New Bird for me

Sorry these images are so fuzzy but I was so excited to see this bird at the feeder and it was quite jumpy that I had to be sneaky  just to try for a shot.

 Well here he or she is.  a stellar'd Jay was there and I looked again and said that not a Stellar's.  so I watched for awhile

 The guy bounced around for awhile

 And then he stared right at me and said--Na na na !

 Western Scrub Jay~~~Uncommon but increasing resident in southern part of region, rare in the Northern part.  Ranges from Washington to Colorado.  And here he is.  Large bird about the size of a Stellar Jay without the head crest.  Nicely blue

Linking to WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY~~~HERE

Ruby Tuesday Tomatoes Too

So we canned  a whole lot of Tomato items.  Soup, sauce and Stewed tomatoes.  At first we simmered the tomatoes in a large kettle on the stove and then decided to try roasting them.

The first pic on the top left side are the tomatoes just stemmed and cut into 4ths.  Garlic and Basil leaf added.  Below that shot is a pic of the tomatoes roasting away.  The top right image a pot of veggies simmering on the stovetop.  Onions, celery, red sweet peppers, carrots and more garlic.  Next step is combining the two and running through the puree or food mill.  simmer, have your jars ready--pour and cap and give them a water bath. and you have yummy soup.

Linking to RUBY TUESDAY TOO~~~~HERE

 

I tried

I have been gone for time as Bob became ill and spent several days in the hospital.  The first time for him and me too. I spent all those hours awake (while he was asleep) until I couldn't stand it and crawled into the hospital bed with him and finally conked out. He is fine now just a hiccup in life.

  Sunday night eclipse of the Moon.
I tried to get some pictures with my point and shoot but not so good.  I did get a lovely picture from my daughter in Ritzville and the rest are mine.

 My daughter's picture

 My pictures in collage.  The first one as it came over the hill behind the house.  I like the third one even thought it is not good at all but I like the way it seems to be flying through the sky.  Next the the shadow is moving off the moon.

 The moon uncovered.

Linking to MONDAY MOSAICS~~~HERE

Fences

 I kinda liked this and wondered why I hadn't seen it before.  It is not too far from home.

 It is off the road a bit and in the trees

Right across the driveway

Linking to GOOD FENCES~~~~~HERE

Red Shafted Northern Flicker

The northern flicker is a medium-sized member of the woodpecker family. It is native to most of North America.  The red shafted in the west and the yellow shafted in the east

We get several at our feeders when we have suet out but they are very shy.

 There he is

 He sees me getting my camera.  Very suspicious

 He peeks around the other side

 He thinks I don't see him

 And now I don't

Linking to WILDBIRD WEDNESDAY~~~~~HERE

Ruby Rodeo Red

 The barrel--one of three

 The horse and rider rounding the barrel~~~~K and Mac

 Salute to Old Glory

Pretty sunset too

Linking to RUBY TUESDAY TOO~~~~~HERE

Come Sit in my Garden

Fall is almost here and my pretty beauties will be going away with Summer.
So come sit in the garden with me and enjoy the surroundings.

Linking to Mosaic Monday AT Lavender Cottage~~~~~~~~HERE

Ten Thousand Tomatoes

We have 12 Celebrity tomato plants and the crop is huge.  I think we have at least ten thousand tomatoes and many more to come.
We have been canning Tomato sauce, Tomato soup and Stewed Tomatoes.  All yummy of course!!

 And then I noticed reflections in the stock pot

 We have many that weighed at least one pound

 Aren't they so pretty

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS~~~~~~HERE

Storms acomin'

Went to lunch with Bob and my youngest daughter.  Went to a fabulous place. One of our favorites.  Chuckanut Manor overlooking Chuckanut Bay.  A corner table with a marvelous view and a sky calling to one.

 Jolene invited to lunch or dinner and we chose lunch because we know the prices and J is not RICH.  
The sunsets are beautiful here so come on up for dinner too.

 Linking to SKY WATCH~~~~~HERE

Country Fences

Driving back from Stanwood to home I took some good ole country fences

 A simple barbed wire fence and a nice green empty pasture

 Little shed, older fence and some hills in the background

 Just down the road

 Linked to  GOOD FENCES~~HERE

Random Ruby Garden Shots

 My Sedum Autumn Joy is huge this year.  this is just a tiny piece.  Bees love it!

 Hardy Cyclamen is a beautiful but strange plant.  The leaves come out in the Spring and stay through the summer and then go away and the flower arrives and stays sometimes through the winter and then the cycle returns

 The Apple trees are full full full---yummy

 A pretty cheery cherry colored Petunia being taken over by a nasty nasturtium.  A volunteer at that

 A pretty pink Zinnia

A sweet blushing Rose of Sharon.

Linking to RUBY TUESDAY TOO~~~HERE

Mosaic Monday

My two youngest Grand sons go to Marysville Getchell High school which is a pretty awesome school.  Very different.  check it out HERE
Saturday we went to the boys Football game.  they both play Varsity Ball for the Marysville Getchell Chargers'

Brett Number 53 is a senior and plays offense and defense as does Brad number 75 who is a sophomore

 Alas the Chargers did not win the game but the cheerleaders were very enthusiastic anyway.

Linking to MOSIAC MONDAY~~~HERE

Japanese Gardens ~~~~~~Weekend Reflections

While visiting Spokane a few weeks ago we went to see the Japanese Gardens

 A beautiful garden among a Rose Garden, a perennial garden and a sculptured annual garden.  A nice arboretum

 A nice reflection of the tall Conifers

 A hidden waterfall

 A very serene place.  See the Koi

 More waterfall

 A reflective look back

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS~~~~HERE

No sky at all

Foggy this morning and heavy heavy dew.

 Looking east from the deck.  Well you can see the green house at least but hardly any trees and no hills.

 From under the apple trees looking toward the cutting garden.
We had a huge windstorm a couple Saturday's ago and several trees in our woods went down.  One in fact went down over the fence into someone's pasture behind us.  so bob spent the morning there cutting up the tree and fixing the fence.  I guess i should shown a picture maybe I will tomorrow.
Then we used some more of our jillion tomatoes today.  We made Spiced tomato soup to go with the sauce and stewed tomatoes we had already made. 

Linking to SKY WATCH~~~HERE

Moo fences for Good fences

 Hey cows are you trying to keep cool in the bushes?

 Whatchoo lookin' at!

Kylee and her two best friends--Macaronie and Dally in the pasture.

Linking to GOOD FENCES~~~~~HERE

Pileated in a Pear Tree

Been hearing this wild sounding KUK KUK KUK undulating through the fruit trees and finally caught  a pic of the wily Woodpecker.  
We had just picked Pears and I noticed a couple Pears had been pecked and now I know it was HIM or HER.

 No pears left in the tree but pne on the ground

 Peck peck!

 I'm off to the Apple tree

 Maybe this one would be better

 Oh yes

KUK KUK KUK KUK KUK~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LINKING TO WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY~~~HERE