goodbye

Goodbye Grandma. I'll miss you forever.

field trip

We took a little drive yesterday afternoon before dinner and decided to look for elk. We found them.

Cali and a pretty sky

Cali looking crabby.

Another crabby look because I made her pose by the daffodils.

I found these clouds so interesting, but it didn't really come out in the picture. It's still a nice view though.

striper

One of our many toads made it's spring appearance. It's nice to see it survived the winter.

hiking

Yesterday we did the hike to Morrell falls. We usually make this trek later in the month, but it was such a beautiful day with highs in the 80's, we decided to tackle it. Quite a bit of the trail was still snow covered which makes for unsure footing. It's still totally worth it though. The falls were gorgeous.

Because it was so early in the month, this Trillium was the only wildflower we saw blooming.

golfing

We saw some great birds on the golf course. This yellow-headed blackbird was on the 6th tee.

I couldn't get very close to this eared grebe and her babies. She kept squawking at me. This was on the 7th tee. We played nine holes, but the birding was better than the golfing for me anyway.

spring harvest

The usual suspects are available in the garden for harvest. This rhubarb was used for a rhubarb custard cake.

The asparagus was used in asparagus mushroom tarts. This is the first year we get to eat asparagus from the garden.

Pretty in Purple

Hubby found these violets in the forest during our morning walk. We noticed several more plants growing right on the path. So pretty.

spoiled dog

It was Cali's 3rd birthday yesterday so I made some wheat free dog cookies. They smelled good enough to eat...and she did!

hatchling

Is this how we get young Douglas fir trees? Cali found an egg shell like this a couple of years ago and I thought it was from a turkey. However, we haven't had any turkey sightings in over a year. It turns out this shell is from a domestic goose. I'm not sure how it got on the Hill. Fox? Coyote? Raven? Who knows, but it's funny about the fir cone.

mushroom eyes

After community clean-up, the neighbors that always come out to do the work got together for a potluck. Of course when you live in the woods the topic of fire always comes up and one neighbor mentioned how one year after her field was burned she collected quarts and quarts of morels. Hubby and I filed this info away and decided to start hunting for them when he thought conditions were right.

Hubby spotted this morel this morning in an area near our house. He told me now that I've seen it, I should have my "mushroom eyes" and be able to spot them. He's a trained mycologist so of course he has "mushroom eyes".

Then he tells me to turn around because I just walked by this patch. Obviously my "mushroom eyes" need glasses.

Hoodlums

Out to eat everything in sight. These are all yearlings. There were seven of the little devils grazing in the backyard yesterday afternoon. You can see one of them is onto me. I took this pic from the office window, but he still saw me.

Wildflowers are just beginning

The balsam root is blooming although not in the numbers we used to see. We've had so much rain and snow lately, it's great to see some color--and yellow is my favorite next to salmon, but there aren't many salmon colored wildflowers on the Hill.