Pictures From the Yard and Surrounding Area

Here are some pictures from the past couple weeks. We have been busy taking advantage of dry weather to do yard work, which leaves us rather useless by evening, hence the lack of posts and clever writing.

 Fungi - no surprise here!

 Taking a breather with Yummy down by the lower woodshed.  She follows us like a dog around the property, sometimes bursting into a full run where her back legs try to pass up her front legs - funny!

 Down the road is the little Carson Cemetery.  It is in a beautiful, natural setting.

 Stopping to feed the llamas some grass on a walk down the road.  From here, we cut up the mountain on a Forest Service Road for a little cardio.

 A Pacific Sideband Snail was on the road.  They use "love darts".

 I had my good camera all day as we hiked around the coast and then on a ridge trail. This was the only picture I took with it, and I still need to ID it.  Some kind of sparrow I believe.

 This American Dipper, also called a water ouzel, is almost always on or near this branch over our waterfall.

 New birds for us!  We now have a resident flock of Evening Grosbeaks that love our feeder, and make a racket up in the top of a nearby alder.

 Male Evening Grosbeak.

 We are also getting American Goldfinches on our thistle seed feeder.

 Last Saturday, we walked down to Devil's Churn from the parking area, about 20 minutes from our house.  The tide, however, was too low for good churn action.

 We had a fun tour of the Haceta Head Lighthouse, learning about the Fresnel lens, and all the efforts to restore the lighthouse over the past few years.

 Also, last Saturday, we hiked about seven miles on the Cummins Ridge Trail in the Siuslaw National Forest seeing no one the whole time. 

 The past week we had amazing weather, with the temperature hitting 84 on Tuesday.  Yummy is helping Gail here on a weeding project.  I was in mowing and weed whacking heaven!

 I got a pond book from the Waldport Library, and learned that these pretty plants are marsh marigolds.  The frogs love the sun, and perch on the rocks around our pond.

 Spring has sprung!  These two Northwestern Alligator Lizards were mating on the doorstep of Gail's art studio.  They actually go in and out of her studio, but she hasn't found where their entrance is yet.

 Outside her studio door is this striking ornamental fruit tree.

 We have a lot of rhododendrons around the place, and they're just starting to bloom.

Today, we took a rainy day hike up the road.  We saw a couple Northern Rough-skinned Newts. Breeding males, like this one, temporarily develop smooth skin and a compressed tail.