Morning Walkies

This morning we had a nice walk. The second pic shows Richard and the dogs headed down the deer trail into the woodlands above our place. We wandered through the woods, enjoying the winter sun after a day of rain, which was much needed. Everything looked nice and fresh and there's a hint of the new grasses making their way through last years dried plant materials. As we made our way into a clearing, I was able to capture Mt. Lassen through the treetops. Thanks to the new larger zoom was able to bring it pretty close. This morning Lassen Peak had a new cap of snow, courtesy of yesterdays storm. Had we continued on the upper road, rather then walking through the woods I'd have been able to capture Mt. Shasta to the North. Next time!!

Cheeky's friend

Our little in residence squirrel appears to have made some new friends. We're not sure if he/she is happy about sharing the bounty, though most of the time they seem to eat peaceably without too much fuss. One in the bird feeder as you see here, the other in the squirrel feeder right next to it. One day there were 4 squirrels jumping around in the trees all around the feeders. But Cheeky quickly send most of them packing. This smaller one is a squirrel he/she seems to be ok with. A girl/boyfriend?

We're not sure. But we do enjoy their antics at the feeders. Of course while the squirrel is in the feeder, the birds sit in the tree above it, disgruntled.

Winter Sky

Wow, it's been a while since I posted, hasn't it? Amazing how time flies. This year is nearly over already.

Did get a new camera, so I thought I'd post a few pics. Still learning to use it of course, but so far, so good. It's taking some nice pics. The little bird sitting in the rose branches over our gate was taking from about 50' away. So the bigger zoom is really working well for me. I really like my older camera, but going from x4 Zoom to x16 Zoom is making a big difference. Plus this camera has Macro Mode, Panorama Mode and a bunch of other features, some of which I'll probably never figure out. LOL.

Anyhow, took these pics at sunset last night. We've been having some stunning sunsets and sunrises the last week or so. As the new Lumix has a Sunset mode, the colors are really being captured nicely.

Autumn Colors

I think what I love most about this time of year are the wonderful colors. Not only the stunning sunrises, but the every changing color of our many trees. Each and every one of them a wonder to behold as they slowly change before losing their leaves for the winter. Early in the day is the best time it seems. The colors just glow. Here's a wonderful sunrise and some of the great colors it revealed throughout the garden.

Petey & George

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? Time seems to have gotten away from me and I've not posted anything in some time.

Today I thought I'd share a couple of fun pics of our boy Petey the Pup aka Our dog Spot and his favorite friend George the monkey. :)

Like a small child, Petey hauls George around with him. Though he's a powerful dog, after having George for well over a month, not a mark on that monkey. Well other then some slobber. LOL.

I hope you enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed capturing them.

Winter Garden

This year we decided to try our hand at winter gardening. We planted Swiss Chard, here protected by the baby dinosaur, as well as Red Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts, Broccoli, Flat Dutch Cabbage, Onions, Radishes and Sugar Snap Peas.

This morning when I opened the garden door the sun fell on the raised beds, illuminating our baby veggies. I love the way the leaves have necklaces of dew pearls hanging on their edges.

It'll be fun seeing how well we do with our crop. Oh nearly forgot, we also put out white Cauliflower and several plants of orange Cauliflower.

Garden Faces

I thought I would share some of the faces in our gardens with you. We've collected them overtime, finding one here and there and then searching for the perfect spot. The two who are somewhat similar are of the Green Man. The last one reminded me of Oscar Wilde, so had to have him as well.

Tropicana

This has got to be one of my favorite Cannas. It's amazing both in bloom and in leaf. It's at the back of our property on the little porch between the General Store and the Library. Catches the morning sun there. and what a beautiful sight when those first rays touch and light up the leaves. So even when she's resting and taking a break from flowering, still a great part of any garden. She's been living in a large pot for quite a few years now. This fall we'll have to take her up and divide her. She's a bit cramped right now, so her blooms are getting fewer.

But the colors are outstanding on both blossoms and leaves. If you live in a fairly warm and sunny climate, this beauty deserves a spot in your garden.

Summer Fruit

As summer is heating up, our fruit are slowly ripening. Every morning I go out into the orchard to see what's happened. There are always ripe grapes to pic off the bunches. So nice way to start the day. The figs are getting fatter, but other then a couple, who ripened early, none ready at the moment. No doubt they'll all ripen at the same time. So far we haven't had too much in the way of birds thieving the grapes. One year, they were there one day and within a couple of days all the grapes had been raided. As they ripen unevenly, tough to get them in the house before they get snatched. So we munch away, picking the ripest ones and eating them on the spot.

Our old boat & hammock time

As we're thinking of our favorite lake~ Whiskeytown~ had to add a picture of our faithful old Wriedt boat. She's an old girl but still has plenty of life left in her. After making some nice long and noisy runs in her, we anchor her on the shore of our favorite little island, hang our hammocks in the trees and enjoy the day. Richard still waterskis, so if we have a third person, he often skis. I've retired after tearing my hamstring a few years ago.

But for the most part we just enjoy being on the water, munching our way through our picnic basket and lolling in hammocks. Now and then an osprey might light in one of the trees to peer down on us.

