To let you know what has been happening around here, I’m going to interrupt my England trip to show you photos from the last few weeks.
The biggest news is our new kitten! After our old Racecar girl died in her sleep on Thanksgiving Day, at 18 years old, we have been grieving. She took a lot of our time and a lot of our love. Six months later, we are now ready to have a new fur baby in our home. Less than a week ago, we went to pick up Jupyter the kitten.
She is Pedro’s baby. He named her after the planet, because of her colours, but also for the programming platform “jupyter” because he’s a nerdy guy. ❤ I’m sure you will see many more photos of her in the future.
The day after I got back from England, I was in the 10K Hippie Chick race, as part of my training for my Belle Brigade team. I was up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5 am, because my body was still on England time. I did a great job in the race, considering some travel exhaustion. By “great” I mean I finished it strong, but definitely not at the front. Kellen drove up from Albany to meet me after the race, and we went to eat an early Mother’s Day brunch.
It’s garden season! We purchased a bunch of starts for tomatoes, peppers, squash, tomatillos, cilantro, corn, etc. My plan over the winter had been to rebuild the sundial garden raised beds, but I am not going to get to it this year. We instead just fertilized and planted the old boxes. We will use them one more year and hopefully they don’t disintigrate just yet.
All summer last year as I watered the garden, the dirt slid off the top of the mound and mixed into the wood chips that are on the ground to suppress the weeds. This year I have decided to frame up those mounds. It won’t stop the erosion, but my hope is that it will make a big difference.
In the photo above, you can see my work as of yesterday. I have framed up the strawberries in the back, that is two boards high. In front of that are two wide beds for my vines. I have zucchini, pumpkins, and cucumbers in there. The three narrow beds in the front are the last three I have to frame up.
You can also see my CHICKEN TUNNEL!! It is so much fun and gives me a silly amount of joy when I watch my pretty chickies run through it. In the photo you can see Chick Nhat Hanh beside the garden beds. The tunnel is made of poultry netting, and is just big enough to allow two birds to pass each other if they squish. They don’t mind the size and push past each other constantly. It’s purpose is to give them more space to explore, while keeping them out of my garden. The girls are in that tunnel, back and forth and back and forth all day every day. They do not tire of this game. At the far end is a little cage that Pedro and I built a couple years ago. There, they can look around, and then run back through the tunnel again when they are ready.
The squirrels have already been eating our strawberries, even though they are still green. I came up with a plan to use this “lid” for the strawberry raised bed. I’ll use wire to sew up the gaps, then attach hinges. I stopped at this stage because I realized my raised bed is not square, so once I dig out some dirt and get that fixed, I’ll finish with the squirrel deterrent lid.
Pedro got inspired, seeing how easily we can move the chickens to the very back of the yard via the chicken tunnel, and he is planning to make a new chicken home for them in his new amazing workshop. Their current home has some issues and we have decided to repurpose it as a tool shed once they get a new home.
But first he finished our second new gate. He already built us a new gate on the other side of the house. It’s much less used and less visible, so it was his practice gate. This gate is used constantly and needed to be replaced. He imagined, planned, and created this whole thing from his awesome imagination.
Pedro’s talents are not limited to wood working. He also planted some hops plants this week, outside his shop. There is a metal grid on the fence that is just asking for a vine of some kind to be planted there.
Yesterday was a gorgeous and warm weather day and we headed out early to get in a nice long hike. We chose a new trail in Forest Park that we have not used before.
It was a five mile hike, out and back. We went up up up the steep hill to Pittock Mansion, took some photos of the stunning Mt. Hood, and then walked all the way back down.
Over at his blog, my friend Derrick J Knight has been showing us day after day how much work his wife Jackie is putting into cleaning up the paths in their garden. I think of Jackie every day when I look at my paths and how much attention they need. So one day I finally began cleanup work.
I used a thin metal tool to dig out the wedged seeds, rocks, dirt, and moss on the entire deck. It took two days. Exhausting.
I have more paths, and more moss and weeds to dig out, trust me. But I’m pleased that at least one section looks nice for the moment.
In making space for my new back yard office, I completely tore out the Wisteria Monster, and cut back its stalks to the core pieces, which I plan to use for support in the future. The monster is so old that it has buckled up the bricks used to pave the area. I finally sat my butt down and started digging up bricks and leveling and replacing them.
Conscious Engagement 
A wonderful post, but….. Damn that’s gorgeous gate Pedro built!!! and Hurray for your garden efforts. It’s going to look great.
