Partner's Mom passed away early this morning.

Oh dang it... This one was moving too fast for me this morning and the picture is a bit blurry...

I've seen him out my bedroom window a few times in the last months. A young male who has dispursed to new territory. He's not a regular, but it's nice to see one of our native squirrels around!

I head out... and the Barn Swallow nest is empty again.

Heh. I think this time it will Stay empty!

I check the shrubbery along the creek, and do see a couple Barn Swallows from the flock, twittering and making swoops above. But the kids aren't here, and that's good. They are in the big world now, but they have support: They'll continue to get food from their parents, while they learn to fly and hunt!

The sunshine feels nice after a couple cloudy mornings! The forecast calls for more cooler temperatures but we've got perfectly normal temperatures today... the high is 84° (29°) and normal for this time of year is 85°. And I'm heading to the garden, just to weed, not to water.

The Comfrey I'm trying to kill keeps putting up leaves closer and closer to the Zuchinnis.

I should probably grab this Brandywine before it starts cracking. Altho I am watering less now, so maybe we can avoid the cracks in the tomatoes?

I just love the colour explosion here!

And this one is sitting in the Apple Tree right outside the Community Garden. The Apples are small and green and buggy. I wonder how the squirrels like them!

There was a Cahoots van on the bike path today... They were just finishing up with whatever crisis they dealt with, so I just saw them driving away.

But again, after the violence last week, it's good to see official presence on the bike path.

Tag: august 2024

So I had a dream last night about the Barn Swallows.

And I decided to visit the Barn Swallow nest again today, even tho the kids fledged yesterday.

And the kids are back!! ... ???

*Laughs* It was so unexpected, and I was so surprised, the first pictures weren't great!

Because fledged birds don't return to the nest! (Okay, Ospreys return. But little birds? No.) They just don't! Once they fledge, they are done with the nest.

But. This is Nature. You can't say things like Fledged birds Never return to the nest. Nature doesn't do absolutes. It's never Never and it's never Always!

There's Always variations! That's how evolution works! Everything is on a gradient, there are always those extremes at either end of the gradient... after all, those extremes might just become different species!

It's fun to think about these things!

But I calm myself. Fix the camera settings. And keep looking.

Preening! Is Baby Number Three in there as well?

Or maybe I can't call them Babies anymore. Since they have fledged! *laughs*

The one on the left continues to preen...

Ah-Ha! We do have all three!

Uh huh! The face of Number Three, the preening body of Number Two and flight feathers and tail of Number One.

The only thing I can come up with... it was a little bit chilly last night. It got down to 53° last night and these babies have grown up with days in the 90s and above, and nights around 60°.

They're just used to the hot! And possibly they came back to the nest to keep warm last night.

ha. Funny birds!

I keep walking, so that I can think for a minute... huh. Are these ... Plums?

I think so! The fruits are bigger than cherries, and the time for cherries is very over, they are ripening in June.

I will have to come back later to see what the pit looks like!

I go around my loop, and on the way back... Yep, all three.

Still preening. It must be a bit uncomfortable in there.

It's so cool that I get to see the babies one last time.

And then at the garden plot... my young friend is still hanging out!

There's actually two... Another Anna is also interested in this territory! But my friend was here first, and the other one gets chased off!

I'm just doing a light watering today, since it's not hot again today, just 78°.

Old German... with leaves of the primary SunGold! *laughs* SunGolds do tend to sprawl all over the place!

My friend, again. He just just so precious!!

One of the volunteer Tomatillos at the end of the Wax Bean trellis!

Heading home. Some late ripening Himalayan Blackberries... Along with some Bittersweet Nightshades in various stages, from purple blooms to red berries!

And from the news...

∞ Oregon wildfires: Record for acres burned broken
A total of 1,399 fires have burned 1.49 million acres or 2,200 square miles, surpassing the 2012 total of 1.2 million acres and the 2020 total of 1.14 million acres.

Dang. We haven't had any trouble this year with wildfires near town, except for that scary one near the Humane Society. And no wildfire smoke to deal with either.

But that's just luck. 1.49 million acres is a lot... and we aren't near to done with the wildfire season yet.

It's gonna get worse.

But in more personal news...

A motorcycle cop passed me on the bike path today.

Nice to see, after the violence that happened the other day. I waved and he nodded in reply.

Tag: august 2024

The high today is 76° (24°C) and the heavy clouds this morning look more like winter. This is definitely not August weather!

A super small Nutria... Is this the same bunch of Nutrias that I've been seeing? Why are they staying so small? (First seen Jul6.) I'd be surprised if this one even weighs 5 pounds. Adults usually weigh 15 to 20 pounds!

This cracks me up! A big ol' Squash plant is escaping the confines of the Community Garden! haha!

oh foo!

I thought I had days left to watch the babies!

I walked up and down the path next to the creek. In the past, babies from this set of parents have fledged out to the shrubs across the creek, right outside the bridge.

But not this time... I see the parents and other adults from the flock swooping circles above. The kids must be parked on the other side of the group of trees, where I can't see them. Foo!

I'm so disappointed, and when I get home I count the days...

I'm pretty sure the babies were being born on Thursday Jul25... which means... That's just 18 days!

Dang! Maybe because they had extra adults stuffing them full of food? But it's definitely within the normal range... according to AllAboutBirds, the nesting period for Barn Swallows is 15-27 days.

Oh well. I head back to the garden...

I love the big ol' mess that this plot has! Can you see the three Goldfinches?

The black one is a male Lesser Goldfinch...

And that funny looking one is a molting American Goldfinch...

Our little Lesser Goldfinches stay here year round, but the American Goldfinches are here only in the winter. Does it seem early for them to migrate in? hmm.

But I'm absolutely delighted that they love Chicory so much... Maybe I need to grow some in my garden plot!!

Fledgling! Black Head Grosbeak!

Fledglings everywhere! *laughs*

And one last photo at the Chicory!

I love the flowery explosion around our bird bath art installation!

Volunteers have planted this and keep it maintained and watered!

A bush of Four O'Clocks! These pretty flowers are native to tropical South America in the Andes. (I was too lazy to try to look these up, my brother IDed them for me! :)

At my plot and OH! New male Anna Hummingbird is sitting in the garden plot behind ours!

I've seen him a couple times, but he always flies away when I get the camera. So glad to finally get his portrait!

He looks like a female, but is an immature male, born this spring!

A little Crookneck coming along, with some Buckwheat blooms!

Also in the Squash Square, there are Spaghetti Squashes growing...

And Butternuts as well! ... along with a blurry snail. ha!

The Wax Beans happily climbing up the volunteer Sunflower.

There's a Love Mist blooming in the Tofu Patch!

And the cute little Buckwheat seedlings that I wish would be a summer cover crop.

The First Brandywine tomato!! It is not quite ripe, so it is better able to survive the walk home in my backpack.

Okay. Heading home.

The cooler weather today has invigorated me to take more photos! And it's made this such a LONG blog post... But I had fun writing it!

Tag: august 2024

Good Morning Mx Scrub Jay!

Good Morning Barn Swallow Babies.

Number Three is hiding again today?

I get momentarily distracted by the cute little minnows.

Good Morning, Minnows!

I guess I don't get to see Baby Number Three today.

I need to look up and see when this bunch was born... it seems like they might be getting close to fledging?

At the Garden... I'm not sure if this grape vine is wild, or if someone purposfully planted it at the fence. But here's the first bunch of grapes!

I wander around my garden plot... oops, I found this thing and it's gotten too huge. I don't think it's going to fit in the backpack, with everything else!

But when I pick it...

Bahaha!! Mice? How fun that you could just curl up, INSIDE your food!! *laughs*

The Wax Beans are getting loads of blossoms at the top of the trellis!

Oh my gosh! Eggplant!! It's a couple inches of cute!

And then I notice two more behind it!

WooHoo! What a great harvest of Lemon Cucumbers today!

And I still haven't learned my lesson about the one Yellow Zucchini that doesn't want to let go of it's fruits! laughs.

There's so much here, that I don't put the SunGolds into the backpack. They'd just get squished. I put them in my shirt pocket and eat them all on the walk home! Yum!

Tag: august 2024

Pride Celebration at the river today! If I start at the Rose Garden, I can get my usual walking loop done, and then go thru the event!

Silver Lining is my favorite...

The 275 year old cherry tree.

SubSupra, the art pavilion and Naseen, the Great Blue Heron sculpture. And the river!

There's a couple Ospreys flying around, yelling and obviously goofing off! Probably the kids, still depending on parents for much of their food.

*plunk* Ha. You missed the fish, huh? No! I did that on purpose! *laughs* More practice, kid!!

See ya!

At the walking bridge and heading to the other side of the river...

I obsess!

Okay. Let's move on! I get to Alton Baker Park... oh jeez! There's a LOT of people!

Yikes! I am completely intimidated, and don't actually take many photos! haha.

But it makes me so happy to see everyone else... Everyone is happy and being themselves with colourful clothing and there's some furries and the big guy in a rainbow tutu!! *laughs with delight*

I love the energy! But I feel better when I get away from the crowds.

And then I'm back at the Rose Garden.

And then I'm heading home.

And then the car dies in traffic. Ack! I'm able to pull into the bus lane and then get it off the road. It's surprisingly hard to steer without power steering, but the car stops in a mostly out of the way spot.

Lordy lordy. The car has died in the same 700$ way it did last time... which was only three months ago.

Partner helps and we get it towed to our mechanic...

But the car isn't worth another 700$. So I don't know what we're going to do.

What a bummer to end a fun trip to the river like that. Sighs.

Tag: august 2024

Yay, I'm so glad to see them again! And I get to see all three babies, first thing!

And then Baby Number Three disappears. Typical. But Look at the cute little baby beak shadow on the wall on the right! haha!

Sleepy babies!

Oh, is someone on the way?

Number Three is all, Whatever! *laughs*

And back to just being cute.

So Cute!

I'm at the garden, and I'm watering everything really well since I've got other plans for tomorrow!

The Eggplant really has quite a few flowers for such a little plant.

Look past that horrifying deep crack in one of my precious Brandywines and ... GAH!

Slug! She-he is eating the Brandywines??! Dang it, you! *relocated*

One of the volunteer Tomatillos is getting some fruits!

It will be ages before these are ready to eat... Those are the husks, and the fruit is a tiny little ball on the inside. The fruits will slowly grow in there, until they are big enough to crack open the husk. It'll be months, and I only hope the season is long enough!

Yay! First Wax Beans!!

And the second Old German! It's so huge! I've still got the first one at home, I picked it before it was ripe... I need to eat it and see how it tastes!

And something horrifing in the news...

∞ Eugene police investigating alleged rape near Fern Ridge Trail

What the HELL?! This happened on the bike path, ¾ of a mile from home!

I don't even know what to say.

I don't want to have to carry a weapon. I have no training and honestly, if someone were to attack me, my weapon could easily be used against me.

But I shouldn't need training in self-defense or weapon use!

Ugh. Just Ugh. Why do men have to be evil??

Tag: august 2024

To be 92°s today (33°C) but the morning has some clouds. I'm heading out... I'll need to water at the garden today for the heat, but I'm gonna walk a bit before, just to look at something different!

Bittersweet Nightshade. It's not Deadly!

... But it will make you sick!

Oh shoot. There's a homeless person at the Barn Swallow nest again. That's a bummer. The babies are getting really close to fledging. I hope I get to see them again.

I pause nearby and notice the sun and clouds look kinda cool, reflecting from the creek water!

Dang it. No Patches is NOT very cooperative!

*Laughs* No Patches isn't much of a name.

ugh. The Fallen Leaning Tree is dead.

There's no denying it. The trunk must be separated from the roots. sighs.

So sad.

Well. It was already a shadow of it's former self, when they cut down the other two trucks. Sighs. I miss this tree.

But here's something to cheer me up!

Oh! Somebody is pretty good at drawing spiders!! Awesome!

The Hawthorns are getting loaded with pomes.

And the Oaks are getting galls!

Okay! I'm at the garden to water. Under the Yellow Zuc... Oh Yeah!

Oh, nice! The Buckwheat is making seeds!

Ha!

The volunteer Sunflower in the Tofu Patch is making new flowers!

Huh! The Soybeans are stunted, the tallest ones are barely a foot tall. But they've got the beginnings of some blooms!

There are a couple of Love Mists growing in the Tofu Patch as well!

And some Buckwheats I planted in the blank spots of the Tofu Patch.

That Crookneck was much smaller than I thought it was. Foo. But they are so very nice and sweet when they are so little!

And I ate a lot of SunGolds, before taking the picture of the five left! ha! So good!

I rescued a Honey Bee stuck in a cob web! It's an old and dusty cobweb, no spiders live here.

I saw her struggling and my first instinct was to just grab her and pull her out. But as I reached for her, I thought... She could sting me, just because she fears for her life!

And I paused there a moment to think about that.

Definitely a good instinct to pause before you enter a tricky situation.

But then I realized... If you are a Honey Bee, caught in a web and fighting to get out? You are going to know the difference between the spider who comes along to kill you and a huge human hand who happens to come along to get you out!

So, yep! I scooped her out of the cobweb ... and then I didn't know what to do next! How can I help her get the rest of the cobweb off her wings?? I am too big and clumsy to do anything!

But she cleaned herself off, literally within 30 seconds, and she flew away!

Yay, Happy Ending!

Here's something I didn't know about Oregon...

∞ Oregon could get its first new scenic bikeway in years
The 60-mile Aufderheide Drive route rides past dense forests, hot springs and campgrounds

This is so cool!

But that place... that is NOT an easy bike ride! It's up in the Cascade Range. But it's amazingly beautiful up there.

But also, not cool... they don't add any infrastructure. No bike lanes or anything. It's just signs along the route. That's pretty lame!

Tag: august 2024

One last bright and colourful photo from my morning at the Community Garden.

Red Amaranth!

Okay...

I was VERY interested to watch this...

∞ Senator Merkley Slams USPS Delays and Downgrades on Senate Floor

That's my Senator! I'm on his email list and he had asked a while ago how we were affected by Postmaster General DeJoy's policies and I thought seriously about adding my voice.

They closed the mail sorting facility here in Eugene a few years ago. Now, all mail -- even local Eugene mail -- gets sent up to Portland to be sorted.

It's fairly rare for me to send mail locally. I do have one GR member in a nearby town. But other than that monthly postcard, I probably only send within Oregon, two or three times a year, via Postcrossing.

But my Mom in Colorado sends me a weekly letter! That's where my passion for sending mail comes from! She puts her letter in the mail on Tuesday morning... And I used to get it on Thursday or Friday.

Since DeJoy, I'm mostly getting it on Saturday. Occasionally on Friday, sometimes on the following Monday or Tuesday... and occasionally -- but regularly! -- weeks later. GRR!

I decided not to write about this to Senator Merkley. Getting mail from my Mom is important to me, of course! But he needs to hear from people who are losing money because their small business depends on packages being delivered in an economic and timely manner to customers. And I knew he would hear from rural folks and elderly who depend on medications being delivered by mail.

And that's what this speech is about... those people who's lives are in jeopardy because their medications aren't coming on time because DeJoy has purposefully slowed down the mail by closing sorting facilities and removing sorting machines.

What DeJoy has done to the US Postal Service is disgusting! DeJoy is just running the Postal Service into the ground.

And I HATE that the Postal Service has gone from one of the most trusted government agencies, to just another corrupt agency with an evil guy at the top.

I WISH DeJoy had been removed and replaced by someone who loves mail! Someone who knows the price of a postcard stamp. Someone who actually sends letters!

Our local mail carriers are so awesome, and I'm sure they are even more frustrated with DeJoy's BS than I am. My heart goes out to them!

Tag: august 2024

Okay. I finally had to leave the Barn Swallow babies and here I am at the garden. I love these lemon yellow Sunflowers too...

Now, do I love the lemon Sunflowers more than the red Sunflowers? Hmm. *laughs*

At my plot... aw, now the Squash Beetles are attacking the Green Zuc...

They are annoying, and kind of shocking to see so many gathered together. If they come out in the spring, with these kinds of numbers, they will kill ALL the baby squash plants.

But coming out at this time of year, is not such a big deal. They will suck the juices out of a couple leaves, and that's about it.

The Green Zuc is huge and healthy, so it can stand to lose a couple leaves to the bugs.

Here's the damage they've done in the Squash Square...

There's all kinds of squashes living there, but the bugs only attacked the big Crookneck. That's the brown and shriveled leaves. And the Crookneck is fine and still producing, despite the loss of those leaves.

The cute little Spaghetti Squash that's hanging from the Sunflower I bought!

