Snow snow everywhere

It's another snowy winter.  I thought maybe we would be living in Hawaii by now, but since we're still here, why not continue the blog?

The moose have been visiting us, and I put up some pictures on Lounging About.  The birds have also been here, and I'm feeding them sunflower seeds.

The temperatures have been fluctuating a lot, and the weather goes from pleasantly fresh and moist to uncomfortably icy and dry.  The trees sure look pretty when it's cold enough for the snow to stick to them though.  The crabapple tree was all bent over in this picture, like a weeping cherry, but it sprang back up miraculously when it thawed out.

It's 37 degrees and lightly drizzling at 11:00 am.

The End

I'm all done!  It's been about a year and a half since I started gardenlog, to observe and record the North Idaho seasons, critters, plants and gardening adventures.  It's been great fun, and I've loved taking all the pictures.  But now it's time for something new.  Thank you for reading, and for your wonderful comments. 

Fall colors and patterns

This log is embossed with an intricate maze of worm tunnels.

This is one of those times when I realize that we aren't that clever, our best designs are just copies of things that exist in nature.

This view looks to me like salmon swimming upstream, what are those worms up to?

It's not even winter yet and I've had enough

This cheers me up.  Why can't it always be spring?

It's 45 degrees, and partly sunny at 1:45 pm.

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 a tasty paw to lick. 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.
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.

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.