Friday morning wetlands walk:
Other early risers:
Sunday morning, just outside the door:
We've been busy.
But morning walks start each day serenely.
Linking to: MOSAIC MONDAY (Judith); OUR WORLD (Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy, Gattina, Arija, Jenn); NATURE NOTES (Michelle); WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY (Stewart); and WEDNESDAY WATERS (Gemma). Thank you to all of the hosts.
The Wetlands on the edge of the Lake are full of ducks and pie billed grebes. But they really don't love to pose for me! Here are a few I caught (barely) on a background shot of 'where the grebes used to be.'
It is quite dry here in western Oregon — the wetlands are looking more like September than July – every morning when I walk there is less and less water and more and more grass.
Another shot of the wetlands (also known as 'where the grebes probably are hiding'.) The morning sky started out gray and cloudy, but it wasn't long before the sun was shining — and there was no rain.
LINKING TO: Michelle's NATURE NOTES; Gemma's WEDNESDAY WATERS; SKYWATCH FRIDAY (Yogi, Sylvia, and Sandy); Gemma's SCENIC WEEKENDS; and Anni's RATHER B' BIRDING. Thank you to the hosts of each of these great sharing opportunities.
It doesn't take a lot to amuse this great-grandmother. When I get a chance to hang out with our daughter on a summer day, I'd be happy just sitting under their magnificent black walnut tree. It's a perfect place to visit or to read or just to listen to the birds.
But it is even more fun when the great-grands are spending the day at the same time. They bring the party!
First we ran around the five acres. And then we got slimed! Here are the two boys with their grandma (our daughter) creating the goo. Some of us love to get dirty. Others are learning to enjoy it. (And as you noticed, I'm well out of slime range, taking pictures. Somebody has to do it.)
Then there was a hose-off followed by a dip/swim in the hot-tub – a cool tub actually on this warm (for Oregon) summer day.
After that it was lunch under the tree and visiting (for the grandparents and great-grandparents among us). And more running around the acreage for the rest!
It was a play-day for three generations. We all had fun!
LINKING TO: OUR WORLD on Tuesday (Lady Fi, Sandy, Sylvia, Gattina, Arija, and Jenn); and Monica's NATURE FOOTSTEP TREES. Thank you to all of the hosts for these fun memes.
A Watery, Whirly, and (almost) Wordless World this Weekend.
For MONDAY MACRO; and for DIGITAL ART; and for the next I HEART MACRO (when Laura returns from her vacation)
Thank you to Gemma, Monica (Nature Footsteps), and Laura for hosting these memes.
Taking part in them has taught me to slow down and really look.
I used Picasa glow, boost, and museum matte to get these effects.
Picasa play is also a good way to learn to see things differently.
From the wetlands near where our RV is parked at Fern Ridge Shores come these creatures seen the first week after we arrived earlier this month:
It's actually only one creature from several angles. The River Otter (or maybe we should call it a Lake Otter here) was swimming back and forth, front and back, until he finally settled on the perfect green shoot to chew on for breakfast:
From the National Wildlife Organization website: River Otters are playful semi-aquatic mammals … They can thrive in any water habitat, such as ponds, marshes, lakes, rivers, estuaries and marshes—in cold, warm or even high elevation areas—as long as the habitat provides adequate food …. An adult is around three and a half feet long and weighs between 11 and 30 pounds. They eat fish, aquatic vegetation, and even small water creatures.
Below are some different waters. And a definitely different aquatic mammal. (From the end of June — the last week we were in Florida.):
The water at the end of our Canal was at low tide and fairly shallow one morning . It was mesmerizing to watch the colors swirl around but I wondered what was stirring things up. And then …
… I spotted a nose just edging out of the water. I actually counted three manatees that morning. Manatees like warm water and they come into the river in the winter because it is warmer than out in the Gulf. But usually by May, they have gone out into the Gulf. We don't know why this year was different since we saw them all the way through June.
Sometimes all you see is bubbles — these guys can stay under water for ages.
Manatees (Sea Cows) are related to the elephant. They are ten to twelve feet long and weigh 1500 to 1800 pounds. They are herbivores whose diet consists of sea grass and aquatic vegetation. There are several good websites dedicated to this oddly fascinating creature. Here is one good place.
This post will be linked to: SATURDAY CRITTERS (thank you to Eileen); to OUR WORLD on TUESDAY (thank you to Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy, Arija, Gattina, and Jennifer); to NATURE NOTES (thanks to Michelle); to MOSAIC MONDAY (thank you Judith); and to WEDNESDAY WATERS (thank you to Gemma).
Back on the left coast and delighted to be here! We arrived just in time to celebrate Independence Day with some of the family. But as usual I have no people pictures. Too busy catching up.
We're in full summer mode here — it was hot on the Fourth — and it is too dry, especially for the Pacific Northwest. Even so, many of the tiny yards here in our RV resort are full of seasonal color.
Today the weather is more like what we've looked forward to — in the 70s with some sunshine. No matter what the temperature, we would be happy to be here where we can visit family and old friends.
