deferred-yardwork time

After a few extended heat spells I was able to get back into the yard and tidy up.  The heat has scorched the grass and sun-facing plants, but shaded areas are lush and happy.  That includes the hydrangeae and lilies that sit against the north slope by our driveway.  The lilies are between blooms for the most part but a bouquet of the former for our table was effortless!

A quick mowing of the upper yard was useful as well.  Right against the house the grass is green and about 4" tall, while the rest of the lawn is toasty brown and gone to seed (except for the dandelion of course).  All the loud mowing probably scattered the kittens for a while, but after it was over I saw that they had settled back into place.

Just to prove to me how powerful the mower is, I utterly demolished a 7up can that the occasional winds must have blown partway down the driveway.  I didn't see it until I heard it, and the mower didn't even wind down as it pulverized the thin aluminum.  Glad no spare fragments came my way!!

A bit of fine tuning followed with string trimmer and pruning shears.  Many of our rhododendri are creepers, choosing to grow low rather than stand up tall. That seems curious as many of them are under fir and maple trees, where they often get gangly in an attempt to peek through the gaps. (Those exposed to the wind I deem as lost causes for forcing them tall, so they were left alone.)  I encouraged some verticality with the shears by removing the most egregious creepers; we'll see where that leads but it felt good!

kitten updates

Mama and kittens remain nearby, and are getting more familiar with us.  Voyeuristic viewing suggests that the twins are both girls and the all-black is a boy overwhelmed with girl attention!  Clyde is therefore Sue (a la Ms. Pac-Man), and Inky has been dubbed Brave Sir Robin* .  Sue is still the most curious, often attending me to the garage door as I get out the cat food; Pinky hangs back a bit and Sir Robin the Brave is loitering anxiously near the exit :~)

Clearly they've adapted to the spa noise and the presence of a nice chair!

mama Pinky and Sue, the matched set.  Sir Robin = Sir Not Appearing in This Image (behind the others)

* "when danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled" (from the Holy Grail movie)

domestic battles

I've been fighting on two fronts recently.  It's a stalemate that has seen me lose some ground.. but confidence is high that both tides will soon be turned!

home depot / glacier bay

First up was the primary bathroom's toilet.  It's clearly an original fixture here.  It has failed to properly flush for a few weeks now, and we decided that replacement is a fine idea.  Lórien wanted a black one since the room will have an Asian theme soon, so we found a good deal that is shipping its way to town.  Since the other bathroom works fine it's not a whole-system issue, so hopefully this will progress swiftly once I have the proper weapons available (plungers and snakes having failed to assist).

similar to this but not quite

Battle #2 is the new ceiling fan.  First I needed the right supports, then a few tools went missing.  At last the beast is in place -- but it doesn't work.  I wired in a remote as I went along, so it has one too many failure points; disassembling to the wiring and leaving that out will help us see where the issues lie.  After the fan&lamp are working with pull chains we shall move on to the remote business.  The heat wave is nearly over so I'll have less heat - but of course that was the ideal time for the fan to be functional..

Update - As of mid-July both battles are won.  Hooray?  I confess the fan battle was only half-won, as I could not get the remote-control apparatus to work.  I may try again some day, but perhaps I should take it back in case of defects; trying and failing again won't do anyone any good if it won't work for anyone.

small-town July 4th

Lórien had often lamented the loss of small-town celebrations on the Fourth.  Parades, festival atmosphere - and pyrotechnics in many small bursts rather than a continuous overload.   She got most of that this year!

Unfortunately it was a really hot day, and pain kept us from the festival during the heat of the day - but we did manage to find a spot by Lake Sacagawea before the 10PM fireworks, and it was great fun.  We had several families around us, including a child who followed every big light display with "is it over now?" - not sure if he was disappointed, eager to go home to launch his own, or something else!  It was funny though, and the parents were very patient with their explanations as the next flash lit the sky.  And once it ended we were out and home within about a half hour.

 

We once visited the Vancouver WA show and it takes forever to return to Portland; also that year I lost my prescription glasses then lost a hat while returning the next day in search of the glasses!  The next time was also expensive, as we were rear-ended by a drink-hit-run driver after choosing to stay on the Portland side to make the home trip easier.