Canadian Geese & Ducks~ Whiskeytown Lake

It's summer time and I am wishing we were on the lake. So far haven't made it this year. Seems like there's always something else going on or on the days we have free, the wind will be howling making boating difficult.

But as I am sitting here on a triple digit afternoon, can't help but dream of the lake. So I sorted through some of my pictures of previous outings and relived those. :)

When we settle on the little island we usually chose early in the day, we have visitors of the feathered kind. Geese, Canadians in this case and also ducks.

They are always looking for a handout. When they hear paper rustling, pretty soon, there they come. We do our best to ignore them of course, following the lake rules, but now and then a breadcrumb does fall into the deep. Whiskeytown is so crystal clear that you can see the bread go down, down, down and all of the sudden large golden trout appear and snatch the crumbs out of the water. If the geese and ducks miss them that is. Maybe next week.

Glowing Morning Glory

The other morning, as I was out "visiting" the garden to see what's blooming, found these lovely morning glories. So ran inside and grabbed my camera. As I was getting ready to snap my picture, the sun had moved a touch higher in the sky and all of the sudden a ray of sun lit up the center of the morning glory in the most amazing way. I did my best to capture it. The heart of the flower was literally glowing as it it had an LED lightbulb deep inside. What an amazing sight.

Large Daylilies

I wanted to share a few more of my daylilies. These are the full-sized ones. I don't know the name of the double-orange one, but the beautiful deep red one is called "Firedrake". It was developed by one of the monks at New Clairveaux Monastery in Vina, CA, which is near us. They have an excellent winery which has tasting events going on throughout the year. And a wine club as well. But back to the daylily. The monk who probogated this lovely daylily has since then passed away. So I am especially pleased that his beautiful creation lives on in my garden. I repotted it this late last year into a much larger pot. And it's rewarded us with having grown much larger with 3 big stems of flowers, several of which open every morning.

Miniature Daylilies

It's that time of year when the daylilies open. These two are minis, very sweet and small. The yellow is called "Cupid's Arrow", the deep colored one is "Cranberry Baby." Though daylilies merely look like grasses for most of the year , now they bring forth new flowers each and every morning for several weeks.

Waterlilies

Since adding Mosquito Fish to a small water feature, the waterlily who lives in that pond has thrived beyond belief. It was always very modest in size. But the last few seasons, with the help of the little fish tickling it's roots, it blooms and blooms. A few blossoms was the norm, but these days we get 20 or more luscious flowers on it.

I was given just a few of the little fishes by a friend. They have multiplied as well. The only drawback, they are very hungry for tadpoles, more so then mosquito larvae. So I wouldn't get any more of them, ever. Nor release them in our creek ,which teams with tadpoles in the spring months. But for now, we'll enjoy the pond as is, with new waterlilies greeting us every few days.

Blossom

What is a sleeping pig doing on my blog you might ask yourself? Well, this is a special pig. Her name is Blossom and we found her wandering in our yard last year when she was just a baby. Someone had picked her up, maybe for dinner, and she managed to escape. Only to find herself in a yard with inquisitive dogs who went crazy upon seeing her. So we quickly locked them up and then went about catching the piglet. Then the phonecalls! What to do? Until I remembered seeing a group of nice young girls at our Farmer's Market, asking for donations for Farm Sanctuary in Orland, CA. Managed to find their number, made the call and they told us bring her in. And today we got to visit her for the first time since she's grown up. Well, nearly, evidently she still has some growing to do. We found her snoozing away, after having spend the morning playing with her piggy friends who share a big, cozy barn with her. They even have a nice pond at the bottom of their enclosure. These lucky farm animals will never find their way onto anyone's dinner plate. Instead they get to live out their lives, being taken care of with lots of TLC. What a happy ending!!

Tehama Sunset

On the day we drove up to Mt. Shasta, we came home fairly late. So as we headed out of Red Bluff, into the open country side homeward bound, the sun started sinking into the hazy cloudcover, getting ready to disappear behind the coastal range.

Though my little camera isn't much, still a few of the pics, which I took hanging out the truck window, came out pretty nice. So thought I would share them here. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful day.

Mt. Shasta in June

Last week we headed up to the little town of Mt. Shasta. Wandered the New Age shops, ate lunch, sipped cappuccino in the book store. In other words, had a great time. Before heading home we decided to get a little closer to the glistening snow that blankets the great mountain. So got directions at the local tea shop and off we went, up the mountain. Finally had to stop at a little over 6000' as the road was closed at that point. The air was crisp and cool, about 20* cooler then in Shasta town. Blazing sunshine made the snow glisten and a good time was had by all. We had our granddaughter Ashlee along, who got a short reprieve from work to join us for nearly 2 weeks. This was our last outing with her before she had to head back home. Plus took along our Tai Chi buddy Jeanie. Of course before long Grandpa and Ashlee were lopping snowballs. :) It was a wonderful daytrip all the way around.

Black Elderberry

Last year we planted an Elderberry Bush. We do live on Elder Creek after all. But rather then plant one of the regular Elderberries, I found a black variety which features dark stems and leaves and delicate pink flowers, rather then the normal green leaves with white flowers.

