Partner's Mom passed away early this morning.

Cloudy and mild this morning, tho the forecast says 94° today. The clouds burn off but the remaining haze keeps the high temperature to 91° (33°C).

Oh boy. It's going to be one of Those days.

Well, great. Maybe I will look at plants instead!

This is an interesting thing! A Purple Shamrock from South America...

A pretty shade of Glads

And some Penstemons hanging out with the tomatoes!

And here's my beautiful volunteer Sunflower in the Tofu Patch.

That Honey Bee gives you an idea about how small the blooms are! Cute lil bee!

I know, I'm obsessing about the stupid strawberries. But I have to water them so much to get to this level of coming back to life! ha.

Tomatillos!

I am wandering around in the Community Garden again... It's so nice when I'm the only human here!

Okay! Finally the camera is going to be agreeable to the birds! Yay!

That little wing motion means this is a fledgling.

Oh my gosh! Here's one of the parents!!

Oh Wow!

Oh Bleh! Slimy!! Haha!!!

Well that was awesome!

I head home, but decide to walk a loop around the park...

Oh my gosh! The artist came back to repaint this Little Free Panty!

Thank goodness. Remember that green monstrosity? I mean, it was art... but this? This is ART! *laughs*

And then at home... Mr Unnamed!

Tag: september 2024

There's some cute little clouds at the horizon, but they are burning off, even as I watch!

It's mild again today, but the forecast says 90s thru to the weekend. Peaking at 99° (37°C) on Thursday. Ugh.

There's lots of little Zucchinis coming on to all three plants! I give them all extra water!

The plants that I never water, tho? The Sunchokes! Those things are tough as nails! (The tall plant behind the Tofu Patch Sunflower.)

That one, unfortunately, is right on the border with the left side neighbor... the plot that got vandalized. I might have new neighbors there next year, so I should probably dig that one up as much as I can over the winter. We really shouldn't have tall things growing at the border of the plots, and it annoys me when other people do it!

Fortunately, there's a second, smaller Sunchoke growing at the corner of the front garden square. I had planted that one, and it's a much better spot for a tall plant, but thought the slugs had killed it. It's growing, but got a late start. We'll see how it goes!

At home I boiled and bagged / froze my third round of wax beans... I had forgotten how quickly Wax Beans go bad in the fridge! I need to start freezing some more!

I think I have a technique down.

I rinse and cut Wax Beans, but don't fill the pan quite as full... that one day of 88 beans was too much! One flat spoon of salt, 3 cups water, and 26min at 90%.

Dump the water, let it cool down, then bag up and into the freezer.

That will be good food for my Casserole Bowls or some soups or even just eating straight up... I'm sick of eating Wax Beans right now, but these will be great again in the winter!

The new Seascape Strawberries seem to be doing well and greening up... tho I'm not sure about that one smaller clump on the left.

And the previously established Strawberries are happy with the extra watering too.

The volunteer Sunflower at the edge of the Wax Bean trellis...

I think that's the tallest Sunflower I've had in the plot for a long time! It's probably almost 8feet!

Heading home.

Oh hey! It's the new Heron, No Patches!

Ha, poor thing has a terrible name... But if she'd show up more often, I would have more time to think up a nicer name! :)

Tag: september 2024

Cloudy and nice today.

ha, this amuses me... Someone's Squash plant is escaping the Community Garden!

But today I'm walking on past the Garden! I'll still have to water the new Seascape Strawberries, and gather the harvest. But since I won't have to water all the plants, I've got a bit of extra time. And I'm walking!

The Willow tree that lost it's huge limb in the January ice storm.

It's so beautiful, I'm glad they saved it.

Oh, awesome! A Green Heron!

My Dad doesn't think she looks very green and maybe we should call this one Little Blue Heron... There is a Little Blue Heron who lives on the eastern side of the US and down thru Mexico and South America. They are incredibly beautiful as well: Little Blue Heron.

On my way back to the garden, a guy on a bike stops to chat. We run into each other on a regular basis, and it turns out we live in the same apartment complex! ha!

I should have asked his apartment number so I can give him some Wax Beans and Zucchini! Bahaha!

The Sunflower in the Tofu Patch has a bloom that says 4 O'Clock! Haha... the petals in the 4 o'clock positions are darker!

A Scrub Jay goes after some sunflower seeds!

One of the stunted volunteer Sunflowers at the front of the plot, getting ready to bloom a lot!

And a House Finch, eating Hawthorn pomes, right outside the Garden.

Tag: september 2024

Not as hot today, to be 82° (28°C). A bit of breeze feels nice too, and it's moving the clouds around.

... I used to have Asters in my Garden plot. And then I had Oregon Sunshine. Maybe I should go for some Asters again next year?

And a wander thru the Community Garden.

Okay, here I am at my plot. Maybe I'll run the hoe today... there's a bit of grass coming up in the main pathway. Can't have that. *rolls eyes*

There's not as many Wax Beans to pick today, thank goodness! *laughs* I've frozen two batches now, and still have loads more in the fridge that I need to do! So tired of Wax Beans!

And the Black Tomatoes!!

Oh! My new Hummingbird companion!

He's easily distracted, tho!

The volunteer Sunflower in the Tofu Patch makes me happy... Loads of blooms, tho they are all pretty small.

Back at home, I'm eating the first Black Tomato!!

hmmm. It's fine. Just kind of a standard tomato taste. It's good, but nothing special.

And while I'm here with the camera, this is the state of the potted Pansies.

Still sprawling!

Tag: september 2024

Gearing up for another hot day, to be 96° (35°C).

Walking out to the garden, I met this one again. I've seen her three or four times here in the last week or so. So I guess she's a survivor, even with her poor wing.

Okay. Here I am at my own garden plot, and let me tell you. The weeks of cool daytime temperatures, and the recent very chilly nights are wreaking havoc here.

The Brandywine has more than a few dead leaves and branches. It's dead!

The SunGolds have lost their sweetness... and they are kind of GROSS without their signature flavor. The plants are tough -- they aren't delicate like the poor Brandywine -- and they have loads of fruit. But I'm not going to bring any more home unless they sweeten up again.

And I need to face facts here... the precious Lemon Cucumbers are dying...

