Sunset Cat

I’ve been searching on Craigslist on & off the past few months looking for another bookcase.  With all the pets, the books are much better protected behind glass, so I wanted to find either another barrister bookcase or a double-door case like we found awhile ago.  Plus, despite our constant decluttering efforts, our books resist [...]

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Knitting
33 out of 50 of the four-row repeats on the first half of Flutter are done!
I’m going to update my books for sale on Ravelry today…. (DONE)
I’ve purged a lot of old saved (free) patterns from my laptop and need to do the same on the desktop. (DONE) I can always just favorite them on [...]

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Quick update on the Independence goals:

Plant something:  nada but we did clean out the garage and I have identified several sets of bins to make into homemade earthboxes (PDF here)
Harvest something:  ate some Santa Rosa plums;  ate some plums from a coworker off her Santa Rosa plum tree
Preserve something:  nada, not enough to harvest
Plan/Manage:  does [...]

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From Princess of Pink (who I found through Ravelry) and Casaubon’s Book (the original source of the following challenge) I found the Independence Days Challenge. You’re supposed to do the following as you are able (as often as possible, daily if possible)

Plant something
Harvest something
Preserve something
Plan/Manage
Cook Something New
Work on Local Food Systems
Reduce Waste
Learned a new [...]

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As of today:

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Can anyone identify this bird? It and another one were foraging on one of our trees in the shade garden. It had a rufous cap, a buff belly, and a greyish brown back. It didn’t have any speckles or barring that I could see. Its legs and bill were black. [...]

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Well, for now, at least; all the windows we’re going to be working on in the near future.
Colony Wood Screens put up the last of the screens this past week in our bedroom and the cats’ room. The screen look & work great; we are very happy with them. They are [...]

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Here’s a taste!

Shade garden aka the secret garden. We really didn’t think anything would come of this spot and I have to say I’m so pleased with how it’s coming along!

Yarrow and poppies.

Desert verbena.

Monkey flower.
See the rest at flickr!

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Rigel is an English Cocker Spaniel. He is small, about 30#, and short. He is sweet and loving.

He has, however, been seduced by the Dark Side yet once again. Notice the evil glowing green color of his eyes.

***
Dave bought a baker’s dozen of bagels Sunday morning. I had one and a [...]

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Apple Tree Bed
Festuca idahoensis “Stony Creek”
Malacothamnus fasciculatus chaparral mallow
Penstemon heterophyllus Margarita BOP
Erigonum parvifolium
Verbena gooddingii Mojave verbena
Achillea millifolium (dark pink flowers)
Plum/nectarine Bed
Achillea millifolium
Verbena lilacina
Diplacus aurantiacus australis Ramona
Fragaria chiloensis
Artemisia californica Calif Sagebrush
Erigonum giganteum St Cath Lace
Zauschneria californica Catalina
Sisyrinchium “Rocky Point” Blue Eyed Grass
Rosa minutifolia Baja mini Rose
Shade Garden
Asarum caudatum Wild Ginger
Rhamnus calif. “Bonita Linda” coffee [...]

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Nice view from the south side of the house of the ‘dry wash’ area and the nectarine/plum bed.

This “David’s Choice” is doing fabulously; the other died. They were only about 4-5 feet apart. I have no idea why the other died.

I’ve named all the areas of the yard for my own [...]

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….new pics of the front yard to be posted soon.
Dave and our friend Mike have made considerable progress on rebuilding the trellises, fixing the wood and stucco around the windows that was damaged by water due to the construction of the previous trellises, and painting the new construction. Hoping to be done this weekend…..
I [...]

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Dave painted the other living room window last week — it looks great! Now I just have to decide what I want for curtains….
I’m starting to hunt again for rocks & boulders for the front yard. Eventually I’d like to have salvaged enough rocks for some sort of low fence.

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Ceanothus
Originally uploaded by stephannie_t.

Verbena
Originally uploaded by stephannie_t.

Leptodactylon — Prickly Phlox
Originally uploaded by stephannie_t.

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I’m sure we’re considered the neighborhood wackos in our town for ripping out our grass and putting in native plants (and even doing the vast majority of the work ourselves, including all the maintenance, planting and hardscaping). However, the yard is finally getting to the point where the plants are growing well enough (California [...]

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