The new kitty already looks very impressive, and is probably planning where the catnip plantation should go…what’s a garden without goodies for kitty?
Lou, I read your comment to him. 🙂 I am enjoying how much time he spends on projects in his shop. Creative people need a creative outlet to keep finding joy in life, and I can see this is giving him joy. For that reason, the trouble we went to in order to have this shop built is totally totally worth it!! Also, it’s my luck that all the projects that interest him are home improvement things.
Thanks for the reminder to plant something for kitty! Catnip certainly, and maybe some yummy grass as well. So far we haven’t let her outside, because she gets frightened very quickly. But each day she becomes more and more bold, and she is also very curious about where we go when we walk out the door…
Now Crystal…It’s a catnip plantation. They like to feel that they are important.
After all it’s a very imortant crop. Hoever remember, after you harvest it must be carefully dried, and cured before kitty goes crazy…I mean delicatley samples some.
Because of you, I have already planted catnip in our garden. Jupyter owes you. 😉
Actually she can thank Marcus and Sabrina: ” oh that poor deprived kitten!”
Ha ha!! Awesome 🙂
So much going on I am weary Crystal. Love Pedros gate, the garden beds and the clean deck and paths
It might seem more busy than it is, since this is a collection of highlights from a couple of weeks. But yes, we do have things happening pretty often around here. Today, for example, we are taking his twins out kayaking, which we have not done before with them. It should be a good day as long as it doesn’t rain, which is a possibility.
Now that will be fun
It must be good to be back home. I am pleased that Jackie has inspired you to do all that productive clearing. Soil overflowing the beds and mingling with with weed suppressants is always a pain. Lots of hard work has paid off in the the paths and decking. I am impressed with Pedro’s gate. You are keeping very fit with the running, too. That is a lovely Mother’s Day picture of Kellen, and also of you with Pedro.
Thank you very much, Derrick, for a thorough examination of the happenings around here. Yes, Jackie inspires me. Both of you put so many hours in the garden that I want to do more in my own. You are right that it feels good to be home. And this time of year is when more is needed from us to bring the garden into being. It’s all work that makes us happy.
Sweet kitty, wonderful gate ,great brickwork, gosh you have been SO busy, loving seeing Pedro and your garden, that wisteria is going to be so lovely again, my favourite climber. J
Next visit to England will be with Pedro! It felt strange not being able to share such a big adventure with him. Thanks for the encouragement with the wisteria. I liked seeing what you have done with yours in your own garden, too. That is what I have in mind for my wisteria here. We chopped it back severely, so I think it won’t really begin to take shape till next year, but that’s ok. I have patience.
Ooo, what a pretty new kitten, gate, around-the-housework and hiking dress! Doing it all very right, I see. So happy for the both of you.
Thank you thank you, my friend! Around-the-house work uses up so much time, but the pay off is nice. Wish I could have you and your boys over here for an afternoon iced tea on the deck to enjoy the pretty yard and watch the chickens running through their tunnel. I love that dress too! It was the first day I wore it. The stripes are fun.
First of all, Jupyter is gorgeous, Crystal. I’m so glad you have a new fur ball to share your life with. And all the work you’ve done in the garden looks amazing. I know just how much effort that takes. And like you alluded to – it is not just getting things to look neat and tidy, but now it is moving to the maintenance of it all throughout summer. I also really love the new gate Pedro made. It is stunning. He is so creative.
Aww, thank you Jolandi. We have both fallen in love with the fur ball already. Hard not to. She’s getting used to us, too, which of course endears us to her even more. It makes it easier to forgive the 3 am crashes that wake us up, and the constant messes to clean up when she spills her food, or jumps into a potted plant and then tracks dirt all over the room.
I can hardly believe it, but I see a tiny zucchini trying to form on one of the vines already. That is exciting for me. I planted zucchini last year in a bad place and we did not get to harvest a single one. You and Michael are other bloggers that inspire me to keep up my spirits while working on home projects. It’s just so much work in the beginning (your place more than most), but I am convinced that once we have it set up how we want, it will be so much easier to maintain.
I am repeatedly grateful that Pedro keeps identifying things to fix and rebuild around here, and then doing it. It feels like a real partnership. And you are right about the creativity – that makes it even more satisfying.
Michael is forever complaining about Tigger’s exuberance, Crystal. Kittens can be exhausing with their boundless energy. 😆
As for the zucchini – how wonderful that it looks like you will have success this year. They are so prolific when they are happy, and versatile to use in the kitchen. Wishing you a happy and bountiful season in your garden.