Wonderfully Wacky

The below scene invariably makes me laugh when Shasta and I walk past this unicorn skeleton sitting on a neighbor's front entryway. It is one example of the wonderfully wacky here in Cotati. Our now adopted small berg is just one place where the unconventional peoples express their views here in Sonoma County.

In Sebastopol driving North there is a sign expressing why Biden won this past Presidential election: fairy dust was sprinkled over the county by Tinkerbell. Even though I see the sign frequently I still have a wonderfully wacky belly laugh every time I drive by and read the message. What an antidote for the lies still spewed by the abysmal man elected for one term as President of the United States. Wouldn't it be wonderfully wacky if we could move on from his tiresome rhetoric?

After way more than Dwight wants to count visits to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, we now are "official" California residents with brand new shiny California license plates. Each car has two in California as opposed to only a rear plate in New Mexico where the plate is owned by the person to whom it is distributed and moves from vehicle to vehicle when another is purchased. I so wanted to keep our New Mexico plate but the DMV absconded with it even tho' Dwight asked for it back. Also, please all notice the holder for the plate. BEing able to go to Oakland Athletics' baseball games with Shasta's Auntie T AKA our dear friend, Tanis, makes the move from Santa Fe, New Mexico, worth all the aggravation of our relocation almost palatable. Tanis is the actual season ticket holder purchasing the tickets. I pay her with my seasonal canning. A win - win for both of us.

And Shasta loves going to the beach no matter the fog and drizzle prevalent in the Summer:

She loves the smells from the seaweed and rocks covered with the living shells attached to them:

Stunningly beautiful sea weed
in a variety of colors and shapes

Goose Barnacles and Mussels

Barnacles and Seaweed

The remake of our gardens is in full swing. All the ugly, in my opinion, metal water troughs and round barrels have found new homes where others plan to plant veggies in them. Me, I prefer to plant in the ground. Wondering if we have gophers? No more, Shasta killed a baby gopher just the other morning. Our English friends lost a very large, old fig tree to gophers. So I plan to plant all the trees, especially the fruit trees in 5 gallon gopher baskets, and native shrubs in 3 gallon gopher baskets. I am still figuring out about a veggie bed since Dwight is NOT interested in building anymore beds. Says he's "done" doing that.

The icky redwood "fluff" that was around all the exotic plants is gone. The two year old 400 gallon hot tub has not only disappeared but we got 15 $100 bills too. Luckily Dwight found an eccentric man who lives along the Russian River through Craigslist. Over a number of weeks he made it all disappear! Of course, Dwight helped with the getting the redwood fluff into his truck. Shasta loved him and always got a fabulous play time whenever he was here. We all plan to have an outing to visit him and meet his wife and three dogs.

The first of the estimates is in for cutting down the front two very tall hedges, a couple of small trees including one heirloom yellow delicious apple tree and the remainder of a number of shrubs I have already pruned drastically. I was pleasantly surprised at the reasonable, to me, estimate. I went with the first estimate and Sierra Tree Service has been scheduled. I am so excited to be getting woods chips from all that is cut down. The owner of this service says he can bring me wood chips from other jobs because some people do not want the chips.

As more and more of the "professional landscaping" disappears from all about the house, it is easier to imagine natives thriving here. We will be touring our friends Bill and Kathy's "flammable landscape" of natives not far from MuRefuge to see what we might want to plant here amidst the mulched front and backyards. The layers of mulching feed the soil thus all that is planted therein thrives. Sheet mulching is a basic Permaculture recommendation that I have employed for many years.

May we all "celebrate what's right with the world!" with marvel and a hardy belly