newest signage

Found this in Portland and just HAD to have it. I'm surprised it didn't trigger something at airport check-in. ;>) Haven't yet had anyone apply for the positions of "Weeders" or "Planters" but maybe the sign is just too far from the street. har-har-har. I have lots of pruners..in the form of deer. DOEreen and her kids, Pete & Repete, and the (possible) Dad, Tripod, plus I saw the yearling doe hiding out behind a brush-pile this weekend. She was banashed from the property by DOEreen when the twins were born.

But back to pruning. The deer have eaten all the hydrangeas down to bare sticks. The plants are sending out new growth but as soon as its a tiny mouth full, it too will be eaten. They have pruned my Heucheras, nibbled my succulents. They have taken 2/3 of the leaves off the Abutelons, the Jacobinia,(but not its cousin, the Shrimp Plant) and the Raphiolepis. Petunias were pulled from the ground. The 3' tall Phlox is currently one foot tall. They like plum leaves (yeah!) and Texas Privet. (yeah!) Unfortunately, they do not seem to care for bamboo, or nut grass, or Bermuda. On the other hand, they are leaving lots of fertilizer and they are tres' fun to watch...especially since I've found nary a tick on the dog or myself.


Someone told me that "deer won't even walk on plastic netting so you can use that on the ground instead of as a fence." Yes? Well, I watched DOEreen casually walk down a 15' stretch of plastic netting on the ground Sunday. She didn't seem to mind at all.

And yes, I am an "Obama Mama"! Isn't it refreshing to hear someone speak using correct grammer and sound like he's actually speaking to you and not just reading, in a 2nd grade fashion, the sentences placed before him? (or repeating what he's hearing in his ear piece?) I also like WHAT he says not just the WAY he says it. I saw lots on Obama signs in Portland and Corvallis and now I'm starting to see more of them around here. The McCain folks haven't started showing their support of Bush #3 yet.

My poor rickety picketty fence! The fawns muscle their way through the slats which was fine when they were not much biogger than a pussy cat. However, they are quickly becoming DEER but don't quite have the springs to get them over the fence yet. So, they still go through. It will soon be time to haul out the electric screw driver and and a handfull of screws for repairs as it just wouldn't do to have Phoebe escape into the busy street or to have stray dogs enter our Peaceful Queendom to hassle the deer.

The Japanese Gardens in Portland, OR

Lisa of www.fercryingoutloud.blogspot.com gave my family and I a wonderful, informative tour of the Japanese Gardens in Portland, Oregon this past weekend. It was such fun to meet a "Blog-buddy" in person! Again, Lisa, thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedule to accomodate us. We loved it! We loved YOU!

This is the Zig-Zag bridge. It would be a fun thing to have in the yard..though mine would be more of a zig-zag "path" since the only time a "bridge" would actually be needed would be during a typical mid-winter rainy season here.
The zig-zag design is so that the demons can't follow you because they can only travel in straight lines. Which makes me think I need to redesign my computer room/desk/area because the demons have certainly been busy in my little corner of cyberspace. Now the CD "drawer" refuses to open which makes having all of my Portland photos on a CD next to worthless at the moment. Luckily, I forgot to delete the last bunch of pictures from my camera. Camera. Need a new one of those too. This one has been having major issues with it's on-off button. Sometimes it requires a stab from a pen point, or a stick, or a few well chosen swear words to make the camera turn on. Or off. I almost bought a new one on the way to the airport last night..but decided I'd best do some homework first.

This fence gives me some ideas for a possible deer-barrier in my yard. It would have to be MUCH taller of course but I do have a huge patch of bamboo that needs thinning...