Arg. 12 plants! Dying in August! August! When they should be at their peak production! Arg! It's just such a disappointment. Stupid climate change!!

Well. All is not lost! The rest of the garden is still chugging along.

Tomatillos under the Wax Bean trellis.

There's also a Butternut from the Squash Square climbing up the back of the Wax Bean trellis! That makes me happy!

And the Aubergine plant is doing it's thing.

I've decided to pull out the second volunteer beet today...

It's nice and big, and I do want to eat it... but mostly I'm just tired of eating Wax Beans and need something different! *laughs*

I'll be boiling and freezing another batch of Wax Beans later today!

Tag: august 2024

It got down to 42° (5°C) last night, Gah! But you can hardly tell it got that cold. The morning is heating up fast and it'll be 96° (35°C) today!

I walk out to the garden and suddenly wish I had brought both of my water bottles... AND I wish I had put ice in the water bottle I did bring! ha!

It's hot. And it feels worse since we've had much cooler weather for the past two weeks. The body just isn't used to this hot weather anymore!

The new Seascape Strawberries are starting to look better! Yay!

Tofu Patch Sunflower!

And below it... Soybeans!

And I was just noticing this little plant, on the other side of the tofu patch. That overexposed thing -- sheesh, what a terrible photographer, haha -- might be a Zinnia next to the unidentified geranium-type wildflower.

I had planted Zinnia seeds the same time I planted the Buckwheat here as a summer cover crop. The cover crop idea did not work out at all... most everything in this area is stunted. So I wasn't really paying much attention.

It probably won't do anything. It's way too late in the season for it to make flowers. But you never know. Plus, it's nice to know that Zinnias might actually live if I put seeds down in a nicer spot!

After spending a lot of time watering everything, I have to spend some time harvesting some Wax Beans. *laughs* 88 today! It's fun picking all these beans, but, yeah, it does take a minute!

Do not talk to me about that one, malformed and tiny Lemon Cucumber. SIGHS.

This is the volunteer Sunflower in the front...

Seeing as it's only about 3feet tall, that was a VERY Awkward photo, with me crouching and trying to point the camera up. *laughs* The lengths I go, for my art! *snark!!*

From this more comfortable angle...

You can see into the vandalized neighbor's plot, there at the upper left. They have removed all the dead plants and have kind of leveled the raised beds. It's such a shame, to have to look at all that dead and useless dirt over there.

And speaking of dead and useless. This is an Amaranth that's growing in the Lemon Cucumber patch...

You see that green trellis there? That green trellis that is NOT covered with Lemon Cucumber plants?!!!

*laughs* Dang it. I had such glorous plans for all the glorious Lemon Cucumbers that would cover that little trellis.

Well. Maybe next year.

∞ Eugene Police investigating two sexual assaults on West Eugene trails, increasing patrols and security measures

Tag: august 2024

Last night was so chilly, 46° (8°C) Brr! But it's warming up fast. Looks like there's going to be one last burst of summer here... to be 94° (34°C) today, and more of the same in the forecast.

At the garden, I am watering the heck out of the new Seascape Strawberries.

Maybe they will live?

The volunteer Sunflower in the Tofu Patch is looking lovely.

Haha. I didn't notice the cute little Honey Bee resting on the petal.

An Old German is ripening.

And the poor Brandywine, leaves and branches dying all over the place. From the cooler nights? Maybe! It's just a delicate plant, it tends to not do well if you even look at it funny! haha!

I picked two Brandywines today, along with an Old German!

I'm bringing some SunGolds home... but they aren't sweet anymore. That's def a result of the chilly nights. Arg, such a bummer. Will the sweetness come back with the hot days we've got coming??

And all those Wax Beans! 84 today, and it's definitely time to start freezing some batches!

One of the volunteer Sunflowers in the front is blooming! It's stunted, maybe a meter tall. But that's okay, it's putting some cheer into the front of the plot!

I'm heading out, but I get distracted by these lovely double petal Cosmos!

When I get home, I'm getting a first batch of Wax Beans taken care of...

Rinsed, and chopped up, I throw them in a big bowl with water and a bit of salt and start nuking. I test one after 16minutes, but it feels like it's still raw. I keep adding time and testing, more and more time, and this is just ridiculous!

*laughs*

I finally get tired of the process and dump the water and let the Wax Beans cool off for a bit. Then I put them in a labeled zip lock and into the freezer.

That was batch #1, and there's a lot in the fridge to process... and a lot more Wax Beans coming! I'll need to figure out how much longer I need to nuke these things... I lost track of how much time I actually cooked them!

Tag: august 2024

Good Morning Mr Unnamed.

Some roses, in the shade... I decided to not fix the colour because I like them like this! ha.

But once you get out from under the shadows of the trees, it's a bright and clear day.

Today's garden work is clearing more of the Snap Pea patch so I can plant the freebie Strawberries I picked up yesterday! Seascape Strawberries.

I plant them next to the couple of Strawberry plants I've already got... but shoot, I don't know. They look pretty pathetic next to the established plants, and like I mentioned yesterday, the leaves are green but they are so dry I'm pretty sure they are dead. Maybe the roots will revive with some heavy watering?

Michelle, who has a garden plot further down the row I'm on, stopped by my plot today as I was working. After greeting each other and exchanging pleasantries, she said, I saw your photo.

*Confusion* My first thought was oh boy, they've found my website. But then I was all, wait. She said photo. Singular. That is one word that does NOT describe my website!

Out loud I repeated, You saw my photo? Yeah, I really like it.

I repeat again, You saw my photo... Where?

She finally sees my confusion and pauses. Um, she says. The photo contest?

Ah! Now I get it! There was a photo... of my plot, but it was taken from over there, I pointed at the neighboring plot. It's not my photo!

Haha. I don't usually participate in the Community Garden Photo Contest. It's just too hard to choose a photo to submit! Plus... what if I don't win???

*laughs* But it's fun to look at everyone else's pics!

∞ 2024 Eugene Community Gardens Photo Contest
And here's the photo in question: Sunset

It's a lovely shot, and that's the Sunflower I bought, right there, below the sun... well, the seed head, at least! Not many petals left on it! :)

Ugh. Normally, I love graffiti. And I'm sure this person meant well. But, ugh, this sentiment just annoys me...

