wishful Wednesday

in which our plucky heroine does more yard work...

This morning after breakfast, it seemed like a good idea to reinforce the border edge between the sidewalk and the front yard. My first attempt, a few weeks ago with cardboard and wood chips was too flimsy, and grass already had begun to grow through. So, now the plan is to rake away the chips, add a doubled layer of cardboard, and place used brick along the sidewalk edge, and pile more mulch up atop and behind. About half the sidewalk length of edging is completed.

After dinner my daily string trimming got most of the way around the rest of the front yard and down the south side of the house. Also (carefully) cut back where the Japanese maple was impeding the walkway, and trimmed a few more wayward fig branches. Tomorrow will be time to water the baby trees, and hopefully get some of the things that need planted into larger pots

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~ so tasty ~

Yesterdays "salad": roasted beets vinagrette with goat cheese and pecans. The beets were inspired by our favorite beets from Barbur World Foods, which are in an oil and vinegar dressing with onion and parsley. Sister Gigi suggested adding goat cheese and walnuts, but since I had some of the Trader Joes dry-roasted pecans on hand, those were a better option. This was a delicious treat, and would have been even better had I let the beets marinate overnight. I'll be adding this to my list of deliciousness.

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I meant to figure out something suitable for tiny advent swap creations in April, to keep up with my plan of six items made or found each month, but somehow got obsessed with the idea of making tiny figural pom poms, but could not find my pom pom maker tool anywhere. That idea needs to go on the back burner, and something different (x 2) will be necessary for May...

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I so wish I had a dearlove who liked to do yard work and gardening, who would relieve me of the necessity. Still, I've managed to stick to my vow of spending time every day in close contact with the string trimmer. Acorn Cottage may have the shabbiest yard on the block, but at least it will not also be impossibly shaggy.

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This recipe for "single serve lemon cookie (small batch)" which made two rather large cookies that were darn near perfect... tender and highly lemon flavored. I used fresh lemon zest and juice, and gluten free baking mix instead of wheat flour. Next time I make them, I will divide the dough into 4 parts instead of in half, as I prefer more "dainty" cookies

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	blue skirt Opal	shipova planted	yard waste bin
2	2 pr undies toiles	smoothed half of side gate base	recycle bin
3	model for F.L.A.G	got TDaP vaccine	yard waste bin
4	painted Dean heraldry	persimmon mulched	recycle bin
5	-	pruned figs	2 arborvitae
6	x	2024 taxes	plastic trash bin
7	x	hip joints for tinyfolk	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes-
- managing to continue my every day with the string trimmer vow
- today was cool in the morning
- found another perfect lemon cookie recipe

Time of Isolation - Day 1745

tired on Tuesday

in which our plucky heroine wishes for garden helpers...

Mostly there has been a fair amount of outdoor refurbishment in the last week or so: primarily but not exclusively of the mowing variety, as well as removing older debris, or relocating it for future use. It is time to somehow create a pea trellis, and get things transplanted or just plain planted. There are various "caches" of used bricks here and there, which will all be useful for anchoring the mulch/cardboard/sidewalk interface. This is all part of the plan to reduce the lawn and create mulched "pathways" around the front yard and more garden space in the back yard.

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~ maidenhair fern transfer ~

Unsure at what young age the "rub pencil on the back of a drawing to transfer it" was learned, but that technique has stood me in good stead for decades. After carefully sketching the motif on tracing paper in a way that fits well in the rectangular space available, the sketch was first inked in with a fairly wide Micron pen, and then the now visible lines were well covered with soft pencil on the reverse, and finally taped in place before being re-outlined with a small stylus, yielding what appear as thin pencil lines on the painted substrate. Half of Kateline's heraldry is a maidenhair fern on a white background, and the only transfer paper on the shelf here is itself white, but fortunately there are plenty of pencils, and the design is now ready for painting. Tune in tomorrow!

