It Doesn't Get Any Better than this!

What a week.  Cleared-up on Monday afternoon and stayed sunny through Friday evening.  I worked in the garden six to eight hours each day.  Got lots done.  Most fun I've had in many, many months.  Hard to imagine anyplace more beautiful than Juneau on a clear spring day.

And to think that just a couple of weeks ago it was snowing...  Hah!

Mr. Lockhart finished felling the trees I hired him to remove.  It makes a HUGE difference in the amount of sun the garden receives.

I tidied-up all the existing flower beds and installed and got soil for my new raised beds.  Bought and planted a bunch of annuals and a few perennials.  I hardened-off the perennials I started from seed and they got poked in the ground too.

I love my house and my garden.

So, without further ado, a garden tour.

One of the trees down in the yard; removal will continue this weekend.

Bill did an outstanding job and managed to put all but this one tree down on the side of the hill by the highway.  Amazing.  I had nightmares about large trees falling on school buses...

I really like this new bed...got the iris from Auntie's yard...

I have deployed two deer abatement strategies.  Strategy #1:  the ol' garden stake obstacle course

 The Normandy Beach obstacle approach

And Strategy #2:  the bio-deterrent.  I am not particularly fond of marigolds; but deer are reputed to dislike them immensely.  In my new raised bed I planted the majority of the perennials I started from seed and surrounded the tender young plants with marigolds.

The stinky plant approach

I have also begun development of my rock garden.  This will take years; but could be quite attractive.

Gonna get lots of sun here now!

Got my planters about half planted

A truly beautiful evening

Time to relax and enjoy my handiwork...

Sadly we have returned to cloudy and drizzly skies for the weekend.  So...will devote myself to Mother's Day supper for the elders.  Will consult with said elders in a few minutes - halibut or prime rib?

Life is good kids!

Deer, Oh Dear

Welcome to Monday kids.  We are all excited here in Southeast Alaska.  Spring has been scheduled for this week.  It is clear to the west...I can see the Chilkat Mountains bathed in sunshine.  Still murky to the southeast; but we are supposed to be in full-blown sun by this afternoon and continuing most of the week.  Highs in the low 60's as the week goes on.  Whoo Hoo!

I am anxious to get outdoors.  Lots to do in auntie's garden, mom's garden and my garden.  I will start today by raking and fertilizing auntie's yard.  Will also lift, divide, and replant a large mass of bearded iris in her garden - keeping a share for myself and one of my new beds.  Will go get some peat moss and soil for my bed and get the iris tucked-in.  Then will fertilize my yard.

Mom's garden has many clumps of astilbe and yellow day lilies and tomorrow they will get the same treatment as auntie's iris.  I haven't divided them in four or five years and they need some attention.  Mom's yard is still pretty soggy, however.  Don't know if it will be ready for fertilizer this week or not...

I have some new neighbors - and they are going to be a serious problem.  A young doe and buck have been hanging-out the past week.  I have seen them most every day.  I can approach within five or six feet of the buck without disturbing him.  I find this very disturbing.  It's like they are just WAITING for me to plant some nice yummy stuff.  Clearly it will be necessary to take some deer evasive action although I do not yet know what that will be...

 

Is that the dinner bell?

Elmer's flowers - they're what's for dinner...

This morning I wandered downstairs for coffee, looked out the window, and was greeted by numerous tweety birds hunting and pecking in the yard.  They did not look like the juncos that have been hanging around of late. The binoculars revealed new residents - a mixed flock of Golden-crowned and Savannah Sparrows.

Savannah Sparrows are common here

First time I have ever seen a Golden-crowned Sparrow however

Sparrow peek-a-boo 

 In other news, I saw Amanda off to Portland this past week.  Sad to see her go; but completely understanding as to to her desire to be in the city.  She will be living with Leah until she gets a job and they can find a more commodious crib.  The job market is much improved in PDX.

My cousin Sandra was in town for a week.  Hosted her and the elders for supper on Saturday.  I think the meal was well received.

