Around the grounds in Paradise...

Around the grounds in Paradise...  I've been working outside this morning, moving sprinklers (perhaps for the last time this season), attaching the backhoe to my tractor (in preparation for tree planting this coming week!), and cleaning up some messes.  As I did so, I spotted a couple interesting things.

First up: some teasels in bloom.  This is way late for them to be blooming, but these particular plants had some special challenges: I've mowed them down three times during the year, each time before they had a chance to go to seed.  This time they put up very short stalks (only about 14" high, instead of the usual 3 to 5 feet) and bloomed.  They don't have much time left in the season, and somehow they must know it.  What they don't know is that tomorrow (or maybe even this afternoon) they'll be mowed down again.  Teasel always blooms in this peculiar fashion, with a band of bloom that moves down as time goes by.  The top most parts of these have already bloomed; the bottom are yet to bloom (assuming I didn't mow them down).

Next: wild rose hips, growing near the irrigation canal on the east side of our property.  We could collect dozens of bushels of rose hips.  If I liked rose hip tea, I'd be set for life :)  People around here generally think of wild roses as more-or-less a weed, but we like them.  We like the blooms, the fruit, and the birds they attract...

Morning in Paradise...

Morning in Paradise...  This morning feels like a fall morning – it was 38° when we got up, and it was about 50° on our walk.  The forecast is calling for a high of 72° today.  A great day for working outside!

Our morning didn't start all that well.  When I got up and went out into the kitchen, the first thing I saw was a pond of pee.  Then the smell hit me.  This is the second time this week that Mo'i couldn't wait until morning, so I guess it's back onto the diaper for him.  He's been doing so well for months that we've gotten very used to it.  Now it looks like we're back to the dealing-with-old-doggie-urinary-problems regime.  Oh, well...

Miki, Race, and I took our usual walk.  We saw lots and lots of big hawks today, and for some reason no smaller ones.  I didn't see a single vole – pickings must be getting lean on those barley fields.  The big hawks won't let us get close to them, and I don't take my binoculars on our walks, so I don't get all that good a view of them, darn it.  We did get pretty close to a pair of fence-perching meadowlarks this morning.  No song, though.  Some photos from this morning's walk: