Week 20- Oregon City, Oregon - May 15- May 21, 2023

In 2021, I collected many flower heads/seeds from some white daisies that were growing in the corner of our hay field.  I carefully plucked off all the the seeds (about a million seeds), mixed them into some potting soil, and then in the spring of 2022, I flung them all over the upper part of First Slope.  In 2022 the plants grew - but not tall, and they did not flower.  In 2023 however, in the spring, the plants grew wildly, forming big bushes, they showed buds and then flowered - beautifully.  We've tried to identify them and can come up with a "maybe" name.  We thought that they might be biennials but can't find any white biennial daisies in our plant books.  And this is why, in all of my plant ID classes, I never had to key a plant in the Compositae family any further than just saying "the plant is in Compositae family.  We may never know, and Helen Gilkey and LaRae Dennis have both died.  Here is our final name, Chyrsanthemum leucanthemum, Oxeye Daisy.

 

And, here they are today, May 21st, covering First Slope with their wonderfulness.

Our books say it is a perennial and very common.  It'll probably turn into a weed.

Cats are still happy.  Will be interesting to see how they react when W&W come home.

I added to a wildlife habitat - in Sector 1.  Haven't seen any wildlife yet.

Dad worked mightily in the garden.  He added mulch (sand and mulch) and fertilizer...all by hand and cultivated it with the tractor.

One day Bev's kids came over and helped plant sweet corn.

We picnicked in the front yard under the magnolia.

Speaking of trees ....of the eleven trees I planted last year, eight have survived!!!!!  I have place a red flag by each and a little individual bag of Irish Spring (deer repellant) tied to each one.

I finished two outdoor projects.  First was to finish cleaning up all of the rocks that a nasty squirrel spread all over the bark nuggets in the bed by the front door.  That little squirrel#$%&&!

I did the thankless job of cleaning up behind the barn - where three million maple seed had germinated.  I pulled everything out, rakes and hoed, and put everything back.  Also sprayed other maples that were further from the building.

Our ice maker stopped working - probably because it was very hot....and there might not have been enough circulation around the refrigerator because of all the hand towels on the top.  (I threw half of them out).

Bev's cat, Pickles, had another litter (May 17th).  This time she had only four.

We have started cutting firewood again.  I've saved a bunch of thin branches to make wood for the Solo Stove.

Nicely stored in 18 boxes under the balcony.   I'd like to do another six boxes before we leave on July 31.

My Mother's Day gift came - a PORTAL by Facebook.  It's kind of neat, but I have a lot to learn.

My first two sweaters I knit when I was in high school.  I used them for skiing.

Sunday dinner was at Bev's  Ryan related his experience on Saturday when he presided over the funeral of a Tongan ward member.  His adventure was hilarious -  of course we weren't living it.  There was tons of confusion between an LDS funeral by "the book" and a cultural Tongan funeral.  I should have recorded it.

Jessica made fry bread.  It was as good as last Saturday's.

..........and so went another week...quickly.

 Week 19 -Oregon City - May 8 - May 14, 2023

Our first week after the cruise - I'm not surprised that I spent as much time as possible in the woods.   I was hampered by the temperatures - very hot - for example, On Sunday, right now, it is 88 degrees outside. One thing I learned from the Tree School we went to...on a Saturday when we had our last snow, was that I need to provide some wildlife habits - using tree branches and what not, rather than burning everything.  So, I made two piles of brush - one on top of a downed rotten log - "Welcome" to all skunks, possums, racoons, squirrels, birds, and to their predators.

This one is in Sector 4 by the "The Hammock amongst the Cedars"

This one is on a big cedar stump in Sector 1--I remember when it was completely covered by blackberries; now its covered by branches---I almost see nesting birds.

In the fall of 2021, I collected flowers/seed heads of white daisies that I found in the southwestern corner of the hay field - I named the trail that goes down the ridge in Sector 5, "Daisy Trail".  In the winter of  2022 I sowed those seeds along the upper part of First Slope.  In the summer of 2022, I noticed a whole bunch of little plants, which I surmised were new baby daisy plants.  They grew a little, but not much --ahhhh,,  they must be biennials.  And that is the case as they have grown big and tall spring 2023 season.

And, here is a flower bud in this close up photo.   In the next blog post, I hope to be able to post photos of the white flowers.

With the warmer (hot) weather, Warren's cats have different personalities.  The first week we had them it was cold and rainy, and the cats were snuggled up inside.  The week, it has been hot and the cats are outdoor explorers, when they aren't sleeping.

For Activity Day we went to the Newell Creek Nature Park (right here in OC) and hiked to the waterfall and back.  It was a resounding success!!!!! The A&W Root Beer Floats afterwards helped too.  Honestly....I think it is a boring hike - the hike in Brunner roads is much better!  Here we are at the bridge.

This week marked the beginning of the summer season - because Dad wanted to put up the shade cloth.

On Saturday we had the first Brunner Neighbor Fry Bread Event.  It was nice!  Really hot so we had it on Jessica's porch.  Not all that many people showed up - only about 22 and half of that number were family members.

Saturday evening was the end of the year concert at ACA - we went to see Abby and Clara.  The music was a bit iffy - some of the pieces really weren't ready for performance. Abby and Clara's group did really well...the others.....meh

We brought a table from Greenhouse #8 into the house and brought in a little frog with it.  With some agility requires, we caught the frog and put it in the bushes.

