My Everyday Photos

Back in the Boat Again

April 30, 2013 – 7:26 pm
Posted in kayak
Tagged kayak, Osprey, Patterson Lake, Pearrygin Lake, photography, Red-necked Grebe, Winthrop, Wood Ducks, yellow-rumped warbler
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Last week there were several good weather days and twice I managed to get my kayak in the water. Last year I hardly used it due to persistent lower back pain from gardening. I am trying to really take care of my back this year with more yoga and being very aware of how I move when I am carrying heavy stuff and trying to get help when I can. So far, so good for the most part. Of course with kayaking there is the business of getting the boat on and off the car to take it to the lakes. That worried me. I was able to do it and paddle two days in a row and I am happy to report that I didn’t have any pain! What a relief. Here’s hoping it stays that way all summer. Here are some highlights from two lakes near Winthrop.

Patterson Lake is my favorite

Interesting rock formations

Non-native trees line one end next to hay fields

Last year’s cottonwood leaf

Folks keep adding to this lakeside sculpture

You can tell from the line on the rocks that the lake is not yet full

These trees died after the lake level was raised some years ago. Now the snags are good habitat for nesting swallows and other birds.

Red-necked Grebe

Pair of Wood Ducks

Patterson Mountain reflected in Patterson Lake

More reflections near the boat launch

At Pearrygin Lake State Park, it’s still cold for swimming

A pair of Mallards

The hen decided to go her own way

The drake had to fly to catch up with her

4 Bufflehead ducks

They didn’t like me or the motorboat approaching from the other side

Pearrygin is a pretty warm lake with different vegetation types.

The reeds make nice reflections

This float had broken away from its moorings

In addition to motorboats, I saw this stand up paddler and a rowing scull

Killdeer on a mud flat

The mouth of Pearrygin Creek. This creek ‘blew out’ two years ago, resulting in flooding in the state park and the loss of this boat launch. They say that the state will replace it.

There are LOTS of Yellow-rumped Warblers out and about these days.

And Osprey are commonly seen above any water that might have fish in it. There were lots of newly-planted trout for the next day’s fishing season opener.

Another Hike with Dogs

April 25, 2013 – 4:02 pm
Posted in hike
Tagged dogs, hike, Lewis Butte, lupine, wildflowers, Winthrop photography
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Yesterday four women and five dogs set out for Lewis Butte, a popular spring trail near Winthrop. It’s on a south facing slope so the snow melts fast and the wildflowers come early and may not stay long in a dry year. All the dogs, except mine were on best behavior. Well, maybe Trip was ready to help Luna in her quest to scare every bird on the butte. Other than that, it was a good day, topped off with lunch at the Rocking Horse Bakery.

On the way up we were passed by two other women with four dogs! Here are two of their dogs and four of ours

Boomer stuck around long enough for a better photo before re-joining his group

A water break for people and dogs

Juniper takes it all in

Cassidy wonders why all the paparazzi?

Three dogs keep an eye out for anything that moves.

Up the Rendezvous

We love our mountains here

One tree on top of Lewis Butte

It’s quite a view from Pearrygin Lake to Winthrop to Patterson Mountain

Cassidy has Trip’s tennis ball. Later Luna stole it and eventually hid it.

Juniper travels a well-trodden trail

Sulphur lupine

Lomatium dissectum – Fern-leaved desert parsley

A vetch

Lupine – one of my favorites

Aspen Lake Walk

April 23, 2013 – 3:32 pm
Posted in hike
Tagged Aspen Lake phography, dogs, labradoodle, lake, snowballs, sticks, swim
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Mary Ann and Frida, Christiane and Luna and I walked to Aspen Lake yesterday. It was a perfect Spring day with sunshine and lots of wildflowers. It was warm enough to shed our coats at long last! Frida and Luna were happy to jump in the lake and chase sticks and then romp in a lingering snow bank. They chased chipmunks too. It was a good day to be dog. And the rest of us had a nice time too.

Frida was swimming before the rest of us arrived

A dog with a stick

It just doesn’t get much better

Luna wants to play too

And shake!

Frida – don’t eat that stick!

This will be better

The view from the other side

Christiane made snowballs for Luna to catch

Time and time again!

How much fun is that?

And a nice walk through the woods

Garden Compost

April 23, 2013 – 6:44 am
Posted in garden
Tagged compost, gardening, Methow photography
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Every Spring, it’s a big project to move the finished compost to the garden beds and turn over last year’s accumulation of garden waste for next year’s compost. Sunday, despite forecasts of 30% chance of showers and some high winds, I was going to take care of the compost.

Getting started. You can see that the mountains are obscured by the ‘scattered showers.

There’s my two-year-old compost. It filled the pallets a year ago.

And that is last year’s garden waste.

The whole setup is framed with seven pallets held together with baling twine from old straw or rotten hay bales.

Beautiful compost! Gardener’s gold.

My garlic was planted and mulched last fall.

And it gets compost to get it through the growing season.

With some help from Ken all of the compost is distributed to various garden beds and one flower bed.

Here is a cross section of last year’s gardening efforts!

Shortly after this image, it began to rain and then it rained pretty hard. The wind blew and it snowed sideway too.

Once the storm passed I returned to the compost project. Here I am getting through the hard part of turning it over and moving it. Also, I replaced the center pallet. It was rotting away at the bottom. There is old horse manure in the wheelbarrow that I layered in the pile. It will help it ‘heat up’ and break down.

There it is finished. I topped it with some of the dead grass from our lawn mixed with some more manure.

Next year’s compost!

All tidied up and ready for more garden waste

And the garden beds with the compost spread around and garlic mulched again. In the background you can see the beehives. Since it was so cold, they were not out and about.

Everyday Walks

April 21, 2013 – 7:47 pm
Posted in spirng
Tagged Methow photography, Methow River, wildflowers, William Stafford
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Luna and I walk on our hillside everyday. Sometimes we get away and walk other places. Spring is a season of change. Everyday, everywhere you look, you can see something new. Here are some images from recent walks.

This vernal pond above our house has not had water this year. By my reckoning, that makes this a dry year. Maybe today’s rain and snow will change that.