Sky Watcher Post; Garden report; Wolfie report, and The Tort report.

There is lots and LOTS of thunder but no Bolts so far.  I hope we get some rain and not just lightning strikes which can cause fires.  It's over 80 degrees and very exciting!  Wolfie is not bothered by all this but then, it hasn't really crashed to the ground and hit anything.

One year before we had Wolfie and before the trees were out,  a bolt of lightning came down the tree, lept over to the house and fried the electric meter before it traveled through the grounding wire into the ground.   Smokin'!  That was a very big noise!  Living at the top of a Mesa really has it's exciting moments!

Garden Report: Mr. Z saved tomato seeds from the Heirloom Zebras, and this is the second year we've been able to use last year's seeds.    I'm so stoked!  I'd love to plant potatoes, too, but the little skunks and possums would just probably dig them up.  And, the potato plants are, like tomatoes, bad for the tortoises.  This pot is thigh high to me, so the torts can't figure out how to get at them.   We use our compost and some potting soil, new, every year.

Wolfie Report:  Wolfie is very calm during this storm, and we are hoping that most of his PTSD, from living with gunfire and in the rough for God only knows how long, is over with.  He came from somewhere in City Heights, which can be a real Wild West Show sometimes.  He's just been to the groomer's though, so he may be a little deafened from the blowers.  Holy Smokies, is it ever LOUD in there.  He runs away when I try to take his picture so here's one from earlier.

He's small enough to fit inside a grocery sack when he wants to.

Tort Report: The baby torts spent the winter outside for the first time this last year.  They missed their rose feasts but they had plenty of grass in their enclosure.  40% of what a tortoise eats in the wild is dried grass anyway.  We keep a good eye on them lest they tried to escape to the larger world and meet the horrible fate that met their youngest sibling.

Mother Poko went out the gate this year as well, though she was large enough to attract the attention of a passing neighbor who came and told on her.  Mr. Z nabbed the miscreant and immediately fortified the gate with bricks.  How that huge tortoise managed to wedge her way in and then out of such a tight space still has us scratching our heads.  Tortoises, it seems always want to go where "the grass is greener", and will do just about anything to get to it.    

Sunday Stealing and a Skywatcher post of hills near Dodger Stadium

The Christmas MeMe

From the archives!

1. Do you send Christmas cards?
Yes, when someone sends one to me, I send one out.

2. How soon do you start shopping?
I don't shop anymore but I used to go to the bitter end.  Now,  I send a check or a gift card, as teens pretty much know what they want, and sometimes I'll make a small something to go with it.  That is, if it's for a girl.

3. Who do you shop for?
All the younger kids, up to 20.  But if they don't acknowledge the gift after about three years, I don't do it anymore.  Especially when their poor mom writes to thank us, and she tells me that she keeps trying to get them to do so.  She doesn't need that.  Raising kids is hard enough without having to admit your kids won't thank gift givers.

4. Do you put up a Christmas tree?
Yes, And, I like to leave a tree up for a long, long time- through the gloomy months, and the real trees can become a hazard, so see answer 5.

5. If so, is it fake or real?:
See #4

6. Do you like tinsel?:
Yes, but after having cats who ate the stuff, I got used to just having fuzzy garlands.  Maybe we'll do tinsel again but maybe not.  This is where I tell you about ALL the YouTubes you can watch about cats destroying Christmas trees, yes?

7. Do you use homemade or store bought ornaments?:
We have a big mix of both and some treasured ones from both of our family trees before we were married.  I rescued some that my mother-in-law was going to toss.  I feel blessed to have them.

8. Do you put Christmas lights outside your house?
We do that.

9. Do you put lights on the tree?
It's a lighted tree.  Two trees actually, one white and one green.

10. How about popcorn and cranberries?
When the girls were still home we made them.  They are very lovely when they are on the tree.

11. Is there a wreath hanging on your door?
No.  I gave up after a few were snatched.

13. Do you hang up your stocking?  

 I want this one!

