We took a drive on Friday with our good friends the Tumbling Tumbleweeds and found ourselves up in Lake Tahoe! One of the great things about living here in the Foothills is how short of a drive it is to such a beautiful place. We of course had to go and visit Emerald Bay where Eagle Falls makes its home. If you have not been to this spot, I recommend going! It is located on the western shore of Lake Tahoe. Snow covered the immediate areas around the falls, but we still had some great photographic opportunities. So let’s take a look at Emerald Bay and Eagle Falls in the winter!
Let’s take a walk with photos! Ready?
Lake Tahoe and Emerald Bay
The island in Emerald Bay
Did you see the structure at the top of the island? Here it is close up.
The structure on the island
Located within the bay is The Vikingsholm. This was the summer home of Lora Josephine Knight, who built this getaway back in 1929. You can visit this site too!
The Vikingsholm
Now off to see the falls!
Eagle Falls
If you look closely at the photo above you will see someone sitting right in the center of the photo along the edge of the falls!
Looking at this from the top:
The top of the falls
Going over the edge
To get the true flavor of these falls and to hear the amazing sounds of the water as it falls, be sure to watch this video!
Thank you to my husband for the video!
I hope you enjoyed the photos today, and thanks for stopping by! Go and have a great Tuesday!
I love the snow! As it falls everything gets really quiet. There is something hypnotizing about the gently falling flakes! I could sit for hours watching it, which I did yesterday. I shared some photos yesterday, but wanted to share a bit more of this beauty with you today! I have a few shots in this post, and a video that you can watch too!
Let’s go and check it out!
On my back deck
The dog loves the snow! Here he is eating snow! I swear that he is smiling!
Astro
A break in the clouds as the sun sets
The sunset
I love the way the snow sparkles!
The sparkling snow
When I got up this morning it was absolutely glorious! Clear skies and blue and white everywhere! Here is the sun rising in the foothills.
The sun starts to rise
One more shot!
Sunrise today
I did take a video yesterday of the gently falling snow…If you would like to see how beautiful and peaceful this can be…
As I am unable to drive the roads yet, I am grabbing my camera to take some more photos to share! See you tomorrow and thank you for stopping by!
We had bad weather this last Sunday and I took some videos of this storm, and thought that I would share one of the videos with you. The winds had sustained winds in the 20 mile per hour range with gusts of about 40 mph. My husband kept saying to me on Sunday that for folks to understand this wind they should drive their car at 20 mph with their heads out of the window to feel the strength…It was the gusts that caused damage to our roof, which we have been told should be replaced. 😦 Please click on the link below and turn up the volume so that you can hear the wind coming before it arrives!
On a recent trip down to AZ, where they are going through their monsoonal season, we were able to enjoy thunder and lightning. So I wanted to do a quick post for you on an amazing capture of some of the lightning! I hope that this struck a chord in you as to how amazing storms can be! Have a great Thursday!
During the day, the little Pacific Chorus Frogs are all in hiding. I have a pot on the railing of the deck in the shape of an elephant and there is a family of about 6 frogs living there. The range in size from as small as my thumbnail to the size of a silver dollar. Here is a cute face of one of my friends!
Pacific Chorus Frog
They reside in other pots too. At dusk, they take the frog walk and they all come out to play!
I was able to capture one the other day who was looking for a good place to do some bug catching! Here is a short video of one of our foothill critters that we get to enjoy on a daily basis from spring to the start of winter!
Who knows what other wildlife we shall see this weekend! Enjoy your Friday!
We are constantly amazed at the activity with the hummingbirds on the back side of the property. It seems the ones in the front of the house have moved to the back feeders. We think this has to do with the coverage that the oak trees offer. These do not exist in the front as there are only the ugly duckling digger pines.
The other day, I sat and watched in amazement, the Anna hummingbirds and the newly arrived migrating Rufous hummingbirds. My husband and I sat at the back deck and watched the show. The film starts a bit slow, but it gives you an idea of why we feel like we are living with a Hive of Hummingbirds!
