Details of trees starting at upper right: Lodgepole pine, 12' tall, 2.25" DBH. I like it and it has finally gotten tall enough to catch some sun. I will keep it but will remove in a few years before it gets too big to take down myself AV=arborvitae, approx 12 feet tall, my neighbors junipers are larger. They all provide just enough screening of the neighbors deck Norway Maple, 28' tall, 7.25" DBH. I like it but it is close to the house and I have started corrective pruning to slow it down and get it to the shape I like Narrowleaf Cottonwood?, single trunk coming from ground, but immediately splits into two trunks, each about 30' high and 4.5" DBH. Nice fall color, narrow trees now, but they send out lots of suckers many feet away and I will take it out once I get some other trees established. I have already started cutting it back. Pussy Willow? tree. 32 stems from about 0.5" DBH to 4" DBH. 22' high. I really like this tree but everyone has warned me it won't last long, and last year it looked pretty sickly. I'm not sure that it's a pussy willow or what exact pussy willow it might be, but it's something similar. It doesn't seem to sucker very much or form new shoots when I trim it. This one will go eventually also. No good fall color and the flowering in the spring isn't that great. Corkscrew willows: 20' tall/ 5.5" DBH and 30' tall, 6.7" DBH. I like these a lot because they provide good screening of the neighbors yard, they don't take up much room towards the ground, and they are indestructible/don't show effects of storm damage and pruning. I have started cutting them back to keep them below 25' but eventually I want to replace them with something more interesting. Plains Cottonwoods: 33'/7.25"; 35"/6.6"; 30'/3.5". Nice fall color and narrow trees but they will get very large. They are already too big to take down myself, especially because they are bending into my neighbor's yard. Ponderosa pine, 9'/1.25, If this tree gets bigger it will provide some nice green in the winter to break up the view of the neighbors' houses. It is in a lot of shade but I cut back my neighbors small crabapple tree that was right on top of it and maybe it will do better. Autumn Purple white ash? 33'/10.5" This is the main shade tree in the yard and very nice. I like the later orange fall color better than the earlier purple fall color. But emerald ash borer was found in Boulder, Colorado last year, 15 miles from here. I will try to keep and treat this tree as long as I can. Colorado Blue Spruce, 30'/8.5". It's now clear that the ash has won and is topping this tree, they are very close together but the spruce looks good and provides good privacy from the neighbors. I cut off the bottom three feet of limbs three years ago and am very glad I did. smaller clump of Aspens (near the ash), tallest is 30'/4.3", two other trees a little smaller, and one only 12'/1.25". Great fall color. larger clump of aspens near deck: tallest is 40'/6.8" and is the tallest tree in the yard. Wonderful fall color. People have warned me that aspens don't last a long time but these seem to be doing great and I will keep them as long as possible. There are also four ornamental trees/shrubs less than 8" tall, not sure what they all are, one is an Amur honeysuckle that I don't really like, and the others are also flowering and not very impressive (of course they are in a lot of shade). Also lots of potentilla bushes which I really like, and a mounding juniper which I like, and roses, peonies etc which are in too much shade now. Here's a view in mid fall of the aspens, ash and spruce This post was edited by olreader on Wed, Jan 29, 14 at 15:32

Wow, really hard to tell with that photo. Looks to be a fledgling as there doesn't seem to be much of a tail. My guess would be house finch by what I can see but can't tell if there is any other color other than brown/white on it. Donna

Great slideshow! Really enjoyed it. Want to share one with you too. My buddy did this clip, but he's a little bit shy to share his work, so i do it for him :) It's about butterflies, and it's very beautiful, i hope, you'll like it :) Here is a link that might be useful: My buddy's butterfly slideshow

Oh, I am sure it will be fun. Yesterday evening one dived down into the yard, flew under the shade sail over the pond and snatched a bee of of a flower. I am sure once they have babies to feed, that will be a common occurrence. They fly so fast, darting and diving in what looks like a very wreckless manner. They are in pursuit of insects so they don't follow a straight line when they fly. The next couple of months should be quite interesting!