2023

Falkor! I've lost track of how many times I've seen her... maybe sighting #13? Still with the foot, it's been over a month now. I wonder if it will ever heal.

The Barn Swallow babies are hunkered down. And there are shadows of large birds flying by! Vultures!

They've gathered at the top of this apartment building. There's a street on the other side, probably somebody got hit by a car. Damn drivers. So many vultures, tho... it must have been somebody big. I think about walking over to see, but nah.

At the garden, the little Tofu Seedlings are growing. They seem happier since I cleared out the choking borage.

We are running out of room in the front garden square! Not sure where they are supposed to grow now. Out in the pathways I guess! ha. I was not expecting this exuberance!

It's hot again today, 89°F, so I am just watering. And gathering the first zucchini and patty pan!! Yay!

And some Sugar Snap Peas and Lettuce for a salad!

On with a walk!

There's a place where the minnows like to congregate. I love to watch them! They are fascinating!

And then back to the Barn Swallow nest, where the babies are bravely poking their little faces out!

omg! When I talk to them, they think I should feed them!!!

I would really like to pull that string of black plastic out of the nest. It's seriously bugging me!

The Zucchini plant is preparing to act like a real zucchini! Oh yeah! Bring it!

I had a couple of Leeks left over from last year. They survived thru the winter of course, and I let them bolt. This is one of the Leek blooms, and the purplish ones in the right background are volunteer Elephant Garlics that are also blooming.

When I looked closely, there were all kinds of bugs on the Leek blooms, not just Honey Bees! I've always eaten all the Leeks, but if the blooms make so many bugs happy, I will def let a couple go in the future!

We are all getting along, even when we jam ourselves into the littlest spaces! My foot out here! Your foot out there! Yeah!

House Finch fledgling... still growing up and it's such hard work we need to sit down rather than stand properly!

A lot going on in the core of the Patty Pan!!

And I wish the Wax Beans would take a hint. Please just grow?

Oh Yay! Photographic proof of three Barn Swallow babies!

Haha, the other one, lying down in front is just Bah! Calm down, people! haha!

But then she's all Well. Maybe I can get up and see what's going on.

Meh.

Eugene broke a record high today, and so did the whole world...

∞ Tuesday was worlds hottest day on record - breaking Mondays record Average global temperature hits 17.18C and experts expect record to be broken again very soon

Today, locally, we got up to 98°F, breaking the 1972 record of 95°.

I get to the Barn Swallow nest and...

A parent comes back and... HOLY!

We still have one hungry baby... I'm sure that one will get a meal soon!

Well, this is interesting...

White Crown Sparrows are normally winter visitors here. They do have a thin line of their range along the coast where they stay all year. Did this one nest here, to expand their year-long range? Or did they nest at the coast and just fly over early?

The lettuces are starting to bolt in this heat so this will probably be the last harvest for salad. The leaves get bitter when the plant is trying to make flowers.

I was thinking. The Second Cucumber Empire... Can it really be called an Empire when there are only three plants? sighs. It's a Colony, I suppose.

Eugene broke another record high today... it was 99° here today. The old record was 97° set in 1960.

And the world tied the record breaking hottest day of yesterday with an average global temperature of 17.18°C... Normal global temp is 16.21°C.

Two heads (of three!) and some baby bird fluff!

This is the front right of the garden plot, an area I've been calling The Square.

It's filled with several Spaghetti Squashes, two different coloured Patty Pans, an Early Girl tomato plant, and the Sugar Snap Pea patch at the top right. You can't see the Lettuces behind this mess.

The explosion of growing here has exceeded my wildest dreams! Usually the squashes get munched by slugs and then Striped Cucumber Beetles, and they never really recover. I'm lucky to get two or three fruits from a plant.

But this year... the slugs were distracted by the nearby lettuce! And the Cucumber Beetles weren't as bad and hardly made a dent! And I've got little Spaghetti Squash fruits growing all over the place!!

And then you have the other side of the garden... where the Wax Beans and the First Cucumber Empire are stunted and growing SO slowly. Yeah, even that stupid Sunflower can't be bothered to grow.

I just don't know what is wrong here!

But then I'm looking at the Second Cucumber... Colony. (Because three plants do not make an Empire!) And in amongst the Borage that's coming up... ummm...

Those look like cucumber seedlings! Oh!

I cannot get my hopes up. These little guys will surely be munched to death by slugs. Surely.

But maybe the Second Cucumber Colony will turn out to be an Empire after all!

I admire my happy Zucchini plant.

And then I head out.

It's def heating up and the Barn Swallow babies are squirming around.

They are NOT comfortable, poor babies.

Eugene is cooling down from some record breaking heat... just 91° today, and even a couple of normal days in the forecast!

But the world had another record breaking day... we've broken the record high THREE times this week. The new high is 17.23°C, over a full degree above the normal for this time of year, 16.22°C.

It's not good. But will humans do a single thing to change the trajectory we are on? Nope! Venus has a runaway greenhouse effect, too, and you know who all lives there. nobody. not even bacteria.

sighs.

∞ Daily 2meter Air Temperature

I don't worry anymore when I only see Falkor's Companion. They are devoted partners, and even if I don't see Falkor, I know she's close by!

Aw! Mama is up with the kids!

The Zucchini plant is just so happy!

The Seven Spot Ladybugs are all over the place today! That's good!

I always leave the lettuces in place when they bolt... The birds will enjoy the seeds when they come out!

