Betseebee, that's me!

A Squirrely squirrel

I know my dad will be rolling over in his grave when I say this, but I enjoy watching the squirrels around here.  There is one caveat - I don't like them to dig in our pots and flowers - but other than that, they are a lot of fun to watch.  A couple of juvenile squirrels caught my eye the other day and I stood and watched them for awhile as they ran up and down and round and round the tree

Ahh, it looks like they are kissing (sorry the quality isn't the greatest, I was shooting through the window and there is a bit of a reflection)

As these two scampered away, another squirrel my eye.  It was at the base of the tree and its antics really intrigued me.  It seemed to be digging in this crevice in the bark but then it started twisting and turning and actually did a flip or two.  I started clicking away and here are some of the best photos that I hope show these antics.

It was fascinating to watch.  I'm going to assume it was male and will explain why at the end.  He put on this act for a good 5 minutes or so.  It's really hard for the pictures to show what he was doing.  He was moving so fast sometimes that a lot of the pics were blurry.  I should have changed the setting on my camera but thought of it too late.  So, as I watched him, I tried to figure out what he was doing, scratching a viscious itch or trying to get rid of fleas - I hope that was not the case.  Then, I thought like my brother Tom, why would a squirrel do this?  MY explanation is "HE" is leaving his mark.  Now I don't know if squirrels if actually do that, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Hope you enjoyed the show, thanks for looking.

Pine Bees

Pine bees?? What are pine bees might you ask?  Well, after our windstorm yesterday and if you live in the Portland area you know what pine bees are (although that may not be what you call them).  If you don't live in the area, let me explain.

Pine bees are the buds from the Doug fir trees.  We had a bit of wind yesterday and the Doug firs just let go of all of those spent buds and left quite a mess all over the yards and streets.  For the last couple of weeks we have put up with their yellow pollen everywhere, now we have their pine bees.  When we left to run errands yesterday, our cul-de-sac was asphalt.  When we got home a few hours later, it was covered in pine bees.  Looked like it had snowed reddish-brown flakes everywhere.  And these bees love to come in the house - they love Pepper's fur and the bottom of our shoes and then show up all over the house.  So why do we call them pine bees? Take a look.  Don't you think this looks kind of like a dead bee?

I'm not sure when we started calling them "pine bees" but once we started the name stuck.  And here's another shot, looks kind of like a swarm died on the deck, right?

And then here's the deck, it doesn't look so bad because the wind blew a lot of them down into the yard.  I tried to get a pic of the cul-de-sac but one of the neighbors had already used their leaf blower so the look just wasn't there.  So here's the last pic, enjoy and thanks for looking.

Hummers

If you are a regular reader of my blog,  you know I love birds.  In fact, I have a future post rolling around in my brain regarding my love of birds, so stay tuned.  Anyhow, Jim and I both love to bird watch.  We aren't fanatics about it and in fact, we are rather picky - there are a few birds we just don't care for.  I know they are necessary in the chain of life, but we just don't care for crows, buzzards and starlings.  They top our list of birds we could care less about, and you can add most waterfowl to the list too.  It's hard for us to get excited about ducks and grebes and seagulls.  So I don't think we could be considered true birders because I don't think true birders are prejudiced about certain birds, so we are amateurs and have our favorites.

Hummingbirds are definitely on my top ten list.  We put up feeders a couple of years ago and I have started putting in plants that attract hummers.  During our last stint of clear, dry weather (which is gone by the way - rained for the past couple of days) I was sitting on the deck reading when I hear the unmistakeable sound of a hummer zooming in to the feeder.  I sat and watched as it fed and then when it flew off, I got up and grabbed my camera.  It's not the easiest thing to photograph, the slightest movement and they are off, so I finally figured out a stealthy way of sitting with my camera poised and was rewarded with quite a few shots.  Take a look and thanks for looking.

Mommas and babies

Jim and I went to the coast for a couple of days last week.  We don't usually go in May, but when Jim made the suggestion a couple of weeks ago, how am I gonna say no.  There was no telling what the weather would be like, you never know in May.  However, as the time grew near, we were ever hopeful.  It had been really nice in the Portland area, in fact we were having summer-like weather and I actually had to water my potted plants on the deck.  It seemed like I didn't I had to do that until July last year, lol!  Anyhow, we were having great weather so were hoping that would hold true for the coast.  Well, the further west we went, the more we started seeing clouds.  In fact by the time we got to Lincoln City, it was downright cloudy, no partly cloudy, just full on cloudy.  Oh well, at least it wasn't raining.

