Category: RTR

Fall is well underway, and we’ve now had our first snowfall, so it’s time to look at… Summer photos!! 😃

One of the fun benefits of taking photos of the wild flowers over the last couple of years is that I am learning the names of our wild flowers; well, most of them anyways! 😆

Wild Yarrow:

The Showy Wood-Asters (Purple Asters) were incredible this year… plentiful and vibrant and beautiful and long-lasting!!

Hairy Hedge-Nettle:

Wow, the mushrooms this year!! They were incredible – the shear numbers of them and the number of varieties! It must have been perfect growing conditions for them this Summer. I’m not sure the names of any of them, but I’m assuming they are all poisonous! 😬

And this little one, I STILL haven’t figured out this one’s name… maybe next year!

And, a pencil-line red-trimmed yellow lily from the garden!

Storm’s a-brewin’!

We were privileged to host the “Gow Family” for Mark’s 60th over the August Long Weekend!! Here are some of the group shots…

The five Gows…

Siblings… with the “Birthday Boy” in the middle!

Grandparents and grandkids….

The Sunday crew…

Sadie is at “Camp Redtail Rise” while Mel & Tyler are on vacation. Normally she doesn’t like to swim, but out here she sure does!

And, she LOVES sitting on Brian’s lap, especially when she can also keep an eye on the cat!!!!!!!

I found this scat the morning of August 8th…. it had been there maybe a day or so… it’s full of oats and yes, it’s…… Bear!!

Brian found a different pile of scat on August 10th, so we decided to pull the photos off of the trail cam. We did indeed have a griz walking up our driveway. These photos were from August 8th at about midnight.

He (she?) showed up in this same location in mid-July; and it could very well be the same griz that passed through in May. We are on the look-out for more tracks and scat, and not walking in the woods for now – the side-by-side is the way to go these days!!

And to our surprise, at about 6:30 am August 10th, a “Bachelor Herd” of White Tail Deer were also on our driveway!! This looks to be the same herd we’ve seen in and around our place over the last couple of weeks.

And, what do you suppose a bird dog and a herding dog found in the spruce tree outside the living room??? A cat?; a squirrel? No, a ….

Ruffed Grouse!!

The American Goldfinch made their way to our place, and we were fortunate to get a few photos!

The apples trees were in full bloom! And if we have no frost from now ’til September (🤞), we should have a bountiful crop!!

The Rock (Wild) Clematis were also in full bloom!

Spring Storms! Here’s a panoramic out in our pasture… NW on the left to SE on the right.

Here’s our true “survivor cat” – the oldest of our critters, we’ve had Miss Nala for about 14 years! Pretty long-lived for a Farm Cat!!

And, Aengus is the “baby” of our bunch at 3 years old!

Lots of birds have arrived back for the Summer! Here’s a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak in our Apple Tree:

The Chickadees are with us year-round, but seem to multiply in the Spring… hum… it is the Season of the Birds And The Bees… maybe that explains it! 😆 This little Chickadee is in our White-Flowering Plum:

With some warmth and a bit of rain, everything in the woods and gardens started to take off in late May!

In the Woods

The Wild Clematis started to open (left), and the male & female catkins are on the Green Alders (right):

One variety of Wild Mushroom is growing:

And, the Bam (Balsam Poplar) leaves are at all stages of coming out!

In the Yard

The trees are blossoming! In the first picture is Forsythia (left), Mayday (top right) and Lilac (bottom right):

Here’s our White-Flowering Plum (left) and Pink-Flowering Plum (right):

And, flowers are coming in the gardens too! The one on the left, I’m not sure what it’s called. 😕 In the center is Forget-Me-Nots, and on the right is a Viola:

The leaves really popped out between May 11th and 14th!!

And how do they look today? Well… a nasty, cold SE wind blew in on the 15th (and is still hanging around) — everything has stalled out in the growth department. Blossoms will show eventually, maybe before the end of the month!

And not the kind we really want…. fortunately we only saw the evidence of our visitor, we didn’t actually see him!!

Sliding in the mud!

Have you figured out who our “visitor” was??? A Grizzly Bear!!!!!!

Track 2…

Track 3…

Chickadees in the Plum Tree!

Spreading my tail feathers and showing off for the ladies…

Cleaning myself up…

I am handsome…