The Days Of Wyrd

With high temperatures in the state and the July 4th holiday looming ahead, things can get a little crazy around here.  Don't believe the temperature readings you see for the coast.  Many weather reports tagged us as in the 50's yesterday.  It was 80 degrees in the shade at my house. 

So it's already hot, and it's crazy, people are shooting off fireworks starting like last week.  It's a recipe for accidents.  Especially drowning.  You tourists out there, don't swim in our ocean.  If the booze and lack of experience and undertows don't get you, the ecoli (or something else) will.  What do you think happens when our ancient coastal sewer systems are besieged with tons of touristal excrements?  Nothing happy I assure you.

Posted by Wyrd at 07:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's years like this that test the metal of local gardeners.  Long, cold, hailing, snowing, freezing winter.  Days of cool, soaking drizzle.  Jump from that to a few 100 degree days and back again.  That's our dismal weather story.  It's a wonder anything survives at all.

And yet it does.  Sure, the heat killed about 3/4 of my tomato plants.  And all 50 of my first lemon cucumbers.  But I replanted and transplanted and pinched off burned leaves, and rearranged plants for maximum protection.  It won't be the best garden year, but it will still be one.  That's where the true skill comes in.  When things aren't so easy.  If our forefathers/mothers had quit when times were hard, they would have starved to death.   And who knows, the way prices are going, if we don't improve our gardening talents we might too.

Posted by Wyrd at 03:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

And that's why you are being subjected to one more kitty picture.  Kitty ala carte (without cone).  She is frisky and severely underfoot.  And thusly she has been stepped on twice so far today.  I think wearing the cone for a week distorted her depth perception.  Or else just made her way too brave. 

She is used to sticking to me like glue, crippled by the big blue cone made for kitties with longer legs.  She couldn't always eat without help, or walk, or clean herself.  It made her very insecure and dependent, much like a two year old.  Now she's back to her bratty teenager self.  Pretty much.

In other news, it's still cool and drizzly.  According to the always wrong weather forecasts, it should be that way until NEXT Friday.  Which actually makes me happy.  It's perfect transplanting weather for the garden.  So don't sit on your couch and mope about the weather the whole holiday.  Get out and do some planting. 

Posted by Wyrd at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My week has been full. An injured on the job spouse, a hurt kitty with stitches, and a teenager with spacers in his mouth in preparation for braces. In Derek's words “My friends with braces say for the first few weeks I will only be able to eat mashed potatoes and jello, and I'm not quite sure about the jello.” As the reality sinks in, I realize that for the next two years I am going to have to limit my cooking of hard and crunchy things, and lean toward soft and cut-up-into-bite-size-pieces things.

Kitty has to go in tomorrow to get the stitches out. Stitches that have been put in twice, and despite the cone, she has bit another stitch out. And just in the last 5 minutes, she managed to bolt for the door when I answered it, escaping to the great outside (she ran under the porch). She's hiding down between the bottom of the porch and the shed. Chasing her is of no use. Luckily Mr. Rubber-band Mouth will be here at any moment. He's more clever than I, (plus she loves him more), so I shall leave the recapturing of kitty up to him.

And the weather, OH the weather. Snow. Hail. Cold. Then 100 degrees. Then back to cold and rain. Rain that will stretch through the Memorial Day holiday. Yeah, I've seen that happen more than a few times.

Posted by Wyrd at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The past two days were over 100 degrees here.  Today was a cool and breezy 90.  Every plant on the property began showing signs of burn.  My greenhouses and the porch and the garden are all intertwined with sheets and screens.  Thank god I moved so many things out of harms way.  Harms way = almost everywhere. 

Some years we pray for a couple of days of warm, and often we get them.  Maybe an Indian summer in the fall.  But never, ever, and I'm including the Great Coastal Heatwave of I think it was '82, has it ever been this hot on the coast.  At least not in my getting-quite-extensive lifetime.   Do you realize it was only two weeks ago that we had snow, hail and freezing temperatures?  HUH????

Kitty update:  Ripped out a bunch of stitches.  Stitches replaced, drain removed, and now the poor thing is in the dreaded CONE.  Why of course I will take a picture.

Posted by Wyrd at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The hot weather doesn't deter me from cooking.  I think good food is just as important when it's hot, as any other time, maybe even more.  The heat seems to deplete more than water, nutrients, minerals, blah blah.  Eating good stuff just seems to make me feel a whole lot better.  Makes the family happy too.

So I'm on a bit of a cooking frenzy.  Tonight we had hamburgers with lots of fresh tomatoes, home-grown lettuce and onions to pile on top.  And some home-made bread to make things really special.  For dessert:  Hot apple crisp from the apple pie filling I canned last year.  With real home-made whipped cream and extra vanilla.   

Here's my recipe.

Apple Crisp 

1 Quart Jar Apple Pie Filling

1 cup brown sugar, packed (I use white sugar and add a couple tsp of black strap mollasses.)
1/2 cup flour (white or wheat, whichever)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
6 Tbs butter 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat apple pie filling slowly on low heat.  You don't want too cook it into gush, just heat it up a bit.  Butter a baking pan, I like to use a glass pyrex pan that is approx. 11 X 7, and set aside.  If you like your apple crisp a little deeper use an 8 X 8.

In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together until well mixed.  Then cut in the butter until the mix is crumbly.

Put your heated pie mix in the prepared pan and sprinkle the dry topping all over it.  Bake for about 30 -35 minutes. 

