The last week of July, we had a little heat dome with highs in the upper 90s and low 100s. I kept walking, but because I was heading out earlier in the morning, it disrupted the time I was usually working on the blog.

And now, it's been almost 2 weeks since I have added any new entries! And my other projects have fallen apart as well! Arg!

So, I need to get back at it! Yeah, it's still hot. And Yeah, I'm not sleeping great. But I gotta work on my projects!

(New entries go down to June 29.)

I'm really down today.

...

∞ 195 House Republicans want to end right to birth control

The House of Representatives just voted on the Right to Contraception Act...

A Bill To protect a person's ability to access contraceptives and to engage in contraception, and to protect a health care provider's ability to provide contraceptives, contraception, and infomation related to contraception.

This is a good thing! Putting birth control into law is decades late, but, well, here we are.

Unfortunately, 195 old white MEN voted against it.

That's a lot of men who do not want women or others to control their own fertility.

Apparently dumb asses don't realize that 99% of women practice some kind of birth control during their fertile years.

As for me, personally... they will have to rip my arm off before they can take my contraceptives away!

Bahahaha! Literally!!!

So, naming the names on this page... I'm of half a mind to send a strongly worded postcard to the idiots who voted against birth control. And maybe thank the 8 republicans who voted for the bill.

The Dems? Well, they are just doing their damn job, but I might thank my own representatives.

Arg! I feel so hopeless about the government in the US.
195 men in power who are anti-women, anti-equality... and that's just the House. The Senate is worse, of course.

I'm just wondering when they'll be voting against women's right to vote... Supreme Court will probably call it State's Rights again.

Tag: xxx 2022

So. I arrive at the garden. And there's this mess at the front, on the Evil Neighbor's side. What the hell?

The jerk has finally shown up, and weeded his front raised beds... and threw some of the weeds in my plot and didn't clean them up! GAH!

Just one of the reasons why he's the Evil Neighbor, ya know?!

But wait... haha, look what was under some of the weeds...

That's a dried up and pathetic looking Strawberry plant. It might be too far gone, but heck, I'm going to add it to my own little strawberry patch and see what happens.

He's still a jerk, tho!

So, here's what I actually wanted to do today... The big Comfrey plant is starting to sprawl all over the poor little Sweet Potatoes.

So we give it a little trim. Wow, look at how much tidier it looks.

And never mind how little those two Sweet Potato plants are. Yeah, I transplanted them a month ago, and they've not grown at all since then. Stupid garden. But at least they are still alive.

I'm letting this last volunteer Elephant Garlic bloom... I had eaten the other ones as scapes! Yum!

Sighs, poor munched Spaghetti Squash.

Pretty weeds.

Tag: July 2022

A female River Jewelwing damselfly! and a bug! :)

Aw! The Bluebird babies from the nesting boxes at the garden have fledged! Just two kids, this year.

Here's Papa with some food. You gotta be on the top rung, kid!

There you go!

Dang they are CUTE!

Tag: July 2022

Okay! The last of the planting today! I've got two Zucchinis, which I'll put under row covers. And I've got 6 Giant Marigolds, an impulse buy at the Farmers Market.

Yay! Planting done! Grow, Garden! Grow!

The second row of Wax Beans is coming up! They are so cute, when they are not munched by slugs!

Unfortunately, the Primary Lemon Cucumber patch, which I uncovered at the beginning of the week, is not doing great. The Cucs are still a bit droopy and the Cucumber Beetles are eating the Spaghetti Squash leaves. Gah.

Well, that's my own fault for removing the row cover too early.

Bluebird is a bit scruffy looking! I wonder if he's getting tired of taking care of those babies!

Tag: June 2022

Okay. Today I am weeding at the garden, to make room for the rest of the stupid baby plants that are still sitting in the porch room at home.

Here is the Before photo...

This is the row cover over the secondary Lemon Cucumber patch, which I planted on jun23. And near the center, is a mostly dead Squash plant.

And the After photo...

That was a lot of work... There were so many grass roots in that little area.

Aw, look at the cute little potato plants coming up.

And, hey... The Wax Beans might grow faster than they can be munched?

Yesterday I didn't have my words... I was too mad to articulate! So. Let's have another go at the Establishment Clause!

The Establishment Clause is part of the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...

The courts have taken the no law respecting bit to mean (in part) that a government official cannot endorse a religion. And, specific to what I'm talking about today, a teacher in a public school... who is paid by the state and therefore a government employee... cannot conduct religious exercises publicly, in their capacity as a teacher.

So. This high school coach, who is praying in the middle of the field... publicly, loudly. And not necessarily forcing students to participate, but there is def an implied message to the football players... Pray or don't play.

And the Supreme Court, again going against however many years of precedent, ruled FOR this jerk of a football coach.

Yeah. And let's just follow the logic here. Promoting Christian prayer in public, good good good! But... What if I'm a Satanist, and I want to pray in the middle of the damn field! (ha! Damning the field in the meantime!!! ;)

uh huh. That is NOT gonna fly.

How about a Muslim? A Jewish person? Nope. None of this! There's only one type who's going to be allowed to publicly pray in a school setting, or on the high school football field.

Just one religion.

Separation of Church and State? Dead and Dying.
America the theocracy? Just made a giant leap forward.

∞ Kennedy v Bremerton School Dist direct link to PDF of the opinion.

∞ SCOTUS: School Prayer Awesome, Establishment Clause For Decorative Purposes Only
A good write up about the decision.

Tag: June 2022

Heading out to check on the nesting Robin at Stewart Pond.

Dang it! The amazing Lazuli Buntings are always too far away for photography.

The prairie is beautiful.

I think the pink flowers are a species of Checker Mallow.

The pond in the forest has finally dried up.

And here we are at the Robin's nest...

She still sits? Surely she has babies by now! Don't you need to get up and feed your babies??

I walk around, trying to get a different view. oh... haha! :)

*laughs* not a very dignified pic of Mama Robin... but this is what she gives me to work with!

Another SCOTUS Disaster

There's this thing in the US Constitution called the Establishment Clause.

... You know what? I can't do this today. The separation of Church and State is very very important to me and to our democracy, and I just can't do this today.

Things are really getting hopeless around here.

Tag: June 2022

The news over the weekend, in response to the fall of Roe v. Wade is just devastating.

And the one thing I keep hearing over and over is that we need to get out and vote. ARG! This is so annoying and it's all but insulting!

Supreme Court Justices do not get voted in. And, we actually did NOT vote for the presidents who installed those Justices... Those presidents all lost the popular vote.

So, yes, blah blah, voting is important. But a lack of voting did not get us here. And voting harder is not going to get us out of here.

Tag: June 2022

It's hot, and the Lemon Cucumbers under the front row cover look wilted. So I'm going to remove that row cover. It's probably a mistake. There's still Striped Cucumber Beetles about.

I transplanted this Zucchini a couple days ago, and look. It's munched already. Sighs.

I don't know why I keep hoping for good things to happen. I should face facts and understand that I'm not going to eat any Zucchini from the garden.

Sighs.

Here's Mama Bluebird.

And here's the lovely Muscovy girl.

Tag: June 2022

You know that feeling when you're driving to the beach, for the first time in forever... and you first glimpse the ocean, out past the dunes? So blue. So amazing.

Or when you're driving west on I-70 thru Kansas, and you think you almost see the mountains... but maybe that's just clouds?

When I get out to the river, and I first see the water shining thru the trees... oh my! The weight of everyday life is lifted and there's a sigh of relief.

I belong here. This is my happy place.

The Rose Garden is lovely.

Oh my gosh! I thought I was taking a pic of a bug... it turns out, I was taking a pic of a bug being eaten up by a camouflaged spider!!! WOW!

This new mural is amazing!

Still water coming over the spillover from the river into the ponds! Usually this would dry up by April or May, it's unbelievable the river is still high enough now, at the end of June!

Good to see some older ducklings at the ponds... Avian Flu has killed almost all the babies this spring. Ducklings and goslings. There were four children in this family.

Hey, Cool!

Hops on over to the next tree!

So goofy! This must be a fledgling, out practicing their flying and landing skills.

And off we go.

Turtles! These are all invasive Red Ear Sliders. But look at the little one trying to get on board! haha, you are little, but there's no room for you, kid!

Carps!

Aww! Look at their precious face!

Wow. What an awesome walk today!

Tag: June 2022

Dang it, little bird!

Couple more Sugar Snap Peas to eat. They are so good!

In the past, the Love in a Mist self-seeded itself all over the place. But I must have layered the winter mulch too thick, and hardly any have come up this year. foo.

The End of Roe v Wade

∞ Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade; states can ban abortion at AP News

∞ Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org (Direct link to the PDF of SCOTUS opinion.)

And so it begins. The Supreme Court has started taking away rights. and it's the end of the United States.

So. Women and people with uteruses no longer have a federal right to bodily autonomy. Without bodily autonomy, our other rights are useless. We have become 2nd class citizens.

We will die. Pregnancy complications will disable us. There will be more unwanted children. They apparently can't understand the tragedy of this.

No mention of the men in this mathematical equation, of course. weird, huh?

With the fall of the right to privacy, a lot of other human rights will fall as well. It sounds like Justice Clarence Thomas is all about ending those rights... He writes in his concurring opinion that the SCOTUS should reconsider Griswold (contraception), Lawrence (gay sex), and Obergefell (same-sex marriage).

And why isn't Loving v. Virginia (interracial marriage) in that list? hmmm? (Justice Thomas is a Black man married to a white woman.) Loving is also classified as a substantive due process case in the exact same way as those other rulings.

Sighs.

Tag: June 2022

Day Four of Sunshine!

Okay! Finally ready to transplant the rest of the Lemon Cucumbers! They've been sitting in the porch room at home, languishing but avoiding the evil Cucumber Beetles!

And all covered up...

The first batch of kinda slug-munched Wax Beans were planted two weeks ago. Since they actually grew, I decided to add a few more seeds to the bean patch!

There's a green Zucchini plant next to the beans... it was eaten up by the Cucumber Beetles, but it's acting like it wants to live!

And there are four plants left in the squash patch which are Technically still alive, after being mostly munched to death by the Cucumber Beetles. I think it's two Crook Necks and two Spaghetti Squash. I'm not sure because I planted a bunch of different squashes here but then I gave up on them when they got decimated by the bugs! Most were just eaten to death, but if they had partial leaves left, I didn't pull them out. I guess we'll see if the survivors will do anything.

Oh! Is this a potato? It's the first one to come up! Yay!

Oh pretty damselfly! and an awesome name... Vivid Dancer!

Damselflies hold their wings over their backs, and are usually smaller. Dragonflies hold their wings out...

A dragonfly with a boring name... Pacific Clubtail.

Tag: June 2022

Something woke me up at 4am.

It's still dark, but the Morning Chorus has already begun, if you call one bird... unidentified and non-melodious, singing a tapping sound... a Chorus! *laughs*

But then I heard what must have woken me up...

A Screech Owl!

TWO!

They are talking over each other for a couple rounds!

Screech Owls have the most amazing song, called a bouncing ball song! Here it is, go check it out!

∞ Western Screech Owl Sounds at AllAboutBirds.

So cool! The second owl didn't sing for long, but the first kept going for a couple minutes. I noticed the time... After I woke, they started at 4:06am and they were done at 4:09am.

Day Three of Sunshine... and the tomato plants are definitely starting to perk up! Yay!

I finish weeding the section I started yesterday, for the row cover...

The Wax Beans are still alive, but really getting munched by the slugs.

And the slugs have bitten into all of the Strawberries, so far. But I'm still glad I planted them, they are pretty, little plants!

Tag: June 2022

Okay. Day two of Sunshine. So I'm back at the Community Garden plot to do some work!

Each garden plot gets it's own water tap, and there's pipes coming up in the corner where four plots meet. No one weeds around our taps, and there's some Creeping Buttercup that's starting to take over. So that's where I start.

I forgot to take a "Before" pic, so here is the "After" pic with the pile of weeds I've dug up...

The back left plot is showing Horseradish, which is invasive at our garden. You can eat it, and it is healthy... but I hate it! *laughs* I chop it down where ever it appears in my plot, it's easy to identify, but impossible to get rid of permanently!

And the back right plot is Opium Poppies. They are beautiful and I love taking photos of them and the European Honey Bees. I am sad that they have yet to self seed into my plot.

Next up... need to make room for the 2nd row cover! Here's the spot, I'm going to break up the soil and pull out grass roots.

The long sticks are last year's Sunflowers, dried up and maybe useful for marking areas! And to the left of the sticks are a couple of surviving Fava, the winter cover crop. And on the right is the back of the Mammoth Clover patch.

A good square done! But not quite big enough for the row cover... I'll have to finish it tomorrow.

You can't really see it, but there's a lone, mostly dead Spaghetti Squash in the middle of that square. I was going to pull it up, it's not going to do anything after being ravaged by the Cucumber Beetles. But the poor thing... I just couldn't kill it. I weeded around it and will put it under the row cover with the Lemon Cucumbers!

Okay. Let's go have fun...

Oh, yay, a new dragonfly to look up! This one took me a while to find in my book. But I learned stuff as I searched! Skimmers have a fat body type, and Clubtails of course are fatter at the end of their tail, so I had narrowed this one down to a Darner...

I had to double check with some pictures online, but I finally figured out she's a California Darner!

Tag: June 2022

Cool artwork someone has chalked on the bike path!

I just can't get over how beautiful the grass is...

ha! A Swallow and a Vulture!

Oh wow!

What the...? A Red Tail Hawk... with a red tail! Ha! That's weird!

um, I am NOT being sarcastic about the red tail! All the Red Tail Hawks I've seen here have brown tails, the same colour as their body. Definitely not red. I assumed it was a regional difference. but now I wonder if I've only been seeing juveniles? That seems... statistically unlikely.

Still a pond in the forest.

And the Robin still sits.

oh, lovely! A Twelve Spotted Skimmer.

ha, do they see each other???

A couple of articles I want to share with you today.

∞ River Trash traps chew at huge ocean plastics problem

I love this! Turning Trash Traps into big, cute and lovable characters is fun!

Mr Trash Wheel has his own website, and there are a couple other Trash Traps in his family. They run on a water wheel or solar power!

I support Abortion Access Front, and they support independent abortion clinics. The newsletter I got today highlights a clinic in a city that spans the border between Tennessee and Virginia. The clinic needs to move to the Virginia side of the town...

∞ Go Fund Me, Keep Abortion Safe and Legal in Bristol
they are at $37,753 and looking to get 75K.
(update... They hit their original target, but had to raise it to 125,000$ due to unanticipated expenses.)

I suppose that many abortion clinics will be doing this... moving out of state so they can keep going.

It just infuriates me that we have to do this.

This clinic is just moving across town, but many will have to move hundreds of miles away.

And their patients? Where will they go for their reproductive health care? These clinics provide more than just abortion care, you know. Where will people go every three months for their Depo shot or birth control pills? Pap smears are incredibly important, and absolutely saves lives! How are we going to get that done, when we don't have a regular doctor?

Tag: June 2022

Happy Juneteenth!

I went to the Post Office today and picked up my order of postcards! I'm very excited and plus they put my box in Parcel Locker Number ONE! *laughs*

∞ Postcards to Swing States

I'm a little bit disappointed by the boring design on the postcards I got... The picture on the website is way better!

So anyway! I've got 500 postcards that need to be sent on 10 October.

Let's do the math... if I start writing tomorrow, that will be 16 weeks to the deadline. I will have to write 31.25 postcards per week, which is 6.25 postcards written five days a week (so I can take time off on the weekend) (or catch up if I need to!).

A significant daily effort, for a long period of time!

I think I can do it! Yeah!!

And some puttering around the garden...

I had planted some Wax Bean seeds, directly into the ground a couple weeks ago. I never do this because seeds just don't do anything in the garden plot. But they are actually starting to come up!

Yeah, the baby bean leaves have holes in them. And a couple are munched down to the stem. Slugs.

And only a few Sugar Snap Pea plants survived the slugs this spring... but the couple of snap peas that I've eaten have been SOOOO good!

Dang it, I wish I had planted more snap peas, I just can't survive on three or four peas a week! *laughs*

Looks like the Lemon Cucumbers are doing okay under the row cover. That's good!

The bottom leaves off ALL the tomato plants are getting yellow! Ack!

When I talked to my Mom, she said Too Much Water.

So that's just great. It's raining so much, it's starting to kill my tomato plants.

The Squash plants are already dead of cold and slugs and Cucumber Beetles. and now the tomato plants. Am I going to get ANY vegetables this year???

Wai!! Hopeless Despair!

Well. At least the bees are happy in the plot behind.

And the Garden Pinks in another neighboring plot are pretty.

But still. Hopeless Despair!

Tag: June 2022

Another day of rain! And I want to look at the new park again! I park at the Rose Garden...

A parent at the Osprey nest.

And other people are building their nests!

And then it starts Pouring down rain as soon as I get to the new park! ha!

A different view of the SubSubpra art pavilion.

The art continues with bands of metal in the sidewalks.

The abandoned Steam plant. That building definitely has some character!

I'm not walking all the way to the next bridge today.

I turn around and go back the way I came.

Under the Defazio walking bridge... ha! I didn't realize you could see the Sun from here! (that yellow ball on the right.)

The bike path includes an art installation of a scale Solar System. The Sun and inner planets are in Alton Baker park, and the outer planets are along the Ruth Bascom Riverbank trail. Pluto is a tiny dot, over 3.5 miles away!

It's really cool and I love it! :)

And of course the rain quits after I come out of the new park. ha.

But I get to see one of the kids at the Osprey nest... (and the photo is a little better with some sun shining down!)

Tag: June 2022

The rain is back again today, so the garden is back on pause. I'm out to Stewart Pond, to check on the nesting Robin!

On the way, a walk thru the neighborhoods...

And here we are. The wet prairie winter pond is turning into a summertime prairie... and oh my gosh, I just love the different greens of all the grasses!!

It's pouring rain now!

It's rained so much, there's still a pond in the forest! crazy!

And here's our beautiful nesting Robin. *laughs* She sits!

Oh, hey!

A little flock of Bushtits!!

Ha! They're all over the place!

Female Bushtits have pale eyes, other than that they look the same as the males.

Tag: June 2022

Planted the Lemon Cucumbers and a Spaghetti Squash, and the first row cover is ready to be pulled over!

And here's the reason for the row covers...

Sure enough, the Cucumber Beetles are coming out again now that the rain has stopped and things are drying out.

Damn you to hell, little bug!

Okay. All covered up!

To the right of the row cover are some baby Leeks. That's my backpack, leaning against one of Evil Neighbor's raised beds... he hasn't started gardening yet this year, so his beds are just full of grass that's approaching a meter tall. I hope he doesn't come back. Because. You know. He's Evil.

In the middle, there are several volunteer Elephant Garlics, in front of the big patch of Mammoth Clover. ha, elephants and mammoths! :)

and the green on the left is another, smaller patch of Mammoth Clover. You can't really see it but there's a couple tomato plants, in front of and between the two clovers.

I've got several Sun Gold cherry tomato plants. An heirloom Yellow Pear tomato, a Roma Tomato, and a full size tomato called Celebrity. I don't know about the Celebrity... I just realized one day at the Farmers Market that I didn't have any big tomatoes, so I just grabbed that one.

And no Brandywines for the first time in years. I LOVE Brandywines. But the plants are not very productive... only five or ten tomatoes grow on a single plant. They just need a longer season, maybe, and that's not going to happen this year with the cold and wet spring we've had. sighs. maybe next year.

The Opium Poppies in the garden plot behind ours, are blooming!

They are so pretty, I love all the different colours!

The European Honey Bees love the Poppies as well.

Tag: June 2022

Okay. This is more than a pet peeve, and more than an annoyance.

This is something that makes me angry. I am pissed off about this!

This is the back porch of a neighborhood townhouse... I'm sure some Proud Boy Patriots are living here. You can tell by their extreme ignorance. They've got some kind of tent frame around their porch.

And they are using a huge American flag as... what? a privacy curtain?

THE FLAG IS DRAGGING ON THE GROUND!

Let me repeat.

The American flag is dragging on the ground!

ARG! ARG! ARG!

Having a flag even touch the ground briefly is not good, but leaving it to drag in the dirt 24/7 is the height of disrespect.

I am almost tempted to print up the Flag Code and drop it off at their front door. hmmm. Or. Here's a decent graphic, The American Flag at USA.gov.

And, having said all that... if you are at a protest and you feel the need to burn an American flag in order to make your statement? Yep. Go right ahead! Have at it!

Burning a flag in protest is part of our First Amendment rights. It is freedom of speech.

And yep, I am one of those people who take this to heart...

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
(not Voltaire)

Altho, I rather like this rendering better...

I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to make an ass of yourself.
Oscar Wilde

*laughs*

Tag: June 2022

I have finally decided what to do with all the millions of Squash and Lemon Cucumber plants that are sitting in the porch room at home!

Okay. It's not millions. There are 8 Lemon Cucs, 2 Spaghetti Squash, and a couple of Zucchinis. But when you have to water them all twice a day, it seems like millions! :)

The Cucumber Beetles don't seems quite as multitudinous now. But that's just because they've eaten most everything. If I plant some new baby squashes in the garden, I'm sure they'll be back to eat everything yet again.

So I've got some row covers. When I pulled out the package that was leftover from a couple years ago, I realized the sheet I'd gotten was pretty small. Only 10x12 feet. I figured if I cut it in half, I could separate the baby plants into two rows with 4 Lemon Cucs and 1 Spaghetti Squash in each. And I'll worry about the Zucs later.

But the place I had in mind for the Cucs has some weeds encroaching. So that's what I'm going to work on today.

Here's the front right of our garden plot...

The black circle is part of a patch of Mammoth Clover... which was our cover crop from two seasons ago. I am happy that it still hangs around, it's good for the garden and I like diversity! But I'm going to cut some of it down to make room for the row cover.

The red oval is some invasive Creeping Buttercup. It has gotten established in the pathway and has set roots in the plot. It just needs to go. And I'll dig it out of the pathway, as much as I can as well. (They were very healthy plants... I pulled up several runners that were over 5 feet / 1.5 meters long!)

Yay! A good space for one of the row covers! Plus there's some breathing room for a couple volunteer Elephant Garlics that are growing in the Clover patch.

The Creeping Buttercup that I pulled out will go to the Community Garden compost heap. But the clover I cut down will stay in the plot. I just dumped it in the Mostly Dead Squash patch. The nutrients and biomass can return to the dirt... with the rain we've been getting, it'll break down quickly.

Tag: June 2022

This was the only sign of wildlife at the new park today. An intrepid Eastern Fox Squirrel...

Maybe once things calm down, more wildlife will come visiting.

Back in the old park, there's some happy creatures. This is one of our native squirrels, a Western Grey.

Happy Robin. Poor little worm.

Whoa! Swallows that worm almost instantly!

And now we're looking for the next worm!

And back at the Osprey nest. Looks like two children, still... two lumps of heads...

Two beaks...

Ooooh! Nope! That's Three! Two heads and a body behind the parent!