And I'm so pleased to see the Buckwheat is making the bees happy!

The Wax Beans are on the way!!

Blast it! A couple of the Lemon Cucumbers are wilted. Still not watering enough. ARG!

The ones on this side look okay.

I have a serious love of Lemon Cucumbers!

Okay! Let's get back to the bright and colourful! Here's some Smartweed growing next to the Giant Marigolds at the edge of the Tofu Patch.

On the left in that photo is the lovely red Sunflower, and behind on the right is the volunteer Sunchoke.

The red Sunflower is almost 2meters tall!

Yay Lemon Cucumbers!

And that's the first Old German tomato! It's cracked up all to heck, even tho the leaves were folded up and too dry. But whatever! I hope it tastes good, around the cracks! ha.

Tag: august 2024

High today is 89° but after hot days of mid-90s thru the weekend, it looks like there are a couple of low-80s at the tail end of the forecast. That'll be nice if they actually happen!

I'm at the Barn Swallow nest and it looks like we are having another day of restlessness...

Is Number Three somewhere in there too??

It hardly seems like there's room enough in there to hide a baby!

I just gotta move my arm a little bit. And that looks like a third head?

There we all are!!

What the...?? Hey! Get back in there, You!
Ha! So restless!

Dude! Seriously!

*laughs*

Itchy!

Never quite comfortable enough!

You know what? I hate it when real life intrudes on my nature time. But this...

Sonya Massey.

That cop killed her in cold blood.

They were invited into her house. They were joking around about the cooking. And suddenly the evil bastard was shooting Sonya in the face.

just. goddamn.

I didn't watch the body cam video. I never watch the videos. I just don't want that in my brain.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Sighs.

Tag: august 2024

The forecast for today is 86°/54° and zero wind... a perfectly and wonderfully normal summer day in this part of the world! And I'm heading out for a hike!

As I go thru the city park on the way out, they are setting up a Fun For All day! Stuff like this makes me so proud of my city...

During covid, the city and county started giving out free lunches to all the kids through the summer. The food was bagged up and they had pickup points at the schools and parks. Eventually this practice transformed into the Fun For All program that we have now!

There are organized activities -- physical games and art projects -- and the free lunch, of course. Older kids can be dropped off, younger kids need a minder with them, babies need a caretaker. It's a very popular program, and there's always a lot of kids of all ages at the park, playing and being happy!

Peeking into the Little Free Library.

Walking up the road, I get to listen to Cicadas! I love to hear them, the sound of summer!

We don't have the Periodical Cicadas that have synchronized emergence every 13 or 17 years, like they have on the eastern side of the continent.

Our Cicads mature underground for two to five years, but the generations overlap so there are adults emerging every year!

Okay! I've finally arrived at the trail head. The parking lot has 12 cars in it, there's two open spaces left. I head up the path, but once I get to the forest I pause for a moment in the shade to let a couple of chatting people go by.

They were speaking so loud I could almost follow their conversation.

So the kids wanted to go for some gelato...
Did you only speak Spanish there? ...
It's so cool to be bilingual!!
I wrote that down because he had been so reluctant to take Spanish ...

(But gelato is Italian??!) *So confused*

*laughs*

But, yeah. This is a very popular hiking trail. It's very beautiful, but I prefer to get my nature time without the humans and their funny conversations.

That's my turn around point, and I come back down and sit for a minute to drink my water. It's still got ice in it and gives me a cold headache because I guzzle it since I'm so thirsty! ha!

And again, I had walked past the Acorn Woodpeckers territory without seeing anyone there. And on the way back down...

What? Seriously? This is all I get?!

Yep. That's all I get. The Woodpecker moves around to the back of the tree trunk, and eventually she flies away. *laughs*

All the birds were uncooperative today.

That's just how it goes sometimes!

Tag: august 2024

To be 91° today. As I walk by the Community Garden... What are you eating?

I have no idea... some candy that melted in the grass?

And at the Barn Swallow nest!

Just Baby Number Two is restless today.

Okay! I'm at the Garden... I was just going to water today. But I actually did some improptu weeding around the baby Buckwheats that are in the Tofu Patch. I'm glad to see a few more are coming up, tho not like they are supposed to, since there's something wrong with the dirt here.

but Look! The first Wax Beans!

Yay! Look at all the Lemon Cucumbers!! So Happy!

And another Straightneck. And I've pulled out the first volunteer Beet!

I LOVE fresh beets! Usually I cut it into bite-size bits and cook it with my pasta. That's SO yummy.

But today I'm wondering how long the slow cooker would take... I look it up, but ugh. The internets say you can either wrap the beets in foil with a drizzle of oil, or just toss them in with 2 cups of water. 4hours on high, and the skin will peel off after cooking.

That seems like more trouble than it's worth. Plus I never bother with peeling the skin. I think I'll just chop it for my pasta, after all!

oh, the colour!

On the way home, a Wood Nymph!

I'm not sure which species she is... there's Common, Small and Dark. But they kind of all look the same to me, I'm not sure how you tell them apart!

I wish I knew more about bugs!!

At home, look at how happy the potted Pansies are!

*Laughs* I just love them. They are so little and cute!

Tag: august 2024

There's some clouds this morning, but they are burning off quickly and it's to be another hot day today at 95° (35°C).

I arrive at the Barn Swallow nest, and I'm happy I get to see the babies today! ... All three of them!

Stretch!

They are moving around a lot.

Ha! That's a tail!

Another stretch!

Just. Can't. Get. Comfortable.

*laughs* Poor babies! But I've gotta get over to the garden to water.

But first...

Oh My Gosh!

A Green Heron!!

And then she flies downstream.

*laughs* oh well. But that was awesome!

Okay! At the garden! The Wax Beans are vining over my head!

There's Borage growing inside the trellis... perfect!

The Wax Beans have found the Volunteer Sunflower and are starting to vine up it! Yay!

There's a Spaghetti Squash growing under the bought Sunflower!

oh humph! There's big cracks in the Old German...

Cracked tomatoes means too much water. But the Old German is wilted most of the time! Arg. Is there no happy medium?! Ha!

The Brandywines have some cracks as well. Maybe I need to hold back with the watering a little.

One of the volunteer beets... So big! I need to pull it soon!

Today's harvest includes a House Fly! haha!

I'm still pulling the zucs super small. The Crooknecks at that size are nicely sweet and yummy! And that's Smartweed on the left, and a Bindweed bloom. The white cluster on the right is Queen Anne Lace.

Didn't quite fit!

Tag: august 2024

Greeting the wildlife, right outside the door!

There's some clouds this morning and the high today is a more reasonable 88° (31°C).

A crow was cawing excitedly as she flew by, and I looked up to see what was going on. A Scrub Jay followed the crow, cawing as well... and then this one, a Kingfisher, with a slightly modified rattle call.

They were all mobbing a hawk! I just caught a glimpse, and I couldn't tell who it was. But the other birds chased the hawk to a tree and then I couldn't see what happened behind the tree. foo. I missed the excitement! *laughs*

I walked out to the Barn Swallow nest... but there was a homeless person right in the spot where I lean over the retaining wall to see the nest. So, foo again. I'm missing everything today!

To the Garden.

Today I'm chopping at the Comfrey I'm trying to kill. And I went around the whole front left of the plot, digging out some grass as well. I didn't take a Before photo, this time... But I'm so pleased about these two extra volunteer sunflowers, on either side of the orange Marigolds! It's late in the season, they might not do much, but I'm still happy to have them here!

And Look! Under the protective leaves of the yellow Giant Marigold, a single Pansy has lived to bloom!

Ha! I planted Pansy seeds -- the same that I've got growing in a pot at home -- and watered them diligently. But they never came up and I gave up hope! So this little Pansy is surprising ... and nice!

I just love the red Sunflower in the Tofu Patch!

As I was walking around the garden plot, I startled a TINY SNAKE out from under the green Zucchini!!

Oh my gosh! She slithered too quickly and I only registered how small she was, 6-8inches maybe, and she had some kind of stripes. Probably a Garter Snake.

And, dang it, she was gone before I could even make a grab for the camera! so, Foo yet again, for missing Another opportunity!

And so funny, too. Was it even a week ago, that Kevin was asking if I had ever seen a snake in the Garden? ha!

The Eggplant is getting so many branches!

And lots of blooms... will they all make fruit? What am I gonna do with this many eggplants?? I don't even like eggplant! haha!

Looking over the shoulder of the Sunflower I bought, into the Squash Square...

The tall stalks with the tiny white blooms are the experimental Buckwheats! They are about 4feet tall, and the Sunflower is about 4.5feet tall. And you can see, the birds have plucked most of it's petals to get at the Sunflower seeds! haha! I wonder if the birds like Buckwheat seeds??

The brown leaves in the Squash Sqare on the right are the result of hundreds of Squash Beetles. They are annoying, but so far they are only attacking the big Crookneck... which is quite big enough that it's fine to lose a few leaves.

And the back neighbor, Kevin's Nasturtiums.

Tag: august 2024

Not quite as hot today, just 94° after yesterday's 99° but still uncomfortably warm at 68° when I leave the house.

I head to the Barn Swallow nest... and I've only seen the two babies for so long, I'm starting to wonder if I imagined a third!

I haven't seen all three babies since Jul28!

And again today, there's more than just the two parents flying around above the bridge! It makes me wonder if the first set of children these parents raised this year are helping to feed these kids!

It's fairly common, across the bird kingdom, for previous kids to help raise their siblings... in the same season if the parents have more than one brood, but usually it's next year's siblings! Crows and Bluebirds are the most known for doing this, but a lot of other species do as well!

hmm...

And suddenly we have THREE!

Yay!

And then we have two again... *laughs*

But they are moving around enough, that I get one more picture of the three of them before I go!

I arrive at the Community Garden and go on a walk about. Here's my friend Roz's plot.

And the lovely flowers around the Bird Bath art installation!

Oh wow! These double petal Cosmos are pretty cool!

Someone's grapes are coming right along. Plus, they are planted right on the border... so any grapes that happen to be hanging in the pathway will be up for grabs, right?! Right?!

Just kidding / not kidding! It just annoys me when gardeners put big plants right at their border!

I'm at my plot and... Aw, Dang it... The Lemon Cucumbers are wilted!

Shoot! I gave them double the water today, but they are so pathetic. ARG! Will they recover? WAI! They might not recover.

Lemon Cucumbers are my absolute favorite... They are the only reason why I want to garden, after the photo opportunities!

well, Pbbbt. But look at this! The Old Germans are starting to get some colour!

And look at this too! The volunteer Sunflower in the Tofu Patch is a red one!!

I love the red ones, they are so pretty!

And here are some of the Soybeans below it... Some of them are growing but some are stunted and still small...

Obviously the volunteer Sunflower overcame whatever is wrong with the dirt over here, it's almost 2meters tall! But the Soybeans and the recently planted Buckwheats are just having trouble.

well, whatever. Look at my pretty, pretty Giant Marigolds!

Oh yeah, this volunteer beet is ready to go! Will I be able to pull it out without disturbing the Leeks?

Oh hey! I caught this Patty Pan at a decent size!

Some Amaranth...

This is the weedy form, but I like to let it grow in places because the birds will appreciate the seeds! This one has gotten nice and tall, in with the Lemon Cucs at the front of the plot. It's a good 5feet or so!

Tag: august 2024

Ugh! It's 75° already when I leave the house, to be 99° (37°C) ... we won't quite beat the record today which was 100° set in 2015. Normal temp for this time of year is 86°

So I'm heading to the garden to water. But look at the haze. bleh!

I go past to see the Barn Swallows first. I don't see the parents, but the babies are set up for quick access...

Baby number three is always hiding! But at this point, I'm pretty sure there's just three babies.

This is the view upstream from the bridge...

I've not seen the Bullfrog lately. But the dragonflies are active here. They probably love this heat!

I try to get a pic of someone flying over the water.

*laughs* it doesn't really work!

But then!

Wow, itsn't he beautiful!! Flame Skimmer!

I scoot around for a different view, and he's noticed me watching him...

Haha... He followed me!

And then he followed me to the garden! Unfortunately, I had set the camera down as soon as I got to the plot. But he came around the Zucchinis and made sure I saw him one more time before flying away!

*smiles*

I'm watering pretty heavily today for the heat. But eventually I go around for photos. The wax beans are blooming.

The Black Tomato has a good number of small tomatoes coming on.

It looks like they will be a good size! I'm so glad because after I bought this, I worried that I had gotten another cherry tomato plant... with the two SunGold plants, I def did not need another one!

Today's harvest...

I still haven't learned my lesson with the one Yellow Zucchini plant... It doesn't want to let go of it's zucs, and I NEED to get the scissors out to make a cut on the stem instead of breaking off the edible part!! ha!

And yeah, I'm pulling these zucs at a ridiculously small size. I've just got too many to eat at home, and actually I'm going to be bringing some back... they've gone bad in the fridge.

Bummer. But that's okay. I will dump them somewhere in the garden and cover them a little and they will return nutrients to the soil.

Lemon Cucumbers in the making in the Supplementary Squash Square. (the darker leaves are one of the Zucs!)

The Buckwheats that I sowed in the Tofu Patch started coming up a couple days ago. I threw down so many seeds here, but germination is not what it should be.

So, yeah. Something wrong with the dirt here. The Soybeans mostly didn't come up, even after sowing seeds three times over. And they are not growing as quicly as they should. And now the Buckwheats aren't doing their thing either.

I wonder what my next step should be, to help the dirt here. I will have to think about it.

Tag: august 2024

To be 91° today (33°C) and to be mid- and upper-90s for the foreseeable. Heading to the garden to water.

Heh. Well, it would have been a good picture...

No cooperation!

I'm at the Barn Swallow nest. There's a fly-by, but no other parent activity.

They just don't trust me yet. I wouldn't either... because in order to see this nest, I have to lean way over the retaining wall. Like this is not normal human behavior, right? Even other humans stare at me! And it def catches the eye of the wildlife... some of whom are predators looking for an easy meal of helpless bird babies.

So yeah, on top of the lean being physically awkward for me to to see around the corner, it's also calling attention to their nest location. I don't stay very long, and the nest is far enough away that most predators would just think Another Crazy Human and go on their merry.

But I do understand why the parents would not want to fly in, to the nest when I'm there!

The cute little baby fluff on their head!!

I'm back at the garden, and Kevin the Community Garden Volunteer is here too. He tells me a bit more about the vandalism thing... The City is taking this situation very seriously.

uh huh. It sounds like nothing will be done.

Which is exactly the outcome I expected. And I'm extremely disappointed.

Because we've got a person in our community who destroyed a garden plot. The garden plot of her own daughter.

And I do get that the higher ups want to step softly, because this person has access to a lot of plots, which she could destroy at a whim.

But doing NOTHING? Seriously?

Sighs.

Kevin mentioned that the Garden Director would be coming by, later today. So I run the hoe down the middle pathway of my plot to remove the grass that she complained about at the end of May.

and I water and gather.

And then calm myself by looking at the beautiful plants!

This is the Secondary SunGold plant, the first cluster of fruits that are ripening on it.

And there is a lot of fun stuff happening in this photo. The blooming Sunflower is the one I bought. It's relatively short, a bit over a meter tall, but the seed head is huge...

The birds are plucking the petals, to get at the sunflower seeds more easily!

The tiny white flowers in front of the Sunflower are some of the Buckwheats I planted experimentally as a summer cover crop.

The orange blooms to the left of the Sunflower are the Giant Marigolds at the edge of the Tofu Patch. And the big leaves to the right of the Sunflower belong to the volunteer Sunflower in the Tofu Patch.

And the Sunflower growing to the left of the Marigolds, is the volunteer at the edge of the Wax Bean Trellis!

I really am so happy with the garden plot this year!

Tag: july 2024

The Garden Vandalism Story So Far: On Sunday the plot neighbor on the left side was vandalized. All the plants in the back had been pulled out of the ground and thrown down to die in the dirt. I took photos and when I got home, I emailed the Community Garden director and our two volunteers.

Kevin is the volunteer who is my plot neighbor in the back, and we have a friendly connection this year. He emailed me back right away, saying he would look into it and report to the city and Ugh. That's a heart-breaker.

He did great detective work and found out what happened very quickly!

The details are very convoluted and pretty personal. I'm not going to go into the nitty gritty here, because that's not my story to tell.

But basically this is a family feud. A mother had a disagreement with her adult daughter and destroyed the back of the plot in retaliation.

But... ... damn, you know?

What is wrong with people?