It's nice and all for your story to have a happy ending. But that's fiction.

At the actual end? We die. And thinking about The Actual End makes me spiral down the drain of doom... Our trees are dying, climate change, bugs are dying, how long is civilization going to last... kinda depressing. Probably not the response they wanted to elicit with those hearts and all.

Sighs.

Later in the day, there's something horrific...

∞ Eugene police seeking witnesses to rape at Wild Iris Ridge

A second rape on the paths!

This POS also wasn't caught, so unknown if this was the same guy... or if the first rape has emboldened violent tendencies in other men.

Pepper Spray Gel, 2 cans for 24$ on amz, in my cart.

And I guess I won't be walking out there anymore.

Tag: august 2024

Good Morning My Dear!

Another cooler than usual day, the high is just 77° (25°C). The rain of friday has dried out and I'll need to water at the garden again.

Oh, wow. I Love these!

And they've got some pretty succulents underneath!

Oh, nice. Someone left some freebie Strawberries at the picnic table!

Marilyn had posted at the facebook group a few days ago. These are Seascape strawberries and ever-bearing. I nab a few!

My hands are full of free strawberry plants, when I see this big boy. He's hunting someone under the tarp!

The new Strawberries look nice and green but the leaves are actually completely dried out. I'm not sure if they'll do anything, especially since I won't be able to plant them today.

The House Finches are hanging out with me...

And I think I see a juvenile White Crown Sparrow with them, as well. And then a Rufous Hummingbird zips by! So cool!

I love to be surrounded by birds!!

I've picked the first Black Tomato!! The other one is a not quite ripe Brandywine.

As I gathered all that, a Cooper Hawk flies over the Community Garden!!

And then I am no longer surrounded by little birds... they all fly away and hide!

I've still got some wildlife to take pics of tho!

Volunteer Tomatillos! They make me happy!

The volunteer Sunflower in the Tofu Patch also makes me happy!

Heading out. Hello My Dear!

Oh! The Crows are having a gathering!

Some of the Crows have followed me!

Ha! This is a pear tree? I never noticed!

Tag: august 2024

The Unnamed Grey Squirrel has been around most mornings for the past week or more...

I notice him because he's always yelling at someone, chattering and banging his hand! Sometimes I can see he's annoyed at a cat. But other times... maybe he sees ghosts!

I'm walking out past the bike path and into the downtown neighborhoods. Wayside Micro Park looks so sad and pathetic without the big Mimosa trees shading it. :(

They have planted new trees here. A Big Leaf Maple and a Black Gum, but they are just saplings. But... !!

Aww! The Mimosa is making a come back!! I hope they keep it!

I wonder if someone planted the sunflowers or if they just showed up. :)

Oh, wow! The colours on this double petal Hibiscus are making me happy!

Here's a traditional Hibiscus, and it's pretty as well!

Ha! The clouds are making speech bubbles. 🗪 *laughs*

As I approach the bridge with the nest... a Barn Swallow flies in and lands on the nest! What the heck!

You can't go home again!

I go by the Community Garden on the way back... a fledgling!

And is this one of your parents?

The car has been in the shop for over two weeks now, and I have Partner call them about it because we haven't heard a single thing yet.

I would be annoyed at the lack of communication... but we are still trying to figure out what to do. I'm wondering who has to pay for the tow if we donate the car.

The mechanic tells Partner that the spark isn't getting thru the ignition and we may need a new sensor.

Me: Yeah. That's the 700$ part [that we paid for three months ago, and we are not doing that again]!
Partner: No, no. This is going to be something simple.

Sighs. I let it go.

Tag: august 2024

We have had about two weeks now, of cooler than normal temperatures... On Friday the high was 67° (19°C)!! It's August! The hottest part of the summer? Instead we get the coldest part of summer!

Crazy! In the forecast, it looks like the days are going to warm up again. And today will be 82° ... But the nights are looking cooler than normal in the forecast.

The Lemon Cucumbers haven't done much of anything in the cooler temperatures... I've gathered single Lemon Cucs here and there, but the last real harvests were Aug12 and Aug13, both days I got three Lemon Cucs and harvests had been great and steady before then.

Sighs. I had 12 Lemon Cucumber plants this year, and it's still not the year I make myself sick of eating Lemon Cucmbers! *laughs* Try again next year!!

The Brandywine has a lot of dead leaves and branches, but there are a good number of tomatoes being made!

Mmmm! Brandywines are the Best!

The Old German has some tomatoes that are not ripening in the cool temperatures. I hope they start to get some colour with the warmer weather thats coming, because these are really, Very Yummy tomatoes!!

The first Black Tomato is still ripening... The Black Tomato was the last plant I put in the ground in June, so it's not quite as advanced as the other big tomato plants.

The Aubergine, doing its own thing under the leaves. I water it well, but mostly just ignore it!

OH! The volunteer Sunflower at the Wax Bean trellis is blooming!

Hahaha! It looks ridiculously tall... it's probably 8feet. And in front of it are the Wax Beans. And behind it on the left is the big bush of volunteer Sunchokes. And at their base, next to the stake are the Leeks!

The stunted Sunflower at the front of the plot is also thinking about blooming!

I've picked 88 Wax Beans today! Ha! Also really glad to have all those SunGolds, since the big tomatoes haven't been ripening!

And I've been letting the summer squashes grow a bit bigger... the cooler temperatures have slowed down their production for sure and I've caught up with eating them. I only have THREE zucs at home!

I love the volunteer Sunflower in the Tofu Patch!

It's just 2meters tall, and that's a much more personable height than the 8foot bean trellis sunflower! *laughs*

The Unknown Geranium-type wildflower at the back of the Tofu Patch. Wish I could figure out what it is!

And the Soybeans? Ha!

Yep, they are starting to make some pods, the poor things. They are very stunted, barely 1foot tall... Soybean plants should grow to 3 or 4 feet tall. The dirt here is just not healthy, I think. And I still need to figure out how I'm going to fix that!

Getting artsy!

I head home and get some lunch going.

I'm sitting on the couch with the newspaper. I've already done the sudoku and I'm working on the word find puzzle.