Check! Three babies and a parent! Awesome!

Tag: June 2022

The grand opening for Eugene's newest park took place over the weekend, and I'm excited to go and see it!

∞ Eugene Downtown Riverfront Park

And, of course! It's raining off and on again today. ha. The weather this spring is just insane!

I park at the Rose Garden, the new park is a bit over a mile upriver.

But you can't walk thru the Rose Garden without taking photos of roses!!

This Silver Lining is one of my favorites. Such a unique shade!

And the new Twilight Zone now has an official tag labeling it... so I guess it's a keeper! :)

And I pass by the Osprey nest that's on the other side of the river... hmm. A parent and two lumps?

And here we are at the new park...

The crowning glory (right now, there's more art on the way) is this amazing art pavilion. It's called SubSupra and the metal ribbons mimic the topography of the riverbed...

The stainless steel is polished to a mirror shine! *laughs* How fun is that!

The bike path splits into several parallel paths. I suppose the outside one is for bikers who just want to ride thru. There's a boardwalk right next to the river and extra benches and seating for people who just want to hang out.

The building in the background is the old EWEB Steam Plant. It took water from the river and heated the entire downtown, back in the day. But it's been abandoned for a long time. The plan is to develop it and put in restaurants and gift shops! This place will be amazing when that happens!

The next walking bridge is another mile upriver... I think I'll go check that out!

Two miles from the Rose Garden, and huh... I didn't realize the path was so close to the University. Not sure how many blocks away it is, and you do have to cross a major road. I will have to check that out another time!!

And here I am on Autzen walking bridge looking upriver. Interstate 5 is over there somewhere, but there's another walking bridge just before it.

That was my turn around spot today... I'm heading back. I'll put the rest of the wildlife in today's Part 2 post!

Tag: June 2022

Cloudy, but just a couple sprinkles today.

This is someone's yard, officially designated as a Pollinator Habitat! I love to watch and see how it changes thru the year!

I don't know why people have Sweet Peas in their garden plot... Sweet Pea is poisonous! Not to mention really invasive.

Oh my gosh, what an amazing splash of colour!

Let's see... the pink and white flowers are Garden Pinks, the orange is Calendula, and the blues are Bachelor Buttons...

Hang on... we've got a photo bomber...

*laughs*

And then on the way home. Oh sheesh... you gotta stand right next to some trash?!

okay, that's better. Thanks!

Tag: June 2022

Still with the rain that started on the 10th! Yay!

I walked in the rain but didn't take many photos.

So here's a piggy for you instead!

Dawn the Guinea Pig!

Tag: June 2022

Rain started yesterday and still raining today... It's just unheard of that it rains this late in the year! But it makes some of us happy...

The rain has driven away the Striped Cucumber Beetles. They'll be back, but it hardly matters... we won't be able to bounce back from this...

So a bunch of new plants from the Farmers Market populate the porch room. But when can I plant them to avoid death by Cucumber Beetle? I don't know.

I mentioned the Cucumber Beetles to my farmer and she starts, "There are some organic pesticides..."

I shake my head, "I'm vegan. I don't want to kill anybody."

But it's more than that. Bugs are so very very important in our world... and we've been killing them at such a rate that we have to contemplate pollinating our crops with our own hand. Life without bugs is going to be near impossible, but that's where we are headed.

And I refuse to add to the problem just because I'm annoyed at what's happening in my own garden. I will never use pesticides or any other poison.

Tag: June 2022

Oh wow! This is a Western Tiger Swallowtail. And they hardly ever sit down!

But this one was really happy about the Blackberry blooms!

So Lovely! They are one of our native species. Wing span about 3 inches.

And off we go! Thank you!

xxx ... more pics here!

Tag: xxx 2022

I am ignoring the dying squash plants today.

Let the weeding begin...

I planted some Wax Bean seeds here.

Ha, so funny thing.

Last year I had grown Wax Beans for the first time ever. The little bean patch did well, and I wanted to do that again this year.

So I picked out some seeds to plant at my favorite local nursery. They sat in my cart for a few days because I didn't want to just buy beans, you know. I picked out a few other seeds to get.

But then, the nursery had a sale to get rid of the last few seed packets of the year! And so I switched from the Wax Beans that I had so carefully picked out, to some of these Wax Beans that were on sale.

When they arrived, I realized my mistake. I had wanted bush beans, which are short and will stand up on their own.

The sale beans were pole beans. They'll be 8 or 10 feet tall... And I simply do not have a trellis that big!!

*laughs*

Yay, a new dragonfly!

I love going thru my book to learn about dragonflies and damselflies! This one is a male Pacific Clubtail...

Tag: June 2022

I hate the garden.

There were seven Summer Squash plants that lived thru the slugs and the cold and wet. The Striped Cucumber Beetles are eating them all up.

Well.

I planted some Leeks today. There aren't any bugs who eat leeks, so at least I'll get some soup flavoring out of the garden this year.

sighs.

Tag: June 2022

Oh, cool bug! This is a Lady Bug larva sitting in a Garden Pink.

Oh, Dang it you Robin! Look at that amazing background with all those interesting colours. This would have been a beautiful picture, if only you were agreeable!! *laughs*

Been a while since I've gotten to take a pic of our native Western Grey Squirrel! It's not that I don't see them... it's more that they don't stick around for portraiture! :)

I come around the corner, from the forest back into a neighborhood... and we surprise each other!

I say hello, and he's such a sweet gentleman, he replies with his gentle voice. We have a good conversation!

Oh, here comes another one!

He doesn't have as much to say as my friend. That's okay!

I walk on, and then happen to turn around and look back...

oh, ha! Just sprawled out in someone's back yard.

He was singing a good song... but oh! I wonder if his beak gives him trouble.

We start with a pink flower, and we end with some pink flowers! :)

Tag: June 2022

Such a long tail... has to be a Cooper Hawk?

Yep, a juvenile!

Oh, I just love the background, too!

Duck! Haha, they're being mobbed by Swallows!

Tag: June 2022

Oh, I wish this portrait came out better! Fish are so cool! My Dad says this is a carp.

Dang it... there was a Swallow going in and out of the bigger hole in this snag. She was too fast for me, tho, and I didn't get her picture. Foo.

Tag: June 2022

It's 100% rain today and I really really do not want to bother with the stupid garden.

So I'm out to the river. I want to check out the Osprey nest... Looks like a parent is standing up there! But I don't see anybody else, not even a lump. foo.

Then coming back thru the Rose Garden!

This one is new this year, and is an instant favorite.
Twilight Zone!

*laughs* I'm such a sucker for the roses!

Oh my gosh! This Bushtit was yelling at a Scrub Jay... I think the Jay was just way too close to Mr Bushtit's nest. The nest was hidden, I didn't see it, but it was obviously buried in some nearby shrubbery, just outside the Rose Garden fence!

Tag: June 2022

Dignified Fledgling? or maybe a female...

And then you show your true colours! a begging baby! Bahaha!

House Sparrows are invasive, but pretty cute, after all. :)

There's an apple tree outside the garden...

Herb Robert is invasive, but this patch next to the path is so striking.

xxx

Tag: xxx 2022

Oh my gosh... A Robin is building a nest!!!

She is very very nervous about me looking at her. Ha! I tell her, she's the one who decided to build a nest a few feet over the path!

But I am respectful, of course. I take a few pics, wipe the raindrops off the lens with my shirt, and move on.

Tag: June 2022

Cucumber Beetles are in the process of murdering ALL the squash plants. There were seven, all different kinds of summer squash, that had survived the cold and wet. And now it looks like there will be none.

WAI!

I am so sad and frustrated. I just can't make the garden work this year.

But... I have chores to do, so I can't mope and whine about the damn squashes.

I had run into our new plot neighbors, across the pathway, a couple times... Emily, Lee, and their kid who has an interesting name that I never remember! And they awesomely gave us some seed potatoes! (Dang, that's a lot!)

I've not grown regular potatoes before, altho I have dug up a few volunteers from Evil Neighbor's overflowing compost area!

So I'm eager to get these going... It might be the one thing that I CAN grow this year! ha.

So, here's where I want to put them. I get out my hand fork and start weeding!

On the left is the big happy Comfrey plant, making the Honey Bees happy. and one of the Sweet Potatoes. In the weedy area, there's a couple surviving Favas and some of last year's Beets which are going to seed. I'll keep some of them!

Weed, weed, weed... and dig holes, and more holes... and plant potatoes!

Okay! You can Grow now!

I also planted a couple basil plants. That was an impulse buy from the Farmers Market... I usually can't keep basil alive, but hope springs eternal, huh.

And a third Sun Gold... because the 1st Sun Gold was sun burned almost to death, and the 2nd Sun Gold isn't really doing well.

Pretty Pinks.

Who's this?

Oh, of course... the female House Sparrow, who was using one of the Bluebird nesting boxes at the Garden. I didn't realize the females looked so very different from the males!

And here's her scruffy baby. :)

She's sweet, I like her!

oh! haha! so silly! run! Catch up with Mama!

Tag: June 2022

Oh, wow... how cool is this! Minnows!

Pretty, pretty Wood Sorrel...

On the walk back home, I stop off at the garden. Our new neighbors across the path offered us some potatoes the other day. And yep, there's a box in our plot with a bunch of sprouted potatoes! Cool.

But then I look around at the other stuff...

Oh HELL AND DAMNATION!

Those are Striped Cucumber Beetles. Eating up what used to be one of my squash plants.

ARG! Goodbye squash plants. It was nice knowing you... too bad I threw away all that money on you.

Fah.

Okay... this is kind of interesting!

I'm pretty sure this male Bluebird is holding a baby's poo sack! ha! Yuck! *laughs*

:) Some baby songbirds make poo sacks so that the parents can take them away easily. This not only keeps the nest clean, but extra poo around might alert predators to the location of the nest!

Nature is pretty amazing, huh?!

But that guy really should drop that thing somewhere... not just sit with it. I mean, I'm happy to get an interesting photo... but still!

Tag: June 2022

Hey Mama! You want to show off your babies?

Yes! and she brings them out into the open. :)

So adorable! Thank you, Mama!

I'm working at the garden again today.

Again... I try to ignore the fact that I'm down to two Lemon Cucumbers of batch #2. sighs.

The project today... Weed this area...

And plant two Sweet Potato starts!

Sweet Potatoes are such beautiful plants!

And then walking home, I see this one again!

She's so sweet! And this is, what, the third time I've seen her in the past month or so? (yep... First sighting was may8, then again on may24.) Probably time to look up who she is! *laughs*

∞ Muscovy Duck at AllAboutBirds

huh, super interesting! They are from South America and are one of the oldest domesticated ducks, they were kept by the native people in Peru and Paraguay. The claws on their feet are used for perching in trees! I guess I'll have to look up every once in a while. I would love to see a duck in a tree!

Annnd... hmmm... Not sure if she's a girl or not! ha!

There's a major size difference, the males are much bigger. But we've got nobody to compare to, out here! I'm gonna keep calling her a her! :)

Tag: June 2022

Well. The stupid baby Lemon Cucumbers continue to die. But today I'm planting a couple more Squash... A Green Patty Pan and a Spaghetti Squash!

They look so happy when you first put them into the ground! I hope they live!

In the afternoon, my partner drove me out to a little flower shop. All the colours are delightful!

and 4$ for this cute little Heliotrope!

Tag: May 2022

Hmmm. Well this is weird. I thought for sure the next time I saw the Wood Ducks at the creek, they would have babies with them. But here's the female, no partner, no children.

Sighs... nesting failure, probably. H5N1. :(

I read in the newspaper that our spring has been so chilly and wet that the bees weren't able to get out and do their thing with the tree blossoms. The entire crop of Plums has been lost!

So, I'm looking around. There are some Apple pomes growing in a few places. But, yeah, when I checked a known plum tree on AP Road... it had no little fruits on it at all! crazy!

And at the garden plot... looks like I'm losing the Lemon Cucumbers again. One by one, they are getting eaten up, by whoever, and there's nothing but a stem left!

Sighs.

Well. Here's one of Nature's Successes. This is a Crow fledgling!

In this pic, you can kinda see her blue eye and a bit of gape...

She has both parents caring for her. When one of the parents came back, apparently without food, the youngster was begging a bit... but her voice was so sweet. A soft "Maah? Maah?"

Oh, wow! This Great Blue Heron flew by so low I actually got a pic of her!

Tag: May 2022

Oh wow! Can you see the Hummingbird?! :)

Tag: May 2022

A big run at the Saturday Farmers Market... I'm hoping this will be the last time I have to buy squash plants. Also get another Sun Gold to replace the sunburned one (which is technically still alive).

Lemon Cucumbers, which will bring the total up to nine... That might be enough to sustain me thru the summer. Last year I had ten plants.

And some Sweet Potatoes and Leeks.

It started sprinkling as I left, but I wasn't planning to go to the garden anyway... I head for the river and park at the Rose Garden. It's cool enough that the baby plants will be fine in the car while I go for a walk!

Oh wow, I just love these fancy Columbines!

It's just pouring down rain, now! I'm wrapped up in my rain jacket and decide to go up Skinner Butte. It's a small park and ordinarily I would never hike up on a weekend day... too many humans!

But the rain will keep the humans away today!

Ha! After seeing the fancy Columbines in the Rose Garden, here's our native Columbine, out in the forest!

Huh... it's been a long while since I've been on this part of the trail!

The rain makes the view from the summit even more beautiful.

I go all the way around on the Mid-Elevation trail. Skinner Butte is an incredible little park, but there's no escaping civilization on this trail. You can hear the traffic on the highway.

A good hike, and now I'm headed back. Just sprinkling now so I'm able to take some pics of the Osprey platform nest on the other side of the river!

Hmmm. A parent... and a lump. dang it, I'm not sure who the lump is!

oh well, try again next time! and back at the Rose Garden.

heh. I'm such a sucker for the roses! :)

Tag: May 2022

Artsy Heron! We were walking past the Camas Lilies!

The Red Ossier Dogwoods are blooming, down at the creek...

Aren't the leaves just lovely?

Okay. At the garden...

There is just one Lemon Cucumber still living from the 1st batch of cucs I planted. So today I'm planting the 2nd batch. Three Lemon Cucs and one Striped Armenian Cucumber!

There were a couple of freebie Squash plants as well, that I grabbed and planted. They are wilted and pathetic looking, tho, so I'm not going to give them any hope.

These are Pinks, in someone else's garden plot...

The really cool thing about Pinks is their name! You think they are called Pinks because they are pink? haha! Nope... Pinks got their name before there was a colour called pink!!

It turns out, the colour pink was named for these flowers!

And the flowers were probably named after pinking shears, for the serrated edges on the blooms!

First harvest from the garden!

*laughs* Elephant Garlic blooms can be eaten! They have a very mild flavor, and can be chopped up and added to meals, raw.

Tag: May 2022

Spillover is dry again.

Red Eared Sliders are terribly invasive, but dang it, turtles are just so cute!

Mama Mallard watching over her single, sleeping duckling. It's weird... I think this is the only duckling I've seen at the Delta Ponds this spring. And there haven't been that many goslings, either.

And then I see.

There's a dead Canada Goose, floating in the water.

:(

The H5N1 Avian Flu must be killing off most of the babies as well, I suppose.

Sighs. Well, I take a picture so I can report it at the website on the sign. Sighs.

Extra time at my meditation spot.

And maybe just contemplate the river some more.

On the walk back, our one baby is awake.

And there is a family of Canada Geese with goslings.

And, oh my gosh. Nutria Babies!

So Cute!!

Tag: May 2022

Today I ignored the dead and dying plants at the garden, and did some weeding around the living plants... The three strawberry plants I put in at the beginning of the month, are looking good! (Never mind the sunburned Snap Peas next to them!)

Before Photo:

and After Photo:

*laughs*

Tag: May 2022

It has been unusually rainy and cloudy all thru May. And now there's been a couple days of sun... And several of my poor stupid plants in the garden have been sunburned!

Sunburned! I just can't win!

I don't think the Sun Gold is going to live. And Look! These Dead Nettles are totally fried! GAH.

I'm just so frustrated. Not to mention the squash plants, which have bug eaten holes in the leaves. I never see the bugs, so I don't know who is doing the damage.

sighs.

Well, anyway.

It's been a couple of weeks, but here is that new duck at the creek again! Dang, she's just lovely!

Aww! So sweet!

Tag: May 2022

Aww! Ducklings! There's seven in this family.

But then I get a look at Mama. Oh My God!

She doesn't have a tail and her wings are messed up!

And a wound on the back of her head.

Poor Mama. Just barely escaped from being eaten, and now she's got seven babies to take care of. Sighs. Her injuries are pretty severe, I doubt I will see her again. *I cry*

And here's some more horrible stuff, from SCOTUS...

∞ Supreme court guts lifeline for prisoners who claim wrongful convictions Decision bars federal courts from hearing new evidence not presented in a state court as a result of ineffective legal counsel

What in the fresh hell is this? I cannot even understand. What is the point of a trial if you can't look at ALL the evidence??! and why would ANYone want to hide evidence? Like truth doesn't matter in this world?!

What makes this even more terrifying... My state of Oregon has a serious lack of public defenders. We need a couple thousand extra lawyers (Literally!!) in order to get thru all the cases!

And if you actually get a public defender, and they can't do their job because they have a hundred other clients they are working with as well? Your public defender simply doesn't have the time to work for you. The chances of getting wrongfully convicted skyrockets, and now... what? we can't even do anything about it?

So. Americans do not have the right to competent lawyers.

In his opinion, Thomas presented the case as one of states rights. He said that federal courts should not be allowed to override the states core power to enforce criminal law.

States rights again. What in the hell is wrong with these five judges. Precedent doesn't exist for them. They can't remember the civil war. And goodbye United States... SCOTUS is ripping our country apart.

Later... here's an article about this that I wanted to add. It was written 29 June, and I think it's important.

∞ SCOTUS just quietly slashed your Sixth Amendment rights (apologies, there are about 700,000 ads on that page, but the article is still readable.)

Ugh, ugh, ugh.

So here are some happier photos to cheer us up.

Tag: May 2022

Wow! This is an Eastern Racer Snake, so beautiful!

Tag: May 2022

I picked up more baby vege plants at the Saturday Farmers Market, but once I get to the garden I'm annoyed to see that the squash plants and Lemon Cucumbers are dying right and left.

Well. I transplant some of what I bought today... a Crook Neck and two Spaghetti Squash, and a Roma tomato plant.

And I try to focus on the things which are alive.

And on the way home, I marveled at the Cow Parsnip...

Cow Parsnip is related to carrots, and parts of it are edible... But it will give you a rash... And Giant Hogweed is a look-alike and is poisonous, so you really, really need to know what you're doing.

∞ Cow Parsnip... cooking

Tag: May 2022

Just past the Rose Garden on the Ruth Bascom Riverbank path, there's an Osprey nest platform on the other side of the river. A pair of Ospreys have been using that nest, for I don't know how many years!

haha! One of the parents is up there. You can just barely see a black and white striped face.

Just a couple of very early roses are blooming at the Rose Garden, but there's always something interesting to look at! Here's the Owen Cherry Tree, possibly planted in 1847.

And then back to the Delta ponds... Happy to see the spillover!

Hmm. This might be a Western Pond Turtle. I wonder why she has so much green stuff growing on her.

This one is a Red Ear Slider... a pet store turtle who is dangerously invasive, unfortunately: They reproduce so much that everyone suffers.

My meditation spot...

And now for the song birds!

uh oh. This is not a sign about feeding the ducks... this is a sign about Bird Flu... :(

Don't feed the ducks or geese!
Feeding birds and contact with avian feces can increase spread of avian flu. City staff cannot regularly clean avian feces from surfaces. Wash avian feces off your shoes. Limit cross contamination with domestic chicken and ducks.
In Eugene Parks:
If you see sick birds, call...
If you see dead birds, please report...

sighs.

Tag: May 2022

Mama Hummer said Hello!!

Just before I got to the place on the bike path where she had her nest, somebody buzzed me... It was Mama, and she hovered in front of me for several seconds, making sure I saw her!! I sing-sang my usual greeting for her and then she flew by me, going into the flowery bushes

Aww! So awesome that I got to see her again!

This is a pretty weed from Europe, and I have to look up the name of it every year! Salsify... it's pronounced Sal-suh-fee.

Cute lil Wood Pewee!

And a lovely Mallard couple, resting in the Lawn Daisies!

And at the garden to check on the baby plants. Here's the 2nd set of Lemon Cucumbers, looking good. (Never mind about the 1st set of Lemon Cucumbers... they are quite dead!)

Oh, Naughty! Look at your face! You've been digging in someones garden plot! haha!

Tag: May 2022

Our Little Free Pantry is in a good neighborhood. :)

The exposure on the pic below is awful, dang it. But this is kind of cool! These are House Finches, Mama on the left and two fledglings.

That fluffy feather on the kids heads, means they are fledglings. There are many different species of song birds who might have this fluffy feather when they are growing up! I guess it's just the way the new feathers are coming in, but I don't know for sure!

And here we are at the wet prairie at Stewart Pond Park.

There are swallows swooping over the water... Mostly Barn Swallows, I can see their red feathers. But there's Tree or Violet Green Swallows as well... I wish there was an easy way to tell them apart!

What the... ? Ha! Why are her feathers like that? It looks like she's got a hoodie on her head!

It took me a while to figure out who she was... the shape of the beak was making me think. But then, oh! Of course! She's a Red Wing Blackbird!

Camas Lilies...

This stuff is growing up all over the place here, with umbrellas of little white flowers... and I decided to finally look it up. huh. Poison Hemlock.

Oh cute little bird! Another one I have to look up!! He's a Common Yellowthroat.

And one I def do not have to look up. ha! Towhees are one of my favorites!

Tag: May 2022

Got all of the baby plants from Saturday Farmers Market transplanted into the ground today! Yay!

A 2nd Sun Gold and and heirloom Yellow Pear Tomato. Two Zucchinis, two Spaghetti Squash and three tiny Lemon cucumbers.

Tag: May 2022

Green Herons are so shy, I'm always excited when I get to take their portrait!

hmm. Are those white feathers normal for Barn Swallows? Or is this a bit of leucism? ... Not sure. There is a pic of one with white on wikipedia, but no talk about it. So maybe it is just normal.

Oh, the Checker Mallow is blooming!

Tag: May 2022

Oh my gosh, our Little Free Pantry is practically empty! I dropped off the menstrual pads at the bottom, but maybe I'll bring some cans or something when I get back.

Tag: May 2022

There are Starling parents and fledglings all over the place at the Community Garden today!!

The youngster is begging at her dad!

Wait! Wait!

*laughs*

It's normal for birds to continue to take care of their kids after they've fledged. The youngsters can fly but they have lots to learn about flying and finding food and about life in general!

Tag: May 2022

Ha! I love it when the wildlife greets me, right out the door! Two sweet girls!

We go to the Saturday Farmers Market to buy more plants... but the garden is a swamp! So I'm not planting anything today...

