Peaceable Kingdom

Since I haven't provided pictures of the babies recently, here we go in order of age:

Lucy, aka Lucy Lou Fat Cat, age 12, came to us as a kitten from a cat rescue, and has a reputation of being a bit of a brat:



Cocoa, aka Cocoa Puff, age 5, adopted from a rescue group in New Mexico at about 6 months of age, tends to be high strung and funny:



Ellie, aka Ellie Bellie Boo Ba and Ellsworth, age 4, adopted us in New Mexico, showing up as a stray and refusing to leave. The quiet one.



And, finally, Buck, aka Baby Buck or The Buckeroo, age 3, adopted from a New Mexico rescue group at about age 9 months. He's the big boy and the lover.




Aren't they sweet? It helps that they are all asleep - no throwing up hair balls, no going beserk over coyotes - just quiet, peaceful critters.

Digging Around

I've been doing a little terracing on the hill that leads down from our patio area. I started out with steps that lead down to the bottom, right by the stone wall and the big oak.

Then I decided to make a small terrace from those steps to the part on the left that leads down naturally, connecting two paths to the bottom.


Then, Cocoa dug a big hole trying vainly to capture one of the gophers that dig up our yard. She managed to create a nice level spot with her excavation, so I decided to connect it to part of my steps.











I'd already dug out dirt around the little oak (not healthy for it), so I connected the steps that lead up past it to Cocoa's area and had a part that extended all along that level


A lot of the excavated dirt went to fill in areas that had been washing, giving us a smoother hill overall.
















Then, I brought that terrace around, connecting it to the first set of steps that come down by the wall.







Part of this is to get a small visual idea of what the real terracing will look like when we can have it done, but mostly it's just me playing in the dirt.











So, the first steps I did now connect just above the big oak to the terrace by the small oak and the steps there. Then it connects again near the top to the top terrace that runs to the end of the bank on the left and over to access the bird feeder on the right.


All this digging also has a therapeutic value. I've had a loved one trying to dig up and toss around old "dirt" of the emotional type, and the physical activity of digging in the dirt was very good for me. It's both focused and mindless, allowing me to be in the present and at peace. I like that.

Projects - - Old and New

I can't seem to survive without projects. Monica keeps telling me to rest, chill, take it easy; and I keep finding that I simply can't. I'm sure it's a sickness.

Anyway. . . . My window box is simply thriving! I trimmed parts of it back, and cut off some coleus, stuck it in the soil and watched it become more coleus. Love it. I cannot recommend these self-watering dealies highly enough. They come in all sorts of sizes and styles, and I plan to collect a few more as time goes on. Being plastic and not all that gorgeous, some will be hidden in other planters.


And my butterfly bush is thriving to the point of uprooting itself! Scottie put a big stake in the ground and tied it up; and today we put a 5 gallon rubber pot with the bottom cut out in as a barrier on the bank below to catch soil, etc. Parts of the bush trimmed off to accommodate us as we worked magically turned up on the dining room table.


Scottie goes back up to Lodgepole tomorrow AM, and will be officially moved into his summer residence. Last week he came back down a couple of nights that he could have been there 'cuz I was visiting Hughie in San Diego. . . . Have I only been home a few days? Ye Gods! Yes, Virginia, I am too busy with projects. . . . Anyway, the back of the truck is packed with everything from bicycle to dishes to table and lamp. Still to be added are clothes and a big cooler of food. From now through September Scottie will be 5 days and 4 nights a week at Lodgepole then home 3 nights and 2 days. Big adjustment for all of us! Cocoa is totally freaked out acting as if he's moving away forever.

And, I managed to fit in a class in making stepping stones on Saturday. Jerry and Nancy Jonnum, two incredibly talented people, gave the class at their home. I got to make two stepping stones so we could use up the remains of the batch of concrete.

This is the stone I planned to make with rocks from our lot and a bit of black granite - think left over kitchen counter - embedded. I wanted a fairly subtle look as I plan to make a bunch of these to be used in creating our patio. I'm thinking one "custom" stone per every 5 or 6 plain.

When I found out that I got to make a second stone - yippee!! - I had used up most of what I'd brought along so I scrounged some goodies from the offerings there. This stone is less foot friendly as some of the metal pieces stick up. The lock is hooked permanently to the ring, which is hooked permanently to the screw, and it turned out that they could not be embedded flat. These are big - about 15 x 15 - and at least 2 inches thick - think heavy.



I'm guessing I can create forms without bottoms, make them bigger - like 3 feet square - and cast in place too. So, with about 1000 square feet of patio to do. . . . I'm going to be a while making these. If I do them 2 or 3 inches apart so I can put in moss, that's still about 450 stones this size. If I did 50 areas that were 3 feet by 3 feet that would accommodate tables, etc., better and drastically cut the number of tiles to be made! That would leave me only about 250 smaller tiles, and if they are 1 custom per 5 plain, I'll need about 45 or so - plus some for paths. OK this is a BIG, REALLY BIG, project!!! Helpers out there? I'm accepting volunteers.

Thoughts on Aging

Let's start by saying that aging is better than the alternative - - some days, just not much better.

