The Birds and The Bees

First, thanks to all your nice comments on my last blog about Poppy.  The support of our Blogland friends means a lot to both of us.  She is doing pretty well and so are we.  Hanging in and cherishing every moment.  Of course we’ll miss her when she’s gone but this is a time to celebrate her life.  She has had one of the best of any dog ever and she continues to amaze us with her longevity, despite her health problems.

The picture above was taken today on one of our walks at a boat ramp near Harrisburg, OR.  It’s Poppy among the poppies (or buttercups!!).

One of the things Poppy does for us is get us moving!  Even at her age and being almost totally blind and deaf, she insists on a ride every day.  Trust me, you don’t want to deny Poppy her ride – she doesn’t give up easily!  And of course rides always involves stops and that means a walk so everybody wins. 



When we ride, we always have a camera or two (or three!!) on hand and we have captured some pretty cool shots on our travels.  We have also put up some feeders in our back yard and are getting some great shots of the birds and the bees right here at home.









This bee was really enjoying the lupine in my Fairy Garden.









I love how colorful these insects are.




We’ve had some colorful birds come around too.  Just watching them and hearing their song makes me happy.



A Eurasian Collared Dove scavenges for seed on the ground in our back yard.  I sure enjoy the call of the dove.







A female American Goldfinch enjoys the nyjer seed in the stocking feeder.










The males patiently waits his turn in a nearby cedar tree.









Male house sparrow










And of course those ubiquitous starlings are EVERYWHERE.  Does anyone know how to discourage starlings??








This was not in our backyard but we enjoyed capturing a Northern Flicker at Armitage Park.







Russ got a good shot of an osprey sitting atop a utility pole today.





And guess what we saw right here in Eugene?  We just closed our eyes and pretended we were in Yellowstone National Park!!


So you see, you really don’t have to go very far to see wonderful sights and hear pleasing sounds.  We have driven on roads that we have never been on before, seen things that are totally new to us, and had experiences we might have missed had we been on the road.  We still want to travel again when we are able but until then, there is no reason to sit home and mope just because we can’t make a big trip right now.  Beauty and adventure are where you look for those things and sometimes you don’t have to look any further than your own back yard!