Davis, CA

Hawk moths in my yard in #DavisCA

2014-06-15T21:55:00.001-07:00

Just a few pics I got tonight ... finally learning how to use my flash.

Photos taken with a Nikon D90 camera, Speedlight SB-910 flash and a Nikkor AF-S 105 mm Micro lens.

Local elections in Davis, Yolo County and California are apparently a way for junk mail to be distributed. What a waste.

2014-05-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

Well, the local elections in Davis, Yolo County and California are as far as I can tell mostly a way for junk mail to be distributed. What a waste.

Yolo Basin 1-6 - yellowthroat, sora, and more

2014-01-06T13:57:00.004-08:00

Another good day at Yolo Basin. Here are a few pics.

Highlights and notes from trip to Argentina 2013

2014-01-06T07:32:00.001-08:00

My family went on a 2 week trip to Argentina over winter break and I thought I would post some notes and pics here.

We flew from Sacramento to Mendoza, via Dallas and Santiago. We flew on American Airlines which was mostly a complete disaster. We booked flights in Summer and chose American Airlines because they had "extra leg room seats" for the long Dallas to Santiago flight that one could pay for. As someone with circulatory problems that was important to me so we chose American and bought these tickets and all seemed good.

But alas it was not to be. I got an email from American saying our flight was changed and when I called them they said that the timing of the flights was changed and that was it. Alas they did not tell me our extra leg room seats no longer existed as they had also changed the airplane. I did not find this out for months.

I called American and posted to Twitter and tried everything I could think of to get seats with more leg room (e.g., bulkhead seats). And I was told by the American Airlines agent on the phone and the @americanair twitter account that American would contact me on the weekend before we left to arrange for bulkhead seats. But alas no call. And then on the day of our flight I got a call and by that point the agent said "sorry - bulkhead seats are not available for your whole group." Thanks a f$*#@ lot American.

Anyway - rather than belabor this here I have made a Storify of some of the Tweets relating to our trip including the conversations with American Airlines. See below for more detail on this.

Anyway - overall the trip was good even with the continuing trouble with American Airlines and Lan Airlines.

We went to five places on the trip.

Hotel Mendoza in Downtown Mendoza
Barreal #1
Barreal #2
Portrerillos
Lares de Chacras on the outskirts of Mendoza

And here are some of the better pics with some notes from the trip

Hotel Mendoza

Barreal #1

Parque Leoncito

Some more around Barreal

Parque Leoncito trip JAE and MIB

More around Barreal

Barreal #2

MIB, Alicia and Analia horseback riding

More around Barreal #2

Potrerillos

Lares de Chacras

Long trip home

Yolo Basin Notes Jan 5, 2014

2014-01-05T14:44:00.003-08:00

Another good outing at Yolo Basin Wetlands today.

Went this AM around 11 or so. Spent about two hours there, driving around, hiking and birdwatching. Here are some of the pics I took while there.

Interesting scene here - a Northern Harrier was chasing an American Bittern that had a crawfish in its mouth.

#DavisCA lockdown update

2013-02-21T15:13:00.002-08:00

The following is a joint communication from the Davis Police Department and Davis Joint Unified School District.

On February 21, 2013, at approximately 10:25 am, the Davis Police Department received a call from administrators at Davis Senior High School reporting a male subject possibly armed with a handgun north of the library parking lot. As a precaution, four schools were placed on lockdown: Davis Senior High School; North Davis Elementary School, St. James Elementary School, and King High School. There is no information to indicate that the subject was ever on any of the campuses in the immediate area. The lockdown lasted approximately 35 minutes.

Officers responded and detained a male subject matching the description provided by the reporting party. Through the course of the investigation, it was determined that the subject had been in possession of a BB gun, which he discarded prior to police contacting him.

The BB gun was located in the vicinity of where the male subject was detained.

A second subject, who was with the male, was detained as well. Both individuals were released from the scene. Due to the fact that the subject was never on any of the campuses and also never threatened or brandished the BB gun, no criminal charges are being pursued at this time. The Davis Police Department will continue to investigate this incident for any legal recourse. The male subject is described as being in his late teens and not enrolled at any of the schools.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact the Davis Police Department at 530-747-5400.

#DavisCA lockdown lifted

2013-02-21T11:52:00.002-08:00

Just got this email:

The DHS lockdown has been lifted. I want to thank the students, staff and the Davis Police Department for their immediate and professional response during this time. Again, all of our students are safe.
Winfred Roberson
Superintendent

#DavisCA schools on lockdown 2/21/13

2013-02-21T11:21:00.003-08:00

Just got this email and thought I would post

Your students are safe. The district received reports that someone was armed in the vicinity of Oak Avenue and B Streets. The police were summoned and the suspects have been detained. We want to assure parents/guardians all safety protocols are in place and all precautions were taken. DHS, North Davis, King High and DSIS schools were on lockdown and have been released. DHS remains on lockdown pending further investigation. Additional information will be forthcoming as it becomes available.
Winfred Roberson
Superintendent

Harvard Club of Sacramento outing to Yolo Basin #Birds #Birds #MoreBirds

2013-02-10T15:55:00.000-08:00

Had a good outing today with the Harvard Club of Sacramento to Yolo Basin. Some pics and notes are below.

Coots

Geese way way up high

Turkey vulture

Add caption

American bittern .. a bit out of focus

Bittern again

Great egret

Black phoebe

Good day at Yolo Basin - Birds, Otters and more

2013-02-09T09:36:00.003-08:00

I love Yolo Basin Wildlife Area. Only a 5-10 minute drive from Davis or a 20-30 minute bike ride. It is phenomenal. For more about it see the links below:

I drove over there there yesterday as a way of clearing my head after a bit of a rough day the day before. Drove around the gravel roads in the park for a bit and got out a few times to look around.

