Around Our Place the Past Week

We have been experiencing volatile spring weather this week, with some very pleasant days, and then a doozy of a storm today and tonight.  We have also been prying ousrselves away for some more hiking and learning about the area.

 I always wanted a little pond that had frogs, and now I have one. I think we have three kinds, including this Oregon Spotted Frog (my best guess after consulting references).

 The frogs and fish seem to coexist just fine.

 Flowers in the garden.

 We have tulips!

 My bird sculpture will be rusting a little faster, now.

 Big bird looks on.

 We have Violet-green Swallows that circle the clearing to catch bugs. This house wouldn't be good for swallows, but it's getting checked out anyway.

 We also have Tree Swallows that mix with the Violet-green Swallows.

 Violet-green Swallow.

 Our resident American Bull Frog.  I hope it doesn't start eating our other frogs and fish.

 Northern Red Legged Frog.

 This Purple Finch has been a regular lately.

 A bunch of these baby Northern Garter Snakes emerged from a rocky area below our patio.

 Red Legged Frog legs. I nabbed it bare-handed!

 At the beach near Yachats, we came across hundreds of these gelatinous structures that looked like egg cases or maybe something like decomposing tentacles from something. Mysterious.

 We put up our joint Easter artwork.

 Two places down the road is a farm that raises llamas and peacocks.  Unfortunately, we heard from another neighbor that they also shoot the occasional mountain lion that is tempted by their exotic pets.

 Fence posts take on human characteristics around here.

 Neighbors we haven't met yet.

 Gail's art studio...

 or "girl cave".

 When I'm not puttering in the greenhouse, I work on my galactic tractor.

 Gail and her San Diego succulents that she smuggled across the border.

 This week I planted tomatoes, lettuce, chard, and carrots. I'm going to try growing the tomatoes up strings. I got the tomatoes from a little farm down the road that had a sign out front advertising starter plants. "Come to the house" it said, so we did. It turned out the woman used to live in Sonoma. We enjoyed meeting her, her rescued chicken, and peacock that had escaped the other place that raises them. The peacock was displaying his feathers for the chicken - rather funny!

 The outside beds await better weather.

 W have had a hellacious storm today and tonight, with winds gusting over 50 m.p.h. Our beautiful Big Leaf Maple lost one of it's large trunks.  We heard a roar approach the house for several seconds, and then a loud crack. Since this picture was taken a few hours ago, the water has risen about two feet.  The rain is coming in buckets! It feels like the opening pages of Sometimes a Great Notion.  By the way, Ken Kesey used to hang out in Yachats at The Drift Inn, an infamous bar that broke all the rules and had a large boxing ring in it.