Animal House

Funny how completely this place is controlled by the critter residents!

This is the special kitty closet:


We had an extra door made for the cabinet under the sink in the laundry area, this one with a cat sized hole so the girls can access their litter box in privacy. Note the lock. It works. I ran an errand yesterday and forgot to close the dog door to the outside. Came home and Buck was inside. I'd also left the dog gate at the top of the stairs open and he had made an effort to get the "tootsie rolls" from the litter box. No success. Now I need to get a decent looking rug for in front of the cabinet.

And this little area by the kitchen door:
Since it's visible from the living room/dining room, Scottie put up a bulletin board and shelf that is hidden from view for all the junk, messages, etc., that we seem to need. A much cleaner look. The bowl is one made by brother-in-law Don and holds napkins.

When I put the bowl on the cabinet, Scottie commented that this was Ellie's favorite spot. Sure enough, she came to check out the changes and was quite unhappy. Hence the bowl being moved all the way to one side so she still has room to lie in the sun.

I have some plants, hand me downs from a neighbor, in one small area:

It didn't start out to be a rock garden, but the rocks have been necessitated by puppers digging and lying in the cool and damp. This is on the northeast side of the house and gets nice afternoon shade. The black, circular thing is the top of a 5 gal planter that is protecting a fern that was squished by some lounging critter.

And, that swimming pool is now an oversize water bowl. They won't go in it without yours truly, but they love to drink the muddy, dirty water rather than the clean fresh water we put out! So all you folks that listen to the admonitions to be sure your dogs have plenty of clean, fresh water when it's hot - forget it! Give them a mud hole.


Hummers have taken over. We get 20 or more at a time and Scottie can't keep up with their consumption. We have a gallon milk jug in the fridge labeled "hummers", and he is constantly making more nectar. They've gotten so brazen we can almost walk up to them. This photo was take from less than five feet away:

Humans do still live here though. This is Scottie arriving home from a "short" bike ride, maybe 25 or 30 miles. As soon as the dogs hear the truck, they clamor to go out and greet "daddy".

I'm glad they allow us to share their space.

Happy Sunday

It's been a busy week with lots to report. First, no accompanying photo, but Scottie is starting work tomorrow at the Sequoia Natural History Association. They run much of the public contact at Sequoia Park, being privately funded and not subject to the vagaries of politics. He will be 2, maybe 3 days a week, and will start at Crystal Cave. That would not be his first choice, but it's "a foot in the door" as our good friend Elvin always said, and gets him into a little retirement job that actually has the potential of being something he will like. Good news.

We got a lot done yesterday on the outside of this place.

The bank in back, above the rock wall, is really too steep and has been washing as we try to water and get something growing. We now have burlap in place to help stabilize and have hopes of getting enough green stuff -even weeds would be OK - growing before rainy season hits.
It's been especially treacherous as you walk around the kennel which just may have been built too close to the edge.




Our driveway is holding very well. This photo give a view from the bottom, and for those who haven't yet been here, gives a pretty good idea of how steep it is. Thankfully we get no real snow at this elevation other than a sprinkle now and then.
The bank to the right of the driveway has to be planted with something that will both retain the soil (though that's pretty solid with clay and native d.g.) and be wildlife friendly. I'm thinking about a low growing sumac for fall color and use by the birds. There is a new hybrid out that is very pretty, only gets about 3 feet tall and has no nasty odor.

This is the normal pupper morning activity - wresting. No steroids here; just usual pupper energy. Buck always comes in muddy. Seems as soon as he senses that Cocoa has slobbered enough, he stops the play for a moment to roll in the dirt. I just ordered the "Furminator", a tool that supposedly reduces shedding 80 - 90% with just one use a week. I'll keep you posted.



Another hummer shot. Hope you aren't sick of them 'cuz I love them. This isn't the most clear as it was taken from my upstairs studio window. The little guy to the far right is the Rufous. We don't seem to get more than one at a time, and the Ana's (which is the only full time resident of this area) certainly understands that they are migrants and want them to keep moving. Great battles erupt. (If you double click the photo, you get a full screen and can see the color of the Rufous.)


I did a bit of furniture moving and editing in the living room last week, but am just getting around to a photo. I decided that the chair needed to switch sides to make the room more spacious. That meant the plant had to move also; good for it to be closer to the door anyway. And, I edited a few more items out of the shelves for a cleaner look. Getting it closer to how I want.


This was part of yesterday's big project. When Bob Kellogg finished our rock wall, he dumped the excess rock in the void that will eventually get backfilled and have a parking structure on it. His idea was less fill dirt needed. I can't stand to see a good rock go to waste. So, I talked Scottie into helping me move rocks to create a spot to plant a Sycamore close enough to the house for good shade next year. Then I decided to move the remaining rocks in the pile for better stabilization. Not visible in this photo, but just down and to the right is the Sycamore we already planted. It suffered badly from the major heat wave that hit right after planting, but it's recovering nicely now. Two in proximity in that area (the SW corner of the house) should be a good heat reducer in the long run. The little green tree toward the end of the rocks is Ada, planted by Declan and Halle. She's doing well too.

