The O-Zone

Cheesy title to this post, but that works since we had cheese on our taco salad.

A layered warm salad, it looks pretty before it's all mixed up.

It’s so easy to make.  A layer of broken corn chips, a layer of lettuce, a layer of warm freshly cooked rice, a layer of chili (canned or fresh, or you can do what I did here and mix some refried beans for burritos with the rice, adding taco seasoning), and then various veggies (diced green and red peppers, diced fresh tomatoes, diced avocado, and slices of green onions), a layer of salsa, and then some sour cream.  Cheese on the side.

While I was making this for lunch today, Mishkin was in the kitchen with me, prowling around and generally being a pest, hoping I’d drop something munchable or whack-across-the-floorable for chasing.  So I put some of the shredded lettuce in his food dish and pointed it out to him.

He came over to his food dish and took a step back, “what the hell is that doing in MY dish??”  It looked deadly.  He approached it with great caution, finally poking the lettuce with a tentative paw.  When it didn’t kill him, he sniffed it carefully.  And then he ate it.  Maybe he will be vegan since he doesn’t eat mice, just lettuce.

If he throws up on the carpet I have only myself to blame.  So far, so good.

Here is his royal highness, snug in his new favorite blankie. I fold this up and then he unfolds it, trying to get buried into it. It's one I made from a bulky pure alpaca yarn.

He has various places around the house for sleeping at certain times of day.  This is his mid afternoon siesta location.

It’s been cool and rainy again the past couple of days.  Today Dan scattered some more grass seeds, and it is supposed to be rainy for the next couple of day and then warm up into real summer weather.  It is perfect grass growing weather.

Yes, it is exciting up here on the mountain, watching grass grow.

We still have finish work to do on our sun room, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying the space.  None of the sanding on the walls or ceiling has been done, and we have nail holes to fill with putty before we do any sanding.

Yesterday we finished the grout for the floor, and this morning we cleaned off the grout haze.  We need to put a sealer on the grout and the second coat of sealer on the tiles.  Now it’s shiny!

We had to get a second color of grout since I managed to pick the wrong color when we purchased the tile originally.

Mish walks around in the sun room with his back arched, a lot. He thinks the blue painter's tape around the floor perimeter is weird, and he keeps working on removing it. He scampers out of there when we tell him to knock it off.

Today and yesterday the sun has been shining, with cool temperatures, a high of 77F today is one of the warmer days we’ve seen so far.  We are basking in this weather!

A thunderstorm completely soaked the yard, and the baby grass held on for dear life.

It is still barely growing, and we may need to do some re-seeding.  We’re going to wait a couple more days as it is supposed to start raining again later this week.

Half grown, this baby Snowshoe Hare doesn't care if the new grass is short; he's got all this tall grass to munch. His feet are brown instead of white; the adults all have white feet. Clover!! Yummmmmmmmmmmmm

Poppies are blooming now. We need some blue flowers in the flower bed to balance things out.

Tomorrow I should feel better and walking up and down the sidewalk for some aerobic exercise sounds like a fun thing to do. I should measure it out to see how many laps I need to make to go a mile. I wonder if the universal answer "42" will apply.

The Summer Solstice was not very summer-like yesterday.  We had thunderstorms and cool temperatures.

An Iris by the front door, in the flower garden.

The sun did decide to join us in the form of this flower.  It is another of the plants in the flower bed by the front door which has never bloomed for us, until this year.

Happy Summer Solstice!

The Serviceberry bush by our living room windows has been busy this morning.  There is a hummingbird feeder hanging next to the front door, and near this bush; it is a popular place to rest and preen inbetween sips.

Slightly fluffed, she's perky.

Admiring the flying technique for a male Rufous, he has her undivided attention. Momentarily anyway.

Fluffing and fanning her tail a bit, showing some of the vaunted "attitute" these birds are famous for.

Sleepy.

Nap time is over!

Even something as simple as a board to divide two floors can have a story behind it. This one has several, some we know, some we can only guess at.

The flooring levels between the existing living room floor and the new sun room are different.  In the under five feet opening for the doorway, from left to right, the change in floor level in the living room is over an inch.  The sun room floor is level.   Normal means of fixing this problem was not going to work.  The first story in this picture is how our house was built and has changed over the years.

The second story is a mystery story, entitled, “How do we fix this one?”  The hero is an artist who works in wood, able to shape this board with a plane and sander to compensate for the differences in the floor heights so that the door closes properly and visually this whole problem disappeared.  Optical illusions can be a truly beautiful thing to behold!

