Sharing the Dog Bed

Shaak Ti and Shadowfax generally prefer to have their own space while napping. But every once in a while they tolerate some sharing.

On the back patio the other morning, sharing a dog bed seemed to be acceptable.

It was pretty warm out though. The mid-morning sun was already strong and the pups made a hasty retreat inside where it was cooler. 

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Storm Carnage and Clematis Blooms

We had a big storm roll through on Thursday afternoon. The wind howled and the rain lashed down for a few hours. There were numerous lightening strikes, a few transformers were hit, and there were reports of minor damage throughout town.

We lost a limb from the Norway spruce tree in the backyard. It got hung up on the fence and one of the new clematis trellis.

It was a good sized limb and took a little while to chop up and wrangle into our compost bin. We were lucky to just have a branch come down. A few houses away a tree came down and crushed the cab of a parked truck. Nobody was injured, but it was a decent mess to clean up.

While we were out taking pictures of the storm carnage we snapped a picture of the lovely clematis blooms. This is Clematis "Killian Donohue" that we planted about two weeks ago. It seems very happy in its new spot.

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Shaak Ti the Plant Lover

Alycia was strolling outside the other day and looking at the plants and asked me "Why are these 2 plants struggling?" That's pretty simple, because Shaak Ti uses them for a pillow. Here she's using the patented "one plant for my head and one plant for my rump" technique. It's very advanced.

Sorry for my shadow in the picture, but it was the only way that I could get the shot without waking up Shaak Ti. She usually hops up when a shadow passes by. 

Shaak Ti, she's always had a special connection to plants. We've posted before about Shaak Ti and her plant friend. She's always had a unique relationship with both indoor and outdoor plants. 

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Sacked Out Dogs

We're nearing the end of fireplace season here at the homestead. Overnight temperatures are forecast to stay above 40 degrees starting this weekend. Not to worry though, the end of fireplace season coincides with the start of outdoor sunbeam season.

Shadowfax is enjoying one of the last fireplace warming sessions of the year, sprawled on her dog bed complex. She does well with the transition to outdoor sunbeam season.

Shaak Ti had a pretty big day, thus the little bit of tongue sticking out. Her two normal walks plus a bonus walk with Alycia, along with her standard schedule of squirrel barking. Luckily for Shaak Ti the squirrel barking is still in person and not with Zoom. She'd be pretty bummed about that. 

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The View Inside the Greenhouse

Here's what it looks like inside our greenhouse right now. It is chock full of all manner of plants in various stages of growth.

We're in the process of hardening off the first set of plants. Hardening off consists of bringing the plants outside and exposing them to increasing duration and intensity of sunlight and natural conditions over the course of a week or so.

It's a necessary step to ensure that these little plants don't get transplants shock or stressed in their new digs outside. It involves a whole lot of hauling pots/buckets/flats of seedlings outside in the morning and then back inside in the evening, but it's worth it. 

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Some More Spring Blooms

Yesterday we posted some pretty flower pictures that were taken last week. Spring blooming bulbs aren't known for their longevity but here is what they look like now. The daffodils have lasted longer than expected and the tulips are just unfolding.

The yellow daffodils, yellow/white daffodils, and red tulips look great together. We're definitely going to plant more bulbs this fall and expand this area for next year. 

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More Spring Blooms (from last week)

We've been so caught up in garden working that we've fallen behind on blog posts. No surprise there! These are some bulbs that were blooming last week.

These are yellow daffodils that we planted in the front yard. Their bright yellow blooms never fail to cheer me up.

We planted some smaller bulbs in the backyard along the greenhouse. The greenhouse are is looking great with a few early Spring blooms.

These are dwarf purple irises. The Shaak Ti photo bomb is just an added bonus.

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Earthquake in Boise, Idaho

We had just wrapped up dinner here at the homestead yesterday evening when there was a substantial earthquake. Seriously, here in Boise, Idaho. It took me a few seconds to place into context what was happening, it just seemed so out of place. "We're not in California, but gosh this sure feels like an earthquake" (internal monologue has been made PG rated).

Interestingly enough we had watched a local PBS program a few days before about geology in Idaho (there's some pretty interesting stuff here) and they mentioned the last big earthquake in 1983.

There's a great comprehensive write up at the USGS here, you should check it out.

Earthquakes do happen here, but they are rare. From the USGS:

Historic seismicity in the immediate vicinity of the March 31 earthquake is sparse; no earthquakes of M5+ have occurred within 50 km of this event over the past 50 years, and the most notable historic seismicity in the region occurred about 100 km to the east on the Lost River fault zone.

Nothing was damaged here at the homestead and everyone is OK. Neighbors are a tad freaked out but they are all OK as well. Yesterday was indeed an interesting day. 

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