CritterPainter's Blog at GardenStew.com

The sun paid a visit...

CritterPainter — Tue, 06 May 2008 10:59:19 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 2:59 pm (GMT 0)

And just in time, too. We had a couple of friends over for lunch- between them they have 4 little girls. Little girls plus a prairie full of wildflowers means parents clicking away like mad with their photo cameras. I'm hoping to get a pic of our little friends in the flowers, to do a painting (of course) but here's a bit of what they were playing among...

The wildflowers are so thick this year! every clump of prairie violets is so full of flowers... it's breathtaking. And as you can tell, the color and number of the rare-and-lovely shooting stars is amazing, we've been seeing about half this number of blooms per stem. Clearly, all the rain, rain, rain and late snows are doing something good.
It takes a bit of work to keep the invasive scotch broom off this place, but the payoff in spring is unbeatable!
For our prairie day, we printed out photos we'd taken of the flowers (I say "we" but it's all DH, he's the techy one!) and sent the girls on a "treasure hunt" to find and identify them. One little sweetie couldn't bring herself to pick the pretty flowers, but she won the treasure hunt anyway. It's so funny to see our place through new eyes. They all were enchanted by the little animals we have tucked away here and there; the goldfish in the three little ponds kept rising to the top to sun themselves eliciting squeals and giggles.
It felt a bit like that old sci-fi film, "all summer in a day", and it's back to chilly this morning, but I'm happy with it!

Rain, an exercise in blank verse...

CritterPainter — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:49:03 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 5:49 pm (GMT 0)

The joyous, carefree child, May, awash in bitter tears,
Her locks hung with bedraggled blooms, bowing with their burden
Below the persistent, unyielding, relentless curtain.
Birds sing flat notes that beat the ground, unheeded and unheard,
Heavy-lidded eyes watch... and wait... and wonder ...

My spring break, weather record

CritterPainter — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:48:46 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 4:48 pm (GMT 0)

I actually have been back a week, but the day after I got home I had a massive fever a couple of days, and have been sick ever since 'cuz it went to a sinus infection.
I woke this morning to snow. The weather experts say that in recorded and oral history it has never snowed this late in April,. Darn global warming anyway.
So my week of spring "break"...
We had been invited and authorized by a tribal elder of the Yakama Indian Nation to come help out, part of an ongoing effort to do some projects there. Together, our three teams re-roofed a home that was in dire need of it, chopped several cords of firewood, and did some yard work. Doesn't sound like much, but let me elaborate.
The firewood is to go to the oldest tribal members. They can no longer manage to chop enough on their own, and that sets up a vicious cycle. When they run out mid-winter, they are forced to use electric heat. But since the homes often have broken-out windows replaced with boards, it costs an awful lot to get them even tolerably warm (it hovers in the 20's in winter around there). The electric bill comes and there's no way they can pay it; electrical programs to help the elderly are nonexistant since the tribe is a separate, independent nation. So the power gets shut off. The person is forced to find somewhere else where they can stay for awhile- if this was an easy thing to do they would have done it in the first place. While they are gone, their home freezes, pipes burst, and when they thaw they further cause havoc to the home. If the person has to stay away any length of time, the home gets broken into and everything taken. All this is to say, firewood is no small thing.
The yardwork crew was where I worked. Whenever the elderly gal left her home the neighbor could see and would come break into her home, often. So a crew, the week before us, built a solid board fence so the neighbor can't see. We stained it, and another fellow replaced a couple of windows that needed it. Three of us just couldn't stop there; we went to the nearest town and bought gerbera daisies, thyme, and lavender to plant by the front door, and painted a pretty , picketed "welcome" on a leftover fence board for her to see when she came home. That was the fun part!
Then we went and played games with the kids in the town farthest into the reservation. Blowing bubbles, kicking a ball around, giving the kids a snack (don't mean to make anyone cry, but that was the only food some of them got that day). And there were dogs everywhere, often feral. I had met a really sweet gal from the high school there, waaay back when I was in high school. But the town has taken a severe downturn since then. It is very much like being in the most intimidating inner-city now, in some ways more third-world. I guess the adults have pretty much just been overtaken by apathy and other things; one young friend I made was proud because he'd made it all the way through 8th grade, two grades higher than his father had completed. They have different rules for school attendance I guess, because this is very typical.
In all, it really opened my eyes to what I take for granted. And I'm not just talking about lights that come on when I flip a switch. I mean, here, if a car is flipped over in the road with gasoline flowing out, there will be a patrol car there in minutes, and people redirecting traffic. We unexpectedly wound up driving through the gas trail; when others in our crew drove through some time later there was still noone directing traffic. I was going to tell more on this but still can't without crying...
We were honored to be allowed to do work on the long house. The tables & benches needed sanding, priming & painting. The only downside was that we didn't have time to get a second coat on, but it was cool how that spiffed things up. The splinters on the benches would catch on the older folk's ceremonial clothes and damage them, we sanded & smoothed that away. They even let us eat dinner in the long house one evening! A very interesting thing about the long house- if you ask someone traditional where they live, they will direct you to the longhouse. Their house is just where they stay. As for tribal etiquette, you never interrupt a speaker, even to tell them it's time to wind things up. And a firm grip when shaking hands is regarded as hostile, though they are very understanding of noodleheads like me who don't know that!

