Sunflower Hearts

I just put the bird feeders back up.

I had them down for the summer because it seemed like it was attracting the deer and too many animals.

It’s been fun having them back and all the chaos and flying around. One of the feeds I use has peanuts and the bluejays are very possessive about the peanuts.

I filled one of the feeders most of the way with sunflower hearts and I was amazed by how fast it was getting emptied.

I went out there and saw most of the seeds on the ground. Meanwhile, the bluejay is smart enough to know the lady brings the peanuts so he stood by.

“No more peanuts until you eat the sunflower seeds,” I told the air. I wasn’t scolding the bluejay directly.

I looked it up and I guess it’s a normal bird behavior and today when I was out there the ground was mostly cleaned up. Birds and squirrels and who knows what else ate the sunflower seeds.

All the feeders were refilled.

Posted in garden | Tagged | Leave a comment

Fig Clone Tool

The big fig belongs to my neighbor’s tree and the smaller fig is from Percy, my fig tree.

I felt that Percy’s figs were beautiful and more than adequate but it’s hard to ignore how giant the next door figs are. Also the neighbor tree had so many figs it was almost a national emergency.

I froze a bunch. We’ll see how that works out this winter.

So, what’s going on in the upper left corner of this photo? There was a note that I wanted out of the picture. I rarely use photoshop for anything except cropping and super light photo editing. I couldn’t find the clone tool and couldn’t remember the name of it. I finally figured it out and what happened to it? I didn’t understand how it worked or what I was supposed to do with the window that popped up. I used the brush tool. hehe.

If I have to start all over to learn Photoshop, then I’m getting one of those cheap knock off programs.

Posted in doing it wrong | Leave a comment

What is Up Squirrel?

I used to put out peanuts for the blue jays and inevitably the squirrels would get them.

This picture one of those big wooden spools that was in our yard when we moved in. One time a peanut fell into the center hole and I guess a squirrel imprinted on that and now, I guess, its progeny (?), still seek snacks in that hole.

How long to squirrels live? It can’t be that long. It seems like it’s been years since that happened.

I had the hole covered just out of habit and I went out one day and that other hole had been eaten through the wood.

Is even a peanut worth that? What is wrong with squirrels? There is no food anywhere around there. Weirdos.

Posted in doing it wrong | Leave a comment

Fun and Games

I saw this in our neighborhood on one of our walks and thought it was funny.

I can’t remember the last time I sat around a campfire. Probably in Orleans before the pandemic.

I keep thinking Bob and I will go camping again someday. I love being outside and there are great places a short distance from where we live. But it’s harder to sleep on the ground. Or not even the sleeping part — just the getting up and down off the ground.

I still like to think, one of these days.

Posted in doing it wrong | Leave a comment

Pooh Little Pear

A year ago we planted our pear tree, Pooh, a Seckel honey pear.

This is the first year it had any fruit on it. It didn’t have much because the deer snacked on it when it was in bloom but this is probably good because it’s still a baby tree and pretty much just a skinny stick with leaves.

I think we had three or four of these teeny little pears and they were not harvested. They fell off.

For fun I brought them in and put them on the windowsill and they did ripen and we each had a tiny sliver. They were delicious.

Posted in garden | Leave a comment

Summer Favorite

Karuk Garden Lemon Cucumbers!!

All went as planned.

I was in Orleans for a little over a week and brought Auntie with me.

We had all kinds of adventures including picking huckleberries and picking up chestnuts, visiting Junction Elementary, getting vegetables from the Tribe’s garden and visiting lots of people.

It was hard not to be greedy about the lemon cucumbers. They don’t travel well and there are only so many I could eat before they would be compost.

Life has conspired to keep me very busy. I haven’t even finished looking at the animal camera clips from the tip but there are deer and fox so far.

Next month is November and I will attempt to do my post a day — but it may be a pretty half-assed effort. We shall see.

Posted in Orleans | Leave a comment

Floor Model

I guess I never wrote about our mattress buying adventure. There were signs in the neighborhood that said the local arts school was selling mattresses as a fundraiser.

We’ve needed new mattresses for a long time. I convinced Bob we should go look. If it seemed sketchy we didn’t have to buy anything.

It was not sketchy and we bought replacement mattresses for the upstairs and the downstairs mattress. (I’ve had the downstairs mattress since I graduated from college. I know — it was OLD.)

