2023

Saw the little head-tilt baby squirrel again this morning when I went to drop off the outgoing mail in the box...

If I see her again, I'll call her Hattie. :)

Back in the end of March, there was a little blurb in the newspaper, about Seattle Audubon changing their name!

∞ A New Name for an Inclusive Future Changing to Birds Connect Seattle

I think this is fabulous. John Audubon was not a good person, despite all the art he created.

Portland Audubon had already mentioned they were thinking about a name change at the beginning of March...

∞ FAQs About Portland Audubon Decision to Change the Name Audubon

Though Portland's name change seemed a little dependant on the National Audubon Society changing their name.

And, unfortunately the National Society will not be changing their name.

∞ National Audubon Society Announces Decision to Retain Current Name Organization commits to new $25 million fund to expand Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging work, a decision that follows a thorough and inclusive process to examine the legacy of its namesake.

I have to admit, I'm disappointed.

I get there's been over a hundred years of branding associated with the word Audubon.

And it's costly to re-brand. This is the one thing that really makes sense to me... Spending a ton of money on new logos and stationery and website domains and and and! Obviously, your name is on everything and everything will have to be changed! When yeah, all that money should be for helping birds and the environment.

I get it. But I'm still disappointed.

And here's the local chapter, Lane Audubon, that I belong to...

∞ LCAS Thoughts on Audubon Name Change Conundrum

Ha, turns out both names on our county chapter are bad...

∞ How Oregon named a county after a Confederate sympathizer

Sheesh.

It's gotten chilly again after the short hot spell. Today's high is 62°F where the normal is 65°.

I stop in at the Community Garden... and look at how the slugs are eating my poor stupid Snap Peas. Typical. But they haven't munched them all to death, so that's nice.

The Apple Tree outside the Garden is busy being beautiful.

This is a stray cat who lives in my neighborhood. She's been around for ages, and the neighbor calls her Frodo. And yep, she's only got one eye.

The yellow is invasive Buttercups, the purple is native Camas Lily.

Oh my gosh, this is too cute!

Cute. :( But these are just Pre-Dead Ducklings, with H5N1 killing them all. sighs.

SIGHS!!

I am feeling crazy again, about all the photos... I feel compelled to take pics of every random thing. And look! They are all so beautiful.

There's just so many. It's difficult... No, that's not the word. It's Time Consuming to deal with.

And it makes me feel crazy.

I took 319 photos today. I sorted them down to 42 that I like and have the best focus and everything. And now, there are 17 photos in this blog post.

Oh my gosh, I LOVE the colours here with this Star Magnolia...

*laughs* I was taking pics of Self Heal...

And then I noticed the Banana Slug!!!

And this! Can Witch Hazel be pink?? Yes! Chinese Fringe Flower!

I had to wander thru the whole forest, but I've finally found some wildlife! :)

Another depressing batch of newborn ducklings today.

They all look fine. But I know I won't see any of them again...

I've probably seen about a dozen Mama Mallards. All with many newborn babies. I've posted most of them here.

And I haven't yet seen ANY older babies.

Do the math... there's prob been 100 or more ducklings born along the two mile stretch of bike path that I walk regularly. I should be seeing loads of older kids.

Should. but I've not seen one.

Ugh.

And then I notice dozens of Lady Bugs on the Camas Lilies... All sleeping because it's only about 50°F this morning. Later it warms up to 61° but normal for this time of year is 66°.

I rescue a worm from the sidewalk, but didn't notice this bug until I looked at the pics. Bug is very interested in what is going on... I hope he's not a carnivorous bug who is fixin' to eat my rescued worm!

Oh Kitty. You are very beautiful. But I wish you were an indoor cat.

I stop in at the garden and see the slugs have started munching the lettuce to death. sheesh.

Oh! I hadn't noticed that there was Crimson Clover in the wild area that was under the row covers all winter...

The blue-ish flowers are borage. Just to the left of the clover is a little Persian Speedwell. and the bottom right corner is Dead Nettle. I am quite pleased with the happy diversity growing here!

Oh, Hey! Here's someone new!

This is a Chipping Sparrow, here for the summer! Cool!