For me, no.  Though if I had that one up there, I would!  I used to put up some that I knitted for each of the girls, but I gave them to them some years back.  Question: How do people keep stockings from catching fire when they are put up in front of a raging fire?

14. Does your family read "Twas the night before Christmas?"
We did for a few years when one of the sets of girls was still small.  Now?  No, though I was gifted a copy at the Rockhounds party in early December.  Actually I won it by knowing the Swedish name for Gnomes.

15. Christmas Movie?
There must be a dozen at least that we watch every year.  We like them and look forward to seeing them.  Helps the Holiday Spirit for empty nesters!

Tonight we'll probably watch, "Nothing Like the Holidays." (if it comes!)

16. Character from any Christmas Movie:
The Ghost of Christmas present, in "Scrooged".  I love when she hits him with the Toaster!  And the time when she tells him she loves the rough stuff  after whacking him again!

17. Christmas Song:
Just heard a beautiful Carol sung by Susan Boyle in "The Candle", a new song to me.  I think it's Gorgeous and it will supplant the old one, which is probably  "Oh Holy Night" but don't hold me to it.
18. Christmas Memory:
My oldest pleasant memory was waking up when I had just turned three.  Mother had decorated the whole tiny shop front we were living in, converted into a one room apartment for families during the war.  The windows were all done with soap suds or something, and she used a lot of tissue paper and even decorated a tiny little tree with things wrapped in gold and silver paper and made a sort of tinsel.  She was an artist, that woman, and a great homemaker.

19. Give or Receive?
I'm much better at giving than receiving.  I get embarrassed when I have to open presents.  I don't know where this comes from.

22. Ham or Turkey?
Turkey or Roast beef.

24. White Lights or Colored Lights?
I like colored lights for some things, white for others.

25. Blinking Lights or Still Lights:
There used to be twinkling lights, that looked like little stars.  Other than those, I like steady lights because they don't draw me in and steal my brain.  Ya, know?

26. Were you Naughty or Nice this year?
Inside or outside?  This could be a question that should never be asked.  Can Santa really read minds?
I was nice.  I usually am nice.

27. What do you want for Christmas this year?
I want the US to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba.

28. When do you open your gifts?
It has always been in the Morning.   Once, when I was a kid, my family, following the example of our Uncle H. who was newly arrived from Colorado, we opened all the gifts at midnight.  It was dreadfully dull that Christmas Day.

29. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?
I've gotten treasures from my children when they were making things.  To this day I love those sorts of presents the best.

30. What's the worst gift you've ever gotten?
It wasn't a Christmas gift but a birthday one - I have a birthday really close to Christmas - and it made me know how little value I was held in.  I did the whole gush routine but it was awful.

31. Who gives you the most gifts?
oops missed this one.  Sorry!  I would say that Mr.Z gives me the most gifts.

32. Have you ever had a secret Santa?
Not that I can remember.

33. Do you like wrapping gifts?:
Love it!


34. Do you put change in those red buckets?:
All the Time.  The Salvation Army is one of our Regular charities but we still do.

35. Do you burn a yule log?:
We would if we could.  The fireplace is a little problematic!  Today is Yule.

Happy Yule!

36. Can you name all the reindeer?
Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donder and Blitzen.  But the most famous one of all.....

37. Do you bake cookies?
I used to bake dozens and dozens of cookies to give away.  Not anymore.

38. Have you ever seen your mommy kissing Santa Clause?
No, but I've seen Santa Claus drinking a lot.

39. Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe?
Oh lots of times.  We used to go into the mountains to get some every year when we lived in the foothills up North.

41. Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights?
Some years we do this, if there is times.  We walk around our neighborhood, too.

42. Have you ever left Santa cookies?
Of course!  It is a tradition!  He seems to like oatmeal raisin cookies the best.  Or, maybe he gives them to the reindeer?

43. Have you ever sat on Santa's lap?
Not that I remember, but I gave Santa a great big hug one day at the mall.  He was bored as there were no little children coming around that early, so I said, "Santa, give me a hug!" and he did.  He was one of those really jolly Santa's with a real beard!  Sort of like DH.

