New this year
This is the fifth spring and summer we’ve been living at our current address. We’ve been surprised with the arrival of a black throated sparrow who stayed to raise its family. They’ve provided great entertainment in that the fledglings are following mama around and asking to be fed. She’s trying desparately to ween them; however, they’re still trying to avoid fending for themselves by plumping themselves on the ground and waiting for service. Here are photos of the little guys actually on their own.
Earlier in the year, while ordering poker primroses for Katie, I stumbled across pineapple lilies in the catalog. In my effort to have new plants each year, for educational purposes, of course, this plant couldn’t be passed up. Now that the blooms are almost full, I thought you might like to see what they look like.
Hope you find these photos of our newfound flora and fauna fascinating.
Punch
It’s been a while, again, since writing. This message has been put off because it’s difficult to write. Our little, beautiful blue budgie, Punch, recently passed away. John and I really miss him because he filled the house with his singing. Punch particularly loved Stocks in the News and would add his comments each evening as we watched the program. Many times they were disapproving squawks. He was also very helpful contributing input to my cooking and and John’s solitaire games.
He was called Punch because, early on, he was part of a pair with Judy. She was a real bully and, even though we provided two feeding troughs, she would control both, which made us feel really sorry for Punch. Judy has been gone for six of Punch’s seven years.
There is a photo of this prince among birds, which can be accessed through Sonja’s Website HERE. By scrolling down & clicking on ‘Wildlife’, you’ll see a 2006 photo.
4th of July
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to say anything via my ‘blog because we have a new computer which is taking me a while to become accustomed to.
There are two mystery plants, which I’m hoping someone can ID. The first is a plant from the florist’s (the green shiny leaves with white flowers) and the cute blue bells, which are wild flowers I photographed along side Lake Oowah in the Lasals where we spent the fourth of July sitting in the shade and enjoying the cool.
We were prepared to catch dinner and there’s John holding a lovely rainbow trout. Delicious!
This spring, after swathing my Asiatic Lily with chicken wire to prevent squirrels from chewing on the tender buds, we got this lovely group of very fragrant flowers.
The last photo is of what John likes to call the Desert Nasturtium. The Sensenbrenner family seems to have a penchant for nasturiums. This is an Adenium obesum, called a desert rose. This one has made me proud because it actually survived my care for a year to bloom.
That’s the current news. Next week we’re headed for Idaho and the Lolo Trail and Bitterroot Mountains to follow some of Lewis & Clark’s trail. Should be very interesting.
