Lazuli Bunting, Yosemite water craze & obligatory Monty Python reference

 Hey, there peeps!

"I'm not dead! Think I'll go for a walk!" 'nuf said? =D

Lazuli Lifer

Lazuli Bunting appeared on the feeder (Sunday) &

I freaked out SO HARD my hands were shaking.

I'd NEVER seen one EVER & had to look up among the SHOWY birds 

I've never seen to even figure out what it was. WOW!!! =D

Then it took off & I jumped up and down

& DH & I high-fived. 

The Iris Time

A furled purple iris. I love how moody they look.

Polka dots! =D

Those tiny specks make me CRAZY happy.

Just sitting there, looking (& smelling) glorious...

The carpenter bee has returned to its annual haunt of the iris bed outside our window:

Love this giant, territorial creature: it flies laps & dispels other bees

and I'm grateful it's been cutting me slack, so far, as I walk past... =D

I will always adore these flowers & am so glad they like our Mediterranean climate. =D

Yosemite Flow

Have been going to the park (Yosemite) more than usual this spring,

partly for work (poor, poor me) and partly 'cause there was SO much rain this winter.

The waterfalls are CRANKING like MAD and the Merced River

is WAY up so marvelous reflections abound. Fabulous! =D
Yosemite Falls

North Dome & wetlands & a TINY piece

of Clouds Rest & Half Dome. =D

This was just inches south of Southside Drive,

just west of the chapel. Water!!! =D

Speaking of, I tweeted & Instagram-ed videos of Yosemite Falls
that I took with my iPad  &
it got picked up by SFgate & GrindTV ,
the latter in an article called,
"7 incredible videos of the historic Sierra snowpack melt at Yosemite Falls."
Turns out TWO of those 7 are MINE?!? Crazy.
And I only know 'cause the Tweeple alerted me to it.

Hooray, you guys!! =D

Anyhow, that was bizarre & fun. It's totally DH's fault:
he alerted me re: when the river would peak (high flow)
so recommended I drive up, so I did & it was HEAVENLY.


Etc.

Got a few new hummingbird feeders, including this orange one

which just ADDS to the Anna's hummingbird's amazing pink shimmer. Phew!

Color not enhanced AT all. =D

This is DH photographing a small bear we startled on the Valley Loop Trail in Yosemite:

As you can tell, I'm respecting the bear's privacy,

NOT totally being a bear-scaredy-cat. =D

The bear had been ear-tagged but was doing good wild bear stuff,

shredding a downed log for delicious grubs.

With all this winter rain, the grass at our place is OUT OF CONTROL!!

There's ENTIRE DEER there...

And here's the view from my back porch, looking across the grass sea... *sigh*

Some of the grass is nearly as tall as I am (6'). I THINK there's a few

planted plants in the garden amid the crashing waves of weeds... 😁

So, I will be in the valley MOAR this summer since due to my 1st gig this spring,

and the kind woman who hired me, I get ANOTHER gig in early summer! =D

Which means numerous required visits to the park to plan where we'll

meet & stop & walk & what I'll blab about.

Which ALSO means I get lots of steps hiking for research.

In Yosemite Valley.

Which means I get happy.

Again.

HOORAY!! =D

xoxoxobb

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Snapshots of spring

 This hymenopteran (tiny bee? wasp?) was DOA, discovered while I was weeding.

It is SO TINY I had to carry it on a saucer

with a glass over it to keep it from blowing away. 

The irises are blooming, now. Not all of 'em, but this one is going at it. =)

See the TEENY tiny thrip?

An extremely small insect

living in an impossibly beautiful place.

Western fence lizard watching me photograph irises.

I'm not sure that's an approving gaze... 

The "beard" in bearded irises reminds me SO strongly of nudibranchs.

I'm JUST in love with irises. And the ones I have smell amazing, too. That's a requirement. =)

A local native, golden brodiaea. Beautiful buttery yellow faces beaming up at you.

Even with the drought, they're making a good showing.

They're just shorter than usual, if I remember correctly.

Yay, natives! 

An extremely tiny spider (crab spider) atop a pale owl's clover flower.

For a sense of how tiny thrips are, look at the pale part of the bloom,

center left edge. 

Zooming WAY in, there's a few thrips.

Can you find this tiny section in the previous photo?

One last moody gaze from a still-unfurling iris, this year's very first.

A great thing about irises, since I am clearly deeply in love with them,

is that they love OUR climate.

They don't need summer water.

They just sit there, high and dry, through the drought,

waiting for the rainy season to return.

Lovely, since my standards for the drought tolerance

of plants I'll allow in our garden is rising every year.

