Saturday Morning Musings

It's the season for sunflowers again. We never plant any, and we never know exactly what will come up or where. The seeds came from the bird feeders and were all planted by the birds. These are four giant plants surrounding our olive tree which is supposed to be ornamental but is covered with tiny olives. We have been watching with interest as the sunflower plants grow taller than the tree. Even on the smaller 'normal' sized plants, the birds seem to prefer the leaves to the flowers....

After a somewhat leisurely cup of coffee and a scan of the newspaper (all I can stand to do these days) I livened up the morning by dropping one of my diamond earrings down the drain in the bathroom sink. John managed to remove the trap and get it out without the usual do-it-yourself plumbing drama. I was grateful to have it back because I love them, and he was grateful to get it out because he paid for them....

The grinding and beeping continued unabated today. Well, that's not exactly true. Everything comes to a halt quite often while consultations with much arm waving and pointing take place. We have given up trying to figure out what they are doing, even after an explanation from Bart, but we can't help but think that the contractor is figuring it out as he goes along....

Anybody who thinks moving to the country will result in peaceful quiet would be wrong, even if it didn't turn out to be ground zero for a wildfire. Fortunately, the evening sounds, punctuated only occasionally by barking dogs, or a rescue helicopter flying over the state park are mostly more peaceful. Lately we have heard the strangely haunting sound of an owl and the wonderfully inventive and incredibly loud refrain of a mockingbird which doesn't let a little thing like darkness stop it. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out if it repeats the same medley of birdsongs (and the occasional sound that I can only liken to the warning signal on our toaster) or if each round is different. It's very fascinating,  and quite charming except, perhaps, at 4am!

We were visited by Jake peering into the front door. He's very quiet but he did leave his calling cards on our front porch. He's not the least bit afraid of Spike who knows he's there but keeps his distance, but he did wander off when we opened the door.

Many vineyards are harvested at night which is good for the grapes but not great for anybody who lives nearby. Kathy, who lives out in the country tells us that they often use equipment with mandatory backup beepers. Fortunately we are far enough from the major vineyards in the Sonoma Valley that we don't hear the night time activities or see the floodlights that are used. We looked at a house that was next to a winery  and our realtor warned us not to even think about living there....