Bobcat?

 It was another rainy day, or at least the morning.  I pretty much took the day off from gardening.  I did check in on the plants and see that things were alright, but I didn't weed, re-pot things, build a fence, or any of the other tasks I could have worked on.  Tomorrow, when I only have a little bit of time because of the pre-hire appointment, I may regret this.  For now, it was a fairly relaxing day and I am happy with this choice.  Other things I am happy for:

• We live within walking distance of an ice cream stand.  
• I've still been posting on YouTube some of the videos captured with the wildlife camera.  The one that was posted tonight, I am not sure of the identity of the animal.  I think it might be a bobcat though and wanted to share that with my blog readers too.  Here is the link.  I'm still really enjoying seeing the wildlife on the back property.
• One of the things I had to do before the pre-hire appointment was to take a picture of myself for a badge.  I had a problem getting the lighting right so Zed helped by taking the picture and using the flash.  Zed decided to make this process hilarious so I had to ask him to leave and go back to doing a selfie.
• There is a plant that Lens suggests is either a type of sage or a wild clary.  I posted about it a week or so ago.  Whatever it is, it is blooming now.  I still don't know which it is, but I think it is pretty.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.
    I finished the spring season section today.

Thanks for reading, stay safe!

Rainy Sunday

 Today the rain held off until lunch time.  I didn't go out first thing though, I wanted to do a job search first.  I've applied for another job and I have a pre-hire appointment on Tuesday.  It was all automatic.  The introvert in me loves the lack of contact leading up to this.  The old person inside though, they are a little weirded out by the lack of real people involved.  I'm just glad I am finally getting this job hunt going.  Other things I am happy about today:

• It is the end of the month and I remembered to fertilize the plants.  Yay!
• There are some plants under the fruit trees that look like more strawberry plants but I have been trying to ignore them.  The fruit trees are the priority in that area.  They have been mowed once this year and a few times last year.  Looking at them today and seeing how well the ones I replanted the other day are doing (so far), I may try to move these soon too.  I really enjoy strawberries, can you tell?

• For a while today I just relaxed in front of the TV watching Grace and Frankie on Netflix and pacing for steps between the episodes.
• It was another cool, wet day with temperatures in the mid 40's.  In the evening I turned on the gas fireplace.  It is what I needed to take the chill out of my bones.  

Winston by me as we warmed ourselves by the fire.

Nanni found a high place where the heat rose to.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Cobbler

 When it rains out, I don't tend to get into the garden.  I did remember to check on all the plants that are still inside and I watched a few videos on YouTube that were plant related.  There was a good part of the day that I just tried to keep warm.  I didn't notice when, in the afternoon, the rain stopped.  Before dinner I went and cut some walking onions to be added to the meal.  What I learned is that I have no idea where I should be cutting them.  Oh, well.  Learning and the following are my happy things for the day:

• Winston, asleep over my shoulder.

• Spending most of the day inside, I should have been a bit more productive.  I straightened up my desk a little.  It is serviceable again!
  
• At the beginning of the week the freezer was left open just enough that things needed to be cooked.  There was a big bag of Wyman's Triple Berry fruit that when refrozen, became one large mass.  Today I made a fruit cobbler.  

• The cobbler was very delicious.  It was also soup.  A sweet warm soup that we put vanilla ice cream on.

Yes, I did use a thickener.
Delicious.

• Speaking of soup, it is what I had for lunch.  The cold, wet day made hot soup the perfect choice.
• Keziah made a delicious meal that she said was inspired by a poke bowl.  It had rice, vegetables, salmon (cooked), and a few other things.  It was very good.  The walking onions from the garden were good in it, too.  
• There was a storm that knocked out power in parts of Texas yesterday so Minecraft Friday with TF is Saturday this week.  I'm posting before I play, so I don't forget.  I'm confident that it will be a happy-play way to end my day.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

    As I finished the chapter today I realized that I am falling behind my reading of this book.  It is set up for each season and we are about to move on.

Stay safe, thank you for reading!