A bit of motion catches my eye on the right, and I look up and there's a black cat standing there.

In the living room.

I jump!
The cat jumps!

I don't see which direction he goes, so I'm carefully looking around.

And you know what the first question that pops into my brain?

How LONG has a cat been in our house?? and then also, How do you NOT NOTICE a cat in your house??! *laughs*

I look towards the front door and then I worry that he went under the couch.

And THEN it occurs to me to wonder about how he got in.

I immediately have a suspicion. I go to the porch room, we've got a sliding glass door that's been open all summer with the box fan in front of it, pulling in the cool night air.

Sure enough, that's where Blacky is... he's jammed himself between the screen door and the box fan!

And when he sees I have found him, he squeezes thru the hole in the screen to escape to the outside... a perfectly round, cat sized hole that he apparently made for himself!!

Bahahaha.

I stuck a towel in the hole and I've been checking it obsessively ever since!

Tag: august 2024

Last night was so cold I had to leave the windows closed after the tiny hails we got yesterday afternoon.

I missed the white noise of the fan right next to my head. And wondered what the garden plants would think of the crazy cold weather.

But that question will have to be answered tomorrow. Because today I'm walking up Hidden Trail, for something different!

Right, Kitty?

Well, Cosmos and flowers aren't all that different. ha!

I get to the head of the trail, and jeez, there's dog walkers all over the place. That's what I get for coming up here on a Saturday! I step off the trail and sit for a few moments to let everybody go by.

But there's one guy with a white chihuahua who is chatting with a woman. It seems like he'll be there for a few, so I start on up the hill.

But, arg. The first set of dog walkers has paused to take a break. And as I'm approaching them, the guy with the chihuahua is walking so fast up the hill, they've caught up with me! But he stops to chat with the other dog people and I'm releaved to leave everyone behind.

But white chihuahua guy catches up to me again, near the top of the trail. I'm impressed at how fast he's walking! This trail is pretty steep in places, and I'm not slow... if I'm not taking photos. And I've been so distracted by the humans and dogs, I haven't stopped even once!

And of course, he chats with me as he goes by. *laughs*

His name is Mark and he walks up to Wild Iris every day, walks those trails out to the head of that trail and back. He has dementia, and so sometimes he can't find his words. I wait patiently for what he has to say, or I fill in if I know where he's going. But heading up to the Acorn Woodpecker territory he does get frustrated with himself. There I go again. There's probably nothing I can say to reassure him.

But it was actually nice to talk with him as we went up the hill. He seems like a good guy. And his little dog is a very good boy.

I had to say goodbye once we got to my usual turn-around point the end of the Acorn Woodpecker territory... He said I was missing the best part. Which, yeah, Wild Iris is awesome and has it's own Acorn Woodpecker territories!! But today, I'm here for this family.

Mark and little white dog continue up the hill and ... Oh my gosh! A female?

Yep! A black band separates the white on her face from a smaller red cap! I don't get to see the females up here very often!!

She's just up there on guard duty, and nothing else is going on. So I start walking back down the hill, kind of disappointed.

This granary tree could use some maintenance...

The acorn at the top is cracked and the on at the bottom is just a shell and missing the nut!

Oh, nice... I get another chance! I think this is a different female.

She pulls an acorn out... and flies away!

Huh. Is she going to eat it? or put it someplace else? I can't see where she's flown to, there's trees in the way.

And then a male lands on another nearby granary tree! This is so awesome!

I think he is checking acorns and putting them back?

Or maybe moving them into a better hole?

And off he goes!

And I head back down the hill.

Hello Mx Junco! Did you know you have a stick on your head?

Well, yeah. You are undeniably cute even with a stick oh your head!

Tag: august 2024

The clouds are moving around a lot this morning and the forecast says 40% chance of rain, and this evening it's 90% with thunderstorms!

But I can't believe we'll get too much rain. It's August. We have a hot, dry summer and then the rainy season starts in October. A couple sprinkles just isn't going to cut it and I'm heading to the garden to water!

And here I am at my garden plot...

I managed to get everything watered. And then it starts to sprinkle. And then it starts to really come down. Sheesh. But I keep working because, it can't rain much, right?

I untangle the hose. I gather the days harvest.

But it's pouring down rain, and I feel kind of ridiculous! *laughs*

And of course it quits as soon as I leave the garden.

Back at home, the still unnamed Western Grey Squirrel is hanging out!

And the thunderstorm doesn't even wait for evening!

It gets darker and darker and it starts pouring just before 3pm. The lightening and thunder start just after 3! We even get about 20seconds of tiny hail! And it's so cold I have to shut my window.

This is all very crazy weather for August.

Tag: august 2024

I was watching these two cuties...

When all of a sudden, a Green Heron flew in to join us!

Wow! How cool is that?

oh, are you looking for your parents?

Yep. That's baby fluff on her head! She's a flegling!

Still being fed and looked after by her parents.

And then this one flew by me and settled here! Ha, Green Herons everywhere!

How Awesome!

Okay, back around to the Community Garden! Here's my friend Roz's plot.

Oh! My little friend the Anna Hummingbird is here, fighting for the territory again. He keeps chasing off the other one!

I come around to my plot. The Buckwheat I sowed in the bad dirt of the Tofu Patch has stayed small, but they are starting to bloom.

oh, and he's back from the chase!

Okay! Garden! Focus! heh.

This is the Squash Square, and you see that unfortunate hole with some shriveled and brown Crookneck leaves.

Squash Beetles came in by the hundreds, would sit on a leaf and suck it dry. It wasn't a big deal at the time, but now they've killed a good portion of the plant, and it's not making fruits like it should.

Which also isn't a big deal... I've got three Zuchinni plants on the other side of the plot, pumping out zucs for me to eat. I don't particularly need any Crooknecks for food, even tho I do like them a little bit better than Zucs.

But it does make me sad. That many bugs should have been making some bug-eating predators very happy. Instead the bugs just continue to eat and breed. sighs.

Oh well. The other citizens in the Squash Square are doing their thing, in spite of the attack on their biggest associate.

There are several slugs parked under the Aubergine. I'm indifferent. It might be okay to eat one of these Eggplants, but I'm not a fan, and I don't know how to cook them!