I've got two big Comfrey plants growing this year and they are blooming like crazy!

Done looking at the garden, but I need more exercise, so I take the long way home. Here's Blazey, the bike path ambassador, in his spot.

Lucky pic of a Chickadee!!

Tag: May 2022

∞ Clarence Thomas warns Supreme Court can't be bullied
As a society, we are becoming addicted to wanting particular outcomes, not living with the outcomes we don't like, Thomas said.

Did you just say that? Are you fucking serious?!

When the federal right to legal abortion goes away... people WILL DIE!

They will die of botched & illegal abortions, they will die of pregnancy because the US has a high Maternal Mortality, and they will die because they've had a miscarriage and are too scared to go to a hospital.

Not Living with the outcome... is LITERALLY TRUE!!

XXX

Tag: xxx 2022

Just stopping by to check on the veges I planted yesterday. It is raining, like they said it would, and the baby plants are happy about that!

Northern Flickers are woodpeckers... but their favorite meal is ants. So pretty often, you'll see them on the ground, digging up an ant nest!

Thank you for letting me take your portrait!!

Tag: May 2022

There's more rain on the way, so I want to get some plants in the ground at the garden! Some squash, a Sun Gold cherry tomato, and the first set of Lemon Cucumbers!

And also a third Albion Strawberry plant!

The baby squash plants keep dying of the slugs, but at least the strawberries will live.

One of the Columbines is thinking about blooming!

A Starling showing off his colours on the Community Garden fence!

And cake for my birthday! :)

Tag: May 2022

Well, this is kind of exciting... the car I'm driving out to the park hit 180,000 miles!

And then I arrive at the Rhododendron Garden! So lovely!

I didn't notice when I was taking this photo... but this trillium bloom is getting old... and buggy... and sluggy!! *laughs*

Oh my gosh! These ferns look like Sea Horses!!

Pretty shadows on a Fringe Cup.

Well, this would have been a pretty photo to have... except for the blurry bird part! ha. oh well. He's a Western Tanager.

This one again. Sighs. She is very beautiful, tho. I'll have to see if I can read her tag next time to find out her name.

I love the Song Sparrows!

Looks like there are babies to be fed!

Tag: May 2022

Pretty pretty...

Ha! That's random!

Tag: May 2022

But first...

Translation: Dear Chief Roberts, Please, please, please! Do not let Roe v. Wade fall! Breaking 49 years of precedent? Weakening our right to privacy? How many other rights will we lose in the aftermath? I am terrified. Please don't let this happen. Sincerely, rift

I'd like to send a postcard to Justice Alito, as well. But really. What do you say to a person, a man, who has sincerely quoted a witch trial judge. What do you say, besides cussing at him???

Hey, cool! a new duck is hanging out at the creek!

Weird face, but a sweet look. I hope she sticks around!

Western Bluebird. So fluffy!

Oh, hey! Another cool bird!

Um, could you move over just a little bit... ?

Thanks!

This is a Yellow Rump Audubon Warbler, the western version of the species. The eastern version is called Yellow Rump Myrtle Warbler and has a white throat. These little birds are summer visitors here.

Tag: May 2022

Bought a few vege starts at the Saturday Farmers Market, then parked at the Rose Garden to walk along the river. It's a lovely, dreary day and it's sprinkling now and then.

A quick check of the nest platform, across the river... but no sign of the Ospreys today.

I back track and go over the river on the Greenway walking bridge... There are swallows swooping above the water, scooping up bugs! I love to watch them!

But I can't tell if they are Violet Green Swallows or Tree Swallows.

Wow, check out the spillover!!!

Turkey Vultures!

Wow, they're everywhere! I eventually counted 13... but then I saw more in the trees on the other side of the main pond! I wonder what's going on!

Oh the cuteness!

Ha. A Red Wing Blackbird... with rather orange epaulettes!

Tree Swallow. But I'm guessing the swooping swallows above are a mixed group of Tree, Violet Green and maybe Barn Swallows!

XXX

Tag: xxx 2022

Oh Wow! A Wilson Warbler!! Awesome!

A bad pic of a female Violet Green Swallow. are they using one of the Bluebird nesting box as well??

The male is here, too.

At the garden, the squash plants are getting eaten up by slugs. Sighs. But the strawberry plants look good!

Hopefully the strawberries will pull me thru the sadness of the dying squash!

And the comfrey is blooming!

*laughs* a perfect fit... Comfrey and Honey Bees are both invasive from Europe, so they have evolved together to get that good fit!!

And then on the way home, a Western Wood Pewee! Silly name, but cute little bird!

Tag: May 2022

Happily raining today!

After one of the driest Februarys in over a hundred years... April was the 7th wettest on record!!

We're up to 12.60 inches for the year now. We have not caught up to normal... which is 18.68 inches for the end of April. But, like I said, at least we've not fallen further behind on the rainfall.

And, even better that the rain is continuing into May!

With the rain, the camera is mostly tucked under my rain jacket, during my walk. But I've taken a couple photos today!

The news this week is of Supreme Court Justice Alito's horrifying leaked opinion about abortion rights. sighs.

If Roe falls... this country will no longer be the United States of America. We will be divided by States Rights... a horror from the times of the American Civil War.

There will be states where people can get health care.

And there will be states where it will be intolerable for women, LGBTQIA, BIPOC, AAPI and other minorities to live... It starts with the loss of reproductive health care, including contraception, and (of course) including puberty blockers for trans kids. They are also working to take away voting rights, in these states as well. We'll go back to Legalized discrimination. Where does it end? I guess we'll find out.

If Roe falls... this will no longer be a democracy. Half the population doesn't have a federal right to bodily autonomy? Bodily Autonomy is the foundation of all other rights.

You can't enjoy the pursuit of happiness when you're dead. Oh, you didn't know? Maternal Mortality in the US is bad. Really really bad.

Tag: May 2022

Today I took a couple of baby squash plants to the garden... a Yellow Zucchini and a Green Patty Pan. I love summer squash in many different forms!

The Strawberries are still happy.

These tiny little weeds are perpetual in the plot during the growing season. I had always thought they were Baby Blue Eyes because I had a seed mix that included them, ages ago.

But no... Baby Blue Eyes have five petals on their flowers, and this only has four.

∞ Germander Speedwell
Funny name! and native to Europe and Asia, but not an invasive problem in my garden plot.

And then, walking home, a Hawthorn is blooming along the bike path!

Tag: May 2022

So! I might have Jury Duty on Thursday!

That's exciting. Or maybe nerve racking. *laughs* I'm not sure which!

Anyway. If you have to go in, you have to stay the entire day, from 8:15am to 5:30ish. So they make sure you can get to the court house without too much trouble... they will validate your parking at the two nearby parking structures, and they include a free bus pass for the day.

There is a stop for the EmX, our rapid transit, at the end of the street, about a block away. It's been ages since I've ridden the bus, so I wanted to do a trial run today!

I got up early. I was super nervous walking down to the bus stop. There was something wrong with the fare machine at the stop, and I couldn't pay to get a ticket. After a couple attempts, I gave up. And the bus had arrived anyway. They never check your ticket... I had a good excuse for not having a ticket, but it was moot!

Once I was on the bus and on the way... I was suddenly having fun! I should do this more often, being driven around without a care is Awesome!!

But then, getting closer, I realized I didn't know when to pull the cord for my stop! Ack, that was dumb! Fortunately, the bus made my stop for others, regardless of my dumb-ness and I got off at the right place.

The courthouse is about a block away, and I am there well before my assigned time! I go inside, look at where I'm supposed to go for my jury duty. I'm not terribly early but there's just a couple of other humans around... Maybe they don't do jury things every day.

Then I head across the street... If I'm here the same time on Thursday, I can go drink my coffee at the Park Blocks! Which is exactly what I'm doing right now! I feel better, knowing exactly how to get here and where to go!

I go back to my bus stop to go home... but the return stop is not in the place where I think it should be! Ack, again! Dang it, why isn't it just across the street?!

It's never easy! I wander around, fortunately I happen to walk in the correct direction... and I find the bus stop going the other way. Yay! I did it!

I get home. Eat breakfast. and realize I need more exercise! A couple of blocks of walking to and from the bus stops just isn't going to cut it!

You think it's an artsy pic of a Periwinkle... but actually there are two teeny tiny bugs in there! :)

Tag: May 2022

Bushtits are so cute! I wish I could get decent pics of them, but they bounce around too quickly.

Our Wood Duck friends.

um, what? What's Praxis??

hmm, Merriam Webster says exercise or practice of an art, science, or skill but Wikipedia has a whole page dedicated to the word!! Very interesting!

Aw, it's a little one!

Hunting under the bridge...

Strike!

Oh, hey! Caught someone!

Toss it down!

Yum, a tasty snack!

Poor little minnow.

Tag: May 2022

Our invasive friend, the House Sparrow is still hanging around one of the nesting boxes.

And there's a family of native House Finches strolling around!

I planted the two strawberries in the back of the plot, next to the pea and lettuce patch. I hope they will be happy here!

Tag: May 2022

A quick run to the Saturday Farmers Market... where I realized... Strawberries!

Strawberries aren't going to mind the cold or the damp! Slugs don't usually eat the leaves (tho they will eat the fruit). But maybe I can keep a couple of Strawberry plants alive in the garden!

The kind I got are called Albion Strawberries which are supposed to be everbearing. We shall see how it goes!

Too muddy to plant anything today, so I head to the Rose Garden along the river. No roses yet, of course, but it is still lovely there!

And then out to walk along the river...

Def time to check out the Osprey nest platform... Oh Yeah! You can just see a parent's head up there!

I walk all the way to Alton Baker Park. That round yellow thing is the Sun, part of a scale model of the solar system!

There are several families with goslings! There are babies everywhere!

The fence surrounds a duck pond to keep the birds safe from dogs... the babies can just barely get under the fence.

There's tree stuff that's fallen on the sidewalk that the babies are interested in.

The parents keep their eyes on me... Hey human, you be good!

Yep, I'm good. I stay still and quiet and the babies come closer to me.

oop! The dog on the leash is kept far away, but the goose parents are worried. They gather up the babies quickly. Back to the Water my children!

And then walk back. So peaceful.

oh, haha! It's really too muddy, my dear, to be digging up saved nuts! What a mess you've made of your hands and face!

Tag: Apr 2022

An artsy starling. And the next photos are of a spider... you have been warned! :)

Here's someone who caught my attention on the bike path.

Wow, isn't she beautiful! And because of her colour and shape, I was able to figure out her species!

A Woodlouse Spider!

oh... but she's also called a Pill Bug Hunter! Poor little Roly Polies!!

She was using her arm to cover up her face, but you can kind of see how huge her jaws are in this pic. She needs that power to cut thru the Roly Poly shell!

So interesting and amazing!!

And ducklings! I am pretty sure this is the same family of three where the one baby was squinting.

So cute!

I also went into the Community Garden to gaze at the stupid dead plants. I need to plan my attack... what vege starts will I buy at Saturday Farmers Market tomorrow, are the nights warm enough yet to actually plant anything, etc.

Tag: Apr 2022

A bit of water coming over the spillway!

So round and fluffy!

And... oh my god!

Bottom family has 13 babies, top family has 27! Twenty-Seven!!! This is insane!

My meditation spot.

I just love the Big Leaf Maples!

I've not seen anything of the Bushtits, the last couple times I've been out. And so I figured the nest was done.

oh. opps! Nest is def not done. Here's the male to yell at me again!

Sorry! Sorry! That was so rude of me! Sorry!

Tag: Apr 2022

Oh! A White one!

Camas Lily bulbs are edible and nutritious... and ALL the foraging websites say to NEVER eat the white Camas Lily bulbs, because that's the poisonous Death Camas!

But when I looked it up... Death Camas looks NOTHING like a white Camas Lily. Ha!

I get that they are trying to keep stupid people alive. but, lordy lordy! Stupid people should def not be foraging for their food!

If you are not 100% sure about what something is, out in the wild... DO NOT EAT it! If you even have a shadow of a doubt, if you are even 99% sure... DON'T EAT it!

That's my soapbox, and you should def listen to what I'm saying!! :)

Oh, hey... There's a new male Anna Hummingbird on the other side of the Community Garden!

And I haven't seen our Wood Duck friends in a couple days!

Tag: Apr 2022

I LOVE the colours in this photo!! The Maple keys and the new leaves and the pale blue sky and the fluffy cloud. But little dude needs some pants! Bahaha!!

Okay... here we are at the Hidden Trail, which follows a little waterfall up the hill.

The Fawn Lilies are still blooming!

And Forget Me Not.

And Fringe Cups.

Tag: Apr 2022

A moody pic of the clouds over the Community Garden fence... but look at the pair of sweet House Finches!

hmmm? Who's this?

Oh, haha, you gave me a clue! Yellow Rumped Warbler! Must be a youngster!

Ducklings! But, oh no... that baby in the back is squinting his eye. Poor Baby! I wonder if he has that H5N1 bird flu that's going around. There haven't been any reports in Oregon yet, but that doesn't mean it's not going around!

Something artsy.

Tag: Apr 2022

ARG! Last night it got down in the 30's... and the cold has killed most of the plants I put in yesterday!

Wai! The Eggplant!

So much for that experiment. The Eggplant will not recover, and most of the squashes are in the same state. Stupid weather!

Sighs.

Tag: Apr 2022

The nights have been warmer, and there's a break in the rain... and I am eager to get going with the garden!

At the beginning of April, I had planted Sugar Snap Peas, Lettuce, and Beets. The slugs ate a couple Lettuces to death, and of course the peas leaves look like postage stamps from munching... But that little patch of life in the back is actually doing pretty good, with the chill and the rain!

Today I visited my favorite farmer at Saturday Market and bought some baby plants. I got several kinds of squash... Zuc, Patty Pan, and Crook Neck. Another set of Sugar Snap Peas.

And an impulse buy... Eggplant!

I'm not a huge fan of eggplant fruit, but it might be interesting to grow. Plus, it's fun to say Aubergine! *laughs*

I got all the little plants into the ground and then I walked home.

Lilac is fixin' to bloom

And the Apple blossoms, again.

And the ornamental Cherry blossoms!

Tag: Apr 2022

Wow, look how cobwebby this lamp is... I can just imagine all the flying bugs swarming there at night!

Are we going after spiders for lunch?

Ah! No, not lunch! She's gathering nesting material!

Ha. So many blurry photos, and I still can't tell who this bird is! Is it the same Orange Crown Warbler that I saw the other day??

A European Honey Bee hive is swarming, right next to the bike path! There are bees in the air everywhere!

I wish I had paused longer to get more photos... this is so interesting. And I love being surrounded by the bees, who obviously have other things on their minds!

Tag: Apr 2022

Tulips at one Community Garden plot.

And Pansies at another Community Garden plot.

uh oh! A House Sparrow... not someone we want moving in at the Bluebird nesting boxes at the garden!

The House Sparrows are invasive. That's not their fault, of course, but supposedly they take over the prime nesting spots.

But it's not a problem this time! Because there's several nesting boxes, and I think this pair of Western Bluebirds is using one.

A building storm cloud...

There's an apple tree, just outside the Community Garden.

Tag: Apr 2022

Tag: xxx 2022

Another rainy day, and I am so pleased even tho I'm not able to take as many photos. February was so, so very dry... we won't catch up, I don't think, but at least we won't fall farther behind on rainfall.

Oh. This is interesting. I don't know who this is!

I had to get my book out! This is an Orange Crowned Warbler... and just like Ruby Crown Kinglets, their crowns are ordinarily hidden.

This is the most common western warbler and The very lack of conspicuous field marks is an aid to its identification! haha!

∞ Audubon Field Guide to North American Birds, Western Region

I have several field guides, but this one is my go-to when I don't have a clue about the bird!

It's easy to page thru the photos to find a new bird, and then I've got a starting point to learn more on the internets.

Tag: Apr 2022

Raining today, so I'm just walking in the neighborhood, taking pics of yards. I just love this one... so much colour!

And a Song Sparrow, who shakes off the rain and sings some more!

Tag: Apr 2022

Oh, cool! Here's a female Green Wing Teal who gets to choose between two suitors!

They choose new partners each year and the males have a funny little dancing bow they do to show off to the females.

I also came across our Wood Duck pair... right when the group of three female Mergansers happened to paddle by.

The male Wood Duck isn't sure about the little Mergansers and he's kind of pushing them away. But the Mergansers are messing with him... One of them dives underneath the Wood Duck and comes up behind him! Nah nah! I'm not touching you! *laughs!*

Long suffering, but oh so pretty.

And on the way home...

Tag: Apr 2022

I was looking at the oh so empty Hummingbird nest...

... And then I turned around and caught a glimpse of two hummers, who quickly buzzed back into the Rhody bushes! Aw! Were they the babies who wanted to tell me Look! We can fly! :)

A cute little Downy Woodpecker.

Dang it!

This will be the second year the Wood Ducks have stayed at the creek. (to make babies!) But they are still so shy... when they see me, they go and hide behind the nearest shrubbery!

Dang it, some more!

*laughs*

The Ornamental Cherry Blossoms have started blooming!

I love this article about swearing and language for Ukraine against Russia...

∞ How swearing became a weapon of resistance for Ukrainians Their enthusiastic use of bad language contrasts with Putin's linguistic prissiness... and shows that Russia doesn't own Russian

So interesting about cursing in the Russian language culture! And how Ukrainians and the Ukraine government is using swearing as another avenue to fight back ... and somehow it's dignified and funny and the whole world understands that Putin is a dickhead!

Tag: Apr 2022

Storms forecast today, but currently the water isn't quite high enough to get over the spillover.

:)

Aww! The first Goslings!!

*laughs* The Towhees are everywhere!

My meditation spot along the river... The sun is shining right now, but just wait!

What the... ??! There's a Bushtit nest, right on the path! I mean RIGHT on the path!! Literally, except for the blackberry vine hanging down, if I could walk at the edge of the path, I would bump my head on their nest!

This is crazy! What were the parents thinking?!

Here's Papa Bushtit, who has been angrily cheeping at me while I'm looking at their nest! Mama pops into the nest while I'm distracted. So it's definitely an active nest! Crazy!

On my way back, I decide to keep walking instead of heading to the car.

oops. I'm wandering thru the Rose Garden when it starts hailing! Just small hails, and then it's pouring down rain! I walk fast and take shelter under the nearby highway bridge, along with a few other people.

A three legged dog, Border Collie type, went around gathering pats from everyone, before she and her human moved on, out in the rain. :) I wish I'd taken a photo of that sweet dog!

The hard rain doesn't last long, and soon rain turns to sprinkles. And I head home.

Tag: Apr 2022

The Hummingbird nest is empty! The babies have successfully fledged! Mama will continue to feed the kids, away from the nest, for another week or so.

Oh no! These ducklings look like they've just been born... and their Mama is being harassed by a male duck. She is trying to get away from the jerk, but can't just fly away from her babies. And the babies are all bunched up because they are scared and they are peeping in distress. :(

Wai! I wish I could just grab that drake and take him away so this family could have some peace.

Oh. Hello Mx Red Shoulder... would you like to eat a duck?

(Just kidding. The hawk would more likely eat the babies!)

Tag: Apr 2022

Well! This looks fun! I wish I had the guts to ask to join them!!

oh my gosh, what a goof!

The Rhododendron Garden is starting to fill up with colour!

And wildflowers out in the forest!

Hey! Who's this??! Dang it people! Keep the kitties inside!

Kitty? Oh Cute Kitty? Please go home... It's fixin' to rain!

Tag: Apr 2022

Oh my gosh! Here's Mama Hummer with some extra fluff for the nest?

oh, haha... it's almost a family portrait. Family with fluff! :)

Okay. You babies need to scoot over just a little bit...

Mama tucks the fluff into the bottom of the nest. But I'm wondering why! The babies are almost ready to go... why do nest repairs now?

Mama leaves and the babies have to squirm around to get comfortable again.

Back to my walk. The pair of Killdeers are still at the Events Center.

One more look at the hummers on the way home.

Oh, haha. The one wants a look at me, too!

Tag: Apr 2022

*laughs!*

And look at their feathers! Wow! I bet they start flying any day now!

Oh! First Camas Lilies are blooming!

And look who's watching me as I take pics of the Camas...

Oh, cool! There's a pair of killdeers running around in the parking lot behind the Events Center!

They were scooping up worms who had crawled up out of the grass.

Those eyebrows make them so worried looking!

Tag: Apr 2022

It rained over a half inch yesterday, and a bit more sprinkles today... and Look! The bike path under 11th is flooded!

I can't walk that way, but that's okay. I'll take pics of the yards in the neighborhood.

Our friend the Nutria is out on land... her burrows have probably flooded as well.

The wet prairie ponds have filled back up!

Just a glimpse of the pair of Wood Ducks. I wish they were less shy!

Tag: Apr 2022

The little patch of plantings at the Community Garden plot.

There's Sugar Snap Peas, both green and purple leaf lettuces, and some beets.

But the slugs have found the Sugar Snap Peas...

And someone else is munching on the lettuce, which is weird! I don't remember ever having a problem with the lettuce.

ha. Oh well, that's about how it goes in my garden plot!

And then I go visit the Hummer Nest...

I see Mama Hummer! It's the first time I've seen her in about two weeks... She's just been so busy getting the babies fed!

No pics, but she hovers and acknowledges my presence! :)

Tag: Apr 2022

Haha, when I first saw the Ospreys in the far away trees, I thought they were Bald Eagles!

Oh hey! What's going on??! Ca-Caw!

I guess it's just time to go flying!

Tag: Apr 2022

Oh wow, I love all the colours and textures in this pic!

Dry spillover...

Oh, cool! The Sliders never come this close to the bridge! He got a good look at me and then sank himself and walked along the bottom of the pond!

Aw, cute!

My meditation spot...

A blurry Bushtit.

And a less blurry but more upside down Bushtit! haha.

Just a pretty day!

Tag: Apr 2022

Oh my gosh! The Hummer babies are starting to look like real birds (instead of little monsters)!! *laughs*

We gotta strech! Blurry, but so adorable!

Gosh, it's hard to get comfortable anymore!

Cracks me up that the baby on the left is closing her one eye... Don't hit me in the face, please! heh.

Some baby leaves.

And the first ducklings of the season! Yay the cute-ness!

There were 6 babies all together!

Teaching how to dabble...

And then on the way back, the Hummer babies have finally arranged themselves comfortably.

Tag: Apr 2022

The peas I planted on the 2nd are still alive!

This garden plot at the back of the Community Garden has an Easter Tree, and a cool variety of Daffodils!

Are the Bluebirds nesting here or not? I can't tell.

And then I continue my walk.

Tag: Apr 2022

I'm going up Hidden Trail today... but to get there I have to walk over a mile thru the neighborhoods. And I am happy to take pics of flowers in people's yards!

And here we are at the Hidden Trail.

Fawn Lilies are blooming!

This Flicker was so intent on whatever bugs he was finding, he barely noticed me, even tho I must have been watching him for five minutes or so!

Tag: Apr 2022

Some blue green feathers are starting to come out on the backs of the hummer babies!

