not so hot

Our first heat waves are in the books, and they were pleasantly brief and ended with strong west winds that kept the house cool. As noted before the first one ended with thunder and a lot of rain; nothing so dramatic this time.

Today was an excellent day: we awoke to morning clouds that burned away just before 10AM. Most of the day from noon to 6PM was low 70s but a quick half-hour pushed the high to 79°. A couple of hours later the west wind came in a rush, and at 7:45 we are in the mid-50s!

An excellent day to get work done, relax, and work a little more. A few well-placed fans and the house cools quickly. The next several days will be in the 60s so that was just enough fun for now.

I've pressure-washed our deck - again - so if tomorrow is the last Warm Day we can get it stained. I washed it thoroughly last fall but timing was off for a staining, so it endured the harshest winter I'd ever seen!

The day was also excellent thanks to my encounter with three deer in our yard. They were distracted by a neighbor's chain saw so I got to the edge of the deck just before they romped over to the edge of our yard nearest to the deck, about 20 feet away. I clucked softly and they looked me over, but preferred my sound to the ones next door. I took a 1-minute video and here's a snip from it. The one on the right is still watching for the chain-saw!

Thrush Day!! May 18 this year

Must listen again next year to seek patterns.  Lórien's favorite song is here at last.
youtube video

it's marine-push season.. already?

We've experienced a few heat waves in April and May, and yesterday was a classic marine-push day.  We were just over 80° around lunchtime, and well before dinner it was 55° with breezy west winds threatening to remove items from our deck!  We added a nice parasol to our outdoor table this past week, so we need to watch for signs of windy times so it can be retracted; we did just fine this time, but it's early yet..

On the wildlife front we still await a clear signal from any Swainsons Thrushes in the area. Butterflies are here in abundance right now, the frogs are finally winding down, and both swifts and towhees have been seen. We could not recall if the thrushes appeared around May 1st or June 1st last year, and of course this is only our second spring at this address so times will definitely vary!  We had hoped the warm spells would bring them up the hill a bit early, but that has not happened..

that natural A/C again

I see Portland had two days of sunshine and 69°, quite impressive for early March.  Yesterday was wonderful up here in the hills, and Kelso airport had 72° - but today the marine clouds dropped in, burned off slowly and the west wind never quite failed.  The unlucky number was 63° - a fine day at the beach, but no ocean or salty smell - and no gulls in sight.

Which reminds me: Sunday afternoon during the Super Cedar's pruning we were treated to a Bald Eagle overflight for which I wasn't quite prepared.  Even without sharp focus it's pretty clear what's up there though!  The sun shining through the tail-feathers is a mighty good giveaway..

our DLF (deer little friends)

Soon after we arrived at the New Place we encountered a pair of young deer.  First they were camped out under the local apple tree for easy meals, now they often wander the 2024 Christmas-tree farm.  Every few days though, the two are nearby.  I finally started to carry the camera even on short walks and drives, just in case.. and here they are again.

Another fun couple was the Stellar's Jays that laid waste to our suet brick.  For the first few days I saw no critters, just an increasingly untidy table on our deck.  At last I caught sight of them and clicked away from inside the warm house.  I had never noticed the light eyebrows on these birds before!

Weather has been cool and moist, but heavy rains are in the forecast - we shall see.  [Here's a link to our Portland reasoning.]  So far this month we're just under three inches in the gage.  That amount is supposed to double by Sunday evening the 21st!  An 'atmospheric river' (scientifically more precise than a Pineapple Express) setup is coming with its subtropical moisture squeezed at us like a huge fire-hose.  Many of those in recent years have visited northwest Washington, destroying Mt. Rainier's Wonderland Trail and erasing Kennedy Hot Springs (formerly near Glacier Peak) - but this one seems to have our area in mind instead.  Time to check what needs checking before the deluge (possibly) strikes!

It turns out that I missed cleaning out a particularly important stretch of gutters; the former owner added a bit of roof to cover the passage between home and garage, which then pours back to the garage gutter beneath the overhanging new roof.  It's important because that's where all the firewood is stored!  A tarp and some careful rearranging of wood should help, but better yet perhaps I can get those gutters scooped out soon.  Trouble is that overhanging roof limits how well I can get above to examine and scoop... so the tarp is the easy answer.  That whole area needs to be reexamined for a better way to play.