Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Yeah, that title is the prediction for overnight in the clear-sky dark-hours. Lots of blooms in danger. And if the apple blooms are hit, well, no apples come autumn.
Look immediately above the right tree and on the far left. Two sandhill crane souls captured. Two more were in the air, although I did not manage to capture their images/souls.
Tuesday, 25 May 2021
I know this as forget-me-not. [Internet search….] Taxonomically, they are the Myosotis genus. I think this is M. sylvatica, and native to Europe, however frequently I find it around here. Probably another escapee from the great-grandmother garden. Like the lupins.
Totally different scale; could be a farm complex on the prairie during the green season. But, no; up here by the sub-tundra, under a threatening sky that only produced a few drops of rain and no storm.
Monday, 24 May 2021
Oh, good times! The apple trees are blooming!
And the blooms seem especially gigantic this year.
Also, the lupins are coming along.
Overcast this afternoon/evening. We may get rain in the dark hours. Fingers crossed.
Saturday, 22 May 2021
Leaves are still emerging by the pond.
The marsh marigolds (Caltha palustris) are blooming in the swamp.
The lilacs are just opening in the stand that shields the outhouse.
The lupins are just beginning to show color in the orchard.
The Canada geese are unsettled and still flying north in Vs.
This venerable cedar shows damage from the spring ice break-up, which coincided with two days of strong (like 40-mph) winds that drove giant ice “cubes” way up above our beach, like I’ve never seen before. Trillium is for scale.
Friday, 21 May 2021
This trio and our neighbor duo welcomed us to the cottage. We made it! Great fun taking “the long way” via Seattle. Especially enjoyed being two days ahead of a foot-and-a-half of snowfall at Glacier.
Sunday, 16 May 2021
Our eastbound mosey began today. Meet Gorge Creek Falls. About one-quarter is chopped off the bottom (the perils of a horizontal format).
I think these are Jack Mountain and Crater Mountain, part of the Cascades. I particularly enjoy the vertical snow streaks that are avalanche chutes…they show the power of MaNachur.
We drove through miles of standing fire-killed timber. These fires are some of the ones that so drastically lowered air quality in Seattle and far beyond in 2020.
Wednesday, 12 May 2021
The high school nephew had an open day today, because: covid. So we had an outing. We took a short ferry ride, a little longer than it took to wait to board, board, and disembark. We were told to stay in our vehicle, because: covid.
Since it was mid-day, our first stop was food. We drove by the possibilities and picked a hometown burger place. With a food truck. This is the drivers control area. Shift on the left, which I do not recall ever seeing for a left driver. Not because: covid.
After wiping our chins and downing the last fry, we drove on to Point No Point Lighthouse. It is the shortest lighthouse I remember ever seeing.
Atop a row of evergreens I suspect were planted to protect the lighthouse from the prevailing winds, we saw eagles land and watch the doin’s below from on high—not so much the tourists as the fishing.
Down on the beach, we spotted an otter moving along, then finding something to eat—clam perhaps? An eagle spotted this, too, and dived the otter; however, the otter seemed to have positioned her/himself to see if this happened, and quickly plunged into the water, saving lunch from the feathered, screaming predator-thief.
Next stop had no David Attenborough drama, instead an eroding escarpment called Foulweather Bluff. Rusty red dot lower right is nephew’s jacket, so you can tell it’s a tall bluff.
Lucky us, the tide was out. We used our identification crutch, the iNaturalist app, and found out these are aggregating anemone. With seaweed and what we thought was a tiny jellyfish.
With plenty of excitement behind us, we headed back to the ferry, and were stopped behind HTBNANA. The plate surround indicated that “it only happens twice.” We remain unsure what that refers to.
Monday, 10 May 2021
Every once in a while you can find a spot where you can see a great distance. There are mountains beneath that lowest bank of clouds, which are obscuring their tops.
No mountains here, but more of a lake view.
No distance here at all. What a careful, artful hedge-trimming job. The notch on the far right is to the depth/line selected by the trimmer working on the neighboring lot.
Friday, 7 May 2021
See the horizon? Those white vertical not-egrets? They flank the Columbia River at Biggs Junction, great for parasailing and wind turbines.
Found this little gem hugging the ground, with lovely about 3cm diameter flowers. ID conclusion: Lewisia rediviva. Grateful for assistance from iNaturalist, which indicated it was a Lewisia species.
I wondered what the (free!) app would do with this, as it is just vegetation without blooms. But, I thought, it has distinctive configuration. iNaturalist suggested Lithospermum ruderale, and (after comparison to multiple pictures) I concur!
Tuesday, 4 May 2021
We stopped to stretch our legs while we were motoring west on the plains and I found these wee blooms that my magic iNaturalist ID app indicated is a milk vetch, and a legume. I can SEE the latter—look at those flower shapes…so leguminous.
Continuing west, we climbed up and up after Cheyenne, and into sleet and snow-rain. Fortunately it was over 40°F, so no ice on the road to worry about.
Soon, we descended again and I found a wee sagebrush doing springtime burgeoning. A nearby sign indicated that Wyoming hosts 13 species of sagebrush. And this one is…?