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?

Proud Mama

Woo-Hoo!! My daughter is a Yogurt!
No she's not. She's a Yogi! She just
graduated this weekend and will be
leading yoga classes in Bend soon.......

My kids are awesome!

just one more...

I dunno what happened here ..this photo was supposed to be with the last blog but my computer gremlin ate it. By the way, the catfood cans aren't just "garbage"..I use them to measure sprinkler output. When they have an inch of water in them I shut the sprinkler off. Really! (Currently freaking out over the upcoming metered water bill.)
IKEA had these most wonderous LED lights last December. The string is about 25' long and the lights slowly change colors. I wish I'd gotten two strings. Anyhow, wrapped on a topiary ball frame they make a very cool earth/disco ball/party light don't you think?


One other note. I decided to give my plants a treat of fish fertilizer today. As I was mixing it up, I thought "hmmm. perhaps the deer won't like the smell of this!" So of course I managed to slosh it on everything, including myself, and now the yard smells um, fishy, and I'm not exactly exuding a romantic essence myself...though a sturgeon would probably think otherwise. I've washed my hands more times than Lady Macbeth. I've used soap, dish detergent, fresh lemon...still smell like a dead fish....good thing I don't have to go to work tomorrow..

stinky business

This evening the little skunk started making circumbendibus forays from under the dog house to the dog yard and back. I tried making a "crumb" trail with juicy plums from the yard to the space between the gate and the house but plums weren't on its diet plan for today. It just walked right over them. (which freaked me out a little.."is it sick?")

Right on the cusp of darkness it occurred to me to get some things to block the skunk's access to Phoebe's "basement" (the dog house is on a pallet) so I dashed back to the shed area... and cursed because I'd done such a fine job of cleaning that area up and throwing away all the short 2 x 4's there wasn't much to choose from. I did grab a stainless steel "wire" shelf that appeared to be the right length to block the front of the dog house, and then snagged a fence board which would be too long but would serve the purpose of blocking the side. Upon my return to the den window, I could see the skunk way down at the other end of the dog yard so I dashed out, placed the shelf, slid a flower pot over to hold it..just as Phoebe dashed out of the house...I screamed "PHOEBE!NO!!" and, bless her little golden head, she stopped...and the skunk remained at the other end of the yard. Put the fence board down, slid two more big pots over to hold it, snagged another pot to block the space between dog house and people house...and watched as the skunk schooched itself under the fence and away. (we hope away!)

really! A fawn!

Now do you see it? When I started to back up (I was about 50' away) it went from zero to 60 in 3 seconds. My God those things can run...bound ... fast!

fawn

Its there. Its at the right side of the base of the Bunya-bunya tree.
I'll crop it and post that next. Really, it IS there!

plan changer

I finally talked myself into riding my bike this morning..filled the tires, found the lock, found my bike shoes, etc...put the dog into her yard...and soon heard a lot of barking.

This is why. This youngster was right outside the door..luckily it was backing AWAY from the dog. Obviously its a youngster and not quite sure what to do. Currently it is under the dog house. Swell. I can't put the dog into her yard due to the skunk. I can't leave the dog in the big yard due to the doe-with-fawn who has issues with dogs. I guess I could leave her (Phoebe, not Doereen) in the house but my enthusiasm for a bike ride is quickly dissapating..which is more than I can say for the aroma coming from the dog yard. (even without spraying, they don't smell so pretty good!)

The dog house weighs a ton so trying to move it to convince the skunkette to move is probably not a good option. Phoebe may end up going to work with me on Tuesday. ;>)

Such a cute little critter!

pansies & violets

These are what I think of when I hear "violets" . They can smell delicious and take me zooming back a few years to my childhood in an instant. They start blooming here in January/February and are most welcome. Some have that wonderful odor but others, though beautiful in colors ranging from white to dark purple, don't smell at all. Mom used to pull out the ones that didn't smell but it just seems blasphemous to me, the Total Violet Lover.
These are what I always called pansies or violas. I never gave it a thought that pansies and violas and violets were all related but then, there are stranger family members...just consider all the different looking Campanulas! They're all fun. Pansies come in such an assortment of size and color! What's not to love about them?!