Pretty Apple Blossoms.

Artsy!

And more Artsy!

The Crows are very social with me today.

And then, on the way back home... AWWW! Look! Babies eyes are starting to open!!

Tag: Apr 2022

Happy that there's some rain today!

And Happy to keep seeing the Wood Duck pair at the creek.

I haven't seen Mama Hummer lately. But she's obviously doing her job! Our babies are growing!

Ha. Just hanging out on the bench.

Here's a Eurasian Collared Dove.

You can't see their collar because it is just on the back of their neck. Invasive, of course. But I don't know if they cause any problems.

All doves are beautiful and have lovely songs. But the song of the Collared Dove makes me laugh sometimes! They are just so frantic about it! They try to coo as fast as they can!

Tag: Apr 2022

Forget Me Not's are blooming.

I go into the Community Garden to check on the veges I planted yesterday. They are good!

Oh! a Black Phoebe! (dang it, a blurry photo.)

I've been seeing Black Phoebes now and then, this year... it's interesting because they are a bit outside their usual range which is all thru Mexico and up the coast of California. I suppose they are shifting north due to climate change.

Okay, these are so pretty I really need to look them up! They came in all kinds of colours, pinks and reds and purples and mixed with white.

Ah! here we are...

∞ Wikipedia, Anemone

Two beaks and a pile of baby feathers.

Tag: Apr 2022

Yay! It's the first Saturday Market of the year... which means I'm heading out to the Farmers Market to buy Vegetable starts for the Community Garden plot!

The nights are still pretty chilly, so I'm sticking with cool season crops... Sugar Snap Peas, Lettuce, and Beets.

I scraped away the winter covering of mulch, and you can see how muddy it is, even with no rain!

This fellow came to check on me. *laughs* I think I'll call him Silhouette Hummer!

I wonder if he's the father of our nest of babies.

and, yep. No doubt now, there's two of them...

(Be sure to right-click and Open Image in New Tab, to see a bigger version of that pic... it's kind of hard to tell what you're looking at here, but that's an open beak behind the front baby hummer's face sticking up!)

Tag: Apr 2022

Still a wet prairie pond out in front of Stewart Pond Park, but there was just this lone shorebird hanging out there.

A far, far away Red Wing Blackbird.

And a bad pic of a Bewick Wren.

Sighs. There are just some days when I just can't get a good pic of any wildlife that comes along!

Good luck finding the Ruby Crowned Kinglet in this pic!

*laughs*

At least I can take decent pics of the plants! Here's some blooming trillium.

I really like the pink tulips.

And I really like these two, who were barking at me while I took pictures of tulips!

*laughs*

xxx Aww, this is awesome!

These second-graders helped shelter pups find their fur-ever homes https://www.npr.org/2022/04/01/1090057426/these-second-graders-helped-shelter-pups-find-their-fur-ever-homes And the drawings are amazing!

Tag: Apr 2022

I saw this photo and I'm all Ohh! How cute! A beak and a tail!

But then I looked closer. I think that's actually two beaks! Two baby hummers!?!

*laughs* It's normal for Anna Hummingbirds to have two babies... but since I'd only just seen the one, I assumed there was just one!

xxx Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility!

Tag: Mar 2022

Last fall, I had planted a couple patches of Fava Beans as a winter cover crop. At some point we got some freezing weather which killed most of the Fava plants, but a couple survived...

But look how chewed up it is. The slugs have been munching on it. And I didn't really mean to provide a dinner salad buffet for them all thru the winter! *laughs*

Oop, another little Creeping Buttercup to dig out.

Pretty, pretty! Grape Hyacinths.

And our cute little baby hummingbird is all set for Mama to come back.

I wonder when her eyes will open.

Tag: Mar 2022

Something pretty.

Oh! The first Barn Swallow of the season!

Trilliums blooming!

And... hmm... :)

The pansy reminds me of the Ukrainian lady who told the Russian soldier to put Sunflower seeds in his pocket.

You remember at the very beginning of the war, day one, in fact, Russian warship, go fuck yourself.

∞ Ukraine gives medal to soldier who told Russian officer to go fuck yourself
Heh. but...oh my god, the radio recording (video at the top of the page) is really disturbing. Well, this is it...

And...

∞ Ukraine reveals Russian warship, go fuck yourself! postage stamp
*laughs* How do I get one?!

Tag: Mar 2022

Our Manky Mallard friend at the creek...

She does have a boyfriend, I wonder if she will pass on her dark colour to her children!

Ha, Artsy Crow! Interesting colours, huh! I like!

A weeping cherry tree drapes blossoms over some tulips!

Tag: Mar 2022

Mom's out getting food. But you can see a bit of baby feather fluff in the nest!

Ah, here she is!

Hey! Hello! Hungry here!

Holy Moly... does that beak full of food go directly into the stomach?! sheesh!

Ha, trying to get comfortable... we are sitting on the nest more than in the nest!

Tag: Mar 2022

And then she flies away. hmmm... is that somebody in there?

Yes! There's someone moving around!

Oh my gosh! That's a blurry baby! YAY!

Funny how short her beak is!

And now she's in prime position for when Mama comes back with food!

Aww! Just Too Cute!

Tag: Mar 2022

Another one who needs to fix their feathers!

And what the heck is going on here? A blurry bird series!

ummm... Are Chickadees cavity nesters? Yep! They are! I learned something new today!

But she keeps looking over at me. I'm not close, but I'm obviously bothering her.

But I can't resist taking a couple more blurry pics.

Such cute little birds. I wish I could take decent pics of Chickadees, but it is never to be!

(Later) The Chickadees decided not to use this hole in the snag, after all... I didn't see them at the snag again. Undoubtedly my fault for staring at them and bothering the female while she's trying to do cleanup.

Sighs. Sorry, little ones!

Tag: Mar 2022

I park behind a soccer field, and these guys have been practicing every saturday morning...

The game is Irish Hurling! And it looks crazy! I am glad to see helmets... probably easy to get wacked in the face!

∞ The Traditional Irish Game Hurling info and a showcase video

Dry spillover...

Lots of Vultures out today, I wish I could have gotten a decent pic.

Warm enough for the turtles to come out. These are the invasive Red Ear Sliders, but isn't that shell beautiful!

hmmm... hello?

Whoa!

The Willamette River and Skinner Butte...

Tag: Mar 2022

Oh my gosh! This is amazing! A Blonde Raccoon!!!

Sorry about the blurry pics, but I didn't get the chance the spend time with this lovely but shy and anxious person...

I did a little research. The Blonde colour in raccoons is a simple recessive trait, but it's incredibly rare. Not quite as rare as Albino, but rare!

XXX (more info to follow!)

This web site has some good, interesting information:

∞ Elusive blond raccoon spotted on small island

And, incidently... since I've been chatting about the invasives in the garden... You see the yellow flowers in the top two photos? The raccoon is walking across a bad Lesser Celadine infestation. This is on the bank of the creek, and you can see how the evil things have killed a lot of the grass. Grass which is needed to stablize the creek bank. sighs.

And in book related news... (yeah, remember how I was going to chat about books and reading on fridays? haha, that was end of January and hasn't happened since!)

A head librarian in Texas has been fired for making good trouble. She refused to remove the 800+ books that Texas wants banned. She worked at a PUBLIC library

∞ Daily Kos: Texas librarian fired for not pulling books off the shelves in banned book purge

∞ Kingsland librarian fired amid controversy over advisory board

So. This is bad. Really really bad.

I am utterly disgusted at what republican politicians are trying to do across the country, taking away everyone's rights.

And it's devastating to watch our democracy crumble.

Tag: Mar 2022

Keeping the baby warm...

I decide to go into the Garden again today, instead of just walking past it. That neighbor's Hyacinths are still blooming.

And I have another invasive to yank out of our garden plot. This is Creeping Buttercup...

Creeping Buttercup is not as problematic as the Lesser Celadine, I mentioned the other day. It's more just annoyiing. It has the typical yellow flowers of buttercups and spreads with seed and stems which creep along the ground and root at nodes to create new plants.

That's what this one is... a node at the back of the plot, right up against the neighbor's raised bed. There's also some Creeping Buttercup in the grassy pathway at the front of the plot... I really should get my dandelion tool and just pry all of that up, since it creates a perpetual promblem!

The crown of the plant goes down a little bit, and if you just grab the leaves, they will break off and leave the crown in the dirt. Which, of course, will just keep growing! So that dandelion tool works well to get under the crown so you can get all the important bits out. It's okay to leave the roots, they'll die without the crown.

Technically, Comfrey is an invasive weed as well... But it's slow to spread, and has pretty flowers. It does get big, tho, so it's probably annoying if it's growing where you don't want it. But that is the definition of a weed, after all!

Oh, look how lovely!

I've scared him, but isn't he pretty!

oop! haha! Off she goes!

Oh Little Baaabbby? Don't you want to stick your head up??

*laughs* nope. bummer.

Tag: Mar 2022

Looking up at the sky... I wonder what she sees.

These are pretty. They remind me of Poppies, but these are short, low to the ground, and it's way too early for Opium Poppies to be blooming.

oh good! The male Wood Duck has returned as well! I didn't see him with the female yesterday.

Tag: Mar 2022

Oh, hey! a Wood Duck! Has she returned to the creek for a second year?!

I don't ususally do selfies, but today Blazey, the bike path ambassador, climbed up into my lap for cuddles and I just couldn't resist!

I set Blazey down and I got up to move on. There was a woman with pink hair, who had seen me taking photos with Blazey and we grinned at each other... Maybe we are both closeted cat people. :) I said, "He's ready for his next customer!" and we laughed together.

Bad explosure on this pic of the Hummer nest today. But I'm positive I saw somebody moving around in there!! I think we have a baby!

And then Mama Hummer came back... and oh my gosh, she's feeding somebody! Her back is turned to me and I can't see past her. And there's still no photographic proof, either, darn it. But we definitely have a baby today!

Tag: Mar 2022

Not a great day for photos, kind of dreary and drizzly. So here's a couple blurry birds for ya!

But then... Look at the colour varieties in all these trees! This makes me happy, when blurry birds do not! :)

Tag: Mar 2022

Could you please fix your feathers!

Blurry Bird!

This is currently the only Manky Mallard at the nearby creek.

Every time I first glimpse her, behind some shrubbery or whatever, all I see is a dark or black duck. And I get excited because I think I'm looking at a new species! And then I walk around the shrubs and Oh. It's just you again. *laughs*

You can see how much darker she is from a standard Mallard...

Our Mama Hummer still sits.

Oh pretty, Forsythia is blooming.

Tag: Mar 2022

Still no rain, and a dry spillover.

What the... ???

Um. Yeah. That's a human skeleton foot on a fence post. Why did someone leave their skeleton foot at the Delta Ponds? Why did someone Bring their skeleton foot to the Delta Ponds? heh, who knows... it's Eugene!

Getting artsy with some Grape Hyacinths!

∞ Birdwatchers, church-goers and TV addicts are considered dull All these hobbies were judged to be worse even than stamp-collecting.

*laughs*

Fortunately, the least boring are actors, scientists and journalists (and in particular science journalists)

So since I'm a Naturalist who writes about the birds I see... I'm in the exciting category rather than the boring category.

RIGHT??!

Tag: Mar 2022

I decided to go into the Community Garden today, to see if I needed to yank up any weeds in our plot.

Oh, pretty! Someone has Hyacinths blooming in their plot!

And a Seven Spot Ladybug on a cool leaf.

uh oh! Here's the EVIL Lesser Celadine, in a neighboring plot.

That stuff is super invasive, kills everything around it, even the grass! And spreads with seeds and tubers and these horrid little bulblets.

If you let it get established... yeah, when it gets to the point of blooming, it's established... it's extremely difficult to get rid of it. You have to dig it out, and scoop out all the dirt around it. You cannot put plants or dirt into the compost, it will survive and reproduce there! You have to haul the dirt to the landfill.

Crazy! But the first leaves are easily recognized. I always have a couple that try to grow in my plot, which is why I check the plot thru the winter. I dig them out when they've just got a leaf or two... They've grown up from seeds, so there aren't any tubers or bulblets I need to worry about.

Here's another invasive, tho this one is much more benign... Red Dead Nettle.

The Dead part of it's name means it doesn't sting like it's cousin, Stinging Nettle! Dead Nettle is so soft, it's actually a pleasure to run your hand thru a patch!

My Pen Loving Friend decides to count her pens... !!

∞ Pen Expectations

in the next post she's laid down some rules... it's a PEN count...
... not refills (I don't really do refills, so okay!)
... not pencils (I've got a good drafting mechanical pencil, and a set of coloured pencils in my writing area, but I never use them to write).
... and not markers. (hmm. I have a big collection of Copics, which I do use to write, but only addresses on envelopes, nothing else. So, okay, that can be a separate count!)

Not pens in her infirmary... oh my gosh, I hate it when there's still ink but the nib is clogged or something and the ink flows unevenly!! I will move the pen to less demanding work area (like the kitchen where my partner and I write notes to each other) but if the problem persists, it goes to the trash!

And we're not counting decorative pens which are just eye candy and not actually used. Ah. I don't really buy this kind of pen. I do have one good fountain pen, which has a green barrel which delights me... but I bought that to use! For me, it's enough to just see a good, wild variety of pens in my workspace and that makes me happy! :)

So, I think that's all the rules of our game!

Tag: Mar 2022

Oh awesome! I always get excited when I can fit more than one individual into a photo! :)

This is a Fox Sparrow and a Golden Crown Sparrow. Even more exciting since I don't see Fox Sparrows very often!

Mama Hummer takes a look at me, and then goes back to drowsing.

I am pretty sure there's a baby in the nest today. One of my photos of the nest, when Mama is away, shows the tiniest bit of red-ish brown, maybe naked baby bird skin. :)

I was on my way home, just walking the last bit of the bike path before I turn off onto my street. There's a little boy with his skateboard on the bike path and when he sees me, he motions for me to Hurry Up!

He's looking down into the creek, but I have to walk past some trees and bushes to see what he sees. A Great Blue Heron!

We chat, I tell him the name of the bird and he tells me he's practicing his skateboarding here because there's a tiny incline he can roll down.

Tag: Mar 2022

And a sign of the Russian invasion of Ukraine...

Tag: Mar 2022

I walked west today and after I passed 11th, I heard frogs singing! I investigated, and ha! I didn't know there was a little pond here, it's hidden behind a little rise!

I wonder if it's a permanent pond or a wet prairie pond! Will have to check it out again thru the summer.

:) Something Artsy...

Ha, their closed eyelids look funny!

Hmmm... actually I think I like those sweet Sleeping Teals well enough to make a postcard our of that pic! :)

Ah, Spring!

Tag: Mar 2022

um. Holy Moly!

The poor fish has been stabbed, and the Heron is maneuvering it around to eat whole... this pic is a bit bloody.

eee. Carnivores. bleh.

And that fish was still alive as he went down. I wonder what he dies of... maybe lack of air? Sucks that he has to deal with hopelessness and stomach acid as he dies tho.

Sorry. Gruesome thoughts there. But, that's carnivores for ya. Herons can't go vegan... but we can! Think about it.

Tag: Mar 2022

And back around to Mama...

Tag: Mar 2022

A bit of rain this morning. That's nice. Not sure how my Hummer friend feels about it!

Mama goes to get a snack... But we can't see what's in the nest...

Here's a cool thing in today's comics...

∞ Go Comics, Jump Start 03.13.2022

The Neuse River Waterdog was featured in the February edition of Scientific American, and I was totally fascinated by the article!!

∞ Junk DNA Deforms Salamander Bodies

Their DNA is so very very long that the cells of the Waterdog are so big you can almost see them! Their DNA is 38 times longer than humans!

Turns out, having that much DNA really messes you up! It takes so long to copy the DNA, only to have to snip out all the junk to make it usable, that parts of Salamanders aren't able to grow up all the way... Their legs don't grow out and their toes are just buds, like a fetus, their brain stays in the embryonic stage, their optic nerves don't get myelin sheaths. There's craziness all around!

But because their growth stops here and there, before they are actually grown up, they're also filled with stem cells.

So, yep! Salamanders can re-grow any bits of themselves that get chewed off, or you know maliciously chopped off in the laboratory. (Scientists really are assholes.)

Good bits of their brains, grow back. Their heart gets chopped up, quits beating... but they live thru it and ha! that stupid broken heart grows back too!!!

Like I said. It's a really good article, and you should go read it! Because that Jump Start Comic is an invitation!

Tag: Mar 2022

Cute Coots...

(I like the birds with the red eyes!)

A Northern Flicker.

He was drumming on the top of this street lamp, and it was a surprisingly beautiful and resonate sound!

Song Sparrow.

My Manky Mallard friend...

A male Gadwall.

And a female Gadwall!

What an awesome day for photos!!

Tag: Mar 2022

Spillover is still dry. :(

I'm walking along the bridge which raises the path over the Delta Ponds, and I look down at this creature...

What in the world? But look at her cute face...

Huh, turns out this is a Muskrat. They are native here in the Willamette Valley... and all across the US and Canada!

Here's something cool that you can kind of see in this photo. Muskrats tails are slightly flattened for swimming, but they are flattened vertically, in the opposite way that Beavers tails are!

So Beavers can slap their tail, but Muskrats wave their tail side to side!

Tag: Mar 2022

A Crow mobbing a Red Tail Hawk!

A pair of Mergansers.

Pretty pretty, Red Flowering Currant.

Hey awesome, another hawk! This one is a Red Shoulder Hawk.

xxx And a hummer??

Tag: Mar 2022

Yay Abortion Providers!

Everyone who works and volunteers at abortion clinics is AWESOME!!

The last couple of years, I have sent out postcards to all the independent abortion clinics in the US. There's just over 100 of them, and it takes me around 9 months. :)

I did my first round in 2019. This postcard art was provided by Abortion Access Front, Thank Bank. (Unfortunately, the postcard art isn't linked any more.)

In 2020, I made my own appreciative postcard...

And in 2021, I did a third round!

I love sending out these postcards! I hope that sending a pretty picture and an encouraging and loving message, it makes people feel appreciated!

March 10th was chosen as Provider Appreciation Day because on this day, in 1993, Dr. David Gunn was the first abortion provider to be assassinated by an anti-abortion extremist. Since then ten more abortion providers have been murdered, and there have been 26 attempted murders. Not to mention hundreds of arson and bomb crimes and other threats to abortion clinics and the amazing people who work there.

∞ Abortion Provider Appreciation Day at National Abortion Federation Send a Thank You Note to abortion providers.

∞ Abortion Provider Appreciation Day at Abortion Care Network Links to some good articles.

∞ AMSA Art & Appreciation for Abortion Providers Project Oh my gosh, this is awesome! Go check out this site!!

Back to the blurry birds. Here's a cute little Bewick Wren.

Oh! The Pacific Chorus Frogs are singing at this little wet prairie puddle!

I've been worrying about our frogs... they usually start singing in December and I haven't heard any. Wikipedia puts these frogs conservation status at Least Concern... but I'm concerned!

Oh, nice. A Bewick Wren gave me a second chance!

Tag: Mar 2022

This House Finch caught my eye.

One of the many reasons why I don't usually bother trying to take pics of Chickadees. heh.

At least the nesting hummer likes me.

Tag: Mar 2022

I always say Hi to the nesting Hummer when I come in and she checks me out and then she half closes her eyes, back in nap mode!

I am going to start making a concerted effort to make my stay near the nest as short as possible... Today I was there for 1 minute 10 seconds. That's too long. I don't want to disturb Mama.

But also I don't want to have to explain myself to any humans who happen to pass by behind me. They would see how focused I am taking pictures, and maybe ask, "what do you see?"

I am usually happy to share information about nature and the birds I see. But in this case, I don't want extra humans knowing about a vulnerable nest, which is so close to the bike path!

Tag: Mar 2022

I stopped by the Community Garden today. I suppose this is the new Garden Supervisor... but he's messing with me!

Because their beautiful red-violet feathers on their face only flash at a certain angle with the sun, male Anna Hummingbirds are very aware of sun position. They aren't going to get any girls if they can't show them how beautiful they are, after all.

So this male knew exactly what he was doing when he put himself between me and the sun so I could only see his silhouette! *laughs*

ha, Blue on Blue...

And that blue, blue sky... which makes me sad during the rainy season.

Still making a few adjustments to the nest...

She is just so sweet to let me take photos of her.

Tag: Mar 2022

oh! haha. Not a great angle! But I don't get to take pics of Juncos very often... they mostly bounce around on the ground, in the deepest shade they can find!

Dark Eye Juncos are cool because they come in all different colours... there are 15 races across North America, and several of those used to be considered separate species! So interesting! Of course, ours are called Oregon Juncos. :)

Here's a male Greenwing Teal and maybe an immature male Hooded Merganser.

And I walked by the Hummingbird nest. Check out those blue-ish fibers on the inside. The white on the left side, on the outside, that's actually spider web.

Um, hang on... is that... ?

It is! Oh my gosh! An Egg!!!!

I had to hold the camera over my head to get that last picture, so it's pretty blurry because I couldn't see what I was doing! *laughs* But that is def the curve of a single egg.

Tag: Mar 2022

Little bit of rain, little bit of spillover...

A Spotted Towhee, was singing right next to the path. He gave me a look! *laughs*

A cool bug on some Osoberry leaves...

Not sure who that is, but it was a bit chilly for them to be out and they weren't moving around like they should have been.

Tag: Mar 2022

I just love it when I'm able to watch a bird for a couple minutes and capture a little bit of their day!

Today I got to watch a Brown Creeper...

They are cute little birds who bounce up the trunks of trees, finding bugs in the bark. They are beautifully camouflaged!

Oh! We found a bug!

Oh, hey, it's a spider!

Choking it down!

*laughs* So cool!

Tag: Mar 2022

Hooded Mergansers are winter visitors at our little creek.

Hummer is still working on her nest...

And someone who's thinking about napping rather than working!

Cool Clouds!

Tag: Mar 2022

There was enough rain to put some water into the Wet Prairie Ponds... but this is nowhere near normal for this time of year. That puddle should be three or four times bigger.

Our Anna Hummingbird friend was away from the nest today. But dang, look at how camouflaged that nest is! I had trouble finding it again! The thorns you see are of an invasive Himalayan Blackberry.

Squirrel! The green on the right is Camas Lily leaves... but it'll be a while before they bloom.

But the Cherry Blossoms are doing their thing!

I've been thinking about how important Journalism and the free press is, and I've decided to contribute a monthly donation to The Guardian.

I already pay for my local newspaper... It costs about 35$/month and then I include a big tip for my delivery person. So I typically spend around 550$ a year.

It's a 6 day paper delivery... they are going to quit delivering the Saturday paper, tho they will publish it online. I'm a bit annoyed, since I enjoy the dead-tree version.

But every day, there's a good page of comics, and decent puzzles. It's part of USA TODAY Network.

