2 June: embarking on the beach approach job

Tuesday, 2 June 2015

Jo’s garden

We began our workweek at Jo’s garden, catching up on the weeding and adding some Cosmos ‘Antiquity’.

Jo and Bob’s guest cottage hosts many friends.

squeezed more cosmos in here

Jo’s garden, northwest side

Allan’s project, requested by Jo, was to cut back a barberry in a barrel…hard.

Allan’s photo, before

Allan’s photo, after

Jo wants it to be just a little mound.  I am sure it would come back from nothing, so I went in and trimmed the little twiggy bits off after Allan took the above photo.

Allan’s photo: His further project, before, weeding along the southwest path.

Allan’s photo, after; this is one place I have not tried to get out that pink hardy geranium…yet.

Allan’s photos of the rhododendron at the end of the path.

close up

Imagine, this garden was once all and only rhododendrons.

Weeding Jo’s is a pleasant and rewarding job.

Then we went on to the dreaded…

Bolstadt beach approach garden

and started in on one of the thirteen sections that looked the worst.  (There are actually more like 12.5 sections, as I count two separate shorter end pieces as a section.)  We weeded one section and one end piece.

before

THREE hours later, it had taken six person-hours of non stop weeding to do just one section and an end piece.  I will leave you to do the math about how long the job might take.  It is sort of a satisfying project, and difficult because of being the same movement over and over.  At least the weather was calm, just slightly misty at times, and not windy.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo; I had to resort to the pick at a spot where a path had been forged across the garden, making a hard pack of weeds.

Allan’s photo

after

I have been wanting to explain how Bolstadt got its name and had been unable to find any history on it, even though I had heard the story.  As I write this post, our local paper has just published a story about the state patrolman Gene Bolstadt who lost his life during a surf rescue here.

Back on March 19th, Allan had weeded the westernmost section of the approach.  He walked out to see how well his job had held up.

March 19th

June 2nd; it still looks better than the section we were working on today.

On the way back through town, we stopped to check Fifth Street Park.  I can’t remember why I walked down as far as the smoke shop planter.  There I found THIS.

a lily broken right off

the broken off flowers

This particular lily’s background is that it was stolen from who knows where and put into the planter by the thief, who thought he was doing everyone a favour.  The staff of the smoke shop are wonderful at trying to protect the planter.  This time I am the one who removed the lily entirely, and planted it in a park; it is too fragile to be right next to the planter’s bench and I don’t like lilies in these planters anyway as it is too hard to conceal their dying foliage.

Ilwaco

On the way home, we stopped at the Ilwaco boatyard just to admire it.

Ilwaco boatyard garden

The poppies are coming on.

The blue globe thistle…which usually gets picked. I hope it is spared this year.

We went on to Time Enough Books, where all I had intended to do was add a few cosmos to the garden boat.  I suddenly found myself pruning down the ceanothus.  It is a shame, but if allowed to reach its full height, it would block the sign.  I had waited for it to finish blooming.  Now it has a sinuous, sea-serpenty form, as it also had to be cut back from the sidewalk.  While the cultivar is a semi prostrate one, it still would like to get about as tall as me.

after pruning

May 3

Today: no longer threatening to block the sign.

Here it was on April 30th.  It would have begun to block the sign from the view of a car.  Sort of.

Ok, to tell you the truth, I wish I did not have to prune it, but once one cuts off the part that is swallowing the sidewalk, then the dead-ish inside is exposed and the only solution is to cut off the stubs and turn it into a bonsai.  Sigh…  The other solution would be to cut it all the way down to a flat stumps and see what happens.

Allan’s photo, while dumping the Ceanothus debris.

At home, tired, I had just enough energy for a quick bit of garden admiration while watering the ladies in waiting.

Dicentra scandens over the water barrel

Dicentra scandens.  I just learned this is now Lamprocapnos scandens.  Sheesh.

Rose ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’

At last, I got to cross one beach approach section off the work board….and was filled with optimism that we would get another section done on Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

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23 February: Allan’s day on the Naselle River

Monday, 23 February 2015

Today I thought I would paddle the upper Naselle River. I had looked at it and its current several times. I wondered if I could successfully paddle back to the launch or whether I would be walking back from downstream. Because we’ve haven’t had a day off for a while, I had a bunch of chores but finally arrived at the launch about 3:30 with two hours before sunset. The tide was still rising from 6  to 7 feet and would drop to 5 before I left.

From here, Naselle is over there…

Last time I boated the Naselle River, I started at the Willapa Wildlife Refuge, went around Stanley Peninsula and had to turn around a little past the 101 bridge.