So. Kevin tells me the Community Garden director and her bosses are trying to figure out what to do. I haven't heard from them, which annoys me quite a bit... They made the volunteer do all the work, which does not seem appropriate for the level this situation is at.

So that's where we're at. More to follow?

Meantime...

I've arrived at the Garden.

The Green Zucchini is getting busy again!

And the Wax Beans have started to vine past the top of the trellis.

The volunteer Sunflower next to the bean trellis is approaching 4feet as well!

The blooming Sunflower, behind is the one I bought. And you can see a bit of the Squash Square behind the bean trellis.

Lemon Cucumbers are very blossomy!

And keeping the bees happy.

And making some little cucs!

Brandywines and a Spaghetti Squash blossom...

And yeah, all those dead leaves are typical Brandywine... The tomatoes are my absolute favorite, but the plant is so temperamental and low producing and pathetic. Many years I plant Brandywines and never get any tomatoes out of it!!

But there's lots of tomatoes coming on this year, so I'm thrilled about that!!

Oh boy...

WooHoo! Four Crooknecks, two green Zucchini, one yellow Zucchini, and a couple of Sugar Snap Peas and SunGolds!!

It doesn't quite fit...

I had to leave my Dandelion tool behind! And the backpack was lumpy and uncomfortable on the walk home! haha!!

Tag: july 2024

One last, gloriously cloudy morning before the heat comes again.

But it will get up to 85° today, so I'm going to the garden to give it some water.

But First! The Barn Swallow nest! A parent flew in right as I arrived... who then noticed me as I leaned over the railing to take pictures!

And the parent flies off for more bugs.

And here's Baby Number Three, over on the right. Are there just the three?

There is a lot of action in the sky above the bridge... there's a whole flock of Barn Swallow here...

What is going on??!

The babies are all just where's the food? *laughs*

The food is arriving...

And arriving...

This is crazy! Is the whole flock feeding these kids?

*laughs* Maybe! But I've got to get on with my day... Heading to the garden!

Tag: july 2024

The forecast says 80° but actually it only gets up to 76° today... which... That's weird. The normal high temperature for this time of year is 86°F, 30°C. But I'll take it!

The cooler weather means I don't need to water at the garden and I head to the Rose Garden. I want to see if the Cliff Swallows ever showed up at the bridge I found them at last year!

The ancient Cherry Tree.

Yeah, I just can't stop myself for going crazy with the roses!

My favorite, Silver Lining, still has some blooms.

I wonder if anyone nested here this year? I never walked out here at the right time to see, so I really don't know!

Yep. That's normal. A flock of Bushtits.

*laughs* Oh well!

Collecting seeds!

Part of the Whilamut Natural Area includes some Oak Savannah.

I'm at the pond, and I do see a couple of Tree Swallows swooping for bugs above the water... but I don't think any are Cliff Swallows.

And under the bridge... yeah, the Cliff Swallow nests are still all cobwebby! Definitely did not get used this summer.

So this is interesting. In general, small birds never return to old nests, altho they may build a new nest in the same area. But I think that swallows do return to nests, since they are protected from the elements under the bridges. Barn Swallows do return, and I kind of assumed that Cliff Swallows also return...

AllAboutBirds says that Cliff Swallows return to their nesting area, year after year. So I wonder what happened here.

Did the community decide to nest somewhere else? Will they return in the future? Or did the entire flock die? Will another community of Cliff Swallows find this nesting area and use it?

Strange and sad.

And finally, an Osprey!

I've been hearing them, all up and down the river! Mostly the kids begging! *laughs* I'm glad I finally caught one sitting for a minute!

... Along with two crows who are keeping a close eye on the situation! ha.

Tag: july 2024

It's cloudy and 61° as I leave the house today and the forecast is 81° (27°C). So nice!

Henrietta! Long time, no see!

I hope he had a successful nesting season. He's probably still feeding the kids, somewhere. But it's nice that he took a break from that and swung by to see me!

*laughs* I thought he was holding a fish!

He was preening and got a feather stuck on his beak! haha!

I get to the Barn Swallow nest... but because of the clouds, I have trouble with the camera settings. But I see movement in the nest.

A parent flies in with food... oh my gosh! Three babies pop up!!

The parent isn't too sure about me... I haven't been around this nest enough to gain the parents trust!

I get to the garden and do a walk about.

I get to my plot and start watering. I'm kind of in my own little world, but I've started with the Tofu Patch, like usual. The left side neighbor has some Nasturtiums blooming close to the border, and I like to give them some water too...

But when I moved around to hit them with the hose today... They were gone.

I look... and realize they aren't gone... the've been pulled out of the ground and thown down. And there they lay, wilting and dying on the dirt.

???

And then I take in the rest of the plot. And ALL the plants in the back have been ripped out of the ground and thrown down! Even the big 6foot sunflower!

I am shocked at the destruction!

Blooming dahlias, zinnias, marigolds and the nasturtiums that I was watering. There was a small rhubarb plant just getting established. All so beautiful and now... they're just... ugh!

But then I see their rainbow coloured windsock has been ripped from it's hanger and is crumpled up in the dirt. And now I'm alarmed!

Several people at the Comm Garden have these Pride windsocks, I am always happy to see them! But if we have a violent bigot here, destroying plots...

I glance around, looking at other people's plots. My plot is untouched, and so are the plot neighbors at the back and other side. And the big Dahlia's in the front of the destroyed plot are fine as well... Which means that someone just walking down the garden path might not see the destruction that's happened in the back of the plot.

This was personal.

I take pictures from different angles. I'm extremely worried at the destruction. And I really, really want to try to re-plant the Nasturtiums and the Zinnias and the Marigolds. Some of the flowers look like they've been chopped, and everything is pretty wilted, but I want to give them a chance.

I wish I could give them a chance. But this is a crime scene. I've walked thru, taking photos, but other than that, I leave everything alone.

I water my garden plot... And I obsessively double check to make sure all the plants are okay. But the destruction does not cross over the line of the border...

I gather the day's harvest.

And then head out. I look into the couple of plots with Pride windsocks, but everything else looks fine and normal.

And when I get home, I send an email and photos to as many people as I can find email addresses for!

Tag: july 2024

A perfectly decent summer day today with a high of 85°F, 29°C... The forecast says 83 and 82 for Monday and Tuesday, tho. Cool enough that I can maybe skip watering at the garden. Maybe I'll go out to the river or something.

Unfortunately, after those two cooler days, the forecast says we'll be back to mid-90s again. Ugh. So I def need to enjoy the normal weather right now!

I get to the Barn Swallow nest... The babies were being born possibly on Thursday, and they had definitely arrived yesterday. Today, the parents are out catching bugs to feed.

But, amidst the grass stalks in there...

That's a baby beak!

And then I get distracted by the same three duckling family I saw yesterday...

Duckling number three has to Paddle, Paddle FAST to catch up with the others!

I look up, just in time to see a parent Barn Swallow swoop in and feed someone!

Wow! So Cool!

And we're off again to get more bugs!

The County Fair is happening this weekend, and I walk to the Events Center to check it out.

The horse and riders are directing cars to their parking spots in the field.

They must be testing the rides... no one is on this one.

But doesn't that look fun?? It goes so far up off the ground!!

Okay. I've walked back to the Barn Swallow nest.

And I wait patiently for some action! Soon the parents are swooping above the bridge and twittering their arrival!

Just the one, poking up her face.

And then to the garden. I'm just here to water a little bit.

The Lemon Cucumbers have a zillion blooms!

There are lots of small Crooknecks coming on, but they aren't big enough to pick yet.

Kevin, the Community Garden Volunteer ... helper... um, I'm not sure what his exact title is! Anyway, he was in his plot behind mine and we were chatting a bit. And I asked him if he knew what this plant is...

I've tried for a long time to figure out what this thing is, looking online, but can never find it. Kevin recognized it, but didn't know it's name either. Small, light pink flowers, related to geraniums. Yep.

As a weed, it's not too bad he added.

And I explained I liked to keep some of the native plants to have a good variety of blooms to keep the bugs happy. You have got some pollinators!

Ha! Yes I do!! I Love all the bugs in my garden!

And then he asked if I had ever seen a snake at the garden. Yep! I haven't seen a snake yet this year, but I do see them from time to time! I'm always glad to see snakes... because I've seen some mice here, as well!

That surprised him, but when he considered it, he realized the garden was probably a mouse paradise! *laughs*

Heading home. I stop and eat some Blackberries along the bike path.

I've seen several people picking them here... filling buckets! And still plenty for passersby like me!

When I get home, this one was eating nuts in front of the neighbor's townhouse!

My heart hurts briefly for Wesley Crusher... sighs... but I'm glad to see another of our native Western Grey Squirrels around.

Tag: july 2024

The Bittersweet Nightshade berries are ripening.

As I walked past the bridge where the Barn Swallow are nesting, one of the parents flew out and dropped something in the water...

It must have been a poo sack! Which means we have babies!!!

Yeah, we keep moving around in the nest...

Awww! Everybody okay in there?

Okay! I'm at the garden. The Old German is still looking overly pathetic, even tho I watered the heck out of it yesterday.

The Surprise Straightneck has several fruits coming on, and I decide to pick the bigger one today!

And this makes me happy... Butternuts!

I didn't plant any Sweet Potatoes this year... which feels kind of weird. I Always have Sweet Potatoes! They are a very pretty vine!

But I have never gotten a great harvest with the Sweet Potatoes. So it's not really worth the time and effort and hope I put in.

And that's why I have several Butternut plants this year... Butternuts basically taste the same as Sweet Potatoes. And they keep a lot better. You have to eat Sweet Potatoes right away, whereas the Butternuts can languish in your pantry for a while!

But, you know. Now that I'm thinking about it. Maybe next year I could plant a bunch of Sweet Potato vines around the Comfrey that I'm trying to kill in the front. The leaves could cover the dirt... I just hate having bare dirt up there, right at the front of the plot!

Of course, I'd have to place the plants carefully, so that I could still dig up the comfrey as it sends up leaves. But I'd have the Sweet Potatoes for their pretty vines and flowers, NOT for the food harvest. Hmmm.

The Sunflower I bought:

Flight of the Honey Bee! *laughs*

Ha, a Spotted Cucumber Beetle has joined the Honey Bees to pollinate!

I have become rather exasperated with my right side neighbors, the Pot People. They've planted big plants right at the border between our plots, and it's just really annoying. Especially this grassy plant that's leaning it's seed heads into my plot.

So annoying.

I love the variety of today's summer squash harvest! And yeah, one of the Yellow Zucs really did not want to let go of it's fruit! And instead of just getting the scissors, I pulled harder. oops.

And then I put a tomato cage around this volunteer Tomatillo that's at the edge of the Tofu Patch...

As I'm leaving the garden, I check out the Passion Fruit plant that someone else has.

Tag: july 2024

The squirrel who greets me this morning is a fighter!

I've not seen him before... I wonder if he was the winner or the loser.

Oh, ducklings! One last batch for the season!

Gah!

*laughs* They are just itchy and preening. Well. And they don't have hands. And actually, kinda cute. just weird that they can move their neck like that!

oh, bahaha!! It looks like I've photoshoped a clone! *giggles*

The Barn Swallow parents have a change of the guard right as I walk up again! The sitting parent has flown away, and this one has just come in.

And again, I don't know if she's looking at eggs or babies. If I would visit more often, I would know these things!

Okay! I'm at the garden. And after not watering yesterday... Lordy. the Old German looks as bad as it ever did...

And the secondary SunGold has folded up a bunch of it's leaves as well.

And, oh crap! The Sugar Snap Peas were not on my radar at all, but they are all pathetic as well. Well, shoot.

I look at the healthy plants to cheer myself up. Wax Beans are still growing up! The Squash Square behind them is still exuberant!

The Sunflower I bought is very happy, if short!

And the volunteer Sunflower next to the Wax Bean trellis is happily growing.

I do find one Sugar Snap Pea pod! So it's not like the pea plants were being productive or anything.

There's some Creeping Speedwell growing here.

Technically invasive. The flowers are tiny, but pretty and I like them! I let them grow, where ever they happen to show up.

The Eggplant has several more blooms on it... and maybe that one is turning into a fruit?

Oop. A cute lil Yellow Jacket got wet while I was watering the Giant Marigolds in front.

She's buzzing her wings to get them dry!

But she notices me watching her...

Our precious, precious pollinators!

Yellow Jackets are one of our native species... and it makes me so, so angry when I see people putting wasp traps near their damn bee hives. Honey Bees are invasive from Europe, and did not evolve with the native plants here in the Americas... Honey Bees are inferior pollinators for many of our garden plants, especially in the nightshade family: Tomatoes, Potatoes, Tomatillos, Eggplants, Peppers! All these plants do Much better with our native Bumblebees, and our wasps play an important role here as well!

So Yellow Jackets and all our native wasps are much more important to the ecosystems here than the stupid European Honey Bees. And it drives me crazy that amateur Honey Bee keepers want to kill our native wasps.

Okay. Rant, done! Look at my cute little friend! Her wings are still wet, but she'll be okay!

Oh, hey... I missed a Lemon Cucumber and it's turning dark yellow already...

But when I picked it, it had a hole on the bottom. Was a mouse munching on it? huh!

First blooms on the Wax Beans!!!

As I leave, I turn and look into the Pissant Pot Peoples plot, my right side neighbor. They have a lot going on in their plot.

And at home, the stray kitty is tucked up for a portrait!

Tag: july 2024

I am so bored with the garden, I've decided to be a rebel today. I'm walking in a different direction, and the plants can wilt all they want without their daily watering! HA!

I'm walking thru the neighborhoods, on my way to Wild Iris Ridge again.

I glance over to the west and realize I can see the Coastal Range!

... And I think those branches on the left there? Looks like Tree of Heaven. Lordy, lordy. Very invasive! What a shame.

This beautiful thing is called a Ballon Flower!

The lavender is attracting all kinds of pollinators!

Okay. I've finally arrived at the park... and there are 12 cars in what I Thought was a 10 car parking lot! Haha! It's a very popular park!

I love the forest here. It's filled with Oak trees and native Pacific Madrones.

Yep, that's normal for the bark to shed like that on a Madrone!

And then I get to the Acorn Woodpecker's granery tree...

Well, foo. No sign of them. I go up the trail a little bit further and sit on the bench for a moment. And then come back down...

I hear one, and eventually find him, way up in a nearby tree, straight up from the path...

SIGHS!

But look who else is here!

*laughs!*

But I can't get a decent angle on the one guard.

Today's photos are about as bad as Hidden Trail ever was!

ha! Oh well. Back thru the neighborhoods, on the way home!

Back at home...

She wouldn't sit for photos but our new stray kitty did let me pet her... just let me run my hand down her back as she walked past me. ugh... she's skin and bones under that beautiful fur.

Poor Girl. I hope the cat lady neighbor is able to fatten her up!

Tag: july 2024

I walk past the Community Garden to see the Barn Swallow nest, but get distracted by the cute little minnows!

But here's Mama Barn Swallow!

And I'm back at the garden. Today's project is to remove the Horseradish from my neighbor's plot...

The faucet marks the back corners of four plots... My plot has the upside-down bucket. My back neighbor has the raised beds, where I've leaned my backpack. And the Horseradish is growing between my diagonal plot neighbor and my left side neighbor.

Technically you should never mess with someone else's plot. But I'm tired of looking at this invasive disaster!

I forgot to take a pic of the results, but it was pretty satisfying to dig that out. I didn't get all the way down to the original roots, of course, so they'll be back. But that is the nature of invasives, after all!

I also chop off the leaves from the Comfrey I'm trying to kill in my own plot... It is even more persistant than the Horseradish!

After watering, I go around my garden plot checking plants and getting today's harvest. I'm pushing aside leaves in the back Squash Square... And, um? What the heck is this?...

A Straightneck Squash? I didn't plant any Straightnecks!

I wonder if I could have bought a mislabeled squash start from my farmer at Saturday Market.

But that didn't seem likely.

I thought about all the seeds I randomly planted thru here. I had some saved Spaghetti Squash seeds. And I had an old seed packet of Crookneck seeds.

You know what? I may have consolidated some other squash seeds into that packet, thinking they're all old, they probably won't grow anyway.

*laughs* I'm not sure, but that def sounds like something I would do!

And while I'm very happy to have another kind of summer squash in the garden... Lordy! I'm having trouble keeping up with the eating of the summer squash!!

On Friday I had 13.5 summer squashes in the house to eat...

On Sunday, I peaked with 15 squashes. I ate big portions of squash, and then ate some more.

Today... One more Crookneck...