Oh! The first Black Tomato is ripening!

I am so pleased with these two volunteer sunflowers at the front of the plot! They go well with the Giant Marigolds!

And the happy Deltini Honeybee Pansies I've got at home!

The plants sprawl a bit!

Tag: august 2024

The clouds of the early morning have broken up and it'll be 79° today... but there's another chance of rain tonight, through to the weekend. And ridiculously cool high temperatures forecast for the next few days... 69° tomorrow.

It's August! It's Summer! It's supposed to be hot and dry!

This Climate Change Weather! ha... I can handle it when it's overly hot... but cool, and nice? It's just Not Normal! I don't like it!

When I get to the Community Garden, I go past a woman with a clipboard, looking at the garden plots.

Ugh. I assume this is the useless Garden Director, Bridget... who dinged our plot for grass in the pathways in June and who never said a word to me after I reported the vandalism.

So, yeah. I am not especially fond of Bridget. I nod and give a vague smile to her as I go by, my usual response to strangers. And I do not engage.

I'm at my plot... and I could hear a Jeep. Jeep. the contact call of a Song Sparrow, coming from the Pot People's jungle.

Hello!

Oh my! You've got no tail!

Oh lordy! Hardly any wings, either?!

Poor Baby! I hope your feathers grow quickly!

Here's a different view of the jungle that is my plot... From the back of the plot, I'm looking over the Squash Square at the Wax Bean trellis...

It's hard to differentiate the leaves, but there's a squash plant on the left that's climbing up the trellis!

The Buckwheat blooms are so little and cute!

And the seeds they are making are cute too!

♥!

And some Straightnecks in the making.

This is the third Old German and it isn't ripe, but I wanted to get it before the cracks got worse.

And since the Garden Director is here... I run the hoe down the middle of the plot to remove grass in the pathways. *grumble*

I finally asked the Internets what is going on with this Spaghetti Squash...

Turns out, I made a hybrid!

Haha! Last year was the first year that the Delicatas have ever grown. I didn't particularly like them, so I won't grow them again. But I guess one of the seeds I saved from the Spaghetti Squashes that I ate last year, must have gotten fertilized with Delicata pollin!

They actually sell this as Stripetti Squash!! Ha, brilliant!

You can eat the skin of Delicata, but it sounds like the only trait that Delicata has contributed to Stripetti is the green stripes. I will report back about the taste after I eat this thing!

Heading out! Scrub Jay fledgling!

I read a good article in The Guardian today...

∞ The Guardian view on meat: we need to eat less of it
Beef, lamb and dairy products are the most carbon-intensive foods by far. More boldness around dietary changes is needed

Going plant-based with your food is actually the best thing you can do for the environment and for climate change.

Tag: august 2024

Aw, too far away. But that's okay...

Every time I see a Bewick Wren, I think of the re-naming process...

∞ American Ornithological Society Will Change the English Names of Bird Species Named After People
Scientists Will Establish a New Multidisciplinary Naming Entity and Seek Public Input, Beginning with 70 - 80 Bird Species in the US and Canada

Hm... There are some interesting comments going on at the bottom of that page. I might have to revisit this subject! :)

Meantime, on with my day!

Aw, how cute... A fledgling is getting fed by a parent! (I'm going to guess those two are Lesser Goldfinches. The one on the right is a male American Goldfinch.)

What a lovely day!

Blurry but cute! *laughs*

Well. I could take photos of Goldfinches all day. But I move on... and discover some House Finches are hanging out in my plot!!

*laughs* Okay, that was awesome. But let's do Garden Stuff!

The Sunchoke is approaching 2meters tall! I barely water it, and I like how tough it is!

That's the volunteer Sunflower in the Tofu Patch on the left, and on the far left, the pile of green is a grape vine in the diagonal plot across the pathway!

There's a few more Eggplants. Aubergines.

I need to figure out when I can pick them!

A third Old German is finally starting to ripen!

36 Wax Beans today... Really need to think about doing something with those, they are starting to pile up in the fridge!

The volunteer Sunflower at the edge of the Wax Bean trellis is so tall... a good 7 or 8 feet! But the bloom head is pretty small!

Tag: august 2024

The high today is 80° (26°C) which is just a few degress below normal, but still unbelivably nice for an August day!

Beans with purple flowers! Eye catching!

The big orange flowers are Canna Lilies, and it amused me they are in front of a plant with some kind of pumpkin-orange winter squashes.

Not sure what they are.

Haha, her foot!

I've been bringing our kitchen scrap compost to the garden... Partner usually drives it here and throws it on the Community compost pile, but the car is dead.

I can only fit a ½ bag of kitchen scraps into my small backpack, and I triple bag it to make sure it doesn't leak on my walk over here!

And since I cleared out the Pea Patch, I'm dumping the bag there. Enriching the dirt!

It's mostly the ends of zucs and summer squashes, and coffee grounds and filters! Will make the worms and all happy!

I don't dig it in or anything. I just barely cover it with some Borage I pulled out! I will water it to help it break down, but once our rainy season starts, this will all dissolve away quickly!

And with the rain of Saturday afternoon, I don't have to water any of the veggies. And there's no real work that must be done. It's nice to just take it easy.

I do need to gather the veggies that are ready to go, tho!

The Squash plants have slowed down a good bit because of bugs and the cooler weather maybe. So now, I'm finally letting the zucs and summer squashes get to a bigger size...

I've only got 3.5 squashes to eat at home! I've been eating so much, I've finally caught up with the plant production!!! So the three I'm bringing home today, basically doubles my at-home squash count and I'm happy to continue my crazy squash consumption!!

Tag: august 2024

Some pretty clouds today and the high is just 78° (25°C) which is such a not normal temperature for August that it makes me feel weird to enjoy it!

My walk takes me past the mechanic shop where the car sits in one of the bays.

It's been there a week and we've not heard anything. It doesn't really matter because it's going to be too expensive to fix it, and we are trying to figure out what to do instead!

I'd rather look at the clouds!

Bushtits bouncing around too fast, as usual.

These are quite a bit darker than the usual... I wonder what's up with that.

(My Brain Says: Maybe they're not Bushtits.)
(What are you talking about? My Bird identification skills are Always Spot-ON!)
(My Brain Says: Bahahahha!!)

