Roundstonefarm Blog

I arrived at the B&B about 0600 this morning to do breakfast, as always. I got out of my car and saw a male Spotted Towhee thrashing around on the front fender  of a guests Honda SUV. This is the same Towhee that has been hanging around for the last couple of months. I’ve seen him with a female, but only off and on. Anyway, this guy is sorta strange in that he gets up on the guests cars side mirrors and fights with the bird in the mirror. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone out the front door and found him walking on  the hoods of cars and pecking at the bird in the windshield. He’s even come to the kitchen window and pecked  at it while I’m doing breakfast.  Again, going at the bird in the window. He really is pretty. About the size of a large sparrow, with a black hood and white spots on his shoulders and wings. He’s got a deep belly on him and has rufous flanks and red eyes. He’s a good looking bird!

So, I go over to the SUV and find out that his right foot is stuck in the crack between the hood and the fender. His poor leg was rubbed raw and bloody. I didn’t want to shake him up anymore than he already was so I grabbed him. Man did he holler! I stroked his head and he took a dump in my hand. It didn’t seem like he could bend his leg like we do our foot or hand when we humans try to extricate either from a tight spot. Perhaps the Towhee doesn’t have something like an ankle or wrist? Never thought about it. I’ll have to research it a little bit..

Well, what to do, for I didn’t want to just pull it out and maybe amputate the foot. So, I worked he and the leg down the crack toward the headlights. Just slipped it down to where the crack was a little wider. Lo and behold it worked! The leg and the foot just slipped right out without further injury. I held him a little bit and then opend my fist and away he flew. He flew into the lavendar out in front of the B&B and out of sight.  I went out a couple of hours later to see if I could find him, but didn’t. At least I didn’t find his dead body…so there’s hope. I really hope he’s ok, because I have gotten pretty fond of him and his  crazy antics.

As the president of the West Marin Lion’s Club and the 2010 chairman of Western Weekend, I am pleased with the outcome of the weekends events; especially Sunday’s parade.  June 6 started at 0630 lining the streets of Pt. Reyes Station for the floats that would occupy 20 to 90 feet of street surface awaiting the parade start. It took four of us  about 2 hours to line all of “A,” ”5th”, “6th” and “C” streets. Actually we were lucky in that the spacing seemed to just work out. The Wells Fargo Bank Stage Coach entered at the corners of “B” and “6″th. just as if we had planned it. The Coast Guard “Rapid Resopone Boat” ended up at the corners of “4th” and “C” streets. Again, just perfect. Someone watching would have thought that we knew what we were doing. 

There were plenty of riders to consider, so we kept all the horses sequestered on “5th” street and just fed them into the main line-up when appropriate. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job of placing the animals so that they wouldn’t get startled by sudden noises or back fires from antique farm equipment.

In total there were “54″ floats consisting of animals, antique cars and tractors, marchers, drill teams and bands in the parade. The parade started at 1200 p.m. and went till about 1:30 p.m. . People lined the streets. It was noisey, exciting and smiling faces was the norm.

There was plenty of food after the parade, for West Marin Senior Services had their Chili cook-off, pie and cornbread contest., while simultaneously, the Marin County Farm Bureau hosted  a chicken barbecue. People pigged out.  Natasha Jones and her band entertained the crowd while they ate and watched Halleck Creek Ranches “Cow flop contest.” Never did hear who won the $500 prize for guessing which number the calf would poop on.

Of course, the Western Saloon was wild. But, it didn’t get too bad.  Monday morning I had to go around town  to check out the trash cans and street litter in town. Well, the Green Team of West Marin Middle School did their job, for the streets looked great. That was money well spent. We payed the kids $15 a piece to clean up the trash.  And, with 20 of them there wasn’t any more trash than there would have been on a normal weekend.

It was a great weekend and I may do it again next year. Maybe?

A guest of mine told me that he saw two, young Great-horned owls in the group of Cypress trees next to the residence just above the Pt. Reyes Lifeboat Station. So, liking owls and thinking that there may be a nest I decided to drive out and check it out. Being Friday morning of the Memorial Day weekend, I had the road and Chimney Rock parking lot almost to myself. Once I got out of the FJ I heard multiple elephant seals vocalizing.  I was surprised to hear so many seals, for this was May 28 and I thought they were gone by now.  I walked over to the look-out to check it out and saw why there was so much noise, for there must have been about 30 elephant seals. Most were hauled out on the rock beach soaking up the sun. They looked like a bunch of hot dogs.  Of course I forgot my binoculars. Typical! After about 30 minutes I headed over toward the residence area to look for the owls.  Walking over I heard more vocalizing down by the fishing dock. So, I checked it out and sure enough I found a couple more elephant seals sunning themselves. Walking back up the hill, I caught a glimpse of something small and light brown below one of the rock outcroppings. It was a baby seal. It was tentatively heading toward the water.  I didn’t see an adult, but did hear one a little further back in the rocks. Finally the little guy/gal entered the water and swam around a rock outcrop. I didn’t see it again.

