Amaryllis Blooms

The Amaryllis has two beautiful blooms that are as big as dinner plates. I had to add some support to keep it from falling over because it is so top heavy. Too bad the other Amaryllis bulbs don't seem to be sending up flowers. Below is yet another picture of the Owl sitting on the filter a couple of nights ago. He or she is spending an awful lot of time at the pond.

Tadpoles Galore

The wild toad party night a month ago has yielded hundreds of tadpoles. We noticed them this week and as we look closer, there are a bunch of them. You can see at least 20 tadpoles just in this tiny picture. It may take another month for these tadpoles to grow into new toads and climb out of the pond. At least those who are not gobbled up by the Goldfish.
The second picture is the first frog (as opposed to toad) of the season.

Owl Fishing Again

The Owl was back for another visit a couple of nights ago. The picture at the bottom was snapped first and I can't be sure if he was landing or fishing. The top picture shows him standing on one of the Styrofoam floats. I don't see any orange in his claws so maybe he hasn't gotten lucky yet on this visit. Both of these pictures show the Owl in the shallow end of the pond. We had a thought that maybe the Goldfish come to the shallow end to lay eggs and become a meal for the Owl.

Flash at the Pond

It has been a while since the camera captured an odd photo but we got one the other day. I call this one the flash. My guess is it was somehow caused by the sun reflecting off the gazing ball down to the river. A very interesting photo. The other picture is our Amaryllis plants that spent the winter in the garage. We replanted them the first week of March and one of the five is pushing up a flower stalk. Pretty soon we should have a beautiful flower in the living room.

Pineapple Update

About six weeks ago I reported a tiny pineapple was emerging from one of our pineapple plants. These pineapple plants have been grown from the head of pineapples we bought at the grocery store. The pineapple continues to grow, pushing higher in the plant and growing larger as it does. In a few weeks, the plant will go outside for the summer. I hope the small fruit is not attractive to squirrels or other critters that inhabit the neighborhood.

Hawk is not Camera Shy

The Hawk visited yesterday and wasn't bashful about posing for the camera. First he gave us a front on view and then a side profile. It looks like he is staring down into the pond perhaps trying to find some lunch. This week has been much cooler so the Goldfish are not very active. Instead they are hanging around the bottom of the pond so maybe the Hawk had to fly away disappointed. In addition the toads have headed back to the woods with the chilly temperatures so there are no frog legs available.