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My broken glasses have been delivered to *eyewear, and hopefully will be ready later this week. Fortunately, or dangerously, there is a art store right next door to the optical shop...

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From the time of year in the spring when it warms up enough to start the grass growing, to when it becomes hot and dry enough in summer for it all to become dry and dormant, mowing the lawn is my nemesis. But if it doesn't get done, that is a bigger problem. I no longer have the stamina to do the whole thing in a day or two, so have divided the yard into six zones: the parking strip, the outer front yard, the south strip and porch areas, the backyard near the house, the plum thicket zone, and the south lumpy zone. All were starting to get almost too shaggy to cut, and the plum thicket area was almost knee high, so I've vowed to do one zone each day that it isn't raining, 'cos extension cords + rain are not a good idea! My guess is that by the time all six zones are done it will be time to start again, and just go round-y-round for the next umpteen weeks. By doing a smaller amount more frequently, it should be at least a bit easier on the shoulders, and may increase strength at least slightly.

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Whilst cleaning up the back yard, realised that the funky partially broken plastic trash bin that had been intended for a compost bin really needed to just be discarded entirely. While it had several long cracks, it proved most recalcitrant to being cut apart. Not with a box knife, not with tin snips. Ended up using the folding pruning saw and elbow grease. Managed to somehow snag a fingertip on one of the almost razor sharp saw teeth right at the end, but NewSkin and some paper tape came to the rescue

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	blue skirt Opal	shipova planted	yard waste bin
2	2 pr undies toiles	smoothed half of side gate base	recycle bin
3	model for F.L.A.G	got TDaP vaccine	yard waste bin
4	painted Dean heraldry	persimmon mulched	recycle bin
5	-	pruned figs	2 arborvitae
6	x	2024 taxes	plastic trash bin
7	x	hip joints for tinyfolk	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Past Me cleverly acquired some of the Xero shoes that actually fit my peculiar feets, (said shoes are no longer being made) and stashed them away, so I can put off for a while longer figuring out footwear...
- once in a while, fancy dinner is fun: steelhead in butter lemon caper sauce, roasted beet vinagrette with goat cheese and pecans, and asparagus
- managed a second day in a row running the string trimmer, and thereby made more progress in hacking away at the lawn. My intention is to do some modest amount every day until the lawn goes heat-dormant, thereby hopefully not wrecking my shoulders
- New Skin liquid bandage, combined with paper bandage tape works really well

Time of Isolation - Day 1744

Saturday snippets

in which our plucky heroine is still recovering...

There was a flicker, this morning, busy at the intersection of the siding, the concrete foundation, and the basement window frame of the House Next Door. It eventually also rummaged around on the ground there, before flying up to the top of the boundary fence, then up to the gutter of our carport. At first I thought it might be building a nest, but I suspect it was hunting bugs? It was close enough to see the red underside of the wings, particularly as it flew upwards...

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~ bed sitters ~

My tinyfolk were tired of only ever standing, so they have all had "hip replacements". Their leg seams were opened up next to their body, and some of the stuffing removed, leaving an unstuffed area that has been stitched across at the top and bottom, to allow their legs to hinge enough that sitting is also an option. Some cloth dolls are made this way initially, and future Tiny Rag Dolls made here at Acorn Cottage will also be...

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Broke my spex, or rather a weld snapped in the left side temple piece.... Looked everywhere for the missing part once it became obvious that it was gone, only to eventually find it tangled in the hair on that side of my head. Most peculiar! Shall have to plan an excursion to *eyewear next week when they are open.

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Still not all the way better from my fall on the 15th, sigh and alas... the older we get, the less we bounce back, and my shoulder and elbow are complaining. I am grateful that I can still walkabout, and still bike ride.

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Creativity update: made further good progress on the heraldic painting for Kateline and Dean. The golden spider and crossed axes are now filled in; painting with metallic acrylic is a bit tricksey, but it should show up really well...  Tomorrow one of several tasks I plan on working on is painting the pegasus, and drawing the maidenhair fern. Still haven't come up with a fun idea for the half dozen advent swap items to be made for April, if I can find my pom pom maker, that is an option...