My garden wedding 20-odd years ago

CritterPainter — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:22:39 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:22 pm (GMT 0)

DH and I met on an island when I was just 18 (a story for another time) so it stands to reason that we couldn't have anything but the most romantic wedding possible.
We decided on a summer wedding- the end of July, when some of my favorite flowers are at their peak. But where? Our little startup church was still meeting in a rented auction hall, not very romantic. Turns out a friend from that church had a very large backyard- and had always wanted a gazebo! So while I was up in the San Juan Islands, fulfilling my commitment to complete my second season of being a park aide there, my sweetie was busily helping our friend build a gazebo. He would mail me things from time to time, not just letters but a photo of the tuxedos that he and the guys were renting, and a dozen roses sent via ferryboat from San Juan island to Lopez island, where I was working. (I had to walk down the dock in my uniform to pick them up, and everyone on the boat watched me cry!). When I got back, folks were expecting a mad rush- I think there was actually some disappointment when I decided on only the fourth dress I tried on. Why not? It was perfect. And I'd dreamed since I was a little girl of a long flowing veil. So a friend of my moms, a seamstress by hobby, sewed tiny seed pearls all down the flowing length of tulle.
Most of our friends were young and broke, so we put together masses of sandwiches and salads. And another friend, a professional cake baker, gave us a great price on a very complicated cake- big enough that anyone who wanted to could take some home.
I had saved all the petals from all the flowers my sweetie had given me while we were dating, mixed them with the petals from the dozen roses, and a little girl we were very fond of threw those for us.
We were heading up the little youth group at the time, and a very talented young man and his sister performed the music. If you listen to Christian music at all, his name is Darrell Evans and he's a truly gifted guy, several albums out now and his songs often pop up on the list on Sunday morning. Very fun to see.
When we finally tore ourselves away, we left in another friends vintage Cadillac, then drove to the train station to catch a long ride to our honeymoon destination, the very romantic Bay area of California (where DH grew up, but having only once been out of my home state, seemed like another planet to me!)
Yes, the sun shone all day. And it wasn't too hot. And birds sang during the ceremony. Maybe I remember the day through rose-colored glasses, but isn't that how a garden wedding should be?

My dream house

CritterPainter — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:34:09 -0500

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:34 am (GMT 0)

