Spring like

Clear blue sky here. It feels very Spring like rather than early January. The jade plant which is located on the west most side of the front of the house has flowers.

Jade plant
(Crassula ovata)

Even though the weather person, nor the weather app, does not predict freezing temperatures the jade plant is protected each and every night.

Salvia involucrata 
(Roseleaf sage)

Symphoricarpos albus 
(Common snowberry 
‘Tilden Park’)

The shed's roof is covered with a tarp, courtesy of a long time friend who brought the tarp. As you can see observe bricks were used to prevent the winds from removing the tarp. There have been some pretty fierce winds of late so rolls of wire were hung to prevent exposing the wooden shingles. Once Spring does actually arrive the wood shingles will be removed and replaced with shingles more the color of those on roof of the house.

Pink Pearl (Malus domestica) apple tree
purchased as bare root
from Trees of Antiquity.
   

The 'Pink Pearl' apple is a pink-fleshed apple cultivar developed in 1944 by Albert Etter, a northern California breeder. It is a seedling of 'Surprise', another pink-fleshed apple that is believed to be a descendant of Malus niedzwetskyana. 

Unfortunately, the planting instructions were not followed when the first Pink Pearl bare root was planted in September, 2021. Thus, the bare root did not root. When it was extracted from the gopher basket, nada a root in evidence. Since avoiding needing to purchase another bare root, this time the instructions were followed.

Fortunately, nearby is a huge pile of wood chips. All the empty containers in the shed were placed in the rear of the car. Being not as nibble as in younger years, care was taken to fill each and deposit in the car before filling another. The process was trouble free getting the chips to the backyard . . . wheelbarrows are such a fabulous invention!!!! 

When this post was initially started, Spring like weather was occurring. As this post is concluded, seasonal weather is present. Today it is sunny with clear blue skies but extremely windy.

So much to miss living in Northern California instead of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Shasta absolutely relished her time in the park just down the street from our house playing with Hobbs.

Shasta and Hobbs 
playing in the park 

Shasta's all time very
favorite playmate: Hobbs
whose owner sent 
this recent picture 

As a garden walk about and this post are completed, perhaps we can all enjoy a deep belly

Winter

The previous post of November 16, 2025, said winter had arrived. Well then winter disappeared. Almost spring like or more like fall temperatures have been prevailing as of late. Midday temperatures are reaching well into the high 70's. 

However, the trees and shrubs are without their leaves

In foreground: Chilopsis linearis (Desert willow)

    and in background: Cercis occindentalis (Western redbud)

The view along the western side of the house is mostly in the shade this time of the year. The strawberry plants are "dormant" and the Aristolochia californica (California pipevine) is without leaves.

         Chilopsis linearis (Desert willow)

When the early spring arrives this tree is in splendor with  lovely flowers. I do believe it is my all time favorite trees. While living in Santa Fe we often traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico. where this tree was in abundance. In the spring the splendor was "luscious"! Stay tuned, as the saying goes, for pictures when the Desert willow is in bloom.

This past weekend a friend who lived just down the road from us when we lived on Hessel Avenue south of Sebastopol about 8 miles, came with a tarp. With a ladder of course, he placed said tarp atop the shed.

I then carried the stored bricks so he could position them on the roof. When I raked off the leaves into the green bin from the neighbor's tree, a number of the wooden shingles accompanied the leaves. Relief, I am feeling nothing but relief to have the shed covered! 

I can relax with comfort and ease that the shed is protected no matter when or whether rain FINALLY arrives here in Northern California. For those unfamiliar with this part of the world or United States, usually by December a number of drenching rains have provided much needed moisture for the trees, bushes and shrubs. 

Shasta asleep in crate.

Each of you reading this post are invited to

 

Arrival of Winter

Clearly winter has arrived as the temperatures have markedly decreased for both the night time as well as during the day. Last evening before settling in, a garden blanket was taken out to cover the jade plant at the western corner of house. The plants that sit just outside of the east most part of the dining room's double doors was also covered with a garden blanket. When both covers were removed this morning, the plants had all survived the cold snap. My belief winter has arrived and the temperatures match the season.

Jade plant covered

Most of the leaves have fallen from the maple tree. Once they are all on the ground they will be raked up and discarded into the green bin.

The Western redbud along the west side of the house has had all of its leaves removed and are in the green bin. The "bumps" along the branches closest to the house are flowers.

I am not sure how each of you reading this post deal with all the bummer happenings like the defeat of a rational candidate to lead our country forward.  Instead an "unhinged" one was elected and will soon once again live in our national White House. Please share how you are coping with this.

This is how Shasta girl deals: sound to sleep in her crate. Her sleeping so much has been worrisome for me until I realized that this is how she is coping with all the craziness that abounds in our country. For us humans my suggestion is a frequent 

Shasta

It has long been my practice to make Shasta's food. Today is the day for that to happen. 

Using this book: 

a finding on page 93 the recipe for "Boneless beef with liver and heart for DOGS" which was modified. From a local grocery store purchased 

8.52# ground lamb, 

slightly more than 1# of liver that was frozen (of course, thawed) and 0.42# of lamb heart (which was delivered to the local grocery store)

The liver and heart were ground. 

Using the above,
the liver and heart
are "ground up"

Then all of the ingredients were put into a very large crockery bowl and mixed well with my hands.

The pint jars in which the 1 cup of Shasta's food will be measured and placed are lined up next to the food bowl.