As I walked around the far side of the lifeboat station I saw about 15 more elephant seals, but this time they were only about 20 yards from me. They too were enjoying the sunny day. This group had 3 little ones in it. Man they were cute. They acted just like little kids in that they couldn’t sit still. They’d lay in the sun for a while and then get up and waddle over to one spot and then to another. All the fidgeting got them chewed-out from their moms, just like humans kids get chewed-out for rousting around when mom is trying to take a nap.

Heading back to the parking lot I gave the Cypress grove one last look. I must be living right, because just as I was about to leave I caught a glimpse of two fuzz balls sitting in a tangle of Cypress boughs. Man, they really looked like adolescents, adult size but still wet behind the ears.  I watched them for awhile, padded myself on the back for finding them and headed back to the FJ, totally satisfied.

Sunset Magazine’s May 2010 issue lists boat-in camping on Tomales Bay as one of its top 25 secret camping spots.  Well, thanks a lot, for if it was a secret, it’s not a secret anymore. But, being a local, I’ve got to admit that it’s tough to beat a paddle across Tomales Bay on a calm, warm day. If  it’s windy, forget it because you’re gonna work. If you don’t own a kayak or just don’t want to drag yours along, you can rent one at Blue Water Kayak (www.bwkayak.com) or Point Reyes Outdoors (www.pointreyesoutdoors.com). Both offer great guided trips (some with food) if you don’t want to go it alone. If you plan on camping on any of the beaches, you will need to get a camping permit from the Pt. Reyes National Seashore. You can get the permit at the Park’s “Bear Valley Visitor Center” in Olema. Check out their website at www.nps.gov/pore for more information.

I didn’t have any guests last night at Roundstone Farm, so I was able to be at Wildcare when the hospital opened at 9:00 a.m. to pick-up the young hawk that I had taken into them yesterday. Turned out that it was probably just shook up and had no apparent injuries. I waited only a few minutes until the staff brought the hawk to me in a card board carrier. The young lady gave me instrutions as to how to transport it and precautioned me about not being directly over the carrier when I released it. I released the hawk immediately upon arriving at Roundstone Farm. I figured it had enough excitement to last it a life time. I must say though, I really wanted to hold it and spend some time checking it out. I tell you one thing, the girl at Wildcare was right…one didn’t want to be looking into that carrier when opening the top. Man, that hawk was out of there in a flash! It was out of sight before I could even raise my camera for a picture.  But, I at least got a couple photos of it while it was in the carrier. It’s nice to know that I probably will run into it again. I’ll look at every red-shouldered from now on wondering if it is the one I took to San Rafael and back.

As I was pulling out of the driveway this morning heading down to do breakfast at Roundstone Farm, I saw a young Red Shouldered hawk standing on Sir Francis Drake Blvd. A pick-up truck had just missed it. I stopped the FJ and jumped out to try to wave off any cars coming up the hill. Luckily, there were few that early in the morning. The hawk was just standing there,  it didn’t appear like it had been hit, but it didn’t make any attempt to get away from me as I came up to it. I knew it would  get hit if I didn’t do something, for the neighborhood crows were already gathering for a kill. So, I took my jacket off and threw it over the hawk. I then grabbed the whole bundle, hawk and jacket. The hawk was surprisingly light and it didn’t put up much of a scuffle. Still I remembered a similar encounter I had with a Great Horned owl a couple of years ago. Similar situation, for it too was standing on the road, but in that case it had been hit and had lost an eye. I threw a jacket on that one too. But unlike the hawk, that owl’s talons went right through that jacket. I learned from that experience that you had to hold that baby pretty tight, there was no “nice owl, I just want to see what you look like.” I held on tight until I was able to put it into a dog carrier. Same thing this time with the hawk, however, at least this hawk didn’t smell like skunk, which was a major prey for the owl. After breakfast I went up to the house to see how the hawk was doing. Seemed to be ok, so I put a pair of welding gloves on and reached in to grab it for a better look. Man, what a set of talons. It puffed its feathers up till it looked twice its size. I thought about letting it loose to see if it could fly, but thought better of it, because if it couldn’t fly and it got away from me, the crows and scrub jays would have killed it for sure. So, like the owl, I took it to Wildcare Animal Hospital in San Rafael. After about 20 minutes and donating $100, I left with the dog carrier, for the hawk was in good hands. The volunteer on duty gave me its patient number if I wanted to call back later to see how the hawk was doing. On the way home I did a couple of errands and stopped to get a latte. I parked in the shade and read for about 10 minutes. Forty-five minutes later I woke up and drove home. Actually, it was probably more like an hour and a half. (Isn’t life grand?) Anyway,when I got home, there was a message on the machine telling me that the hawk was ok and that I could pick it up the next day to bring it back to Olema. The caller noted that the hawk might be one of a pair that was taking care of a couple of young ones, so it was needed. Cool, I get to bring it home. Not like the last time with the owl, for they wouldn’t give it back to me to let go where I had found it. Wildcare kept that owl a little too long, I think. It died. Karen and I were bummed about that owl for years. We’ve been given a second chance with this one.

