A few pictures from my back yard adventures this morning.

Oops! I just realized that I hadn't uploaded the picture of the rose that I was talking about, so here she is... The purple flower in the previous group is Salvia Leucantha (Mexican sage) the flower stocks are approximately 18" long and look and feel like purple velvet. They bloom here almost year around.

Okay, so I took a lesson from Sandy, and went out into my own back yard. I found some lovelies to share. The rose is a Gertrude Jekell and her fragrance is DEVINE!!! I think the rest are pretty self explanatory.

I had a meeting at work this morning, on my way home I stopped off and took just a couple of quick shots. I love this old tractor and have been meaning to stop and shoot it for a while. The sunlight was pretty strong on it this morning, I may try an evening shot and see what I think of that.

Once in awhile, you just happen to be in the right place at the right time. I loved the little ray of sunlight coming through the window of the barn in addition to the gorgeous sunset. I realized after I posted this comment, you can't see the ray of sunlinght I was talking about. There is just a little dot of light in the front corner of the barn, in the actual photograph, it is larger and orange, from the glow of the sun. Funny, converting a file does strip very small bits of information out, in this case it is very noticeable to me...

These are my two hiking side kicks, Bridget and 'Pan'demonium affectionately known as (Goon and Groans because Bridget is so goofy looking sometimes and Pan because he groans if you bump him with your foot while he is sleeping).
I thought I would include a couple of vista shots to kind of give you a feeling of the area, the farm out in front of Pan is Rush Ranch, where I was shooting last week.

These are some shots I took this morning while hiking with the dogs. Wild flowers are bustin' loose at the moment, laid out like bathing beauties at the beach. I included a close up of a fly that posed for a picture and I took a picture of a leg found left laying around, probably the rest of the leg owner is inside a birds gullet. The vetch is coming to the end of it's bloom but is still very pretty.

Couldn't resist one more shot of the cat mint. I love it with the orange in the background. My first blue Dutch Iris is blooming! Maybe a painting tomorrow! Last is my Nastursums. This is an old fashioned variety with large flowers and very large leaves. I gathered the seeds form a friends home. I love the way some of the flowers almost look painted, the colors running into one another.