My Wink From Heaven

Posted on June 12, 2013 by foresterartist

Tiger Lily, lilies, wink, photograghy, God, love, photography, nature, anniversary

The first Tiger Lilies of the season.

Yesterday, I had a little wink from Heaven. It was Mary and my thirtieth wedding anniversary. We did dueling blogs about how we met at The Blind Date – Her Side and The Blind Date – His Side. The day before that I posted a watercolor called The Tiger Lily, and I talked about how they were my favorite flower and I felt compelled to bring them home for Mary. I also, mentioned that they were late bloomers.

Forest, forester, ponderosa pine, forest

Lovin’ the woods!

I was in the woods yesterday and had the girls with me, Blitz and Teka. I stopped at one of our usual water holes so the girls could drink, swim and air out. We walk over to the creek and lo and behold there were Tiger Lilies, lots of them. I don’t remember seeing them on our anniversary before. They were early this year. I could almost hear the wink! I wish I had bought a lottery ticket.

Lovin’ these Tiger Lilies!

So, of course I picked a bouquet of them as I am compelled by contract to do. Then I threw in a couple of Columbine for good luck.

Tiger Lily, lilies, wink, photograghy, God, love, photography, nature, anniversary, columbine

Columbine for good luck.

I placed them into a lovely silver vase to create the perfect ambiance. Just call me The Florister Artist.

Martha Stewart eat you heart out, The Florister Artist is in the building!

Blitz and Teka helped.

Tiger Lily, lilies, wink, photograghy, God, love, photography, nature, anniversary, golden retriever

Teka searches for the perfect Tiger Lily, or squirrel.

They celebrated with me and we were ready to go.

Nothing gets a girl to roll in the grass like beautiful flowers.

All that was left to do was deliver the package. For that I used FTD, or Forester’s Dirty Truck. Hey, it gets the job done.

FTD special delivery.

The flowers were delivered along with kisses and hugs. Mission accomplished and Mary was all smiles, although she did pitch the vase. Excuse me, I mean recycled the vase to be precise. Then we enjoyed a beautiful and delicious dinner of stir fry and egg fu yung that she made for us. The stir fry was more colorful than the flowers. It was a lovely and quiet anniversary.

Colorful stir fry. It’s making the flowers look dull.

So, do you think it was pure coincidence or was it divine intervention. I know what I think. I think those Tiger Lilies were my little wink from heaven.

The Tiger Lily

Posted on June 10, 2013 by foresterartist

Tiger Lily

The Tiger Lily is one of my favorite wild flowers. It is a late bloomer in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and it prefers riparian zones. When it blooms I am compelled to pick a batch to bring home to my honey. In fact, it is the one I like to bring her the most. That is why I picked this flower to paint. Now Mary can have them all year. I sketched this painting a number of years ago. It is based on a picture I took a long time ago and have since lost. Without the original photo I had to wing it. I hope Mary likes it. I think it is the last watercolor that I had started, but not completed. It is now time to move on to new works.

Osprey Baby Picture!

Posted on May 30, 2013 by foresterartist

I’ve been watching, taking pictures and watching some more to get a shot of the osprey chicks. Mostly, what I got was this.

Osprey, photography, nature, wildlife, osprey chick

The Look! Are you lookin’ at me!

Sitting on the poles eating fish. It’s all good fun but where are the chicks?

What’s for lunch? Fish of course.

Then yesterday a chick got high enough on the nest to get a shot. I have seen them through the nest since last week, but I couldn’t get a clear picture.

Finally, a baby picture!

Not the sharpest picture, but a start. It looked like she was feeding two, but I never got a look at another.

Blue skies from now on.

I was planning a sketch of the view through the nest from last week, since I couldn’t get a shot. This was the rendition I was planning. A quick and dirty sketch of the scene with a few less sticks.

Osprey, pen and ink, ink, nature, wildlife, osprey chick

Feeding Time

This is also my Thursday drawing for Z’s challenge for art at Zeebra Design.

A WIP Times Two

Posted on May 18, 2013 by foresterartist

My wounded paw.

That’s my hand with the bandage. If you are thinking that some emotionally motivated gesticulating by the digit wrapped in gauze was the cause for the bandage, then I’m going to disappoint you. No, Mary did not do me bodily harm, nor was it the result of some road rage incident. I had a cyst and bone spur removed. I know, considering which finger it was, I could have come up with a whopper of a story. You are welcome to speculate wildly if you don’t believe me. Now I have two WIP. One is the watercolor in the photo and the other is my hand. It looks pretty swollen in the picture. Fortunately, I am right-handed so progress continues.

Those aren’t my tears from the procedure. I’m a big boy and only cry during tragic dog movies. I took these pictures during the rain storm last week. It helped bring an end to the fires that were burning here.

Manzanita flowers in the rain.

