Bummer-No Picture Today!

I tried several times to upload a picture, in fact, two different pictures of a variety of Aster that I have around my patio but sadly, they would not upload. Last time I posted I had to click on the publish button a number of times before it would publish. It kept saying there was an error-kind of like when I tried to upload the picture but different. Wonder if its me or Google? I wanted to show the Asters because I have a love/hate thing for them. I love that they are here early every year and stay late but they don't bloom continuously-that can't be the correct spelling can it-and between blooms they aren't exactly ugly )unless you deadhead them) but they aren't pretty either. Most of the time they bloom though from April to October and for here that is good. the only other drawback is that they want to spread, not blowing seeds and spreading but creeping around. Not a big fan of plants that want to take over. Still, I can't call them invasive because they aren't. In fact, if it grows where you don't want it, it is easy to pull up and discard.

But now for the exciting news. Well okay, exciting for me; I saw an Oriole today at my feeders. I am sure he was looking for some jelly and an orange. I didn't expect to see him although I should have, so I don't have oranges. I got some grape jelly out and put it in a shotglass that I hang from my Oriole feeder but wouldn't you know it-the suction cups on the feeder holder wouldn't stay stuck to the window! Until I figure out how to make them stay or buy new ones, I guess I shall not be sharing a picture of him! If, of course, Google will let me share!!! Haha.

Birds, birds, birds!

So okay, I said I hadn't seen any Rose Breasted Grosbeaks and lo and behold, I went outside and saw a male Grosbeak at the feeders. I haven't seen any females but as they don't look anything like the males, I am not suprised. The females look kind of like large Sparrows but with the telltale grosbeak-hence the name. I guess she looks the most like a brown Cardinal.

But wait, it got even better. I ran and grabbed my camera and while waiting for the Grosbeak to come back, two Warblers landed on the feeders. Now there I was trying to hold the camera steady and get good pictures. It used to be that I had my feeders on the other side of the house where I could get some close shots without them being able to see me but that particular spot gave the advantage to me and the cats so I had to move the feeders. Now its a rare thing for the cats to catch a bird and since they had to run a bit to get them to where they want to 'play' with them, 99 percent of the few that they do snag are freed quickly. I guess I will have to try using my tripod but I don't know that it will fit in the garden window! It's already far enough away without moving it back 3 feet! So this is a picture of a Prothonatory Warbler, I know I have to tell you that because its not a great picture!

I took pictures of the male Bluebird in the Pecan tree, don't know yet if you can even see him. I'd love to get a good shot of a Bluebird because they are so pretty. I haven't seen any Indigo Buntings at my feeders yet. They aren't feeder birds normally but birds are adaptable so I am guessing that these have learned that easy meals are to be had there if one doesn't mind all the 'traffic'. I have about a dozen at my feeders for the past two summers.

American Goldfinches

Yeah, I know, not a great picture of the Goldfinches-but you get the idea. We have been blessed with hundreds of Goldfinches visiting our feeders. The thistle socks are too far away for me to get any good pictures and that is where they are most numerous. They are beautiful little birds aren't they?

Hummingbirds finally arrived this week, they are late this year. Some Warblers are here too but I haen't seen any Orioles yet. Nor any Grosbeaks. An off year for the birds I guess.

The Purple Martins visit an eye up the houses built especially for them but the Bluebirds beat them to them and fight vigorously to keep them.

Aloe flower update

So So it's been a couple of weeks since I posted the first pic of my Aloe plant flower shoot. It has developed much more and the bottom flowers are starting to 'bloom'. As you can see it is a long flower stem and I can barely get all of it in the shot and still have any detail at all. I took a closer picture so you can see that the flowers are orangy yellow. And of course, you can see much much abused cactus 'Studly' in the background. Reba knocked him over and he broke so to keep her out of the pot I had to put the potted part that broke off in the big guys pot. I had another Studly but I gave him away. He was over 7 feet tall and I just didn't want to fuss with it any more. Studly originally was rescued from the trash heap; laying they in mud, half dead and hoping for the best. That was about 6 years ago and he grows like a weed.

