Fauna and Flora and Art and Decor

The Atomic City Retiree Lifestyle can be horribly dull, as it was during the Great Winter Freeze-In, so when the Spring has Sprung, and before the Heat Death of Summer arrives, this retiree must be up and doing while she can.  Last week we had oodles'o'sunshine and temps that stayed mostly in the 70s,  It called to me, so I answered!

Naturally, that meant walks along the river every single day.  On one particularly fine day, we had a bunny on the path who didn't seem intimidated by dachshunds.  We got within ten feet before it scampered off.

The Hounds enjoy cooling off in the river so much that I bought them a kiddie wading pool for their patio, which they have also been making good use of.

The sketch group met last week at a member's home, and there were GOATS!  Not only that, there were youngsters -- the kids were about one month old.

There were Nubian goats and Alpine goats.  The wee ones were all Alpines.

I failed at sketching them, as they moved around too rambunctiously.  Other sketchers, as you can see below, did just fine. 

Instead I chose some decorative items by the front porch.  It was a fine outing and after sketching, the hostess fed us snacks and tea in her lovely home, which was full of antique oak furniture and art nouveau decor.  I was quite envious but did not rush out and buy lots of stuff, mainly because I had to fork over for a new fridge instead.  Sigh.

Also on the agenda this week was opening day of the Farmers' Market.  The Hounds got a lot of attention there, which Pippin loved and Truman ignored.

I bought some cheese and snagged a few free samples here and there (fresh mini-donuts, chocolate-ginger bark, molasses bar).  Yum.

Also on Friday I attended the Gallery at the Park's weekly "Paint-In" where artists hang out together to work on whatever they want to and chat a lot, which we did.  I worked on a quick watercolor and ink sketch of a Great Blue Heron...

And a more finished watercolor of a Great Egret.

I found out recently that there is a Mid-Columbia Watercolor Society (founded in 2015) that meets once a month at a spot one mile from my home.  They exchange ideas, offer demos/lessons, and practice new techniques.  And it turns out that the same core group of artists who hang out regularly with the Urban Sketchers and hang out regularly at the Friday Paint-Ins also go to the watercolor society meetings.  The next one is on this coming Tuesday and I'll be checking it out.

In home decor news, while driving back from the daily doggie river walk on Saturday I stumbled upon a yard sale that turned out to be the Motherlode of Knickknacks.  Two sisters were eager to dispose of their 92-year-old mother's collections so she could shuffle along to assisted living and they could close on her home sale.  The Aged Mother was there too, and she seemed fine with the plan.  In fact, they were all so eager to empty the house that they were selling most things for fifty or even twenty-five cents!

This is what I bought:

Plus they tossed in these faux flowers (and pots) for free (the flowers are made of silk and are now on my patio).

Some bigger pictures of the haul -- these four decorative hanging thingies are about 14" high and now hang on the four handy posts that hold up the patio roof.

This wooden hanging thingy came from Bulgaria.

There were bird figurines!  Two of them are also music boxes!

This miniature tea set came from Japan.

So did this tea pot, which is also a music box.

What did I pay for this knickknack bonanza?  Five dollars.  TOTAL.  At this point, between this haul and my recent antique store outings, the house is pretty darn well decorated.  At least, until I get more shelves.

Another fun outing on Saturday was the annual sidewalk chalk art festival, held at the Uptown shopping center.

A hundred or so artists turned out, young and old, and the Hounds and I had a lovely time checking out their work.

I particularly approved of this one -- Go Twins!

Pippin approved of the dog art.

One of the antique malls had a sidewalk sale going on, which would have been quite tempting had I not been to the Motherlode Yard Sale earlier. 

Okay, we're nearly finished.  Sunday morning I decided to hike partway up Badger Mountain in search of chukars.  Chukars are quail-like birds that hide in the brush and are not seen that often, and they've been regularly reported on the mountain. 

There were a lot of Cliff Swallows zipping around, and a lot of finches, and several Western Kingbirds:

The mountain is 1,579 feet high, and the path to the top is a low-incline switchback trail that takes nearly 3 miles one way, so I knew I'd be stopping about half way.  You get great views from there:

The halfway point turned out to be the place where I heard chukars with their distinctive calls, coming from an area of dense brush.  Did they come out of the brush?  No, they did not.  Dang.

It was frustrating, but there's not much you can do if a chukar doesn't feel a duty to entertain the birders.  Oh, well.  So I entertained myself with wild flowers instead.  I am trying to learn more about the local bioregion, and though April-May is best for wild flowers, I managed to find a few stragglers.

I found a helpful web page that showed photos of Badger Mountain wild flowers, and I believe this is the Sagebrush mariposa lily:

I'm not 100% sure of this one, but it looks closest to the Slender hawksbeard:

I spotted several butterflies about, and I'm pretty sure this is a Checkerspot Butterfly, though which of four possible species of Checkerspots in this area it is, I've no idea.  Even using the 500+ page book Insects of the Pacific NW that I helped to proofread, insect ID is hard!

So that was another full and formative week in the Atomic City.  It may sound busy, but it's really mostly the mornings that are full -- afternoons are for lounging on the patio swing seat, and naps!