It wasn't an easy starter. Sadly, the place we planted it was one heavily visited by the dogs while saying hello to our neighbor at the fence. So they nearly trampled it to death. Finally Richard came to the rescue and put a wire safety fence around it.

As the spring season started, the remaining parts of the bush came to life slowly. Then new branches sprouted from the base of the plant. Finally as time passed our Elderberry bush started getting taller and taller, with beautifully colored leaves and then flower buds started appearing. As time goes by, new flowerheads keep popping up. I love the color of both the shrub itself and the wonderful flowerheads. If they get pollinated, we'll even have Elderberries . Should we not have enough for jam, the birds will be happy to dine on them as well.

King Tut & Beauregard

This is an image I took 2 years ago this coming July. Our beautiful Beauregard aka BeauBear, left us 3 weeks after I took this photo. He's the regal looking Shepherd/Rottweiler Mix in the background.

The big, silly looking boy peering through the gate is King Tut who will be 7 in July. BeauBear did his best to teach Tutter all he needed to know before leaving us.

Tut is a Pitbull Mix. A lovely boy, though a bit nuts at times. When excited to see friends, he does a frantic, wiggly dance. Therefore he's also known as the Mambo King.

Sadly he has severe arthritis in his left hind knee, but despite the daily pain he endures, he's mostly in good spirits and takes his meds like a good boy. As long as they are liberally coated with catfood or liverwurst.

Succulents

This year, as I am starting to replace plants in some of my containers , I've decided going with succulents. They are much more forgiving when it comes to summer heat. It's amazing, so many colors and textures. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy them over the more colorful plants I usually keep in pots, but I am starting to enjoy them and they're thriving. The two I am sharing here remind me of tiny, little cabbages, or roses. Since planting them a month ago or so, they've already started spreading in their pots.

Roses

And then there are the roses.

We have about 40+ bushes of them. And though we give them only minimum care, they thrive. This year we are battling black spot, due to our long, wet spring, but they bloom regardless. Especially the lighter roses shine at dusk, just before night falls.

The rose in the first picture Richard bought me in a small pot at Trader Joe's a few years back. After it was done blooming, I moved it to a larger pot and stuck it in the corner, next to our fence. It must have send a taproot into the ground because it now takes up the entire corner in that area. It's probably 3-4 ft. wide and again that high. Covered from head to toe in fragrant, sweet blossoms and buds. I don't know the name of it, nor the name of the exquisite bud below the first picture. That wonderful, butterscotch colored rose gets the most perfect buds and open into huge, long-lasting flowerheads. The open flowers are as big as my hand.

I could post pages and pages of rose pictures alone. But you'll enjoy them more a few at a time.

Happy Mother's Day

Gathered a bouquet of flowers and thought I'd share them with you. The roses are amazing this year. loaded with blossoms. At the moment rain is threatening, but they shine, even on this grayish day. What a joy!! Though the garden work seems to be endless, what a wonderful, scented reward in the end.

Wishing you all a Happy Mother's day!! And yes, those with fur children only do qualify! ;-)

Iris

This year has been a good year for Iris. Even those who hadn't bloomed in a season or two suddenly decided to surprise us this year. So I wanted to share a few of the more spectacular ones with you. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as we do.

In Memory of Teddy

Today we laid to rest our wonderful boy Teddy. He was 14 years old and will be missed sorely.

He was born here the year after we moved permanently to the country. His only direct remaining sibling is Siegfried, our Silver Tabby.

He was laid to rest next to his brother Cheetah, on a bed of Lambs Ear leaves, mixed with Lavender buds, Rose petals, cedar chips and Lemon Balm branches.

We planted a Magnolia on his grave.

It will be some time before the pain of his leaving will get easier.

But he will live on in our memory always. His deep purr, his abiding affection and love. And last but not least, even his annoying drooling no doubt. Every passionate encounter with him would leave me full of damp dribbles. You were well loved my boy, and will always be in our hearts. :)

Flutterbye Rose

As you can properly tell by now, I love capturing visitors to the flowers.

I think this might be a Wood Bee, it's nearly all black with just those few, thin stripes on the abdomen. I don't often see them visiting. Mostly we're inundated with Honey Bees and Bumble Bees. Right now everything is in fresh bloom and the bushes are humming with activity.

Chinese Foxglove

I thought it only fitting to move into May with the flowers that are bursting into bloom throughout the garden. This is one of my favorite ones. Chinese Foxglove. A much looser habit then the ordinary Digitalis. I reseeds itself year after year. I love the intricate patterns in the throat of each flower.

Butterflies

With spring finally arriving at long last, everything is in bloom. At our house, the bees and bumble bees are present in huge numbers, which is a blessing. Especially given the honey bees precarious state in so many places.

But the other day, while walking through the Botanical Gardens with a friend, I captured this beautiful butterfly, enjoying a sip from the blooming Ajuga. While this species is bright metallic blue-green on the inside of the wing, didn't realize until I downloaded my images the even the outside has color. What a beauty