Hot Days in June

We're already at the hot part of summer - it seems like just a few weeks ago we were complaining about how cold it was here still.  Ah well, each season moves forward.

This past week, as we've been wandering SCR, we've seen a snake skin (below); caught flowers in their last bloom; found a new reptile that we haven't seen before; and simply enjoyed the beauty of the earth.

We were happy to see the little painted bunting below enjoying himself at our feeder.

Enjoy life.

My lilies on the patio finally bloomed!

Kinda hard to see, but this is the shed snake skin Tim found

Anyone know what kind of lizard this is?

Beauty of the Day

We were out for a stroll across Sage Creek Ranch the other day.  These are some of the sites we regularly see on our journey.

First we saw this little creature walking right next to our path.  We think he and his family (and cousins and their families) live in our ponds.

Tried to catch his head before he pulled it all the way back in

Then we came across this beautiful butterfly.  His colors are so striking.

The little bee was a great bonus.

We've planted more thistle (in addition to what grows naturally) as it attracts all kinds of creatures to our property.

Some of the fields of thistle

We honor our fallen servicemen and women today and give thanks for their sacrifice for our freedom. Enjoy your freedom today!

Song Birds

It's that time of year - Songbird time!  We do a number of things inside our wildlife certification to attract and retain songbirds on our property.  Here are some of the cardinals and goldfinches we are seeing recently.

Sage Creek Ranch is truly lovely at this time of year.  It is delightful and so nurturing to have land that takes care of us like this.  We are completely grateful for the opportunity to steward this space.

It cactus blooming time!

The puppy's - pink ones and white ones - are blooming

A new oak grows to replace those we lost last week

We wanted to have a photo of all the green grass

So that when it's gone in a month or so, we'll remember.

The first tulips are blooming!!

Ranch Updates

It's a beautiful day at Sage Creek Ranch.  We're in that time of year when things are blooming, the temps are fabulous, the birds are singing and all is well.

These are the promised before/after pics of the tree clearing we did to promote and encourage our wildlife.

Before:

After:

The photo above is of the big pile of trees and debris from the clearing.

This photo (below) is before Tim planted the grasses.

This next photo is of the grasses coming in after the seeding:

Unfortunately, we discovered that some daisies that Tim had bought at Home Depot came home with Carpet Beetles.  After reading up on these critters, I wasn't happy with Home Depot.  If these things get in the house, they are very difficult to remove and they eat every kind of fabric (and well as a host of other things).  I got the 4 plants out of the garden asap and Tim sprayed (although spray isn't supposed to really help much, I thought it would be better than doing nothing).

However, even with the pests, it IS spring and the Indian Paintbrushes are beginning to bloom.

Yesterday's Garden

Beautiful roses. Until today and we discovered both mealy bugs and carpet beetles. Ugh. It's too early in the season to begin our skirmishes with the mealy bugs.

Oh happy day

Feedin' the catfish at pond 1 (gonna have to create a better name than that).

Feeding the deer

Tim has some regular spots where he leaves some delish corn kernels for the deer. It's always gone when he comes back...

Feeding the catfish in the far pond

There aren't many of the catfish left in the ponds right now - the water is so low. And when we had all the rain last fall, we think the bigs ones made a run back to the big lake on the overflow water.

Oh Happy Day

Oh Happy Day

(I'm trying uploading to our blog from my phone - haven't done this before!)

We did some work around the ranch today for our Wildlife Certification.

The weather was perfect and the day was glorious!

A long time gone

Hi everyone -I've been gone from our blog for a long time now.  A lot has happened in that time here on Sage Creek Ranch.


Tim has done some major work on the land.  One of the changes was to clear quite a bit - a few acres.  This change has modified the landscape to allow different birds and animals nesting (and hiding) space.  In these areas, it's now like walking in a park rather than the woods.  It's really lovely.






Lots of trees have been cut and/or cut down entirely to create the space.  We have a huge pile of tree debris that I'll post later.

Although much of the land still looks similar.  For example, no changes have been made to the pond at this time.  Just behind the pond is the picnic area with tables and a fire pit.  It's also a nice camping spot.  We had some friends here for a bachelor party just last weekend.

And, one other new feature is the spa tub.  Tim and I gave this to ourselves for the holidays last year.  We use it almost daily.  We love our tub in the woods and under the stars.