Non Flowering Plum Tree

Each year I am newly amazed at how quickly spring comes here in the central valley. Winter is thankfully short for us, while I am hearing news reports of blizzards and storms and rain and tornadoes in other parts of the country we are enjoying the best time of the year here. A few months from now it will start getting hot, but right now the flowers are blooming and the breezes blowing and even if the air may not be all that clean, the windows get opened up and the days are quite enjoyable.

I wanted to get a few pictures of our backyard non flowering plum tree before all the blossoms fall, a name that still confuses me since it does produce beautiful flowers but no plums. I guess that is the non flowering part of it all, no fruit.

The rose vine or whatever this plant is, I've long ago forgotten the name of it, is also in bloom with tiny yellow flowers.

They don't last long either but sure are pretty for a few weeks.

Out front we have a big flower bed that has been taken over by African Daisies and in a few weeks it should have hundreds of flowers blooming. No pictures today but some soon!

Keith has been telling me that the hills that he goes through on the train are covered with California poppies and the purple lupines. We have not had a day when Keith has been home and rested enough  to take a drive outside of town yet, but hopefully this year we will get a chance to do so and see the hills in all their glory. There was a story on the local news about people stopping alongside Hwy 58 on the way to Tehachapi to look at the flowers and take pictures, a highway that is a freeway and you are not supposed to stop along said freeway unless it is an emergency. The Highway Patrol wanted to remind everyone that it is dangerous to stop alongside the road and even more dangerous to cross the road to get a better view, and that wildflowers are not an emergency!

This is a picture I found on the internet of what is making people stop along freeways.

Hopefully we will get a chance to go see them in person sometime soon. We don't have to stop along the freeway since we know the back roads to take to get you right in the middle of the hills.

Unusual Scene Outside My Window

Well, first off a storm coming is unusual for us, the wind is blowing and rain is supposed to start tonight. The news last night had a story about how people are being advised to take down big holiday decorations, in particular those big blow up santas and such, otherwise they may blow on down the street. The spokesman for the CHP talked a bit about how if you see something blocking the road (big blow up santas for example) you should call 911 because it is an emergency. He was talking more along the lines of downed tree limbs and power lines, but I'm sure a big blow up santa will end up on some road somewhere in town.

So, while waiting for the storm and listening to the wind chimes bang around and a few trash cans blowing over, wind chimes that I will take down before nightfall and I'll also bring the trash can in, today being trash day and it's still sitting on the curb, I was working on some stuff in the front room and glanced out the window to see this.

Yes, that is an UPS delivery man on a bicycle with two trailers behind it delivering packages. He actually had a package for me, some glue that I ordered from an online office supply store, glue that Office Depot has not had in stock for a long time so why not just have it delivered to my door? Since he came to my door I just had to ask about the bike, never having seen a UPS guy delivering packages this way before. Apparently the truck drops the bike off and away he pedals. Or in today's case, pushes the bike because it's very windy outside and unless the wind is behind you it's really difficult to go riding off. You don't get very far with each pedal and it takes a lot of effort to go just a little ways, speaking from experience here. I try to avoid riding in the wind so it's a good thing we don't get all that windy here very often or I'd never ride the bike anywhere.

I also find my front yard flower bed a little unusual, maybe not for Bakersfield but when you think that it's almost halfway through December and winter starts in a week or so, flowers blooming away does seem a little strange.

Most of my flowers started out as those little six pack flowers with just like one bud on them and I can't believe how big they've gotten and how much they bloom. They really like where they are I guess, getting direct sun all day long. On sunny days anyway.

We also have some wildflowers in the other front flower beds, fall blooming ones that were in the mix of seeds Keith tossed in the dirt last spring. I'm glad the fall wildflowers don't get as big as the spring ones did, those were a bit much. The delicate yellow blossoms are the wildflowers. I have no idea what they are, but they are pretty.

I had a lovely surprise from one of the cats early this morning (probably Harri) when I staggered out of bed around 4:30 to go to the bathroom and stepped in something wet and soggy right outside my door and I'm so glad it wasn't poop but rather a hairball. A hairball is bad enough to step in when you are barefoot but poop is a lot worse and I know this from experience.