Walk around the block

We are going on a walk around my neighborhood today. Several weeks ago one of my blogging buddies over at "Ramblings from an English Garden" took us on a walking tour of her neighborhood, and asked us all to talk her on a walk. It has taken me a bit to get to it, but here we go.This is stepping out my front door looking directly west.

We are heading straight east to the backyard, and heading off into the wetlands/sagebrush behind my house. Bella my cat is going to accompany me only as far as the property line goes it seems. We have a little tiny lot in the middle of Eastern Washington, backing up to a "sage belt" that is being saved in the middle of all the encroaching development. It is highly valued for its old growth sage and wildlife preserve. What has gotten the attention of our local environmentalist is the baby salmon spawning in our Amon Creek. This is a rare (in the middle of our of a desert) natural spring that flows into the Yakima River, which in turn dumps into our great big Columbia River.

Here is the view I see out my back. Pretty bleak looking, especially in the winter.
Here are the new houses in my neighborhood sitting right on the edge of the desert.

I am looking back and taking this picture of my house sticking out seemingly in the middle of no where while I am heading due south.

Now we are heading down into the wetlands.

In the summer I can't get this close because of all the willows. My development is aptly named Willowbrook. We have a lot of ducks and geese that spend the winter here.
Now we are heading east into the open sageland.

As you can see there is a lot of off road vehicle traffic that the environmentalists are trying to keep out, because they are causing so much erosion to this old growth sage area.
Some more water area on the other side. We are still heading east.

This is now looking back west at my neighborhood across the sagebrush.

Now we are taking a turn across the back of this reserve heading north.
Heading back west looking at some of the desert. I know it looks bleak, but this walk is so peaceful, no human noise, just birds and such. A great place for me to talk to God. We are bordered on the northside by a city park. You can see some of the winter dead grass and a peek at my house in the distance.

Zooming in on the back of my house across the Amon Creek.

The back of my development and the surrounding hills and houses. That hill is called Little Badger Mt.

We have gone a bit south, and are now heading back over the creek into the neighborhood.

At the end of my street they have tried to set up barriers to keep the off road vehicles from accessing the sage lands/wet lands.

This is a raw brand new development. We were one of the first homes built here in 2006. Plant some trees people!
My home is coming up on the far right. We are heading north.
Here we are.

My front courtyard is lovely in the summer time.

Here is kitty waiting for me. She sure sticks close to home. Good thing, there are plenty of coyotes out in the desert. They love to eat kitties :[


This one is for you Barbara! Not as lush and lovely as your English countryside. In the summer I do garden intensely to give me that oasis feel.