I wanted to use the opportunity to pull the carpet up in our bedroom. I started that corner in the first photo and there were so many staples it took me half an hour just to clear that little bit. I was very demoralized.

The mattress delivery also wanted us to move our old mattresses. They would haul them off but wanted the beds stripped and the mattresses ready to go.

We could not move the king by ourselves so we got some help. And they helped pull up the carpet, too.

Here’s what the floor looked like — no treatment other than Murphy’s Oil Soap. Can you believe that’s been under ugly yellow carpet for 20+ years? So beautiful. We love it but are still getting used to it.

The beds are here and we are happy with those too.

If all has gone as planned I was in Orleans last week to help Mom. I scheduled these posts and hopefully will have some Orleans shots for next time.

Posted in doing it wrong, home improvement | Tagged | Comments Off on Floor Model

Squash Bugs Ruin Everything

This year the pumpkins did terrible. One of the problems was the critters–raccoons?–out there who managed to put a big gouge just about every single squash–no matter its shape or color–that came on.

Meanwhile, I got squash bugs.

I didn’t even know what they were. I was out in the garden and rolled over a squash and there were bugs EVERYWHERE. This general shape but some of them smaller and even very small and some were grey and there were A LOT. Like scary lot.

I fired up my web search and there were people all over SW WA complaining about squash bugs.

I don’t know the origins or if there’s a reason this year was worse than others of if it’s always been bad and I’ve just been lucky.

But: BOO!

So I have pulled almost everything and put it in the refuse bin. I’m hoping I have better luck in the raised beds next year and I might try to plant pumpkins out front again.

Posted in doing it wrong, garden | Tagged | Comments Off on Squash Bugs Ruin Everything

Remember When October was a U2 Album?

Hi! Happy October.

Every October I am surprised by how busy I am. Every time.

Here are some quick updates: I had to cancel my Atlanta trip because there was a hurricane at the same time I was supposed to travel. I am graduating from crowns and getting my first implant later this month (that’s a teeth thing). I am *this* close to finishing my first fan fic (Polin, Bridgerton). If you don’t know what that means you are unlikely to be interested.

Everyone else: drop me a note and I will ping you when it’s up. As soon as I’m done with that I am writing another romance. Don’t hold your breath because I am super distracted by a million other things so I’ll be lucky to have a first draft by this time next year.

And: I bought some raised beds.

I have been re-habbing this corner of the yard for a couple of years and this year I decided to just buy the dang beds and get them out there because I was close enough.

I planned to buy two and see how I liked them. But then the website did that thing where a big pop-up ad told me it was a holiday weekend special and it was 40% off if I bought 4.

You know how everything looks smaller when you actually get it? I said: Sure! I’ll get 4!

Look how gigantic they are. They are, I think, 12 pieces, each individually wrapped, plus 60 (?) fasteners. It took me 2 hours to assemble one. I have 2 up and I more or less leveled them and started throwing some garden refuse in there. I am so pressed for time before the season ends, I plan to hold back the other two.

I can either assemble later or I might try to sell them. We’ll see. I’d like to give the main garden patch a nice rest next summer.

They are pretty though!

And anyone who is thinking: oh, look. A faucet. That will be so handy for your drip irrigation.

Nope. That faucet has never worked. We’ve had at least 3 people come out and look at it. It’s a mystery.

Posted in doing it wrong, garden | Tagged | Comments Off on Remember When October was a U2 Album?

Olympia, Conclusion

Unfortunately, I don’t have the energy to put my video clips up so here are some pics. This is what an outdoor concert looks like in Oly Wa in August. Note the rain gear and cold weather clothes.

Actually, it just happened that we had a rainy weekend for the concert. The weekend before and after were hot and sunny. In expectation, there were notices directing us to the water stations and there was tenting material that I bet was good for shade but wasn’t so good for keeping rain out.

We had to strategize our attendance carefully because I can’t stand out in the rain in wet clothes and 58 degrees and think it’s fun like I used to.

I also ended up buying a new wool hat and new wool socks. In August.

Bikini Kill! This is the short people view. Originally I was hanging out closer to the stage but I was mosh-pitted back to the drinking tent. I noticed another similarly aged couple also retreating. But we loved seeing the kids having so much fun.

And here they are X! I have seen them previously in 2013 and 1985 – post here. I am pleased to report that we’re all still here! Lots of grey tops and glasses rocking out.

Posted in doing it wrong | Comments Off on Olympia, Conclusion