Flowers that return yearly for all of us to enjoy planted years ago at the north end of the  Astoria Megler Bridge

Naselle is lower right. O’Conner Creek at the upper right was my upstream limit today. Downstream limit was the bend at the upper left.

The boat’s little wheels (and my boots) were a mucky mess

I fortunately didn’t need to back up a boat trailer but this stuff was sticky. Trying to keep mud out of the boat, I discovered that the water near that bank was indeed deeper than my 15 inch boots. After tying the muddy wheels on the boat in case they were needed, I headed upstream.  If I couldn’t make headway I planned to go ashore at the bridge and walk back. The GPS later said the current was 1.4 mph which is slower than the 3-5 mph I can paddle.

heron

The first heron I actually got a picture of. They are usually very still while they watch me, then sound like what the movies think is a pterodactyl sound as they fly off.

The heron flying upstream, though not quite up to Mr. Tootlepedal’s photographic standards

Heard lots of little birds but very little other noise. Only the occasional car as there was a small road paralleling the river for part of the way.

still water

The water was very calm and made for great reflections.

The light current shows on these logs

Multitasking as I clean my boots and walk the boat

 After a little over a mile there was shallow gravel all the way across. After a tow there was deeper water upstream.

Last view upstream.

 Our gardening and blogger friend, Ann, had shared pictures of her father’s place on the river up here somewhere. I remember it had a monkey puzzle tree near the river and it was also near a fish counting station with a cable & basket over the water. At this point. the current seemed to get faster and I would need to get out and tow again. Cars were visible ahead on Highway 4 but I wasn’t getting to any of these goals today. I turned around.

Hmmm, you’re back

  This could be the same heron I interrupted earlier.

sorry I disturbed you again…

More trees

The launch at plus 7 feet

Back to the launch. I remembered the van getting stuck in soft grass on a job last week and knew I would not have been able to pull out a boat trailer through the mud today. Fortunately, my boat is light enough to not need a trailer.

The GPS told me I had gone 1.5 miles upstream and that the boat had reached a speed of 5.6 mph going downstream. With an hour of sunlight to go I was able to go one more mile downstream.

 Heading under the  Lewis and Clark highway that comes north from the Columbia river.

Can’t get the boat very close to the ducks before…

….off they go, even though I try to  drift up quietly.

Ferns and a dock; well, maybe it’s just part of a dock now.

On January 4, a major rain storm washed out part of Highway 4 nearby and parts of this riverbank still looked de-vegetated.

This was the closest point to highway 4 for a while so I got out for a look.

Muddy wheels and a wet mess of clothes in the back of the boat.

The water was over 15″ deep here too.

No road in sight.

Washed up fishing floats.

More reflections.

Different tree, really

Cows outstanding in their field

Reminds me that my dad once boated down the Cedar River through Kent, which is south of Seattle, into Lake Washington. He mentioned that the parking lots, stores and malls are hardly visible at all from the river and the car noises are much quieter. The deep trench of this river didn’t allow me to find Ann’s monkey puzzle tree that I mentioned earlier or to see much of this pasture.

Not wildlife.

I could be seen though.

Almost back to the launch

Just grab a tuft of grass, grab the rope and commit.

Now it was five miles and two hours later. There is a house on the right of the photo that overlooks the launch and further safety is provided by…

Naselle is prepared for what we know can happen to small towns in the woods .

I spotted the zombie response vehicle at the local grocery when I arrived and later photographed it on the way out. It’s clearly owned by a worker, on their shift, there to protect us all.

Columbia River sunset over the Astoria Megler Bridge on the drive home

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8 Nov: north end bulbs, south end sunset

Saturday, 8 November 2014

We decided to polish off at least four more bulbing jobs at the north end.  I was hoping for six but I knew we could get the four done.

Wiegardt Gallery

When we arrived at the Wiegardt Gallery, 12 miles to the north in Ocean Park, the first thing I noticed was the beautiful cleanliness of the edge of the gravel parking lot.  Eric’s brother Todd, who loves to garden, had weeded it while he was here on a recent visit!

Thanks, Todd; it looks amazing!

While I laid out the bulbs at the Wiegardt Gallery in Ocean Park, Allan began clipping back more perennials in the front garden.

clipping by the front entry

cutting back the lysimachia…Oops, my shadow is the the lower left!!

I rescued some Allium schubertii seedlings from the garden and gave them to Christl, describing to her how one had been worn as a headdress at the Garden Bloggers Fling soiree.

Christl was inspired by my story.

