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.