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	blue skirt Opal	shipova planted	yard waste bin
2	2 pr undies toiles	smoothed half of side gate base	recycle bin
3	model for F.L.A.G	got TDaP vaccine	yard waste bin
4	painted Dean heraldry	persimmon mulched	recycle bin
5	-	pruned figs	2 arborvitae
6	x	2024 taxes	x
7	x	hip joints for tinyfolk	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes - 
- there is a shop in the city that repairs spex
- today was cooler than yesterday, and tomorrow will be cool enough for yardwork
- line dried laundry, the treat on days that are sunny
- I have a spare pair of prescription spex! (given potential supply chain issues, would be a good idea to get a second backup pair. Pretty sure most cheap spex come from China)

Time of Isolation - Day 1741

Wednesday whatnots

in which our plucky heroine takes care of assorted kibbles and bits...

Having to spend time at the beginning of the week dealing with an online data breach, though fortunately it seems my identity and dosh are all accounted for... it did entail a visit to the bank, where they combed through my records but found nothing amiss, and a call to the credit company to shut down my card and issue me a new one, which will take some time to arrive. Whilst coming home from the bank, the Tri-Met bus took a wrong turn, into a residential neighborhood, which rather delayed all my other activity on Monday evening.

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~ a very small succulent ~

Karen brought me a start of "Shrek's Ears", which is actually one of the current common names of  Crassula ovata 'Monstruosa' a variant on the common "jade plant"... This particular one is not quite 1½" tall, and lacking a suitable home for it, I drilled a drainage hole in a very small ceramic pot, and can keep it on the windowsill. It reminded me of the scene in Miss Happiness and Miss Flower when they are given two bonsai trees, and will be a lovely prop for future tinyworld photo sessions.

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"Ethel and Ernest" I never saw this when it was released, and it isn't on any platform I can access easily. I'm tempted to track it down in DVD form, as it seems like my sort of media.

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This isn't new, but it is lovely, and I was charmed by the sentiment

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Using the string trimmer to whack the lawn is strenuous, probably as the shoulders are still sore from tumbling off my bike on the 15th. Decided to start closest to the sidewalk, to have the best effect on passers by, and got about halfway done with the front yard. Will return to the effort tomorrow, in hope of getting the rest of the front yard done. I know from past effort that the back yard takes three passes, so it will likely be a weekly effort for the next month or two. My plan is to also us the cardboard Karen picked up for me, cover it with wood chip mulch, and create a pathway around the front yard, which should reduce significantly the actual mowing needed. Incremental progress is still progress.

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	blue skirt Opal	shipova planted	yard waste bin
2	2 pr undies toiles	smoothed half of side gate base	recycle bin
3	model for F.L.A.G	got TDaP vaccine	yard waste bin
4	-	persimmon mulched	recycle bin
5	-	pruned figs	2 arborvitae
6	x	2024 taxes	x
7	x	hip joints for tinyfolk	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes - 
- The scent of lilac blossoms around the neighborhood, and that the dwarf lilac in the front garden here is starting to bloom
- Managed to get the part of the front yard closest to the sidewalk cut back with the string trimmer.
- Game tonight went really well! It feels like we really got into the spirit of Wanderhome.

Time of Isolation - Day 1738

dopamine days

in which our plucky heroine enjoys company...

Long term (30+ years) friends Beth and Karen came to visit for the last several days! Since they are willing to quarantine for a tenday prior, and are careful with masking in public all the time anyway, we can socialise (while in my house) free of the need for filtration constraint, and can cook and eat meals together which is a very rare pleasure for me.

There was plenty of time for conversation, for neighborhood walks, and for sharing information about our various avocations, all in person.  I remain unbelievably grateful for "the pixel world", and indeed they and I zoom at least once or twice every week, but there is something special about being able to see one another without the intermediary of cameras and screens. Even in the Before Times, once we began living so many miles away, our in person visits were rare, doubly so now.