And then I get distracted by a ruckus nearby... This Red Shoulder Hawk is getting mobbed by everyone!

A Crow is yelling, a Scrub Jay, I can see small birds darting around, and a Flicker!

A Walk-About at the Community Garden. These are striking!

Oh hey! This is an American Goldfinch! They migrate in when they've finished up their nesting season!

Our Lesser Goldfinches live here year round, and have a black cap which extends to the back of their head. The females are a little bit tougher to tell the Americans from the Lessers!

The Community Garden Bird Bath flowers are looking lovely.

Here I am at my garden plot.

I'm just gathering the harvest today... it takes a while to get all the Wax Beans!

I am probably going to have to freeze some Wax Beans again this year. bleh, what a pain! I don't like doing any kind of kitchen work... but I will probably enjoy some home grown veggies in the winter!

The Love in a Mist blooming in the Tofu Patch makes me happy.

Tag: august 2024

The forecasted high today is 80° but with the heavy clouds it only gets up to 75° (24° C)... And the unlikely rain that was forecast for today? That is pushed back to this evening, but the chances have risen to 80%. We'll see!

Now, how I manage to overexpose flowers on such a dreary day, I don't know!

*laughs*

Okay. I'm at my garden plot and I'm going to do something with the Pea Patch today!

The Sugar Snap Peas lived here, but they're mostly dead now. I'll keep the Borage around the edges, and anything interesting that has grown up! But it's time for something new here.

It took longer than it should have because I thought there were a couple Sugar Snap Pea plants still alive, and I was trying to be careful and keep them. I shouldn't have bothered! But there is a little patch of Clover...

And I did find a couple pea pods! Since they're Snap Peas, they get sweeter as they get bigger! Altho the pods of the biggest ones were kind of fibery!

And I'm trying to pick Brandywines before they get cracks. They'll ripen up at home!

I am so, so happy that I get to eat more than a couple Brandywines! Some years I don't get to eat any, temperamental things, but I keep trying because, my goodness they are good tomatoes!!

Tag: august 2024

It's cloudy this morning, and so nice! The forecast says 60% chance of rain tomorrow... I don't believe it. Rain in August is unheard of. Then again, a cloudy day in August is extremely unusual as well, and look at all the cloudy mornings we've had!

But a nice day and possible rain is an incentive to do some weeding at the garden.

*laughs*

I love the explosion of life here... but the Smartweed is choking off one of my Giant Marigolds.

Huh. That was actually kind of satisfying...

I hate this dead dirt hole that I just created. But you can see how pathetic that Marigold on the left is doing.

While I'm working in my plot, there are workers taking out the Community Garden compost heap!

The compost heap fills several dump trucks, and they take it to a local company who will get the actual composting done!

Well, that's odd! Spaghetti Squash with lines on it?

Oops! That Zuchinni was hiding under a leaf and got big! *laughs*

And that's 50 Wax Beans... I can only eat about 25 beans a day! Ha! And 27 SunGolds, along with the 15 or so I ate right as I picked them! Yay Garden!

I ate the first Brandywine today!

Oh my goodness. Oh Yeah, that's my favorite tomato! There's a light fruitiness to it, but it finishes with an excellent tomatoey taste and a bit of spice!! Yum!

The poor Brandywine plant has a bunch of dead leaves. That's normal. It's not a hardy plant, and it's not terribly productive. Temperamental thing. But I'm thrilled to get some tomatoes off it this year!

And I finished off the volunteer Beet I pulled a while ago. That was three big servings! And oh my gosh, I forget how much I LOVE fresh beets! I eat a lot of canned beets. But fresh!? Mmmm!

I cut it up and cook it with my pasta and soy curls, just add a minute or two to the cooking time. And then I add some tomatoes and some Yumm Sauce. So good!

And looking down into the Tofu Patch...

On the left is Sunchoke and Leeks and the other volunteer Beet!
At the top is Borage and a Giant Marigold.
Soybeans and the Buckwheat seedlings in the middle, with a couple of Love Mist blooms!
And the Tofu Patch Sunflower on the right!

The Buckwheats are so cute. I just wish there were more of them!

I'm leaving, but these Zinnias in a nearby garden plot catch my eye!

Ha, I can't get enough of them! They are so cheerful!

And making the Bees happy!

Tag: august 2024

Oh! Haha! As soon as I said this guy wasn't a regular he shows up for photography two days in a row!

I have seen him more than three times... which is my standard for giving the furry or feathered one a name. But I'm very reluctant to name him, I am still mourning about what happened to Wesley Crusher, the last squirrel I named.

But... we'll see.

It's cloudy today, tho the sun peeks thru now and then. The high is just 81° (27°C) and there's even cooler temperatures in the forecast, upper-70s and it says 75° for Saturday! Nice... but...

The normal for this time of year is 85°... and the temperature I'd expect for climate change is 95°! But I guess climate change can go either way: hotter OR cooler. It's just weird.

I visit the Barn Swallow nest... just to make sure! But Yeah. The babies are out in the world, for reals this time! *laughs*

It was so fun watching them! Now... I wonder who I can find to watch next? :)

Back to the garden.

The experimental Buckwheats.

You know what? The Buckwheat seeds are just so cute! *laughs*

huh. The first Eggplant is interesting. It tried to be a twin.

This is the Sunflower that I planted... and it's making me so happy!

Making the birds happy, even if it's a bit stunted... barely 4feet tall, 1.2meters, and the Buckwheats are almost as tall! It's weird that this Sunflower only has the one bloom, too. Most of the Sunflowers branch out and have loads of blooms.

And I'm out! On the way home, I see No Patches again.

Tag: august 2024

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

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

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

Heh. I think this time it will Stay empty!

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

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

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

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

I just love the colour explosion here!

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

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

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

Tag: august 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's fun to think about these things!

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

Preening! Is Baby Number Three in there as well?

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

The one on the left continues to preen...

Ah-Ha! We do have all three!

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

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

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

ha. Funny birds!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And from the news...

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

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

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

It's gonna get worse.

But in more personal news...

A motorcycle cop passed me on the bike path today.

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

Tag: august 2024

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

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

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

oh foo!

