Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, Jenner, CA.
Today was the day to get the cherry trees planted.
Bryce, a friend of mine, called last night and said he would be picking up the four cherry trees I needed to plant in my yard. One of the things Bryce had done in his life is farmed fruit trees, so he was a good choice to get me some good trees.
The holes were already pre dug.
I already had the plot for the four cherry trees pre-dug and almost ready to go. All I had to do was remove the already dug dirt and stick the trees in the ground and put the dirt back in.
Some work got done on the van too.
While I was waiting for Bryce to arrive, I worked on the van a bit. I took the newly installed propane heater out of the side door and took all the old glass insulation out of the door and prepped it for some carpet, for when it arrives, maybe tomorrow.
Also painted the hinged metal bottom shelf I made to mount the heater to.
Here is a picture of the hinged bottom shelf I made and just painted grey, hanging from a chair while the new paint is drying.
While I was waiting for the paint to dry, I took the mulch and some of the dirt out of the holes I previously dug for the new cherry trees, stopping every so often to put another coat of paint on the.part I was painting.
I planted some apricot trees too.
In the mean time, my brother Mike arrived with six potted apricot trees, he had started, for me to plant. I planted three in my yard and the rest, I’ll have to decide where to put them.
Back to planting the cherry trees.
My brother left and Bryce showed up shortly after with the new cherry trees. He pruned the tops, just a bit and also the roots, cutting off any broken roots. We put them in the four holes and carefully put dirt around the roots and then I put a bunch of mulch around all of them.
I tend to do things differently.
Now, I don’t always do things like other people do, I like to experiment with things. So………….that’s why I planted all four of them close together. They are planted on the same spot I cut down a six foot diameter pepper wood tree about twenty years ago, where I than planted a sycamore tree that had a two foot diameter tree trunk. The sycamore tree stump is still in the ground, that’s what I planted the four trees around.
I believe in lot’s of mulch.
I’m also a big believer in mulch, so I used what I had on hand, what was left of the sycamore tree I cut down last summer and I’ll put some more redwood leaf mulch on it later too.
For the record, the one on the left and the one in the back are Stella’s, the one on the right is a Bing and the one in the front is a Lapin cherry tree.
I expect they all will grow and compete with each other and may the bet one win and hopefully give me some cherries along the way.
Below, you can see the four cherry trees we planted, they have the paper tags with the cherries pictured on them. Lots of tree mulch, so they are hard to see. It’s up to nature now.
I came to my senses, just in time.
My plan was to go to Santa Rosa to do some food shopping after I did the planting, but at the last moment I came to my senses and decided to go kayaking at Jenner instead, as the wind was down and the sun was out.
After getting something to eat, I left the house just after two pm for Jenner to kayak. I wanted to be down there by three to give me some time to yak before dark.
The sea lions where still at it.
Just as I put my boat in the water, some sea lions came hunting by and put on a show. They are still actively hunting Steelhead and other fish.
Below is a picture of one of the sea lions.
I crossed the river over to Penny island. As looked up the river, there was a lot of splashing going on. I hate that, as now I have to go check it out. :O) It was still going on after about five minutes, so I headed up that way. Usually, by the time I get there, what ever was going on is over. The sea lions where vigorously hunting in the area and here still doing it as I got there, but one surfaced near me and barked and I guess that was the signal to stay away from me and they all disappeared up the river.
Back down to the Russian River’s mouth.
I hung around for another fifteen minutes or so, and no action, so I headed back down the river toward the mouth of the river, where I hoped to pick up some more sea lion action.
The mouth of the river was wide open, with seals and sea lions fishing around the area, going back and forth.
Below, is a picture of what the river’s mouth looked like, looking out toward the Pacific ocean.
I thought it would be a good idea to pull in behind this big rock and watch the action. The mouth of the river is just behind this rock to the left and it was a good vantage point for stuff coming into the mouth of the river, as I was partly hidden behind the rock.
Below is where I sat for about an hour, just watching.
The Seals were fairly active and they also seemed to be keeping an eye on the sea lions. This seal below, popped up and came out of the water a bit to view what was around it.
No fishing allowed of any kind in the Jenner area. Period.
As I was sitting there, two guys came into view from the left and started fishing right in front of me. Now, I know there is no fishing here or in the ocean in front of the mouth. The portion of the river from the mouth to the highway one bridge is a reserve and you cannot fish or take any crab in this area, at all. The area in front of the river’s mouth in the ocean, from the point of Goat Rock to the next big point to the north of the rivers mouth is also another reserve which one can not fish in either.
I hate it that they make these rules, then I’m the one that seems to have to enforce this law, since I’m down there a lot. Normally, I keep my mouth shut as most fish just for a short time and leave, but these guys seemed to be here to stay and they were easy to spot from the road above.
So, eventually, I felt obligated to let them know it was a no fishing area, which I try to do nicely. They were surprised, but didn’t want to get caught and left, as you can see in the photo below.
The sun was setting for the day.
I hung around behind that rock until the sun was setting and it was starting to chill a bit and headed back toward the visitor’s center.
Below is a later in the day photo looking out the mouth of the Russian River toward the Pacific Ocean. Winds down, nice and calm.
Another late day photo on the way back to the boat launch area, looking up the river.
And one more from the visitor’s center of the sunset for the day, looking west toward the setting sun in the Pacific ocean.
I accomplished a lot today and also had a nice time yakking at Jenner.