October 9, 2007
Once or twice a year I cut blackberry vines across the creek. I do not like vines with thorns. I do not like rose bushes. It falls in the same category as I do not like rattlesnakes. The plants can send out vines that cross the old road. I want to keep at least a path on that road. There are a couple of stories here. One is watching the road fill in. The other is maintaining a path.
Mr. Manners went with me. He was very vocal: soft: whispered, frequent mew-mew sounds. He stayed behind me except on those occasions when he took shortcuts. It was like he was looking out for me, was telling me about this place, was being a tour guide. There were few blackberry vines to cut.
On the path there are places where trees have fallen and are still alive. One can duck under them or step over them. There are places where snags have fallen. Step over. One of these times I will work with them: move, cut and so on. In a few places there is encroachment by poison oak. I cut and spray. There are more and more volunteer trees in the old roadway. The road was packed too hard; for a few years after the road closed there were no new trees. Enough leaves have now fallen, the road has softened enough, that all kinds of vegetation is making inroads.
The difference between Mr. Manners and his brother. Manny stayed behind me. Mr. Casper runs ahead, then stops and seems to listen. He is deaf. Then he runs on.
October 11, 2007
Ticks are back. A little rain and Sharon picked several ticks from Mr. Manners.
October 13, 2007
Across the creek again. This time to plant iris bulbs per Sharon. In places the ground is still hard. Rose campion blooming. Red, red iridescent beneath the riparian canopy!! Did I mention rose campion in the plant blooming survey?
The grass is greening up. Should be great by Thanksgiving.
October 14, 2007
Annually, generally after the first rains of Fall, I rake the fallen leaves on each side of the road and wheel barrow it to the mulch pile near the English walnut tree. Today I did the road in from the mail box -- from the gate to the culvert, about 200 feet. I did some raking on the road up to Bonnie and Jim’s.
Annie is really digging. It is like she is planning to double her underground domain or escape -- whichever. The dirt is piling up in her cage. It was getting difficult to open the door. There is a pile of fresh dirt outside her pen. We are using it in different places. Yesterday I was filling pots for Sharon. Annie stopped her digging and watched. She watched me shovel. Clearly she has an appreciation for dirt moving techniques and tools.
Starting to see more reds. However, the ginkgo is yellow. The walnut tree has a band of yellow at the bottom. Is green at top. We are picking up about a dozen walnuts each day.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
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.
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.
Landed in Oregon XIV
October 2, 2007
Did I include hibiscus and autumn sedum in the inventory?
October 3, 2007
We have had some rain and the surface of the ground is dark with moisture. Cappy went out this morning and was diligently hunting for dust. There was none. Finally he discovered the garage floor.
October 4, 2007
Sharon went to a Dogs for Deaf meeting yesterday. She was really impressed with the local program. Cappy uses his brother to offset his own hearing loss. Cappy is an elder brother and is thereby entitled by birth order to be a leader. He believes that. Manners, who sometimes complies, thinks his disadvantaged brother is a boor. Ah-ha! Cappy needs a dog-for-the-deaf cat!
October 6, 2007
Saturday morning. Thirty-four degrees. Frost warnings on the Internet for the Rogue Valley. December and January share the lowest average temperatures: 31 degrees.
I looked for windfalls for Brat. None. One of our large apple trees has early drops. The other is inclined to have no drops at all. Last year, deer were standing on their hind legs to pick apples from its lowest branches. I picked half a dozen for Brat.
He prefers white bread. I offered him some apples. He wasn’t interested until it seemed that that was all. I held back some bread scraps for desert.
I saved a slice of whole wheat bread for Annie. First thing this morning I saw her seeing me in the kitchen window. I hold the bread for her. For critters like Brat and Annie who do not have hands it is helpful to have the food held. In nature, without hands, they bite and pull. Same with turkeys. I have seen them try to stand on a windfall apple, trying to hold it down while trying to take a bite out of it.
Next I pull the filter from our small vacuum and shake it out. Need to do it 1-2 times a week. And I notice, nearby, walnuts are starting to fall from the tree. I gather sixteen, filling my shirt pockets. Feel windfall rich.
