So far, no new TBall games scheduled before 7 June, last day of school.
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Signs of Spring are showing. The dogwoods are in bloom. I-5 between Siskiyou County and Redding is always a show of white dogwood and redbud.
And yellow is all over the place what with the wild mustard, forsythia, and Scotch broom which someone started about 25 years ago with a plug or two in a small place somewhere in the middle of the county and which has now spread so froliflically that newcomers think it has always been here much like the gorse in the middle stretches of Oregon beach areas.
I first met gorse in Cornwall during a visit to a Holy well and chapel at St Clether’s. Water from the well runs through the Chapel across under the altar. There is also a more modern church at St Clether’s complete with graveyard where I found a headstone which had fallen over and when I set it upright again it was the stone of a woman who had died the exact day I was born … the correct day, month, and year.
There are a couple of herbs left from past gardens in this small “Village” where I now live which are now “wild” perennials … comfrey and mullein. I have some comfrey hanging to dry and will harvest mullein in a day or so.
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California’s primary is a week from yesterday. George and I had begun voting by mail several years ago so I kept that registration active just changing the address now that I live in a different part of the County.
I marked my ballot as soon as I made my choices and got it in the mail a week ago.
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Night weather has been interesting lately … rain showers and various levels of winds.
The aspen are nearly fully leafed out. They glimmer and shimmer in the wind. They are lovely. Only unhappy side effect is that I can no longer see the Mountain clearly, but I know where She is and continue to tell her Good Morning Beautiful.
When the aspen drop their leaves next autumn I’ll be able to see Her once more.
Another change in seasons to which I will look forward.
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I recently went to Yreka for an oil change. There is a place there where the waiting lines (there are only two) are minimal and I’ve never been more than second in line.
Another enhancement is that you remain in your car and the young men responsible for your car are real old time “service” men (yes, I am soooooo old that I remember when places to pump your own gas were actually “service stations”). While the young men, at the oil change facility which I frequent, change the oil they also check tire pressure, air filter condition and anything else which needs checking, all the time communicating with each other and the “boss” relaying reports of what they have done and what is planned next in a singsong chant which reminds me of the way the Blue Angel pilot leader sings maneuver directions over their (supposedly) restricted radio frequency.
Mark and I once went to a Blue Angel air show at the airport in Redding. While I captured the routine on my 8mm camera, Mark was recording the radio communications using amateur radio access to federal frequencies. I can still hear the leader call directions as they seemed to be heading right at each other, the leader called “A little moooooore pull” with a rise in pitch when he called “pull” and all six blossomed like a flower bud opening.
That homemade film was lost somewhere during George’s slowdown and my relocation. Too bad. But I can still see it and hear those communication calls in my mind’s eyes and ears. The calls at the oil change facility always take me back to that air show.
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With son John’s help running interference with Lowe’s purchase department, my step-in tub arrived yesterday. The installer has been notified and will begin work next tuesday. He estimates installation will take approximately a week. In the meantime I’ll be sleeping in the extra bedroom and trying to stay out of the way. Thankfully I will have a supply of reading material and Matilda will get a spinning workout.
John reminded me of when we added two rooms to our Pomona house. He advised me to remember and expect a similar disruption. I will start preparations later today.
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I learned something new about the rules for the Victorian Village in which I live. I can water on mondays, wednesdays, and saturdays beginning at 0700 and off by than 2200. I haven’t quite figured that out, but there are at least two households which start watering on one day and let the water runoveright until 0700 the next day. I’m not sure he I’ll get it figured out and start watering the empty space next door to keep down the dust by encouraging the spread of ground covers … a small, low plant with small pink flowers we used to call “scissor plants”, I will add some creeping thyme, and this morning I spotted a small show of red clover. With selective waiting, the dust may be better controlled.
I’ll let you know what that works out and how.
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I’ll be able to return to a bit of hands-on gardening. On the farm I had a kneeler which could be used as a seat or a place to kneel. That helped as I got older. I left it for the new owners when I left the farm thinking I would be moving south to a retirement place. But that didn’t work out and I now need to start over with new tools for planting and weeding. I just have to get an early start because I run out of steam a bit before nap time.
My morning walkabouts with my young neighbor and now light gardening will help rebuild my stamina.
I am also building a small garden with pots and planters for the porch. I currently have tomatoes (Black Krim) started and will be adding a yellow heirloom tomato, climber beans, and a salad collection very soon.
I also have a Peace rose given me by John. He remembers when my Daddy was involved in the hybridization of that rose. It is on the porch where it get sun all day as the sun moves across the sky and it is now showing small buds.
I will also be plant-sitting a pair of Double Delight tea roses for John while he re-thinks his front yard now that he and his partner will not be leaving Dunsmuir.
And I need to find a place to get a heritage Green rose like the one my Daddy loved. I wish I had taken a cutting from the one in my farm gazebollis (gazebo/trellis), but a new planting will be in place by the end of this season. I’m researching how to provide for wintering the roses. Maybe in the carport next to the house wall under covers.
And I will have to refresh what I used to know about companion planting. I seem to remember something about tomatoes and roses.
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John spent some time with my computer yesterday and I think I am learning how to add pictures to this publication.
Here is my first effort.
May 2022
Still learning …
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Sorry for the double pic post.
And now to close out this week’s effort …
It’s Nice to be Important, but it’s more Important to be Nice.
— Pearlie Mae Bailey 1960
So,‘til next week …