Rain AGAIN! 6-28

Back to winter today.  It was cloudy and cool all day.  We ran some errands and then after we got home we were inside or out on the porch watching the rain.  It poured and dumped several times during the afternoon and evening.  And we'll be back into the 90's on Friday.

The Momma deer with the single fawn paraded the little cutie back and forth a few times today.  My pictures stink...I am working on using the manual settings and I messed up the settings again.  The baby bounces all over the place. 

Nature photography is tough.  I have finally identified the sparrow sized black crested birds as black fly catchers and haven't managed to get any pictures of them yet.  This morning Larry is in the kitchen looking out the sliding door and says, Val, look out here, there's one of those birds on the porch rail.  Figures...and where was my camera?  Clear across the room so that for me to get it I had to pass in front of the door which of course would cause the bird to take off.  Sheesh.

We had a fun day inside with Seth playing Zonk (a dice game with 6 dice).  That boy is so smart, catches onto the strategy and can count his points in his head and he's seven.  It took me longer to get the hang of the stupid game and I still have trouble with the math...:)  He goes back to his parents day after tomorrow...we have had a lot of fun with him...nice that we got to spend three weeks with him between here and at his home.

Now he is cracking the whip over me to get a new hat knit for him.  Both my Grandson's have always been fascinated by my knitting and crocheting since they were little guys and put in requests.  Seth wants a new hat for the winter and a new blanket.  Today we walked past the yarn in Walmart and he stopped to show me the three colors he wanted for his blanket.  Ian thinks he wants to learn, so now he is about old enough I'll see how much he is really wanting to learn the next time I see him.  Ian also wants a new softer blanket!

I had better get back to my knitting needles because you can bet when Seth gets up in the morning he will be checking my progress!!!  He wants it finished before he goes home!

Busy, busy

We have had a busy few days with nature entertaining us and a visit from some family.



Seth inspecting the flowers



Seth decided he was going to head down the "bear" trail...which is a cleared trail down through some manzanita, coffee bushes and other shrub type plants.  I noticed a doe head down the trail after him... I told Larry, uh oh, I bet her fawn is in there somewhere and I hope she doesn't try to attack Seth.  He gets to the bottom, waves and then decided to head back up the trail...the deer startled him and he startled the deer and then as the doe burst out of the trail Seth was hot on her trail and she cuts back into the brush which flushed out the teeny spotted fawn who then bounded after its Mama up the hill.  It was pretty funny to see.  Seth was excited to see the baby.

This morning I was inside and heard a ruckus from a bunch of crows and bluejays...I headed outside to see what was going on and just as I stepped outside I saw the fox trotting from the street to head across the meadow.  Larry had been outside and seen the fox coming down the road with the birds hollering and swooping at the fox.  The fox must have gotten a baby or a nest.  I hope to get a shot of the fox one of these days...it is a good sized one.



Playing Toy Story Yahtzee



AND, the three of us spend quite a lot of time watching the woodpecker's hole in the tree for the babies to make an appearance.  They have started sticking their heads out when the adults come to feed them and tonight Larry saw one almost completely creep out of the hole...they are mostly grown so it will be any day now that our noisy neighbors will take wing.

The roses and garden are flourishing.  The tomatoes have now reached the top of their baskets and another couple of days I will be bringing in some zuchini.  The roses are so pretty and the fruit trees are starting to look much better this year than last now that they are getting regular water, fertilizer and systemic insectiside.  Larry is just sad that he won't be getting any plums...the snow ruined the crop.  I love going out every morning and picking flowers to bring in the house.

Me cooking breakfast after having fruit and coffee on the deck

On Saturday I cleaned and got everything ready for a visit from my cousin Darcy and her husband Paul.  He is an endurance runner (over hill, mountain, rocks, snow, fording creeks and rivers) and was part of the support team this year for the Western States 100 race from Squaw Valley to Auburn.  He ran 34 miles with a backpack to support any runners that needed help.  He finished in Foresthill and then he and Darcy came here for the night.  We had a great visit and they relaxed and enjoyed our lovely home here surrounded by nature.  Seth really liked them and we all played some games together and visited and before we knew it they were on their way back home. 

Darcy, Paul, Seth & Larry

Yesterday Seth kicked our butts at regular Yahtzee.  He got a 509...with three Yahtzees.  He has been playing for awhile and knows what he's doing.  So today he wanted to play Zonk and this little 7 year old has caught on really quickly...getting the strategy and the counts pretty well for his age.  He is one extremely lucky kid ...I can hear him now in there kicking his Granpa's butt...getting repeated 1500 rolls of the dice.  He doesn't see all the possibilities after a throw yet, but he does better every time we play.  I told him he is advanced and before his time and Seth says "When I was baby I was past my time"...too cute.

