BUSTING OUT
Spring is really busting out all over the place in Yakima. It's a good thing, too, because everyone here was more than ready for it after the long, snowy winter that we had. A walk around the yard produces many beautiful scenes to enjoy this time of year. Linda caught this shot the other day of flowers on our Thundercloud Plum tree in the front yard. They are quite small, but really interesting when you get in close on them. I am so proud of her, she has become quite a good photographer!
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| Thundercloud Plum Tree flowers |
I have gone out every day and checked on my asparagus plants, but alas, I think they are all dead. I have not seen a single shoot come up. I think they may have gotten smothered by all the snow we had on top of them for so long. If that is the case, I am going to be out of the asparagus-growing business, because I have babied those things for three years. Luckily for us, locally-grown asparagus is quite plentiful around here during the spring. This morning, while checking on the asparagus, I took my camera with me and got a few shots of the back yard while I was at it.
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| Getting some color in the yard |
As you can see, the daffodils and tulips are blooming like crazy. The purple Muscari, scourge of my existence, are just coming up. These things are all over our yard, and get more and more numerous every year. I wouldn't mind a few in the yard, but we have hundreds of them, maybe even thousands, I don't know for sure. Talk about invasive!
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| The dreaded Muscari |
Since I love closeup pictures so much, I decided to zoom in on a tulip flower. The different parts of the flower really stand out when you get in close.
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| Tulip |
As I was taking the picture above, I heard a buzzing sound nearby. I walked over to the Golden Currant bush that is against the back of the house, and there were several bees going at the blooms on that bush. I stood there for quite a while, trying to get a picture of one. I finally got a decent shot, but it wasn't easy because they were zipping around in a frenzy. As soon as I would get one in my viewfinder, he'd move on to another blossom before I could press the shutter. But I persevered and finally got my picture.
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| Buzzing about |
PUZZLE UPDATE
A few days ago we finished another puzzle, one which we had done not too long ago, the Kitchen Cupboard by Ravensburger. This is another one of Colin Thompson's puzzles, and I just love doing his designs. After we did that one, we decided to take on the Dragon Dreams puzzle. This puzzle is in the shape of a dragon. It looked like a good puzzle when I saw it on Amazon, so I got it for Linda's birthday. But now I am not so sure. The puzzle picture is very murky and does not have distinct lines on the pieces, so it is extremely hard to figure out what goes where. We are giving it a go, nonetheless. We'll see how it turns out!
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| Kitchen Cupboard |
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| Dragon Dreams puzzle |
BIRDS IN THE YARD
Spring not only brings us beautiful flowers, but also the gorgeous American Goldfinches in their breeding colors. I like to call these little guys my "flying Easter eggs" because they are so colorful, and they usually arrive around here en masse in the Spring. We have a few in winter, but they are quite drab in their winter garb and do not stand out as much. Another visitor who is also a hold-over from the winter is the Red-Winged Blackbird. We had a few at the feeders in the past couple of months, but now they are coming in greater numbers. I expect we will be seeing babies of both before too long.
CORN DAY AT RANDALL PARK
We took another bag of corn to feed the geese and ducks this past Sunday. We spread out the corn, and a few ducks and geese came over but not in the numbers that they did during the winter. I imagine they are finding a lot of food around the pond, and there are more people going to the park and feeding them. Even though some of them didn't seem interested, there was one particular goose who thought this would be a good time to assert his opinion on who was the fairest of them all.
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| Proud of himself (who's that photo-bombing at the bottom?) |
If you noticed a "flash" in this video, that was just me trying out something new called a "flash freeze frame." The freeze frame catches the geese in a sort of "dance" pose, and then the video carries on. After all the excitement is over, you can still hear them growling and grunting at each other.
With things calmed down at the corn area, I walked over to the pond. The mood there was pretty laid back, with no overt confrontations while I was there. Of course, when you go out on the viewing deck, the ducks and geese all come swimming up, hoping for some food. I got some pretty good closeup shots before they figured out I didn't have anything for them.
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| Showing off his pretty back feathers... |
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| ...and tail feathers |
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| This mallard even stood on his head for me |
I noticed some holes in the reeds up on the shore of the pond. I am wondering if this is where they will make their nests. I didn't see any indication of nests anywhere else, so I am going to keep an eye on this area whenever we go to the park, just to see if my guess is correct.
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| Possible nesting spots |
After taking pictures at the pond, Linda and I walked over to another area and came upon these two ducks just sitting up on the grass. They seem to be a mated pair, and at first I thought they were Manky Mallards, although they didn't really look like those. When I looked them up online, I found that the black and white one is an Ancona duck. Click on the link here to read about this breed that was developed in the United States in the early 1900's. The plain white duck looks like a regular domesticated duck.
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| Ancona Duck |
LOOKING BACK
Linda & I were taking a walk Thursday morning, and she said, "I remember Dad and I walked along here once when he was here visiting us. He found two marbles right there (she pointed to a spot in the road). I still have those marbles in the desk." It's funny how something so ordinary and mundane as a couple of marbles can evoke a memory that is so precious to us. That's why it is so important to keep little things like that, because there will come a time when loved ones are gone and you will need all of your memories.
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| Memories |
PARTING SHOT
Finally, I caught Summer Girl outside! It was warm and cozy in her secret hiding spot, but she agreed to come out and pose for a picture anyway, as a favor to me.
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| Those are some big tulips! |
That's all for this week, join me again next week for more from the Southerner in the Northwest!
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