Shades of grey

  The first winter storm of the season brought much needed wind and rain that helped clear the skies of smoke from wildfire burning in Northern California. A trip to the Isenberg Sandhill… Continue reading

Hazy arrival

Smoke from the devastating Camp Fire that burned through the city of Paradise in Northern California has left much of the Central Valley blanketed in a layer of smoke and haze. I set… Continue reading

Paint the sky

Cool winds and clouds bring the first hint of winter coming to the Isenberg wetlands outside Lodi. The calendar still says fall but the colors in the sky hint of things to come.… Continue reading

En Masse

There is a saying, “go big or go home.” The sandhill cranes sunset arrival to Isenberg this past Saturday in the fading light included an en masse departure from their grazing field across… Continue reading

Sun up

Technically sunrise or sun up is described as that moment when the upper limb of the sun appears on the horizon in the morning. At Isenberg it is that moment when the color… Continue reading

A decade at Isenberg

It has been 10 years since I made my first trip to the Woodbridge Ecological Reserve just west of Lodi. Standing in the gathering darkness thousands of sandhill cranes trumpeted their arrival to… Continue reading

Capital Show

From the cutting-edge Air Force fighter jet to a crop duster launching fireworks to behemoth jet on doomsday alert to a vintage twin engine passenger plane rolling across the sky the California Capital… Continue reading

Days of Thunder

Mather Airport in Sacramento celebrated 100 years of history with the three-day California Capital Airshow featuring the United States Air Force Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Squadron. America’s Ambassadors in Blue, the Thunderbirds perform flight… Continue reading

Light Station

First lit in 1871, the Pigeon Point Lighthouse sits on a rugged outcrop of rocks along the California coast.   The 115-foot-high brick tower has weathered through the years and has been closed… Continue reading

Fresnel

On a trip to the Pigeon Point Light Station I got a close-up look at the fresnel lens system that once helped guide wayward ships through dangerous waters.   A common 150-watt projection… Continue reading