A Quiet Hello

The more omnipresent social networking has become, the more we have less to say. Not sure why that is. We're just living our lives quietly these days. Can't seem to find the reason anymore to chat about the little things. The seasons change. We're still harvesting our garden. The summer heat has not abated. Supposed to be 90 freakin' degrees next Sunday. Our second corn crop is happy… me, not so much.

We planted six giant zinnias out back, and they have transformed the yard into a mecca for butterfies and bees. Next year we will plant more. It's the least we can do for the pleasure of their company.

Despite the heat the migrating birds have headed south and some of our little natives have come back from the high country. Love looking out to see a tufted titmouse and a house finch on the feeder. They haven't been here since early spring. Still waiting on the dark-eyed juncoes, but not too soon. They often are the harbingers of winter.

The half-moon rises. 

Migration

Even though the temps are still screaming summer at us (and we really wish they would stop), the birds are making their fall migration south to Mexico and beyond for their lovely mild winter. The orange-crowned warblers have been having a delightful time on the leaves of the yellow squash and eggplant in the garden. We hardly see them at all but only notice the leaves moving on hot windless days. Once in a while we do see a flash of yellow. So we celebrate that the warblers are moving though. Fall must be coming soon, right?

Have You Ever Seen...

...a hummingbird perched on the petal of a flower? I hadn't until this one decided it really liked the giant zinnia. It's been coming by for days and perching briefly like this. Pretty interesting behavior.
... or a green-tailed towhee? We hadn't until this one showed up a bit out of its range. They "rarely" show up in our neck of the woods. I noticed the white spot on its throat, and didn't catch the rufous head or green-tinged wings and tail until I looked at the pics. This bird is very hippity hoppity all the time, so it was hard to photograph, but we sure liked seeing it with the other native towhees out in the flower bed.

The View of the Back

I remembered that we wanted to show you the back of the house. The front is barn red with white trim. I mentioned that we painted the back in the opposite style. So, here it is. We love it. It's so freakin' hot in the back with all the crazy southern exposure. The blue paint and wood were severely sun damaged.
We're hoping that this light color will give the wood and paint a longer life.

Whenever we're out there now, we feel like we're on the patio of some fancy vacation house. It's all new and pretty. It makes us laugh.