buzzardnotes

Just a few miles from home, I spotted a bald eagle in a tree near a cow pasture.  The cows are having their babies now (even in bitter cold) and the eagles come to feast on the afterbirth.  That sounds gross, but nature takes care of many things.  The picture is poor because I had to crop it so much.  But, trust me, it is an eagle.

Apparently, I got to close for comfort and he took off. Another poor photo, but I was lucky to get him at all.

If you look in the center of the picture, he’s still in flight against the snowy Carson Range.  You can see those white tail feathers.

My next stop was downtown Genoa (Nevada’s oldest settlement) in search of the many deer who live in the area.  The only one I found were resting in someone’s yard.  I found it amusing that they were very calm while on the other side of the person’s house, the owner was using a snow blower to clear his driveway.  Clearly, the deer didn’t care.

A panorama of Carson Valley from above Genoa.  Notice the contrails in the sky.  Seeing them in the sky always make me think of my mom.  She was pretty blind with macular degeneration, but somehow, she could see them.

An early Genoa mover and shaker was Lillian Virgin Finnegan.  When she decided Genoa needed some street lights, she organized the Candy Dance (a dance and midnight super featuring her candy) to raise money for the town.  This is still an annual event a century later.  AND the town of Genoa still uses that money to help run the town’s affairs.  Her signature candy was fudge, but here she might be serving divinity or white chocolate fudge. http://www.genoanevada.org/candydancefaire.htm
http://www.genoanevada.org/history.htm

From Genoa, I went over to the Dangberg Ranch, an historic ranch where I volunteer during the summer.  H.F. Dangberg was one of the first pioneers in the Valley who had huge holdings and founded the town of Minden.  https://www.dangberghomeranch.org/history/ if you’re interested in learning more about H.F. and the ranch.
You have to traverse a long dirt road through a pasture to get to the Dangberg Home Ranch and along the way you might be greeted by an attentive bossy.

A juvenile eagle was in a Dangberg cottonwood.

I think everyone in Carson Valley who fancies themselves any kind of a photographer has taken many pictures of Job’s Peak, one of the highest peaks seen from the valley at 10,633’.  Note another contrail.

I turned around and took this picture of the barn and a slaughter house built in 1918.  To the left is some equipment that was used to during the time the Dangberg was a working ranch.

The Dangberg Ranch house began as a small cabin and evolved into this house as H.F. Dangberg married and had a family.  I love being out here, especially at dusk, imagining what is was like when Mrs. Dangberg looked out and saw this view of the mountains.  I wonder if she ever had the time to stand and contemplate the wonder of it all.