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October 31, 2025 was Nevada’s 161st year of Statehood. The celebrations started early in October with many events scheduled throughout the month leading up to the big Birthday Bash on November 1st.
November 1st started really early with Hot Air Balloonist rolling in at 6am to get their balloons ready for an 8AM lift-off. I was there.
I usually pick one balloon and stick with them until they lift off. This year I watched the crew that owns this balloon laying flat on the ground.
The crew pulled up to their spot on the street then they laid out a huge tarp, next they roll out the balloon. The crew is named Cloud Couture Crew. The Balloon’s name is Cloud Couture. It’s piloted by Eric Diamond.
Next they hook up the basket, and gas, check all the lines, then they turn on a huge fan. See it next to the basket on the left? They use the fan to fill the balloon with air. The best part is when they have enough air in the balloon to start heating it up and lifting the balloon! Whoosh! It was warm standing here once they had the flame going.
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Back in late January or early February I heard there was a White-throated Sparrow up in Carson City. This is a rare bird for Nevada. The map doesn’t show it ever being here rare.
I’d never seen one before so I began the hunt for it. I only had a general location of where it was so I was covering a very large area and staying for hours photographing every sparrow and bird I saw.
I was unsuccessful 6 times over the course of about 6 weeks.
All the while this bird was being seen and reported by one guy almost every day while myself, and my neighbor were not seeing it! I can tell you it was frustrating! During this period there was another one seen, photographed, and reported on the birding site ebird.org up in Reno!
So, my neighbor and I went up and spent hours looking for it but, no joy there either. Sigh.
Then on a tip from a fellow birder who had seen it a week before in Carson City told me the which area I should try looking. I went back last week and hung around the area he suggested and got lucky! 💃💃😀The 7th times the charm!
The White-throated Sparrow comes in two color forms: white-crowned and tan-crowned. The two forms are genetically determined, and they persist because individuals almost always mate with a bird of the opposite morph. Males of both color types prefer females with white stripes, but both kinds of females prefer tan-striped males. White-striped birds are more aggressive than tan-striped ones, and white-striped females may be able to outcompete their tan-striped sisters for tan-striped males.
Although they look nothing alike and aren’t particularly closely related, the White-throated Sparrow and the Dark-eyed Junco occasionally mate and produce hybrids. The resulting offspring look like grayish, dully marked White-throated Sparrows with white outer tail feathers.
White-throated Sparrows typically nest on or near the ground. Occasional nests are built up to 15 feet off the ground in conifers. Usually, these nests are second attempts after a pair has had a ground nest robbed by a predator.
The oldest recorded White-throated Sparrow was at least 14 years, 11 months old, when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Alberta.
I have been birding a lot so have lots of birds to share in the coming weeks.
A friend came up to meet me for a meet-up over the week-end and after a long day of hiking, and elevation gain she spent the night in our guest room. We both were a bit wiped out after 8 miles of hiking and several hundred feet of elevation gain so, we stuck closer to my area rather than go hiking again on Sunday. I’m still suffering from elevation sickness when going up, and so was she. I hope this isn’t going to be an issue for my whole life!
My left hip was really achy too and has been for a year or more. Anna, my friend suggested P/T for it. That got me thinking about stretching so I dug out my Yoga book and Monday I added 4 stretches to my morning routine that I have left out for a couple of years. After 3 days of incorporating the hip stretches my hip feels so much better! I love yoga stretches!
Anyway, I digress. One of the things she wanted to do was see the area so we did a photo walk of downtown Carson City’s Civic Center. Carson City is the closest “biggish” town to me now.
Thankfully, Carson City has kept some of its old west charms and St Charles Hotel/The Fox BrewPub is a Historic building located across the street from the Capitol Building that is one of those charming buildings that has been preserved and is still in use today. Carson City is the Capitol of Nevada for those out of the country who may not know that.
For the History Buffs, I gleaned some information about the Hotel/BrewPub from Carsonpedia. I’ve linked their page below.
“The hotel was originally built as two separate buildings. The northern, three-story, section was started on April 1, 1862, and was named the St. Charles Hotel. Construction on the southern two-story building started one month later, and it opened as the Muller Hotel. The builders were George W. Remington and Albert Muller, and they partnered with Dan Plitt who owned a bakery on the corner where the hotel was to be built. The hotel was first advertised in the October 2, 1862 edition of the Silver Age newspaper. It was called “the most desirable and commodious first-class house in Carson,” and “the pleasantest resort in Carson and where everything kept by the bar is the best quality.” ~http://carsonpedia.com/St._Charles_Hotel
Isn’t it interesting that no one of those who were invested in or partnered in the venture was named Charles? Who was Charles? I want to know. Was it a neutral name that all could agree to so no one was bigger or more acknowledged than the other?
The Hotel has had some successful years and quite a few failed years and has had 8 name changes since its construction in 1862 and a few owners.
I love how literate the people were back then. No one says commodious anymore and it’s a terrific and descriptive word.
It is said that Mark Twain likely had a drink there since he lived in Carson City for a spell. I wonder if that was after his friends saved him from a pistol duel that he was challenged to in Virginia City where he lived for a couple of years? It’s said his closest friends knew he was a really bad shot and wanted him to live and continue writing, so they helped him get of town in the dead of night to avoid the duel. I’ll have to research that. I do know that he and his brother traveled by an Overland Coach to Carson City from St Joseph, Mo. in 1861 for $150.00! That was a princely sum in those days! I’m gobsmacked that they paid so much then! Are you? He wrote about his journey to Carson City in his book Roughing It. I bought it and have been slowing reading it. It’s really good! FYI. There’s a really great Mark Twain Impersonator in Virginia City. One day I hope to find him alone without some modern person speaking to him to get a photo of him. He’s really great, but there’s been a modern person speaking with him both times I’ve come across him, and I waited, and waited, and waited, Good Lord these people can talk! I have given up both times and moved on after 5 minutes. I just don’t have the patience to wait that long for a “people” shot. I’ll wait hours for a landscape or night sky shot, but not a people shot. My heart just isn’t in it. Hat Tip to those who will wait for that shot! You are amazing!
I digress again! History has so many twists and turns that I tend to get caught up in one or another and go off on tangents for awhile. I eventually come back to the point but…I love history. That probably should have been my major, but it wasn’t. It was my son’s though ( Big Baby Boy)…so the beat goes on. 😀 I’m talking way too much, aren’t I…
Today in 2019 it is the Historic St. Charles Hotel/Fox BrewPub
The door is small from this angle, but I loved the whole building with its red bricks, door, white trim, and balcony. I didn’t get closer for a close up of the door and now that I’m typing this up I thought, ” DOH! We should have had lunch there!” We didn’t. We went to a new to me but a new favorite of mine called Jimmy Johns. I love their Tuna on Thick Wheat Bread. Do you have a Jimmy Johns where you live? We didn’t in Silicon Valley. I need to snap a photo of the sandwich too! I’m usually so hungry by the time I get to the restaurant or deli that I inhale my meal and forget to get a photo of it. Sigh…I’m not a good foodie photog.
I think if the topic fit I should have written this for Stream of Consciousness Saturday cause I’m digressing all over the place, but… it’s not. So, a little bitty view of a red door on very cool Historic building with a whole lot of verbiage is what I’m bringing today to Thursday Doors.
This is part of Norm Frampton’s Thursday Doors. If you have a door or two to share head on over to his blog and join in the fun or just head over and see the doors others have shared from all over the world. Just follow his directions at the end of his Thursday door post.
CarNikon D810| Nikkor 24-120mm| Lexar Digital Film| PS CC 20
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