Lil Stumpy, new kits, and a day of poop

Glass trumpets in the garden from my day with our Stella.

They would be great for collecting rain, I suppose ,with large enough mouths to allow  for bird bathing or bug drowning.

It is time to clean up the deck, put the flowers to bed, plant bulbs and find surprises left by the wild life .

Raccoon poop in the tub of rain water must be dealt with today.  

 

Lil Stumpy came right up to me in the morning light, showed me how proud he is of his limb minus hand. He is with his family but is the only one who is  quite so friendly. He must be responding to my concern , my  raccoon wishes, after the amputation and bloody nub , looking like there would be no hope for little him to survive such an injury.  He must have felt the vibes, the prayers to the raccoon god .

The stray cat is becoming a little less skittish, as well. Charm the animal kingdom with biscuits!The cat is such a gorgeous  little freak. I would love to have her come in sometime for a comfy  snooze on the sheepskin. Pretty sure she would appreciate it.

Later in the day, another surprise! A new mother with her three babies arrived to romp on the deck, I gave the mother an egg. The babies are still nursing. Is this the wrong time of year for a batch of newbies?

They have a 60 day gestation period , generally in the spring. El Nino is mapped  across the USA- predicting  a mild warm winter up here in our corner, Maybe the raccoon moms feel the shift and reckon this winter  to be a pleasant childhood for their kits. 

Raccoons know things.

One of the squirrels decided to tackle the sad sunflowers on the deck- toppled them for  little reward. Disgruntled.

Disappointed  blur.

So, that's all the news here at Animal Kingdom . After the new babies left I cleaned up the deck a bit. I need more Parson's ammonia to really get to the heart of the sludge left behind by forest creatures.  ICK, I know - not my favorite cleaning solution but gets the job done. 

The day is not entirely devoted to cleaning- I finally have an appointment with the skin guy to see about the hole in my arm that has healed over the past four/five weeks. Maybe I won't need to have anything burned or slashed. It is a mystery.  One would think that a diagnosis from the lab saying the C word would spark some measure of  immediacy?  Guess not. Must not be much of a big deal.

Pumpkininny

giant rosehips

gourds in a spider plant.

Have a beautiful autumn day - unless , of course, you have other plans. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

chunky buck, a free man, glass in the garden

He is a chunky dude- watching over his girls who are grazing in the yard.  The fence around the back hasn't done much to discourage the animal folk.

The days have been sunny and bright, my sun glasses measuring up to task. I bought some tea from India that claims to be good for eyes, it tastes lovely actually so even if it doesn't reach my eyes I like it.

I finally met up with Damen, my prison boy no longer , a grown up man having spent the last couple of decades in the slammer. He came up  north to work with vets at a veterans farm where they EE I eee I O with a chick chick here an oinker there-huge organic garden. A place to work and heal  damaged goods. Damen is offering a counsel service and a strong body to help hoist them bails, tote that barge. 

We met at the harbor for lunch and a stroll around, catching up a bit. Remember when he was just a lad of 22, on trial for murder, we, the jury, found him not guilty but responsible for manslaughter. Accidental shooting of his best friend. We kept in touch, he wrote many many letters and sent hand made leather journals for me to draw in. Lovely guy. He has landed well.
 

Today Stella  and I  went downtown to eat waffles for her birthday. We each got a coin to put into the dino machine to collect our dino. They used to put them on top of the waffles when they only had a food truck,  but now that they have a cafe they can have a dino machine. Maybe children were swallowing them before- better to have a vending machine.

We walked around the corner to the art shop where I bought stuff that I love- gold pigment, sloppy glue, a couple of cards and some modeling clay. My eyes may do better with that than trying to draw or paint. 

The gallery was open, we looked, we left, we went to another gallery/shop  on chuckanut drive.  Perfect sunny day to stroll through the garden art outside. The gallery inside is just as captivating. 

