still blooming

steve headed up friday to do some exploring & some work on the house. i came up sunday evening, for the carole king/james taylor concert in sun valley on monday night.

the field behind the house is full of wildflowers

lupine

we took a hike monday morning. this is the same one the women went on last week- about 3.6 miles, good because there's water for the dogs the whole way.

there were butterflies everywhere- even on echo for a while

geranium and potentilla

 some sort of berry- we'll see in a month or so

cow parsnip

 halle enjoying the stream

horsemint

 not sure what this tree is, but it had a sweet fragrance 

skunk cabbage

 pentstemon

and then monday night,  a beautiful setting for a concert- and carole king & james taylor put on a great show-

sunrise this morning- hay being cut & baled all over the valley this time of year

steve stayed around today & got the door in the master bath hung and more baseboards painted, cut & attached.

back to work tomorrow, more to come in the next few weeks.

happy july 4th!

great weekend of r&r with friends.

there was a concert headlined by reckless kelly on saturday night, set up in the american legion ballfield & sponsored by local & area businesses. 4 bands, $25 per ticket, it was really fun & we hope that enough $ was made to keep doing it.

on sunday, there was lounging. then the guys floated the south fork of the boise & we hiked up soldier creek.  

a few of the natural sights:

this is a kingbird buzzing a swainson's hawk. don't know why. the hawk had youngsters in the nest. the kingbird actually bonked it on the head a few times & the hawk finally flew off after it.

currently blooming:

sego lillies

not sure

mule ears

syringa (idaho's state flower)

  

potentilla & forget me nots

crimson columbine

 another amazing sunset before the fireworks on the fourth

it was so nice to be able to share the house & the area with friends- look forward to doing more of that in the future!

what's blooming now

my first trip back to fairfield since the end of may. things are blooming like crazy, including the tail end of the camas. these are in the field behind the house-

don't know what this is yet-

this is a camas

these look like phlox, but have large flowers

fleabane

we found these on a short hike this morning behind the ski area.

western peony 

unidentified

potentilla

wild geranium

mountain bluebell

a couple more not sure

silverleaf phacelia

a field of camas

sky

and the birds- a snipe (true!)

sandhill cranes

we're trying to indentify this one

the swainson's hawks eggs have hatched- i saw one little head pop up, but didn't get the shot. this is mom hanging by the nest ( i think)

and dad doing the lookout

steve's headed up next weekend, my next trip is 4th of july- when we'll have a full house for music, fireworks, hiking, biking & general mayhem. hope the neighbors don't mind the tent colony in the back yard! :)