Rain in Northern California (finally)

bonnie · Dec 5, 2014

It's been pouring off and on for the last several days - this morning I was out dealing with downed trees / tree limbs and heard a weird thrashing coming from the creek in front of the house. Huge salmon! So morning priorities were promptly reset while I watched it for over an hour work at getting back through the culvert and swim upstream (finally succeeded).

Lots of flooding (house is on the highest point, so never a worry):

woof · Dec 5, 2014

Shouldn't those lucky labs be swimming? They look too dry...

bonnie · Dec 5, 2014

Oh, they were swimming. And rolling in mud. And wrestling with tree limbs. Don't you worry about them!

NigelM · Dec 5, 2014

bonnie said:
...this morning I...heard a weird thrashing coming from the creek in front of the house.

That was the sound of dinner escaping!

Seriously though, that looks like a Coho Salmon and it was good you resisted eating him as I'm pretty certain they're an endangered species.

Zextraterrestrial · Dec 5, 2014

pretty fishy (pretty sure salmon season is over anyway, at least it is here)
nice water! Humboldt is damp but not that wet!

Is that little bridge between the house and the greenhouse? or other side of the house.

rolosrevenge · Dec 5, 2014

NigelM said:
That was the sound of dinner escaping!

Seriously though, that looks like a Coho Salmon and it was good you resisted eating him as I'm pretty certain they're an endangered species.

Don't worry, there's still plenty of crawfish and little bass in the creek.

bonnie · Dec 5, 2014

Zextraterrestrial said:
pretty fishy (pretty sure salmon season is over anyway, at least it is here)
nice water! Humboldt is damp but not that wet!

Is that little bridge between the house and the greenhouse? or other side of the house.

That little bridge is new - it's between the rocks on the back deck and the area to the west of the greenhouse. I just put it in and luckily picked what turned out to be the highest point! I'm having trouble uploading pics all of a sudden, but when I do, I'll show you why I put a little bridge in

. You'll approve, I think.

Update - Here you go, Z. The little bridge in relation to the house:

Screen Shot 2014-12-06 at 4.11.20 PM.png

Zextraterrestrial · Dec 5, 2014

apiary?
goat pen?
jail for 'bad' forum posters :tongue:

bonnie · Dec 5, 2014

Zextraterrestrial said:
apiary?
goat pen?
jail for 'bad' forum posters :tongue:

For some reason, still can't upload pics ... but I did have a pic on twitter awhile back of what is on the other side of the bridge: Bonnie Norman on Twitter:

- - - Updated - - -

We lay the pattern down on Monday (or at least begin).

CatB · Dec 5, 2014

That sounds amazing

both the salmon and the project.
And so psyched you got some serious rain. I kept telling God we didn't need any more and wanted to share with you all - so glad He finally got the message!

TEG · Dec 5, 2014

There was one of those Caltrans type big LED temporary road-signs along Middefield road near me which had said something like "slow for construction", but a couple weeks back someone changed it to "Make it rain!" Not sure if it was the road crew, or someone hacking into it as a joke, but it seems to have worked!
(Or was that some sort of sports reference?)

Owner · Dec 5, 2014

Very cool. Didn't realize we got such big salmon here in the middle of California.

Canuck · Dec 5, 2014

That's a nice little piece of paradise you have there Bonnie. How far away was that salmon from the mouth of the ocean and is there is a hatchery program that releases fingerlings into that creek or is that a wild fish? It looks like a male Pink to me (by its humped back), and he's coming home to fertilize eggs (you can tell he's a male by his snout) but unless there's a female around laying eggs, none of his offspring will make it back down to the ocean to return in 4 years. That certainly would be great for future generations. Only a few generations ago that little creek would have been solid red with spawning salmon in Oct/Nov and you could cross it on their backs (not that that's recommended). We still have that in some rivers in BC and there's hope for others even right in Vancouver where creeks are being revitilized and salmon are returing. He wouldn't be good eating though since he is spent -- his flesh would be mushy and not very good (not that you'd eat him!). He waited for those rains out at the mouth of that creek in the ocean and that's why he's late.

