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Mantis

Posted on September 14, 2025 by Pamela Rentz

I had to look up whether it’s praying mantis or preying mantis. In wikipedia it’s just Mantis.

I’m not sure if this is a big year for mantises or maybe I’m just better at seeing them?

I have seen a bunch in the front and the back. Some were tiny. I thought I had more pictures but I guess it’s hard to get a good mantis photo when you’re in the middle of yard work and pull your phone out of your pocket for a quick shot. I probably deleted them. Actually probably hard to get any good photos since they blend so well.

In my memory I thought they were good luck or something. The wiki says in some early cultures they were considered to have supernatural powers. I think maybe they are considered good for the garden.

Earlier in the summer when it was hot I opened the front door early one morning to get a little more air flow. There was a big praying mantis on the screen. I told it hello and was glad to see it. Not long later I heard the bluejays bickering back and forth around the house. The next time I looked the mantis was gone and there was a green wing on the porch.

Not so lucky, I guess.

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Apples from Other People’s Trees

Posted on September 7, 2025 by Pamela Rentz

One of my neighbors picked up a bunch of apples from another neighbor and offered me some. When I got over there he offered me the whole bucket.

I accepted. I still have my own apples but the tree is still young. I might have enough to make a bowl of applesauce but not enough to can.

I knew I was going to make applesauce. It seems like last time I made applesauce I was surprised by how fast it went.

Must be a fake memory leading to today when I was surprised by how long it took. I started at 9:30 thinking I’d have everything sliced and diced and cooking in the pot by 10:00. Insert 100 laughing emojis.

But also: that’s a lot of apples. I even have a little sore place on my hand from cutting up so many apples.

I just cut out any bruises or icky spots and the core and then cook. Then I run it through the applesauce strainer.

I intended to research if there was anything I could add that might boost the flavor but never did so this was just apples and water and it came out *amazing.* This is a poor photo which is why I am not a food blogger.

There’s a lot going and and I’m still getting through by the seat of my pants. Coverage will continue in this fashion until further notice.

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Late Summer Harvest

Posted on September 3, 2025 by Pamela Rentz

I have so many photos flagged and half posts written and I can’t seem to ever settle in and finish anything.

At the end of July I said to one of my colleagues: You know that old saw about having kids? The days are long but the years go by fast? That’s how July has been.

The days felt long but it was over in a flash and now we’re done with August, too. I felt like I had plenty of summer and it was good but also it went by fast.

Here are some harvest updates.

Cucumbers are like zucchini. One minute you notice “oh look at these cute little vegetables coming in.” The next thing you know you are out watering and you move a leaf and there’s this giantic thing.

This is my best cucumber crop in years. I already made some refrigerator pickles and hope to make some more tomorrow.

This is also the first year I’ve had such a huge second crop of everbearing raspberries. Still coming in, too. Enough for a big scoop with our cereal every morning.

The tomato crop was only adequate. I think I goofed with the raised beds. I didn’t expect the dirt to settle quite to much so they aren’t full enough and the metal gets hot so it was like no matter what I did they were underwatered unless they were overwatered. I tried some different things to drip the water without success. Will put more dirt for next season.

Those big tomatoes were gifted from my neighbor. The day Natalie left them here I ate 3 tomato sandwiches.

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Pretty Bird

Posted on August 31, 2025 by Pamela Rentz

For the second time recently I’ve heard a loud bang in the kitchen and ran outside and found a conked out bird on the deck.

If I wrote about it last time I can’t find it.

I ran out there and carefully picked it up in a t-shirt while assuring it that I would take care of it until it could fly away. I put it in a little box and left it outside.

The issue is we have two cats that hang out in the yard and target the bird feeders. One of them I can chase off. The other doesn’t care what I do except when I run the sprinkler.

I have found feathers out there more than once.

The hurry was to keep the stunned bird away from the cats until it regained its wits. Last time it took about 45 minutes and it was a sparrow.

This time it took only about 20. Look how pretty it is.

The first time I checked on it a bunch of times and it took awhile to fly away. This one zoomed away the first time I checked.

I wonder how many times this has happened and I didn’t know about it? I’m going to get some stickers or whatever you’re supposed to do for the window to save future birds.

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Today’s Lesson is About Bunnies

Posted on August 24, 2025 by Pamela Rentz

Once I started seeing it, I couldn’t stop seeing it.

There are little bunny turds all over my front and backyard. 😂

I still don’t mind the bunnies. They are so cute. Everyone I talk to in the neighborhood comments on all the bunnies. And then I talked to someone in Portland who mentioned all the bunnies. Then someone in Seattle. Then an author I follow who is in rural Washington.

Is this a big year for bunnies?

I asked my search engine. This is the quick version.

According to WA Fish and Wildlife there are a bunch of species (rabbits and hares) native to WA plus 2 species introduced. Also there a number of articles about people letting their pet rabbits go in the wild. Why would anyone do this?

(There’s a neighborhood east of us that is known for its feral rabbit population. This is an older article about it.)

The most common neighborhood bunny is the Eastern Cottontail (even their name is adorable!) They were brought to WA a long time ago as a game species and they adapt well to urban living.

It is normal for them to have boom population years.

