Tractor

 What is it about tractors that is so exciting? Bob is giddy with excitement and the neighbors are begging to take selfies on it. But the wildfire smoke is awful this morning so the fun will have to wait.

Here is the duck house last evening with smokey sky.

 

 

The boys are not amused. There are no walks to make the day more interesting while it's like this. I wish there was something I could do to help them and the ducks. The air is unhealthy for them to breathe too.

 

 

Boots attempts to negotiate a short reprieve but I hold firm.

Hattie is being a good sport about it as long as she can make the rounds with me.

I had an idea to make tiles to cover the stair risers for the rental porch, but after making test tiles I realized it is an impractical idea so, voila!, a wall hanging instead.

 

 

The Handoff

Young crows playing with something very desirable on the skylights.

 

Wildfire Smoke

The air is thick with smoke today so I'm staying inside and going bonkers so decided to update the blog. 

We finished the stairs at the rental house. There was old vinyl at the doorway that had to be removed and of course rot in the subfloor so we had to cut that out and replace it. Then we had the brilliant idea of replacing the vinyl with tile. Only 12 sq ft so should be easy. Except we chose 12x24 inch slate tiles and our old cheap tile saw did not want to do what we needed it to do. Anyway, we won the battle with the saw and got the tile cut, set, and grouted, then painted the stairs and it all looks much better than before. 

This is the before. Stairs were painted brown and just looked out of place.

After. I don't have a shot of the tiles. Maybe later.

I planted some manzanita, Leptospermum namadgiensis and a couple of iris in the new bed area, and once again Bob is thinking about replacing the old gray fence to match the cedar fence we built earlier this summer.

In the meantime we got new neighbors and they had this nifty metal fence built between our driveways. I'm happy to have the privacy but the sun reflects off the metal and is absolutely blinding, and hot! We had to park the pickup against it so we could work on the stairs. We're thinking of hanging cedar trellis to cut the glare. Our next project I guess.

I have been battling with removing a weird vine at the side of the house since spring. Come to learn it is a highly invasive knotweed the county has been trying to eradicate the last five years. Lucky me. My last move was cutting it back, shaving the stems a bit and dousing with Weedmaster and Roundup concentrate. It's looking pretty dead now but I'm told it is a multi-year battle. I'm on the county list now so next year they will spray it with their own toxic concoction if it comes back.

That's the latest on the rental. At our own house, we look forward to getting a new tractor. Today! If the smoke doesn't cause a delay.

A Hot Evening

We finished the iris bed project before the heat wave hit. This started as a pile of weeds and sod that had been pulled up from here and there in the yard. We'd intended to have the hard work done by a landscaper, but no one returned our calls so we did it ourselves. Spreading the rock was intimidating but not that bad. Anyway, on the left are a Japanese black pine and the two rhodies I moved here to live or die after their third transplant, and they're doing well. Tough love. The right side is full of irises that outgrew their old spaces with various colors of yarrow, gaura, Russian sage, and coneflower for summer interest. I look forward to lots of flowers next year.

I'm slyly luring hummers away from neighbors' feeders by planting lots of delicious flowers like this orange crocosmia.

Time for the girls to settle in to their house for the night with a treat of tomatoes, corn and mealworms.

The boys spend the entire day in the shade waiting for the evening cool down before going out to graze.

 

 

 The crow family. They flock to the yard when I come out, hoping to get something good to eat. Yesterday they drove off a hawk that was swooping down on the ducks so they get special treats for their help. This is a family of seven. The young ones are noisy and curious and getting into mischief.

 

 

 

Success at Last

Trying and trying to get a nice big fluffy biscuit. I have finally done it. Thank you Alton Brown, Reloaded. I had to order a special flour and lard on Amazon, but I have done it, I can rest in peace now.

Hot Summer Days

It's hot again today. We've been walking down to the coast in the morning while it's cool. Yesterday there was a baby seal all alone on the beach and I had no camera, so today I went prepared. Where the seal had been there were three deer. They weren't particularly sociable and disappeared.

