Overcast today, and I decide to walk in the opposite direction. I won't see much wildlife this way but it's nice to take a break from the same mile I walk every day to and from the Community Garden!

I walk a little bit along the bike path before turning south, and Look! A Blonde Duck!

Nevermind the crappy photo. Because this is the second identifiable Mallard I've found this season! Along with the duck with the white patch on his neck, I'll have all the ducks named by winter! haha!

They've finally finished the upgrades on the bridge.

Just need to draw some lines on the road. Too bad the traffic on my road isn't noticeably better.

This bush of Asters is just lovely!

I had Asters at the front of the garden plot, many years ago. I killed them eventually, of course, but I think they lived a couple years.

I really like Asters... I should get some and try again next year! I should just have more flowers in general!

This type of Hibiscus does really well here.

They survive our mild winters, and grow into huge bushes!

I'm heading home in a loop, and the clouds are breaking up. It's pretty early, but a couple of the trees are showing some autumn colour!

I pass by the Persimmon tree, and can't resist it's beauty.

Tag: september 2025

∞ These Supreme Court justices want you to just shut up already

Trump's bought and paid for SCOTUS is so utterly despicable.

Amy Coney Barrett: I think the Constitution is alive and well. I don't know what a constitutional crisis would look like. I don't think that we are currently in a constitutional crisis, however. I think our country remains committed to the rule of law. I think we have functioning courts.

Jeez. It makes you wonder... is she a moron? As a trump nominee, as a cult member, yes, I think it's very very possible that she's a moron.

but my god. The Rule of Law? Functioning Courts? Was she even there when she and her group granted Trump immunity?

Seriously.
Will the US ever recover from this?

Tag: september 2025

Thuderstorm woke me at 1:15am! Lasted about 15mins, no rain.

When I get up, the clouds are so dark and heavy, the porch light is still on. It's automatic and controlled by a light sensor.

It's so dreary, even the mushrooms feel like growing!

The clouds and the cooler weather today ... so blissful after weeks of over 90° days.

As I walk along the creek, I heard a Kingfisher, laughing as she flies by!

And again I wonder. Is this a new Kingfisher? Or is this the same one who lost her mate over the winter?

I read a book... Halcyon Journey. I picked it out because it won the Burroughs Medal in 2024, an award for nature writing that I occasionally follow.

The author says that the red belt of the females is individual... You can tell them apart by their belt! Some belts are wider, some more streaky, some belts don't quite join in the middle!

So... In theory, if I ever get a photo of the Kingfisher who is here now... I could compare her belt to the photos I've gotten in the past, to see if it's the same girl.

It's a long shot. Kingfishers don't like to sit around for photography. All of my photos that I happen to get are pretty crappy! :) But it's something to contemplate!

As I walk to the garden, I'm thinking about doing some work. I could clear out the Sugar Snap Pea patch in the front and maybe try for some fall lettuce.

The slugs ate all the spring lettuce, but they are sleeping now. So maybe there's a chance that the lettuce could live?

Here's what the front of the plot looks like...

Heh, just a big beautiful pile of Borages! With a few wild type Amaranths poking up here and there! On the left is the ProCut Red Sunflower and what's left of the Lemon Cucumbers. and the dark green, bottom right is a patch of clover that I'd like to keep.

As I pull out the Borage, I lay those plants in the paths thru my plot... if I walk on them and spray them with water a little bit, they will break down quickly and add nutrients to the dirt!

As I get deeper in, I'm surprised at how many Sugar Snap Pea pods I'm finding! That's great! I gather them and I'll save them to plant next year!

Ha, I also find some blackberries under that mess!

Invasive. The birds spread their seeds far and wide! I dig them out with the dandelion tool.

I decide to keep the Borage along the border with the Community Garden pathway, and I stop clearing once I hit the Beet patch.

It's a small clearing, maybe 5x4 feet or so. But I don't need to grow tons of Lettuce. Five or six plants would be great.

Now I just need to go thru my seed packets at home and see if I actually have any Lettuce seeds left over from the spring planting!

I also found a hidden Lemon Cucumber! ha! It's dark yellow so won't taste as good, but heck yeah, I'll eat it!

All those dried Snap Pea pods! Wonderful!

More Zuc on the way.

And more Crooknecks too.

Heading out, I look at the neighbor's Dahlias, again.

Tag: september 2025

Aw, the grape vine.

Someone had planted this, happily against the Community Garden rules, which say no woody perennials. Grapes and raspberries must be grown in a pot, which is the most ridiculous thing ever.

The heat must have killed this illegal vine, or someone didn't give it enough water.

But the base is still alive, a couple green leaves there, so maybe it'll come back.

At my plot, the Pet Nasturtium in the Strawberry patch is making me happy. It's gotten so big!

And then I try to get artsy with Kevin's Zinnias.

The one Butternut continues to ripen.

The fruit that had started at the end of the vine, turned out to be not fertilized. I cut it off so we could focus on getting this one done!

Tag: september 2025

Good Morning My Dear!

I head out into another day of heat, to be 91° today, when normal high is 81°. But there are more reasonable days ahead!

The forecast says 85° tomorrow and then lower 80s over the weekend. and possibly mid 70s after that!

The break in the heat will be so very very nice. I don't want the summer to end abruptly, but the heat has been so hard to bear.

This is that boy-o who has that white patch on his neck. This is the third sighting of him...

But I was interrupted from the photography by one of my bike path friends. It's the guy who flirts with me sometimes.

One time, he rode by on his bike and said, Hey! You want a ride? I was all, Huh??

There's plenty of room on my handlebars!

*laughs* Silly Flirt!

On the way to the garden...

Huh! There aren't any peafowls around here! Probably someone picked up and dropped a decoration.

At the garden, I stop to admire the Buckwheat seeds that are ripening.

As I'm gathering the days harvest, I get buzzed by a hummingbird! He zooms to the back of the plot and stops at Kevin's big trellis.

I don't know what this variety of purple beans Kevin has, but the beans are about 2 feet long! Does the Hummingbird see some bugs to eat in there??

Hello My Dear!

He looks like a girl, but he's a juvenile male Anna Hummingbird, his adult feathers haven't come in yet. He'll have a hood of iridescent red violet covering his head.

He sings there for a moment. And then gets on with his day.

And I get on with my day.

I change my mind about that cracked Brandywine on the right... I toss it. I'm getting plenty of tomatoes, I don't need to save every single one!

The Mystery Flower.

This is one of the Volunteer Tomato plants.

The fruits are getting bigger than regular cherry tomatoes. You never know what you will get with a second generation Sungold!

The Nasturtiums at the back of the small trellis.

And some flowers at the back of Kevin's plot.

And then I go wandering thru the Garden.

And then Kevin walks by and interrupts me. Ha, it's a day of interruptions!

You know birds? he asks. ha.

He goes on. What is our smallest woodpecker? he asks as he shows me how small with his hands. And just a little bit of red, on the back of their head.

Wow, he is very observant to notice that!!

I nod and tell him That's a Downy!

He saw one go into one of our bluebird nestboxes! They wouldn't be be living there, would they?

Nope. Nesting season is over. He was probably going in to look for bugs!

Kevin moves on, and I go back to wandering.

Oh! I don't know what these purple things are, but pretty!

I don't know what this purple one is either!

But this weird looking thing is called Cockscomb!

Tag: september 2025

Good Morning My Dear.

Muggy.

And it's kind of funny... We've got 100% humidity all winter and I never notice it. But one morning of 73% humid in the summer and it's Muggy!

Usually the humidity is in the 40% range when I head out for my walk. But it's been in the 60%s for much of this week. I'm not sure why I'm noticing it in particular today!

Excuse me? You in the back? Can you pause with the preen? Smile for the camera?

Sheesh. You birds with your high maintance feathers! *laughs*

I walk by the Community Garden, and Kevin is at the back corner, fixing a hole in the fence.

A homeless person had broken in yesterday and had stolen a few items from people's plots, and gotten some food as well.

It is a shame that we can't have a stand or something outside the fence, so that gardeners can put out extra produce. But the logistics just wouldn't work out: there's no shade around the garden, and we don't actually get much traffic. I think it would just waste food.

This is the unknown plant that popped up next to the Tomatillo that I transplanted from the path to under the big trellis...

(and some bugs! :) It's completely shaded by the Cosmos and the Wax Beans. The leaves have gotten bigger - they are probably 5 or 6 inches wide! - but it probably doesn't have enough sun to do anything beyond that. And without a flower I won't be able to figure out what it is. humph.

I decided to pick the first Aubergine today!

And another load of Wax Beans... I directly cut them up and threw them in the freezer.

And the Aubergine! I was so excited, I started looking up how to cook it as soon as I got home!

And... ugh, it's complicated. Drying them out with salt? And I don't want to run the oven in this heat! (or, ever. I hate cooking!) So, yeah, that all is too much work for me.

So I found a couple of microwave directions.

I nuked it. And the skin peeled off fairly easily. And ate it.

Well. Tried to eat it. It was the tiniest bit bitter... I thought it had gone a little bit too long when I saw the seeds forming when I cut it open.

But the bitter wasn't too bad, and not in every bite.

But the ... texture? Kind of... slimy? bleh.

I mean, seriously bleh! I put some oil on it. I added ketchup. I added Yumm Sauce. Nope, nope, nope.

I couldn't finish it! *laughs* My cooking sucks and I put it with the kitchen scraps to take back to the compost heap!

Oh well. Experiment failed. That's okay: Live and Learn!

On the walk home... what?

Aww. Postcards. Someone littered postcards.

I wish I could reach them, I wish I could rescue at least a couple. But they are on the other side of a railing, and deep in the blackberries.

Bummer.

Tag: september 2025

I'm watering at the garden today, for the heat.

My neighbor on the other side of the crazy family is here. Her name is Iris and she likes to chat sometimes. She is telling me how pleased she is with the garden this year and how productive it is.

Ha! I am instantly jealous! JEALOUS! I say something about my difficult year and she's all That's right, you got a pretty late start, didn't you?

*laughs* That's one way to put it! When all the plants are murdered by the bugs and slugs time and time again.

But I kept throwing money at it, and replanting and replanting. And, yeah, the garden did eventually do something...

But I'm still jeaous of Iris! heh.

I decided to let the Wax Beans go today... I've still got plenty to eat in the fridge. And maybe tomorrow there will be enough to freeze another bag!

Those are spent Borage blossoms on the corner of the ziplock.

They litter the ground under the Borages, and make even the weeds look pretty.

Iris has left, and I don't see any other humans around. So I wander over to a stand of Sunflowers where I can hear the Goldfinches.

They perform acrobatics to get at the Sunflower seeds!

The parents are still feeding their children...

Well... This parent changes his mind!

He eats the seed himself and says, Child! We are surrounded by food!

*laughs*

Tag: september 2025

Morning clouds are starting to break up, and it's to be the last nice day, 82° before another run of 90s.

Sighs. But it's just for the week. There's relief in sight, the forecast says the weekend is back to mid 80s.

There is a glorious Alder tree that I walk under, about half way to the garden. It's making cones and catkins!

At the garden, I'm just there to gather the harvest, no watering and no work.

My back neighbor Kevin is puttering in his plot and he mentioned the beautiful morning and then asked Hey, did you ever get a Compliance email?

I assume he means the Summer Compliance Check that happened at the end of July. So that's a curious question. I said No, and wait for more information.

He said they usually CC him, so he knows who and why gardeners are getting non-compliance so he can answer questions. But not this time. They didn't tell him anything this time.

huh. I asked, So did ANYONE get a non-compliance? thinking maybe it just didn't happen.

But Kevin replies, Well, they said the emails went out. And he seemed confident about that.

But why would the powers that be, cut off information from their Very Hard Working Volunteers? As Site Coordinator, Kevin does a lot of incredible work. He is the awesomest, and I am competely offended on his behalf that the director cut him out of the loop!

Kevin goes on to say he was glad they didn't ding me on my Borage.

heh. And here I just kind of small talked my way out.

Because what I wanted to say was something like... Oh, if they had dinged me about the Borage, I would have told them to GO TO EFFING HELL!!!

*laughs*

I go back to collecting Wax Beans. Because there's nothing I can do about how crappy the Community Garden Directors are.

And I keep collecting... and I am totally excited because I end up with 100 Wax Beans!!

Woo!

Walking home, I'm thinking about the Wax Beans!

Last year I cut up the Wax Beans and blanched them before bagging them up and putting them in the freezer.

But... I hate to cook, and really... what's the point? I'm going to eat them pretty much the instant I run out of fresh garden food!

So I wash them and cut them up. Put them under a fan to dry them out... That was a problem last year, the beans were still damp when I put them in the freezer and it was just a solid chunk!

Tag: september 2025

Walking out to the garden, here's one of the Scrub Jay children! Looking a little scraggly but her blue, adult feathers are starting to come in on her head!

Ahh, they grow up so quickly!

*laughs*

The Mystery Plant is proceding!

It's around 3feet tall. Just the one stalk, but the leaves going up the stalk are very pretty. The flowers aren't showing any colour and I worry they are going to be yellow... perhaps confirming my Mom's idea that the Mystery Plant is a mere weed! *laughs*

At the other end of the trellis, I push aside the Wax Beans to see about the other freebie I got with the Mystery Plant... The Sorana Beans... aka Pescia Beans. Yes!

It's made a pod!

It's a little different from the Wax Beans... I'll have to pay attention when I'm harvesting down at this end. Dry beans need to stay on the vine until they're - you know - dry! heh.

And, of course, one pod of beans isn't going to be enough to eat... But I will save those and maybe next year I can get some good plants, who didn't have to start their lives completely root bound!

I got another good load of Wax Beans harvested today.

And that's the second Old German. This one just fell off in my hand, like the first one did.

When I ate the first one, um... I guess it tastes like an Old German. But it was orange all the way thru, didn't have the red marbling like it's supposed to. And of course, they are waaay too small to be Old Germans.

I must have gotten a mislabeled one. OR! Maybe this is a mutant!

I can hear the Goldfinches talking amongst themselves, and I happen to catch one in a not great pic...

But the flock is still very small, and the birds are a bit nervous of me. It won't be long and more Goldfinches will migrate in, and hopefully they will get used to humans moving around in the garden!

Tag: august 2025

It's a little bit cooler this morning, the over night low was 49°!! But the forecast says mid 80s for a couple days and then we are back to the over 90s.

Arg! It's just crazy with the continuing heat. So very tired of it.

Heading out... and hey, hey! It's the third time I've seen this new Heron! I get to name them! Hello Cloudy Sky!

The actual clouds are coming and going, and I walk past the garden, thinking I'd like to get some exercise. But I stop at Dragonfly Land. The sweat is dripping off of me and decide I don't really want to go any further, after all.

Just an occasional dragonfly is zipping by. The minnows are here, but without the bright sun, I'm not getting great photos.

Whoops! haha! So much for the Perth Pride!

Well. Yes, I guess I've been over watering that one! *laughs* It's just such a cute little plant, I want to shower it with love! ha.

I will cut those tomatoes off and toss them to decompose on the ground... But all is not lost! There's another one growing at the top!

The Volunteer Butternut is sprawling all over the place and I have to be careful of it when I walk behind the big trellis. I almost tripped over it today, but then I noticed, under the leaves...

A full sized fruit has been hiding from me!!

Well that is Awesome! The little fruit I found the other day at the end of the vine wasn't going to have time enough to grow. But this thing just needs to ripen! I'm going to have a Butternut to eat!

But at the back of the big trellis, one of the Buttercups is dying.

These are some of the LogHouse freebies I had nabbed. Three veggie starts in the pot and they just never took off. Maybe I should have jostled their roots a bit before I put them in the ground... they were terribly root bound.

They aren't big enough to make fruit, tho I am a bit sad to see them die.

But the other side of the big trellis is a happy place, with the flowering basil and the Wax Beans and that glorious Cosmos... when will it think about some flowers?

Altho, some of the squash plants are battling mildew. This is the Patty Pan, and the Crooknecks are even worse.

I didn't pick any Wax Beans yesterday, and I got 60 for today's haul!!

I look back at my plot as I leave. I love the little Red Amaranth that volunteered in the perfect spot in the front!

It's not as tall as that! *laughs* I'm crouching down so I can catch the sky. The Amaranth is actually around three feet tall, it comes up to my hip.

And then walking to the Community Garden gate, I get distracted by a neighbor's Zinnias!

I walk out to the bike path, and on the other side of the Community Garden... eee.

It's part of somebody's tail.

Poor little squirrel. But everyone needs to eat. Probably a good meal for a hawk or an owl!

Tag: august 2025

There's some clouds keeping the morning a little bit cooler, tho they start breaking up as I head out.

But the cooler temperature puts a spring in my step, and I decide to walk a bit before going to the garden.

At the back of the Events Center, they've put in some new signs...

