CritterPainter's Blog at GardenStew.com

I'm replacing a floor... soon... really...

CritterPainter — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:42:19 -0500

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:42 pm (GMT 0)

The scent of jasmine tea wafts up to me as I take a moment to sit in my disheveled dining room. After years of battling with my carpet, I am finally getting ready to replace it with wood-laminate flooring and the prep work is almost overwhelming!
10 years ago, right after a stroke nearly ended me and while still in the grip of not being able to think well, I somehow convinced my haggard husband that we needed to replace our worn-out brown carpet with an airy cream-color berber. Have I mentioned that I live in the country and am a tad obsessed about gardening? And need I mention that within a very short time said carpet was no longer creamy white but grey! My wonderfully rich soil, what there is of it between the rocks, is very black. Add to that one Very Bad Dog (now gone) who disrespected the carpet with impunity ( no amount of sanitizing carpet steaming could undo the damage) and well, I'm jolly tired of scrubbing this thankless floor!
So I've cleared the book cases; the complete James Whitcomb Riley, several Kiplings, and my grandmother's collection of school books from the turn of the last century are resting in a closet with scores of gardening, painting, and other just-plain-good-reading books. It's amazing the number of fiddly little things I own, considering I'm not into buying fiddly little things. But, my wonderfully practical grandmother never threw anything away, inherited things from her mother, and often had tea parties, so away I pack the little figurines of kittens, flowery Victorian china cups (with the odd chip here and there because Grandma actually *gasp* Used them) and the cameras from my great-uncle's foray into photography.
I suppose my "dining room" more closely resembles a "library" of sorts, with two book cases, a woodstove, and a corner just for reading- that suits me fine. Wood-laminate floors go rather well in a library. It is rather tedious to pack up, though, and taking quite a long time. But since it's raining out, guess I can't complain too much. Back to work then...

A Valentine for the Stewbies

CritterPainter — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:01:56 -0500

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:01 pm (GMT 0)

Young mouse snuffed around the garage floor. He was looking for food in the midst of a dark, snowy winter, but his mind was on Lady mouse. How to win the affection of the sweetest mousette consumed his thoughts of late. Perhaps some gift, some trifle... his twitching nose detected something. A new smell. A wonderful smell. What could this be? Oh, glory! His whiskers flickered wildly as Young mouse snatched the bright pink treasure up and hurried back to his home in the woodpile. He gently set it down and admired it from all sides. A quick taste, perhaps, just to make sure it was alright. Then a good bath... How could Lady mouse resist?

2.5x3.5" pen, ink, colored pencil ATC

short and sad

CritterPainter — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:56:31 -0500

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:56 pm (GMT 0)

So Lucy Bell was out in the pasture, crying her panicky cry that we hear only when her lifelong buddy, Cecil, is having a seizure. (there's pictures of them somewhere in my blog) The seizures had been getting worse, a neighbor on the far side of the pasture even climbed the fence and ran to my back door, frightened that something had happened. So at least I had some tiny bit of warning when I went into the barn and found him... dang, I'm still crying and it's been days...

A little hope of spring

CritterPainter — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:01:23 -0500

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:01 pm (GMT 0)

It had been a rough winter for the little Washington chickadee. Winter here was usually pretty predictable, cold with lots of rain. Sometimes a little snow, not much though. But snow so deep that a little bird's usual forage was covered completely for days, or rain that left his favorite places underwater, well, that was a bit much. So he just focused on getting through each day, some of which ended with him hungrier than when he'd started. Then, when it seemed the dismal weather would never end, a sudden downpour of icewater forced the little chickadee into a hollow beneath a crooked old fir tree. There, in the sheltered space, was a miracle, a hint of the promise of spring, of blackberries and sunshine. The chickadee opened his beak wide, and rejoiced in song.