Hattie waited at the lagoon, always ready to retrieve a stick thrown in the water as long as it doesn't go too far. She is not comfortable with swimming.

The tree of floats at the bridge crossing continues to grow.

An unusual sight, dead mole on the trail.

 

Back in the greenhouse jungle.

Pink Berkeley Tie Die tomatoes. These are supposed to be tricky and need to be harvested at the first sign of pink color because they go bad quickly. The stripes are pretty and they're tasty.

Perron tomatoes, not even close.

I thought the outside things would never start growing but they finally took off and we've been eating well. I put an extra tomato plant outside because I hate to throw away any living thing, but I'm not expecting any fruit to ripen.

Lots of salad greens.

My favorite squash. Delicious Delicata!

Never Forget

My crew. Heading out to explore the desert.

Another day in the life

I've got this jelly making thing down now that I have a water bath canner and fancy thermometer. We are stocked up for the winter with jalapeno currant jelly. This is so good!

Here is a lovely little twig, a new manzanita called "Awesome Red." It's so new there is no description for it. Even mature size is unknown. Perfect. I had to have it. Now it is in my garden.

We are staying indoors today to keep cool but Hattie isn't sure that's the best thing to do. She is enjoying her daily tooth brushing, much to my surprise.

Garden Plans

It's landscape planning time for the rental house. I need to keep it simple. Low maintenance. Deer proof outside the fenced area. I've ordered one peony and yesterday went to Desert Northwest to get some manzanita and a Leptospermum namadgiensis. Leptospermum is a magnificent shrub and there is a perfect spot for it in the retaining wall bed we just put in.

This is my Leptospermum. With Hattie.

And solo. It looks like a sprawling monster here, but is elegant in person. This species was discovered growing in the Australian Alps of Namadji National Park in 1988. It has only been found on two mountains and the ridge between them and is still rare in garden use. Bushfires recently ravaged 80% of the park so my plants will be treated especially well, doing my part to help preserve the species from the other end of the world.

Tiny flowers grow the length of gracefully arching branches.

Summer colors coming into my garden, too.

Fence project finished

Construction done! Now there's a nice little private yard for the rental unit. Bob still wants to stain it but that will be another day. I can start landscaping any time without the deer dining in. This is the entrance on front of property.

The Merlot Redbud, Pacific Fire Vine Maple and Red Flowering Currants in picture below survived their first winter. Going to spread a lot more wood chips and plant some Ocean Spray. This will be a yard that won't require a lot of tending.

A tiny yard with two big entrances. This is the alley entrance.

Madness

I have really done it. Poor Hattie. This is not what a farm dog does. I now brush her teeth. Every day. With a tooth brush and beef flavored tooth paste. It's the cutest little brush. At first she recoiled from the smell and ran away. I would dab a tiny bit on her teeth and let her go. After a few days of that I figured what the hell, lets give the brush a go. And she let me brush her canines! And she didn't hate me for it! Now I'm getting pretty much all the teeth, on the outside. That's the important part. And she wiggles and wags when it's over, so it can't be too awful for her. I can't believe I'm doing it, but before dropping another thousand dollars on her teeth I'll try anything.

A Few things

We had an unwelcome visitor yesterday. She ate all the tender new growth on my serviceberries then settled down for a nap. None of the irises, rhododendrons, peonies, yarrow, roses and other shrubs were bothered. We were lucky this time but now she knows, she'll be back. A deer-confusing extension is being added to the fence as I type.

 

The fish I dropped was glued back together and looks OK if you don't know where to look. There is still a replacement in the works. I need to make a few more things to fill the kiln. Lots of little boxes,  pounders and a slump mold for hand building.

The back fence and gate at the rental are completed. Work on the front section begins after my deer fence is in place. We're thinking about staining this to match the stained cedar shakes on the house.