This week felt like summer already. The days were warm, high 70s, and even the nights didn't cool down too much. 
The bullfrogs in the pond are fighting for territory and who's getting a girl ... I wouldn't mind at all but they're making an awful lot of noise doing so, especially at night!

        

        

We went for another 'repeat' hike on Sunday, this time at the Trappist Abbey in Lafayette.

    

Last time we were here we hiked part of the outer Guadeloupe Loop, the Hermit's Trail and the St Juan Diego trail but this time we took the Monk's trail and the rest of the Guadeloupe Loop.

                                       

Just before we took of we came across this sign:

They only strap that sign on the gate of there were actual sightings so we were a little more cautious and on the lookout than previously.

We were early enough for the morning to be still nice and cool and very quiet:

                 

It's a beautiful area and you often see wildlife. We only came across one deer but there were lots of birds everywhere.  
It was a beautiful hike!                          

     

Back at the ranch we'd planned to clean the RV and the car and replace all four of the old, leaking awnings with new ones I'd ordered last year from Sunwave on E-bay.
Priced at $100 they're cheaper than most, where an 18' one usually costs somewhere around $200!

The original ones that came with the RV aren't made anymore and these new ones are slightly different in color and material but they work just fine with the blue and green striping and decals of the RV.
The smaller awnings over the slides were all white and cost even less.

The top picture is the old and the bottom the new one:

                                           

                                               

It was a lot of work though and it took us longer than we thought but we got them all done!
By the time we put the last one up we were pros!
We didn't manage to wash the RV, or the car, but there's always tomorrow ...

I've been reseeding, for the third time, some lettuce, arugula and spinach and finally, finally some are coming up. Third time's a charm!

That weird, tall green stuff growing through the roof of the cage there in the picture on the right is an Egyptian Walking Onion or Tree onion.
Yeah, I hadn't ever heard of it either!                 

         

They grow like normal onions but instead of growing bulbs on the bottom they form small, marble seize bulblets at the top. 
When they get heavy, the stalk bends over and the bulblets grow roots. They can walk almost 3 feet in one season!

You can eat the whole plant, they're like spring/green onions when young and like leek when older, as well as the little onions from the top.

These are my berries, 2 blueberries on the left and 2 raspberries on the right (a red and a yellow one).
They flowered well and I can't wait for the first fresh berries!

 

This is a close up of a Common Hogweed, aka Cow Parsnip. 
Like it's big brother, the Giant Cowsnip, it's sap can cause blisters in combination with sunlight but much less so.
If you leave it alone it's a beautiful large plant with big, white clusters of flowers. I'd love to have it as a feature in my garden any time!

       

Checker Mallow on the left and Common Hogweed on the right.

The wild roses are starting to flower as well:

Since the weather was nice on mother's day we decided to go back to the Miller Woods Conservation area just west of Mcminnville where we hiked half of the trails last February.

At that time we walked the trails on the right side of this map, so this time we went for the ones on the left:

The scenery was quite different from last time when everything was still in winter-mode where as now the grass was lush and green and all the trees had leaved.

         

Other than the right loop, the trail on the left is somewhat more hilly and mostly in the shade of a thick forest.
The trail zigzags up and down, slowly climbing to it's highest point.
We took a break at the top where we found a convenient bench to sit and enjoy our coffee and, of course, our pie!      
    
                                            

I'd made a Strawberry-rhubarb, with our very own, homegrown, rhubarb and it was delicious!
Surprisingly enough , we had cell-phone service, so I succeeded in making a quick call to my mam to wish her a happy mother's day. 

Making our way down through the woods we encountered several joggers but not many other people. 
We heard lots of birds but didn't see much wildlife, a couple of bunnies was all.

We went for an other hike today, again to an area we'd visited before and again to hike the other part of a loop, but I leave that for next post.

And despite the rather strenuous walk (the one of today), James felt the urge to clean the truck, and so he did:

We'd planned to clean the truck, car and RV on the memorial weekend and I guess we now have to do one less.
Works for me. And yes, I helped a little today, cleaning the sides in the back ... but only after a short nap .. hey, I'm 65 now, I need a nap ...

 

The red clover is flowering and the bumble-bees are having a hay-day!

                                                              

I of course went out in the field to pick some and had to be careful not to get stung. 
I actually thought at one time they did but it turned out to be a a thistle, of which there were quite a few mixed in with the flowers. 
Nature ... no Eden without a snake!

I forgot to show off my beautiful hanging baskets in last week's post, so here they are:

As usual I took a risk and bought them rather early, before Mother's day, but Bimart had them on sale for $10 off ($19 instead of $29) and checking the forecast it looked like it wasn't going to freeze anymore so I thought I'd be safe ... famous last words!

But aren't they gorgeous? Now to keep them like that ..

We're having quite a warm spring so far, temperatures are already in the 70s, all trees are flowering and our most of the 'snowbirds' have already returned.

