Jaci Dawn

It was a beautiful day today. I just wanted to share that.

I’m always picking up stuff and putting it into my pocket. Agates, seed pods, acorns, whatever. Then I collect all those items in my craft room (the room that is presently non-existent) for use on some project, some day in the future.

Sometimes, found items grow dust on the tins on the ledge of the window over the kitchen sink until I get around to dropping them into the Found Items box. That is the case for these acorn caps (I suppose there’s an actual name for that part of the acorn that holds the seed): they are languishing on a tin in the window. That’s OK: they remind me that I will one day get around to making some sort of craft (most likely some sort of creature) utilizing the little caps.

I dreamed about getting out my oil pastels the other night. It was a strange dream: I couldn’t find my water color crayons and was getting frustrated, then I remembered that I keep them in a briefcase which is currently stored in a closet. I could see the little tin I keep the crayons in, and the palette of color quite vividly.

Then I woke up and went about my day until I had to get something out of a closet and there was the briefcase – and I remembered the dream with clarity. I don’t know if I was dreaming that I should get the briefcase out and load it into my truck (to paint during my lunch hour) or if I was just reminding myself that I have the paints and I will get to paint again.

The biggest problem with our current living situation is that I do not like to paint or create when other people are around. It is a solitary endeavor and one that cannot be pursued with little people underfoot. I’m not nearly patient enough and am rather possessive of my creations. Don’t color on my piece of paper, please. And thank you.

But being creative is part of who I am and I can’t keep it under an acorn cap too long. Pretty soon, it is going to have to bust out somewhere.

I am already redesigning my craft room for when the kids move back out.

Meanwhile, I will continue to pick up odds and ends on my walks and I will deposit them on the tins in my kitchen window. And I’ll haul the briefcase out to the truck with a bottle of water so I can start painting during my lunch hour again.

And I thought this post was going to be about acorns.

I am doing this ProjectFeeder Watch for Cornell University. Yesterday and today, I have been monitoring the birdfeeder and the area I can see from our kitchen window. It has been a productive weekend for birds and not all of them in the feeder. I’ve seen several flocks of different species in my neighbor’s yard and on her house: Cedar Waxwings, Northern Flickers, American robins, English house sparrows (Weaver Finch) and one Varied Thrush.

Our feeder hasn’t been nearly so busy: a few House finches, dark-eyed Juncos, a pair of Chickadees, and a small flock of Bushtits.

And the Pirate squirrel. Who brought a friend today.

The Pirate Squirrel is the one on the left. He lost his eye sometime last spring, but he still commutes to our feeder on a regular basis. Usually, he is alone.

He used to be fairly tame. The loss of his eye has made him skittish. I tried taking photos through the window to avoid upsetting him. Since he lost his eye, he’s kept his blind side to the feeder and his good eye exposed, but with his new partner, he was comfortable enough to have his blind eye on the house.

I decided to try getting closer, but this is as close as I got. The little Pirate Wench Squirrel is a very good lookout.

Don says we need to make a patch for the Pirate Squirrel.

Arrrrrr. Thar be seeds in this ‘ere tree, Matey…

Sometimes you feel like a nut.

He looked like he wanted to share his acorn with me.

This is my foot. (And your point? you ask)

It looks like a foot to you. No big deal. Not particularly interesting. A sad excuse for a “photo of the day” blog post.

But, you don’t see my foot the way I do. I can’t help myself. When I was a little girl, I had a lot of time on my hands and a whole lot more imagination than any one small child should be left alone with. I never saw my feet as just feet.

I saw my feet as something else, entirely.

My foot was actually a stubby pony.

And my imagination didn’t need a “cloning” tool or a “paint” program. I just “saw” the ears, eyes, mouth, and stubby little legs in my mind’s eye.

But I have to admit that PhotoShop certainly helped me show you what a foot can become.

And now that I have digressed and bored you to tears (or made you laugh so hard, you cried), you may return to your regular programming.

Me? I have a pair of pedi-ponies to pamper.

It has been a very active weekend and I’ve slipped behind on my photo-per-day goal (and we won’t talk about how many words I have not written for my NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words by November 30th). I almost do not know where to start.

I suppose the theme for the weekend is “how is it going with having an extra family live with us”? The answer is “interesting”.

Noisy. Crowded. I love having someone else around who can cook. A tad bit stressful. Harder on my husband than on me.

The dog is doing very well with the babies. Sometimes he is a tad bit obnoxious because he wants to smell the diapers, lick the dirty faces, and steal crackers (or socks or blocks or stuffed animals or pacifiers or balls… especially balls), but over all, he has not attempted to jump up on, bowl over, nip at or otherwise intentionally intimidate the wee human beings (or the big ones) who have invaded his world.

The toddler is doing pretty well with the changes, too. He is fascinated by the dog, but cautious enough to be healthy. He doesn’t understand that he should never run from a dog, but the dog hasn’t given chase. He hasn’t attempted to poke eyes or pull a tail.

The baby is just passive.

We eat on different schedules, but that is a minor point.

The kids have been careful to give us our space and we’ve tried to give them their space. So I’d say that two weeks into this, we’re doing OK.

Yesterday I did not get any time at all to myself. Don & I attended the annual dinner honoring the volunteers who clear trail for the National Forest Service (Clackamas River Ranger District). I’ve mentioned them here before: Trail Advocates. These men & women keep the hiking trails of the Clackamas River Ranger District open, especially the popular Clackamas River Trail, and they do it on their own time.

I just tag along as a supporting spouse, and I brought the huckleberry cobbler & sourdough rolls.

Of course, I had to fit in all those weekend chores like grocery shopping, mopping & cleaning, and getting caught up on our laundry. I’m happy to say I’ve checked those items off of my list now.

Today, I am hiding out in my bedroom and working on computer-type stuff, like my blog. I have to file a report for a little project I signed up to do called Project FeederWatch. Basically, I birdwatch for two days every five days and record the highest number of specific types of birds in my yard/feeder at one time. It doesn’t have to be every five days – I can go further out than that, but it does have to be two consecutive days. This weekend was the very first weekend open for this year’s project (which began in the 1970’s). I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

I want to work on my NaNoWriMo novel.

But before I start writing, I wanted to leave you with a little bit of comic relief.

The End.