No Trespassing, No Camping uh huh. *Rolls Eyes*

I walk to the left of that fence, and I suppose I am trespassing. And a sign isn't going to keep the homeless people from setting up tents here, either!

There's usually a tent or two here most of the time. During the summer, there's a shelf of dry bank along the creek, under the trees. It gives them a bit of privacy, and they never cause any trouble.

But there's no tents today.

At the Leaning Tree Saplings... uh oh...

That bushy thing on the left? I think that's a Tree of Heaven. Very invasive. Why haven't they cut it down?

And in the creek! A Mom and two kids!!

Gah, the sun is so bright I can't see the screen on the camera at all. So these are all Point and Click and Hope! *laughs*

Look at how blonde that child is!!

Mom thinks I am not to be trusted, and she's leading the kids into hiding.

Very cool. And reminds me of that very blonde raccoon that I saw in this area a few years ago. It's leucism, caused by recessive genes.

And here's another Point and Click and Hope that turned out pretty well. Nice to have some good luck, for once! A female Northern Flicker (males have a red moustache).

At the garden plot, I'm going around, harvesting the veggies that are ready. And looking at stuff that's growing.

And behind the Brandywine... ha! Another Avocato tree!!

Haha! How wonderful!

And the Mystery Flower is definitely gearing up for something!

Heading home.

And I see ANOTHER Raccoon family!! Again, a Mom with two kids! And they were swimming!!

What fun!! Happy Day!!

Tag: august 2025

Bleh. I am tired of walking in the sun. I'm kinda bored of the garden too.

Out at Dragonfly Land, there's a couple of those blue striped dragonflies who never sit for photos. Blue-eyed Darners?

I just watch them for a while. There aren't many, maybe four or five. They zip back and forth over the water, going a little bit further than I can see, past the bushes.

I walk thru the neighborhood instead of following the bike path to the Garden. Wow!

Oh, haha! Photo Bombed by a Bee!

At the garden, I just gather the day's harvest. I'm not interested in sticking around.

I am very happy with the Wax Beans! And the Basil is flowering, but I wanted one more bunch of leaves for my lunches! I had to pick thru to find branches that didn't have flowers.

On the way home, a huge butterfly flutters by!

Western Tiger Swallowtail! I've seen a few of these big beauties this year, but I think this is the first one who sits for me!

Back at home, Partner finally gets a call from the mechanic.

The car has been in the shop, Partner says it's been stalling randomly, and he dropped it off last week. They were busy, and were supposed to look at it on Monday, but didn't call until today...

The place has changed hands earlier this year, it used to be a Goodyear and now it's something Point S. And they say they are diagnostics only now. If the car doesn't have a computer to tell them what's wrong, they don't know how to fix it.

Sighs. Lame, right?

So I guess we'll look for a new mechanic. Are there any real car machanics left in the world?

Tag: august 2025

Some clouds roll in this morning and 10:17am = Thunder! Loud and close! And it keeps thundering!

When I go out, it's still rumbling from this cloud:

And apparently we got a sprinkle that I didn't notice... the sidewalks are wet!

I go a little further and ha! Someone has set up an art gallery! I like the bouquet!

This one is my favorite! Cool marbling!

The clouds are moving around again, it's hot but when sun is covered, my walk is a lot more enjoyable. I decide to go down to the Barn Swallow bridge.

Hm. The parents are twittering and swooping above the bridge again. It's good to hear them, but I'm still devastated about their last batch of children.

There's only the odd dragonfly left in Dragonfly Land... their season is mostly over. But the minnows are still around.

The Mystery Flower. Or maybe it's the Mystery Weed!

And the Tomatillos!

Look at all the summer squash I get to harvest today! Yay!

Those are some petals from the ProCut Red! They were laying on the ground and I thought they were pretty. The birds pluck out the sunflower petals to make it easier to reach the seeds!

One of Kevin's Zinnias with the Pet Nasturtium on the right.

I don't see anyone around, so I decide to walk around the Community Garden... I've been hearing the Goldfinches talking amongst themselves, maybe I can catch them!

I don't know what this is, but pretty!

I do love the Red Amaranth!

But in the Sunflowers behind it...

Goldfinches!

So cute!

These are all American Goldfinches.

Our little Lesser Goldfinches live here all year, but the American Goldfinches migrate in for winter only.

And I'm thrilled that the Community Garden and all our glorious Sunflowers provide some meals for them!

Moving on, another Red Amaranth catches my eye.

But these double petal Cosmos are gorgeous as well!!

Is Cosmoses the plural? *laughs*

Tag: august 2025

Another very hot day in a long string of very hot days. To be 95° today... it looks like we might get a break from the extreme heat over the weekend? Saturday's forcast says 86°.

I guess mid 80s is better than mid 90s but it's too far away, and it's not enough of a cool down to get excited about.

Oh my gosh!

The Cuteness!!!

Their HANDS!!!

This kid watches me for a moment.

And then they follow their sibling and disappear into the thicket!

Awesome!! So Awesome!!

I've brought kitchen scraps to dump on the compost pile at the Community Garden.

When I started watering, someone slithered from under the Strawberries and Pet Nasturtium!!! The slithering was far enough apart, I think maybe it was TWO Garter Snakes!!

Snakes are wonderful to have in your garden, and I only wish I could have gotten their portraits!

And then when I'm watering the poor dying Lemon Cucumber plants at the small trellis, I notice this thing...

When I take a closer look... ha! It's an Avocado!!!!

Ha!! Over the winter I was dumping the kitchen scraps in the garden, to return some nutrients! I had to stop because it turned into a slug factory.

But I did get the Volunteer Squash patch... and now, an Avocado tree as well!

I am so delighted! But what to do? We can't have trees in our plots, it's against the rules. But dang it, I want it to grow! *laughs*

Can I somehow hide it, over the winter??? Will it survive the winter???

hmmm.

I gather the day's harvest.

That bigger orange tomato is the first Old German. It just fell off in my hand. Maybe I should call it Baby German instead, since the tomatoes are so small!

Plus the tomatoes should have streaks of red on them, they shouldn't be solid orange. It must be a different variety, mislabled by the farm.

The Wax Bean plants are getting loopy! *laughs*

As I'm heading out, I see the Nasturtiums in the front, between the Crooknecks are getting their first bloom!

Tag: august 2025

Some clouds this morning and at 9:33am, Was that Thunder?! Ha. The clouds got heavier for a brief moment, but didn't send any rain down. And the cloud cover didn't break up until 1:45pm! It kept the morning at a nicer temperature, at least, but the afternoon still got up to an unbearable 96°.

There are a couple of Pear Trees at the Bike Path Curve, and the fruits have caught my attention. I walk over to look at one of the trees.

I wonder if they get as buggy as the apples do. Probably.

The fruits are more round than pear shaped!

Maybe I will revisit this tree, once the fruits are a bit further along.

Oh hey! It's that duck with the white patch! Second sighting! I can't name him until I've seen him three times.

I wonder what a good name would be.

I get to the garden plot... oh look! The Volunteer Squash!!

I guess the weeding did make it feel better! Yay!

It's a Butternut!!! Awesome!

The Mystery Plant looks like it's doing something at the top!

My Mom insists that it's a weed! *laughs* But, but! It was potted up!

Whatever these things are, I hope they come out as some brilliant colour like red or purple, to prove her wrong. Because yeah, it does look a little bit like a weed!

The Patty Pan is gearing up!

Tho at the moment, I've got five Crooknecks on the counter at home... I need to get serious about eating some squash!

The little corner of Nasturtiums.

And the Strawberry's Pet Nasturtium at the back is looking Lovely!

The Volunteer Cosmos at the end of the Wax Bean trellis is still growing. No sign of flowers yet.

Oh crud. That Brandywine is rotten. foo.

I stopped watering the tomato plants so much, to prevent those stupid big cracks.

But when it's so hot, I want them to have SOME water! ... Because that's what _I_ need to live! *laughs*

That is the first Brandywine I've picked... and I eat it the moment I get home!!

The cute little Buckwheat seeds.

And the Nasturtiums at the front of the plot with the Crooknecks...

Around the edges of that photo, you can see we are dealing with some mildew on the squashes. That's normal, tho these plants seem to be hit especially hard. meh.

On the way out, I stop to admire the diagonal neighbor's Dahlias.

Tag: august 2025

I do half pushups as part of my morning exercise routine. A couple months ago I was able to break past a plateau of 10 or 12 half pushups. I've been slowly adding more and more, and now I am consistently doing around 35 half pushups!!

My YouTube exercise guy, Will Harlow, Over-Fifties Specialist Physio says you should switch to full pushups when you hit 20 half pushups. But I wanted to be very, Very sure about my 20! *laughs*

But I finally got my confidence... and yesterday I tried my first full pushup!

FAILURE! I couldn't do even one!

oh man! I seriously thought the transition would be seamless! But I can't do even one! WAI!

Well. foo.

But I've been here before. I couldn't do a single half pushup, when I first started those, either!

So. I did a couple little bends with my elbows and then I dropped down as slowly as I could in a modified plank.

And today I am sore!! My arms, and my core muscles across my stomach, too. Like a good sore... Like my muscles did work, but not so much work to get injured!

So this is awesome! I wonder how long it will take me to get my first full pushup?!

Heading out! And this is the second time I've seen this new Great Blue Heron!

This one has a little bit of mottled grey on their neck, tho nothing like Mackerel Sky, who has bold mottles all the way down their neck. But maybe they are siblings!

If I see this one a third time, maybe I will name them something similar... like Morning Sky, or Cloudy Sky... ? :)

The ProCut Red, happily getting eaten!

The Aubergines!

The pink flowers on the right are Smartweed... They are covering most of the dirt in the tomato patch. Kind of like a living mulch! The only other weed that can get past the Smartweed mat is stupid Crab Grass, here and there. Which I dig up when I notice it.

But also, there are a variety of bees and bugs attracted by the flowers of the Smartweed! So the Smartweed is almost as great as Borage! And I can walk on it, like a lawn. So maybe it's better than Borage.

The Old German. Or maybe I should put that in air quotes, Old German...

I thought that first small tomato was a sport. Old German tomatoes are supposed to be huge, up to two pounds big.

But a second tomato, right next to the first is starting to get colour as well, and it's tiny too! Arg!

So is this NOT an Old German? Or is this plant stunted and just trying it's best to get the job done???

With the heat, I don't feel like gathering Sungolds or the Wax Beans. So I'm not going home with much today.

On the way out, some Red Amaranth in a neighbor's plot catches my attention!

On the left is Scarlet Runner Beans.

And walking home along the creek... I hear a Kingfisher declaring her territory!!!

Oh my gosh! Is it the same girl who lost her parter over the winter? Did she find a new mate this year?

Or is this a different Kingfisher, who has taken over?

Well. No one sat for photography. And I will probably never have the answers to my questions.

That's okay. I'm just glad to be hearing a Kingfisher again!

Tag: august 2025

To be 99° again today and I continue to be grumpy about it. The Extreme Heat Warning in the forecast goes all the way out with upper and mid 90s. The next non-horrid day might be next friday with an 85° high...

That's too long without a break.

I head out... and oh crap! The exposure on the camera is at the wrong place!

She's not very big, but def not a child... one of the Mama Raccoons, maybe?

And she disappears under the shubbery.

I was planning on a quick run at the garden. Some watering for the heat and gather what veggies there are.

But I get distracted by the diagonal neighbor's Dahlias!

Back at home a cool shower and a fan pointed at my wet hair, helps a little. But I have to drink ice water almost constantly to keep even vaguely comfortable.

I'm too unhappy to even write some postcards today... and then I see this.

∞ European Postal Services to US STOPPED - yes, tariffs

For Europe, it's packages only that have been stopped, letters and docs and 'gifts' are still going thru. But it looks like India has stopped all mail going to the US.

I am glad that other countries are taking a stand. More power to them!

But I am sad that America sucks.

Tag: august 2025

99° today with an Extreme Heat Warming, and yep, I'm pretty grumpy about it.

But, nothing to be done ... just gotta live thru it. Unfortunately, the rest of the forecast says upper and mid 90s, no relief in sight.

Heading to the garden, I see this one at the creek and for a second I think he's got a leaf or something on his neck.

But no! That's a patch of white feathers!

This is exciting! There's so rarely a Mallard at the creek who is identifible!

And yeah, I think he's a male. He lacks the curled tail feathers but male Mallards have a yellow beak. Females have a beak that's orange and dark grey.

Oh! A Crow standing under the Wisteria? So Beautiful! But nope...

*laughs* Their cute toes!

Their friends were more cooperative!

As I walk up to the garden plot, I notice this Comfrey coming up in the pathway.

Damn Comfrey. I decide I will murder some today.

I get my dandelion tool, and pry that thing out of the ground! And then I look around the plot. Oops! Look how big these have gotten, hiding behind the Crooknecks and the huge Buckwheats!

Getting all that out makes me feel good, like I've accomplished something!

The Wax Bean harvest is slowly increasing!

The Pet Nasturtium in the Strawberry Patch is looking good!

And the ones I planted as seeds are coming along.

The top of the healthy Lemon Cucumber plant is still pretty, but all the rest is leaning towards pathetic. And they aren't going to like 99° days.

Well. At least I've gotten a few Lemon Cucs to eat this year. Better than none, right?

I stop to admire the neighbor's Zinnias on the way out.

I should have more flowers in my plot. But I always think that, and then I always forget in the spring. I'm too busy getting the veggies planted.

Tag: august 2025

Good Morning My Dear...

You know, standing on the path is not very photogenic!
You don't care, you're beautiful as it is?
Well yeah, that's true! :)

I've arrived at the garden, and I see the seedling Crookneck, right next to the main Crookneck has it's first fruit and it needs to be harvested.

But today I want a beet! And I doubt I will have room in the small backpack for much else.

I get distracted... a cute little parasitic wasp!

This is the second one I've found this year! I'm always happy to meet new bugs!

The Tomatillos are coming along!

Breaking out of their husk is a good sign!! But they will fall off when they are ripe.

And Look! I did find a ripe one! It's yellow! That's weird. All of the volunteer Tomatillos I've had in the past have had fruits that stayed green.

And that Beet I pulled is even bigger than the first one! The first one was just over 1.5 pounds and this one is 2pounds 0.8ounces!!!

That's awesome! That's many good meals right there!!

I usually cut off a serving sized chunk, and cut it into bite sized bits. Then I add a serving of pasta into a big bowl with 2cups of water and maybe some soy curls. Nuke that for 14mins... just a bit longer than I would do for pasta alone.

And then I add whatever sauce and other veggies and eat. Easy Peasy!

And the rest of the beet will keep in the fridge for a good long time! So I don't need to eat the Pasta Beet meal every day if I don't want to.

But I love Beets! And I'm so glad I remembered to plant them this year!!

Tag: august 2025

A perfectly normal 85° summer day!

But the rest of the forecast is for 90s, all the way out. And you know what? I was done with summer after the three 100° days that we barely survived, weekend before last.

Sighs. Just gotta keep plugging along I guess.

But, because I took a break from the garden yesterday, ... I can look at it again now... maybe! Haha.

Brandywines are getting more colour!!

The Green Zebra.

And the first of the Old Germans is ripening... except this is a problem...

That's the right colour... Old Germans are orange and red. But they are supposed to be huge, up to 2pounds huge! And that little thing is about 2inches!

So that's weird! Maybe the first tomato is just an odd one, and the others will get bigger?

Well, anyway. I've got my harvest of the day... and look at all those Sungolds!! Yay!

I had to toss a couple because they had cracks in them... still watering too much! ha.

There are Marigolds blooming in the meighbor's plot. They are probably my seeds! I had Giant Marigolds last year!

Ha, I don't know why they couldn't re-seed themselves in MY plot!

Heading out, I admire my other neighbor's flowers!

And walking home, oh hey! A new Heron!

Tag: august 2025

The Supreme Court makes a ruling so this regime can continue the ethnic cleansing...

∞ SCOTUS is on board with racial profiling

Here's something more in depth...

∞ US supreme court 'effectively legalized racial profiling', immigration experts warn by Lauren Gambino

And it's all just disgusting.

And this other thing has been swirling around in my brain as well.

I get so angry at the hypocracy of Christen Nationalists, evangelicals and MAGAs... These Christians willfully forget the part where they are supposed to Welcome the Stranger. Feed the hungry? Love your neighbor, and all that? Did they pay attention to a single thing Jesus said?

And sometimes I watch this guy's YouTube channel. He's a biblical scholar and I like how he sets things straight.

∞ Dan McClcllan: Responding to Kirk Cameron

Tag: september 2025

Yeah, I just don't feel like going to the garden. I've made myself completely bored of it by going there every day.

Good Morning Neighbor!

Good Morning Other Neighbor!

Ha. I thought this bridge construction was supposed to be done Aug20, but they are still digging!

There's some Barn Swallows, and maybe some others, swooping over the prairie, catching bugs! They are too far away for photography, tho.

