Category Archives: garden

A Leopard Cannot Change Its Spots

Posted on January 5, 2025 by Pamela Rentz

This one is a little bit hard to see but the raccoon was hilariously playing with the hose. I was a little worried about the hose when I saw the clip but I did a close inspection and it was fine. It’s a pretty nice hose so either it was built to withstand raccoon teeth or the raccoon wasn’t trying to destroy it.

I had the feeders down over the summer but put them back up in the fall. It’s especially active out there now. More than once I have seen a cat wander through. I think they like to troll the birds. Sometimes they sit under the feeder and relax like little jerks.

The other morning I was sipping my hot chocolate and went to look out over the activity but instead of birds, there was Noah the cat, sitting under the feeder. A little bird stopped to checkout the fly-through feeder and 1-2 pounce! And my little guest was caught. Noah took his prey and scooted back over the fence to his house.

I was very sad. I never saw the cats actually going after the birds so this feather-shed was upsetting. But also: nature, baby.

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Stand in the Place Where You Live

Posted on November 9, 2024 by Pamela Rentz

I have those new raised beds and I am filling them with leaves and garden refuse. In the spring I will add dirt and hopefully have an amazing place for planting.

My neighbors have a giant tree — I think it’s a big leaf maple. And it drops so many leaves so I asked them if I could rake some for the garden.

He said, “If I was home I would help you.”

Who is going to tell someone not to rake their leaves?

I started on Friday and while I was out there a very friendly guy drove up and asked if he could have some of my leaves for his garden.

I explained that I lived next door and was raking them for my garden. I don’t think he was offering to rake, only to haul off leaves. He seemed confident he could get leaves from someone else.

Today I did another session and while I was out there a guy drove up and said he was from the Census. I explained that I lived next door and was raking leaves for my garden.

There’s a lot of action next door for leaf rakers.

I got enough to fill both beds and it’s supposed rain a lot tomorrow so I think my work there is done. It was a great workout while it lasted.

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Sunflower Hearts

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Pamela Rentz

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.

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Pooh Little Pear

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Pamela Rentz

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.

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Squash Bugs Ruin Everything

Posted on October 13, 2024 by Pamela Rentz

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.

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Remember When October was a U2 Album?

Posted on October 6, 2024 by Pamela Rentz

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.

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How Many?

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Pamela Rentz

Massive raccoon tour group traveling through SW Washington this summer. I’m surprised I never heard them. We sleep with the windows open in the summer. You think it would be tough to move a family of that size without anyone hearing.

Side story: I’ve been mildly distressed about how dirty the bathroom sink and bathtub look. I’m only a medium housekeeper but I couldn’t figure out how they were getting so dirty.

Then I realized it’s me. I’ve been doing some big projects in the backyard and I get filthy from head to toe. This afternoon I was scrubbing my feet in the shower and watching the dirty water draining away and realized: that dirt is me.

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Raccoon World!

Posted on August 1, 2024 by Pamela Rentz

I knew there had been activity out there because the water in the bucket was dirty and the pollinator water dish was nothing but dirt.

Look how many have been out there. I think this is a mom and her almost grown babies. I’m not an expert in raccoons so don’t quote me. They are cute but so destructive. All my pumpkins have been chewed on.

They even tried to steal the camera. I guess they don’t like being spied on. I need one of those signs to warn them they are on camera.

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Everything Is Stupid

Posted on July 14, 2024 by Pamela Rentz

Link to me signing my book.

As per every time, I have no time and no energy and I’m trying to quickly post and everything is broken and doesn’t work like it used to.

I would love to post a photo but my FTP is all messed up and I vaguely remember I have to do something different but I can’t remember and the things I tried didn’t work.

I would love to embed the video above but somehow I can’t find my DumbTube channel. I have been clicking and searching in a calm and sensible manner and all it does is give me Bridgerton clips which is great because I love Bridgerton clips but that is not what I am doing right now.

My story is that I went to Chicago back at the beginning of June. I thought I didn’t have anything to post because we didn’t do much except visit with friends.

Then I remembered DOH! We went to an all romance bookstore in Chicago called The Last Chapter Bookshop and for fun I went to see if they have pen name’s book. It’s a very tiny and well curated bookstore with very few self-published books. But they had three in my series!! I was very overwhelmed and happy and a little emotional to find a book I wrote at a real bookstore.

They encouraged me to sign my books and put them in the front on the signed books table. It was a huge day for me!

Meanwhile: I have so many things going on right now including but not limited to: giant garden bounty that needs attention daily, a possibly dying outdoor beer fridge, a neighborhood association situation, sports, dry hot weather, uneven public transportation and summer traffic meaning longer trips home.

I have a long list of things to catch up here but I need to figure out the photo situation and DumbTube situation and will try to update more later.

Also, I think my story comes out in Apex tomorrow. Here is the link to the main site. My story is called Loss Prevention and I hope to pimp it more later.

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The Bounty is Upon Us

Posted on July 1, 2024 by Pamela Rentz

I was in a long line at the store and the guy next to me sighed and said, “June was a long month.”

I said, “For me it went by fast. Usually July is a long month. Then it’s August and then it’s Christmas.”

He sighed again. “That sounds about right.”

Meanwhile, the raspberry situation is out of control. We have been eating them for breakfast although Bob was mixing them with all the usual fruit. I said, “I don’t want to keep wasting my time with apples, I just want berries.”

I made jam and I made a tart. Actually, 2 tarts but the 2nd one has all the berries.

They are slowing down but the blueberries are coming in and the marionberries. Marionberries are super prickly so they are not super fun to pick. I want to ask the women at the farmer’s market who sell giant trays of berries if they feel like they toughen up after while. It seems like the first time I pick I am covered with scratches but now I dig around the middle of the patch and I feel it but my skin is fine.

We have company this week and I expect to make a berry pie or cobbler to keep ahead the deluge.

These are from heirloom seeds that my sister-in-law gave me from Fort Vancouver.

This is 2 weeks ago. I ended up leaving the peas on a little long so I didn’t get those sweet early peas. When I did finally harvest we had a ton of those, too. We are in the process of eating a big bowl and I blanched some and stuck in the freezer.

I’ve also dug some potatoes and we’ve had lots of lettuce. I’m keeping an eye on the bush beans next.

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