We got the entry corner all cleaned up and some narcissi and alliums planted here.

east end of front garden, cleaned up and with some new narcissi planted.

Some areas got cleaned up JUST enough to plant a group of narcissi.

entry garden with some new narcissi and alliums planted on both sides

I remembered to take a piece of the “tiny bun” dianthus for my scree garden.

 

I was so discreet that it does not look at all altered.

The ornamental grasses look so stunning at this time of year with the low sunshine.

Christl had taken some ornamental grass photos the day before and here they are:

photo by Christl Mack

photo by Christl Mack

photo by Christl Mack

34 new bulbs for Wiegardt Gallery

Marilyn’s Garden

Several miles further north is Marilyn’s garden, where we planted a much larger batch of narcissi, alliums, and some species iris and some muscari.

Many of the bulbs went right by the garage driveway where guests are most likely to see them.

Marilyn’s autumnal garden

We do minimal fall clean up here in order to leave seeds for the birds and hiding places for deer…and cats.  We might do some more clipping on a final fall visit…

Some of the ornamental grasses are flopping all over other plants.

We planted narcissi and others in the front and center areas where Marilyn and Nancy will see them from the west windows.

bulbs added all along here

While I worked, I had the pleasure of meeting Goldie, one of the (at least) three feral cats who have been adopted by this household.

Goldie

He has become quite friendly and spends mornings in the house.

He came to me in the garden for pets…

and stayed to observe the proceedings.

Quite a few tasks called to me today at Marilyn’s, all of which I had to leave undone because it is BULB TIME.  We will return for a last clean up day sometime after all the bulbing is done.  I was mad at myself because I did not think to bring any of the starts of the Lonicera ‘Baggeson’s Gold’ that I have at home in a bucket.  They would be perfect to fill in the privacy screen at the south end of the garden path.

You can see how beautifully the one Lonicera I planted there has done, and deer do not bother it.

The Lonicera would be especially perfect here because Marilyn’s daughter is co- owner of the Depot Restaurant, from whence the Lonicera starts were pulled last week.  I also long to weed out all of the stinkin’ Creeping Charlie at the south end of the garden.  That would be a satisfying task.

round-leaved creeping charlie with the lovely little ‘Wilma Goldcrest’ tree.

And I long to weed all along the edges of the gravel path…

Bring on the end of Bulb Time!  The end is still several days away.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

Today’s visit to KBC included two bulb clients, Mary of KBC for her garden, and Darlene and Pete who own the A Frame for their woodsy garden.  Like the cottages, the A Frame is independently owned and managed by Mary and Denny as a rental when the owners are not residing there.  I began by tossing the bulbs around the A Frame garden.  Over years of bulbing, I have learned to toss them IN the sorted bags, as otherwise they blend in with the soil and some get missed.  While I was doing so, a red headed young man emerged from the A Frame onto its deck and said to his friends, “Oh, they’re bulbing!”  I said, “Why, that is exactly what we call it!” and told him we sometimes call it Bulb Hell, but on such a warm and pretty day we call it Bulb Time.  (It used always to be Bulb Hell till last year when we bought our spacious van that makes it so much easier to load and unload the bulb boxes than the little car we used to use.)

Allan starts to plant the A Frame bulbs

While Allan worked on planting 284 narcissi in the A Frame garden, I went back to the KBC garage to start sorting out and planting 186 bulbs for Mary.  She got tulips in five pots for inside the deer fence; the rest were narcissi to go in a woodsy swale that is across the entry road from the A Frame.

Below:  Mary and Denny’s house has the red pointer.  The fenced garden is to the left, and the woodsy swale is just across the angled road that runs by the lawn (between the lawn and the cottages).  The A Frame is set an an angle in the lower middle of the photo, and Allan was planting under the large grove of trees to its left and a bit up.  And there are the darling little cottages on the ridge.

In the spring, pots of tulips will be set around the four yew trees.

Getting the tulips planted was easy peasy and quick.  Not so easy was digging up a Baptisia (false indigo) that was coming up from an old root, way too close to a rose.  Denny came into the garden at just the right moment to dig while I pulled.  I headed down to the swale with a wheelbarrow containing the plant (which may or may not do well there, but I have nowhere else to put it) and a big box of narcissi.

the swale

It’s not really a swale bacause it is flat and not particularly damp; we all just call it that because it is lower than the road.  The garden there is a dumping ground for plants we tire of in the main garden.  Not till Bulb Time is over will we have time to cut back the leaves of all the siberian iris and daylilies and Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ in this area.