And I've got 12.5 summer squashes at home to eat. Hey, I'm making a dent! *laughs*

And yeah, I totally ate the three SunGolds I picked today as well! They were nice and sweet! Ah, the Taste of Summer! :)

I'm still going around the garden, but I've been hearing emergency sirens for a few minutes. I live in the city near a major thoroughfare, and hear sirens often, so I was ignoring these, even tho they were pretty close.

But then a cop car speeds down the bike path!

Whoa! And then another one! And a third!

They seem to be congregating under the car bridge just to the west... The direction I'm walking home!

Yeah. I admit. I'm curious! I want to see what's going on!

But as head out, one of the cop cars is leaving, coming my direction on the bike path. I've stepped off the path to let him go by, but he rolls down his window and stops to talk to me.

We had to arrest someone just up there. So if you don't have to go that way...

Okay! I say. I'll go around! Thank you!

Back at home, I looked up the police dispatch logs to see if I could find out more information... But that incident never did show up on the call logs.

So I don't know. But having another, possibly violent incident on the bike path, is concerning.

A Squirrel Story!

One of my townhouse neighbors in my apartment complex at home, had been doing some landscaping work in their front yard.

They had a couple bags of Miracle-Gro potting soil and had spread out some soil under their little Saucer Magnolia sapling, and around the flowers and plants they have growing under their living room window. It looks really nice, and I'm sure the plants and sapling appreciated the extra nutrients! The dirt there at the apartment complex is really terrible.

But they had an extra bag of potting soil left over... I don't know if they bought too much, or if they maybe had other plans for the bag. But they have left the bag on the ground, right next to the sidewalk. And it had been there for a week or two...

Today I walked by and there was a squirrel! She had ripped open the plastic bag and was sitting on top of the soil and patting it down like she had just buried a nut there!!

Pat, pat, pat, with her little hands!

Bahaha!! And then she noticed me, and ran away before I could get the camera ready. foo.

Because that was ridiculously cute!

Tag: july 2024

Yeah. I have to admit, I'm bored going to the stupid garden, Every Single Day. Water, water, water. And the only thing I get for it, is more zucchini. Boring!

But the thunderstorm has broken the overly hot weather! We're looking at a good week of more reasonable summer weather... Today is 83° and the forecast for the rest of the week is mid-80s.

Unfortunately, because I just planted those Buckwheat seeds yesterday, I will still need to go to the garden to water. Sighs! But today I'm walking on past to look at different things, before I get stuck at the garden.

One of the Barn Swallow parents is tucked up, in the nest.

And the Willow tree that got damaged in the ice storm in January is doing well... Just not as big as it once was.

I'm so glad they trimmed this huge limb off, rather than cutting the whole tree down!! Because it really is a beautiful tree.

Hello Mr Bullfrog.

Still up there!

Oh! Hello?

Morning stretches?

You just need to fix your feathers?

Okay!

Okay. I'm at the garden. Water, water, water. Boring. Get more zuc. Boring.

I admit, also getting a crookneck is nice... I do love zucchini, but the crooknecks are just a bit more tasty. They have kind of a subtly sweet flavor.

And there's Lemon Cucumbers on the way. That's nice too.

And my short Sunflower does make me happy.

Even the neighbor's sunflowers make me happy.

And these Morning Glories are pretty gorgeous.

Tag: july 2024

Thunderstorms last night! Just a couple sprinkles, tho. And lightening this time of year is always worrisome.

There were thunderstorms across Oregon on Tuesday last week. And the paper reported there were 1,050 lightening strikes, which set off a LOT of wild fires all over the place!

There's still some clouds this morning, tho and that's very welcome! Makes for a much cooler day, just 82° today!

Oh hey! Is this a new heron? The shoulder patch isn't as big as Henrietta's, and way bigger than Knotty's. Hm!

Nutria youngster! Their two siblings ran away, but this one stayed a moment at the top of the bolt path, to look at me!

Okay! I'm at the garden and today's project is putting some Buckwheat seeds down in these open areas in the Tofu Patch...

The internets told me that Buckwheat needs to soak for 20 or 30 minutes before being put into the dirt. So before I left the house, I threw a handful of Buckwheat seeds into a ziplock and then added some tap water. It's been a bit over 30mins, since I went to the Post Office first this morning. But I was really glad to see the bag hadn't leaked! heh.

I put the seeds in pretty densely here... The seeds are old, from 2019 I think, but also I'm thinking there's something wrong with the dirt here since the Soybeans haven't done well.

And then I watered!

Since my plot is a Bee Paradise, I often accidentally hit bees with the water. Arg! I feel bad! I don't want to make their lives more difficult!

Sometimes I'll scoop someone up...

And they can dry off on my hand! The Bumblebees especially like to buzz their wings to help dry off. But this one was happy just to take a rest!

Oh, nice! Sugar Snap Peas would like to make a come-back after the super hot weather!

And that white in the background is a Queen Anne Lace bloom...

Not native, but is related to carrots and has an edible root. There are some very poisonous look-alikes tho, so I'm not going to eat this!

The Sunflower I bought is starting to open up!

I try to get artsy! *laughs*

Tag: july 2024

I love to meet new dragonflies!

She's a Varigated Meadowhawk!

There's a change of the guard right as I arrive at the further Barn Swallow nest! I missed the one flying away, and this one comes in, to take over nesting duties.

And then some movement on the other side of the creek catches my eye... Oh Wow!

There's a damselfly caught in a spider web! The motion that caught my eye was him fluttering and trying to get out. But the big o' spider has come along now and bitten the damselfly and he's quieting down now. Going to be eaten by that spider! Sorry, little damselfly. But the spider wants to live too.

I think the damselfly is a Northern Spreadwing. They are on the big side for damselflies, but that spider... she's huge! And that's pretty bold to take down any kind of dragonfly!!

I double check the nest, yep, he's all settled in there.

And then I head back to the garden.

The Wax Beans are finally starting to vine!

The Buckwheat has to peek up thru the leaves of the big Crookneck.

The Buckwheat blooms are small but really quite delightful. I'm so glad I accidentally bought them and finally planted them!!

The Brandywine seems happier... now that I'm finally giving it enough water.

But the Primary Sungold has a wilted branch... I just can't keep up with the watering!

This is the last time I will photograph this group of ripening SunGolds...

I ate it!!

It wasn't sweet enough! haha! I always pick the first SunGold too soon!

But there will be a ton, before too long!

And the Lemon Cucumbers...

Lots of blooms!

Gasps! Yipee!!!

It's buried pretty deep, and needs a couple more days of ripening and getting bigger... I hope I can find it again! Haha!

Happy Pollinators! ... aka Bee Butts! *laughs*

Here's what the Eggplant is looking like...

I wonder if the flowers got pollinated.

Heading out, I go look at that Trumpet Vine that was in the background of the photo I liked so much yesterday.

Tag: july 2024

I love the Sunflowers with the rusty red colour!

The red blooms in the background are a Trumpet Vine on an arbor!

... You know what? I like that Sunflower so much I think it needs to be a postcard! :)

And here's the Sunflower I bought for my garden plot...

It's still very short, just a bit over a meter tall. Laughs!

The big Crookneck has all kinds of happy going on, under it's leaves!

And the first Yellow Patty Pan... is... not yellow! haha, what an interesting colour!!

I realize now that I should not have brought it home... that weird colour probably means that one is bitter. Plus it got way too big anyway!

Looking over the newly weeded Tofu Patch...

You know, there really isn't all that much room in there. But I'm definitely going to put in some Buckwheat, but maybe not all the flowers I had thought about.

On the walk home, I encounter a little flock of Bushtits. But they always bounce around too fast for me, I don't even know why I bother!

There's some Chickadees hanging out with the Bushtits! But that's another little bird who's too quick!

*laughs*

These Blackberries are starting to ripen!! I ate one! And then another! Yum!!

A couple on a double bike passed by slowly, "Any good?" I gave a *thumbs up* and an enthusiastic "Yes!!"

Back at home, this was in my YouTube feed...

∞ Hot Butter - Popcorn - remix COVER on Tyros 3 - VST

This is a fun song! It's interesting that the worldwide hit in 1972 was a cover of a song written in 1969.

Tag: jul 2024

To be 88° today, so much nicer!

Going past the garden to see the second Barn Swallow family... The Bullfrog is still hanging out!

Oh. Empty?

Hang on! Someone just flew in! Good!

She stands there on the edge of the nest for a minute...

Is she checking eggs? Or Babies??!

*Laughs* I don't know! I just started watching this nest yesterday, so I have no idea where we are!

The minnows are fun to watch as well.

I wonder if they can see me.

Okay! I am going to be weeding around the Wax Beans today. Crabgrass and Smartweed aren't too bad here, but it needs to go before they cause a problem!

There! That's better!

The Brandywine doesn't look great with all it's dead leaves... but it's making some tomatoes!

And the first teeny tiny Butternut!

I've mentioned this before but dang it, I feel bad about picking the zucs so small... it really feels like I'm wasting food by not letting the zucs grow another day or two!

I stop to admire the garden plot as I leave. Here's the left side, with the Giant Marigolds and the Supplementary Squash Square:

That empty spot behind the yellow Marigolds is where I'm killing the Comfrey.

And the right side, where the path along the border is starting to disappear!

The Lemon Cucs are in the front, along with a lot of Borage and Amaranth! The Volunteer Elephant Garlic blooms. And then the tomato plants are hiding the Wax Beans and the Squash Square behind them.

There's a little bit of grass coming up in this path because stupid neighbors over water their plot. It makes it hard to hoe there since the ground is always damp. Hopefully I won't get dinged for that with the picky powers that be.

Tag: july 2024

A glorious day, much cooler and I am going for a walk!

It looks like the overly hot weather might be done, after yesterday's 98°! There's still a couple days of mid-90s in the forecast, but more ordinary highs are on the way!

And today is 87°! I will still need to water at the garden, a little bit. But I'm going to enjoy some more time away today!

The abandoned Barn Swallow nest. I suppose the eggs are still in it?

I'm thinking I should check the next bridge down, to see if those Barn Swallow parents are having a second nest.

Past the garden and past the Flicker hole, where those parents had to abandon their nesting attempt this spring due to cold weather.

Momentarily distracted by the cute little minnows!

And then I look over... I have to lean over the retaining wall, but I think I see movement in the shadows...

Yes! A parent is sitting!

I wonder what kept these parents on the nest thru the heat, when the other parents abandoned. Or will this nest get abandoned as well when those couple of 95° days come along on Friday and Saturday?

Well! We shall see!

But seeing that parent on the nest makes me happy!

I turn around at the Fallen Leaning Tree... still bare of leaves, sighs. And looks like they are setting up for the fair.

Oh, hey! I thought I heard a Moo!

American Bullfrog. It's cool to see him, but he's terribly invasive on this side of the country.

And going under the far bridge again... Happy!

And then a Painted Lady greets me at my garden plot!!

The Black Tomato is starting to make some fruits.

The Wax Beans are still small, but the Squash Square in the back is becoming exuberant!

Some of the Giant Marigolds at the edge of the Tofu Patch, with the Leeks and volunteer Beets in the background.

I only ate one Sugar Snap Pea pod today, and that's a bummer. The heat has overcome several of the plants in the Pea Patch.

And I pulled the zucs very small... I've got such a ton at home, I'm trying to catch up eating them! ha.

The tiny Buckwheat blooms make me happy.

*laughs* How many times will I photograph This Particular SunGold, before I finally get to eat it??!

The Passion Fruit at the end of the aisle has one last bloom on it.

And these invasive Blackberries, along the bike path, are tempting but I know they will be hard and beyond tart right now. But it won't be long!

Wow, that was a lot of photos for the day! But I am happy!

Tag: july 2024

Partner is getting stuff done at the hospital, and that's where I'm walking today! It's right on the river -- our other river, the McKenzie -- and it's a beautiful place.

There are loads of birds here, I can hear them singing!

Ha, that looks like a nice place to hang out!

A Wood Pewee...

Is that a meal for one of your babies?

And you've got kids to feed as well?

Well. It was nice to walk some place different. I take Partner home and make sure he's okay and then drive to the Community Garden.

It's 98° today and I need to water the garden. And while I'm here, I pulled some zucs!

Tag: july 2024

A couple degrees cooler today, and I can feel it this morning! The heat is much less intense for my walk out! The high today is 93° instead of the upper 90s it has been.

The forecast for the week is a mixed bag... near 100° again tomorrow, and then the highs fluxuate between upper 80s and mid 90s.

You know what would be nice? The normal temperature for this time of year is 84/52. Doesn't 84° sound blissful? 29° C. Aahhh, that's the dream!

Homeless people have set up another camp under the Barn Swallow bridge, but I guess it doesn't matter now... I glanced up and saw neither parent occupying the nest. They have definitely abandoned it.

At the garden, and I've decided to murder the Black Bindweed today...

Since it's new to me, I just wanted to see what it did. But the internets tell me that it spreads with seed, and since it started making some seed, with tiny, non-impressive and pointless flowers, I figured I should head that off.

It pulled up easily, I grabbed near the bottom of the stem and a little root ball popped right out! Surprisingly different from the regular Bindweed around here... which spreads thru roots, so there's aways a long root that stays behind.

I spent some extra time today, and finally finished weeding the Tofu Patch.

I adore this Sunflower growing in the Tofu Patch!

The orange bits over there are blooming Nasturtiums in Mia's Kids plot.

These are the second and third squashes I've pulled off the Crookneck. It's gotten so big, there are actually two places where it's flowering and making fruits!

There's a Spaghetti Squash growing on the vine in the front Garden Square.

That first SunGold is still ripening... you want to leave the first one on the vine for a while, because the chemicals coming off it will help the other tomatoes around it ripen as well! But it's so hard to not just grab it and eat it!! *laughs*

This little one looked like a black butterfly when she was flying around. Some kind of Wood Nymph.

This afternoon there was a major brush fire near the edge of town. It got got so bad, so quickly, they issued a Level 3 GO NOW evacuation notice for the people living there!

∞ Evacuations downgraded after brush fire near Eugene Airport causes scare

The thing is, Greenhill Humane Society is just outside the boundary for the Level 3 and I was terrified about what they were going to do with everyone there!!!

But they had the situation well in hand! They got all the animals evacuated!!!

Damn, they are awesome!

The fire had been called in at 3:30pm, and firefighters had it under control at 7:30pm. All the area evacuation levels were downgraded to Level 1 Be Ready. And they started bringing the animals back to the shelter at 8pm.

∞ Greenhill Humane Society: Fire Update

Yay! I am so glad the Humane Society has such a great disaster response... They are always there for people and their pets when wildfires happen outside the city. But knowing they can take care of themselves as well is so reassuring!

Tag: july 2024

This stalk of Snap Dragons is the only thing left from the little bouquet of flowers I got the other day.

No one here. As I suspected yesterday, I think the Barn Swallow parents have abandoned this nest and the eggs in it, due to the heat. The high today is 96°.

You gotta keep hydrated when it's this hot!

Mama is close by.

I'm at the garden, but no work today! Just watering to give my poor fingers a rest from clutching at stupid Crabgrass.

Under the Lemon Cucumber leaves...

Heh, she's too quick for me!

Still no one...

Tag: july 2024

This Little One was out by herself, and letting the humans get Way too close! So little and so clueless!

Okay! Homeless people under the bridge are gone, except for their trash. sighs. But I'm glad I finally get to watch this second nest for the Barn Swallow parents!!!

That's Papa in the nest and Mama is waiting to take over.

They must have eggs, already!! But are they going to be okay with this hot weather???

Papa is shifting around, but he's not ready to leave yet.

Okay. I'm at the garden and here's the BEFORE pic of the Tofu Patch. Continuing to slowly pull out Crabgrass and Smartweed.

And AFTER. Just a little strip cleared, again, you can hardly tell the difference.

But there's some Soybeans growing that feel much better without the choking weeds...

That flopped over plant, top left, is a Sunflower... it had gotten spindly with all the Smartweed. I will prob remove it. I think one Sunflower in the Tofu Patch is probably enough!

I get distracted by the flowers in the neighboring plot.

Okay. Back to my garden plot!

The Black Bindweed is ... um, flowering?

Well. That's kind of... heh. Whatever!

And I thought I was going to pick a couple of these today...

But growth has finally slowed down with the heat. These zucs are too small to bother with.

So I just pulled that weird one at the bottom... Today's harvest is kind of meager!

The Buckwheats are starting to bloom in earnest!

I planted these soaked seeds on Jun9... so that's just over a month to bloom time! Awesome!

And then on the way home... hmmm.

I waited a minute or so, but no one showed up.

