A Full-time Life

CRITTERS TOWN AND COUNTRY

 

This has been our first full season of urban living and we're spending quite a bit of time just getting used to it.  Eventually, we may do more day-trips than we have this year -- but for now  we've been enjoying the benefits of full-time living in the City.      It's fun to be within walking distance of -- well, almost everything,  really.   Except for wild  birds and animals.   Those are scarce.  Below are the only critters I saw on a recent downtown walk:

 

 

 

But of course we do drive out into the country at least once a week -- mostly to visit family.  I don't always remember my camera when we're there, but last weekend I did  (previous post here) and I scored a few real birds and critters.  Here are some more of them:

    

 

A rufous-sided towhee played  hide-and-seek with me.     (The red really popped out against the pre-rain cloudy sky.)

 

 I showed the courting red-shafted flickers in the last post, but to make up for all the weekends lately that I haven't linked any birds at all,  I'll  post a couple different views of the same two:  

 

 

 In the right-hand picture the male has turned around, just after he'd apparently given up trying.  He flew away across the field right after. 

   

 

 And here is the resident feline.   In spite of how much she looks like a stalking wildcat, Chloe is not brave enough to be a danger to anything.   Our son-in-law and daughter  inherited her  (from their  grown daughter and family  -- inherited probably isn't the right word here).  In her first home, she was an indoor cat, now she's enjoying the great outdoors during the daylight hours -- except that when she has to "go" this cat sits on the porch and meows to be let inside to use the litter box.  

 

 

 

 

 

 Sharing city and country wildlife with Eileen's SATURDAY CRITTERS;  Ani's RATHER B-BIRDING;  Jesh's SEASONS; Maggie's  MOSAIC MONDAY;  Michelle's NATURE NOTES;  and OUR WORLD on Tuesday (hosted by Lady Fi, Arija, Gattina, Sylvia, and Sandy).  

Thank you to all  of the hosts.

 

 

PHOTO FEAST

There are always photo opportunities out at our favorite place in the country (our daughter and son-in-law's home).  

 

 

This is my latest attempt to capture their  magnificent black walnut tree.  It is too big to catch in one photo.  

 

I haven't done much birding lately since we live in the City now...  and because it is harder these days for us to get up and out early in the morning.  On the day these pictures were taken, although it was around noon as usual when we arrived,  rain was imminent.  When we lived at the Lake, we always noticed a lot more bird activity just before a storm ...   

 

 

And this day did not disappoint.  Without leaving the acreage, I saw and heard a nice variety of birds (and even with being out-of-practice, was actually able to photograph a few) .  Way out in the back field,  I nearly stumbled across this pair of red-shafted flickers.   I stopped stock still where I was,  trying to figure out whether this was a conversation, a confrontation, or something else ...

 

 

 

... I got down on the ground and crawled a little closer ...  both birds were bobbing and dancing, but always maintaining about this same distance.

 

 

 

After about ten minutes of this, both birds turned clear around and flew off.   The one on the left was  closer to some evergreen trees, the one on the right had to fly clear across the field.   My guess at that point was that  the one on the right might have been trying to invade the other's territory.  BUT on looking at the downloaded pictures, we now see that the one on the right is a male displaying his red throat, so it must have been a mating dance.    Apparently, he got turned down -- this time anyway.   (Whatever the reason,  I was glad they flew off at that point.  Any longer and I would have had to disturb them or I might never have been able to get up off the ground again.)

 

  

 

This time of year we never leave without taking home some fresh-picked produce home with us.    This month there are two kinds of apples ... the trees are miniature, but the crop is definitely not.   The arbor is unbelievably loaded with grapes as sweet as candy.       The middle top picture is an Asian pear tree.  This is something different -- our son-in-law said  it was an experiment.   It's a pretty little tree, but none of us are real sold on the way this fruit tastes.   (We also don't really know what it is supposed to taste like.  Have any of you tried this fruit?)  

  

 

 

While the two or three Asian pears we brought home may languish on the kitchen counter,  this week we are eating (and cooking with) a  ton of apples and feasting on grapes -- plus tomatoes, red peppers and squash  -- all without planting a seed or pulling a weed.   There's something special about eating food grown with love by people you love!   .

 

 

LINKING to: OUR WORLD on Tuesday; NATURE NOTES; SEASONS; and WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY (hope they still remember me).  Thank you to all of the hosts.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

ITTY BITTY PRETTY TOWN

 

 

On our drive through Washington's rolling farm country,  we stopped for a break in the  town with the same name that the whole area is known by -- Palouse.  We found a lot to like in this tiny town with  a population of fewer than a thousand souls. 