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~ a spot of urban respite ~

On Friday morning we went to the Leach Botanical Garden, which turned out every bit as much of a treat as hoped... though we only visited the upper (accessible) portion of the site, it was so much closer to being out in nature than just walking around my neighborhood. The Aerial Tree Walk put us out in nature with a completely different point of view!

looking down on some giant trilliums
(Trillium chloropetalum)
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There were several stops on the way back to Acorn Cottage, firstly being Portland Nursery. I noticed two days ago that many of the leaves on Baby Bosc Pear were looking odd, in a way that didn't seem to match any of the diagnostics I could find online about pear issues. The woman at the info desk there said it had pear leaf curl - which I have not been able to find any further information about, and that it needed copper spray in the winter and in the early spring before it flowers. I am very sad and a bit concerned about this since I only just bought the young tree from them last autumn. Since we are well past blossom time, there is nothing much to do about it, other than continuing research.

While at the nursery I bought a garden hose nozzle attachment, as part of the make garden care easier plan.  Speaking of gardening, the snap peas I planted are already peeking out of the soil, and I need to get busy creating anti-squirrel protection for them, as well as a trellis for them to climb. My Juliet tomato still needs planted, as does the rhubarb and the horseradish rhizomes. That will fill several of the big planter pots right there. I've another three self-watering planters to clear of weeds and refurbish, and of course the yard needs another go-round with the string trimmer! Hopefully my sore arm and shoulder will be up for some of that; I swore after my neglect last year that this year I would do a better job of keeping ahead of it.

Karen saw a large bundle of BIG empty cardboard boxes on the curb while we were out yesterday, and we stopped and acquired them. Must needs peel away the strapping tape, but that will become more mulch underlayment. The plan is to create a pathway all around the front yard and up to the back gate on that side of the house, which will much reduce my need to mow.

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~ Free Fractal Little Library   ~

The other thing we began on our way home on Friday was stop at several of the Sidewalk Joy sites. This one in particular I had much wanted to see, it is part of PDX Dinorama, and it has a tiny free little library inside (labeled the "Giant" Micro Library) and an even tinier diorama of a free little library in the attic. I left one of my "F is for fun" books as an exchange for the one on Sidewalk Ducks... 

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Six years ago I found a style of shoe with a shape that fit the configuration of my peculiar feet, and bought a pair, then painted them blue, because I wanted BLUE shoes. They lasted four years before becoming too worn to wear. I bought another pair, painted them blue, and added teal canal rose motifs to the toes (so much fun!). That second pair only lasted two years, as the quality of the construction of pair two is less than the earlier pair and the shoes are becoming so worn as to be actually dangerous to wear, with the uppers detaching from the sole in various places, and the pieces of the shoe itself becoming "worn to a raveling" in places. The manufacturer has moved on to more "trendy" styles and no longer makes this, so the one remaining pair I have will be my last one. Don't yet know what I will do after that; I'm not particularly desirous of taking up shoemaking...

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	blue skirt Opal	shipova planted	yard waste bin
2	2 pr undies toiles	smoothed half of side gate base	recycle bin
3	model for F.L.A.G	got TDaP vaccine	yard waste bin
4	-	persimmon mulched	recycle bin
5	-	pruned figs	2 arborvitae
6	x	2024 taxes	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. borrowing Jack Ogden's "Jewelry Technology in the Ancient and Medieval World" (The book is a TOME being both quite oversized, and at least two inches thick; I plan on using it to provide many many one or two page bits of positive reinforcement so as to bribe my way through a week of admin tasks and challenging work)
2. a serendipitous short visit with Mindy (everyone was very well masked, with doors and windows open; it was less risky and shorter than the bus rides I normally take)
3. time discussing how to build a Free Little Art Gallery with Karen; and she brought me a cut-to-length piece of 4x4 pressure treated lumber

Time of Isolation - Day 1735

a cut above...

in which our plucky heroine says goodbye...

