Random pictures

Here are some random pictures from the last few weeks:

Arrow-leaf balsamroot in bloom, late May.

Apple blossoms from our young apple trees, late May.

Chipmunk.

A puddle by a drainpipe on a neighbor's property. See the little black dot on the pipe?

It's a fledgling blackbird. The parents were twittering anxiously overhead as I took these shots.

With Lydia and Lihn (Younger Daughter's Quaker parrot) in the garden.

I usually bring Lydia out to the garden with me and let her wander while I work. I call her the Guardian of the Garden.

Here she is, zonked out at the base of the Stanley plum tree.

"Huh? What?"

Five red-winged blackbird eggs.

Their nest is in the cattails of our pond.

A rain squall.

Although we've had some warm days (even one or two hot ones), this spring has been remarkably wet and chilly. On June 11 we dipped to just a hair above freezing. Thankfully the tomatoes didn't die.

On such days, the warmth from the wood cookstove is welcome (even in June).

Naughty robin, eating my strawberries.

Don has a faithful audience as he presses hamburger patties for our neighborhood potluck (it was our turn to host).

It's currently daisy season.

Suddenly we have cedar waxwings in the garden. Gorgeous birds.

Notice the one on the left has just caught a butterfly.

However they're also after the strawberries.

Lydia greets the neighbor's alpacas.

Morning sun through some fog.

Dawn sky.

I'm still waiting for the killdeer eggs to hatch. Because the chicks are precocial, the incubation period is fairly long -- 28 days -- and since this couple has nested smack in the center of the garden, it's preventing us from doing anything heavy-duty (using the tractor to bring in additional tires for beds, for example). I can't even pull weeds around the area. I'll be glad when this nest hatches.

Both parents incubate the eggs. It's charming to watch the "changing of the guard" -- the bird getting off the eggs does a little bowing-pecking ritual to its mate, and makes barely-audible cooing sounds, before relinquishing the nest.

Enjoy the spring.

A new kind of creature

We have a new kind of critter in the neighborhood -- alpacas.

Our neighbors leased (yes, leased) six of these dazzling things. Why, I have no idea, but I must admit they're awfully cute. They're so different than the usual cadre of cows and horses, sheep and goats.

But what was absolutely hilarious was the reaction of our cattle to these new animals. The moment the alpacas were spotted, the entire herd came thundering over to gape. And I mean gape.

They mooed and bellowed and pawed and gaped some more.

Fast forward a couple of weeks. Since the neighbor's pasture is on the other side of the barn from our house, it's not clearly visible from our yard. Therefore Lydia had never seen the alpacas.

Now that the bees are no longer in the garden space, I've been letting Lydia loose to roam about while I'm weeding or watering.

Then she saw the alpacas for the first time -- and suddenly all that is Pyrenees in her came surging to the forefront. Alert! Alert! New animal in the vicinity!

And she barked. And barked and barked. Alert! Alert!

Alpacas are so different that Lydia instantly determined they were, well, different. Alert! Alert! (As you may have guessed, "high alert" is nothing unusual for Pyrenees.)

Meanwhile the alpacas seemed mildly interested but hardly concerned.

When it became apparent the alpacas were not in imminent danger of invading her territory, Lydia calmed down, though she kept a wary eye on the newcomers.

I have no idea what the neighbors intend to do with these lovely creatures. They won't be shearing them for wool (they were sheared before they arrived). I guess they just like having unusual pets.