Salton Sea State Recreation and Wildlife Refuge

Before arriving here, we had never heard of the Salton Sea. We visited there this weekend on a guided birding trip and discovered this 35 mile long lake is a critical part of the Pacific Flyway. Thousands of birds migrate and winter along the shores. Four hundred species have been identified.

Black-necked Stilt

American Avocet

Burrowing Owl

Desert Cottontail Rabbit

Snow Geese

Snow Geese in flight

Belted Kingfisher

It was awesome to see birds we loved from the coast of Georgia along with new ones we had never seen before. We now have a place to go kayaking! Yeah! At least until it gets to be summertime when the temperatures soar.

Mountain Quail and More

Western Bluebird

The great thing about birdwatching is that everyone can do it whether 

you live in the city or the country. Start by putting up a feeder and enjoy the birds.

The most abundant visitor to our feeder has been the Mountain Chickadee.

This fearless flock of 10-15 chickadees devour the seed all day long.

A covey of 6 Mountain Quail arrived to eat what the chickadees dropped 

when the snow arrived. We have seen the same six visit our yard daily. They

walk along eating, running when they sense danger and in a pinch, they will do a short flight.

The Mountain Quail is the largest of the quail. They also have a long

plume on top of their head that helps identify them from the others.

When it snows, its fun to look at the tracks - bird and animal

 The Acorn Woodpeckers drill holes and then fill the holes up with

their cache of nuts. They will then defend their trees from other interested woodpeckers.

Northern Flicker (Western has red "mustache" instead of black)

Yikes! Busted Waterpipe!

Record low temperatures hit Idyllwild last week and with it pipes were bursting across town.
I went outside after hearing mysterious running water and discovered a "waterfall" flowing down
the side of the house! A frozen pipe burst! The 2 plumbers in town were swamped with calls.
For those of you who have been without water, you know how much you rely on precious water.
Luckily, I had 4 jugs of water for an unexpected emergency but it goes fast. Since we had 2 inches of
snow left on the ground, I tried melting snow on the stove to flush the toilets. Seemed like a good idea
at the time.However, it took 8 jugs of snow to fill a pot with melted water. It takes 2 pots to flush
a toilet. 16 jugs of snow per toilet per flush. Wow! That is a lot of work! Yeah for the arrival of the

plumber! Lesson for all - Buy jugs of water for whatever emergency may occur in the future!!

Brrr...It's Cold Here

The snow has begun to fall. Our number one and two goals are staying warm and learning how to
drive in snow and ice. In our old home, snow meant stay home, play and wait for the snow to melt.
To all our friends and family who live in snow country, we admire you! We are still learning how to
adapt. Our best Christmas presents to ourselves were our snow chains and microspikes that are
like snow chains for your feet. They enable you to walk on icy driveways and trails without wiping out!
Great invention!

The other skill we are finally mastering is making fires in the wood burning stoves every night.
Some nights it takes longer than others but we always succeed in the end. When we came to town,we
met Caballero Perez selling eucalyptus wood from his truck. Wearing his white cowboy hat and twirling
his lasso, he entertained as he tried to make sales. Since then we have filled our Jeep up to the brim
with logs of wood. We will be doing it many more times before the snow ends in the Spring.

We envy our neighbors who have huge stockpiles of wood!

Welcome

Welcome to a beautiful part of the country. We are excited to have the opportunity to
live in this small mountain town in southern California and hope to share it with our family
and friends. When visitors and residents enter the town, they are greeted with the
sign "Welcome to Idyllwild - Home of Adventure, Art, Music and Harmony". It's a
great motto to strive for despite all the challenges that may exist. We are discovering that
the town is full of people who love living here and are volunteering in various ways to
make the community a better place for all. The journey begins.