There are quite a few guys playing Frisbee Golf here today.

I walk a couple parks that have courses, and I gotta say, the guys who play are ALWAYS 100% respectful!

They never throw a frisbee even vaguely in your direction. And they wait patiently for you to get out of the way.

So that's nice and all :) but there were too many humans around and no birds in the little forest. So that's a bummer.

But I did find a family of Scrub Jays at the back of the park. Several juveniles bouncing around and yelling at each other!

*laughs*

I go by the tree that fell. It's crazy how it just broke right off!

On the way home...

hmm. A Red Tail Hawk!

Tag: august 2025

A lovely morning to be a lovely day. A high of 81° is a bit under the normal of 84°, and this is the kind of weather I would wish for all summer!

Nevermind the 90s that will show up again this weekend, I'm going to enjoy the day with a zig zag walk thru the neighborhoods!

I'm walking up an alley and oooh! The varieties of sunflowers over the fence in this back yard!

When I go past Dragonfly Land, there's a big ol' spider who has made a web on the railing!!

I am curious about her, but she's hiding her face.

I stop at the garden and do just the lightest of watering. But I had to pull a bee out of a puddle!

Poor Girl! She's soaked and tired. She doesn't even buzz her wings to help dry off.

When I'm done watering, I bring her to one of the Buckwheats... she walks off my hand willingly.

The sun is coming out and it won't take too long to dry her out!

More Wax Beans coming along, and the Basil plant.

And all the plants at the big trellis are happy.

ha, a Zucchini grew funny!

On the way home, I make one more loop.

Oak Apples!

*Laughs* or, more precisely: Oak Galls!

They are made by tiny parasitic wasps, their babies grow up inside the galls!

After the babies leave, you can make ink!

∞ How to make Oak Gall Ink

I've never attempted this, myself. But I think it would be fun!

Tag: august 2025

The neighbor's outside cat. It's funny, I don't know his name! ha.

Another nice day today, the forecast says 81° but with the clouds it only gets to 77°. Unfortunately, there's some 90s at the end of the forecast again. ugh.

Aww. This burned area used to be a thicket of willow, little birds used it as protection all the time.

Homeless people had set a fire under the thicket... but the willows were only half dead. No reason to cut the whole thing down!

Jerks. The city keeps saying it wants to increase canopy cover, but their actions speak louder than their words!

*Unhappy*

But I keep walking and nature fixes me.

Lorquin Admiral.

And a Cardinal Meadowhawk!

Ha! And a juvenile Scrub Jay!!

At the garden.

The Perth Pride, the root bound dwarf plant I got as a freebie, has made two fruits! Next to it, a couple of volunteer Tomatillos have sprug up... I doubt they will get to do anything this late in the season, tho it does have a flower on it!

mmm! So looking forward to the Brandywines! I've cut the time I spend watering back here, to prevent more cracking on the tomatoes!

The Wax Beans are coming right along. And that's the precious Basil, and top right is the Patty Pan.

And at the other end of the big trellis, this volunteer Cosmos continues to grow. Still no sign of flowering tho!

I gather the days harvest.

And head out. Oh, hey! It's Mackerel Sky again!!

Tag: august 2025

Awoken by sprinkles at 3am!!

And then it kept me awake because I kept checking to make sure the rain wasn't blowing in! But apparently it came without wind, for once. That's good, I would have hated to have to close windows.

This time the amount was measurable... We got 0.15 inch.

When the sun rises it's still cloudy and humid. And my walk is so pleasant! The high today is just 77°!

As I go by the Community Garden, there's a couple of Crow children sitting at the fence. They aren't brand new to the world outside their nest... hardly any gap left. But still depending on their parents for food.

I stop at the empty Barn Swallow nest...

And was interested to see the parents swooping to the nest a few times! One last memorial for their lost children before they migrate?

I'm walking a little farther today. There's a row of Red Maples, and one of the trees has a couple branches of leaves that are changing. Everything else is green, maybe there's something wrong with this tree. Sure is eye catching tho!

Oh hey! Mackerel Sky! On the hunt!

Strike! and WHOA! They've caught a Crawdad!

The poor Crawdad is fighting for her life!

huh.

Eye contact!

The Crawdad says I WILL gouge out your eye!

And PLOP! Mackerel Sky has let the Crawdad go!

And then they go back to the same place at the bank and grab another Crawdad... and this one gets gobbled down.

Ugh. I wonder how long the Crawdad squirms in their stomach. What a terrible way to die. The carnivores gotta eat, but ... ugh.

Swallowed all the way down.

And then Mackerel Sky is back to looking for the next meal.

With the bit of rain this morning, I don't need to water at the garden. But there are a couple squashes I need to get before they get big, so I'm going in.

This is the volunteer Tomatillo that I had dug up from the path and moved under the big trellis... it's gotten pretty big, a couple branches are sprawling! But no fruit yet.

The Tomatillos that I bought have a good amount of fruits coming on tho!

The Brandywines are starting to get some colour!

Ha! A squirrel has munched a chunk of the ProCut Red!

This Crookneck will be ready to pick tomorrow, maybe. But Look! There's some Columbine growing under there!!

That's good! The Columbine that survived the winter... never did anything in the spring and then it died. This was the first year in a long time that I've not had Columbine blooms. So I'm glad I have another one coming up!

And here's what I came for!

Heading out, I stop to admire the one Amaranth in my plot that has that wonderful colour!

Twittering in the plot across the path catches my attention.

House Finches! Are they... eating the Kale???

Walking home, I get a glimpse of some American Goldfinches from the path! Welcome to your wintering grounds, my dears!

Floof!

And wow, that was a lot of pictures today! *laughs*

A very good day!!

Tag: august 2025

I put 200 postcards in the mail today! ha!

I've been volunteering for Postcards to Swing States. I got my packet of pcs at the beginning of July, with a due date of today... and I've been writing about 5 postcards a day since then!

I finished a couple days ago, and today I fed them into the outgoing mail slot!!

Yay Postcards!

Some morning clouds and a high of 79° today.

And there's an 80% chance of rain tonight? That can't be right... but is anything normal this year?

There was a small group of American Goldfinches twittering thru the Community Garden today! They don't nest here, but migrate in for the winter.

It's nice to have them again. But they were too jumpy about humans! haha, I couldn't even get close to them! But I did catch a couple of House Finches!

The Volunteer Squashes that I weeded yesterday are definitely looking happier today!

So I decided to weed a path for the other side of the big trellis today! Here's the before photo. Nevermind the poor wilted Lemon Cucumber plants at the right edge there. The heat killed them.

And here's the After pic!

I also freed up the Mystery Plant and the Basil!

That was good work done! And it's a lot easier to step around to the back of the small trellis to water the plants there!

I gather a bit of a harvest... The Sungolds are starting to ripen again with the more normal weather.

And then I linger. It's just so nice with the cooler temperature and the clouds! The healthy Lemon Cucumber plant survived the extreme heat.

The small strawberry's Pet Nasturtium has gotten big!

The poor beleaguered Aubergine... the leaves that got wilted are dying, but the rest of it is looking better now that I'm watering it enough.

The front of the Fallow Area is so lush and delightful!

At left are all the Crooknecks, both transplanted veggie start and the three that grew from seed!

Right of center is some Fava.

And all the little white flowers are big ol' Buckwheats! I never even knew they could get that big! Always before they've been a single stalk, barely two feet tall. These Buckwheats have LOADS of branches and are well over 3 feet tall.

And realizing how stunted the Buckwheats have been -- last year's and the ones in the Fallow Area... I'm now wondering if I've got harmful nematodes. Stunted plants, yellow leaves and reduced yields are symptoms.

Maybe next year I will get some beneficial nematodes and see if that helps.

It's not very vegan to buy creatures. Thinking about it makes me feel icky. But I think I'd like to try.

Tag: august 2025

Trump has straight up murdered 11 people.

∞ US strike on 'Venezuela drug boat': What do we know, and was it legal?

And here, again... Why did that Navy ship follow orders to fire on that little boat???

WHY?

Running drugs is a crime, but the punishment is NOT the death penalty. We rely on Due Process... We do not just murder random people in a boat.

Why were there so many people on that little boat? It doesn't take 11 people to run drugs. Those extra people would have slowed the boat down... an obvious indication that this was not a drug run.

Did the Navy ship see all the people on the boat? Did they think about what they were doing at all?

Tag: september 2025

Good Morning Baby! Aren't you cute!

There's some morning clouds that are starting to break up as I walk. The high today is 85° and after the days of 100° a day of normal summer temperature feels good.

Someone has been feeding grain to the ducks at the bridge right before the Community Garden, so there's a bunch of Mallards congregated there.

After I walk past it, this teenager stage duckling is paddling to the bridge and peeping for his Mama...

But about 2 dozen ducks from under the bridge come to see what's going on!! Haha, the little one was so embarrassed at all the attention, they start preening like nothing was happening! *laughs*

At the Community Garden, there's some cars in the parking lot, but everything has grown big so you can't see the humans in their plots! I walk about to look at flowers!

What a lovely border!

Haha, their cucumber plant is trying to climb over these little Zinnias!

I gather a bit at my own plot. That's the second Green Zebra... there's more coming on that are a good bit bigger than that little thing!

And I was so excited about picking the first Wax Beans, that those two are not quite as filled out as I like them!

I was trying to capture the clouds and the amazingness of all our Sunflowers.

Photobombed by a Black Saddlebags Dragonfly!

This large dragonfly is very common here, they like to fly over the bike path. I never get to take their portrait, tho, because I've never seen them sitting down anywhere!! Very busy creatures!

Look at how pathetic the poor Lemon Cucumber plants are. The healthy one on the left is mostly okay, but the siblings on the right, arg!

The Crooknecks in the front are getting some yellow leaves as well. I guess that's from my over watering during the heat wave?

Tag: august 2025

It's been three days of 100° heat, and the high today is 93°. Still very hot, but there's some much cooler temperatures in the forecast for the weekend. Upper 70s will be a relief.

I walk out to the Barn Swallow nest with resigned dread.

The homeless guy is nowhere to be seen today, and it's way too quiet at the bridge.

I look over and the nest is empty except for some feathers from the lining sticking up.

The parents probably cleared the nest, as the babies died of the heat.

Ugh. So tragic.

And traumatized parents too. They won't be returning to this nest next year because of this.

Which means my days of watching Barn Swallow babies are over. The parents at the other nest didn't return this year, also because of a nest failure. Same reason. Heat wave.

I do all I can to fight climate change. I'm Vegan. I don't drive. It doesn't seem like enough. And it's not enough, of course. Humans needed to change their ways back in the 1970s.

Instead we've got dead baby birds.

At the garden, I do a quick watering. I've been over watering everything because of the heat and all the tomatoes are splitting.

I feel like destruction, so I pull some Smartweeds.

I left quite a bit of Borage, but it's easier to walk past the back of the big trellis now.

And I freed up the Volunteer Squashes as well...

I think the biggest squash feels better now. I still don't know what it is... it's vining so it's probably a winter squash. But it's only made male flowers.

Maybe the space I made will encourage it to make some fruits.

Just a handful of Sungolds again, because of the heat. But the summer squashes are still powering thru.

The neighbor is growing Dahlias, and I love this colour!

Tag: august 2025

Every single day, the news about what the US Government is doing... makes me so very angry.

Unfortunately, every single day, there's like five or eight news articles about what the US Goverment is doing.

I'm angry about everything, but I can't even finish READING a single article, let alone form some words to rant about it.

So I've been quiet these past weeks.

But this. This is so horrifying. Even if I can't formulate some words, I need to put this up...

∞ The Questions No One Wants to Answer: Where Were the Children, and Why Were We Kept in the Dark?

600. Unaccompanied. Children.

Actually, The Guardian says it is almost 700. UNACCOMPANIED. CHILDREN!

∞ Judge orders US to halt deportation of hundreds of Guatemalan children

W.T.F.

The Guardian article says that ten of those ALMOST 700 children had lawyers, and those ten kids were 10 to 17 years old.

But it says nothing about the other ALMOST 700 kids... Exactly how young are they?

And the US Government was going to put them on a plane and just dump them in another country.

And to pull this off, there's dozens of people who were working to make this happen... ICE agents, government lawyers, pilots and airline personnel.

That's a lot of people who could have stopped this horrifying process. Instead it took a judge, at the last instant. When kids were already boarding a plane!

I just cannot understand how there are SO MANY complicit and completely evil humans in the US. 'Good Germans' and Just following orders in our ethnic cleansing.

I just cannot understand.

*Screaming*

*later* and, good... here's some more info.

∞ ICE Tried To Kidnap Kids Over Labor Day Weekend. Hero Judge Said Hell No. Judge Sparkle Sooknanan won't let Stephen Miller deport kids to Guatemala on her watch.

Terrified kids, dragged out of their beds, with a two hour window to get ready. and there were two planes on the tarmak, closed up and ready to go.

Full of UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN.

Tag: september 2025

Yesterday hit 103° and it didn't even break the record: 104° set in 1992.

The house, this morning, is at the same state as yesterday, hasn't cooled down enough over night. So we are starting out with 75° upstairs and 68° downstairs.

I got better sleep due to pure exhaustion... it's not just that I didn't sleep the night before. The brain power it takes to deal with the heat, is tiring as well. But I feel better this morning and I feel more capable of surviving the day.

I've been able to keep the upstairs about 10° cooler than the high... but that's not terribly useful when the high is over 100. The upstairs is miserable.

The downstairs, tho, I've been able to keep cooler by an additional 8 to 10°... so yesterday evening was about 82° and that is uncomfortable but livable.

This morning, when I closed up the downstairs to trap the cool air... the upstairs started feeling oppressive right away. ugh. So I moved the box fan up immediately and set up the make-shift swamp cooler.

It definitely helps. My side of the upstairs stays terrible, but on the other side of the swamp cooler, it's 4 or 5° cooler. Plus the breeze helps as well.

Anyway.

I head out for my walk.

At the Barn Swallow bridge, that same homeless guy is standing in the same place again. So I go to the garden.

The Lemon Cucumber siblings are still droopy.

And the Basil is droopy as well. But the Basil perks up after I water it, and the Cucumber plants do not.

They just hate the extreme heat... And on top of that, the bigger healthy Lemon Cuc plant is getting yellow leaves. Is that the heat as well, or is that too much water? Sheesh. Damned, either way.

I'm going to focus on good things. The very first Wax Bean!

I'm trying to capture how pretty the Buckwheat is... The plants that have grown at the front part of the Fallow Area have just gotten huge! But the flowers and seed groups are so little, the photography just doesn't do it!

This is the little Unknown plant that popped up after I moved that volunteer Tomatillo from the pathway. Unfortunately, it's gonna get it's light cut off before too long... The beans are growing on the trellis!

There is a third fruit growing on the Aubergine!

The top bloom of the ProCut Red.

The birds are starting to eat the seeds from the ProCut Plum! That makes me happy!

Top left is the Sunchoke. And you can see some of the Brandywine tomatoes on the right!

The heat is starting to slow down the Sungolds.

I walked down to the Barn Swallow bridge again, but the homeless guy was still there.

And you know what. Maybe it's just as well. The babies were having a hard time yesterday. I don't actually want to witness them dying.

Sighs.

Tag: august 2025

Yesterday it hit 99° and I did not sleep at all last night. Too hot.

The house didn't cool down much at all over night... it is still 76° upstairs and 70° downstairs, first thing this morning. Not a happy beginning, made worse with the grumpiness of no sleep.

But I try to set my attitude aside so I can enjoy the walk today.

These three Crows must be siblings! They were delighting in the sound of their own voices, and it made me laugh!

Hello My Dear!

I walked down to the Barn Swallow bridge, with trepidation. But there was a homeless guy standing right where I need to lean over the water wall to see the nest. I'll try again, after the garden.

The two sibling Lemon Cucumbers are still droopy. I will water them all to heck, but that didn't make them any happier yesterday.

I harvested the first two Green Zebra Tomatoes today!

It looks like I am the last one in the Garden, so I go around to make sure the tool shed is locked up... apparently we've had some irresponsible gardeners who have been leaving everything open. Grr!

I love the Red Amaranths! Such a beautiful colour!

oh wow, check this thing out!

That's interesting.

These things are interesting too! Could they be Luffas?

I walk down to the bridge...

All four babies are up there... two faces and two tails...

But you can tell they are distressed.

They are standing like that probably to get some air flow around their bodies. :(

Poor babies. I am so sorry.

Humans and our climate change are terrible. And I am so sorry.

Tag: august 2025

Extreme heat warning today, and the forecast has changed from two days of 100° to now three days of 100°.

So this is not good.

And today, seeing my friends the Vultures... is a little bit more ominous...

I don't think we are all going to survive this round of heat wave.

A parent flies in with food.

and is gone in an instant.

Sighs. I just can't get the exposure right today. and I'm sad that it's probably getting close to the end for these babies.

