Pheasant Season

Its growing to a close but the pheasant season has brought lots of hunters to the Ranch. The birds generally hide in the dried tall grass of winter. As the hunters and their dogs walk through the fields, the birds try to escape. The birds that I've seen are about 1 1/2 feet tall and very colorful.

I was working in my Ranch office and heard some tweeting noises and out the window as a beautiful pheasant. You can see from the colors that he should be able to blend in pretty well to the surroundings. If you get to look close, you see the green and reds on the breast of the males.

Paperwhites

I remember with fondness how my grandmother had summer flowers growing in a oval shaped bowl resting on the dining room buffet. It would be January and as a kid, I could not understand how the beautiful flowers bloomed indoors when it was so cold outside. She would tell me said she was "forcing bulbs", I didn't get it.

Over the years I've read that you could "force bulbs" but I'd not tried this method of growing flowers, until this year. It was shortly after Christmas when I found on a Lowe's 70% off clearance table a packaged gift item that included 4 bulbs, a vase and the dirt. For $3.20 I could give this technique a try ; so why not!

Look at my results! At first I was amazed that the bulbs sprouted green stems, now I'm thrilled to see the beautiful white flowers that popped out just last Friday.

Of all things, these flowers are the ones I remember Grandmother planting the most: Paperwhites! That is what she called them and the memories flooded in when the blooms popped out!

The older I get the more I'm amazed by the little things that mean some much.