I wished I had figured out how to put two pictures in here stacked instead of side by side. I will conquer that next post! I just noticed how much of the close up is seemingly more about my neighbors. As you can see my closest neighbor is a few hundred feet away. I love that. I hated when we lived in the suburbs and your neighbor was two steps away. I like being able to sit in the yard and talk and not have everyone hear what you say. That said, two of those neighboring haven't been cleaned up since the flood last year. The same people own both of the houses and they are waiting for a buy out on one of them. As for the other, he started working on it last year but this year I think since the river has been in his yard twice already he is waiting to see if Spring floods will kill all his grass. trees and flowers before he puts too much energy into it. I am very grateful not to be in the flood plain (but still insured mind you) yet so close to the river.

Cherries!

Look at all of those cherries!!!! Yeah I know, they are not cherries yet but they will be! And even better this is one of those Ranier trees so these are white cherries! MMMMMM. The tree is supposed to be a dwarf and yet.....oh well, that just means there are enough to share with the Orioles!

Let the Fighting Begin!

This is a blurry picture of a Red Headed Woodpecker. I tried to get another but my battery just didn't have any more juice. I wanted to get a photo though because since the Red Bellied Woodpeckers moved in no Red Headed Woodpeckers or Flickers have been allowed to stay very long in my yard. I guess there just isn't enough room for them all. It's funny because they don't seem to mind the Hairy or Downy Woodpeckers, only the Woodpeckers that are about the same size. I always think of Rodney King "Can't we all just get along?"

I Love Spring!

I used to have hundreds and hundreds of spring bulbs but over time not to mention placement I guess, that number has dwindled. I tried to dig up a garden under my Pecan tree that had all spring bulbs and flowers in it but for three years I have believed that I got them all and for three years more blooms show up. I gave away over one hundred tulips last year and replanted an equal amount from just under the Pecan tree! But who cares-they are so beautiful! Not that the flower in the pic is a tulip mind you, it's a Hyacinth-did I spell that right? Probably not.

We have had so much rain in the past 24 hours-I am soggy but in spite of the fact that we have have so much rain every month for the last year that when it does rain almost all of it runs off because the ground is already so saturated. But I digress, my point was that the flowers seem not to mind all the rain, I swear that several of them grew a foot since yesterday! Sadly the weeds love rain too and I cannot pull them when the ground is so wet. I am always sorry when I don't use weed preventer.

Who likes flowers?

I do. And I hope you do too because today and for the next few posts I shall be featuring some flowers from my gardens. Oh and one from inside my house because around here an Aloe in bloom is a rare thing indeed.

Now, this is just the flower head. It hasn't actually bloomed yet but when it does the flowers are teeny tiny and the whole flower head does not bloom at the same time. What makes this so unusual for me is that my Aloes usually bloom right after I bring them inside for the Winter and it is now April 2nd. But its also that I don't even know anyone around here that has Aloes that bloom at all. Must be the water. I think I have the best tasting well water in the world. Better than Fiji, better than Evian. Maybe my plants think so too.

I'm back!

Wow, I can't believe that it's been so long since I last posted! I can't say I really went anywhere, I have just been so busy trying to take care of everything around here. Jim is in the city trying to get our house rehabbed so we can move in as soon as possible so I have to take care of everything around here! That might not sound like too much but the property is large and I have to take care of the business too. I could say time just gets away from me and you'd probably be thinking oh I'd love to have you run my corporation but time is pritorized and since my followers don't seem to mind if I don't post.....

I have decided that my blogs have been too focused on cats and as a result more feral cats have shown up so I don't think I'll be writing about them anytime soon.

Instead I want to share the beauty of Spring. I am learning how to take great pictures and my skill is improving every day. I took some pictures of some of my Tulips on a very sunny day and it was a challenge to keep the sun at my back and my shadow off the flowers. The picture doesn't really do the Tulips justice, they are actually quite lovely but still I think they are very nice. There are other flowers blooming now but I liked these best. Hope you do too. The Peach tree is in bloom right now too and incredibly the snow last weekend didn't seem to have affected it. So we should have Peaches this summer!