Thursday, December 26, 2013

Christmas 2013


Gifts under the tree.

Kitty in her new bed from Rusty.

Rusty makes brunch.

Rusty & Jordan with gifts.

Rusty in a new shirt from Jordan.

Steve with books from Jordan.

Steve in clothes from Rusty & Jordan.
 
Quiche on the table.

Kitty inspects the aftermath.

Christmas morning was foggy & not very cold.  Wonderful gifts were exchanged between Jordan, Rusty & Steve, including some excellent clothes.  Susie got a combined scratching post & elevated bed.  Jetta slept through the morning.  Rusty made quiche for brunch.  We had a very fun time.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Snow






We woke to about an inch of snow on Friday, December 20: the eve of winter solstice.  By that time, the temperature was above freezing & it was raining lightly.  The snow slowly vanished during the day.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Kitty



This is Kitty.  She is 3 years old.  We got her from MEOW Cat Rescue in Kirkland on December 8.  We were told her name was Susie Q.  But she only responds to Kitty.  She has Inflammatory Bowel Disease which causes her to vomit from time to time.  We hope this will happen less often as she becomes more comfortable in our home.  She takes an antacid & an antiemetic medication in pill form.  The shelter staff assured us that she hadn't vomited during the 6 months she was there, although she had been given up for adoption for that reason.  The vomiting doesn't bother us so much as the fear that she won't get adequate nutrition.  She is also on a special diet of high quality cat food.  She is very sweet & docile.  She talks a lot.  She loves to be petted.  She is a very pretty cat.  She gets along well enough with Jetta the dog, although Jetta seems to be a little jealous of the attention Susie gets.  There has been no hissing or growling.  But Kitty keeps out of Jetta's way mostly.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Construction of the Ell Alley Garden

Compost has begun to be spread on the native clay soil in early November 2013.

The first pile of compost.


The finished garden in late November 2013.

This stonework serves as a catch basin for rainwater.

The story of the Ell Alley Garden starts at the offices of the SHA, in a part of town called both Uptown & Lower Queen Anne. Jordan met with the project manager on June 1, 2013 to discuss the guidelines for landscaping at Rainier Vista. Screening was strictly prohibited. Shrubs over 4 feet were allowed only against the walls of buildings. It was impossible to place tall shrubs against the walls of our particular townhome, because the utilities meters (gas & electricity) as well as cable boxes for internet & television for every unit in our building, took up the only blank wall. There was space for planting taller shrubs on 2 walls of the garage. Plants cannot exceed 3 feet in the front yard, or 4 feet in the back yard. After some consideration by the project lead & one revision of our landscape plan, we were allowed 4 trees spaced 12 feet apart.

10 cubic yards of Cedar Grove compost was delivered on Monday, 11/4. It didn't rain that day & rained very little on 11/5 & 6. Jordan spread most of the compost during that time. It rained fairly heavily on 11/7. It didn't rain on 11/8 & another 5 cubic yards of compost was delivered. That was spread during the next few dry days. There was very little rain until 1/18.  Most of the planting & stone work was completed by then. Temperatures were mostly in the 40s & low 50s. Saturday, 11/23 was a beautifully sunny day. Rusty, Steve & Jordan went to NurseryTrees.com in Snohomish to buy 3 Acer circinatum & 1 Thuja plicata 'Excelsa'. Rusty & Jordan placed them in holes already dug. The trees were 7 feet tall with root balls 2 feet in diameter. On 11/25, Jordan bought bark & spread it on the paths. In the evening of 11/26, Rusty & Jordan placed pavers for the walk between the front door & the alley. By Thanksgiving Day on 11/27, the initial work on the garden was done.

Steve & Jordan had decided to make a garden of native plants in the area beside the house & garage. Rusty agreed with this decision, although he didn't seem to care all that much. We loved the native plants at our private campground & along the trails of the Mountain Loop Highway in the Cascade Mountains. The ecosystem of the Pacific Northwest Coast extends from northern California into the Alaskan pan-handle. Some plants were used that were not native to Washington, but to the region. Many came from the Cascadia Garden. Some of those had been moved from the Phantom Lake Garden at the home of Jordan's grandparents in Bellevue to the Cascadia Garden from 1961 to 64. That garden was a forest that existed largely in its natural state. We collected other plants from the private campground. Jordan found more at the Washington Native Plant Society plant sale.  We ordered even more from Go Natives!Nursery.

Our small Patio Garden was left open to plants from around the world. Jordan ordered quite a number of different bulbs, adding Ajuga reptans 'Black Scallop' & Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco' as ground cover. Hebe recurva, Hemerocallis 'Bela Lugosi, Hemerocallis 'Rootbeer' & Luzula sylvatica 'Aurea' was moved from the Cascadia Garden. Alchemilla mollis 'Select', Campanula 'Birch Hybrid', Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Ellwood's Column', Daboecia cantabrica 'Atropurpurea', 3 more types of Hebe (H. ochracea 'James Stirling', H. pinguifolia 'Pagei' & H. 'Red Edge') & Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal' were purchased. The patio garden includes a wall of cement blocks, in 2 tiers, down to the parking pad. Arctostaphylos uva-ursi 'Massachusetts', Juniperus conferta & Rosmarinus officinalis 'Prostratus' were placed to trail down from the upper tier.

The area in front of our unit was landscaped by the builder with a wide swath of Sarcococca hookerana var. humilis & Juniperus conferta, along with a single Hydrangea quercifolia. This garden is shaded by a large ash tree (Fraxinus sp.) of undetermined species. Digitalis purpurea (Common Foxglove) Dryopteris erythrosora (Autumn Fern) hellebores (H. foetidus, H. x hybridus & H. 'Ivory Prince') & Lamium maculatum 'Beacon Silver' were added to the Ash Tree Garden.