2.5"X3.5" ATC mixed-media

raking oak leaves

CritterPainter — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:21:35 -0500

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 2:21 am (GMT 0)

As I was scooping my fifth pile of soggy oak leaves into the wheelbarrow today, I heard through the trees the distinct sound of my neighbor starting up a leaf blower. My lower spine was intensely jealous. My senses, unbiased by pain, just laughed.
Why is it that oak leaves that have fallen to the ground have such a warm, spicy smell to them? I'm certain they never do when they are green. It arrives somehow with the cold and damp, perfectly complementing a cup of hot cider, with it's sweet-sour bite, sipped on a break. I'd never trade that rich smell for the stench of gas exhaust.
The leathery, crisp feel of autumn leaves has no match for conjuring up memories. One armload of leaves and I'm transported back to a vacant lot near where I grew up, a lot with a huge old tree in the middle. The nuns who lived next door had raked all the leaves into a pile then gone in, for tea I suppose. My 8 year old self took full advantage of the situation. One never touches leaves with a blower.
My neighbor wears safety goggles while leaf blowing. Pity. One has to get really close to oak leaves to see the incredible variety of browns there, the speckles of deepest umber, the streaks of near-yellow, the last brave tints of green.
Even when they are soggy-wet, as they were today, freshly fallen oak leaves have a very satisfying crackle to them as they are crushed down into the wheelbarrow. Or swept across the grass. My but the leaf blower was deafening when she moved closer to my edge of the property.
Don't get me wrong, if I'd been using a blower my yard would be leaf-free by now so I do see the advantage. I have miles to go before I am finished raking, and liniment only does so much for a sore back. But raking does so much for my soul, I think I'll stick with that.

Tomato woe

CritterPainter — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:22:07 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:22 pm (GMT 0)

I meant to get my tomatoes in, I really did. I started them from hopeful little seed, babied them on every spare windowsill as they grew, fertilized them loyally, turned them and pinched back and rotated the trays. I prepared their new homes with great care, padded with bunny-poo mulch, amended with just the right amount of fluffy perlite, and removed every invading weed from site. And they grew large and lush. But, like other gardens in my area, they were late to put on their crop of wonderful fruit. It seemed quite happy to remain varied viridian hues. So I put them out of my mind; let the rain water them, I thought, I will tend to other things and stop making myself mad checking for signs of red.
So off I went on another hike through the forest with DH and DS. Last winter's storms had washed out a footbridge and apparently the economic difficulties around here didn't allow for a rebuild. My industrious DH found a log to jockey across the icy stream, and I got to use my new/refurbished trekking poles (given to me by a friend after my Ellinor hike) to balance my way across from log to rocky island to another log and finally to the steep slope- only one wet pantleg and foot! Later, in a fog-enclosed clearing, DS discovered a most amazing echo. I think we must have been between hilltops, but couldn't see-for the sake of my son, I resisted the temptation to yodel. It was a great hike until the gunfire started and we, shouting "I am not an animal, I am a human being!" ran the last few hundred yards to the pickup. I guess hiking in the fog without orange vests in October isn't the wisest thing to do, but still...
I digress. The tomatoes. So I was settled in with my tea and fuzzy slipper-socks to watch the last bit of late-evening news. In concerned but cheerful tones the weather lady pointed to a map that showed our area getting as low as 27F. It was all good until she slipped in, no kidding, "better get your tomatoes in". I mean, !!!!!!. So on with the slippers, out with the flashlight, and with my VERY longsuffering DH in tow with a paper bag we headed to the garden to gather up all the green tomatoes we could, finally settling on only the ones with a faint blush to them. Not easy to spot by flashlight beam. They are now tucked in their paper bag under my kitchen sink. I'll check them every few days and hopefully I'll have tomato sandwiches, cacciatore with big chunks of tomato, and tomato-filled chili for my wonderful and very patient family by the end of the month.

Mt. Ellinor

CritterPainter — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:29:41 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:29 pm (GMT 0)

A chilly start to the day this time. Low, clinging clouds greet us as we start to climb up Mt. Ellinor, elev. 5944 in the Olympic Mt. range on the peninsula. And as the stabbing pain in my legs will soon attest to, it's all straight up!
A surprising number of cars greeted us when we arrived at the parking area, and the folks we meet range from Mountaineers with full survival gear to a young couple, new to the area, who just decided to go up on a lark (they didn't get to the first half of the trail).
We pause partway up to get some pictures-these are the clearest

