BABY DAYS!

I am playing catch up...

A few weeks ago our family had a little Baby Shower for Dana (my nephew Nate's wife) they are expecting their first some time between NOW and Oct. 10th - Most likely sooner than later.


We all can't wait for Baby Elliott to join the family, it's been almost 16 years since there was a baby in the family - and all I can say is for a child who's not even born he's pretty spoiled!

Pears, Pears and More Pears!

It's hard to tell but that's one huge basket FULL of pears from my own back yard... I know it's a little early to pick pears but they were falling off the tree in record numbers and I was determined to make lots of pear stuff this year so I wasn't going to let any more be sacrificed. There's still about 15-20 pears on the tree that I can't really reach - I am thinking with all my fruit trees it would be worth investing in one of those fruit tree picker things with the nets that catch the fruit from falling to the ground... I have no idea what they are called and I am sure when I give this description at the garden store I will get a funny look as always.

I am super excited to make stuff with the pears - I LOVE PEARS!

new things in the garden

The side yard is no longer just a pile of weeds... believe it or not those plants were always there just hiding behind all the weeds - it looks so nice now, I don't even like to walk on the path in fear of messing it up.

There's somewhere to sit in the garden now! I just need to get some fun outdoor pillows and there will be many days of lazy reading.

Okay you can't see the sticks with the bird tape I mentioned in another post to keep away the birds but this was my attempt to show you them, oh well - you can just see my beautiful FIG tree instead.

HAPPY SUMMER GARDEN DAYS!

next best thing to the beach!

Yup you guessed it summers by the kiddo pool!

The main thing I have had trouble adjusting to living in Portland is that the beach isn't less than an hour away, it's like 2 hours away at least (with no traffic) and thankfully we don't have much of a summer so there are only a few days where I am dying to go to the beach and well I am trying to have this kiddo pool work for those days and to be honest it doesn't!

I am looking forward to the end of Sept. when we will be camping at the beach, hopefully we won't freeze like the last time we went camping in summer in Oregon.

making the birds mad

So for months I have been doing a great deal of research on a safe way to keep the birds from eating my fruit off my fruit trees (I have fig, pear and plum trees) everyone kept saying to use a net but I was worried with reports about birds or other animals get stuck in them as well as the effect they can have on the tree in preventing growth for future years. I discovered Mylar bird tape which you tie onto poles and put through out the trees. The wind blows the tape (like ribbon) and it keeps the birds away.

It seemed to be working very well... my backyard is SO PEACEFUL now... I had gotten so used to a yard full of birds that in a way it's kind of sad I don't get to watch the blue jays every morning outside my bathroom window while I get ready, but I will have fruit this year.

The other night it was so hot that I was trying to cool off by laying in the kiddie pool... the birds were all in the redwood tree (if you don't know about my hate hate relationship with the redwood tree, be thankful, very thankful!) and they were making lots of noise... I imagine they were complaining to each other about how they are going to starve this fall without my fruit trees to eat from, at one point I yelled at them that if they want to pay the water bills and spend the time pruning and thinning the fruit by all means they can share in the harvest but as they don't do anything to help they get nothing.

I do wonder if at some point the birds will out smart the tape and discover that it won't hurt them and start eating the fruit.



On another note - I got strawberries this year! I had planted them last year, but they didn't produce any fruit and I was worried... but this year I have gotten 3 little bitty strawberries, which are no where near enough berries for all my summer plans. This weekend alone I am making two desserts for parties both needing strawberries.
I did try to take a picture of the three little berries, but my camera is acting up and I think it's time for a new one.