For family and friends back East, living in the Sierra Nevada foothills is not like living elsewhere. First of all, our summers are hot and dry. Any smaller vegetation not watered turns brown and goes dormant. Add to that the fact that we are "fire prone", and it's not a good thing. Consequently, we are under orders to cut all dry vegetation within 100' of any structure.

Now, think about a very, really very, steep lot, with maybe 2/3's of it's 1.3 acre having to be whacked. Too rugged and too steep for a mower, so that means a weed whacker all the way. Since The Man is working 5 days a week in Sequoia Park, this 60+ year old woman has undertaken to do the weed whacking.




Which brings me to AGING. In my misguided youth I could work all day, party all night, get up and do it again. Now, a couple of hours with a weed whacker is pure hell. By the time I got to the last section (I divided it up to do in manageable pieces), I never wanted to see or hear the weed whacker again.

Throw in FF, and it gets really ugly. If I started at the top of my head and worked down listing everything that hurts, I'd bore you and me both to death!

Good news is that the job is done. Well, except for a couple of small areas. We water at the top of a couple of banks where I've planted. That results in stuff on those banks and at the bottom continuing to grow a bit. Nowhere near as much as earlier in the year thought. We could conceivably get our first 100 degree day later this week, and not much is wanting to grow.

So, I ache. I look in the mirror and suddenly remember that the person looking back is ME. Oh my God. Happens to the best of us. I need to get back to afternoon naps in my hammock rather than whackin' weeds around it.



Some things, and I'm not talkin' wine, do get better with age.

Scottie's onion is beautiful.


Last fall I had an onion starting to sprout and said to The Man that it would not be good any more. He decided to plant it. And she is blooming. Beautifully. For the botanically challenged, onions are alliums. And alliums get these gorgeous heads on them. I just never would have thought of an old onion as a garden plant. Guess you know where any onions that sprout in this house will be headed.

NOW

Ever try to stay totally in the now when you are doing anything other than meditating? Not an easy trick!


I decided to try it while driving from Three Rivers to Visalia - not the entire trip, but a few minutes. Turned off the radio, calmed my mind (ha), and tried to simply BE in the moment. It took about a nanosecond for my mind to start in - did you put X on the grocery list; are we (see my my mind really thinks it's a separate entity from me) going to be late; not much traffic this morning; OH - was that a red shoulder hawk - and on and on and on. Each time I'd return my mind to NOW. I AM driving. Feel the seat of the car. Feel my hands on the wheel. Observe, but do not involve in, my surroundings. Breathe. BE.

Of course, one cannot think one's way into BEING.

I'm convinced that my mind - not my brain, the structure, but the thought process that goes on in ME - is pure ego. Each of those things above is ego:
Did we put X on the grocery list = Did I make a mistake?
Are we going to be late = I don't want to be embarrassed.
Not much traffic = I'm bored.
Was that a red shoulder hawk = Look how smart, observant, etc., I am.

Getting past ego to ME, the I AM, is an exercise in vigilance. To observe without judgment is a challenge. To maintain that for more than a moment is near-impossible.

And, allowing one's self to BE is so counter to how we live life today. We are about doing, accomplishing, thinking, figuring out. BEING is simple. Just BE. How difficult is that? Answer: VERY when one has spent a lifetime practicing being a Human Doing rather than a Human Being.

Smokey's Nightmare

Smokey Bear may not be turning over in his grave, but I'm sure he's at least trembling.

Who ever thought that Scott McArthur would be wearing a Smokey uniform, with BADGE no less, and going off to protect our National Parks?

Methinks he's got a pretty good deal. He'll spend the summer working at Lodgepole in Sequoia National Park. He will have to put in some time in the kiosk (yuk), but he'll mostly be out and about in the campground answering questions, making nice with the general public, and enforcing the rules. What better thing for a guy who remains a kid at heart?




Just for practice, Scottie took our weekend visitors up to the Park for a day of sightseeing.


It's funny how life sometimes shows one how different one is from much of humanity. . . . Scottie packed a lunch and envisioned time outdoors and really taking in the beauties of the Park.

Roger and Lynn were. . . well, tourists, wanting to eat in the cafe, wanting endless photos in front of endless "sights" without necessarily taking time to really see the sights. Still, I'm sure they had a good time. Dorothy, a bit older than the rest of us, was just plain tired. A weekend visit - 6 hours driving Friday, Park Saturday, 6 hours driving Sunday - is a bit much for someone her age.

And, I skipped the Park tour, stayed home and cooked.

Muffy calls me her tree hugger mom, Jeff calls me The Nut Case. I guess Scottie and I really are half a bubble off from much of humanity. The good news is WE love it that way; and we found each other. Picture one of us paired up with a tourist-type. Now, THAT is hell on earth.


I've temporarily finished putting in my garden though there will be more to plant later - staged plantings of peas, carrots, radishes, etc. And, radishes are coming up already!!

Next on the lists of guests is my good friend Michelle. She flies up the 15th and will drive back to San Diego with me on the 18th.

And this week, I do my next volunteer naturalist thing at Kaweah Oaks Preserve - that Tree Hugger thing again.

Yep, we do have a life of our own design. That's a good thing.