Summer Happenings

It's been a long summer here.  We are dealing with a huge fire in the Olympics which is stressful in itself, but the smoke is overwhelming now, added to the Canada fires smoke blowing south.

So today I shot this from the canal, can you spot the sun?  Pretty eerie!

The Maple Fire started about the 4th of August I think.  They have it contained on every side where there are people, at the forest roads.  I'm only 6 miles as the crow flies, so I'm keeping close tabs on it.

In more joyful news, I think I have all the winter firewood in.  This fun dump truck delivered.

I get a good workout stacking it!

My plants are mostly native to the cooler Pacific Northwest temperatures, so this long, hot, dry summer has been a little stressful for them!  But the tomato and Clematis seem happy.

The swallows finally got their turn in the nesting box.  There was a tenant dispute with the chestnut-backed chickadees early on and the latter won.  But the swallows persisted and eventually got a late hatching in.  

This little guy was the last to fly the coop.

 I was busy in the Spring planning and creating new work for both my jewelry business and the supply shop.  I have a lot of new work up in the Etsy shop, which can be viewed here www.jgray-design.com .  I spent a few days creating some new hand dyed fibers for ribbons.  It was fun to hang them outside on the deck for the first dry run.

I later cut these into ribbon widths and rewash them for a frayed edge look.  They are a great supply for all kinds of DIY projects from jewelry to floral arranging.  You can see them in my supply shop here www.jgdsupplies.com .

As Fall approaches I'll be wrapping up the outdoor projects and planning my annual trek out to the coast.  I plan to take a zillion photographs!  I need some new work to add to my website at http:j-gray.pixels.com .So be on the lookout for those toward the end of Sept.

So that's a wrap for now!  Thanks for following along.

Pond Project

I started this Pond Project at the end of Spring, but things take time and other things needed to be done.  This was mostly for fun!  

I relocated the small pond form that was a little further back in the foliage, with just enough open for me to see the birds.  It's really my forest version of a bird bath.  I get more warblers and ground scavenging birds this way.

I used to have a large, tall bird feeder in the clearing in the back, but have decided to let the ecosystem re-balance itself for a while and took it down.  There are plenty of berries and bugs for the birds to eat.  I'm still providing water and habitat to qualify for my Backyard Wildlife Habitat status.

I started with this rough layout.

Then moved the pond in place and added the plants.  I wanted some color back there so I added some colorful blooming plants for the hummingbirds and bees.

I'm still tweaking the rockery, I want to hide the pond rim completely in the end.  Next year the plants will fill in and I can divide and add more.

Another extremely affordable project, all I purchased was the plants and some dirt.  I had compost dirt and rocks are available everywhere here.

More photos when things change a bit.