Something we love to do when we stay at the coast is take our "wildlife drive".  We have our usual routes that over the years have proven great areas to see wildlife. We have seen eagles, hawks, osprey, elk, deer, whales, seal lions and all kinds of other birds.  Well, springtime may not be the time to see wildlife, we only saw one eagle and two, maybe three hawks.  We figured everyone was holed up in nests and further back in the hills taking care of babies.

One part of the drive is a dead-end so we have to make a u-turn.  As we neared the spot to turn around, we were pleasantly surprised with the sight of miniature horses with babies.  We had discovered the horses back in February - it was the first time we had ever seen them and to see them again with babies was a nice surprise.  We sat and watched them for awhile Monday evening and when we went back out on Tuesday morning, they were out again and in a very playful mood.  We got a chuckle watching them kick up their heels and I was actually able to get some shots.  

They grew tired and settled down for a rest - the next shot is absolutely adorable.

And to close, I'll share two pics taken from our room, one Monday afternoon and the second on Tuesday afternoon.  As you can see, we ended up with a gorgeous day on Tuesday.  Thanks for looking.

More nesting birds

Last week Jim and I took a ride to Sauvie.  We weren't sure how good the viewing would be because most of the trees have leafed out, but it was too pretty of a day to be inside, so a driving we went.  It was pretty slim pickings, I think was only saw 4-6 hawks and 3 or 4 eagles.  The eagles were all in flight, nothing perched, at least not that we could see.

What we did see plenty of were osprey.  They are back in the area and are busy sitting on the nests.  I think we saw 14-16 osprey and most of those were pairs and we saw at least 4 nests which were occupied.  There are quite a few platforms built on the island and while most of the time these platforms were utilized, one pair decided this other structure was just fine, thank you.  It was nice that it was perched just perfect for me to get these good shots.   Enjoy and thanks for looking.

April Showers bring.....

May flowers.  The yard has just busted out with color.  We had some warm weather the third weekend in April and stuff really started popping - but with a little more rain and mild temps, we really have a show going on in our yard.  I stood at the landing on the deck and just started taking pics.  We have rhodies and lilacs and pansies and snapdragons and camelias and dogwoods and azaleas and one rose is already blooming (that pic I took from the yard) - well take a look - you'll get the picture, or rather pictures.  Thanks for looking and enjoy!

Oh and I almost forgot.  Remember all that transplanting we did last fall.  Well I was so excited today to see the big daphne out in the back corner blooming.  Everything we transplanted is doing well, but I was especially thrilled to see the blooms on this one.

A Squabble in the Yard

As I was working at the computer this morning, a motion out in the yard caught my eye.  I stopped to see what it was and noticed two jays flying low over the yard.  As I took a closer look, I saw they were chasing a couple of squirrels.  Those jays were relentless.  The two squirrels, I think they are babies because they didn't look that big, tucked themselves between two fence slats but that didn't appease the jays.  They sat nearby and squawked away at them.  The squirrels then scurried up on the fence and ran along the top of the fence towards the neighbor's yard with the jays hot on their heels.  Squabble over, or so I thought.  Not quite, for the next hour, everytime those squirrels tried to come into the yard, the jays ran them off.  It was the funniest thing.  

I tried to get pictures but they moved too fast.  Later as I was out mowing the lawn, I noticed all kinds of activity in the hedge behind us.  I stopped to watch and saw the jays going in and out.  A couple of weeks ago, I had suspected they had built a nest but have been preoccupied and had not checked into it any further.  I investigated a little more today and there is a nest but unfortunately the jays built it way too high for me to see anything, but I could hear something.  There are babies in the nest!  As I was standing there checking things out, one of the adults swooped in and that's when I heard the peeps of the babies.  I got a couple of shots, not the greatest, most of the jay's butt, but I've gotta share a photo or two, right?  Here's some pics, take a look and enjoy.  Thanks for looking.

The jay is on the left, you can just see it's breast and the nest is on the right.  It's quite a large nest.

This is the one of the jay's butt, caught it just as it landed and then started feeding the babies.

Their nest is just above this rhodie.  They will usually fly into the crabapple or this rhodie before hopping up into the nest.  It's their little decoy mechanism - never fly directly to the nest.  Always stop and make sure the coast is clear.  I'm going to have fun these next few weeks watching the progess at the next. Stay tuned, I might get some better pics.

Squirrely issue.....

