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Category: Miscellaneous

Thoughts, Words… In Progress

Today I cut 330 plus pieces of hardware cloth for my Thoughts/Words… piece. The extra pieces are to replace blocks that are not quite right. Sometimes when trimming a block it is possible to break the joint. A broken joint can result in shredded fiber and make it difficult to bind the block. Also, the wire is sharp and can cause wounds.

Hardware Cloth

My gloves don’t appear too damaged.

Gloves

This is how I had my hand taped. I kept adding tape when areas felt a bit stingy. The clear plastic tape on my palm is a horrible product. It gets sticky and leaves a sticky residue after it is removed.

Hand Taped

The tools that I use to cut the hardware cloth and the removed tape.

Removed Tape

And a few blisters.

Hand Blisters

My palm tonight after a day working, making dinner, and washing dishes.

Hand This Evening

Not as annoying as a month after hand surgery. Apparently, when you are told to work as much as you feel up to, they really mean an hour a day, not 6-8 hours per day.

Blue Hand

The result was the inability to work for nearly two months. And certain activities are still challenging. Last week I had a steroid injection to break up the scar tissue. After the bruise and sting went away, my hand is behaving more like a healthy hand.

I really should have spread out the repetitive cutting of hardware. Funny how when you get in the zone, you just keep working.

So, tomorrow I will spend part of the day cutting and perforating 330 pieces of roofing felt. Maybe begin assembling the blocks.

Soup Making Bubbles

Soup Making Bubbles

They bubble formation occurred when I was steaming onion and carrots in a small amount of water.

Quick Vegetable Soup
Steam chopped onion and grated carrot in small amount of water. Add frozen vegetables. When vegetables are softened, add tomato soup or Spicy V-8 or a combination with 1 or 2 vegetarian bouillon cubes.

Can be served as is or with saltines, with Matzos, toast, rice, or pasta.

Misplaced Shoes

I have been thinking about compiling a series of misplaced shoes…those single shoes found in odd places.

When I was in the grocery store parking lot I saw this pair of brown shoes.

Misplaced Shoes

I like a nice oxford. The shoes look like they would be comfortable. I would definitely wear them. Wonder if the owner of the misplaced shoes attached the orange strip of plastic. But, why would someone do that and then leave them behind?

To see one misplaced shoe is odd, to see a pair is peculiar.

Squirrel Update

Squirrel

Squirrel Hoovering the Bird Feeder

Removed the bird feeder from the courtyard thinking that removing the food supply, well except for the garden plants, the squirrel would leave the area. Didn’t work. The squirrel wants to live under the house.

Squirrel Hole

The squirrel removed poultry netting that was to act as a deterrent.

Yesterday, I again removed the bromeliads and ferns and potted them up. The squirrel has been digging them up to access “his” space under the house.

Bromeliads

I placed a layer of rolled poultry netting in all areas previous dug up by the squirrel. Then I applied a layer of poultry netting over the entire space and covered with soil.

This morning, I inserted poultry netting into the hole, added red pepper flakes, replaced the oriningal poultry netting, and covered the lot with soil.

In the past I tried using dog fur (courtesy of our nephew’s dog) that supposedly was a deterrent. Didn’t work. The squirrel removed it and continue to dig.

Now I wait. Gardening is a lot of waiting.

Oak Leaf Hydrngea

The arrow is pointing at a start of an Oak Leaf Hydrangea. It should fill in the space nicely.

Oak Leaf Hydrngea

The Oak Leaf Hydrangea start was taken from a plant, that was a start taken from this plant..

Spending all my time working on the rock/succulent garden leaves little time for cleaning and maintaining other garden areas.

Plan to start placing the rock in the rock/succulent garden today.

Happy Holidays, Bob, and The Bird

Happy Holidays Bob

How I rescued the lovebird, who came to be known as Bob–

1. Opened upstairs bathroom window, removed screen, placed towel over window frame.
2. Placed The Bird, our cockatiel in his travel cage, placed cage in plain view in the bathroom.

The Bird

The Bird enjoying our tree. Yes, his name is The Bird.

3. Played a Youtube video of Lovebirds singing.

Then I waited.

