Brad's Blog
Click here to zoom down to today's entry (after clicking, you can bookmark this page and it should always take you to the current date).

May 2

It was a fine day without sprinkles today, so we hiked up Breakfast Creek today, a small spring fed creek that marks the entry into the Brickel Creek drainage of the Inland Paper Company land.  It was full of lovely cataracts, but these two photos seemed most interesting:

The ancient stumps had been burned in the 1937 fire, but many still stand, covered with moss where not covered with char.

Here the water spilled over a log dam onto a flat rock, which splayed the spray in an interesting pattern.

May 5
Yesterday was the first day to go over 70, and it went over 80.  (We always say--we got two seasons in Idaho and temperate isn't one of them)  This is how the Mill Pond looked on the first nice day:



And the best variety of wild flowers is available now:

shooting stars

yellow violets


calypso orchid



and pacific wrens, more feisty for it being nesting season...

May 7
From our rambles today, another classic local wild flower: dwarf waterleaf:


May 10

It was a calm day on the Mill Pond yesterday, and even without a polarized filter I could see this bass under a log...


An osprey at the Mill Pond today.


Butters and his friend Kaiser cooling off in a temporary swamp along the Mill Pond.  Butters is lying down in the water to get the full cooling effect..

May 11
Spring is such a picturesque time...
red necked grebe
red necked grebe
I love our own cultivated flowers also, but the wild ones bloom first...

camas flower

Columbiana Virgin's Bower wild Clematis


Butters considering how to get off the log he walked through the water on...

May 17


After taking 127,000 pictures on my old camera, I've been wanting another camera for a couple years, so I finally stepped up to a Nikon DSLR 5500, which I got yesterday.  After studying the book for an hour and snapping a few photos inside, I was eager to snap on the telephoto and rediscover our local ridge.  I loved the way everything focused so sweetly and snapped away.  But apparently I bumped it into special effects mode, so the pictures mostly came out looking like illustrations:

Chipping sparrow

balsam root



I had intended to save the special effects for experimenting with later.  Still I appreciate the accidental art...

May 18
I made the same trip as yesterday, in part due to losing the lens cap for my telephoto...  Today I got this picture of a pair of rednecked grebes, which for the first time showed me possible differences in the sexes, since they are so close:

The one in back is clearly a lot larger, so either it's older or one of the sexes predominates sizewise...

May 22
It went from cold to hot again, so I worked on tying raspberry plants up this morning (and glazing) and went for walks in the heat of the day...


the larkspur is blooming everywhere--pretty but toxic to humans and animals...


On the shady side of the Mill pond is the only place I've found heartleaf arnica around here, and it's just starting to bloom...


I was taking photos of the sunfish and bass and perch floating near the top of the water when a female duck flew right towards me. The fish boiled up... 
All of us were startled, but I got the photo...

May 25
It's fairly rare to find a natural osprey nest, as they frequently settle for power poles and stadium lights.  But we found this one up on the ridge a while ago.  Here is one of the pair arriving at the nest:


 May 27
I was taking pictures of the rock or cliff penstemon which is at its height currently.  I didn't notice the dying pine in the background, adding other colors and a different slant to the photo.  There are a lot of pines dying around here recently, from disease and/or insect issues...


May 30
With my son and his wife visiting we finally got the canoe out, and canoed from the Maiden Rock access to the Bronze Bay Access on Spirit Lake, including cruising most of the bays on the way, probably 5 miles on still water...  So here are some photos:

The red pin feathers might be the reason red shafted flickers got their name...


At the swamp at the end of the lake this baby pied grebe came out near us, diving and circling, then disappearing into the swampy stuff, where its family hopefully was waiting...


This is the view toward Mt. Spokane looking up Brickel Creek, with a Goldeneye...


 
Books read and other media of note
Cold Dish by Craig Johnson  Another regional mystery author, a bit uneven in style, but a compelling story set in Wyoming and Montana, an area I've been through visiting friends...  


Sondahl blog index
Jan2024 (none)February
2024
March
2024
April
2024
May
2024
January
2023
February
2023
March
2023
April
2023
May
2023
February
2022
March
2022
April
2022
May
2022
January
2021
February
2021
March
2021
April
2021
May
2021
January
2020
February
2020
March
2020
April
2020
May
2020
January
2019
February
2019
March
2019
April
2019
May
2019
January
2018
February
2018
March
2018
April
2018
May
2018
January
2017
February
2017
March
2017
April
2017
May
2017
January
2016
February
2016
March
2016
April
2016
May
2016
January
2015
February
2015
March
2015
April
2015
May
2015
June
2015
July
2015
October
2015
December
2015
January
2014
February
2014
March
2014
April
2014
May
2014
June
2014
July
2014
October
2014
December
2014
January
2013
February
2013
March
2013
April
2013
May
2013
June
2013
July
2013
August
2013
September
2013
October
2013
November
2013
December
2013
January
2012
February
2012
March
2012
April
2012
May
2012
June
2012
July
2012
August
2012
September
2012
October
2012
November
2012
December
2012
January
2011
February
2011
March
2011
April
2011
May
2011
June
2011
July
2011
August
2011
September
2011
October
2011
November
2011
Deember
2011
January
2010
February
2010
March
2010
April
2010
May
2010
June
2010
July
2010
August
2010
September
2010
October
2010
November
2010
December
2010
January
2009
Febr.
2009
March
2009
April
2009
May
2009
June
2009
July
2009
August
2009
Sept.
2009
October
2009
November
2009
December
2009
Jan.
2008
Febr.
2008
March 2008
April
2008
May
2008
June
2008
July
2008
August
2008
September
2008
October
2008
November
2008
December
2008
Jan.
2007
Febr.
2007
March 2007April
2007
May
2007
June
2007
July
2007
August
2007
Sept.
2007
Oct.
2007
Nov.
2007
Dec.
2007
January 2006February 2006March 2006April 2006May 2006June 2006July 2006August 2006Sept. 2006Oct. 2006Nov. 2006Dec. 2006



April 2005May 2005 June 2005 July 2005August 2005September 2005October 2005November 2005December 2005
index
INBMA