If there are squirrels where you live, then you'll know where I am coming from.  If you don't have squirrels in your area, lucky you.  Actually, they're cheap entertainment, but they have some pesky habits.  They love to dig in the garden and most particularly they seem to love potted plants.  I have had to replant many of my pots only to go out the next day and see the plants I'd just repotted, laying there, roots exposed.  Or we'll do yard work and the deck is all pretty and clean, however within an hour or two, there is dirt kicked out of the pots, messing up our clean deck.  I have protected my pots with chicken wire and a retail product called Critter Ridder.  Both work well, but the chicken wire is a pain and I have a few scars on my hands from the sharp edges and the Critter Ridder has to be reapplied after a rain, so up here that means replenishing it alot.  So we try to just get along and live with our pesky neighbors.

Well, this last week, I actually discovered a nice side effect of the squirrels digging around in the garden.  In four different areas of my yard, we have an errant tulip blooming.  There are two red ones in the back yard and we have never tulips out back.  In the front there is a red one coming up right in the middle of some heather and a yellow one right in the middle of the path.  When I first spied the tulips out back, I was puzzled, but then I realized I had the squirrels to thank, so Thank you neighbors.  I took a few pics of course, take a look and enjoy a chuckle like I did.  Thanks for looking and check back, I'll have more to say later.

Spring Break Part VI - no we don't want it to end

Well, all good things must come to an end and our trip was quickly winding down.  The kids didn't have school the Monday after Easter and we had planned on going to the park.  Unfortunately, Grandpa was still not feeling good, so the park was out (in fact he went to the doctor in the afternoon).  The kids were so good about not going to the park.  It is something we always do and they really look forward to it, but they understood that Grandpa wasn't feeling good and that hanging around the house was the plan of the day.  In wanting to make it a little fun for them, I put on my thinking cap and made lunch fun.  We had so many leftovers - Kay and I decided that would be a fine lunch.  Not wanting to just go out and tell them we were having leftovers, I went out and introduced myself as their waitress for lunch and was taking orders, but first, here are the "daily specials"..... we have spaghetti casserole, stuffed pasta shells, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, fresh veggies with dip and a special drink, a one time offer only - "Seven-Dew" a mixture of Seven-up and Mountain Dew.  Now this is a very special drink because usually, if they have soda, it's caffeine free, so getting to have Mountain Dew was very special. I told them I checked with the owner and was told it was a "one-time" only special and to please not ask for it anytime after this.  (Hopefully, they believed me and haven't been bugging Kay for Mountain Dew).  I took their orders and one of them asked if they could eat outside.  I told them I would have to go check with the owner.  They were in luck, we happened to have seating open on the back patio.  I got busy and made up their orders and then asked them to wash up and follow me to their table.  They were loving it, totally going along with me.  When I brought my lunch out and sat down, I told them the owner had given me permission to eat with them.  Allie looks at me real serious and said "who's the owner?"  That was so cute.  We had more fun eating that meal and we even had dessert.  Unfortunately, because I was so busy waitressing, there aren't any pictures of that lunch, just the wonderful memories swirling in my head.

After that meal they went out front and played the rest of the afternoon with or on their bikes.  They rode around on the dirt track for awhile, but they spent quite a bit of time with their bikes turned upside down "working" on them.  I loved sitting there watching and listening to them, using their imaginations to make up scenarios.  Then, when they were pooped, and asked for a drink - water - they dragged their chairs down to the end of the driveway and "took a break".  Absolutely precious.  

The last bit of photos are our one last craft project.  It is the cutest idea I found - where else but Pinterest.  They are lightning bugs you make from plastic eggs, pipe cleaners, stickers (for the eyes) and battery operated tea lights.  The tea lights fit perfect inside the egg and are just adorable at night.  Kay and I prepped it before Jim and I went to the doctor's office and she and the kids sat and made them while we were gone.  From the looks of the pictures, it was a fun project.  

Thanks for looking.  Check back soon... I'm sure I'll find something to talk about.

 

Spring Break Part V - Easter

It's fun for us to be with the grandkids for Easter.  Like an adult nephew of mine said "without kids around, Easter is just another Sunday" so we were certainly glad to have kids around.  Kay hosted Easter dinner this year and she had a houseful.  Kay, Shon, Josh and Allie; Jim and I; Will, Paige, Taylor and Trent; Chris, my nephew Matt; Pat and Gary (Shon's parents) Randy and Barbara (Kay's dad and stepmom) and Daniel and Tristina (Shon's brother and wife). Whew - it was almost like being at 807 for Easter, but not quite.  Kay put on quite a spread, take a look.  She had help, everyone brought a dish, but she set out quite the meal.

And what would Easter be without Peeps.

And Easter baskets

And the egg hunt (can you spot any eggs in the photo?)

And last but not least, Easter photos.  

Thanks for looking, tomorrow we'll finish up with our last couple of days in San Diego.