Everybody's wet from my watering!

Making sure I stay in my place. :)

I am easily distracted by other people's children!

There are two Mallard Mama's with a single child each.

I make Papa nervous! haha... If he had bothered to help sit on the eggs he would have gotten used to me being around!! :)

Yep, here's Falkor, after all!

Cloudy this morning and the cooler temperatures are such a relief!

The clouds aren't normal for this time of year, but the high today is perfectly, wonderfully normal at 82°F. I'm going to enjoy it to the fullest!!

The mall is on the other side of the bridge, and there's something going on in the extra parking lot. A row of tents and people lined up... when I'm on the way back from my walk, there are literally hundreds of people lined up!

They are using the city buses to ferry people out to the Oregon Country Fair! The bus is free if you have a ticket to the fair, whereas on site parking out there is 15$/day. A great service, but it looks like they need a couple more buses to move people out more quickly!

The spillover at the Delta Ponds is dry of course, and the ponds are shrinking...

Nutrias are unfortunately invasive... But I think they're cute!

There's another one napping in the far pond!!

And also in that far pond... a Green Heron!

Oh my gosh! You see her fluffy hair-do??! She's a fledgling! How cool is that!!

Ha! That neck surprises me every time!

And doesn't she just look like a little kid, gawking at something she's never seen before! *laughs*

I walk out past the 2.25 mile marker. And on the other side of the river, on the path going out to Pluto... the Osprey platform nest is being used!!

Huh! I had no idea! But good to know for next year. Except that it's so far away... far away, walking and too far away for decent photos.

And then on the way back... The same Green Heron fledgling, who has moved to the main pond.

A colourful stand of invasives!

The yellow is Tansy Ragwort, poisonous and kills cows and horses when they eat it. The hot pink is Sweet Pea, toxic but probably won't kill you.

The pale pink on the left is some kind of thistle... we have several natives and invasive thistles here, and I'm not sure how to tell them apart.

∞ Thistle Identification

On the way back from my walk, there was a family of Nutrias in the side pond... three babies and oh my gosh, the cuteness!!

And here's Mama Nutria

Everybody is so cute. I could watch those babies diving all day!

Partner's Mom passed away early this morning.

There are homeless people camped under the bridge where the Barn Swallows are nesting. Here's Mama, resting nearby.

The Striped German Tomato is doing stuff!

This is a new variety for me. It's an heirloom, the tomatoes will ripen to stripes of red and gold, The marbled interior looks beautiful sliced. Complex, fruity flavor and smooth texture.

I can't wait... but it's always Such a Loooong time before tomatoes actually get ripe!

Oh... the two pods on the right in the above photo are Fava Beans, last winters cover crop. I just let them keep growing! Fava tastes like Lima Beans, so I won't be eating any. When they dry out, I'll gather them for planting this year's cover crop!

And this is exciting. I've never had any luck with Delicata... I've planted it in the past but never got any squash to eat.

Well. The Cucumber seedling are still not munched to death by slugs. Maybe they will live? I'm not going to count them yet. But maybe I could look up what type of cucumber I planted. Maybe.

The Spaghetti Squash in the Square are starting to exceed the boundaries of the square!

Aww! There's a Lesser Goldfinch chowing down on a dandelion type plant in my wild area... and they are so focused on the meal, they pretty much ignore me taking their portrait!

Early Girl... not so early! ha. That's okay.

Bull Frog Faiz!

And Mama Mallard with her single child. There are a couple mamas with a single, late duckling.

It's another very nice and normal day, that ends up with a high of 84°. Things are depressing, but I get balanced out with my walk.

Oh my gosh... the Barn Swallow babies are suddenly fat!

Sheesh, you take your eye off of them for two days and everything changes! *laughs* They are growing up so fast!

At the garden, I water and I gather! Yay! The Zuc and Patty Pans are revving up!

I didn't notice at the time, but when I looked at this picture... there's a SunGold ripening in the back!!! Yippee!

And the seedlings that are making the Second Cucumber Empire are still alive!

They are still small, but I'm starting to think the slugs won't eat them. So I've looked up what I planted. They are just simple Sweet Slice Cucumber tender skin, crisp, clean flesh... ... and you'll be smitten by the refreshing flavor.

And! They are just 62 days to harvest, so that puts them at the beginning of September. So there is potential here.

I need some more time outside for mental health, so I extend my walk to the neighborhood beyond the end of the bike path.

Back at the Barn Swallow nest. Okay! Now I can see all three babies!

Oh! We all perk up when a parent flies by!!

No longer so comfortable in there, lots of squirming around!

Always nice to be greeted right outside the door!

Which reminds me. I've not seen Worf the Western Grey Squirrel in ages. That bum, he took over the niche and then abandoned it.

But maybe it's just as well. Western Greys seem to be better suited to the outer edges of urban areas.

Falkor's Companion.

Hi Babies!

So crowded in there... their tail feathers are jammed up against the back wall! I'm thinking they will fledge this week!

Oh dang, this is such a mess...

The sunflower is stunted. The Wax Beans are stunted. I don't know why.

The Comfrey is drooping over the First Lemon Cucumber Empire, and needs to be chopped again.

But today I'm working on the Tofu patch again...

After I cleared out the Borage, Smartweed started growing here.

I don't mind Smartweed. The Community Garden authorities like to pretend it's invasive and advise to get rid of it. But it's actually a native wildflower, and an important part of the ecosystem!

