Back to Winter 2-14

Hope everyone had a lovely Valentines Day!  Ours was blustery with gusty winds and rain and cold.  Larry was out there between rain showers capping and testing his water lines so he could get dirt back into all the trenches.  It supposed to get back down into the 30's at night later this week and he doesn't want our water pipes exposed.

Larry was cold.

I decided to bake some chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips...YUMMY.  Made a lovely dinner and washed some windows, that was about it for our day.  I put on my heavy coat and walked up the hill to see what the sun was going to do to the clouds...I was frozen by the time I came back in, but it was pretty.

Pictures, pictures 2-13

Larry was off to Auburn as soon as he got up to get pvc pipe and fittings for the irrigation system.  While he was in town he took care of Valentine's Day...he came home with a dozen red roses, a latte, a chocolate covered old fashioned donut and dark chocolate truffles...I LOVE my man!  It was all very yummy and I ended up taking lots of pictures of the roses....

Larry worked on his pipes all day...he was still out there when I went up on the hill to watch the sun set.  Tonight I was ready...had my tripod, my second lense and my jacket.  I sat on the bench on the hill and just enjoyed being...watching, listening and smelling.  The colors weren't as spectacular as the other night, but I still found plenty to take pictures of and I ended up taking over 100 while I was out there.

So beyond cleaning house and wandering outside every once in awhile to see if Larry needed anything, reading in the sun and taking a couple of hundred pictures...that was about our day.

This ray of sunshine was used for a lot of pictures in the 15 minutes or so it was shining on the kitchen counter!

Loved the blue/gray of the clouds after the sun sank away.

More work 2-12

Sunny today so had to take it while it is here...turning back to rain on Monday for a week or so.  Larry painted another coat of stain on the deck where it was needed and then worked on the trenches and figuring out the watering system for the garden.  We are trying to use what is there and make it work for what we want to do, so Larry is reworking and rerouting pipe...it is an automatic system and Larry doesn't want to start from scratch and have to trench all the way to the house for wiring etc., so we are dealing with the zones that are part of the system and putting in faucets where we want them...that kind of thing.

I pruned a bush on the back side of the house, shaping it up, cleaned up all around it and then after I took the cuttings up to the pile Larry told me he had sprayed the bush with weed killer...so I wasted time beautifying a dead plant...thanks Larry.  I guess it'll look nice while its dieing.

I spent time making a lovely vegetarian dinner.  Spaghetti squash baked, a vegetable tomato wine sauce that I put on the squash after I shredded it, topped with grated Mozarella cheese and then put back in the oven until the cheese melted, in its shell...YUMMY!  I also cooked kale for the first time and alone we didn't love it, but mixed in with the spaghetti squash and sauce it was good.

I had a nice visit with Michelle on the phone today and even Seth called back later to talk to us for awhile...that little twit never wants to talk on the phone, but I guess he figured he had better suck it up if he is coming to visit us for his Spring Break, :).

Here are more of last nights color show:

More Orchids & Sunsets 2-11

Our day got off to a weird start around 5 a.m..  Funny sounds woke Larry, water gurgling, we used the bathroom and I flushed the toilet and.....no water.  Well, he had to get dressed and go outside and investigate because of course with all the trenches in the front yard he was afraid something was broken out there. 

When he didn't come right back and I was wide awake anyhow I decided to call Lori...I knew she would be on her way home from work.  That was pretty funny, because as I never call at that hour and she did the time calculations as the ringtone was going she was afraid that something horrible had happened....I gave her heart a good work out.  It was almost as much fun as startling a cat!

We eventually figured out that something had happened downline somewhere and took ourselves back to bed.  I heard the water come back just after seven.  We both felt out of whack the rest of the day and Larry took the day off...we did wander around the garden area and figure out the watering system.

I decided to take pictures of my yellow orchid with the same light that I did with the pink one yesterday...got a bunch of good ones.  Then as the sun was setting I could see it was pretty but almost didn't get myself up and out the door...I was glad I did...stunning colors.

 

working & orchids 2-10

This morning was back to being COLD again...at least it's not the minus digits that Lori is having back east.  I know that when my bathroom floor is cold that it is in the 30's and this morning it was cold!  But it was a sunny pleasant day and we worked outside most all day. 

Larry finished staining the rails and I ended up raking leaves from all over the place to keep the stump hot and burning.  I moved rocks and transplanted a bunch of iris that the former owners had scattered about.  Larry also dug more trenches in the garden, the more we do the more we find to do...

Then while resting inside I noticed the light on my orchid and Andrea mentioning she liked the red curtains behind the orchid in yesterdays pictures got me thinking, I knew I could do better.  Sometimes I think, how many pictures of X do I really need, but it takes so many and in a lot of different lights and settings before you get the "money" shot.  I got a few of those today.  I used a different setting on my spiffy new camera and actually used my tripod...novel idea, using my tools and these are a couple with the silhouette setting on the camera.  I'll share more tomorrow, but this is the difference between pointing and shooting and taking the time to set up the shot.  This was just natural light throught the window...nothing fancy.

Not much 2-9

It was a burn day today so Larry torched a pile on and around an old pine stump he wants gone...it was pretty wet in the center and it wasn't a huge hot pile to start with so it may not burn out as well as the last one he did.

I decided to head out to civilization today without my chauffeur.  I had a big bag of books to donate to the Friends of the Library, my books to return and I of course came out with another pile to read.  I stopped at another place and made some enlargements of a few of my pictures and then I went on up the road to the art store...love that place and then groceries, a latte and then back home.  Everyone I ran across today was very nice and helpful...though I gotta tell you, watch out when driving in and around Auburn...there are some crazy, dangerous drivers around here.