October 7, 2007
One of the truly neat and wholesome things in Rogue Valley is Seven Oaks Farm. This time of year they open their doors, put a few of their animals on display and sell from Fall produce. One can buy all kinds of large (and small) pumpkins. There are canned goods. How about a bunch of corn stalks for $ 5.00. The kids can pet the goats. There is a slapped together maze. A hot dog stand where one can also buy roasted corn. There is a real old log cabin. Free pony rides where the kids can ride in a saddle and the pony is led by a man. One sees lots and lots of families and lots of small kids. The activities are free. The produce is not.
We went last year with Jennie Lynn and A.J.. This year A.J. rode the pony. She got a horse painted on her cheek. Bought some pumpkins.
Which reminds me. The best we could do in my garden this year was a watermelon about the size of a softball. Do I dare put it along side the pumpkins we raised? Could a person carve such a thing?
The Fall colors are really just starting. Reds and yellows. The poison oak has a delicate egg shell red color.
Did I include hibiscus and autumn sedum in the inventory?
October 3, 2007
We have had some rain and the surface of the ground is dark with moisture. Cappy went out this morning and was diligently hunting for dust. There was none. Finally he discovered the garage floor.
October 4, 2007
Sharon went to a Dogs for Deaf meeting yesterday. She was really impressed with the local program. Cappy uses his brother to offset his own hearing loss. Cappy is an elder brother and is thereby entitled by birth order to be a leader. He believes that. Manners, who sometimes complies, thinks his disadvantaged brother is a boor. Ah-ha! Cappy needs a dog-for-the-deaf cat!
October 6, 2007
Saturday morning. Thirty-four degrees. Frost warnings on the Internet for the Rogue Valley. December and January share the lowest average temperatures: 31 degrees.
I looked for windfalls for Brat. None. One of our large apple trees has early drops. The other is inclined to have no drops at all. Last year, deer were standing on their hind legs to pick apples from its lowest branches. I picked half a dozen for Brat.
He prefers white bread. I offered him some apples. He wasn’t interested until it seemed that that was all. I held back some bread scraps for desert.
I saved a slice of whole wheat bread for Annie. First thing this morning I saw her seeing me in the kitchen window. I hold the bread for her. For critters like Brat and Annie who do not have hands it is helpful to have the food held. In nature, without hands, they bite and pull. Same with turkeys. I have seen them try to stand on a windfall apple, trying to hold it down while trying to take a bite out of it.
Next I pull the filter from our small vacuum and shake it out. Need to do it 1-2 times a week. And I notice, nearby, walnuts are starting to fall from the tree. I gather sixteen, filling my shirt pockets. Feel windfall rich.
October 7, 2007
One of the truly neat and wholesome things in Rogue Valley is Seven Oaks Farm. This time of year they open their doors, put a few of their animals on display and sell from Fall produce. One can buy all kinds of large (and small) pumpkins. There are canned goods. How about a bunch of corn stalks for $ 5.00. The kids can pet the goats. There is a slapped together maze. A hot dog stand where one can also buy roasted corn. There is a real old log cabin. Free pony rides where the kids can ride in a saddle and the pony is led by a man. One sees lots and lots of families and lots of small kids. The activities are free. The produce is not.
We went last year with Jennie Lynn and A.J.. This year A.J. rode the pony. She got a horse painted on her cheek. Bought some pumpkins.
Which reminds me. The best we could do in my garden this year was a watermelon about the size of a softball. Do I dare put it along side the pumpkins we raised? Could a person carve such a thing?
The Fall colors are really just starting. Reds and yellows. The poison oak has a delicate egg shell red color.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Landed in Oregon XII
September 17, 2007
Each day Sharon and I try to gather a few windfall apples and give them to Brat. The other morning the apples were covered with dew. They were firm and cold to the touch. Occasionally I sampled a few. Taste great.
Saw the doe and fawn tonight. Mom was under the apple tree. The fawn was entranced by something. I had to leave the house to see. It was Cappy. And what deer wouldn’t be.... ? The fawn’s spots are gone now.
September 20, 2007
Two mornings at 37 degrees. Fall will soon be here.
Sharon wants to report that Annie has a boy friend -- or at least a frog friend. From time to time throughout the summer the frog has been in Annie’s water dish. Sharon removes it. Later -- a few days, a week -- the frog is back.
We have had a wasp hive in a gutter above the entry door. This morning it was gone and fragments were scattered over the porch. Based on past experience: jays. In the past though, the destruction was in the spring. Then, we said the jay was after protein. You don’t suppose the cold weather the last two mornings?
