Tiny Spider

October is the month for spiders. They are around all the time, but particularly active in the garden this time of year. Many of us have our partners,  children and even grandchildren trained to scout out blips. John discovered this one as he was watering and even helpfully held a piece of brown felt behind the web to catch the sun and highlight it. The spider was still putting the finishing touches on her web but I didn't dare getting any closer for fear of losing my main character....

Gustavo came this morning, filled the hole where the lemon tree and streletzia were with dirt from the pile next door, and topped it off with a nice layer of gravel. It took him less than three hours to do something that would have taken us three months to do if it didn't kill us in the process! Now its ready for just the right rocks and one or two low growing plants

 In asking Paul if we could take dirt from their pile, He told John that Dorie, upon whose lot the large dirt and rock piles from the house on the cliff, is going to put the lot on the market...that is good news and bad news.  I would think it might be difficult to sell, but also, if it does, it means we'll be starting all over with the earth moving, dust and construction if somebody does buy it and builds on it. Somebody is making the most godawful noise sawing something over there right now. So much for our evening outdoor glass of wine....

The weather has been cool and foggy at night and comfortably warm but not hot in the daytime, a nice relief from the tension of worrying about high temps, low humidity, and strong winds which mean fire weather. The anniversary of the Tubbs/Nuns fires is this Sunday, October 8. An article in the paper showed pictures of the two hardest hit areas in Santa Rosa taken a few days after the fire and a recent one showing how much has been been rebuilt. It seems so long ago, but a lot has been accomplished in five years....