When we got up Sunday morning, the weather report predicted hot temperatures. That was for our area. In the higher regions of the Sierra Nevada they were calling for thunderstorms. This would be about one and a half hours away or 60 miles.
It was a day of such high heat we did our chores early in the day and spent the rest of it with some indoor projects, one of which was repainting garden art that had faded colors. Periodically through the day the light outside dimmed sending us outside to see what was up. There were a few clouds in the sky that we refer to as clouds from the monsoonal flow from Arizona. This was OK as the storm would be east of us in the higher regions of the Sierras.
As the sun started to lower, we sat outside so that I could capture and share with you the amazing photos of the sun setting here in the Foothills. The following photos are the best of what I caught of the sunset. These photos I call “God-like Photos.” They remind me of God shining his glory on all of us here on this planet!
The rays of the setting sun
Find the crescent moon
The sun lowers further
The day is done, and night has just begun…
We went to bed anticipating sleeping all night. Various reports from neighbors and friends indicate that the thunder and lightning started around 10:30 p.m. We both were sound asleep. I woke up at 11:55 p.m. seeing a flash of light under my eyelids, sounds strange but true, and then the biggest boom of thunder I have ever heard since I was a kid growing up on the east coast of the U.S. My husband: He lay there snoring and totally oblivious. The storm gained momentum and finally my husband awoke. The dog: He was whining when I woke up and never really stopped.
The lightning was so bright, we could see every detail in the room and it was so loud that the house shook! I grabbed the video camera and was heading to our screened in patio room, when my husband stopped me. I took the following video from inside the living room door looking out to our back yard. I ask that you turn the sound up so that you can hear not only the rain that was pouring down like there was no tomorrow, but you will hear the cracking thunder. In case this doesn’t work for you, here is the link: Flash, Bang, Boom! The orbs that you see are UFO’s! We were surrounded by them! Only kidding…these are the solar lights on our patio!
Did I mention the electricity went out around 12:30? It did. We had flashlights in hand as the storm raged on. When it seemed to move off we headed back to bed. The dog was still whining so my husband went out to the living room to sleep with our sweet pooch. I could have sworn that I laid there, chin propped up on my hands watching the storm outside, until I saw my husband coming back towards the bedroom with a flashlight. He was soaked to the skin. Due to the extreme wind he had to pull in our awning, and rescue a patio umbrella and was drenched in the process. It was now 4 a.m.! Where did the night go? I felt like I was awake the whole time!
The storm? It lasted until around 5:00 in the morning. It was continual. There were two good things about this storm. It dropped the temperatures from the mid 70’s with the humidity around 95%, down to a cool 60 degrees though the humidity was the same. The other good thing was that we got rain! Here in the foothills one does not want the dry lightning and no rain. That means fires…
We got up yesterday morning to wet decks and landscaping, clouds drifting through, rising and forming more thunderheads. Our lights were still out, and we were having the worst cup of instant coffee, and then poof! The lights came back on! Thank God for that! At least I had a cup of the fresh brew before I had to head off to work! Once at work, I captured these shots of the still present storm. No lightning but a truly amazing sky!
Pouring rain from my office window
Another view before it moves off
This was a rare moment for July in the Sierra Foothills just west of Lake Tahoe. Total rainfall was about a half inch and there were over 2,400 lightning strikes in our county!
As crops start to come in, corn becomes abundant. But there is always the problem of getting the husks and all the silk off easily. A friend of mine sent me this video that she found on YouTube that shows how to pop off the husks and all the corn silks easily. Without further ado, I give you Ken!
If you are in the hot zone, like we are today – this week slated to be in the 100’s for the next 6 days, which is unusual, try to stay cool!
My husband has been the lucky one lately in seeing Fox Face. We did see him briefly while sharing our evening cocktail. He saw the dog, and took off back into the woods. As promised, here is a quick video link to the fox from yesterday that my husband was very fortunate to catch!
Life in the Foothills 