But, again. This is the Tofu patch... not the Smartweed patch! :)

The Sugar Snap Peas are still going strong, tho a couple of the plants have completed their life cycle and died.

It's kind of surprising with all the heat advisories we've had, Peas are a cool weather crop. But I'm thrilled with all the Snap Peas... I eat my fill most every day, and every third day or so I bring home an extra load!

I think this will be the year when I get sick and tired of eating Spaghetti Squash! I'm SO looking forward to it!

When I pulled the hose around to water the stupid Wax Beans in the front of the plot, I noticed a ton of beetles were hanging out on a clump of grass...

They are so beautiful! I wish I was better at identifying bugs, I couldn't figure out what species they are.

This is the Second Cucumber Empire. The First Lemon Cucumber Empire has 7 plants. This one has 3 Lemon Cucumbers, you can see they are flowering. And there are 9 Sweet Slicer seedlings growing in the dirt area. (Yep, I finally counted them.) (Slugs be damned.)

This is somebody else's Sunflower, but the colours are so unique! I love it!

One more look at the Barn Swallow nest.

Oh Hey! Henrietta! (Nov9 note... this is Not-Henrietta!)

Ha, I didn't know which picture I liked better... all those Leaf Shadows! So you get to see both!

These cloudy mornings this summer are so unusual! Normally it's warm and sunny, not a cloud in sight until the rainy season starts up again.

But it's so nice to walk on a cloudy day!! I am def enjoying it!

It's another Not super hot day here... 86°F (normal is 83°) and so I don't have to go nurture and pamper the seedlings at the garden!

I'm heading up Hidden Trail... and it's a relatively boring walk today. Not too many photos. It's kind of a nice change! haha!

Okay, here's a weird thing. These shriveled things are Osoberries. I've never gotten to eat an osoberry because the wildlife eats them all before they even ripen up! It's extremely odd that this tree has so many berries past their Best By Date!

The last time I was up here, I walked beyond the top of the hiking trail, following some vultures. There was a dead deer by the side of a new road.

This time, I wanted to see if the deer's skull or any bones were left. Nope. The city must have removed the dead one.

But I did find a dead bunny, again by the side of the new road and obviously hit by a car.

What is this? Dead Animal Alley? This is a twisty dead end... why are people driving so fast the wildlife can't get out of the way in time? WHY are humans so evil?!

I finally chopped down the Comfrey again... but this spot in the garden still looks as pathetic as ever. *laughs*

That leaning Sunflower in the front, comes up to my knee. And the stupid Wax Beans behind it are even shorter! And then the First Lemon Cucumber Empire is along the right side of the pic.

I finished plucking out the Smartweed from the Tofu patch, so the little soybean plants have some space to grow again...

That's mostly Borage around the edges of the patch. But, upper left is last winter's Fava. And in front of that are a couple Sweet Potato vines. They seem to be doing okay this year... The past couple years I've not gotten any potatoes for my effort.

Today's Harvest... There's actually another zuc I could pick but my back pack is small and it probably wouldn't fit! ha!

This is only the biggest of the Spaghetti Squash fruits! And still growing! When I harvest it, I'll have to bring my big back pack to carry it home. I wonder how heavy it will get!

The Delicata is starting to vine into the Zuc's territory. Hopefully we can all get along!

Ack! Somebody is munching in the Second Cucumber Empire. Bah. But at least it's not the slugs, razing them to the ground!

Oh, nice! Finally able to get a pic of Falkor's Squirrel!

Hi Falkor!

Barn Swallow babies are Gone. And I'm SOOO disappointed! Yesterday I wasn't able to take pics because there were homeless people hanging out under the bridge. I didn't want to disturb them, so I walked on by. And Missed Babies last day in the nest. Wai!

I walk back and forth along the creek, looking for the fledglings. They should be here, somewhere! But I can't find them and I go on with my day.

OH!! ... Here they are!!! All standing on the Community Garden fence! One...

... Two, Three!

YAY! Parents are swooping over the Community Garden, catching bugs to share with the kids. The kids are watching.

They may be out of the nest, but they are still babies. And babies need to nap!

Bahaha! They pretend like they're looking around!

Don't fall over, my dear... there's no nest to catch you here, sleepy baby!

It just cracks me up.

On with my walk... Bull Frog Faiz in his usual spot.

Aw, Blazey's tribute is down to one bunch of silk flowers...

... and the usual handful of dry cat kibble! I wonder if Blazey's Squirrel is still eating it.

A while ago, I came across a little mini-park in the neighborhood beyond the end of the bike path. I thought I would look for it again and make a note of the cross streets so I could google it... There was a homeless guy sleeping on the bench, so I didn't go thru the park...

∞ Jefferson Westside Neighbors, Wayside Park

Oh, hey! I've not seen this before!

This is awesome! And this is the same neighborhood that made the little Wayside Park!

∞ Eugene neighborhood getting a community garden

The Barn Swallow fledglings aren't on the Community Garden fence when I come back... I wonder if they've moved into the garden? I study all perching places as I walk by.

Yep! There they are!

I debate going into the garden. After all, this will be the last time I see the babies. But no. We've had a good run, and I'm happy their parents have done such a good job!

Over the counter birth control pills!!!

YAY YAY YAY!!!

∞ FDA approves Opill, the first daily birth control pill without a prescription

Opill will be available early 2024... for ANYONE to purchase!!!

oh yeah!

