kitchenmage

Spike comes for a visit

One thing that I have really missed in this time away from the fog valley is the critters. Being spoiled by having a local elk herd that tromps through the neighbor's fields makes it hard to move to a place where the local fauna is rare...and small.

Missing my hoofed buds as I do, I have been delighted in the last couple of weeks to have new creatures visiting. Take Spike, for example, who stared appearing in the cool grass under the barn overhang when the thermometer headed towards 90 a couple of weeks back. He has been back daily, emerging from the slope above the barn to lie amongst the clover and nibble. When the sun dips behind the cedars to the west, he wends his way down the path into the woods beyond.

Day before yesterday, a doe came down from the same hill with a tiny spotted fawn who looked like it might be her first trip out into the big world. I've got the camera ready for their return and my worktable has a view. Wish me luck!

Instant waterfront!

Under the old rules (as if I had any), this would be an occasional fog valley photo - except that this is an occasional theOtherCity photo and I just don't want to create a new category. This is my pasture. Or more precisely, this is my pasture on floods. Any questions?

ofvp: webs in the mist

It may be coming up on Fall but that isn't so bad. It simply means it changes to a different kind of beauty.

a little chicken? (update)

This is actually a test post to help figure out why my new posts aren't showing up on my main page. I think they are a little bit chicken. Not even as chicken as this lovely critter, just chicken enough to hide.

later that same evening...

Turns out that my main index page got deleted somehow. Oops! I've been mucking about in templates and such lately but I am pretty sure I didn't do it on purpose. in any case, it's fixed and now I can go back to writing up all the stuff that I haven't gotten to...

Three little lambs

It's spring and I would be here, except that there are things like this out there! Saw these guys on the way to the CSA and farm market. I love the spray paint - there are a couple hundred sheep and they are sprayed several different colors, makes for a weird looking field!

ofvp: snow day in the Pacific Northwhite

I'm still editing, which is a good thing because it's clear I'm not going anywhere today. My day has been a string of reproachful looks from furlings; apparently the kittens are disgusted that we let this happen, because I do control the weather, you know. They are predicting temps down to the teens or lower (!) tonight, but the snow-muffled world is lovely, and since my toes are warm and my tea is hot, it's not such a bad thing. (btw, we've got only eight chapters to go, real posts resume soon...)

ofvp: batman's web

If you look closely at the lower right wing, you can see an ice crystal...three hours later, I was outside barefoot in a t-shirt.

Welcome to fall in my fog valley.

ofvp: soar like a turkey vulture...

Occasional fog valley photos are an homage to Farmgirl's Daily Farm Photo, offering a glimpse into a fog valley that fingers up off of the lower Columbia River in Washington State.

This turkey vulture spent a good part of the day just hanging around on a post across the way. He probably stayed there for three hours, and every 15-20 minutes he'd fly a little loop, fairly close to me and land on another fencepost. I really appreciate that since it allowed me to get good pictures with a handheld Nikon D70 using the kit lens which is nice but not exactly a telephoto. The wing coloration is very nice, I hadn't seen one flying overhead before this so it was sort of a surprise.

Happy spring!

Yeah, I know I am a few days late, but after all the gorgeous daffodils, I was waiting for something else to bloom. That and the writing project that's got me somewhat snowed under at the moment. I think that means the blog is on largely Occasional Fog Valley Photo rations for a week or two...maybe even three. Luckily for me, it's spring; makes it much easier to find things to photogenic things around the garden.

Today, I offer you my spring garden's first magnolia blossoms, on a remarkably healthy and robust little tree considering that it wsa found languishing bare and forgotten in the corner of a Fred Meyer late last fall. We snagged it for ten bucks with the knowledge that it was a gamble. It really was a spindly little thing and we weren't at all sure that it was going to make it, but it certainly seems to have done well.

Much as daffodils denote a certain aspect of spring — often the equinox —  my star magnolias herald the emergence of soft perennial herbs like lovage. I checked and, sure enough, the tightly furled asparagus-like stalks are poking through the moss patch in the shadow of the big rosemary bush. But that's another picture and I've got three weeks of writing to go...must save some for later.

occasional fog valley photo: sunset

'tis a night not fit for human or beast out there, with great gouts of hail punctuating the unceasing rain and finally driving a mouse-hunting River inside to indignantly shake icy paws at me as if I personally conjured the weather to spoil her game. Clearer skies spring eternal, however, in the ever-growing mess (and I do mean that literally) of photos on my hard drive. Enjoy.