I take a break at Dragonfly Land.

But one more glance up.

At the garden, I do some watering. But the Lemon Cucumbers are wilted already.

And when I harvest...

You see that Sungold that's cracked open? That means I've been watering the tomato plants too much!

But what can I do? It's 100°!

Sighs.

Tag: august 2025

The high today is 88° and the Extreme Heat Warning begins tomorrow. ugh. But today is still okay.

Good Morning Babies!

And Good Morning Other Babies!

I am extremely worried about them, with the heat wave coming. And probably heat gets trapped up there, the nest is right next to the ceiling.

*unhappy*

At the garden. The ProCut Plum is making a couple more flower buds!

ha, this angle amuses me!

There are three Lemon Cucumber plants growing on the small trellis... the healthy one on the left and the two smaller siblings on the right (which is one transplant survivor, and the one and only cuc that came up from seed).

I have concerns about the Lemon Cucumber plants surviving the heat wave as well. They aren't very tough.

But they surely are pretty right now!

The small Strawberry's pet Nasturtium!

This is the freebie Buttercup. It's made a bunch of leaves, but has stayed small. It's not going to have time to make any fruit.

When I look up, this view amuses me as well.

As I leave the garden, there's a Turkey Vulture circling.

She must see me looking at her, because she circles closer and closer.

And then she goes right over me! The camera doesn't focus, of course, but I'm so delighted that I giggle!

Turkey Vultures are my favorite! It always makes my day when I see them!

Tag: august 2025

A perfectly nice summer day, to be 84°. That 100° weekend is still in the forecast... One last blast of summer heat before things cools off. Hopefully, anyway.

Good Morning my cute little fledgling!

Greenie, is that you?

It is! I wondered if this could be that juvenile Green Heron of the other day... But nope! This is Greenie! Back in their favorite hunting spot!

They've been preening. That's feather fluff on their beak.

Thank You Greenie!! So good to see you... will you be migrating soon? You're thinking about it?

And then on the other side of the bridge... Hi Babies!

I'm pretty sure it's just four children for this round.

And the upcoming heat wave has me very concerned. I do Not want to get too attached to these kids. Sighs.

I walk over to Dragonfly Land. This is a Common Whitetail, a male.

And I watch the minnows for few minutes as well.

When I looked a little closer at my photos, I noticed this... and my first reaction was Eeew! Are those Leeches???

*laughs* I think they are! Baby Leeches!

The minnows are around an inch long, so the little Leeches are maybe a bit over a centimeter.

I'm a little disappointed at my initial Ew! I mean, they can't help it that they don't have a face or anything, cute or otherwise.

And they are as much a part of nature as Greenie and the Barn Swallows and the minnows!

As I walk back, a parent Barn Swallow flies in to feed one of the kids... but I miss that action.

And in a moment, they are zonking out like the babies they are!

Walking to the Community Garden, I find some other babies!

At the garden plot I'm just doing a quick watering.

I was almost done and I was crouched at the Green Zebra, giving it a bit extra water because it always looks so pathetic.

Motion caught my eye and there's a SNAKE!!! Slithering right under my knee! Literally inches away!!!

Ha!! SO AWESOME! A little Garter Snake, I saw their stripes.

I only had a little window, looking down on the snake so have no idea how big. But maybe (not quite) twice as thick as a pencil, and fairly long! 2feet? But that's just a guesstimate, no way of really knowing!

Very pleased to almost meet a snake! *laughs* and very happy they are visiting my plot!! Yay!

The Perth Pride has made some fruits... that's one of the root bound freebie veggie starts that arrived from LogHouse Plants.

I'm glad it's gotten to do something... I don't think the Buttercup I got at the same time, will recover in time to make any fruits.

There's a second fruit on the Aubergine!

It's mostly recovered from the day I didn't water it enough, altho it still looks pretty pathetic. It lost most of it's flowers from that incident... but it kept this one!

The healthy Lemon Cucumber is doing fine.

And I've gotten a couple cucs from the two sibling Lemon Cuc plants as well. I just wish for more! Lemon Cucumbers are my favorite and I would eat them all day, every day, if I could!

Ha... that Purple Leaf Plum tree above looks like an echo of the ProCut Red sunflower!

I've gathered todays harvest... the most Basil yet!

And heading out... ha! I didn't realize how tall the Wax Beans were getting until I saw this photo! The leaves on the right side of the big trellis go almost all the way up!

And the bushy green thing on the left is the Sunchoke. It got a slow start this spring, because I had tried to kill it and dug up almost all the roots last November.

ha! Then I changed my mind and decided to let it grow again this year. *rolls eyes* at self!

Tag: august 2025

That weird 20% chance of rain stayed in the forecast, and at 3:30am we actually did get a couple minutes of sprinkles! Ha. It didn't even register as a trace tho, the weather data for today says 0.00 precipatation!

But the clouds have hung around and I decide to skip the garden today. I head in the opposite direction!

Oh, these blue flowers are pretty. I don't know what they are!

All kinds of interesting flowers here!

And creatures! ha!

Haha!

I walk away, but I'm thinking hard... I've got my small backpack because I've brought my water bottle. And the summer squash plants at the garden plot are not doing much yet. Maybe I could come back this way, after the park?

Finally at the park!

The lovely cloud cover is starting to break up.

Once I got under the trees in the little bit of forest, I sat down to drink some water. I look up...

Oh nice! I watch the wasps buzzing around the nest for a few minutes.

It's up in the tree far enough that the wasps don't mind the humans who are walking by on the trail, or playing Frisbee golf.

I walk thru the forest. There's some birds singing, but nobody close by, and I don't even catch a glimpse.

But I can usually find some wildlife at the ditch in the back.

Wood Pewee!

I come around the corner... oh no! What happened??!

What a terrible shame! This big beautiful shade tree.

There must have been something wrong with it. It sheared off at it's base almost straight across, left all the roots in the ground!

And just a couple feet of bark left standing where it was.

Ugh. This is just too sad.

I take a few more photos, but my heart just isn't in it anymore.

And I do go back home the same way I came out... and filled up the backpack with Free Zucchinis! That's something to cheer me up a little, at least.

Tag: august 2025

Clouds this morning and a crazy 20% chance of rain... haha, it never rains in August! But my goodness, the house is humid. Good thing I won't need my make-shift swamp cooler today! It's not going to work with this kind of humidity!

We've got a couple of nice days -- high of 78° for today and tomorrow. But the 100° heatwave is still sitting in the forecast for the weekend.

So nice to walk without the sun beating down!

Oh Hello Mackerel Sky!

And the Barn Swallow babies on the other side of the bridge.

The cloudy day makes for bad photos. oh well.

A parent flies in with food!

One baby is still hungry.

The parent gives me a look, before flying off.

And the other parent has been circling and they fly in and feed the hungry one!

Well. Yesterday I saw four babies but today I've only got photographic proof of three. ha.

Try again tomorrow, I guess. Tho, thinking about the future, the heat wave in the forecast has me worried.

Mackerel Sky is still on the other side of the bridge and had been posing for a lady taking pics with her phone!

All this attention is probably turning her into a diva!

Okay! Back at the garden!

The small Strawberry's Pet Nasturtium!

So happy with the Wax Beans vining and everything growing at the big trellis...

But you know what? I've been calling that fluffy thing on the right a Love in the Mist. But it's so big. And it suddenly occurred to me that it's actually a Cosmos!!

So that's very exciting! I've never had a volunteer Cosmos before!

And turn to look at the Patty Pan...

That little tomato plant on the left is a volunteer that I've been watering. It's a cute thing, but as a second generation from the Sungolds, the cherry tomatoes will be red and won't taste very good.

Since the day is so nice, I should probably do some work. I decided to clear a bit at the back of the small trellis.

I had planted these Nasturtiums as seeds, and they don't need all those wild Amaranths and Crab Grass choking them out!

When I'm done, the Nasturtiums are a bit worse for the wear!

I prop them up with extra dirt around their bases, and hope for the best.

I pulled that first textured Crookneck from the plant that I put down as a seed!

As I was watering, a hummingbird buzzed me.

I dropped the hose and grabbed the camera and chased after them. *laughs*

Alighted on Kevin's trellis... and moved on before the camera could focus. They looked at the Scarlet Runner Bean blossoms... and again, too fast for me. Alit on the other side of the trellis... I walked around, and they buzzed away the instant I had a clear view.

Gah! Little stinker! *laughs* But then... !

Oh my gosh! That little patch of orange!!!

They are a Rufous Hummingbird!!! Either a female or a juvenile male!

Probably migrating thru... but My Dear? Could you stay for a few days? So I get another chance? Please?!

*smiles*

Tag: august 2025

To be 86° (30°C) today, a perfectly normal and lovely summer day!

I would wish all my summer days could be like this! And, once upon a time, that's how it was here. Mid-80s was the hottest part of the summer! And it didn't even last all of August. It normally starts dropping to the lower 80s by the end of the month!

But, we've got climate change and that heat wave in the forecast for this weekend... is starting to look concerning. Mid-90s then 101° on Monday? ugh.

But I'm excited to see the Barn Swallow nest, so I hurry on out there!

Yay!

That's four blurry Barn Swallow baby beaks! Some baby fluff on their heads and eyes pretty closed!

Oh! I guess their eyes are opening a little!

So cute! The last batch was five babies, and I'm wondering if there's a fifth hidden behind the siblings!

Okay! To the garden!

The texture on the front Crookneck makes it look like a gourd! ha!

The Tomatillos, the leaves are so pretty!

Underneath, I noticed this weird yellow fruit.

It's much smaller than a normal tomatillo, and I've never seen that shade of yellow. The husk normally stays green, sometimes has purple veins.

When I touch it, it falls off. And it's completely empty, no fruit inside. I guess it didn't get fertilized.

Well, that is the only weird one... there's plenty of normal ones coming on!

A small harvest today.

I am really wishing for more Sungolds... The two plants are gearing up, I just need to be patient!

The ProCut Plum with the Body of the ProCut Red in the background...

That ProCut Red is close to five foot tall, and the leaves are so solid... I am always thinking it's a human standing in my plot!

I have jumped So Many Times! because I thought someone snuck up on me and was in my plot. *laughs*

Okay! These pink flowers catch my eye as I'm heading out!

Tag: august 2025

After many, many delays, anyone flying on a plane after 7 May 2025 must have a Real ID.

Oregon was one of the states that kept putting it off. That's funny! I procrastinate as well.

But this is the year! If I want to fly to Colorado to see my family, I will need to get a Real ID.

The problem is... You need to bring a lot of official documents in order to get a Real ID. And one of those offical documents, I've not seen since we moved to Oregon.

*Anxiety*

I think it's in a box. And I think that box in in my closet.

So. I freaked out about this for a while. And then I started digging!

At the beginning of August -- Yes, many, many months after May7... Yes, many, many months of freaking out -- I switched my Tiny Clean focus from the porch room to the Closet Project.

I really want to be tidy about this! You know? Since I have to dig thru my closet, how about I make it better!

Check! I don't really have a plan, but I organize things as I get them out of my way. Eventually I make it down to the ... box.

Yeah, I actually thought there were two boxes in this spot, but it's just the one. That concerns me. A good bit. I move stuff from on top of the box, and I even get the little vacuum out to suck up some dust.

On Monday I pulled the box out and opened it.

I was expecting a box full of paperwork. But this box is filled with journals.

This is not the right box.

I am devastated. I guess there were two boxes after all. I suppose the other box is deeper in the closet. ugh.

I do pull out a couple of the journals, tho. Just to make sure there's nothing tucked in between them. But, no. It's just a box of journals.

Mostly those are just lined notebooks, containing my boring journaled thoughts.

But, the books at the end, were art journals.

I don't journal like that anymore... and I really kind of miss it.

There's different colours of inks, and little sketches here and there and interesting graphic elements. Some stickers and a few things pasted in.

It's fun to flip thru these books!

Tag: august 2025

The forecast says 79° today and minus the heavy clouds that kept yesterday so cool, we will almost get there. (Actual high today is 78°.)

Normal for this time of year is 86°, so the cooler days are definitely nice. Tho we will probably be paying for them with more heat waves. The next one looks to be in the forecast... mid-90s for the weekend. bleh.

*laughs* I'm thrilled that I keep getting to see the Scrub Jay fledglings here... but they never want to be photogenic!

There's no parent sitting in the Barn Swallow nest. hmmmmm....

Extreme zoom. And never mind the feathers that are lining the nest. But I think the orange is baby beaks!

The parents must be out collecting bugs! Yay!

I'm at the garden, the Aubergine is looking a little better today. I had watered the heck out of it yesterday when I found it's poor curled leaves. And I watered the heck out of it again today!

I think it got dried out because it's at the edge of the plot.

I decided to harvest the first Beet today. It is huge! I weighed it when I got home, just over 1.5 pounds!

And my daily allowance of Sungolds! *laughs* I've been getting four or five Sungolds most every day for a week now.

As I was crouched on the ground, taking photos of the big o' beet, I noticed motion right next to me...

Oh cool! Yellow Jackets! My cute little pollinators!

Not pollinating at the moment! But trying to murder someone... The adults just eat sugars, but their children need protein.

I watch them for a few minutes, trying to see who is putting up such a fight. It's a Housefly!

Well, I leave them to it and back away slowly.

I've never been stung, as an adult. And I feel like Yellow Jackets are pretty smart and they understand that I am just curious about them.

They are native insects, and I wish only the best for them!

Heading home... I get to eat a good handful of Himalayan Blackberries!

Oh yeah! Yum!

Tag: august 2025

We've got some very nice cloud cover this morning and the forecast says 80° ... but the clouds linger thru the day and the actual high is just 73°!

That's been happening a lot this year... Every once in a while, the morning forecast is extremely not what's actually happening. And they really should have a firm grasp of the weather forecast on the morning of.

I'm going to attribute this to DOGE cuts. It's sad to see the fall of civilization.

(Not that stupid America, or our weather forecasting is all of civilization, but you know what I mean!)

Hi Squirrel Baby! You think the clouds are just fine and who cares about civilization?! Yeah, you're right!

Oh, hey! Lesser Goldfinch!

I'm doing my Point and Click and Hope... But I get no cooperation from the camera.

And no cooperation from little bird, either! haha.

Green Zebra...

yeah, I don't know what is up with all the dead branches on this thing! It's still making fruits, but it is def not a healthy plant. Sighs.

Hi Honey Bee!

Oh no! The Aubergine has curled up it's leaves!

Dang it. Not enough water? I just can't do anything right in the garden this year!

But look underneath! ha!

The Wax Beans and all are doing okay under the big trellis.

That big ol' fluffy thing at the bottom right is the biggest Love in a Mist that I've ever had.

And check this out... the Crookneck that I planted as a seed? It's growing it's first fruit, and it's Textured!!

Funny! It has different leaves too... Here's the Nasturtium between the two Crooknecks...

The seed planted Crookneck is top left, and the transplanted Crookneck I got from the Farmers Market is bottom right and much deeper lobes!

The Lemon Cucumbers on the small trellis.

There's three Cuc plants there... two transplants and one that came up as a direct sown seed. And the leaves of both of the ProCut sunflowers, top left.

Today's harvest. And, ha, those are some Sugar Snap Peas... the plants are mostly dead, but you know how the tops keep going sometimes.

oops! I was looking at the new little volunteer squash...

I must have soaked this little Bumblebee when I was watering. So sorry my dear! But no worries, you'll dry out in a couple minutes!

A little group of sparrows twitters close by... Oh! I think this is a juvenile White Crown Sparrow!!

Good to see them migrating!

Heading out. But with the cloud cover, you can actually see the plants and so I take a couple more pics to remind me what this years plot looks like!

The left side. (The straw is the left neighbor.)

And the right side... where you can see my extreme fondness for Borage!

And from the right front.

And yeah, I am ridiculously happy about that Red Amaranth that has grown up in a perfect place!

The wild type Amaranth is short and green, and I remove a lot of it because it's so prolific! I keep a lot for the bugs and birds, of course. But this one I kept, for it's lovely colour!

Tag: august 2025

Oh hey! New graffiti!

I've seen that pyramid symbol before, but only on the west end of the bike path. This is well outside this artist's usual range.

Good! It's nice to see others going for walk abouts as well!

A Green Heron... and it's NOT Greenie!

I pulled up a photo of Greenie to figure it out... Greenie has a more solid and darker coloured cap, and this one is just more stripy.

I looked it up and, ah, extra stripy is a trait of juveniles!!

And that explains the feeling I got as I was watching him... The look he was giving me was that of a Clueless Newbie!

Bahaha! Taking in the whole world! Everything is New and Amazing!

And here's a couple more clueless newbies. Sleepy Babies!

The spider web in front of the Barn Swallow nest has been mostly cleared again! Just a little section of web that's catching the light... like the parent just got an idea! haha.

Dragonfly Land is such a beautiful place! Blue Dashers, galore!

