A few of the hundred+ bulbs I planted last fall are finally starting to come up, mostly daffodils. I guess the crocuses and snow drops didn't make it, though, because they should be in bloom by now ( Read more... )

My bird count for yesterday ( Read more... )

I took some bird pics after the last snow/ice storm


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 At one point this afternoon, Kate and I counted 19 squirrels in the yard. The birds are flocking to the feeders, a sure sign that worse weather is on the way. Countless goldfinches, purple finches, and juncos. We're also seeing towhees, white-crowned and white-throated sparrows, song sparrows, harris sparrows, and large flocks of red-winged ( Read more... )

The Payne County, Oklahoma, chapter of the National Audubon Society had its annual Christmas Bird Count yesterday.  My mom has been doing this count for 40 years, and I've participated off on throughout. Even though I'm probably outside of their official survey area, I decided to count in my neighborhood yesterday before leaving for Tulsa to pick ( Read more... )

First, my heart and sympathy goes out to the good people of Australia.  I hope they catch the bastards who started these fires.

Next, more pics from Daytona Beach....


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Wow, it is balmy here today. I've opened all the windows in the house, and I'm considering putting on shorts for my walk with the dog this afternoon.  Beautiful, beautiful weather. If I have the energy, I'll try to get some work done in the garden this afternoon, but I'm still pretty wiped from this week. The birthday club is meeting for my ( Read more... )

Yeah, these marathon migraines are just No. Fun.

There is a scissor-tailed flycatcher sitting on the handicap parking sign in front of my office window.  Periodically he launches to catch an insect.  Beautiful.

There's a mockingbird that has staked a territory around our building, too.  He often perches on the electrical unit next to my window.  This ( Read more... )

I just came in from having breakfast on the deck.  Zeus, a ruby-throated hummingbird who has claimed our backyard as part of his territory, was busily courting a female, doing a spectacular dance right in front of me.   Zeus spent all of last summer driving off other hummingbirds from our yard, and while I suppose it's impossible to tell if this ( Read more... )

Saturday was one of my favorite days of the year: the OSU Horticulture club's annual spring plant sale. I arrived before the sale started and still missed out on the sweet potato vines because people snatched them up before I could get any.  *sigh*  Still, I bought lots of supertunias, superbells, a few other random flowers, then spent most of the ( Read more... )