Monday, June 13, 2016

Paradise ponders...

Paradise ponders...  Cabo and Mako, our two field spaniel puppies, continue to delight us.  Click the video at right to see why.

Yesterday afternoon, Debbie and I took a drive up to one of our favorite local spots: Hardware Ranch and the road to Ant Flats.  Debbie felt ready to try an outing, and while it made her knee a bit sore (with the bouncing), she pronounced it well worth it.

We saw a few wildflowers along the way (below).  The first one we're familiar with from San Diego, but I don't know it's name.  The second is a particularly nice Indian Paintbrush.  The third is unfamiliar to me, and is interestingly weird.  First, the flower's aroma resembles skunk cabbage – most unexpected!  Second, the stem is hairy and fairly tacky – but doesn't leave your fingers sticky.  It grows in low-lying, wet areas, usually in bunches of wild onions.


Even better than the wildlife, though, was the birding!  We had beautiful close-up views of a cedar waxwing, a banded kingfisher, and (we think) a juvenile black-headed grosbeak.