Teeny, Tiny House: Gardening

I have mentioned ad nauseam on here before that one of my favorite things about living out in the country is the wildlife. Specifically, I love the deer! I love watching them and especially right now, I love watching all the leggy, knock-kneed babies wandering around. As I am want to do, I find myself getting overly-emotionally invested in them and grieve when I find they have been killed by careless drivers.  

Hubby and I have a different approach to wildlife than most. Our philosophy is: they lived here first. We do everything we can to ensure they have access, nourishment and safety. We don't view the wild animals on our property as nuisances to be removed but rather original inhabitants. In an effort to create a deer Utopia, we even went so far as to plant white clover in a small section of the yard this year because we knew the deer would like it. 

Sometimes, however, the desire to give nature precedence conflicts with being a homeowner. For example, I have been wanting to garden outside the confines of our gate, but found it overwhelmingly impossible because the deer - literally - eat everything. After a lengthy trip to our local garden center, I now have a list of deer "resistant" plants that they hopefully won't be interested in.

Before

After

After

Hubby built me that amazing shelf on top of the fence for my herbs (left to right: rosemary, thyme, chives, purple basil, garlic chives and regular basil). You might be wondering why? We have .25 acres that is fenced in, there must be someplace to plant? Yes, yes there is. But...

Enter, Little Miss Sweet Face, who also eats everything she can get her mouth on. She was actually eating the herbs straight out of the cartons as I was potting them. I have also been attempting to grow strawberries in that wine barrel but every time there is even an inkling of a new berry, she eats it. *sigh* She's real lucky she's cute!

Teeny, Tiny House: Gardening

I don't know if I will ever get used to gardening in Oregon. Every year I watch winter roll in and my plants slowly "die" or go dormant and I swear to myself, "this is it, this is the year that they don't come back" and every spring they come back bigger and more beautiful than the year before.

I thought, for sure, that this Clematis was a goner but I was wrong. 

Dogs vs. Wild Part II

Back in September of 2014 I posted about all the wildlife our dogs have been introduced to since moving to Oregon. This includes: squirrels, deer, moles and opossums (2 of these have been in Lily's mouth -- you guess which ones?) All of these animals live on our property in one way or another and our newest tenant to move in is: a rabbit! She is very sweet, is out exploring quite a bit and will stay out as long as the dogs don't bark at her.

Spring has Sprung

Spring is officially upon us here in Oregon and we have been graced with both soggy, rainy days and days of brilliant sunshine. On those days of sunshine, we spend them outdoors either relaxing or gardening & landscaping. There is so much work to be done on our property it is almost daunting but pretty flowers make it worth the effort.

One of my rose bushes went crazy beautiful!

Churro is certainly an Arizona dog, she loves the sunshine!

One of the few times Trudy is sweater-free.

Lily isn't much for playing, just relaxing when it is warm.

The deer have returned with their babies, my favorite time of year!

Daffodils are Confused

It isn't Spring yet, but try telling that to my daffodils.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

A couple weeks back Hubs and I took a few hours out of our weekend to spend it outdoors. We have heard good things the past few years about the tulip festival in Woodburn, so we checked it out. The Wooden Shoe farm takes up 40 acres of land and each year they arrange the bulbs differently. I was most impressed with the Queen of the Night tulip as it is such a dark purple color it almost looks black. Spring time in Oregon is simply the best!

Spring Arrived Early this Year

The weather in OR has been unseasonably warm. We are expecting cooler temperatures and rain in the middle of the week but overall we have been hovering in the upper 60s. The daffodils and tulips are out a month early, the trees are budding and the deer are back! We have had more deer than ever before. This particular morning (pic below) there were 8 of them wandering through our yard!

Happy New Year!!

2014 Phillips Family Year in Review

I thought it would be fun to take a look back at the things we wanted to accomplish this past year and see if any of them actually happened:

Hopes for 2014!

1.  Go on another dig (Yes -- here)

2.  Go to a convention or two -- Nope

3.  Travel and see new places (Yes -- here)

4.  Finish my Hepcat model (Yes -- here)

5.  Get the Spruce Goose to fly (we tried -- here)

6.  Have a wood insert installed in the fireplace (Yes -- here)

7.  Entertain more and have more visitors over to the house (Yes)
     We did this! We had Mitch and Joy, Dan and Amy, Matt's friend Brett and my friend Marlane over

8.  Work on the yard and plant a garden -- Nope

9.  Reach my goal weight (only a few more pounds...) (Yes)
     Did it! But put those few pounds back on during the holidays. Still a success!
10.  Find a church that we really like -- Nope

11.  Have a healthy and happy little furry family in our teeny tiny little house! :-) (Yes)
       Trudy was only broken once this year and the other animals did very well, so I consider this a victory!
12.  Due to popular request: Visit the Hudsons in CA!! (Yes -- here)