Mother's Day today. l I woke up to a gift bag on my desk with some mint patties in a sandwich bag and a bigger bag full of gourmet style breakfast granola.  She brought Tyler, Logan, and Abby along with Dutch Babies and strawberries.  I had cleaned off the deck and put out our foldable tables.  The temperature was perfect.  The breakfast was wonderful. and we enjoyed our conversation.

Weekday mornings I go to Bev's to help Jude on the piano.  We also have a short scripture and Come Follow Me.  I thought this was a great photo of Bev and three of her kids.

Week 18 - Oregon City and Cruise to Mexico -April 27-May 7, 2023

Waiting at the airport.

Mt Lassen

Mt Shasta

Motel in Long Beach

We took a walk along the beach which was a short way from the motel.

Long wait to get on the ship.  I think we look like refugees....we were clean, however.

Saturday and Sunday - at sea

Whitney joined in a game of Tensies with some friendly strangers.

Our favorite table in our favorite section of the Windjammer!

Sunday - a day in Cabo San Lucas - we had to take a tender to get from the ship to the city pier.  It was kind of fun.....but time consuming. 

We wandered around a bit - dodging street vendors and men holding signs for boat rental.

 

Finally realized that if we wanted to get to a beach, we had to find a boat taxi to take us to ......this lovely beach which was quite crowded.

We had to walk a way to find "our" spot....which was perfect.  Slight breeze.  Coarse sand which massaged one's feet while walking.

Warren is watching Holland, lower left, and his phone, right hand.

Copeland wore himself out in the water.  Dad just wore himself out.  Both had to rest.

Then it was time to call our water taxi, and load up.

And head back to the ship for....dinner!!!!

Monday - Mazatlán!  When we got off the boat, we (along with the other 3,000 passengers) had to take shuttle carts to get us out of the humongous container shipyard.  Once through all the containers and through a big tented area with all kinds of souvenir's, we emerged in to the city streets...where we bartered for a taxi that would take all six of us anywhere we wanted to go for three hours for - - I think, $90.  Off we went to see the picturesque bay.

Right over there...

Here is an old and unused seaside salt water swimming pool....lots of sand in it.

We dropped off at the city's fancy cathedral and walked around.  Busy streets.  Busy outdoor markets.  Reminded us of many places we've visited.

Upon leaving I kicked the kneeling bench with my shin and left sorely bruised - a lasting souvenir.

We got dropped off at a coffee shop to look for a geocache,  But, contrary to the description of the cache, the employees of the coffee shop where the cache was hidden were neither helpful or knowledgeable.  But we did find this store in this cluster of shops....

where...we bought this!  Such flavorish joy!

Our driver told us about a famous local person.....who we'd never heard of.....Pedro Infante Cruz who was born right here in Mazatlán in 1917.  You should google him.  Very handsome and a good singer.  He died in a plane crash - he was the pilot.

I can't download the photo because Warren's phone has HEIC photos which the bolg doesn't accept.  groan..............

Our taxi deposited us back to where we could board the ship.  Warren and Dad managed to examine a lot of plants

I found a bathroom that was quite nice.

Dad and Warren found a few necessities

Then back through the containers and using the shuttle..

...we were back on the ship for dinner!

Wednesday - Puerto Vallarta

This time we could actually walk off the ship.....

and through a building to get to the street where we rented a taxi for three hours.  The driver took us to a botanical garden that was about an hour's drive away.  It was a great drive.  We went through the downtown, along roads through resortish/fancy places. through areas where it seemed the people lived outside and their yards were not neat and tidy.  We were in the hills - along curvy bumpy roads.  

The traffic was busy, and all the drivers were amazingly polite - merging nicely, giving way, forming lanes in the roadway where there were no markings.  Very civilized driving - unlike Thailand or Kazakhstan.

I was skeptical about our destination botanical garden - we've been to many.  But it turned out to be nice.

There were nice healthy plants, labeled, and a good variety.  I really liked this succulent draping over the pot's edges.

I selected a few bits of the plants (for scientific purposes only) to make a birthday present for Bev.

Returning to the ship we bumped into Ryan White and his wife Aspen.   They married in October but waited until now to take their honeymoon trip.

Back on the ship for two days at sea - Thursday and Friday

Every evening on board there was a show - we went to them all.

--Ice Skating Performance -nice

Presentation by a group of men who sang the song made famous by Franki Valli and The Four Seasons.....did you know "the Four Seasons" was the name of a bowling alley where they first performed.....they were really good; I knew all the songs.

--Big Band performance...meh

--The Showgirls ...meh, meh

--Comedian - this guy was actually funny and we all were laughing

--Bingo game at Ocean Adventure for kids.

Photos of the ocean on my last walk around Deck 4 (three laps make a mile)

West (port) side of boat

East side (starboard)

Our Last Supper -  yep, same table as most dinners.

Dad packing on last morning.

And we're done.  On Thursday I knew I was getting a head cold.  I suffered when we landed in both San Jose and Portland.  I felt my ear canals were going to burst.  Oh well - such are the cons of traveling.

We're glad we went.  And, we're glad we came home.