And not to be a wet blanket, this is good news, but it's only a small step towards getting women and people with uteruses the rights we need.

The right to bodily autonomy has been taken from so many people here in the United States, and it's despicable.

Until we are all free, we are none of us free.
~~ Emma Lazarus

The weather has been heating up again, and we've got another heat advisory for the weekend. Today is 95° and there's a chance to break 100 tomorrow. Normal for this time of year 84°.

But the extra heat is so good for the garden... as long as I keep everybody hydrated! For the most part, I don't mind going to the garden every day to water. So far the heat advisories have just lasted less than five days, and then I can go back to watering every other day.

Here's a Scrub Jay, standing on one of the Bluebird nesting boxes attached to the Community Garden fence. Nobody used the nest boxes this year, for whatever reason.

But the Bluebirds still visit the Comm Garden to catch bugs!

Oh foo! One of the Lemon Cucs has shriveled and died.

well, that's a bummer. The First Lemon Cucumber Empire now has six plants instead of seven.

Here's today's harvest... after I ate my fill of Sugar Snap Peas! I think they definitely taste better at the garden. They seem to lose a little something when I bring them home!

And that Green Patty Pan... was bitter! Bleh! You know what? Life is too short to be eating bitter patty pans! *laughs* After the first little meal, I tossed the rest into the compost bin!

The Early Girl got kind of a tenuous start... It took a long while to really start growing. And I couldn't figure out if I was giving it too much water or not enough water! ha! But now it's gotten to a decent size, and making tomatoes out at the edges!

This monster just keeps growing. At some point, I'm going to have to name it because it just has... so much presence! *laughs*

You can't really pick Spaghetti Squash before the vine dies... I've tried it before and when you cook the squash, it just turns to mush instead of the lovely spaghetti strings. So I just have to wait and watch this thing grow to massive proportions.

I left a couple volunteer tomatillos when I weeded the Second Cucumber Empire... That's the seedling in the bottom right:

Last year I had a volunteer Tomatillo plant, growing here behind the Wax Beans (that were normal sized last year!). Unfortunately, the nights got cold before I was able to harvest any of the fruits. So I've never eaten any!

This year I will def eat some Tomatillos... there's a volunteer behind the Tofu patch that's big and fruiting right now! I am looking forward to trying them!!

This is the Striped German Tomato... and I have concerns!

These tomato blooms did not get fertilized. Even tho the plant has a SunGold on either side, and a couple borages in front, and the happy wild area behind (evidenced by the dandelion-type seeds scattered here!!)... all of whom are getting their flowers fertilized.

There are a couple tomatoes setting on... but there are a lot of dying flowers like this. A lot. So? Are the Bees avoiding the plant? Or are they just distracted by the happy goodness all around the plant? Unknown!

Woohoo! The first couple of SunGolds!!!

Okay, they weren't quite ripe. *laughs* But they were still very good!

And the Tofu patch.

That's the Sweet Potatoes in the upper left. It's taken them a good while to get growing, too. But the vines seem to be doing their thing now!

And here's that big Tomatillo behind the Tofu patch, that I mentioned... It is very happy!

The first baby Butternut! So cute!

One of the Delicatas... there are five or six fruits growing on this plant!

More Spaghetti Squashes. I think I have two plants in the Garden Square, but I'm not sure how many dozens of fruits are coming on. It's crazy!

And heading home... yep, today's harvest just barely fit into my small back pack!

Not mentioned today...

• Sugar Snap Peas... still producing. and I've started a second Snap Pea patch from seed!
• Stupid Wax Beans... Stunted. They might be 18inches tall, but that's probably exaggerating! They are making Wax Beans, tho, so that's something!

so, I'm futzing around at the garden... watering, watering in the heat. It does hit 100°F today!

And then I notice this!!!

Lemon Cucumber! Grow! Grow! Grow!!! I will not complain a single complaint about the 100° if you just Grow!!! *laughs*

Here's the Tofu patch, with the Sweet Potatoes on the right.

That rather taller plant that is right underneath the com is a volunteer amaranth that I didn't weed away. It's a common weedy plant at the Community Garden, and I let a few grow here and there since the birds will eat the seeds.

Well. Most of the seeds! Can't have volunteer plants if they eat all the seeds! :)

Here's what I've gathered today. Two yellow zucs and two wax beans! ha. I won't get a normal number of beans from the stupid stunted plants... but I'll get some!

On with my walk... It's hot enough that the dragonflies are enjoying the day! Here's a female Common Whitetail.

And here's a male.

And here's Faiz the Bull Frog, who would undoubtedly love to eat some dragonflies!

I'm heading home, and I hear a loud SPLASH from the creek. It sounds nothing like a duck coming in for a landing, but there's trees in the way so I can't see what's happened.

I backtrack a little bit. Oh my gosh, Henrietta! (Nov9 note... this is Not-Henrietta!)

Poor little Crawdad.

And then she eats him down whole... you can see the bulge in her neck as poor Crawdad goes down!!

Oh my gosh! It's another Green Heron fledgling!

Oh, nice! They caught someone!

Say! They are perty good at this hunting thing!

So cool! Here's a close-up.

Oh! This is Hattie... and his head tilt has gone away! No trace of it! Yay! I'm so glad he has survived whatever his problem was!!!

Side Note: I had named Hattie with the Head Tilt when he was still a baby. I didn't know he was a boy at that point, but now his name has stuck! *laughs*

The wind is making the cirrus clouds interesting today!!