September 21, 2007
Little preoccupied this week with the death of a brother-in-law. Last summer was the first. He is the second. He is the last of my significant others.
September 23, 2007
Blooming Flower Inventory. We still have wild peas, Queen Anne’s Lace, blanket flowers (that close in the heat of the day), California poppies (that get up late and close if it gets too hot), evening prim roses (that open only at night), mullein (yellow flowers, many plants are above seven foot), tomato, egg plant, Kentucky Wonders, dipper gourds, chive, heather, dandelion (of course), chickory, strawberries, lemon balm, autumn sedum, hibiscus, purple asters, impatiens, coreopsis, sun flowers, Guara, gardenia, gaillardia, geranium, lots of pansies and chrysanthemum. I probably missed a few. I am still learning. Sharon says she just can't stand it: No flowers.
The turkeys are clustering and starting to get up on the decks and into the flower pots. We chase them off, repot and think of Thanksgiving.
Each day Sharon and I try to gather a few windfall apples and give them to Brat. The other morning the apples were covered with dew. They were firm and cold to the touch. Occasionally I sampled a few. Taste great.
Saw the doe and fawn tonight. Mom was under the apple tree. The fawn was entranced by something. I had to leave the house to see. It was Cappy. And what deer wouldn’t be.... ? The fawn’s spots are gone now.
September 20, 2007
Two mornings at 37 degrees. Fall will soon be here.
Sharon wants to report that Annie has a boy friend -- or at least a frog friend. From time to time throughout the summer the frog has been in Annie’s water dish. Sharon removes it. Later -- a few days, a week -- the frog is back.
We have had a wasp hive in a gutter above the entry door. This morning it was gone and fragments were scattered over the porch. Based on past experience: jays. In the past though, the destruction was in the spring. Then, we said the jay was after protein. You don’t suppose the cold weather the last two mornings?
September 21, 2007
Little preoccupied this week with the death of a brother-in-law. Last summer was the first. He is the second. He is the last of my significant others.
September 23, 2007
Blooming Flower Inventory. We still have wild peas, Queen Anne’s Lace, blanket flowers (that close in the heat of the day), California poppies (that get up late and close if it gets too hot), evening prim roses (that open only at night), mullein (yellow flowers, many plants are above seven foot), tomato, egg plant, Kentucky Wonders, dipper gourds, chive, heather, dandelion (of course), chickory, strawberries, lemon balm, autumn sedum, hibiscus, purple asters, impatiens, coreopsis, sun flowers, Guara, gardenia, gaillardia, geranium, lots of pansies and chrysanthemum. I probably missed a few. I am still learning. Sharon says she just can't stand it: No flowers.
The turkeys are clustering and starting to get up on the decks and into the flower pots. We chase them off, repot and think of Thanksgiving.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Landed in Oregon XI
September 10, 2007
Annie, our lop eared dwarf rabbit, does not have good close-up vision. If you throw a crumb of bread near her, she uses smell and then the touch of her whiskers to find it. She reacts to sound and rapid movement, by going on alert and maybe running. But in the morning she will come to the edge of her cage and having heard us stir will watch at our kitchen window to see us, a distance of forty feet. She will closely watch Manners and Capper, our Manx’s, at an even greater distance. She is alert and may even run to one of her burrows. Yet, when they are near -- right outside her cage or say, within five feet -- she is not alert and may come to the edge of her cage as if she wants to touch noses with them. Maybe she recognizes them. On the other hand, the cats perceive her approach as bold and they put themselves in a ready to flee stance.
Her senses kind of overlap in purpose and help to refine her perception. I guess ours do too. There was a time when I think we had better instruction on smell: This means coyote and this means buffalo and this means wolf and this means fear and this means in heat and this means contentment. Smell is kind of subjective and scientists in their disregard of subjectivity have undermined the old lessons. Humans have become more reliant on their vision. Vision is where you say, By their fruits you shall know them. There was a time when one could smell treachery. Rote instruction is: You shall know them by hearing them. Rote, or hearing, might be better than smelling them but is not as objective as seeing. But seeing, as more strongly with the others, can also be a matter of seeing not what is there but what one wants to see.
Each sense is kind of its own world, reality. A book yet to be written is, War of the Senses. The perception a human has -- as other critters -- is a irregular composite, a synergy, of their senses. Thank you, Annie, for reminding me. Cappy, too.