That makes me wonder. Were the Barn Swallows having a consultation this morning about whether to abandon this nesting attempt?

The heat just hasn't let up, after our 106° heat dome. It's 97° today and the forecast says the highs will stay in the mid and upper 90s for the next few days.

Abandoning eggs is a bummer. But probably easier to do before you get too emotionally attached... I'm fairly sure the eggs were laid just in the last couple days or so.

Tag: july 2024

At the garden, I've cleared another little section of Crabgrass and Smartweed from the Tofu Patch... working around the blister I have on the tip of my pointer finger! Ha!

As I was watering the tomatoes in front, a female Hummingbird stopped to look at me and the spraying water.

I was instantly reminded about the nest I watched a couple years ago. (March 2022) I wonder if this Hummer was that Mama... or one of her children!

Altho I've seen Hummingbirds in the garden, occasionally, I do miss having a Garden Supervisor. A male Anna Hummer, who claimed the Community Garden as his territory, and sat on a trellis in the plot behind ours.

He was used to having me around, and let me get really close for photography. And I enjoyed seeing him thru the year and listening to him sing, while I worked.

Ha, this cracks me up...

I've never planted Lemon Cucumbers so close to Zucchini before! I love how they are interacting!

Oh Hey! Eggplant blooms!!

Well, that's exciting. Yeah, I don't really like to eat eggplant, and I've never cooked one for myself. But it's fun to watch this thing grow!

Today's harvest, with the Black Bindweed vine!

There have been homeless people camped under the Barn Swallow bridge, since the heat dome. It's a decent place for humans... you've got shade all day and the wind is funneled thru to keep things a bit cooler.

But I'm so frustrated about it!

There was a parent Barn Swallow IN the far nest, today!

I glance up to see, but I don't want to stop, because I don't want to give away a nest location to humans who might not be respectful.

So I don't know if the Barn Swallow parents are sitting on eggs again. They might be!

Tag: july 2024

To be 91° today, but there's still some upper 90s in the forecast. So we're not quite done with the hot temperatures around here.

And the new Climate Change Wind is very gusty today. The weather page said 9 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. I'm still not used to the wind, but 28mph sounds like a lot!

I'm getting a fork out of the tool shed at the Community Garden, so I'm having a wander to look at other people's plots. Roz has some Echinaceas blooming.

Sunflowers are starting to bloom!

Kevin's Opium Poppies still have some blooms.

Ha, photobombed by a cute lil House Fly!

These flowers should be loaded with Honey Bees, but I just see the one today... sighs.

Okay. Here I am at my plot.

I'm going to use the fork to dig up what I can of the recurring Comfrey.

I've lost track of how many times I've had to chop at it!

And the After picture:

I did pull some good size roots from the small Comfrey in front, but just leaves and stems fromt the big one. It's just the deepest roots left on that one, it looks like.

That first SunGold is still ripening.

The Brandywine looks a little rougher every day... some leaves are dying, a bunch of flowers not fertilized.

The big Yellow Zucchini is doing good things.

And I got the first Crookneck today!

And that Black Bindweed is getting all over the place. ha.

I take the fork back to the shed. And someone else is growing Sweet Peas as well. Crazy people! Sweet Peas are poisonous!

We have a pollinator flower bed at the front of the Community Garden. It is not as tended or exciting as last year, but these red flowers ... are they Crocosmias?

I saw an Anna Hummingbird darting around them! Unfortunately, she didn't stick around for photos. oh well.

Tag: july 2024

We are done with the 106° heat dome... tho it's still 97° today. But that is significantly cooler and it definitely feels nicer today.

I'm at the garden and will continue to hand weed in the Tofu Patch.

So! The French people!!

When they were first coming in, I could hear them chatting, but they were too far away to hear their actual words. But the cadence of their speech was wrong, and as they got closer it sounded like they were literally talking gibberish! I honestly thought the heat had finally gotten to me and I was hallucinating!!

But as they approached, I heard a couple Ouis and I realized they were speaking French! They came up the aisle, went past my plot and into the diagonal plot across the path.

The men were lagging behind, looking at everything and they stopped in front of my plot. He pointed at the big Zucchini plants in the Supplementary Squash Square and said Courgette! I laughed and said YES! He added something else, and I probably had a quizzical look, and the other man translated for me: Nice Garden! :)

I was working in the Tofu Patch, but I was delighted by their French back and forth conversation, punctuated by excited declarations and garden joy!

About mid way thru my watering routine, the man came back to check out my plot. No speak English, he told me. I nodded and let him know I don't speak any French. He pointed and said stuff and I was sorry to be the ignorant American. *Laughs*

But the others came by, and I got more translations. They were admiring the front Garden Square. The woman pointed to the Borage, and said a word similar: bourrache, Boo-Haush (like hush, but with a long A sound). They said you could eat the flowers, and I was all Meh! But she went to pick one, and I did as well and we both ate. I said, It's fuzzy! I told them the Borage was for the bees, and they agreed the bees love it.

And then they pointed at the Amaranth. That word is the same in French, just with an accent. They discussed it and said you can eat the seeds but it's a lot of work to get them. I told them the Amaranth was for the birds.

*laughs* I only wish I could have more plants in the garden that are only for the wildlife!!

It was very fun to meet them and I loved talking with them even tho I had to wait for translations!

So, I've gotten another little strip of weeds out of the Tofu Patch. I think the Soybeans appreciate it!

There's a glorious Volunteer Sunflower growing in the Tofu Patch as well.

I mentioned the other day that it's nearly impossible to tell the Amaranth from the Tomatillo... Here are the growing plants, side by side...

Amaranth on the left, Tomatillo on the right.

The Tomatillo has a first bloom on it!

There's a Sunflower and a Tomatillo growing next to the Wax Bean trellis as well. Perfect! It's great when the Volunteers place themselves so well!

And here's the Sunflower I bought, overlooking the Squash Square.

It looks like it's going to bloom before it gets tall. It's only just a bit over 3feet tall right now. eh, that's okay.

And when I got home, I discovered I had a blister on the tip of my finger, right above the nail. Ha! That damn Crabgrass! Trying to get under the base of it... Stupid hard work!

Tag: july 2024

Fifth day of the heat dome, 106° and we've tied the Oregon record for most 100°+ days in a row.

There was a dead baby bird on the bike path. Too young for me to tell what species. Too hot to live.

And makes me worry about the Barn Swallows, who are rebuilding their second nest for another brood. sighs.

At the garden, the Old German has folded up all the leaves on the west side.

Well, at least they haven't wilted. I pour water like crazy.

Today I begin Project Tofu Patch... here's the Before pic:

Filled with Smartweed and Crabgrass, that's got to go.

And After:

It will take a few days to finish.

I ate about 20 Sugar Snap Peas at the garden, instead of bringing them home... I've got too many at home!

I need to step up my squash eating at home too... they are starting to pile up alarmingly! *laughs* I picked todays Zucs pretty small...

And, ya know... I felt kind of bad, picking them so small. It feels like I am wasting food by not letting them grow to the size I would normally pick them.

Yes. I am crazy.

Walking home, I came across this one, right as they caught a snack. Crustacean maybe?

And, hey! This is someone new! Hardly has any shoulder patch at all!

Welcome to the neighborhood!

And at home, more of the little Pansies are blooming!

Tag: july 2024

Fourth day of the heat dome, 105°.

Good Morning Beautiful Kitty.

Hi, Knotty!

Oh my gosh! The other Barn Swallow nest is being rebuilt!!

Well! This is exciting!

And then I get to the garden, and noticed this right as I walked in!

Yay! Ripening!

Today I'm weeding the Wax Beans... Don't they look so much happier!

I wanted to keep most of the Borage, going down the middle of the trellis. But there was Crabgrass and Smartweed making the bean seedlings feel crowded.

Definitely, much better!

The Buckwheat must be happy with the weeding I gave it the other day... The first bloom!

The Green Zuc is being crazy!

And the Yellow Zuc is being slightly less crazy!

The Crookneck is also less crazy!

A pretty good harvest of Sugar Snap Peas today!

(along with some of the Borage I pulled from the Wax Beans... Not only is Borage easy to pull up where you don't want it, but it also breaks down very quickly to return nutrients to the soil! I love Borage for so many different reasons! :)

I guess the next project needs to be clearing out the failed Tofu Patch. Bleh.

But then I get home and discover the first Pansy bloom!!!

Yay!

Tag: july 2024

Third day of the heat dome, 103° today.

Not only are we breaking all-time record highs, but it's looking like we will also tie the Oregon record for most consecutative 100°+ days... Portland had five days of over 100° heat in 1941.

And I finished weeding around the couple of Buckwheats, growing at the edge of the Squash Square...

That stupid Crabgrass growing there took forever to murder! Getting up, under each plant's base to pull the whole thing out was just time consuming. And there was just so much of it... the seeds must have come in with the winter leaf mulch I put down last year.

So annoying. Means I'll probably be fighting it off for years to come. sighs.

As I was leaving, this lovely one showed up! They were flitting around, and I asked them to sit somewhere so I could get a portrait.

A Painted Lady Butterfly!

I am happy with all the bugs in the garden plot, but it's always nice to meet with the more beautiful ones!

Tag: july 2024

Day Two of the heat dome, todays high is 104° (40°C).

This blurry guy was way over on the other side of the creek... but he's so bright I could see him a mile away!

Flame Skimmer!

And the Hydaspe Fritillary...

The bugs must like the heat.

As for me, I suddenly noticed a good thing about our new Climate Change Wind... It was blowing a little bit today, and when it quit the heat suddenly got so oppressive and I could feel it radiating off the bike path! And then the wind blew again and took the heat away!

Oh yeah, the walk home, with wet clothes is going to be much nicer!

The Giant Marigold in the front of the plot is doing really well. It's the only one with yellow blooms, the other three have orange blooms.

I have more energy today, I guess the body is starting to adapt to the heat! I've weeded the Leeks again (with the two volunteer beets).

But the Tofu Patch? I might need to give up on it...

I had re-seeded the Soybeans for the Third time on Jun23, and I don't think any new plants have come up from that. And the plants that have come up, are just not growing like they should. They are staying small.

And the Smartweed is taking over again.

So maybe I'll weed it again, leave whatever Soybeans are there, of course. and the Tomatillos I want to keep. And maybe I'll plant some more Buckwheat in the space that's left as a nice summer cover crop.

Such a bummer. Maybe there's something wrong with the dirt over on this side. idk.

But check this out! The first real harvest of Sugar Snap Peas!

WooHoo! There are about 30 pea pods here, and I ate 10 before I took the pic... so 40 total for today! And lots of smaller pods left to be picked later!

And the Primary SunGold!

I also weeded a bit under the Buckwheats, at the edge of the Squash Square.

The stupid Crabgrass growing here takes such a long stupid time to work out of the dirt. And my fingers hurt from digging under each little plant to get the crown out. bah!

But this is nice:

I'm out... but I glance back as I'm leaving...

Look at all the dead dirt pathways. I worked so hard to meet their stupid expectations. But I guess it does kinda look like a real garden this year. heh.

All that Borage notwithstanding! :D

On the way home, Nutria youngsters!

Some ran away as I approached, I think there were five kids altogether! So Cute!

Tag: july 2024

To be 101° today, and it was already up over 75° when I was leaving the house. I decided to take both of my water bottles to the garden today! I put a couple ice cubes in each of them... Hydroflasks do really well with insulation, but the ice only clinked in the bottles for a couple of blocks.

Once I got to the garden, I kept the bottles in the shade, and the water was still cold even when I finished drinking it a couple hours later!! Well. Maybe luke-cold is a better way to describe it. *laughs*

So I was going to weed out more Crabgrass... At the edge of the Squash Square is my little exeriment of Buckwheat...

The Buckwheat is there in the middle, the Sunflower I bought is on the left and the big Crookneck on the right with some smaller leaves of probably Spaghetti Squash.

The rest of the green in there is Smartweed and Crabgrass... And you can see a couple leaves of the Black Bindweed as well. The weeds here need to go! I want the Buckwheat to live!

But... I didn't get very far with the weeding. The heat got to me!

Well. I watered for a good long while. And I hosed myself as well... the cold water felt good, tho there's not much wind today for an evaporative effect. But I def felt better after watering!

The Brandywine...

I'm a little concerned because not all of the flowers are getting fertilized on the Brandywine and the Old German. I mentioned the other day that there weren't many European Honey Bees around this year, but you'd think with everyone else buzzing around here, the flowers would get fertilized! sighs.

This little guy is growing at the edge of the Tofu Patch...

Yay! It's a volunteer Tomatillo! So happy to see it!

When they are small, they look almost exactly like Amaranth! There's plenty of Amaranth around, but I waited before I weeded it out because yeah, I was looking for some Tomatillos!

I am very pleased with the Squash Square...

And it'll be even better once I finish weeding around the Buckwheats under the Sunflower!

But the Wax Beans, there on the right at the base of the trellis... I am not so pleased with. GROW!

*laughs*

and the Supplementary Squash Square is a happy place as well.

Green Zuc on the left, Yellow Zuc on the right, and there's actually a smaller Yellow Zuc behind it.

Yeah. That's a lot of plants for one person. Partner has never been interested in eating zucchini. But I love Zucchini! And I'm looking forward to trying to eat it all!! :)

And speaking of Partner...

The other day, he was here at the Community Garden, dropping off our compost. The Garden has a big place designated for organic waste, which is hauled away with dump trucks a couple times a year. A local company then uses that for compost.

And since Partner and I live in an apartment, we don't have a place to put compost. So we take our kitchen scraps to the garden and add them to the pile.

And when he went the other day, a person yelled at him and told him he wasn't allowed to bring kitchen scraps to the compost pile.

???

I have no idea why this person would think that, or why they would want to stop someone from adding kitchen scraps to a compost pile!!

But, having pondered for a little while... it's possible this person thought our kitchen scraps would include dead animal parts.

And yeah. If you eat dead animals, you definitely do NOT want to put those kinds of kitchen scraps into your compost! The rotting process will be all kinds of stuff you don't want! With flies and smells and rats and other omnivores!

But I'm vegan, of course. And Partner is mostly vegan at home. So our kitchen scraps are 100% good for the compost pile.

There's a good bit of coffee grounds and paper filters... which makes for very high quality compost. And then there's the vegetable trimmings. And before too long, those vegetable trimmings will be mostly from veggies I have grown at the garden! Exactly the kind of stuff that is supposed to go into the compost pile!

So the yelling person was a little bit misguided... but only because they didn't have all the information. That's okay.

My neighbor gave me a little bouquet. I stuck the flowers in a favorite coffee mug and decided to show you how the Pansies are doing as well!

Tag: july 2024

A fledgling!

*laughs* I could tell this was a child even without seeing that bit of gape on her face... She was tripping over her own feet as she tried to walk along the board of the fence!

Today I worked in the Squash Square again. Crabgrass. Stupid Crabgrass. But I've freed up some little Spaghetti Squashes.

And I pulled off the first Green Zucchini!!

I ate a few Sugar Snap Pea pods, but I'm taking some home for Partner!

The Crookneck is doing things!

And the first Old Germans are getting bigger!

But ARG! The SunGold in the front has a droopy and wilted branch!

I guess I'm not watering it enough. And what a bummer to go into the oncoming heat dome like this!

It's 93° today (34°C) but the forecast is saying the 100°+ days will be piling up thru the weekend.

This is the secondary SunGold -- yeah, I've got two plants because I am crazy -- so I guess it's not a huge deal if it loses a few branches. But! It's right next to my precious Brandywine... and I am determined to get at least a couple of those tomatoes this year!

So I watered the heck out of both of them!

On the way home, I was finally able to get a photo of this little one... uh, never mind that bit of litter...

This is a Hydaspe Fritillary, such a small butterfly, their whole wingspan is probably less than an inch! But I see one fluttering around these apartment gardens that I pass, every day! Glad I was able to finally figure out who they are!

And yes, I picked up the trash and threw it away at home!

Tag: july 2024

I love these rusty red Sunflowers!

I'm at the garden to get some work done. But I can't resist a little walk about to look at other people's flowers!

Love in a Mist and a profusion of Nasturtiums!

I used to have Nasturtiums in the back corner of my plot... where the Squash Square is right now. They reseeded themselves for a long time. But last year, when I did a good job of weeding in prep for the Tofu Patch, only a couple popped up. And none, this year.

I kind of miss them. I'll have to try again with them next year!

Oooh! These Daisies are something different!

Wow! I Like!

Smartweed is blooming in my plot...