One more glance up at the parent.

At the Community Garden, I walk by the front plots instead of going straight back to my plot... These Corn silks catch my eye!

And then these Nasturtiums, in the same plot are a new colour! I like it!

At my plot, I decide to do some weeding. I've noticed this plant in the Tomato area...

This is a return of the Black Bindweed that I had last year. I had let it bloom, because I was curious, and it spreads by seeds.

No big deal. It's satisfying to pull it out, and it hadn't started any blooms this time.

The leaves of Black Bindweed look similar to Field Bindweed... but they are not related at all, and have very different flowers.

Another wildflower that's very satisfying to pull out is Smartweed!!

Smartweed is a native, and the blooms are visited by lots of different pollinators!

But it tends to form a mat when it gets big, and it will choke off other plants. So you've got to be careful about that, and pull up any baby plants that come up too close to the veggies.

But that's also the thing that makes it satisfying... you pull up one mature plant, and suddenly you've got three square feet of cleared dirt! Ha!

Okay. I've mostly filled up my bucket with all the different wildflowers! I feel accomplished!

That's the ProCut Plum Sunflower... the petals didn't last very long! ha! Birds pluck them out to make it easier to get to the seeds! :)

The small Strawberry's pet Nasturtium has a bloom!

Hello? Heeello-oo? No? Fine!

Tag: august 2025

Good Morning Babies!

oh crum. The spider is so industrious! *laughs*

okay! All the wildlife in Dragonfly Land is very cute. But I'm heading to the garden!

The Buttercups...

When I arrived, one of the Buttercups was a bit wilted and droopy. I propped it back up on the trellis and gave them a good watering.

But here's the problem... the base of the stem has Holes in it!

Dang it. That's the same thing that killed the Accidental Lemon Cucumber! Does a bug do that? It's very annoying!

But it recovered after I propped it up, so I guess the holes are fine, as long as the plant keeps the correct angle for the nutrients to flow.

Well. It doesn't even matter. These little plants aren't going to get big enough to make any fruits. The season won't be long enough, and they've made a few more leaves, but haven't really grown much since I transplanted them.

That ripening Green Zebra. I'm looking forward to tasting it!

I'm going around, gathering the harvest of the day...

And the diagonal neighbor walks by and offers a couple of Peaches!

Oh my gosh, Yes Please!!

I ask where they come from and he says he has a tree in his yard at home.

Oh, that's nice! If I had a yard, I would have a Peach tree. And a Persimmon tree. :)

The harvest and the peaches just barely fit into the small backpack... but I had to carry my water bottle in my hand on the way home! ha.

Tag: august 2025

Henrietta! Long time, no see!!

And then, just a little bit up stream...

It's Mackerel Sky!

That's good to see my friends! Especially Henrietta! I wonder where he's been hunting this year. Further downstream? All the way down to the reservoir?

I go visit the Barn Swallow nest. Oh good... The spider webs have been cleared again!

That white thing is a feather sticking up from the lining of the nest.

Aw! You looking at a baby? Or an egg? ...
A hatching egg??!

I meet up with the Minnows as well.

One more glance at the Barn Swallow parent.

And then I'm off to the Garden.

The Aubergine.

The Half Dead Sungold.

The Old German.

The Brandywine...

Yeah, the tomato cage holding the Brandywine has started to lean dramatically! It's a big plant!

Fortunately, it's leaning on the Old German... and that tomato cage seems to be holding.

The Brandywine also had a drooping branch. The branch only had one tomato growing on it, but that was heavy enough to bend the branch down to the ground! So I propped it up with a small tomato cage.

This back corner makes me happy.

Top left = The Sunchoke on the left side border.
Bottom left = The Volunteer Squashes.
Right of Center = Brandywine.
Top right = Kevin's raised beds.
Bottom right = Old German.

Oh, and I guess you can see a bit of the Green Zebra, as well... it's in front of my aqua backpack, top center.

Bumblebee on the Borage.

Mmmm! Lemon Cucumber!

ProCut Red, part two! Haha!

Heading out... but I stop to admire the right side neighbor's plot. This is the Pot People, they haven't done much at all this year, but they must have watered a couple times...

Tag: july 2025

White Crown Sparrow?! Ha!

The first of the migrations! White Crowns are winter visitors here, but this group might just be passing thru on their way further south.

Happy Journeys, my dears!

Okay! Straight to the garden, I don't stop at the Barn Swallow bridge today. It's to be 89° today, but some morning clouds have kept it cool enough that I'm going to tackle some weeding in the front!!

We've not gotten the email telling us we are not in compliance yet. Which is weird.

But I'm going to do something here...

The section that is not Borage is actually the Beet Patch... not that you can see any! *laughs*

There's some damn Bermuda Grass in the corner, and then I pulled out Amaranth, Crab Grass, a bit of Quack Grass and the little weedy vines that I don't know the name of. There's some Speedwells here as well, which I like to keep because it is pretty, both the leaves and the tiny flowers.

The clouds were breaking up and I was pouring sweat down! I paused work to get water a couple times.

I filled the bucket up with weeds...

And the Beets are free to grow again!

Altho, they don't need to grow much... there are a couple that are huge!

And, of course, I left some of the taller wild Amaranths, and the red one... The birds will enjoy the seeds!

The dirt was insanely dry! So I watered like crazy!

The Green Zebra ripening it's first tomato.

The Nasturtiums in the front are doing well...

They live in between the Crooknecks, and the grid is there to make sure I don't step on them as I walk between the bigger veggies.

And that cute little unknown weed.

The first fruits, under the leaves of the Lemon Cucumber Siblings...

And this will be the third Patty Pan.

It's sad that I'm able to count how many summer squash I've gotten... I looked up some of the harvests from last year. ha, so different!

Mid-July of last year, I had so many Zucs and summer squashes I couldn't eat them all!

And here it is, all but August, and I'm getting squashes one by one. sighs.

Sighs.

That Strawberry? Soooo GOOOD!

I'm happy with the work I did today!

Tag: july 2025

I'm looking both ways to cross the street I live on... and up the hill...

Ha! A Black Tail stag is walking up the sidewalk!

I am glad to see the traffic slows way down when he gets too close to the road. But the stag just continues on his merry!

He'll have to be careful crossing the other road to the south where his forest is, but I'm sure he'll be fine!

And I head down the hill to the bike path.

A parent sits on the nest.

OH! A changing of the guard!

We make sure the eggs are all okay...

And then they get settled.

oh, haha. There's a Mama Mallard in Dragonfly Land!

She plops down into the water.

I can hear her children. They aren't peeping, but just quietly talking to themselves. It's super cute, but the sound is bouncing here, and I can't figure out where they are!

I walk upstream a little. And find a Woodland Skipper!

I come back. Ah, there you are!

*laughs* It's a hot day, my children... you can probably find better shade! That little Yellow Twig sapling isn't doing much!

Yes, you are both absolutely adorable!

Okay. Off to the garden!

oh hey, I guess I WILL be able to tell when the Green Zebras are ripening! This one is starting to get yellow!

Here's the Buttercup, the freebie veggie start, and the only winter squash left to me. I just pulled off most of it's dead leaves... transplant shock and too hot weather.

It's a cute little thing, but it won't make any squashes, I'm thinking. That's okay.

At the other end of the trellis is that Tomatillo I moved from the path.

Hmm, I wonder what this plant is! It's got pretty leaves!

I really am happy with this whole corner!

But the Crooknecks on the other side of the plot are good as well!

I've only got three Lemon Cucumber plants that survived... Two transplants and one that came up from seed. But they are all healthy and happy!

And next year will be better. Definitely can't be worse than this year! ha!

As I walk out of the Community Garden, I see a new sign on the other gate...

Oh crap. Compliance Checks were yesterday. I've still not tidied up the front of the plot. Shoot. Probably going to find me non-compliant.

What else is new!

Tag: july 2025

Over the weekend I was taking a break from my pushups, because I had over extended my back moving old typewriters around. But today I wanted to get back to it.

And, nope. I did my pushups and then this afternoon I was back to eating pills in order to live! *laughs*

This morning I'm heading to the garden to water the veggies. But first, Dragonfly Land!

Blue Dashers. Their eyes are just the prettiest colours!

There's only ever males here. I don't think I've ever seen a female. I looked them up, they are brown and yellow, very different.

As I walk toward the bridge with the nest, a Barn Swallow flies in and out quickly. But when I get there, the parent is settled. Was the other parent just checking in? Or did they bring a snack? hm.

At the garden, the main Crookneck is making more fruits.

And the front Crookneck, which I started from seed, is making it's first fruit!! Yay!

The Volunteer Tomato plant is looking pretty good. I don't know why I bothered with this... the cherry tomatoes from this plant won't be any good, and I'll have tons of Sungolds, once they rev up.

I'm noticing that not all of the flowers on the Brandywine are getting fertilized...

That concerns me a little. Because my plot is filled with Zillions of bees and other pollinators! But maybe it's the plant deciding it can't handle all the fruit? It does have a good number of tomatoes coming on!

The vining Wax Beans make me happy!

Oh hey! The ProCut Red Sunflower is making a second bloom!! Woo!

I harvested the second Patty Pan today. And I've lost track of how many Lemon Cucumbers I've gotten off the heathy plant... the other two Lemon Cuc plants aren't ready to make fruits.

Heading out.

But this catches my eye in a neighboring plot...

That colour! I wonder what variety that is!

And I see not all of those flowers have been fertilized, as well.

In the evenings I've been watching the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. This is a mini-series of six episodes.

As is my way, I've watched it over and over. I think I've seen it three times, now, all the way thru. Which is enough to have a favorite episode...

Episode number four! Darcy is walking away right after he makes the terrible proposal and the words they both said are echoing. And then the letter he writes!

But then in Episode number five, Miss Bennet visits Pemberly with her aunt and uncle... and Mr Darcy is suddenly all nice, and gentlemanly. That's a good one as well!

But then again... episode three was the set up for all of this. That disastrous proposal! That's fun to watch as well!

*laughs* I would like to re-read P&P again at some point. I know that the 1995 version is closer to following the story than the 2005 movie. But of course, the 1995 version is hours longer, so there's more time to be true. But I do enjoy the movie as well.

:)

Tag: july 2025

Taking a break from the garden! It's a nice day today at 84° (29°C) but next week looks like upper 80s and a couple days in the 90s. Bleh. So I'm enjoying today!

And it really is a lovely summer day!

I go by the bridge thats getting seismic upgrades. This road closed in mid-June and they won't finish until Aug20.

The extra traffic on the street I live on is a major pain, I'll be glad when this is done!

I love all the different colours of the prairie!

I get around to the trail at the park... aw, dangit!

*laughs* That was a Kestrel standing on that Frisbee Golf goal. She flew away immediately.

But she flew in the direction I was walking and I saw her land in a tree. I walked closer, but the tree was too far from the trail, and I figured she would fly again if I got too close.

She's a female... The males have blue wings.

I walk around, but she's busy!

And it's not a better view anyway. Humph!

I remind myself that if I were to walk out here more often... I would get more chances to see these beautiful little raptors!! *smiles*

Tag: july 2025

There's spider webs in front of the Barn Swallow nest again.

But with some fiddling, I do get the camera focused beyond.

In the Community Garden, walking back to my plot, I stop to take a pic of these so I can ID them...

Nemesia. They are tiny and native to southern Africa, so probably not doing a single thing for our pollinators.

In my plot, I'm throwing down some fertilizer and watering.

Here's the healthy Lemon Cucumber plant, from the other side of the small trellis!

The Tomatillos I bought are at the other end of the small trellis. They are making fruits, in the excitable manner that is normal! *laughs* Tomatillos are prolific!

The Tomatillos are very crowded by Borage, that's the blue flowers and the fur. I should probably pull some of the Borage out, to give space. But, meh. The Tomatillos don't seem to mind the Borage, which brings bees and pollinators of all sorts!

This is the front left of the plot, the neighbor's corn in the top left and some of my Buckwheats in the top right.

The squash at the top, right of center is the Main Crookneck that I bought as a veggie start. It used to be the biggest squash in the plot!

But now, the Crookneck on the left has gotten bigger!! I planted that one as a seed, so that's very exciting.

And plus... look how different the leaves are. The transplant has much deeper lobes. Makes me wonder if the seed planted Crookneck is actually a Crookneck!! Ha!

Well, whatever it is, I am thrilled with how well it is doing! It's the first time that I've grown summer squashes from seed!

But today I'm picking from the Green Zuc...

*laughs* at those two Sungolds! Well, the plants have to start somewhere!

Green Zebra, the experimental tomato flavor of the year.

I wonder when I'm supposed to harvest them!

The Mystery Plant under the big trellis.

And look how pretty the Basil is! It's the first time I've had good success with Basil.

Well, I'm out. Outside the Community Garden fence, there's some Chicory blooming.

Tag: july 2025

Massive back pain today!

Ha! Let me tell you what I've been working on for the daily Tiny Cleans in the porch room...

This electric Underwood Typewriter is my inheritance from my Grandma. I learned how to type on Grandma's typewriters! That's why the keys are covered with tape, so we couldn't look down at the letters! ha!

And that orange thing is a moving company sticker... apparently they didn't even bother to put it in a box! Amazing it still works.

Or, I assume it works. I didn't plug it in because it really needs to be cleaned, and oiled I suppose. And I don't have a ribbon for it. I would pay someone else to do this work for me... It would be way fun to type on it again! But that is for another time.

Anyway. I don't know how heavy the thing actually is, but I was trying to get it and the other typewriter back under the shelf yesterday. I didn't notice any back pain while I was working but I had spasms last night and was pretty sure I was going to die! *laughs*

So! That all said, I am not even going to bother with the garden. We are just coming off the latest little heat wave: it was 92° on Wed and 89° yesterday. I watered pretty well yesterday, and the high today is a very pleasant 85° so the veggies should be fine!

I'm going for a walk!

As I approached the Events Center, Oh yeah, the Fair is happening this weekend!

Since the main parking lot is used for the rides they use the back fields for parking instead. And to jam as many cars as they can into that space, horseback riders direct the cars into tidy rows!

That's always fun to watch!

I go thru the Solidarity Garden. Veggies and fruits are growing, and the flowers look lovely as well!

I sat at Wayside Micro Park to drink water.

It's a shame the bench is no longer in the shade. The ice storm that killed the Leaning Tree also brought down the beautiful Mimosa Trees here.

They've replanted with two other species of trees -- but like the new Leaning Trees, they are just saplings. It'll be a good decade or more before they provide any shade.

And on this side, ha, the Mimosa is coming back to life!

On the way back, there's an alley that I specifically wanted to go down to see this amazing double petal Hibiscus!

There's a regular Hibiscus bush here as well.

One more look at the horses as I pass the Events Center again.

And then I'm back at the creek! It's Mackerel Sky!

A parent still sits at the nest. I wonder when we will have babies!

Greenie!!

So awesome to see her/him again!

Tag: july 2025

A kid in the grass! Juvenile Scrub Jay.

Stretch! ha, her little arms!

And Yawn! *laughs*

And back to sleep!

Walk about at the Community Garden!

I'm surprised at how messy the Pollinator Garden is this year... I like it but I imagine it makes the stupid Garden Director cringe. haha!

Red and Orange used to be my least favorite colours... but now I think Orange definitely has it's place!! :)

I've come around to my garden plot. Some fruits on the Half Dead Sungold, with the small Strawberry plant stretching its runners underneath!

And here's the Fallow Area Sungold. See? Orange is a lovely colour!

A Green Zuc I'll pick in a day or two.

The Main Crookneck.

*laughs* Yeah I just ate that Sungold! I also ate this...

Oh my gosh, it was perfect! mmmm!

There's some more strawberries coming on and that Seascape one is Huge! It's still white underneath, yet. I hope the slugs don't get it.

And the cute little volunteer squash under the Brandywine!

Oh! Hello!

Wow, look how pretty her face is with that dark blue sheen! She's tiny, too. I bet she's a parasitic wasp of some kind!

Looking up at the Brandywine...

That Bumblebee on the right comes around! :)

Thank you for your pollinating services!!

This is that little Mystery Plant. I've still not looked it up... I was hoping it would just make a flower and be obvious about what it was. But so far, it's just the leaves!

Tag: july 2025

Too Cute!

The Spider webs in front of the Barn Swallow nest have been broken up a little, so I can see the parent sitting. But I don't stay but for a minute.

I am doing some weeding today, gonna take out this little patch of grass (those are the Leeks that have fallen over)... and the tiny tree! ha.

I have removed so many little trees this year! Springing up all over the place from the leaves I hauled last winter.

It does make me sad, having to murder a tree, even a tiny one. But I can't have a tree in the garden plot! I wonder if I could try putting them in a pot, instead?

A hawk is yelling and I realize they are sitting in the tree right outside the Community Garden...

Red Shoulder Hawk, and she has an eye patch! Bahaha!!