But it is an added bonus to be able to open windows and turn off the AC.
And it was definitely an added bonus to see this Western Grebe family out on the Lake early this morning. Mother was taking turns giving her two babies a piggy-back ride. Highly cropped obviously — I hope I'll be able to get a closer view before the little ones don't need her any more!
LINKED TO: MOSAIC MONDAY; OUR WORLD on TUESDAY; WEDNESDAY WATERS; and WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.
Thanks to all of the wonderful hosts. It's good to be back … and to again have time to visit blog friends.
The long, narrow Florida Room that we added to our park model had a very blank wall opposite the windows and glass sliding door. We shopped around a little bit for something, but then (hooray) Bill found the perfect picture in our photo archives.
This is — as taken– just outside our (other) RV last Fall. Straight out of the camera.
Here is the same picture cropped and brightened a bit — this is the way we sent it off to be printed.
And here it is printed as a canvass wrapped triptych, and on the wall.
We chose the wall color for the Canal Cottage remodel and addition because we wanted it to look like a Florida sunrise. It was a surprise to find that the picture with the perfect color combination for the room was taken in the Pacific Northwest.
Now we can look at beautiful skies on the wall here — and outside (most of the time) — wherever we are.
LINKING TO: SKYWATCH FRIDAY and OUR WORLD on TUESDAY
Thank you to Yogi for hosting Skywatch along with Sylvia and Sandy, both of whom also help host OWT along with Lady Fi, Gattina, Arija, and Jenn.
(I don't usually double-up on these two sharing opportunities but I couldn't decide which one was more appropriate for this post!)
A Flashback Friday post – back to last October.
I heard a sort of small hissy noise one evening last Fall as I was walking down the road near the RV Park. We had just returned from our Alaska trip and I didn't think people-eating wildlife would be a problem at all now that we were back in the northwest. But I wondered about that noise and of course I stopped and looked around.
And then I saw this little crawfish almost right under my shoe. (He was about four inches long — the photos make him seem much bigger, I know.) The feisty little fellow was doing his level best to scare me away.
I wondered where he came from since we had never seen crawfish around the Lake before. I kept taking pictures while thinking about how to get the poor thing across the road to the small runoff stream that was the nearest water.
But he wasn't having any of my help — every time I would bend down to get closer he'd wave that threatening claw. It couldn't have killed me — but I hate pain — and of course had nothing with me except my camera.
Then I decided to take a picture without the zoom lens — to show exactly how tiny this scary little creature was — and that was when I found that my zoom lens was stuck as far out as it could go. I think he threw sand at my camera. Nothing I did could make it retract! I forgot all about saving the crawfish and headed home.
As it turned out, the person in our house who can do stuff couldn't get it to go back either, so we returned the camera (it was still under warranty). I used an old one for the rest of the time we were in the northwest and while we were in Colorado. It came back shortly after we got to Florida (we had it sent here) and is working fine so far.
Bill wondered where on earth I'd been when he looked at these pictures (we couldn't look at them until we got the repaired camera back) — and for a few minutes I couldn't remember this little adventure either!
I was just very glad that I did not meet up with this camera-eating critter while we were in Alaska — because I sure wouldn't have wanted to take pictures of those bears and bison without my long lens!
For Saturday Critters. Thanks to Eileen for hosting. — (Click over to visit her lovely blog and then click the other critter links — many of which will undoubtedly be cuddlier and cuter.)
Our morning skies have been beautiful lately. All the way from one side of the country to the other.
Sunrise over the (no)Lake on Thanksgiving just before we put the RV into winter storage mode and headed over to our daughter and son-in-law's home for the family Holiday celebration. We flew to Denver early the next morning.
Blue skies at Loveland's Benson Sculpture Park during our visit in Colorado.
And pastel morning skies on our first full day back home in Florida.
We had a wonderful Autumn with our family in the Pacific Northwest and in Colorado and an easy and uneventful flight back to our Canal Cottage home for the winter. And we are counting our blessings.
Shared with SKYWATCH FRIDAY and SCENIC WEEKENDS.
Thank you to Yogi, Sandy, and Sylvia for SWF and to Gemma for SW.
"What the heck happened to our Lake anyway?"
"Well, really, if they're going to drain the water and keep the air this cold, it must mean it's about time to head South, don't you think?"
"Sounds good to me. Let's get out of here."
Not to belabor the obvious, but we two old … er … snowbirds are almost ready to fly South too. Another week of precious family time here and then on to Florida with one planned stop … a happily anticipated few days with our Colorado family. (And hopefully given the weather elsewhere no un-anticipated layovers.)
Wishing all US readers a Happy Thanksgiving – and saying thank you to everyone from everywhere for visiting FullTime-Life. I'm grateful for your visits and comments … and for all I've learned by visiting you.
Back to Blogland in a couple of weeks.
Linking this post to OUR WORLD TUESDAY. Thanks to Lady Fi, Arija, Gattina, Sylvia, Sandy, and Jennifer for hosting.
