thinking, thinking, thinking...

This poor old shed desperately needs a makeover. The assortment of varments that call it home are perfectly happy, but the human owner is ready for a useful-for-her building. Something for tool storage and chickens and a larger place to do artsy-fartsy projects.....mmmmmmm!!! The little studio" at the far end could become a little greenhouse. It has windows on 3 sides.

The old lath-house has terminal dryrot too. It was very classy in the 60's.

And just look at what she got for Christmas! Stylish Sheds! and four new little signs to put in the new Stylish Shed!

It would be a task but kinda fun, I think, to dismantle this old building (circa 1937) and recycle what we can into a new building. It has a concrete floor and a rotting roof and lots of little furry critters. Masks will be needed. There is an awful lot of rodent feces in there.


So now I just need to win the lottery.

Christmas mystery

When my family members were leaving my house last night, a cute snowgardener and a huge stocking (filled to excess with goodies) were discovered by the door. I have no idea as to when they arrived nor have I been able to figure out who left them...YET!

Since the humor expressed in the note about the deer and on the Peace meeting plaque fits pretty much ALL my friends, its making it very difficult to figure this out. Has to be neighbors, that much is a given.

There are little gardening ornaments, no less than three bars of soap, a bag of Sugar Daddies (not exactly what I meant when I put that on my Xmas list!), bread mix, salad dressing mix, Udder Balm..which I hope was intended for my hands...hmmm?....lip balm, a fat candy cane, note cards and a pair of cute Santa socks....all crammed into a huge stocking with deer on it. And, there was yet another filled stocking inside the big stocking. Oh yes, and the egg beater!

Since gifts had already been exchanged with most of my Obama-loving, gardening-loving, hilariously funny neighbor-friends the list is narrowed down to D and E or maybe the sneaky T and C who had been by earlier with yummy treats......None of which really have the time to individually wrap each and every item in the stocking(s)..

The Great Christmas Stocking Mystery. Thank you, whoever you are. (whomever?) I will find you! I do not for a minute believe it was the "Carmichael Colony Deer" but the "and Friends". They're all so sneaky though!

Since it isn't raining at the moment and since poor Phoebe-dog has been stuck in the house for the past few days, it is time to go for a walk. Phoebs has been itching like a maddog but has no fleas...nor has her diet changed...so maybe its boredom. She doesn't stop to scratch if her mind is occupied on other things.

Besides, there are 9,354 calories that need to be burned out of my body. A lot of food will be going to work with me tomorrow and hopefully eaten by "the boys"....the girls too but those boys can really put away the food you know.

We'd best get going before the wet clouds reappear.

Merry Christmas everyone!

And now Mz Tree

Has matching candles! They won't be lit but they do GO, don't they!

teehee

Christmas tree

Okay...with or...

without the tinsel?






















the black blob in the bottom of the 2nd picture
is this elegant black and silver reindeer with black
feather boa.

Never in a million years did I think I'd ever want a pink Christmas tree.
I still wouldn't want a BIG pink tree but this one is fun. Even if the balls
are a mite large.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I know, I know. This ain't nothin' to those of you who are dealing with mega snow, major ice, no electricity..wait, if you have no electricity you can't be reading this...but I digress. It was cold enough this morning for the birds to don their ice skates and practice for the Avian Olympics....sorry

The temperature is all the way up to 63° here in the den but still a chilly 59° in the diningroom. Did it not get this cold when Dad built the house in the 1950's and that's why there is no insulation? The single pane windows are easy to explain; my folks were ever the recyclers. I don't ever remember being cold in here when I was a kid. But hey, that's what afgans and blankies and dogs and cats are for, right? (This weather keeps up and I may be forced to get another dog! Two would be warmer than one.)





My brother used to pull me in this little red wagon when I was a wee sprout and he a gangly teenager. I'd urge him to "go faster" He would, and then he'd turn the wagon around at great speed and dump me out on the gravel driveway. I'd scream. He'd get in trouble. And then we'd do it again. Probably a good thing the tires are shot on this late '40's wagon or we'd probably do it again. We both happen to be in better shape than the wagon.

The mind wanders here.......
"911. What is your emergency?"
"There's a 75 year old man laughing hysterically and a 63 year old woman with road rash..."

I just heard part of a 9-1-1 call on the scanner;
"...falling back and landing on her entertainment center...."
Do you think he was talking about a piece of furniture or part of her anatomy?

Cold as I am, my kids are colder. Leslie is in Bend, Oregon, working nights clearing snow from parking lots and private properties and Mark & Jennifer are in Portland, Oregon, hoping that they got all their pipes wrapped, their vents sealed, and their house bunnies in deep enough straw in the garage. My grandpuppy will will be warm as toast inside with them.




