last nights/this mornings moon

its a little shakey, but i thought it looked good.
considering i was parked along the freeway at 1 am!

harrier hawk

So to the east of the house stands 2 tall old cedars. whose tips in years past meet with drunken college students and handguns. not a pretty sight. these poor old trees are beautiful until you look up and then they are a bit scraggly. well the birds absolutely love them. everything from starlings(which the cherry farmers hate!), chickadees (mountain, black capped), ravens, mourning doves and a ton of others.
the other day there was a giant bird that came swooping by, so i ran to the window and noticed she landed on the cedar. so down the stairs and to the camera to get at least one photo of that magnificent beast. gasp, my battery was dying but i did have the back up one fully charged. turns out there was no need to rush as she stayed in that tree for 3-4 hours. doors were opened and shut. people got on the roof. general outside activity not to mention my sister talked to her a bit. didn't seem to faze her at all.

this first photo is right after she landed.

I looked her up and it turns out to be a Northern Harrier. The trees were all a chatter with the robins and finches were chittering and flapping their wings trying to scare her off. she pointedly ignored them even when they were doing flybys!

when she finally looked at this little guy he jumped back quite a ways! wonder why?

setting sun

Finished

I have been working on this shawl, Sarah Blanche by Cheryl Oberle, for about a month. Made with the most amazing Mohair/wool/nylon(for strength) fiber. Finally completed yesterday, washed, blocked and dry by this evening. I got my hubby to snap a few shots in the evening light.

Click to embiggify.

Soft and light. Warm but not too much.

oooh artsy fartsy.

Here soon i'll send it to my very good friend in California. She is going to be so surprised!

pictures?

So you may have noticed that there has been a noticeable lack of photos lately. Or maybe not.
Anyhoos, the ScanDisk card that i have been using, for what 4 years now, finally like split in two. Of course along the "data read" edge, but thankfully I was able to get the info off. So off i went and got a shiny new 8GB memory stick, whooeee. Been using it now for a few weeks, come on 8gigs is hard to fill, put it in the computer to transfer a few pics and tragedy strikes. i forgot to format the thing before i started using it. now i need to find the cables to transfer all the pictures, then format the disk so it can be used it on the dang laptop. sigh.

on the bright side, this is the biggest drama in my life now. so thank the gods for that one.

stagnation

so I am at a bit of a standstill.

we have a house that we are not living in, paying the mortgage and it is sitting empty. we had it appraised at 3000 over what we paid, as is, 10 yrs ago. if we do the work, floors, main bathroom and a little in the basement, we could clear 30000 to 40000. now when i say "we" do the work it would really be me as my hubby is, well how do i say this politely, lazy. he would hire someone to do the work, which is nice but $$$.

holding us back? This home is negative. what i mean by that is you feel drained, headaches and the creativity flew out the window. When we bought the house we were told that the owners 16yr old daughter committed suicide there. yes there was some freaky things that happened, nothing that i couldn't handle. turns out it was slowly eating away at my husband. so the last year we lived there wasn't exactly pleasant. add to that the death of my friend who rented it from us. I am feeling a little wary to sell it to another unsuspecting family/couple.

the thing that is pushing us a bit is the current home we are renting the landlord is looking to put it up on the market soon. if he should sell before we can get that house sold, that means we would have to move somewhere around here again. I don't think i could bear it. we were hoping to get the house sold so we could move to hawaii. wouldn't that be nice?

so welcome to my brain. oh and i have a wedding to go to on the 4th. so i made a new dress for the occasion. i figured to make it a size larger than i normally wear because i have gained a bit. i measured twice before i made that decision as well. turns out i can't wear that either. i think i'm gonna cry.

can i just say...

i really hate family guy.

no one specific reason, it just gets on my nerves.

not funny.

sigh. the things we watch for the ones we love.

VICTORY!!!!

i feel as though i could scream and the east coast could hear me. i got me tub back!!!!

we went down to the PoPo, talked to an officer and we calmly explained everything. he had us call the phone # in the posting and i used my "alias". the officer followed us to the house and boy howdy did the fellow have a ton of excuses for us. "everybody else was takin' things - had to call my friend with a truck so some mexicans didn't strap it to their car - it wasn't on the lawn but the door to the shed was kicked in so we figured it was cool to take things" it wasn't the fellow we expected to see but we suspect they know each other. we'll find out in a coupla weeks if the house has some "mysterious" damage.

i feel so vindicated. i know its only a silly bathtub, but dammit its mine and i fucking paid for it. My close friend procurred it for us, he did the plumbing with my husband, even cut a hole in the floor for it. not to mention i did enough for those lousy people i'd be dammed if they were going to get one more thing out of me.

sigh. i feel so much better!!!

hehe

well i just found my bath tub on a popular site for sale. we will contact them and the police muuwwaaahhhhh revenge may be mine....

thanks karen for the comment, made me giggle and brought a much needed smile to my face.

Currently...