First sighting of something of interest - off in the distance

A little far away for a good pic - but nice American Kestrel

Kestrel again

Some flowers out

Ruddy duck just off the road

Another ruddy duck

A group of Northern shovelers

More Northern Shovelers

Northern Pintails

Northern Harrier (a lot of Northern things I guess)

Coots (they are everywhere in the park)

Northern shoveler

More pintails

Kingfisher off in the distance

Forster's tern (I think)

And then the best moment - there in front of me, running across the road - river otters. They
caught me by surprise but I got this pic through my windshield. Six of them in total.

I went to where they crossed and looked around for 3-4 minutes
and saw nothing. As I was getting ready to go I saw
some rippling in the water. And then ..

One crossed the road.

And off to the other side.

There was a little trail of water in the road.

And then another crossed.

And another

And off into the bushes to the water.

And they then hung out clicking at each other and maybe at me.

They had left a little gift by the side of the road.

I kept watching

And then I realized maybe they were waiting for the other three. So
I backed away and looked across in the water on the other side and there they were.

Add caption

Overall a good day at the Basin.

Almost like getting an email from Santa Claus

2012-08-30T14:04:00.002-07:00

My wife just shared this with me - an email she got back from the Lego company

Thank you for getting in touch with us about your replacement LEGO® pieces.

I'm sorry to hear your LEGO pieces need replacing. We get to play with LEGO sets all day long (the best job in the world?), so I know that sometimes a piece wears out or gets lost.

That's why I've asked for a replacement piece to be sent out to you. We always try to match the color you want, but sometimes stocks run low, so we might have to send you a different one. Unfortunately part# 4498712 is licensed and was not included with this request.

Although we usually ask people to pay for replacement pieces, I'm sending this one for free - so now you can get building and have fun!

Your replacement parts will be shipped from our facility in Denmark. Please allow 7-10 business days for delivery.

Thanks again for contacting us. We are always pleased to receive feedback from LEGO fans! If you could take a moment to complete a four question survey by going to the link below, it will help us make sure we are providing the best customer service to you.

The Ballad of #UCDavis from Aaron Heuckroth

2012-08-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

The Ballad of UC Davis from the brilliant and talented Aaron Heuckroth.
Hat tip to the Davis Patch.

Extra fruit in your trees? Don't let it rot - donate it #DavisCA #VillageHarvest

2012-07-08T14:23:00.001-07:00

Today, one of our neighbor came over and told us that the "Village Harvest" group was at their house to collect fruit from their trees and she wanted to know if they could come into our yard as part of the collection. I said "please ... and tell them they can collect from our tree too." You see, we have a pluot tree that produces more fruit than I can keep up with (and I note - we get a lot of the pluots from our neighbors tree too since it leans over our yard). I have made 40+ jars of jam, 40+ fruit rolls, froze a bunch of pulp for later projects and still there was more fruit. So I invited people over to collect some of the pluots and still there was more fruit. So I was very happy to see the Village Harvest folks next door.

Village Harvest is a " a nonprofit volunteer organization in the greater San Francisco Bay Area which harvests fruit from backyards and small orchards, then passes it along to local food agencies to feed the hungry."

And they have a Davis chapter: http://www.villageharvest.org/davis/

And so they came over and started collecting some of the pluots and I took some pictures and video of the event ...

Definitely going to sign up for this for all cases when we can't use all of our fruit ...

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Fun day at Capay Organic Farm (site of Farm Fresh to You) with DCCNS

2012-05-07T07:24:00.002-07:00

My son goes to DCCNS preschool. They had a fundraiser yesterday at Capay Organic Farm in Capay (this is the place that the Farm Fresh to You folks have their farm). It was a nice time. Party started at 2 pm, they had tractor rides, kite flying, ladybug releasing, strawberry picking, and more. And then there was a raffle (the fundraiser part) and tomato planting to take home and a piñata. The farm was beautiful, the people there were great, and I am glad we get food from there (we are subscribers to their CSA). It was good for all the kids to see where some food comes from ... Here are some pics.

Davis Community Church Nursery School (DCCNS) Annual Rummage Sale 4/28 8 AM - noon

2012-04-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

Am hoping #tedmed security at the Kennedy Center lets me in w/ my friends

2012-04-10T10:13:00.001-07:00

Woohoo 1st time biking to school on her own bike

2012-04-05T19:54:00.001-07:00

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This is how we transfer Illumina data at #ucdavis

2012-04-05T19:29:00.001-07:00

My ladyfriend is letting me get closer and closer everyday #ILoveHummingbirds

2012-04-05T00:11:00.001-07:00

My kids tampered w/ the @nytimes Sports section to secretly do April 1 joke on me

2012-04-01T21:12:00.001-07:00

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Well, Annapurna has decided laps are for losers; now she curls up on my chest

2012-03-26T23:37:00.001-07:00

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Costa's Hummingbirds in #DavisCA

2012-03-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

Got some new friends

And now I have a billion plus infinity dollars

2012-03-23T18:42:00.001-07:00

Just a typical Friday in #davisca - printing our own money

2012-03-23T18:36:00.001-07:00

How are these @kejames re: #PLoSOne cc: @boraz @edyong209 @danielaphd

2012-01-29T16:59:00.001-08:00

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