Things We Did but Didn't Plan On

1.  Saved and returned a dog to its home

2.  Went sledding for the first time

3.  Did lots of crafting and DIY stuff

4.  Almost died from mold and found out I am missing a sinus

5.  Became Vice President of a non-profit organization

6.  Lots of home improvements

7.  Threw Mitch an 80th birthday party

8.  Saw an F-22 Raptor fly!

9.  Went to an Arizona Football game (BEAR DOWN!)

10.  Matt ran a marathon! (He planned on it, but didn't include it in our "hopes" above)

11.  Got a full time job and became a teacher @ my favorite museum!

12.  My sister came to visit me!!!

Hopes for 2015!

1. Go to a convention or two

2. Work on the yard and plant a garden

3. Find a church we really like

4. Watch less television

5. Give back to our local police department

6. Run a 5K (K) and run another marathon (M)

7. Reach my goal weight -- again

8. Buy a new car

9. Get a new area rug for the living room

10. Pay off my credit card (almost there....)

11. Continue doing home improvements

12. Continue to have a healthy and happy little furry family in our teen, tiny little cabin!

May 2015 be as restful as Trudy sleeping with a pegasus!

Mulder and Scully Garden Gnomes

My sister surprised me during our California vacation with an additional belated present for my birthday. Mulder and Scully gnomes for my garden!!!!  She purchased the plain, white gnomes off of the internet and hand-painted them to look just like my favorite FBI agents. Her attention to detail is unbelievable, she even got their eye color correct! My sis is seriously talented and I think she should open an Etsy store right now! Next on her list: Daenerys Targaryen and her 3 dragons

I don't have the desire to put Mulder and Scully outside yet, so I am proudly displaying them on our mantle so I can enjoy them.

I Want to Believe

The Truth is Out There

Roses in Spring Time

The previous owner of our home loved roses. I think we have about 12-15 different types around the yard. I seem to have every color possible, although not all of them have bloomed yet. The climbing roses seem to be doing the best. I spent extra time this season cutting them away from the fence and pruning off the dead branches. They have all really done impressively well so far!

It is (finally) Spring Time in Oregon

It felt like it took forever for spring to get here, but for the most part the cold temperatures are behind us! Last year I noticed a vine on our chain link fence and it had one single bloom on it. My friend Marlane told me it was Clematis and not pull it out. Well it came back with a vengeance this year and it is so beautiful I want to plant it everywhere!

Keep an eye out for pictures of my roses and lilies!

Lilies

I planted a single lily this time last year and it died relatively soon after. So, I plucked the lily out and allowed the pot to stay vacant for an entire year. In March a tiny green stalk appeared. Hubby and I referred to it as our "mystery plant" since we weren't certain what had decided to take root there. It wasn't until it actually bloomed that we confirmed it was lilies once again.

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing all of you beautiful Moms out there a very happy, belated Mother's Day!

A Mother's Day gift from my girls

My very first flower basket!

Spring is Almost Here

Daffodils are the first sign of spring in Oregon. It was warm a few days ago (in the 60s) and some of the trees have already begun to sprout new buds...bet they weren't expecting the cold temperatures yet to come.

Ah, spring, you can't get here fast enough!

Desert Tortoise Surprise!!!!

Since my sister and I were young, our family has had desert tortoises. Our first one was Jadzia, she was awesome and had such an amazing personality. Next, we got Cowboy (who was seriously the coolest tortoise ever!), Ahab and Starbuck. Ahab and Starbuck were a surprise because the guy who gave us Cowboy hid them underneath him. Than we got Big Mama. Big Mama was a friend's elderly tortoise who needed a new home. After that our family became known as the "turtle people" and every time someone found a tortoise, they brought them to us. We "adopted" Norman, Harlow and Sabino after that. 

For the past 15+ years, my parents have nurtured and fed desert tortoises and as is what happens in nature, we lost most of them. Jadzia was killed by a bird, Cowboy died during hibernation, Ahab escaped from the yard and died of dehydration, Harlow flipped over on her back and suffocated, and we still don't know what happened to Norman and Sabino but they died too. That just left Starbuck and Big Mama. Until yesterday...

Surprise!!!!!!!! It appears that after all these years, Big Mama and Starbuck have created their own offspring. Dad found the one above and than...

he found another...

and than he found two more!!!

Dad built a temporary barrier (above) to keep the babies together and in the next couple of days will be building a "crib" for them. The "crib" will be a separate enclosure inside the yard that will keep the babies safe from the adults and have a mesh top on it to keep the critters out.

My parents are hilarious! They thought they were almost done with tortoise-raising. Now they have to start all over again. We are taking suggestions on names!