Cat tricks

The face of an angel. Today Snoodly jumped on my lap and simultaneously put his paw on my lunch. I almost thought it was an accident. But now I remember he's done it before! He's got some moves, that's for sure. It doesn't get him the food, but it does get him several enjoyable minutes of licking a burger flavored paw. Snoodly casts a long shadow

Woolly thyme

Rusty's favorite log

It's 44 degrees and sunny today with 35% humidity at 1:20 pm.

It's Cold, It's Dark, It's November!

The Larch are a deeper gold now, almost done for the year. When they first change to bright golden yellow, they remind me of a Christmas ornament I grew up with. It was a little glass tree with gold trim, old and delicate.

I haven't had any time for blogging lately because I'm busy all day taking care of the house and family. The flu has circulated through a few times. Cross country is over now, but basketball is just starting. Teenagers are high maintenance animals. Then there's the issue of my camera, which has been in a lot of use for Xenon's blog. His car is undergoing a lot of changes and he's been busy documenting them. He's also been helping friends make movies with the camera. Finally, I understand the comic "Zits." I love them dearly though, and would give them the shirt off my back if they wanted it, wait, I have done that. I'd make pumpkin pie for them, how's that? Right after I finish this post. Unless I forget.

We had a little snow a few days ago, but nothing stuck. It's been mostly cold and damp, when it's not cold and dry, enough to keep the fire going continuously. I love hanging out in the house, but I do feel healthier when I force myself to go outside.

There's a coyote prowling around, no doubt after the scent of our cats and their cat food. Rusty was in the kitchen and caught sight of him outside and then shot across the room and up the stairs. I hope he doesn't get the kitties, we should probably move them inside, but they're so rambunctious and messy. And who would catch all the mice in the garage? Snoodly is almost as big as Rusty now, he's a fine Tiger beast, and I think he will surpass Rusty soon.

What else? J put leaves on the garden, I forgot to plant garlic again, is it too late? You'd think that the world's #1 garlic lover would have it in her garden, but no. I can never remember to plant it in the fall. That's another thing, I never have my car. If I wanted to go find garlic, I'd have to walk. Maybe I'll just plant supermarket garlic. With its brown spots, ewww, nooo. Ok, maybe I will just go online and order some.

Let's see,there was something else, oh yes. I'm taking piano lessons! From Grandma. She's the one I wanted as a teacher back when I was 7, (I didn't know her then, and she wasn't a grandma then) but instead I had Strange Hippie Man from the University. Well, I feel like I'm starting over. Got the fillings out, learning piano, and on a gluten-free diet, without the usual donut lust. Ok, I wouldn't mind a donut. But I'm not driving to the store in a mad-donut-seeking-frenzy this time. Oh and guess what? There's a good Chinese restaurant here now!With excellent hot and sour soup and horoscope place mats! That is big news. If it weren't for the stinkin' weather this place would be looking up. But weather is of the first importance.

You'll see what I mean, when I tell you that it's 36 degrees and cloudy outside at 11:00 am. I can't go outside in a t-shirt in that kind of weather. Therefore it fails. My arms and legs demand air, they don't like being suffocated in all these heavy clothes. Not to mention my poor feet. They want flip flops! Don't even get me started on the low humidity. It's great for mold abatement, but it's also great for human abatement.

Yeah, this Idaho thing was an experiment and not a permanent one at that. I prefer to roam from place to place, and experience new things. Last night I had a dream I was in a neighborhood somewhere back east and I was standing on a little hill, with a view of the town and a deciduous forest beyond, and it was so beautiful and lush and the houses were so pretty that I cried with happiness. Finally! I thought, I made it here, why didn't I come sooner?

And now I've done over a year's worth of blogging on Idaho and its weather and gardening here, so it would be a perfect time to move on. In all we've been here 10 years. What a bore! This stability thing is a little hard for me, but kids seem to like it. We'll stay. A few more years is all it will take. I'm just worried. What if we never leave? Now, that is a scary thought.

October chill

This guy was fascinated with our clothesline. It kind of looks like he was really just posing for pictures. I love the way moose look like they're smiling, with their mouths, and their eyes.
He and mom stopped by for a drink and a snack from the willows. (The white blanket is covering the new flower bed in the foreground.)
The deer come daily, nightly. They've made a mess of my new flower bed. But how can I be mad at them for long with faces like that? One night I heard clicking and clacking outside the bedroom window and looked out to see two young fellas sparring, while a younger one grazed on grass a few feet away. It looked like the teenagers were babysitting, and trying to have some fun on the job. It isn't hard to relate to these creatures and love them.

