?

Ryukyu Green Pigeon. I have only even seen two.

Maybe this is evolution. These birds are rare because they have not worked out plate glass.

Brown Headed Thrush. I have never seen this bird alive.

Ruddy Kingfisher! I have seen 2.

Nature red in tooth and claw and window.

I went to Tokyo last week and ate this

Evening meal

Breakfast – check out little baby fish.

When I go to Tokyo I like to stay at the First Cabin Hotel at either Haneda or Narita airports.

I have written about these places before but they are a source such joy to me that I can not restrain myself.:

Things I like:

It reminds me of skool

I can pretend I am in a hut on the Antartic shelf

It has lightning internet

It is 2 mins from the departure security gate

It is 1 minute from any number of restaurants

I do not have to get up at 3:30 in the center of Tokyo and worry about getting the right subway

It is dirt cheap

I also delight in the fact that there are no doors on the rooms, just a sliding screen thing, which you cannot lock. It is understood that we live in a civilized society where people are not going to rob, murder and stuff, you.

Come morning, I stumble into the spotless bathroom area for a shower and that sort of thing. Everyone is wearing the blue hotel pyjamas. It is like a scene from a prison movie or a British public school. We all hunch over the sinks with bleary eyes, tousled hair, I mean not me, as we ritually scrub our molars.

15 minutes later we are all bursting  out to catch flights. Everyone is immaculate in suits and ties, I mean not me.

Such fun.

First Class Cabin. Notice extra space beside bed. Most cabins are smaller.

You will remember that I mistakenly ordered 29 kilos of mutton when Ben was here. This fills every nook and cranny of freezer space I possess and there are 4 legs of lamb in  a freezer at the university.

Today, Mark gives me a shoulder of venison and a bottle of Scottish beer. Tara gives me 3 packs of bacon, a pack of sausages and a huge bag of chicken breasts. She also gives me half a bottle of Lagavulin and  a bottle of Aberlour.

Freshly grallached.

What am I going to do with all this meat?

Very strange moth, probably carnivorous

I love to have a project and right now I have a meaty one – the thwart.

Readers will remember that I went down to the woodyard to negotiate a new thwart.

By the way, this is my new car.

Anyway this is what my buddy, the wood dude, came up with.

Probably not Oak but very hard nonetheless.

I drill and soak in teak oil.

I love drenching wood with oil

I stand outside in the sun. I sand, oil and watch.

An Osprey passes by

A caterpillar says hello

Ponsettia in its natural state

A little yellow flower with bug

New thwart in situ

So, I feel this thwart project will keep me going until the end of 2015. I have to varnish, refine hole placing and finally bolt onto the boat. So much pleasure.

Tara has been a joy and light at the University for the last umm 3 years. Unfortunately, if you see what I mean, she has submitted her thesis and will move on down the road. I mourn her passing. Tara is without doubt the finest flute and whistle player with a doctorate, er nearly, in Quantum Physics in the visible universe.

Tara tells it like it is

I have enjoyed playing music with her immensely. She is the real thing. I mean she is from Midleton, County Cork, where Jameson whiskey is made. She plays with great understanding and drinks, parties, is, in the same way.

There is a big party to say adieu.

Yay Tara Okinawa

We play a million tunes.

Tara and the rest of us. Best Irish music in Okinawa

She is very smart.

Further on down the road, Tara

Respect Tara.