I thought I had days left to watch the babies!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The black one is a male Lesser Goldfinch...

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

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

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

Fledgling! Black Head Grosbeak!

Fledglings everywhere! *laughs*

And one last photo at the Chicory!

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

Volunteers have planted this and keep it maintained and watered!

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

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

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

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

A little Crookneck coming along, with some Buckwheat blooms!

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

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

The Wax Beans happily climbing up the volunteer Sunflower.

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

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

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

Okay. Heading home.

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

Tag: august 2024

Good Morning Mx Scrub Jay!

Good Morning Barn Swallow Babies.

Number Three is hiding again today?

I get momentarily distracted by the cute little minnows.

Good Morning, Minnows!

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

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

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

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

But when I pick it...

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

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

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

And then I notice two more behind it!

WooHoo! What a great harvest of Lemon Cucumbers today!

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

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

Tag: august 2024

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

Silver Lining is my favorite...

The 275 year old cherry tree.

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

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

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

See ya!

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

I obsess!

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

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

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

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

And then I'm back at the Rose Garden.

And then I'm heading home.

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

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

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

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

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

Tag: august 2024

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

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

Sleepy babies!

Oh, is someone on the way?

Number Three is all, Whatever! *laughs*

And back to just being cute.

So Cute!

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

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

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

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

One of the volunteer Tomatillos is getting some fruits!

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

Yay! First Wax Beans!!

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

And something horrifing in the news...

∞ Eugene police investigating alleged rape near Fern Ridge Trail

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

I don't even know what to say.

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

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

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

Tag: august 2024

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

Bittersweet Nightshade. It's not Deadly!

... But it will make you sick!

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

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

Dang it. No Patches is NOT very cooperative!

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

ugh. The Fallen Leaning Tree is dead.

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

So sad.

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

But here's something to cheer me up!

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

The Hawthorns are getting loaded with pomes.

And the Oaks are getting galls!

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

Oh, nice! The Buckwheat is making seeds!

Ha!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And I paused there a moment to think about that.

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

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

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

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

Yay, Happy Ending!

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

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

This is so cool!

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

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

Tag: august 2024

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

Red Amaranth!

Okay...

I was VERY interested to watch this...

∞ Senator Merkley Slams USPS Delays and Downgrades on Senate Floor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tag: august 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Wax Beans are on the way!!

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

The ones on this side look okay.

I have a serious love of Lemon Cucumbers!

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

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

The red Sunflower is almost 2meters tall!

Yay Lemon Cucumbers!

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

Tag: august 2024

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

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

Is Number Three somewhere in there too??

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

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

There we all are!!

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

Dude! Seriously!

*laughs*

Itchy!

Never quite comfortable enough!

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

Sonya Massey.

That cop killed her in cold blood.

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

just. goddamn.

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

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

Sighs.

Tag: august 2024

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

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

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

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

Peeking into the Little Free Library.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*laughs*

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

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

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

What? Seriously? This is all I get?!

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

All the birds were uncooperative today.

That's just how it goes sometimes!

Tag: august 2024

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

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

And at the Barn Swallow nest!

Just Baby Number Two is restless today.

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

but Look! The first Wax Beans!

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

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

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

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

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

oh, the colour!

On the way home, a Wood Nymph!

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

I wish I knew more about bugs!!

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

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

Tag: august 2024

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

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

Stretch!

They are moving around a lot.

Ha! That's a tail!

Another stretch!

Just. Can't. Get. Comfortable.

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

But first...

Oh My Gosh!

A Green Heron!!

And then she flies downstream.

*laughs* oh well. But that was awesome!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's harvest includes a House Fly! haha!

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

Didn't quite fit!

Tag: august 2024

Greeting the wildlife, right outside the door!

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

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

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

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

To the Garden.

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

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

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

I just love the red Sunflower in the Tofu Patch!

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

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

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

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

The Eggplant is getting so many branches!

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

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

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

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

And the back neighbor, Kevin's Nasturtiums.

Tag: august 2024

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

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

I haven't seen all three babies since Jul28!

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

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

hmm...

And suddenly we have THREE!

Yay!

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

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

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

And the lovely flowers around the Bird Bath art installation!

Oh wow! These double petal Cosmos are pretty cool!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I love the red ones, they are so pretty!

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

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

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

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

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

Some Amaranth...

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

Tag: august 2024

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

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

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

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

This is the view upstream from the bridge...

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

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

*laughs* it doesn't really work!

But then!

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

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

Haha... He followed me!

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

*smiles*

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

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

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

Today's harvest...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tag: august 2024

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

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

No cooperation!

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

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

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

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

The cute little baby fluff on their head!!

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

uh huh. It sounds like nothing will be done.

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

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

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

But doing NOTHING? Seriously?

Sighs.

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

and I water and gather.

And then calm myself by looking at the beautiful plants!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is wrong with people?

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

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

Meantime...

I've arrived at the Garden.

The Green Zucchini is getting busy again!

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

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

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

Lemon Cucumbers are very blossomy!

And keeping the bees happy.

And making some little cucs!

Brandywines and a Spaghetti Squash blossom...

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

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

Oh boy...

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

It doesn't quite fit...

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

And the parent flies off for more bugs.

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

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

What is going on??!

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

The food is arriving...

And arriving...

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

The ancient Cherry Tree.

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

My favorite, Silver Lining, still has some blooms.

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

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

*laughs* Oh well!

Collecting seeds!

Part of the Whilamut Natural Area includes some Oak Savannah.

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

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

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

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

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

Strange and sad.

And finally, an Osprey!

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

Henrietta! Long time, no see!

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

*laughs* I thought he was holding a fish!

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

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

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

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

I get to the garden and do a walk about.

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

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

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

???

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

I am shocked at the destruction!

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

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

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

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

This was personal.

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

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

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

I gather the day's harvest.

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

But, amidst the grass stalks in there...

That's a baby beak!

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

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

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

Wow! So Cool!

And we're off again to get more bugs!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just the one, poking up her face.

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

The Lemon Cucumbers have a zillion blooms!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tag: july 2024

The Bittersweet Nightshade berries are ripening.

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

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

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

Awww! Everybody okay in there?

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

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

And this makes me happy... Butternuts!

