Landed in Oregon XIII

September 24, 2007

I forgot the butterfly bush and lavender.

A.J., who visited Saturday, is learning that some trees have apples and some do not.

September 25, 2007

Saw Mother Doe and Spike under the apple tree. Spike is now as tall as his mother but much skinnier.

Tomatoes from the garden! Brandywines! Big! Delicious!

September 26, 2007

Every Fall, I buy a bale of hay and a bale of straw. The hay is for the goat or goats on cold winter nights. The straw is for berming the pump house and the outside water faucet. At the end of winter I will then use the straw for mulch. Sharon gave Annie some of the hay. She thought it was great, building a little burrow.

September 27, 2007

I’m in the Jail House Now. Went to Ashland this morning for a meeting. Was gone all day. Somehow, Cappy knew I was going. He watched me get ready, following me from room to room. Generally I can wait and he will become distracted. Not today. When I left he stood at the door and ... Cappy does not meow ... screamed. When I returned he saw me before I even entered the house. I stopped to lean down to pet him. He walked on by as if I wasn’t there. Several hours later, I was sitting in the living room when Cappy came in from outside. He saw me. It was like old times. He jumped up on the chair and kneaded my belly to be petted. I started to pet him and then ... he stopped, like he just remembered he was mad at me ... and jumped down and walked away. Give it time.

Sharon was down walking along the creek this afternoon. There is a place where there is a granite shelf, beneath a canopy of trees, and the creek tumbles by. Then she suddenly saw Manny and Manny saw her and he raced past, into the brush, up a tree. That’s how he says hello to people he knows. It is a little scary.

Brat is getting his summer-fall habit. Once he decides we are up he starts bellowing. Or, if you prefer, baaa-ing. He wants apples. We’ve got apples. He gets apples. Tomorrow it will be the same thing. If strangers are in the neighborhood, he is just as vocal but more frequent and maybe louder.

September 28, 2007

Cappy hasn’t quite forgiven me.

September 29, 2007

Daughter, The Younger, will be home for Thanksgiving! It rained yesterday and is supposed to rain tomorrow. I surveyed the estate today. Following summer, it looked somewhat unruly. I notified Landscaping. Today I mowed the grass. Looks kinda like a mowed hayfield in the Fall.

One bunch of turkeys came through this morning. I counted 24.

September 30, 2007

It rained today. The snowy white egrets are back! We know there are huge populations of them in northern California where they are used to control bugs, etc. We know there are a few on the Rogue River. Where do these come from? California? Or, with the Fall rains, do they leave the river and come into the fields? The fields have been irrigated all along. The egrets could have come a month or two ago. Why now?

On the way to town, turkey buzzards were working the carcass of a freshly killed skunk. The smell was powerful. We have heard that some owls are partial to young skunks. So that puts two on the list of critters not offended by skunk.

On the way to town we saw a jay in the empty osprey nest. Chest all puffed out. Like a six year old behind the wheel of mom’s car.

A.J., with her dad, has been visiting relatives in Seattle. Not yet three and she has more air travel than I had by the time I was twenty-one! We picked them up, let her dad off at his car, and brought A.J. here for her mom to pick up later. Tonight, there they were! All in Red Hat Club red hats, marching through the house, blowing on a flute, beating on the drum. The leader with the baton was A.J. She did a good job leading.