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Tag Archives: balsamroot

The Little Things

It seems like just days ago, our hillside was still covered with rotten snow and now it’s covered with tiny growing plants, some already in bloom. The tiny flowers are fleeting so I’m outside searching for them everyday while the Western Meadowlarks and Say’s Phoebes sing from every perch. Northern Flickers call raucously and sometimes I hear the soft call or see the vibrant glimpse of blue from Western Bluebirds who are checking out all our nest boxes. The honeybees are finding pollen to take back to the hives. Spring is wonderful.

Under a Smoky Sky

Dry crinkly stuff seen along our daily walks.

Spring Scenes

A few things I saw last week.

Evening Walk With Dogs

The days are getting shorter, faster, it seems. Soon it will be dark after dinner and there won’t be any evening dogs walks. But for now, the weather is perfect and the light is lovely so we enjoy it while we can. Some chokecherries, nearly black, and snowberries still cling to the bushes. The serviceberries and currants are long gone, eaten by birds, coyotes, bears and Willow got some too. This is brown season. We have white season, green season, brown season and fire season. Fortunately, this year, fire season hasn’t been threatening to us, so far. With little or no precipitation in the forecast, we are not out of danger yet.

Yellow, As Far As You Can See

This has been the spring of the balsamroot super bloom in our valley! Most years there is a nice display of the arrowleaf balsamroot but it sure seems like this year is over the top! It is starting to fade on the lower hills and with the upcoming hot weather, the flowers will be gone in just a few days. In addition to the balsamroot, there are two or more kinds of lupine, several varieties of lomatium and larkspur too. It all made a good backdrop to photograph the girls. Willow has not yet learned how to pose for the camera and Sky seems a bit tired of it but I keep trying. There was a prescribed burn up by Mazama and its smoke lingered in the air.