What a goof!

Back to my plot. The Wax Beans are vining!

And on the other side of the big trellis, the Tomatillo I moved out of the pathway is growing and doing just fine!

The Patty Pan has some fruits coming on.

And so does the Green Zuc.

The Lemon Cucumber plants that have lived are growing well.

It's a little bit sad to think of all the Lemon Cucs I bought, that were murdered by the bugs this spring.

Yet again, this will not be the year that I grow more Lemon Cucumbers than I can eat.

On the other side of the small trellis, the Nasturtium seedlings are happy.

On the way home, I'm eating a good handful of Himalayan Blackberries!

I see one of the baby raccoons again... but there's something very wrong with her eye. Poor baby.

Either an injury has gotten infected, or maybe it's cancer. Probably won't last very long and probably painful. ugh.

Tag: july 2025

Bleh. I have not been sleeping well.

At first, I couldn't sleep just because of the heat. The heat wave of mid-July lasted eight days, with two days of upper 90s. The last couple of days and nights have been blissful, but still no sleep. I toss and turn.

And now we are gearing up for another couple days in the 90s.

I'm so sleep deprived, I can't even think about it. I hope some exercise and sunshine will help!

I walk past the Barn Swallow bridge and past Dragonfly Land. The next bridge is a walking bridge, and I just watch the dragonflies for a while.

After a bit, I head back to the garden. Maybe some weeding will do me good.

But I just futz around and don't do anything meaningful.

The Volunteer Squash patch is over run by Borages, and one of the squashes has gotten choked off. I push the Borages away a little, but don't feel like pulling them out... there's so many bees flying around and they make me happy!

The Green Zebra tomatoes sure look pretty!

And the two ProCut sunflowers.

I'm glad I got them both, especially since I've had zero volunteer sunflowers this year. I don't think that's ever happened before!

In the afternoon, I crash and take a nap...

I lie down, thinking that I would sleep for hours and hours and it would probably be dark when I wake up.

But, ha! I sleep for 45mins and I feel refreshed and have a productive evening.

Funny how just the littlest bit of self care makes such a big difference!

Tag: july 2025

I'm wrapped up in my Tardis blanket, in front of the computer again this morning! The forecast says 80° today... but that's what it said for yesterday and it only got to 77°!!

And sure enough, the clouds of the morning stick around most all day and the high tops out at 76°.

I'll be sure to enjoy it... there's a few days of hot weather back again starting tomorrow.

oh crum!

*laughs* well, that spider web is very inconveniently placed! I try to get the camera focused beyond, but sheesh.

At the garden, the new Volunteer Squash under the Brandywine already has a true leaf coming along!

And the Brandywine is growing more tomatoes.

And the poor beleaguered Old German has a single fruit as well!

I don't know why it's beleagured... It doesn't have many leaves, and the leaves it does have are small. And it's just 2 feet away from the big, lovely Brandywine so the comparison makes the Old German look even more pathetic!

But not quite as pathetic as the Half Dead Sungold! It did recover from that 33° night, but it's still short. Growing out, rather than up.

But it has loads of fruits!

The big trellis, that I'm so pround of!

Oh my gosh! The Wax Beans are starting to vine!!

A family of House Finches bounces around excitedly in Kevin's plot. They don't stay long enough for me to count the kids.

Also in Kevin's plot... these are the Nasturtiums I hope I got seeds of! That kind of stripy, orange is lovely!

Back to my plot!

I had missed one of the very ripe Lemon Cucumbers, when I got that first big load the other day. So I grab it, and a sprig of Basil.

The Sugar Snap Peas are decidedly slowing down and the couple transplants are dying back already. Oh, I'm bummed. The harvests didn't last long at all.

Maybe when the rest of the peas quit, I will clear that spot and replant for a fall harvest?

Well. The Tomatillos are starting to gear up!

It really is a beautiful plant.

And Always prolific! I can't wait!!

And I'm out, heading home.

Plums? or Cherries?

Quick check... Plum trees have toothed leaves, so this is probably a cherry tree. Apparently I've been mixing up the two forever! ha.

∞ Differences Between Cherry And Plum Tree

∞ Plum trees versus cherry trees: how to tell the difference and identify them

It's good to learn things!!!

Mmmm! Himalayian Blackberries! I eat a handful today!

Tag: july 2025

Cloudy this morning and so cool in the house that I wrap myself in a blanket as I'm doing my computer work!

I need a break from the garden, so I'm walking in the neighborhood to the south. There won't be any wildlife on the way... but it's good to look at different things!

The clouds are moving around a little and try to break up.

This is the street where they are doing seismic upgrades to the bridge over the creek.

The traffic from this road is being detoured over to the street I live on, and it is terrible.

People are in a rush, the speed limit is much slower on my street, being a narrow neighborhood street. And they are just not paying attention. So many drivers aren't bothering to stop for pedistrians crossing at the bike path.

I have had several near misses, already... One car stopped for me to get across at the crosswalk, but then I had to wait in the tiny island because the car coming the other way refused to stop.

Three feet from my face, an suv rushing by? Yeah, that does not make me feel safe in my own damn neighborhood. What's the rush, you damn drivers??? Just stop for us stupid pedistrians!!

Okay. Rant done! Let's look at pretty things!

Hello my sweet Pollinator friends!

At the top of the hill, you can see the Coastal Range to the west. Ha, too bad the view is terrible!

Oh, this is new! I like it! It's right next to the street, but there's not a ton of traffic here.

Tag: july 2025

Good Morning Dearie! Aw, your poor mangy tail.

And Good Morning Fledgling, way up there! The whole wide world is very exciting? Yes!

And Good Morning Blue Dasher!

I start walking back, and a Barn Swallow flies towards where the nest is under the bridge, and doesn't fly out... Hmm?

I get the camera out and look at the zoom... Oh my gosh!

They get settled...

And oh my gosh, I am so frustrated at the spider webs!

*laughs* So! A second brood for these Barn Swallow parents! That's exciting!

At the garden, I'm doing some weeding.

The front of the garden plot really needs to be tidied up... We'll have Compliance Checks at the end of the month, and it would be nice if the front looked good.

Instead, I started weeding at the back. The Strawberries needed some help. And then I went around the volunteer Squashes.

And then I found a new Volunteer Squash right under the Brandywine!

Ha! It probably won't have time enough to do anything before the season ends. But it's still nice to see it! It's so cute and healthy looking... That hasn't happened very much for the Squashes this year!

And, crouched as I am under the Brandywine, here's what I see when I look up!

It's definitely the healthiest of the tomato plants, and it has loads and loads of flowers!

The Aubergine looks pretty good as well.

I'm pleased at how the small Strawberry is expanding it's territory with all it's runners!

And it's pet Nasturtium is getting along just fine!

And, actually, I'm really happy with everything back here in this corner! I wish I didn't have to weed down to dead dirt, but that's what the Community Garden director wants.

And Look!

That Sungold falls off when I wiggle it and I ate it!

My first Sungold of the year!!

It wasn't quite ripe, tho! *laughs* It didn't have the signature Sungold sweetness. Ha. Oh well. I just have to be patient.

On the other side of the plot, a couple of the Buckwheats at the front edge of the Fallow Area have gotten delightfully huge. Many branches, many flowers.

Oh. And the weeding? Yeah, I didn't bother working on the front. It's still a mess!

And on the walk home...

I ate a couple of the Himalayan blackberries... and they aren't quite ripe, either, so I need to be patient with them as well!

Tag: july 2025

As soon as I turned the corner, at the creek, I saw Greenie? And she had something wiggling in her beak! Caught a minnow! She swallowed it down before I could get the camera ready.

It is Greenie. I'm pretty sure.

And then!

*laughs!* It's always a weird surprise when they do that!!

Further up the creek, some ducklings.

And then in Dragonfly Land, lots of Blue Dashers!

Huh. This dragonfly looks like the same one I photoed a few days ago... Jul14

Never thought I'd get the chance to make friends with a bug! He buzzes and lands the other way.

Whoa!! Look at his face!!!

Ha! Cute!

Another Mama with even smaller babies, not interested in photography.

At the garden and oh sheesh... the new Bonbon Buttercup has a bloom on it!

I probably should have pulled the flower off... The plant isn't really big enough to support any fruit, it's just freaking out because it's suddenly not in a tiny pot! ha!

But the real reason I'm here today... the first Lemon Cucumber harvest!!

and whoops! There were more Cucs under the leaves than I thought... and a bit further along, too.

And I saw the Basil was starting to bloom, too. So I cut all those off, to add to my meals! Yum!

The Lemon Cucs got put in the fridge, and I started eating them as soon as they got cold. That darkest one, at the top wasn't great, the skin had gotten tough. But the other ones were WONDERFUL!

Pure Bliss!

Yes! Lemon Cucumbers are the REASON for the garden!

The photography? Yeah, yeah, whatever.
Lemon Cucumbers? Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!!

*laughs*

The ProCut Plum is looking lovely. Tho you can see how short it is...

That's the big trellis, on the right... It's 4feet high, and the sunflower is just a couple inches over that!

That super tall stick in the background on the right, is the remains of a volunteer sunflower from last year. I think it was 9 or so feet tall!

It's kind of disappointing that I don't have any volunteer sunflowers this year. I put down a lot of leaves, last winter, and I think that discouraged most everything from growing.

Oh well. The two sunflowers I bought are pretty.

Tag: july 2025

The high today is 89°, nine degrees 'cooler' than yesterday. I can feel the difference on my walk out to the garden for sure, and I decide to get some work done.

This last patch of grass under the big trellis has really been bugging me!

There! Isn't that better!

The Wax Beans on both sides are really a happy surprise to me... I seriously thought I would have to re-sow them for a third round after the slugs descimated them. But the weather dried out, the slugs retreated, and the second round came back to life!

On the left is the precious Basil and a big Dandelion. And then at the back of the trellis is the Buttercup, surprisingly still alive.

Just right of center, at the back, you can just barely see the Tomatillo I transplanted from the pathway.

On the right in front, I decided to keep the Borage plants right next to the dry bean.

And then far right I think that green thing is a Love in the Mist... but I've never had one so bushy! The last time I came thru with fertilizer, I gave some to it, and it must have loved that!

There's another Love in the Mist over here. And I decided to weed around this volunteer tomato plant!

I've mentioned before that these volunteers don't make good fruits. But this one looks so healthy, I just started watering it. ha *shrugs*

And there are some first blooms on the Crooknecks I planted as seeds! WooHoo! I can grow things!

*laughs* I'm excited because I've never been able to grow squashes from seed. The only things that are successful from seeds are the Sugar Snap Peas and the Wax Beans.

Normally the slugs eat up the seedling squashes (well, they eat up all seedlings!), so I am happy to have a couple plants survive that! There's two plants in the pic above, and there's a third from seed next to the big Crookneck that got transplanted as a veggie start.

It is definitely a Crookneck year! Most of the other summer squashes died miserable deaths. The only other ones that lived are a Green Zuc and a Patty Pan.

Before I go, I stop to admire the flowers at the back of the diagonal plot neighbor.

And both my ProCut Sunflowers!

I've got a few minutes, so I wander to the back of the Community Garden. Someone has added some Tiger Lilies to our Bird Bath Art Installation!

Tag: july 2025

No rest for the weary.

Because it's impossible to sleep when it's so stinkin' hot! And the house didn't cool down adequately last night... it's still 74° upstairs, when I get up. ugh.

I walk a neighborhood zig zag before going to the Garden and find some lovely flowers!

Back at the creek in Dragonfly Land... I was focused on this Common Whitetail.

But then I realized there was a damselfly on the stick as well! Yes! This is the photo that I was trying to capture the other day with a dragonfly and a damselfly, with their size difference!

The damselfly is a female, but her species has me stumped! I don't know who she is!

A Blue Dasher sits for me as well.

And it's the Mackerel Sky heron again... itchy foot!

Ha, her cute nails!

Okay, off to the garden! The beautiful ProCut Red demands attention.

And the teeny tiny Buckwheat blooms are pretty in their own way!

The tomatillos that I bought have loads of blooms...

And are starting on some fruits as well!

Tho it'll be a good long while before the Tomaillos are done... The fruit is inside that husk, and right now is probably about the size of a pea. It will continue to grow until it bursts the husk open.

The Lemon Cucumber plants are still alive.

The Lemon Cuc that died yesterday was on the other side of the trellis. I'm just hoping this side continues to live... what would I do if I don't get any Lemon Cucumers to eat???!

And the Buttercup is still alive as well. Actually, it looks surprisingly good.

The big leaves of the dry bean plant are all sunburned to death. And the smaller core leaves are getting some bug damage. But I think it will probably live!

And look how pretty the Aubergine is!

Today's harvest.

Before I go, I stop to admire the Borage blooms and the Bees and other pollinators buzzing around!

Tag: july 2025

I am very out of sorts today. Partner isn't going along with my efforts to keep the house cool and I was screaming mad about it.

The long days of heat are just wearing on our nerves. 91° today again, and 98° forecast tomorrow. and then at least two or three more days in the low 90s before it cools off to normal temps. It's hard to endure.

So I'm out for some nature time.

Greenie!

And then...

Huh! That's a female Common Whitetail dragonfly!

The dragonfly gives a little buzz.

And then comes back to settle. Greenie gives me a look.

The dragonfly changes her mind about her resting spot, flies away. And Greenie is rolling her eyes!!! Bahahaha!

Greenie goes back to her regular hunting for minnows or frogs or whatever!

And in Dragonfly Land I happen to catch a male Common Whitetail!

At the Community Garden there's just one car in the parking lot and I decide to walk around. The Pollinator Garden in the front has inherited some Gladilus.

They are pretty, but they aren't a native and I don't think any of our pollinators are interested!

My friend Roz is in his garden plot and I stop to chat with him. He shares some of his Raspberries with me and says he's been making videos to put up on YouTube!

Oh that's cool! He says most of them are in Farsi but the video on Fourth of July was a good one. He tells me how to find his channel and I make an effort to memorize his last name.

∞ Happy 4th from the Community Garden

Ha! How awesome is that!!

I wander around to my plot. oh FFS.

*Wails* That was Lemon Cucumber number three.

What happened??! WHY????

Aww. I'm so sad. Now I'm down to two Lemon Cucumber plants, plus the seedling. And what killed this one? Will the others be killed as well??! WAI!

Gah. Stupid garden, anyway.

*breathe* okay. Well. Focus on the good.

Here's the big trellis, with the ProCut Plum Sunflower and the Basil.

And for some reason the Buttercup is still alive.

And the core leaves of the dry bean are still good.

And I'm able to harvest the very first Patty Pan! and the second Crookneck from the big plant!

I'm out. And being outside and getting some exercise is good for me, even with the annoyances. Sighs.

Tag: july 2025

Yesterday hit a terrible high of 99° (38°C) but now we've got a couple days of low 90s before we hit the next 99°.

That's how it's been going this summer... A few days of very hot weather, followed by a few days of more normal weather. (Normal for this time of year is 84/52.)

It definitely makes the hot weather more bearable when you can see the end of it. Except highs in the low 90s hardly counts as normal!

But I hope the weather continues to break up the very hot days... after all, the summer has only just begun!

Cute, cute babies!

oh foo. This is a terrible picture, but the only one I got with two different species of dragonflies...

The top one is the new-to-me Blue Dasher dragonfly, who is noticably smaller than the Common Whitetail dragonfly.

Well, at least one species sticks around for decent photography!

His poor wing. And the other one is starting to fall apart as well. It probably hurts and must definitely make flying more challenging.

I heard peeping, and a little bit further upstream is a Mama Mallard with some younger babies!

Okay, to the garden.

I'm checking on the veggie starts I put in yesterday. oh crud! The Buttercup is wilted.

I think its just from being too stinking hot... rather than the bacterial Wilt Disease that's been killing so many plants this year. I will water the heck out of it!

The dry bean - Pescia - has some sun damage on it's biggest leaves. But the smaller leaves at the core are fine.

Those are some Borages under it... I don't want to pull them out until I'm sure the bean plants will make it!

And the Perth Pride could use some water as well.

It really has pretty leaves...

The Internets say Perth Pride is a regular leaf, dwarf variety that produces round, medium sized fruit that ripen to a dusky rose purple hue. The flavor is intense and distinctly tart, and the variety is quite prolific.

So that sounds very interesting!

The other experimental tomato variety I've got this year is the Green Zebra, and it's getting some fruits on!

The Sungold in the Fallow Area is showing some colour!

The other sunflower, the ProCut Plum, is just a little bit behind the ProCut Red.

Today's harvest.

And the neighbor across the path, to the south also offered some yellow zuchinni! She has too much, and Heck Yeah! Happy to take extras off her hands, since my summer squashes have yet to do much.

I'm heading out but I stop to admire the precious Basil... and the Buttercup on the other side of the trellis has perked up with some water!