It would have a tiny footprint, just large enough to have room for friends around. A basement to hide my junk. With a friendly, sunny kitchen and one of those glass-surrounded laundry rooms where the garden seems to be constantly peeking in to see what I'm up to. And the birds come close, so used to my being there that they don't even startle at the sight of me. Right off that porch would be a huge knot-garden with all my herbs & veggies neatly contained in their raised beds- two or three kinds of sage, thyme and marjoram in the pathways, tomatoes in the corner beds, and rosemary flanking the three exits. A stone path would lead around either side to the front garden. The house is on a little hill, so the front garden gently slopes away toward the sunrise. It has lithodora flowing down over large rocks scattered on the hill (brought up from the river that flows past the bottom of the hill, this garden has completely stoneless soil!) and miniature fruit trees scattered around the edges- the soil is so good that they produce big healthy fruit every year. There are violets lining all the paths through this garden, and the paths are either bark or stones with Irish moss in between. Strong, healthy, aged lilacs give form to this garden, shading the house and the tiny, two-chair gazebo that is surrounded by ferns. There's a little firepit tucked away at the bottom of the slope, screened from the house by a giant oak and a scattering of rhododendrons. The pit is dug into the ground and lined with a stone mosaic set in concrete, just right for marshmallow toasting. The other bottom corner is a pond full of goldfish, in the same mosaic-pebble, and still watertight despite being build long ago. It even has a tiny island in the middle, with a glass-mosaic turtle perched on it. And weeping cherry trees scattered along the edge.
All three sides of the garden have arched gates going out- the bottom one with a forged-metal sunrise in the arch over it and honeysuckle in sunrise colors, the other two are wood with purple clematis over the northern one, and yellow climbing roses embracing the other. Outside the garden is a huge old sturdy barn, big enough for my old truck Daffodil, my riding mower, and all the tools in a rust-free environment. My painting studio is out back, and other than being heated and insulated, is identical to the one I have now. It's just a walk through the herb garden. The whole place is surrounded by a deep grove of oak trees around the outside. And of course, this house is in Camelot so it only rains at night and the sun shines every day!
There now, a nice bit of escapism as the rain comes down on my poor frost-damaged plants struggling to survive in the rocky ground!

Rural Washington Lives!!!

CritterPainter — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:34:34 -0500

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:34 pm (GMT 0)

The thread I started about the storm devastation here was strictly to help me deal with it. But this story was just too much fun so I'm blogging it to remember.
DH has been fixing phone lines in storm-damaged areas. Since some major areas are still unreachable (still underwater 2 weeks later!) the company sent him off to tend to the hinterlands. So way out beyond Humptulips (yes, that's it's real name, a tribal name) he went. The lone road to a few scattered homes had washed out completely, leaving nothing but a 10-foot-deep and wide gorge where it had been. And low in that gorge in the middle of nowhere was a broken phone line. The walls were still crumbling as DH walked up to the gap, and he was more than a little concerned about working so deep, 45 highway minutes from the phone garage. So on an off chance, calls out to the unresponsive wild rhododendrons, madrona, and firs. To his amazement, a voice calls back.
"I don't think anyones home", a response aimed at the woodland cabin nearby. Steve (DH, that is) replies that he just wants a spotter as he climbs down into the gap . So out of the woods steps a very kind-faced hunchback.
Seems he'd been riding his quad nearby and a belt broke, so he was headed out to find someone to tow it for him. He stayed to make sure the rocks didn't collapse on DH, and went on his way.
So Steve is working on splicing the phone line in the silence of the woods for awhile. Suddenly, there's a woman standing at the edge of the hole. In Carharts. Just checking on his progress. Seems she hadn't been able to call another fellow, who lived about 3 miles into the woods, so she'd parked her car nearby and hiked the distance in to check on him. In the freezing weather. Made sure he was ok and was now on her way home.
This is the way I remember rural Washington from my childhood. Even the way I remember the once-microscopic-now-bedroom-community that I live in now. I'm so glad there are still places like that out on the penninsula, even if they have to endure names like Humptulips and Lilliwaup!

A few shots of my studio

CritterPainter — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:18:54 -0500

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:18 pm (GMT 0)

We're still chipping away at the conversion of my greenhouse to a painting studio- if I have to heat the place anyway, I might as well paint in it too!
Probably won't do much now until spring, but it's all sealed in anyways. I'm hoping to chip away at insulating over the winter.
Here's a before shot, with the studio in full-clutter mode and a WIP on the easel. This is looking the same direction as the next couple of shots.

So here's the view from the inside after I'd cleared things away but not removed the wall yet-

And a short time later, with the greenhouse roof removed too-

And with the roof torn off the greenhouse side-

DH on the roof, now with the clear plastic replaced with a solid roof and a dormer built on to let in more light and offer more head room, the doorway in the first pic was moved to the middle of the inside wall, right where the dormer is. The window here was a gift from a friend, pulled from an old house he remodeled years ago.

I've moved my easel back in, redone the erstwhile greenhouse-side floor with sand and concrete pavers, cleaned things up a bit. Still so much to do, but at least I'm making progress. It will be better come spring and warmer weather.

On a completely different note, DH, DD, and I went for a hike to a local beach, and I caught this extremely cute shot of my little girl.

Speaking of "they almost didn't meet"...