So, Scottie is off for his long bike ride, estimated +/- 50 miles today; I'm about to walk the dogs, known here as doing Pied Puppers; then I get my morning to go visit friends, maybe even breakfast out with a girlfriend while Scottie rides. Enjoy your week.

Tiny treasure

This little guy/girl flew into our dining window so hard I thought it was a big bird. When I went out to look, there was a tiny hummer, an Anna's, not looking at all alive.


Since I could feel a tiny heartbeat when I picked him/her up, I brought him (OK, I'm calling him a boy) inside and just held him a bit. Of course took a couple of photos too. He was none too quick at coming around.


I finally thought he'd come to enough to go outside, but when we went out he showed no interest in leaving my hand. I wet my fingers in the little fountain and dribbled water on his head. After that he sat up, but still stayed in my hand. I walked him over to the feeder and tried to encourage him to get on a perch, but he stayed on my palm. In another minute or two, he took off wit a hmmmmmm toward one of the oaks.

I think this guy was very close to the big nectar dispenser in the sky!

We put in a pool!

It has a few limitations: no diving, no fancy seating area surrounding it, no filter, no deep end, and a few dog hairs!



OK, I admit they are a bit spoiled, but they give me such pleasure! And, with no grandkids nearby, I need someone to spoil.

So, today I went shopping with an agenda that included potting soil, etc., and thinking about getting material to make a duvet cover for our bedroom. Luckily I stumbled on a sale at Target and bought a whole set for our bed than for less than what I could make just the duvet cover for.

What you might ask has that to do with the dogs? Well, it did result in them getting new covers for their beddies. Scottie recently made frames for beds for them, mostly to keep them from getting the oil from their coats on our walls. Now the puppers beds nicely coordinate with the new people bed.


So, we have soft green for their beds, and ours has a mixture of greens, browns, beige and cream.


And, in case I never put this on the blog, the view from bathroom out into master bedroom and beyond. Green and beige just seem to belong here.



Then, just so you know that I do pay some small attention to the human animal, this handsome devil is Fred Lowe who fixed the latest of our water breaks. Fred is an absolute kick. He can. . . . drumroll please. . . . pick up a quarter with some humongous grabber bucket thingy that is supposed to be used to pick up rocks, etc. Yes, if he was a dog, I'd know the right terminology, but for the human animal I think "grabber bucket thingy" is technical enough! Anyway, nice job Fred. Good boy. Sit. Oh, wrong species.

A tough week on Hammond Drive

Let's start with the good news:

Our driveway is not just driveable, it's a breeze! Buddy Jones, musician, traveller, and re-surfacer supreme arrived with machinery, friend and helper Wadaba, some sort of polymer, and a bunch of talent, and created a real useable surface out of the mess that was our driveway.

Check it out:
No bumps; no ruts; no need to tell people to back up and take a run at it!

A major part of the process involved using a roller that compacted and compacted the decomposed granite (dg) and rock that we have. Wadaba (nickname of Mamady Kourauma, which I can't begin to pronounce) drove the roller:


It's quite an interesting process that results in a very firm, even surface that still looks like it belongs in a country setting. We are very pleased.

Now the bad news: For those who have followed this blog from the beginning, do you remember all the water line problems??? Well, they returned to haunt us.


This little area of wet dirt was the first clue. No water in that area, at least theoretically. No faucets that could leak. No watering that had taken place. Nothing. Except the buried, deeply buried, water line. Oops. You can actually see the little point of silvery-looking water that is the moving water bubbling up from underneath. In the background is our small rock wall and the recently planted bank. Oops.




Scottie, ever the hard worker, did a bunch of hand digging, and a big backhoe did the rest. (More about that later.)

The problem turned out to be a poor repair job in one of the places the line was broken and repaired by the dirt guy who did the work when we built. Not good. It's fixed now, but I'm thinking there may be repercussions between the water district and the original breaker/fixer.

We also had 3 or 4 days where Buck would go outside and immediately roll in all the muddy dirt. This morning he's out there checking out the drying pile of dirt as if lamenting his loss of cool, damp dirt. He doesn't know it yet, but we've got a doggie pool for he and Cocoa. More on that later too.



And, yours truly got installed as the Treasurer of the Three Rivers Arts Alliance. The Alliance has been around for decades and has gotten a bit stale (my opinion). I think it's going to be shaken up this year.



(As an aside, I think I'm getting rid of my new skirt with the dropped waist, supposed to be quite smart. It is when first put on. When I sit, it rides up around my rib cage [what is supposed to keep it down?], then looks like my entire middle is a big blob.)

A good part of that shaking will be courtesy of Keio Ogawa, the front and center gal in this photo:

Keio, who is the wife of Wadaba, is a very accomplished drummer who records, performs, teaches and takes no prisoners. She is campaigning to expand the Alliance to include performing arts as well as visual arts. So, for the installation ceremony she brought 3 friends (including Buddy Jones, our driveway guy) to perform. It was way cool!