But I also read a ton of news online. The Guardian being one of those news sites. I like The Guardian specifically because there's not a pay wall, but it does let you know how many articles you've read. I'd gotten up to 86, I think! :)

I can't afford another newspaper subscription... The Guardian is 20$/month, or 200$/year.

But, like I said, Journalism is important. I want more journalism in the world. And it's important enough to me that I want to support journalism financially, especially journalism without a paywall!

Tag: Mar 2022

Rain today, YAY!

With the little bit we got yesterday, we got around 1.3 inches... a decent and normal amount for this time of year. But barely makes a dent in our super dry rainy season... We just had one of the driest Februarys in over 100 years, with less than an inch of rain falling during the month!

The 1.3 inches we just got brings our accumulation total to 6.36 inches. Normal would be 11.06 inches of rainfall. 4.7 inches behind. sighs.

I only got a couple of pics in the rain. So here's the rest of yesterday's photos which are not a nesting hummingbird!! :)

A pair of Brewer Blackbirds. These are the ones who hang out with the European Starlings.

Dark brown female at the top and the male in the background.

Cackling Geese...

They are so cute. They always hang out with themselves in a huge flock... couple hundred maybe? And I've seen them many times out in the elementary schools fields! And then the children come out to play, and the flock rises up noisily to find a new place to hang out!

Tag: Mar 2022

An Anna Hummingbird's Nest!!!

My brain made a Lot of assumptions when I saw her flying in...

I saw a red-violet flash, and assumed she was a male. Simultaneously, I saw something on her beak.

But when she came in for a landing, understanding dawned on me!

She does have a patch of the shiny red-violet feathers, which happened to flash at me from her neck. This is a normal trait for Annas, but I don't think females of any other species of hummer have a flashy gorget. In male Annas, their entire face is covered with those iridescent feathers, tho it looks black if the sun is not in the right position.

And she didn't have something ON her beak! She was carrying nesting material IN her beak! The bit of fluff was placed as soon as she landed. And then she was off for more!

oh how awesome!

Tag: Mar 2022

oh wow. Look who's up on one of the street lamps along the bike path! a Red Tail Hawk!

foo, I miss the pounce, but our Red Tail friend thought she or he saw somebody moving in the grass...

Did we catch somebody? Nope... Empty handed...

And then we go to stand on the next street lamp. :)

And then, on the way home, two crows were cawing and swooping at a tree. Are they just goofing off, or are they mobbing someone in the tree? I can't see anything and I keep walking.

I pass the tree, and the crows start yelling again. I turn around and now I can see what's happening!

Wait. I'm pretty sure that's a Red Tail. Is it the same Red Tail??! *laughs* maybe!

Tag: Feb 2022

In light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started last Thursday, I have been trying to learn the proper pronunciation of Kyiv.

The old way of saying it was Kiev... Key-ehv. But this is the stupid Russian pronunciation! I didn't know! (and it kind of amuses me that a country has a dead-name. ha.)

So, the Ukrainian way to write it is Kyiv, and it's kind of pronounced Krreeev. There's really two syllables, but they are jammed in so tightly it sounds like a single syllable.

∞ How do you pronounce Kyiv
This was a helpful video!

Anyway. Countries and Capitals have been on my mind, and so when I couldn't sleep last night I started thinking about my old project to memorize all the countries of the world.

I had memorized all the countries and capitals in the Americas, including island countries of the Caribbean. And those were still firmly in place in my brain!

But I had forgotten almost all of the capitals of Eastern Europe. I remembered Poland and Warsaw. Sarajevo is fun to say, but I couldn't remember what country it went with.

I had a good visual of a Mink ringing a rusty old church bell... so the capital of Belarus is Minsk! *laughs* Too bad I can't make more visuals like that!

So I turned on a light and pulled out my atlas and I studied some maps in the middle of the night.

It's good to learn things!

Tag: Feb 2022

Dry as a bone...

The Willamette River at the top, the first of the Delta Ponds at the bottom. You see that rocky bit of land in between? That is supposed to be where the river is filling up the ponds. It's our rainy season, and it should be pouring in water.

What? Kittens at the river? Well, I guess technically they are kittens outside a river-side apartment complex.

Someone had set out food for them, so they'll probably be caught and homed soon!

A Red Shoulder Hawk, being mobbed by a Crow.

Red Flowering Currant, a native shrub and a lovely splash of colour on a dreary day!

Tag: Feb 2022

Sleepy boys...

Cute Blazey, ruling his spot on the bike path...

Tag: Feb 2022

... And here's what the inside of that Little Free Pantry from yesterday looks like...

Kinda empty today. On the bottom shelf is a package of menstrual pads, my contribution today. It's def something that people need, the package is always gone in less than 24 hours.

The Nutria is out again today. Maybe she's getting used to me... she didn't run for the water as soon as she saw me!

Oh, awesome! A White Throat Sparrow!!

They are winter visitors here but I hardly ever see them! This one is a juvenile: stripes on chest and lacks the bit of yellow on their face.

And the first Osoberry blooms...

A native shrub, here in the Pacific Northwest. Since it blooms so early, it's an important source of nectar to our Anna Hummingbirds.

Tag: Feb 2022

Covid numbers

Another clear and cold day. There's even ice in the wet prairie ponds!

This month's writing topic for the Postcard Exchange that I run at Goodreads, is Little Free Libraries. I've been trying to get photos of the two that are in our neighborhood... no luck today... the sun is too bright and it turns the shady parts too black to see into.

Oh well. Try again another day.

The above crow art is actually on a nearby Little Free Pantry.

I tried to get artsy with it...

Tag: Feb 2022

Clear and Cold... and there's some snow on the hills.

Oh dang it!

I always forget the name of this bird... Townsend Warbler! They are winter visitors here and I don't get to see them often.

Tag: Feb 2022

∞ Reading in 2022 with Levar Burton | The Daily Show
This made me laugh. Read banned books!!!

What doesn't make me laugh, is all the book bans in our schools.

Tag: Feb 2022

I like to visit my Community Garden throughout the winter. I check our plot for anything invasive: I yanked up some Creeping Buttercup today. Unfortunately, instead of coming out cleanly like I meant, the crown broke. So I'll be pulling up that plant again, soon! ha!

And there's usually something interesting going on there...

Perhaps a new Garden Supervisor?

You can see in the pics that the sun is beating down.

It's our rainy season and it's not been raining. We got just over 3 inches from the flooding at the beginning of january. But since then we've not gotten hardly any rain... at this point we are supposed to have 9.39 inches of rainfall, but we've only accumulated 4.33 inches. Five inches behind, and not looking to get better any time soon. sighs.

The river is low. The lakes are shrinking. The wet prairie ponds are drying up. I've not heard any Pacific Choral Frogs singing... winter is their mating season.

I'm scared for the future. How many trees are going to die? What will the wildfires look like?

Tag: Feb 2022

A big event out at the river this morning! A Polar Plunge...

Well. It's chilly, but I don't think that water that's 46°F (8°C) really qualifies as polar!! *laughs*

The air temperature was around 50° (10°C) but there was a big of a breeze. So I'm sure those guys were cold. But lots of fun to be had by all!

And then I went for my regular walk, thru the Delta Ponds and along the river!

A Double Crested Cormorant. These birds are shy and are usually too far away to get decent pics. But oh my gosh, their beautiful eyes...

I love the Manky Mallards I come across!!

You can read more about these crazy ducks at these websites:

∞ Domestic or Manky Mallards
lists some of the breeds of Mallards and lots of pics.

∞ Showcasing Manky Mallard Portraits, They Are Oddly Beautiful
Awesome pics here!

A Manky blond girl!

I like the Mankies because they stand out from the crowd. They become individuals!

And this weird looking boy.

You can tell he's a male from the curled feathers on his tail. Females don't have that.

Tag: Feb 2022

Another Starling Gathering! Except...

In this section, almost all of these birds are somebody else!

Ha! They are Brewer Blackbirds! The black-black ones are the males and the plain, dark brownish ones are female. The Blackbirds are a bit more round, whereas the Starlings are more sleek.

There are a couple of starlings, just north of center, you can see his "stars".

But cool! Since I've never really taken pics of Starling Gatherings, I never knew that they were joined by Brewer Blackbirds. I'm so glad to learn new things!!

But here's someone even awesomer! A Turkey Vulture, on the ground, eating some dead creature!!

He seems small to me, so I'm going to call him a male... I'm assuming, like raptors, the females are bigger.

When I first saw him, I couldn't figure out who he was eating. The creamy white fur made me think a cat had died, but I really couldn't see past the grass and stuff.

But this photo (Warning: dead animal!) shows hands, not paws. Who has hands like that? It's not a raccoon... *thinking* OH! an Opossum. Poor Critter. I wonder how he/she died.

Vultures are so cool, and they are def my favorite of the big birds. When they look at you, you can see that they are definitely a person!

They are kind of outside the food chain... They don't kill anyone for food, and one one kills them for food. And their role of cleaning up the dead is really so important for ecosystems.

Vultures are just awesome! :)

Tag: Feb 2022

A Starling Gathering! I love this and think I could stand under a Gathering Tree all day to listen to the Starlings chat with each other.

I imagine they are having important conversations: String Theory, probably. And of course they are telling their friends where they found some new food. Or, Be Careful, there's a cat prowling over at our regular bird feeder. After that, it's just gossip until they come back around to String Theory!

I don't take pics of the starlings very often. They are always up in the tree, so the light and background is crappy.

But also, Starlings are invasive from Europe, and so many bird people hate them. I think this is sad. Starlings are beautiful and definitely have character.

Their populations are declining in Europe, so we should be happy to have them, even if the Starlings mess with other birds. That's the nature of Nature.

oh wow. a Cooper Hawk! So happy to see this species again! S/He was flying along just above the creek.

Stupid sticks.

Tag: Feb 2022

Covid Numbers

An even better picture showing the size difference between the little Green Wing Teals and Mallards...

(Last comparison photo was on Wed 26 Jan 2022, Day of Ducks)

Green Wing Teals are the smallest ducks in North America!

Another Hawk! Red Shoulder Hawk, again today. S/He was being mobbed by a crow, and they made an inelegant landing in the tree right above me!

Blazey, the bike path ambassador, sprawled next to his decorated spot on the path.

Pretty, pretty...

Western Bluebird...

Tag: Feb 2022

Hey! Helloooo? sighs.

A Red Shoulder Hawk at the Community Garden!

Sees something moving in the grass? And Dives for it!

But turns up empty handed. Bummer. (but nice for the mouse or whoever who got away!)

Pretty, pretty.

And then, on the way home... Another Hawk?! How Awesome! This one is a Red Tail Hawk.

What a great day for photos!!

Tag: Feb 2022

I walked quite a bit further today! Over two miles and the birds were def out to greet me!

A Downy Woodpecker. Look at the funny way she's sitting on the branch! But she was pecking a lot at the stick, so must have been getting good bugs there.

Is this the same heron I've been seeing for the last few days?

Tag: Feb 2022

Same Heron as yesterday, standing on a different branch today! Naps in the sun.

This was just a very short walk in the neighborhood, again today. Still sleeping in, in the morning, still need a nap in the afternoon, and walking still causes nausea.

The brain fog is terrible. For instance, today I got out of the shower, dried off. Then realized there was still shampoo in my hair. what the hell?! Little stupid things like that, all the time.

Tag: Feb 2022

Still so tired, but I've got more energy in between naps! This afternoon I went for a very short walk in the neighborhood. The walking sets off the nausea again. bleh.

I love this pic, below! The Song Sparrow is blurry of course, but the green building in the background is such a wonderful colour, and all the sticks are just perfect! *laughs*

I took a shower when I got home and then took a nap. But it was good to get out of the house, even if it killed me!

Tag: Feb 2022

Still with the headache and the nausea, tho it's better than it was. Mostly it's exhaustion.

I sleep in. Then get up and take a shower. then I have to lie back down for a while. I get up and read some news on the Internets. then I have to take a nap.

I'm a bit more lively in the late afternoon... I can get a bite to eat and maybe write a few postcards. A little more internetting and then I go to bed early.

It's not much of a life, but we'll get there!

Tag: Feb 2022

Sunday night continued to be terrible. In the middle of the night, and around hour five of the ibuprofen pills I'd taken, the body pain spiked horribly for about an hour.

That was the worst. The Worst.

Monday, I just felt regular sick. Exhausted, achy, still a bit with the nausea. Plus new symptom: sweating. I'd wake up, just soaked. Yuck. I stayed in bed all day, and was actually able to sleep for part of the day, not just lay there and suffer like I did on Sunday.

Today is Tuesday, and now I'm dealing with diarrhea. It's constant. I am just barely able to keep up with drinking water. But as the day goes on, I get really worried about my poor little microbes. You know, my gut microbiome.

The only fermented food I have is miso, and I will be happy to make up some miso soup. As a backup, I ask amz to bring me some vegan probiotics, a brand that I'm familiar with. I have no idea if I need them, and I have no idea if they'll help. But the pills will be here on friday, and I am fine about leaning on the placebo effect.

I stay in bed most all day, but get some energy in the late afternoon. I'm up and about for a few hours and feel like I'm coming alive again!

Tag: Feb 2022

Yep, I've got break-thru covid and it is just terrible.

Saturday night I had a massive headache. I took pills and went to bed. I woke up a couple hours later, "I feel weird." Ha. That was the least of it!

Still felt the headache. Horrible body pain, especially my back and right shoulder and arm. Serious nausea. And chills, so I had a fever.

During the day, today: Minor chills continued along with all the pain. I thought I might eat something, in the afternoon... but I just threw it up.

It's just awful. Every part of it.

And yet, I feel lucky. My lungs and sinuses are clear. I'm not coughing or sniffling. But I can imagine how that would have added tremendously to the suffering.

I am fully vax'd with all three shots, and this is just a mild case of omicron covid. I may want to die, but I don't have to go to the hospital. Maybe non-severe is a better word...

∞ Mild COVID Doesn't Mean What You Think It Does

Tag: Feb 2022

A very blurry Townsend Warbler! Such bright feathers, but he was bouncing around too quickly for the camera to keep up.

Oh, cool! A Red Shoulder Hawk!

Tag: Feb 2022

A Western Grey Squirrel!! This is one of our native squirrels. While the Eastern Fox Squirrels have taken over all of the urban areas, Western Greys can still be found in the bigger parks!

Oh! The Witch Hazel is blooming.

This is such a beautiful park! The Ruth Bascom Riverbank Trail runs 7 or 8 miles on both sides of the Willamette River, with several walking bridges going across.

Alton Baker park is almost 2 miles from where I parked. I'm coming in on the walking bridge from the other side of the river.

The yellow ball on the other side of the bridge is the Sun! It's part of a scale model of the solar system... the inner planets are here in Alton Baker, and the outer planets are out along the Riverbank trail. The Sun is 4.5 feet in diameter and Pluto is a tiny dot over 3.5 miles away! The scale is 1:1 billion!

Tag: Feb 2022

A pair of Mallards hang out behind the tree the Beaver chopped down.

*Laughs* ... Same Heron, same branch!

And a ball of fluff, enjoying the sunshine.

Tag: Feb 2022

Down to 3million new covid cases in the US this week... a total of 3,371,518 averages to 481,645 every day.

2,642 people died every day... slightly more that last week which was 2,506. Hopefully that number will start coming down next week?

Oregon seems to be swirling with new cases, rather than coming down. We had 7,379 new cases every day. 19 people died every day, and Oregon also hit 6000 total covid deaths last thursday.

In my town there are 2,422 active covid cases, 88 are hospitalized. 69.3% of those are unvax'd.

Unknown how many people died here in town... The newspaper reported that a bunch of deaths going back to October were added to the tally. So the numbers say 43 people were added this week, but normally only 3 or 4 actually die in a week.

∞ The song sparrow might be nature's best DJ

Just a cool article about my favorite sparrow! :)

Tag: Feb 2022

A blurry Song Sparrow with a cool background...

A Turkey Vulture? That's odd! They migrate outta here for winter... and February First still sounds like winter to me!

Huh. Well, I guess they know what they're doing! :)

Another Nutria...

I'm a person who loves rodents, so of course I think Nutrias are kinda cute. Mostly people around here don't like them. I think they don't like them simply because they are rodents. And the tail. I think if they just had a furry tail, it would help their image. *laughs*

What in the world?!

I could not see what s/he was looking at. And this was a hard stare, so I assume they are hunting somebody. weird!

Tag: Feb 2022

Oh cool... it's a tree planting party at the creek!

That's nice. We need more trees.

This kinglet Almost sat for a portrait!

*laughs* And look! He's showing off... a bit of his Ruby Crown is peeking out. They usually keep it hidden, but we are heading into spring-time!

Tag: Jan 2022

Someone new at the creek...

American Wigeons are winter visitors in our area. I've never seen one at our creek, tho. I hope he sticks around for a while!

I also went into the Community Garden to see how things are going there. Those Calendulas are still hanging on... Really think I should get some for my plot!

We've had a week of air stagnation... which means sunny, clear days and cold nights. It's gotten below freezing every night and the patches of Fava cover crop are looking a bit pathetic!

Tag: Jan 2022

Sometimes I go out with the camera, and all the birds just fly away. They just don't want their portrait taken today.

Tag: Jan 2022

I'm thinking about doing a Books and Reading topic on Fridays.

I have been making an effort to keep up with my book reviews over at Goodreads. It's been years since I've been serious about recording my reading there. And I hope that having a regular day to type about Reading, will help keep me on the

∞ The surprising reason teachers want to get To Kill a Mockingbird out of the classroom

Well. It's not any kind of surprising to those of us who read.

Sighs.

I did not read To Kill a Mockingbird in school. I read it much later, as an adult and I loved it. I've referred to it ever since as the perfect novel.

Yeah. Unfortunately, there's this big problem with the white savior and stereotypical Black people.

Ugh. I knew all this. And the perfect novel... it is NOT!

What it is...

A white author, writing directly to white people, about the white supremacist society we live in.

I apologize for ever praising this book!

But banning this book? Never. It's important to talk about and understand all the different ways racism shows up in our society. And in our favorite books.

A cold day... there's still some frost in the shade where the sun hasn't hit yet.

Hey, a Nutria!

Nutrias are invasive here... after stupid white men killed off most of the otters and beavers, they wanted to kill more animals. So they brought up some Nutrias from South America.

They are big semi-aquatic rodents, about 15 to 20 pounds and usually just under 2 feet long, not including their naked tail.

I didn't think Nutria did much damage as invasive species here, but I've looked it up, and found out that as they eat and over-eat vegetation, they destroy wetlands.

They eat all the plants in a spot, and then erosion happens since there's nothing to keep the mud in place.

And humans get all upset when other animals are able to change their environment, just like we can! ha.

Cool! A Nuthatch!

They are so cute! Here's a crappy pic of the classic Nuthatch pose.

Great Blue Heron up in a tree. But look at all the beautiful fir cones!

Tag: Jan 2022

I recently found out there's a second Little Free Pantry in the neighborhood! Today I went looking for it...

It lacks the brilliant art of the one that's closer to home. But it's maintained by the same group, Burrito Brigade, and the neighbors.

This one has about the same stuff in it, tho this one is a bit more full. Maybe because it's further from the bike path?

(here's the Little Free Pantry that's closer to home, for comparison.)

I went out to Stewart Pond, to see if I could find a hawk. This is what I get...

*laughs* I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with that pic. I think I can assume it's a Red Tail Hawk. But it'd be nice to have a better photo!

ha, it's pretty obvious, better photos don't always happen around here!!

Tag: Jan 2022

∞ Meat Loaf, 74, Rock Star, unvaxxed, dead from COVID.
If I die, I die. sighs.

The US had 4.6million new cases of covid this week... we are definitely coming down from the 5million we had two weeks ago!

A total of 4,605,333 new cases averages to 657,904 every day. Unfortunately there are 2,506 people dying every day of covid, a big jump from last weeks 1,854. How bad will it get?

Oregon has dropped slightly with new cases as well: 6,537 every day, rather than 7,888 of last week. 15 people died every day.

About the same in my town, 3,180 active covid cases, 63 people hospitalized. Four people died of covid this week.

Well, he was thinking about napping...

Ahh, there's your face! Thank you Mr. Northern Shoveler!

Northern Shovelers are winter visitors in our area... but I don't think I've ever seen one at our little creek! This one was just hanging out with the Mallards!

Wow, look at the size difference... a Mallard and a little Green Wing Teal.

*laughs* Duck, duck, duck...

Lead by the woman. As it should be.

Tag: Jan 2022

Sometimes it makes me sad to walk up this hiking trail. It really really needs some energetic volunteers to take care of the forest.

Not only does it have the ubiquitous English Ivy and extensive Himalayan Blackberry... there's also some very established English Holly. You can see the trunk of this bush at the top of the pic...

The base is a good five or six inches diameter! It'll be very difficult to remove. If anyone ever bothers.

It's pretty, I guess. But ugh. I wish it weren't in my little forest!

haha... found this in someone's yard...

Don't sit there! :) The logs with the Turkey Tail are pretty cool tho!!

Tag: Jan 2022

Nice to see such a vivid colour on a dreary day! Might be Flowering Quince.

And then the fog and clouds broke up and the sun came out!

Haha, someone needs to fix their hair-do!

A blurry pic of a Downy Woodpecker. He's looking for bugs, I suppose.

Ha! A funny angle for the American Robin... but I like the colours in this pic!

Tag: Jan 2022

Always nice to be greeted by wildlife, right outside the door!

Just some pretty flowers coming out. These might be daphnes, but I'm bad about identifying trees and bushes!

Tag: Jan 2022

A beautiful and dreary day at the river...

But a cloudy day means the camera has trouble. So let me introduce you to a few blurry birds!

This little shore bird was bouncing around and making me happy...

Shorebirds are quite impossible to identify unless you spend some serious time with them. I would love to see more of them!! But I only see a couple in the winter, so I have no chance.

This might be a nonbreeding Spotted Sandpiper with no spots. But probably not, there's dozens of other shore birds with oh-so different winter plumage!

A Greater... or a Lesser... Scaup?!

Ha! I don't know. Greaters have a rounded head, and this one looks pretty round. Lessers have a little peak at the back of their head, no peak here.

But Lesser Scaups are much more common around here... the local Audubon Christmas Count had 66 Lesser Scaups and only 1 Greater Scaup.

One! Do you think I just happened to find the single one?! *laughs!*

∞ Greater or Lesser Scaup? Here Are the Biggest Differences Between the Two

And today's final Blurry Bird... Which I actually Can identify! A Kinglet!

Okay, more blurry than usual. But he was def showing off for me!

He's a Ruby Crowned Kinglet... and they ordinarily hide their crown. But his was coming out as he bounced around in his tree!

I wish I could get better pics of this species, because they are so cute and tiny! But there's just too much bouncing, even in good light the camera can't focus quick enough. And then, too, I have to look up to see where they've bounced to!

There is a drive-thru covid testing spot at the back of the mall, which I walk past on the way to the Delta Ponds wildlife area.

Before omicron, there would be six or eight cars lined up when they opened in the morning.