(besides, it took an hour & a half just to get these loaded up on my computer!)
The whispy clouds climbed up the slopes, advancing and retreating on a whim. In places, they wrapped themselves around us, muffling all sound, and we were not just the only people on the mountain, we were on another planet altogether. Then suddenly, the clouds would open and reveal small groups of hikers above and below and, once, a brief startling view of Puget Sound and Seattle far in the distance.
DH was here back in April, and at that time the avalanche slide was still buried in snow. Now it's snow-free briefly, revealing that someone long ago built stone steps up the slide. The slope to either side is dotted with wildflowers and we are very surprised to see many of the same species that dot our prairie in early spring- bluebells, yarrow, daisies, the ubiquitous thistle, and unlike home, indian paintbrush.
The fog plays peek-a-boo with us until we pass out of the tree line. Now we turn around and see the clouds stretched out below us like an undulating blanket of seafoam. We press slowly onward- I cannot climb quickly because of the beta blockers the doc has me on. But moving slowly means taking in more of the fleeting views.
Finally we reach the summit. As we sit down to our apples-and-gorp (ok, trendy people call it "trail mix" but I'm an old-school hiker) (oh, gorp is an acronym for "Good Old Raisins and Peanuts") we are joined by two chipmunks!
One seems to be older than the other, larger and with a fuller tail. Here's junior At one point I was holding my hand down to scatter some peanuts for him; the impatient little fellow ran up to me and Put His Paw In My Hand to take a peanut! *melt*
Here's DH doing a victory pose at the peak, my pic is in the "post a picture of yourself" thread
A few things I learned from this trip: always check your hiking boots to ensure that the padding won't give way halfway up a mountain (I hiked barefoot part of the way down), take along unsalted nuts for the locals, and I must consult with my doc about BP med that doesn't sap my energy so much!

ran away from my garden

CritterPainter — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:16:43 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 11:16 pm (GMT 0)

Been doing that a bit, lately. Running away from home, I mean. More fun than scraping paint off the house (which I really need to get after). DH had a trade-off day yesterday so we ran away to one of our local beaches, at Tolmie park. Good heavens, the name actually made it into Wikipedia. Do some folks just have too much time on their hands or how does that work? Anyway...
It was supposed to be blazing hot, and when we got home the news said it was. But not at this little bit of seashore (It actually faces onto Puget sound). A soft overcast kept a gauzy screen overhead, creating a filtered and comparatively cool sunshine.
We started out with a hike, only a couple of miles or so. The thick, fern-studded woods were laced with tiny-wild-blackberry vines. My hands were perfectly purple before long, as were DD's chin and one cheek. We don't want her to get the idea that it's ok to pick and eat things in the wild, so I fill my hands with whatever is good and let her choose what she wants from there. Saves quite a bit of worry! The berries that lie in pools of sunshine were fat and sweet. The ones in the shade, well, not so much. But they were all good. The wild huckleberries are ripe too, but we left them for the chipmunks. DH and DD were sitting on a bench while I raided a patch of vines when my back was literally brushed by birdwing, and a pileated woodpecker landed on a stump directly behind my D's! DH scrambled to get the camera setup (our point-and-click is hopelessly broken, and neither of us is very fast yet with the SLR camera). The woodpecker headed off into the trees, alas. But it did make me look up, and realize that some of the trees we were passing were actually Madrona, evidenced by the orange wood exposed up where the sun hit and peeled the outer bark.
At the end of our hike we had a picnic on the beach then spent the rest of the afternoon sketching and playing in the water. This beach is Loaded with sand dollars- they are actually purple and fuzzy when they are still alive. Lots of little crabs, too, little fish, and at one point DH spooked up a tiny flounder that proceeded to smack right into my leg, poor little guy! Added a few shells to my stash on the back porch, waiting for me to sketch them. Well it's jolly hot in here so I'll go do that!

August- no month for this gardener

CritterPainter — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:28:00 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:28 pm (GMT 0)