CritterPainter — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 23:34:20 -0500

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 4:34 am (GMT 0)

OK, so after reading another gal's blog about the romantic way her grandparents almost didn't meet, I thought I'd record my grandparent's tale.
My grandmother grew up in a tiny logging community here in Washington, with very few prospects for a young woman to seek a career. A hospital in Tacoma was offering young women room, a small stipend, and an education if they would commit to becoming nurses, and Grandma took them up on it. Her diaries of that era record how frugally she lived, and carefully, and of how very proud she was when she finally earned her nurses cap.
Shortly therafter she started working in California. And she recorded hiking in the rural hills outside San Francisco (anyone who'se been there will get a laugh from that, but this was in the early 20's!). She would travel north in her old rattly Ford until the road ended, then take her nurse's bag and sandwich in a small, sturdy boat and paddle out to the reservation of the Hoopah Indian tribe (she loved saying that name even in her 80's!) to tend to the sick.
Well it seems one very rainy day, her old ford broke down. She slogged through the mud to a shack where the fellows from the roads department worked. There she met a very handsome young highway engineer, who later became my grandfather. Though they married a bit later in life, they both lived well into their 80's; he passed away when I was in high school, she went just 9 months before my son was born. Since my husband and I also have an intensely romantic how-we-met story, I'd lay odds that my boy can look forward to that for himself!

ginkgo card

CritterPainter — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:12:05 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 5:12 pm (GMT 0)

betcha thought I was never gonna get round to this, eh? So here's the thank-you card I sent to my friend who gave me a ginkgo tree. Can't think how I managed to flip it, the sun is actually coming from the other side. O well, I'm not computer techie at all.

I highlighted with touches of gold, though I've since bought a fine gold marker, much easier than the ol' dip-pen I used here.

blog-therapy

CritterPainter — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 22:19:47 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 2:19 am (GMT 0)

whew, it's been a really stressful week, and today was just a real capper- I guess my comments onsite here have been leaning a little negative, sorry 'bout that. Won't bore anyone with the details, just lots of little things that mounded up. But today I took my little Max in for a simple neutering procedure- I'm an ardent believer in both buying only strays/pound dogs and getting them fixed right off. Max is the best dog I've ever had, really. Well, it went from being a simple inpatient visit to a complicate surgery due to one of the testes having migrated to up by his kidneys! So I'll pick him up, dazed and drugged, in the morning and he gets to spent the next week in an Elizabethan-collar (one of those cone-shape things that keep dogs from licking themselves) and being forced some rather nasty pills. Ugh, I got a male dog because I've had difficult complications from having females fixed. Major backfire there. I only hope that one of the sack of pills I'm to give him is something that will let him sleep off most of his recovery time. Awfully good thing we had time to establish a solid trust relationship before this, sigh.

Finished painting, bee sting

CritterPainter — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:09:36 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 10:09 pm (GMT 0)

Couldn't get all the penwork to show up very well, but you get the idea. The tartan in the oval is a bit of the MacDougall plaid, always been a fave of mine since there is purple in it. I wrote up some of the history of the castle and printed off a map to it, both on antique-parchment-looking paper, and mounted that on the back. Hopefully this will be meaningful for Mom's birthday.

And a closeup of the watercolor

My Uncle is coming over soon, he apparently discovered some more information about this branch of the family- he's Really Into this stuff, I just think it's fun to fiddle with, especially when I find out almost-fairytale stuff like a castle in the family history!
DS is home on leave from his work at the camp- he was out walking with several other folks, including a 1-yr-old, when a hive of very large agressive hornets took offense to them. Everyone else escaped unscathed, but the venom in the one that hit my son was so severe that he actually blacked out! It's been two days and he looks less like a cabbage-patch doll (it got him in the lip) and he's really wanting to get back to work. We shall see, I'm letting him make the call.

riverside picnic, chix salad recipe

CritterPainter — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 13:45:18 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:45 pm (GMT 0)

DH worked Saturday, so DD and I went on a picnic! Friends hosts this every year on the back part of their family homestead. In the winter, this back part is a field that floods on a regular basis, but in August, with the help of hours of mowing, it becomes a volleyball court, picnic tables, and a spot for swimming in the river. This year someone even dragged a paddle boat down there!

