Neighborhood Outlaws

Last summer, the deer were fruitarians - we were lucky to get the two strawberries they left.

The strawberries are "everbearing", too - not that we could verify that, since they disappeared on a weekly basis. Leaves, berries and blossoms - all the deer left were stems, to taunt us.

They rarely nipped any veggies, and only topped the nasturtiums and roses a few times.

This year they are confirmed vegetarians. Haven't touched the strawberries - which I had decided not to even weed, why put in the effort? Of course.

So this summer we have NO green beans, most of the peas (for which this garden is famous) are pruned beyond salvage, and we just discovered some cabbage leaves with TEETH MARKS.

I heard them out there last night, romping around - but I know from sad experience, that by the time I can get to the door, the damage is done and they are off to the next sucker's (um - neighbor's - ) garden.

 Venison goes well with carrots and potatoes, I'd would be happy to remind these outlaws.

Speaking of outlaws. Racoons have a bad rap around here. But the next door neighbor's CATS have given "outlaw" a whole new definition, with a record number of bad marks in our Black Book. WAY more than the coons...

There are five cats living right next door. They eat our wild birds. They pee on the porch. They climb on the roof. The male, Buddy, has even sauntered into the house a couple of times when we have the door open.

Meet Buddy.  Yes, that is OUR bird bath.  In the front yard.  10 feet from the window.  Obnoxious beast.

Yes, he is taking a bath.  A moment before, he had his hind leg stretched out in typical cat-bath pose, grooming away.

I think mom may have just mentioned something about BB guns. Buddy has very good hearing...

and even better survival instincts.

I'm keeping the birdbath full of water now - see how he likes wet tail feathers.

Don't mess with GG!

OK, so I'm breaking my word - but I didn't cross my heart, so it's OK, right?

The Coon Wars consist of many small skirmishes - some more dramatic than others. One day Mom and I were sitting at the dining room table playing crib, when we noticed a resident bandit was raiding the bird feeder - in broad daylight.

 Mom grumbled about the nasty critter, and I knocked on the window a couple times. He just stared at me with his bright beady eyes, and continued to shovel the seeds down his greedy gullet.

The trusty B-B gun (thanks, Anson...) was leaning in the corner. Too close to resist. Mom got the gun, cocked it, and laid out the plan of shooting the raccoon right off his perch. I suggested that might not be very nice. Mom didn't care.

I grabbed the cat off the table and headed for the living room with her, telling mom that Birdie couldn't take that kind of carnage - and THA-WACK! I heard the BB hit the window. From the inside. The window was NOT open!

Mom was appalled. Then she was mad! "I'm gonna shoot him again, just for the h_ _ _ of it - RIGHT IN HIS BELLYBUTTON!"

Birdie and I managed to dissuade her.

The gun went back into the corner. And we finished the cribbage game. With the coon watching every move.

Sometime later, I actually took a look at the hole. And discovered that the double-paned window was only pierced on the inside, no hole in the outside pane.

So where did the BB go? It wasn't in the bottom of the window frame, between the glass.

I mentioned it to mom. "Oh," she says, very nonchalant, "it ricocheted back past me, I heard it go by my head."

Good Grief.

Then this morning, she told me she wanted to show me something, in the dining room. Pretty smug. And there it was...

If you look closely, the sorta star shape just above the fence post, is the BB hole in the glass.

The BB ended up about 8 feet east, on the cart where we have the CD player.  Indoors.

"That Great Gramma is a little nutso.  I'm telling the troops to keep an eye on the window, make sure it's CLOSED if they don't want to have their hide ventilated..."

Somehow, I'm sure this story is making the rounds of the coon tribes in the area. I hear snickering at night, through my open bedroom window.

 Several bandits have sauntered by, just to check out that BB hole.

Summertime on the coast

None of the following snaps are of family or friends. Mom and I took a drive up to Bar View Jetty and around the campground, just to see all the folks enjoying our beautiful area on a gorgeous summer day...

When I stopped to get this snap, the camper said we weren't the first to be smitten with his unusual family sign - I told him he should be charging per photo, to pay for this camp site!