And here's a blurry pic of our Wood Ducks. They've been nesting in the area for a couple years now, but lost their babies last year to Avian Flu... I'm not sure if they will stick around this year for a repeat of the same.

Sighs.

Hi Mama!

There are two youngster squirrels, one of whom is Hattie with the slight head-tilt... I've seen both of them the last couple days, but neither has stopped to look at me. So I'm not exactly sure if I'm actually seeing Hattie or not.

Which is fine. I do not want to get attached.

Today I decide to follow the green line! Here's where it turns south from the Events Center, off the path where I usually walk...

There's a pedestrian light to get across the busy street and I use it. Then I follow the line into a quiet neighborhood. This is a new place to walk for me, so I get to look at different things!

The Green Line kind of zig zags thru the neighborhoods, heading southwest.

The line goes west for a block or so... and then ends at a wood chip trail in Westmoreland park. Well, that's not very exciting. haha.

I walk all the way around the park, to see if the line picks up again on the other side. But nope. That was it!

Maybe some other day I will check out the Green Line at the other end, where it starts at the river near the Riverplay park. From there, it must go thru downtown and then west a couple miles to where I walk.

But. Knowing where the line begins and ends... doesn't really solve the mystery of why it's there! :)

What the...? Why are you here, White Crown? Don't you want to be in Canada for nesting? It's May! You should be nesting!

This one is thinking about nesting...

You see?! It takes two to make a nest! :)

Oh Steller Jay. Why can't you just stand there and Look at the camera??

Oh the colours!

And on with my walk along the river.

I only see the bump of what may be a head at the Osprey platform nest across from the Rose Garden. Are they finally sitting on eggs?

And Dang it, I can't see anyone at the Bald Eagle nest either.

The clouds break up and the next batch of clouds rolls in!

And the Downtown Riverfront Osprey platform nest? Oh no! It's too quiet.

But... This is what they've been dealing with thru the week...

Sighs. I think they've abandoned it. I wonder if they found a new place. Do they even have time to build up a new nest? Will they ever return to this one?

Sighs! Such a bummer.

Well. Here's somebody who's glad those big bad raptors are gone! haha!

Oh my gosh. The sound of the river going over rocks here at the bridge is just amazing. I could stand here all day and just listen!

And back, across from the Rose Garden... Hey! You there! Are you going to put some eggs in that nest soon??!

Heritage Cherry Tree in the Rose Garden is done blooming.

The Leaning Tree.

I only catch a quick glimpse of the Wood Ducks before they high tail it!

More newborn ducklings. sighs.

The bit of sun warms things up to almost normal temperatures today... It's 66°F today and normal is 67°.

Chilly again. High today is 56°F, and normal is 67°! With the rain since Friday night... and all this morning, and more throughout the day... pretty unusual in May... but there's still a bit of a puddle at the nearby wet prairie.

But the forecast for this weekend is 90°F so we might be done with these beautiful dreary days.

Well Now! Some non-newborns!!! Oh my gosh, this is SO encouraging!

Did I just get lucky to see them again before they die of H5N1? Could they be immune??! Oh my gosh, it is just so amazing to see ducklings after their first day!

*laughs* I was so flabbergasted about seeing older ducklings, I never got around to counting them. But maybe ... Maybe! I will see them again!!

I walk a different way thru the neighborhoods beyond the Events Center, and find this lovely mini-park on the corner of an intersection near the creek...

Hi Mama!

A little extra sun warms things up to perfectly normal temps today: 67°/43°F. The 90° weekend is still in the forecast so I am consciously enjoying the last of the cool weather!

Arg. More newborn ducklings.

Even with the appearance of slightly older ducklings, yesterday... the sight of newborn ducklings fills me with dread. sighs.

∞ NPR: The FDA considers first birth control pill without a prescription

This has been a long time, coming. And honestly, I'm not going to hold my breath or get my hopes up again....

They pretended this was going to happen last year, Static8, Oct24 #FreeThePill. And it didn't happen. Because making things easier for women and people with uteruses, just isn't a thing in the US.

*grinding teeth in anger*

Oh. And did you read the NPR article?