It's another hot day, 95°F... But at least it's down from the 100° of yesterday. And after a cooler day tomorrow, the forecast is calling for low 90s for the rest of the week. I can deal with that!

Okay. I'm at the garden. Here's the front Garden Square...

and here's that Monster Spaghetti Squash!

I don't know how many pounds it is, but I was surprised when I tried to lift it! It'll be a prize winner, for sure. If only the Community Garden gave out prizes! *laughs*

And more Spaghetti Squashes setting up!

Oh. I didn't notice at the time, but you see the brown dots on the over turned leaf on the right? Beetle eggs. No telling if they are evil Striped Cucumber beetles, nice and cute Spotted Cucumber Beetles, or our newest addition: Squash Bugs... who are a type of Stink Bug.

I've seen a few Squash Bugs, but they haven't ever been any trouble. The Comm Garden authorities demand we murder the Squash Bugs on sight. Like the poor bugs of the world don't have enough problems as it is. Sheesh.

Oh Cool! A butterfly!

This is a Painted Lady, and they are common all across the US.

I must have accidentally hit him with some water, because he was just sitting, flapping his wings now and then. So thrilled that I get to watch him for a while!

So amazing!

A cooler day today, 83°F makes for a very pleasant and wonderful summer day! I head out to the River!

The massive Heritage Cherry Tree at the Rose Garden...

I hang out at the bridge for a while... Listening to the river and there was a good, cooling breeze. It's just blissful!

The Cliff Swallow nests... all done now.

The Sun and one of the sculptures at Alton Baker park...

Heh. Back in the days before I picked up my walking hobby, I would park at the Rose Garden and walk over here to Alton Baker. It's a bit over a mile to the Sun, at the edge of the park.

I'd walk thru but would have to stop... even tho the path, continuing on, looked so wonderful! It goes thru the trees and eventually the forest at Whilamut Natural Area.

But back then, I had to turn around. Those days, I didn't have the time or the energy to keep walking. Working full time and more, there just wasn't time enough for it.

But Now!! HA!

Now I'm coming thru Alton Baker on my way back to the car at the Rose Garden... I've already walked three or even five miles! Getting here means I'm in my last half hour or so, of my walk!

*laughs* Just livin' my best life, here! :)

I just love the Tofu patch... slowly but surely the Soybean plants are getting taller and bigger and taking up more space.

I haven't gotten a tofu press yet, trying to decide which one I want!

Okay. Here's what I'm up to, today. I am going over the border to kill some of the neighbor's Horseradish again.

That post on the left marks the four corners of our plots. My plot at the bottom with borage on the right. And Probably Not Evil Neighbor at the top with that stupid Horseradish.

I used my dandelion tool to get as deep as I could with the roots. They'll regrow, of course, because I can never get deep enough... Horseradish roots can grow up to six feet underground! But the dandelion tool helps to get a little bit deeper than just breaking them off at the surface.

oh yeah, I love my dandelion tool! I never dig up dandelions anymore, tho! When I discovered that dandelions were edible, I'd pick the blooms and bring them home for guinea pigs to eat. I don't like to eat them, myself, but it was a nice treat for Piper and Dawn. But now the piggies have gone, I let the few dandelions in my plot go to seed and the Lesser Goldfinches eat them up!

Anyway... here's the After...

And again, I don't mind cleaning up this little bit of the neighbor's plot... he is a clueless newbie who doesn't understand my annoyance at the Horseradish. And I will take a clueless newbie over the old Evil Neighbor, any day!! I'm so glad that guy is gone.

Community Garden Pet Peeves

• Leaving the gate unlocked. Oh, man, this annoys me! The lock is there for a reason! The Community Garden gets vandalized from time to time and this is just a stupid effing invitation. Lock the damn gate!
• Locking the lock by spinning one number, one click only. Please, just give all the numbers a good spin! I know you're trying to be nice to the next person who comes along... But even a child could figure out the entrance code by looking at what you've left, just a couple times!
• This...

oh my gosh, this pisses me off to no end. You see the posts. You are supposed to keep all of your stuff inside the borders of your plot.

These jerks not only have a compost bin out in the pathway... They are growing potatoes out in the pathway!!! WTF, you annoying humans. Potatoes. In the path. Gah.

Okay. I just had to get that out of my system! *laughs*

Another hot day, it's 93°F, and so I head out to water the garden.

Ha! These Patty Pans had to grow together!

The stunted bean plants, wax beans all but dragging on the ground! sheesh.

I have been eating a SunGold, here and there. I can't wait for the ripening to rev up!!

uhhh. That one in the middle? With the heart shaped leaves? And also that little one, bottom right? hm. They do not look like cucumber plants...

I vaguely remember I also planted some Crookneck Squash seeds here, too. Ha! They are messing up the Second Cucumber Empire!

In mid-June, I had started a new Sugar Snap Pea place, next to the first one. And the last couple days I've been weeding grass out of it.

Sheesh, that was a lot of grass. I also gave them a tomato cage. They look a bit pathetic right now, hopefully they will perk up, now that their roots have room to grow!

But look at what I found under the edge of the old Snap Pea patch...

Munched by slugs.

Another weird, cloudy morning! And the day stayed cooler at 85°F. Def nicer to walk under the clouds! (and def nicer when I don't have to water at the garden every day!)

There were some Turkey Vultures about! I wonder who died.