The lovebird flew to the window and looked in. Then he flew back to the top of the birch. Then he perched on the window ledge. He would not come in the bathroom.

After a couple of hours, yes a couple of hours of him flying to the window and hovering, I had an idea. I turned on all of the lights in the room. Immediately he flew into the room and landed on our cockatiel’s travel cage. John was home by then, he closed the window. Success.

What did I learn? The towel on the window ledge was a good idea for the bird to grab onto and enter the room, but a really bad idea for closing the window. Patience is a good thing to have. The entire rescue took only 4 hours.

Why is his name Bob?
It took a long time to name him. We noticed he has a habit of bobbing up and down before flight and when he is attempting to escape from his room. The bobbing is funny, almost dance like. So, Bob he became.

The frames and text applied to the photos were an easy peasy couple of clicks in Snapseed.
The Snapseed app is on the App Store.

Squirrels in the Garden

If you are seeing plants eaten to the ground and holes in your gardens;

Squirrel Hole

and if squirrels are vacuuming up birdseed in and around your bird feeders;

Squirrel

Squirrel

you might have a squirrel problem. How do you solve the problem?

Past Squirrel Problem
We had a problem with squirrels several years ago when we lived in New Jersey. I naturalized the backyard with a variety of bulbs. It was fun to see the bulbs peak through snow and the buds begin to develop. Just as the buds were beginning to bloom, every one was bitten off and left next to its plant.

We talked to gardeners and folks at nurseries. We tried everything that they suggested. Eventually we gave up and accepted we would not see hundreds of flowers blooming in our yard.

Now we have at least five squirrels living in and around our gardens. I will admit they are fun to watch. They run up and down the wisteria that covers our deck, stopping for a taste of a Norfolk pine. I watched as a squirrel sat in a pot of mums eating every leaf. That may sound strange to watch, but it is amazing how they use their wee paws, to see their dexterity.

We decided that we must relocate the squirrels. We tried this trap, but the squirrels could snag the bait and run out. And a larger trap can capture larger animals. We forgot to close the trap one night and found this critter–

Skunk

We purchased a smaller humane trap and again forgot to close it one night. And found this critter–

opossum in Trap

opossum in Tree

After we released the opossum it ran up the bottle brush and eventually disappeared.

What have I learned? When you make gardens that are woodland-like they are inviting for all kinds of critters. Also the drought conditions have forced critters to find food and water for survival and we offer that in our gardens.

Perhaps one day we will be free of squirrels. Actually that is rather interesting. We live in an area where you just don’t see squirrels. Ground squirrels typically are seen in the surrounding fields and on and around the mountains. But in the our neighborhood it is rare to see them. The 20 plus years we have lived in SLO we have seen two squirrels in our neighborhood. Five squirrels, together is definitely unusual.

Vegan Replacement Boots

It is often difficult to find vegan friendly footwear. I have been wearing the same vegan Garmont boots since 2002. Recently the soles began to crumble and fall apart. I would have purchased a new pair of vegan Garmont boots, but a replacement does not exist.

I was unable to find someone to replace the soles of my Garmont boots, so I gave Shoe Goo a go. After the adhesive cured I noticed that the areas around the adhesive began to crumble. I suspect Shoe Goo would be great for making certain types of repairs, but it is not really intended for making new soles.

I went on a search for replacement boots. It is easy to find hiking boots, but not vegan hiking boots. Finally, I found a pair of Merrell boots that are vegan friendly.

All of the reviews that I read stated the Merrell boots were true to size. I ordered a pair from Title Nine. Unfortunately, the pair that I ordered was a tad snug.

The boots were on sale and when I checked the website for the larger size, many of the sizes were no longer available. I phoned Title Nine customer service. The person I spoke with was quite helpful. I placed a new order for a half size larger, and then I packaged up the original pair for shipping back. The new pair arrived in a few days.

Merrell Boots

When I slipped them on they fit great. I wore them around the house for a couple of days. Yesterday I wore them on my first hike.

Yeah, they really have bold and bright colors…

While on the hike I noticed this cool bark. At first glance it appeared to have been deliberately attached to the tree.

Cool Bark