Staying Close to Home

The pine drops are still growing.  I've never had a plant achieve so much height in one month,  Currently they're about 33" and are developing what appear to be buds.  This is an intriguing plant.  it's growing in sand with no water.

I'm continuing to spin 30 minutes each morning and have finished the rust, green and yellow rovings.   I had finished my spinning but hadn't finished my coffee son this morning o decided to use that time to look up some things that have been on my mind lately, like what colors attract bees.  The answer I got was purple, violet and blue.  And just then a bee landed on my roving.  I guess I have my answer!


We decided to donate our old truck to Oregon Public Broadcasting in exchange for a tax writeoff next year.  They told us they'd need a second donated vehicle before they would send the tow service down from Portland, so we moved it onto the RV pad to wait.

I got a phone call midweek that they finally had a second vehicle and would be down on Saturday to pick it up.  Ian pulled it out into the yard which made it really easy for the tow driver to hookup.


The driver had it ready to go in no time and I felt an inexplicable sadness as I watched it leave our lives.  It was Ian's truck and I rarely drove it, but it was part of our lives for 25 years so perhaps it's not quite silly that I was sad.  We drove it into the Sierras and cut Christmas trees.  He and our dogs had a ritual of driving around the valley and what I think I'll think of the most is their erect pointed Heeler ears visible through the back window.  It was the height of their day.


Now my wilderness is my ornamental gardens.  They're so much work and they give so much back.



And my wildlife is apt to be a cottontail who isn't afraid of me in the least.  Thank goodness I've continued my practice from the high desert of planting things that rabbits aren't attracted to - for the most part.  Bunny and I are in disagreement about a Standard Phlox that he wants and I've put chicken wire around.  I have a feeling I'll cave and remove the wire.  It's ugly. 


And the deer are back.  So far we've only seen one fawn but I'm sure there will be more.  These guys look like they're waiting in line for the porta-potty.



Our granddaughter Alexia is with us for about a month.  Usually we have trip plans but COVID-19 has pretty much put the kabosh on that.  Plus, she has to take pre-calculus as an online summer school class in order to be ready for fall.  It's really intensive.  She's on her laptop from noon until 4:30 and then has several hours of homework.  It's only lasts three weeks but the accumulative hours equal a semester.  Her paper piles grow by the day.  There are 28 kids in the class. 

The last day of class we're going to pile in the car and go to the coast to spend a few days in Yachats, Oregon.  It's the same Air B&B we stayed in two years ago.  We thought about going up to Tacoma to spend time with family but then Washington got spiking occurrences of the virus.  We're playing it safe and staying close to home.


I'll miss Delany while we're gone.  She is getting quite good at "reading" her books so I've moved them to the shelf with her board books and I let her use them unsupervised.  We're not far off from her sitting for a story.  It's fun having two granddaughters in the house.