Aww! The three nutria babies are still hanging out in the side pond, with their Mama! Just a little bit bigger now!

*laughs* So cute! Today I decided to walk over to the other Delta Ponds, across the street.

You know... I kinda wish these ponds had names! There's ponds over here, split up by the Riverbank Bike Path. And there's ponds over there, on the other side of the road, AND there's a couple more ponds on the other side of the highway. I don't know how many separate ponds there are, but they are all just called the Delta Ponds. And it just makes it difficult when you're referring to them!

Oh my gosh! Is this a Green BEE??!

Wow! So Beautiful!!

There are several camped out in the chicory blooms! Busy adding pollen to their pantaloons!

They are Virescent Green Metallic Bees... a little, native sweat bee! Always happy to learn about a new bug!! Especially one so stunning!

Mmmm! Blackberries! The ones I could reach weren't quite ripe. A bit tart, but good! Too bad we can't eat stuff from all our invasive plants.

Speaking of invasives... this thing has almost covered some of the ponds, back here. The leaves are very small, just a couple of inches wide, maybe. And the flowers are tiny... I wish I could have gotten closer for better photos.

Hmm. The one in front is a female Wood Duck. But that red eyed creature behind her?

Oh! Hey! I didn't know Wood Ducks did eclipse plummage!

So with Mallards, the males have a catastrophic molt after the breeding season... they lose their flight feathers and they can't fly. So they have brown feathers and almost look like females, so they can hide better while they are vulnerable.

I didn't realize that other species did this as well! Learning all kinds of good stuff today!

Ha. A Napping Nutria!

And a Napping Great Blue Heron!

And a Non-napping Green Heron!

What the. Damnit. Yet another invasive. SIGHS.

For the Love of Nature... Keep your murdering cats inside!

And then as I'm walking back over the river, I see a very injured Canada Goose. Right wing feathers out of position and gone and obviously painful by the way she's twisted around, paddling down the river.

She won't live. And that's just a crappy end to a pretty good walk.

The clouds were breaking up and gone pretty quickly. It's another overly warm one, today at 91°F / 33°C

The new Sugar Snap Peas are recovering nicely from the intense weeding I did to them on Wednesday.

Today's harvest includes some wax beans... These'll be good in my Breakfast Casserole Bowl!

I'm also munching on Sugar Snap Peas as I go about my garden duties. It's so nice that they are still alive!

Thank you, Bumblebee! She's pollinating the volunteer Tomatillo behind the tofu patch.

Honey Bee: Excuse me! I'd really like a turn at that Borage bloom...

Honey Bee: Hey! Hello?! Excuse Me! *poke poke*

Honey Bee: Oh Yeah! Finally!

This is not a great photo, but I like those colours and that red stick he's standing on!!

Oh wow! A new dragonfly! Look at those eyes! He's a Blue Dasher!

Oh good! Blazey's tribute has been restored.

The Lane County Fair is being held at the events center. Since the Ferris Wheel and other rides are set up in the parking lot, they are using the back fields for parking... and a bunch of people on horseback are telling drivers exactly where to park!

There was a shooting incident at the Fair a couple years ago, so now they've got a clear bag policy. You're only allowed to bring one small, clear bag.

AND in the news from last night...
oh hey, I just noticed this.

∞ Police investigating shooting outside Lane County Fair
A dispute in the parking lot Friday night, multiple shots fired, one person taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Sighs.

The first shooting incident happened in 2021, Saturday 25 July 4pm. An adult and two juveniles, 14 and 16, got into an altercation, during which the 16yo pulled out a gun. Someone tried to intervene and was assaulted by friends of the kids. And then the stupid kid accidentally shot someone in the crowd. She lived. But of course the stupid kid has just destroyed his entire life. SIGHS.

Anyway. Back to my walk.

And in the neighborhood behind the Events Center... someone has set up a cooling station!! Oh my gosh, this is awesome!

The sign says Free Otter Pops... and I was tempted to go get one! haha, it's just hot again today, 93° and how do you resist an Otter Pop?

And one more dragonfly!

Out the door is this disabled fellow...

I'm not sure what is wrong with him but he gimps along with his tail held out to the right. When I met him as a baby, I didn't think he would live... but here we are, months later!

He's getting a name today: Scrappy!

On to the garden. Where this makes me very happy...

And the little UFO shaped Patty Pans are so cute!

And YAY! I get to pick the very first Lemon Cucumbers!!

And after I've put these into my small backpack... I saw I had room for one more Lemon Cucumber that was mostly ripe!

*laughs* It just gets tiresome to go to the garden all the time! So it's nice to just walk right on by!

Walking right on by the Bluebirds on the Community Garden fence!

This is a Mama and a fledgling! I was just thinking... this is the first year that the Bluebirds did not use any of the nesting boxes at the Garden. They have def nested nearby, tho, since there are several families who are feeding kids here!

I walked thru the field behind the events center, that they used as a parking lot. And I gotta say, the clean up crew did an amazing job!! In years past there would always be dropped food and food containers and all kinds of trash in the back fields for weeks until it eventually got tidied. But today there is nothing of the sort!

Kudos!

Every time I walk thru the neighborhoods beyond the bike path, I take different streets. And today I discovered the most amazing hell strip!

A hell strip is that narrow space between the sidewalk and street curb, sometimes also called a devil strip. Maintenance is the responsibility of the property owner, even tho it's technically public space, along with the sidewalk.

