some wildlife at the ranch

Some recent wildlife at the ranch.

iPhone 12 pro max camera

I took some low light photos using the iPhone Pro Max which has three imagers and the wiz bang algorithmic image processing. 

this and that - feb 2015

a post with a few words

my german dish - meine leberkäse und schweinshaxe

I have been on a roll to try my hands on making dishes amongst the German cuisines. This is my first attempt to make leberkäse. Seems it is a pretty easy thing to make. I also tried making schweinshaxe - a common German beer garden (Biergarten) staple. My excuse for going wholehog? To break up the monotony of learning the German language. Why of all the languages, German, and for a Chinese? That would be another subject of my post to come soon.

bee hummingbird

According to wikipedia, bee hummingbird is the world's smallest bird.

love is in the air

We have been having the nicest weather in January here in Oregon for what I can remember. There have been week-long stretches of mild and dry days and unusual warm nights which is very atypical of the Pacific Northwest.

crows harass and chase away hawk

I was out walking today and I captured this video. There were a colony of crows on a nearby tree making quite a commotion. On the top of a nearby sequoia tree and I spotted a large hawk sitting on top.

douglas squirrels

I have never heard of Douglas Squirrels until I moved into my current house. While there are a lot of squirrels here in Portland Oregon, the most common ones are the fox and grey squirrels. Fox squirrels are non native to Oregon introduced from Eastern US.

a robin family

It all started in mid March. There is this robin keep flying into the clerestory windows of my living room. I was very puzzled with its strange behavior.

luckiest birdies - a near disaster

Of all the trees on my property I treasure this very old plum tree the most. It gives me the protection from the sun from sun rise to late afternoon. I built a raised deck around its trunk to take advantage of the shade offered by its canopy.

signs of spring - part 2

Ever since the buds on the plum tree emerged I have been checking them daily full of anticipation of the arriving spring. We have a few days of dry spell though the temperature has just turned colder again and there are days of winds and drizzles.

signs of spring

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have been having a very mild March. In the last few days you and see the daily change in the vegetation. The buds on the plum tree in my garden were barely noticeable a couple of weeks ago. This morning there are already a few early boomers; just a few barely open little pink flowers.