It's August, when this woman's fancy turns to thoughts of moving to a more garden-friendly locale. In August, I find out that the noxious dormant spray that I spread around in the fall has done nothing. August reveals blight on my lilacs, disease on my plum, weird red lumps covering my maples. Huge areas of blank, unwelcoming bareness stare at me from where the optimistic blooms of Spring have faded, gone to seed, and retreated into slumber. Instead of reveling in new things blooming, I spend my time in the garden deadheading old, withered blooms. The cheery birds are sticking to friendlier terraine, replaced by cranky, incessant yellowjackets, with their all-too-ready poison-filled stingers try to take up residence anywhere there is bare wood; the even more vicious bald hornets have build their underground vaults, a base from which to swarm over anyone who tries to mow near them. Biting red ants try to fill my painting studio.
All the wildflowers are done blooming, and the fields must be mowed or they will be overrun by invasive, persistent Scotch Broom. It's all about patching now. Trying to keep things alive in an environment unfriendly to life; the prairie wants to rest and be dormant. I insist on my small patches of greenness and life-the things that want to be green are invasive weeds.
At least this year I'm not too worried about drought. DH and some buddies went hiking up in the Olympics on Saturday, and there was a pretty good snow pack even at their relatively low elevation. Here's where he went http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic/recreation-nu/trails/MtEllinor.pdf
and here's a website that will show why there are so many hikers (and artists, photographers & bicyclists) in Washington http://www.summitpost.org/area/range/171068/olympic-range-wa.html

the rest of my weekend, garden update.

CritterPainter — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:54:19 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:54 pm (GMT 0)

Well Friday was so perfect I wondered what the rest of the weekend would bring. Saturday we loaded the bikes into The Gas Guzzler (it's a tiny truck, no excuse at all!) and headed out to the bike path. Went a bit farther than we have before, which meant a couple of nervous street crossings but all went well. Saw plenty of wildlife, and discovered that further down the path it brushes up against the Deschutes river, just beautiful.
Sunday was our 22nd anniversary so DH decided to heat up the smoker. Kept mesquite going on a chicken for something like 6 hours, plenty of time for me to make potato salad and broccoli salad. DS even came by for awhile, bearing gifts of chocolate for us both. He was feeling a little sheepish because when his band was playing, he decided to play the drum cymbals... with his headstock... knocked the guitar right out of tune and he had to do an emergency retune on stage. Fortunately the audience thought it was funny too and just rolled with it.
So now I'm officially in the new millennium, DH bought me an ipod shuffle. DS got it loaded up (or whatever you call it). Apparently one has to name their ipod for it to work, and he dubbed mine "scooty puff" (recognizable to other Futurama geeks) I promptly botched the thing up and it's sitting waiting for Tech Support to get home from work. He's very patient with me, thank goodness...
I picked the last of the reachable pie cherries this morning. I'm in no mood for baking so am thinking about juicing them. But that might just be nutty. I'll really miss having fresh raspberries with breakfast every morning, when the season's done. DD doesn't do well with many fruit types (the textures cause her big problems) but she loves raspberries. My grapevine is loaded with tiny green grapes too, but I can't recall what kind it is. I know I've been wanting a delaware, and I know for sure it isn't concord. Guess autumn will tell. I tied back the tomato plants that were crowding out the chilis, but I planted those peppers in the wrong place so don't know if they'll amount to much. Still watching the squash, rhubarb and potatoes, they seem to be debating about whether to live. And, ugh, tent caterpillars have begun to move in on my birch tree!
My old hens are stressed out from the little banties and have been eating their eggs. So I build a second pen for the roosters. No dice. They broke out and were back in the old pen this morning. I've reworked their fence and will try again tonight. Silly birds. We are supposedly getting rain tomorrow. I sure hope so...

Ran away from home 7/25

CritterPainter — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:16:42 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 7:16 pm (GMT 0)

First a couple of quick pics- I love the patterns of rat lines, masts, and such on these tall ships. We didn't go out on any of them, just watched from the dock
This is the card I'd mentioned. Funny gal who got it was all concerned that I'd given her the painting I'd created. Had to break to her that it's just an acrylic I roughed out to try to get the composition I wanted. It's canvas-textured paper, glued to a card
DH had Friday off. The company has been sending him to places along the coast to work for the past couple of weeks, and I've been really wanting to go too. So we packed out early in the morning and headed for Westport. A light, high fog belied the fact that it was an enchantingly perfect day at the beach.
The fishing boats were already out by the time we got there, but we had timed our arrival for the lowest point of the tide anyways. Surfers filled the parking lot, getting into their garb that made me think of a seal-theme dress ball more than anything. We started at the South Jetty, since that's where the best agate searching is. DD wore here zip-up sweat shirt and set to work filling the pockets with the choicest sand dollars, bits of shell, and stones. I wore a red-fleece jacket bought on some long-ago trip to Monterey Bay that turned out colder than I'd expected. DH, the California boy, didn't bother with a jacket at all. We worked our way up the beach together slowly. DH and I kept getting ahead of DD, and would turn to watch her work her way toward us. She would eventually notice our watching, flash her ready smile, and show us some treasure she'd found. She has a good eye for shells. Only kept the pinkest, the whole sand dollars, the chunky scraps of shell polished by the surf. As I gathered my own finds, I discovered that my left hand pocket had a small hole in it. I moved to shift my treasures to the other pocket then paused. It really didn't matter, after all, if a bit of shell or intriguing pebble fell back to the sand. The hollow crab claw, the translucent white stone, were all for now, for this moment, walking on the beach by the South Jetty with my husband and daughter. Any other time and place and they would become objects of clutter, projects I meant to make something with or do a sketch of. I left them where they were, in the pocket with the hole, and lay my head on DH's shoulder. It was a perfect day.