Paul and Seth playing bear football

The last few days have been in the high 80's but tomorrow and the next day it will be down in the low 70's and rain is predicted.  We don't want rain because that means the weeds will keep growing which means they will have to be cut.....again!  One of the unappealing things about living in the foothills...weed maintenance and of course with the unusually wet weather everyone has had to cut way more than usual.  The rivers are high right now too with the snow melt.  Then by the weekend we are supposed to be up into the 90's.

 

Seth getting a very short ride in the bed of the truck,

this mornings bouquet

Seth found a bunch of quartz rocks and he is washing
the dirt off of them

Fun Day 6-24

It was a pleasant day in the 80's.  I didn't need to close everything up to keep it cool and we didn't need the fans or the a/c...perfect.

Yesterday one of our new babies made a bounding appearance...a teeny spotted fawn bounced out of the shrubbery at a buck and then back and by the time I had gotten the camera it was gone.  Today Momma trusted us enough to show off her twins...I was having technical difficulties with my camera (meaning I wasn't getting the manual settings correct) so these aren't great but you can still see how little they are and how cute.

Seth and I made up a game to play with his large bouncy plasticy jacks and we had fun doing that for awhile.  I had an appointment for a haircut and Larry ran a friend down to Citrus Heights...I didn't even do very much in the garden today except walk around in it.  Seth and I played with his squirt guns for awhile and this evening he has been teaching us some of his Dsi games.

Tomorrow we will be honored with guests for the night...my cousin Darcy and her husband Paul...we are really looking forward to seeing them and visiting.

 

Cooler day 6-23

Yesterday Seth had a day of riding his bike, running through the sprinklers, playing in the wading pool and having in depth discussions was whooped at bedtime.  He was asleep within five minutes of laying down in bed and didn't wake until twelve hours later...maybe he is growing too. :-) 

We had errands to run in town today so our day was more low key though still busy.  Every day Seth sees or learns something new about the wildlife and garden, we are really enjoying him...this is such a great age.  I taught him how to play Jacks...shockingly I remembered how to do it and still pretty well.

Long stemmed reds!  This bush really struggled to get started, now look!

loaded clematis vine

my first bouquet!

Hot Day 6-22

Nastursiums

It was another hot day today, we turned on the a/c for the first time this year.  It was pleasant under the oaks with the sprinkler running in the meadow, but there were things that needed doing inside and it was stuffy and 80+ and 90+ outside.

Seth & Larry busy

Summer Solstice 6-21

We never thought we would see it again, but it arrived just as always and hot, just as the first day of summer should be!  97 degrees.

As I said yesterday I was shooting for a 5 a.m. rising but I didn't roll out until 6.  That was even hard because I love my 8 hours of beauty rest!  I got the laundry done and got out in the garden to pull weeds.  Later after Seth got up he helped and was actually a good helper.  He used the trowel to loosen the soil and I pulled out the weed...he didn't like getting his hands dirty, also this way I knew we were getting weeds.  I deadheaded the roses and flowers, tidied up a bit, watered and then we spent much of the rest of the day moving around to wherever the shade was and watching nature.  Seth is always interested and patient and we spend a lot of time talking to him about all kinds of things, he is very inquisitive.  He planted a Skittle candy hoping it would grow into a Skittle bush.

Larry mowed the lower hill which is a hard job...very slopey...he is hoping it will be the last time this season and he discovered that the honey bees in the bee tree were back when he bumped the tree with the mower.  They became very active, but not aggresive.

I am missing out on tonights stargazing so I must run!  I'm sure another busy day tomorrow.  Seth is fascinated by all kinds of things...he can dig and collapse mole holes or watch an earwig nest scatter after Grampa sprays them.  Oh, I picked my first baby zucchini today....I am scared to see how many I'll be picking in another couple of weeks....I may be sending them out! :)

Seth having a blast in the water...my favorite shot of many.

This was Seth's pick, he liked how the water looked like a circle.

Last day of Spring 6-20

Loving this weather though the heat gets me when I work in it for too long.  I was mowing today so Larry wouldn't have to, he had another project he was needing to get done, so while Seth was splashing in the kiddie pool I mowed the flatter areas but I was soon out of shade.  I was resting when Larry came back from town with an iced latte....ah, so thoughtful and refreshing, it certainly hit the spot and gave me another burst so I did some more mowing.