It’s funny how often I will pull clips from my camera card and there will be an animal in the front: raccoon, opossum, skunk. And the bunny will be in the background.

Here is an 8 page PDF from WA Fish & Wildlife if you want to increase you bunny knowledge.

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The Mange

Posted on August 20, 2025 by Pamela Rentz

Finally! Something I’ve never caught on camera before.

Little mangey raccoon kit. It is so funny and tiny. Other than being bald it seems active and curious.

The new camera has sound, too, so you can hear them drink and squeak if you listen carefully.

I only caught them on camera this one time which is probably a good thing. One website suggested I report it to wildlife officials. I don’t know where they went. Reporting their existence doesn’t seem helpful.

I recognize the mama. She didn’t look too healthy previously and she’s looking pretty ratty here.

Tough out there for urban wildlife.

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New Trail Cam

Posted on August 17, 2025 by Pamela Rentz

I can’t remember how long ago the trail cam died. It took me forever to replace it and then it took awhile for me to put it out there.

I haven’t seen shots of the backyard in months and the first time I pulled the camera card all the usual suspects appeared: skunk, both opossums, bunnies, and raccoons.

Look how many raccoons — five? Most of the clips don’t have this many. Busy night for the raccoon family.

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Woo! Girl

Posted on August 8, 2025 by Pamela Rentz

The Backstreet Boys are doing a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. They were big in the mid-90s and I was never a huge fan. But a clip from this tour showed up in my social media which is how I know they are still performing together.

I thought I had more posts about the Woo! Girl (Here’s One) but they aren’t coming up in my search.

The Woo! Girl is a person who we have run into at every concert we have ever been to. She’s usually sitting in front of us or behind us and she enthusiastically screams WOO! during the whole show.

When I was younger, I thought the Woo! Girl was there to punish me. But now that I’m older, I love having the Woo! Girl show up and do her thing. We can be Woo! Girls no matter how old we are — the Woo! Girl brings the enthusiasm and joy to the show.

A clip from this tour showed up in my social media and I cracked up when I heard the Woo! Girl still doing her thing.

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Cool Sightings In and Around the Garden

Posted on July 31, 2025 by Pamela Rentz

This is a public domain image.

From where I sit at my home desk I can look out the window and see the top of a very tall tree of my neighbor’s. I should probably go figure out what it is but I’m going to say it’s a Doug Fir and guess it’s about as tall as a 4 story building.

This morning I looked out just in time to see a bald eagle land in the top of the tree! I ran outside and watched it. Mostly it just perched there looking all around. It made shrieking sounds a couple of times.

I did not take a picture because my camera wasn’t made for that and it just looked like a far off brown bird in a tree. I watched for a long time but finally went in because I had things to do and I missed when it took off. It was a very exciting way to start the day.

Check out the different sizes of my blueberries. I have an early season, mid season, and a late season. The mid season is the small one and the late season is the big one. The late season isn’t especially prolific but it’s always exciting to pick them because they are so giant.

A thing that happened this morning that wasn’t exciting was when I unloaded the camera card from my trail cam and dropped it through the crack between the deck boards. No way of getting that back. I have lots of cards and also lots of clips of raccoons drinking water so it’s not a tragedy but still annoying.

I don’t think I’ve posted any clips since I got the new cam up so I will do one for later this week.

Seen while waiting for bus. Reaction was to gag. Other thoughts? The food industry’s ideas for getting more sugar into people have no end.

I have seen quite a few praying mantises (praying manti?) in my yard lately. Aren’t they good luck or something like that? The one’s I’ve seen were very small. One was white-ish — so maybe a baby? I’m to lazy to do praying mantis research right now. I am happy to have them.

I also have a lot of dragonflies. Aren’t those good luck, too? I like them. Also this morning while I was watching the eagle, a hummingbird perched behind me on one of the above ground wires. It was great.

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Me All Starry Eyed

Posted on July 27, 2025 by Pamela Rentz

Screenshot used w/o permission from artist’s youtube

Asia was a super group in the early 80s made up of people that only old people and the stray youth that likes classic prog rock has heard of from Emerson Lake & Palmer and Yes. I had their debut on cassette and listened to it a million times in my 1972 Karmann Ghia.

The Internet says there was a second album called Alpha that sounds vaguely familiar but I don’t remember following them after that. The Internet also says the band as remained active almost continuously since 1981. I did not know that and honestly haven’t thought about them in years until I heard them in Fred Meyer last week. Kind of like Gray’s Anatomy — this thing is still on?

I was delighted to be reminded of song. As we were leaving Fred Meyer I said to Bob: Do you think you can find Fred Meyer Friday Morning Playlist on Apple Music?” (I don’t have Spotify.)(I have Apple Music and don’t know how it works or how playlists work. I do manage to pull up obscure music from the 80s and Apple Music tries to find things to recommend based on that.)

I said: Did you hear that song by Asia, the supergroup from the 80s?
Bob said: I did. It was terrible. I wanted it to stop.

The song is called Only Time Will Tell. It starts out with a bright synthesizer opening, like a graduation march, that then slows down into a moving heartfelt ballad about an ending relationship. I remember driving around singing this to myself after my senior year boyfriend dumped me right before prom.

I love it.