Landed in Oregon XXX

August/September


Good Morning -

Where has the year gone?

The main theme of the year has been our next door neighbors, Gay and Ray. They have had a manufactured home situated on the upper and lower pastures. They just recently moved in. Their contractor told them they would be in in March. So they sold their home in Yakima and moved. They were living in their camper. Now, that’s a story. Maybe one or two volumes worth. Maybe three.

This has been the year of the gopher. Year before last they came up in the strawberry bed, looked around and departed. Last year I dedicated a bed to artichokes. The gophers disagreed. They like artichokes and cleaned me out. This year they started with the romaine lettuce, knocking off six heads in one bed. Then they shifted to another bed and cleaned out the peas. Then another bed where they cleaned out the zucchini and squash. Then they went to another bed where they sampled the green beans and passed on them. To another bed where they cleaned out two rows of carrots, some radishes, then shifted to broccoli and then to two peppers. They left the bed with two pepper plants standing. What did they not eat? The potatoes did fine. The tomatoes are doing okay. One bed was dedicated to A.J. and her flowers and cocktail tomatoes. She also planted a lima bean plant. These all did fine. But this bed also had the zucchini and the squash mentioned above. So, I have been discovered. It is time to redesign the beds.

A.J. grew the lima bean plant in school. We gave her one raised bed. She planted tons of sun flowers, tomatoes, snap dragons. It was a jungle. She also planted the lima bean plant. Did I mention? It now has one pod about seven inches long.

For Father’s Day Daughter Jennifer got a bargain on some trees. She didn’t count them. There were 75 Ponderosa Pine. Now, this is a formidable problem for that time of year. Too hot. I gave 35 away to the neighbors, planted 20 on this side of the creek and 20 on the other side. I have been watering by hand. I have discovered this is a very healthy practice. The other side of the creek is a hillside. It takes an hour and a half to water the 20 there. I have two watering cans, two gallons each. I fill a small ten gallon barrel and the two cans. I make four trips up the hill and one trip along the creek where I water trees I planted last year. In July I would return sweat soaked. So far I have lost two trees on each side of the creek.

By the middle of August, the days are getting shorter and the trees are less desperate for water. I am hoping I lose no more.

After our neighbor’s construction the theme of the year has been our renovation. Not necessarily in this order we moved the laundry room to the sun room, put a new roof on the sun room, leveled the floor in the kitchen, put down new linoleum, put a new entrance into the kitchen and expanded the deck by 100 square feet.

We bought a wood stove and it is scheduled to be installed next week. In clearing land for the neighbor’s home, there were some trees given to me. With the help of Ray I was able to buck them and have been cutting up the rounds for wood. Out in the scar are a few rows of cut wood.

This was also the year of the lizard. They arrived early, multiplied rapidly, and are everywhere, scuttling across the grass, driveway, raiding garden beds, trying to get into the house, Annie’s cage, porch and on and on, little, big, some skinks, some alligator, some curious, some fearful. I think they have reduced the fly population.

We also have fewer bees. Almost no homey bees. Few bumble bees. The mid sized ones seem to be holding their own. Few wild black bees and few yellow jackets. I think there are fewer of the last two because of the ground that has been churned up. I expect they will be back in full force next year.

Sun flowers were planted in a few of the raised beds. Most are full grown now. Solitary heads, multiple heads, colored heads. The chickadees come in, light near the head or on the head, pry loose a seed, then scamper off to a nearby tree to eat their prize. Then back again. Two jays are also showing up. We have two feeders with sunflower seed. This time of year, the birds prefer fresh.

It has been a slow year for tomatoes. The Brandywines are just now coming on.

It has been hot. And dry. I remember working in hay fields and watching any stray clouds and praying for rain. It is the same. I yearn for rain, the sound, the humidity, to join in the sigh of all living creatures.

Have a good week,

Sharon & Marc