But groups like the Catholic Medical Association are opposed

Since WHEN do we care what Catholics say about sexual or reproductive health??? Haven't they done enough damage?

And then, just to make me screaming mad with their nonsense...

and that skipping the requirement to see a doctor would harm women's health in other ways. 'It eliminates the need to see a physician[...] for young ladies to see a physician for the prescription,'

Young Ladies? Well. Eff You, you misogynistic, paternalistic piece of shit. P.O.S.!

This is nothing but a messed up desire for control. Treating everyone who needs birth control... EVERYONE ... like Young Ladies who need to be checked in a medical office every three months just so we can live our life?

Can you imagine forcing Young Gentlemen to spend an hour or more at a clinic every three months, for 30+ years of their life? uh huh.

Now I love my birth control. I had major issues with my parts and my periods and dysphoria. And birth control has fixed or helped considerably with all this.

So, yeah. I was going to do whatever it takes to get my contraception. But also... I am pretty bitter about all the time I've wasted during my life. Sitting in clinics. The endless waiting room.

Not to mention having to be organized and responsible to make appointments when they needed to happen. The anxiety when I had trouble getting those appointments.

I could go on and on about ALL THE DIFFERENT WAYS we could improve access to contraceptive care.

And one of those ways is to make the pill available, over the counter.

∞ #FreeThePill May9 is Free The Pill Day... the day the US Food and Drug Administration approved the very first birth control pill in 1960.

They are just so dang cute!

Here's Worf, out my bedroom window again. He's mad at someone and is tapping his hand against the truck. I don't know... if he thinks he's Thumper, he's got it a bit wrong!

oh my gosh, this Redbud in front of those greens, and that cherry tree!

I'm at the Community Garden and walking up to my plot. Oh... great...

Our new east-side neighbor has moved in, I guess. Just what I need, another Professional Gardener. Sighs.

I'm glad they finally kicked out Evil Neighbor. But why do they have to give me another pretentious neighbor? Why can't I have a fly by the seat of the pants neighbor?

At least I didn't have to witness the machine tilling that got done to make this plot look like dirt. There are just a couple thing in life that annoy me to death... Car alarms, leaf blowers, and machinery in your Community Garden plot!

Well. In my own plot, the Snap Peas are starting to come up. And the last batch of transplants look like they might survive the slugs after all. The lettuce... well, never mind the poor dead lettuce. heh.

More Clover is blooming in my wild patch.

And the Borage is making the bees happy.

Okay. Back to my walk.

Oops! I accidently startled this Mama and she gathered her children around her. Annd... OH!! They aren't newborns!!!

I am so thrilled! Live Babies, Live!!

One last dreary day before the forecasted 90°F weekend. It's still pleasantly cool this morning, but the day warms up before too long and ends up at 75° (normal is 67°).

And there's still a decent amount of water coming over the spillway. Pretty amazing, this late in the rain year!

Oh! Three children is an insanely small family for Canada Geese. I suppose avian flu is doing it's thing here too.

One parent goes up to the bank and waits for the children... but the children are having a conference.

We don't wanna go!

Other parent is here to encourage them!

RUN!

On with my walk...

Oh Look! It's the Ground Squirrel! I've not seen this guy in ages!

Swish, swish! The carps stir up the bottom!

Oh no. Sick duck. She's just walking back and forth along the bike path and my heart hurts for her.

Oh, hey! The Raccoon without a tail! I met them last year, I think it was.

An Evening Grosbeak who was moving around too quickly. Which is a bummer, because I think this is the first time I've seen one to take their picture. oh well!

I'm still happily walking in the neighborhood beyond the end of the bike path.

Salsify! This is cultivated and the root is eaten in Europe, especially France, Germany and Italy.

*laughs* Astronomical photos are too much work... but every once in a while I try a point and click!

There's a heat dome up in Canada and Alberta has been dealing with serious wildfires for weeks. This weekend, the heat dome is extending down the Pacific coast...

∞ An unusually early heat wave in the Pacific Northwest is testing records

The record high for May13 is 92°F, set in 1939... and that record stood. The high temp today was 89°. The normal temperature is 68°.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day, around 95°F. And then we'll have mid-80s for the rest of the week. Again, I reiterate, the normal temperature is 68°F.

