Forgot one...

This little beauty is in bloom now. I forgot about the nodding onion that shows up around this time of year. One year we saved seeds from these plants and sprinkled them around the crabapples, but we didn't get a single nodding onion for our effort.

Garden goodies

Can't wait to pick this tomato. This will be a first for us...tomatoes in July. Maybe we finally stumbled on the right variety for this climate. I planted 5 different winter squash varieties and as an afterthought, 1 zucchini and 1 crookneck squash. The nasturtium looks so pretty this year. Last year it was eaten by the deer before it could flower, but now with the new fence, it's allowed to go crazy.

Cali's garden goodie is an old deer leg bone that she found while foraging in the ravine. Yuk!

Governor's BBQ

Yesterday we went to a fundraising event at the Governor's lake house on Georgetown Lake. It was Jag's First Annual BBQ. Jag is the First dog. 

Our future neighbors, Jim & Lauren went with us. Here they are on the deck overlooking the lake.

Here we are, same view. This deck is just off the living room.

This is Brian Schweitzer and Lt. Governor John Bollinger during the Governor's speech. I took a lot of pictures of the border collie in the background of this picture before I figured out that it wasn't Jag. Jag has a blue and a brown eye. This dog's eyes are both brown.

Here we are in a group photo with the Governor. We were able to get this photo because in an "it's a small world story", it ended up that Jim knew the Governor's "handler" from his college days.

This is Jag's cake. I got the piece with Jag's blue eye.

another beetle

This picture is for our grandson Casey because I know he will enjoy it the most. He's very interested in entomology and I'm hoping when he and his brother, Christian, visit next month we can find another one of these longhorned beetles for him to see up close and personal.

last wildflower

This goldenrod is the last wildflower to bloom on our hill. I'm always sad to see it as now everything will begin to turn brown and the beautiful green glow will be gone.

This beetle is a Tenebrionid. They wander all over the property and if you get them mad they make a terrible odor. Dennis spotted this big guy on our morning walk. I like this photo because it looks like he's pooping a fir cone.

mimicry

I think these moths are so interesting. One resembles the rings of a tree and the other looks like dried leaves. The little gray one is boring, but probably blends in well on a tree trunk. It's fun to check under the porch lights and see what new moths have spent the night there.

first beet harvest of the season

This isn't my most favorite veggie. Actually it's up there with okra in the "yuk" category. Both my dad and Dennis really enjoy beets, however, so I'm willing to grow them. Dennis and I attended a cooking class last week and in the salad were roasted beets. Pretty yummy I have to admit. Maybe these beets will make their way into next week's salads. 

Third time around

I guess the third time really is a charm. I saw the male and female fly out of the bluebird nesting box and I noticed a lot of weeds sticking out of the bottom of the box. Another nest--this time with 4 eggs. Oh joy!!!

On a hot day...

...one could use a good brew. It looks like Cali has had a sip too much.

Hey, Spike, what do you like?

My apologies to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

This is one of the mean white deer's fawns from last year. He and his twin were born on our hill and think of it as their home. Imagine that.

Look into my eyes...

We saw the 2 fox kits playing on our neighbor's property this morning. Dennis decided to sneak up on them and get some pictures. Instead, he photographed the mom fox watching his every move. She was looking on while her babies cavorted in the grass. Later, as we walked down the road with Cali, she was watching us from across the ravine. She scampered up the hill as we came closer, leading us away from her kits. She probably has her eye on us every time we go outside.  

wild bergamot

This is one of my favorite summer wildflowers. It's a member of the mint family and has a wonderful fragrance. It's one of the few I will pick and bring in the house to enjoy.

We've had quite a bit of wildlife activity around here lately. Yesterday as we were taking our morning walk on the road, Dennis and I were looking into the ravine trying to spot the fox while Cali was busy with something she found on the road--a little fawn head. Just the head! There was also a little leg. Poor fawn. Obviously food for the coyotes or foxes. It's hard to know which. Then later that evening as we were driving down our road to go into town for dinner, Dennis asked me if any cars were coming from the right. I said no, but then out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something brown and fuzzy--a baby bear! Actually a pretty cute little guy. We didn't see the mom. However, this morning when Dennis went down to get the paper, he saw a huge pile of bear scat in the road. Probably from the mom bear. When we went for our walk later in the morning it was gone. Lots of little fox prints were all around where the scat had been and there were still small remnants of the scat. We think the teenage foxes took that scat somewhere. I had seen them playing on our neighbor's property when we left for our walk. Cali was also interested in the scat which is completely disgusting to me. Not much difference between foxes and dogs I guess. I'm definitely not going out alone at night. I don't know what will be on that road.

bird nests

The male bluebird found a mate, built a nest and then...nothing. This is the second abandoned nest he and a partner have built in one of the bird houses. I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with him. The first female was clearly damaged in some way. Either pesticide poisoning or a parasite. That "banging into the window for hours" behavior was too weird. Now he's got another female and still no eggs. Perhaps he suffers from the same affliction as his first mate. It's disappointing. No baby bluebirds from our boxes this year.

This other "nest" is actually a fungus. I found it growing in the garden while I was harvesting Swiss chard. It's a bird's nest fungus. The "eggs" are actually little spores that are dispersed when hit by rain, or the garden sprinkler. The fungus belongs to a group of saprophytic fungi that grow on decaying wood or manure. Nature is so cool.

Red, White & Blue

Happy 4th of July!

summer flowers and Dennis' return

I flew to Sacramento on Sunday and drove back to Montana with Dennis yesterday. He has been gone since my dad's visit in early June so it's good to have him home again. Even though I was only gone for 4 days, the garden went crazy during a heat spell. Fortunately, thunderstorms in the area dumped a lot of rain on the garden beds. There were no pea pods on the plants when I left, but today  I harvested an entire bowl full of them. We are definitely having sauteed pea pods for dinner tonight.

A few cuties are blooming now. I don't know the names of these 2 composite flowers. The pink dogbane is a little shrub that comes up late spring and blooms for over a month. It just started blooming before I left and the aroma is like a sweet perfume.