Our Yard

It took until the middle of August before our flowers looked like there was a decent amount of growth. We're still babying them along, protecting them from frost because we don't want to let them go yet!

Mal laid rubber tiles on our walkways in the side and back. They are made of recycled tires, so they should last well, and they are really nice to walk on. We'll put shavings or crushed rock along the sides to finish it off, but maybe not until next spring now.

My Scarlet Runner Beans have finally reached the top of the arbor. I grow them for the flowers and vines, not for the beans. In past years I've tried morning glories and moon flowers, but they are just not tough enough for our weather.

The swing is our favorite place to sit. We often go and sit outside on the swing for a bit after lunch. I've got 6 sunflowers blooming now - only about 10 to go! I have a feeling we're not going to make it this year! This month has been below normal temperatures and time is running out. However, bit by bit we do a little more in our yard each year, and we enjoy it.

Happy Birthday Jon!

We were pretty proud of what a cute baby we had!

Your favorite pillow - later you carried it around, calling it your "pong".

Mal's birthday celebrated with 2 others in our care group.

It looks like it's the old guy who can get the candles blown out first,

even with 2 against 1!

Keiver's Lake

We camped at Keiver's Lake for the first time and enjoyed it.

There were a lot of reeds at the edges which would make for good canoeing. It's a small lake.

We went for a drive and checked out an old abandoned house and found this swarm of bees. Needless to say, we didn't get too close!
The next 2 posts show pictures of our camping experience.

Red-Necked Phalarope

These small birds whirl around continually to feed. Watch the ones in the foreground, and then imagine a group of 20 or 30 all whirling at the same time. They twittered constantly while they twirled, so between the whirling and the twittering and the pecking, it was a very busy scene! The reason for the whirling is described in the last picture below.

I'm So Excited!

I got my first picture of an owl in the wild! We saw an old abandoned farmyard and decided it might be a nice place to take pictures. We drove up, and I saw this Great Horned Owl peeking out of the shed. I was afraid he'd fly away, so I took a couple of pictures before leaving the truck, and then stepped out to take some more.

As we got closer to him, he turned around as if he was going to go inside, and then suddenly swooshed out over our heads and flew away.
We decided to look inside the shed, and suddenly, just as we got right close, a second owl appeared in the opening, stared me right in the eyeball and then swooped low over our heads and took off. I wish I had a picture of that, but we weren't expecting a second owl!

A large dragonfly landed on the arm of my jacket and stayed there until we had taken many pictures, and finally I shooed him off! I learned that he is a Blue-eyed Darner.

I'm always fascinated by the many compartments that make up their head and body. The large blue parts on the side of its head are its eyes. Each bulging compound eye consists of up to 30,000 individual eyes! Eighty percent of its brain is devoted to vision! It sees all the colours we do plus ultraviolet and polarized light. They are the fastest insect in the world, and can fly 35 mph. They are also the most acrobatic.

I saw and photographed a new bird: the Red-necked Phalarope. He only has a red neck during mating season. They are smaller than a robin.

There were dozens of them on the lake, and they demonstrated some fascinating behaviour. They would go around and around in one direction, pecking at the water every round or two. They moved so fast it made you dizzy just watching - especially when dozens were doing it at the same time!
I learned that the reason for this was to stir up the water which brings the planktonic invertebrates up to the surface into pecking range. Quite a sight!

Bird Heaven

There was a Bird Sanctuary near the cabin where we stayed with Darrell and Jess, and the area was like Bird Heaven! A big lake, smaller ponds, and big trees on the shore made for great bird habitat. I saw and photographed about 10 kinds of birds that I didn't have pictures of before, so that made me a happy girl!

One morning I went to a pond early and saw about 30 pelicans, and some cormorants, grebes and the ususal pigeons all crowded close together in the centre of the pond. The pelicans and cormorants particularly seemed to hang out together, often sunning themselves on a rock together.

These are Double-crested Cormorants.
They are big birds, but quite a bit smaller than pelicans.
After swimming, they often stand in the sun with their wings open to dry off,
as you see one of them doing.

My first picture of a Yellow Warbler.
There were many there, and they loved to sing.
The place was full of birds, singing and flying from tree to tree.
We wondered why we didn't see any crows or magpies.

There is a western kingbird on the peak.
Double click if you want to see it closer.
I do have close-ups of them, but I kind of liked the roofline is this picture.

The weather was hot and we had a beautiful sunset.
It was a highlight of this trip to see so many birds.
I would take pictures of them, and then Darrell and I would look through our various bird books to identify them.
We value our time with Darrell and Jess after not seeing them all the while they were in Africa.

Vacation Week

We spent a day with Tim and Juanita and Darrrell and Jess and went to the splash park with the kids. It was a very hot day, so Kaleb cooled off with a popsicle.

Seven-week old Luke likes to stand upright at times!
He's pretty strong!

Darrell and Jess at the river.

Then we went to the cabin with Darrell and Jess for a few days.
No, this isn't the cabin, and we didn't sleep in the hay!
But it was at the lake.

We appreciated Jess's parents sharing their cabin with us.

We had a bit of overlap time with them and enjoyed seeing them again.