Well, time to hit the road gang.  Gonna be a gardening fool this week...

OOOPS...

Gee, looks like it's been a month since I last posted.  Now how did that happen?  I swear I wake-up every morning with the best of blogging intentions; and yet nothing gets blogged.  So sad...

So...where were we?  Third week of March...  Hmmmm...drawing a complete blank (which probably explains why I did not blog).  In fact much of April falls into the same category...  I DID go for a number of very pleasant walks with Amanda and a few more with Nikki the Dog or all by my lonesome.  There was not a whole lot going on bird-wise, however, and I have nothing to offer photographically speaking - so lets just set it aside.

No, wait!  One picture.  I inadvertently flushed a large flock of Mallards out Fish Creek one day.

Pissed-off Mallards

Much of April has been unseasonably chilly.  I have been chomping at the bit to get busy in the garden; but snow and cold temperatures ruled that out until very recently.  Last weekend was truly wonderful.  Clear skies and temps into the low 50's.  I put in three eight hour days and got much accomplished.

These ol' beds gotta go!

The first of many trips to Home Depot

New beds constructed

I raked the whole yard...took a full day.  I also salvaged a rhododendron and currant canes from the old planter boxes.  But before relocating them needed to buy, haul, and place stones for a couple of other flower beds.  I was very popular at Home Depot...
 

Lookin' pretty damn nice if I do say so myself...

By the end of the weekend I had made a momentous decision.  I MUST remove a few trees for more sun.  Picked-up the phone and called Bill Lockhart, a tree removal specialist I had previously employed at my house in the Valley.  Two days later...

The first of five to be felled...

Yesterday was very rainy and Bill did not return.  I woke-up this morning expecting that the rain had passed and...

...what the hell is this?!!!

We're under a winter storm warning until 1 PM.  Damn.

In other news, the family is doing as well as we're going to do.  Been baking quite a bit for the elders.  Today is likely to be a baking day as well...

Yesterday was an auntie day.  A medical appointment in the morning followed by a trip to the valley to get her snow tires removed.  I reluctantly agreed to allow her to drive her car.  She tends to get lost these days on any trip other than a direct shot to my mom's.

So....I told her I would follow her.  Didn't want her to try to follow me - wanted her full attention on the road.  I figured if she wandered off course I could always do an auntie round-up somewhere relatively traffic free.

The folly of my plan became evident as soon as she pulled onto Egan Drive.  She was off like a scalded cat.  There was a fair amount of traffic and she continued to put distance between us.  She lost her tail completely at the Vanderbilt light and was last seen making a very rapid advance towards the airport.

I motored out to the tire place without incident.  No auntie.

About twenty minutes later I called mom.  "Have you seen your sister?"

"Nope."

Ten minutes or so later auntie cruised into the parking lot at Les Schwab's.  She had got lost.

I did not bother to chastise her.  We motored over to mom's for oatmeal.

Later gang!

Cyprus?....

I am a confessed Europhile.  I spend a disproportionate amount of online media time checking-up on the Old World.  I don't know why.  But at least it's a harmless hobby.

By and large I resist the temptation to bore my blog readers with my musings regarding the current state of European affairs.  Still, there are times when one simply cannot resist.

Cyprus.  A small island in the eastern Mediterranean.  Sadly, the island is currently partitioned between the Greek speaking south and the Turkish north. But that is another story...

The current news regards the Greek speaking bit of the island which amazingly enough is a sovereign member state of the European Union and also a member of the currency union. The currency of Cyprus, the Euro, is the same as the currency of Germany, France, Italy, Spain and twelve other European nation states.

Cyprus is currently experiencing technical difficulties due to a huge faltering banking sector.  It turns out that the bankers in Cyprus have proved themselves to be just as incompetent, crooked and greedy as bankers on Wall Street and elsewhere in the West.  Cypriot banks have been tippling heavily on Greek sovereign debt - and the recent European Union settlement with Greece included a big haircut (loss) on Greek bonds held by the Cypriot banks.