It's a native but you have to be careful with it because it tends to form mats and chokes everything else out. But one or two, here and there are nice. Because native plants support native pollinators!

Yum... I ate five Sugar Snap Pea pods today! I'm trying to pick the fatter ones, since those are sweeter!

I've cleared another little section of weeds in the Squash Square. It's slow going here...

Ugh, there is tons of Crabgrass and it is SO hard to get out! The blades of grass break off easily if you just grab it. The crown is buried a bit, and the roots make it hard to get up under it.

The Wax Bean seedlings... Grow faster please!

The Old German tomato, with some of the Giant Marigolds in the background! The Old German has a couple baby fruits growing too!

But the Black Tomato is still so very small. Grow!

I wonder who munches little holes in the Eggplant?

Happy Lemon Cucumbers, starting to climb the trellis!!

And some of the borage is blooming!! But where are the bees???

I've noticed an unfortunate LACK of European Honey Bees this spring. And it's highly unusual to have Borage blooms without Honey Bees dancing around them!

But, without the Honey Bees, I've been paying more attention to the other pollinators!

Bumblebees of course! But also Hover Flies, Bee Flies and Sweat Bees!

Wasps! Several different kinds of Wasps... Yellow Jackets of course, but there's these amazingly beautiful black and red wasps! Wow, they are lovely, but I can't even get close to getting a photo! They are shy. But I want to be your friend! Nope! *laughs*

There's the Cabbage Whites, of course, the most abundant of the butterflies.

And even House Flies are around! They are beautiful in the sunshine, with their iridescent colours!

I love bugs! And I'm so glad to have them in my garden plot!!

Tag: july 2024

The hot temperatures start on 4th of July. So I've decided to to head to the river today, before I have to dedicate excessive time at the garden for watering!

But today is lovely. And the Climate Change Wind is blowing and it almost makes it chilly over the river!

Huh. There's actually some water coming over the spillover into the ponds!

That's surprising! Usually the river is too low this time of year.

All kinds of birds at the ponds today!

Awww! So little! Just a couple of inches! And all by herself.

This is our native species, Western Pond Turtle. Probably doesn't even know how cute she is!

The invasive turtles are cute too.

Around the corner... oh my GOSH! Tree Swallows have been using this hole for their nest again this year. And the kids must have fledged today!

The Tree Swallow family is all over the place! *laughs*

Haha, the begging baby!

So demanding. And the other one is all Ack! Get away from me! *laughs*

Well, that is super cool! But I've got a walk to get to!

Haha, I walked right on by my meditation spot, and had to come back to it... it looks so different in the summer with leaves on the trees!!

I stay on the east side of the river, but when I look across... I see an Osprey in the platform nest on the other side! Foo. I should have gone over.

Oh well. Ha, photobombed by a Swallow!

Well, this has been such a great walk. And it's so nice to get away from the bike path at home and see different things.

But I stop by the garden on the way home... Just a quick watering.

The first zucchini is well on it's way!

And the Giant Marigolds are doing a lot better since I added some support. Nobody likes flopping around in the Climate Change Wind!

Tag: july 2024

This morning at the garden, I'm going to dig up and remove those big clumps of grass in the front of the Garden Square...

I think getting that mess out of the way will make the entire garden plot look better!

But then I decided to get photos of all angles of the garden!

Welcome to the garden plot tour!

So! Here is the front right, an area I call the Garden Square... Pre-Grass-Clump-Removal!

There's a Brandywine and a SunGold. And then the Lemon Cucumbers are in the front, you can just barely see the trellis. The dead leaves top middle are the Elephant Garlics which are dying back already.

Here's the view of the Garden Square from the other side...

Yeah, that's a lot of Borage! I love Borage. There's also some Amaranth in there too. And, hard to see, but the Eggplant is there on the far right, just below center.

Then if I walk down the pathway of the plot at the right border... There's more tomato plants, then the Wax Bean trellis and then the Squash Square in the back corner...

The biggest tomato is the primary SunGold. There's also an Old German, which will have large, orange tomatoes and a Black Tomato, which will have medium sized fruits.

The trellis on the Wax Beans is 6feet long and 4feet high. But you can see the bean plants are still small. I planted these way later than I wanted to because my little problem with Non-Compliance took priority for several unfortunate weeks in June.

The bean seedlings are very cute tho! And here's the Squash Square behind them...

The bright yellow leaves belong to the poor over watered Crookneck. The smaller plants are a mix of Spaghetti Squashes and Crooknecks, grown from seed. And then the bigger leaves on the right are two Butternuts. In the top right corner is a yellow Patty Pan.

And here's the view from the back, of the other side of the plot, looking towards the front...

The stake and the Leeks mark the start of the Tofu Patch. and beyond it, closer to the front, is the Supplimentary Squash Square which has three Zucchini plants and a couple extra Lemon Cucumbers. On the other side of that, at the front, is a clear area where I'm trying to kill the two Comfrey plants.

But let's talk about that big pile of green at the bottom of the above pic. *laughs*

When the first two plants popped up, I assumed they were sunflowers and was happy to have them. Volunteer Sunflowers sometimes come up in awkward places, so it's nice when they are mostly out of the way!

But then more and more came up, and you see what it's like now. It's a whole bush!

And it slowly dawned on me. Those aren't Sunflowers. It's Sunchoke!

Haha!! Sunchoke! I've been wanting and trying to grow some for a couple years now... and here it is, and I misidentified it!

Well. Sunflowers and Sunchoke are very closely related. So I don't feel too bad about the mistake.

But it's a bummer that the clump is so close to the border... They will get very tall and they are so dense they will block the morning light into Mia's Kids' plot! Not that they have anything planted there. but still. I want to be a good neighbor!

I got to eat five Sugar Snap Pea pods today!

And I've completed the work in the front... Big ol' grass clumps have been dug out, and I've hand weeded a lot of grass roots too.

It does look better! And in this photo you can see the two tomato plants better. And the pink seed heads of the Elephant Garlic are visible in that photo too, in the top right!

When I return the fork to the shed, I see that our Milkweed is blooming!

Our native species is Showy Milkweed and it's definitely interesting looking!

It's been mid-80s over the weekend, absolutely perfect summer weather, if a bit over the normal of 80° (26°C).

But we've got hot weather on the way. So it's time to start attempting some thermo-regulation tricks in the house.

We do not have air conditioning. We don't have central heat, so any air available to us would be the crappy kind that sits in your window.

I refuse. I just refuse.

It's tough surviving the days that go over 90°... and the forecast is calling for days over 100°. And I suppose at some point we will have to get an air conditioner. But for now, I'd rather not.

And the bugs like the heat... Here's a Dragonfly on the bike path, going home.

He's a Common Whitetail Skimmer!

Tag: july 2024

Wow...

This was going to be a Green Heron... I've not seen any Green Herons in ages and I was excited! But nope. She flew away. *laughs*

Tag: june 2024

We've got low 80s from here until the 4th of July and then the forecast says it's suddenly 90s and more. Ugh! I'll have to enjoy this last bit of pleasantness, while I've got it!

I visit both bridges, but both Barn Swallow families have flown away.

I watch the damselflies for a while instead.

This is a Pacific Forktail.

Okay, I've come back around to the Community Garden, and I'm going to do some weeding in the Squash Square today...

I'll keep some of the Borage, but underneath the leaves there's some evil Crabgrass. That stuff is the dickens to pull out.

Here's the AFTER pic...

I wasn't able to finish, but these guys are all We're FREE! Free like a bird! *laughs*

Here's the recovered Eggplant... now I guess we'll see if there's enough season left for it to do something!

From what I can see online, it looks like Eggplant needs 65 to 80 days after transplanting.

I'll guess Jun20 was when it really started looking good again after the slugs had munched it down to nothing. 10 weeks (70days) will put that at the end of August... So maybe I'll have some Eggplants to eat in September?

I see several Seven Spot Ladybugs on the Lemon Cucumbers! I hope they find some good eats! My Cute Little Carnivore Friend!

The first Lemon Cucumber tall enough to start climbing the trellis!!

I stop to look at the Passion Fruit flowers on my way out.

They are so weird looking!

oh my. Apparently this Stink Bug doesn't realize she is bright green... I could see her a mile away!

But then I try to get artsy with the Cow Parsnip.

And all the colours of summer!

Tag: june 2024

Knotty? Is that you? Have you met that new Heron without any shoulder patches?

The Barn Swallow babies are fledging today! There's three in the nest...

And two outside...

Don't you all want to fly?

You're thinking about it? heh!

Aw! We look so worried! The big world is scary, isn't it!

A parent flies by and we puff up again and feel better!

Well, I'm going to leave them to it!

And I'm heading to the next bridge, where the second family of Barn Swallows was fledging yesterday. And they are still here!

At first I just see this one... carefully watching as parents fly by...

Whoa! *trying to get her balance* Careful there!

You're just fine? Okay!

Flies to another branch.

Ooop! That twig isn't going to support you! Try again!

*laughs* She joins her siblings... Just three kids here, I guess?

Oh my gosh, they are cute!

*laughs* and I love how they track their parents flying by!

But they've noticed me as well!

I could watch Barn Swallow fledglings all day, but I've got stuff to do! I head back to the garden to water.

The Squash Square could use some weeding. And the Crookneck still has yellow leaves from over watering... But I've had to keep the seedlings damp, so it can't be helped.

And there's one little Lemon Cucumber plant that is stunted and doesn't want to grow.

And the Buckwheat is Supposed to crowd out the competing weeds... but it looks like I'll have to pull out the Crabgrass and Amaranth that's growing here.

But look! The Spaghetti Squash is doing things!

Grow! Grow! Grow!

Tag: june 2024

It's another nice, cool and cloudy day today! But as I'm taking pics of the lovely clouds...

There's something flashing on the screen of the camera.

It's the battery light! GAH! Power!

There's usually a couple minutes of power left when the battery light starts flashing... But oh my gosh, I don't want to miss something awesome that happens further down the path just because I was taking too many photos of clouds! Dang it! I hope the Barn Swallow babies aren't fledging out today!

So I need to restrict myself on how many pics I take at a time.

Leaving the camera on, heats it up and reduces the time I have. Maybe less of an issue this morning, since it was just 60° when I left the house.

But every time I do turn the camera on, the barrel with the lens extends out, and as a physical motion I assume that takes quite a bit of power.

So! No more futzing around with cloud photos! *laughs*

I worry about it all the way to the Barn Swallow nest. But here they all are! Still sitting in the nest! Phew!

Number Five? Hello? Where's your face? *laughs*

I walk down the path, but of course I keep coming across awesome things!

This Flicker pair are just a little ways from the nest hole in the tree I watched this spring. They must be the parents... I hope they have a successful nest this year!

At the next bridge, there's Barn Swallows flying all over the place? Oh my gosh, the babies here must be fledging!

I had wondered if this pair of parents had come back as well... but this is the nest they were using...

Yeah, can't even be seen behind all the cobwebs! So i haven't bothered visiting it.

But I think there's at least one child still in there?

With everybody flying around randomly I can't even estimate how many kids there are! And plus, they are trying to get back into the nest... but getting into that corner takes more deft flying than the kids have got right now!

But one child has managed to land on the other nest that is there!

And then another child tries to land there as well!

It's so awkward!

But eventually they get settled!

And I move on with my walk!

I did not take pics of the Fallen Leaning Tree or the wonderful flowers in a downtown yard... there was lavender with yellow flowers and orange day liles in the background. And it probably would have been an amazing photo filled with colour!

But I couldn't! It takes me a while to get a decent angle with that many flowers... I know how I am! I would get sucked into that and then I'd have no battery power left for the walk home!

*laughs*

I stop at the garden to water the stupid Soybeans. But Look! Brandywine!

Heading back home. And the camera is still alive so I take a few pics of the Barn Swallow nestlings...

Because they are just so darn cute.

Thank you for not fledging today!!

And... One more bird on the way home? Yep! The camera lets me do my thing for one more photo set!

And then I plug in the camera battery as soon as I walk in the door, when I get home! *laughs*

Tag: june 2024

After yesterday's hot weather -- 89°! -- we've got another lovely, cloudy day! Normal for this time of year is 78°... I guess you could get close if you averaged yesteday and today, because today is just 71°!!

So I head out the door, aiming to very much enjoy the day!

Okay. I'm at the garden. I've hoed down the right side and now I'm going to murder some of the Small Comfrey.

Unfortunately, the biggest leaves, there at the bottom, are right where the Crocus lives. So every time I dig there, the Crocus bulbs roll around all over the place.

I hope they survive!

Here's the view looking down the right side of the garden plot. The Lemon Cucumbers are in the front. Well, along with a lot of Borage! I love Borage!

And then the three tomato plants: the primary SunGold on the left, Old German at the top, and the small one at the right is the last planted Black Tomato!

The Old German is bringing on some fruits!

I at THREE Sugar Snap Pea pods today, instead of the usual one! *laughs* Hopefully there will be a pea pod explosion soon.

I wander over to a neighboring plot, because I've noticed they have some Chicory blooming!

And some Larkspur too!

And then as I'm leaving the Community Garden... Oh my gosh! Someone has Passion Fruit!

That's fun! It'll be interesting to watch this plant to see what happens! Right now it's a good size bush, 5feet tall.

Oh good! I get to see all five Barn Swallow babies before they go! I feel like they are going to fledge this week. They are so round!

A parent flies by.

But no food this time.

The disgruntled looks! haha!

Fledgling!! You can tell by the bit of gape left at the corners of her mouth.

A the new Heron who is hanging out here!

I move around to see if I can get a look at their non-existant shoulder patch... and this Nutria starts swimming right at the Heron!

Nutrias just eat grass and plants, you know? They are not ferocious predators! But sometimes they get overly excited about their territory! Our new Heron friend just walks away.

Tag: june 2024

There's a city worker at the Barn Swallow bridge, painting over graffiti (sighs!) when I stop to check out the nest today. The babies are growing up and our time together is growing short! So I've got to savor every moment!

heh... is that a tail? You are facing the wrong way for food, little one!

See what I mean?! *laughs*

Aw! All five faces!

Number Five is squirming around and sticks their tail out again!

Dang, they are so cute.

Okay. Heading to the garden!

I've hand weeded a bit around the Lemon Cucumbers, and in the Sugar Snap Pea patch. Ugh, there's some crabgrass growing here and it's really hard to get out.

And then I water the heck out of everything since it's another hot day here.

The plot behind ours grows Opium Poppies every year!

Usually they are full of Honey Bees, but I hardly see even one today. That's concerning.

Plus the Climate Change Wind is blowing and frustrating me a bit.

The different colours delight me!

But the dark purple is my favorite!

I've also finally put some supports around the Giant Marigolds at the edge of the Tofu Patch. They were flopping all over in the stupid wind, so hopefully they will be happier in a tomato cage!

Tag: june 2024

At the garden, I'm forking and weeding some more of the back of the front Garden Square.

I thought I was going to plant some Buckwheat here, as a summer cover crop. But I don't know. I'm dragging the hose thru here to get to the Eggplant and the Black Tomato. So maybe I'll just let that idea go.

The Spaghetti Squash in the front, that started as a transplant is already making things happen!

And the Eggplant is looking great!

Lemon Cucumbers are growing.

Yay! The first fruit is growing on the Old German Tomato!!

Old German is a new one for me, altho last year I had a Striped German which I assume is similar... but I learned with that one that I need to pick orange tomatoes WELL before they get dark orange! haha! I was letting the tomatoes sit far too long on the vine, waiting for more of the "stripes"! Don't do that!

The Buckwheats are getting their first adult leaves!

They are growing fast. That makes me happy, even tho not many of them came up in the little space I planted. The seeds were old and I didn't expect much.

I am still eating one Sugar Snap Pea pod everyday, for weeks now. *laughs* at least it's consistent!

A Seven Spot Ladybug on a volunteer Amaranth.

I rather like the Amaranth. Like Borage, it's easy to pull up in the places I don't want it. And also like Borage, Amaranth will make a variety of pollinators happy. And then the birds will eat the seeds, tho they leave lots to reseed for next year!

Barn Swallow babies... Oh! Our little toes!!

And Number Five? Yeah, you can almost see them over there on the left!

Tag: june 2024

The weather today does NOT look like summer at all!

It was 57° when I left the house! So nice! But the clouds will clear and we've got a high of 76° today. That temperature is right on normal for this time of year, but the clouds are definitely not normal!

Well! It's nice to see all five faces, first thing!

*laughs* They're so squished in, the one must have had trouble stretching their wing! Their wrist is up over their head and that's flight feathers in front of the baby on the right! Awkward! hahah!

