new camera

I bought a new Nikon Coolpix. I'm giving my oldie, but goodie to Jamie, my step-daughter. I took a few trial shots with the new camera. I love it! Here I have a picture of one of the more delicate wildflowers in bloom right now, the hare bell. Also, I took a close-up of a grass seed. I hoping to get some great bird shots with this new camera.

early morning sight

I saw this little fawn yesterday morning on my neighbor's property and I was hoping the doe would move it up onto ours soon. They were just below our road this morning so I grabbed a quick shot.

more flowers and a fox story

A few more wildflowers are now in bloom. The sunny face of the Gaillardia. I planted this in my garden in CA and now it's on the hill for free. Also in bloom, the pinky delight called narrow-leaved collomia. A big name for such a little flower. Lastly, white yarrow is popping up everywhere.

Both Cali and I spotted the fox this morning on the rise above the road by the ravine. It had one baby with it, a teenaged fox, but that little guy scooted away too fast for me to get him in the picture. You can see her at the very top of the rise. We had a little staring contest going on until it was too overwhelming for her and she took off into the bushes. She circled around and ran in front of me on the road and then down into the ravine. I'm seeing the fox everyday now. She's so busy hunting to feed her babies. Cali keeps finding little bones on the road. 

wild rose

Last night while walking Cali, I caught a whiff of a sweet fragrance and came upon a patch of wild roses in full bloom. All that rain has really helped the flora this year.

Hiking Morrell Falls

We had a nice hike yesterday to the Falls. The wildflowers were beautiful and the weather was perfect. Unfortunately, we encountered 2 people on horseback right at the beginning of the hike and that freaked out Cali. She's never seen a horse before and the owner said his horse didn't like dogs. Oh great! It was awful, but we managed to get through it. 

I took some nice photos of dog-tooth violet and Calypso orchid. Also, one of my mom on the bridge going over Morrell Creek. It was too hard to get a good shot of the Falls. They were huge and it was dark in there. Maybe next time.

A year gone by

It's been one year of agonizing heartbreak and sadness. Sienna was such a sweet soul and not a day goes by that I don't miss her happy "Ar-roo!!".

Today we are going to hike to Morrell Falls. A place Sienna loved and I'll be able to see her there in my mind's eye. 

Bright Lights

The first harvest of swiss chard from the garden. I'm making swiss chard strudel for my mom tonight. Yum.

I would love to have a purse the same color as the pinky chard.

Flutter by

Pretty little butterfly.

I guess this is fun

Cali spends hours digging in the gopher tunnels. 

I saw the bear again yesterday morning while on my way to get the newspaper. It was in my neighbor's driveway, rummaging around his garbage barrels. It froze in place when it saw me and my heart started to pound, but then he ran down the hill away from me. Yikes! That was too close.

Another spring flower

One of the few non-yellow flowers is blooming. The hummingbirds love this flower, spiked gilia.

Cutie

Thanks to Dennis' friend Lance for sending this picture. Lance lives about 1 mile down the forest path from our house. I saw one fawn in our neighbor's yard, but I didn't have my camera with me. This is the only time I like these deer. Any other time I just see them as pesky plant maulers.

Deck railing

The new railing is so different from the old one. It will take some getting used to. I'm hoping now that it has stopped snowing and raining, they will finish by tomorrow. The stairs still need to be worked on and all the trash has to be removed. It will be so nice when it's all finished.  I'm looking forward to the peace and quiet. 

This is just mean

I want to go home where it's sunny and warm. This is no place for a California girl. I hate snow in the winter so you can imagine how much I'm hating it now.

Fox trot

I spotted the fox running down from the garden toward the road this afternoon. He looked a little damp.

It's getting worse...

I think the pictures tell all. 

Is this a joke?

Yes, I know I complained about too much spinach, but really, did I need a snowstorm to come along and kill it? Isn't it JUNE??? The unfortunate thing is, the spinach will probably love it, but the tomatoes, peppers, melons, squash, cucumbers and corn are done for I'm sure.  Oh, how I pine for a Sacramento tomato. Gardening used to be enjoyable, but in MT it's just frustration on top of frustration. If the deer don't eat it, the weather will kill it.

The hummingbirds don't look too happy either. They all look like drowned rats. Poor little things are camped out at the only covered feeder I have. 

poor bluebird

This male Western bluebird lost his mate last month. Both Dennis and I thought the female bluebird had either a parasite or pesticide poisoning because she kept banging herself against the office window. She would do it for hours on end. She even taught this weird behavior to him, but he didn't do it as much as she did. We hoped that once she had some eggs to sit on, the behavior would stop. When they built their nest in the bluebird nesting box that my dad built for me, I was anxious to see her sitting on eggs. Unfortunately, she went off to die somewhere. Now the poor male hangs around, all alone. Here he is taking a bath and then preening himself. 

We also have tree swallows that nest in the bluebird boxes and these two were out this morning. 

My salad bowl runneth over

This morning I harvested a lot of spinach and arugula. I'm going to try to freeze the spinach for later use as it's too much for me to eat. I may end up with a Ziploc bag of green goo, but I'll give it a try. I'm halfway tempted to compost one of the rows of spinach just to alleviate the stress of having to pick it all the time. The lettuce is more manageable, but I still have too much. I picked a few radishes this morning, but because Dennis and my dad left for CA, I suppose I'll have to eat them. I don't even like radishes. I only grow them for Dennis. Maybe Cali will eat them.

The garden is growing & Cali, too

With all the rain we've had, the greens are doing better than ever in the garden. We've been harvesting lettuce, spinach, radish, arugula and cress. The pac choi and Swiss chard are coming along nicely. The asparagus patch is showing signs of life although I planted them too deeply and had to remove some of the soil to make sure they weren't rotting away. Our lilacs made it through another deer mauling last fall and are finally blooming. Cali's always watching my every move.

Signs of a wet spring

We have a lot more mushrooms popping up than ever before. There has been so much rain up on the Hill this year. This morning Dennis found this big mushroom and the deliquescing Coprinus. Also down by our well, we have lady-slipper orchids just beginning to bloom. 

Stop and smell the flowers

Ah, allergies!