9/11/07
Planted two coast redwoods and a cedar below the washout. Soon Cappy and Manny showed up. Surely you have noticed that running water sometimes gives persons the urge to pee. Cats don’t have that problem. Instead: digging in sand gives cats the uncontrollable urge to dig in sand and pee or poop as it strikes them. Cats also cover up their holes. I dug a hole and filled the bottom with moss, twigs, leaves and other such debris. I placed the tree in the hole and holding it with one hand I started scraping sand into the hole. Cappy watched, understood, and came over and started covering up the hole.
I noticed yesterday that Annie is getting fat or getting fur or both.
9/12/07
The geese are jogging this week. Sometimes they are up before the sun. You can hear them. These are exercises for the kids, endurance and flight formation, and limbering up the old folks.
9/15/07
Something going on with Brat. Very vocal.
We are slipping into Indian Summer. Cooler. Sunny. Shorter days.
Bees and the hummingbird feeder. In the July heat, the bees discover the feeder. As it cools some leave and a few stay on, having discovered a good thing. The ones that stay on are fewer but more ornery. They fight other bees (of their own kind) and they even keep off hummingbirds. Well, in the Spring, tom turkeys sometimes discover a clean chrome bumper, see their reflection and fluff, display, and peck the bumper. Sometimes on our deck, the same thing occurs when they see their reflection in the sliding glass doors. Well, these bees see their reflection in the windows near the feeder and they fly forcefully into the window and again and then again. Kind of like an insect replica of a couple of billy goats -- ‘cept one goat is a reflection. They really bang into the window. I have never seen one bang hard enough to drop to the ground, but hard enough to wobble a little. A dizzy bee?
9/17/07
Manners and Cappy are shut in to the Sun Room overnight. On a table, I put a hard cat food feeder and two saucers of soft. They are secure there. They are also not running through the house knocking things over. So, last night I forgot the hard cat food. It is a feeder, when full maybe good for a week. They always nibble a bit of hard food. This morning the saucers were licked clean. And on the table was the bottom half of a half eaten mouse. You don’t suppose they were trying to tell me something?
Annie, our lop eared dwarf rabbit, does not have good close-up vision. If you throw a crumb of bread near her, she uses smell and then the touch of her whiskers to find it. She reacts to sound and rapid movement, by going on alert and maybe running. But in the morning she will come to the edge of her cage and having heard us stir will watch at our kitchen window to see us, a distance of forty feet. She will closely watch Manners and Capper, our Manx’s, at an even greater distance. She is alert and may even run to one of her burrows. Yet, when they are near -- right outside her cage or say, within five feet -- she is not alert and may come to the edge of her cage as if she wants to touch noses with them. Maybe she recognizes them. On the other hand, the cats perceive her approach as bold and they put themselves in a ready to flee stance.
Her senses kind of overlap in purpose and help to refine her perception. I guess ours do too. There was a time when I think we had better instruction on smell: This means coyote and this means buffalo and this means wolf and this means fear and this means in heat and this means contentment. Smell is kind of subjective and scientists in their disregard of subjectivity have undermined the old lessons. Humans have become more reliant on their vision. Vision is where you say, By their fruits you shall know them. There was a time when one could smell treachery. Rote instruction is: You shall know them by hearing them. Rote, or hearing, might be better than smelling them but is not as objective as seeing. But seeing, as more strongly with the others, can also be a matter of seeing not what is there but what one wants to see.
Each sense is kind of its own world, reality. A book yet to be written is, War of the Senses. The perception a human has -- as other critters -- is a irregular composite, a synergy, of their senses. Thank you, Annie, for reminding me. Cappy, too.
9/11/07
Planted two coast redwoods and a cedar below the washout. Soon Cappy and Manny showed up. Surely you have noticed that running water sometimes gives persons the urge to pee. Cats don’t have that problem. Instead: digging in sand gives cats the uncontrollable urge to dig in sand and pee or poop as it strikes them. Cats also cover up their holes. I dug a hole and filled the bottom with moss, twigs, leaves and other such debris. I placed the tree in the hole and holding it with one hand I started scraping sand into the hole. Cappy watched, understood, and came over and started covering up the hole.
I noticed yesterday that Annie is getting fat or getting fur or both.
9/12/07
The geese are jogging this week. Sometimes they are up before the sun. You can hear them. These are exercises for the kids, endurance and flight formation, and limbering up the old folks.