taking a minute to breathe...

CritterPainter — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:45:42 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:45 pm (GMT 0)

WOW it's been busy lately. My pickup died when I was coming home from the grocery store, about 8 miles from home. I'm SO glad I have AAA!! A couple of really nice guys stopped & helped me push the truck out of traffic while I waited for the tow to show. So it's been in the shop about 5 days, just got it back last night. Meanwhile, I was working on a painting (pics to follow soon. )
I tried something new for this painting. I found this paper at an art store up in Tacoma (we were up there for the Tall Ships festival, again, pics to follow). It's textured like fairly rough canvas. Guess it's for practicing oil techniques, but since most of my small paintings wind up adhered to greeting cards, that's where my mind went. A gal near me has had a deer visiting her back yard. She backs up to a greenbelt. It was annoying for a while, since Ms. Deer was feasting on the flowerbeds like an all-you-can-eat Doe Diner, but one day she proved that it was not just the phlox making her phat. She had twins. This friend knows how potty I am about animals, so took a bunch of photos for me. I used the canvas paper to paint the deer in artist acrylics for a card for her. Being stuck at home gave me plenty of time to focus on finishing it!
Speaking of painting, a friend who was in the meeting for the folks doing VBS next month whispered that the team had decided to have me paint a mural. Still waiting to see whats up on that front, the last mural I did was gigantinormous and took a very long time to do!
It really is remarkable how "just staying home" can be so busy. Since I was here, I reckoned, I had time to bake. Two pans of Nanaimo bars, that sort of thing. A big plate is going with me to a hen party...er... women's group get-together tonight. Another big bit was delivered to my boyo at the campground (major puppydog eyes from a couple of folks who caught me delivering it). How did I deliver it, you ask, without a car? Well, we got a call that the truck was fixed, so headed up into town to get it. We got all of 8 blocks before it died again. Sigh. But at least we were able to go by the camp, which is on the way home again, sort of, just a few miles out of route.
Then my mom called, wanted to go to Costco- I have a card, she doesn't, so going there requires spending an afternoon with me and my daughter, no great hardship for Grandma. And my anniversary is this weekend; I was fretting about how to get DH's present while lacking a car, so this worked out rather well. So there was another afternoon. Busy busy.
I've discovered I have more than enough posts here to put a title under my name. Being flighty and impulsive, I can't seem to land on one that really works. So if anyone wants to reply to my blog, could you suggest something? Maybe you can help spark my mind a little!

Bike conversion pics

CritterPainter — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:36:19 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:36 pm (GMT 0)

I have yet to paint the bright flowers on DD's taxi, and am still looking for a little windsock to fly from the post that use to hold a flag, but we took her out for a spin in it this week. Several old, unused railroad beds around here have been paved over for use as bicycle paths. I'm still optimistically waiting for them to pave the one that runs near my place, but DH loaded up the bikes and drove us to this one.
Oh, first the bike conversion. Here's the bike when I started:

After much rust-scrubbing, removing the basket, and constructing my brilliantly engineered conversion.
I picked up an old car-booster seat at a yard sale, but it didn't work to hold DD in. I tore it apart and modified the belt structure. It's looped around the bike frame for security, and has an adjustable buckle for security. A friend was going to toss some sofa cushions, and I salvaged one to pad the seat. I stash it away when it's not being used