bonnie · Dec 5, 2014

Canuck said:
That's a nice little piece of paradise you have there Bonnie. How far away was that salmon from the mouth of the ocean and is there is a hatchery program that releases fingerlings into that creek or is that a wild fish? It looks like a male Pink to me (by its humped back), and he's coming home to fertilize eggs (you can tell he's a male by his snout) but unless there's a female around laying eggs, none of his offspring will make it back down to the ocean to return in 4 years. That certainly would be great for future generations. Only a few generations ago that little creek would have been red with salmon in Oct/Nov and you could cross it on their backs (not that that's recommended). We still have that in some rivers in BC and there's hope for others even right in Vancouver where creeks are being revitilized and salmon are returing. He wouldn't be good eating though since he is spent -- his flesh would be mushy and not very good (not that you'd eat him!). He waited for those rains out at the mouth of that creek in the ocean and that's why he's late.

Definitely a wild fish. There are some known salmon habitats near here, my little creek has not been one (I think he was lost). Makes sense regarding needing the rains to make it up the waterways. We've been dry.

I'll let you guess how far he traveled. The marker is where I'm at ... scale is in the lower right corner.

Screen Shot 2014-12-05 at 8.18.20 PM.png

Canuck · Dec 5, 2014

He must have come up the Sacramento river and then its tributaries. That lake by you must be Folsom Lake. He might have been taken off course by the heavy rains but he must have started out somewhere around there as a smolt.

bonnie · Dec 5, 2014

Folsom Lake is pretty close, veering towards the North Fork of the American River - lots and lots of little creeks and tributaries everywhere here. Secret Ravine (just over the hill from me) is a protected area for salmon, but I've never seen any there - though neighbors tell me stories of 'how it used to be'.

I walked down the creek this afternoon, hoping to see any others working their way upstream (we have a small dam, since we use the creek for irrigation in the summer). But nothing. Almost as exciting as when I found otters playing ... or the bear loading up on blackberries in late fall. (Dogs were excited over that.) I love living somewhere where I get new surprises.

Oh! And we've had a ring-necked pheasant wandering the neighborhood this last month. That's a new one. I thought I was back in Minnesota for a moment. None of the neighbors had seen one here before.

Owner · Dec 6, 2014

Careful with the dam. Its a lot better if possible to store the water underground or an off-stream "reservoir/lake/holding pond". Thats going to keep the salmon and other fish going upstream.

I can recommend the movie Damnation ... Home | DamNation

bonnie said:
I walked down the creek this afternoon, hoping to see any others working their way upstream (we have a small dam, since we use the creek for irrigation in the summer).

bonnie · Dec 6, 2014

The small dam has been there for probably more than 20 years, the salmon navigated it without a problem. You're assuming something that it is not. All it does is keep one area of the creek deep enough for irrigation pipes - with very little backup. It's not for water storage or acting as a holding pond.

ggr · Dec 6, 2014

bonnie said:
The small dam has been there for probably more than 20 years, the salmon navigated it without a problem. You're assuming something that it is not. All it does is keep one area of the creek deep enough for irrigation pipes - with very little backup. It's not for water storage or acting as a holding pond.

In Australia we would call that a weir, not a dam. Is that word not in use here?

A weir /ˈwɪər/ is a barrier across a river designed to alter its flow characteristics.

Owner · Dec 6, 2014

I've never heard of the term weir, even after watching the movie Damnation, so I don't think we use that term here.

Here's the wikipedia definition

A weir /ˈwɪər/ is a barrier across a river designed to alter its flow characteristics. In most cases, weirs take the form of obstructions smaller than most conventional dams, pooling water behind them while also allowing it to flow steadily over their tops.

Risker at en.wikipedia [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons

Sorry for the messy photo attributions... not sure on easy way to get creative commons license photos attributed...

ggr said:
In Australia we would call that a weir, not a dam. Is that word not in use here?

Rain in Northern California (finally)

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