March 23, 2010
Today I read my Sunset Magazine from cover to cover. Got on-line to hopefully find the First Person article by Anne Lamott but instead I found the article on Portland’s Chinatown in Spring with all the cherry blossoms blooming: Portland day trip: Old Town Chinatown. Sounds like great fun. I do love Portland.
Portland is very kid and family friendly. This Deliciousbaby link has some good ideas. Our family has enjoyed the Children’s Museum, the Oregon Zoo and Powell’s Book Store. Some other suggestions are on Disney’s family.com site. OregonMom.com is even more plentiful. That should keep you full of ideas for a while!! Have fun!!
Check out more ideas and activities to do with kids on https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com by the author of the award-winning children’s book Grandpa, Do It! I Do It, Too! 🙂
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Indoor Activities, Nature Activities, Places to Explore | Tagged: child, children, Day Trips with Kids, family, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, granddaughter, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, grandson, Kid Trips, kids, Oregon, Oregon Zoo, Places to Go, portland, Portland Children's Museum, Powell's Book Store | 
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Posted by mygrandmasue
March 19, 2010
We always like to take a walk around our land on the first morning we are back in Reno. Today was no exception. Looks like all the plants made it through the winter. Most are budding out. One daffodil is blooming. The rest are still pushing out leaves and a few buds. We might get snow on Wednesday, so I hope it is only a brief cold front. Here are pictures of some of the wildflowers already blooming in the “wild part” (or native area or non-landscaped area) of our land.
Yellow (I think) Buttercups or Cinquefoil. I think they are Buttercups because they do not have five green sepals under the yellow petals. However, I don’t think the leaves look like either plant. They are very short and close to the ground. They are always the first to bloom in the spring.
The violets are also profusely blooming in large patches and clumps.
The tiny Yarrow get taller in the weeks to come.
See my earlier blog Possible Plethora of Wildflowers from last Spring for a list of flower identification books. We concentrate on ones for the Great Basin and Tahoe area.
See my other blogs at https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com 🙂
Leave a Comment » | Nature Activities, Places to Explore, Uncategorized | Tagged: High Desert Wildflowers, Nevada, Reno, The Great Outdoors | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
March 11, 2010
When our daughter was small she loved to go to Happy Hollow Park & Zoo in San Jose, CA. A couple years ago it closed. Just saw that there will be a great Re-Opening on March 20, 2010. Check out the photos in the San Jose Mercury News article By Mayra Flores De Marcotte! How great will that be for the young adults with small children of their own who remembered the fun they had in the park so long ago! As part of the Measure P Safe Neighborhood Parks and Recreation bond measure approved by voters in 2000, the park closed in 2008 to undergo a $72 million green renovation. Sneak-A-Peek of the ‘new’ park here! Here’s a list of the Yelp Old Memories – it will be fun to see how the new ones after March 20 will compare!
Check out other blogs for ideas and activities to do with kids on https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com by the author of the award-winning children’s book Grandpa, Do It! I Do It, Too! 🙂
Leave a Comment » | Nature Activities, Places to Explore | Tagged: child, children, family, fun, garden, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, grandson, Green Hour, Happy Hollow, Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, Happy Hollow Zoo, kids, Mayra Flores De Marcotte, nature, nature study, Places to Go, San Jose | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
March 10, 2010
Help Monterey Bay Aquarium‘s Executive Director Julie Packard in her latest action alert to save sea otters like Kit. The Aquarium’s Sea Otter Research and Conservation (SORAC) program has been trying to save the threatened southern sea otter since 1984.
See my other sea otter mentions on https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com, a website about and for grandparents, parents and their special children in their lives by award-winning author Grandma Sue. 🙂
Leave a Comment » | Nature Activities, People Who Make A Difference, Places to Explore | Tagged: Julie Packard, Monterey, Monterey Bay, Monterey Bay Aquarium, sea otter, sea otter babies, sea otter baby, sea otter research and conservation, Sea Otter Research and Recovery Act (H.R. 556), SORAC | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
March 7, 2010
The Orange County Register (6 March 2010) ran an article Barn Owl webcam a surprise hit about the webcam at Starr Ranch Sanctuary. That got me googling for more barn owl info and I found some very interesting links!
We thought we had a barn owl that loves to perch on our chimney in Reno, almost always at night but sometimes at dusk. There is another one in the neighborhood that answers his/her calls. It’s neat but also seems to follow the old Apache Indian folklore of predicting a death. According to the same owl mythology link in the Sierras (where Reno is), native Indians believed the Great Horned Owl captured the souls of the dead and carried them to the underworld. Thanks to the recordings of the different owl calls on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site, we now realize it is a Great Horned Owl. We reviewed all the recordings on the owl pages and “our owl” call is exactly like the one recorded for the Great Horned Owl – only it can go on and on and on and on….. Ah, according to the Oregon Zoo, mating season can be as early as February – so maybe that was the reason! It was February that loooong night of owl calls. I also learned that the female has the lower voice, but the response was too faint to distinguish which was lower…. 🙂
Here’s a radio show dedicated to birds called Birdnote.