...to the arborvitae that former owners planted much too close to the house. Should have removed them years ago, but hindsight is 20/20. Had Honl Tree Care come out and do the deed, they are excellent and careful workers.

The yard feels a bit peculiar right now, but not having trees literally mashed into the house will make tasks like getting the house painted much easier. And, the south half of the yard is sunnier, which bodes well for future food garden beds, at least in the short term. The half load of wood chips will be helpful in the back yard as well, for mulch and to partially smooth out the lumpy areas.

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~ several hours this afternoon ~

truck and chipper taking the alleyway to backyard


they opened the alley gate for better access


assorted tools used: hand pruning saws, chain saws, pole
chain saw, as well as climbing spikes and ropes for safety


The smaller clump was the first to go


The larger clump needed a different approach


bit by careful bit, it all came down... away
from the yard fencing or the phone lines


both arborvitae clumps cut back to 6'


many chips dropped in backyard, this will
save me innumerable trips back and forth
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Just read the novella "The River Has Roots" by Amal El-Mohtar - it is an exquisitely written gem of a tale (with gorgeous illustrations by Kathleen Neeley) in the fairytale/mythology genre. I might need to own this book.

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	blue skirt Opal	shipova planted	yard waste bin
2	2 pr undies toiles	smoothed half of side gate base	recycle bin
3	-	got TDaP vaccine	yard waste bin
4	-	persimmon mulched	recycle bin
5	-	pruned figs	2 arborvitae
6	x	2024 taxes	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Honl was willing to move the chipper into the alley, which meant they could dump the load of chips into the backyard, saving my having to make innumerable trips back and forth from the driveway with 5 gallon buckets!
- a surprise drive by hello from Gersvinda and Ursel
- 5 flavor eggplant, so yummy
- all the large trunks of the arborvitae clusters are cut off at about 6 ft, which means I can use them as Useful Posts for things like attaching clothesline. The trunks that were really close to the house were removed, which will make eventual house painting easier

Time of Isolation - Day 1732

wishful Wednesday

in which our plucky heroine is determined...

I like a yard that functions well, grows food and pretties, and is at least somewhat kempt. I do not enjoy doing yardwork, but the desired results require effort. There were a few pre-pandammit years where there was a wonderful trade of labor with friends who liked my sewing skills and who themselves found satisfaction in garden improvement. We both were very happy with this exchange, but those days are gone forever, and are forever missed.

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Seen while walking along Glisan in Laurelhurst, this admirable owl sculpture carved into a dead standing tree trunk in the parking strip.

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WTF?!? yellowjackets fascinated with wheelie bins? Research online said that they are repelled by the scent of peppermint, and remembering that there were a few Dr Bonners mint liquid soap samples in the cupboard; filled a spray bottle with water and added one of the packets. While armed with the sprayer, from a safe distance I gradually doused the wheelie bins with soapy minty-fresh smelly water. Several hours later there is no sign of the danger bugs, here is hoping that continues, but just in case, mint Dr B's is going on the shopping list...

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Rode to GrocOut this morning, and while the body is painfully cranky after yesterday, it was also willing and able. Picked up a Juliet tomato start, my favorite, which is like a miniature Roma style tomato, and plan on getting it planted in the yard either in one of the raised beds or in a large pot. Finding the wall-o-water while sorting through some random stuff last week seems most providential.

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well that was strange, or as Vesta calls it "adventures from my sleeping brain"... in dreamland I was in a room with a few folks listening to some recorded music, and as the song came to an end, I spoke up and said that there were two different songs I thought that might be perfect to follow it. One was "Chestnut Mare" and the other I was trying to remember the title of... when the phone rang and I woke up. So annoyed that the junk call blew away all memory of what song had just been playing inside my head, as well as what song I had almost managed to remember. But how odd that somewhere inside my brain I can hear music in dreamland but not silently inside my head when I am in the bright world

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Garden news: not a lot to report today, as all I've managed to do so far is move 9 buckets of mulch to create a ring of mulch around but not right next to the trunks of the baby pear and shipova trees (this helps suppress weeds and hold water near the root zone over the summer) This makes still barely a dent in the mound-o-mulch. Tomorrow afternoon Honl will be coming to take down and chip up both arborvitae that are growing next to the house, so there will be moar mulch. This is not a bad thing.