Bittersweet

 As the end of the month draws near it is time for me to move funds around to pay my mortgage.  With that task and getting my mail at the post office where the house I own is in mind, I did these errands this morning.  Because I also wanted to get out and get a few steps in I made some other small stops.  One of them was just a parking lot but the other was a cemetery.  Having planted flowers earlier this week at family members' gravesites I was reminded of an app that I haven't used in a very long time, Find a Grave.  People request pictures of gravestones to help further their genealogy research.  I was able to find two graves in the cemetery I stopped at.  One was easy to find as she was my best friend from high school's mom.  The other was a common name in the town so I had a good idea where to look.  I spent a lot of time in that particular cemetery growing up as it is very near the house with that mortgage I need to pay.  Helping people with their genealogy endeavors and the following are my happy things for today:

• Last year, after buying strawberry plants so we could have some here, we found some already growing.  They were in the part of the garden that was overgrown with autumn olive trees and bittersweet.  Most of the autumn olive was cut down a few weeks ago.  The bittersweet that I cut last year has grown back.  Some of today was spent pulling up roots and saying goodbye to weeds.

There is still a bunch of bittersweet but
it is coming from the other side of the fence.
Hopefully I will get to that over the weekend.

• In the process of pulling the bittersweet, the strawberry plants came up too.  They haven't seemed to produce anything since we moved here last year, so I moved them.  

The first area, before the rock,
has radishes planted.
The line up the middle after that are strawberry plants.
It seemed like a good time to add the soaker hose too.

• We aren't sure who was driving but this happened...

The taco truck is in need of a body shop.
The cats are fine.
It is suggested that catnip may have played a part.
😀🤣😂

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

    Did you know that it matters how fresh the grass is that is growing for the animals that eat it?

Thank you for being a happy part of my life.  Stay safe.

Art Museum

 There is a modest sized art museum in Manchester, NH called the Currier Museum of Art.  We (Keziah, Gideon, and a friend that is staying with us this week) met some friends there and visited for a short time today.  I decided not to ask about taking pictures and just didn't take any of the exhibits.  I also chose to spend more time in the current exhibits that will go away and didn't even go up to the second floor.  Here are some happy things from the museum and home later: 

• I enjoyed all the exhibits but two of them stood out to me.  One was Critical Cartography.  The artist, Larissa Fassler, made maps of the city and placed on them notes of things that she witnessed while there.  She also included news and facts about the area.  It was an interesting snippet of time artistically presented.  My words don't do it justice and I was not able to stay and read everything.  
• The second exhibit was Roberto Lugo.  Mr. Lugo used pieces of his own work (most pottery based) and some of those from the museum that asked the viewer to compare perspectives.  At least that is how I interpreted it.  It struck a note with me and now I want to try to work in 
  clay.   According to the museum website, he will be an artist in residence there over the summer.
  
• When talking with Keziah and Gideon about things they liked, both of them agreed that spending time with the almost two year old friend was the best.  Seeing her and her mother was a wonderful treat.  As things flow in a museum, I kept being separated from the group... I think I took too long or not enough time in places.  Seeing friends is certainly a highlight of the day.

Being part of the discussion.

Gideon felt that this looked like potato chips.
I see fans.

• At home later I finally made a small step at organizing my room.  It kind of fell apart when I stopped doing the videos for downsizing.  One small step and now I have baskets hanging on my wall.

• I finally got around to mowing one of the parts of the yard that I have avoided until now.  Then I went after some of the areas I want to keep tame to allow for walking.  One of the areas, by the apple trees, I mowed about two weeks ago, I thought.  It was hard to tell the grass has grown so much.  I only did a little of it because I was getting tired.  

The trail I mowed through here is barely visible.
There are lines where some animals have been by.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

Stay safe.  Thank you for reading about my happy things today.

Cemetery Day-Too Many Pictures

 Before Memorial Day every year we plant geraniums on family graves.  That day was today.  Not everyone could join us, but we got the geraniums planted, cleaned off the stones that needed it, and got a much needed visit with family we haven't seen in a while.  Hugs are a wonderful thing.  Other happy things for today:

• Since I knew I would be gone all day, I started by taking a walk around the property and getting the pictures from the wildlife camera.  Here are some of the plants I saw and what Lens thinks they are...