I was filled with horror when I tried to plant the first bunch of narcissi.  It was terribly hard, rooty digging.  In despair at the prospect, I called out to Allan to see if I could get him to trade planting areas.  He still had loads of bulbs to plant at the A Frame and agreed to switch.  He likes a challenge (I think).

Just as I was getting ready to go to the A Frame woods, he said something about there being two boxes to plant and pointed at these:

Whaaaat?

I panicked, as we had less than an hour before sunset, until I realized that one of those was the box of empty bags he had brought over from the A Frame!  WHEW.

I planted fiercely until almost sunset.  The red headed young man appeared again and I said “NOW it’s Bulb Hell!” and he laughed as he and his family and friends got ready to go out to dinner.  My knee hurt oh so much.  I preservered, and we got the bulbs in with time left to take some photos of the grounds.

DONE!

The A Frame through the planted garden.

The A Frame woods last spring; we increase the narcissi show each year.

A frame garden around the deck last year

a mossy chair in the KBC lawn border

a rhodo blooming near the pond

the pond garden

a rhodo in bloom by the entry road

I walked up to the cottages, thinking to get a photo of the view, and was startled to realize each one now has a name!  Since I administer and provide photos for the KBC Facebook page, I felt the urgent need to take photos of all the names and decided that when I got home, each cottage would gets its own album on the page, instead of all the cottages being in one big photo album.  Something about having a name makes each cottage seem even more special.  Later at home as I reworked the albums on the page, I enjoyed reviewing my photos of the insides of the cottages.

cottage one

inside

cottage 2

inside

3: The Lighthouse

inside

4: Shell Seekers

inside

Shell Seekers is my favourite of the cottages (not just because it’s owned by Mary and Denny).

Yes, I am playing favourites with cottage four.

And each cottage has room journals!  They are not as introspective as the ones at the Sylvia Beach Hotel but are still fun to read and I intend to read more from them this winter.

5: Sailor’s Retreat

inside

6: Sandpiper

inside

path to the beach

cottage 7: Captain’s Choice

inside

Cottage 8: Beachcomber has a bunkhouse called the Beachcomber Cabana.

inside the cottage

Beachcomber and Cabana decks

path to the beach

hydrangea on an east cottage wall

looking east to “the swale” from the cottage ridge

Walking back down: the clam cleaning shed and picnic area

approaching the fenced garden from the west

just a few berries on the small beautyberry shrub (wish it would grow bigger!)

an autumnal rose

in the fenced garden, fall colour from blueberries

We left KBC half an hour before sunset.  I was tempted, as we drove by Andersen’s RV Park, to go in there to plant the small number of bulbs I have alloted.  I resisted as it would have been a sore and miserable and rushed job.

Port of Ilwaco

The sky to our west and east looked amazing all the way home, so we had a look at the port before we ended our day.

Allan’s photo by the boatyard; in the distance is the dredge.

Allan’s photo, south end of boatyard

crab pots by Jessie’s Fish Company

more crab pots in the port parking lot

looking west at the marina

 

heron reflection

looking north from the south parking lot

looking south toward the Columbia River:  the dredge working to keep the channel open

low tide at the mouth of Baker Bay

looking west across the mouth of the bay to the Cape Disappointment Coast Guard Station

At home, after blogging (me) and making dinner (Allan), we enjoyed an excellent episode of Midsomer Murders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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11 Dec, sunset walk

Wednesday, 11 December, 2013

I could tell from the sky that Wednesday’s sunset would be excellent.  The weather had warmed just slightly to hover around freezing. I walked around the corner and down Advent Avenue toward the Port.

A forklift operator was stacking crab pots on the side of Advent.

stacking Dungeness crab pots

the promising sky to the southwest

As I walked past, a big truck drove up and the forklift began to stack the pots onto the flatbed trailer.

onto the truck

The pots were appearing from down the short gravel road leading to the gear shed that is just southeast of our back garden.

much bustling at the gear shed

Meanwhile, in the big parking lot between town and port, workers spread out and untangled lines.

getting ready

I walked the half block from there to Waterfront Way.

the condor statue

Some of the crabbing boats were already loaded, ready to go early on the first day of commercial crabbing.

Pacific Dream

condor and moonrise

I wondered if the sunset would live up to my expectations.

looking south

In the dusk, the lights began to show from the decorated boats.

Nauti-lady always goes all out for the holidays.

The sunset colour I had hoped for came on…

Jessie’s Fish Company star and processing steam

brighter

A heron flew in, squawking, and posed.

no colour enhancement!

sunset colour fades and seasonal lights glow

and the moon….

I made a slight detour on the way home to see the lively decorations at the east end of the port by CoHo Charters and Motel.