Here's how DD fits in her seat. She can't get her fingers into the spokes now, and it's actually pretty comfortable. Still need a foot rest, and a bike basket to hold her water bottle & such (did someone say garage sale?)This image removed, forgot that just anyone could get at these...
One last shot, DD & DH. I'd just pedaled the taxi up an incline, DH took over because I was just worn out. I took several shots here, the others were all blurry since I was actually riding while shooting.
this one too

not time to miss my boy... yet

CritterPainter — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:26:44 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:26 pm (GMT 0)

My son moved out yesterday for his Summer job at a campground. He's done this for the past couple of summers, this time was odd because he's lived elsewhere for the past month already. My Uncle, his great uncle, had major surgery and rehab time. My aunt has a rare degenerative neurological disorder that precludes and possibility of her living alone; they are both at a care facility for now. So DS moved to their place to house sit for a month, right up until he moved out to the campground.
I't's actually one of those look-back-in-old-age times, though of course he can't see it now. Have I written about the house here already? Don't recall. My uncles house is built on a piece of land homesteaded by my great-grandfather. It's on a hill, and great-grand logged it for his sawmill (the first steampowered sawmill in the county). But way up there at the top of the hill is a spectacular view skimming the tops of the Black Hills (the same range that runs by my place here). Unbelievable sunsets that go on forever. My uncle built a house, a cabin really, right at the edge of the hill. It's all sided in local cedar sawn in my great-grands still-usable sawmill. And has a positively enormous covered porch overlooking the hill view, an excellent spot for a young musician to practice his guitar. That's a little awe-inspiring for DS too, since my aunt's nephew (from her side of the family) was a Very famous musician, and actually did that very thing.
So DS was there for a month, now he's living at a camground, running meals to the far cabins in a reconstruction of a pioneer town called Harmony. Some of the "businesses" on main street are actually sleeping areas, other folks sleep in teepees or covered wagons. And there is a big open dining hall called the Black Bear Cafe- not really any cooking facilities in there, which is why DS will spend the summer driving a golf-cart sort of thing out to Harmony three times a day to set up, monitor, and clean up all the meals. I hope he writes a book about it all someday.
I'm just scrambling with end-of-school-year stuff for DD, having the plant sale committee out here tonight for a wrapup barbecue (and today's panicky housecleaning), and engineering an alteration to an adult tricycle to make it into a sort of pedicab so I can keep biking this summer, with DD safely riding along. Huge challenge, but if it turns out it should be fun. And yes, I will include pics if it works. I'm planning on painting it Very bright so cars can't miss us. Probably something along the lines of a gypsy caravan with lot's of Bavarian-type folkart flowers on it, just so we are sure to be visible, lol!
So why am I sitting here typing a blog? Good grief, I gotta get crackingI

The Great Chipmunk Adventure

CritterPainter — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:49:35 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:49 pm (GMT 0)

My head's still spinning from all the organizing details and such, but the plant-and-handcraft sale at my church was a big success. Even with quite a few plants left over, folks contributed far more than enough that we will be able to buy a really good chainsaw to cut firewood for those elderly folks I talked about earlier! We all got to know each other a bit better too. Several ladies brought homebaked goodies, our pastor made ice cream with his daughter, and we even have a fellow who custom roasts coffee to support his family (and a little villiage where the beans are grown) bring in several pots of coffee, so everyone stood around, choosing plants, and socializing... it was just wonderful.
But, being the animal nut that I am, even with all that, the high point came for me after the sale was over, when almost everything was packed up to leave. We discovered that a tiny baby chipmunk was hiding under the plant trailer. He was none too keen to leave, either. The gentleman, Ray, handling the trailer was very concerned about pulling his truck out; the little chipmunk was so scared that he kept darting under the tires. At one point, he wedged his tiny self right under the front tire of the truck, which was running and in gear, and Ray had to keep the brake jammed to the floor- meanwhile, a church Elder dropped to the ground and reached in to coax the little guy out. One slip of Ray's foot would have meant death to the chipmunk and a broken hand to the other man. But the coaxing worked, the little rodent scurried back under the trailer. As Ray sloooowly inched the truck & trailer out and away, the baby kept scurrying under and around the trailer. Finally, the trailer was moved away, leaving tire tracks in the grass and a befuddled baby exposed to a group of Very Large Humans. After a moment of panic, it made a mad dash between the feet of the very man who had risked is hand, and ran off into the azaleas. At last sight he was crouched by the trash receptical munching on some delightful thing that had been dropped there.
Here's a truly fun website to check out: http://www.oldgeezerbooks.com/
That's the fellow who was driving the truck. He turns scrap metal into the funniest and most amazing garden sculptures, maybe they will inspire one of you to create something for your garden!

