birds, birds, birds....

was out gardening these last few days. loving all the new growth. went downtown and the trees mid-town to downtown have punched out little baby leaves. not here yet...soon though. above is my rose bush budding and below is my himalayan poppy plant coming up! so exciting.

spent the last 2 days out at the dog park. not really that lazy, just couldn't figure which trails would be walkable without being in small lakes or deep mud. dog park was easy and clean. we chilled for 2 hours out there both days. the days have been just amazingly beautiful here this weekend. the clouds are coming in tonight so who knows what tomorrow brings. blossom did manage to save the hedgie that's been buried in snow for a few months. she brought it inside after her evening deck time. she loves that deck in the summer. temps today in the 60's...sweet!! i think my arms may be getting some colour, of course, the rest of me remains butt white.

university lake is nearly thawed now. above blossom enjoys the day, below, rio wades into the water.

it really is a beautiful lake. got in swims the last 2 nights too. last night i did 36 laps and tonight i did 30. i got called into the adult icu for my overtime shift friday rather quickly. i'd kinda wanted to head over to the gym for a swim. i was called in by 8p. someone coded in house. then i got a car wreck patient, who was a bit nuts. we often put c-collars on you post car wreck and try and keep you in some semblence of allignment so prevent spinal injury if there is a possibility of it. she kept pulling off the collar and then tried to get out of bed because, if she wasn't going to be able to walk tomorrow she wanted to stand up one last time. tears, drama....i'm sure i rolled my eyes on that one. that's really not how that works.

also hit the bog by my house a few times this week. the birds there are going nuts now. they are everywhere. it's so cool to just walk through there and listen to them all screetching and zipping all over. it's just crazy with them now.

below is a reflection in some water around the bog. haven't seen any moose in there this week...they must be moving up as the snow melts. soon the baby moose will be born.

my nemisis the dandilion has already been showing signs of thriving in my garden...and in the concrete slab between my driveway and the garage. i have respect for the plant, and those little yellow flowers are quite pretty, but dang they can take over a property fast. don't like to put any toxins in the garden because of the furs.

i think this sky was as i was walking the girls down patterson. often i cruise the bog and then take off through the neighborhood.

the front fence was in need of stain so i wanted to get it done before the plants grew in too much and i couldn't get to the fence. things grow with great rapidity here. maybe i'll try and let you watch the grass grow somehow...hmmm...

apparently it takes alot of stain to get a small area of fencing done. this is the point where i ran out. i went back yesterday and got more stain so it's all painted now. ran into a neighbor in the bog and he wondered why i'd stopped there...rookie homeowner mistake. it looks nice now though i think. of course, i had to work that night and as i headed to work it began to rain, then it poured. looks like the stain job held up. i was in peds icu the first night and then out on the floor the second night. both nights were pretty uneventful, which in a hospital is always a good thing.

most of the rest of these are bird pictures i took in the bog through the week. think i'll head to bed early as i'm headed to windy point for a hike tomorrow and then i think i'll hit the perch in eagle river on tuesday. i want to wake up and get rio and blossom to the bog so that i can leave rio at home. summer hiking just gets to be too much for the big girl, though it always pains me to leave her behind.

couple of canadian geese.

some sort of sandpiper or plover?? not sure.

some sort of gull, thought it was cool flying shot.

mallard duck in the big bog pond. below is blossom. i got my new lens that takes me smidge closer. it's range goes from 75-300 which is what my old lens on my minolta did. i was always happy with that. part of me is always tempted to get bigger lenses, but doublers and zooms greater than the 400 seem to require more stabalization. for me, i'm just out there, carrying a camera everywhere and taking what i see. the more gear the more difficult that becomes. the lens that came with this camera only went to 250. i'd like to get a wide angle and some close up lenses before i head off on my next adventure. the point being when i hooked up the new lens i took pictures of blossom with new and old for comparison..this is with new lens.

she's pretty dang cute, i must say. we headed downtown this afternoon. (me and the dogs) my mom always got excited when i said "we". she really believed it meant me and some dream guy i'd just met and would no doubt marry and have babies with. i suspect it was tough for her me being single. somehow i always felt her job wasn't complete with me until she'd had me married off and "taken care of". we all have flaws and my mom had a few, but loving me wasn't one of them. she always had love for me and in the end i think she was happy with how i turned out. happy mothers day to all those moms out there. it's a tough job...

above is a grebe and below is another picture of the mallard...love thier green heads. so pretty!

hopefully, no bears tomorrow and we have decent weather....