It isn't hard to hate them either. I have to cover the flowers with the white blanket day and night to protect them from the destructive little beasts. Yeah, that's what I wanted, a view of a white blanket from my kitchen window.

It wasn't me, you can't prove it, nobody saw me do it.

The weather has finally cooled down, after a warm September. First frost wasn't until September 21st. But now it's cold enough to have the fire going. We've got wood from a big Ponderosa that fell, and we're buying some more birch.

Of course now is when I realize I've got to paint the cabinet! That zero voc paint I got from Sherwin Williams seems to absorb odors, or go bad. I think the Bioshield stuff is ok, I should've stuck to using that.

I've been getting my mercury amalgam fillings removed. It's a great relief to me to get that poison out of there. As much as I hate the dentist, it's difficult for me to get all this work done, but way overdue. I'm doing what I can to detox and get the mercury out. I certainly seem to have all the symptoms of someone with poisoning--tremors! Vision problems. And many more. Yikes, why didn't any doctor mention that? I hate doctors, they are beyond stupid! They never, ever help! The only thing you can do to improve your health is to help yourself, be your own doctor.

It's a good time to start walking. It's also a good time for a road trip! I've been watching the National Park show---A Film by Ken Burns (don't you forget it!)---and it has reminded me of all the parks we visited on our big road trips back in 1999-2000, before we moved to Idaho. What an adventure. We went to the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Arches, Yellowstone, Teton, Mt. Rainier, Crater Lake, and a bunch of state parks too. Those were the days. What happened to our adventurous spirit? Now we can't get off the couch. We traded it all in for 10 acres and a nice house. Our cars have over 200,000 miles on them, could we even make the trip if we wanted to? There's only one way to find out. So, will it be Glacier? Or Mt. Rainier again? I think the desert sounds good, I love rocks. And sun. Then again, I love big trees too. We'll just have to do another big circuit.

It's 52 degrees, sunny and windy.

Seattle

Welcome to Hogwarts. Nah, it's just the library at the University of Washington. But it feels like Hogwarts inside, with a huge stone staircase that just might start moving.

The University was founded in 1861, which is old for these parts. The buildings are magnificent and make you feel about two feet tall.
There's a wonderful pool with a fountain, surrounded by rose gardens and more magnificent buildings.
Herbology, I mean Biology.
Looks pretty good on a sunny day. But remember, this is Seattle, blue sky is not going to be the norm.

Our student tour guide told us that you can see Mt. Rainier from this spot when the conditions are right (we wondered if that ever happened) and that this was deemed the best view of the mountain by someone or other a long time ago and a law was enacted to protect it from obstruction. Now that's my kind of law. I can imagine sitting here, gazing at the view while pondering my herbology thesis.

What a huge school though, a little bit overwhelming. And some of the architecture is very 70s: Butt ugly. The dorms we saw looked like cell blocks. I guess the austere feeling goes away when 42,000 students are milling around, but I think we need to look at some smaller, cozier schools for comparison. Thanks to Jr. for taking all the pictures.

We couldn't go to Seattle without visiting IKEA and Trader Joe's. We got Slammy a new bed and had to put roof racks on the car to get it home. While we were dealing with this, Jr. got to sit in that red sports car at a Nissan dealership, which he admits was the highlight of the trip for him.
Rusty got in the bag I was airing out on the porch after the trip. Ofcourse as soon as I came out to take his picture he got out of the bag to greet me, so I made him get back in and he sat there agreeably, posing for pictures. Anything for attention.
It's 79 degrees, 23 % humidity and clouding over at 3:30 pm.

A Miracle Has Occurred

Red tomatoes! Those little "Siberias" win the prize, they're small but mighty. 'Course the greenhouse helped too. I think I'll make some more salsa tonight. Here's how I've been doing it: First I drop the maters in hot water to remove the skin, then I chop them up and add chopped onions and cilantro and a sprinkle of salt. Please share your favorite recipe if you have one. Oh! I didn't plant hot peppers this year (a lost cause usually) they would be good in there too.

Bees bees and more bees

The cilantro is covered in honeybees, and below this are strawberries, covered in yellow jackets.

Does this remind you of a motorcyle cop?
Just coming in for a landing when I took this picture of an orange cosmos.
We have more honeybees than ever this year, it's wonderful to see them all. They're mostly on the cilantro, lavender, and mint; all herbs with hundreds of little flowers. I wonder what herb honey tastes like, mmmm, I think it must be pretty tasty.

Butterfly bush