This New World

How do we know if the weather we are experiencing is anomalous? What is average anymore, anyway? All we know is the weather is completely unreliable in ways that are surprising the locals. That says something. We had frost both Saturday and Sunday morning. Our potted tomatoes and red peppers did not appreciate that in the least. We heard from some folks who have been living here for many years that this is the coldest spring on record in the past 40 years. First time that the temps haven't hit 80 here in the hills, nor 90 in Sacramento valley by now. We'd be happy if the temps went above 60. It's that cold, and it's been wet. The hummingbirds have been behaving even more territorially, if that's possible. One male will literally take over an entire feeder for himself on the coldest days, and not let anyone else feed at all. Life is rough in the era of climate change for everyone. There are very few flowers for the butterflies, who fly low over the overly green fields, hoping for a spot of color.
So, I've been putting out more food for the birds. We are feeding so many grosbeaks, goldfinches, juncoes, mourning doves, spotted towhees, steller's jays, house finches, nuthatches, song sparrows, and our much adored quail. Roger was watching all the activity at the feeders and asked, "What did they do before we fed them?" Then he answered his own question, "Oh right, they had the whole world."
The trees came down last week The crew was incredibly efficient and hardworking. We now have reduced our fire danger and opened the yard to more sunlight. Next year at this time, we will have a fenced space, raised beds, flowers for the hummingbirds and butterflies, more of everything for everyone. That's the plan. We'll proceed as if the temps and rainfall will be normal next year, whatever that means.

I hope you can see from the before and after photos, that we are still surrounded by forests. The birds are still singing. We're all adjusting to this new world.

In an Odd Hint of Light

Those sheet strips we wrote about a few weeks ago really helped cut down considerably on the bird window strikes. We haven't had a single strike on any window where the strips are attached. It didn't occur to me to cover the sliding glass door, it's under an overhang, and a place of a lot of activity. So, the other day when the light was just right it really surprised us to see this winged smudge. (Click on pic to see this.)
It took us a while to figure out how to photograph it. Not the easiest ghostly image to coax from a piece of glass. We didn't see any birds on the ground nearby, so we're going to assume that this one took off and survived.
The weather has taken a nosedive right back into early spring. Cloudy and rainy, overnight temperatures in the 40s and daytime highs in the upper 50s. Not particularly good for getting out there and hiking around. It's hard to imagine that in a few days we will be celebrating the summer solstice, and the sun that we have hardly had an opportunity to bask in leisurely, will begin its long slide south. That doesn't seem fair at all. Still we make the best of it, and tease an impressionistic Monet from the rainy window and our wild lupin.

Some of our favorite naturalist bloggers-- Wayne, Bev, Doug, FC --have been showing grand photos of insects and alligators, all out there in the summery sun. I've been leaving comments thanking them for showing me all the critters I've been missing. Okay, I'm not really missing alligators, we don't ever have them here, so maybe there really is something to be said for living where the sun don't shine.
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I've compiled a list of folks who have tentatively agreed to host Good Planets over the next few months. So far, there's sbgypsy for July, Liza of Egret's Nest for August, Yankee Transferred for September, and maybe Bev for October. If anyone else would like to sign on, please let me know. Hosting Good Planets means that for second and fourth Saturdays in the month, you will post photos that people send depicting the beauty of our good planet. It's a traveling gallery of appreciation. Susannah of Wanderin' Weeta will be hosting next weekend. Her theme is for photos that depict fragility and durability. Quite a lovely idea. I hope you'll send her something (susannah AT dccnet DOT com). Take a look at the Flickr Gallery to get an idea of what has been sent in over the past year.

Roger and I might host Good Planets in November. It all depends on my health. I finally have a diagnosis from the dermatologist I saw on Wednesday. I have an auto-immune problem that strikes 1% of the population, with no known cause, no known cure. Oh yippee. I swear, I'll smack the next person who asks me if this is stress-related.

Have a great weekend. See y'all on Monday.