When I was but a small lass, the minister at the Unitarian Church would hand each child a little pot of pansies during the Easter service. I remember bringing those home and Mom helping me plant them in a flower bed near the lath-house. That bed is now filled with Chinese ground orchids but I do think of the pansies every time I walk by and I do wonder if any of the pansies that pop up in odd places around here could be related to those of long ago.

So now I need to study up Lisa's http://fercryingoutloud.blogspot.com links and see just how related these two posies are..yeah, I know. I shoulda done that before I started this blog entry. :>) Hey! Its early! I just woke up!

Garden carnage

The newly dug and re planted front flower bed as it looked last week. Removed what had been lots and lots of fortnight lily and Mexican evening primrose, amended the soil with the compost from the bins, and planted some "new" posies. I thought (dumb me!) that even though the fence was an easy 4' hop for the deer, that they wouldn't venture into such a small area..its only about 12 x 12 for cryin' out loud.

This was a very happy dark purple potato vine that had wintered over nicely in Phoebe's yard. Its sharing a pot with some never blooming fairy wand. Apparently Doereen does not care for fairy wand.














This was a lush Jacobinia until hungry Doereen discovered its tasty leaves yesterday.





















And this was a nice start of a variegated Abutelon. (Hey! Where did the picture go? Am I the only person with gremlins in her computer?)
It was here just a moment ago. That's what I get for attempting to spellcheck? Arghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Its almost enough to make me want to go buy the deer a bale of alfalfa, haul it to the back, and hope that they'd be content. However, I have a "thing" about not feeding wildlife on purpose. (birds and squirrels beimg the exceptions) I don't think its right....I'll just have to stop pulling out all the privet babies and leave them for browse for the deer. The nice tasty flowers and foliage plants will go back to the dog's yard, and I'll enjoy watching the fawn frolic for the next few months. (I'm still wondering if there might be TWO babies...hidden in different locations)

Darling deer

Hey! "Edit Html" works! The little word at the corner was "rich text". I didn't realize it was a "toggle"!

Ok then. On to the deer. This is Doereen. Doereen was visiting the dog and I whilst I read and the dog ate popcorn in the back yard a few weeks ago. Now Doereen has a baby. Its not much bigger than my cat but can run like the wind...I inadvertently got too close to it a few nights ago and it bolted with a bleat. Mama is very protective. She just looks at me with concern but she gets rather uppity when Phoebe-the-Dog is out. This evening I can see its tiny head peeking out from the same spot in the shrubbery so I am avoiding that area...and at the same time, lecturing Doereen because she has taken it upon herself to prune the potted plants NEXT TO THE HOUSE (she has 2.5 acres of stuff to dine on..at THIS address!) Yesterday the lovely potted abutelons became leafless sticks and today she took it upon herself to severely prune the Jacobinia.

Phoebe has to be content with her yard, which is bigger than what new houses come with these days, and the inside of the house. She ventures out into the "big" yard only after I scout for Doreen and don't find her. Phoebs thinks Doereen wants to play chase. Phoebe loves to be chased. Just try explaining the damage little pointy hooves can do, not to mention, a deer weighing about the same as the dog, could easily smush and pummel her...to a dog. Or a human..which may explain why "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" plays in my head every time I venture out. Before the baby, Doereen would come within 3' of Phoebe without a challenge. Thank goodness Phoebe understands the urgency in my voice when I tell her to get back in the house and Doereen seems to call it a semi truce when Phoebe decides to hide behind me instead.

I'd love to get a picture of the baby but that will have to wait. I just don't want to freak the little thing out and have it clatter through the gate (again) and head for the busy road...which it didn't do, thank you very much Doereen for jumping the fence and leading the kid to safety. Of course, I had to leave the gate open all night so that Baby could easily follow mama back into the yard. I remember how lambs and ewes could find the tiniest hole in the fence to some neighbor's hay field but then could never find the hole OR the big open gate to go back home when discovered. I suspect deer are similar in their thinking.

Gotta go turn off two sprinklers. I left one on last night and didn't remember it until 4:00 this morning. My water bill will resemble the National Debt. Toodles~