Saturday, February 26, 2005

No pity party this year


Cannon Beach Birthday
Originally uploaded by jellybeanbonanza.
I know I know: it seems like the past 5 years I've thrown myself a pity party for my birthday every February -- unless we were in Mexico. But this year, I don't know what it is. Maybe because we've had so much sunshine all month and it hasn't felt like February, maybe I don't need to give myself any pity. Maybe I've just grown up. But there's no pity party. And it's my birthday. And while we were walking on the beach earlier this morning it was overcast, today is February 26th and the sun is out in Cannon Beach, Oregon, and it's beautiful!

Monday, February 21, 2005

Squirrel acrobatics make for high birdfood bill

Squirrel acrobatics make for high birdfood bill

We've gone through a ton of birdseed this winter: usually they're empty
within 2 days. Yeah, yeah, the birds are pudgy here in our garden, but I
couldn't believe they were eating it all.

Today I saw it. Hanging sideways, gripping to the tree with its hind legs,
this squirrel. Whenever I got close to it, it would bark. Here it is as it
ran up the claredendron and into the wysteria, barking at me the entire
time. Within 5 minutes, it was back in the tree.

I've moved the feeder.

Before and After more

Before and After more

Here's another one...this time with Picasso posing for us. We're taking out
the root roses this year and replacing the railing with a wood one.

Satisfaction

Satisfaction

A little before and after in the garden: February pruning. We've only just
begun.....

Sunday, February 20, 2005

When I die I want to be remembered on a gas station sign.


DSC01999
Originally uploaded by jellybeanbonanza.
But what does the gift card mean? Bring a gift and a card to the service? Get a gift card here? Hmm.

Hello? Paris here.

From the JaLo hotline (I guess I mean the JaAmLo hotline)....

Somebody hacked Paris Hilton's cellphone, and here are all of her numbers.

I think I'll give Fred Durst a call and tell him how much he sucks.
Then on to eminem, Shapiro, the Gotti kid, and Christina Aguilera.

New link is here, fresh off the Ja'AmLo hotline:
Paris' phonebook

La Frida


La Frida
Originally uploaded by jellybeanbonanza.

Hummingbirds

So we've been planting for hummingbirds ever since we began the garden here: about 7 years ago. This last summer saw lots of them, buzzing around: their favorites seemed to be salvia and they really buzzed the bright red bee balm (what my grandmother called firecracker flower). But I had never seen them during off-season in the garden. Until this year. On Halloween, I heard one (their chirp chirp chirp is a sound I've come to recognize, often before I see them) and it was feeding on the black and blue salvia, still in bloom. I was surprised. The mellow winter meant that come Thanksgiving, the mexican salvia with its bright purple fuzzy flowers was still blooming. And on Thanksgiving, I saw the hummingbird again.

About 5 years ago we had bought one of those old-school hummingbird feeders, put red sugar water in it, hung it, never saw a hummingbird, so we put it away back in the garage. On Thanksgiving I dug the thing up, learned the 4/1 ratio of sugar water (don't make it red, that's bad), and hung it in the garden for our late-season visiting friend. The salvias soon succombed to winter frosts, but the feeder has become incredibly popular. The viburnum has done some strange things throughout the winter, always having 1 or 2 white blooms going (I've never seen that), and the hummingbird has been visiting these blooms, and the feeder.

2 weeks or so ago, I about fell out of my chair when I looked out at the feeder and saw a hummingbird that looked like this. The bright purple head/neck of a male hummingbird was not something I had seen at the feeder, and against the grey backdrop of winter in the garden, it was a shocking and exciting thing to see. He's there this morning at the feeder, and yesterday, two female Anna's got into a rumble above the feeder: I've heard they are territorial, and their aggressive chirping surprised me. So here it is in February, and they're now going through an entire feeder-ful a week. I think word's out on the hummingbird network that this is a good place to go. Yesterday's warm winter meant the cats were out for awhile, and I heard the hummers chirping away, sounding pissed off.....the cats were in the area of the feeder, and the hummer was not happy about that!

So that's the story of hummers in our garden. I'll post more abut them and their rumbles in the future.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Fancy Lady Hotel

If you find yourself in Amman Jordan, stop in and give a shout out to my peeps, NR who's there doing important work in the coming months. I admit, I had to look it up on a map exactly where Jordan is, and in discovering how close to Iraq it is has made me nervous. But it's not far to the Dead Sea, and if you're going to be there, you might as well stay at a fancy lady hotel.

Beautiful

Beautiful site, beautiful photos, beautiful!
I want to meet this woman

Warm Saturday Afternoon in February

This can't be right. It's February, isn't it?
The windows are open.

an afternoon with the windows open means hearing your neighbors that you haven't heard in awhile....with our nice insulated windows, we're lucky. but once the weather gets nice, this afternoon was full of Pete Seger blaring from the car stereo, and a shout out from one to another, of "Hey! When you're done there, come mow my lawn, will ya?"
That's original.

Aahh. The first one of the season.