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

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

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

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

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

The Sunflower I bought:

Flight of the Honey Bee! *laughs*

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

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

So annoying.

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

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

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

Tag: july 2024

The squirrel who greets me this morning is a fighter!

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

Oh, ducklings! One last batch for the season!

Gah!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Sunflower I bought is very happy, if short!

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

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

There's some Creeping Speedwell growing here.

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

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

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

She's buzzing her wings to get them dry!

But she notices me watching her...

Our precious, precious pollinators!

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

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

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

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

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

First blooms on the Wax Beans!!!

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

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

This beautiful thing is called a Ballon Flower!

The lavender is attracting all kinds of pollinators!

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

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

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

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

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

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

SIGHS!

But look who else is here!

*laughs!*

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

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

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

Back at home...

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

But here's Mama Barn Swallow!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But that didn't seem likely.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today... One more Crookneck...

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

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

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

But then a cop car speeds down the bike path!

Whoa! And then another one! And a third!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Squirrel Story!

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

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

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

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

Pat, pat, pat, with her little hands!

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

Because that was ridiculously cute!

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hello Mr Bullfrog.

Still up there!

Oh! Hello?

Morning stretches?

You just need to fix your feathers?

Okay!

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

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

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

And my short Sunflower does make me happy.

Even the neighbor's sunflowers make me happy.

And these Morning Glories are pretty gorgeous.

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And then I watered!

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

Sometimes I'll scoop someone up...

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

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

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

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

The Sunflower I bought is starting to open up!

I try to get artsy! *laughs*

Tag: july 2024

I love to meet new dragonflies!

She's a Varigated Meadowhawk!

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

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

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

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

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

And then I head back to the garden.

The Wax Beans are finally starting to vine!

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

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

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

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

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

I ate it!!

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

But there will be a ton, before too long!

And the Lemon Cucumbers...

Lots of blooms!

Gasps! Yipee!!!

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

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

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

I wonder if the flowers got pollinated.

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

Tag: july 2024

I love the Sunflowers with the rusty red colour!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Looking over the newly weeded Tofu Patch...

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

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

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

*laughs*

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

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

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

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

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

Tag: jul 2024

To be 88° today, so much nicer!

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

Oh. Empty?

Hang on! Someone just flew in! Good!

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

Is she checking eggs? Or Babies??!

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

The minnows are fun to watch as well.

I wonder if they can see me.

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

There! That's better!

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

And the first teeny tiny Butternut!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

Momentarily distracted by the cute little minnows!

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

Yes! A parent is sitting!

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

Well! We shall see!

But seeing that parent on the nest makes me happy!

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

Oh, hey! I thought I heard a Moo!

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

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

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

The Black Tomato is starting to make some fruits.

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

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

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

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

The tiny Buckwheat blooms make me happy.

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

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

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

A Wood Pewee...

Is that a meal for one of your babies?

And you've got kids to feed as well?

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I adore this Sunflower growing in the Tofu Patch!

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

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

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

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

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

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

∞ Evacuations downgraded after brush fire near Eugene Airport causes scare

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

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

Damn, they are awesome!

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

∞ Greenhill Humane Society: Fire Update

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

You gotta keep hydrated when it's this hot!

Mama is close by.

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

Under the Lemon Cucumber leaves...

Heh, she's too quick for me!

Still no one...

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I get distracted by the flowers in the neighboring plot.

Okay. Back to my garden plot!

The Black Bindweed is ... um, flowering?

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

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

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

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

The Buckwheats are starting to bloom in earnest!

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

And then on the way home... hmmm.

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

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

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

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

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

Ha, this cracks me up...

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

Oh Hey! Eggplant blooms!!

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

Today's harvest, with the Black Bindweed vine!

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

But I'm so frustrated about it!

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

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

Sunflowers are starting to bloom!

Kevin's Opium Poppies still have some blooms.

Ha, photobombed by a cute lil House Fly!

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

Okay. Here I am at my plot.

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

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

And the After picture:

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

That first SunGold is still ripening.

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

The big Yellow Zucchini is doing good things.

And I got the first Crookneck today!

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

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

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

So! The French people!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amaranth on the left, Tomatillo on the right.

The Tomatillo has a first bloom on it!

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

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

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

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And After:

It will take a few days to finish.

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

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

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

Yes. I am crazy.

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

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

Welcome to the neighborhood!

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

Tag: july 2024

Fourth day of the heat dome, 105°.

Good Morning Beautiful Kitty.

Hi, Knotty!

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

Well! This is exciting!

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

Yay! Ripening!

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

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

Definitely, much better!

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

The Green Zuc is being crazy!

And the Yellow Zuc is being slightly less crazy!

The Crookneck is also less crazy!

A pretty good harvest of Sugar Snap Peas today!

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

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

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

Yay!

Tag: july 2024

Third day of the heat dome, 103° today.

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

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

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

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

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

A Painted Lady Butterfly!

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

Flame Skimmer!

And the Hydaspe Fritillary...

The bugs must like the heat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

And the Smartweed is taking over again.

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

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

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

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

And the Primary SunGold!

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

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

But this is nice:

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

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

All that Borage notwithstanding! :D

On the way home, Nutria youngsters!

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

Tag: july 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Brandywine...

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

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

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

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

I am very pleased with the Squash Square...

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

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

*laughs*

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

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

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

And speaking of Partner...

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

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

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

???

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tag: july 2024

A fledgling!

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

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

And I pulled off the first Green Zucchini!!

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

The Crookneck is doing things!

And the first Old Germans are getting bigger!

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

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

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

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

So I watered the heck out of both of them!

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

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

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

Tag: july 2024

I love these rusty red Sunflowers!

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

Love in a Mist and a profusion of Nasturtiums!

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

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

Oooh! These Daisies are something different!

Wow! I Like!

Smartweed is blooming in my plot...

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

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

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

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

The Wax Bean seedlings... Grow faster please!

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

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

I wonder who munches little holes in the Eggplant?

Happy Lemon Cucumbers, starting to climb the trellis!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tag: july 2024

Tag: july 2024

Tag: july 2024

Tag: july 2024

January 2024 (partial)

February 2024

March 2024

April 2024

May 2024

June 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