Woodpecker sighting!!!

I've been hearing a woodpecker for a couple of days now, but never saw the little bugger.   He was way up in one of the neighbor's palm trees 2 days ago and yesterday I heard him out front drilling away on either our mesquite or sumac (I think it was the mesquite because he does like that one)...

I'm taking my camera out back every day now to documents and observe my sunflowers and soon-to-open hollyhocks.   Alas, I am now also documenting all the gopher holes in the back yard.   You would THINK with one old, senile outdoor cat we wouldn't have such a problem, but all "Mr. Gray" does is sleep on a nice cushion on the side porch during the afternoons and ignore the dog.   The dog, however, is VERY interested in all these new holes in his yard.

But, I digress...

So, I brought my camera in with me and I was getting ready to upload photos when I looked up yesterday afternoon and there was the woodpecker on one of my orange slices (the damn grosbeaks have...disappeared...)!!!!!   I grabbed it and took about 90 photos of him!   We had clouds moving overhead and I was using my telephoto lens, so they are a bit dark (I even lightened these...)

I wonder if he will return today?   I put out an extra suet cake and smeared peanut butter all over it, so hopefully he will return...

Saturday flower photos

I went out twice yesterday (Saturday) and took photos with both my Canon and my old Nikon D40.   These are the Canon ones:

These are my old Nikon D40 photos below:

I would LOVE to hear from you which ones you think are better.   My Canon has a standard lens on it (for taking photos of my journals), and the Nikon has a 300mm macro/telephoto.

XOXOXOXO
Cheryl

Garden photos Friday

I hit the jackpot Friday...a ladybug on one of my sunflowers!!!!!   :-)

Garden photos 03/19/2020

Since I'm stuck at home now, per our governor's orders (except to buy essentials), I now go out in the morning AND afternoon with my camera to take photos of the flowers in my garden.   I don't have any hollyhocks blooming yet, but they all have flower buds on them and I expect them to open up any day now.   I just found a patch out in the front, by the street, which just sprouted with our rain last week, so I watered them.   They had NOT come up until the last rain where we got 1.58" in one day!!!!

So, here are some of my photos from last week.   I will TRY to update daily.

Thursday:

Hollyhocks in back yard.

Still here, but self-quarantining

Hubby and I are still here, but we are staying at home since we are both over 65.   He did run out to WalMart 2 nights ago, at 10 p.m. and only found tortillas and shredded cheese, so we will be having quesadillas for lunch for some time!   I was able to take advantage of whole Foods offering the first hour to seniors yesterday, so I SCORED and bought 2 pounds of ground beef, 1 pound of stew meat, BACON, and 1 New York steak, which we split and ate last night.   I also bought 8 baking potatoes and I'm making beef stew today (no carrots or celery and I'm NOT going out again today!).   My grandparents survived the Great Depression and I figure, hopefully, we will too.   My mother was born in 1918, at the time of the Spanish flu, and my aunt in 1924.   Granddad did have a large garden.   I remember him growing green onions, carrots, radishes, turnips, tomatoes, peas, and rhubarb!   Grandma made a rhubarb pie which was out of this world as well as rhubard.   I miss eating that!   They also had an avocado tree.   They walked down to the corner and bought eggs from the rancher there.

I'm going to order some seeds online for a summer garden:   green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, and peppers.   I'll have to keep an eye on the dog so he doesn't dig up my garden, however!

Our Coopers' hawks seem to have completely disappeared.   I haven't seen one for over a week now.   PHEW!   Now the doves and smaller birds are returning to the yard.     Bird seed is hard to find and I'm NOT going to COSTCO, but our daughter found 1 bag at WINCO on Monday and she bought it for me, so I'm trying to stretch it.   I love seeing the birds outside my window.

So, we are hunkering down and I work a little bit outside every day.   No, I'm NOT cleaning the house, although I should be!   Ha, ha!

XOXOXOXO to all.
Cheryl ~~   Photos from my front yard flowers this week

 My first California poppy!   It is sleeping this morning.

Awwww....the sunny days... OF JANUARY?

We're having a heat wave.   It has been in the 70's here and temps MIGHT reach the 80's by the weekend.   Then, next week, they dip into the 60s, when February arrives.   My birthday is Valentine's Day and February is always our coldest month.

I do have sunflowers blooming in the back yard!   I'll go outside later and take some photos.   I have hollyhocks coming up, alyssum, snap dragons, cosmos (from last summer) and even marigolds left!   :-)   I'm so pleased with my front yard garden!  My sweep peas are growing and I have a row of sugar snap peas, which I need to add some "alfalfa tea" to this week and give them a boost.

We have 4 hummingbirds still here.   3 males and 1 female.   I often literally run into her out on our side porch.   She is busy collecting spider webs for her nest!   She constantly is out there, buzzing around the garage door and other areas that have webs.

The 3 year old now has the coughing flu, so he will probably miss about 8 days of day care.   FORTUNATELY his other grandma is in town (she lives in Joshua Tree), so she may extend her stay.   I'm still too weak from my bout with the flu to take care of him.   This flu has been a NASTY one.   Both hubby and I are still coughing.

A little color from years' prior for your morning below:

 Poppies planted in the strips on El Paseo, Palm Desert...

 These were my yellow daisies a few years ago.

 Bee on almond blossoms up at the horse ranch

Not sure what the purple flowers are, but they are pretty!

Got some 80 degree days coming up soon!

Hubby and I are SLOWLY recovering from our bout of strain B flu.    Honestly, this is the sickest we have both been since we each had pneumonia.   We coughed so much our sides hurt and we often couldn't get our breath.   We both DID live on NyQuil for a few nights (and days), but we also found that elderberry syrup really kick the flu's BUTT! Our daughter went to Whole Foods and bought us a bottle and we lived on it for 3-4 days and then started to recover.   We are both still coughing and I had to pick up the 6 year old from school yesterday for early release Wednesday and after that, I drove home and took a nap for an hour!   I was... EXHAUSTED!

I checked our weather forecast for the next 10 days.   We will have days in the mid 70's, then the upper 70's, then a couple days of 80, and even an 81!   IN JANUARY!!!!!   Makes ya wonder what this coming summer will be like   :-(

I edited a few of my flower photos from last year and I've posted them below.   Right now I have sunflowers blooming in the back yard.   Our feeders are full of finches, sparrows, goldfinches, Verdin, and occasionally I hear the woodpecker!   And, of course, our doves.    I went out front to scatter some bird seed and I found a dead young Cooper's hawk.   I turned it over and didn't see any signs of the cause of death, so I have NO IDEA what happened to him or her.   I need to get out there and bury the poor thing before a neighborhood cat drags it away.

We have about 4 hummingbirds still in the yard, so I change their feed about twice a week and clean out the containers.   One day I saw the female out on our side porch, checking out all the spider webs (and there are MANY to choose from).   Another day I watched her and one of the males do some kind of mating flight dance.   So, I guess Spring is upon us?