One more iced birdbath.

Now I'll hit "publish post" and find all the words jumbled up at the top. Oh well. I'm too cold to care. NEED...... MORE.... COFFEE!

bloom day

Its amazing that anything feels like flowering at all in this cold weather. Its not that cold of course, this being Sacramento and all, but it has been anything but balmy today. I didn't venture outside at all yesterday.

So. Blooming currently in the garden;

Princess bush
Salvia
Acidanthera bicolor? (it just appeared. I don't remember planting it.)
One of the trusty Christmas cacti.
And the Sasanqua camellia.

my Christmas tree

Since not everybody is "coming home" for Christmas this year
buying a tree just seemed silly.
However, we needed something
and this bamboo ladder has been
begging for a use for at least 2 years.
There were orange lights and purple
lights wanting to be used, and some
el cheapo pale green plastic ornaments
from The 99 Cent Store which needed
hanging..the ornaments not the 99 Cent Store..

The sun makes a perfect "angel" in my
biased opinion. The guppies can be heard
singing "Ohhh! Pretty! Sparkly!" (They are
actually chanting "She feeds us, don't worry.
She feeds us, don't worry")


It looks better than this at night.
Really! It does!

Stapelia on the wane

"I'm shrinkinggggg!!!" she says. Must say that the bud certainly lasted longer than the flower is going to. That petal at the 3:00 position was pulled all the way back last night and now the others seem to be following its lead.
Hirsute Henrietta is on her way out.

lavender slime mold?

This stuff is growing on the inside of an old half wine barrel. I didn't realize that it was there until I cut back the mums. Can anyone ID this? I googled "purple slime mold" but nothing came up looking like this. Tried it with "lavender" too. Hey! Maybe its the standard "dog vomit slime mold" but purple because its growing in an old wine barrel! No? Well, I'm game. What do YOU think it is?

Stapelia

Ta-Daaaaaa!!!!!!

and no smell!
What a nice surprise greeted me 2 mornings ago! I guessed that the flower would be 10" to 12" across and

when it did finally open (during the day) it was, indeed 12" across. It does not smell bad. In fact two noses have deemed it having no smell at all. This appears to be normal for the Stapelia grandiflora, which is what I think this one is.

Thanks again Leslie, my Darling Daughter, for sharing your plant with me!

arghhhhhhhhhhh

I just spent 15 minutes trying to get the verbage aligned with the photos below. I give up. It looks fine on the preview but then the computer gnomes play with it and well...Deal with it you two readers! ;>)

silly things in the yard

The magic tree. Many times I wish I could just dissappear into the world in that hole in the tree. What? That's not really a hole in the tree? Its a mirror? Well. Damn.
















This I try to do as much as possible. Especially now that I am plagued by anxiety attacks. Laugh. Breathe. Repeat.
















It was somebody's lovely chandelier..but apparantly somebody gave it to the thrift shop...which is how it ended up in my hands....to become...perhaps a terrarium? The "guts" part may become a candle holder if I can figure out how to get rid of the light bulb holder-thingies. The glass is quite nice. Beveled even. Looks like it needs a little E.T. standing by it..





















Nope, not bronze. These are the real thing. DOEreen is in the front, the surviving twin, Pete, behind her, and possibly the twin's daddy bringing up the rear. This is not the buck who hung out here all summer. Tripod was here a few days ago but this fellow bounced across the road Monday morning and took up where Tripod left off. Why oh why don't they decide to eat all that Chasmanthe?

Things are not always what they seem

Lovely pomegranate isn't it? fresh off the tree, grown without benefit of any chemicals whatsoever......right outside my front door..sort of. 50' away. Close enough.

But when you turn it around to admire the backside it becomes obvious that some other creature also found it yummy looking.... Now I don't mind sharing fruits and veggies with birds but rats? UN-UH!













Awww..... behold the peaceful pussycat. He's all curled up on, WAIT! That's the clean laundry!! No wonder everything I wear is "fuzzy".












Then, as I am dashing out the door on my way to work, I steal a quick glance at the Guppy Boys and ...what is that?
What IS that?
OMG. The cat has decided to offer up his morning kibbles to Buddha and the guppies. Buddha does not look especially honored by the offering. Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Must still be fall

These Fuyu persimmon leaves in the sunshine practically blinded me at my nephew's today.
The Scarlet Oak in the Not-So-Secret Garden aka my front yard.
A raggedy, rangy Liquid Amber who's ONLY claim for redemption is the red of its fall leaves and the production of copious amounts natural food for the goldfinches and other little feathered friends. If not for those things I think it would make a lovely fireplace scene. Oh yeah, I don't have a fireplace.