Seth was outside all day, I was too mostly except to fix dinner, he rode his bike all over the place, mapped mole holes (don't ask), played in the water...oh, we were inside when it was hottest playing Wii Fit.  The things we don't do to entertain our grandkids...I'm hula hooping and ski jumping to help him open up another game level.

Double Delight...smells yummy

After baths and showers we sat outside after 9:30 to watch the stars come out and the jets lights move through the night sky.  We are hoping to have more energy for staying out later when the sky is black dark for more stargazing.later this week when we have these pressing projects finished and we can just hang with the boy.

I'm hoping to pry my carcass out of bed around 5 in the morning to get some yard work done while its cool and Seth the nonstop is still asleep.  It will be the best time to swab out some of the dirt and grime that seems to follow kids like a cloud :)

Still warm as I type...70 and still....gotta get to bed.

Oh, I almost forgot, while I was cooking dinner Larry and Seth saw the fox trotting along the perimeter of our place.  Seth was excited and so was Larry as far as that goes.  The woodpecker babies are really noisy now and the parents very seldom go inside the tree...the babes sound like pterodactyls when the food gets delivered.

/the poppy petals are breaking out!

I don't think there is a flower more summery than poppies.  They look so delicate waving in the wind.

Decided to put the pool in the garden so a deer wouldn't decide to trounce through it.

Home Again! 6-19

What a long day....that trip from Salem is about 3 hours too long!  We left at 0630 and arrived home almost 12 hours later...just 15 minutes shy.  Seth is a great traveler, he is staying with us for two weeks, he had plenty to keep himself entertained on the journey.  He had his teeny ipod with external speakers and his Nintendo Dsi and even a DVD player which he usually watches but didn't this time.  He caught a few cat naps and fell asleep the last hour...which was the best time for us because then we didn't have to here are we there yet, what time will we get home and guessing when we would arrive about 100 times in the hour :)  We stopped for breakfast near Roseburg and lunch at Red Bluff where he ran around and played at McDonalds for a bit...we were all getting weary of being in the truck.  We hit traffic above Woodland, being a "summer" Sunday there were a lot of campers, boaters and picnickers on the road.

Our yard was a blooming jungle...it is amazing what 10 days will do in a garden with sun and heat.  Most all of the roses have bloomed, the nastursiums that I had transplanted just a couple of days before we left are all blooming which was a huge surprise, the dahlias are over two feet tall and budding there are a few baby zucchini and the tomato plants have doubled in size.  I had to get unpacked and get to the store so no pictures, plus I have a lot of weeds to get routed out.  It also seems we had a couple of animal visitors...a pile of coyote poo on the front deck and only a bear could have cleared off a shelf and a big bag of mortar trying to get into where we store the garbage can...there were wood ends and other miscellaneous stuff stacked up there and it was all on the ground, but not all destroyed so it either was scared off or just wasn't that interested.

Seth, after having to help cart his stuff into the house...you can imagine the huff of sound he made at that "suggestion", got busy touring around the place on his new bike. 

We are pooped, so now that I think Seth might be asleep I am heading for my own not on the floor air mattress bed....miss traveling with the trailer, plus that was a long time for us to be away from home.

Happy Father's Day by the way to all you great Dad's and Dads at heart out there!

Sorry for any stupid errors here...I am not proofreading....my bed is calling....I hear it above the singing of the crickets...because...SUMMER IS HERE, SUMMER IS HERE!!!!

Sitting in the Rain 6-18

Well this being Oregon we sat in the rain watching a bunch of second graders play flag football for an hour and a half.  It was cold, breezy and rainy and our Grandson's coach may know football but he doesn't do well with kids.  He was all about the plays forgetting these little boys need teaching and constant direction...the newest little guys were lost.  Just another illustration for me as to why I have never liked sports...it is almost always about the kids that know the game and are good forgetting that the new guys need to be taught and encouraged. 

We've had a nice visit, but we are really looking forward to getting back home tomorrow.

Sun! 6-17

Wow, before I even opened my eyes I felt this unusual warmth flowing across me......it was the sun shining through the window!  It was breezy, but we took another walk down different streets this time admiring more yards.  The iris and azaleas are still in bloom up here with the late Spring along with roses and multitudinous other favorites.  Seth played in his pool, rode his new bike and played video games...another fun fulled lazy day.