Didn't take any pictures for a long time, but on March 18, Tanna and Stephen, along with Rabia and Wicket came for a visit. This meant lots of walks, and here is most of the crew on the Bear Creek Greenway near Talent (note Wicket peeking beneath Rabia). Here are Wicket and Rabia ready fo head back home after the walk, where they both tumbled into the doggy bed. One of them may have been a bit more tuckered out than the other. We had some new visitors when two downey woodpeckers came to check out the suet feeder. Wicket is going to stay with us for some weeks, and here Tanna and Wicket are contemplating being without each other for a while. Time for Tanna, Stephen, and Rabia to leave, so here's the last shot of them.
Wicket curls up in his Lazy-Boy, and thinks "this isn't so bad". Wicket was a cat in a prior life, and the proof is in this (frequently repeated) stretch. One day Wicket and I went out and shot a few spring pictures. Here are some daffodils with red currant and forsythia in the background. The heather is looking good going up the upper driveway. The forsythia along the driveway looks spectacular, too. The red currant (yes, the white in the background is also red currant) looks good. Here's another shot of the "white" red currant, with some other (unknown to me, at least right this instant) white bush in the foreground, with Oregon grape in yellow. Here's four other colors, all of a type mentioned before. Here are Oregon grape, heather, and grape hyacinth (blue, at the left). The white blossums I can't identify, but the pink in the background is a flowering plum. The daffodils are quite nice, and WIcket thinks so, too. I barely caught him in with the heather, though. More red currant can be seen inside the big fence. Also inside the big fence is Fiona's Garden. The little Oregon grape makes a nice backdrop for the bird bath. Wicket stands among the purple stuff. We have one Oregon grape that has really taken off in the past four years. Finally, it's back to the deck, and Amelia's potted plants.
Now for something completely different. Easter morning, we had a moth of some sort hanging out on the house siding. Later we went to the Two Pines Smokehouse in Shady Cove for brunch with Ina and Richard. Back home, I got this picture of Jessie, and one of both Wicket and Jessie. A little later, Jessie is taking it easy, and later yet, even easier.
You thought that was completely different, wait 'til you see this! Amelia bought me my Easter favorite, peeps (no, not to eat). I thought I might try an experiment which would not only tell me something about peep behavior, but also about my microwave (oven). Here are the peeps after some time in the oven. Note the satisfactory size of the ones near the front middle part of the oven (the one in the middle is the biggest). Giving them some time to rest, we see that that which was the biggest, takes the largest decrease in size. Man, are they crunchy when they get cold! For those that would like to get into peeps research, there are some web sites, e.g. Peep Research, and for more links (to other worthwhile research, as well - do not show this to your child, however) see the Big List of Peeps Links.