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posted: February 28th, 2013 |
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This page begins with February 23rd and a trip out to Takao and a hike up the Hikage Creek road; lunch at Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-yama and then a hike down a new trail - the Hikage Creek Ridge trail. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin February 23rd |
As the header says, on Saturday, February 23rd, Kazuya and I went out to Takao and then took a bus to the Hikage Creek Bus Stop. From there we hiked down to Hikage Creek to check on the status of the Chrysosplenium album var. stamineum. As you can see in the first photo, it is budding, but it's still going to be a while before the flowers open. The 2nd shot shows you the amount of snow on the Hikage Creek Road - we did not expect this. This is the most snow we've ever seen here. The 3rd shot shows a small part of the Cedar Forest which covers this area. You can see that this year is going to be a very terrible year for people with pollen allergies. All of that orange color is Cedar Pollen Sacs and in a few weeks the pollen is going to start blowing around. Many people are already complaining about their allergies.
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 Feb23rdHikage003_ ChrysospleniumAlbumVStamineumRC |
 Feb23rd Hikage006SnowRC |
 Feb23_10_HikageCreek _CedarPollenSacsRC |
Here are 3 shots of birds. The first shot is a Japanese Accentor (Prunella rubida) or Kayakuguri in Japanese - it is indigenous to Japan. The 2nd and 3rd shots are of a different bird - a Gabichou in Japanese (Garrulax canorus) (the Chinese Hwamei or Melodious Laughingthrush). I am told that it is a very popular cagebird in China due to it's beautiful song.
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 Feb23_12_Hikage Creek_BirdRC |
 Feb23rdHikage 015_BirdRC |
 Feb23rdHikage 016_BirdRC |
Well, well! We found the very first violets of the season today. Up near the top of the road, where the sun shines on the hillside we found these specimens of Viola grypoceras. Spring is coming!!
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 Feb23rdHikage020_ ViolaGrypocerasRC |
 Feb23rdHikage017_ ViolaGrypocerasRC |
 Feb23_17_HikageCreek _Viola_grypocerasRC |
Here is a final shot of Viola grypoceras. The 2nd shot is looking from the Hikage Creek Road to I-Ccho-Daira, which we have shown you many photos of over the years. The 3rd shot was taken from the summit of Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-yama (670 m = 2,199 ft). Today we ended up hiking down that ridge which you see extending from the left edge of the photo - the one with the small patch of hardwoods on it. We never even realized that there was a trail there; we just discovered it today. It's a nice trail. By the way, this is the same ridge which you can see on Page 1 - the 3rd photo in Row 1.
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 Feb23_18_HikageCreek _Viola_grypocerasRC |
 Feb23_21_HikageCreek _ICchoDairaRC |
 Feb23rd Hikage030RC |
Oops! What passed by here before us? From the size of the pile it just about had to be a Black Bear. The 2nd and 3rd shots show the snow up on this ridge under the hardwoods.
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 Feb23_22_HikageCreek _BearScatMaybeRC |
 Feb23rdHikage 031SnowRC |
 Feb23_23_HikageCreek _HardwoodForestRC |
Here are the final 2 shots from this adventure. We found several Cymbidium goeringii orchid plants on this hike and this particular plant has the buds which were expanded the most. Another indication that spring is coming. In Japanese this Orchid is called "Shun Ran" which translates as Spring Orchid.
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 Feb23_26_HikageCreek_ Cymbidium_goeringiiRC |
 Feb23_27_HikageCreek_ Cymbidium_goeringiiRC |
| End February 23rd, End Page 2, End February 2013's Photos |
Here are links to separate web pages - all of them will open in a new window (or new tab). The first link shows some photos of our DVD Collection, an AVI Movie of our Home Theater System and 9 photos of our Sharp Aquos TV. The 2nd link shows our entire DVD collection in DVD Profiler (if you're asking yourself what might be good to rent for the weekend). The DVD's will be sorted by date purchased. You can click on the "Title" Column to sort that way if you desire. The 3rd link shows our entire DVD collection in php DVD Profiler, which is much more sophisticated than the plain vanilla DVD Profiler just above it. The 4th link takes you to a set of pages which show you the FRONT cover-art of our entire DVD collection.
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 January 1, 2013 - DVD Collection & Home Theater System   
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 Please check it out by clicking on the above button. (Click on the "Studies of Plants and Wildlife" link in the new window.) |
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Here is a small hint to let you know that we'd be thrilled to have you buy one of our books. For additional information regarding any title please click the "General Information" tab on the "Our Books" button down at the bottom of this page. Click on any thumbnail to go to its Amazon.com webpage. |
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| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. As usual for February, there is not much here. Hope you found something which you considered worth looking at. |
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Link to Amazon.com (new window).
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| If you would like to donate to our hiking & traveling fund or show your appreciation for our efforts you can donate through PayPal. A single donation will entitle you to request a single full-sized photo IN THE DONATION MONTH - which you may then use as a desktop wallpaper or whatever. The copyright will be retained by us and the photo will be inconspicuously marked with the copyright symbol (©), year and photographer's name. (Donation probably not tax deductible.) |