Enhanced

I keep hoping for bears in my backyard, but there have been other great visitors to my little neck of plains meet foothills. We had a gorgeous buck in the field on the other side of our fence, but all I had with me was my phone.

We had a Cooper’s hawk on the fence just after sunset, so it was nearly dark, and I had to fully zoom my point and shoot. Both photos came out pretty grainy, so I ran them through Photoshop filters and then an AI program to better illustrate the moments. I’m pretty pleased with the results.

Last weekend I got to sit on the porch for about an hour. I don't get to do that often anymore. I used to watch the birds through my window while I worked from home until 2024. Then we had to take down the birdfeeder from April to November due to bears. Now that most of the garden is going to seed, the birds are feeding again. Watching them from the porch, without a double sheet of glass between us was thrilling.

I've been cutting down most of the wild sunflowers because I didn't want them to overgrow the garden. Now that I've been able to photograph the birds feasting on the wild sunflowers again, I'm thinking maybe I'll let the sunflowers go wild again next year. That will extend my flower season by a month or more, too!

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Tulip Tuesday

As we were packing to go to my mother-in-law's for a couple of days, the deer were hanging out across the street, munching on my neighbor's flowers and trees. I just knew they were waiting for us to get out of the way so they could devour my tulips. Tulips are like candy to deer.

All my tulips came with the house, with the exception of a pot of very deep maroon flowers Lizard gave me before we knew tulips are like candy to deer. I transplanted the bulbs into the garden after they spent their initial blossoms because I didn't know the deer would eat them. Every. Single. Year.

As I began building our miniature lavender farm in 2020, I dug up the tulips that came with the house and moved them to areas closer to the house, knowing they might still get eaten, but hoping I'd get to enjoy one or two every once in a while.

Every once in a while, I do get a photo of a tulip or two before the Deer Cafe opens. But I haven't seen many. I hoped the deer across the street would stay there and leave my tulips alone while we were gone last week until I could get back and shoot them. The tulips, not the deer. With a camera. Not a gun.

Imagine my surprise when I got to see a whole bunch of tulips when we returned! Now, if one of the deep maroon ones will just bloom!

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Friday Funny

This is just the cutest lawn ornament, but, sometimes unfortunately, I don't need lawn ornaments. :)

And these demon deer... they see my bird feeder, and they just can't resist. They find their way in. No matter what!

No matter where I put the birdfeeder, and no matter on which side of the fence the deer pass by, they find a way to raid my garden AND the birdfeeder. Diehards.

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Friday Funny

While I am not ever a fan of feeding wildlife domestic food that wasn't meant for them, I can't necessarily say this unconventionally rescued deer has had an unhappy ending. On the contrary, she seems quite content in this video. The location seems so familiar; I could swear I've ridden past this villa every year when I used to ride the MS-150!

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Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

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Back in Paradise

I hadn't had the opportunity to walk along the greenway since last July. I am SO glad I took the 50 minutes I had! I can't wait to go back and spend more time!

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Wordless Wednesday

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