Garden beauty..

Teasdale day 4

Morning Light...

Teasdale Day 3 morning

Molly and I had a nice long walk this morning, ending with breakfast and a nap for both of us. We were up before sunrise so got to see some very beautiful first light scenes.
Enjoy..

First light...

Molly didn't want to leave the pond and come home...

Despite only half a moon, it lights up the area quite well.

Heading home...

Teasdale day 2

One of the things we love about this place is the quiet. Sitting, listening to the wind blow and the birds sing without all the city stuff really is relaxing and rejuvenating.
Walked with Molly through the sagebrush and pinyon pine yesterday morning, then with Diana and Molly up to the pond for her to play. Along the way an exquisitely colored Mountain Bluebird posed for us. Molly did her thing while shaking off the water - she looks weird!
High 70's - very nice..

Morning sun on rabbit brush

Barbed wire in the sunshine

Incredible beauty everywhere.

Another try to capture the essence of fences..

Our little cottontail staying safe while watching me..

Well camouflaged little guy..

Vivid blue on the Mountain Bluebird...finally stayed still enough for me to capture..

The next four show the series of 1) getting ready, 2) throwing and 3) back to shore shaking off the water..

A Scrub Jay watched us on the way back to the cabin..

Traveling to Teasdale..

We left a bit late but still missed the traffic rush. Happy Valley has a bit of construction and that was crappy as usual.
A surprise as we crested the mountain between Sigurd and Koosharem valley. Some 30+ elk in a herd plus another amount close by. Hadn't seen them up here before.
Storm clouds over Thousand Lake Mountain and Molly swimming and retrieving a stick finished out our travels.  The wind down the canyon made walking a bit chilly but invigorating.

Transient time..

That time of year when transients start to show up at the feeder. The ones today were American Goldfinches..

Moonstones in the garden...

Diana's sharp eyes spotted these as we were working in the front garden..

Mountain Goat trip

Randy and I left early this morning and drove up to the Upper Stillwater Dam some distance north of Mountain Home. A long ride there and back, but we went to see the Mountain Goats event that the DWR had scheduled. Along the way, Sandhill cranes at Strawberry reservoir walking on the snow, Golden Eagles along Hwy 40, Common Loons in a pond along the way and a good sized herd of Antelope on the way home.
Big sky country when you get out on the ranges. Vast and empty except for the snow.
We did find Mountain goats - the DWR folks had two sites set up for us. The goats were quite a ways away at the first site, although you could see them. Hard to get a decent photo.
The second site, down by the dam, yielded a curious goat that got close enough for a decent shot. He first hid behind a tree, peeking out quite cutely, then came out and stood on the rock and surveyed his subjects!!
Enjoy!

Seeing a Sandhill crane against a white background is a real treat - usually they blend in so well.

Goatie watching us..

While I could make up quite a story about this - it was a stuffed goat that we stuck in the snow!!

A couple of goats from the first site..

Big sky country..

Loons along the way..

Herd of antelope - first photo is watching for us to come up over the rise, the second is their reaction to us!

Refuge Thursday

A partly cloudy sky with warmer temperatures mad a nice morning visit to the refuge. There were three pairs of Sandhill Cranes around that I saw, more that I heard.  Kind of hard not to hear them!
My first of the year Black-crowned Night Heron as well as another first - Yellow-headed Blackbirds.
Goofy GBH's at the rookery helped make it enjoyable.

Lots of Pintails..

Black-crowned Night Heron..

Yellow-headed blackbird...

Killdeer

Northern Harrier

Herons..

The big and the little - Sandhill Crane and Canada Goose..

Tree fall....

The snow storm last Friday took down a lot of branches and trees. It appears that the wet snow plus the heavier spring wood (full of water for growth) worked together to make a mighty mess.
Friends were out of town but one of their backyard trees was broken. Fortunately no serious damage was done, as the fallen part did not hit the house or any major items. But it did make for a spectacular show Tuesday as a crew removed both the broken tree and the still standing portion.
For data, 1/3 of the remaining tree weighed 8300 pounds! Incredible.
The monster crane lifted the tree sections over the house and into the road where they were disposed of quickly. There was a drone on hand to video the initial parts of the operation. And the arborists, climbing the trees safely and agilely and cutting them off after the ropes from the crane were attached, were awesome to watch.  Here's a few photos from the event!

The first two photos are what the backyard looked like after the first tree fell and before the operation began..

Ginormeous crane...

The first section of the remaining tree...

Curious bystander..

The second section of the remaining tree..

Preparing the tipoffs for the last section

At last..