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I wandered lonely as a cloud...

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:24 pm

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I took photos of Daffodil but they didn't turn out. Real pity, that. She had silk daffodils and little flags stuck in the holes on the sides of the truck bed ( the holes meant to hold side rails, don't know the "official" name). Max and my mom's black dog, Monk were peeking adorably over the sides of the bed. My daughter and nieces, all in flowery shirts and straw hats with daffodils wired on them, were blowing bubbles and, with Grammy and I similarly clad making sure they didn't tumble out, flinging pink taffy out. OK, it wasn't a really strange dream. We took Daffodil in a parade this weekend!
I'm thinking I might join the old-car-club. Daffodil is a working truck, not a spiffed-up show truck (did you know people ask upwards of 25K for a restored old car? Not even that old, I mean 60's era! Check your barn, your retirement fund may be hiding there!) but joining them in the parade was awfully fun. Haven't been in a parade in yeeeeeeeeears. And the "Awwwww"s whenever Max would peek over the bed sides was too fun! So many big-city parades don't allow candy throwing anymore, and even this parade was cautious about it. The girls had to fling the candy so it landed far from the truck- quite a feat for the littlest one! But daffodils bed is quite deep so not too much worry about them tumbling out. Good thing, our driver wasn't used to double-clutching so we lurched forward at odd times, lol!

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A kitty, a view, historical ramblings

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:01 pm

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OK, enough playing with the kitty.
While I was sketching her, and the mist was coming down, I kept drifting off to stare out the window. So I thought I'd share the view, since it made me feel so happy.Sorry I couldn't get the hummingbird to hold still. That's crocosmia in the foreground, and cinquefoil. Some daisies that grow wild here, and a young birch tree. Clematis crawling up the lattice, doggone stuff won't bloom!

Whew, these image uploads take a long time on dialup!
Been looking into more on Dunollie castle, and suddenly all sorts of relatives want to know what I've found out. Wow, haven't had this kind of family togetherness in, well, never! I have a cousin in Seattle who'se really into this sort of thing, and I've found out stuff even She didn't know! We've run into a big roadblock in that there's apparently no public census before 1841, so we've kinda hit a wall beyond Alexander MacDougall who emigrated in 1831- was apparently married in Achadadie, but even Google never heard of it so the records might be misspelled. Kinda fun getting to talk to relatives, though!

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Kitty sketch, etc.

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:03 pm

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The power went out first thing this morning, so I turned my leftover coffee from yesterday into an iced peppermint mocha and did a sketch of my neighbors new bobcat kitty

Several things I don't like about her so i probably won't finish the sketch, but it was a good way to waste time (it was gushing rain outside so gardening was on hold too)
Spent all day yesterday working in my brothers garden in Portland. Wheeoo, that guy has some stubborn weeds! And, since my sis-in-law was a rose fanatic, my arms look like I was attacked by the kitty up there! But I gotta break it to any aunties, I do have the worlds most adorable nieces. Sorry, but there it is. They are about to turn 9 and 5 respectively. The 4-yr-old kept dipping the broom in a puddle and making me wonderful abstract paintings of her kitty. I showed how some of her work looked like Chinese calligraphy, and explained how the Mandarin word for cat is, basically, what a cat says. She thinks I'm awfully clever now, lol!

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My Charming Visitor

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 3:02 am

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I had an unexpected visitor today. I had been in the kitchen, mixing up ingredients for an apple crisp to take to my ladies group tomorrow- I unfortunately forgot to get the apples when I was in town today. DH is working with the youth group and promised to pick up a sack on his way home. In the meantime, I went outside to move my sprinkler from the veg beds to the front garden. I bumped a plant stand on my front porch and heard a very odd *splat*. There at my feet sat a bewildered little tree frog, obviously knocked away from his evening sunbath. I apologized profusely and put him back up on the plant stand. He seemed most grateful.

I have seen some postings here with rather large toads- for an idea of scale I included in this pic the spout of a teapot that is currently filled with caladiums (that white shiney bit is the spout)
I had mentioned somewhere earlier about my waterlily blooming, but couldn't recall the post. So here it is.

It was vying for pride of place on my desktop as wall paper, Sir Frog won this round.

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couple more pics

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 4:27 pm

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The fron end of the Lady W, DH, and my little lady

This is a local group, the Bud Bay Pirates, and their not-so-tall ship that they take to parades. It really is quite astonishing how many pirate groups we have around here, considering that this area isn't historically known for pirate activity. I highly doubt pirates would have found much interest in raiding the local shell mounds!!


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yar, matey!

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 4:30 am

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If anyone wants to see more I can get a couple more up later. This is our famous local movie star, back in her old colors after a long stint in the movies.


