Miscellaneous Monday

So much is going on in the garden right now I don't hardly know where to start. Today has been a mix of summer weather. Thunderstorms and lightening this morning with the sun playing peek a boo before the next round is supposed to begin again. We got 5/8inch of rain this morning not so bad. The night before there was a worse storm.You can see as you walk down the gravel path that the 3.5inches of rain that came all at once washed the mulch out of the beds into the path.

Even worse was that my poor potting bench is on higher ground than the other side of the garden where the gravel path is and it had mulch piled onto the shelf that is 9 inches above ground. Geez.

I am hoping that the little House wrens don't decide to come out this afternoon. The young are beginning to become impatient awaiting food. They would fair better waiting until after this next storm.

Mom is still feeding as fast as she possibly can.  It won't be long before they are out though. 

I was delighted to get out between storms to see what all was happeningin the garden. Of course I had to pull weeds while the ground was so soft. The wheel barrow is full needless to say. I did find a new blossom in the garden.

My very first Lucifer Crocosmia is blooming. Thank you Randy. What a beauty it is.

Luna often comes to where I am photographing wondering what it is that grabs my attention. It seems she knows when something is special.

Not that she is nosey or anything.

She often grins like she knows she is in the way.

"Oh no Mom. I don't want to be in the way. I just want to help". 

Back to flowers, I was sort of distracted. The daylily that I have named FIL (father-in-law)  is blooming . 

It was interesting to find the wild strawberries ripe. They dot the lawn.

It doesn't take long for a critter to find them. 

Mushrooms are loving this wet weather.

All sorts of them are popping up in the mulch. 

Sorry about this long winded post. It's just that I got tired of sloshing around in the garden and thought I would come in to visit awhile. Have a great week.



Wily-Nily Wednesday

Or as I often say "Out of the Garden".  You can see why our walks have been somewhat curtailed.  We haven't walked quite as long what with the weather being so cold and snowy.

Even the Wabash River has had mini ice bergs floating down the river.

Today though it has warmed up a bit.  At least the icebergs have melted.

Of course Luna doesn't care how cold it is or how snowy. She loves this kind of weather. She doesn't get hot.  It is difficult to keep her from racing ahead.  She has to sniff almost every other paw print or any other trail left behind.

Speaking of trails. I found this unusual paw print in the snow on top of a table. Does anyone know what paw this might be?

I realize the above isn't a great photo but with my binoculars I could see this Great Horned Owl sitting in the pine tree soaking up the morning sun. If you click on the photo you should have a better look at it.

I wish you all could have been with me to see it.  The Great Horned Owls nested in this area last year. I didn't want to disturb this owl while it was sunning itself.  It probably has been having a difficult time finding food while there has been such a thick snow cover for so many days.  Something we don't usually have to deal with here.  I hope you have a nice sun-filled winters day.

A Spring Walk

We took Luna to the park today for a walk. It was warm but overcast. They are predicting rain every day lately but nothing has been in the gauge to measure as yet. At the beginning of the trail we were walking is a creek. It had a Great Blue Heron hunting along its edge. The river is up so the creek is high. I suppose there are more fish to lure the Great Blue Heron into less heron-like territory. He flew away when we approached. Way up the hill on top of a broken off tree.

Yes, that is it on top of the tree acting like a wood duck. The Wood Ducks are back trying to pick out the perfect nest hole. They fuss so when you walk near their territories.

The forest floor is alive again. It is such fun to see. The tiny ferns that carpet the forest floor have sprouted as the Trillium is blooming.

Wood Anemones are blooming up a storm. Not a great picture. I have broken my new camera and I can't

seem to get my old camera working properly. The Blood Root is blooming too. I just love this delicate plant. I have a double that grows in our garden but it isn't out of the ground yet. Hmmmmm If you would like to see a really good picture of blood root and read more about it you can go over to Marvin's blog. He has a great post about it.

I am not real good with wildflowers. I learn them one year and forget over winter what everything is. Like this sweet little pinky-violet flower. There is lots of it blooming but I don't know what it is.

As we head back up the hill to the truck I thought you might like to see these natural steps. The tree to the right has roots sticking up just at the right heigt for steps.
It is such a pleasure to walk the woods this time of year. You never know what you will come upon.