Today there were 22 cars at 10:45am... and when I came back there were cars lined up around the corner and thru the mall parking lot. I counted 31 cars at 11:45.

Tag: Jan 2022

Foggy, dark and cold day at the bike path.

Definitely a good day for peanuts in the shell...

Tag: Jan 2022

Yesterday's rainy day Sparrow...

And today's Sparrow with a bit of sunshine...

Tag: Jan 2022

Just under 5million new cases this week in the US... maybe we've hit the peak. 4,906,684 total, which averages to 700,955 every day. 1,854 people died every day. That number has been steadily coming up since the beginning of the year: It was 1,632 last week, and 1,247 the week before.

Oregon is reporting 7,888 new cases every day. 11 people died every.

There are 3,113 active covid cases in my town, and 53 people are hospitalized. Four people have died this past week.

Apparently this article that I read yesterday...

∞ Gorsuch didn't mask despite Sotomayor's COVID worries, leading her to telework

... About Justice Neil Gorsuch refusing to wear a mask in chambers, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor calling in from her office because she doesn't want to sit next to the germ-spewing asshole.
... Apparently, that article really pissed me off.

Translation: Dear Justice Gorsuch, Put on a damn mask you stupid jerk! You know what being maskless in a room full of masked up people says? It says you're a Trump Republican. You probably believe conspiracy theories. You can't be trusted as a judge and I demand you resign! Sincerely, rift

Not very polite, huh? Well, I'm sick of these maskless morons! And I hope I get his attention.

Follow-up, 20 January...

∞ NPR reporting on Supreme Court mask controversy merits clarification

Justices are trying to retain their dignity. But the dignity is in shreds because of the majority's decisions. Maskless morons just add to the dumpster fire.

Dang it...

*laughs* Maybe I should just call this place the Blurry Bird Blog!

Kind of has a ring to it, actually! :D

Tag: Jan 2022

hmmm.

AllAboutBirds mentions that Nonbreeding male Hooded Mergansers have yellow eyes and a cinnamon brown crest. And I'm wondering if the Hooded Merganser on the right is a male.

His eyes aren't yellow, but they are def lighter than the female's. And his crest is def more colourful, as are the feathers on the rest of his body.

I also wonder what nonbreeding male actually means. Because there are males with the usual black and white hooded plumage at this time of year.

I think it actually means that this is his first year. He was born last summer and he still has his immature feathers. So he's really just a juvenile. And Nonbreeding male technically refers to all the males in the winter-time! :)

Tag: Jan 2022

hmm. A Beaver, probably.

Two trees down.

heh, I wonder if those tree people who are trying to get Eugene's Canopy Cover from 22% to 30% are annoyed that a beaver has chopped down two trees pointlessly! That first tree is probably not going to live, either.

Not to mention all the other tooth marks along the creek!!

Me? Dead trees do make me sad. But a Beaver's got to chew!

I would assume this is a young beaver, venturing out into the world. He doesn't know what he's doing, and doesn't know where he's going. And he's trying to figure it out and experiment, along the way!

Blazey, the bike path ambassador.

First sighting of teals, winter visitors at the creek. (it's a crappy pic!)

Tag: Jan 2022

Sometime I wish my crappy photos were less crappy! Some cute but blurry Golden Crowned Sparrows in a cool looking but unidentified bush. *laughs*

A Cooper Hawk! Wow, it's been ages and ages since I've seen one! I hope s/he finds this area an appropriate place to live because I'd love to see them again.

This is a juvenile, you can tell by the three white dots on their shoulder.

It's weird to see how small Cooper Hawks are -- about the size of a crow -- when all I've seen lately is Red Shoulder Hawks -- quite a bit larger!

Well, well, well... this is a surprise...

Little Mrs Belted Kingfisher decided to let me take a photo. Not a great photo, of course. But still, it was terribly kind of her to take a moment with me... instead of teasing me! :)

Tag: Jan 2022

There was a mass shooting downtown last night. Six people wounded, one of them went directly into surgery and is in critical condition. The bad guy ran away and was not captured.

∞ NPR: 6 people have been injured in a mass shooting in Oregon

∞ Eugene-OR.gov Wow Hall Shooting

So. I was upset this morning. I don't know what is happening with my town. This is not my Eugene.

A trip out to the river... Nature can fix me.

A juvenile Bald Eagle.

Funny thing is, I knew this was a juvenile even before I was sure of his species!

I was too far away and his back was to me. All I could tell was that he was dark and big, I wondered if he was a Turkey Vulture!

I could see he was hunched over, playing with something at his feet? or maybe eating something? Not sure. And then he dropped it!

It fell, fell out of his tree and hit the ground with a thud. And that was the moment that I knew this was a kid!

(And I don't know what he dropped, I couldn't get close enough to see it.) (And he didn't fly down to retrieve the thing either.) (Goofy kid!) :)

An artsy Oregon Grape. And, yep, these bushes are starting to bloom here and there!

Tag: Jan 2022

I thought the snow at the end of December had finished off the Calendulas at the garden... but some have recovered!

The sun is in the wrong spot, so this guy's red-violet face is showing black instead. But what a sweet song he sings at me!

uh. What The ??

Did someone just lay an egg on the bike path?!

ha! Well, that's one way to do it if you're not ready to be a mom! And seriously! It's mid-January. No ducks are thinking about making a nest in freaking January! It's winter!

I do feel bad about this girl's overactive reproductive system.

I resisted the urge to see if the egg was still warm.

Because if it was warm... there was nothing to keep me from just carefully picking it up and bringing it home! I don't have an incubator or anything. And how would I care for a baby duck, anyway!

*laughs* It is fun imagining, tho!! Dream of a duckling!

Tag: Jan 2022

Always good to see Blazey at his spot on the bike path!

And someone -- our little friend the hummingbird -- decided to get artsy with their portrait...

After the fact, I noticed...
Haha, everybody is facing left today! :)

Tag: Jan 2022

We are up to 5million new covid cases this week, omicron variant still doing it's thing. 5,081,232 all together which averages to 725,890 new cases every day. 1,632 people died every day.

Oregon continues to smash thru records. Remember when I said the single-day new case count high was 3,207. Well, this week our average was 7,250 new cases. Every. Single. Day. ... lordy. 15 people died of covid every day.

And of course, my town reflects the crazy numbers as well. We've got 2,744 active cases right now... the highest active count from the last round was 1,222 reported on 21 Aug 2021.

There are 85 people hospitalized here in town. Even will all those people in the hospital, just three people died in the past week.

I've had stuff on my mind the last week or so. And since my brain is preoccupied, when I go out for my walk, my auto-pilot heads me in the same direction every day. East, towards the Community Garden.

It's a nice walk. There's green space. The bike path is close to the creek for much of the way. There's a little loop at the end of the bike path. And the entire walk is 3.75 miles, a good distance!

But doing that walk over and over, every single day? heh.

It's not so much that I get bored... it's more that I just don't LOOK.

So today I walk in the opposite direction! Stewart Park is a bit over a mile away and is a lovely Wet Prairie, the ponds currently hosting some wintering ducks, geese, and shorebirds like sandpipers and such!

These are Cackling Geese, the smaller cousins of Canada Geese.

You see how short their beaks are? That's the major major give-away for Cackling Geese.

There is a pretty big flock of them wintering here, and I've seen them hanging out in a variety of fields... School grounds, behind the Events Center, and now out on the wet prairie by Stewart Pond!

There's also a little forest, where I've caught a few birds I don't usually get to see. Here's a Black Phoebe.

Black Phoebes are a little bit north of their usual range, here. But that's to be expected with climate change.

Tag: Jan 2022

There's a handful of Hooded Mergansers who stay at the creek during the winter every year. I always have trouble getting their pics, tho.

They are shy. And as soon as they see me, they power paddle to get behind the shrubbery!

So most of my photos are pretty blurry. But these two females were pretty calm and I was able to get slightly better than usual pics.

Tag: Jan 2022

A Golden Crowned Sparrow.

Oh, hey! I really love the colours in this pic of Lenten Roses. Also, can you believe the Lenten Roses are blooming already!

There was an article in the local newspaper today about the tree canopy cover in Eugene. (Sorry, I can't link it. The newspaper website has a paywall.)

It's kinda shocking and annoying to learn that Eugene only has 22% tree canopy in the city, when the national average is 27%. What the heck??

If there's one thing that western Oregon has, it's trees! So why don't we have trees in the city? WHY?

It's nice to know that the city is aiming towards 30% tree canopy.

But it's a little bit late in the Climate Change game... happy baby trees should have been planted years ago! Now, baby trees have to fight for life thru drought and heat domes.

Sighs.

Tag: Jan 2022

A foggy and chilly morning, still just 34° when I left for my walk at 10:30am.

Introducing new graffiti artist E.t., with an elephant with butterfly ears!

And on the other side of the bridge, a dragon.

I think E.t. needs a bit of practice -- and to slow down and look -- and it won't be long before they are making really good art. For instance, just some simple changes to the heavy black outline around that elephant, would make it look a lot better.

Just... here. Just give me the can of black, and I'll fix it!

*laughs* just kidding!

Suspish mostly just leaves her cute modified angler fish. But sometimes she does her name all fancy.

And then even fancier.

*laughs* Isn't it lovely!

(well, except the upside-down moon. But that always drives me crazy, so never mind! :)

Tag: Jan 2022

I went out walking today, but didn't take many photos. eh, sometimes it happens that way.

But here's a Pansy at the Community Garden.

I never remember what the difference is between Pansies and Violets...

∞ Differences Between Pansies & Violets Pansies have four petals that point upward and one that points downward; violets have three petals that point upward and two that point downward.

Tag: Jan 2022

Just some pretty colours...

Not Canada Geese...

Those are Cackling Geese. This isn't one of their usual winter stops. Our Cackling Geese are the smallest and darkest of the subspecies, minima.

And a sweet crow, giving me a look...

:)

Tag: Jan 2022

The Squirrels are watching us...

And they are very disappointed in what they see.

Our democracy is coming apart at the seams...

∞ How the U.S. became a 'backsliding democracy,' according to a European think tank

∞ In First, US Labeled 'Backsliding' Democracy as Global Authoritarianism Grows

It's not just the Insurrection at the Capitol last year, or Trump's stupid Big Lie when that was the safest election ever.

It's not just that Trump packed the Supreme Court and the lower courts with hateful judges who are taking our rights away and making illogical decisions.

It's not just that Congress can't get anything done... and could only half impeach a rotten president. Twice!

It's not just the voter restrictions and the gerrymandering.

It's not just the racism, and the rampant white supremacy.

It's all of this and more.

And I'll be fighting it.

And the Squirrels are with me!

It's so nice to see the clouds break up after so much rain...

Tag: 2021

Well over 3million new covid cases this week thanks to the omicron variant. 3,726,136 in all and averaging 532,305 every day. 1,247 people died every day.

Oregon is breaking all kinds of records for highest single-day new case count... The old record stood at 3,207 on 27 Aug 2021. Unfortunately, due to the holiday, the Oregon covid website wasn't being updated, so there's no telling what the daily counts were over the long weekend. But there were 4,522 new cases reported today.

And Oregon had an average of 2,776 new cases every day this past week (up from 1,136 of last week). 11 people died of covid on average every day... holding steady from the 10 that were dying every day last week.

Active cases in my town shot up from 596 to 1,699 this week, with 57 hospitalized. 77.2% hospitalized are not vax'd. Just three people died of covid this past week.

Well, that's kind of a disdainful look...

Oh, wait! What's wrong with your face, Little One??

It's more clear in this pic:

Do squirrels get mange? ugh! Poor baby!

Tag: Jan 2022

oh no.

Bird Watcher's Digest is closing its doors effective immediately.

This is so depressing, I cry.

This was such a great little magazine, I really loved it. I can't believe it's suddenly gone.

Julie Zickefoose's eulogy for the mag...

∞ To Bird Watcher's Digest: 1978-2021, the Best Little Bird Magazine Ever

I first discovered Julie Zickefoose through her book, The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds. I read that at the end of 2016...

∞ My Book Review of The Bluebird Effect on GR

It's a beautiful book and I was thrilled to find out she wrote regularly for Bird Watcher's Digest, and their subsidiary publication Watching Backyard Birds. I subscribed to both, and found Julie Zick's blog as well.

My subscriptions have lapsed in the past year or so. I wasn't too worried about it... once I got some money together, I'd just buy up the editions I missed or get them online.

Sighs. So crying sad.

The African Violet is blooming!

At the top of the pic is the back of a Polka Dot Begonia leaf. and in the background, which you can't see very well, is a Chinese Evergreen.

I love my house plants! It gives me comfort to sit with them.

Our Little Free Pantry has seen better days!

That white thing on the ground is the roof of the Pantry! We had a wind advisory on Sunday night, maybe the wind ripped it off.

Well. At least it's still full of food! But still with the 100% rain... I hope it doesn't leak too much without it's roof!

Tag: Jan 2022

And rained and rained.

The bike path under all the bridges is flooded.

That hand railing is about 5 foot tall...

La Nina has brought the extra rain this winter. We are smack dab in the middle of that green "wetter" area...

Tag: Jan 2022

The Red Shoulder Hawk from yesterday seems to like sitting in this area. This tree is a bit farther from the path, so our new friend is blurry. I think it works as a decent landscape pic tho with those beautiful layers of Douglas Firs in the background!

The trees are coming alive already...

And that darned Kingfisher continues to mess with me. One or the other of the pair fly up and down the creek every winter, I suppose they are checking out nesting sites. But as soon as they see me, they play a game of cat and mouse by hiding or flying a circle around me or generally being jerks about letting me take their portrait.

*laughs*

But this time I got proof of her existence!

They usually settle down behind a thick layer of bushes and shrubbery, so all I can see is their bright white neck band. This time she was just too far away, and flew off before I could get the camera better situated.

Her partner was still laughing at me, in the distance!

Tag: Jan 2022

Happy New Year!

Well. Another year of world-wide Covid. And Another year of being a jobless bum!

Lots of photos taken, lots of postcards sent. A crappy gardening year. An awesome road trip to Utah. But I seem to have lost some of my other hobbies.

Walking in 2021
At the end of 2020, I had dusted off my bicycle and was going out to several parks in west Eugene. One day in January, I got caught in a rain shower, and when I stopped under a bridge, I slid in the mud and fell and broke my hand.

That put a damper on a lot of things at the beginning of the year.

But other than that, I walked most every day, rain or shine or whatever!

I walk mostly for the photo opportunities. But I'm happy to get good exercise as well!

Photography in 2021
There was a lot of photography in 2021. I'm unable to get a count right now, like I usually do. But once I move into my new computer I'll get on that.

So, for future reference...

in 2018... 11,570 pics, avg 964/month
in 2019... 15,124 pics, avg 1,260/month
in 2020... xxx pics, avg xxx/month
in 2021... xxx pics, avg xxx/month

Mailing and Postcards in 2021
in 2018... averaged 104 bits of mail every month
in 2019... averaged 76 bits of mail every month
in 2020... averaged 126 bits of mail every month.
in 2021... 1390 total, averaging 116 mailings every month

I did not exchange much mail for LetterMo last February, I'm just so disappointed with that useless website. I wish they would do something about it!

I was not able to keep up with the monthly postcard exchange that I host on Goodreads. I didn't send out postcards in August and October. Just a little burned out.

I sent 36 postcards at PostCrossing in 2021, bringing my total there to 449. I hosted 51 swaps at Swap-Bot and participated in a total of 101 swaps!

I only sent 10 Urgent Action cases in 2021 for Amnesty International. But I did send protest letters to all ten of the Write For Rights cases, Plus one card of encouragement.

I also sent happy postcards of encouragement to independent Abortion Providers. There are just over 100 clinics in the United States (not including Planned Parenthood), and this is the 2nd year I've done this!

I've really fallen in love with the Epson SuperTank printer that I bought in 2019. I only have to buy inks a couple times a year! When I was buying cartridges, I'd be buying a pack of colours every month. It is SO much nicer to not have to think about ink all the time!! And SO much nicer to not have all that plastic trash!!

Community Garden 2021
Worst year yet... had trouble growing zucs, toms, and well, pretty much everything. I didn't eat any Spaghetti Squash even tho I planted 8 plants. The Cauliflowers were small but at least I got to eat a couple. Beets are small, as well.

I suck as a gardener, obviously. But hope springs eternal and we'll be keeping the garden plot for another year.

Writing and Drawing
There's lots of blog posts here. I'm not going to count them because I'm actually still adding photos to random posts!

The daily drawing practice ended in August, unfortunately. I'd like to get back to it!

The New Year... 2022
Some stuff needs to happen this year. Unfortunately, if I start listing it -- I need a new job, gotta get a car, be nice to lose some weight, set up the new desktop computer, etc, etc -- I get overwhelmed, want to slam the door shut, lock it, crawl under the covers, and sleep for 26 hours straight!

*Laughs*

So. Let's focus on some stuff that I actually Want to make happen...

∞ Get back to daily posts here at S8.
      ∞ Also, catch up with old posts, and do some archiving!

∞ Get back to writing book reviews at GR.

∞ Ugh: Space Clearing, decluttering, cleaning.

Let's move forward!

Tag: Jan 2022

Well, almost 2million new cases of covid in the US this week... 1,848,809 which averages to 264,116 new cases every day. And 1,502 people died of covid on average every day.

Oregon had 1,136 new cases every day on average... almost twice what it was two weeks ago! And two weeks ago was when omicron was first reported in Oregon. Just 10 people died every day.

In my town active cases almost doubled from 307 to 596, with 24 people hospitalized. Four people have died this week.

Tag: 2021

Yep, omicron is here in town, as of this past weekend... they found the first cases on Monday.

Back over a million new cses of covid again this week: 1,151,320... which is an average of 164,474 every day. and 1,724 people died every day, a significan rise from last week's 1,046. :(

Oregon had 805 new cases every day on average (up from 596 last week), but just 13 people died every day (down from 22 last week)!

In my town, we've got 307 active cases, 24 hospitalized. And 8 people have died in the past week.

Tag: Dec 2021

Oh yeah! Covid Booster Vax!

The drive-thru mass vax clinic had opened at 10 and I had a 10:15 appointment... and since there were just a couple cars, way up at the front, I needed help maneuvering thru all the cones! haha, fortunately there were a couple volunteers to tell me where to go!

I got to the first station where they hand you paperwork (and uh, remind you to put on your stupid mask! oops!) and then a guy directed me to the tents and I got to go to the head of the line! (Again! I got to do that for my 2nd shot as well!!)

I filled out the paperwork and got my covid card updated. And then chatted with the doctor for a minute. He asked how the first two shots had gone for me. I said the first one, I only had a sore arm and the second one I felt a bit achy the next day for a couple hours.

He replied, "To help with that this time, you gotta hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. And then you gotta drink..." he paused here, and I smiled up at him wondering if he was going to say something funny. heh, yep. "And then you gotta drink some water!"

*Laughs*

As I waited out in the parking lot to make sure I didn't have a bad reaction, I saw the coned lanes that I had sped thru alone, start to fill up. They only had 3 tents, vax'ing two cars at a time in each. The line seemed to be moving pretty quickly tho.

I was back home, and the whole trip was only half an hour!

And then I decided to go for a walk. And then I was like, what if I have ... ... ...

Tag: Dec 2021

Well. The United states hit 800,000 dead sometime yesterday afternoon, according to the Johns Hopkins website. (The 1pt3acrs site hit 800,000 on Monday 6 December, and is now at 810,665 people dead from covid.) :(

And the local newspaper reports that omicron is in Oregon. They found a couple cases up in Portland. So it's not in Eugene yet... but omicron is so contagious I think it will be here in just a few minutes.

I've got my booster set up for Friday morning... I am mixing and matching my shots. I can't wait!

Okay, so on to the numbers...

There were 721,210 new cases of Covid in the US this past week, averaging 103,030 every day.

The US averaged 1,046 people dying of covid every day.

And since the omicron variant has been found here in Oregon, I'm going to start keeping track of our state numbers as well... Oregon had 596 new cases every day on avg, and 22 people have died every day.

In my town there are 238 active cases of covid and 27 people hospitalized. Four people have died in the past week.

Tag: Dec 2021

I have been freaking out about Abortion Care in Texas and all over the US since September 1, when SB8 banned almost all abortions in Texas.

The courts tried to fix things, but were bashed down by the 5th Circuit.

The Justice Department was no help at all.

The Supreme Court has turned evil, and so they made things worse.

Translation: Dear President Biden. The current Supreme Court terrifies me! Since when does the court take away rights? Since Sept 1st women in Texas have not been able to access full health care. It's just a matter of time before more states take away reproductive rights. Please! Do Something!

But, here, FINALLY, is someone who is going to do something! Yay California!

∞ California Future of Abortion Council Report
(this is a direct link to a PDF.)

I LIKE the recommendations of this council! In fact, I like them so much, I think my state of Oregon should join California in this!

Translation: Dear Governor Brown, I am terrified at what Texas has done with SB8, and I'm terrified that the Supreme Court has let it stand. I think California has the right idea with it's Proclamation on Reproductive Freedom and aiming to be a sanctuary for abortion access. I think Oregon should follow in Calif's footsteps! We need to fund and strengthen Abortion Services here in Oregon -- Including for people out of state!!

Tag: Dec 2021

I've started archiving the October posts. You can see October 1st thru 10th right here:

∞ October 2021

I've archived the September posts. You can see them all right here:

∞ September 2021

We rented a car from Enterprise for our Utah roadtrip. I was expecting a four-door sedan with a big trunk, but the rental car they gave me was a small SUV, a Kia Soul.

The extra space behind the back seats, was just barely big enough for our luggage and fun stuff. The cooler and Dawn the Guinea Pig's travel box took up the entire back seats. (Granted, the travel box was pretty spacious!)

That all worked out, but the seats weren't very comfortable. The drivers seat didn't have lumbar support, it may have been broken. It wasn't terrible, but it kept my back kinked up a little, as I drove.

There were five of us in Utah, including three men, and I felt bad for my Mom... being the smallest, she had to sit in the middle of the back seat. The seat belt latches on either side couldn't be moved and they were too close together. So you had to scoot your butt way forward to avoid sitting on them, and that was uncomfortable and probably unsafe.

Other than that, the car was fine, and it got us to where we were going, including up and down steep and curvy hills. But not a car I would buy.

I returned the car on Saturday... And I was immediately bereft.

It's been a couple years since I've owned a car. and I miss it!

Tag: 2021

Okay! Starting to come alive!

I think a holiday is a good disruption of established routines. My regular schedule was great, but as I mentioned during my Porch Room Project, there is no set time for tidying or cleaning. Which really should be happening! And, there was no set time for blogging. Which I really want to be happening!

I had gotten a couple books over the summer, which I started reading but didn't finish.

∞ Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess by Rachel Hoffman

∞ Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff by Dana K. White

Both books resonated with me and the first one actually got me to clean a surface. Yeah, it was a single surface, but still! :)

oh, I should mention that Marie Kondo is just not my thing... it's just too much. I have done Stephanie Bennett Vogt's Space Clearing in the past, including one of her year-long classes. And I'm more of a "slow drip" and "pick up one thing... even if it's just a paper clip" type person!! I will def be applying that philosophy in my new efforts!