At the garden, the plot on the end of my row has these beautiful Hollyhocks!

They are well over my head!

Here I am an our garden plot. Looking at the plot from the front right... the Pissant Pot People side. That's the Lemon Cucumbers, front and center, with a lot of Borage and the Elephant Garlics behind!

and from the front left... Mia's Kids side.

The big Green Zucchini is thinking about doing great things!

And lots of blooms on the Sugar Snap Peas that I planted from seed! I've still been eating about one pod every day from the transplants!

Buckwheat seedlings!

But the stupid Soybeans...

I've brought the bag of seeds, and I'm replanting the Tofu Patch for the third time today. Sheesh. I don't know what's wrong here, but only about 10 or so soybeans came up from the second replanting.

Maybe third time's the charm?

Four of the six Giant Marigolds have survived the slugs, and they are gearing up to be pretty!

The couple of Giant Marigolds at the edge of the Tofu Patch are in serious need of support tho... they are top heavy and are flopping all over the place in the Climate Change Wind.

The volunteer Love in a Mist is flopping too.

Okay! I've watered the newly planted Soybean seeds and I'm heading out.

We're down to four faces at the Barn Swallow nest again. But at least we can hold our wings properly!

Oh! Is a parent on their way?

No? False alarm? *laughs*

The Himalayan Blackberries are doing their thing. Invasive but will be very tasty!

Tag: june 2024

Good Morning Mr Squirrel!

Oh my gosh, look at his little thumb nubbins! It's hard to see, but he is holding a bit of hazelnut shell between his thumbs, as well as the rest of the nut in his fingers.

Thumb Nubbins! Too Cute!

Good Morning Babies!

Maybe today we will see Number Five?

But then a parent starts yelling, just outside! The babies hunker down again!

Is the Cowbird making another visit? I walk out and...

Oh great. The camera is having one of those non-focusing days. That's just great.

But that's a crow, and the Barn Swallow parent was diving bombing her. Much further away than the Cowbird yesterday, but the Barn Swallow parents are more sensitive about potential dangers now!

I get to the garden and...

Who needs the correct focus anyway??! :Pbbbbttt

*laughs*

Okay! Tofu Patch Assessment at the garden plot today!

Here I am, at the back of the plot, near the faucet, looking down the west side of the garden plot... The Tofu Patch.

On the left, is my non-grassy pathway, on the right is the good neighbor Mia's Kids, and at the top the sticks are delineating the Supplementary Squash Square.

Goal is to clear the weeds out of the Tofu Patch and free up any soybean seedlings growing here. The Leeks are also in that bottom left corner, they will probably appreciate some space too!

Here is the AFTER pic:

arg. There are maybe 10 or 12 Soybeans that have popped up. Dang it. I didn't have any trouble with the soybeans growing last year. It may have been too cold for the first round of Soybean seeds, but the second round should have done more. Maybe they don't like the dirt over on this side?

I don't know, but it's a bummer. I will bring the Soybean seeds again tomorrow and re-plant a third time.

I did leave a few wildflowers... There's a volunteer Sunflower growing in the middle of of Tofu Patch. And I left a little patch of Borage over there on the left. Gotta keep the bees happy!

Smartweed was making a mat around the Leeks, and they should be happy now that they are not being suffocated. But I also found two volunteer Beets! Haha!

They are a little bit close to each other, but hopefully they will get along!

And I'm thrilled to see more happy Wax Beans popping up!

Okay. Good Work today! Yay Me!

Heading home. Hey, Hey! We've finally got a count of Five again!

That's three beaks on the left, a head and eye, and then a whole face on the right! Five!

Hi Mama! Oh, you're missing some fur on your jaw? I hope you're okay!

Tag: june 2024

Good Morning Little Ones! Well! This is a different configuration, today!

I realized, later, the babies are probably trying to escape each other's heat! The high today is 90° (32°C) and it's already overly warm this morning... and probably even warmer up there under the bridge. I'm not sure they even get any of the breeze!

Oh we got another itch?

Here's Mama!

But she's just here to check on the babies.

And the little one goes back to preening...

*gasps* Little red dot... Is that your Belly Button???!

*Laughs* I'm not sure. And then I had to go look up to see if birds even have belly buttons!

They do!

∞ Audubon Question: Do Birds Have Belly Buttons?

Inside the egg, the yolk sac is separate from the embryo. And, yep, there's an umbilical cord connecting them, in the same way that an umbilical cord connects mammal embryos with the placenta.

So, yeah, birds do have belly buttons! That's fun to learn!

Okay! I'm at the garden and Look! Yesterday there was basically nothing, and today we've got some 1 inch tall Wax Bean plant babies!

Ha! Amazing! They grow so fast!

On the other hand, it makes me despair about the stupid Soybeans. I replanted the Soybeans on Jun9, and there are a couple coming up. But nowhere near the 30+ plants I had last year. Maybe I should replant them a third time?

Everything else is happily growing...

The Squash Square:

The Lemon Cucumbers:

The Zucchinis. This is the biggest one:

Yep, it's got a fruit growing on it!

I've also got two Yellow Zucchinis, the Crookneck, and today I'm planting the last of the plants that have been hanging out in the porch room... A Yellow Patty Pan that I'm adding to the Squash Square! It's getting a little crowded with all the Spaghetti Squash seedlings coming up! HA!

Okay! Heading back home, and there's craziness at the Barn Swallow nest!!

I can't figure out what's going on... The parents are YELLING, just outside the bridge. The babies are hunkered down, instead of spread out like they were earlier...

I keep looking around, trying to figure out what's going on. The parents keep yelling and flying around! And finally, I see this one...

I don't recognize this bird, and I've never met them before.

But she's a Brown Head Cowbird!

Cowbirds are brood parasites and that's why the parents are so upset! Brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other birds.

She's too late for this nest, of course. But, now she knows there's a Barn Swallow nest here! She might just come back next year to lay an egg.

Brood parasites are really interesting and extremely smart. They have to be able to... be sneaky and undetected near the nests of multiple species of other birds, lay all their eggs in different nests, as well as remembering all the best parents thru the years! They really are quite incredible!

I learned a lot about brood parasites around the world while reading The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think by Jennifer Ackerman. It's a great book about how amazing birds are! Highly recommended!!

The babies are clueless about all the chaos going on just meters away! *laughs* But they have excellent parents taking care of them! They don't need to worry!

I keep going and... oh, I think this is Henrietta!! Dang it, I can't get a decent angle. But I'm pretty sure it's him.

So nice to see him again, it's been ages.

*Laughs* Everybody needs to preen, these days!

Tag: june 2024

Good Morning Little Ones!

Is Number Five going to make an appearance today?

Uuuh, gotta itch!

The fluff coming up, off their heads is so cute!

I'm at the garden, but I'm just going to water today. I've done the work they required, I've been working hard for weeks. And today is my break!

Oh, this thing, growing under the first set of Sugar Snap Peas! The leaves look a bit like a Morning Glory, and it's definitely not our regular Bindweed...

Turns out it's Black Bindweed. Invasive from Europe and Asia, flowers are small and inconspicuous, spreads by seed not roots.

Okay... Keeping it for now to see what happens! But maybe I will pull it up before it makes seeds!

Yay! A couple Wax Beans have sprouted!

The Eggplant almost looks like a healthy plant now!

It had been munched almost to death by the slugs... you can still see the leaf-less stems, and partial leaves! But it's definitely recovered! Yay, my first Eggplant plant in the garden!

Aubergine! A fun word to say! :)

The Lemon Cucumbers are happily growing.

The other green in there is mostly Borage, a wildflower I love that makes the bees happy!

A couple of the Giant Marigolds are making a top-heavy come-back from the slug damage!

Okay! On with my walk! Here's the Flicker Hole... mostly covered with leaves now. It's too bad I didn't get to see any babies born here, due to the crazy weather we've had.

Minnows! And their cute little shadows!

These two are a little too far away... a Goldfinch and an Anna Hummingbird... how companionable!

Oh No! The Fallen Leaning Tree doesn't have any leaves!

Little clumps of leaves are all that it's managed to grow. It must definitely be separated from it's roots.

Sighs....

The fine print says We are trying to rehabilitate it. But no, I don't think it's possible. It's nice that they left it to try, tho!

I stop to drink my water under a shade tree!

Sighs. Poor Girl. Her two kids are nearby, they are getting towards grown up.

Barn Swallow babies are re-arranged and so sleepy!

Oh! Mama makes a surprise appearance! Nobody heard her coming!!

A couple wake up, and a couple continue to sleep!

Nope, sorry! Just checking on you all!

Awwww, Mooooom!

Random shoulders everywhere!

Oh, wait. I guess that part of their wing is actually their wrists, huh?

Random Wrists Everywhere!

*laughs*

Tag: june 2024

I don't know what these yellow flowers are, in with the Poison Hemlock. They are probably invasive too, but pretty!

Sleepy babies.

Dear Sweet Seven Spot, could you do me a favor? Could you eat whoever is munching holes in the leaves of the Sunflower that I bought and paid for? Thanks!

Okay! Here is the last section of grass that I need to hoe before the deadline, tomorrow!

I was going to jump right into hoeing... but ugh I feel weak today even tho I slept well and the back doesn't hurt much.

I hand weed some, in the path and around the sunflower patch. It's is slower, but more satisfying because I'm able to pull up long grass roots! I have to stab most of the area with the hand fork and then hoeing is easier.

I get it done...

phew. And ya know... you'd think I'd be proud, getting all that work done? But, no. Definitely not proud... I worked hard, but this was to someone else's expectations.

But the garden plot is up to code, now, and in compliance with the Community Garden rules. And I just feel relieved.

The Sugar Snap Peas that I planted as seeds are coming right along! And I've been eating a couple Snap Pea pods every day this week, from the plants that I transplanted!

OH! Finally! Some Soybeans are coming up!

huh. I don't remember that the soybeans came up all shiny like that. weird.

And in the Squash Square... Spaghetti Squash seedlings Galore!

Heading home... Aw! Happy to see an older duckling. Look at her little leg splayed out behind her!

The sun is hot, Mama!

haha, she doesn't quite fit into Mama's shadow!

A bit more awake, this time!

But is Number Five going to show her face today?

Oh! Hey! Mama swoops in!

Aw, the looks of disappointment.

Just be patient little ones!

Oh, wow. Mama must have found a pile of bugs to feed, very close by!

(and yeah, I was fiddling with the exposure. sheesh!)

No, sorry! I've got nothing for you!

My gosh they are just so cute!

Oh hey! Here's all five babies, finally!!

So demanding!

Tag: june 2024

Chilly days and it was another night when it got so cold that I had to close the windows! Ha! It makes me laugh that it's June and I'm still using my quilts on my bed!!

But I think it's going to be summer now... Forecast says 74° today (23°C) and mid-80s thru Saturday!

I walk past a Little Free Library, and notice a book I want!

*laughs* I reluctantly push it back in. Hopefully the book will make some kid happy. But, oh, Squirrels? And beautiful Art? (Yeah, I really wish I had nabbed it!)

And where's Number Five?

Okay. Here I am at the garden plot, and I'm taking a break from the hoeing to give my poor back a rest.

I'm going to kill some Comfrey today! It's gotten as big as the Zucchini plant!!

I dig as deep as I can and get some good roots out...

That one is a good inch in diameter! But you can see where most of the roots broke off! Ha. I wonder how many years I'll be battling this thing, before I kill it off for good?! Or maybe I won't ever kill it! :)

I've got some time left, so I decide to fork and weed more of the front Garden Square. I'm thinking about putting in another section of Buckwheat here, just to have some more green, living alive stuff... All the dead dirt they are requiring of me for the Community Garden Rules, is depressing.

But look, I've dug up something weird, plus a sleeping slug...

Oh my gosh! It's the Sunchoke roots that I buried last autumn...

Apparently it was pure slug food! I guess that's why it never came up this spring!

Back at the Barn Swallows bridge... Okay, good! We've got all five showing their faces again!

The kid on the end must be hungry! And apparently thinks I'm going to feed her. *laughs* It doesn't hurt to ask, I guess! Bahaha!

Their sweet sleepy faces.

Oregon Grapes, in the process of ripening.

Back at home, the Pansies continue to grow.

I'm happily surprised that they are doing okay with the limited amount of sunlight here in the porch room! Usually seedlings that I grow here get tall and lanky with the lack of light.

One of my favorite YouTubers is a new Childrens Book author! And I'm so thrilled that he's reading it and showing the art in a video...

∞ The Pengrooms, Read Aloud by Paul Castle

This is just SO Sweet! And Lovely drawings!

OH! And his partner Matthew is playing violin in the background?! So Awesome!!

I just love it! And there's Unicorns!!!

Point of Interest: Paul is blind.

Tag: june 2024

Its almost chilly this morning, with the bit of climate change wind. And the forecast says Zero% chance of rain, but I think I heard it sprinkling this morning before I got up, so I decided to take the rain jacket once more!

There's hot weather on the way -- mid and upper 80s starting on Wednesday -- so I enjoy the coolness to the fullest!

Oh the scraggly cuteness!!

Okay! I'm at the garden, and I need to do some serious hoeing today, despite the couple of twinges coming from my back muscles.

I've decided to hoe all down the right side of the plot, the Pissant Pot People side. I had already ripped this grass out, by hand, right after I got the Non-Compliance notice, but... it's grown back... as grass is wont to do!

Before:

And After:

That stupid board is actually on the other side of the border, but I weeded under it anyway because I need the front of my plot to look way above average!

(And don't get me started about jerks who refuse to control the weeds on their own borders! I've been picking up the slack for that type of neighbor the entire time I've been at the Community Garden!)

AND THEN... I hoed all down the right side, all the way to the back, AND around the corner along the back of the plot. (Again, weeding well into the neighboring plot)...

The bit of green in the pathway, is grass that has been hoed and is laying there, on the surface dying... It'll fade to tan in a day, but I realize that I probably should be done with the hoeing the day before the deadline because of this! So there isn't anything green left in the pathways on the day of inspection!

This is the last section of grass in the pathway that needs to be removed...

This will probably be the toughest bit to do... because I have never bothered to hack at this area around the taps, so this grass is very well established. The ground is almost solid grass roots, and I won't be able to Just hoe it. I'll have to break up the top with the hand fork.

I hope me and my back survive!

I take a bit of Joy from the garden, before I go.

The Barn Swallow babies have re-arranged themselves, and all five are visible... Or... heh, I assume there's not actually six in there! *laughs*

Oh my gosh! Mama swoops in! But she's so fast, and unexpected, I don't get a single pic of her! haha!

And back to napping...

Except one or another keeps thinking they hear a parent coming, so they look up to see...

Too Cute!

Hawthorn pomes starting to grow.

Tag: june 2024

It's cloudy this morning and just the slightest chance of rain, so I stuff the rain jacket into the backpack. Taking it is a pain, and if I actually have to put it on to protect the camera, well, that would be annoying too... It's a nice day -- 55° when I leave the house -- but the rain jacket would turn into sauna!

Barn Swallow babies!

Their eyes look like they are getting more open!

The slightest sound sets them off, asking for food!

My back muscles were giving me some twinges from yesterday's hard work. So I'm taking it easy again today, just hand weeding a little section at the front.

There is still significant areas of grass, and I'm starting to wonder if I'll be able to finish hoeing it all by the deadline on June20. We're getting down to the wire! And in the meantime, this comfrey that I want to kill is getting bigger by the day:

Oh my gosh! This must be the Buckwheat! I planted it last Sunday, and it's already coming up!

Awesome... The Buckwheat seeds were old and I wasn't sure I'd get anything! And there are four seedlings that have popped up so far!

There's no one else at the Community Garden right now, so I have a wander...

I love all the colours of the Bachelor Buttons...

(haha, I couldn't decide which Honey Bee photo I liked better!)

These Dahlia's are in my left-side neighbor's plot, and I just love the pop of colour!

*laughs* I try to get artsy!

Okay. I know, I obsess! Moving on!

A couple young Nutrias, just outside the Community Garden. All but one ran away!

Oh! Oh-oh-oh!!! Is that a 5th baby beak over there on the side??!

I think it is!! Confirmation of Five Barn Swallow Babies!!!

Yay!

And then I came across the Mama duck with the droopy wing... and it's worse. Ugh. It must be so painful, she can't lift up her arm enough and her wing is dragging on the ground.

She's still got her two kids with her... and it's good that she knows that her efforts to protect her children were successful. But, ugh, her poor wing.

Sighs. I love Nature's abundance, but I hate the abundance of pain and suffering, too. Sighs.

