YAKIMA ARBORETUM

This past Sunday we made the short drive over to the Yakima Arboretum. You may remember that our planned walk there the week before had been postponed due to rain (we rarely get to say that in Yakima). But fortunately, this day the weather was gorgeous and was predicted to be the warmest day for the coming week. The featured image above shows a tree with some nice fall color. Most of the trees were still green, but there were a few of them starting to turn color. The coming week has below-freezing temperatures predicted every night, so I imagine all of the leaves will turn then.

When we started our walk, Linda asked me if I’d like to go check out the bird blind, and my answer was of course a resounding “Yes“. We walked over to that area and proceeded to spread out some seed for the birds and critters. Then we left to take a short walk on the Greenway (which is adjacent to the Arboretum) while the birds found the seed. Upon our return we saw that the birds and squirrels were having a good time scurrying around. In this video below we see a squirrel happily munching away, followed by a male Spotted Towhee doing his cute little hop-kick to find the seeds. Next we have a couple of Oregon Juncos enjoying their breakfast. Then I moved my camera to focus on a different area, where I had spotted a Song Sparrow. Moving into the frame from the top left was a Golden-Crowned Sparrow. I have flash-paused the video for a couple of seconds so you can see the yellow crown on his head and notice that he has some bands on his legs.

Video of Yakima Arboretum Bird Blind

We saw several birds at the blind with metal bands on them, but this little guy was the only one we saw with colored bands. According to a sign posted at the blind, this is a project being carried out by the Yakima Valley Audubon Society to track the way the Golden-Crowned Sparrows use the Yakima River corridor habitat. The sign gave an email address to report a sighting of any color-banded birds, so I was glad I had him on my video so I could report it.

We soon left the bird blind so we could move around and warm up a bit. We walked over to the pond to see if there was anything interesting going on there. Alas, there were no birds at the pond but I was happy to see that the fountain was running (see video below).

Video of Arboretum Fountain

From the back side of the pond I was able to catch a small rainbow in the mist from the fountain. It made up for the lack of birds on the pond.

We are so fortunate to have the Arboretum so we can walk among the many trees and visit the bird blind. We can always get our “green-fix” there.

While I was videoing the pond, I happened to notice some strange looking things on the ground. They looked like tiny bird nests. I picked one up and discovered that it was the acorn cap from a Sawtooth Oak tree. There were empty caps and acorns scattered all over the place. No wonder there were so many squirrels running around in that area.

On our way out of the Arboretum, we passed by the visitor’s center. There was a sign in the window that I need to get.

THIS AND THAT

Now that my vegetable garden has been pulled up, there isn’t a whole lot going on around here. I still have the beets to dig up, but I’m planning on doing that tomorrow before the freezing temperatures set in. Of course, we are continuing with our puzzling and we managed to complete our last “new” puzzle this past week. This one, shown in the picture above, is called “Antiques and Collectibles“. Now we are going back to re-doing ones we have already done before.

Linda busied herself the other day with changing the magnets on our refrigerator. She loves to do that every now and then, just to switch things up a bit. This time she decided to put up all of the magnets that we have gotten from our friend Alyssa Davis, who has the View From My Window page on Facebook and Instagram. All of these magnets feature her amazing photographs, which are taken right outside her window or in the surrounding areas. Click here for a link to her Facebook page and treat yourself to some beautiful pictures.

Every now and then I come across a product that I especially enjoy and want to share with others. The other day at the grocery store I happened upon this…

Anything with maple in it is automatically one of my favorite things. Just ask Linda, who soon after we met was tasked with finding me a Maple-Cream Easter Egg. She had to look high and low, but I do believe she finally found one. Also, since I am from the South, pecans are my favorite nut…and yes, I correctly pronounce it “pea-can.” Anyway, I tried this out yesterday and it lives up to the name because I could detect subtle notes of maple and pecan in it.