Also have been gradually straightening out the short "extension" hoses found at Fred Meyers, by leaving them in the sunlight in the side yard, and incrementally uncurling them with the chain link fence as anchoring points. Now once the correct quick connectors are acquired, and maybe a hose nozzle?, that part of garden work will be a bit easier.

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I've managed to briefly (ha ha!) get back to the homemade undies project, just a tad. Still working out a TNT pattern, but getting much closer, the next one will likely be "just right". Because of wanting to just use fabric bands of cotton lycra jersey instead of actual elastic (more comfortable), and because of drafting my own pattern from what currently fits rather than using a commercial pattern, there have been several wearable muslin efforts, and so far have been able to salvage them. Not "pretty" but still wearable once modified. It turns out that stretchy waistbands need to be significantly smaller than actual waist measurements, in order to hold the garment in place. Live and learn... 

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	blue skirt Opal	shipova planted	yard waste bin
2	2 pr undies toiles	smoothed half of side gate base	recycle bin
3	-	got TDaP vaccine	yard waste bin
4	-	persimmon mulched	recycle bin
5	-	pruned figs	-
6	x	2024 taxes	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- homeostasis, feeling pretty awful, but should feel a bit better tomorrow
- something to look forward to: adventures with The Aunties on Friday and Saturday
- GrocOut had organic Juliet (my favorite variety) tomato starts

Time of Isolation - Day 1731

it's been busy

in which our plucky heroine has ups and downs...

I finished my filling out all my taxes paperwork last night. Yay me! The receipt container I made in May of last year makes the self-employment paperwork much less fraught, and I will be adding some small folders to the compartments to make next year even easier. Today I made all the multiple copies needed, then went to the post office and got money orders for the various payments, and finally everything went in the post. A busy post office on the 15th of April seems to be a thing of the past; since many folks file online nowadays, but I am old school and find paper easier...

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~ remembering when ~

Kenya encouraged me out of the house yesterday, when this lovely thing showed up in the Insta-feed from the Little Free Art Gallery on Glisan, and we were both so excited that it was still there when we made our way over there. The back of this 2" x 3" painting is signed by "LeeAnne H" and inscribed "in tribute to the original 1966 print by Lorraine Schneider" (I have memories of that print, from back in the day...) The painting will live here, as decoration in Kenya's attic garret room. I think she might need some additional period graphics.

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Had a useful conversation with Karen and Beth re their visit here later in the week... we've decided to splurge: getting some takeaway Ethiopian food from Enat Kitchen for dinner on Friday. We are planning on an excursion to Leach Botanical Garden, and also some traveling round to check out some of the Sidewalk Joy sites that are further from Acorn Cottage. Karen is going to bring some useful pieces of wood for the Free Little Art Gallery project I am hoping to create! Including a suitable piece of pressure treated 4x4 to help create a gallery base (when mounted in a pot with concrete) It will be fun to try and come up with possible plans for the structure!!

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Today in the Drama Llama diaries: I fell off my bike while I was crossing the street. I felt right foolish! Nothing is broken, but my elbow in particular is right cranky with me. I expect that tomorrow I will be more sore than I am now, as that is usually how my body processes injury, and after that I will gradually improve. That a number of random folks all stopped to see if I needed help, that helped me and my bike stand back up again, that a person from the burger shop came out and brought me a bag of ice for my elbow, all that kindness from strangers was a bright spot in the middle of a painful and mortifying experience.

