Just to the west of my farmhouse, just across the driveway stands my (can't believe it's actually 'mine') orchard.
North (Canadian) Facing View of Orchard
That's a total bonus as I've always wished I'd had fruit trees, but sadly, I was always too discombobulated to plant any. Shortly after I moved into the house at the end of April, I noticed the trees were in bloom.
I knew there were both apples and pear trees, as the previous tenant of the cottage told me the deer love to come by and eat the fallen pears. I also could have guessed as apple trees are as common as sparrows in Washington. A week or two later, there were ensy little fruits forming where the flowers had been.
Mini-fruit in Mid May
Additional mini-pears
There are about a dozen apple and pear trees on the 1.9 acres here. I get excited because as the fruit began to grow I could see there are more than one variety here, although I do not know what varieties are present. But I can guess!
The fat pears by the driveway look like Anjou type pears...
Pears on a neighboring tree at least superficially resemble Bosc type pears
And this tree, also in the circular driveway area, are perhaps my favorite 'red' pear variety
But wait, there's more! Aside from several pear trees (my favorite hand fruit) there are the ever present Washington Apple trees.
Mystery Apples with red freckled & green skin
Apples, Red as Cherries
The red apples have me a tiny bit over-excited. My housemate Curt, from when I was staying at Ingrid's house, brought us a few deeply ruby apples, and the thrill was that fruit had red flesh! I was so intrigued, never having seen apples with anything other than yellow or white interior flesh.
Then a couple of days ago, Curt was on Flown Piggies mowing and weed wacking, and he brought with him, a gift of tiny red apples with red interiors. Unlike the previous red-fleshed apples, these apples were quite tiny, no bigger than ping pong balls.
Teeny Tiny Red fleshed Apples
Ruby Red interiors
I was so happy to get a second sampling of these unique fruits. In flavor, they were tart and mildly sweet. Because of their tart flavor and small size, my friend/neighbor Barbara - who got her share of the tiny treasures - think the red fruit might not be totally ripe as yet.
So all that need be done now is to wait for the apples and pears in the orchard to finish ripening. They seem so huge to look at them, but when you sniff them, they haven't any odor at all and are rock hard. They might be HUMONGOUS when they are done with the ripening process.
While we humans wait for the ripening fruit, the local deer seem unperturbed by such details as ripeness, and they are enjoying the windfall fruit now. Video below shows one of the more polite piggies... erm, does, 'nibbling' at a windfall pear. Come for the nibbles, keep watching to see the doe in the background, standing on her hind legs to get at better bits in an apple tree.
UPDATE: My red orchard apples have regular yellow/white flesh, not red. Rats.
Since the day I arrived with intent to live here in Clallam County, I've been on the lookout for wild Roosevelt Elk. I have spotted them on previous, vacationing visits. The last time had been on the drive over to Neah Bay, which is as far northwest as you can get in the lower 48. So I know they are here - somewhere. Forward to a sightseeing drive with my friend Barbara on our way from downtown Sequim, to our homes.
Full grown rackadoodle with coloring
of the youngster we spotted
I took the 'scenic route' driving from Washington Street and curled around Washington Harbor road. I didn't drive to the end of Washington Harbor, which about a week ago got us a view of a raccoon mom and her kits, racing across the road. Shortly after that, with classic Disney timing, the tiniest baby popped out of the shrubbery, not only adorable, but a rare lutino - partial - albino After staring at the car in abject horror, the tiny thing ran back into the shrubbery, there it continued staring. I was so befuddled & charmed I didn't even grab a camera for a shot. I know. I'm an idjit.
So no raccoons today, but we drove on past the dairy farm, with it's bjillions of black & white Holstein cows. Then we took the winding Schmuck Road (yes, Schmuck Road). I was, natch, driving, and it was Barbara who spotted the herd of 22 elk off in the distance. The photo below gives you an idea how far off the herd was.
So excited. We now live where one can spot magnificent Roosevelt Elk on a drive back from the grocery store! The herd consisted entirely of cow elk and their half grown calves-of-the-year. While some peacefully grazed on the grass, others were down, lolling on the ground, enjoying a nap or working on their vitamin D levels.
I recently broke down, retiring my iPhone 6S plus, buying a Galaxy A20 Ultra. One of the main draws for me was the android includes quite the array of cameras. All the photos here (save for the raccoon) were taken with it. Not bad, not bad at all.
I was driving, so uncharacteristically had my eyes actually on the road (can you imagine?). The entire herd would have one unseen without someone, with open eyes, riding shotgun. So I congratulate Barb on her wildlife spotting skills. Rest assured in future, gliding along Schmuck Road I will be scanning the distance for elk.
Newly fledged Baldie in its adorable baby-downy-speckled plumage swooping by the front porch
My dining room window faces north towards the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. This morning my attention was glued to the 1 acre field across the road. The field has 'grass as high as an elephant's eye' and today the grass is being mowing & harvested for livestock feed.
View from my porch (adult eagle is the polka dot, on the grass, to right of the truck)
I was working on line, watching the progress of the field mower, when a HUGE raptor floated in front my startled eyes - Juvie Bald Eagle! I stared as it swooped and got so close to my window I thought it might crash into it. Then an adult baldie (mom or dad?) was swooping around after its wayward baby, in a game of 'catch me if you can'.
Panting baby Baldie out for a spin
Talk about your photo opts! After several minutes I knew I HAD to retrieve the camera so I ran out to the garage, grabbed the camera out of the car, bolting back to the kitchen, then out onto the front porch. Turned on my camera and aimed.... NO BATTERY POWER, DAMN IT! Raced back to the garage, got another battery, then back on the porch for shots of the baldies swooping about.
Yeah. That would drive any birder buggy all right...
The baby Baldie landed in the power pole on the road by my front porch. Got photos of the baby messing with a nice wad of grass it had picked up out of the mowed field. I think that makes the grass a Baldie Tinker Toy.
Baby Baldie playing with a wad of grass
The adult sitting in field across the way, while its oversized baby comes in for a landing
The following hour was full of Bald Eagle antics, lots of eagle screams and chasing. Handyman Jim II came out of where he's working in the cottage, to see some of the action. The adult eagle landed in one of... wait for it, wait for it... MY TREES! Yes loads of photos of that.
Oh yeah, an eagle all up in my tree
Then as Jim II and I watched, and we were too excited to do anything but gape... a second adult eagle smacked right into the perched eagle, knocking it right out of the tree! I swear I heard it yelling 'TAG, YOU'RE IT!' That was followed by me screaming explicatives (poor Jim II) and the eagles bulleting around the fields again.
One or the other of the two adults has periodically sat on a snag at the Dungeness bay for about a month. My guess now is they have a rookery nest over by the bay somewhere. I think their single chick is now out and about, playful and causing its Mom & Dad all sorts of aggravation.
Stick a fork in me, I'm done!
While baby watches, Adult eagle is about to land on the snag over the Dungeness inlet
Adult panting in tree up the road, after a game of catch with baby