So anyway. My goals are to do at least 20mins of chores every day. And One and a Half blog posts every day, and maybe do some back-end work with the Utah trip.

Tag: 2021

Yeah, ugh. Yesterday's drive home from Utah just wiped me out. I slept hard last night, but I just can't get my brain to turn on today. And my patience is completely used up.

I did manage to get the rental car returned with partner's help. And then I crashed back into my bed!

The house plants survived a week on their own. I usually water the Peace Lily more than once a week, and so I had it on a dripper... And it was so happy with the constant water it made a flower while we were gone!

The recently potted Polka Dot Begonia had started making leaves a couple weeks ago, and that's looking really good now!

And one of the African Violet leaves that I'm trying to clone, started growing!! This makes me happy!

Tag: 2021

My new favorite pastimes are standing in front of the fan and drinking ice water.

Today's high temperature is 102° (39°C) but because it didn't cool down last night, the apartment is miserable... 90° upstairs, and poor Dawn the guinea pig has to deal with 82° in the downstairs.

And, yeah. I think this is the third heat wave... but really. when you only have one day of relief in between heat waves? Maybe it's just all one heat wave. And I hate it.

Just get an air conditioner (and quit complaining!) you say? But I say, this is just going to make climate change worse!! I refuse! I opt out!

Tag: 2021

Yeah, so I was wondering if my state or city was going to DO anything about these numbers... or just let the medical people and unvaccinated suffer. Hello? how bad does it need to get before we take action?

There's action today, according to the newspaper... We are going back to masking mandates on Friday.

Tag: 2021

Well. delta variant is really making a mess of things. Cases are up, hospitalizations are up, deaths are up. And break thru infections for people who've been vaccinated.
Thanks for all that, anti-vax Republicans.

I read today that if you have the alpha variant, you will probably infect two other unvaccinated people. But if you have the delta variant, you will infect 5 other people.

There were 606,806 new covid cases in the US this week, a huge jump from the 255,000 last week, which was a jump from the 134,000 the week before, and the 85,000 and the 68,000 at the end of June.

sighs. 86,687 new cases on average every day. (ha, an every day total that's so similar to the Entire WEEK total, just a few weeks ago!) 365 people died every day on avg.

In my town, active cases have shot up to 572 and 30 people hospitalized. Before vaccinations started in earnest, the worse we had was 526 active cases on 17 Dec 2020, and on that day we had 47 people hospitalized.

The local hospitals are restricting visitors, again.

And I'm taking a good look at the local numbers for active covid cases. Throughout this mess, we've had awesome, daily reports for cases, hospitalizations, ongoing active cases and deaths!

But mid-May, they started not reporting the sunday numbers. And then the entire Memorial Day weekend. hey. fair enough! But the next weekend, they also took three days off. And the next. After that it was random days of not reporting during the week, and still not reporting the three days of the weekends.

This is shoddy. and shitty. I really want better.

∞ NYC Becomes Largest US City To Require Proof Of Vaccination For Indoor Activities
*thumbs up!*

Tag: 2021

I saw a single Raccoon at the creek today... s/he was eating a crawdad. Which kind of amazed me, I didn't realize crawdads lived in our little creek!

When I glanced at one of the photos, pretty blurry, I was all, "oh, funny Raccoon! You've got a bit of grass on your face!"

But when I saw better photos, I realized that was not grass... that was a Dragonfly Nymph!!!

Poor, poor baby dragonfly is fixin' to be a light dessert after the meal of that poor, poor crawdad. :|

Tag: 2021

Out at the river today, and excited to see a Green Heron. They are shy, and their camouflage is incredible, so I'm always glad to get their portrait!

So that's a normal position for a Green Heron.

All of a sudden...

Holy! Where did all that neck come from??! That's crazy!

And here's a pretty pic of a Great Blue Heron in the flowers...

Tag: 2021

So I'm on my 4 mile walk and there's this orange dragonfly, flopping about at the edge of the sidewalk.

I look and see the dragonfly has caught a European Honey Bee, who must be fighting back! The dragonfly is much bigger than the bee, tho, so I'm pretty sure about the outcome...

But then suddenly, it's over. The dragonfly sits for a second and then flies away. Wait! What just happened??!

Did I not notice that the bee got away? Or was the bee eaten up in just a couple bites? oh Nature, why can't you let me see the end of the story! *laughs*

And this is my lunch! That's the third Lemon Cucumber I've gotten from our garden plot!!! LOVE!

And yes, I'm having a store-bought cucumber on homemade bread... it's the black olives and the dollop of Yumm! Sauce that really makes this sandwich amazing. (Yumm! Sauce is a form of Goddess Dressing, but of course, yummier.) :)

And this is my front Lemon Cucumber patch, where that beautiful Lemon Cuc came from...

You can see, it's just getting started! Look at all those little yellow blossoms!!!

This year I have 10 Lemon Cucumber plants. This patch is four plants and it's grown quite a bit bigger than the back patch which has 6 plants. My goal is to have more Lemon Cucumbers than I can eat... which I'm pretty sure is impossible!! :)

Tag: 2021

Tag: 2021

There were 395,979 new cases of covid in the US in the last week, averaging 56,568 cases every day. 239 people died every day, on average.

Active cases in my town have climbed to 309 today. And three people have died in the past week.

I'm glad that the CDC has updated their Masking Recommendations for the Delta variant... even fully vaxd people should wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of high transmission. Areas of high transmission doesn't include the entire United States... just most of it!

And I'll be thrilled to see more vaccine requirements! heck yeah!

A pretty picture of invasive plants! :)

The purplish blue in focus is Chicory, a happy plant from Europe and north Africa. The roots can be roasted and ground and used like coffee (minus the caffeine) or as a food additive.

The white flowers are Queen Anne Lace, another happy invasive, from temperate Europe and southwest Asia. This is a member of the carrot family and the tap root can be eaten like carrots. Careful tho! this one has look-alikes which are toxic and will kill you if you eat them! Queen Anne Lace roots smell like carrots. If it smells like licorice, that's the toxic one!

Never, never eat stuff in the wild if you're not 100% sure what it is!! Seriously, 100% with major research and a naturalist who has helped you! NOT 90% sure! If you even have a single question, "wait. is this thing normal?" Do not eat that thing! You must be 100% sure! Nothing less! This is my public service announcement!! *laughs*

The pinkish purple is Sweet Pea... a toxic invasive from Sicily and southern Italy. A very pretty scent, that many people love! But toxic for eating, every which way!

um. Hang on! White Crowned Sparrows at the Community Garden? What in the world???!

White Crowned Sparrows are winter visitors here. In other words, they do nesting season up north, in Canada, then come down for some better winter weather. Since when is the end of July past the nesting season?!

They must have had a major, tragic nest failure to be down in their winter area in July! Or something else? What's going on?!

Hmmm... Studying the map. All About Birds: White Crowned Sparrow, Range Map

Maybe. You see that thin strip of purple "Year-Round" that hugs the Pacific Coast? Maybe the sparrows are expanding their year-round range further inland. Eugene is about 60miles from the coast. Not that far, for a little bird!

Will have to pay attention to the local sightings for this beautiful little bird!!

Tag: 2021

There were 255,033 new cases of covid in the US in the last week, averaging 36,433 every day. The delta variant is now over 80% of new cases. 232 people died of covid every day.

Active cases of covid are at 117 today in my town. Which can't really be referred to as "creeping up" since that's almost double of last weeks active cases (61).

Tag: 2021

Lately I've just been meh. I seem to have lost my enthusiasm. I'm not really excited about my mailing projects. I've not been doing my daily drawing practice. I've gotten behind on sorting photos and the mail log. and I really, really can't be bothered to do any chores or housework.

And you can see I've not updated this blog at all... a few weeks ago, I thought by having a project, I'd want to type here more often. And the blogging lasted precisely one day: Porch Room Project! And the actual Project didn't last much beyond that. sighs.

Unfortunately, I don't really have a plan besides "Get It Together!" :)

hm... The same two I saw the other day? No, I don't think so.

But definitely siblings... Not quite grown up and turns out there were a couple more in the bushes on the bank! There was a wrestling match, and general happy and well adjusted kid raccoon goings-on! So fun to watch!

and then... oh wait!

There's a fifth raccoon!! Is it Mum or another sibling? Dang it, I can't tell. And then they're gone, slipped away under the shrubbery.

Tag: 2021

There were 134,558 new cases of covid in the US in the last week, averaging 19,227 every day. 236 people died every day on average... Yep, Delta variant is starting to kill more people. (The average last week was down to 132 people dead every day.)

And the only people dying of covid anymore, are the unvaccinated.

In my town, Delta variant has officially arrived, there were two cases recently detected.

Which is unfortunate. Because we have gotten all the way down to 43 active cases last Saturday. We are now at 61 active cases. How high will Delta push our active cases, and for how long?

There are 54.8% people fully vaxd in Oregon and 48.1% of the total population fully vaxd in the US.

Tag: 2021

There were 85,084 new cases of covid in the US in the past week, averaging 12,155 every day.

The Delta variant is now the dominate strain of covid in the US and it's pushing the numbers back up... for new cases and hospitalizations. The Delta variant arrived in the US in March of this year, and was about 20% of new cases on 22 June, and is now well over 50%.

132 people died of covid on average every day in the US... But assume this will be back on the upswing with Delta.

Sighs.

Because of the holiday, the local covid website hasn't been updated. But we were still swirling around about 80 active cases of covid here in town.

Oregon has 54.3% of total population fully vaxd and the USA has 47.5% fully vaxd.

Tag: 2021

There were 68,642 new cases of covid in the US in the past week, averaging 9,806 every day. 242 people died of covid, on average, every day.

Active covid cases in my town have been swirling around 80.

And the governor of Oregon has lifted covid restrictions today! We aren't quite at 70% of the adult & over 16 vaccinated, but we are so extremely close... 69.9%!

So, restaurants and businesses can be at full capacity, and businesses can make their own decisions about masking. I think you still have to mask up in federal buildings... like the Post Office still has their Mask signs up. Also masks on public transportation.

52.6% of the total population of Oregon is fully vaxd, and 46.4% of the USA is.

Today I cut up and re-potted a Golden Pothos, along with a lovely Polka Dot Begonia. I think they have similar water needs, so they should be fine in the same pot.

Tag: 2021

So! Today I fixed up the African violets.

I dumped the dead pots... ugh, yeah, more than one that I managed to kill. Pretty remarkable, since all you have to do to keep African Violets alive is not over-water them! I don't know what killed them off, but I'm really bummed because one had such lovely flowers... white with purple edges.

I got cuttings from the last remaining living plant, played with rooting gel -- probably not necessary, since African Violets like to clone themselves at the drop of a leaf (haha! you see what I did there?! ;) -- and potted them up.

(Yep, you see one more dead one in the middle background there.) (sighs.)

Today's project, like yesterday, took about 40 minutes... so it's not digging too much into my scheduled happy time.

Artsy!

And, yep, there are sunflowers blooming at the Community Garden!

Tag: 2021

So. I've been living my best life for a while now. But my best life includes certain things like avoiding chores and any stuff I don't feel like doing. And it's starting to make me feel lazy! ha!

So I gave myself a project this week. What we call our porch room is probably technically called a breakfast nook. It's just the space on the other side of the kitchen, and it also includes the sliding glass door out to the back porch.

I have all of my house plants here. They are neglected and have been slowly dying out. So it's probably time to fix this. Not to mention the glass and floor are a dirty disaster, from water splashing dirt and other day-to-day accidents. And there's cobwebs.

Yes, it's pretty pathetic and if I could afford a maid or a cleaning service, that would definitely be money well spent!

So! Today I started with the Spider Plant. There is just one struggling mama plant, and a bunch of babies hanging off her. oh, hey! They are called spiderettes!

I dumped all the dirt... whoa! the roots!

Anyway. Some new dirt, the babies cut away and planted all around. And we've got a nice new pot... of grass-looking stuff!

*laughs* Well, the new dirt will rejuvenate everybody and it'll be a pretty hanging plant soon!

∞ Learn about spider plant stolons
This page says it's very unusual for a spider plant to flower and even more unusual for them to produce fruit. That's funny... My Spider Plant used to flower all the time, and it made tons of seeds. The seeds are kind of annoying too, because they would get everywhere!

Well, anyway. Look who I found at the creek today!

It's been years since I've seen Raccoons at the creek, so happy to welcome them back into the area!!

Tag: 2021

The camera can't keep up, but I always try to take pics of the Turkey Vultures as they glide past me in the sky!

Someone is offering some more freebies at the Community Garden picnic table!

These are baby tomato plants, I nabbed one that had a tag that said Orange Plum! Sounds wonderful!! But I def have an excess of tomato plants now... 2 Sun Golds, 6 Brandywines, 1 heirloom Roma, 2 Aubrey Pinks, and this new one. I am very excited about tomatoes this year!

On the walk home... a new bird!!

Yep, it's a crappy blurry pic. But I think this bird is a Western Wood Pewee. What a name, huh?!

Tag: 2021

Last year, someone set up Bluebird nesting boxes at the Community Garden. A pair set up shop in one of them and I was thrilled to see them coming and going, feeding their babies. I didn't get to see the kids fledge, but the parents did bring their kids back around, and I got pics of the juveniles.

No one is using the nest boxes this year. A pair of Violet Green Swallows had started organizing a nest, but then the humans started showing up to garden. And the Swallows changed their mind and went elsewhere.

But the Bluebirds are still coming and going at the Community Garden! They must have a nest close by and use the garden as a resting point...

Ha! I believe this is one family. The Mom on the left, Dad in the middle, and the chubby one on the right is the nest helper!

Crows do this... last year's child might help bring up their siblings! Since Bluebirds are sexually dimorphic, we can tell that the nest helper is always a male. Which makes me wonder if the Crow's helper is male, too!

I think the green caterpillar the helper is holding is a Cabbage White. These butterfies are fluttering all over the place, I saw the first one back at the beginning of March!

Tag: 2021

From the Postcrossing Blog...

∞ EUROPA Stamps
Endangered national wildlife. Oh my gosh, this is a Beautiful collection of art!!! Monaco has a seahorse, tho, and my vote would go there.

Speaking of random tiny countries... Monaco is a micro-state country surrounded by France on the Mediterranean Sea, near Italy!

Last year, I decided to memorize all the countries in the world. Check!

I tend to review the list when I can't sleep at night. There are around 180 countries (hmm... I've never counted!) so it does take a while. But it's not the best activity for sleepy time because it takes a lot of brain power. I really have to be *awake* to do the whole list.

Anyway. I've gotten bored with just the countries of the world! So I've decided to start memorizing all the capitals of the countries of the world!!

*grins* Ottawa and Washington DC and Mexico City! Yep!

But okay! This is a much more difficult project. Because I have never heard of the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa... and I def don't know how to pronounce it!!

Tuh-goo-see-gal-puh

Western European countries will be easier... because we all know London and Paris and Madrid. But I am really looking forward to more long and complicated capital names!

Dawn the guinea pig has been munching on the first crops from the garden since mid-March! There are only a couple Dandelion plants in my plot, so this is a treat she gets once or twice a week.

Tho the sap makes it pretty bitter, all parts of dandelions are quite nutritious! Vitamins A, C, and K along with antioxidants and some minerals.

Now, check out this creature I found on the bike path!

Wow! Just nonchalantly cleaning their antenna, in the middle of the bike path. Maybe not the place for that, Little One!

With those orange bits, I thought I'd be able to identify their species without any trouble. But I couldn't find them at all. bummer!

Fri, 11 Jun 2021
Yay! A friend identified this beetle for me! Thank you wombatlady!

He or she is a Flower Longhorn!!

BugGuide: Pseudogaurotina cressoni

Tag: 2021

Mowing the grassy pathways at the Community Garden is a volunteer job... and it's a huge job because the Garden is so big. The path goes all the way around the Garden and then there are two main aisles going thru the center, and then a couple of shorter aisles on the west side.

Our Garden plot is on the 2nd aisle, and that one rarely gets mowed. Since it's a volunteer thing, I can't really complain... if I want it done I should do it myself, right?

heh, except the grass is about three feet high, now.

Well. It was three feet high... Some wonderful and awesome person weed wacked the grass in front of our plot!! Oh lovely person, I thank you a million times!!

Calendula. The blossom petals add a spicey taste to salad and are used to add colour to other foods. But it's non-native, coming from southwest Asia and the Mediterranean. But very pretty!

*Laughs* This fellow was quite trusting, he stood on a tomato cage while I watered right next to him!

Tag: 2021

Getting desperate to walk any place else other than to the Community Garden every day...

Yes, I am happy to transplant new veges every couple of days. But since the rain quit months ago, I've got to go out and water those baby plants every day to keep them alive. The Community Garden is one mile away, so it doesn't really make sense to drive there all the time. So I'm walking.

But I need to look at something else!

Down at the river, I'm seeing a phenomenon with the ducklings and goslings that I also see at the creek near my home. Very small families, not very many older babies.

Last year there were goslings all over the place. Hundreds, of all different ages.

This year? um... I think there's a couple families, waaay over there. And the Mallard families are small at the river, too.

Weird and interesting! Are the families small or nonexistent because of the lack of rain this spring? Or is it because there were so many babies last year, they just need to take a break? A combination? Something else?

A Mama Mallard and her blond baby.

Aw, I just love this photo. The duckling, an only child, is not the usual colour and I wonder what they will look like as an adult.

Tag: 2021

There were 227,673 new cases of covid in the past week, averaging 32,525 every day... that's over 5,000 less than last week, EVERY DAY!!! 598 people died every day.

The active cases in my town have come down steadily from 251 last wednesday to 189 today. It looks like a good trend!

Also, 40.66% of the people in my county are fully vaccinated! Oregon has 39.3% and the USA has 37.3% fully vaxd.

The Wild Roses are blooming and the cherries are ripening!

And the sky is being beautiful.

Tag: 2021

Starling fledgling and parent.

Tag: 2021

Bachelor Button. Native in Europe, invasive here in the Americas.

Tag: 2021

I woke up this morning feeling fine, and I went for a 3mile walk without trouble.

But a headache snuck up on me in the afternoon, with some major brain fog. Ugh. And then my shoulders and neck got achy and sore. ha, I couldn't turn my head properly for a few hours!

But by the time I went to bed, I felt better! (And Monday morning, I got up feeling fine!)

haha... he looks so regal up there on the roof top! But when you think about it, ducks are down in the water, never in the trees... they are in the lowest places. So it must feel very strange to stand on top of a building and look down at the world!! :)

Tag: 2021

Yipee! I got my second vaccination shot today and I am on my way to being immunized!!

:) After you get your shot at a drive thru mass vax clinic, you need to wait in the parking lot for 15min to make sure you don't have a bad reaction. They write down the time you can leave on the car's window. The times on the left are mine and the heart time on the right is my partner's first shot... he'll be up for his 2nd next week!

This clinic was similar to my first one, except it seemed like they had more volunteers and they were jamming thru cars faster! I drove in at 10:14am and went straight to the head of the line in my lane. haha, the other lane had six or seven cars in it!

I didn't have an appointment, and they directed me off to the side where some people would help me start the digital paperwork. They then directed me to the tents and I had just enough time to fill out my paper paperwork.

They only had 8 drive-thrus, rather than the 12 they had the last time I was there. But they were doing two cars at a time at each tent, so it was actually going much faster!

The first tent got the medical portion of my paperwork filled out and my vax card updated! And then at the 2nd tent, the doctor got my paperwork and talked to me and gave me the shot.

I had turned away from the shot the first time. But this time I made sure I watched!

I got my time written, but had to wait a couple minutes before driving out to the parking lot... the car in front of me had a couple people being vaccinated. Haha... Car pooling to the vax clinic! How awesome is that?!

Everyone I talked to was Super nice and so happy when they learned I was there for my 2nd shot! *laughs* It just gave me a very good feeling and I was happy too!

Tag: 2021

There were 264,714 new cases of covid in the past week, averaging 37,816 every day... still coming down, thank goodness. 632 people died every day.

Eugene remains in the High Risk category and we are still swirling between 250 and 300 active cases. Unfortunately, our test positivity rate looks like it's rising... we are now at 5.4% where we had been holding pretty steady at 2-3% since the end of January. sighs.

But a good thing: we are a bit above the national average for getting people vaccinated! The national rate is 35.1% and our county is 38.9% fully vaxd!

Tag: 2021

The United States added 310,532 new cases of covid in the past week, averaging 44,362 every day. 720 people died every day. Good to see both of those daily averages coming down!

My town is still swirling between 325 and 350 active covid cases. Not coming down yet, even tho we're pretending to do lockdown again. I say pretending, because we're supposedly in Extreme Risk and there's no indoor dining, but there are restaurants that are ignoring the rules and there have been some college parties.

The photo of one of the college parties... is just claustrophobic. And of course, not a mask in sight.

Gah!

Despite all this mess, Eugene is downgrading from Extreme Risk -- No indoor dining, but we were only there for one week -- back down to High Risk -- indoor dining at 25% capacity and indoor entertainment at 10%.

Tag: 2021

Well, Eugene is moving to Extreme Risk, after being in the High Risk category for just a week! Indoor dining from 25% in the High Risk, down to absolutely prohibited in the Extreme Risk!

And I'm horrified to report that Oregon now ranks first among the 50 states... on a New York Times analysis of where cases are increasing the fastest. Remember when we were 48th or 47th, ALL LAST YEAR??! What the heck just happened, people? People???!

So. There were 408,046 new covid cases last week, averaging 58,292 new every day. Again, still coming down from last weeks average of 63,600 per day!! 814 people died of covid every day, a bit higher than last week's 684.

Eugene hit a high of 373 active cases on Sunday 25 April, and now we are swirling around 325 again. That's something, I guess, if that number continues to come down.

And another point of hope... The county had a couple of incredible vaccination days! Over the weekend, they added 5,326 and 7,294 people fully vaccinated!! An ordinary weekend is around 1,500 people. So, this is an awesome thing and we are currently above the national rate... USA is at 29.1% fully vaxd, and my county is at 31.1%!

Tag: 2021

Haha, I never take photos of myself... but today is such a proud day!! Covid vaccination has begun!!

I arrived at the mass vax clinic at 11:07 for my 11:15 appointment. There were two lanes of cars queued up and we moved forward several car lengths every 10 to 20 seconds.

It didn't take long to get to the head of the line. I showed my confirmation email that I had printed out, and they typed the number into a tablet. I got a clipboard and pen and paperwork and then got directed to one of 12 vax stations. There were three cars in front of me, I think. I filled out the front and back of the paperwork, sat for maybe 1 more minute and then got to the first tent.

They checked my paperwork and fixed it (oops! I missed a line!), answered questions and filled out my new vaccination card. And told me do NOT lose this! :)

The next tent had been empty for a minute or so, they were waiting for me. I drove in, turned in my paperwork. They quadruple checked who I was. (Verbally. I never had to show my ID.)

