Tamed Viola

Hubby found this "unusual flower" in the aspen tree area.  I'd say it looks like a volunteer viola.  I suggested we transplant it, thinking transplant to the area next to the fence where the roses and lavendar are.  Hubby misunderstood and got the little pot we got from our granddaughter.

I think it looks just fine here too.

Freedom!

The other day Clyde "found" a couple of prairie rats stuck in the culvert at the mobile home site.  This picture shows one of them. The other had dug itself in and was hiding.  If you look closely you can see these were not the first to get stuck in here.  (Click on the picture to enlarge.) The white spot in the center is a skull of a rat!

Although we shoot them out in the field we felt it was only fair to give them a fighting chance.  So we stuck a stick into the hole.  It didn't take long before they climbed out on their own and were gone.  

See you later in a more fair fight!

Two Fragrant Wild Shrubs

On our drive yesterday we passed several large shrubs and stopped to investigate.

This first one was obviously a wild rose.  It had soft pink blossoms, the jaggedy edged leaves, and of course some nasty little thorns on the stems.  It also was surprisingly fragrant.  I say surprising, at least to me, because I didn't think a wild rose had such a strong scent.  It was really nice and sweet.

The second shrub was just about all over in the canyon.  It was covered with rose like flowers and I actually thought it was a wild white rose until we stopped and took a closer look.

The difference with this big bush is there are no thorns, and the leaves are a little different.  When I took a whiff of these blossoms I was just about knocked over.  So delicious!  A very strong sweet scent that reminded me a lot of a freesia or gardenia or stock.  I absolutely love it.  

Though with the exception of the color, the blossoms look almost identical to the wild rose.  When we got home we did a little on line research and the best we could come up with was the rose is a sweet briar and the extremely fragrant white bush is a western mock orange.

If you know any better or know anything of these plants please let me know!

Makes me want to plant a bunch all around the house!

Roberts Bay (Prineville Reservoir)

I had a rough day at work yesterday and I'm off until Thursday.  Today we decided to see if we could find the road to the south side of the Prineville Reservoir.  We packed a picnic lunch and headed out.  

The scenery, as usual, was very pretty.  This was a peculiar large rock sitting all by itself on the opposite side of the little valley.

Up close.

After going on an 8 mile long dirt/gravel road we finally reached the entrance to the Roberts Bay area.

The above sign is to the right of this picture.  Just around the bend is the lake.

The spot where we had our lunch.  It was really pretty.

And just looking to the right from the above picture.  Given the remoteness of the location we were surprised at the number of campers.  But then, can you blame them with this view?

After lunch we decided to try and find the other road that goes to another little finger of the reservoir.

On the way.

It was so beautiful!  All that white is a carpet of flowers!

I believe this is Bear Creek.

At the end of the road we did indeed find the finger of the reservoir.  There is no camping there, just a very small parking lot.

On the way home...

What can I say?  Beautiful!  This is the kind of thing that makes me feel better!