August Mood Board

 images via:

1. rain petal  2.sky  3.crocus  4. butterflies

Nature's beauty in purple.
This mood board was designed using a template created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

June Mood Board

images via:
1. sea star  2. waves  3. glass floats  4. bonfire  5. lamp  6. jelly  7.whale  8.sea glass  9. seahorse 10. nautilus11. turtles  12. lighthouse

A sea inspired mood board.
This mood board was designed using a template created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

If you can't beat them, eat them

Modern Farmer.
It's a farm journal I get that I like a lot.
It is both informative AND quirky, which seems strange, but they do it very well.
If you want to check them out, here is a LINK for you.

Today's issue
Modern Farmer: The If You Can't Beat Them, Eat Them Edition.

Slime Fight: How to Manage Slugs and Snails

By Brian Barth on May 6, 2015

BLAAAAHHHHH!

and

Blahahahaha!

March Mood Board

image via: clover rain

A clover rain color story for March. And St. Paddy's Day.
This mood board was designed using a template created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

Mushrooms and Poison Oak

We have had a bit of rain here on the Central Coast.

 

 

Along with a VERY lush crop of weeds we now have lots and lots of mushrooms and poison oak.

That might not sound very nice, but after all of these months of brown, brown and more brown, they are quite lovely.

January Mood Board

images via:

1. Deer  2. Lamp post  3. Rose   4.Branch  5. coffee and skis   6. cocoa  7. lantern   8. Ice crystals

A little winter cheer.
I designed this mood board using a template created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe HERE.

Varmit Campaign

What is a varmit?
According to Wikipedia: Vermin (colloquially varmint or varmit) are pests or nuisance animals, especially those that threaten human society by spreading diseases or destroying crops and livestock.

Destroying crops and livestock. Yep, that's what happens around here. There is always something just waiting in the wings to chow down on my hens, the chicks, the eggs, my garden or my tiny little orchard.
It is truly a wonder that we get any food at all off this little piece of land.

Here is a list of recent offenders:

I am not super excited to have a mountain lion creeping around the neighborhood, but he does make his presence known every couple of years. This year, I am hoping that he avoids the sheep/goats/chickens and really makes a feast of some of these pesky varmits. Then it will be a Happy Thanksgiving indeed!

Wyoming

We just took a little vacation up to the great state of Wyoming. And as we made our way up through Utah and then Jackson and even Yellowstone...I decided that I didn't really like Wyoming. It was so...desert-y, and sage-y, and dusty, and dry. I am not really a desert person, and I was so surprised to find out that Wyoming is pretty much a desert state. Who knew?? (Well, probably everyone but me!)

But then we came to Cody, and something in me changed. Cody felt different. After we had been there for a few days I realized that I had completely fallen in love with that little town. With the community and the landscape and the mom-and-pop-ness of it. With the wildness and the western-ness and culture of it.

It made me feel small and safe and free all at the same time.

The sky was so very big, and even the clouds looked to be as big as a whole cities. There was a great vastness to the open space...it made me feel very small. Like a mere speck on this grand creation we call Earth.

The mountains were big and rolling and many, and they surrounded the town on all sides like a fortress. The legend of William F Cody was alive and well, and it seemed to pour out of everywhere. And it made me feel safe... to be inside a fortress guarded by the world-renowned marksman known as Buffalo Bill.

The sunshine was brilliant. The fresh air seemed to be without limit and the wildness lay just beyond view. And I felt as free as I have ever felt.

It all made me feel closer to God, and I am not sure why.

But on our last day there, we visited the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. A movie about Bill Cody was played somewhere along the way and I was surprised to hear him say the same thing...closer to God.
He said it like this...

The moment [my] show closes, I hike out to the mountains. I like to get close to nature. That’s the only real way to live, after all. The [city dweller] doesn’t know what a true man is like. He hasn’t any chance to know. He never takes a full, deep breath; he never gets his lungs full of air. He can’t do it in [his] low altitude. When I get back in the mountains, in those grand temples that God built, I feel like another being, and I say, as I draw in a full breath of life, “I’m certainly a man!”

I believe that a man gets closer to God out there in the big, free West. It gives him a chance to expand, to know himself, to think.

* Charles Darnton, “’Buffalo Bill’ Cody at Close Range,” unidentified newspaper, April 27, 1907

...and I couldn't agree more.

Rain

This was the sky last night at dinner time.
We ate outside and hoped for raindrops to go with our dinner.
But alas, there wasn't even a sprinkle.
It seems like this California girl may never see rain again.

Skunks are Bad: The final update

via

I wish I could say that no one was harmed in the writing of these blog posts, but...
My guy would beg to differ. He was forced to throw out his favorite pair of shoes and a brand new tarp. And even worse than that was the dinner plate sized puddle of skunk juice that was deposited in the the bed of his pick-up truck. We were pretty sure we were gonna have to burn that truck to the ground and get a new one. But after a couple of weeks he was able to start driving again, without retching.
On the bright side, my house smells just fine these days and I am able to have people over again.

