My Everyday Photos

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.

Waterleaf is in full bloom now.

It’s a ground-hugging, diminutive plant.

Up valley, I found the spring beauty to be far more pink than around here.

This snag is a great wildlife tree. It has lots of cavities for cavity-nesting birds and mammals.

An interesting fungus

And another one

Luna found this last patch of snow and rolled around in it.

Balsamroot

At the Suspension Bridge along the Methow Community Trail. Compare it to how it looked the last time I went skiing on March 9.

Looking up river

And down river

There is a series of William Stafford poems in the Methow. This one is at the Suspension Bridge.

Back at home, the serviceberry is finally blooming. When I drove through Wenatchee on April 1, it was already in full bloom.

Here is a batch of tiny tent caterpillars in the bitterbrush.

Bluebells have been blooming for almost a month.

A currant bush hugging an old lichen-covered fence post.

Moving Cows

April 15, 2013 – 11:17 am
Posted in Twisp
Tagged cattle drive, cowboys, cowgirls, cows, Twisp photography
Comments (3)

Every year cows need to be moved from the valley bottom where they winter and have their calves to the public lands on the state wildlife area where they spend the summer. Some ranchers find the easiest way to do this is to have an old-fashioned cattle drive right down the county road, through town and up the state highway on a Sunday morning. Yesterday was cool and clear – good for moving cows and making pictures. Lots of people knew about this ahead of time and were parked in good vantage points to see the cows pass through Twisp. Evidently this is a slow time of year for entertainment around here.

The excitement builds as the cows approach town

They start across the first bridge

It was a chilly morning

This is a typical Twisp traffic jam……

Keep ’em movin’

One happy cowgirl

This is what you see from behind

An image in search of a caption

The little white one stands out in a crowd

I think Twisp needs some more work on its sign ordinance

I wonder if TwispWorks was looking to get their lawn fertilized

Good thing cows can’t read

Move along

Welcome to Twisp

Hey – no one said you could get something to eat in Twisp

My horse would like a mocha please

Thanks!

As they head out of town

Mom – where are we going?

Holding up traffic on highway 20

Passing through someone’s driveway

Who is going to clean up that mess?

All clear over here for the moment

Yup

Walks and Wildflowers

April 13, 2013 – 2:41 pm
Posted in wildflowers
Tagged balsamroot, bluebells, labradoodle, Methow, spring, wildflower photography, yellow bells
Comments (1)

Spring happened while we were gone. The hills are green and tiny wildflowers are in full bloom. Some of the bigger flowers have started blooming too. Luna and I try get out at least once everyday for a walk although some days, like today, it’s not as pleasant and certainly with the high winds it’s not a good day for photographs. Here are a few from the last week or so.

Yellow bells

Contemplative Luna

Delicate prairie stars

Bluebells

Jawbone, buried in the dry grass

This is a new flower for me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.

Dave Sabold says “Arabis holboellii – but NOT the flowers! The flowers come later on a stalk, and they’re white in color, not yellow. A fungus produces the yellow color, and the fungus even puts out a sweet smell. Maybe the fungus attracts insects to distribute the spores?”

Any guesses on what it is?

Shooting stars are always a delight

Still quite a long time til the bitterroot blooms

Early balsamroot

A vernal pond. I wonder how long it will last?

There is a bumper crop of spring beauty this year

More bluebells

A good day for a swim at Aspen Lake

And then, a good shake

Last Vacation Day

April 10, 2013 – 4:56 pm
Posted in road trip
Tagged cherry blossoms, Ocean Shores, Olympia, photography, Snowy Owls
Comments (1)

What is that saying – all good things must come to an end? Well, our vacation had to end too. If you’ve been following these posts then you can probably tell that it was a memorable one for us. On the last day we walked on the beach one last time and then checked out of the Sandpiper and headed back to civilization. But not before walking on another beach! We went to the south end of Ocean Shores – to a long spit that extends southward into Grays Harbor. It was an unseasonably warm day for the end of March. Snowy Owls spend the winter on this beach and last year reports indicated that they stayed til nearly mid-April so I thought we might have a chance to see them. I was not SO optimistic that I carried my big camera and long lens though. That was a good indicator that we would see something interesting. And indeed we did – three Snowy Owls and a Short-eared Owl! What fun.

Can you see the Snowy Owl flying through the beach pines?

There are two owls in this image – the close one on the right and another on the far left that shows as a white spot

Our state capitol surrounded by cherry blossoms

And magnolias

Close-up of the cherry blossoms

It’s time to go now dear

Razor Clams

April 9, 2013 – 7:27 am
Posted in Razor clams
Tagged beach, photography, razor clams, Washington coast
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A lucky thing happened last month. There was a razor clam season during our vacation! Razor clams on the Washington Coast are carefully managed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. If you want to know how they manage the seasons – read this. As far as I know razor clams are limited to the Pacific Northwest up through Alaska. They are considered a delicacy – a delicious clam for frying, baking at high heat and chowder. Unlike a traditional clam, they are rectangular – long and kind of flat looking. They are also strong diggers so when you are digging for razor clams you are also chasing them as they dig down into the watery sand. It’s quite fun! The seasons are limited to the lowest tides of the month and often times those tides are at night. The only other time we got to dig for them was in December a few years ago, after dark and the temperature hovered near freezing. It was quite the adventure but we were able to get our limits (fifteen per person per day) and our taste for them was whetted.

Razor clam digging seems to be tradition passed down from generation to generation. We noted many families with grandparents, parents and kids all digging and having fun. Dogs too!

The view from our room as the dig got started before the tide was all the way out

Heading to their spot on the beach

It can be a dirty job and proper clothing is important. Some people like this fellow, use shovels.

Even with hundreds of people on the beach, it doesn’t seem crowded and there were lots of clams for everyone

Dogs like it

This dog looks like he wants to help

This young man was clamming for the first time

He was happy to show me his biggest clam

Some people work alone

A couple of clam guns. To use this device, you look for a clam show – a small dimple in the wet sand – and then carefully angling towards the ocean you center the cylinder around the ‘show’ and then push it into the sand. There is a tiny hole that you cover with your finger as you pull the gun, now loaded with wet heavy sand, out and with any luck, the clam will be in that sand. Or not. You may have to repeat. Or you may have to reach down in the hole and grab the clam as it tries to dig away from you.