Fremont Solstice Parade

Some shots from the Fremont Solstice Parade. No clever captions. No rhyme or reason to photos. Just shots of some of the stuff I saw from life-sized bugs to art cars covered in dentures.

I THINK I NEED ONE OF THOSE ERGONOMIC KEYBOARDS

This one just doesn't seem to fit. Makes my wrists hurt.

One Is The Loneliest Number...

if you are growing strawberries. This one almost squeaked by but S has a sharp eye for strawberries. This is the only one so far. There aren't even others that are ripening so we found a real anomaly. Of course, we split it. It was delicious.

Garden Growth

Over the weekend we worked hard in the yard. Sunday I hauled, dumped, mixed and distributed soil mix to grow tomatoes, winter and sumer squash and a few various potted plants around the yard. Tomatoes will live in lovely big cedar containers, each with nasturtiums for company and to draw the aphids. Those cala lillies practically grow out from underneath the house. Monday there was more weeding and more planting early in the morning before the rain started. Yesterday S mowed the lawn and laid drip irrigation throughout the yard. That project continues later - we ran out of garden staples. Garden work never seems to end but it's fun. I suppose it's not suppose to end. The garden is a dynamic entity. It would all have to be dead to stop. That would be awful. When I think of how things looked a year ago I'm amazed and delighted with the work we have done. And "firing" the landscape crew was the best move.
While I worked the dirt, S weeded and weeded and weeded and planted all sorts of great plants to fill in where some were removed due to age or failure to grow. Here is the little veggie patch, home to peas and beans, broccoli, beets, chard (I hope), arugula, baby bok choi, turnips, etc. A nice patch of moss roses to the right of the veggies. To think that I pruned these brutally two months ago. When they die back I will prune again and again.
Wonderful geraniums have bloomed.
This little ladybug has a big droplet of water on its head.
Poppies are still a bit shy but wear the dew well.

Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge

This was my third time to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge and I never tire of it. It's like a get-away but it's only an hour and 15 minutes from home. What a great walk around the 5.5 mile trail. You will travel through riparian forest, then along the Nisqually River, then to the mudflats of the Nisqually Delta and so on. The weather was great. There was a breeze to help ease the slight humidity that came with the heat. We saw plenty of critters, got a great walk, had a good lunch while admiring the Olympics and spotting eagles and herons with the binoculars. Spotted this young deer through the grasses. Afterwards we headed north to Belfair for dinner with A & A at their beach house on Hood Canal. After that it was a bit of a drive back to Southworth, an hour wait for a ferry, then a stop at Vashon Is. before getting back to Fauntleroy. Luckily, we only minutes from the ferry terminal. A long but wonderful day.

Saw plenty of these delicate dragonflies. And the wildflowers were blooming everywhere.




































As we ate lunch, we spotted herons and eagles over the mudflats of the Nisqually Delta. The Olympics make a scenic back drop.



Off in the distance we could just make out the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.






Mama duck and her eleven ducklings. Watch out for the herons!





Keep away from the ducklings, heron.

































Frogs know how to hide and they really love the slimy stuff.

Less (snow) Is More (Spring?)

Well, Spring comes and goes around here this year. But a walk to Lincoln Park a couple of days ago was peaceful. The snow is melting from the Olympics so it must be Spring, right?

Three Days of Spring!

And now we are back to chilly rain. No matter. We really enjoyed our few days of sun and warmth. Here are some shots of the yard - which also enjoyed the heat boost. Roll your cursor over the image to see a caption.

Quincy Wildlife Area

Quincy Wildlife Area in, that's right, Quincy, WA. It was hot. Hotter than should be allowed. Almost 100. The hike out wasn't so bad. The hike back had us a bit concerned. It's not that long of a hike but there is zero shade and zero places to sit and rest. Because of the heat, we worked extra hard to do a simple level hike. I suggest doing this hike earlier than the third week in May or wait until September-October. Or begin your hike as early in the day as possible. We started at 10 a.m. but that was too late.

So, heat aside, the place is beautiful. I wish I were able to get more shots. But, truly, the heat and the sun made things difficult. There was little stopping on the way back for anything. The air was full of the scent of sage. I was tempted to take some to make smudge sticks - but didn't. Columnar basalt towers eight hundred or so feet high. Birds are everywhere in those cliffs, especially barn swallows. Raptors too. I have finally heard a real live meadowlark, S's favorite bird. Along the way we would stop to listen and could tell that one was very close but we couldn't ever spot one. We could hear its song loud an clear. Its song would echo off the rock wall. I wonder if they know the difference between an echo and another Meadowlark answering?

At the end of the hike are beautiful lakes and waterfalls. You can camp around the lakes and lots of people were already set up. Still, a campsite in that kind of heat with no shade...not my idea of a good time. Still, we saw and heard and smelled good things. And if you are yearning for the Southwest, which S surely is, this is a good substitute. Next time we will plan more accordingly.

Clearly This Will Take A While

and i know am faced with the possible decision of switching to the "new" Blogger (which is hardly new but I've avoided making the switch). when i think of all the work i'll have to do to get the blog to look like it did about 10 minutes ago compared to all the work i will have to do to create this blog in "new" Blogger, it's a toss up, really. we'll see...sorry for the delays and the mess

testin testing

accidentally erased entire template
before i get drunk, i'l try a couple of remedies to see if i can retrieve the info

Another Overcast Day

So it's a good thing I had three doc appts. Though the skies did turn blue and the sun was shining by the time I got home and was too tired to care about it. I've attached a few shots of the view from the Harborview parking garage of the life-flight helicopter. I'd like to add that the pilot and co-pilot were women.

