DAFFODILS AND TULIPS.

Let me set the stage. Jim and I were talking about going to daffodil hill, fifty miles away. Kautz Ironstone Winery does a great job with a daffodil show of their own. You walk their extensive gardens and view barrel after barrel of gorgeous flowers. Not only daffodils but tulips and pansies and hyacinths. They host a daffodil show, inside, which to me is less interesting than the gorgeous outside gardens.

It was all the more enjoyable because the weather was perfect, but the flowers speak for themselves.

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Still, Kautz advertises this as a Daffodil Show. And people every year come from miles around to show off their efforts.

In one area undercover, but out-of-doors, is a contest of daffodil bouquets. Kind of reminds me of place settings at the County Fair. They are interesting.

This particular setting won a silver bowl.  Suffice it to say, there is a lot to see if you decide to attend next year.

Again, setting the scene, this is the daffodil show room. Their placement and how they are judged is for you to see by attending. I question how anyone can choose one daffodil over another since they are all  beautiful and here you find perfection.

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For a more complete view of his lovely place, you can click on my album to view many more pictures: A full screen slide show is gorgeous.

2014-3-16-KautzDaffodilShw

WINTER VINEYARD.

I like to walk at least three times a week. Especially when I'm working on my taxes and the beautiful weather right now calls me. About a half mile from my house is a vineyard all scraggly in winter, with the hills in the background.

 I always carry my camera, hoping to spot a bird, like Jim did yesterday from the Motor Home window. I was attracted to the undergrowth of tiny purple flowers.

The vines are fenced. I couldn't get close enough to really see the blossoms, but as I closed in with my lens I realized the vines are pretty fascinating without their leaves.

I wish my berry plants behaved as well. I lost my thornless raspberries to the Old Gulch Fire created drought. Our water comes from the flume and the flume burned and we had water rationing. Goodbye berries. They are staked but not quite like grapes.

Quite a canopy.

Returning, I realized I hadn't taken pictures of my daffodils. Since hooking up with Jim, I'm often gone when they bloom and the recent rain brought them out in gushes. Pretty. Spring flowers and winter vines. They look a lot better than my taxes.

SUMMERTIME ADVENTURES

Every kid knows about poop, but how many know about scat? Well, when you are tracking animals with Virginia, the biologist, you get to the nitty-gritty, as grandson Austin soon found out. We walked the dusty, and in places,  muddy, road to the big river and visited every footprint  we spotted in the early morning. The photo above has a definite long claw, possibly a bobcat. They've been known to climb upon automobiles parked below the cabin here in Mendocino County.

This photo shows the soft pad of a coyote possibly. An older print;  recent rains diminished its sharpness. No scat nearby to make a decision, but Austin learned about turkey scat, raccoon and coyote scat. Breaking the dried scat apart, searching for bones or seeds to help identify what animal passed by is not something he wanted to try, but he watched with fascination. He saw the tracks  snails and a snake made in the dusty road. Quail, deer and a rabbit passed this way  before our morning walk. Signs of bear, and the bear itself, have been spotted on the property but the prints Virginia has seen of them have all washed away.

Late rains encouraged longer lasting spring flowers as the  firecracker...

...and this sunny yellow bloom.  (The name escaped me.)

Off the road, on a wide path, we happened upon  a rattlesnake. It was still cool; the snake was sluggish and slow. Virginia gave Austin three bamboo sticks to carry in front of him as we proceeded.

A deer jawbone with teeth intact,  fairly  fresh killed,   found near the water.

We explored a crude storage structure leftover from the former owners of the property. It proved handy for locking up tools during the building of the cabin and is slated to be burned down come winter.

On our return to the cabin, the rattle snake was still curled up on the path. While we watched  it  slithered away; its home  a cavity beneath  a downed tree.  Look closely. It appears thick in the middle as though it had recently eaten. Then on to the Circus Camp.  More tomorrow.

HOLED UP IN CONROE

One of the advantages of traveling with a full time rambler, like my partner Jim, is that we can stop anywhere. The solar panels keep pumping up the battery and life is good. When it rains, and days are cloudy, as they have been for many days, its time to pull into a park and hook up to electricity. The weather is still cold and cloudy. Ramblers tend to stay as close to good weather as possible, but weather is fickle. We pulled into a park and hooked up to electricity and here we stay for a few days, holed up in Conroe, Texas. Time to recharge the batteries, wash the windows, do some housekeeping, shopping and laundry. All those mundane, necessary chores while I look out at the dreary weather and think of the benefits of rain. Watching a movie, catching up on my reading and the coming spring flowers.

The woman above really got into her picture taking of a tub of spring tulips.
This was taken in the cascades, Washington state.
Tulips at Kautz Winery in Murphys, California
My neighbors pasture with baby blue eyes, Murphys.

Ocean City, Washington, Roady hanging over the boardwalk.

This salmon berry at Lake Quinault, Washington.