Monday Miscellanea

I started packing my bag today for the Potholes & Prairie Birding Festival--my rainsuit went in first after I checked the forecast for Carrington, ND. It's going to be similar to what's in store for here the rest of the week with chances for rain every day. I will be happy as long as we don't experience any severe weather.

I'm not sure what kind of internet access I'm going to find there, and since I don't have a laptop computer, I will probably be absent from the blogosphere for several days while I'm at the festival. I'm hoping they have a public library with a computer and internet access.

So tonight is going to be a smorgasbord, for lack of anything more imaginative as I'm getting ready to leave for North Dakota.

Here are some updates on my gardens. My recent raised bed disaster is actually looking pretty good.

If it ever stops raining long enough to dry out a little bit, I can get in and work with this dirt a little bit more, but for now it seems to be loosening up and the chunks don't seem quite as large. (There is also a banana pepper and 1 more tomato planted in here, but not visible).

In my other raised bed, most of the seeds have begun sprouting. These peas are doing the best (almost tall enough to reach the trellis now).

And the lettuce is finally recognizable too.

The onions (bottom) and beans (top) are also coming along slowly but surely.

I also have swiss chard, beets, cucumbers, and carrots just beginning to sprout (but still too small to show in a picture). If we could just get a few sunny days in a row, I think the soil would warm up nicely and all of these plants would really take off!

Here's a picture of the completed shawl repair.

I swear that this is where the hole was and if you compare this section to one of the others on either side, you might see a little bit of difference, but I'm very happy with how this repair turned out because I even had a bit of a hard time finding it again.

Brother Phil in California had a check-up a couple weeks ago at Travis AFB hospital. When he came out of his appointment, he spotted this burrowing owl (with a 'bonus' yellow-billed magpie) out on the front lawn of the hospital.

How lucky for him (and me) that he happened to have his new camera along and he finally e-mailed me this picture today. He also told me that they've been seeing a male Western Tanager in full breeding plumage hanging around their yard (but the bird won't sit still long enough for a photo op).

I've gotta say, I'm loving this spring weather we're finally having. As I'm sitting here composing this post, there's still a robin sitting right outside and singing his head off (at 9:07 PM-almost dark!) I'm really looking forward to spending the next few days outside enjoying birds and nature.