More interestingly, about 40% of the deposits in Cypriot banks are owned by foreigners.  Lots and lots of Russians - klepto capitalists and pals of President Putin - have taken advantage of the less than stringent Cypriot banking regulations to stash the cash they trousered from various endeavors in Russia.  Most economists seem to assume that a majority of these Russian deposits represent money looted from Russian business if not from the Russian government itself.

For a couple of days it sounded like the Russian government might offer the Cypriots a loan.  Of course.  Use Russian government loans to help keep the billions in loot held by Russians in Cyprus from disappearing in a Cypriot bank collapse.  It was a natural - but oddly enough it didn't happen.

As of this evening Cypriot government officials are in Brussels for urgent meetings to avoid a collapse of the Cypriot banking system which will likely occur the moment the banks open on Tuesday morning without support from the European Central Bank.

And if the financial system collapses in Cyprus what will happen?  Well, errr, gee, hmmmm - seems nobody knows.  Maybe nothing.  Or maybe the contagion will immediately spread to Italy and Spain.  And then....

My guess is that the Cypriot drama will end with a whimper one way or another.  On the other hand, World War I began in the obscure middle-European city of Sarajevo.  The current crop of European statesmen from countries both big and small do not inspire confidence.

In other news, a fairly busy and quite enjoyable week.  Hosting supper on Tuesday for Amanda, Kira and Enrique was quite fun.

On Saturday night, I joined Laura, Alison, and Doug for supper at the Island Pub.  Afterward we went to Perseverance Theater to see 'Seminar' - very enjoyable and starring my house guest Mr. Bravo.  Enrique has got some talent.  Here's the review from the Juneau Empire.

Tonight I hosted mom and auntie for a halibut supper.  They were in good spirits and seemed to enjoy themselves.

And the cold spell broke today!

UPDATE:  Hit the "publish" button and five minutes later the latest BBC news.  Sounds like Cyprus has been granted a stay of execution.  But stay tuned...the European drama WILL continue!

Cirque de CPAC

I wish I could take credit for the title of this blog entry; but I cannot.  I saw it on TV somewhere in the past couple of days although I do not remember where...

Still, unknown origins notwithstanding, it captures pretty well the festivities at the premier gathering of people who like to call themselves conservatives in this most peculiar era.  That whirring sound you hear I strongly suspect is Bill Buckley, Barry Goldwater and many others who considered themselves conservatives in a more traditional sense of the word spinning in their graves at very high speed.

I confess I am an assiduous reader and observer of all things CPAC for the simple reason that it is one-stop-shopping to get a finger on the pulse of the right-wing.  And this year's shindig did not disappoint.  I will not bore you with my blow-by-blow take on the event...but will content myself with a link to one of the more amusing summaries I have read - from The Daily Kos. 

And for those of you who have been wondering what happened to our former Governor Ms. Palin, a link to a You Tube video of her speech at the convention.  The crowd went wild.

Meanwhile, here on my little plot of planet Earth, life continues pretty much as usual.  No black helicopters.  No UN troops.  No Sharia law.  Just a disturbing cold spell that is predicted to include six inches of snow in the next day or so.  BOOOOOOO!   WE WANT SPRING!  WE WANT SPRING!

Tomorrow evening I will be hosting Manda, her friend Kira, and Enrique for supper.  I have already completed the Key Lime Pie.  And the Carrot Dill Soup is gently simmering as I type.  After soup I am thinking a berry salad with chevre dressing for a course.  And the main course will feature scallops in maple cream, filets of boef, parsleyed rice, and asparagus with some sort of vinegrette.  Followed, of course, by the aforementioned Key Lime Pie.

I am in a good mood.

Sixty Years Young

A splendid evening.  Alison's 60th birthday party.  Many good friends and some mighty tasty victuals.

 

Happy Birthday Alison!

Alison's husband, Doug, produced a 30 minute video tribute to Ms. Elgee.  It was a combination of video testimonials from significant persons in Alison's life and many still photos of her life to date.  I must say, it brought a tear to my eye...despite the fact that many of the persons making the tributes were politicians.  The video lasted approximately 30 minutes and I think it is safe to say that all present enjoyed every moment.  Well done Dougie!  Extraordinarily well done, in fact.