Posted by Wyrd at 07:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After the sun started to go down, it cooled to 90 degrees on the porch.  I have been watering constantly today.  Not only is this heat dangerous for plants, but it also poses a massive threat to us used-to-cool-weather coastal beings.  Thank goodness I have trees and plants, it turns my zone into a balmy jungle region instead of a desert wasteland. 

I kept the house closed up today, (mostly because kitty got herself in another scrap and had an abscess, requiring her to have a drain put in, meaning no outside), and the ceiling fan on.  Everytime I thought I was going to die from the heat, I just went outside, where it was 20 degrees hotter.  I cannot imagine that tomorrow will be even hotter.  Is this possible? 

It's a perfect evening for that walk on Sunset Beach. 

Posted by Wyrd at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's been a cold and windy blowhole on the coast.  Big, cold destructive blasts of North Pole wind make it impossible to be outside and be happy.  Last night we actually had ice on our car windshields.  Bleah.

The basil I put out too early just shriveled up and croaked.  But did that teach me?  Heck no.  I'm still putting things out.  It's my sink or swim program.  It's also the only way I can empty out my crammed full greenhouses.  So I can start some more things.  Stop looking at me that way.

Posted by Wyrd at 04:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A 2.7 earthquake 19 miles directly west from Yachats, Oregon.  Little, but frighteningly close.

Picked up from the Oregon SkyWatch site, BLM rejects Mt. St. Helens mine.  It seems that with the high price of metals, companies are trying to start mines all over the place, even in national forests and parks.  Kind of like how they already log there. 

Our lands.  Yeah right.

Another interesting factoid of news, albeit exceedingly creepy:  Scientists Create First Memristor:  Missing Fourth Electronic Element Circuit.  According to those that know, this will enable computers to have MEMORY, to figure things out, make decisions, in essense to THINK.

Skynet has become ... self aware.

Posted by Wyrd at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So far, it has hailed here in Coos Bay everyday for what seems a week.  At least the last 4 days straight, and then some before that, broken by an occasional nice day.  Yesterday: cold.  Today, some sun but bits of icy wind and more cold.

Of note:  a 5.2 earthquake in Northern California.   Important because Northern California is connected to us (us as in, Oregonians).  Connected to, and much like, Oregon.  So much so infact, that we should just STEAL Northern California and call it SOUTHESTOFALL OREGON. 

Anyway.

All of this bad weather and talk of earthquakes makes me ponder the many historical infrastructures of the Oregon Coast.   Such as Newport's beautiful bridge shown in the above picture.  Or any of the bridges.  Or the roads.  Of which there are not many that lead out of our little coastal towns.  Coos Bay has been isolated many times during my life span so far.  Didn't take much of a disaster either.  Little flooding here, little landslide there.  Easy shmeezy.

Posted by Wyrd at 08:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A perfect, warm summer's day.  In the middle of winter weather.  Only it isn't summer, and it isn't winter.  I blame it on the ever continuing earthquakes.  We made the news!  Hundreds of earthquakes off the Oregon coast, indicative of volcanic activity.  Only there is no volcano.  Or so they say.  But there probably is molten lava movement.  On the off shore fault.  Whee?

Posted by Wyrd at 06:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's still freezing here at night.  The days have been sunny all week, but a ice cold wind starts up every afternoon.  There is about a three hour period where it is actually comfortable to be outside.  I clean the garden and weed during those precious three hours.  And I stare at the plants.  The rest of the time I bounce between the cuddly, warm house and the cuddly warm greenhouse.  And I stare at the plants.  This one is my newest hoya.  Thank you mommy!

Posted by Wyrd at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I woke up to big fluffy snowflakes this morning.  They lasted just long enough for us to wake up our neighbors with the news.  Mr Wyrd and I had already planned on a morning galavant, so this fluffy snow thing just inspired us more.  We drove up Highway 101 towards the Seven Devils Road.  The scenery looked like a Christmas snow forest.  Gone wild.  Something about snow on the coast is just really magical.  Because it is so rare.  And because of the vegetation here that is quite jungle like.  Large firs and cedars and spruces all mixed up with crazy, wild alders, and tons of salal, huck, blossoming salmon and blackberry bushes and grasses all providing the thick undergrowth.

Unfortunately, I cannot share this with you because I forgot to bring the cameras when I ventured out this morning.  Instead, I shall try to console you with the cinnamon rolls I made yesterday while trapped indoors by the cold.

I'll give you the recipe later this week when the cold drives me back inside the warm and cozy kitchen. 

Posted by Wyrd at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is what I get for laughing at you Klamath Falls people. 

Posted by Wyrd at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One.  Day.  At.  A.  Time.  But not using any tongue.  Thinking, I will never see you again December 30, 2007.  Farewell my old friend.  Putting to rest one busy, busy year.  A year, that I will never experience again.  *sniff*.

That's my Pisces Moon talking. 

My Aries Sun says, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY 2007.  I can't WAIT for 2008 to start, WOOHOO!

In other news:  They canceled my high surf warning, those bastards.  My dad called and said that as the tide came in, he could see some surf.  So I will go look later anyway.  

It's been pouring and hailing and cold and miserable.   Perfect weather for baking, cleaning and piddling.  Not so great for running around on the beach.  WHICH I MUST DO AND SOON.  I really need my ocean fix.

Posted by Wyrd at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)