ducks in a row

Posted on September 29, 2019 by paridevita

Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here this evening to tell you partly that the guy I live with has not lost his mind trying to create posts in the “classic editor” instead of the new way, which he detests, and also to talk about some more interesting things.  You may remember me from such posts as “Colchicum Time”, among so many, many others.

Here I am in a characteristic pose. The Abies lasiocarpa ‘Compacta’, or whatever its name was, that you used to see in pictures all the time, died and was cut down.
So now the view is like this:The guy I live with really liked the little conifer, which was about twelve feet tall, but the garden became too dry for it. So that was that. You can see the stump right at the bottom of this picture.
And you can also see the new roof. The guy I live with got all teary-eyed when he saw the new roof finally in, with new vents and stuff. He feels very strongly that this is his wife’s house, as I’m sure I’ve said before. It’s my house, too. The guy I live with felt pretty bad about the fir, which is what an abies is, but there wasn’t much to be done about it. It started dying a couple of years ago.
The garden is really, really dry. Lots of plants have died this year. Plants that have been here for a very long time. Especially ones in the troughs. So there have been a lot of changes here, this year. But some things stay the same. Like the view of the studio window downstairs. The windows are very dirty but the guy I live with’s wife wanted them that way because of the light, for her drawing.And what he calls the “Wardian case” out on the patio table. That stays the same. There isn’t much of anything in it besides some feathers and snake bones. Yes, I know, but he thought it would be cool. We found those on one of our walks.

The guy I live with and his friend went to the bulb and plant sale at the botanic gardens last Friday. He bought a bunch of stuff, but almost all of it was for her.
They didn’t wander around the gardens much but here are two pictures of the steppe garden and Leonotis leonurus. I guess it used to grow here, as an annual. 

I don’t think these pictures are much in focus. The guy I live with should start using his regular camera more.
Which he does for the owl pictures, like this one. Still not in focus much.He thought this was the same owl as always, because of its left eye, but then found a picture of an owl taken seven years ago, and it obviously isn’t the same owl. That really is pretty much it for now. My walks have been good.I guess I’ll let you go with a picture of me, and ducks in a row. We’ll work on getting the pictures more in focus.  He does take the pictures while we’re walking, so there’s that. 

Until next time, then.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

48 Responses to ducks in a row

  1. barbk52 says:
    September 30, 2019 at 8:32 pm

    I looked up that fir and it says Rocky Mountain Fir. Is it native? It’s too bad. I remember seeing that in the pictures, before. Well it was so hot there too. That fir probably likes cool meadows or something. We all do. I had to get a WordPress account for my daughter’s blog and so it made me use it here.

    • paridevita says:
      September 30, 2019 at 8:57 pm

      Yes, subalpine fir. Maybe native to here, though I think this one came from Arizona. Ultimately, the guy I live with said, it came from ForestFarm. There were two, years ago, but one died. This one was over twenty-five years old, but started to suffer in the last few years.
      It’s been so, so hot. Today, though, was nice, and they’re talking about drizzle tonight. The guy I live with kind of sighed when he read about the drizzle, because it really doesn’t drizzle here. It used to.

  2. Nell Lancaster (z6b Va) says:
    October 1, 2019 at 10:54 pm

    Love the shot of you watching the lit-up ducks in a row. Hope it drizzles.

    Almost 90 today, above 90 tomorrow. Supposedly the cool, dry air arrives Friday; if so, it would be the latest ever for the annual breakthrough to fall here. (“Normally” that would happen in early to mid September.)

    • paridevita says:
      October 2, 2019 at 9:03 am

      Thanks. The picture could have been more in focus, though I think the guy I live with was worried about falling into the canal. It’s 43 here, at nine in the morning. It was gloomy all day long yesterday, and only drizzled a tiny bit. Nothing to help the garden, really. But the cool weather is very nice. Purebred border collie weather.

  3. readingcaliforniagarden says:
    October 2, 2019 at 12:37 pm

    Happy for you that your kind of weather, Mani, has arrived, and that your walks encompass the sight of ducks in a row. To my eyes, in this post containing photos of both, your and Denver Botanical gardens look the same. Further, my opinion: focus-shmocus. Although definitely a newer version owl. I like the last photo of you regarding ducks, very poetic. I do wonder how poetic you would appear, Mani, were you not on a leash at that lyrical moment.
    .

    • paridevita says:
      October 2, 2019 at 4:49 pm

      Thanks. I might go in the canal, though the water comes from the mountains and so is not very warm at all. The guy I live with says the lack of focus in the pictures is like a metaphor. I think we have too many metaphors around here. It was even chilly last night. I lay on the bed next to the guy I live with while he watched scary movies. There were a couple of times that he had to hide his eyes because he doesn’t like a lot of gory stuff. More the actual atmosphere, you know?

  4. BellaDharma'ss LadyMew says:
    October 2, 2019 at 4:32 pm

    Meow wow it iss still so *hot* an dry there Mani…here it iss barelee 50 degreess with a North Wind (bbbrrr!) an so much rain…if mee cuud ree-verse it mee wuud send you lotss of rain.
    LadyMew sayss shee iss sad ’bout THE Fir Tree too! Shee gets senty-mental when treess an plantss die.
    Shee did sumthin not-too-smart last week an shee iss STILL upss set ’bout it. Shee had put mee out inn Condo an saw a snail bye mee bigger condo. Shee went inn fore a momint an came out an furgot snail was there an ‘crunch’….honest to Sky Cat Mani shee bursted inn to teeerss an sat down an cried her heart out. Shee told mee shee has NEVURR killed a snail bee-fore an how paw full shee felt.
    Shee has furinallee calmed down. Sorta……
    Yore photoess are purrty guud! OWL lookss so BIG! An you sure DID get yore ‘duckss inn a row’!
    ***purrsss*** BellaDharma

  5. Mark E. Mazer says:
    October 3, 2019 at 11:46 am

    What kind of ducks? Colorado must have almost 20 different ones.

  6. ceci says:
    October 4, 2019 at 7:34 am

    Two distinguished owls, but definitely 2 different ones. The new roof looks good – the joys of home steward ship. The pictures of the garden, with dog, are always welcome. We have had .11 inches since mid August, here more or less on the east coast, and things are crispy (and not as well evolved to deal with it!). Perhaps next week, now that more fall temperatures seem to have arrived.

    ceci

    • paridevita says:
      October 4, 2019 at 1:20 pm

      Thanks. Personally, I happen to think that any picture with me is a zillion times more excellent than one without me. The guy I live with says we purebred border collies tend to be immodest, though I know he agrees with that statement. It’s so, so dry here. The guy I live with gets kind of choked up when he thinks about rain. And now that we have a new roof, and new gutters, it would be nice to test them out. Yes, two different owls. Not sure what’s with their eyes. Maybe they run into things, or watch a lot of pirate movies.

  7. tonytomeo says:
    October 5, 2019 at 6:01 pm

    How sad about the fir. For a while before I lost my home, I grew seedling of all of the North American firs and spruce, except for the Douglas fir. It grows wild here, and there were two huge specimens and a whole bunch of smaller ones in my garden. The subalpine fir could have been one of my favorites, although I think that white fir was really my favorite.

    • paridevita says:
      October 5, 2019 at 6:08 pm

      It was pretty sad. There is one Abies concolor here, a Jerry Morris selection. Dwarf one. Today the guy I live with moved the very unhappy dwarf Douglas-fir into a pot, in a place where it will get more winter shade. The whole side facing the sun was scorched, or something. Things change, I guess.

Comments are closed.