After I got back home and got everything put away I made a killer yummy veggie pizza on a sprouted grain pizza bread...YUM.  Larry was digging trenches and holes out in the garden area in preparation for the irrigation.  Looks like we have a massive gopher out there.  While he was busy doing that I got his digging bar and dug around at the burning stump so more air could get down to it and burn more of it out hopefully.

These deer here are so used to us they are startling me instead of the other way around.  I was walking to the mailbox the other day and the deer were walking towards me because they wanted to cross the driveway instead of away from me in fear and tonight I was walking out to the shop and watching where I was putting my feet as it was dusk and I looked up and there was a whole gang...seven deer standing and grazing not 15 feet from me...they just kept on doing what they were doing.  I am used to deer taking off like a shot when they see people...which our herd does do when strangers show up.

Doesn't look real, but it is.

 

??? 2-8

I couldn't think up a title for today.  It was sunny and as predicted the wind came up from the north and it got cold this afternoon.  Larry screwed up the deck rails today, as in attaching them with screws...I helped hold them up, in between my breaks...hahaha.  Its going to look real nice when it is all done.  Freaking paint colors drive us nuts...this lovely brown colored stain looks olive/khaki green most of the day...we'll just have to deal, it hasn't had a chance to really cure up yet either and as the whole thing isn't painted yet...it just all looks kind of weird and it will until we get a long spell of dry warm weather so Larry can get to painting the house and then the deck floor.  It is all doing to look really nice with the nice new roof over the deck and deck rails and paint.  After that is all done then we'll have to figure out the immediate landscaping...work, work, work.



Primula



I didn't take any pictures today of the work in progress...maybe I'll get a few tomorrow.  Oh and Larry saw a few turkeys this morning.

Another pretty day 2-7

Another whole week gone of a new month...

Larry went to Auburn and got more stain and he painted all day.  He's a good boy...work, work, work.  I didn't accomplish much today...I started the day tired...I had one of those nights where I just seemed to doze and never sleep.  I went to the store and sliced veggies for a huge stirfry...with jicama, my new veggie for this week...it was great, nice crunch and I tried Bragg's amino acids in it instead of Teriyaki sauce and that was good too...better for you for a lot of reasons.

Laid on my tummy to get more pictures of the teeny daffodils...amazing how comfy laying in the dirt can be once you get down there and don't want to get back up.

Violas

This was a fullsized daffy that opened.

Scrub Jay 2-6

Today was beautiful.  I told my sister Lori out there in frozen Ohio that I wished I could send her a bottle of the air from here today.  It was fresh, sun-warmed and sweetly scented with the manzanita flowers.  We are going to be colder and rainy this weekend so I just enjoyed it as much as possible.  I found myself just standing in the sun and the breeze watching the pines sway and listening to whatever sounds I heard.  Beyond cleaning the floors and the bathrooms that was about it for my day.  I carted a chair up the hill into the shade when it got to hot on the deck...with my book, a blueberry muffin and a cup of coffee and just enjoyed our little piece of heaven...while Larry painted away on the deck rails.  He is the superior painter so I am "letting" him have all the joy for himself...that is my story and I am sticking with it...hahaha.  Big eye roll from him....and maybe a derogatory comment or two...:)

I tried out the motion setting on my camera today with this Scrub Jay.  He and his partner finally discovered the birdseed I have thrown out the last few days.  The frogs haven't been croaking twenty four hours non stop the last couple of days.  There have been stretches during the day when you don't hear a frog anywhere.  Tonight though I went out after dark and the sound was deafening...every frog was serenading from all directions, you couldn't hear yourself think.  I imagined the Louisiana swamps sounding like this not the foothills of California.

Get out of my way!

Painting, Baking, and Picture Taking 2-5

Scratch, healthy muffins

Imagine the little heat squiggles rising from this...YUM!

Now this ramp will feel safe, Larry rebuilt it

Staining the rails before he attaches them

These are the teeniest "daffodils" I have ever seen.

They opened today in the warmth

These were taken long after sunset, which was gorgeous...

I was watching it from the window and just figured by the time I got up the hill the show would be over

But it just kept going, so I grabbed the tripod and ran up the hill...

A sliver smile of a moon, so glad I made it in time!

Expanding My Veggie Horizons 2-4

My news for today is I cooked a real uncanned beet for the first time ever.  I have always disliked beets, my Mom always gave us canned...mushy strong yucky tasting things.  Larry and I have talked about adding more veggies to our diet but not being a lover of cooking and Larry not wanting to take it up I have stuck to what I know.  But this year I decided to get on with it and quit being a baby.  I saw these pretty organic beets at the store yesterday with roots and tops attached and decided to figure out how to cook them.  My best friend Mary, an incredible cook, told me her favorite way of cooking them and as it was so easy that is what I did.

Rubbed in olive oil, sprinkle a little salt, pepper and I used garlic powder...wrap in foil and bake for an hour...and they were really good.  In doing beet research online I decided to try cooking the beet greens too, in for a penny, I might as well go the whole nine yards (mixing my metaphors...makes Larry shake his head :).  I found an easy recipe for them, and we LOVED the beet greens.  Look out veggie world...next I am looking forward to trying rainbow chard...maybe even eventually brussel sprouts and turnips...ha ha.  The colors of the beet greens were so very pretty....a vibrant red against that deep green and the beet juice is stunning....art everywhere!  Oh, and I tried that crock pot, pot roast recipe...one package of Lipton's onion soup mix and a can of Coke...YUMMY!

Larry went to town today and came back with the rest of the deck railing redwood sticks and some stain.

I am wondering what is up with the bucks around here...they still haven't lost their antlers like I've read should be happening by now.  After they do I wonder if we'll be able to tell them from the does.  It seems a waste to lose them just to start growing them again.

Look at this pretty shining face!