My MRI was the kick off to a long day running here and there in and out of parking garages, in and out of traffic and several (no joke) needle jabs. I think it's a record for failed attempts to draw blood or inject dye. I look like a total junkie. Could be a new look for me.

P.S. : Roll your mouse over the pic to reveal the caption.

Growin', Growin', Growin'...

...keep those green things growin' Springtime!

Here are a few shots of the flora around the house. "They" claim the temperature will reach 60 today but that won't happen until around 4-4:30 pm, our hottest part of the day. In the meantime, we live under cloudy skies but plenty of green.

Redmond Watershed Preserve

The weather on Saturday was what we've been waiting for - sunny and warm-ish. We were up and out early for a get-a-way that wasn't too away. Over in Redmond is the Redmond Watershed Preserve, a park with 800 acres and over seven miles of multi-use trails. It's a great place for a run or a hike and even a bike ride. Horses, too, can meander these trails so watch your step. We highly recommend this place for a hike. Get there early so you can soak up the quiet - except for the birds and frogs and such. We heard woodpeckers, we spotted geese and a heron, crossed paths with a couple of deer, and saw lots of birds and a snake. We also got a really good 4 miles of walking to start our day. Once back home we hit the yard to plant flowers.

Here is the basic map and directions. Here is Karen Sykes' article from the Seattle P-I.

A Snail of Two Cities

One city is the out of doors, where this guy and his pals can be spotted sliming along my pea starts. The other city is in the tropical greenhouse, where warm air and dripping moisture lessen the friction between already slimy snail and the shelves! This one was spotted making its way to the newly sprouted basil. This is not the first and certainly won't be the last snail to see using my greenhouse as a personal HomeTown Buffet. I'll be watching very closely.

Urban Growth

Here are a couple of Orange Smoothie Pumpkin starts. I've got two in the ground. Not sure where these two will go. Perhaps just in a big container and then set amongst the landscaping to spill over the rock wall.

Everyone in the garden got a good dose of water fortified with fish emulsion. That includes me. I guess that litre bottle has been in the shed a looooooong time. I was shaking it and then I gave it a squeeze cuz I could feel the weight of the product and I wanted to get things moving. Well, one squeeze was all it took to crack the thing and I got sprayed all over the front of my shorts. Pretty much looked like I had explosive diarrhea but in the front. Yeah, and it smelled good too. The cat was really diggin' me when I went inside.

Planted some bok choi and rainbow chard starts and then more of the same seed. Planted nasturtium starts and discovered a clump of volunteer sunflowers. Last month I had seen the old, half-eaten sunflower head from last year in the drive way. These things disappear and then turn up again as various critters pick them over. So it made its way to a clump of dirt by the sage plants. We'll have to thin them but it will be nice to have sunflowers. I have several sunflower seeds germinating in the greenhouse anyway. I'll just plug them everywhere. The more you plant the more you should get to survive?

Turnips have been sprouted for over a week so I planted more seed, along with a full array of lettuces around the broccoli starts. I've basically packed that little bed with growth potential. I have thousands of seeds, I might as well use them.

What's going on in your veggie gardens?

HAPPY EARTH DAY

Just a few ideas:

Take your own bags to the grocery store.
Walk to the grocery store.
Switch to energy saving light bulbs.
Take the bus to work.
Plant a salad garden.
Try a meat-free meal this week (then next week, then twice a week, then three times a week).
Choose independent over big-box-chain store.
Buy in bulk to reduce packaging.
Open those curtains and turn off those lights.
Don't buy anything today.

I could go on. The point - take a step to make a change.

Global Warming?

Speaking of weather, I think February was nicer than March. March was the coldest in decades. Veggie gardens around town are slow in growing. I thought I'd be eating arugula by now but it's just sitting there, not quite 2 inches tall. My broccoli has it’s first set of true leaves but that’s it. And those I planted as established starts! My onion patch, however, is perfectly content. But I’m doing what I can, besides waiting and brooding, to encourage urban growth. My little greenhouse is full of basil, catnip, peas, beans, sunflowers, chard, and tiny pumpkins in various stages of germination.

Other yard projects included laying down a whole new layer of gravel - ourselves. We also replaced the bricks removed by the contractor when he repaired a leak in the outside drain from the gutter. We changed the shape of things a bit and removed a plant or two. I like the simple rustic look. It gets alot of traffic from us so it needs to be user-friendly. Local weather folks are calling for freezing temps again so I will delay - again - putting in more veggie starts. Errrrrrrrrrrrrr.

SPRING!

Finally, the sun, the temps, the blue sky! For a whole day! But Sunday and today are cloudy again. Still, we saw our window of opportunity and jump through. We hopped a ferry to Southworth then drove a bit more to Belfair, WA to explore the Mary E. Theler Community Center & Wetlands Trails. The temperature was over 70, we hung out with barn swallows, blue herons, hawks, ducks, geese, red wing blackbirds, snakes, and all sorts of other flying critters as we walked the 3 miles of trails. I've included a handful of photos here. I hope wherever you are you can get outside!

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Quick Stop in Fremont

First time in Stickman Coffee. Above is the courtyard with a fabulous mural. Below is a double-tall-non-fat latte, my drink of choice. Excellent coffee, really. This place is right around the corner from Fremont Jewelry Design where we had our rings made/prettied-up. Very, very pleased with the results.