A tiding of....

Isn't he a gorgeous fellow with his rain bowed hued tail and gleaming white shoulders?

A tiding (or "charm", "gulp", "mischief", "tittering", and "tribe") of magpies has been inhabiting our garden the past few weeks.

They used to occasionally hang out in our front yard.

Now they seem to have discovered our backyard. I caught four of them in this picture; there are five magpies all together in the tiding

When Larry the Cable Squirrel tried to join their party by sneaking onto the garden bench, I thought it was kind of cute. Larry assumed an adorable classic upright/tail arched pose just as I lifted my camera up.

My camera shot didn't capture the Hallmark card multi-species unity scene.

Nope.

All I got was the blur of two magpies attacking Larry as he raced to leap off the left hand side of the bench.

I had no idea magpies were anti-squirrel!

(Special PS to my favorite chicka daughter Laura: Happy 32nd birthday! Look out for those boll weevils!)

Zzzzz....

Good times at last for the Garden Bunny.

The lettuce crop has grown above his pink ear tips.

I reach around him to harvest, leaf by leaf, the makings for a savory salad each day.

Mother's Day brought a new feature to Bunny's domain:

A waterfall fountain for our deck!

Blending in well with the other barrel planters, the chuckling sounds of falling water is my current sedative against stress.

I've packed red flowers into the planters to encourage hummingbirds to linger, and planted seeds to grow small rounded carrots, multicolored radishes and various herbs amidst the flowers.

I see the makings of future lazy day snacking and plate garnish in my mind's eye as I plant.

Peanuts in shells are perched on the railing and aside the water bearing barrels to lure blue jays in for closer inspection.

So far the Jays only steal them when no one is there to see.

I have patience...eventually they will be eating peanuts straight out of my hand.

(The only question remaining is how will I take a picture of that when that happens?)

Ah yes...it is simply bliss to be out on the sunny porch with a good book and friendly feline.

Happily, the birds don't seem to mind the kitty...a blackheaded grosbeak dropped by several time.

The chicadees flittered in and out...

One 'dee even worked on his pedicure!

I was THRILLED to see a bunting.

At first I thought it was an oriole.

Thunderheads pile up over the mountain; the air fills with the scent of freshly mow lawn. Good weather inspires all the neighbors to get their lawns trimmed up at last.

Mixed in with the grass scent: the fragrance of lily-of-the-valley wafting over the fence from our neighbor's back yard. They are rarely outside...do they know what they are missing right now?

The tree on our side of the fence is a cloud of white.

Blossoms wedge themselves in between fencing.

I see the white cloud-like tree, yet need to see the individual flowers as well.

They won't last forever; a forceful wind gust tore the petals free, creating a shower of white in the garden.

The petals piled up in every crevice; snowdrifts that melted not in the afternoon sun.

The tree...the mountain...the snow.

Which was cold?

Which was warm?

The water falling on the deck burbled and called to me.

Up on the deck I put my camera and glasses safely on the low table next to the couch.

Reclined.

Nestled my head on the pillow

and closed my eyes.

Lulled by the sound of splashing water

singing birds

scent of flowers

warmth of springtime

I fell asleep.

Five hours later I awoke.

I think I have found at last the nap place of my dreams.

When Autumn Sets in...Think Spring

It is clearly autumn around here now....and time to think and dream about spring.

I put on a Spring Bonnet...thought hard....

...and bought some 300+ bulbs for our garden!

NOW is the time to plant bulbs, according to those in the know in SLC.

Sept 27 to be exact...but we decided a Saturday work day was better than a Sunday workday so the bulbs got planted on Sept. 26th instead.

I confess...I had been dreading the digging part of this project.

Then I saw a miracle product in "This Old House" magazine:

A planting auger to fit on a hand held drill! Talk about bliss! A pull of the old trigger finger, and SZsssszzzzszzzzz....the needed hole was dug in less than a minute.

Daffodils, narcissus and tulips bulbs were dropped in the holes and then the dirt was just raked back over the holes and stomped down.

I also cleared along the fence below the grapevines and planted two sacks of wildflower seeds.

Tiggie snoopervised for awhile, then headed back inside. Later Bernie went in, and found Missy the neighbor's cat sitting inside, on the laundry room window, with Hart staring up at her wide eyed.

Tiggie came by with tuffs out on his back. Tuffs of orange fur and Missy fur covered the downstairs carpet.

It must have been on heck of a brawl!
Tiggie just does not take kindly to four footed visitors in his realm.

(You can learn more about the on-going relations between Missy and Tiggie here.)

I do wish he would be more diligent about chasing squirrels though. Every potted plant in the garden has been dug into and a stash of acorns hidden away for winter.

I picked up one empty pot that had been stored in an out of the way corner of the yard; it was empty no longer: it was now full to the brim with acorns!

I asked Bernie why he was putting acorns in the empty pot.

Duh...not Bernie's doing. It was those crazy squirrels again!

Bernie's bouganvilla bonsai is flowering.

The temperatures are supposed to drop dramatically on Wednesday...and this and other tender bonsai will need to be brought inside to avoid frost.

This one is more than welcomed inside...in fact I consider it to be a real treat.

Just about the time we were knackered from general yard clean up, the newlyweds pulled up.

They hung out for a bit, then we all headed out for Indian food. Good thing too...I was simply too pooped to cook...and Rachel was mostly dead from a ten mile pre-half marathon conditioning run.

Sometimes eating out is an especially good idea!

Humming along nicely....

A hummingbird feeder...hung just inches away from where we eat.
I've been wondering if I could take a decent hummingbird picture.


All I need is a hungry hummingbird...


Two kinds of hummers visit us regularly: The Broadtail and the Black Chinned.

After playing with various camera settings....

I decide I need a faster better camera...

I take dozens of shots...each time w-a-i-t-i-n-g for the digital camera to load and clear me for another shot.


Anything to get a few fairly good shots...I was leaning way over the railing, and was just inches from the feeder at this point.


At one point the hummers were starting to get more interested in me than in the feeder.


There were three birds zipping around.



Bernie was laughing as he watched me learning over the deck railing to get inches away from the feeder...

While another hummer was hovering inches behind my head, trying to figure out what I was doing.
(And wouldn't that have been the best shot ever?)

War was on-going, as is always the case with the feisty little birds.
Look at the top of the above picture to see how wide the tail is on the top bird!
Very threatening, no?

As soon as one would get close to the feeder, another one would zoom in to intercept him.

I wonder why they used to call it a "dog fight" when the old airplanes used to do battle in the sky.
On the other hand...I guess a "hummingbird fight" doesn't sound very tough.

Bernie was cooking up some nice halibut for dinner, and told me the fish was done, and it was time to come inside. The picture is blurry because the window is creating a double reflection, but you can see that the hummers are just inches away on the other side of the glass, and they routinely check out what we are eating.

Yes...sometimes we have a very busy meal times.

I was itching to get back outside to take a few more shots.

Hart decided the hummers had had enough attention from me for the day.

(He can't get the birds unless he plans to fall over the railing and land one story down!)

Oh...and there was a wood pecker too!

(SO much excitement, all in one early evening. Whew!)