Tag: june 2024

We had about 20mins of rain around 5:30 this morning! (And some sprinkles after that, unless that was just the wind rustling the leaves to sound like sprinkles!) But, Wow! It is really unusual for us to get rain after about May, so this weather this year is so crazy!

Forecast says 60% rain until 11am so I'm loading up the rain jacket in the backpack! Crazy! The clouds are moving around and its a lovely 55° when I leave the house!! (13°C)

Oh! The new stray kitty lets me get a decent portrait of her! But still, not quite looking up into my face.

She is so beautiful! She lets me crouch down, but avoids my outstretched hand. No pets yet.

The Climate Change Wind today is VERY gusty.. The weather page said 12mph, but seems like more. (heh! Not that I know a thing about it! The every day wind is new here, so I have zero experience with guessimating the speed of the wind!)

The Cherries are ripening!

Here's a female Common Whitetail Skimmer!

There are a bunch of homeless people under the Barn Swallows bridge. So I don't stop to take photos of the nest.

And at the garden... my back muscles feel strong again today, so I'm going to JAM with the hoe! Here is the BEFORE photo.

And here is the AFTER, where I've hoed the rectangle to the left of the stake:

I also stabbed and hoed this area behind the front Garden Square:

Oh yeah! Gettin' It Done!

*laughs*

I don't have to water much because of the bit of rain we got this morning, and so I enjoy the garden for a few...

The Primary SunGold is doing things!

The blooms on the Old German tomato look quite a bit different!

This is the Crookneck in the Squash Square...

Yellow leaves like that mean I'm over watering the thing. Unfortunatly, the extra water is necessary for the squash seedlings coming up all around it!

A couple of the transplanted Sugar Snap Peas are dying already. They've hardly even grown. Did I get too close to the roots with my weeding? I didn't think so, at the time. But I'm not sure what else would make them die.

That's okay... the Sugar Snap Peas that I planted from seed are doing really well! The first bloom on them!

Okay. I'm out!

There are still a couple of homeless people at the Barn Swallow bridge, but they are sleeping at the other end. I don't want to disturb them, so I only take a couple pics.

There's just one baby beak, poked up over the edge of the nest.

The Poison Hemlock looks pretty with the sky.

And further on... WOW! The Colour!

The dark red is a Cherry Tree and I think the white is a cultivated Ocean Spray!

Tag: june 2024

Those Barn Swallow fledglings near my home are still here this morning!

Three kids, and as I mentioned yesterday, I'm too far away and can't get a good angle, so the pics are terrible. But they are still fun to watch!

Here's one of the parents!

Parent flies away, and hungry baby tries to get attention... Wait! Wait! Don't forget to feed me! *laughs*... and incidentally getting some flying practice in, as well! :)

And wow, you can def tell the difference between parent and child in their tail feathers! The adult has the beautiful long forked tail and the kids just have stubby tails!

Yay! Older ducklings!

A beautiful day... last weekend's overly warm mid-80s have cooled to a lovely 72° day, today! (22°C)

Yay! A dragonfly sits for me!

This is a Pacific Clubtail. I've been seeing dragonflies now and then, especially walking home when it's a little bit warmer... the big Black Saddlebag Skimmers mostly. But they are always flying above the bike path, busy hunting.

And at the Barn Swallow nest? Just a couple of baby beaks poking up!

I finally get to the garden... I take one look at it and immediately my back starts spasming!

Oh gah! Hoeing two days in a row was a major mistake!

Up until this point my back had been sore but in a building muscle way, not in a over did it way.

So this is concerning. I will take it easy today and then figure out what I can do tomorrow. Because there is still a lot of hoeing left to do before the June20 deadline!

Okay. Well. I brought the Black Tomato to put in the ground today...

I decided to put it with the SunGold and the Old German, on the right side of the plot...

Behind these tomato plants is the newly set up big trellis which will support some Wax Beans. And behind that is the Squash Square...

Here's one of the Butternut plants, with baby Spaghetti Squashes coming up all around it!

And on the other side of the plot... Aw, the poor Yellow Zuc that I planted yesterday. Wind damage. The other two adult leaves look perky, tho. Maybe it will live?

And here's looking down the small trellis at the growing Lemon Cucumbers!

That bigger plant at the top, there, is a Spaghetti Squash!

Heading home. And just some baby beaks again...

You hear somebody coming?

Oh! It's Mama!

Hungry, hungry babies!

Hmm. Maybe just three babies? I thought for sure there were four or five in there.

Oh! Look again! There's a fourth beak in there, under the middle child! Ha!

Mama flies away to get more food... the babies are so hungry!

But the babies quickly calm down and go back to napping. Growing up is hard work!

Tag: june 2024

*laughs* I crack myself up!

That's the Sunflower sticking out of the backpack, and I've also got a Yellow Zucchini in there as well!

Oh look! Papa is at the nest today! And one baby is making an appearance!

*laughs* I wonder what set her off?

Papa is not sure either. Get back down there, kid!

I get to the garden, and I've startled a squirrel out of one of the front plots. She stares me down from the fence!

Since the backpack was full, I carried the water bottle in this cute little satchel that came from Partner's Mom's estate.

Before I get to work, I notice a meeting is happening.

I'm sure they have important things to talk about!

I am breaking my rule of hoeing every other day, because I'm feeling strong and tough today!

Here's the Before pic:

And here's the After, where I've hoed a bit of that square just above the stake in the middle:

Ha, I wish the pic could be more dramatic to present. Maybe I should photoshop it with neon colours or something.

I planted the sunflower in between the Snap Pea Patch and the Squash Square, at the edge of the little Buckwheat section.

And Look! Some of the Spaghetti Squash seeds are coming up!!

Yay! Planting seeds in the garden is pretty iffy, so I'm thrilled that we've got some life here!

I planted the Yellow Zuc next to the other zucs at the front of the Tofu Patch. Poor thing... I bent one stem accidentally in transport, and then the stupid Climage Change wind bent a second stem.

I ate another Sugar Snap Pea!

This thing is growing at the base of the transplanted Snap Peas...

I did have the Sweet Potatoes here, last year. But these leaves are more delicate than Sweet Potatoes. More likely, it's a Morning Glory... the leaves are much bigger than the standard Bindweed we have around here. So I'm going to keep it and see what colour the flowers are!

I had a wander around the Comm Garden... This is a new art installation in the back corner. It's a bird bath!

I suppose the nearby plot neighbors are keeping the flowers watered and changing out the water in the bird baths! That's nice, and it's really a lovely spot!

Cabbage White. A very important player in the ecosystem... I have seen so many of these caterpillars in the beaks of Bluebirds, to be fed to their babies!

I am almost all the way home when I notice a couple of Barn Swallow fledglings up on the power lines!!

I'm too far away, and can't get a good angle, so that's a bummer. But there are three fledglings altogether, and they are watching their parents fly around! Super cute!

Tag: june 2024

This is Sweet Amber, a common landscaping plant here, a low, spreading shrub, just 2feet tall. It's not native, but pretty -- I think the blooms look like little fireworks!

I get to the Barn Swallow nest, and Mama swoops in and dang it, I am NOT ready!

And then she flew away, and the babies disappeared into the nest again. Foo.

But that's at least three babies, in the top photo, and I'm positive there's more in there!

I get to the garden...

I turn it over, and it's not quite ripe. But it hasn't been munched by the slugs, either. So I ate it! Yum!

Okay! Garden work!

I planted the Wax Beans!! I have been forking and weeding this spot in front of the Squash Square for ages!

I've got several seed packets, so I planted the ones I just bought on the outside of the trellis. Sunshine Wax Beans. And then on the inside I planted last year's dwarf wax beans, mixed with 2022 wax beans.

I'm so happy the beans are finally in the ground. It's late in the season for this, but it couldn't be helped with the Non-Compliance thing I have to deal with. And maybe the slugs won't bother the seedlings so much, now that summer is drying things out? I can hope! ha.

I'm hoeing some more down the middle pathway. It's hard work and slow going, but I think I am mostly on track to be Compliant by the June20 deadline.

I've also forked and weeded a bit more of the front Garden Square.

I ate a couple of Sugar Snap Peas today!

And then I tried to get artsy!

The volunteer Sunflower patch...

These don't seem like typical sunflowers... I wonder what kinds of blooms I will end up with!

Heading home. and a typical Chickadee! *laughs*

They have been working, in bits and pieces, on the bike path for months...

It's been pretty ridiculous... they'd set out construction signs, and just leave them up even tho they would show up about once a month to do work.

Those damn pylons -- I guess they are called Delineator Posts -- became toys for the homeless people. They would be pushed over, moved around... broken apart, torn apart, and then thrown in the creek.

And does the city fish them out of the creek? No, of course not. Even tho the base of the posts are made from recycled tires, and it's proven that the toxic chemicals coming off tires kill fish!

ARG!

So anyway. Now we have some concrete platforms for the lamp posts that will be going up here. Great, huh?

Tag: june 2024

Here's Mama Barn Swallow at the nest full of babies, born on Saturday!

She makes sure I'm being good...

But she is checking on all the babies!

And then she flies off for more food! Hungry Babies!

Dang, but I wish I could see them or even hear them. But nope. I must be patient! They will grow!

I arrive at the garden. There's a cute lil Seven Spot Ladybug walking on one of the small Lemon Cucumber plants... Eat all the bugs you find, please!! :)

Today I am cutting some Elephant Garlic Scapes to eat! The first garden harvest of the year!!

You cut them a few inches above the top leaf. And then you can chop them up and use them like onions. You can even eat the flower bud! They are very very mild, just a hint of garlicy flavor.

I only cut the small ones, like five or six. I want the big ones to flower and seed and make the pollinators happy!

I've brought the last four Lemon Cucumber starts and planted them under the small trellis in the front garden square. There's 10 plants here now! (and a couple that are technically still green, but too slug munched to live.)

The Spaghetti Squash I planted yesterday is looking good. And you can't quite see them but the plants on the left, just under the hose are the 2nd SunGold and the precious Brandywine.

I forked and weeded another row at the future Wax Bean patch... and I moved stuff around and dragged the big trellis to it's permanent spot! Yay! There's plenty of forked ground for it!

I stomped it down and made sure it was stable. And I will bring the Wax Beans to plant tomorrow!!!

Oh! Papa is at the nest!

He is making sure the babies are okay, as well!

So thrilled I got to see both parents today! and So glad I can still tell them apart, from where they stand on the nest!

And I get home, and I'm finally able to get a pic of this kitty...

A stray, she's been hanging around the apartments for the last few weeks.

She Refuses to look up into my face, always staring at my feet. She comes close, especially if I turn my back. But doesn't trust enough for pets.

But isn't she so beautiful!

Tag: june 2024

Tag: june 2024

Tag: june 2024

Democracy died here, today, with the SCOTUS decision granting un-constitutional immunity to Trump and presidents.

Trump v. United States (23-939)
The nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority; he is also entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts; there is no immunity for unofficial acts.

∞ Justices rule Trump has [some] immunity from prosecution

King Trump. The very thing the writers of the Constitution wanted to prevent. It's disgusting.

I'm not going to type about it. I'm just marking the day.

Tag: july 2024

Tag: june 2024

Tag: june 2024

Tag: june 2024

Tag: june 2024

Tag: june 2024

Yep, I watched it.

Well. When I say I watched it, what I mean is I clicked on the stream seven or eight times, watched for a minute, and then stopped it to scream for a little while!

*laughs*

So! what I was expecting: Trump would lie for a while like the lying pos he is, hopefully his dementia would show a bit, and then he would stomp off the stage in a huff, well before the debate was supposed to end. President Biden would be the voice of reason and everyone would live happily ever after!

Yeah. so that didn't happen, obviously.

well, Trump did lie. Bigly. Nothing new there, except he's getting more brazen about it.

But Biden? There was something wrong, and it was painful -- horrifyingly painful -- to watch him talk. His voice was gruff and he was speaking softly. But also speaking so fast... his mouth couldn't keep up with his brain and he stumbled over words a bit. I think that's normal for him, since much has been said about his stutter...

But since I don't watch politics very often, I didn't realize how very not normal this performance was for Biden. And I was just, well, shocked!

But it turns out... he had a cold. And oh my goodness, that explains everything! His weird soft and gruff voice. He probably felt like crap, especially since he had to fly into Atlanta earlier that evening. (Flying with a cold is the worst, let me tell you. Almost, I would rather die!) And he couldn't call it off or delay, even tho there wasn't an audience, because it's so important that he shows up... [tho if Trump had cancelled, that's just par for the course and what everyone expected, right?] [Double standards. You know I love them. /s]

So, like I said, I didn't actually watch very much of it. And I think I watched just as much of the pre game show as the debate... but this was so despicable I could barely leave it on...

Many people are concerned about Biden's age... The format of the debate, which the Biden administration insisted on, will help Trump... look more presidential... Donald Trump has been preparing his WHOLE LIFE !!78 years!! for THIS debate.

What? *shakes head* WTF??? It was all so stupidly pro-trump that I kind of despise CNN right now. What is wrong with them? Why the obvious bias? There were real questions they could have been asking people... Are you concerned about the retribution Trump will take, if he's elected? Have you noticed the doctors commenting online about Trump's mental decline and dementia? What do you think will happen to democracy if King Trump is elected?

See? I'm not a reporter, but there's some good questions I came up with off the top of my head and I'm already better than those fucking morons at CNN! *rift is brilliant*

And in the tiny fraction of minutes that I actually saw of the debates, Biden did make me laugh once... Speaking to Trump, re: Stormy Daniels and E Jean Carroll: You have the morals of an alley cat! *laughs* Srsly.

So. For me, this was just ... a sick day for Biden that was a momentary annoying thing that no one will care about next week!

Some other reactions...

∞ Joe Biden showed up, despite being sick, and why Donald Trump sank his chances to win the election

∞ Debate Nightmare, The candidates talked about golf more than abortion

∞ Did Donald Trump Murder A Newborn Baby? Is That Why He Keeps Claiming It's Legal? At this point it's starting to seem like he's setting up a defense.

∞ A Complete List of All of Trump's Debate Lies Trump lied 50 times during the debate

∞ 2024 presidential debate fact-check: How accurate were Joe Biden, Donald Trump?

Wow. I had a lot to say about that. huh.

well. You should go look at some photos now...

Tag: june 2024

Tag: june 2024

Tag: june 2024

Tag: june 2024

January 2024 (partial)

February 2024

March 2024

April 2024

May 2024

February 2023 (partial)

March 2023

April 2023

May 2023 (partial)

June 2023 (partial)

July 2023

August 2023

September 2023

October 2023

November 2023

December 2023

So I've looked at a map, and I hope I get around the new Downtown Riverfront Park without getting lost this time. It's closed because they are using it for the World Athletics Championships, which started yesterday and runs until the 25th.

This amazing mural just outside the Rose Garden was finished just in time for the Championships.

And, of course, you can't go by the Rose Garden without obsessively taking photos of the roses.

And then we gotta check the Osprey nest on the other side of the river. There's one child there today, and she takes off ... only to make a loop and come back to the nest.

XXX... Goal: Finish this post!

Tag: xxx 2022

I'm archiving the 2022 posts...

∞ January 2022

∞ February 2022

∞ March 2022
Story of nesting Anna Hummingbird begins here!

∞ April 2022
... And the nesting Hummer story continues here, until the babies fly away in mid-April!

∞ May 2022

∞ June 2022

∞ July 2022

(completed 28 May 2023...)

January thru July 2021 Archive

August 2021 Archive

September 2021 Archive

October 2021 Archive

(No entries for November 2021)

December 2021 Archive

Goal: revisit August 2021... Road Trip to Utah!

And then keep filling in posts from there thru the end of 2021.

Tag: 2021

(completed 27 Dec 2020 thru 5 Jan 2021...)

2020 Archive... January thru July

(posted 21 Apr 2023...)

2020 Archive... Aug thru Dec

GOAL...

Revisit the Aug thru Dec archive page and add photos and clear out the xxx!

Tag: 2020

(Posted 22 Dec 2020...)

The new archive is HTML5, and completely validated!

2019 journal entries

Tag: 2019

(Posted 18 Dec 2020...)

I have managed to move all of the 2018 journal entries into an archive page. I did not write very much in 2018, so I decided not to divide them up into months, like I usually do.

The new archive is HTML5, and completely validated!

2018 journal entries

Tag: 2018

(Posted 19 Dec 2020...)

I have managed to move all of the 2017 journal entries into an archive page. And again, I didn't write very much, so the posts for the entire year are on one page.

The new archive is HTML5, and completely validated!

2017 journal entries

Tag: 2017