The Goldfinches are back:

        

I had to make a mad dash into the shed to dig up the bag of thistle-seeds, their favorites, since I'd not expected to see them yet!

And just when I had them taken care off this Black-headed Grossbeak showed up:

 

They love sunflower seeds, which I'm out of, so I better get some this week!

This next one I fortunately don't have to feed, he has three ponds full of bullfrogs to his disposal and he is welcome to eat every single one of them!

                                                                     

I was typing away at my keyboard when out of the corner of my eye I saw something, or rather things, moving in the pond:

OMG, cuteness overload!

To my utter surprise she than proceeded to lead them all out of the water, over the dam, and then down the (steep!) slope to the lower pond!

She's one brave mama! I sure hope she'll get to keep all of them, there are so many hungry predators about!

Like this one for instance, although for him it would be more of a game to chase them around ... he's not a big hunter. He's still a bit of a klutz, mostly just clowning around ..

And look what followed me all the way down and back on my walk this week:

                                 

This dog belongs to the owners of the Whiskey distillery here on the road. Her name is Potato!
Apparently when they first saw her as a week old pup she looked like yes, a potato.. I can sort of see that .. and I guess it stuck!

I guess that was all for this week .. oh, I unpacked both sets of hearing aids and am trying them out as we speak:

At first I tried the ones on the left and I liked them well enough but than I switched to the ones on the right and OMG, they are so much more comfortable. 
They're smaller to begin with, which is nicer/lighter for my ears, but the sound is more 'real' as well, if that makes any sense and I barely notice I have them in!
So of course now I'm leaning towards the latter.
They both cost the same, although only because the ones on the right are partly covered by my insurance. 

We'll see, I'll give it some more time before I decide .. in the meantime, I can hear so much better with each of them and that's quite an experience!

 

The Hawthorn is flowering profusely all around us. 
I tried to bring a few branches in the RV but the smell is quite unpleasant, faintly reminding of cat-pee, and it gave me a headache as well so it's sitting prettily on the picnic table outside now.

This idyllic scene in one of the neighbor's meadows is what living 'rural' is all about, a big red barn, a nice green pasture and a hole bunch of the cutest new calves:

This is cattle farming as it used to be, and still should be, the calves staying with their mamas and daddy peacefully grazing amongst them ...                                                                 




These lilacs are growing wild along the road and since they've never been pruned their flowers are high up in the air, packing quite a punch against that blue sky ...

                                                

I used my zoom to figure out what was fluttering around the flowers and found dozens of butterflies getting drunk on the nectar. No wonder they flutter so erratic! 

It's highly effective at evading predators though .. so hey, whatever it takes, drunk or not, it works.

                                                                   

The weather has been nice all week with temperatures in the low 70s, but today was truly one for the books!
And although we didn't get up to the 87F(30C) here, like they'd predicted, we clocked in at a respectable 82F(28F)!

Time for a nice big breakfast (Grand Slam) on the BBQ!

 

Chef James made some delicious blueberry pancakes, crispy bacon and perfect sunny-side up eggs!

Isn't that crazy? Breakfast outside (at about 9am) on May 3d?!

James had taken the AC covers off yesterday which was perfect timing because in the afternoon the temp inside went over 80F which means (for us) ... turn that AC on!
And although we could have had dinner outside we were so comfortable inside that we totally forgot about it! Next time ..

I'd bought some strawberry starters so I planted those out and I placed the plant boxes on a little table I remembered we had in the shed. 
Reason being ... those cute little chipmunks, remember the little ^%#@%! buggers from a previous post ... have been digging in my planters, bringing up all my newly sowed seeds!
I'd already added bird netting around the caches, which only took them one night to chew right through, but I hope by elevating them they won't be able to get in.

I placed those two planters in the foreground, where my tomatoes will go, on some upside down pots for the same reason. We'll see ...

                                           

                                          

These herbs, sage, rosemary and curly parsley, have been doing fine all winter and are starting to make new leaves ... so weird, some things won't grow at all and others go gangbusters! I'll never figure it out!

And look who is back!

They're already getting loud at night! 
Fortunately I'm deaf and James uses earplugs but sjeez .. isn't nature wonderful?

Talking about being deaf ... these arrived for me this week:

                                         

I'd been to the optometrist 2 weeks ago for a hearing test and consultations and surprise, surprise, I'm moderately deaf.
No surprise there because I'd noticed that myself already for a long while, but now medicare has kicked in my insurance will pay for part of them, so it was time to get some 'real' ones instead of the cheap OTC aids I'd bought from Temu.
(And yes, I bought some better ones secondhand from E-bay 2 years ago, Eargos, but they've died since than.)

Any-who, after extensive research, I bought hearing aids from the two different brands I think will be the best for me and will test them both.
They both have a 40 day free test-period after which you can return them for a full refund so hopefully that will work. Well see ...