Kittens and Flowers - Enough Already!

Yeah, we've been pretty much stuck at home these days, and it shows. But sometimes we do get out, even if it's not very far away. 

Like the Cataract Falls Trail on Mt. Tamalpais. We had hoped to hike the Coastal Trail but the overgrown grass obscuring the trail and swarming with ticks (no, I didn't see any, but I just know that they were lurking there, ready to suck my blood) was a huge deterrent. 

As it turned out, the Cataract Trail was a better choice this time as it wandered through dappled shade and small water seeps. Lots of bird sounds, too, to try and identify. I think we'll try this hike again, but next time we'll go when there is a better chance of more water. 

And then there was the visit to the UC Berkeley campus to watch the peregrine falcons fledge. I mean, really, nature in action right in the middle of the city!

The young female had already taken her first flight by the time we arrived, and the young male was not quite ready to take the big step (he flew the following day) but we did hear them and see one of the parents standing watch on the tower. 

There was a lot of drama and sadness with this year's family - disappearing mom, dad killed by a car, brand new stepdad - so I wish them the best of luck.

It Wasn't the Worst of Times

But it wasn't pretty, either. Yeah, covid. One full week of sickness, and nearly two more weeks of lingering yuckiness - still not completely gone. Cannot recommend the experience for anyone, except perhaps for a few of those named and unnamed during the January 6th hearing last night...

We caught it at a small outdoors event with other vaccinated and boosted people. Actually, everyone of that group of six caught it. The lunar eclipse was lovely, though.

So keep washing your hands, wearing that blankety-blank mask and testing if your worried. Oh, did I mention washing your hands?

Salad Days

Over the years I have trialed many varieties of lettuces. Almost all have been good, if not very good. But Bronze Arrow has stood out as an excellent performer winter and summer, wet and soggy, or with little water under sunny, hot skies. Pretty to eat, and highly edible.

Bronze Arrow

Feline Fashionistas

Birdsbesafe®. Yes, those silly, brightly colored fabric collars that are designed to keep your sweet kitty friend from massacring your sweet birdie friends. And "brightly colored" works. According to researchers at St. Lawrence University, "cats wearing collars killed 19 times fewer birds than uncollared cats.

But really it's all about making a fashion statement. Sebastian, for example, looks absolutely gorgeous modeling the newest design (yup, I made them myself - just as easy to sew as to buy - and shared a few with friends).

Photo courtesy of Judy Chess

And doesn't Luna cut a lovely figure showing off an older model? It's actually, a hand-me-down from Princess, but Luna doesn't seem to mind. 

And Sebastian once again, sporting another lovely design, handcrafted by his guardian, Judy. So adorable.

Photo courtesy of Judy Chess

Available online or from your local sewing machine. 

The brighter the better!

Keep your local birds happy and safe!

Captured!

The most excellent painter, Elsa Gonzalez Zorn, has captured Luna. I don't think anyone else could have done it better. It is beyond perfect!

Oh So Pink

As one reviewer stated on Dave's Garden, "Overall, this plant is only for cactus experts and/or masochists."

I know I'm not the former, and I hope I'm not the latter, but I haven't found this cactus to be too difficult. On the other hand, the reviewer is right - the hooked spines of Mammillaria senilis are ferocious.

But the blooms! Those big, glossy pink blooms!

Time Flies

Luna (aka Leela), August, 2021.

Luna (aka The Furry Troublemaker), March, 2022. 

New Digs

It only took four tries to get something that didn't end up back in the clay pot. And then three trips to the hardware store with an additional trip to the Oakland Tool Library to engineer the hanging system. Thankfully, everyone was very helpful.

But the old, worn (decrepit, even, one could say), albeit well-loved gourd has now been replaced. I only hope that the wrens are as pleased with it as I am.

Talking to (Solar) Power

There's a lot of people out there who really don't like PG&E, the regulated public utility company that supplies power to much of Northern California. 

Add over one million more households - all of us who have solar panels on our roofs - plus all those millions more who benefit from rooftop solar or want to put rooftop solar on their homes, apartment buildings, schools, farms, parking lots, etc.. Why are we all so pissed off?

All of the big public utilities in the state now want to rollback and penalize those people who want to use the sun for their energy needs, rather than continue to kill the planet by burning fossil fuels. For all the ins and outs:

Environment California

Save California Solar

Even Arnie thinks it's a dumb idea

What to do? Get the current governor involved!

Call Governor Newsom at 916/445-2841  

Sign any and all of those petitions that you can find online

Hand write a letter to Governor Newsom at 1021 O Street, Suite 9000, Sacramento, CA 95814. Since so few people now remember how to use stamps, your efforts here might really get noticed.

SAMPLE SCRIPT (cribbed from Solar Rights Alliance): 

“I am opposed to the CPUC’s proposal to make it more expensive for people to put solar panels on their roof.

Consumers should not be penalized in any way for making solar at their homes, schools, businesses and houses of worship. California should do more to promote local solar, not less. People need relief from high energy bills, blackouts and air pollution. 

 

Making rooftop solar and batteries more expensive for everyone, especially middle and working class people, makes no sense. It’s the wrong direction for California. Please step in, protect the public interest, promote more rooftop solar for more people, not less. 

 

[CPUC Docket #: R.20-08-020]"

Thank you!

The Pandemic To-Do Lists

Somewhere back in early 2020, in that pre-pandemic time, the basket beside my desk (you know, the one for recycling old to-do lists? Oh yes, I do lists, or rather I have lists - I'm pretty sure that even my lists have lists. But just like everyone else, I don't always "do" them. ) was emptied. And then the pandemic lockdown hit, and somehow in my panic-brain, I became afraid that I would forget things. 

So I never emptied the basket again. Just in case - a lost phone number, a forgotten repair, an unresolved task that still needed attention could all be recovered and solved as long as I could find the correct information stashed on one of those lists.

Until today. I've been thinking about emptying it for a while, but after so long, those lists had become a part of my life during these pandemic times. You know, a record, even. 

Unfortunately, a very boring and repetitive record of a somewhat boring and certainly difficult time for many of us.

So just in time for the out-with-the-old-and-in-with-the-new season, the lists are gone. All ridiculous two pounds and 6 ounces of them. And if I've forgotten or lost something, too bad. I probably wouldn't have gotten it done, anyway.