44. Who do you celebrate Christmas with?
Family members

45. Where do you celebrate Christmas?
At home with family.

46. Have you ever had a white Christmas?
Back in Ohio when I was very small.  I'd say, about three times all told, that I can remember.  Otherwise, the first Christmas, I was just too small. hehe

47. What part of Christmas do you look most forward to?
Getting together with family, eating a meal together, playing LRC with Quarters,

48. Have you ever had your picture taken with Santa?
Nope.  Except I have my very own Santa.  At the hospital earlier this week, when the Nurses went to get DH so he could take me home, one of them said to the other, "Did you go get Santa Claus?"



Skywatcher Post

November First, Going north through Hollywood
Stormy Skies over Los Angeles

Worldless Wednesday...2... Flogging Audubon in a nice way.. And Sunrise on the I-5 yesterday.

Saturday9, and a Skywatcher Post. Evening sky last night.

Already Gone

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

 

Saturday 9: Already Gone
(recommended by Diana)


If you're not familiar with today's song, you can hear it here.

1) Eagles lead singer Glenn Frey proclaims that he's "feeling strong." How would you describe yourself this fine Saturday?
I'd have to say that I'm darned tired but it's a good sort of tired.  ;-)

2) The song begins with a rumor: "I heard some people talking just the other other day ..." Have you heard anything juicy/interesting lately? Please share!
Someone besides me has a hankering for tater tots, that delicious little junk food.  I'd like to actually deep fry them if it was possible.  Crrrrrunchy!  

3) When "Already Gone" was popular, the news was dominated by Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal. What do you consider today's top news story?
Nothing of the magnitude of Watergate is going on.  Most of what the Black Ops folks are up to, the beastlies that routinely and covertly terrorized Central and South America, any longer crosses the Media snouts.  That is, unless you listen to the few and the noble ones who know how to dig and still care to reveal such transgressions to the people who actually pay all the bills in the US of A.

4) In the 1970s, Eagles Glenn Frey and Don Henley were at the center of a social circle of very creative people, including singer Linda Ronstadt, singer-songwriter Jackson Browne and actor-comedian Steve Martin. How do you express your creativity?
I sometimes knit, sometimes write and I sometimes I sit and just muse....  But, sometimes I just sits.  =o)

5) Even though they broke up in 1980, the Eagles are currently on a reunion tour, and after knowing each other more than 40 years, Frey and Henley still consider each other friends. What quality to do you value most in a friendship?
The most?  Friendship has many necessary facets in order to stand the test of time.  I don't think I could long be friends with a person who was unkind, though.

6) Are there any mirrors in the room you're in right now?
No.  I don't really like mirrors so we have only a few in the house.

7) What's the last beverage you drank with ice?
Water.  I'm so boring.

8) Whole, skim, 2%, half-and-half, almond or soy ... what kind of milk is in your refrigerator right now?
Chocolate soy milk.  Yummy Stuff!  Maybe I could put it in the blender with a frozen banana?  Hmmmm?  You have given me an idea!

That goes to Russia so I'm not posting a link.. sorry

9) Sam likes to mix sliced almonds into her salad. What do you think makes a good salad?
My favorite chicken salad has walnuts saute'ed with a deglaze from cooking the chicken.  It is the best salad I've ever had at home.  Any sort of tasty nut would do, in fact pine nuts are stellar in that salad, too.  My mother used to make a wilted lettuce salad with crisply cooked bacon, the dressing being made with some of the deglazed drippings from cooking the bacon.  That salad was divine!

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend.

The whole of the sky was aglow with the late evening rays of the sun.

This was one of the most beautiful sunsets since probably the last one I posted taken from down by the Bay.  Skywatcher's Delight!  Friday night sky.. Saturday post.  Enjoy!  Happy Weekend!

Five Minute Friday: Encouragement, knitbits, Skywatcher

Join in?  My contribution will be short.  I can't type fast on the netbook.  I'm staying out of DH's way at the moment.