"Implements" to accomplish
the task

The filled jars are set
on a tray

1 cup each were placed in 20 jars total.  Some of the filled jars will be placed in the freezer section of the refrigerator. 

The others will stored in the freezer located in the garage.

Each jar provides two meals: breakfast and dinner. She get a cup of chicken necks for her lunch

All the while Shasta sits nearby knowing she gets to clean up the bowl.

Shasta's water bowl that sits outside the dining room double doors going to the backyard. It is a mystery to me that she prefers the water in this bowl to the bowl in her kitchen feeding table. All of the water comes from the same source: the kitchen facet.

Finally

The last of the zinnias
that were planted
in the holes of
the two planting beds
in the backyard.

Finally Fall, 2024, has arrived here in Northern California. Summer just did not want to let go with her grip on hot weather. Those without air conditioning have been mostly miserable during the day time and cooling during the nighttime was minimal.

Bodega Bay, especially along the water, is markedly cooler. When Leigh was visiting recently from Seattle, Washington, we took a spin, so to speak, to enjoy the cooler temperatures.

We had lunch after visiting the Ren Brown Collection, an art gallery in Bodega Bay, California. This destination had often been one when my late husband was alive. Now I do not often drive there accompanied by Shasta, but do when there is visitor with whom to enjoy this wonderful place. 

Shasta lying in her
favorite spot on
the back patio.
The slate is cool
and out of the sun.

Previously, some zealous individual believing roundabouts would cause "floods" of people to "overtake" this small burg, put an initiative on to ban roundabouts. Finally, perhaps Cotati can create roundabouts, as it is on the 2024 ballot allowing people to decide. 

Signs, like the one in pictured here,  are going up in many of the yards Shasta and I walk by in the morning. They are also evident when driving about our fine, small town.

Also noticeable are pumpkins &/or cornstalks on quite a few porches, steps, patios. Unfortunately if it is windy the cornstalks are blown over,

but easily remedied when Shasta and I exit our front door for our morning walk.

While native flowering plants are the best source of nectar for hummingbirds, supplementing with sugar water can provide additional sustenance. Every three or four days (daily if it is really hot!) the sugar water is changed in the two hummingbirds feeders. Letting it set longer, especially in the sunshine, causes it to ferment, ie. bacteria and mold grows. YIKES . . . then one is doing more harm than good.

One of the feeders is in 
the back.

The other one
is attached between 
the front two "kitchen" windows.

This one is strategically hanging so hummingbirds visiting this feeder can be seen while humans eating a meal can observe them.

Epolibium canum
(California fuchsia 'Calistoga')

Tubular flowers are magnets for the hummingbirds. And, no surprise,It is so delightful to see a hummingbird with its long bill ravenously seeking food from the flowers pictured above. It goes from flower to flower. Luckily there are three of these all planted together in the front yard. They were positioned along the path leading to the gate on the west side of the house. 

As hummers are seeking their nourishment, it is delightful time to

Actual

Tanacetum vulgare (Tansy)

Today, September 22, 2024, is the actual day that begins Fall, aka Autumn. Below is what I read early this morning in Earth Prayers from around the World: 365 Prayers, Poems, and Invocations for the Honoring the Earth, edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon.

O sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher,

for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment.

As I gaze upon your full-colored beauty,

I sense all about you

an at-homeness with your amber riches.

You are the season of retirement,

of full barns and harvested fields.

At the cycle of growth has ceased,

and the busy work of giving life

is now completed.

I sense in you no regrets:

you’ve lived a full life.

I live in a society that if ever-restless,

always eager for more mountains to climb,

seeing happiness through more and more possessions.

As a child of my culture,

I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.

Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received,

may I now that it’s enough,

that my striving can cease

in the abundance of God’s grace.

May I know the contentment

that allows the totality of my energies

to come to full flower.

May I know that like you I am rich beyond measure.

As you, O Autumn, take pleasure in your great bounty,

let me also take delight

in the abundance of the simple things in life

which are the true source of joy.

With the golden glow of peaceful contentment

may I truly appreciate this autumn day.

EDWARD HAYS

Fall, 2024

This picture was taken 
Saturday when Shasta and I took
our morning walk.

Twice a year, in March and again in September, Earth reaches a point in "her" orbit that the sun shines directly on the Equator. Thus, the Spring and Fall equinoxes occur as a "result of Earth's spinning on an axis that is tilted 23.5 degrees from the plane of its orbit." Day light dwindles . . . have you noticed? Since Shasta and I are early risers, we are certainly aware that day light comes later than a short month ago.

The yellow leaf Japanese maple
in the front yard.

Visitors have commented on the changing color of the leaves as they walk through the front garden. These will soon make their way to the ground where they will remain and feed what grows in the area.

This Fushsia flower gooseberry
(Ribes specious) is stunning
no matter the season.

Roger's red grape
(Vita californica)
is so beautiful as the leaves 
turn their usual bright red
at this time of the year.

Recently a ladder allowed me to remove all the clusters of grapes. Since more than two of these vines are unwanted, about this time of the year the clusters are cut and deposited into the green bin which is then emptied by the local pick up company on Mondays. As Shasta ages it is a reminder to each and every one of us that with each passing day we grow older.

As Shasta ages it is a reminder to each and every one of us that with each passing day we grow older. 

Each and every afternoon she loves to play ball . . . in the house this ball is thrown into the air and she catches it. She is NOT interested in retrieving the ball if one throws it across the room as her Auntie T has done.

Perhaps, as we grapple with our aging,  each and every day the remedy is to have a frequent