This rainbow windsock was new last year... kind of faded now! But still a cheerful thing!

This is the climbing rose near the Flickers nest!

Ha!

Oh! One of the Raccoon youngsters is out again!!

And there's the other sibling!

I don't see Mama, but she's undoubedly around.

And the kids never turn around, either. bummer. But it is great to see them, anyway!

Tag: july 2025

To be 99° today and a tie with the record set in 1996. bleh.

But I'm excited to head to the garden... to see about those freebie veggie starts on the picnic table!

Oh hey! A new dragonfly! I think he's a Blue Dasher. A bit smaller than the regular Eight Spot Skimmers here! What beautiful eyes you have!

And not afraid to sit on a twig for a rest! *laughs* That's a dragonfly personality trait that makes me happy!

And the Tule Bluet damselflies like to sit as well, tho they are always a bit too far away for decent photography...

And this one has to remind us about how horrid humans are.

Wait. That Ladybug does not have a head! Did you think that little damselfly ate her head??!

Just outside the Community Garden: a fledgling Scrub Jay.

Yes! There are a few freebies left! Even better... the labels say those are winter squashes! Yay!

I decided to get a couple more plants. I mean, what the heck, I've got room since so much has died this spring! I take one of the tomato plants and some kind of bean as well.

I carry them carefully to my plot and have a quick glance around.

Oh no! The Accidental Lemon Cucumber! Died!

Well. That's the end of an era. I'm down to 3 Lemon Cucumbers now, instead of 3½. Sighs. But yeah, it just wasn't growing properly. And look at the base of it's poor stem...

I decide to plant the new winter squash in its place under the big trellis with the Wax Beans...

The tag says Bonbon Buttercup. *laughs* When I look it up, the internets say the fruits are 4 to 5 pounds. hmm. Will that fit in my backpack? ha. Well, we have a long way to go before that becomes a concern!

I put the new bean plant at the other end of the trellis, in an empty patch where the Wax Beans were murdered in a permanent way.

And dang it, I regret that I didn't finish the weeding here! *snort*

The tag says Sorana, and oops: it's a dry bean. I've never done dry beans before. And it looks like the pods will be yellow... I hope I can tell the difference with the Wax Beans it's growing with. Ha!

Oh. And also. You can't call it Sorana.

∞ Bean, Pole Dry, 'Pescia'

In the same way that champagne grapes are only grown in a specific area, and outside that area the result must be called sparkling wine! Sorana beans are only grown in an area in Italy, and they have to be called something else when they are grown elsewhere. So Pescia it is!

And then the tomato plant I got is called Perth Pride! That's fun!

It's a cute little thing... to be a dwarf plant.

And all three of the veggie starts I got today are super healthy looking, even tho they are terribly root bound in their little starter pots! I hope they live!

I give everybody a good soaking. And notice the Nasturtiums are doing well.

The view of the south side of the big trellis from the ProCut Plum... with the beautiful basil, and that big dandelion ha.

And look how beautiful the ProCut Red is!!

Wow, stunning!

Hottest day of the year, so far, and it gets miserable in the house, thru the afternoon. The make shift swamp cooler does help but the upstairs hits 80° a bit after noon and 90° around 7pm. Yuck!

The downstairs tops out at 84° which is livable.

But I'm thinking this might be the year where I break down and get a stupid window air conditioner. But, ugh, I hate to even think about it. Air conditioners are just contributing to to problem of climate change... and I don't want to contribute to the problem! I want to be part of the solution!

Tag: july 2025

Good Morning, Fledgling!

And Good Morning, Neo! With some invasive Sweet Peas to make a pretty picture!

At the bridge, there's Tule Bluets flying around. This one is a tiny bit too far away for good photos.

Tule Bluets are damselflies who are much smaller than dragonflies. The internets say this damselfly is 1.1 to 1.5inches long, where our common dragonflies here, Eight Spot Skimmers are 1.7 to 2inches long.

A Lorquin Admiral makes a quick appearance before fluttering away.

At the garden plot... Yay! First sighting on the Brandywine!!!

And another one over here! And look at all the flowers!!

And there's a first fruit on the Old German as well!

And the first ripening cherry tomato on the Half Dead Sungold!

Both Sungolds and the Old German this year have small leaves and look really pathetic. Possibly missing some nutrients, even tho both got some of that compost dirt in the spring And I've been giving them fertilizer along the way as well. I should do some soil testing, except that I'm so lazy. :)

Plenty of fruits coming on, tho, so that's good.

That's the one thing that kept me going when the bugs and slugs were killing all the squashes and cucumbers and beans... I will have tomatoes! *laughs*

And here's the Aubergine.

Ha, the Tomatillo I moved from the pathway still looks pathetic, but it has a bloom on it! I should probably remove that, but the plant is so little and delicate looking I don't want to mess with it!

There's a Patty Pan thats coming up to size...

But today is all about this!

Yay Food! *laughs*

Well. I've been putzing around here for far too long, it's well after noon and it's hot and I've drunk all of the water I brought. So I fill up my backpack with the squashes and head out.

But as I leave by the side gate, something at the front of the Community Garden catches my eye... Oh my gosh!

Freebie veggie starts!! And that looks like squash!

Oh... arg! I desperately want some of those squash plants! But I'm dying in the heat, I need to go. But, arg!

I left. Oh, I hope there will be some left tomorrow.

Tag: july 2025

Heading to the Garden to get some work done! But first I go out to the bridge. The minnows have caught my eye today.

So cute!

Back at the garden... that ProCut Red Sunflower is looking quite stately!

The pinkish balls are the Elephant Garlic blossoms, and the darker green plant in the lower right is the Patty Pan... one of just three summer squashes that have lived thru the murdering bugs this spring.

That white sheet is a row cover... Kevin explained that he had transplanted a tomato plant that had gotten huge at home. The row cover is to prevent sunburn. We are going into another heatwave, 90° days without an end in the forecast.

I'm going to weed both sides of the big trellis, where the second round of Wax Beans are doing a good job of recovering from the slugs.

Here's the south side of the trellis, before I started weeding. The north side is is a little bit less weedy, and that's where I start working.

I'm pulling out Crab Grass, the regular Quack Grass, Smart Weed, some Dandelion type plants, a couple Borages, tho I decide to keep those bigger ones on the right!

There are a couple volunteer Tomato plants, too, that I pull out... In general it's the Sungolds that volunteer, since I can't eat all the fruits they make! Unfortunately, the next generation is yucky tasting, plain red cherry tomatoes. Nothing like the delightful candy sweet Sungolds!

I had to pull out several baby trees as well! Ha, I remember how busy the squirrels were, when I was hauling leaves in November! But they never got around to eating so many tree nuts and seeds! I've had to pull a dozen or more growing trees this year!

On the north side, the Wax Beans and the moved Tomatillo look more free. I've kept a couple small Speedwell plants, tho... They will make tiny blue flowers, and I like them!

And on the south side, I didn't quite get finished: that green patch just to the right of center is grass, both Quack and Crab. I'll get that out another day.

The green patch right above my shadow is a big ol' Dandelion! I've kept all the Dandelions that got established in the spring. They are a good plant to bring up nutrients from the depths!

And the precious Basil at the left... I think it's finally got it's roots happily established. It's just looking suddenly a lot better. Brighter and more cheery!

And that Mystery plant, to the left, has been growing as well... The leaves seem pretty distinctive, but I've not bothered to ask google about it yet.

As I was watering, I noticed I accidentally soaked a bumble bee. Oops! I saw her struggling and I scooped her up so that shd could dry off on my hand.

*laughs* Poor bedraggled girl! She was so tired, she didn't even bother to buzz her wings to help them dry! I carried her around until I was done watering.

And then I offered to put her on some Sungold blooms? Nope, she refused! How about some Borage? Yep, that's fine! *smiles*

Tag: july 2025

It's overcast this morning and a high of 85°... and it looks like this will be the last nice summer day for a while. Nothing but 90s in the forecast, and even getting up to 99° (37°C) next Tuesday. ugh.

So we must enjoy TODAY!

I walk out to the bridge, and there's a new kind of dragonfly flying around! Blue Stripes!

I'm very excited, but they are all busy, busy, and nobody sits for some photography. So I attempt to catch them while they are flying. I need something to look at for identification, in case those stripes aren't unique! Meh...

Okay! Here we go!

Blue Eye Darner! Awesome!

At the garden, I stop to look at a neighbor's Petunias.

The red flowers on the right are some kind of ... Snapdragon? hmm. Actually, no. It's something else... Snapdragons are bigger plants and have a stalk with lots of flowers, not singletons like that.

While I'm contemplating, I'm hearing an Anna Hummingbird sing. I keep glancing around, but don't see him. As I get up to go to my plot, I finally trangulate the sound.

Ha! I just have to look straight up!

*laughs* He's a juvenile, not yet recieved his iridescent balaclava.

And at my plot, Yay! ProCut Red!

I'm doing some weeding today. I saw the invasive Horseradish in the east neighbor's plot was starting to come up in my plot. And then I just went down the border pulling up grass and whatever looked annoying!

I stopped before hitting the front of the plot, but the beets could stand some weeding too. Another day.

There's some sunflowers blooming in front of the compost heap. They are short and not very sturdy looking, but beautiful!

Back at my plot... The first ripening sungold on the plant in the Fallow Area.

And this Green Zuc is about the size you'd get at the grocery. But there's no more coming on, so I'll let this one get big before I harvest it!

The Crookneck, on the other hand!

And nearby, one of the Nasturtiums I planted as seed!

And the Healthy Lemon Cucumber plant!

Oh yeah! I wonder when I will pick those Lemon Cucs, hiding there under the leaves!

Tag: july 2025

Let me tell you about my exercise routine, because I've been having wild success all of a sudden!

In the morning, I do some shoulder stretches. I had tendonitis in my shoulder one time, and I just kept doing the stretches that helped the most. And then I do a tiny little, five minute workout which includes single foot heel raises on the bottom step, half pushups, lunges, and rarely some kind of goblet squats.

The half pushups have always been very diffcult for me. When I started, however many years ago, I literally couldn't even do one! I had to start with some plank time, dropping slowly, and eventually I could get myself back up.

Slowly, slowly... It took more than a year, I'm not sure how long? but I got up to 10 half pushup!

I plateaued around ten for a long time. But in December 2024, I was starting to be able to do 11 and sometimes 12! Woo! Exciting.

But then in January 2025, I had Covid19. I got over the sickness, but it took about a month to recover my energy. And when I experimented getting back to the half pushups in February, I could only do 3 to 5!

Fortunately, it didn't take me another year to get back to ten! It took a month. But I was stuck again at my old plateau of 10.

But, roundabout in May I started adding extra half pushups again. One here, another in a week or so, every once in a while I'd get up to 15 and then I'd need a break and only do 11 the next day. A little bit more, and a little bit more!

Yesterday I did 19 half pushups. And today I was able to do 19 half pushups AGAIN!

YAY! Party! I like being strong!

*laughs*

A new Western Grey Squirrel has been coming around lately, and I finally caught his photo, looking out my bedroom window.

It's cooler today... a high of blissful 80°! So I'll walk a little bit, maybe stop by the garden if I feel like it on the way back.

Greenie the Green Heron!

It's nice that s/he is standing in a more picturesque spot! It's just a couple meters downstream from the bridge spillover where they usually stand.

Thank You Dear! It's so nice of you to stay and let me look at you!

The Leaning Tree saplings.

The Crows are having a meeting.

A murder of crows, right? *laughs*

I do decide to go in and look at the garden plot.

The Sungold in the Fallow Area is showing a little colour!

And I gather some Sugar Snap Peas to take home!

And on the way home, I check on the invasive Himalayan Blackberries along the bike path. Mmmm! Getting closer to ripe!

Tag: july 2025

A blurry Chickadee who flew away before the camera could get a focus.

aw. It's been ages since I've been able to get pics of little birds. Here's a Song Sparrow.

It's been nesting season, so of course I don't see little birds because they are keeping a low profile. But also the new climate change wind keeps me from finding birds in the trees, even when I can hear them singing.

Just past the bridge, a colourful mess in the creek.

Neo?

Oh, you're not Neo. Look at that mackerel sky design of the feathers!

I hear a ruckus and look up... Red Shoulder Hawk!

There are two Lesser Goldfinches yelling and letting everyone know there's a predator in their midst!

The closer Lesser is barely a meter away! Granted, Red Shoulders would prefer a snake for lunch, but still! Very brave!

The other Lesser Goldfinch, who is further away, is bouncing around and yelling in every direction!

So awesome!

And back to the garden. Where I walk by someone's grape vines.

And in my plot... The Brandywine has a bunch of flowers but no fruit yet...

Mmmm! The Brandywine is the biggest and healthiest of all the tomato plants this year, and I have delicious hopes!! Brandywines are my favorite, but the plants aren't usually very productive. but I think this plant is going to supply me with an abundance!

Oh my gosh! Under the small trellis...

A Nasturtium seedling! I totally forgot that I had planted some seeds here as well! ha! I can't believe the are actually coming up! There's three that have popped up! Yay!

And the three that have come up at the front of the plot are growing well, too!

*laughs* it's probably silly to get so excited about a couple of seedlings... but I've never had much success with planting seeds directly. That's why I always buy so many veggie starts to transplant.

But this year, the Crookneck seeds (well, some Crookneck seeds, anyway) AND these Nasturtiums have come up and lived. There's a couple Beets as well, except I planted dozens of those seeds and not many came up.

The Snap Peas and Wax Beans I plant as seeds as well, along with a few transplants I buy. And usually those are successful.

And speaking of the Sugar Snap Peas... one of the Snap Pea plants is actually a Green Pea plant! The pods are inedible!!

Ha! From the placement, this plant was from seed. So there must have been a mixup in the seed packet!

This cute little thing has come up near the front Nasturtiums. I think I'll keep it and see what it grows up to be!

The big Crookneck is coming right along!

And the Lemon Cucumbers at the small trellis!

Tag: july 2025

We're dealing with the next little heat wave... 88° yesterday and the forecast called for 95° (35°C) today but it only got to 92°. And low-90s again for tomorrow.

At home, without air conditioning, I'm perfecting a make-shift swamp cooler for the upstairs...

Overnight, I open up the porch room and have the box fan bringing in cool air. I close the downstairs around 9:30am or so, and pull the shades to block the sun.

In the afternoon, I bring the box fan upstairs and put it in my doorway, blowing out. I soak some towels and drape them over the stair railing and point the fan to bounce the air off the wet towels and then it goes thru partners room. And he's got another box fan, blowing air out.

It works!

The upstairs does get pretty hot. But the downstairs remains cool thru the day. At the hottest, it's at least 15° cooler than the high of the day.

Heading out! At the bridge, Greenie the Green Heron is here!

And s/he lets me get closer today! Aw, so nice!

Keeping a suspicious eye on me tho!

I decide to leave before they fly away, for once! But here is the view I see from the bike path.

At the garden, there's just one car in the parking lot. So I'm walking up and down the paths, looking at other garden plots.

Someone's Artichoke is blooming!

That is such a lovely shade of purple and I've thought about getting an Artichoke for our garden plot... it makes the bees so happy...

But... the plant is ridiculously big. And spiky! And if you want to eat any Artichoke hearts, you have to harvest the blooms before they get to this point!

And when you think about the couple of yummy mouthfuls of food you get from the hearts... and compare that to how big the plant is. *laughs* The math just doesn't do it!

So, really, it's better that I content myself by looking at Artichokes in other plots!

I go by my friend Roz's plot.

He's got Raspberries ripening!

Illegal Raspberries! The Community Garden rules say Caning berries such as raspberries, blackberries and marionberries are only allowed if grown in pots.

*eye roll* Yes. The rules have gotten VERY stupid, and I'm glad Roz is defying them as well!

I get to my plot and start looking around.

ARG! Another damn branch fell off one of the Tomatillos!

That's a huge branch to lose! Are the slugs doing this damage?? Jerks.

Look at that. gah. Maybe I should pull back my hope from these, too. But, no. Tomatillos are tough. They will keep growing and I'm sure there will be more fruits than I can eat in the end.

Well. Here are the things that make me happy right now.

Sugar Snap Peas, yum!

And the Healthy Lemon Cucumber.

And the Small Strawberry plant with it's pet Nasturtium!

Tag: july 2025

∞ We do not comply: How do we disrupt the momentum of Trump's cruelty? by V

Non-compliance is art, as art is meant to defy the status quo, question the givens, expand the boundaries of knowing and freedom. And as you courageously make your mark of refusal, you carve a path for others to be brave. Non-compliance is praxis, stretching and transforming the muscles of our discontent into impactful and embodied action.

Tag: july 2025

I walk down to the bridge... I suppose I shouldn't call it the Barn Swallow bridge now that the babies have fledged!

Turbidity is up in the creek. I don't know what gets flushed out into our waterway during the summer, but it makes things terrible.