You see, I've caught a much milder version of the flu, because I always get my flu shot. DH does not so now I'm worrying.
 Me?  I just sound a little like a frog right now but am otherwise doing remarkably well!

 I encourage everyone to protect themselves with a flu shot unless you can't for medical reasons.  When our daughters were here, they were recovering from this thing, and it was awful even in recovery!  I picked mine up on Monday, at the gym or maybe at JoAnn's.  It's so easily done! 


Encouragement, The word for this Friday:

When I think of this word, Encouragement,  I think of the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.  All the things he says in that prayer are to encourage others:

 "Let me be an instrument of your Peace,
where there is hatred, let me sow love,
 Where there is injury, pardon...."

I encourage you to accept the gifts of a Peacemaker, of a councilor, and of Grace.

Knitting update:  I'm picking up and knitting the rest of the 211 stitches 

around the neck of the Noro Manhattan by Jane Ellison.  Seems like a great project for layabouts.  Today is planned to do just that and drink lots of nice hot tea, too.


I'll leave you with a Skywatcher post, one of the most beautiful clouds that has ever floated overhead:

Scripp's, looking south

Have a great weekend!

Monday's Sky. Last Wed Sky. Wordless Wednesday. Mr. Z's phone cam

Moonshot - Mine

More trip: Pottery and Books Read, and Bee's Wax adventures

I wanted to share the Local Foods Movement show, but first the potter.  He was a droll sort of fellow, and when I told him I would be blogging about his pottery, and would he mind, he said, "You are going to blog me?  What does that mean?"  He turned to someone else in the booth and said, "She's says she's going to blog me."  Then he looked at me, and I snapped the worried look.  He was, of course, only teasing.   The encounter was fun and entertaining.  He's very fun to talk to.

My new cup. 
First thing I drank from it was a cup of coffee!

The Potter Modelling for me.
He's pretending that getting blogged might hurt.

His tables.
His pottery is very popular and very Beautiful, too!
I wanted several more pieces!

Reading and no knitting.  My hands were still recovering.  So, I had a lot of great books to read.

The DD's gave me Dead Ex, and I was so pleased with this sort of "Miss Marple, channeling Sam Spade, meets Hollywood" tale that I'll certainly read more of Harley Jane Kozak's mysteries.

Donna Leon's latest, Beastly Things, did not disappoint.  As per usual, Brunetti always gets the culprit while traveling a thoroughly entertaining and thrilling path.    

True Nature Stories is a great book if you love interactions that are unusual, and kind, between wild animals and humans who are caring. 

Do Fish Drink Water? is a collection of writings about questions that started to arrive at Bill McLain's desk.  He was the Webmaster at Xerox and became very popular with his dedication to answering every question that crossed his desk.  It's a wonderful book to have around when you are trying to get a "time out" from the madmen in Washington.  I don't include the Prez, nor all the Congress, just sayin'.

Maeve Binchy's last book, before her death - something I was shocked to find had happened - is the last one in the pile, A Week in Winter.

I'm truly going to miss this writer.  She could remove you from the world of "WAY TO BIG AND MEAN TO UNDERSTAND", and bring your mind down to the level of a whole Village full of people who worked things out together.  I'm now reading one of her other books I'd missed (while wallowing in Washington DC Ills and Evils) called, Minding Frankie .

Five books I read while lazing about.
I was happy to be away from Politics and Economics!

I was having trouble finding Bee's wax at the Farmer's Markets.  It was at the Monterey Market but we didn't do that trek this year.  So... when we were out and about the town with Bee, we were looking for a leather shop that sold patterns.  Bee wanted to get some leather and a pattern for making moccasins for Elle.  While we looked round for the leather works we found a Candle maker.  She sold me a good lot of her scrap which I can melt down into hearts and flowers for beading and seamstress friends.  I was very happy to find this shop because of being almost out of bee's wax!   The hemp is from a lot that DH bought to make something but it had gotten lost for several years under his seat in the Bounder.  So, I have adopted it to make necklaces with, and any other whatnot that comes to hand.  Lovely stuff!

