From the Redwood Forests

From the National Geographic website.

Our backyard wildlife exists within a regional ecology that includes redwood forests. There are lots of great pictures and information on redwoods in the October, 2009 edition of National Geographic magazine. You can buy it at the store now, or free online.

Video about making photographs in the redwood forest:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/video/player#/?titleID=nichols-redwoods-gatefold&catID=1

Poster from October, 2009 National Geographic:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/redwoods/gatefold-image

Belated Bloom Day, October 2009--photos by Frida

She reminded me of bloom day, took the pictures, and reluctantly allowed Rainer to take one of her. Now she's looking over my shoulder helping identify.

Chamomile

Another kind of fuschia, maybe the most amazing flower I've ever seen.

Dandelions around the edge of the big hole. Rainer's back at it after taking the summer off from digging.

Daisies with a stunted red poppy.

Don't know what they are but they survived a lot of neglect before they were put in the ground.

Another survivor-thriver that loves shade. Violets?

This giant sequoia redwood is growing at an alarming rate! Started from seed, Rainer claims urine is the best fertilizer for this species.

The horrors of this season

So, looks like about 1 full inch, right? We respected this pumpkin spider. It made a huge web all over our door step. We walked to the side. Took pictures. Then Zak came home and we all got excited to run out and meet him. I ran through the web! This spider crawled on me for twenty seconds. It finally jumped off from somewhere on me and crawled under the car. I shiver to tell the tale!