9/15/07
Something going on with Brat. Very vocal.
We are slipping into Indian Summer. Cooler. Sunny. Shorter days.
Bees and the hummingbird feeder. In the July heat, the bees discover the feeder. As it cools some leave and a few stay on, having discovered a good thing. The ones that stay on are fewer but more ornery. They fight other bees (of their own kind) and they even keep off hummingbirds. Well, in the Spring, tom turkeys sometimes discover a clean chrome bumper, see their reflection and fluff, display, and peck the bumper. Sometimes on our deck, the same thing occurs when they see their reflection in the sliding glass doors. Well, these bees see their reflection in the windows near the feeder and they fly forcefully into the window and again and then again. Kind of like an insect replica of a couple of billy goats -- ‘cept one goat is a reflection. They really bang into the window. I have never seen one bang hard enough to drop to the ground, but hard enough to wobble a little. A dizzy bee?
9/17/07
Manners and Cappy are shut in to the Sun Room overnight. On a table, I put a hard cat food feeder and two saucers of soft. They are secure there. They are also not running through the house knocking things over. So, last night I forgot the hard cat food. It is a feeder, when full maybe good for a week. They always nibble a bit of hard food. This morning the saucers were licked clean. And on the table was the bottom half of a half eaten mouse. You don’t suppose they were trying to tell me something?
Monday, September 10, 2007
Landed in Oregon X
September 7, 2007
It rained steadily a couple of hours. The earth sighed.
9/8/07
Cleaned the poop out of Annie’s pen. We have a 30 inch tray, about a foot wide. She pees in one part of the tray and poops at the other end. Annie takes her poop very seriously. She stepped, err hopped aside to let me shovel and when I carried a load of her pot out of the pen she immediately went and inspected. Like so many animals -- us too -- the prominent question is: What’s going on? What’s happening?
Today prepared raised bed for planting. Went to the Greensprings Nursery and bought flowers and trees and lettuce and onions.
9/9/07
Grandparents’ day. Off to spend time with A.J., almost 3 years old. Her mother (A.J. helped) had done chalk drawings on the sidewalk in front of their home. Went to the D.Q. Of course, A.J. is very smart. She does a passable job with scissors now. She is about where I was at age six. Hey! She said she loved Poppy.
Cappy or Capper or Casper, our white, deaf, long hair (now with short hair) Manx has become quite a hunter. He hunts birds and lizards and grasshoppers and dragonflies. Yesterday when I water the trees in the upper and lower pastures, he joined me. He made sure it was me. He watched. He followed me around at I watered. He got bored. For awhile he disappeared off into the bushes. He showed up again as I was about to drive the mowing tractor back to the house. I picked him up and offered to let him ride in my lap. He preferred the hood of the tractor. He stayed on the hood all the way back to the tractor shed -- may be 100 yards.
Pet Peeve. I read an article about how this some animal had human-like traits. It seems like it is always that way. Scientists are loath to guess what goes on within these creatures and things. Though approving Darwin, they are also loath to say this is where we came from and we brought most of our traits from these other critters and things. They say, Very few fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals and rocks and trees have human-like traits. But it didn’t work that way. The other way. They were here first. We, humans, have a lot of traits like fish, reptiles, birds, amphibians, mammals, trees and rocks. That is no surprise at all. That is where we got them.
Today, planted lettuce and onions for winter.
It rained steadily a couple of hours. The earth sighed.
9/8/07
Cleaned the poop out of Annie’s pen. We have a 30 inch tray, about a foot wide. She pees in one part of the tray and poops at the other end. Annie takes her poop very seriously. She stepped, err hopped aside to let me shovel and when I carried a load of her pot out of the pen she immediately went and inspected. Like so many animals -- us too -- the prominent question is: What’s going on? What’s happening?
Today prepared raised bed for planting. Went to the Greensprings Nursery and bought flowers and trees and lettuce and onions.
9/9/07
Grandparents’ day. Off to spend time with A.J., almost 3 years old. Her mother (A.J. helped) had done chalk drawings on the sidewalk in front of their home. Went to the D.Q. Of course, A.J. is very smart. She does a passable job with scissors now. She is about where I was at age six. Hey! She said she loved Poppy.