So for the past week or so its been pretty dang hot. i always feel the laziest when the mercury starts to climb. one positive thing is we are really enjoying the pool during this heat. phew!

as far as the shit storm... our cross-the-street neighbor, from where we lived for 10 years, is currently in his second divorce. and she is really doing a shitty number on him. she got him yoked up by the police and was in jail for 4 days so he was staying here with us until he got back into his house. It seems as though she took the oven, washer dryer, end tables, lamps, all the pictures in the living room and the bedroom set. after all that she left a note on the fridge saying she will always love him. what a cunt. she has been cheating on him for 6 months and even when he confronted her with the reality she couldn't admit the truth. i really wish he could find a nice girl who already has it together. he deserves that much. and to top it off for him his mom is on the steady downward climb. she fell, bruised internally pretty bad and has creeping dementia. sigh.

so... theres that. oh and the people we were renting the house to? the daughter died. its either suicide or murder by the suspect boyfriend. the coroner ruled it an accident but with the local police here who knows what really happened. so they trashed the house. it stinks like cigarettes and they NEVER watered or mowed the fucking lawn. not to mention they never cleaned the toilets either. yuck. and they took my corner jetted tub with them. saying it was stolen. i am just disappointed.

it seems as though i get burned every time i try to help someone out. sigh. but it will work out. i just know it will. keep positive and visualize visualize visualize.

and that is how my month has been.

dilemma...

remember all those wonderful heirloom tomatoes that i started a month ago? well i made sure to carefully and clearly label them. only problem is i used a felt tip pen and watering gets out of hand sometimes so they have all washed away. there are a few that i know which are which. but that leaves 5 kinds that could be who knows what.

sigh. i am so bummed.

suppose i'll find out in a couple of months!

apples anyone?

wandering the little apple orchard looking for bloomed blossoms...

i only found a few...

but found someone was watching me too!

silly i know, gotta love spring!

more blossoms...

pear in the foreground then apple then cherry

so cherry blossoms are about over. there are a few stragglers still but most have browned and started to fall away. now pears are in full bloom. its funny though the blossoms of a pear are pretty close to those of cherry.

another cool thing is the pollen that the bees collect is tinted green. i am pretty sure these are anjou pears, but i could be wrong. i wonder if bosc or red bartlett pollen has a pink/red tint to them?

pollinator in flight

smell em!

Cherry and Peach Blossoms

choco chip...

so my weakness is chocolate chip cookies. and not those bland store bought, pre-packaged or bakery made hockety puck things. i mean the good homemade kind with the best chocolate and great ingredients and mixed with love that you can taste.

since going GF 2 years ago i have sincerely struggled with this ache. oh sure great pies or strudels fix the sweet craving. but what about those amazing chewy chocolate chips with an ice cold glass of milk? well all i can say is thank the gods for Alton Brown.


this is his Chewy Gluten Free Chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Oh My Gods!! this is so freakin' good!! i used Ghiradelli semi-sweet chips and dark brown sugar and chilled em' for 3 hours but otherwise i followed it to the letter. even my hubby has had to restrain himself. i can't be making these too often or i'll be rolling out the door instead of walking.


Try them, you won't regret it. well maybe your waistband will but your tongue will forgive you.

I promise

Wonders of Wonders!!

in less than 5 days (tonite makes full 5) I have SPROUTS!!!

Thyme

Cucumbers

Last night someone hit a telephone pole and we were without power for 4 hours, kinda normal around here. with the power out i had a weird time falling asleep. when i finally did my husband ripped the most disgusting smelling fart and it woke me up! gross. so i made him get up and go to wal-mart with me at 3:30 in the morning, muuwwaahhh. actually its the only nice time to go. its quiet, no rude customers, no screaming children and as a plus we are always greeted and helped by friendly staff. quite a rarity there. so when we left it was 42 degrees outside. I remember not that long ago when we were hopefull for a 42 degree day.

Its been so beautiful here. In fact it got above 70! it was warmer outside than in, this morning! The plastic has come off the drafty sliding glass door and the bird song is filling the house. there is even a nice cross breeze as both doors are open and the only window on the west side too. I love me some spring!

early garden

Yesterday the wind finally died down and the sun was out. wonderful really. so i figured that it was time to put the peas in. so now we have 2 huge rows of sugar snaps that are supposed to get 6 foot tall or something... ooo peas. now if i could only keep the cats out of that spot. they think any fresh turned dirt is perfect for their digging and "planting". yuck.

on wednesday i was able to get an early start with the seeds. They should start sprouting buy the middle of next week. I'll post as soon as they "pop"
11 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, some sugar pumpkins, cantaloupe, a couple of gourds(one is shaped like a snake!), eggplant(never grown this one, any suggestions?), couple of herbs(thyme & basil), bell peppers and two kinds of cucumber. phew! the onions are going out next and then in may the corn. not to mention the beans. pole, bush and scarlet runner. BUSY!

today was a lovely day even if a bit overcast.
now is the time to prep my soil for seeds to come. so i was out with the "pitchfork" turning the dirt and finding the biggest earthworms. tomorrow i'll do the same, as next week i need to put corn, peas, and beans in the dirt and start my herbaceous "fruits". i should have had them in their starter pots at the start of this month but thats what you get for being a procrastinator i suppose. everything from heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, canteoples and pumpkins. mmmmmmm.
its going to be a busy couple of weeks thats for sure. wish 'em luck!

spring?

you certainly can tell spring is coming around here. the weather doesn't seem to know which way its tail is pointed. Yesterday we were having a gorgeous day with sunshine and a few clouds. at about 1 o'clock it started to change first we had a lightning flash, thunder and for about 15 minutes it "snowed" so hard that you couldn't see across the valley. then as soon as it had started it was done. *poof* just like that. the photos are from just after...

looking east

looking S/W

Falling from the sky

10 minutes later

in like a lion

today is overcast and rainy. unusual for the start of march. for some reason it seems to have brought my mood down with it. i've cried twice already, more out of frustration i think, its not something i engage in often. i don't know whats going on today. sigh. i think i'll go for a walk.