Imagine Christmas music playing, as well.

another kind of boat at the Coho Charters

My sunset walk segued into a neighbourhood Christmas lights walk, but that’s another story.

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16 Nov: bulb time day nine

Saturday, 16 November, 2013

Earlier in the week, I had decided on Saturday as best the day to go to a matinee on the last weekend of a local production of The Wizard of Oz.  The choice of day had been based on a bad weather forecast for Saturday and a good forecast for Sunday.  I had expected 40 mph winds and rain and instead woke to decent bulb planting weather.  Oh dear.

Mary and Smokey were unimpressed by the lack of rain.

Allan and I started by planting narcissi at the boatyard…tall ones.

Ilwaco boatyard garden

There is still much in bloom there.

pink achillea and the occasional California poppy

still with the cosmos!

Persicaria ‘Firetail’

lavender (and cosmos)

Echinops (blue globe thistle), rebloom after being cut way back

Cistus x purpureas backed with Stipa gigantea

Geranium ‘Rozanne’

I like when plants reseed or run into the gravel on the other side of the fence.

white yarrow and …that grass my friend Pat from Seattle gave me

A gentleman on a bicycle stopped both coming and going to tell me how much he loved the garden, how he has been watching it change all year and he makes a detour to drive by it.  We appreciate that.

Dwight, who walks dogs, came by with one of his pals, a big lab named Sam.  Sam got lots of pets from me.  He weighs maybe 120 pounds and had an idea about going swimming.

Sam’s idea

Sam gets his way.

a good dog day

We went on to plant bulbs at the Port office and while Allan started (once I had them placed), I popped very briefly into the Don Nisbett Art Gallery to get some photos for cash mob promotion.

Don working on a Christmas painting.

Next Saturday, November 23, at 11 AM on, The Peninsula Cash Mob will descend upon Don’s Gallery and some will include a lunch almost next door at OleBob’s Galley Restaurant.

Back to work.  Here is what an Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’ looks like when it is determined to revert to green.

going green…will still be a great plant in flower.

I wonder if I could divide the plant and get one green one and one variegated one.  It is tricky because Eryngiums have a tap root.

The tide was high, almost to the point where the walkways went straight across to the dock.

high tide

On the north side of the port buildings along Howerton Street, we got only partway done with a pocket garden that we just took over this year.  Maddeningly, whenever we turn out backs on it, it reverts to a lawn!

not even halfway done

We had time for a quick turnaround at home before going to the play.

Certain parties had not moved.

I confess to much frustration at going to an indoor event during nice weather, so I was happy when drizzle hit our windscreen on the way east through the town of Chinook.  I would rather it had been raining a bit harder when we got to Fort Columbia State Park.

the entrance road to Fort Columbia State Park

We were not sure where to go and almost walked all the way to the top buildings….

Fort Columbia, “original U.S. Army Artillery buildings” with a view of the Columbia River

Fortunately for our time and legs, the folks walking toward us knew that the theatre was actually behind us in a smaller building.

the playhouse

It is kind of the park to allow the Peninsula Association of Performing Artists to use the building for their yearly production.

inside

During the play, the scenery boards were swiveled to show different scenes, and views of Kansas, Munchkinland, the scary forest, the poppy field, and Oz were projected on the screen.

While I tend to be skeptical about going to plays, I knew this one would be excellent because I had seen PAPA’s production of Fiddler on the Roof several years ago and still remember its excellence and how it made me laugh and weep and how the song Anetevka ran through my head for days afterward.

During intermission, the cast mingled with audience just outside the doors.

The Wicked Witch of the West

I was especially smitten with the cast member who played Toto, even though it was a shock at first to see a wiener dog instead of a fuzzy terrier!

Daisy during intermission

from the program:  “Daisy (Toto) was rescued from the South Pacific County Humane Society when she was 11 months old.  She will be ten in December.  She is believed to be a “Chiweenie”, that is, a Chihuahua/Daschund mix.  She loves being with all the kids in the show and likes music.  This is her first attempt at performing.”

She did very well indeed.

I was in love.

Allan said later that even though we knew exactly what would happen next, we still cared about the fate of the characters.  (In one case, I did NOT know what would happen next when they threw in a number called The Jitterbug that was cut from the movie!)

On the way home, we saw that the tide was way out on the Columbia River.    Near home, we drove the two extra blocks out to the port to get a look at the water level.

low tide

Sunday, we hope to finish planting ALL of the Port of Ilwaco bulbs and perhaps moving on to more planting in Long Beach, weather permitting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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