Because the sidewalk separates the hell strip from the lawn, the sprinklers don't usually hit it. So most hell strips just end up a dried up crust, decorated with some dead grass.

But this one! Wow, it is overflowing with life and beautiful flowers blooming all over the place! Wow!

Heading back, a closeup of the cute lil minnows!

Yep, a second day in a row away from the Community Garden... it's okay because a touch of rain came out of the cloudy sky this morning!

Aww! A family of turkeys hanging out near the Riverbank Path... a Mama and four kids!

oh! This is funny and interesting.

This is the platform nest at the Downtown Riverfront Park that got abandoned. And that is a juvenile Osprey who definitely was not born here!

I wonder what she's thinking. :)

I wish I could capture the magic of the river, here at this walking bridge...

Remember that crazy Canada Goose who tried to nest on an island in the rain. The big tuft in the center is that island now!

hmm. The platform nest across from the Rose Garden has a visitor as well!

After taking two days off from the garden, I return to this and I can't help but laugh!

What you can kind of see here is a decimated, stunted Sunflower. It's been pushed over and the blooms have been chewed off and carted away... This was def done by a squirrel!

Being stunted, it was probably a lot easier for the squirrel to de-head. The other stunted sunflower has been left alone, for now.

I take two more steps... Oh, Mx Snail! You must not munch on my beautiful Spaghetti Squash!

And a couple more steps... Oh Yeah!

And in the back... Oh, sheesh. The Volunteer Tomatillos that I didn't weed out are trying to take over the Second Cucumber Empire! *laughs*

So, I'm watering. Our garden is filled with such wild flower goodness, there are bees galore. I love this! But you can't really point the water in any direction without accidentally hitting bees.

They try to climb up into the sunshine and when I see them, I try to avoid spraying them more as they buzz their wings to dry off. I don't want to make their life any more difficult than it already is!

Movement catches my eye, and there's a Honey Bee struggling inside a Zucchini blossom. Ack! The blossom is filled with water and the bee can't get purchase to climb out, and keeps falling back into the water.

I don't want to break the blossom by dumping the water out, so I reach down and tell the bee to grab onto my finger.

heh. And then I think about how this must look to the bee... huge, unidentifiable bit of human coming down? It must be terrifying!

But the bee get's what I'm saying, and after a couple tries she latches on to my finger and I pull her out! Yay!

She stands on my hand, and I keep her in the sun while I continue watering with my other hand. She buzzes her wings and it kind of tickles! She stays on my hand, walking about and buzzing, for ten or fifteen minutes!

Today's excessive harvest!

Yeah! Look at those Lemon Cucumbers! And still some Sugar Snap Peas coming. And the Wax Beans.

And this is the first batch of SunGolds that I'm bringing home... I've been eating a few, here and there, directly off the plant for a week or so.

And, yeah. It's too much for the little backpack! I can't quite zip it closed, but I make it work!

I am going past the Little Free Pantry on my way up the hill, and so I grab a package of menstrual pads to contribute.

They are already setting up for a fun kid day in the park! I love my city... This park is not only one of the places where kids get a free meal, but it's also a Fun For All site. I wonder what kind of activities they have planned for the kids today!

Oh shoot. The Little Free Pantry doesn't have much in it. That's a bummer, but probably because people are using it since they're here to drop off their kids for the day.

Last year, the neighbors were putting in treats for the kids, and those went pretty quickly of course! I hope that's happening this year, too.

Oh! Little damselflies are all over the place!

Vivid Dancers!

Oh, haha! Wings in all directions!

I get to the top of the trail, and for once there aren't any dead animals up here.

Coming back down, aw! Mama Turkey with seven children!

I went thru the Wax Beans, and wow... those plants aren't hardly 2 feet tall, and look at what I got! ha!

The other day, the Early Girl tomato plant was leaning... it had gotten too big for the small tomato cage and it flopped over. So, I set it back up and put another tomato cage behind it to hold it up.

The next day, it had flopped in a different direction. So I set up another tomato cage to hold it up in that way.

Today I found a big branch, heavy with tomatoes, dragging on the ground. This one was hard to fix, because I had to stick the branch inside the tomato cage, while at the same time trying to push the legs of the cage into the ground at the proper angle.

I scratched up the heavy branch a good bit, but at least I didn't break it! And now this monstrous plant is being held up with four tomato cages. It's got about a zillion tomatoes growing on it but they are all still green, green, green!

They will probably all ripen at the exact same time. sighs! It's a problem because I don't do any preservation... we don't have any freezer space, and I'm not interested in canning since we don't have air conditioning! Sighs!

Looks like there might be plenty of Tomatillos as well, from all the volunteers in the Second Cucumber Empire!

Tofu patch is still growing and being happy...

And there's a volunteer Amaranth growing at the edge.

I never gather the seeds from the Amaranths that pop up... the volunteers are usually pretty small, and the seeds will be eaten by the birds and other wildlife!

Oh, nice! I've got some Heal-All in my wild area!

The garden plot does have one, perfectly normal, big and tall, volunteer sunflower that's blooming! I had to hold the camera over my head to get this photo!

That's my favorite kind of sunflower... with the rusty red colour on the petals.

Heading home... here's Henrietta. (Nov9 note... this is Not-Henrietta!)

And here's a new fellow. He's being loud, mooing at the world. I'm kinda surprised that Henrietta doesn't go downstream and gobble him up! Maybe he's too big? Maybe she doesn't like the taste of Bull Frogs?

