Don't Complain

 "Don't complain," nature seems to say, "or I'll pay you back a hundredfold." Nature knows the Biblical sense of the word "spite".

 I have for some weeks been starting sunflowers. Every now and then one will come up in the garden from a seed the birds have dropped. I have carefully dug each one up, carried it to a row by the woodpile, planted it there with care and watered it copiously.

 I even found a few sunflowers germinating in the new flower bed by Clayton Road. As with their garden brethren I have moved them, replanted them with care and tended them.

 That said. I created an entire row of sunflowers there, just in front of the newly-stacked woodpile. The ground was soft with rotten wood, rich and dark, and the woodpile itself created a nice fence of sorts, something for the towering sunflowers to lean against in their late-summer maturity.

 I have planted a row of seeds there. The seeds were chosen, one by one, from last year's sunflower crop, choosing only the largest, healthiest seeds,

 It was the perfect seed, the perfect seedlings, the perfect spot.

 Each day I dragged a hose around and watered the row. Finally the seeds had sprouted and the transplants had begun to mature. I could begin to see the burgeoning green from the kitchen window. All was well with the sunflower patch.

 Until it wasn't.

 Yesterday I walked over with the hose to supplement the meager rain that had fallen earlier. I immediately saw that many of my prize seedling had been chewed off. Needless to say I was livid. I trust my cussing didn't carry too far.

 What to do? I decided that the row might be made unpalatable to whatever was eating them by sprinkling each plant with Sevin dust (an insecticide). I found the can of dust in the gardening barn and walked along the row sprinkling each plant, one by one, turning it white.

 Now, let them eat that! I said to myself.

 This morning I woke and looked out the window and my heart sunk. Right where my sunflowers stood the wood pile has toppled over. Indeed, this is the meaning of spite.

 So now I have no sunflowers at all.

 Is the moral of this story "if at first you don't succeed try again"? Or is it "if you don't succeed a second time, just give up"?

Two More Pines Down

 Last Friday (05/24/19) we took down two more dead (or dying) pines and cut up the one that has been lying in the meadow for some months (here). Bob had the day off - and a long Memorial Day weekend - so he stopped by and we began the project.

 Bob's saw was giving him some trouble. It would start but not keep running. He also decided to tighten a loose chain.

 Tom's saw is a small electric and won't handle larger cuts. Plus we have to string long extension cords to the spot. But it's cut many a log and saved us countless hours of work. Bob's saw is gas-powered and, with a sharp chain, seems ready to take on about anything.

 Two pines out by Clayton Road were taken down this time. We should have taken down a third (directly behind Bob) but it's a large Austrian Pine and fairly close to the power lines. We were a little apprehensive about ensuring which way it would fall. I opted to let it go ... for now. Tom feels it should have been cut so we can plant a White Pine he bought for this open space.

 It didn't take long to get this tall, thin tree down. I planted this row about 1987. I remember watering the seedlings by carrying a bucket around and watering them with a coffee can. Is 32 years all we can expect from Scotch Pines? Or has climate change hastened their demise? I think also they are not indigenous to this area (we grow hardwood forests hereabouts) and their life here is marginal at best.

 Time for a break and a bottle of water.

 The pile of logs presents a vivid "before:after" view. Older logs are dark  and  weathered (though Tom culled and saved the best). The new logs will need to be split before use but at least they are now out of the way.

Painting Soffits

 It's a strange word, as far as words go: soffit. Ir's not one for casual conversation. And yet for the past week and a half, it's word that's been on the tip of my tongue. There have been other words at the tip of my tongue, too.

 Soffit from the French soffite. Ceiling.

4-22-19 

 They are ceilings, of course, though the ones I speak of are outdoors, They are a favorite of our local spiders who cast webs across them and leave them looking dark and dirty. Somehow the rain gutters spill water onto their edges and start them rotting. And they are hard to scrape and paint, forever overhead so that I must stretch at an odd angle for hours on end.

 I am not a lover of soffits. I am not a lover of painting.

 And yet, years having passed since I last tackled this project, I bought a +$30 can of paint at Home Depot - enough for the house and garage - and set to work. I began with the rear of the house. It is the most visible. Myself and others are forced to look at it constantly.

4-23-19 

 Then I moved to the north side of the house and painting the diagonal soffit and trim there (I repaired and painted the south side last year).
 See that redwood-stained area  above? I bought a  second can of paint, too (also over $30) and stained it some weeks ago. It is an easier job to sit on the kitchen roof and paint. At least it is not overhead.

4-24-19 

 Since the trim looked new, I felt I had to paint the kitchen window, too.

4-24-19 

 Then to the garage. This after:before shot shows how dark the soffit had become. I scraped away the flaking paint and I brushed it with a broom to take down the loose cobwebs. Even so, it is a thankless job. It is merely necessary. It does not show itself to passers-by for their praise.

4-29-19

 The front of the garage at least shows since I painted the frame of the garage door, too. The door itself is metal and the paint is baked-on. That much I was able to skip.

4-30-19 

 The back of the garage was perhaps the most in need of work. I'm halfway as I took this picture.

4-30-19

 With this west side done I am left with only the north. It has rained for days and yesterday the winds gusted to nearly 40 mph. I had a good excuse not to continue. But the project is not done - and cannot be checked off my list - until I do.

 For my own information, these are the two paints/stains I used:

Doublenut Cookies

 Don't get too excited. These are just our traditional Peanut Butter cookies but with finely chopped black walnuts added. If they have two kinds of nuts can't they properly be called "Doublenut"? The basic recipe is posted here.

 Today was a good day to bake. It's too windy to continue with my outdoor painting project. So I spent the afternoon in the kitchen.

 Peanut butter cookies were a childhood staple. Bob and I always loved for Mom to make them. And the recipe is straightforward and easy.

 I get less than half the suggested number because I like the cookies large. Baking them for 13 minutes is perfect.

 So Tom and I will have a weekend sweet. They'll be lucky to last beyond Saturday.

Nothing is acquired ... [quote]