The picture is a bit overexposed, but I loved the sight of all the parents looking longingly at the fun in the river.
Speaking of imperfect pics, I've worked on a pic from the parade- we were still in the process of adding daffodils at this stage

The chicken salad I took went over so big I thought I'd share the recipe here (I tripled it for the picnic)
Brush 2 large bone-in-skin-on chicken breasts with olive oil and roast in a foil-lined pan at 400 for about 35 minutes ( I sprinkled it with onion-and-garlic pepper too). Let it cool, debone it and cut into bite-size pieces. Then mix together 2 diced celery ribs, 2 green onions minced, 1 cup mayo, 1T lemon juice, 6 T golden raisins, 2 tsp. curry powder, 1T honey, and a little salt. Add the chicken and chill.

I wandered lonely as a cloud...

CritterPainter — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:24:57 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:24 pm (GMT 0)

I took photos of Daffodil but they didn't turn out. Real pity, that. She had silk daffodils and little flags stuck in the holes on the sides of the truck bed ( the holes meant to hold side rails, don't know the "official" name). Max and my mom's black dog, Monk were peeking adorably over the sides of the bed. My daughter and nieces, all in flowery shirts and straw hats with daffodils wired on them, were blowing bubbles and, with Grammy and I similarly clad making sure they didn't tumble out, flinging pink taffy out. OK, it wasn't a really strange dream. We took Daffodil in a parade this weekend!
I'm thinking I might join the old-car-club. Daffodil is a working truck, not a spiffed-up show truck (did you know people ask upwards of 25K for a restored old car? Not even that old, I mean 60's era! Check your barn, your retirement fund may be hiding there!) but joining them in the parade was awfully fun. Haven't been in a parade in yeeeeeeeeears. And the "Awwwww"s whenever Max would peek over the bed sides was too fun! So many big-city parades don't allow candy throwing anymore, and even this parade was cautious about it. The girls had to fling the candy so it landed far from the truck- quite a feat for the littlest one! But daffodils bed is quite deep so not too much worry about them tumbling out. Good thing, our driver wasn't used to double-clutching so we lurched forward at odd times, lol!

A kitty, a view, historical ramblings

CritterPainter — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:01:25 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:01 pm (GMT 0)

OK, enough playing with the kitty.
While I was sketching her, and the mist was coming down, I kept drifting off to stare out the window. So I thought I'd share the view, since it made me feel so happy.Sorry I couldn't get the hummingbird to hold still. That's crocosmia in the foreground, and cinquefoil. Some daisies that grow wild here, and a young birch tree. Clematis crawling up the lattice, doggone stuff won't bloom!

Whew, these image uploads take a long time on dialup!
Been looking into more on Dunollie castle, and suddenly all sorts of relatives want to know what I've found out. Wow, haven't had this kind of family togetherness in, well, never! I have a cousin in Seattle who'se really into this sort of thing, and I've found out stuff even She didn't know! We've run into a big roadblock in that there's apparently no public census before 1841, so we've kinda hit a wall beyond Alexander MacDougall who emigrated in 1831- was apparently married in Achadadie, but even Google never heard of it so the records might be misspelled. Kinda fun getting to talk to relatives, though!

Kitty sketch, etc.

CritterPainter — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:03:29 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:03 pm (GMT 0)

The power went out first thing this morning, so I turned my leftover coffee from yesterday into an iced peppermint mocha and did a sketch of my neighbors new bobcat kitty

Several things I don't like about her so i probably won't finish the sketch, but it was a good way to waste time (it was gushing rain outside so gardening was on hold too)
Spent all day yesterday working in my brothers garden in Portland. Wheeoo, that guy has some stubborn weeds! And, since my sis-in-law was a rose fanatic, my arms look like I was attacked by the kitty up there! But I gotta break it to any aunties, I do have the worlds most adorable nieces. Sorry, but there it is. They are about to turn 9 and 5 respectively. The 4-yr-old kept dipping the broom in a puddle and making me wonderful abstract paintings of her kitty. I showed how some of her work looked like Chinese calligraphy, and explained how the Mandarin word for cat is, basically, what a cat says. She thinks I'm awfully clever now, lol!

My Charming Visitor

CritterPainter — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 23:02:56 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 3:02 am (GMT 0)

I had an unexpected visitor today. I had been in the kitchen, mixing up ingredients for an apple crisp to take to my ladies group tomorrow- I unfortunately forgot to get the apples when I was in town today. DH is working with the youth group and promised to pick up a sack on his way home. In the meantime, I went outside to move my sprinkler from the veg beds to the front garden. I bumped a plant stand on my front porch and heard a very odd *splat*. There at my feet sat a bewildered little tree frog, obviously knocked away from his evening sunbath. I apologized profusely and put him back up on the plant stand. He seemed most grateful.