He's so green and spotted! Faiz is a boring brown compared to this one! Here's a photo to compare...

And Later Today...

So! I went to upload the blog posts I had typed, and something wasn't right. The FTP program acted like it was working, but the new posts didn't show up.

My website host had upgraded the server, and switched it over last night. Great. That's just great. I'm so glad good things are happening!

And so I *Patiently* and *Carefully* re-read the informational email. No help. I clicked a couple things and went to the wiki for an answer to my little problem.

The wiki didn't have my answers either. But I kept digging thru the dashboard, and ...

huh. For some reason, the username for my ftp had defaulted to an old, random login on the new server. I had created that username for someone else and so the permissions were extremely limited. Not to mention I made it about a million years ago, internet time!

*laughs* Why?

I try to switch it over to my actual login which has all the permissions. but of course the changes don't go thru right away.

I want them to go thru Right NOW!

So I keep fiddling with it, doing the same thing five or six times over, because the changes don't stick and all I want is for it to work... please just work, already!!

ha.

Yeah. I just needed to give it like 15 minutes. and then it was fine!

It's another perfectly beautiful summer day and at 84° I'm skipping the garden watering again! I walk right on past, and at the events center...

Oh my gosh! There are Vultures Everywhere!

There are dozens! In the trees, on the ground. In the sky over here, and over there. What is going on??!

They are so awesome! I love vultures!

This one caught my attention. She was flapping her wings, trying to get her balance... kind of like Falkor does.

Oh my gosh! She's missing a foot!

It is a perfectly healed stump. And she's putting some weight on it. huh. I wonder what happened.

There was a guy walking his little dog, asking if those were hawks! haha! Think this one was a bit offended at being called a hawk!

I continued on with my walk. And when I came back, all the Vultures had cleared out! I guess they were done with their meeting.

This is Wayside Park, the little street-side park at an intersection, tucked next to the creek which is channeled into a canal.

It seems like a good place to hang out for a few. It's nice and shady, the flowers are lovely and there's not much traffic going by.

Later today: Some boxes have arrived today from the estate of Partner's Mom. It feels weird, but I've started going thru them.

It's another delightful day with a high of 84°F and I was going to skip watering at the garden again. Except I've run out of SunGolds at home, and so I was going to stop in and harvest a couple...

But I get there and -- Oh, crud! The First Lemon Cucumber Empire is Wilted and pathetic looking! GAH! I turn on the water and hope I haven't killed anyone. oh, it's so pathetic. I dump water on the Second Cucumber Empire as well.

Dang it. I am so mad at myself! And what would have happened if I didn't come in to get some SunGolds?

Well. I get my stupid SunGolds, and a few other things...

And then I look around and take pictures to cheer myself up.

Yay! There's a second Butternut coming on!

And Yay, some more! The Striped German is starting to get some colour!

Aww! A cute little House Finch Fledgling... has the baby feather fluff on her head and some obvious gape! Sweet youngster, just out of the nest!

And out. I feel bad about my stupidity, for not watering enough. Lesson learned.

Back on the path, and oh, nice! A Green Heron!

And Falkor...

It's good to see her for once... lately I've been hearing her and her companion -- Caw, caw, cawing about something interesting -- but they are hidden, up in the trees. Or they are flying away just as I'm coming around the corner.

Back at home, I've started going thru boxes from Partner's Mom's apartment. I had requested any quilts and blankets... even when I don't know the history of a particular quilt, they are special to me!

But check this thing out!

ha! Those leaves are ridiculously dark for that design! *laughs* It's kind of growing on me, tho. :)

But all that embroidery! Each of the dogwood petals has that bit of dark pink. That took some serious time!

Oh good! These guys are repairing one of the bike path's lamps...

Last year some assholes decided to vandalize the bike path by pushing over the light posts. The poles are made of fiberglass, and when they are pushed over, the material bends and comes apart at it's breaking point about two feet off the ground. I don't know how much force that takes, but I'd assume it would take more than one person.

All together, there were probably at least 10 toppled street lamps and it was depressing thinking about the extra money that the Parks Department had to waste in fixing them all.

This was, hopefully, the last one to be pushed over. It happened earlier this summer, and no other lamps have been vandalized since. I'm hoping our assholes found a more productive hobby!

Okay. I'm at the garden plot and assessing the damage.

The First Lemon Cucumber Empire looks mostly good. Some of the leaves around the edges are still droopy, but probably 90% of the Empire has perked up and looks good and happy.

The Second Cucumber Empire ... sighs.

That in the middle is the third of three adult Lemon Cucumber plants. It's wilted to death, and the second one behind it doesn't look so good either.

But all of the newer plantings - Slicer Cucumber and Crookneck Squashes - are fine. But they aren't old enough to start producing yet, and in fact there might not be enough warm weather left for them to produce anything.

Sighs... Poor Second Cucumber Empire. It got downgraded to a colony when it only had 3 growing Lemon Cucumber plants. And now it's been reduced to a bunch of probably useless baby squash plants! Maybe the Tomatillo volunteers will save the day.

It looks like the Delicata vine is starting to come to the end of it's lifetime...

Delicatas have traits of both Summer Squash - you can eat the skin - and Winter Squash - you have to dig the seeds out. So I had to look up when I could pick them.

But it turns out they are more like Winter Squashes after all. You must wait for the vine to die before harvesting them.