Nice to leave those memories behind!

lost and found

Early this week the cats vanished.  One evening we were outside and didn't see much of them, then no sign at all.  Mama cat wandered past, and her new friend a bronze tabby! - but the kittens were gone.  I picked up the play toys and food trays and we mourned their brief time with us; I had expected more time to decide if we could make their stay more permanent but it appeared the decision was made.

After a long and exhausting yesterday I saw mama and kits over by the big garage; apparently they had a new home in the wilderness.  Then this morning they sat near the corner of the house watching me as I shot the beautiful sunrise.  Like nothing had changed!  So out came the food which they gratefully devoured.  Curious.

This image covers all the bases nicely.  One adventurous kitten closer to me than to his/her mama, one near mom & one under cover.  'Clyde' has always been the most inquisitive and daring of the three, 'Inky' (brave brave Sir Robin?) the most likely to flee at any hint of danger, and 'Pinky' the in-betweener.  

And so the decision begins.. again.

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Oh yes - that beautiful sunrise?  The solstice has just passed, and it turns out the far-north sunrise is adjacent to Rainier!  That's quite the ogham stone to use, Ireland would be jealous..

St. Helens at dawn

a fortunate turn

One factor to remember when living further out of town is the value of self-reliance.  In the big city one can shout "hey can you help me?" and several neighbors are in earshot.  Out here that's less likely!

Our car battery died over the weekend, but we didn't go anywhere so it was good and dead today.  I don't even have normal jumper cables at hand, far less any other easy options.
Oh wait I sort of do.

Once upon a time I bought a power center with multiple purposes.  For one it could power a items via 12v power plugs; it could also convert to 110v and power telescopes and other items used in remote areas (its primary purpose for us).  It could also inflate tires or air mattresses - for a while, but that broke early on so it was put out of sight and therefore out of mind.  Its fourth purpose was to jump-start a dead battery.  I've never tried that part!

Now to find it in our two garages of mostly-unpacked items...

I went out to our large garage and found the orange box, and plugged it in to get back to its full capacity.  One of the first general-garage boxes I looked into had the jumper-clip cable - amazing since that alone could have taken an hour or two!  Then it was time to wait and let it gain strength, as it probably had not been charged in over a year.

My first attempt went poorly, as the cables must be done in proper order along with switches on the power station.  Once I puzzled those steps out the car brightened up, but insufficient power left it dead.  About a half-hour later I tried again, and was successful!!

This was a valuable lesson, and I'm glad it happened in good weather and when all parts fell to hand at the earliest moment.  This could have been so much tougher.  Hopefully I'm surrounded by neighbors who are familiar with such trials and could have fixed me up -- but so nice not to need help for a problem that anyone in the wild lands should be able to fix!

family of four

Back in November or so I noticed a black cat with an off-center white stripe hanging about.  I later suspected he was under our house for the winter, as I would see him dart around a corner of the house, but when I got there - no cat.  What me worry, we weren't using the area under the house anyway!

Over the last week I began seeing more of him.. well HER in fact.  I learned that when a small mirror-image kitten looked out at me from the corner of the house where a small gap led beneath.  Later two other faces popped in: another white-stripe face and a very dark one.  An occasional view of a black cat in the area causes me to suspect I've met the father!

Since we still had a decent supply of food from Sadie's time with us, I set out a bowl or two and some water.  They clearly weren't going anywhere so why starve them?  My reward has been two mouse bodies in two days, so I guess they weren't exactly starving; mom is clearly quite the hunter!

What's next?  Hmmm we'll see.  We have yet to actually touch one since the kittens have several safe places to hide plus mom as first defense.  Therefore no gender ID - they enjoy solid food though, so they're beyond the nursing stage.  The one white-face (here in the downspout drain) is the most social, the all-black least commonly seen.  All three were having a fine time among the pea-vines this morning though when I came out the door!

A shot of our fuzzy family!

In memory of Pac-Man, here are mama Blinky (eyes often shut in photos),

Clyde (brown spots on nose), Pinky (all-pink nose) and Inky.