Two stories told already!

The third story involves the origins of this board.  It is recycled from an original beam used to construct a house down by the river, in 1908.  This board was milled over 102 years ago from a Larch tree which grew near here, by the river, less than five miles from its new home up on the mountain.  The stories the board can tell about the life lived in that first house are unknown to us.

1908 was the last time the Cubs won the World Series, before the smallest crowd ever to see a World Series game.  Perhaps this board listened to the game on a radio, or heard the news read from a newspaper.  There was a perfect game pitched that year.  And the Yankees lost 103 games to finish the season 51-103.  Trees and boards listen to baseball games historically, since their brethren are the bats.

A giant fireball impacted Siberia, the Tunguska Event (Enckes Comet).  Trees talked about the event in whispers on the wind.  Word spread across the Northern Hemisphere.

It was the first year Mount Erebus in Antarctica was climbed, and the wooden snowshoes and climbing poles celebrated.  A 46th star was added to the American flag for the state of Oklahoma.  I was born in Oklahoma so another circle is closed with my acquaintance with this board.

The first passenger flight in an airplane took place, and wood had a place in the construction of the first planes, and the trees discussed.  Henry Ford introduced the Model T car, and wood played a part in the cars; now there are solar powered cars and we live in a solar powered house with this board.

The fourth story involves the original tree, a huge tree hundreds of years old when it was cut down to be made into beams and boards to shelter the family by the river. That tree was towering over the river when word spread of a group of strangers crossing south along the mighty Columbia River.  Trees whispered of changes, on the winds.  Trees still whisper of change, and descendants of this trees are towering over the river.  Changes happen, and some things remain the same.

A new chapter in the life of this board has begun, on the mountain, and new tales will be told.

Our work last year on the front flower bed has resulted in blooms.

The first bloom made its appearance.

Lots more blooms are waiting to open, one a day will be just lovely if we can arrange it.  This particular flower looked very pretty for a short period of time.  We got a downpour today from a thunderstorm and it drenched this poor flower.  Oh well, the next one is ready to bloom!

We’re seeing lots of babies.  Baby Snowshoe Hare are bouncing all over the place, and we’re seeing baby Yellow-bellied Marmots down the hill from us.  There is one adult who has three of them running all around her and on the rocks.  Spring!

Yesterday we went up into the mountains to look and listen for birds calling at the higher elevations.  It was a beautiful day to get out and about, and we needed the change in scenery.

Before we headed to the mountains, we stopped by a very large Aspen grove near a swamp to listen for Least Flycatchers and Veery, and Wilson’s Snipe.  We saw three Snipe cross the road just as we left, right after I had suggested stopping by the river to listen for Snipe diving.  Dan’s comment was, “Why would we do that?  There’s a perfectly good swamp right there,” pointing across the road, and then three Snipe came zooming right in front of our car, hot on each other’s tail.  Yep, it was a perfectly good swamp, alright.

Since we were skunked on finding the other two species, we will have to drive down south next weekend to listen to Veery singing.

In a field of weeds, where we parked the car to listen for those three species of birds were all these Wild Blue Flax. And yes, they can be used to make linen thread after a long process. I think I'd rather just admire the beautiful flowers and buy linen thread if I ever need it for a weaving project.

The mountain passes near here have some really nice forest roads for strolling.  The sounds and smells remind us of Glacier National Park, which is not a great surprise since this is the same basic ecosystem, just without the larger Brown bears.  Black bears are thick around here, just no grizzlies.

Speaking of Blackies, a very large one came down our driveway this morning and stopped in his/her tracks when Terry screamed at it.  Our ears are still ringing and she’s keeping a beady eye out the window in case the bear returns.

Tall spruce trees, larch, aspen, and fir provide a lot of habitat for birds.

Thrushes sing up in these woods, and their ethereal haunting melodies are soothing to our ears and mental well-being.  Strolling along, listening and looking for birds, and smelling the sweet clear cool air made for a very restoring walk.

Tucked in the shadows, a wild orchid called a Ladyslipper.

Even slight changes in altitude around here gives a new variety of bird songs to listen to.  Around our house we hear Varied Thrush in the early spring as they migrate through, but they don’t stick around.  Up in the mountain pass, we hear Hermit Thrush, Varied Thrush, and Swainson’s Thrushs, all singing.  Winter Wrens add their liquid warble to the mix.  It is just an amazing collection of sounds.

A break in the trees shows the surrounding hills and treetops.

A steep drop off does provide a nice view.