Wax from the Candlemaker's shop,
and a lucky find under the driver's seat.

More tomorrow, from the Cabrillo Market Local Foods show, but I have to tell you, here in SoCal, we got rain!  It was glorious, fantabulous October Rain!   Two days, or nights rather, it has rained. 

Clouds Break to ReBuild Yesterday

Wordless Wednesday, c/o DH's camera phone

Sunset over the Lake.

Hearts Delight Quilt pattern excavated from a wall. Storm coming, too..

This is not going to be a wordless Wednesday. There's just too much to say!

I really did excavate this pattern from a whole "idea" pile pinned to a wall in the SR.  I bought it 13 years ago.  So bad, so sad.  After completing the baby quilt, I will be making the wall quilt version (God willing and the crik don't rise) which was destined to festoon the wall over the small piano.  Alas, that little instrument was donated a few years ago. (Sorry ,..inappropriate antecedent here.. "it" means  the quilt pattern, not the piano!)  I put it the pattern on it's own pin, just above the strip quilt Kit that I excavated from somewhere last week.  It's like Christmas in February!  I should never write late at night!

And a storm finally made it and left us some rain, Hallelujah!

When we saw the clouds drifting aimlessly after a morning full of dark foreboding, we thought this storm, described as a "humdinger" would slip away to the East without so much as spitting over it's shoulder.

A friend in Texas said it was supposed to rain there tomorrow, so we just knew that meant dusty old Cali was not going to stiffed again.  But it was raining by about 9:30 tonight, and just now quit.  So, watch out Arizonans, you might get more snow.  It was 40 degrees on the shade patio before the dark, so this is one cold storm.  I think, if the local mountains got any snow, the kiddies will all have a "snow day" in San Diego.

Sweet dreams!  It's raining again.  Happy Dance!

Friday Fill - in and a sky watcher post

1. Wow, this is painful.
2. How is it that a life can be ruled by such trivial pursuits as online chess when there is some serious knitting to be done?.
3. Finally, I'm facing the fact that I've slowed way,WAY, down, and that in itself is probably not a bad thing; but it certainly means a lot less gets organized.  I'm tired!
4. Living life in the moment, and day by day is a good plan for me now.  It's perfectly all right with me.
5. Sweet or savory: I prefer sweet, since savory usually ends up meaning something has pepper flakes in it, and I can't eat it.
6. I can hardly wait for the time when my corneas are new.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching my shows on Netflix, and using florist pins that I bought at Michaels to finishing a couple of Valentine wreathes; tomorrow my plans include sorting my wearable clothing into piles for keeping or donating (and in order to free up space in the SR closet), and Sunday, I want to do just a little knitting, since I've really fallen out of the knitting tree!

Have I shown you this beautiful night sky time lapse, of the Geminid Meteor shower, by Mark Ezell?  It was posted at THIS site  We should all be skywatchers. Our Planet has beautiful night skies.

May you walk with beauty all around you.
Make it BIG

Sky Watcher Post-Happy Christmas Eve- Nord info on tracking Santa

Source: space.com via Space.com on Pinterest

I'd love to see this with my own eyes someday

For the kid in you:
How NORAD tracks Santa's flight tonight.
Kudos to DH for this.  All you little honyoks be sure to leave lots cookies out for dear Santa (or maybe he's the HogFather to some of you).

Ice Crystal clouds before the Last Storm
Very High,
Very Ethereal
Lomo'd

Today I made cookie dough and froze it, played a LOT of Spider and Free Cell.  Did 24 minutes of Tennis on the Wii, and tried not to eat all the chocolate in the house.  Today, on my mother's birthday, I was going to post about her and the sweet little ways she had about her, though she wasn't a demonstrative person, and she wasn't a hugger.  She taught my children to value ALL life, and she also taught them about gardening, weeds, the importance of lace wings, just so many, many things. 