Loads of  (large) blown glass , pottery, metal statues /ornaments/benches/swings.

One would have to be civilized to have glass in the garden, I reckon. I am not that person.

Today is also another No Kings rally downtown, Dennis will go but I am not going. The orange thug is not going to dominate another  rare sunny day for me. He can just bugger off!  Time to start thinking about what is next, especially since the old toot is looking more like death every day. So, JD Vance? Anyone? 

Midterms are already being messed with of course, they will try anything and everything to keep the ball in their court. 

Leaving you with sunshine warming your back-  happiness- be glad that you are not in U.S. prison, carry on. Freedom is relative, they say.

 Love ya!

 

 

 

Pumpkin farm, sushine, felted thing and the Blurry Canadian mountains

Stella and I went to the farm again this season, on the luckiest most beautiful day! The weather was outrageously perfect, colors clear and bright. The farm was crowded with children- it was sunny on a Sunday so was expected. We bought a few gourds and looked around.

I would have taken this dog if I could have gotten away with it. She was so darling I almost wept. "She likes the elderly," her humans stated as I scritched her tummy and got a load of dog kisses. What a sweetheart. She is a Scot's border terrier, with none of the mad terrier manic energy they tend to display. She was mellow. I love her.

Lots of white pumpkins this year. Rather novel I suppose, not my faves. Why waste a season of vibrant color devoting it to bland white? 

This was the largest pumpkin on the farm. It genuinely looks like what I see when I recline in the bathtub.

 It is Stella's Birthday. We went to lunch at a restaurant at the harbor in Anacortes  thinking that it would be special. Started out promising with a basket of warm blueberry coffee cake with cinnamon butter and a menu not unlike the place we usually go to  in town. We kept it simple - fish and chips and coffee. 

Worst fish and chips we have ever tried to eat! Terrible but,  I said- the tartar sauce was good- Stella said that  the ketchup was also good. Just shy of one hundred bucks, that terrible meal. 

Today I went to the pet shop to get a small bag of kitten kibble for the stray calico cat on the deck. $30.00 for a small bag! NO, just NO! Had to fill my very empty tank @ nearly $6.00 a gallon. I am going to have to make it last- drive less, walk more. This is good for me, I tell my lazy ass. Like in my youth when a car was not available. I will not get a bike- gravity is not my friend. 

This morning was our first frost, Canadian mountains visible, just barely!That blue smudgy bit. When i was young and traveling with my parents I fell in love with Canada, We drove all over and dipped toes in every lake. I swore to my mom that I would live there when I grew up. This is as close as I could get. It will have to do. 

Raccoon slumber party on the deck this morning.They must have had a busy night. They slept for a couple of hours at least. Totally relaxed. 

including the blur, just so you can experience what I see  in the morning. My eyes will die before I do and that is a crying shame, I tell you. 

I looked up how many  have my name- there are only 16 in the entire nation! Had I kept my other name, the one my Grandfather invented when he arrived at age eleven or twelve - picked at random from a phone book, I would be among the number 3,619 of Linda Sue  Nelsons in this land. I did not ask AI to tell me who I was, though. I just firefoxed it. 

Today I mended a fairy doll that I felted for Emily 20 years ago. Flora Jane played with her and lost quite a bit of her hair. She needed tightening up anyway. I may make her cheeks rosy if I can find the right wool. 

While in the mood I also tightened up  my crazy bird head. He holds hats , that is his job.  He needed attention,so, I got in a bit more stabbing today and it felt just right. 

Because- 

                                                                                That is all.

 

 

AI explained, orange balls and feeling stabby

I felted this a while ago - bring it out in the autumn sometimes. I did a fancy trick with the weaving bit. I wet  felted and needle felted   silk and Merino pods -felted over  a wire for the branch that was tricky to do.  I miss my place to felt and paint and create chaos. This house will not accommodate my passion or my stabby compulsions. I need to stab!- Anyway, I really love how the pods turned out. I do believe that it is one skill that AI can not take over entirely. 