I suspect that the entire west coast is operating under smoke to some degree. Mt. Hood was barely visable through the haze but at least we didn't smell the smoke. Back in Sac, I can smell it, feel it, and see it. We flew over many fires and in between incredible cloud decks. There were fair weather cumulus clouds, swelling cumulus clouds and cumulus congestus clouds.There were also cirrostratus layers. And smoke. Lots and lots of smoke. It was very difficult to find any landmarks. Good thing the pilots have navagational instruments! ;>) I don't know what the flight was like going up because I'd made the near fatal mistake of booking an un-godly early one..I had to meet the shuttle at 3:15 AM...soooooo verrrrry tired....note; taking marvelous Meclizine HCL to curb motion sickness is a moot action when there has been only a modicum of sleep. It did not work for me. Very embarrassing to fly with one's head in a bag and making rude noises. I'll not do that again! Flight home was great.

If you look very hard at the sky above the um, is that the bank tower?.. the tallest of the Portland skyline buildings, you can see Mt Hood floating in the distance.

Oh how I love Oregon. I didn't want to come home. We spent a day in Corvallis at the da Vinci Festival too but that post will have to wait until I can wring my photos from the CD that the computer is refusing to allow in.

The Japanese Gardens in Portland, OR

Lisa of www.fercryingoutloud.blogspot.com gave my family and I a wonderful, informative tour of the Japanese Gardens in Portland, Oregon this past weekend. It was such fun to meet a "Blog-buddy" in person! Again, Lisa, thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedule to accomodate us. We loved it! We loved YOU!

This is the Zig-Zag bridge. It would be a fun thing to have in the yard..though mine would be more of a zig-zag "path" since the only time a "bridge" would actually be needed would be during a typical mid-winter rainy season here.
The zig-zag design is so that the demons can't follow you because they can only travel in straight lines. Which makes me think I need to redesign my computer room/desk/area because the demons have certainly been busy in my little corner of cyberspace. Now the CD "drawer" refuses to open which makes having all of my Portland photos on a CD next to worthless at the moment. Luckily, I forgot to delete the last bunch of pictures from my camera. Camera. Need a new one of those too. This one has been having major issues with it's on-off button. Sometimes it requires a stab from a pen point, or a stick, or a few well chosen swear words to make the camera turn on. Or off. I almost bought a new one on the way to the airport last night..but decided I'd best do some homework first.

This fence gives me some ideas for a possible deer-barrier in my yard. It would have to be MUCH taller of course but I do have a huge patch of bamboo that needs thinning...

I suspect that the entire west coast is operating under smoke to some degree. Mt. Hood was barely visable through the haze but at least we didn't smell the smoke. Back in Sac, I can smell it, feel it, and see it. We flew over many fires and in between incredible cloud decks. There were fair weather cumulus clouds, swelling cumulus clouds and cumulus congestus clouds.There were also cirrostratus layers. And smoke. Lots and lots of smoke. It was very difficult to find any landmarks. Good thing the pilots have navagational instruments! ;>) I don't know what the flight was like going up because I'd made the near fatal mistake of booking an un-godly early one..I had to meet the shuttle at 3:15 AM...soooooo verrrrry tired....note; taking marvelous Meclizine HCL to curb motion sickness is a moot action when there has been only a modicum of sleep. It did not work for me. Very embarrassing to fly with one's head in a bag and making rude noises. I'll not do that again! Flight home was great.

If you look very hard at the sky above the um, is that the bank tower?.. the tallest of the Portland skyline buildings, you can see Mt Hood floating in the distance.

Oh how I love Oregon. I didn't want to come home. We spent a day in Corvallis at the da Vinci Festival too but that post will have to wait until I can wring my photos from the CD that the computer is refusing to allow in.

Sycamore trees

The trees look pretty darn healthy, they just feel like shedding their excess clothing I think. Hard to tell how many other trees in the area are dropping leaves because so many people can't stand to let a leaf go "un-blown". I'm thinking "mulch" while they are thinking "mess".

what to do with all that cat hair

You just sweep it up and "craft" another cat!

I learned something today

I knew that deer were ruminants. What I didn't know, but which makes perfect sense, is that they can pig out on plums and then rid themselves of the pits at their leisure without making them go through the miles of digestive system. My goat of long ago used to eat the plums and spit the pits out right then and there.