That night after my surgery, when we went to bed it started raining again. It was hot in the house so I opened the window to let the cool air in. My hand ached and it kept me awake. The lightning flashed in the distance and the thunder rumbled through the sky. The sound of the rain falling outside was so peaceful that I finally drifted off.

Battle Creek Meadows

This rain has been a relief and has delayed our oncoming drought. Soon it will be dry again.

In the clouds.

Just the girls and I.

Tim, Teka and Blitz.

Maybe Baby Osprey

Posted on May 15, 2013 by foresterartist

Osprey

I haven’t posted an update on the osprey for a while so here is a pen and ink for fun. I think we have chicks in the nest, however we can’t see anything yet.

I think this parent is taking caring of a little bundle of joy.

The other parent waits patiently by the nest.

For about the last month a least one osprey has been hunkered down on the nest incubating the eggs. Late last week this pattern changed and now there is a lot of fussing about going on. I think they are feeding chicks or at least one chick. The chicks will hatch about a week apart.

Fussing around in the nest.

Time for some personal grooming.

Osprey parenting.

A view of the nest from the lumber yard.

The weather has been clear warm and windy here. In fact it hit 100 degrees last weekend. That is on the warm side this early in the year. I think it is going to get really hot up on that tower.

Another sunny day and a view out over the back forty.

The Return of the Sandhill Cranes

Posted on April 30, 2013 by foresterartist

Sandhill Crane

The Sandhill Cranes returned to Northeastern California late this Winter. I have been fortunate enough to see them on several occasions.

A lone crane feeding at Poison Lake.

Sandhill Cranes

Poison Lake

Cranes with friends.

Which way do we go?

Solitude

Ruffled feathers

I think Big Bird must have been a crane.

Poison Lake

Sandhill Cranes of Ash Creek Wildlife Area.

Turkey Vultures Hatched!

Posted on April 20, 2013 by foresterartist

If you have not read Mary’s latest installment of what is going on in our backyard, here it is. We have new arrivals!

Sneaking Bliss

Happy Hatching!!
Est. hatch date range: sometime April 15-17. Empty shell pieces indicates hatched chicks. the parent is hovering over chick(s). Sorry no images of the chicks, just the empty shells for now. But here is something for you –

Save 15% on No Place for UGLY Birds!
Edit your cart with discount code: 15hatch
Happy Hatching discount code good through 4-22-13.

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Osprey Practice?

Posted on April 15, 2013 by foresterartist

I saw an osprey do the strangest thing the other day. I was driving from the log yard to the pole yard and I saw one of the osprey go into an aggressive dive. Located between the two yards is a canal. I naturally assumed that the osprey was going after a fish in the canal. I drove closer and pulled over to get some shots of the action.

Osprey wheeling around

It was an excellent chance to shoot the osprey. Lately they have been sitting on the eggs and hanging out at the tower. Not a lot of opportunity to get any interesting pictures.

The osprey on approach.

As I started taking pictures, the osprey wheeled around to come in for another swoop. With his sights set on target he banked for the dive.

Gettin’ his dive on!

Then, the osprey did something unexpected! Instead of diving into the canal the osprey dove into an open area. It was fast and low, beautiful to watch. Osprey are fish eaters and to my knowledge they don’t catch rodents. So what was he doing?

Coming in low and fast, but for what!

Up close and personal!

Then, he did the osprey snatch. The osprey grabbed a stringy piece of cedar bark. Bark, why bark? He flew about ten feet and dropped the bark. It all seemed quite purposeful.

The snatch and fly! The osprey with the bark in his talons.

Then the osprey circle back around and headed out.

Coming around again.

He did manage to give me a dirty look as he did his fly by.

Gettin’ the stink eye. I suppose that’s better than the other end.

I’m left with the question, what was the osprey doing? Was he looking for material for the nest? I don’t think so, because they haven’t worked on the nest for weeks and the eggs have been laid. Did he think the bark was an animal? I doubt it and I think they only eat fish. Was he practicing or playing? Maybe, why wouldn’t a well fed osprey engage in a little fun.

Do any of you good folks have any ideas as to what the osprey was doing? I would love to hear your theory.

Bigger on the Inside

Posted on April 14, 2013 by foresterartist

This is a post from our yard by the Backdoor Artist. I held the ladder while Mary captured this great image of one of our resident turkey vultures.

Sneaking Bliss

Peering down the vulture hole, I am amazed at the ability of the turkey vultures to climb in and out of this nesting location. It is fourteen feet from the opening to the base.

It is unclear whether this brooding vulture is on eggs or new chicks. It should be nearing time for the eggs to hatch, if my calculations are correct. On March 5^th & 6^th, I recorded the pair breeding at the entrance and the female retreating inside the nesting cavity. I am making an educated guess that this was around the time of laying their eggs. Most sources site 34-40 days incubation. Sources are vague on the day count, but in all fairness who counts days for vultures hatching? The UStream Missouri turkey vultures incubated for 34 days in 2012.

Both parents incubate the eggs and share in raising the chicks. I do not…

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