I decided that the massive change in weather - it was just last Monday that it rained all day and the high was 56°! - is a message to get going with the garden! *laughs*

So I went to Saturday Market and I bought as many veggie starts as I could carry! And I got them to the garden... along with other plants I'd bought weeks ago but it was too cold and muddy to put in the ground.

I planted as many as I could, but after an hour or so, the sun and the heat started to get to me. Does it look like my face is getting sunburned?? ack!

But I'm happy to get a couple of summer squashes in the ground, and a couple tomato plants. Not to mention, a second attempt at the lettuce... slugs decimated most of the first attempt, and no seeds survived to surface, either.

Returning to the garden to water all the transplants I put out yesterday!

Today is the top of the heat dome, 94°F and broke the old high record. The heat gets to me a little bit, just because I'm not used to it yet. And unfortunately the heat will continue, the forecast has changed from mid-80s for the coming week, to upper-80s. ugh.

Is this my half-blind Nutria friend? Maybe, but not sure.

The Community Garden fence... :)

And finally to the garden plot... the Columbine is looking lovely.

I am a little bummed because this is the only Columbine plant that survived the winter. In the past I had three different plants, in two different shades of purple.

Oh well. Maybe I can look for new Columbines... I do love them.

Okay! Today's work! I'm going to tidy the front of the garden plot.

Volunteers mow the pathways in the Community Garden, but the garden is big and it takes a long time to get all that done. So there's usually grass they miss at the front of plots.

Here's the before photo. The path is on the right and the dirt at the top left is the new, pretentious garden neighbor.

And after...

There's still lots of grass in the plot that I need to deal with... but getting that front part chopped helps a lot!

Broke another high temperature record today... The old high was 87° in 2006, and today got to 88°F.

That's okay. Heading to the garden again today, to water the new transplants.

But I look around and assess. oh lordy, there's some grass I need to kill! Let's break it up into sections.

Here's the front right of the garden plot. The wood board on the ground is the border with the new pretentious neighbor, and the orange buckets are the back left corner of my plot...

Down the center are Leeks and Elephant Garlics, and the cleared area on the left is where I planted some of the Saturday Market veggie starts. But look at that lawn of green grass. It will need to go!

The back right corner, behind the Fava and a wild patch. The raised beds are the neighbor behind our plot... he seems nice enough and he has lovely Opium Poppies every year!

And here's the disaster looking from the orange buckets in the back, towards the front. The bamboo poles are the dividing line with my good neighbor, Mia.

That's a happy patch of Fava in the middle of the pic, my winter cover crop. It's doing an excellent job of not letting grass grow! ha!

Here's what I'm going to work on today... this is the front left of the garden plot. That grassy spot in front of the big Comfrey plant, I'm envisioning that as my Wax Bean patch!

Pretty small area, I think I can handle it! I hoe a little bit and then hand fork and dig out the grass roots...

Oh yeah! So much better!

The spot of green to the right of the orange bucket is the small Comfrey, and the grassy stuff in front of it is what's left of the Crocuses. The leaves will dry up and there won't be any sign of them until next February when they'll come up and bloom again!

oh, dang it... flies away right as I get there!

And then, on the walk home, I glimpse the Wood Ducks again.

Aw, cute little Bee butt!

Oh, Oops! This is part of the row cover area that grew wild things instead of the desired winter cover crop of fava...

I do like the wild things! But that pretty yellow flower is the annoying invasive Creeping Buttercup. Well. It's not too hard to get rid of, so I'm going to leave it for now. Because it really is pretty in with all the other flowers!

And that's a Crimson Clover and the little blue flower I've mis-identified as Germander Speedwell... but it's actually Persian Speedwell. It's good to learn things! :)

Today at the garden I hoed a section of grass that will become a pathway around some of the veggie plants.

And I'm proud to say that my back muscles lasted longer than the skin on my hand! haha... I had to quit because of a blister. My back is still going strong! Perhaps a testament to the 5miles I walk most days. :)

And I planted the first round of Wax Beans, in the spot I forked and weeded yesterday. I'll add a second round in a couple weeks.