Those of you that have listened to some of my stories around the breakfast table are well aware of my ability to take a simple task and create a monster out of it. Well, here is another one to add to that long list! Every year at this time, for at least the past 20 years, we have been  blessed with hundreds of cliff swallows returning to build their mud jugs on the inn and our house, which is about a hundred yards away. I should say first, that Karen’s view of the swallows returning and mine isn’t the same. She thinks we’re blessed. I, on the otherhand look at it with mixed feelings. After all, Karen’s not the one that has got to wash the windows (multiple times), climb up on the ladder to put the little birds back into their nest after they’ve fallen out (the record is three times), and, then knock down and clean up the nests when everybody has split to wherever it is that they go. I think you get my drift.

About tenyears ago I broke the swallows routine of returning to the B&B; of course, I then had to agree to let them all come up to our house to build their nests and raise their young. Well, little by little I’ve been putting plastic screening under the eaves to keep the swallows off certain areas of the house - like where I barbecue my ribs. (Karen actually agreed to that)

To get to the point, Karen went to Washington, DC for a couple of days a week or so ago, so she was not here when the big wave of birds arrived. I thought, great, this is my opportunity. I got together all my netting, staples, and ladders and proceeded to cover the eaves.  After two-days, I had done it. Totally protected from mud nests and bird doo-doo. It was a great feeling!  No longer would I have to chase our cats off the bed while they waited for the birds to commit suicide by crashing into the windows; which they never did. I mean, I had won.  Finally!

I awoke the next morning at half-light,  went to the window to check out what was happening outside, and what did I find.  At least a million cliff swallows flying around the B&B. I mean they were putting mud under the eaves and anywhere else that might hold it. Gads! Here it was Friday morning and a full-house of guests was about to arrive for the weekend to find bird doo-doo all over everthing. Most notably the windows. Believe me, from experience, a lot of people may say their “green” and that animals have their rights, but when it comes to bird doo-doo, all bets are off.

Anyway, after another couple of days running outside and yelling at the birds and cursing my stupidity, I got smart. I went up to the house, climbed up on the roof and removed all the nets that had taken me two-days to put up. I had lost another one! What is it they say about mice and men?

Cindy Muldoon has been named the Superindendent of Pt. Reyes National Seashore and will start her new position in mid-May. Ms. Muldoon has been with the National Park Service since 1985  and has occupied varied Park  Service positions throughout the United States. She is currently serving as the deputy regional director of the National Park Service’s Pacific West Region. Ms. Muldoon replaces Don Neubacher whom, since February, is  serving as the Superintendent of Yosemite National Park.

Priscilla’s -  11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays (closed Tuesdays) 12781 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Inverness, 415-669-1244, Cuisine: Fish/pizza ; Service: Friendly; Noise Level: Moderate; Recommended items: Fish tacos, crab enchiladas, pizza; Liquor selection: Beer, wine, soju, margaritas; Corkage: $10; Heart-healthy and vegetarian selections: Salads; Parking: Street and lot; Wheelchair access: Yes; Credit cards: All major

Summary: Nine years ago, Priscilla Levy bought the Gray Whale Pub and Pizzeria and renamed her roadside cafe Priscilla’s. Though pizza is still on the menu, the offerings have expanded to include everything from fish tacos, which are better than average, and fresh oysters to pastas and chicken pot pie.

Tanya Henry, Marin IJ,Wednesday, April 21, 2010 (for complete story visit www.marinij.com)

I look forward to working with the other members of this committee, county staff, and the Marin Economic Forum (MEF)  Executive Committee to recruit and retain businesses in the the nine targeted industries that were defined in the 2004 “Targeted Industries Study (TIS).” The  TIS was performed by the “Economic Competitiveness Group (ECG) to analyze the drivers of Marin County’s economy.

This should be very interesting, for it will expose me to industry sectors, such as “Media & Electronic Arts,” in which I have little or no experience. Of course, being from West Marin, my primary focus will be the agriculture and tourism sectors. This combination, or cluster comprised of the two main economic drivers of West Marin is what butters our bread, so to speak.