Golden Brown and Hopfully Delicious

Placing each and every piece of apple kind of irks Mary, but that's how Alton does it! The crust was a little scary, rough, but it seems to have worked.

The pie is cooling now so we don't know about it's deliciousness. Smells good - should be good.

We shall see.

Mary's Applesauce

This is the last of four batches of applesauce this year. It made twenty one pints, seven 12oz. jars, and a little leftover. We got our apples (40 pound box of seconds for $18) from Troxell's in Montgomery Creek. They created a good mix of apples and delivered them to the Redding farmers market on Saturday.

I saved a few apples for pies though. Mary is going to teach me how to make pie crust, so tender and flaky. We will be following Alton Brown's recipe though (he puts Applejack in his). It's what's coming up.

Smoking Salmon with Flower Pots

Earlier this summer this was my smoker setup. Salmon was the flavor of the day here with apple wood chunks for smoke. I have an electric burner in the bottom with stainless steel wood pan. Over that I place a smaller grill and an aluminum pot with water in it. I used too large a grill to allow more heat to escape. The smoker only needed to be around 170 degrees.

This flower pot smoker does a nice job but is restricted by size. The grill size is 13 inches diameter. Not too sure if a whole beef brisket will fit on it, but tri-tips and a pork butt roast do fit.

After building it I'm sure I could have bought a cheaper smoker but it wouldn't have been stoneware.

Lesser Goldfinch

Lesser Goldfinch, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Either sipping for nectar or pecking at an undeveloped seed. We tried all morning to get several species of birds on these flowers, but only two goldfinches came. Could have been the same one twice also.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Frank and I spent the morning shooting birds from blinds at his pond. I believe this is an Orange-crowned Warbler. It also resembles a Warbling Vireo. I mostly photograph them then look them up and lots of them look alike to me in the book. If you can confirm yea or nay on my identification please leave me a comment.

I changed the name of this bird after receiving input from a bird ID group on Flickr. Without doing a hands-on exam, I don't think anyone can tell for sure which warbler it is though.

Mt. Lassen and Chaos Grags

Mt. Lassen and Chaos Grags, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

I took this in July while on a solo camping trip near Old Station. Solo camping is rather solitary and gets old after three nights out. At least it did for me. Doesn't mean I won't do it again.

I towed the Samurai up and slept in the back of the truck...on a mattress...in a truck bed tent. The Samurai and I went exploring during the day.

Mary won't go tent camping any more. So, if I can't find someone else, I go alone.

It's empty!

It's empty!, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

A Lesser Goldfinch staging on a spent sunflower, waiting for a turn at the feeder. Mary wanted a photo of one on a beautiful gallon pot of Rudbekias she bought. I put them right next to the feeder and salted the flowers with seeds only to find out they preferred the dead sunflowers with no seeds.

Thanks Frank for the use of your spot.

A High Spot

A High Spot, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

This is looking north along the Lost Coast near Shelter Cove. Actually we could see Shelter Cove about two miles down as the crow flies behind the Samurai. It is about a hour long, ten mile drive though. This view is from the Paradise Ridge Rd.

The ocean and beaches were foggy all day this day.

Common Murre, Shelter Cove, CA

Common Murre, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

This little guy was either very docile or sick. I took this shot with my 100mm macro lens from around eight or ten feet away. Most of the time it's eyes were closed. About fifty feet behind me was the remnants of a boat. Post to arrive soon.

Acorn Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Just a couple hours in a photo blind at Frank's refuge. We saw a Western Tanager and Black-headed Grosbeak, but they did not come down in range. Thanks Frank. Visit my Flicker photostream for a few more shots.