So, it's been a busy week, including a day and night without water, but a lot has been accomplished. And, as always, when I'm able to go with the flow and remember NOT to push the river, it's all worked out well. Trying to push that ol' river of life back against its current just never seems to work, does it?

House is filthy, really FILTHY, from all the dirt stirred up by driveway work and repair work plus and the mud tracked in by Scottie (from working) and Buck (from playing), but we are taking a day off. Really. I'll clean tomorrow.

Scorching!

I think we topped out at 110 yesterday! This heat is just not healthy for man, beast or plants. All our plantings are drooping, no matter how much we water, and several have died.

At 7:30 AM, it's already in the 90's. Scottie's out working on the drive "before it gets hot". Ha, I say, Ha,ha.

We are going to be getting the driveway fixed soon, but it had gotten so bad we could barely get up it in my little car, so The Man has elected to do some hand work as yet another temporary fix. I'm staying in the a.c.


This cutie-pie is a scrub jay. Not as bright as the standard blue jay I grew up with in the Mid-West, and way less exotic looking than the Stellar's Jay I got to know in New Mexico. Lots of folks consider them pests, but I like them (yes, of course I do). See the little patch of gray on his back? Color is scrubbed out there, making it easy to remember scrub jay. That's not what they are named for, they hang out in scrub brush, but it's a good memory trick.


You can see one of the water flumes in this picture. Those were built decades ago and run for miles and miles. I simply can't imagine how tough the men and women who populated this area had to be! We drove up to Mineral King on the 4th. 25 miles and 90 minutes. Very winding and steep. And that road was built back in the days of mining by mules way before all the heavy equipment we now have.

I love the topography here! Maybe it's my mid-western upbringing. The hills we thought were big would not qualify as foothills here. I find such majesty in the mountains.


These are are few of our own big oaks, for whom the name "Sheltering Oaks" was chosen. The lot next to us has grasses that show the condition of the hills right now in any area not cut, plus you can see a close up in the photo of Mr. Jay. We are a wildfire waiting to happen! In our case, the small brush has been cleared from beneath trees, and because we are new construction, there is really nothing flamable near the house, but with the local winds (down canyon in the morning, up canyon in the evening) it would be near impossible to protect structures in the event of a big fire.


I look around and wonder how I got here. I think I have a bit of gypsy blood. It's funny how some of my old high school friends (and some of my family) get a bit away from "home" and can't wait to get back. I get out there and want to go further, see more, learn more, do more. So, here I am. Illinois to Mississippi, back to Illinois, to San Diego, to New Mexico and now to Three Rivers, CA. And, within those several smaller moves - farm to Peoria, to Brimfield, top of the mountain in NM to the Ranch, etc. I met a gal once who, when I asked here where "home" was replied, "an airplane seat." I'm not quite that extreme, but I do get itchy and start to feel stagnant. But, I'm hoping, not promising just hoping, that this is IT. If I'm to move again it will require major downsizing. This hauling crap from one home to the next is exhausting! I'll need to be like Mr. Turtle, moving slowly and carrying my home on my back.

Signs of Summer

Busy weekend! Mona Fox Selph, neighbor, artist, friend, gave me starts of a bunch of plants as well as this beautiful butterfly bush which she got for us as a housewarming gift. That means we've been planting, planting, planting in high, mid-90's and more, heat. Still, it's very nice to have some things growing.




And these are clean dogs. Well, Cocoa is clean. Buck is a pain in the but! He got bathed first, and by the time Cocoa was finished, Buck was filthy, way, way worse than before the bath! He'd been rolling in dirt the whole time. So, he got tied to a porch post, rinsed and rinsed and left there to dry. Apparently the Baby Buck did not appreciate that. When they came in, he waltzed past the Fiddle Leaf Fig (that's the cool plant behind the dogs) and casually grabbed the bottom leaf, putting big holes in it. I thought maybe it has brushed him in the face. . . . Wrong. He marched over to another plant, this one with long skinny leaves, grabbed one of those leaves and pulled it off, then turned and gave me "the look" as if reminding me that he does hold grudges. Not sure I'm forgiven yet since he's still avoiding looking at me. Who runs this place anyway?


And this is one of The Feet of Summer. Wouldn't that be a great book title? I guess these kind of feet belong to California Summers. I do tend to live in flip-flops whenever possible. I've learned that they aren't good footwear for watering plants on steep, clay banks. Leads to a header into the mud if you aren't careful.



And - all you computer wizards out there, I have a problem: When I try to send a word processor document, I can no longer do it successfully (used to work fine). If I send as an attachment, it can't be opened at the other end. If I copy and paste, Outlook Express shuts down. Any suggestions????

Finally a movie recommendation: Evening. This is absolutely one of the best movies I've ever seen. If Vanessa Redgrave does not win an Oscar for this movie, something is rotten in Hollywood. See it.