Week 20 - Oregon City - May 13-19, 2024

A week of almost no rain.  I spent the week, mostly, in the woods...walking back and forth looking for blackberries, bed straw, thistles, and ivy.  With my trusty, small bladed, shovel, I dug all of the offensive plants up and flipped them over so their roots would dry in the sun.  

There are some pretty flowers blooming...  Here's a nice field of Buttercups.

A patch of  Common Speedwell - Veronica americana

A blooming rhododendron - one of three plants Warren sourced for $5.00 each

Here's a Grand Fir seedling that Dad found in the flower bed near the bananas.  I planted it in Sector 1.

A healthy long hunk of Bed Straw and a husky blackberry root nodule - I posted both photos because Zelensky is so cute.

We had a festive pumpkin seedling  planting party.  The grandkids were pretty excited with the idea of MANY pumpkins in the fall.

Needing a pumpkin break, Logan climbed a fruit tree.

Jack climbed the same tree and took a rest.

Speaking of Jack...he is a vigorous tree climber.  In the woods, down by the hammock, he climbed up a multi branched small cedar and then slithered down it, around the trunk and branches to the bottom.  I wish I had a video of it

Snuggling cats

And - not to forget Mishka - Warren and his kids had her funeral and buried her in the flower bed in the back of the house.

 Week 19 - Oregon City - May 6 - May 12, 2024

I had a great time in Utah...and it is great to be home.

The white daisies are blooming on The Slopes.  Last year the plants were clustered at the top of the hill - where I'd planted them.  This year the plants have dispersed to other spots on the slopes, and many other plants are also growing on the upper part of the slope.

My plan this summer is to walk in a specific pattern in the woods in order to find all the plants I want to eliminate - so I crisscross, back and forth over one particular sector.  I take the shovel to dig up blackberries and starts of ivy; the Milwaukee pruners to make twigs out of branches that have fallen, and my Korean trowel to dig up bed straw.  It will be a never-ending job.....and... as I get too old to do it, Brunner Woods will revert to its ivy and blackberry, filbert, holly. bed straw wilderness.

The cats go with me. When I leave the house I call, "come on, CATS.  I'm going outside.  Come on!"  And they do come and follow me into the woods  They hang around me, coming up occasionally to nose me.  When I'm ready to go back to the house I call, "Jack,....Zelensky....let's go home"  And they silently return from wherever they were and follow me back to the house.  They get really tired and take long naps.

At the Primary Activity we made Mono Ink prints and made Mother's Day cards.  It was interesting....I made six to give to my girls.

This is the card I made.  I had to make about 14 cards to get six good ones.  I gave/sent one to each daughter and daughter in law.

Jane came over one day, and when the tv didn't work properly, she played with the train!

 

The big  event of the week was that Malcolm and Haley went to Las Vegas to attend a Justin Timberlake concert...and they left Jamie in the care of his aunts and uncles and grandparents.  Warren made a spreadsheet showing who would have Jamie and when.  We had him Thursday afternoon and night and also on Saturday afternoon.  He was a really good little baby - even though he was being shuffled from one family to another.

I took Logan to his guitar concert at ACA.  It was amazingly good.  The kids played well in unison, their strumming was really good....best was when they used their hands to cover the strings and stop the sound.....perfect unison.

Warren has decided to take one of Pearl's kittens.  This is Misty Marshmallow - -

Sunday - Mother's Day - Sacrament was nice.  The Primary children sang to us, and they did well.

Dad gave me a neat rechargeable outdoor light.  You can make it short or tall, rotate the light itself, and the base has strong magnets so you could stick it to the side of....a car.

In Primary the children made a key chain.  You can write on plastic-something; then you "bake" it, and the plastic piece shrinks to a size that is suitable for a key ring. Jessica made this one for me.

Sunday dinner was really nice.  The weather was perfect; kids playing happily outside, great food....everything was nice.

Warren took the photograph from the top of Cedar Mesa and enlarged and framed it for me.  I love it!

Jessica organized a group gift from all of the siblings - six backpacking meals!!  I will use them up this summer.  It's a different brand from what I usually use...but it is Ivan's favorite.

Snuggling cats

Misty Marshmallow had a sleepover with Holland