Many times in the past, I've typed out and meant to share something, but have felt too exposed by my writings.   My heart is with all those who suffered such a terrible blow in both the mall shooting and the school shooting. 

I worked at a school that was attacked.  I remember January 1979 and how much it hurt to lose two valued human beings I worked with.  I remember how controlling I got from that time forward, trying to control everything my kids did and everywhere they went.

Before that time I was the happiest person alive, and had very good reasons for it.  After the shooting I felt exposed and vulnerable, and cried myself to sleep for weeks.  Now, looking back, I feel like my life's purpose was partially fulfilled on the day I expected to die.  You can try to, but you can never forget the sounds, the sorrow, the screaming,  nor can you change memories and get back to your happy life.  It changes you forever.   Our street was filled with news vans and reporters.  All the kids stayed in lock down inside the school for hours and hours.   

So, remember to be extra kind to the survivors, especially for the children, because they may well have a maelstrom going on in their heads and hearts for the rest of their lives, and are trying to cope as well as they can.  They cope until something like this happens yet AGAIN!  You just have to look at the haunted faces of people who have survived civilian attacks anywhere in the world to know that it's a horrible thing to go through.

I wish you safety in your daily lives and Peace throughout.

Real knitting content and Friday Fill -ins Fun. Sky Watcher Post

And...here we go! Yippie Skippie!

1. Oh, my , I stopped in to see what was in the Odd Ball Basket at my favorite LYS, and saw some amazing knitting needles; this was on Tuesday after we'd left for home following a Ceramics Christmas party get together; I do not want to want thoe amazing needles!!

2. I need to forget about them sooner, rather than later!

3. Buy one, get several tips and cords with them; snazzie right, but I wish I'd never laid eyes on them.

4. Today I found that last year I had bought two hats worth of angora yarns for myself - so I must think much more about the loads of stuff I already have, beads, yarns, sewing stuff, and knitting needles, and do it more to sew up and knit up this overburden of CRA(P)FT, absolutely, positively!

5. Soon, I'm going to bake Christmas cookies as there will be, as of tomorrow afternoon, 8 batches of cookie dough in the freezer; I love this winter holiday season, solstice and all.

6. Last night, my daughter called and as we were talking she exclaimed into the phone and sort of frightened me;  what she saw a very bright shooting star.  She said it was absolutely spectacular and beautiful.  What is it about shooting stars? Are they good omens, these shooting stars?

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to deciding what yarn to use on a bunny pattern I found at the LYS - the one where those needles are; tomorrow my plans include mixing and freezing more batches of cookie dough, and later on we are  going to see my little nieces perform in some musical trios- if it isn't raining,  and Sunday, I want to find that angora yarn for the hats and start one, as well as find the perfect yarn for the soft, cuddly, Opal Sock Bunny!

This is one of the pictures that was in the pattern from Unicorn Books and Crafts.
I think this is a place that sells only wholesale, which is fine.  The good thing is that you can see all the pictures of "Opal," the Bunny on it.

Opal Sock Bunny, from the booklet I bought.  Sweet little Babé

I usually stop in at the shop to look for Odd Balls when we are in the neighborhood, but there weren't any sock yarns.  I really don't even need anymore sock yarn, but this adorable little bunny was there on the table above the Odd Ball basket.  She is made from about a half 100gm ball. 


It rained, starting Wednesday, and coming home from my sister's house I took these snaps at the best sky shot places - those with no overhead wires.  I hate to shop those darn things out.  We were out there trying to find some white corded white LED lights for our little tree.  DH said, "We'll just have to go buy them at the Halloween Christmas stuff sale next year!"

Here's the big storm.  It was blowing in at record speed!  We received one day and one night of rain out of this one.  Wonderful!  It might not look like a desert here, but it really is a desert.

Up the hill and looking West Northwest.

Over the shopping center looking West

You all have a lovely weekend. Take any joy that comes your way, and keep it warm and close.

Sky Watcher, update of new hawk's fate.

