A few new carvings

Eagle head cane Whale Bottle stopper

Snowman

Well, Christmas has past and things have returned to normal. The Tuesday before Christmas I came down with a virus and was sick till Saturday. Other then that, things have been great here. I carved all the grandkids snowman ornaments for Christmas. The whale bottlestoper went to Matt and Beth. The eagle cane I made just because I wanted to make another one. The first one I sold, so I wanted one for show and tell. The bad thing I did was not taking pictures of all the things I made for Christmas. I got in such hurry to get them all done and shipped to the people that they were made for, that I forgot to get pics. I hope to get pictures of the them later. I am now working on things to put in the fair that is coming up in February.

The weather here has been a little on the cool side, high 30s at night, high 50s during the day. Today it got back up in the 70s. That's the way we like it. We have been hiking almost every day. There is a Great Horned Owl that is living in the grove a mile away. We go down there a lot to see of he is in a place that I can get some good pictures of him. We have been taking visitors out to view him when we get time.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Great horned owl

Ocotilla bloom
Snow on the mountians around us

Great Horned Owl

We went on a hike this morning and spotted a great horned owl in one of the plam trees. It was the first time we had seen an owl here. I have had a few people come in the center and tell me about where they had seen an owl, so we went looking for it. Along the trail to the grove where we saw the owl is the lone ocotilla plant. We think it was planted here years ago as it is not natural to the preserve. It had one bloom on it.

It rained all day yesterday, very different from the norm. The rain should wake up the desert and bring out more flowers. The big flower time here is not until February . The weather is cooler now, 40's at night, low 70's during the day. The mountians were covered with snow when we got up. Most of it was gone this evening.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

We are back to work

Well it's back to work after our trip to Matt and Beth's. I led my first hike today. We went back to an area that most people don't hike to. The first pic is of the wall of the mud walled canyon we hiked into. There is a lot of erosion on the hill sides, really pretty cool looking . The hike was almost 6 miles in lenght. Louise worked in the center while I led the hike, her first day working by herself. She survived just fine.

The caterpillars are American Queens. They resemble Monarchs but are much smaller. The babies are the cutest in California! If you see them together you don't know they are siblings. Jack is a curly red head with bright blue eyes. Katie has a head full of dark straight hair and of course the usual newborn brown eyes. We'll have to wait a while to see if they start looking more like each other.

We are battling mild cold symptoms but otherwise are fine and busy getting ready for Christmas.

That's about it for now.

Duane and Louise

Katherine Alice Buechter

Louise, Katie, Jack, Matt
Katherine Alice

All snuggled up

Here's the new little star on our horizon, grandbaby #6, granddaughter #3. Katherine Alice debuted this morning at 9:18. The first picture is Grandma Weezie holding Katie. Big brother Jack is giving her a kiss while Daddy watches. Everyone but Grandma was apprehensive about this because Jack is usually a little whirlwind around the house, but I knew he would be gentle with his little sis.

We are visiting here in Walnut Creek, CA for the week. We arrived yesterday afternoon, just in time to babysit Jack while mom and dad went to the hospital to have Katie. While we are here we will celebrate Christmas with them before heading back home. We left sunshine and warm weather, drove through fog for most of the last half of the journey, and are experiencing overcast skies and chilly damp weather today. Yuchh! But Jack is a pretty sunny fellow with his curly red hair and dimply toothy grin. He makes us laugh.

I guess that's enough for anyone who isn't family ( or maybe if you are!)

Louise and Duane