 

 

 This is the Palouse Caboose where we had a good lunch.  They featured local farm products -- I had a veggie bean  burger that was pretty darn good -- lentils and dried beans are an important secondary crop around here (next to wheat as shown in the previous post).

 Notice the logo for Washington State University on the doorway - -  this University, which began as a Land Grant College, is located in Pullman, less than 20 miles away.     WSU is Billl's alma mater and obviously that of the young guys who  owned and managed the restaurant/bar. 

  After our good lunch, we stretched our legs by walking around town.   It was a pleasant way to break up a long drive.  And of course I took pictures.   

 

The town park was tiny, but perfect... roses seemed to be at their peak.   I appreciated the chance to take some flower pictures, especially since I haven't yet made it to the Rose Garden at  home in Eugene (there is still hope).

 

 

 

 

Bill spotted this ghost sign across the street from the restaurant.   We have never seen one with so many ads on one building. 

 

 

 

Because we've  lived in small spaces for quite a few years now, we don't need any more of what this store had to offer.  In fact "Stuff Store" is what we call junk and souvenir shops .. and we save money because we hardly ever need anything they have for sale.  But this is the first time I've seen such a store that actually calls it like it is.  (I'm not sure about the lamps and furniture, but here's a yellow-shirted photographer reflected in the top right photo that is guaranteed to be the  genuine vintage article.)

 

  

 

And just because I've missed linking  to SKYWATCH Friday for way too long,  here's a slightly different view of the blue and gold  vistas just outside of this little town.  (There are more in the previous post.)

 

Linking to:  SIGNS SIGNS; GOOD FENCES; TODAY'S FLOWERS; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and next week's MOSAIC MONDAY.  Thanks to all of the hosts.  

PALOUSE COUNTRY

We drove  the Palouse Country Scenic Drive last week on our way to celebrate a family birthday in Idaho. 

 

 

The Palouse region  is a major agricultural area in Eastern Washington State  -- where both sides of our family are from originally from.  We were married there and lived there (except for a couple of years) for the first years of our married life.     And even after we moved our own family to western Oregon we made scores of trips through this area  to visit our parents and other family members who still lived there.   Back in those days  I admit we used to take the beauty of the Palouse for granted. 

 

 

 

 But we don't make many trips that way nowadays  -- no family members in our old home town any more and the area is quite remote and not usually on the way to any place where we're going.   So it was fun to have a reason to make the drive again -- thanks to our (much) younger brother turning 60 and celebrating it in Northern Idaho.

 

 

 

Now that we have more time to enjoy the scenery, we also have more time to indulge our curiosity and we wondered about these unique and beautiful hills -- so unlike what we see in our part of the Pacific Northwest.   We not only have the time and the curiosity, but also of course that lovely laptop research tool  we carry with us at all times these days.   Wikipedia tells  us  these rolling  Palouse hills are formed by many layers of loess -- a soil formed by fine-grained windblown sediments.  

 At its thickest, the Palouse loess measures 246 feet.   The older layers accumulated between 1 and 2 million years ago.  (Click the link to read more of the interesting history and geology of the area.)

 

 

 

 

We all have to eat and the rich soil of Palouse makes it one of the prime wheat-growing regions in the country.  However, the intensive farming practiced here -- roadbed to roadbed -- leaves few fence rows and few small streams -- therefore, not very many birds.    In recent years however, some agricultural lands in the region have been converted to large suburban home sites and these large yards have attracted many more birds.    That's a good thing.

 

LINKING to OUR WORLD on Tuesday; SEASONS; NATURE NOTES; and THE BARN COLLECTIVE.    Thank you to the hosts.

 

 

 

 

 

Have a Nice Fall

Even though Autumn  doesn't officially begin until September 20, Labor Day Weekend marks the start  of the school year and the end of summer activities for many.  It seems like the end  of summer even for those of us no longer living on a school year calendar.   

The picture above  is a repeat from my first ever post to this blog ... Almost nine years ago. 

 We are spending the long weekend in Idaho and the rest of the pictures are from near where we are staying.

 

This post is my first attempt at blogging from my IPad.   

 

 

 

 

 After nine years, it is probably time to learn some new tricks.

 

 

 But I think I like the old way  better!

 

 Linking to:  OUR WORLD on Tuesday; SEASONS; THE BARN COLLECTIVE;and SIGNS SIGNS.  Thank you to the hosts.