Christmas

      After reading my silly Facebook posting, my friend Sami sent a message inviting me for Christmas.  !!!   Such a wonderful invitation. When I lived in Sacramento, Sami and I went birding together.  I drove to Central Valley on the 24th and she took me out birding to Colusa NWR.   So many birds to be seen !!  Christmas morning we went birding again, thru open country and to Lake Solano.  Its good to see that despite the drought birds are still hanging on.  We counted 60 species on Wednesday.  The drier conditions seemed to have helped the Yellow-billed Magpie population by decreasing the mosquitoes.  West Nile Virus carried by mosquitoes has hit the YB Magpies hard.    (Disclaimer:   this is not my photo,  its from Internet)
     It was a good Christmas, her son made a wonderful BBQ turkey for dinner.
Back on the mountain, snow is not falling from the sky. Snow-making machines are working all night to improve the ski runs for the throngs of holiday visitors.
     I stayed at Hostel Tahoe in Kings Beach, CA, on the edge of Lake Tahoe for several days.   Holiday reservations filled up the hostel and I moved to a quaint old place in west Reno,  Wildflower Hostel.  Reminiscent of small old towns in the West, Wildflower Hostel has a coffee shop, a pub, an art gallery, and old rooms with ceramic decoration and lacy curtains.  Quite charming actually.  Tomorrow I move into a large house in Truckee, as a 4th house-mate.  Hooray !!
     Tuesday afternoon:   Silver truck is now empty of boxes and bags.  Truck washing is next!!

 
House in Truckee with a house-mate's Jeep in front.  Along this road all the houses are on the downhill side, with the 2nd floor of the house at street level.  1st floor is downstairs (down the slope of the hill.).