Sunday, April 25, 2010

Spring rains

Night before yesterday we had ½ inch rain.  Then yesterday, another 2 inches of rain; tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings  throughout the day.The garden is happy.

The River has risen a lot, and will be rising more, but likely will not spill over the riverbank onto the yard this time.
Just a bit ago a bunch of intertwined logs and branches went racing downriver.

This morning the wind is calm, the skies are all deep blue and many different birds are chirping.
It is fascinating to see the goldfinches zooming all around as they race from tree to tree.  What are they doing—maybe they're choosing up partners?

Monday, April 12, 2010

Leafing out along the River













So many colors green in the early spring along the River bank.
(click to enlarge picture in new window)




The big walnut tree at the left is one of the last trees to leaf out in the Spring.  The river birches, with the white trunks have begun to sport new green leaves.  The several "wild" trees at the right are still getting themselves ready for Spring.
This picture shows our entire riverbank in early-mid April.  Weather has been perfect; temperatures about 10° above normal.  The river is flowing slowly.  With nothing more than a gentle breeze, the river is like a mirror; notice reflections of the trees on the opposite bank.  The year is freshly mowed.


This picture was created from twelve individual photos that were stitched together by Photoshop into this panorama.  Each photo was manually exposed at 1/800 sec., f8.0 with ISO of 400.  The photographer was standing on the cabin's roof; notice the lower right corner of the panorama.

Come back again soon!