And the fields of yellow are here as promised. Sunflower city. It's just one rolling wildflower bloom after another for the summer. Nature's bounty.
And new hanging baskets for the summer. The new experiment is the water filter seen above. Our outside untreated well water does not mix well with the hanging baskets.As in kills them. I've been using rain water and magic spring water instead the past couple of years. This filter seems to be doing the trick, much less labor intensive. Mark's idea - didn't even know they existed!
More elk - I took these outside our fence at dusk hence the photos are somewhat fuzzy. A small group: 3 cows and 2 calves, led by a spike elk. How fun, didn't even know there was male anything in this birthing frenzy that happens every June, except of course male calves. You march on proud and strong little spike.
A little white stuff arrived a day ago. A typical mountain thunder and lightening storm that produced hail and a dusting of snow on Whetstone. Hard to predict the weather in this spring moving to summer. 34 degrees this morning!
And the fight is on. I've filled the pots on the deck with flowers and the small creatures (chipmunks and ground squirrels) think I do this just for their snacking pleasure. Within record time, Mr. Ground Squirrel saw the flowers and started right in munching. Aagh. I grabbed the cayenne pepper to sprinkle it on the flowers (a remedy that sort of, not really worked last year) and a wind gust promptly blew it in my eye. Regrouping after washing out my eye, I made up a concoction of red pepper, soap, and water to spray on the flowers. Considered a biohazard by the way in military terms. We'll see if it works.
And the hummingbirds have come back in droves. Still only have two feeders out not the 4, so all is manageable. The crazy orange Rufus hummingbirds should be arriving shortly which could heat up activity in a big way. Have no idea why they come a month later than everybody else.
Lots of spring cleaning both inside and out. I'm even mowing - ha. It's a 22" string trimmer which technically is not a lawnmower but a giant weed wacker. Tried to hire someone to do this but it was a no go and Mark can't do this for awhile yet. It's just around the house by the way, which is plenty but not some insane acreage.
The cattle have been brought up by our rancher and are in holding at the common ground. They'll come inside the main gates in a week or so when the larkspur has died down. Oh the joy of manure in the road for alllll summer. Tis okay, we're sure not here for the paved roads, sprinkler systems, and manicured lawns, or clean cars.
Just enjoying the heck out it here. In these troubled times it is quite a miracle to have this place that seems beyond peaceful, quite feeds my soul.Wish I could bottle it and send it around as a prescription.
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