Karla's Blog

March 30, 2024

So, as much as I had planned to start blogging again a while back, we’ve had so many projects and other things going on and I just didn’t seem to have time. Now that much of that is done, I’ve decided to make time to fire this blog back up so I can share what we’ve been up to, for any of you who are interested. I hope you enjoy!

Spring is so great isn’t it?  Beautiful flowers, blue skies with fluffy clouds, mostly lovely weather. I LOVE it, until the allergies and the storms hit. Don’t get me wrong. I love a good storm, like the one going on as I write this. It’s the allergies I don’t like. We get some wind here and it blows the pollen all over and then come the sneezes, runny nose, dry scratchy throat, itchy eyes, etc. UGH! Luckily, I found an inexpensive allergy pill at Walmart that works pretty well, and is non-drowsy to boot. Woohoo!

With that said, one of the fun things about Spring, for me, is watching the many birds hustling and bustling around, making nests, doing their mating rituals, etc. As I mentioned in a previous post, I love the Great Tailed Grackle.

We have lots of them this time of year and they are doing their little dances all over the place! These handsome iridescent purplish/blackish/bluish boys fluff their feathers out and dance in a circle around the female and sometimes they chase them! It’s quite entertaining! This is what the females look like, smaller, and more brownish.

They make really cool sounds too:  If you’re interested in hearing some of their sounds you can copy and paste these youtube videos: https://youtu.be/7WHssylmUos or https://youtu.be/11l8JRe5F3c. 

Last year we had lots of Canadian Geese, but we’ haven’t seen as many this year.

And, we love our frequent visitors, the Egret . . .

and the Black Crowned Night Heron . . .

So interesting and lovely!

Another thing I love about Spring is all the wildflowers that pop up on hillsides and next to the freeways. This is one of the mountain ranges that partially surround us. If you zoom in you can see the yellow flowers (California Poppies?). I also adore the mini sunflowers that line Highway 79 this time of year. They are such fun flowers! Shame I don’t have a picture of them. Hmm.

I have LOTS more to share about the past year so I’ll be posting again soon. If you wish, you can subscribe to the blog and then you will get a notification whenever a new post has been published. Thanks for reading! 

                  Wishing you a lovely Easter filled with many blessings!