Speaking of- Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton was interviewed  on  Hook Global two days ago . It is long - demands your attention. If you have wondered what the hell is this threat, what the hell is AI - what the hell is in store for us...This is everything explained- clearly. I learned quite a lot from this interview re:AI. Listen to it when you have  more than a moment to spare- you won't be sorry.

 

 

Yippe!!1 I understand!!!  fingers crossed that our votes get through!

 

color will blind you, a day well spent

It is so pretty here right now! Mushroom  dots in the green grass- bright leaves, crisp and hanging on for dear life. The next wind will see to it that they land on the floor.  The thrill- gone!

Kim and I went to Emily's today to take care of Emmett. A splendid time to be sure. He is potty trained and talking, like a grown man. Delightful child. Beautiful boy. 

We went for a walk  to the coffee shop for juice and a bagel. On the way I couldn't stop taking photos and squealing, about the colors - so intense!

Tiny crab apples, the birds don't eat them, the bugs stay away, they are useless  but are very cute. I guess that is some sort of purpose. They could be strung and dried for a natural Christmas tree decoration I suppose. Might try that. 

Flora's pumpkin is huge now.  Growing  until it is the size of a carriage. 

 These are the legit colors, can your eyes even make sense out of them?

Not sure what this plant is- I google -lensed it but came up with too many false ideas. The berries are flat (?)    the leaves are insane!

We walked, we talked, We compared first jobs stories and laughed so much - wished we had worn more substantial underpants. Kim's first job when she was maybe fourteen or so, was selling carnations at the side of the road. She remembers being picked up by some people , taken out to a desert road , left with  a bucketful  of carnations to sell .  Stood for hours ,  no traffic , no people , just desert. . She abandoned the bucket ,called a friend to come and get her, got home before dark and her parents never knew.  

What you ,as a parent, do not know is probably a blessing.What you do know is worrying enough!

One of Emily's neighbors has a front garden absolutely brimming with Japanese lanterns.

They are wonderful are they not? Every stage of their lives is surreal. I have tried to grow them with zero success. It takes three years for them to actually become  lantern pods. I am jealous of this woman's successful garden.  

Their color is vibrant- more vermilion than orange.  She also grew  Honesty plants, and crimson love-lies bleeding. Most of which had been harvested and hung to dry. 

Autumn was my mother's favorite season. Wyoming did not offer much as there were no trees or bright gardens. My parents decided that they wanted to drive to Maine to see REAL autumn. I was just starting my last year in high school, my brother was away at college. My mother had some elderly woman come in and check up on me ,  I was  on my own. Always independent I didn't mind  the empty house. I could eat as many hot dogs  that  I could find in the freezer.  Cake and coffee before school. Pretty great!

Then something came up at school and I had to have a formal gown. I went to the dress shop in town -got  a really great dress. My mother had credit with the shop  so it was  her dime.  Dress,- check ,shoes, check-  gloves check - all ready for  the school assembly - "Outlaw Day", the crowing of the Outlaw queen.  ( dear lord!)   

My parents, bless them, high tailed back  across country , got home in time to be in the audience at the assembly  to see their homely, bratty  child get a splendid, if iffy,  tin crown and title  of Queen of The Outlaws.  Hilarious  now ,  of course- back then it seemed special. Anyway , I got a pretty nice dress out of the deal . And every autumn I think of my mother and the drive across country  to see color and busting their buns to get back to see  that  fabulous dress. It served me well through the rest of High school and three years of university. Then either it fell apart or I ate too many hot dogs , to much  cake. 

 

I just received photos from Keeka-  climbimg into a massive cave in Borneo,  she is loving that part of the world . The monkeys are naughty! They steal everything not tied down, aggressive and quick and bitey.

She wants to be "Crazy rich Asian". 

Have a lovely autumn day, I hope you have a tree to look at!