FRONT YARD
Our front yard is amazing this time of year. Most of the flowers are blooming like crazy, and the trees are in full leaf. You can probably find any color imaginable somewhere among the flowers, trees, and shrubs. It's almost like a huge painter's palette exploded over our house.
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Yes, it's Papa Quail. He's on lookout while his family forages around on the ground. You can't tell from the picture, but he is standing on a large rock. The lead male of the California Quail will always serve as lookout when there are females or babies looking for food. He positions himself on a high spot and constantly surveys the area, looking for signs of any kind of trouble. If he spots something suspicious, he lets out a loud cry. This alerts the female to gather her babies and take cover. Sometimes the male will also forage around with the family, if he has sufficiently satisfied himself that the area is safe.
This past week as Linda was looking out our front window, she announced that there was a Quail couple in the front yard with two tiny babies. I immediately ran for my camera and was able to get a quick video out of the window. Please excuse the cross-pieces that divide our window into panes. This is definitely not a bird-watcher's choice for a window, but it came with the house.
The whole family was scratching around underneath the bird feeder, but Papa was still keeping an eye out for danger, jerking his head back and forth every few seconds. I think he spotted me through the window.
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| I see you! |
The babies were sticking close to Mom, getting underfoot every chance they could. I was afraid Mom was going to kick one of the babies across the yard, but they seemed to know when to move out of the way.
The babies may be small, but they are extremely fast. I went out onto the porch at one point and spotted one of them further out in the yard. Apparently he spotted me as well and took off for cover.
This is going to seem weird, but you will never believe what popped into my mind when I first watched the video above. You know that scene in the movie Alien where the baby alien bursts out of John Hurt's chest? Well, the little creature looks around for a few seconds and then tears across the room lickety-split. Our little guy above was moving just that fast! He kind of looks like an alien, too. Hmmm...
Did you know that Quail can dance? Yes, they can. They are very talented birds and can shake a tail feather with the best of them. Here's the proof.
After they were done dancing, one of the babies stretched his wings, Mom took a quick dirt bath, and then the family moved off to head back home.
CLOUDS
Clouds are not something we see every day in Yakima. Oh, we see enough of them, but they are usually all over towards the horizon and pass us by without leaving a drop. Some days, when I'm outside sitting under the Catalpa tree, I like to look up and watch the clouds pass by. Such a day was this past Saturday. I had spent some time in my lounge chair, relaxing and enjoying the nice weather. I had my camera with me, so I was searching for subjects to photograph. That's when I looked up and saw this...
Our Catalpa tree has just now started to bloom, but these buds were not open then. I loved the juxtaposition of the light and dark. And, of course, the sky is Carolina Blue.
ARTY PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Right after I took the picture above I spotted another good photo opportunity. The sun was shining through our neighbor's maple tree and the color was stunning. I focused on the wisteria vines that are growing on his fence (and trying to get into our tree) and the resulting photo is our Arty Photo of the week.
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| Looks like Alien tentacles...I really need to watch that movie again! |
UPDATE ON THE SPROUTS
You might remember the sprout seeds that I planted in a long flat a few weeks ago. It seems they are fully grown now because I haven't noticed them getting any bigger lately. They have been somewhat of a disappointment because they are still so tiny. I was expecting them to be much bigger. This was something new I wanted to try because that's the only way to learn about new things. I think I need to look around and see if there is a different variety of seeds out there to plant that might give me a bigger end result.
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| These are the ones still in the flat |
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| I harvested these for a salad. That is a half-cup measure. |
GARDEN UPDATE
As promised, here is an update on the vegetable garden. Last week I was upset because some kind of bug was eating away at everything. In an effort to get rid of them, I spread around some organic snail, slug, and earwig bait. I don't ever like to use chemicals in my garden, but sometimes you have to do something or you will have no garden at all. I hoped that using an organic bait would do the trick, and it did. I'm happy to report that things are moving along, albeit slowly due to the low nighttime temperatures. We are still having lows in the 40's, which keeps the plants in a dormant stage. The overnight temperatures need to be 55 degrees or above for things to really start growing. Still, I can see some progress. I've noticed one thing different this year from every other year, and it's the fact that I do not have a bazillion volunteer tomato and tomatillo plants. As a result, I only have 2 tomato plants out in the garden as of right now. This I plan to rectify soon.
It looks like I have an overabundance of squash plants, and that is correct. Last year I discovered a recipe for making Zucchini Bacon in the dehydrator, and I plan to make tons of it this year. Also, I am really enjoying spiralized zucchini, squash and cucumber. So, this year I planted enough seeds in hopes that I won't run out. We'll see how that goes.
PARTING SHOT
I think Summer Girl is trying to kill our tree. At least it seems that way because this is what she does almost every time I let her out.
That's about all the news I have room for this week. Join me again next week for more!
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