Welcome to this week’s edition of Nature Friday. As we always do, we’re joining Rosy and Sunny from Adventures of the LLB Gang. Wilson here with today’s offering. Last week I shared a PBS link about the orphans of the Retiti Rescue Center. You may have seen Part 2 this week on PBS, but if not, I encourage you to click on YouTube link, if you love animals and happy endings in Nature, you’ll be glad you did. I know I sure did. Those baby elephants will steal your heart.
Wilson: Oooh, Mum…that was so good. I’m glad we got to watch part 2 of that Nature episode this week. It was reaffirming watching humans work hard for years trying to save multiple species of orphans and to meet the next group as they work toward re-wilding each of them.
The Mum: It was a very touching conclusion to the first episode. I hadn’t realized there was a second one and it made me realize we need to record more episodes of Nature on PBS. We love that it shows elements of the natural world that we don’t get to see every day and highlights some of the pitfalls many animals face in a warming planet.
Wilson: Sounds good to me. But in other news, it happened again…we got hoodwinked into believing our weather forecast which called for a couple of inches of white stuff with cold temps. As usual, we received the cold part, although it was not quite as cold predicted in the 20’sF approximately -6C, with a freeze warning. The temps hovered slightly above freezing but featured what we are beginning to accept as normal around here…windy conditions. And not a flake in sight. In fact, the sky is only cloudy in our neighborhood so maybe precipitation will happen later {fingers crossed}. Mum brought in the herbs she had purchased earlier in the week, just in case. She probably didn’t need to bother but she didn’t want to take a chance and below freezing temps may occur tonight.
The Mum: I’m going to start taking weather forecasts with a grain of salt. Being off a few degrees is one thing but to get people all wigged out about impending precipitation is a bridge too far to cross. The only thing we can definitely count on being correct are windy conditions.
Wilson: Well, in the good news department, you were able to attend a fundraiser at the neighborhood’s premiere garden center last evening and what a great batch of flowers you saw. Just look at some of these photos.
The Mum: It was a totally amazing array of unusual plants which I especially love to see. I’m not a big fan of the big box stores with their limited selection of unusual plants, so this was quite the treat. And because it was a fundraiser for a good cause, there were vendors of all manner, much like a farmer’s market so my friend and I were able to sample various tasty treats and see an outstanding selection of craft items. It had been years since I last visited Echter’s and I was blown away by their selection. They bill themselves as carrying many unusual varieties of flowers not typically found at other garden centers. With over 70,000 square feet of indoor space, they carry over 2500 different varieties of flowers every year and their plants are not sold at other locations. In addition, they offer trees, shrubs, houseplants, garden art, houseplants, birdhouses and bird seed and all manner of supplies to beautify and take care of your garden. They also are a big supporter of the community and offer their facilities for events at no charge. They also host a quilt show, a glass and art show so I plan to attend more events in the future.
Wilson: Just look at these beauties! Mum loves interesting and unusual plants and these bi-colored geranium leaves qualify and she was blown away by the gorgeous Ranunculus, a massive Delphinium, a speckled Rose and of course, our gorgeous state flower, the blue Columbine to name a few. The pond area was very zen-like as well.
The Mum: Yes, it was such a lovely evening walking about the enormous greenhouse and outside grounds. Oohs and ahhs came from every single row of flowers. It was such a lovely evening spent with a former colleague from the law firm. We hadn’t seen each other since we both retired and we recently learned on Facebook that we lived a mere 5 minutes away from each other. It was a lovely evening that allowed us to see interesting and beautiful plants and get a bit caught up on the personal front since our mutual retirements. We’re hoping to get together again soon. It was such fun.
Wilson: What a strange creature, Mum. What was that last topiary?
The Mum: Not 100% sure but it looked mostly like an elk. Whatever it was it was pretty cool. So how was your week? Do you have anything planned for the weekend? Whatever you do we both hope you are able to get outside and check out all the beauty nature provides. Have a wonderful weekend and if you’re like us, you’ll ignore the weather forecast-it’s probably way off.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Hello mates…top of the morning to you and welcome to another segment of Nature Friday where we join Rosy and Sunny from the 
Welcome to April’s first edition of Nature Friday. Today also happens to be Good Friday and Passover began a couple of days ago, so first off, we first want to wish everyone a Happy Easter and send our best Passover greetings to our Jewish friends.
Well, well, well…here we are although Mum wasn’t expecting to post today because of all the traveling back and forth to Pueblo but she learned late yesterday that she didn’t need to go down today so here we are. Maybe she can relax a bit now. Course this means I’ve gotta scramble like a mad hatter to 
Welcome to the official arrival of Spring. It seemed like winter was year’s long even though we received hardly any snow or much cold. I know folks back on the East Coast, had it a whole lot worse than we did but it still seems like winter was endless. Wilson here and as always, we’re joining Rosy and Sunny from the 
We saw another coyote just two days later. Notice the snow is completely gone. The temperatures started warming up and have been in the mid 80’sF since. The forecast is calling for 90F (32.2C) by tomorrow. In March, people! 90F bloody degrees. What the dog!
Welcome to the last Friday of February where we’re joining those kids from 
Wilson here. I know Mum whines a lot about the lack of moisture (for which I apologize about that) but seriously, have you ever seen 148 vehicles melted from a vegetation fire before? It’s quite alarming when the sky is black with smoke. But we soldier on…it’s all we can do…and pray Mother Nature takes pity on the West and stops dumping mounds of snow repeatedly on the East coast. We heard there is another system set to hit again this weekend.
The Mum: It’s kind of depressing, although I was delighted to see a few bulbs emerging around the neighborhood that we walk through every day. This small clump of crocuses caught my eye from quite a distance away since the landscape is so very brown. I felt like I needed to water the newly installed landscaping because things looked extremely parched and have notice others along our regular walking route also resorting to supplemental watering. I just grateful the development we moved into has not installed any turf–only trees, shrubs and drought tolerant perennials. I’m making a list of the kinds of plants I hope to install (and bulbs for next spring) once the risk of frost has passed. Still it’s hard to conceive spring is just three weeks away.
Howdy peeps, Wilson dropping in here for this week’s edition of Nature Friday where we join our mates from at 
Welcome to the last Friday of January. As always, we’re joining our friends over at 