I have seen some postings here with rather large toads- for an idea of scale I included in this pic the spout of a teapot that is currently filled with caladiums (that white shiney bit is the spout)
I had mentioned somewhere earlier about my waterlily blooming, but couldn't recall the post. So here it is.

It was vying for pride of place on my desktop as wall paper, Sir Frog won this round.

couple more pics

CritterPainter — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:27:09 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 4:27 pm (GMT 0)

The fron end of the Lady W, DH, and my little lady

This is a local group, the Bud Bay Pirates, and their not-so-tall ship that they take to parades. It really is quite astonishing how many pirate groups we have around here, considering that this area isn't historically known for pirate activity. I highly doubt pirates would have found much interest in raiding the local shell mounds!!

yar, matey!

CritterPainter — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:30:59 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 4:30 am (GMT 0)

If anyone wants to see more I can get a couple more up later. This is our famous local movie star, back in her old colors after a long stint in the movies.

Like I mentioned, I had to use a cheapo disposable camera for these, but I'm going to have my sweetie try to tweak that first pic to sharpen it a little, to frame up as a gift to my mom who used to own a two-masted schooner until an accident made her an unwilling landlubber.

Oh, groan

CritterPainter — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 00:10:28 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 4:10 am (GMT 0)

I just can't believe I forgot my camera today! We drove to Westport for the pirate festival- I've never seen so many pirates! All ages of people pirates, even the dogs were piratical! I did buy a disposable camera, though it will take a few days before I can get anything from that to put in here. I did get several good shots of our local movie star, the Lady Washington (a two-masted brigantine that starred in the Pirates of the Carribean movies). She's back in her usual paint job now, and looking much cheerier for it. She was built in a town on the way to Westport, so she was really at home today, been touring around a bit though. Oh, I hope I hope those photos turn out!

DS graduates, castle discovery, wildlife report

CritterPainter — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 22:53:57 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 2:53 am (GMT 0)

DS has graduated, and will be moving out for his summer job in a few days. I'd be a blubbering mess, but decided to forego the overwhelming load of housework to go run errands with him, mainly shopping for his Father's day pres. When the two of them were out hiking in the Olympics last year, and got caught in a lightning storm with golfball-size hail, they had to rip his sleeping bag in half to shelter them after they dropped their packs and were running for their lives. Ah, good times. Very fitting that he get his dad a new bag, eh? Anyway, it was awfully good to just spend a day bumming around with him. sniffle.
My mom tracked down a geneaology book on the MacDougall line of the family. Always been curious about that one, since the pairing of my first and middle name has passed through every second generation of women for quite some time now. To my extreme delight, I find that we have a family castle! I googled it and got some great photos, and plan on doing some sketches when I get a bit of time to breathe. All odds are against me ever being able to actually go there to see it, but that's ok. It's pretty cool just knowing about it. Here's a site that shows it if anyone's curious: http://www.castles.org/Chatelaine/DUNOLLIE.HTM
I like that name, think my next critter might get named Dunollie! I'm actually Scottish on both sides, fortunately they don't seem to have ever been warring clans, lol! The castle is near Oban, overlooking the Firth of Lorn. So fun, there's a castle and a fellow who went down in a shipwreck on my Mom's side and a couple of people on the Mayflower on my Dad's side. And a bunch of folks that came here as indentured servants from Wales and Scotland on both sides, what a mix!
Dandelion control is in full swing. It's tricky, if I mow the prairie at the wrong time, it makes the native grasses too weak and the dandelions move in. But if I wait too long, the invasive scotch broom gets too thick for my mower. Tsk, this habitat management is for the birds! Or rather, the bunny that lives outside my kitchen window. It's so tiny! *melt* The quail population is definitely having a peak this year, there are at least two pair claiming my place as their own, and two other pair I've spotted across the road at the neighbors. I wonder if having the wildlife preserve expand this way will mean even more quail and pheasant? Probably more cougar encounters, but what I'm hoping is that the herd of elk that feeds not far from here will mosey up this way. Love watching them!