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	blue skirt Opal	shipova planted	yard waste bin
2	-	smoothed half of side gate base	recycle bin
3	-	got TDaP vaccine	yard waste bin
4	-	persimmon mulched	recycle bin
5	-	pruned figs	-
6	x	2024 taxes	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. no broken bones and many helpful strangers
2. homemade meatloaf* and a big green salad
3. taxes done and mailed off in the middle of the day, post office uncrowded

Time of Isolation - Day 1730

* recipe makes at least two or three servings. I added a half teaspoon of plain gelatine for moisture, might up to 1 teaspoon next time.

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine notices more signs of spring...

someone was singing very sweetly up in the top of the ornamental plum... it may have been a goldfinch? on further research, it is probably a house finch, since the song was very much more like that of the house finch, based on this recording. I couldn't see it very well, just a blurry reddish/yellowish spot up high, and attempting to use my phone camera just scared it off. It was a lovely sign of springtime nonetheless...

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~ potential fruit? ~

Mentioned earlier this week that the mystery dwarf apple in the front yard has, after many years, unexpectedly decided that flowering is an option.

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Started second kombucha batch on 4/9... am using plant heat mat to try and keep jars at slightly warmer more effective temperature for cultural growth.

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Pre-sprouting Sugar Magnolia snap pea seeds in a salad tub on layers of damp kitchen paper towel, as per my pal Leslie's suggestion. Want to be able to plant them out in one of the raised beds soon!

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	shipova planted	yard waste bin
2	-	smoothed half of side gate base	recycle bin
3	-	got TDaP vaccine	yard waste bin
4	-	persimmon mulched	recycle bin
5	-	pruned figs	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. birdsong, plus internet allows for probable identification...
2. confusions sorted out: garbage bill (bill is every other month, and will cogitate on ways to reduce it), and tree removal (added wisdom discount)
3. my EBT card is not lost, I forgot it at GrocOut, but the cashier noticed and had it put aside in the managers office. Whew!

Time of Isolation - Day 1727

Bosc bouquet

in which our plucky heroine does yard work...

Read about a "10/100 challenge" concept yesterday, where you committ to ten minutes a day, for one hundred days. The idea is to make incremental kaizen progress towards a challenging goal. In my case, that would be yard work. While I like a tidy yard, and my allergies do better if the grasses and "weeds" do not get to the point of flowering, I very much do not enjoy the actual process making that happen. So I am putting in some time every day to do something in the yard to improve it. So far, in the last four days I have pruned the fig trees, string trimmed most of the back yard, cut back the feral rose canes, and cut away some of the old fern fronds from last year (on the north side of the house there are many large clumps of feral ferns)

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~ further precocity ~

It has been a little over a week since I noticed a cluster of flower buds on the baby Bosc pear tree... Today there are blossoms! And the peculiar dwarf apple next to the driveway, which is at least ten years old or more, has a first time ever cluster of flower buds, oddly down at about knee height...

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I've ordered new garden hoses and connectors from Lee Valley, so watering the baby trees over the summer will be easier than multiple individual water buckets. The backyard persimmon was mulched by FoT, and I am gradually shifting mulch from the pile in the driveway to the pear/shipova zone. Today had an estimate from Honl to remove the arborvitae from the back yard, and will schedule that as soon as they have time...

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	shipova planted	yard waste bin
2	-	smoothed half of side gate base	recycle bin
3	-	got TDaP vaccine	yard waste bin
4	-	persimmon mulched	recycle bin
5	-	pruned figs	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- future visits this month from friends
- sunbreaks to do yard work in
- talking to Ursel, I found out that my garbage rate payments are at least double what they should be... sorting this out will be a task for tomorrow!!

Time of Isolation - Day 1726

snippets on a Saturday

in which our plucky heroine does outdoor stuff...