I hope your spring (or fall) is progressing beautifully.

xoxobb

Verdict: tiny adorable birds = guilty, Biobabbler = innocent

One thing I learned in 2014: it's not my fault.

All the times I sowed seeds to fill my iris bed

(with plants that would bloom when the irises were done)

and ended up with nothing but weeds,

I thought it was me.

More than once I sowed and planted,

and watered and waited,

and watched and watered and waited.

And nothing.

Zero new flowering plants, just a boring, perennial line of iris blades.

Therefore, I was a lame gardener.

But this year, I am redeemed!

The birds totally ate the seeds.

How do I know this?

"Your Honor, I would like to submit exhibits A and B."

Exhibit A:

Sites where I did not protect the seeds from birds.

 Look how tidy and clean and plant-less it all is...

And, Exhibit B:

Site where I did protect the seeds from birds.

Rows of baby plants. Cute little tinsies (and a few weeds), bursting with promise. A miracle.

This may have changed my life.

I am not a hopelessly unskilled gardener.

I can make things grow,

I can fill out my iris beds

with things that will bloom after spring,

providing DH & I lovely sights (incl. bugs) to admire for months and months.

Hooray!!!

xoxoxobb

Quiz answer plus power petal & bug hits for your soul...

Photo by Kropsoq

This is an ootheca.

Per Merriam-Webster, "a firm-walled and distinctive egg case (as of a cockroach)."

In this instance (above & my instance which inspired said quiz),

it's a mantid or mantis egg case.

Every time I'd see one in our yard,

"ootheca" would pop to mind,

tho' I really wasn't sure that's what it was.

Apparently, my brain is smarter than I am. =)

Speaking of smart:

Sara NAILED it, exactly--woo-hoo!! We bow to your brain.

Imperfect and Tense and Jen were totally on the right eggy track,

Sue's guess was delightful (& seasonally appropriate),

and Cindy's guess (a rock with round things popping out of it)

was EERILY close (rock-hard egg case). =)

Thank you to ALL quiz participants: YOU ROCK!!

Flowers 'n' bugs: obsessed

Delightful hits of color, pattern, and bugs

I've been indulging in via our irises & their fans.

 (how cute is that little buggy shadow?)

teeny weeny invertebrates

 crab spider (I'm pretty sure) eating said teeny weeny invertebrates

 *munch munch*

Can you see how, if one is hyper visual,

a color & pattern freak, and a giant fan of bugs,

these irises and their complement are a special kind of heaven?

Oh, and they smell amazing.

Can't stop; won't stop.

Sunday I ordered seven more irises.

I can pick them up in 5 months.

Then plant & wait another 6 months to see them bloom.

This is my new obsession.

I already know 7 more I want to order next year.

*sigh*

I think I'm going to have to start earning more money to support my habit.

Is it just me? Anyone else similarly obsessed by something?

xoxoxobb

non-vegetable gardening happenings: poor, little irises...

  
About two years ago, Bear and I totally randomly saw "Garden Tour" and "Irises" signs and veered off our errand-running path to check it out.

Therein we saw the MOST AMAZING assemblage of irises I've EVER seen. This is my #1 most favorite non-native flower.

Rows and rows of the most richly colored, luxe, big-as-your-head (well, practically) irises of EVERY color imaginable. None of the skinny ones (which I eschew) with no scent or beards. There were the big, mondo fuzzy ones with color and scent to die for. FanTAStic.

I returned the next day to agonize for an hour and eventually select 5. Pay now, they deliver in fall.

They did deliver. To my door. With a delightful note stating that if I planted them today, they'd never even know they've been moved, so all would be well. So sweet.

And there they sat.

Since then, these irises have lived in their pots, outside, RAREly getting watered, in the blistering heat and frozen snow for about 2 years.

Horrible. Every growing truckloads of guilt.

I'm amazed they're not dead. And totally impressed.

So, in an effort to confront yet another thing that's been plaguing me with chronic guilt, as of Friday, I've done something about it.

They're planted!

So, here's the row of hopefuls:

Thanks to my camera, and now this blog, I also have their names (and anticipated colors) recorded.

So, next spring, I am hoping we will welcome to the world, from left to right:

Aplomb (mulberry plum), Dance Hall Dolly (white/pink maroon with rim), Hollywood Nights (black-violet lace), Bay Rum (red-violet tan), and Yosemite Sam (rose-pink plum).

Crossing fingers that these brave plants grow and (at last, long last) thrive and bloom next spring. Heaven knows they've earned it.

I'll keep you posted!

xoxobb