I got my vaccination at 11:29am... 22 minutes after I showed up.

The shot itself was almost nothing. That didn't hurt at all! I said, Did you even do anything??

The lady laughed. Yeah, the needle is really small, she said. And check this out! She showed me the syringe. The needle retracts into the syringe when you're done! huh! Technology! *laughs*

She told me to go wait in the parking lot for 15 minutes to make sure everything was okay. If I had trouble, I was to honk the horn and open the car door, and there were people going thru who would help me. She wrote the time I could leave on the back seat window, 11:44.

And I was driving out at 11:45am. 38 minutes after I'd arrived.

So happy!

Tag: 2021

I'm so, so, so, VERY Excited!! I managed to get a covid vaccine appointment for this weekend!! Yipee!!! It was just a fluke that I happened to be online right as they opened up the appointment schedule. Incredibly lucky! and I can't wait to do my civic duty!! I'm just thrilled to pieces!

Now for this week's covid numbers...

There were 445,788 new covid cases in the US this week, averaging 63,684 every day. 684 people died every day. Both these averages are down from last week: 70,600 and 982!

In fact, it has been long ages since we've seen daily deaths under 700 people per day... According to The Covid Tracking Project that hasn't happened since 16 November 2020, and even then the daily death count was swirling around randomly between 500 and 1,500 people dying every day.

Locally, it's a different story, unfortunately. We are now well over 300 active cases.

And we are falling behind with getting people vaccinated! Arg! The national rate is 26.0% fully vaccinated, and our county is at 24.65%. We aren't that far behind, true. But seeing that, just makes my heart sink.

And because we've had so many cases, our town will be moving from the Low Risk catagory, back up to High Risk on friday. Indoor dining and recreation is going from 75% back down to 25% capacity. Blah, blah, blah.

Tag: 2021

There were 494,198 new covid cases in the US this past week... and 70,600 on average every day. Significantly higher than last week, which was 64,500 daily. sighs. 982 people died every day, also higher than last week, which was 796.

Covid cases in my town continue their slow rise, since we opened most everything up. We are now swirling just under 250 active covid cases.

Our vax website finally came back online, and it was good to see that our county has been keeping pace with the national vaccinations... The USA is at 22.7% fully vaxd and Lane county is at 22.4%

Tag: 2021

There were freebie vege starts on the picnic table at the front of the Community Garden today!

Vege Starts! Yay, exciting! Good size and healthy looking. Let's see... Cabbage? um, no thanks. Collards? yuck! Cauliflower? Oh my gosh, how many can I have??!

*laughs* I took two trays with 6 plants each. Which did put a dent in the freebie stock. But it was monday, and I wasn't sure that very many people would see them since the weekend had passed.

So, we have 12 wonderful Cauliflowers happily growing in our plot!!

I love cauliflower... but to buy this many plants from Saturday Market would cost a pretty penny!

Last year I had tried planting cauliflower seeds directly into the garden.

Um. Why did I do that? Seeds don't grow in our garden plot. I wasted an entire packet of seeds. Nothing even tried to come up and grow!

bah. Also in the past, I've bought a started cauliflower or two at Saturday Market. But when there's only one cauliflower in the whole garden... it's hard to cut it down for eating!

I have not tried starting cauliflower on my own, at home. The tiny townhouse means there is not much room for such things. Peas do okay. And this year I am experimenting with wax beans. But anything that comes up tiny... like beets or tomatoes... has trouble. There's just not enough light for the little guys, and they just start leaning towards the sun and then they don't really grow anymore.

So, yeah, I'm a terrible gardener. That's okay... I'm mostly just there for the photo opportunities! But I do hope, hope, hope to eat some vegetables, as well!

Tag: 2021

There were 451,661 new cases of covid in the US this past week, 64,523 on average every day. 796 people died of covid, on average, every day.

Local covid cases are now swirling around 200 (up from last week's 100). I'm really wondering when we will shut stuff down again. What does it take?

On top of that, I am very ashamed to report that Oregon ranked 36th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis. ALL last year we were between 49th and 46th of the fastest spreading. And look how we've ruined that, just at the last minute.

Incredibly frustrating!

Oregon has 19.2% of our population fully vaccinated, which is right at the national rate of 19%.

My county vax website has been down for a week now... I'm not sure what to think of that.

Tag: 2021

Walking out to the garden today, I found a pair of Bushtits building a nest just a few feet from the bike path! Wow!

and dang! this is a terrible spot for a nest! It's too close to the bike path, there's a road right there, and the bush it's buried in is completely bare. The exposure to humans is not ideal.

I watched them come and go for a while. They didn't seem concerned about the situation at all! *laughs* first time parents, probably! :)

This is the male. They look exactly alike except the male has dark eyes and the female has pale eyes. Except for nesting, Bushtits travel in flocks, so I usually find a small bunch of them, flitting and bouncing quickly thru the bushes.

And here's the female. She's looking at the entrance into the nest, on the other side.

The nest is maybe 8 inches tall, including that top bit and 3ish inches diameter. It is really cool when they go down into it because you can see them squirming around down at the bottom. Trying to get the interior decorating just right!

For most birds, only one sits on the nest at a time. But both Bushtits will spend the night in the nest! Also, they sometimes have a helper, usually an adult male. With crows, sometimes last year's child will help bring up their siblings... I couldn't find any info if the Bushtit help is related or just some random guy they commandeered!! *laughs*

Tag: 2021

The year's first Saturday Market! And I'm heading to the Farmers Market for some vege starts...

The beets are tiny, but I get three trays of them anyway. The lettuce looks good! And, even tho I've started some Sugar Snap Peas at home, I buy one more.

Yeah, I don't even know what kind of lettuces I got. I'll just call them Leaf Lettuce. Green Leaf Lettuce. Pink Leaf Lettuce.

Yay Gardening!

Tag: 2021

On the way back home yesterday, aw, I caught sight of this one.

An escapee! And definitely nervous and wondering, "oh great. Now what do I do?"

And just something pretty that caught my eye...

Tag: 2021

I had gone by this grassy area a few times when I was riding my bike earlier this year. There was a wet prairie pond and a few ducks and even some kind of sand piper-type, and I wondered if there was a park there.

Eventually I looked it up, and sure enough, beyond the ponds, there was a city park, Stewart Pond, with a Frisbee Golf course and some paths thru a tiny forest. That's where I was headed today!

Just minor trouble... the head of the trail is over 2 miles away. Just getting there is a walk in itself!!

The first part of the trail lead thru the prairie, a good place for hawks! Sure enough, a hawk flew by and I had to back track because they landed in a tree and I needed to know what species. ha!

A couple of bad pics is all I really needed...

Oh cool! I think it's a Red Tailed Hawk, light morph. After all those Red Shouldered Hawks, it's good to see someone new!

I walked down to the forest and was delighted with all the bird songs here! And is this Stewart "Pond"?

Laughs! More like a Wet Prairie puddle! Will probably disappear in a couple days unless we get rain. How funny to name a park as a pond which is only there half the year!

(oh. Actually I had walked by the pond named Stewart, on the way in... it had already dried up into it's dry prairie phase!)

Tag: 2021

Another tragic milestone... Yesterday the United States hit 550,000 dead, according to the Johns Hopkins site. (The 1point3acres site hit that number ten days ago on 21 March.)

There were 458,587 new cases of covid in the US this past week... averaging 65,512 every day. 996 people died every day.

Numbers coming down, and having less than a thousand people die every day is ... better? But still! A Thousand people are dying every day!

Active covid cases in my town have been swirling around 100. Yep, it didn't take long to ruin our numbers... we had fallen to 58 active cases two weeks ago, and then we opened most everything up, and look what happened: active cases shot right back up. sighs.

And while we do have 16.47% of our local population fully vaccinated (slightly better than the national average, which is 15.5% of the population)... The actual daily vaccinations have plateaued for the past month or so.

Tag: 2021

Just 379,501 new cases of covid in the US this past week... an average of 54,214 every day. 1,020 people died every day.

Yes, the numbers are coming down. And vaccinations are going up. My town is right with the national average of 13.7% of population fully vaccinated. The next question is, will we be able to avoid one last surge?

In my town, active covid cases have been creeping up... last wednesday we had 53 and now we have 73.

But, yesterday in the newspaper New COVID-19 cases plummet in Oregon. And today they announced our county would be expanding re-opening and moving from Moderate Risk down to Lower Risk. Restaurants and indoor entertainment will be 50% capacity.

Well and good? or are we just setting up that last surge? Or will the happy maskers continue avoiding risky situations? I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Wow, the colour...

Saucer Magnolia.

Tag: 2021

I often complain that the little birds bounce around too quickly, and the focus on the camera can't keep up. That is just the nature of some birds.

and I am absolutely sure that some birds are just messing with me.

Like this Spotted Towhee. He sees me... and it's GAME ON!

Bounce!

Bounce!

Hahaha!!

Tag: 2021

A pair of Green Winged Teals...

They are just here for the winter. I wonder when they'll be moving on.

Now here's somebody new!!

This is a Ring Necked Duck. And what a stupid name... you can barely see that chestnut collar. Why not name them for that pretty outlined bill?!

Here's the female.

The range map at AllAboutBirds says Ring Necks are winter visitors here... but we are very close to a little bubble where they are Year-round (Scarce). So it'll be interesting to see if this pair sticks around!

Tag: 2021

Just like dogs and horses, Mallards have been domesticated and have several interesting colour breeds. This one, with a white bib, is called Duclair.

Because there's such a wide variety of breeds, and they tend to escape into the wild on a regular basis, people refer to them collectively as Manky. Manky is a British word which means filthy and worthless...

Yeah, nice, huh? Humans create them and then disparage and insult them. sighs. What is wrong with people??

So, I'm going to say Manky actually means something more along the lines of Mixed Up.

Here's the website where I got some of my info. It's a great page with lots of pics, and the blog there looks to be interesting as well...
∞ Domestic or Manky Mallards at 10,000 birds

Now, this one...

A different breed? or something else entirely? With a black head and the reddish along the body, but with the signature Mallard feather curl on his tail... ??? Who Knows!! Only the duck knows his parents! haha!

Tag: 2021

Aww! Poor baby. Their foot is messed up...

Why do I keep running into creatures who are hurt? I wish I could wave a magic wand and make them better! sighs.

I keep wondering if this will be my last sighting of a Red Shouldered Hawk, for the year. I just assumed that they would migrate out of here. But it turns out the Pacific Coast Red Shoulders do not migrate at all!

But, they have expanded their range... the range map on AllAboutBirds shows Red Shoulders in southern Oregon. But Eugene is in the middle of the state. And since I've been seeing Red Shoulders on a regular basis since this past winter, they have def moved in.

You know, climate change is bad. And shifting populations aren't always a good thing, either. I've not seen a single Cooper Hawk in the time I've been seeing the Red Shoulders, even tho Coopers are here year round. Maybe just a coincidence... but I want to see diversity!

Not a bird. Just pretty colours!

Tag: 2021

At the end of the season, last year, I was forking up the weeds in the garden plot. Technically, I was also putting down some clover seeds for a cover crop... but they never grew. yep, my prowess as a gardener is making sure stuff doesn't live! haha!

Anyway. As I was forking, I found some of the crocus bulbs in the front of the plot. I put them in a ziplock, thinking I'd replant them once I got the area done.

But the rain started! And there was an 8foot section at the front where I keep my flowers -- Columbine and Oregon Sunshine along with the Crocuses -- that I never finished.

And I forgot about the bag of bulbs!

But then I found them... and there had been enough moisture in the zipped up bag that they were growing. And a couple even made flowers in there!!

So, yesterday, I took the bag to the garden and I put those poor, neglected Crocuses back in the ground. I hope they live!

And while I was there, I picked a couple dandelion blooms for a certain white furry person...

"You got something for me??!"

"Gimme that!"

*laughs*

Tag: 2021

The US added 386,053 new cases of covid in the past week, averaging 55,150 every day. 1,283 people died of covid every day.

Glad to see both those numbers continue to come down!

Active cases in my town have steadily come down from the 90 of last wednesday, to 53 active cases today!

*laugh* Yep. That's a squirrel. Up in a tree. Eating a corn chip.

Tag: 2021

oh little bird! If you could just sit there for a couple seconds, this could be an amazing photo! Please?

... *Laughs* Are you kidding me??! ...

Okay... That's more like it... Thank You!!

Bushtit!

Tag: 2021

Yesterday...

And Today....

The ephemeral Cherry Blossoms.

Tag: 2021

Some pretty Red Flowering Current, by the Willamette River.

And the usual spot where I love to listen to the water...

I met a California Ground Squirrel (link doesn't work!) at the river last year. An intrepid explorer into the city. And apparently s/he decided to stay...

*laughs* A Ground Squirrel up in a tree? yep!

Tag: 2021

Invasive is bad, but turtles are so awesome!

A warm day at the Delta Ponds and most of the available logs are covered with turtles!

Unfortunately most of them are the very invasive Red Eared Sliders...

These are pet store turtles who have been abandoned in the wild. It doesn't take long and they will over populate the pond... First pushing out our native species -- Western Pond Turtles and Western Painted Turtles -- and then becoming so numerous that there's not enough food to go around for anybody.

It's sad. Sad for the wild places and sad because people don't take care of their pets.

But, the turtles on the log in the top photo? The turtle on the right is obviously a Pond Turtle -- no markings on the head or tail. But I looked a little bit more carefully. hm! I think the turtle on the left AND the third turtle with her hands on the big one -- I think they are both Western Pond Turtles as well.

Unfortunately, three Western Pond Turtles, does not a population make.

Tag: 2021

Singing Song Sparrow and some Willow Tree catkins...

And, oh! I don't get to take portraits of Juncos very often...

And then there's my friend, the Red Shouldered Hawk. I've been seeing them so regularly, I start to worry if I don't see them for a few days! :)

Tag: 2021

A hike up Hidden Trail yesterday revealed some lovely plants! The Red Flowering Currant is um flowering! :)

This is an important native in our area, which provides food for all kinds of wildlife! Birds, Bugs, and the Furry Ones.

And the Fawn Lilies have come up... not long and they'll be blooming!

Tag: 2021

The US added less than ½ a million covid cases again this past week! We averaged 58,271 new cases every day. 1,633 people died of covid every day.

And Texas, which opened up completely and dropped all mask mandates last week, is killing about 270 people with covid every day.

Unfortunately, The COVID Tracking Project has come to an end. That was where I was gathering my state data from: covid cases, deaths, and current hospitalizations for certain states.

I am bummed that they had to quit. It was nice to have all the information organized on one page!

I'm now using the NPR Map but they don't have numbers for current hospitalizations. And I am not sure how long this page will last.

And unfortunately, I found a huge discrepancy in the numbers between the old Tracking Project and the NPR map... The number dead in New York was 39,029 on the last day of Tracking, and it was 48,401 on NPR.

There are minor variations in the numbers for other states that I've been tracking, but nothing else like the New York number.

Active covid cases in my town have been under 100 for the past two days! And we will be coming down from High Risk -- down from Extreme Risk just a couple weeks ago -- and will be going to Moderate on Friday. Masks and social distancing will continue, of course. But, indoor eating is allowed at 50% capacity.

We have 9.46% of the county fully vaccinated, which is right at the national average of 9.4%!

∞ How the White House Got 2 Pharma Rivals To Work Together On COVID-19 Vaccine
This gives me so much hope, you don't even know!! Companies working together? Speeding up the vaccination schedule in the US??! Every adult by end of May -- bumped up from end of July! Awesome!
Kudos to Johnson & Johnson and Merck and the Defense Production Act, finally invoked by President Biden (pres#45: F* You for doing nothing!)

What a sweet face! I just love my wild turkey neighbors!

Tag: 2021

*Laughs* I seem to have a surfeit of crappy pictures, but I do love sharing them anyway!

A group of Pine Siskins was happily using this tiny rill for bath time!

Oh my gosh, they are cute...

And then they wondered how many Pine Siskins can fit into one frame...

Six Pine Siskins and a blur! :)

Tag: 2021

This is a terrible photo of a Lesser Goldfinch...

But the overall picture makes me happy. Just look at all those wonderful colours!! I think this is a blooming Red Maple.

Tag: 2021

And today I took a walk down by the river. But instead of going to the wildlife area, I decided to hike up Skinner Butte. First, I go past the Rose Garden... where the only thing blooming is the Rhododendron bushes around the border of the park...

Then across the street and up the hill! Oh sheesh, there's a lot of people! It's sunday and the weather is nice, so it's to be expected, even on the less popular trails.

And this trail is narrow. Very narrow. Every time I see a human coming the other way, I mask up. And so do they! It's 100% masking and I'm so proud of everyone!

For all the humans, there were still a few birds bouncing around...

GAH! Yep, this is the evil Ruby Crowned Kinglet, again. *laughs*

And those little white flowers were on shrubs all over the place...

They are Osoberry blooms! An important native in our area, the small "plums" are food for many birds and animals. Not to mention the very early nectar... I saw an Anna Hummingbird visiting the flowers!!

And the first Trilliums...

So I went to the top of the hill and then I came back down and I was happy with all the birds and botanicals! I skipped the trail head that I came in on, and kept walking at the base of the butte and the edge of the forest. Which meant I could walk along the river for a bit further, on the way back, too.

There was a couple with a cute dog at the trail head where I was going to get off and go across the street to the river. A black Cocker Spaniel, I love cockers!!

I put my mask on ... but they did not. I wasn't worried about it, they were obviously just starting out, and maybe hadn't noticed me in time.

With my mask on, the lady probably didn't see me grinning big at her dog, but I did give her a nod and a Good Morning. The guy had paused a few paces behind, and he was looking down at his phone, so I didn't bother him. I walked a few more strides, and then...

The lady started cussing me out about me wearing a mask. F word like there's no tomorrow. Something about she has to breathe my f-ing air over here where I hadn't masked up yet. ??? Yeah, completely contradictory, since she wasn't wearing a mask, at all!!

And, as I mentioned, loads of people around. She was making a big scene, and apparently had no idea of how ridiculous she sounded!

Lordy. I didn't feel threatened, since stupid lady was well behind me and I was way more fit than she was! And I didn't respond... I looked back once and then I kept walking. I didn't know what to say, and it's probably best I said nothing! I wondered if she was going to shout at everyone she encountered on the trail.

And the walk back was ruined because I had to think about the stupid people in the world. The anti-maskers. The anti-vaxxers. The trump worshipers and their golden idol.

I stopped and took in the Willamette River, but all that water flowing past couldn't heal me.

I need to know how we can bring these people back to the light!

Song Sparrow says, "I don't know, either!"

Tag: 2021

Hiking at hilly Hendrick's the other day!

This is a White Breasted Nuthatch, in the classic Nuthatch pose. :) They go up and down the tree trunk upside-down! This is a female... the males have black on their heads, and are more blue, rather than grey.

This species is common across most of the US. In addition to finding bugs in tree bark, they also visit bird feeders for suet and seeds.

Tag: 2021

Yay Spring!

Tag: 2021

I was on the last leg of my walk home, the other day, when a hawk flew by me! I noted where she landed in the Lookout Tree. And then I had to walk fast, to get past a bunch of trees in the creek that were blocking my view.

When I finally saw her, it was obvious she was eating somebody. No messing around or playing with her food this time! I took pics from several different angles and was eager to zoom in on the computer to see if I could tell what she was eating.

She's eating a Garter Snake!

AGAIN!

What the heck?

Is Snake the only thing on the menu when the sun is shining?? Or is this the favorite meal for this particular Red Shouldered Hawk?

Either way, it's crazy that I've witnessed two separate hawk dinners and they are both snake.

Tag: 2021

Less than ½ a million new cases of covid Again this week, here in the USA. Yay masks!

The US averaged 65,666 new cases every day. and 1,980 people died every day.

Active cases in my town are swirling around 180 to 160 people sick with covid... A far cry from when we were swirling around 400 active cases in November and December. and had our high of 526 on 17 Dec.

The local newspaper reports that 5.91% people are fully vaccinated in my county, on sunday. As of yesterday we are at 6.13%. We are a bit under the current national average, which is 7.9% of population with both doses. So that's disappointing! We have been vaccinating since 21 Dec.

∞ Texas and Mississippi To Lift COVID-19 Mask Mandates And Business Capacity Limits
We must now do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans by opening Texas 100 percent. Make no mistake, COVID-19 has not disappeared, but it is clear from the recoveries, vaccinations, reduced hospitalizations, and safe practices that Texans are using that state mandates are no longer needed.
Huh. No longer needed. I guess the 1,625 people who died of covid in Texas in the past week... don't matter? That's 232 people every day.

I just cannot understand. What is wrong with people??!

Tag: 2021

The focus is bad on this pic, but I still love it. Little bird standing next to a budding Willow branch... Yay Spring!

White Crowned Sparrows are winter visitors here. But where the Golden Crowned Sparrows are wonderfully human-friendly, the White Crowns are a lot more shy. I'm glad I got a half decent pic before they fly home!

Tag: 2021

Our Turkey Vultures fly south for the winter, and it's always nice to see them return! There were four, flying high, high above the Delta Ponds this past weekend.

Tree Swallows also go south for winter, but I was surprised to see a group zipping above the ponds... it seems terribly early for these little bug eaters.

But I got my local Audubon newsletter, over the weekend. The Quail has a list of all the current bird sightings along with where they've been seen. and it says there have been small numbers of Tree Swallows at the Delta Ponds since January!

Maybe just our super mild winter. Or maybe they are starting to move their winter range to the north. It's not too far... they are seen year round probably less than 100 miles south of the Oregon border.

But the field notes also mentioned that Barn Swallows have also been seen. And they usually spend the winter in south Mexico and down into South America... way, far away!

crazy!

Tag: 2021

Oregon Grapes are starting to bloom...

These flowers will turn into small, waxy-blue berries. They are edible, ie not poisonous, but very tart and mostly pit. I've never had Oregon Grape jelly, but apparently it's pretty good.

Tag: 2021

I met someone at the river today...

Yikes! Poor, poor fellow! He's got no tail.

What happened?! Did the feathers get ripped out by a predator in a very narrow escape? *cringe* probably was Very painful. or was it disease or malnutrition when the feathers were growing? Something else?

He probably doesn't steer well when flying. And another major problem... He won't be growing the tail feathers back any time soon. Probably not until Autumn, if he makes it that far.

Birds molt and replace their feathers on a strict schedule. It takes a lot of energy to make new feathers, so it happens before or after the breeding and migration seasons.

Fortunately, he doesn't particularly need his tail in order to get food... Towhees eat on the ground, they toss the leaf litter to get at bugs underneath. They also show up at bird feeders. So this guy is good for food!

And he was singing his trilling song as I was taking his portrait... So he apparently has high hopes for himself during the breeding season! :)

side note. My awareness of bird molts comes from Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-Luck Jay. A beautiful book of art with an amazing story... And relevant here: Jemima lost her primary flight feathers. She survived and lived to tell the tale!!

I only hope for the same for my Towhee friend.

Tag: 2021