Skunk-y Update

After 5 weeks of night raids, we FINALLY set out a cage and some cat food.
And by "we" I mean my guy, who is completely in charge of this entire operation.
Well, except for the complaining part.
And the gasping/groaning/nose holding part.
And the lightening fast window/door closing part. I have elevated that part to an art form.

The trap went out last night.
The good news is...we caught him.
The bad news is...we now have a skunk in a cage.
The best news is...I have already perfected my part, so this is where my guy gets to do his thing.
I'll let you know!

Night Raids

We have just been night bombed for the FOURTH time in two weeks by a skunk.

Tomorrow we are buying a trap and some cat food. And maybe some sort of plastic jumpsuit...
I'll keep you posted.
In the meantime, you might want to limit your visits daylight hours!!

Bad Luck

Friday the 13th and a cock egg all in the same full-moon week.
Wooooooooooo.....
I guess it is a good thing I am not into that sort of thing or else I would probably be hiding under the covers, rubbing a rabbit's foot and eating Lucky Charms by the handful. Oh, and garlic. I would definitely need some garlic. And maybe a silver bullet.

And in case you don't raise hens and have no idea what a cock egg is (aka witch egg, fairy egg and wind egg)...

It is just a tiny chicken egg.
If I were to crack it open (instead of throwing it over the house to protect myself from evil) you would see a weird "yolk" made of some abhorrent tissue that had found its way into the egg making part of the hen.

Here is some very entertaining information about the history of these little eggs (from granny-miller.com):

In folk tradition, a cock egg was understood to have been laid by a rooster or cock and not a hen, and was a cause for concern.
Cock eggs according to different folklore traditions bring bad luck or illness if they are brought into the house. That’s because a cock egg is believed to have malefic and magical powers. They are reputed to be of value to sorcerers and magicians for mixing magical potions and casting spells.
The way the story goes is that if a toad, serpent or witch at the behest of Satan incubates a cock egg, the resulting hatchling will be a cockatrice or a basilisk.  A cockatrice or basilisk is an ancient winged monster with a serpent’s body and a rooster’s head that can kill and destroy by its breath and glance.
During the middle ages it was self-evident to most intelligent people that a cock egg was the work of the devil. Animals as well as people could be in league with Satan, and in 1474 a chicken passing for a rooster in Basle, Switzerland was put on trial and condemned to be burned at the stake for “the heinous and unnatural crime of laying an egg”.  American author and educator, E.V. Walter in his essay – Nature On Trial – The Case Of A Rooster That Laid An Egg , writes, “ the execution took place with as great a solemnity as would have be observed in consigning a heretic to the flames, and was witnessed by an immense crowd of townsmen and peasants.”

On second thought, Lucky Charms might be just what I need. A big bowl of magically delicious to ward off death by "breath". Or maybe just because I haven't had any in the last 25 years.

Big Rain

I am in Anderson, Ca this weekend for my final quilt show of the season.
As I was leaving the building tonight I got caught in a BIG rain storm.

And when I say BIG, I mean:
Big purple lightning, and Big rolling thunder, and Big gusty winds, and Big fat rain drops, and little jagged hail stones pinging off the cars. It took about 1 minute for the street to go from dry to puddled, and about 3 seconds for the human body to go from dry to soaked through. It was wonderful! It may even be the BEST rain storm I have ever gotten caught in.
So, if you like to quilt and you like rain, come and see me tomorrow (or Saturday or Sunday).

A Finch-y Kind of Day

Lots of happy little finches in the yard today.

Double Rainbow

This is my first ever double rainbow sighting.

I was SO glad to actually have a camera with me when I saw it.
I was in Sonora, at a quilt show of course, during a BIG rainstorm. It was my first rainy day of the season, so it felt fresh and cool and wonderful. Then as the storm blew out of town, we were blessed with this sight!

Just lovely.

Why did the tarantula cross the road?

I don't know either, but they are definitely on the move!!

Actually, I think this must be their migratory-or mating-or something-season because they are out in full force this time of year. If you come up the hill to visit me, be on the look out.
It would be too gross to squish one, even with the car!!

He is taunting me!

Do you see him??

He is running along the retaining wall trying to get my attention. And when I look up he stops and stares back. He doesn't even run away when I make big noise or take his picture. And he does not seem to be at all phased by my evil-stink-eye, and that is saying something because my evil-stink-eye is the bomb!! 

And so it continues...

Remember when I was fretting day and night over that little mama squirrel with a nest of babies? (Memory-Refreshing link here.)  And when my friends gave me some good solid advice about squirrel management? (More memory-refreshing here.) And the apricot debacle of 2012 (again with the refreshing.)

Well I now have another reason to regret that foolish choice, and here it is....

We were at Spring Market in Portland when this happened. These cherries don't usually ripen until Memorial Day weekend, so we had plenty of time to get home and get them netted. But, the squirrels apparently like them pink-ish and sour.

Now this probably was a combination of squirrels and birds, but you can bet those darn squirrels were in the mix. Does anyone know where I can get an owl? A big hungry one???

We Have Twins!

They are pretty fresh. You can tell because they are small and spotted.

So darn cute.
Until they start eating my garden, of course.
Then, not so much.