The middle part of today was about doing things in the yard. There was much hacking back of Big Feral Rosebush, enough to half fill the greenwaste wheelie bin. Rose pruning needs to happen before string trimming the shaggy lumpy half of the backyard, as rose canes extend in various prickly dimensions. There was a small amount of other picking up of bits, including disentangling one of the old mesh hen fences from underneath the rose canes. If weather allows, there will be more yard work the forecast tomorrow is for rain all day, which will be very good for the young trees; if there are gaps in the rain I shall try and plant the snap peas.

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~ moving in early ~

while Caer Cardboard isn't yet any where near fully furbished, the tinyfolk can't wait to begin preparing it to become a gallery space... Kenya is resting upstairs after unpacking some of the artworks, and talking to Nandina about what needs to happen next.

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saw this sweet avian variation on the triangle pouch pattern, and signed up to watch the free temporary tutorial video. Seems like a number of options would be possible, and I will tuck the idea away for future experiments

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was able to schedule my TDaP vaccination appointment online for this afternoon, so had a pleasant bike ride to Safeway, where it all went quite smoothly, and was even given a "10% off on yr groceries" coupon. The pharmacy personnel there are much less harried than at Fred Meyers.  Right arm is a bit sore, but not too bad (yay for hydration and range-of-motion) and our plucky heroine is protected against lockjaw et al. for ten years.

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	shipova planted	yard waste bin
2	-	smoothed half of side gate base	recycle bin
3	-	got TDaP vaccine	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. kindly person ahead of me in line for grocery checkout let me go ahead of them (I had three items and they had a cart full)
2. mammogram screening shows nothing of concern
3. I remembered to check the weather before going to bed, and brought in the laundry from the line, since it may start raining later tonight

Time of Isolation - Day 1721

pollination pals

in which our plucky heroine enjoys an excursion...

Wednesday my good neighbor Tracey gave me a lift to outer Southeast, where One Green World has a retail nursery. They sell edible garden plants both common and uncommon, and I was able to acquire the young "Baby Shipova" tree to hopefully grow up alongside the Bosc pear tree in the front yard here at Acorn Cottage. Bosc pears need a companion pear that blooms at the same time in order to set fruit, and shipova (a mountain ash/European pear cross) is a suitable pollinator. And according to my pal Sharon, the fruit tastes like a delicious cross between pear and marzipan.

And so that afternoon I dug a hole in the front yard, about 18" away from the pear tree, the distance recommended by Grow A Little Fruit Tree for "close planting" and gave Baby Shipova a new home. I also took some pieces of metal grid and made a temporary ground covering to try and keep the tree rats from immediately digging holes in the somewhat softer soil - there will be better barricades soon, and mulch as well, ditto for the new persimmon in the back yard.

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~ green tribbles ~

Mossworlds are never the same, and never tiresome. I love them.

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My doctor visit Tuesday morning confirmed the good metrics I had been seeing on the various things I check daily at home, which left me feeling like I am on the right track, healthwise. Phoned in for a mammogram appointment, and was offered a cancellation appointment the next morning at 7:45 AM, which meant getting up and out the door prior to sunup. Still need to schedule a TDaP vaccination soon. 

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Plants and animals: The plum thicket has started blooming. White violets are mostly done, pink ones in full flower, as it the one clump of fritillaria. When walking to the bus stop just before dawn on Thursday, two large raccoons ran across the street less than a block away. There are many many crows in the neighborhood in the last day or two.

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more yard and garden: Called Honl and set up an appointment next week to get an estimate on taking out the arborvitae in the backyard. Looked at various garden hoses and hardware at FredMeyers, and at True Value. Still confused about which pieces of quick release hardware will be needed to set up my desired arrangement. Will begin placing Lee Valley orders tonight nonetheless, as hoses and Y-splitter are definite

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	shipova planted	yard waste bin
2	-	smoothed half of side gate base	recycle bin
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. kindly neighbor Tracey gave me a ride to the plant nursery
2. Dan O'Neill'0s Odd Bodkins cartoons
3. the ground is still soft enough to dig, so today was able to smooth out the area where the side yard gate swings open

Time of Isolation - Day 1720