The Hungry Owl Project has a camsite and photos as well.
I have other birding blogs and other child activities at https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com 😮
1 Comment | Backyard Activities, Nature Activities | Tagged: Audubon Society, Barn Owl, child, children, grandchild, grandchildren, granddaughter, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, grandson, Great Horned Owl, Hungry Owl Project, kids, Oregon Zoo, owl, owl calls, owl webcam, owls, portland, Reno, Starr Ranch Santuary | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
February 24, 2010
With all the snow we got in the last several days, this article by Maggie O’Neil of the Reno Gazette-Journal is quite timely! Check out For tubing adventures, it’s all downhill for reviews of the local resorts: Boreal Mountain Resort, Donner Ski Ranch, Granlibakken Ski and Snowboard, Heavenly Mountain Resort, Kirkwood Mountain Resort, Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort, Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort, Soda Springs Mountain Resort, Squaw Valley USA, and Tahoe Donner. There are other links here at NewToReno.com Winter Sports.
Check out the Reno-Tahoe website on your own – here’s the tubing page. For organized trips check out Sierra Adventures.
Personally, I liked the kids activities at Soda Springs the best – especially the tubing carousels at Planet Snow Kids.
For more ideas and activities, check out my other blogs at https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com 🙂
Leave a Comment » | Nature Activities, Sport Activity | Tagged: Boreal Mountain Resort, child, Donner Ski Ranch, family, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, granddaughter, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, grandson, Granlibakken Ski and Snowboard, Heavenly Mountain Resort, kids, Kirkwood Mountain Resort, Mountain Resorts, Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort, Places to Go, Playing with Children, Reno, Reno area, Reno Snow Activities, Reno-Tahoe, Reno/Tahoe, Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort, Snow Activities, Soda Springs Mountain Resort, Squaw Valley USA, Tahoe Donner, Tubing | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
February 17, 2010
Here’s something fun to try with your kids! It’s the Lost Ladybug Project! There’s Ladybug Learning, How to Participate, and How to Find and Photograph Ladybugs. I discovered this project by reading my newsletter from Kids Garden News.
Do check out my other ideas and kids activities at https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com 🙂
Leave a Comment » | Nature Activities, Places to Explore | Tagged: child, children, family, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, granddaughter, grandpa, grandparent, grandson, insects, kids, Kids Garden News, lady bug, lady bugs, Lost Ladybug Project, nature | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
February 11, 2010
Become a Wildlife Watch treasure hunter!
National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Watch is a national, nature-watching program created for people of all ages. The National Wildlife Federation can use your help to track the health and behavior of wildlife and plant species nationwide. You can also learn interesting tidbits on the Wildlife Watch website – wildlife news and facts, new ideas for attracting wildlife to your backyard and community. Check it out now on www.nwf.org/wildlifewatch and see what all is available to do!
Once you are finished with exploring your own back yard, you can get more ideas from NatureFind. It is an online destination database you can use to easily find a perfect spot for watching nature close to home. It also helps you discover what parks and trails are near you.
All you do is enter your zip code and check what activities you are interested in at http://www.nwf.org/naturefind to learn what is available around you!
Check out https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com for more interesting things and ideas! 🙂
1 Comment | Backyard Activities, Nature Activities, Places to Explore | Tagged: child, children, family, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, granddaughter, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, grandson, Green Hour, hiking, hiking trails, kids, National Wildlife Federation, nature, nature study, NatureFind, NWF Wildlife Watch, Places to Go, Watching Wildlife, Wildlife | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
January 27, 2010
The January/February 2010 issue of Sierra Club’s Sierra Magazine announced the new 2010 Sierra Club Outings – Adventures with a Cause. Fun stuff!!
Check out https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com for more interesting tidbits! 🙂
Leave a Comment » | Nature Activities, Uncategorized | Tagged: nature education, nature trips, Sierra Club Outings | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
January 14, 2010
Get Outside!! From the National Wildlife Federation website: Did you know that by the time most children go to kindergarten, they have spent more than 5,000 hours in front of a TV – and that is enough time to earn a college degree?
Be Out There™ is National Wildlife Federation’s initiative to inspire families across America to open the door and get outside! Wild Birds Unlimited and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation are proud sponsors of Green Hour.
Check out this survey and get some tips to get your family outdoors! Don’t hibernate, stay warm!
For more interesting info, check out my website at https://mygrandmasue.wordpress.com
Leave a Comment » | Nature Activities | Tagged: Be Out There, child, children, family, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, granddaughter, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, grandson, Green Hour, kids, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, National Wildlife Federation, outdoor activities, outdoor games | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
MyGrandmaSue 