Sky Watcher, taken at the tail end of last week's storm.  I love digital cameras.  Instant gratification!

There is something irresistible about watching clouds

The new hawk, which we saw several times before it vanished from the radar, seems to have had a sad fate.  It was probably killed and eaten by a Red Wing Hawk or a Horned Owl, what locals call the "Day and Night Shift" at the neighborhood telephone poles.

Red winged Hawks use the telephone poles at the end of our street to dismantle and eat their prey, letting the inedible parts fall to the base.  I was standing there a few years ago, looking at the sky towards the north, when the remains of a ground squirrel dropped practically at my feet.  I screeched and suffered a second of anxiety (as in, "The Sky is Falling" screaming meemees) and then watched as the hawk took off.  I'm not sure it was exactly a Kodak moment but it was an unforgettable one.

Anyway, from all that we saw of the new hawk over a period of a week, it appeared to be a Zone-tail Hawk.  According to the e-bird map they are here now and again, meaning more than a few sightings have occurred.

THIS is a link to the e-Bird Range Map for sightings   

I'm sad to know this one is likely the victim in the picture below:

It's neither a Cooper's nor a Sharpie, nor is it a crow, any sort of gull,  just generally not anything that is of that size, as the wings are too big for those other birds; it was definitely not a pigeon, a Merlin or any smaller winged predator.  I'm saying all this because I'm trying to submit as much information as possible, up front, so that if a birder wants to give voice about this being something else, we don't have to start at square one. 

Essentially, we saw it flying, soaring, and alive, and it was a new, very dark all over charcoal gray bird to us, and it's been missing for a week.   We did the time line, we did the profile, but we couldn't get the feathers.  They were gone when DH got a chance to tell me about what he found around that corner over yonder. 

Something Sweet after that bit of bitter.. Honey bees getting a drink at a drainage near the lake.  Several of them are crowded into the long crack at the end.  It had been over 100º F that day.

Bee Sweet.  Make it big..

Without these little critters, where would the rest of us be?  I've done a little hand pollination for my mother's gardens, and it's really no fun at all.

Saturday Komeekz, Sky Watcher, duct tape

Thanks to an amazingly quirky fellow named Stephan Pastis, we have this:

I'm going to take the flying lawn chair somewhere in the Universe this weekend.  It's lots more fun than reading the Union Tribune and their full page ads full of lies about the Democrat running for Mayor.  Ooops!  Stealth Politics!  Nahahahaha!

We had clizzle -low clouds masquerading as rain- today.  You know, just enough to get the dusty cars all spotted.  Here's last night's sky before this thing rolled in:

This is a snap of the mussy Tussy sky last night before the cloud bank came in off the ocean to spit on us.  You can see it creeping in from the right bottom corner.

I can't seem to get my knitting re-ignited because it has to be under 70 degrees before I feel chilly enough to even THINK about handling wool stuff.  I did trot out to Michaels this AM with DH - you can only use one coupon per day so he's extra hands - to get dried things for the cornucopias, and DH spotted this amazing duct (duck) tape to go with the hot pink.  Good Eye Mr. Zippi!  Projects will be along in a few days.

Remember in "Lost", when they were trying to get that Airbus off the Island?  Remember when Miles was fixing the hydraulic feed to the nose wheel with duct tape.  He was handed the tape along with some other stuff, and he and Ricardo go to the wheel well.  Ricardo asks Miles, "Did it fix it?"  Miles says, "I don't believe in a lot of things but I do believe in duct tape!"



I laughed and laughed about that one!

Keep laughing, because if you don't laugh then you just gotta cry.

Skywatcher post, Mind of Tao, Day Lilies in the strips

Last evening the sky was gloriously colored.  There is a storm coming in off the Pacific, on the Pineapple Express, so called because the storms originate out around the Hawaiian Islands.  Hawaii has some 20 foot waves from this.  Lucky Surfers!  We got quite a bit of wind last night that knocked one of the Winter Wren's night nests down into a clear area of the Cape Honeysuckle. 

