UPDATE FROM CARPINTERIA ~ THE KIDS ~ UPDATE ON PUZZLE ~ RAIN ~ ARTY PHOTO OF THE WEEK ~ BIRCH BAY STATE PARK ~ PARTING SHOT

UPDATE FROM CARPINTERIA

Nature will find a way.

You may remember that Linda and I took a hike up Franklin Trail in March while we were in Carpinteria for Dad's memorial. I took this picture below of the Trail on March 5th showing the devastation by the Thomas Fire in December. The burned area was just starting to get back a small bit of vegetation.

Picture from March showing fire damage to Trail

The picture at the top of the blue and yellow wildflowers and these two pictures below were all taken by Linda's sister on May 19th.  These two below show the extent of the rebirth.

Franklin Trail is coming back!

This is a good example of how nature will always find a way to come back. It may take some time, but eventually the hillside will be pretty much as it was before. It is very comforting to know that there is one constant in this world, and it is Mother Nature.

THE KIDS

I took another video of the quail babies this past Sunday. I like to check up on them every day or so, just to know that they are okay and that a predator hasn't snatched one of them up. I noticed, though, that one of the kids has either an injured or deformed right foot. You can see him favoring that foot when he hops around in the video. I hope it is just temporary, as we all know that an animal with a disability is far less likely to survive to adulthood than one that is fully functional. Let's all keep our fingers crossed for the little guy.

UPDATE ON PUZZLE

We finally finished the Tower of Babel puzzle. It was definitely a hard one and I thought we were both going to start speaking in foreign languages before it was done. Now we are on to a new puzzle, and this one promises to be hard as well, but looks like it is going to be way more fun. We will definitely be hungry for a certain thing while working on the new one.

This one almost made us babbling idiots!

You can probably tell what we will be craving while working on this!

RAIN

People in Eastern Washington are always thankful when it rains. I just checked on a website here (link) to get the precipitation amount for Yakima, and found that it is 7 to 8 inches per year. This website says that the definition of a true desert is anything less than 10 inches. So, we are definitely in a desert. When we got quite a bit of rain over the weekend, you better believe everyone was glad. My garden was very happy to get some moisture, and Linda was very happy because she didn't have to water the front yard as much. Here is a gorgeous picture that she took of the white "Dad Rose" after it rained.

The "Dad Rose"

An interesting topographical map of Washington State can be found here (link). Hopefully the map will come up with Yakima right in the middle. You can zoom in and out to see the various coastal, mountain, and desert areas of the state. Washington state has such a varied climate from one side of the mountains to the other. It is interesting how all of that works out. There is a short article here (link) that summarizes the state's climate areas, in case you are interested.

As a result of the rain, I am beginning to seem some volunteer tomato and tomatillo plants coming up in the garden. I guess we had a much drier Spring than we've had in previous years or they would have been up earlier. In last week's update to the garden, I mentioned that I would be planting more tomatoes. I did just that the other day when I planted another Black Krim (my favorite) and a new one called Big Rainbow. Plus, I couldn't resist getting more peppers, so I've added 4 California Golden Wonder Bell Peppers to the garden as well. Linda H. (Summer Girl's BFF), I am hoping we have a bumper crop of tomatoes this year!

ARTY  PHOTO OF THE WEEK

This leads us to the Arty Photo of the Week. This week we have more than one because I just couldn't decide on which one to pick, so I included three of them. One morning I walked out the front door to check on the bird feeder and noticed the rain drops on our Solomon Seal plants.

I grabbed my camera and took several closeups of the rain drops, and here are two of the best shots. The leaves shed water so well that they look like they have been waxed.

Variegated Solomon Seal

BIRCH BAY STATE PARK

I'm not the only one in the family who likes to take pictures. This past week Linda's daughter, Emily, and her husband, John, went camping at Birch Bay State Park (link). She sent me some pictures she took while there and they are absolutely gorgeous! As you can guess from the pictures, this state park is on the Western side of the state, near Bellingham. This might be somewhere Linda and I need to go!

Serenity

Looks like some sort of heron in the foreground...beautiful!

Two of my favorite people...Emily & John

PARTING SHOT

This one is self-explanatory.

What, me worry?

That's it for this week. I hope you enjoyed hearing about this wonderful state that we live in. Please join me again next week for more pictures, video, information, and assorted trivia from the Southerner in the Northwest!