TINY seedlings, 1st bloom of 2014, joyful plants & LOTSA birds

TINY seedlings

Checked my carrots today, and was surprised to see a number of seedling volunteers.

How many newbies can you see?

Apparently, when it RAINS, things grow.

Who knew.

While exceedingly grateful for what we received,

I'm already hoping for more, more, MOAR!

Gonna get to near 70 dF this week—happy winter?

SPRINGY

Another harbinger of spring, this red stemmed filaree (Erodium cicutarium)

is the first thing I've noticed blooming this year at our house.

We'll guess and say I first noticed them 2/10/2014.

This one already dropped its petals (see them in background).

I didn't even KNOW they had blue anthers.

I only saw how cool its structure is

thanks to my lovely macro from the Darling Husband Man.

HOORAY!

And, in the greenhouse,

here are HAPPY, baby lettuce plants.

Hugs!

Don't they just look joyful? =)

I think I can hear tiny little choruses of "hooray!" coming from the greenhouse.

Like me, they know the odds of having made it into this thing called life are slim,

and they are PSYCHED they did.

BIRDS

And in celebration of the fabulosity of life,

a few more shots from

the Merced National Wildlife Refuge (January).

White-tailed kite. We brake for wildlife photographs.

You can see why this used to be called black-shouldered kite, yes?

Great horned owl, barely tolerating us.

See 'im?

White-faced ibis & American coot hanging out.

(you may wanna zoom in on that pup…)

Seems red is a popular eye color, there. I wonder why?

Geese, just a few: probably snow and Ross's geese.

Foreground is northern shovelers.

American coot, lookin' artsy. =)

How's THAT for an electric-red eye?

Good luck winning THAT stare-fight.

So, yes, I'm blogging 'cause I have a deadline and should NOT be blogging.

And 'cause I have SO many photos I don't share, and probably should.

Perhaps an intention for 2014 will be to post MORE of my photos, here.

Sharing life; sounds like a plan.

And, along those lines, 

congratulations to YOU on getting to play Life.

We are the lucky ones.

xoxobb

lettuce b abstract

Day 4

Garden loveliness.

xobb

lunch, courtesy of ma nature and a seed catalogue...

 

Note the pollen ALL over this pup. Gorgeous thing, though.

Washed lettuce wrapped in thin, cotton kitchen towel.

Then I go outside (learned this the hard way)

and make like a windmill, SWINGING my arm in a circle,

water SPRAYS all over, and lettuce dries.

Major bonus: NO storage space required for this 

salad swinging technique. Nor plastic.

 Clean and dry. Isn't that all we really want? =)

Lunch. Usually has goat cheese, but out, today. Still tasty!

So, little bitta garden, some organic action, some exercise, pretty colors,

it's all good.

And what did you have for lunch, yesterday?

xoxobb

ps posting from the road, so we'll see how often this haps. xoxo

speaking of plots...

Garden progress

The new plot is DONE! Finished this one yesterday: beefed it up with logs I picked from piles and stacks on our property.

And planted!

The one on the left (closest) is merveille des quatre saisons lettuce

The one on the right is little river blend = free sample of random lettuce types

Honestly, the company doesn't know what's in there--I wrote and asked. I think it's just extras they mix together and give away; the seeds were all different shades, from pale sand to black--exciting! Who knows what will pop up here...
 

And, HONK HONK! The beets have appeared, at last!

Their stems, be they EVER so TINY, are ALREADY red. Just like babies; born with most of their personality already there.

And the ever-perky pak choi cotyledons (may want to click on this--they're TINY)

Signs of my labors (and a good day)

I used to be able to take a picture via the mirror in our living room so the image would be right-side up, but I BROKE it (yeah, I know, 7 years...) so now I have to just look down and click, so pardon the headrush. =)

Have a great weekend!

xobb