Bird in a nest of lettuce

The garden plot next to mine at Luscher Farm has a mother Killdeer nesting-maybe this one will make it. The Killdeer nest on the ground in the most unlikely places. We all tip toe around the nests and avert our eyes so they think we don't see them. If one gets within 15' of the nest they become quite agitated. I am always going past them muttering "Sorry, sorry".
Interesting facts about Killdeer: The parent Killdeer start sitting on the eggs to incubate them as soon as all four of the eggs have been laid. The killdeer embryos inside the first-laid three eggs do not start developing while the eggs are sitting out in the cold. But when they feel the warmth of the parent killdeer, all four killdeer embryos start developing at the same time.
The normal gestation period is 24 to 28 days. So I am guessing this nest will hopefully hatch in about 3 more weeks.

Russell's Tile Installation

After months of work and rework, Russell's winter project is not only done but installed-here are a few shots of the process.........

First you start with this- the original walkway had been cut out because of leaking problems....

Russell came up with the idea of making a tile rug

with a tile surround to match the entryway tile ...

so he began to make the tile in the garage- in November....brrrr

After the clay got to be "leather hard" he hand painted each tile
Note the fringe tile at the end of the rug
Unfortunately the first firing resulted in several problems-
so Russell started all over from the beginning......


And here is the end result after 6 months
of intense labor...........well worth it I say!

Busy in the garden.........and at home.

Rosie and I are on our "cruise". The Canby Ferry is taking us to the annual
Clackamas Master Gardener Plant Sale.....we have plant lust!



Here's a shot of our little veggie garden.....lots of sprouting babies
under those milk jugs!



Russell built this little deck off the kitchen so we can BBQ more conveniently!
So here we are with our new little R2-D2 BBQ with room for our little table.
Bueno appetito!

Spring at the Oregon Coast

Here I am at the Oregon Coast with

good old "phone company"friends

Now we read books together instead

of working-we play.....and so here we are........

Very high tide............

Saturday was gloomy and windy enough for kite flying............

a glimmer of sun during sunset.........

Smart Market Ducks

For several years now our local supermarket has hosted a pair of Mallards in the spring. They show up around this time of year for about a month. They nest somewhere nearby-but no one is really sure quite where-nor do we really want to pester them by tracking them down!

Every morning around 530am they show up at the double doors and tap on the windows for their daily bread and after a few hours they leave until the next morning. Supposedly they are quite tame and will tolerate us hand feeding them. We will see.

Here's a quick shot of them today in the parking lot-but tomorrow I will roll outta bed early so I can get some better photos. Today's photo is a bit blurry....sorry.

Sassparilla Jugband.....toe tapping music!

We drove on over to NE Portland to the

McMenamin's White Eagle to listen to

Sassparilla's great toe tapping music!

They play there during Happy Hour on all Saturday's

during the month of April

from 4:30pm til 7:00pm.

Check them out!

http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=55&id=96&eventid=48981

http://www.sassparillapdx.com/home.html

Portland Farmer's Market is open!

Since our local Farmers Market doesn't open for another month, Russell and I went hunting and gathering today in Portland for our meal of the day......look at what we found and will eat!

Dave's yummy organic chewy to the last crumb bread.....

We chose a wild boar rillette to go on the side of our pasta dish....

Truely homemade pasta...................

Here's what we came home with.............


and here's what we ate............wild mitake mushrooms sauteed

in olive oil with our homegrown garlic with a bit of hot pepper flakes and

Italian spices ...served with Nonna's Noodles and topped with fresh parmesan.........yummmmmmy