I first met Ms. Elgee when we were colleagues at the Division of Legislative Finance  - the legislature's budget shop.  Two of my best-loved friends from that time are Mr. Barker and Ms. Brown.  They were both present this evening.  They really enjoyed looking at the ol' Legislative Finance - Ho Ho File.

Ohhhh....Ain't that cute they say after looking at page 1...

Who else has a copy of this they say after looking at page 10

 Hah! 

It was a really fun party.

Barbara, Mi'va and Chris

John, Marla and Christine

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALISON!

In other news, the week long sunshine spell came to an end yesterday.  But I got my fill of outdoor activities with two of my best pals.

Amanda, Nikki and I did lots of hoofin'

Cards tomorrow at Stu's crib.  Life is good.

I Knew it was Going to Happen; But I'm Pissed-Off Anyway

A beautiful day...and more to come...through Thursday...  Wow!

Today was quite busy.  The usual elder check-in.  Mom doing what she does.  And took some pastries up to Auntie who I had not seen in ten days or so...

Auntie's daughter was in town for a week...my cousin got the house squared-away pretty well.  Sadly, my cousin was not successful in convincing auntie to get a housekeeper and, when I asked auntie today if I could help, the answer was not positive.  I just don't get it.

After visiting auntie, I had a workout.  And after the workout a message from daughter Amanda suggesting a walk.  Bravo!  We did the dike trail under glorious sunshine and yakked it up the whole time.  Doesn't get much better than that as far as I'm concerned...

Amanda on the dike trail

I took Amanda home and then went to a fundraiser for our Democratic U.S. Senator who will be up for re-election next year.  I'm sure it will be a tough race although his opponent it not yet obvious.  Could be our current featherweight Governor (see below).

After the fundraiser it was on to the annual Democratic dinner at Centennial Hall where I was the guest of Ralph and Julia Kibby.  I found it very inspiring...because I got to give my annual hug to Katie Hurley...the Secretary of the Alaska Constitutional Convention and piano player at my parents' wedding.  Katie was one of the speakers at tonight's supper - and sadly it was clear she's fading a bit; but her smile and warmth are undiminished.  In her brief speech she mentioned Alma Olson as one of her mentors - a teacher she had in school here in Juneau in the 1920's.  Miss Olson was a dear friend of my Grandma Newman, a regular at the holiday dinner table, and I remember her quite well.  Brought a tear to my eye.

Sadly, current political affairs in Alaska are not so swell.

Our featherweight Governor made it official.  No Medicaid expansion for Alaska.  He was at the National Governor's Association last week and he concluded the federal government was so dysfunctional that he could not count on them to deliver the promised federal swag.

Huh?  That's your entire rationale for giving up hundreds of millions of federal dollars.  That's it?  The very best you can do? 

To my knowledge there has not been one credible shred of analysis provided by Governor Parnell suggesting either that Medicaid expansion is a good idea or a bad idea for Alaska.  Does any such analysis exist?  One would think so...  I know there are competent analysts in the Department of Health and Social Services.  One would presume the Governor bothered to ask for such analysis and one would presume his Commissioner of the Department of Health and Social Services was competent enough to have one produced.

But...with one party government we may never know.  The legislative leadership does not care.  No Medicaid expansion bill would likely even get an honest hearing with this crowd.  So perhaps there will be no requirement on the Administration to provide any meaningful analysis.

In the meantime, of course, our Governor is hell bent to give away many times more the TOTAL cost of Medicaid expansion to the oil industry.  It's the ol' lower taxes and they'll invest mantra.  Trickle down.

And with the demise of the Republican/Democratic coalition in the Senate, the misogynist caucus is alive and well. Senator John Coghill - Deacon Coghill according to past biographies - is leading the charge to define what "medical necessity" means relative to a woman exercising her constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy.

Sigh...