Gray Lodge

One day we drove out to Gray Lodge Wildlife Area with Grandma Stubblefield and the Lyons. It is a beautiful place of wetlands and fields out near the Sutter Buttes (the smallest mountain range in the world), that over 300 different kinds of wild life call home...all year long or just passing through in the spring or the fall on the Pacific Flyway..."a highway in the sky." We had a little picnic lunch and drove through the beautiful preserve. Mom Stubblefield pointed out all the birds and nests and such all along the way. But before all that we spent some time hunting around the picnic area for all the cool little treasures this nature spot had to offer. Here, I have to say that my mother-in-law is an extremely talented person. She is a wonderful cook, quilter, home-maker and inventor of useful things...just to name a very few. But, this little talent caught me a bit by suprise...she is amazingly good at discovering owl pellets and not the least bit squeamish about digging around in there for the jaw bone of the poor little guy that was the owl's lunch. She had the grandkids completely enthrawled and, being a naturalist at heart, I was completely delighted as well. A fabulous time was had by all! :)



Ben drove quite a bit of the way.

He cleaned the windshield and had the wipers going.
Then he took a well deserved chip break.



(These last three photos were taken by Mom Stubblefield on our drive...the Buttes and a Blue Heron.)