This is a close-up of one of Tripod's favorite bedding areas. Its in Mom's old lathhouse. The second picture shows some of the hundreds of cherry plum pits. I suppose there will be a veritable forest of plum trees in that spot now. Oh I hope NOT. I detest plum trees. They know nothing of birth control and pop up EVERYwhere.
On the other hand, they do give the deer something to eat. .... Along with the Hydrangeas, Abutelons, violets, roses, Rhaphiolepsis, cuphea, some of the camellias...the list goes on...

Lots of deer poop around for fertilizer though.

Fall leaves in mid-July

This is a little collection of the confused leaves. They look just like they do in the fall to me.

Fall? In mid July?

My sycamore trees are dropping leaves like crazy. Even though they aren't getting any less water than normal in this drought...because I never water much where these trees are...and even though its the middle of July, they are shedding as if it were October. Is this "normal" or could it be the fact that we've had a month of dark days due to the smoke from forest fires? Or all of the above? This IS July isn't it? I haven't been in a coma have I?

stuff n nonsense

Finally! The promised photo of Phoebe in her pool! yeahhhh! Big frickin' deal, eh?
she didn't really want to be in there this morning. Perhaps that was due to the fact that the air was quite comfortable and there was no need to stand in water. Interesting, the pose she chose when I told her to "stay".
Then this nasty looking but interesting fungi appeared when I contemplated moving a plant out of an old copper or brass container. They are about 4" long and 5/8" wide. I don't remember ever seeing this one before. Anybody know what its called? It should have some sort of delightful name, like that "Dog Vomit" fungi I sometimes find. Ah ha! I think its a Kysurus mokusin or Stinkhorn. angela sent me a great link http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/skey.html

These tiny (1/4" diameter) fungi are in yet another pot. The open ones look like weensy bowls of Lilliputian fruit snacks while the still round ones look like white peas. Again, I have not a clue.
Although...now I think this one is a type of Bird's Nest fungi.





Do you suppose these salmon, swimming north on Watt Avenue, are Steelhead? (yuck, yuck, har, har)

Wayyyy too hot here

This is why the beautiful black widow lost her home, and sadly, her life. The Human wanted a place to get cool in in a hurry. It was 108° here today. Our store's air conditioning started losing ground by 3:00pm so it was 80° in there when we left. My house was 96° when I got home. Yes, I was in the stock tank within 5 minutes of arriving home, why do you ask?

Its just big enough that if my neck rests on one side and my heels rest on the other, my body sags ever so nicely under the water in the middle. Very pleasant. I don't know what the sheriff's deputies think when they fly over in the 'COPter. Probably "Hey Vince, did you see that drowned cow in the stock tank?"

Wearing wet clothes and sitting in front of a fan helps a little bit but I certainly can't go to bed in wet clothes so that's when the plastic ice thingie from the freezer comes in to play. You know, the containers you freeze and then place in your porta-cooler to keep your wine chilled, or your tunafish sandwich from going gicky on you? It works wonderfully as a "cold water bottle" for hot feet.






This is Dawson. Dawson is not real thrilled about being a very furry cat about now. I've been trying for years to get him to enjoy brushing but he'd rather bite the brush and then go shed three or four cat's worth of fur around the house. He normally is not outside during the day but since it was so nastily hot, he didn't have the energy to hunt birds. Besides, I was right there with him....making sure.

Phoebe has her own pool. I'll try to post that tomorrow. I just know you're all waiting with baited breath to see a dog standing in a wading pool. How novel.

A Fine Specimen!

To add my 2 cents' worth....
It is SO hot (how hot is it? 102° outside, 91° in the house) that I decided it was time to move the potted plants off the overturned stock tank, flip it over, and fill the thing with water. Pretty much figured there would be a black widow under there but didn't expect one quite so plump! Much as I try not to kill things, she met a quick demise with the shovel. Swimming with her just didn't sound like a big batch of fun. sorry the picture is so blurry. I am having some camera issues to go along with my usual computer issues.

This is supposed to be on a side bar..I dunno how to do that.

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?