I Went Out to the Garden. . . II

I had to make a special trip to town to pick up a prescription, and of course, one does not go into the grocery story without thinking about what to fix for supper. I had just grocery shopped the end of last week, so I needed little, but I did pick up a package of turkey kabasa with a recipe in mind.

When it came time to fix one of our favorite meals, stir fry vegetables served with a lean meat over a bed of pasta, I realized that I didn't have any vegetables in the crisper to stir, so I made a trip to the garden. It is just beginning produce, but let me tell you it is an ugly sight out there this year.

 I'll not show any photos of the actual garden spot because it is a weedy mess. Some how I am able to find a lot of reasons not to go out to pull weeds:

• Too Hot. It seems that the older I get, the less I can tolerate the heat, but then it has been above ninety most of the summer.
• Mosquitoes. We have the dreaded West Nile disease here in Northern Colorado. Not as bad as it has been in years past when I would saturate myself with bug repellent and head to the garden, but still--I'm not in that mood at all.
• Weed pulling is a thankless, endless job. No matter how much weed control a gardener does, the weeds keep coming.

In realty, the Head Garden's spring go off to a dismal start when he dropped his work here to go help the farmer friend in Eastern Colorado get ground ready to plant millet. His absence but us behind. The weeds really took over while we were on our Texas vacation and we have not been able to keep up with them since; however, the good news, the garden plants thrive despite having to share living space with weeds. The tomatoes are beginning to ripen right along with the cucumbers, so we have enjoyed garden fresh salads. We have a hardy crop of peppers and some very nice cabbages. The butternut squash will be a winter favorite. I went to the garden and  I picked zucchini both green and yellow, fresh onions, and two bell peppers and a healthy meal was a "GO." Left overs today.

As the vegetable garden begin to mature, it is also archery season for Pronghorn antelope out on the prairie. I don't hunt, but I do go with the HG when he puts up his hunting blind. The prairie is so interesting and while the vista and the landscape may seem uninteresting, if the visitor pays attention, the photo ops are abundant.

As we turned into the pasture where the HG would be hunting, a hawk seemed to stand guard on the power line at the gate.

Working windmills still provide a water source for both wild life and cattle. With the slightest breeze, the giant blades begin to turn and whirl. The camera is on auto shoot for this photo.

I changed settings to get the motion in the photo, using the action or athletic mode.

With his blind in place, the HG inspects the tent stakes to make sure that they are secure because a brisk wind will uproot them.

A distant farm house gives the aspect of the vastness of the grasslands of Northeastern Colorado. It really is a pretty landscape, especially with all of the rain that the grasslands have received.

I am not sure why the exposure on this photo is darker, but I like it.

Even at what seems to be a slow trickle, the windmill will pump the water tank full.

Now my photographic fun began. 

At home, I tightly cropped the photos and was so surprised at the color. I didn't adjust or edit the color; I just cropped the photo. We have a lot of hazy skies these days because of all of the wildfires burning in the part the United States, so that may be why there's purple in the images. Even in the ones that are not cropped, the water has purple shading.

The sunflower photo was taken from the other side of the tank. I had to crop out the pipe railing around the tank and only then did I see the bee in the photo. Not a photo bomb--a bee bomb.

We leave the windmill, with the Head Gardener satisfied that his blind is secure. We see the hawk again, this time with two king birds heckling him.

He lands on a land structure, not so much to get away from the annoying birds, more likely  to probably to let them know that he's done playing.

How many birds do you see? Look careful and you will the king bird's feet as he comes in for landing to sit next the hawk.

One with think that the two are friends.

And off he goes.

I do enjoy photographing birds. 

Back to the garden: Again playing with my setting, I photographed the tiger lily.

and the rose

Now, isn't this a nice way to end a garden post?  Thanks so much for joining me. Time to get some housework done.  I missed Mosaic Monday; I'll be there next week.

Another updated post at the dollhouse. Take a peak.

Thanks so much for visiting both posts. See you soon.