Tuesday, June 3, 2008

The day before the final primary

What to do with myself the day before the final presidential primary and possible victory/concession speeches?

Marvel at the one perfect Tiger Lily that bloomed in my back yard?

This was a potted plant that I shoved in the ground after it looked dead last winter.

OK, that took a few minutes.



Contemplate the terrible beauty of this Desert Bird-of-Paradise in my front yard?

Fast growing, beautiful bush, but the seeds and seed pods are poisonous. Like much of life, I suppose.



Well, that used up another few minutes ...




Check on my baby hummingbirds?

Yup, they are both still there. Each head is about the size of a garbanzo bean. They should be flying away soon.

It's hard to get a good picture of them for reasons I explained in my Mom's Day post.

I could spend many moments observing, but the mother hummer buzzes me off, she doesn't like to feed them if I'm too close, so I leave.




Wonder why my 14-year old dog is too arthritic to walk much anymore?


Maybe she spent too many years sleeping all twisted up like this!!!!! hmmmm ....



Oh, I know! I will play "Desperado" and go out "riding fences" for the afternoon! Yes, this is a project I feel bad about putting off any longer, so today is the day! My 80-yr old Dad has a piece of property up in the pinyon pines that needs some fence repair. He's always done this sort of thing himself, but I can tell he doesn't really feel up to it right now. I guess he's been a Desperado long enough.


The property is in a funky kitchy mountainy neighborhood that Dad purchased about 20-yrs ago. He and my mom had planned to build a small cabin for summer vacations there. But the years passed and the cabin never got built, then my mom died, so the piece of property still sits undeveloped.

This winter, neighborhood road crews attempted to bring the neighborhood into compliance by regrading roads, cutting down trees in the road right-of-ways, and installing new high pressure water meters as a fire aid. It's in a high fire danger area.

In the process of all this roadwork, much of my Dad's old wooden fence was destroyed. Apparently the neighbors were starting to complain. So .... DK and EK to the rescue! Now, we know nothing about fencing, but we managed to roll up & remove the unsalvageable parts, shore up the teetering old wooden posts, and even repair a driveway gate.















Afterward, the required victory dance! All Done, Hooo-Haaah!
Check out the Cicada husks we found on some of the fence posts.
Click up any of these images to enlarge.




Well, it was a pretty good way to eat up the day before the final presidential primary. Plus it helped out my Dad. I am really on pins-and-needles about tomorrow. Montana and South Dakota will wind up what has been a long and sometimes silly, sometimes brutal, primary "season". Now we need to get beyond flag pins and pastors and concentrate on the serious work ahead of us. We have an illegal immoral war to bring to a close, a country in desparate need of social & civil reform, and a planet that is threatening to destruct. Time to stop carping at each other and work together before time runs out!

13 comments:

Cartledge said...

Now that was an interesting diversion and tour. Thank you.

D.K. Raed said...

Hey Cart, I was just online editing! Putting up this many photos always causes me layout problems. Hope it looks better now. Actually, it was a pretty fun day & the sweaty manual labor was a welcome diversion.

DivaJood said...

DK, I love the desert bird of paradise. Gorgeous.

Been juggling time between Beanie and working, here in Chicago. She's hilarious.

Billie Greenwood said...

Hi D.K.! I enjoyed your post. I see Hillary is planning an announcement tonight. Now: what should I do to pass the time until it is official?

D.K. Raed said...

Diva:
The Desert BofP is an odd plant. It grows well here (which is an accomplishment in & of itself), but is so poisonous, I was afraid to put it in the backyard because of our dogs. It doesn't even resemble the Tropical BofP I was used to seeing in So-Calif. Beanie is hilarious, her mispronunciations always crack me up!

B.E.: Welcome! glad you left a comment. I bet you could pass the time in your garden. Or maybe you have some fences in need of repair? But watching the news just now, I'm having doubts about that announcement happening tonight. Can't come soon enough for me & I can't lie, I'm very concerned about the party divisiveness.

jmsjoin said...

Hey Red
Beautiful pictures. There is life there! I spent numerous hours fencing in pasture fields and woods. Glad to see you got it done. is that you doing that victory dance? Pretty cool!
Anyway Just thought I'd tell you the latest is you need it! things are happening fast now! I just heard Feinstein say Hillary should now step down and be given the VP.
Hillary just told New York lawmakers she would accept a Veep.
Thirdly Jimmy Carter just said he would endorse Obama tonight.
I hope this is a historic night in Minnesota right where Republicans will have their convention!

I use to see a nightmare at the DNC because of Ickes making Limbaugh's dream come true but not any more.
I just see a lot of nightmares with Billary as Veep! We'll be okay!

eProf2 said...

First cars, new gardens, clean-up details, just about anything to stop listening to the chattering class and get down to the business of ousting BushCo. As to getting new policies and directions, I'm not so sanquin about it at all. Remember the cliche, Be careful what you wish for? I'm hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, unfortunately.

enigma4ever said...

Great Post DK..so cool to see the Fence Project and the goodies from your homestead....esp the birdies...And we do need to get down to work and soon..can't wait....

It's down to 12...He will hit the Number Tonight...

D.K. Raed said...

Avg Pat:
That is me at my sweatiest dustiest best! Next time we go out, we'll bring some posthole concrete to shore up those sagging posts. The fence is necessary due to people who think they can come dump their crap on any vacant lot. We found a garage door opener & old rabbit hutch laying there this time. Hopefully, the gate we repaired will stop that.

EProf:
Hope is good. I endorse it! I cannot stomach the thought of McBush!

Enigma:
The fence project was kinda fun & a good diversion. I need to get a good hummingbird pic before the babies fly away, but I am glued to the TV right now.

DivaJood said...

DK, so I wonder if those weird BoPs would grow in a container in Los Angeles? So unlike what we've got in our condo garden, which are the tropical kind.

D.K. Raed said...

Diva, I wouldn't recommend them if you've got small children or pets. The seeds & seed pods are bad news. I've got mine on a terraced hillside, far above street level. They seem to thrive in this heat, but are dead sticks in our cold winter. I bet they are more evergreen down in Phoenix or Palm Springs.

eProf2 said...

DK, no doubt hope is good. I'm a glass half-full kind of guy. Head in the air (afterall, I am an Aires) with my feet planted more or less on the ground. I'm really ready to see BushCo and McBush disappear into the history books. So, now we can see more of what Barak Obama's vision is for the US and the world and how he can "persuade" the Congress and other decision makers to buy into his policies. I would hope the US can get out of Iraq really soon; pass a national single payer health plan; propose eco policies to push back global warming; cut the deficit; strengthen the housing market so future generations can buy homes; and, my list goes on and on. Yes we can, but will we? Stalemate in American politics isn't going to disappear any time soon, unfortunately. Those are my feet talking!

D.K. Raed said...

EProf:
No doubt we will all learn more, but most of the info has always been available on his website & in his books. As far as I'm concerned, if Germany & Switzerland could change to single-payer health plans around the same time as Hillary was coming up with HMOs for everyone in the 90's, then we can do the same now. Oh sure, doctors & insurance co's & big pharma do not make as much money those countries, but there are compensating factors. And NO ONE has to declare bankruptcy due to medical expenses.

hmmmm, I've heard of voting with your feet, but not talking!