These chickens live across the street from me. Technically across two streets and a canal, I suppose. I get to watch them wander around in the road and into the canal (when it’s dry; they’re not big into swimming) and the rooster is not my best friend in the summer when I have the windows open… But they are very handsome and I really need to start carrying my real camera because the phone picture on barely does them justice.
I get to see a lot of wildlife while I’m walking. There are some wetlands on a ranch that I walk near – the road is above the ranch so I’m looking down. The pond attracts a lot of ducks – in summer it’s covered in algae and in winter part or all of it freezes over.
If you look closely (you may want to click to enlarge the photo) you can see that part of the pond is frozen and the ducks are walking on the ice there! A very entertaining scene, indeed.
First, let me be fully honest. The date is the publication date of the post and not (at least generally) the date the photo was taken. Let’s face it – I’m usually going to be out walking later and then I may put together a post for the next day. Or I may even be using a picture I took while walking quite a while ago (it’s possible!)…
What I will guarantee is that I took the photos and I did so while I was out for a walk and I probably saw a lot more stuff during that walk than I took pictures of. So I hope you’re going walking too, and taking time to enjoy all that you see.
This particular day I was walking and saw smoke and flame. Wildfire is a constant threat here, though generally not as much during winter. When I saw flames through the trees that seemed to extend quite a way I called 911 to report it. It was then I was told it was a planned burn to dispose of debris and was coordinated with our local fire officials. I expressed concern because there was a LOT of fire and only one person I could see actually tending things (and one small looking water truck). The operator took my information and I figured that would be it. Shortly after that, my phone rang. It was the fire chief calling to tell me what precautions were in place and that the fire department was regularly checking on the area.
Click to see the large image and you can spot the guy tending the fires (this will give a sense of scale) – this was perhaps 1/3 of the total area that had fires burning.
I love that I live somewhere that I get a personal call to help me be certain my neighbors are safe. (and it was all fine in the end)
It certainly made for an interesting walk that day!
We have a cat. She adopted our home as a kitten while it was still our construction site, and lived through many hard years before becoming the spoiled cat of the house. Her name is Stray Cat. This causes no end of confusion at the vet.
She does not like other cats.
This is an interesting conundrum because other cats like our house. They visit our yard and hang our on our deck. Sometimes they do so enough to have us give them a name. In recent months a ginger cat has decided to hang out on our porch. We have named him Rudy. If you ask me, it’s for “Rutabaga” which are orange when cooked. If you ask my husband, it’s for “Rudolph the red-nosed cat”. Either way, Rudy visits and gets a small bowl of kibble. He is skittish and won’t let us near him, but enjoys the kibble. We’d like to capture him and get him to the vet for shots and a check-up, but it seems unlikely for now. I’d love to get a photo of how he stretches his neck when coming out from under the porch to see if there is kibble in the bowl, but that will take a bit of luck. In the meantime, this is a photo of Rudy watching me wander around the yard taking pictures of flowers.
I finish my celebration of the last of the blooms in my yard with our carpet roses. We have a variety of colors and all are still blooming. Carpet roses are great – they take no effort and re-bloom all summer long. The only thing I have to do is prune them back once in a while or they will take over the yard.
We have a couple of varieties of dianthus (in the same family as the carnation) in the yard – this is the lipstick red version. Gorgeous color against the pale sea-green foliage.
The lavender is re-blooming just a bit giving the yard some nice purple accents and a lovely aroma.
This is the very last rose on our big rosebush:
I could probably get more blooms if I were better about deadheading the bush, but it does just fine without too much interference from me. In fact, where I live roses are ridiculously easy to grow and can easily take over if you aren’t careful!
Most of the flowers have decided they are done blooming, but there are a few who are still hanging in there. So, I’ve decided to celebrate the end of the summer flowers by sharing them with you. First up, the last of the stella d’oro:
These lovely lilies bloom and re-bloom all summer. We also have varieties in purple and red, but those seem to bloom only once – the stella d’oro come back several times, and keep the yard sunny.
We get a lot of dragonflies in our yard, attracted by the water (and bugs to eat, one presumes). Usually they land on plants or on the deck or not at all – but sometimes they decide to pay us a visit more personally. This little guy decided to land on the edge of my shorts (taken when it was much warmer than it is now!) and I managed to get my phone out and take his photo before he left. Quite auspicious, I am given to understand. Their wings are amazingly complex.
@KellyOSullivan 