Closer to view are rocks, and trees and more flowers, including a new one we hadn’t seen on our own property, probably because the plant requires more moisture than we have.

Ballhead Waterleaf. What an appropriate name. This little flower seemed to be quite popular with bees, and I assume it would also be popular with hummingbirds.

One of the many small seasonal waterfalls next to the trail we were on.

Small waterfalls provide perfect habitat for Stream Violets, like this one.

Moss and grass, and some tiny flowers, all growing on a granite outcrop.

Sunshine illuminating golden moss on a downed log. The moss almost glowed.

Another sunbeam falling on a feathery pale green Larch branch. Their soft needles are such a beautiful green color and they turn golden in the fall, before falling to carpet the ground. An odd conifer, to be sure.

An evergreen, Oregon Grape in bloom. Their dark blue berries will contrast with their waxy sharp leaves.

Indian Paintbrush. These range in color from this dark red to a pale orange.

Spring Beauties are still blooming up high in the mountains.

We stopped by a small spring fed pond/swamp to listen for songs, and heard frogs, much to our delight.  Also, Painted Turtles were swimming around with their heads out of the water, and Water Skimmers were skimming along.  Then we heard a very weird bird sound.  It sounded like a goose, in some of the tones, but a less likely place for a goose would be hard to imagine.  Then it sounded almost like an owl, but not quite.  The only thing that seemed likely was what it turned out to be.  A female Wood Duck!  She was either talking to her babies, trying to coax them to do something, or she was complaining loudly and bitterly to herself that she was stuck on a nest in the middle of a swamp.  For whatever reason, she didn’t shut up but we couldn’t see her in the tangled branches surrounding the pond.

Cedar trees grow up there, in that part of the woods.  I love cedars!  I wish we could plant them on our place but it is simply too dry, so I think we will plant some Junipers instead, a dry climate cedar with fragrant berries.

Babies are being born or hatched all over the place now.  We have baby Juncos in the yard, and we saw three brand new fawns, including one that was still a little wobbly in the back legs.

Summer Solstice is fast approaching.  A change in season is coming.  I love it here.

Water, a square dish pan of warm water, some paper towels, and time.  All these combined to clean the thinset concrete haze off the floor in the sun room.

Mishkin is reflected in the newly cleaned stone floor tiles. He is wandering around reflecting on the fact there are lots of low windows providing new kitty-tv viewing opportunities.

Further reflecting by the lord of the manor, "Hey, there's nothing in this room." Cats are good at stating the obvious.

Still lots of things to do to finish this room, but none of them will affect the usefulness now that we can walk around out there without tracking cement dust throughout the rest of the house when we walk to and fro.

Tomorrow we are taking a break from house remodeling, and going on a short drive up into the mountains, to see what new species of birds are singing.  There should be Winter Wrens, and a couple of thrush species adding their magic sounds to the air.

Dark clouds herald more rain storms this evening. The winds are picking up. Dan scattered a bunch of grass seed today which should germinate well. Conditions are just about perfect.

No, you say.  Well I didn’t think so either until they spread it around and smoothed it out a bit.

More smoothing is in order before we add grass seeds and water. But now the sidewalk doesn't look like it is perched on top of the ground.

A little judicious sweeping and the sidwalk is looking like it belongs here.  Maybe I’ll plant some flowers between the sidwalks and the flowerbed wall.  I have a lot of weeds to remove first.

All the greenery is tall grass and weeds that need to be pulled out.

See, it *IS* exciting 🙂  Just think… sidewalk art.

Dan noticed a new flower blooming in the rocks down the hill from our house.

A Bitterroot. First time we've noticed this flower blooming here.

They have a pretty wide color variation, from really dark pink to a very pale pastel pink.

Still tightly furled, this Bitterroot is a deep rose color.

This plant was first collected on the Lewis & Clark expedition, and they tried to eat it.  I think they tried to eat everything they came across, actually.  They said it was too bitter, and called it Bitterroot.  When the dried specimen was returned to the east coast, it looked like it still had life, and they planted it.  Sure enough, it grew.  And so the scientific name is Lewisia Rediviva, and rediviva means “restored to life.”

Meadow Death Camas, a highly poisonous plant whose roots were historically mashed and used to coat the tips of arrows.

Two that I’ve taken pictures of before but that I always love to see each spring are the Larkspur and wild hyacinth.

Upland Larkspur are some of the earliest blooming flowers. I love the deep blue color.

I can never remember what this one is called and then I figure it out, and forget again until next year. It reminds me of Chinese paper lanterns. I found it, a type of Lily.