Wallflowers in my friend Roz's plot.

Today it got to 85°F (29°C) which is hot, but at least it's not 89° (31°C) which is the record high from 2008. The normal temp for this time of year is 68° (20°C)

Yay! So excited that we've got another batch of ducklings who have survived avian flu!!

This is so great! Two families who have survived H5N1... the family of 7 ducklings from the other day, and today's 6 duckling fam!!

((( uh. assuming the seven ducklings didn't become six ducklings because somebody died. ugh... but there's been so much death, I have to wonder. Time will tell, I suppose. )))

Today I've brought my hand fork with me to the garden... it is too big for my back pack and it probably looked like I was carrying some kind of weapon...

The transplants seem to be doing well. Lettuce notwithstanding.

It's still hot today, 88°F, hopefully the tail end of the little heat dome we got over the weekend. Despite the heat, I'm going to start working on the back corner... I'm envisioning some soy beans here. Before pic...

And After pic...

Last autumn I got a bag of soy beans because I thought I could use it as a winter cover crop. I didn't do my research! Soy Beans are a warm weather crop... they sprouted and were beautiful seedlings, but died when the nights got too cold. Fortunately, I had planted Fava as well and that lived thru the winter to be my happy cover crop!

But I've been thinking about the cute little baby soy bean seedlings ever since!

The wildlife right outside my door! :)

The brown piles in the pic above are discarded Oak tree catkins. Spring is moving right along!

At the garden, in my own plot... I continue to fork and weed that back corner for the future soybean patch. I do good work, but I barely make a dent. Lots of grass roots to sift out!

Aww! I didn't notice this little one! Crab Spider!

Nice, there was a tag under this crazy plant... Lacy phacelia!

Good for native pollinators... but careful, it can give you a rash like poison ivy!

Oh Yay! Non-Newborn Ducklings again! Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a count, so I don't know which family this is.

But I'm so glad they are living!

Worf the Western Grey Squirrel woke me up today.

He likes to stand on the tree trunk outside my window and yell at the world. Like a typical Western Grey!

(Wes Crusher never did that, tho! He was such a mild mannered and polite Squirrel. sighs. I miss him.)

Sometimes there's a cat sitting on the sidewalk. Sometimes he yells at an Eastern Fox Squirrel, who is calmly eating a nut and ignoring Worf!

Sometimes I look down and there's nobody. Either I can't see who he's yelling at... or he's just yelling to hear the sound of his own voice! haha!

Okay! Out to the garden!

Yesterday's weeding work in the future Soybean corner, left me a little discouraged... I worked for a long time and barely made a dent.

So today I'm going to work on something else... Here's the Before photo...

And here's the After photo...

Yay! Visible progress! That's what I like!

And I just love the wild things that grew up underneath the row cover that I left out all winter...

And Yay... More non-newborn ducklings! There's definitely five kids in this family. I think I met them the other day, but at the time I wasn't sure if I was counting them all.

This evening, I happened across this video by Hank Green.

∞ vlogbrothers, Hank Green: So, I've got cancer

∞ NPR, YouTube star Hank Green shares cancer diagnosis

Oh No! He should be okay... they caught it early and there are good treatments. But the treatments are chemotherapy and radiation, and Hank is under no delusions about how hard these are on a body.

SciShow was the very first YouTube channel I subscribed to! I don't watch every episode, but it is def fun to watch every now and then!

Later... an update... I just wanted to include this here...

This video about Hank talking about all the news articles about him... totally cracked me up!

∞ vlogbrothers, Hank Green: My Cancer Press Tier List

ooof. This one hits a little too close to home.

∞ GoComics: Pearls Before Swine

Off to Saturday Market, to buy as many veggie starts as I can carry! I've brought Partner in for this one, so we can carry even more!

This beautiful corner is the beginning of the Lemon Cucumber Empire. (nevermind the broken stem... Partner had a little bit too much enthusiasm! *laughs* :)

Lemon Cucumbers are my favorite, and every year I get ten plants and try to make myself sick of Lemon Cucs by the end of the season. That has never happened, tho... I just keep eating them!