Like I mentioned, I had to use a cheapo disposable camera for these, but I'm going to have my sweetie try to tweak that first pic to sharpen it a little, to frame up as a gift to my mom who used to own a two-masted schooner until an accident made her an unwilling landlubber.

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Oh, groan

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 4:10 am

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I just can't believe I forgot my camera today! We drove to Westport for the pirate festival- I've never seen so many pirates! All ages of people pirates, even the dogs were piratical! I did buy a disposable camera, though it will take a few days before I can get anything from that to put in here. I did get several good shots of our local movie star, the Lady Washington (a two-masted brigantine that starred in the Pirates of the Carribean movies). She's back in her usual paint job now, and looking much cheerier for it. She was built in a town on the way to Westport, so she was really at home today, been touring around a bit though. Oh, I hope I hope those photos turn out!

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DS graduates, castle discovery, wildlife report

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 2:53 am

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DS has graduated, and will be moving out for his summer job in a few days. I'd be a blubbering mess, but decided to forego the overwhelming load of housework to go run errands with him, mainly shopping for his Father's day pres. When the two of them were out hiking in the Olympics last year, and got caught in a lightning storm with golfball-size hail, they had to rip his sleeping bag in half to shelter them after they dropped their packs and were running for their lives. Ah, good times. Very fitting that he get his dad a new bag, eh? Anyway, it was awfully good to just spend a day bumming around with him. sniffle.
My mom tracked down a geneaology book on the MacDougall line of the family. Always been curious about that one, since the pairing of my first and middle name has passed through every second generation of women for quite some time now. To my extreme delight, I find that we have a family castle! I googled it and got some great photos, and plan on doing some sketches when I get a bit of time to breathe. All odds are against me ever being able to actually go there to see it, but that's ok. It's pretty cool just knowing about it. Here's a site that shows it if anyone's curious: http://www.castles.org/Chatelaine/DUNOLLIE.HTM
I like that name, think my next critter might get named Dunollie! I'm actually Scottish on both sides, fortunately they don't seem to have ever been warring clans, lol! The castle is near Oban, overlooking the Firth of Lorn. So fun, there's a castle and a fellow who went down in a shipwreck on my Mom's side and a couple of people on the Mayflower on my Dad's side. And a bunch of folks that came here as indentured servants from Wales and Scotland on both sides, what a mix!
Dandelion control is in full swing. It's tricky, if I mow the prairie at the wrong time, it makes the native grasses too weak and the dandelions move in. But if I wait too long, the invasive scotch broom gets too thick for my mower. Tsk, this habitat management is for the birds! Or rather, the bunny that lives outside my kitchen window. It's so tiny! *melt* The quail population is definitely having a peak this year, there are at least two pair claiming my place as their own, and two other pair I've spotted across the road at the neighbors. I wonder if having the wildlife preserve expand this way will mean even more quail and pheasant? Probably more cougar encounters, but what I'm hoping is that the herd of elk that feeds not far from here will mosey up this way. Love watching them!

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a repurposed old door

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 1:37 am

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Dad was a heavy-equipment mechanic. I can't recall where, but one worksite had a place called the "bone yard", where odd bits of equipment parts went to rest.
I have a spot hidden in the trees where I have a small pile of wood that can't be burned due to preservative or whatever. My own "bone yard". One of the things that's been sitting there for a few seasons is this old door. It was a freebie, but covered in layers of lead-based paint. A couple of rainy seasons and the paint finally peeled off in big sheets so I could properly dispose of it all. It didn't go far, it's now screening off the backside of my potting shed which is right near the bone yard.

I ran several screws through the wood to keep it from warping apart as it sits outside, then fastened it to the potting shed/blacksmith forge. A cedar post from the bone yard anchors the free edge of the door. The wire mesh in the door opening is reclaimed from a pen built to safely house baby chicks- I won't likely be raising up many new ones so cutting off a length of wire is no loss. It's attached to the back of the door with screws through scraps of cedar.
The little thuja in front may or may not make it- it was not doing well in it's former spot, hadn't grown at all in two years and was turning brown on one side. I figure this is it's best chance, since I'll be tending this bed to monitor the hollyhocks and iris I've planted alongside. Haven't yet decided what to attach to the wire mesh, to add to the screening power of the door, but I'm hoping the hollyhocks will get tall enough to help. I'll probably wire on some interesting bit of garden art.

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Strictly pictures

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 10:58 pm

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Just a few snaps around my place...
my tippy pots, full of strawberries

Some death camas, an awful name for such a lovely flower. So called because the local tribes would gather and eat the camas bulbs that grow alongside, the bulbs of death camas look identical although they are poisonous

The back of my house, set up to offer me the fantasy that I'll somehow have time to sit here and drink tea!

A good friend

and, finally, a scene from my back yard, sorry it's sideways


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