Busy as a Bird

Rock and dirt divider between two driveways made
spectacular by the Jays.  Not a drop of added water for
all that splendor!

Everyone knows bees are busy.  And ants are legendary for being industrious.

No shyness is this sunny head.  

But I've never thought of Scrub Jays as anything but noisy, though I acknowledge their smartly attractive bright blue plumage. Now I'm having second thoughts (even as a Jay takes a raucously noisy splash in the bird bath).






The most attractive and glorious points of interest in our whole yard this summer are what the Jays planted for me.

One of these plants had over 20 sunny flowers on it.  Now the heads are hanging heavy with seed.

Robin Days

Squint and you'll see the teen Robin on
the fence framed by sunflowers.

Sad to say, they are all but finished.  Robins hang out nearly year around.  One can count on hearing the chur-up, chur-ee in the morning light no matter where you live.  But sometimes the Robins come by the dozens, and Robins are not a flock bird.  They are independent and territorial.  However,  toward the end of summer when all the Robin children are learning their dining skills and manners, the yard is covered with them.

What draws these winged messengers of happy tunes at this time of year is our front-yard Choke Cherry tree. That tree is another story. We discovered that it suckers (information not in the property disclosure when we bought the house).  Not just a few here and there, but enough that on-line searches say the only way to deal with the suckers is to remove the tree. Pluses of the Choke Cherry are its lovely blossoms in the Spring, the dark chocolate leaves that match the house trim and the black, large-pit choke cherries--breakfast, dinner and dessert to the Robins.

Choke Cherry: a feast for the Robins

The tree is mostly bare of fruit now. The Robins are on to other diners. The tree will no doubt stay another year.

Even the Sidewalks!

It's everywhere.  That touch of beauty, of whimsy, of vibrant color seems to show up everywhere one looks in this town of Bend, recently new to us.

Giftor

Only a careful eye will notice

Why was I so surprised to see it in the sidewalk?  Perhaps it caught me attention because it was the result of very happy accident.

Not by accident at all

Workman broomed the finished on a sidewalk; the tree dropped a handful of its leaves; the leaves were pressed forever into the now uncommon concrete.

Thank you to the artists

Now that I expect to see more, I expect I'll see more.

Face Down in the Dirt

Licking the dirt?  Looking for worms?

I was certain they were dead.  Or maybe they were spent, finished, withered.  In the early, frosty morning, most of the Daffodils appeared to be looking for worms. I soothed my soul by remembering that they'd been in bloom a long time; that they could choose when enough was enough; that it's was okay for they to be done blooming.

Warm enough to stand up straight again

Nobody in this new land told me that Daffies play 'possom when they are really cold, but when the time (temperature) is right, they are dandy all over again.

Dazzled

Parking lot decoration:  Sage

This town is artsy.  All the roundabouts have monumental sculptures and figures.  Even the the grocery store parking lot has been decorated--at least that's my opinion.

Silver green sage bushes, robustly five feet tall, line either side of the walk way from my car to the door of the store.

I'm dazzled by the heady, clean fragrance.  Makes me buy more than I need every single time.  Best excuse I can imagine.

Use Your Imagination

The leaking sprinkler head by the West Side fire station is
a local avian watering hole.  Certainly surprised me!

They waited in line.  I didn't know that birds did that, especially not Cedar Wax Wings.  But while the Robin drank his fill, they were hanging back watching.  I interpreted this as waiting.  Half an hour later, at the same birdie drinking fountain, five or six Cedar Wax Wings queued up to sip, then burst away in a tiny cloud as I approached, scaring them right out of this picture.  But just use your imagination--Robin below and the slickly dressed wax wings above.

TOAST

Toasted Tomatoes

April is no fool.  She slinked her icy self in before midnight last night, before the time the clock said she was to arrive.  She turned the fragile, sickly tomato vines to toast.  Plain and simple.  Done.  The end.

Visible damage from insects and snow
before the final blow.

I'll take these tomatoes in today to see if they might ripen.