Hawk and Eagle in cottonwood

The local Eagles have been showing up pretty regularly this winter. They have a few favorite perch trees around the lake. We are lucky one of those trees, a dead cottonwood, is on the lake shore in front of our house, maybe 300' from the house and 125'+ high. This was a nice sunny day. Between Jim and I we probably took 30 pictures, of those all but 4 or 5 were deleted! I really like the ones of the eagle taking off from the branch, it's a good look at the underneath tail feathers and the talons.

Also a Hawk has been hanging around the lake for a few weeks. It sets in trees and warms it's wings. I don't know what kind of Hawk it is, do you?

Maple in Autumn

This is a beautiful little Maple tree in full fall foliage colors. We don't remember when or where we got it , years ago. It was planted by the south fence and didn't really do very well. Once we moved it to a spot with more sun exposure it really shows off its delicate shape and fall colors.

Bald Cypress

I planted 5 Bald Cypress about 20 years ago. They were all about 4-5' tall and pretty skinny, trunk wise. They are planted in a very wet area, some years it is flooded, not just all winter but all summer too.  Two of them were gnawed down by beavers, after that we wrapped the remaining three with chicken wire about two feet up, that seems to have saved them.  We have not bushwhacked our way in to see them in years, at least 5 years. We can see the tops  (25-30 feet tall) up above the scrub willow so we knew they were still there. Today we whacked our way back to see them, and boy howdy have they grown. The chicken wire has almost grown into one, I will cut it off soon, before the rains start, but the others seem to have a bit more growing room. I looked, but couldn't see any Cypress Knees, I don't know how old they have to be before they get Knees, or what conditions are necessary for them to form. Anyway, here are a few photos, one with Sadie, (for scale). One tree is still skinnyish, it has always been smaller. I bought the young trees from several different nurseries, so I guess the small one came from inferior stock. The trunks are really interesting, they're staring to look like swamp trees! I hope they don't attract any Swamp Monsters!

Delbert McClinton

I went to see Delbert McClinton last night, Jim didn't want to go. It was up north at the Skagit Valley Casino.  The venue was just a room with chairs for about 450, very small, not a bad seat in the house. The show was very good. He is a great R&B singer and harmonica player. He played all his great songs, lots of dancing going on, we stormed the stage for the encore and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.   We have had really nice weather this September, way better than summer. When I left to come home at 11ish it was 75 degrees! It had dropped to 66 by the time I got home.

WOW! Can't believe it's been since February since I have posted. I quess things have been pretty dull around here.  Well, here's a little something to brighten your day.

For 4th of July someone took these poor innocent white orchids and dyed them blue. Yes, they are lurid! There are not as many now as there was before, so someone is buying them.

The last couple days we have had a little snow, a few inches at a time. Total about 3". This morning the sky was blue and the snow was still on the trees and bushes. Muy Bonito. Here are a few snaps we took. LOTS of birds in the backyard.

There is a thin layer of ice on the lake, and of course the water is way up in the backyard from all the rain we have been having. Makes for pretty in the snow.

The Centennial Trail, Most of these tracks were made yesterday, some by Sadie and I when we took our afternoon walk.

Sadie posing for me. What a pretty snow dog.

I threw some snow balls so she could show off her agility. Not bad for an old girl.

She enjoyed trying to catch the snow balls. If she caught one or not she went ahead and ate a little snow.

Jim and I decided to adopt our foster dog, Sadie. She has been with us for a year, she's 12 1/2 yo. She likes it here and we have gotten attached to her too. She had a not so good life before she came to us and doesn't need to go through the new home process again. So as a welcome to our family gift I made her a place mat for her food and water dishes. I used left over fabrics from the aprons I had made for Jodi and I for dog walking at the shelter. It is approx 16x22, has a thin layer of batting inside to help soak up the water from her chin, (she is a very sloppy drinker!).