quick followup to these bike posts

CritterPainter — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:52:45 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:52 am (GMT 0)

I listen to music while I ride, and tend to swerve my bike on the empty road in time to the music, swooping it so low I've fallen over a couple of times. O well- I just really like riding. And my bike and I have been through alot together so it's a tad beat up. This morning I rode in my sweats, orange safety vest, and apparently old-fashioned helmet. Whatever. But I passed the funniest thing. Two bikers standing next to a spotless pickup. In really fancy skin-tight cycling gear, cycling shoes, really dope helmets. And really jazzy bikes, of course. Standing by their bikes stretching their legs to get ready to ride up the trail I'd just come down. I just peddled by, dipped my bike 45 degrees to the ground in salute, and waved; they gave me a really odd look. I don't know why it struck me so funny, but it did. Guess I'm guilty of reverse snobbery, lol!

Scenes from a bikeride

CritterPainter — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:09:35 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:09 pm (GMT 0)

Wow, it's amazing to me how the site floods with posts when I'm away! Between DD and I battling a flu bug, whipping myself into cycling, trying to convince the veggies to grow, and organizing a plant sale fundraiser this weekend I barely have time to breathe!
I took a couple of reference photos the other day when i was riding in the forest. Folks from around here will just go, oh, that's a bunch of trees. But I thought those of you who live in more arid places might be interested in them; this forest isn't too far from the Hoh Rain Forest up on the peninsula, and even here you'll find trees dripping with moss.

And here's a deer that hung around while DD and I waited for the bus. He moseyed away by the time I got back with the camera...

This is the backside of the prairie perserve by my house. The building off in the distance is the studio of an artist/art teacher. I try to take a class every now and then, but she's a very Good teacher, and gets paid accordingly!

Looks like the weather has decided to not improve, so I'll just give up on it and head out on my bike anyway!

Bicycling

CritterPainter — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:04:18 -0400

Author: CritterPainter
Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 5:04 pm (GMT 0)

Whew. OK, I'll admit it. I let things go over the winter. And the fall. And, OK, much of summer too. But lately I'm back to riding my bike again, even today. Today, when I discovered that someone moved my bike out of the garage to make space for the *gasp* car. And left it where it would get wet if it rained. It did and it did. So my tucas is wet, but I am unswayed.
After I had that lousy stroke in 99, and couldn't drive a car for several years due to eyes that refused to work together (and are both blind on the right side anyways) I started to ride my bike. It gave me some sense of control over my life. My goal was to work up to being able to ride to the little grocery store, just over a mile and one steep hill away. You'd have thought I'd landed a dismount on the moon the way I trumpeted when I was finally able to ride up that steep hill without pushing partway. From there I went on to further challenges until I could ride the 10+ mile round trip to the library and back, all while DD was in school for the day.
About two years into my riding I began experimenting with driving a bit, first to the end of the driveway, then the end of the road, then to the grade school. I'd park there and ride out on my bike. But as I became steadier driving, my eyes cooperating better, the problems I was having with bicycling began to be less tolerable. I was nearly swiped by cars a couple of times, a close call or two with a logging truck, a doggy that didn't take kindly to me, I gradually became discouraged with bicycling as a means of transportation, and decided my limited range of driving would have to do. I eventually stopped riding entirely . Problem was, my mood suffered from it. Perhaps as a side effect of the stroke, I don't know. But I was becoming pessimistic, and introspective, horribly negative at times. I was in a stalemate place where I was entirely too aware of the limitations and inabilities in my life. That, and flabby muscles, drove me to start cycling again.
I did have a brush with a logging truck this morning. But then I also came really close to a fat brown rabbit breakfasting on the roadside. Several swallows felt the need to inspect me as I passed the nest boxes placed on fenceposts by the local scout group. And even after writing all this, my bum is still wet.
It's all good.

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 ...