Cappy or Capper or Casper, our white, deaf, long hair (now with short hair) Manx has become quite a hunter. He hunts birds and lizards and grasshoppers and dragonflies. Yesterday when I water the trees in the upper and lower pastures, he joined me. He made sure it was me. He watched. He followed me around at I watered. He got bored. For awhile he disappeared off into the bushes. He showed up again as I was about to drive the mowing tractor back to the house. I picked him up and offered to let him ride in my lap. He preferred the hood of the tractor. He stayed on the hood all the way back to the tractor shed -- may be 100 yards.
Pet Peeve. I read an article about how this some animal had human-like traits. It seems like it is always that way. Scientists are loath to guess what goes on within these creatures and things. Though approving Darwin, they are also loath to say this is where we came from and we brought most of our traits from these other critters and things. They say, Very few fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals and rocks and trees have human-like traits. But it didn’t work that way. The other way. They were here first. We, humans, have a lot of traits like fish, reptiles, birds, amphibians, mammals, trees and rocks. That is no surprise at all. That is where we got them.
Today, planted lettuce and onions for winter.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Landed in Oregon IX
August 27, 2007
Haven’t noticed the deer so much since our return from Montana. Apples are laying about on the ground. Tonight, though, the mother doe and fawn were here, and an early adult spike and doe were here.
August 28, 2007
The squirrels were getting into the feeder. So, Sharon put a cover above it. Then Fiona started raiding the feeder. So, we relocated it to the deck. Where Cappy found it easier to catch the finch and other birds. So, ...?
I need to note Fiona. She had to learn raiding the feeders from watching birds. However I have not seen evidence of other deer learning to raid feeders from Fiona. So at this time we just have a genius doe.
August 30, 2007
The long, hot summer. Cappy, white, deaf, hunts grasshoppers in the driveway. And he rolls in the dust. Does it just come naturally or did he learn from watching the turkeys. Who, by the way, are starting to group up with both sexes. Cappy comes into the house now, mostly grey, a cloud of dust.
When it became hot in July, the bees started hitting the hummingbird feeders. Now it is not so hot. But it is drier. Today I watched one bee fend off repeated hummer efforts to reach the feeder.
September 3, 2007
Summer is the Velcro Season. It starts maybe in July when the blooms shrivel and the seeds form and last until after the Fall rains. The seeds stick to socks and shoelaces, but not to leather. They stick to denim and hair on arms, legs, head. They sneak into washers and dryers and come out on socks and shorts and bras, surprises (and curses) first thing in the morning. I keep thinking I will plan a Velcro campaign in early summer. Maybe next year.
Today I watered the five trees (planted year before last) on the other side of the creek, adjacent to the kennel. They are doing fine. The vines are running wild. My son Luke said hello (another story). I will devote a little time to whacking vines.
Haven’t noticed the deer so much since our return from Montana. Apples are laying about on the ground. Tonight, though, the mother doe and fawn were here, and an early adult spike and doe were here.
August 28, 2007
The squirrels were getting into the feeder. So, Sharon put a cover above it. Then Fiona started raiding the feeder. So, we relocated it to the deck. Where Cappy found it easier to catch the finch and other birds. So, ...?
I need to note Fiona. She had to learn raiding the feeders from watching birds. However I have not seen evidence of other deer learning to raid feeders from Fiona. So at this time we just have a genius doe.
August 30, 2007
The long, hot summer. Cappy, white, deaf, hunts grasshoppers in the driveway. And he rolls in the dust. Does it just come naturally or did he learn from watching the turkeys. Who, by the way, are starting to group up with both sexes. Cappy comes into the house now, mostly grey, a cloud of dust.
When it became hot in July, the bees started hitting the hummingbird feeders. Now it is not so hot. But it is drier. Today I watched one bee fend off repeated hummer efforts to reach the feeder.
September 3, 2007
Summer is the Velcro Season. It starts maybe in July when the blooms shrivel and the seeds form and last until after the Fall rains. The seeds stick to socks and shoelaces, but not to leather. They stick to denim and hair on arms, legs, head. They sneak into washers and dryers and come out on socks and shorts and bras, surprises (and curses) first thing in the morning. I keep thinking I will plan a Velcro campaign in early summer. Maybe next year.
Today I watered the five trees (planted year before last) on the other side of the creek, adjacent to the kennel. They are doing fine. The vines are running wild. My son Luke said hello (another story). I will devote a little time to whacking vines.
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