AH, SPRING!
You can tell Spring has arrived when the birds all start going crazy. They tend to do things in Spring that they don't normally do any other time of year. I guess it's because they are so glad the winter is over. No, wait, that's not it. The real reason is because it's mating season! Yes, that's right, it's all about finding the perfect mate. And while the birdies are all searching for that perfect mate, Linda & I both well know that we are going to be treated to all kinds of crazy from the birds. For one thing, we know that we will be awakened to the song of the Robin...very early, like around 5am. Another indicator of Spring's arrival is the drumming of the Red-Shafted Flicker. This guy is very serious about finding a mate, so he wants to show any potential applicants what he can do. As a result of this display of his talents, here is a video of what we have heard lately several times throughout the day (sometimes at 6:30 am, like when I filmed this):
The Flicker is drumming on the fireplace roof jack and the sound travels down the flue and into our living room. I went outside this morning and caught him in the act. Thank goodness it only lasts for about 5 minutes or so!
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| Red-Shafted Flicker doing his thing |
FLOWERS
Another indicator of Spring is all the lovely flowers that are blooming. I found our resident flamingos, Fanti and Mingo, wandering around the garden playing hide-and-seek among the tulips.
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| Fanti & Mingo |
Here are a few more shots of some flowers in our yard.
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| Spring Flowers |
SEEDS & PLANTS
I finally got around to planting some of my seeds last weekend into the seed starter kit that I bought. I planted one row each of Shishito peppers, Tam Jalapeno peppers, and Zavory Habanero peppers. A row consists of 6 separate plant spots, with 2 seeds in each spot. I plant 2 seeds just in case one doesn't germinate. If both seeds come up, I only keep the biggest one. I also planted 4 spots with the Savory Herb seeds. And just to see how they would do, I planted 3 seeds each of the Shishito peppers and Habanero peppers into butter containers. Here's how they look:
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| Starting Seeds |
The lettuce seeds that I planted in the ground the week before are already coming up with little tiny lettuce plants, and the garlic plants are getting bigger!
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| Garlic on the left, lettuce on the right |
The asparagus, alas, is not faring so well as a couple of the spears that came up have shriveled up. However, I did see a few new spears coming up. The biggest spear that came up has started sprouting flowers. Here's a picture of it below. I put my kneeler pad behind it so it would show up better.
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| Asparagus |
SUMMER, NOT SPRING
I've gotten to the end of my blog and realized that I didn't have a picture of Summer Girl to post. Just to keep myself in her good graces, I went out and took a short video of her begging to go outside. She does love being outside now that the weather is better!
That's all for this week. Please check back again next week for more exciting adventures in the Northwest (or at least, more pictures of my plants).
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