More photos, Sept 8

A little additional excitement was a small fire off near the river, possibly caused by one of the many lightning strikes we had in the night.

Workday at the Preserve, Sept 8, 2011

Saturday was a workday for volunteers from the Kern Audubon Society and also for the Interact Club from Foothill High School, led by teacher Jan Graves. In these pictures we see Jan and a tree she helped plant 2 years ago, Harry Love, Al Caetano, Madie Elsie, Rod Lee, East High student Trevor Sutton, and Foothill students. Bill McDonald was there too. The job of the day was to walk the drip lines looking for breaks and then repairing them. Thanks, everyone.

Brice Drewry Memorial

A large thank you to friends and family of Brice Drewry for donations of more than $400 to the Preserve. A tree will be planted in his memory. A World War II vet and former oil field worker, Mr. Drewry died in Bakersfield on July 18, 2011 at age 88. Donors included Mary L. Williams and Lorene Chandler of his hometown of Seminole, Oklahoma; David and Krikett Perea of Denver, Colorado; Linda Lee McKenzie and Katherine L. White of Fresno; Linda Vaughn of Banning; and Steve Edwards, Richard & Sharon Hall Hoffman, Louise Lacy, and Garden District Flowers of Bakersfield. Again, thank you.

Aug 24 12:30-4pm: East PV entrance to be blocked

Chevron has notified the Preserve that it "plans to hydrotest our production lines that run under the bike path near Darrell’s mini storage. The testing is currently scheduled for August 24, 2011 in the afternoon from 12:30 – 4pm. In order to ensure the safety of the public, Chevron would like to block the entrance where the testing will occur."

Equestrians will also be affected by this temporary closure.

Seniors Visit Panorama Vista

Thursday morning, August 12, ten residents of Carriage Estates toured the Preserve, guided by Andy Honig, from the comfort of their van. They enjoyed seeing and handling samples of native vegetation, such as coyote melon, that Andy handed around and were impressed by the size of the cottonwoods and other trees, about which they had good questions. At Rocky Point Weir they got an excellent view of the rushing river.

Coyote Melon and Jimson Weed Blossoms

Georgia O'Keefe painted jimsonweed (aka Datura) often, perhaps because of the graceful form and purity of its white blossom.

The coyote melon is a stinky plant (aka Cucubita foetidissima) but has a lovely flower, much like its squash cousins.

Empty killdeer nest

A shallow depression shows the location of the former nest. Not a speck of shell to be seen.