Deforestation

Two trees that I can not abide - The Tree of Heaven and the Siberian Elm.


Most of the Trees still standing

Big walnut gone, the first hole in the 25' hedge

The garden is loving the new light

my sunflowers on the shady side of the garden were half the height of those in full day sun.

We can actually see castle rock on dyer out our kitchen window now. (a little hard to see here because of the smoke in the valley.)

We have a horizon now, and morning sun climbing in our east windows.

Had to buy a new saw, it sure made little brother's work easier. Thanks Gideon!

It is hard to understand why someone would want to cut all their shade down. Shade trees should be planted on the West side for afternoon shade, and not anywhere near the garden. After I get the stumps pulled. I can garden. I can add two more sections of garden. It will give me more space for winter squash, raspberries, blueberries, asparagus, and a small orchard

Gideon got these on the ground for me. Now I have the huge chore of choppin' and pilin'.

Capability Brown use to give his clients a little red book showing what a property was capable of. Think of how many berries and squash this little shady corner will be capable of.

Good Morning

Well, lets see.....pulled into McD's for a quick stop this morning and the intercome said...."Good Morning"....oh my goodness, I got a person who can speak english!!! Pulled around and there is Alex Hernandez (Wendy Hook's son) had a nice little chat with him and thanked him for not having to repeat my order 4 times. I don't know about the rest of you, but that made my morning!! Last night I grilled ribs, cooked fresh squash and corn on the cob for dinner---Creston calls "Mom can I stay at Grandma's and come home tomorrow with Abe". I didn't bother to tell him I cooked one of his favorite meals. Oh well....Jord and Kat enjoyed it. Gideon, Abe, Creston and Jord have started the process of clearing all the trees surrounding our little farm. What a job! Jord insists they have to come out because they are obnoxious and come up all over the yard. Kat was assigned to making sure everyone had cold water, juice,ice tea and lunch on top of running back and forth to the Evan's to check on the puppies. She thinks she is overworked...Ha Ha. She actually has been a big help, it just takes a lot to get her there!!We are hopefully going to Oregon on Labor Day weekend to shop for school clothes. Jord and I are planning on taking Friday before off and hit Woodburn on the way down. That's the plan....hopefully it works out.

Spectacular Sundown over Paradise

What's for dinner tonight?

Cards!!!

Well, I'm blogging just so everyone will know that Jord and I stomped Pet and Brandi in the first game of Pinocle last night. I knew Pet would blog something on Facebook about how they stomped us in the second game....(they beat us by a whole 20 points....whoo yoo) So, here I am getting the best of Pet and telling everyone we actually did win the first game and by more than 20 points.HA HA. Seriously, we had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the girls, Gideon missed out. We will definately have to do it again. Heard that our two sisters are coming up from Oregon and that is exciting!! Can't wait, maybe we can meet at the lake on Saturday?????

Wildlife of Cutthroat Pass

Views from Cutthroat Pass

Recognize that peak in the distance? That is Liberty Bell Mnt (7808 el) . Washington Pass and the lookout are right on the other side of that ridge, and in front of Liberty Bell.

Liberty left of center and Cutthroat Peak far right.

Looking (SW) down the backside of Cuthroat Peak towards Rainy Pass (SW)

I believe that the left side of this picture is looking East and SE towards Silver Star Mountain (el 8875), the Snag Tooth Ridge, and the Kangaroo Ridge (el 8182). You can see the round top of Liberty Bell in the center, and Cutthroat Peak right of center. The little bluff rock-outcrop is on the far left. The Pacific Crest Trail crosses it, and we climbed it to look down the backside of the the Cutthroat Peak ridge line.

Flowers of Cutthroat Pass July 25, 2010

We had a great hike, and got into snow at the very top of the ridge-line. It was 100 degrees in the valley, and probably only in the upper 70s lower 80s on the ridge at about 2 in the afternoon. By the time we got to the truck around 4:30-5 it was blistering hot.
I'm not an ID expert, so these are just cursory ID's.

White Mountain Heather - Cassiope mertensiana


White Flowered Rhododendron - Rhododendron albiflorum


White Flowered Rhododendron - Rhododendron albiflorum


Western Meadowrue - Thalictrum occidentale


Trapper's Tea - Ledum glandulosum


Stream Violet - Viola glabella


Spreading Phlox - Phlox diffusa


Rosy Twisted Stalk - Streptopus roseus


Kinnikinnick - Arctostaphylos uva-ursi


Indian Hellebore - Veratrum viride


Glacier Lily - erthronium grandiflora


Lovely Ferns - Oregon Woodsia? Rocky Mountain Woodsia? Fragile Fern?


A lot of Penstemon this might be. Maybe Davidson's Penstemon - Penstemon davidsonii

A Big Thank You

A big thank you to my husband who fixed our blog page. I haven't been able to pull anyones blog up for about a month now and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. SO, I begged and whinned to JOrd yesterday and he fixed it for me. I'm still recouping after the weekend. I know everyone probably feels the same.......so very happy and thankful, but bone tired! Pretty emotional weekend for me, I loved being able to sing with Aunt Shirley but it made me miss my Mom/Dad. We really enjoyed the California Aunts. Went to Mom/Dads on Tuesday night for a visit and then the Aunts came out to see Jords garden yesterday. I finally made Jord's birthday cake last night after having the ingredients for a week. Sad.....but better late than never. He wanted to eat a piece last night, and I told him it needs to chill for 24 hours....(yes, Cynthia/Emma....I made Watergate cake) so then he tells me, Dad and I have to go to the coast tomorrow. So, the cake is uneaten and wrapped up untouched in the refrigerator for tonight with orders to the kids not to touch it today! Kat started her pitching lessons with Jim (highschool pitching coach)this week. He's so good with her....so patient and she is having a great time. Creston has been catching for her during practice with the payoff being Kat catching for Creston so he can practice his pitching. Loved seeing everyone......but counting the days till we see you again.

A little bit of color

I don't remember when I planted the garden, Cynthia was up visiting, so it must have been graduation. Around the first of June. Late, I know. I'm finally getting a little color. My pots have not done so well. Too much shade. Aunt Charlotte, Sharon, and Lahna dropped in for a visit today. The mosquitoes were horrible. They have absolutely exploded in numbers in the last couple of weeks. Normally I just spray down, and they don't bother me.


Lemon Gems


Red and Fuchsia the color of choice this year.


Fat and Furry Tomatoes



We ate our second pan of summer squash tonight.


The sun pots have fared better than the shade.