California Quail

Blogger announced a couple of months ago that it was going to change it's format, and I've tried to ignore it this whole time, but guess what .. they actually did so as of the 1st of August, so I have no idea how this is going to look like.

I'll just keep on typing for now and we'll see how it'll come out in the end .. it looks weird already!

Talking about change, things are looking a little different around here too! First Ronnie, Hunter and his little boy Ryder, arrived on Friday and brought a trailer full of tools with them.

Than Pat and Sam arrived on Sunday, also towing a trailer, bringing cabinets and countertops, and than their son Andrew came in on Monday evening.

Talking about a full house!

Jessica and Austin decided it was a little too crowded, and have moved out for a couple of weeks to Jessica's apartment in Riggins. Probably a wise decision, especially since it has AC!

            

Yup, we made it into the triple digits this weekend! Fortunately only for a day of two after which it  cooled down a little, but it's still a (too) hot 90-95F!

No complaints from the Louisiana-crew though, they're used to it and find this 'dry' heat much, much better to tolerate than the humidity they have to deal with down south!

They immediately went to work the next day on the cottonwood that had been cut earlier this spring, and has been drying since.

They took up shop in the barn, where they're in the shade and have a big fan going to move the air:

                                

This wood is going to be used for the ceiling of the living room. It's going to be very pretty me thinks ..

      

James' crew is still working on the roof and siding ...

                   

                    

James himself is finishing, and correcting, the drywall.

The crew that was here, and was supposed to do that job, did a rather lousy job (inexperienced) and was constantly pulled away to other jobs, so James is taking it up on himself (and his own crew) to finish it .. as if they didn't have enough to do!

 

Vino and Austin mudding and sanding ..

 

I've helped a little bit over the last couple of days by sweeping up and vacuuming all the drywall dust (that they were going to do also).

(we're deducting that from their final pay of course.)

My walks went a little by the wayside due to all the activity and other chores, but I managed to get in a few early ones this week.

The birds are still around, but early in the morning, you don't hear or see them much during the day.

I guess it gets too hot, even for them ..

I almost crushed this guy ..

And I saw this Red Admiral .. hard to photograph since they fly very erratic ..

                                                      

The dry grasses in the meadows and hillsides are overtaken by millions of these (Spur-throated Grasshopper):

                 

I hardly see any snakes any more, not like a couple of weeks ago when we would see a couple every day, but that doesn't mean they're not around of course, they're just hiding during the heat of the day now, and besides .. they blend in very well!

                  

                       This is a (harmless) Racer

And these cute little chicks are California Quail (I know, we're in Idaho, I guess nobody told them):

They can have clutches of 12-16 chicks. Can you imaging having that many babies at once?!

The parents are extremely vigilant!

As far as harvesting our bounty of fruits around here goes, I'm now working on the blackberries. They're ripening in leaps and spurts and I pick some every other day or so ..

So far I've made a blackberry crisp, which we shared with Hunter, Ryder and Ronnie, and some very good Blackberry muffins. I added some cinnamon to the latter which was delicious!

I also picked some of the over-ripe plums and made a jar of preserves. They're more skin and stone than 'meat', but I managed to squeeze some out of them.

Like my mom was saying, it's a lot of work but all very good!

And as if I needed any more fruit to process, I came across this prolific apple tree on the river's edge.

A lot of them had already fallen off and quite a lot were a little 'wormy', but I collected and picked the best ones .. apple-sauce anyone?

Isn't that a beautiful bowl of summer goodness?