July Wrap-up

This month has been a blur.  If it wasn't for garbage service on Monday, I would have a hard time knowing what day of the week it is.  It hasn't rained since early June, so I'm having to spend much time watering the garden areas.  The river is getting low, but we have some deeper pools that have been a relief to float around in on the hot days.  It was 95 degrees a few days ago. 

 On a hike off of the 5300 we had some good mud for tracks.  This is a Black Bear track.

 We've been taking our watercraft out on the river to cool our behinds.  The water is Sierra stream cold!

 A sculpture in the garden that Gail acquired awhile back.

 I planted this artichoke in May, not knowing what to expect.  It apparently likes it here!

Squash, tomatoes, strawberries, and basil are doing well, except the tomatoes haven't set fruit yet -hmmm. 

 This is Juno, Lorie's and Brian's recent adoption.  We met Lorie and Juno at the beach for a walk and play.  We loved Juno's little dog attitude!

Daisy enjoying her new friend.

Social distancing for the humans.

 We have a lot of red "color pop" in the front yard.

Another afternoon float break.  This was the 95 degree day.

What's cooking?

 Lorie gave us a big chunk of halibut fillet from a commercial fisherman friend of hers who caught it just 3 days before.

 This called for Gail swinging into table presentation mode and doing some amazing prep including this salad embellished with nasturtium flowers.  I marinated the halibut, seared and broiled it. It was the best fish I've tasted in years!

Macro Photos From the Yard

 This alligator lizard spends a lot of time in the greenhouse hunting bugs.

 This garter snake was a regular for a few days just below the hot tub.

 The greenhouse is home to many spiders.  This one is less than a half inch in size.

 Bee balm

 Echinacea purpuria

 This tiny little spider was under a dead butterfly, which I think it may have killed without using a web.

 Crocosmia

 Day lily anthers with pollen.

 California Poppy

 Crocosmia

Anemone flower bud

The End

Poking Around the Yard

Below are some photos from walking around the yard looking at stuff yesterday and today.  The frog photos are from earlier in the week, however.

One of our bullfrogs spent most of the day trying to eat a bird.

 It appeared that the bird was a fledgling grosbeak.  The frog eventually gave up.

 Crocosmia

 Iris

 Northwestern Garter Snake

 Shed skin of  Garter Snake

 Genus Scudderia (Scudder's Bush Katydids)

 Fly

 Leaf Beetle (Calligrapha californica)

 Beetle taking off

 Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

 Another Northwestern Garter Snake

 Small grasshopper

Wild bee gathering pollen

Fourth of July Pandemic Style

Yesterday, we did our hike up the 5300 with Daisy in the morning. It got a little exciting when a bear went crashing through the brush on the bank above us. We spent most of the afternoon just slowly ambling through the property looking at things with me occasionally snapping a few photos.  Later in the afternoon, we started watching Hamilton, paused for a BBQ, and then resumed the epic musical.

 We fired up our modest BBQ for the first time this year.

 Gail marinated chicken breasts and I picked some of our zucchinis to grill.

Came out pretty good, I must say.

Gail used rhubarb from our yard to make a delicious pie.

After finishing Hamilton (excellent) we lit a few sparklers that Gail had saved from years ago. Whoopee!