More flowers - man they are beautiful!

Flower Power

The Day Lilies are blooming, many more than we thought would bloom the first year in our new place. Several were planted only this spring and they are sending up blooms!  What joy!

Backyard Visitors

Diana and I had noticed a male quail that was pretty stationary in our backyard, unusual behavior we thought. Looking further, we found a covey of 6 juveniles (they could fly) and Mom on the ground below the watchful Dad.  They seemed to love the herbs, working the ground around and through the plants, especially the lavendar. Finally Leo woke up and saw them so they left.

Watchful Dad.

Summer = Garden Produce

We're on our second planting of radishes and arugula and just did an early harvest of our garlic. Tomatoes are getting bigger and squash and cucumber plants are getting close to flowering. A wonderful time!

43 plants.

Thinking of the ocean....

Here's some shots from trips to the Oregon coast over the last few years..  Love the coast.

Smoky sunrise

I took a class located in Centennial Valley, Montana, in the summer of 2012.  Forest fires were ravaging the western states and we had a lot of smoke every day.  Here's the positive side of the smoke - a neat sunrise. Apparent low clouds are fog rising from Red Rock Lake.

Still snow in the Wasatch!

Despite warm temps here in the valley, there is still a lot of snow in the mountains. Diana and I drove to Alta, planning to go up to Albion Basin.  No such luck as the road to the basin is still closed for at least another two weeks. Here's what it looks like - nice and cool tho'.

Saturday Evening fun!

Summer has officially started with music at Caputo's - in Holladay it is on Saturday evening starting at 5:30.  Good music, good food and lot of people watching! Here's godson Zachary with friend Ben Weiss and the band along with Koda the dog. And an admirer!

Uintas in June

I took a quick trip up to the Uintas this past Sunday, checking the snow levels for future trips. Amazingly, with all the snow we had, I was able to drive up to the summit of the Mill Hollow road - about 10,500 ft.
It was pretty barren there, some snow still around and the first plants just pushing through the dirt to grab the sun. Wildflowers are out or just coming out. Here's a couple of shots.

Looking back at the 13,000 ft peaks

Glacier lily

Mill Hollow reservoir, a favorite fishing spot for many.  It's at 8500 ft.

The Chickadees are here!

In force they have arrived and are everywhere - scrambling up and down the locust trees, in the feeder on the food cylinder, etc....  There's three of them that hang together - so I've named them Tres Amigos!

Feeding the young.

Tres Amigos!

Mate Feeding

We been watching two downy woodpeckers, one male and one female, interact. The male gets some food from the food cylinder, then meets the female and feeds her. I've not seen this before mostly cause I haven't watched closely, but apparently it is fairly common. Research I did talks about this being mating behavior, prior to the couple getting together. Also, it seems that it occurs occasionally with adults and young, though exactly why I couldn't determine. The one being fed was capable of flying and foraging for food on the tree, perhaps the food on the cylinder is too hard for her?  Anyway it's been a fascinating time!

Mountain time with Molly

Molly and I went to her pond yesterday and she did not want to ever leave - I went back and continued throwing the stick in the water twice before I could convince her to come! Between dips in the pond we wandered through the meadows and watched the swallows drink and play over the water.

Flax is gorgeous now.

Mother Nature's gift to those who like red flowers.

Molly loves running in the tall grass.

Swimming nut!

Violet-green swallow..

Lone Peak Beauty

I love to find the beauty that is lurking (?) just nearby, like this smoke tree bush and the iris. Changing position, waiting for a different light, trusting one's instincts all seem to add up occasionally..

Sunlit smoke tree.

My Irish Iris!

Ruby Slippers (real name)..

Of course a bird beauty..

Setting sunlight on Chokecherry leaves - green are new and red are old.

Excitement at the pond

Diana, Carey and I took Molly up to the pond yesterday to go swimming, but we found out that she can also levitate!

Downy woodies

We've had Downy woodpeckers coming to the feeders since we put them out, but yesterday and today we watched as an adult male came to the feeder, got some food and then flew up into the locust tree just above the feeder and fed a younger male downy. I did not get photos of the feeding but here's one of the younger downy - it's able to fly and get around fine so no idea why it was still being fed.

Carey at the refuge

Carey and I spent a couple of hours at the refuge this morning before it got too hot. Lots to see and to marvel at.  Here's a bunch of photos of the various birds and their activities that we observed.

Female Yellow-headed Blackbird in a cool pose.

Classic Great Blue Heron photo

Cinnamon Teal

 Snowy Egret in landing pattern.

Boat-tailed Grackle

Great white egret

Directions anyone?

Turtle watching a bullfrog watching a turtle...

Fragile and beautiful

The Soarers.

Left behind...

Heron rookery - lots of activity.

A new plant for me..?

Clark's Grebe just watching..

Carey and her feathers.

GBH sunning

Teasels and water and sky reflection.

Easter eggs - had us fooled for a minute!

Ribbittttt

Flight lessons

Tern fishing

Red-winged blackbird followed us along from shrub to shrub.

Snowy egret in flight..