Beauty and the beasts

During a beautiful spring day, a crab spider waits to ambush insects on a plum blossom in an orchard on a farm near Elkton, Ore., on Wednesday, March 30, 2016.

A larger spider waits for an ambush on her blossom.

Honey bee forages for nectar

A honey bee forages for nectar on a plum blossom in an orchard on a farm near Elkton in southwestern Oregon, on Tuesday, March 29, 2016. After months and months of rain, today was finally fit for a honey bee.

Rare wildflowers in Oregon

A Calypso orchid grows on a damp forested hillside in southwestern Oregon on Saturday, March 26, 2016. The Calypso orchid, also known as the fairy slipper or Venus's slipper, has a circumpolar range from the northern United States and Canada to northern Europe, China, Russia, and Japan. In many areas they are considered rare and endangered.

A  trillium grows on a heavily forested hillside near the Umpqua River in southwestern Oregon on Saturday, March 26, 2016. In many areas trilliums are considered a rare and even endangered plant species. 

A small wild lily.

Death and rebirth on the first day of spring

On the first day of spring, raindrops dapple wildflowers and a dead mouse in an orchard near Roseburg in rural southwestern Oregon on Sunday, March 20, 2016. The mouse possibly died when recent heavy rains flooded its burrow. 

Spring flowers

On the first day of spring, raindrops dapple a plum blossom in an orchard near Roseburg in rural southwestern Oregon on Sunday, March 20, 2016.

Peach blossoms

Spring song

A Pacific chorus frog, also know as a Pacific tree frog, sings his mating call in a pond on a ranch near Elkton in Southwester Oregon on Saturday, March 19, 2016. 

Mosquitos feed on a mating pair of Pacific tree frogs. 

Grrrrrr, it's my stick

Cocoa the chocolate lab and Lily the border collie have fun flaying in a flooded orchard on our ranch in southwestern Oregon on Sunday, March 13, 2016.

Lily gets a little worked up when she has the stick.