Checking the Mail

March 13, 2013 by seabluelee | 20 Comments

It’s time for Walk and Click Wednesday. Though the day I took this walk didn’t look very promising, I was restless and wanted to go exploring a bit, so I decided to walk down to the mailbox, a little less than half a mile from the house. Well, I actually went quite a ways farther than that, but that’s as far as I’m taking you today.

Nah, It’s Not Gonna Rain

The weatherman said no rain for us that day. He didn’t mention the snow that would fall overnight.

Mother of All Pigs

The folks who lived here before us raised pigs. I love this sign on the front of the tack barn.

Red Lantern

I’ve lived here for nine months and didn’t realize the glass in this lantern was red until I went behind it to take this photo and saw the light shining through it. I really need to get out more.

The Dr. Seuss Tree

These three Arbor Vitae are planted in front of the barn. I think the one in the middle must have been abducted by aliens and subjected to nefarious experiments at some point in its life.

Pine Cones, Extra Large

These cones are huge compared to the “normal” ones on the property. I gathered a basketful after I got home.

What Is This?

Halfway down the driveway is this huge shrub (it’s taller than I am) but I don’t know what it is. It looks very old. The ground beneath it is so riddled with animal holes that I’m amazed it’s alive at all.

At the Heart

This is a closeup of the trunk and the mysterious depths below. It makes me think of those children’s stories where a timid boy or girl suddenly becomes very small and goes sliding down a tunnel beneath the earth. Of course, s/he will save the fairy kingdom and return home safely by dinnertime.

Spring Song

As I passed by this row of pines, I heard a tremendous chatter of bird voices. As I got closer, I saw that it was a flock of robins, maybe two dozen of them.

Robin!

This made me very happy. I’ve only seen one robin here before, when he stopped at the bird bath last fall. They don’t seem to live around here, so I’m guessing they are just passing through on their way to wherever they spend the summer. By the way, that pink stuff on the ground is pepper berries. California Pepper trees are a common landscaping tree in this area. They have beautiful ferny leaves and long hanging clusters of glossy pink berries.

Brake for Cowboys

This sign is on the gatepost next to our neighbor’s corral.

Mini Moos and Friends

Another neighbor trains working dogs. She has a small flock of sheep and three miniature cows, as well as a large flock of ducks, that the dogs get to practice their herding skills on.

News Gathering

And here we are at our goal. On this day I took the long way home, walking up the road and circling back home the roundabout way. We’ll do that another Wednesday, okay?