I can hardly see the regular Minnows, since they are transparent. But here's a black one!

I watch my finny friend for a bit... but one of my photos...

Weird! ... So... Weird!

I think it's just an amalgam of random bits -- that's obviously a feather there. But it looks so much like someones skeleton!!

Weird!

At the garden, I'm doing a bit of weeding around the big trellis.

Here's the cute little Mystery transplant! It's growing well.

And the second round of Wax Beans is definitely recovering! In fact, there's enough plants coming back to life, that I'm thinking I won't plant seeds for a third round!

And Yeah, more weeding needs to happen there! ha! But there are 10 or 11 Wax Bean plants regrowing leaves, on BOTH sides of the trellis!

And Look! This is the Tomatillo that was growing in the pathway, that I dug up and moved! It's got new leaves and it looks like it's going to recover from it's leaf damage as well!

WOOHOO!! One of the Nasturtium seeds has come up!!!

I am thrilled to pieces! I didn't think any were going to grow! And look how cute it is, with it's little purple leaf backs! Yay!

Here's today's harvest.

*laughs* Well, it's something!

I happen to notice some movement on one of my Dandelions... Whoa! Who are you?!

Box Elder Bugs have that red X... but not all the other decorations...

Hmm. I think they are Western Small Milkweed Bugs

Oh my gosh, look at their cute face! Awww!

On the walk home, I see someone sitting at the edge of the bike path, staring intently at the other side of the creek. I look where she's looking... Oh Wow!!

Aww! That's Mama Raccoon with the tails of two babies!

Oh, I'm so happy to see them! We need more wildlife around here!!

Tag: july 2025

I walk out past the garden to see if my new friend Greenie, the Green Heron is at the Barn Swallow bridge. Nope.

I look at the minnows instead!

I love to watch them. They startle at my movement as I'm watching them, and then they calm down. They also startle at dragonflies flying low over the water!

Oh, funny! While I'm watching the minnows, motion at the Barn Swallow nest catches my eye. A Barn Swallow flutters at the nest for a few seconds!

They fly away and I don't even pay attention to which way they went... because I'm all UM?

*laughs* Was that a fledgling thinking about getting back into the nest? It could have been a parent, visiting the nest just out of habit, but the little bit of fluttering I saw wasn't very graceful. Pretty sure that was kid, learning how to fly.

Funny, Kid! You can't go back home!

Lorquin Admiral!

These are very popular Butterflies this year!

The most common butterflies here are Cabbage Whites. I also occasionally see Fritillaries and the big Western Tiger Swallowtails.

But these Lorquin Admirals, I've never seen them so often, in years past!

At the Community Garden, there's a lady standing right at the gate. She doesn't move out of the way, even as I play with the padlock. As I open the gate she said she was watching an Anna Hummingbird.

Oh Cool! I look in the direction she's facing and yep, there's a Hummer at the blooms of some Scarlet Runner Beans! As I get organized with the camera, the hummingbird moves over to... an Asparagus plant? huh...

She stays for a minute or so... she must be getting something out of those tiny Asparagus blooms?

*laughs* Artsy!

Well, that's awesome. I've not seen many Anna Hummers this year. And now I miss My Garden Supervisor, a male Anna who staked out his territory from the garden plot behind mine.

He reigned for years!

No one replaced him, after he died. Which surprises me, because you'd think the Garden would be prime territory for hummingbirds!

Okay, on to my plot!

The Green Zebra, this year's experimental tomato flavor, is getting some fruits on!!

I also have to admire the Buckwheat blooms... there are a couple of Buckwheats at the front of the Fallow Area that are getting really big! About three feet tall, and loads of branches!

Their blooms are tiny but ridiculously attractive!

The big Crookneck. Grow! Grow! Grow!

The Healthy Lemon Cucumber.

And from this angle -- crouched down, looking at the Lemon Cucs -- the ProCut Red almost looks like a respectable sunflower. *laughs* It's only about 4½feet tall!

Here's the regular view, as I'm leaving the garden...

Those are the Elephant Garlic blooms, and you can just see the precious Basil plant in the lower right. The similar, round blooms at the top left are the Leeks from last year that I never harvested.

And on the way home... the very invasive Himalayan blackberries are making some fruits!

There's a few that are ripening to black, but I don't pick any to eat yet... they'll be too tart!

Tag: july 2025

Just... don't get me started on it being *Air Quotes* Independance Day. I mean, please people. There is nothing to celebrate as the US goes down into fascism.

Nevermind.

Let's see what's going on with the Barn Swallow babies today!

Oh my gosh... The Green Heron is here AGAIN!!

I've decided to name them Greenie. *laughs* Not very original, huh. *shrugs* It's totally exciting to see someone who is ordinarily pretty shy!

Greenie flies away before I can get decent photography, and I pause a moment before going to the other side of the bridge where the Barn Swallow nest is.

I don't hear the excited twittering that I heard on Wednesday, when 3 of the 5 babies were out in the thicket. It's quiet.

Oh! Just a little bit too far away. But this is a female River Jewelwing. A damselfly.

Okay... Yep, empty!

I check the Willow trees, just in case, but no... The babies are gone! At least someone has some freedom today!

I am so proud of the Barn Swallow parents for getting another batch of babies into the sky! I'm so glad they let me watch for a little while.

Okay, back to the garden...

There's a Green Zucchini on the way!

The plant is kind of pathetic and small, but it's trying. oh, that broken stem? That is wind damage from the day I planted it. Stupid Climate Change Wind.

The Crookneck over here is actually bigger and more healthy than the poor Green Zuc...

It's got a fruit coming as well. The little squash at the bottom is a Crookneck I planted as a seed. And the plants on the right are Buckwheats and Favas... Summer cover crops that aren't doing a great job of Covering! *laughs*

The ProCut Red Sunflower is still on the way.

And Look!! The first big harvest of Sugar Snap Peas!!

Yay! I've been eating 4 or 5 pods most every day for about a week or so. And now there's finally enough to bring home!

I'm out, and here's Neo the Great Blue Heron at the creet again.

Missed? Bummer.

Tag: july 2025

We are coming off the latest heat wave... it was 96° at the beginning of the week and today it's cloudy and the high is 80°!!

The hot weather is survivable so far this summer. We'll have three or four days of 90s and then we'll have three or four days of cooler weather. When you can see the end of the 90° days, it's more tolerable.

Hi Neo!

Right before the Barn Swallow bridge, the Green Heron is hanging out here again!

I've never gotten the chance to name a Green Heron before!! But I think this is at least the third time I've seen this one. :) (Or maybe the fourth!)

She doesn't let me get quite as close today, before she flies away.

Well. And the babies?

... Yep, looks like five lumps up there.

Children, children! I thought you were going to fly away yesterday!?

The parents are coming in with food every couple of minutes!

They swoop in so quickly.

And then they are gone in a split second!

Oh my gosh! The baby on the end just FLEW AWAY!

Oh. And she's back! Bahaha!

She's trying to jam herself back into the nest...

Hey! You're standing on my wing!

Dude! Gah!

*laughs* They are so squished in there!

Okay, I'm going to take a break and go to the garden and then come back. Maybe by then they will be brave and fledge out to the trees... Or maybe they'll be so annoyed at each other, they'll fly out for some freedom!

The big Crookneck at the front of the plot makes me happy.

And the healthy Lemon Cucumber is so happy as well!

But, aww dang it. The Spaghetti Squash seedling.

Wilt Disease. And that's it. That was the last chance for any winter squashes.

It's a sad garden that doesn't have winter squashes.

Sighs.

Wow, I don't know what this plant is, just over the border in the Pot People's plot...

But it is a Very popular place!

There's a bloom on my Aubergine! The plant is pretty small yet, tho.

Heading out, but these are pretty little things!

And I'm back at the Barn Swallow nest... where we still have all five lumps.

Children. Will you ever fly free?

Tag: july 2025

As I approached the Barn Swallow bridge, I reminded myself the babies should fledge soon... they might not be there!

But as I came up, I could hear excited twitterings! They're still here! And when I look at the nest... Two babies!!

They are fledging today!! Yay, I get to see them fledge!

Traditionally, the babies come out here and sit in the branches of the Willow trees.

I walk back and forth a couple times, but I don't see the other three right away.

Okay, parents are still feeding the babies in the nest!

Oh, haha!

Babies, you're going to need to reach for your food!

Okay! Let's go look for your siblings!

I'm walking back and forth. Back and forth.

And then I see some movement in the branches! One of the babies was exercising their wings!

And where is your sibling?

Hmmm... I search the thicket, but I never do find them. They must be close by! Maybe hidden better in the leaves?

Haha, the babies still in the nest are napping... too sleepy to fledge!

The fledglings out in the world, on the other hand are looking around... mostly keeping an eye out for a parent with food, but also looking at every new thing!

Okay. I'm going to the garden for a quick watering and then I'll come back for a couple more pics of the babies before they go!

As I'm walking down to the gate...

Ha. That looks like a Sungold! None of my Sungolds have ripened yet, but someone else's plant must have!

Aww! Her Tongue! haha!

A very tasty meal?

My Sungolds and the Green Zebra have fruits coming on, but they are still very green!

The Spaghetti Squash seedling is still in one piece. Do I dare hope?

And Look! The second round of Wax Beans are deigning to live!

That's nice. Maybe I should plant the third round soon, since the slugs are letting a couple leaves live now.

And if the slugs are done, maybe the transplated Tomatillo will live as well!

And the Patty Pan is small, but it's starting on some fruits!!

and the big Crookneck is getting a couple more fruits on the other side as well!

The ProCut Red is starting to make a bloom as well!

This ladybug without spots is an invasive Asia Lady Beetle. The first one I've seen this year.

Well. Oops. I didn't mean to stay so long at the garden. But everything is looking so hopeful for the first time this year!

And look! The Sugar Snap Peas are about as tall as the Elephant Garlic blooms!

Going back to the Barn Swallow bridge... but as I come up to it. Oh my gosh!!

Can we say Challenging lighting conditions? *laughs*

I fiddle with the camera a bit. And she let's me get a little closer!

So Awesome! I wonder if this is the same Green Heron I saw the other day?

I walk to the other side of the bridge and look at the Barn Swallow nest... What the HECK?!!

*laughs* All five! Back in the nest!

What? Did you decide today is NOT the day to fledge after all??!

And Boom. All the babies are napping! Their funny looking pale coloured eyelids!

Zonked out! It's been a hard day!

Oh, hang on! Time to wake up again!

So this is crazy that the babies came back to the nest. I head home... but I really wonder what I will find there tomorrow? Will they be fledging out to the thicket again? Or just plain gone?

As I come around to the bike path curve... oh wow!

It has been years and years since I've seen any deers here!

I move around to the other side, but I'm not getting any luck with the photography. That's okay, I don't want to disturb her.

It's awesome just to see her!

Tag: july 2025

Tag: july 2025

This is IMPORTANT! Watch it!

∞ PoliticsGirl How can you tell if someone is disabled?

Tag: july 2025

∞ How can a photo be abstract? In new exhibit, four photographers weigh in

I love this!!!

Only occasionally do I get photos that end up Abstract, and I explain and try to give context when I do show these super artsy pics... much like the article explains the one photo: paper bags in a box.

I have high respect for photographers who go out of their way to focus on this kind of art...

And it sounds like this collection began with one of the friends challenging her buddies to a Picture of the Day thing, which... how fun, right?!

(I mean, I've got a zillion pictures of the day *laughs* But focusing on something... else... for capital A art? That would be fun!)

Meantime, reading this article... hmmm...

Photax is not the real name of the Eugene photographer, but instead a pseudonym he's adopted to separate his personal and professional life with his artistic output. He is one of four photographers in an exhibit at the Maude Kerns Art Center, fittingly titled Four Photographers in Search of Abstraction, and one of two presenting his work under a false name.

Um.

Not a Real Name?
Under a False Name?

Seriously?

I would put forth that a Chosen Name is much more real and _true_ than a Given Name!

Of course, that's mostly because I like my Chosen Name!

I like my Given Name as well, but exactly like Photax, I'm using rift vegan to separate parts of my life!

And there's nothing False about that!

Tag: july 2025

I wasn't watching the news at all. After the official end of USAID and then the Big Beautiful Bill... I just needed a break.

But over the weekend, Partner mentions something about floods in Texas.

Eventually some news trickles down to me.

So. Once upon a time DOGE slashes and hobbles the National Weather Service (NWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA).

The local NWS, in San Angelo was MISSING a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster and meteorologist in charge. The NWS in nearby San Antonio, also had significant vacancies, including a warning coordination meteorologist and science officer. On top of that, they are no longer able to staff the office 24/7 like they usually do.

All of those vacant positions are needed during climate emergencies. But DOGE thinks they are wasteful and fraudulent. So we don't have our experts doing their expert things, and people die.

Kids die.

∞ Trump And Elon Musk's Texas Chainsaw Massacre They just killed 27 little girls. You know it and I know it and they know it.

And...

∞ Trump and Texas point fingers as flood death toll rises

Entirely predicted, and entirely unnecessary.

So, yep. I'm back to reading the news and crying about it.

Tag: july 2025

It's Independence Day here in the US, but there's nothing to celebrate.

The news has been making me cry for a week. And now Republicans have passed the big beautiful bill.

It will break the United States.

I mean, the US is already broken... women can't get complete healthcare in half the states. We are not full citizens anymore. And we are cutting off healthcare to others, now as well. And with all the anti-DEI... If you're not a white, cishet man, it seems you're not a person, here in the US...

But the bill...

I honestly didn't realize how many evil people there are in this country.

Why else would Republicans vote for this, if they aren't evil?

And the thing that terrifies me...

ICE. The concentration camps we are building.

We've been deporting people without due process. And we are already doing government sanctioned kidnapping of people who are here legally. We've deported US Citizens! In what world is that okay? And giving ICE so much more money?

We are seriously heading into ethnic cleansing territory.

With Liberty and Justice For All? ... nope, white men only.

So. Take care. Take care of your people, when you can. Take care of yourself. Take care of your mental health.

Now... scroll down and go look at some Nature pictures.

Or! Better yet... go outside and look at some actual Nature! :)

Enjoy the sun on your skin, make some vitamin D. Be sure to keep hydrated! Or enjoy the night air, and be sure to keep hydrated!

Look closely at a plant! Has a bird flown by yet?

The Cicadas have been singing in my part of the world for a few weeks. What sound of nature do you hear?

Tag: july 2025

January 2025

February 2025

March 2025

April 2025

May 2025

June 2025

January 2024 (partial)

February 2024

March 2024

April 2024

May 2024

June 2024

July 2024

August 2024

September 2024

October 2024

November 2024

December 2024

February 2023 (partial)

March 2023

April 2023

May 2023 (partial)

June 2023 (partial)

July 2023

August 2023

September 2023

October 2023

November 2023

December 2023

So I've looked at a map, and I hope I get around the new Downtown Riverfront Park without getting lost this time. It's closed because they are using it for the World Athletics Championships, which started yesterday and runs until the 25th.

This amazing mural just outside the Rose Garden was finished just in time for the Championships.

And, of course, you can't go by the Rose Garden without obsessively taking photos of the roses.

And then we gotta check the Osprey nest on the other side of the river. There's one child there today, and she takes off ... only to make a loop and come back to the nest.

XXX... Goal: Finish this post!

Tag: xxx 2022

I'm archiving the 2022 posts...

∞ January 2022

∞ February 2022

∞ March 2022
Story of nesting Anna Hummingbird begins here!

∞ April 2022
... And the nesting Hummer story continues here, until the babies fly away in mid-April!

∞ May 2022

∞ June 2022

∞ July 2022

(completed 28 May 2023...)

January thru July 2021 Archive

August 2021 Archive

September 2021 Archive

October 2021 Archive

(No entries for November 2021)

December 2021 Archive

Goal: revisit August 2021... Road Trip to Utah!

And then keep filling in posts from there thru the end of 2021.

Tag: 2021

(completed 27 Dec 2020 thru 5 Jan 2021...)

2020 Archive... January thru July

(posted 21 Apr 2023...)

2020 Archive... Aug thru Dec

GOAL...

Revisit the Aug thru Dec archive page and add photos and clear out the xxx!

Tag: 2020

(Posted 22 Dec 2020...)

The new archive is HTML5, and completely validated!

2019 journal entries

Tag: 2019

(Posted 18 Dec 2020...)

I have managed to move all of the 2018 journal entries into an archive page. I did not write very much in 2018, so I decided not to divide them up into months, like I usually do.

The new archive is HTML5, and completely validated!

2018 journal entries

Tag: 2018

(Posted 19 Dec 2020...)

I have managed to move all of the 2017 journal entries into an archive page. And again, I didn't write very much, so the posts for the entire year are on one page.

The new archive is HTML5, and completely validated!

2017 journal entries

Tag: 2017

Sat, 08 Jul 2023
Partner's Mom passed away
early this morning.