This is a crappy pic because this one is too shy for photography.

I am sad that I don't have a Hummingbird Garden Supervisor this year. I miss that guy who stood over me and watched as I gardened all those years. sighs.

I have high hopes for this area in the front of the plot... Yeah, that's a lawn of grass right thru the middle of it, but I'm going to work on it!

Volunteer Elephant Garlic on the left, and you can just barely see the Leek patch I planted last year. Down the approximate middle are the Snap Peas in their cans and ... some kind of summer squash. (I wasn't paying attention when I planted it and I had Zucs and Patty Pans I was planting that day!)

And then the green and purple lettuces. and finally, in the bottom right, an Early Girl tomato plant that got put in the ground today!

A pic from the other side... I'm happily surprised that the slugs have let some of those Snap Peas live!

It's another warm day, 82°F tho not as terribly hot as it was last weekend. But I am happy to head home when I've done as much as I'm able.

Along the creek, the Red Ossier Dogwoods are blooming...

The temperatures have calmed down now that the heat dome is over! High today is 71°F, normal for this time of year is 69°.

I stop at the garden to water all the baby plants.

And I water the dirt over the Wax Beans... There's some Borage coming up, and maybe a couple beans unfurling!

And then I go for more walking!

Just past the next bridge is a spot in the creek where minnow like to live... look close to see them!

I am fascinated by them! And wish I could get better photos.

Oh! The Nootka Roses are blooming! These are native roses that they've planted along the creek to help with erosion control.

Yeah. I took 413 photos today.

I saw so many incredible things! and I took pics of all of them!

But I don't know how to process all this.

So I'll come back to it later.

XXX

Another devastating ruling from our evil Supreme Court... I couldn't bear to read about it, but I'm sure it's really really bad.

∞ The Supreme Court has narrowed the scope of the Clean Water Act

∞ Supreme Court curtails Clean Water Act

So depressing. I skimmed the article in the second link... and noticed this bullshit from Clarence Thomas: But the Supreme Court, Thomas complained, has strayed from that 'limited meaning' and 'licensed federal regulatory schemes that would have been 'unthinkable' to the Constitution's Framers and ratifiers.

Does that guy even listen to himself??? Licensed federal regulatory schemes? Schemes... seriously?

Sure, the pollution we have today would def be unimaginable to people in the late 1700s! But that certain things need to be regulated by the government (like pollution that is literally killing people)? Why does that jerk think that regulation, to prevent the deaths of citizens, would be unthinkable? (Like, what the hell is government FOR, if not to keep it's citizens Alive??!)

And REGARDLESS if they thought about it or not... time moves on! The US Constitution was meant to be a living document, that changed with the times! Changes and amendments were important to the writers of the Constitution, and Justice Thomas should know that!

As a black man who is no longer counted as 3/5 of a person, a black man who is citizen, and who can vote... he should effing KNOW THAT!!! (Three-Fifths Compromise)

Gah! It just pisses me off.

XXX

I am a big fan of In Defense of Animals, and I think this campaign they've got going right now is Awesome!

∞ Watch: Over 10,000 Guardian Signatures Delivered
This year, we delivered a letter signed by over 12,000 In Defense of Animals supporters to The Guardian, Associated Press, Netflix, and National Geographic asking these large organizations to update their language to refer to animals as beings, not objects.... For example, instead of referring to animals as it we should refer to them as he, she, or they.

I am a donating reader of The Guardian, and I read Associated Press on a regular basis as well.

And I gotta say, it disturbs me A LOT when I read an article about animals and they call them it. Ugh, it's just sickening!

And it's especially egregious when the article is talking about a named animal. If you know their name, you probably know their gender pronoun. Honestly, it makes you look stupid when you call Sophia or Jack it!

And also: say who! Not that or which.

It's not difficult, and the change would be meaningful. So I really hope these media companies make the switch to referring to animals by their BEING pronouns instead of object pronouns!!

But I'm not holding my breath...

∞ Opinion: Animals Deserve Gender Pronouns, Too ... NPR article written April 2021. SIGHS.