Sighting of a New Bird

This morning, not very early because I didn't have to go into work, Bill woke me up saying "there's a red headed woodpecker in the yard!" We've never seen one in our yard before, so it was worth getting up for.

He was moving back and forth between the Library Honey Locust tree and the black oil sunflower seed feeder, spending a minute or two in each location, before moving over to the other. Back and forth many times before flying away in little lurches, sort of like a very large goldfinch.

Once he was gone, I realized I hadn't even tried to photograph him. And then had time to verify the sighting. Turns out he was probably not a red-headed, but rather a red-bellied woodpecker. Still a new bird for the sunnyview yard either way. And a lovely way to wake up in the morning.

Getting Ready for the Holidays

Some time on the weekend after Thanksgiving, I suspect most of us start thinking about decorating and changing over the house for the winter holidays. We're not big here on decoration, but we do find ourselves sprucing up for the darker days to come.


Out in the yard, along the creek, our winter tree has been sitting all summer, covered at one point with vines and tall weeds. But now it is visible again, and its time to take it out and make it pretty.

We haul it to the front porch and adorn it with lights and cuttings from the persistent fall blooming plants. Over the season, it will pick up additional decorations most likely.


This year we are lucky. Although its windy today it is warm for November. High of 37 degrees, sunny and lovely outside. We did lights on the two shrubs along side of the deck instead of on "Charlie Brown" - the small scraggly but healthy blue spruce (Picea pungens 'Iseli Foxtail') that we bought in a pot 6 or 7 years ago at this time and used for a Christmas tree. We had to heel it in for the rest of that winter, and hoped that it would survive to be planted. Well, survive it did, and now I wonder if we will really want a large spruce just south of the house in another 10 years. Would be very hard to cut it down... More on Charlie Brown later.

Thanskgiving Weekend Grey

It was, typically, grey today. Windy and cold, with just a tiny bit of sunshine peeking through now and then. High temp about 35, low overnight about 30. Last night a beautiful ring around the moon. The pond is pretty much frozen over now, and the few fish left behind (because they were so skilled at escaping the net two weeks ago) are under the ice. They will probably not make it through the winter - not much air down there, and plenty of dying vegetation. But the water lily should survive once again, I hope.

Today's photo is of the east side of the house. We tore out a bunch of stuff last summer, and put up the two trellises. Next spring will bring the challenge of planting anew in this area, and I have to think about it. Should there be purple Clematis on both trellises? Or different color on each? There are hardy hybiscus on either side. Never tried those before and hope they do well. Then some Hydrangeas, which I've never had bloom, but which were beautiful in other people's yards last summer after the long drought. Would be so nice not to have a drought next summer...

A beautiful late fall day

Sunny and relatively mild. High temps in the 40's and dry. We went for a long bike ride this morning and found the wind to be more of an obstacle than we thought it would be. Luckily, it was worst going out - south and east. So we quit after half an hour, and coming back took only about 20 minutes. Certainly brisk, but nice to be out in the sunlight. Saw some sort of small hawk, guarding its territory. Not sure what kind, maybe a marsh hawk?

Then it was time to do one more lawn cut and leaf cleanup to keep things from matting down the lawn. The big old willow still hasn't completely let its leaves go, so we will probably have to rake that area before the snow buries everything. And today we finally got everything off of the deck for the winter - planters stowed where the snow will cover them, trough moved to the side so we can shovel around it.

I cut the straight shoots out of the center of the Harry Lauters Walking Stick plant, and took off the supports that had been holding the recumbant stems up all summer. There is one nice new vertical branch that might become the basis of the plant I really want at that corner - we'll see.

Zebra Grass and Juncos

This year we had a long enough growing season for the zebra grass to establish nice flower heads. We had a frost very early, but the blooms were still protected and didn't get damaged. Then we went a long time without another frost, and actually saw temps rise into the low 80's for several days, along with enough rain to keep things growing. The seed heads look so nice over the winter - I'm glad they are there.

I leave many of the summer flowers standing for the winter. The juncos are already here, scouring the ground for seeds. The finches work the seeds out of the coneflower heads until they are completely consumed. (Though they certainly drop enough of the seeds to create new coneflower plants in unexpected places.) And it seems to be alot more work to cut them all down in the fall than it is the next spring. The snow is pretty as it highlights the structures too.

Winter seems to be coming soon

It snowed this morning. Not the first snow this year, but the first that I was home to see. The cats went out anyway, Kate reveling in her freedom. Leaves aren't completely down from the trees yet, and we'll probably have to cut the grass one more time to mulch things a little more. But not today.

Today I cut some shoots from the Rosemary and Sage plants in the herb garden outside the kitchen window. I wish I could just let them be, and continue to harvest as needed - they both grow so well. But I know that when the really cold weather sets in they will go, so now is the time to make sure there is some for the winter.