Tide pool at Bar View - a favorite destination for young and old.  I sometimes wonder if all the little rock crabs caught (put into buckets and later released)  ever get together and share their scarey adventures...

We don't often get sail boats in Tillamook bay; it was a treat watchng her sail in!

A Coast Guard vessel you might not expect...

The bar is a busy place at high tide - comings and goings.

The classy old steam engine is a favorite sight during the summer, puffing clouds, pulling the touring cars to Rockaway Beach and back.

Our door is always open for summer visitors - homemade bread, strawberry jam, pan fried oysters, shrimp louie...good times, good memories. 

Come make a few...

Arizona stylin'

Yes, Arizona is warm. OK. It's HOT. And dry. And dusty. You learn to dress for the climate, just as we do for the coast, or Wisconsin winters.

Than and Collin are in period costume, for a four-day adventure pulling handcarts and reliving Mormon pioneer history. The youth and assorted adult support staff (including Carrie) experience it all during Trek - rough terrain, heat, dust, warm drinking water dipped from barrels, cooking in dutch ovens, even burying the baby that died. That's another story...

Than claims his black hat looked as though it had already been on Trek...

Back home, in the air conditioning, Lee models another typical Arizona head cover...

Of course it isn't all lizards and cowboys.  Where there are punks, there's MUSIC!  And hats.

Now here's the clean-cut, Eagle Scout candidate style...

 This house ROCKS!  In a modest, easy-on-the-ears style, thanks goodness.

Jayden keeps the beat...the headphones have a metronome.

Then there is the backyard pool style -

Now you know how to style for the desert! 

So long from sunny AZ!!

Noodlin'...

I don't always have a specific recipe in mind when I start thinking about the next meal. Sometimes I have to noodle on it for a bit, take a look in the frig, in the pantry, run my mind over flavor combination possibilities - and SOMETHING always says, "Choose me, choose ME!"

This evening the first to raise their hands and become the WINNERS, were the cherry tomatoes in the basket on the counter and the last zuchinni in the frig. Plus a surprise ingredient from the pantry...

So here's how the collaboration went: First the peeled zuch went through the spiralizer (LOVE that gadget!). Into a broad "soup bowl" with some chopped scallions. They felt like a swim, so a quick marinade was poured on top for them to swish around .

Marinade: shake in small lidded container 1 T. EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), 1/2 T. agave, juice from 1/2 lemon, 1 tsp. tamari, minced garlic.

Let the gang swim for a bit, maybe 20 minutes or so.  The noodles soften a bit, sorta 'al dente.

Then the 'maters were halved and placed around the pile of noodles.  A quarter of a cucumber was screaming, "I'm going to waste, USE me!".  So I did.  Another layer around the edges.  Starting to see a sort of mandala salad pattern forming...

Oh - those speckles?  NOT pepper - the garlic added enough zip.  Those mauvey-purpley specks are DULSE!  Soooo good sprinkled on all things veg!  And sooooo good for us!

Now the real fun begins!  Every bite becomes an artistic arrangement on the fork...

That pool of marinade in the bottom of the bowl is pure yummy goodness.  When the last noodle was slurped, the last cuc crunched - I tilted the bowl and drank the marinade!  I know, uncouth.  But who's watching!

"HEY!  WE are watching...CLOSELY!"

OK, so I had some friends over over dinner. Make that under for dinner.  Cutest bird placmats, from IKEA! 

The point of all this ~ don't wait for company to prettify your meal!  YOU are important!  Take the few extra moments to garnish, play and ENJOY! 

You'll have better digestion.

Zuchinni Pasta with Basil Shrimp

I'm sure I've mentioned, I endeavor to eat "mostly raw, most of the time". Which gives me leeway from time to time to include some of the sea bounty so available here on the coast. Like succulent sweet fresh shrimp meat.   

With fresh basil from my indoor potted garden ('cuz it isn't warm enough for my babies to make it outdoors yet - silly weather...) and my handy spiralizer, this dish comes together quickly with a zing!

