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| Junco eggs, about 1" long |
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| Clouds over the Rose Camp and the mountains |
Friday, 5/24. Another gloomy day weatherwise. It will be interesting to see how our wild life Up Here reacts to a week without human or canine activity. The only other time we were gone for a week, we came back to a yard full of grouse.
Today is the first day of the closing sale for the Sears store in East Wenatchee. It has been there for more than 50 years but is now moving out. That's a little disconcerting. We don't even have a K-Mart.
On Thursday I found a junco nest on the ground along our path through the rose bushes to the garden (see photo above). I am afraid that, just like the one last year by the tipi, the babies will be found by the dogs, chipmunks or snakes and be eaten. I can only hope either the eggs will be found before they hatch or, by some miracle, the won't be found at all.
Since I am sure to be wearing sandals for most of our trip, I wanted to paint my toe nails. And in spending time close to my toes I have discovered where the hair from my legs migrated. I am beginning to look like a hobbit! I also painted my fingernails for the first time in ages. I used to love wearing fingernail polish but abandoned it a few years prior to moving Up Here. I want to wear it on our trip but I almost couldn't stand the smell. That never bothered me before. Probably got lost in all the other man-made odors Down There.
We had one light rain shower in the morning, then patches of blue sky the rest of the day til after our afternoon walk when a heavy cell moved in and dropped its load in the form of a downpour. It took about an hour to pass and then the sky went back to partly cloudy. Our high for the day was 46.
We watched "The Bourne Legacy" this evening. Very entertaining. Better than I thought it would be.
Saturday, 5/25. It was sunny and 34 when JB got up at 6:30 am. He looked out our bedroom window and saw a buck walking through the yard. They are such a soft brown color right now, but will turn more of a grey as the year wears on. This one still had velvet on his short antlers.
I sat out on the porch with my coffee in the sun. At 8:00 at it had warmed up to 40. There is still a small burm of snow along each side of the house, but everywhere else it has melted. Listening to the loud songfest of the joyful birds, I am so aware of the silence behind their song. Nothing man-made. Simply nature. Simply wonderful.
Our dogs are such characters and so completely opposite in their personalities. Jesse is laid back and loves attention. He would sit still all day if he was being petted. Dinga, on the other hand, just likes the attention for a few minutes and will let you know when it's enough. And she always has to be first whenever we are hiking somewhere. When Jesse picks up a scent or hears something and starts running, Dinga will dart in front of him with no idea of where he's going or why, but she has to get there first. Neither of them are lap dogs or cuddlers, but Dinga loves to give big, sloppy kisses, and is more social with guests.
Shortly after breakfast the clouds moved in and all day looked as if they were about to burst. They didn't though. No precipitation of any kind. Just grey and dry. On days like this it is easy to stay inside with a book, but I have a lot of wood to cut and stack so I got out there after lunch and did two wheelbarrow loads worth and got it all stacked. JB did a few outside chores, then went in to work on my computer.
I saw a recipe for salmon cakes in the June/July issue of "Mary Janes Farm" with a peach topping. Never thought of those two flavors together, but I made it for dinner and it was delicious.
After dinner I drove down to Larry and Elsie's as they are going to keep a few things for us while we are gone. Our road was a lot worse than I expected it to be as we have had no wind or sun since the snow and rain. Larry and Elsie didn't get any snow at all. Of course I took my camera and snapped several photos along the way.
A friend of Larry's loaned him a wooden statue of a bear down on all fours which is a little bigger than a cub, actually made for archery practice. Larry said that since he put it in his blueberry patch they haven't seen a turkey in there. He also plans to get a couple 3-D coyotes. He just has to remember to move them around every so often.
When I got back, we watched the last two episodes of season two of "The Closer." I really enjoy that show.
Sunday, 5/26. It was cloudy and 39 this morning. NOAA has revised their forecast from sunny to dismal. And dismal it is. Larry says that Memorial Day weekend is the beginning of "weekender season" in the canyon. In Seattle if Memorial Day weekend is rainy then we could usually count on Labor Day being sunny and visa versa. Over here, however, it is usually sunny, though not necessarily warm, from mid-June through September. I remember one Labor Day weekend years ago when we came Up Here camping, we woke up in the middle of the night freezing. We were sleeping on cots because my Mother was with us and we had to put blankets under our sleeping bags to get warm. The days were very pleasant, but at night the temperature plunged down to 30.
Rain began falling around 11:00 am. Our road may be a bit dicey on Wednesday if we get much more rain. We may end up taking JB's Jeep to Seattle instead of mine, as his goes slower in 4-Low/low. It rained til mid-afternoon, then I went out to get wood and go for a long walk with the dogs. The temperature did make it up to 50 today.
I discovered that the bird's nest had already been robbed of the eggs. Oh well, better than after they hatched, I guess.
I cleaned out the birdhouse several days ago and this morning JB noticed a wren seriously checking it out. Maybe we'll have a tenant afterall.
Thanks to OffgridBob for your comment. Seems we do have a lot in common and I left a comment on your blog.
Monday, 5/27. Overcast and 38 this morning. OMG! We are leaving the day after tomorrow! I will blog Wednesday but probably won't again until the following Wednesday, 6/5.
Thought for the day: Stress cannot exist in the presence of pie. David Mamet . . . or ice cream or chocolate. Wild Rose
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