Common Cinquefoil, it is getting larger.

Possibly a blackberry.

This is coming up as either whorled loosestrife or
northern bush honeysuckle.
I'll try to look for this again as it grows.

Ostrich Fern.

Fern.

This is supposed to be Geranium dissectum.

Just trees.

The witch tree.

The rhododendron.

Iris are starting to open.

• I saw some deer tracks on the property.

At least I think it is from a deer.
It looked like it in real life.

• Some highlights from the day...

Fairly new monument at one of the cemeteries.

This is at my aunt's house.
The tree has grown SO much.

Keziah and the reflection on those sunglasses!

Well water for the flowers.

Up it comes!

Beaver lodge.

Goose family.

On the way home a storm was rolling in.

We had a rainbow after the storm passed.

• We went out for lunch and ice cream.  😃
• There is a tiller in the back of the van.  It may not work, but we will find out fairly soon.
• For that 'just in case' reason I brought my pruning shears with me to the cemeteries.  I don't think we have ever needed them and didn't today.  However, there were some people that were planting flowers on a loved ones grave near where we were and they did need them.  Being helpful is one of those things that makes me happy.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

Stay safe.  What things make you happy?

Venus

 Sometimes, a plan for the day works and happens.  Sometimes, it does not.  Yesterday when I got up I found that the freezer had been left open just enough that a bunch of food was partially thawed.  We cooked things and then I got productive in the garden.  Today I got up and did some things in the garden and then learned that the company that is spraying the yard for ticks would be here today.  We don't tend to know what time so I cleaned up the yard a bit and then puttered inside the house instead.  This meant that I wasn't very busy when TF called to let me know she was going to have a job interview.  Talking on the phone for a bit allowed me to work on the latch hook from my youth that I am trying to finish.  These are good things.  Other things I am happy for today:

• Around lunch time Keziah, two friends, and I went to a store in town called Penumbra.  This adorable shop had all sorts of houseplants and plant containers as well as jewelry and greeting cards that were most likely from local artists.  Keziah got a Venus flytrap for Gideon.

It is going to be a kitchen plant.

• In the afternoon I met with a friend to go for a walk.  Always enjoyable catching up with friends.  We hope to continue these Tuesday walks going forward now that we are all vaccinated.  

The green is like a tent over the stream.

Ducks!

More ducks!

• Back home I took a walk around the garden and did some watering.  

 I read that Egyptian walking onion
can be used like other onions
but have a stronger flavor.

A flower on one of the raspberry plants
that came with the property.

☮

Currently reading: The Burgess Book of Nature Lore, by Thornton W. Burgess.

Stay safe.

Stringing the Peas

 It was a hard to get motivated kind of day.  It took a little bit, but I did motivate myself.  The first task was to put the tomato plants outside for a little fresh air.  Today the air did seem fresh.  The temperature was not as hot as yesterday which made working out there much nicer.  Other happy things for today:

• One of the things that has been on my list for a while was to tie up the pea plants.  They were starting to hold onto each other, now there is a string.  

In progress string tying.

• One of the other things I've wanted to do was to get a soaker hose near the strawberries and blueberries.  I bought a kit a few days ago to assemble soaker hoses to fit anywhere.  There is now a soaker hose at the blueberry and strawberry plants.  It was so easy to put together that the peas got a soaker hose too!

I still need to cover the hose with something at the top.

• When I went to get the regular hose I found a nest.  I'm pretty sure it is abandoned.

I didn't use that hose.

• In the middle of the day I took a rest on the hammock swing in the shade.

Not sure how I got the light beams?
I wasn't able to repeat that effect.

• In the evening Giedon had his last Scout meet of the season where they gave the awards earned during the year.  Families can attend.  It was outside to allow for social distancing.

Gideon outgrew his uniform this year.

• Then there was the moon from the parking lot.

☮

Currently reading: The Burgess Book of Nature Lore, by Thornton W. Burgess.

Thank you for reading.