 Ingredients:
one smallish zuchinni - about 7"
one tomato, about 3" diameter
1/2 lemon (smallish, not large)
1 garlic clove (large as you like)
4-5 fresh basil leaves
1/2 c. fresh shrimp meat (not the prawns)

Procedure:
Peel zuchinni.  Cut off ends, then spiralize for "noodles", or cut into thin strips with a veggie peeler. Put "noodles" into wide bowl.

Use the core and end off spiralizer (or about 2" of the zuchinni before making "noodles") plus some of "noodles" - enough to make about 1/3 c. total, and put into blender.
Add tomato, cut into quarters; peeled coarsely chopped garlic; juice from 1/2 smallish lemon; 2-3 basil leaves (keep 2 for garnish) and blitz until smooth.
Taste sauce - I added about 1/16 tsp. stevia to cut the heat from the garlic and acid tang of tomato and lemon.  This is strictly to YOUR taste, adjust as you want!  It's got zing, doesn't need salt.

Proclaiming "yummers!", pour sauce over noodles.  Top with rinsed shrimp, and  basil chiffonade from remaining leaves.  Let set for 5-10 minutes at room temp, to marry the flavors.

While this isn't a bright red tomato-y sauce, it carries the flavors well.  If you want a "creamier" type of sauce, add 1/4 c. soaked cashews to the blender with the rest of the sauce ingredients, whiz smooth.

To make chiffonade:  Roll several leaves into "cigar" shape.  Thinly slice across with sharp knife.  Use the thin shreds as a garnish, or add to sauces, etc.

Art in is in their soul!

When I find children who love to doodle and draw, I am like an addict - I just have to do art with them!

In church I noticed several youngin's who regularly brought paper and pencils to while away the time during adult presentations. It didn't take long to make an Art Date!

I rounded up some supplies from one of my favorite art supply catalogs (Cheap Joe's), and we were off on our artistic adventures!

I made tiny art kits for them, using Altoid tins. The contents are: pencil sharpener, white eraser, kneaded eraser, and two tortillions for blending. In a gallon ziplock which held the mini-kit, they also got a sketch book, an HB pencil, and a black pencil.

Two families were my target art kids. Ages range from 5 to 14.  I meet with a homeschooled family during the day, and the family with 3 older kids after school.

We started with basics - shapes, shading, shadows. Now they are developing an "artist's eye", looking for those shapes in everyday items, drawing them, then giving those shapes form with shading and textures.

 We don't have a regular schedule, but we try for a couple times a month. They are enthusiastic, talented, and great fun!

 This morning I met with the homeschool family.  I took some helpers along. My stuffed mice, a big toad that croaks, a sheep, and a massage-tool dog. We looked for basic shapes, and went from there, chatting about what we saw, how to get it on paper, and naming them!

 Here's the instigator of the project: Elijah. Five-years old Eli was my first (and youngest) art student of the group. This youngster has talent and desire - as soon as I come in the door, he says "Let's do art!"

Tyson has a passion for making stories with his art. There will always be a surprise in his drawings, as his imagination takes him past the basic lesson. This time, the mouse is holding an ipad with his tail!

Quentin quickly caught on to the technique of shading for form, and providing shadows so his drawings don't just floating in space!

A previous lesson involved turning triangles into familar forms.  After doing some drawing and shading to produce teepees, we practiced some Native American art in the sketch books, then applied the pictures to the teepee project.  A quick trip outside produced sticks for teepee poles - then some Scout practice lashing them together to put our grocery-bag "skins" over.  Wah-lah!  Teepees!  (they also pointed out, that the shape was like ICE CREAM CONES! Can't fool that "artist's eye"!)

This munchkin loves to be in the middle of the art projects. After the first few lessons, we decided it was not quite in her attention span yet! Happily, mom either distracts her with books, or three-year old Olivia finds her own entertainment.


Is Livvie not just the perfect model for a sketch of "Happy Girl" ?? My camera started getting tucked into my art tote each lesson day, for obvious reasons!

This has got to be the BEST BUNNY in the world!!

Happy days, happy times! I LOVE doing art with children!