Glorious Fall Sky Before the Storm

A wider view further to the south

About that Winter Wren:  I surprised her/him this morning when I went out to the shade patio.  These little birds are almost as fearless as hummingbirds, so she just flew up into the giant jade plant to watch me.  When the Wrens come in Fall, they make night nests around the place, in many bushes both in our yard and in neighbor's yards.  I love to see these little harbingers of a Winter that on it's way to the local mountains.

Wren Night Nest remains

When I was much younger, I was walking, at dusk, in the desert during winter.  Not knowing as much as I do now, I saw a bird fly into a small Palo Verde tree.  I went closer to investigate, having lost sight of the bird.  It was then that I saw a nest, out of which burst a ball of feathers, making angry little calls.  I backed away and turned back towards the house I was staying in, and felt very, very bad for the bird, because I'd disturbed it on a cold evening.  My friend said that what I'd seen was a wren, and that they usually built several little mussy-tussy nests here and there, and the bird would be quite safe after it got over the shock of my big eyeballs peering in at it.


Today, more tests.  I won't have any info until the end of the month.  But I'm curious about something I overheard from the tech Nurses.   This will be very interesting.

Yesterday I went to see my sister, and since she is feeling better we talked about some crafting for fall, some visits to the local bead stores, and the books that we had gotten her the week before.  Basically, regarding the books, we talked about the habits of  Victoriensis Humanei.    The pretty pictures in the books, we decided, painted a much less real picture of that era than did Charles Dickens.

For Fall, I've garnered a cornucopia basket at Michaels but now must excavate the storage boxes in the garage for the rest of my Halloween ceramics.  Some  of my best pieces have been hiding for two years and I'm beginning to think those boxes are gone for good.  We'll see.  "I take pictures of everything, now, but somehow setting up a picture on top of the buffet just isn't the same", she sighed.

Here are some lovely day lilies, in the late afternoon, from a  parking lot planting at a shopping center.  Beauty is out there!  (Just ignore the Alaskan State Flower on the ground.  I'm not kidding.  That's what it's being called, and it's just a complete shame it's come to it.

I'm off to practice Mind of Tao, and relax.   Hopefully this works better than Zen Knitting. 

Sunday Matinee, and a Sky Watcher Post

Two days ago, driving home, we saw this Thunderhead.  It was Huge.  All we got out of the thing was a lot of humidity, but what the heck.  We can't have everything from a cloud until sometime in late September if we're lucky here.  If this had stuck around and rained out on us, it would have been a gully washer.

Make it really BIG!

We are turning into New Mexico; I think. Enjoy your Sunday.  Just don't listen to the tweekers of news  in your town who fiddle with truth and like to make trouble.  They are in it for the money.  Just enjoy what you can of whatever local rag you must deal with.  They can't get over it.  They are very unscrupulous.




Have some fun.  Find this two part series on the web, or anywhere, and watch them.  They are a scream. They're some Very British poke-in-the-eye type films that are utterly charming.  No fooling.  If you like British Humor, and Doc Martin, you'll love these.

Skywatcher Post: Glorious Sunrise early AM today. Nashville Warbler in Garden..

Sorry, two posts in a day BUT there was this wonderful sunrise this morning and we got Rain! 

Sky at 5:40 am

I woke very early to rain (sprinkles) and it smells so wonderful outside!  Later, the sun started to rise.

After the sun was truly above the horizon:

Sky at 6:40 am

When we get any amount of rain, here, in September it feels much more normal to me.  When I was a child we used to get rain just when we started back to school.  This was true until around the beginning of the 1960's.  I'm just thrilled with September rains.  Rain is very energizing!

The first sprinkles on the stones of the Tort's "lekking" ground

Yesterday evening, when I was preparing to water the potted plants I saw a Nashville Warbler flitting around the hanging pots at dusk. It is a beautiful little bird, and a frequent visitor to the garden, only not so much in recent years. I was very happy to see that the garden was attracting a solitary one again. There were never pairs, only a single one whenever a Nashville appeared.