Last set of photos from last weekend....

We stopped at a grove of oak trees on our way back from Castle Lake for more pictures - there was a slight wind, and leaves were drifting down all around us - it was so cool!!!  (Hopefully the video shows the leaves....)

 

More weekend photos - The colors are changing at the higher elevations - we stopped a couple of times just to take pictures of the light in the leaves.  

We took a detour up to Castle Lake on the way home - well worth the stop!  I've never been there before, but I'll be back.  Because we were there in the afternoon (in fall - the sun's angle was wrong....), the photos didn't show the opposite side of the lake very well - there's a granite cliff that drops down to the lake - gorgeous!

This is pretty much the view from the parking lot:

And a little bit of color on the surrounding bushes

Just above Gumboot Lake is part of the Pacific Crest Trail - and it had some beautiful views.

Here's a panoramic shot of the Trinity Alps

And Mt. Shasta - this was pretty much my view when we stopped for a snack.

And Cedar Lake (None of my pictures of Gumboot Lake were worth posting - I need a new camera - the settings are beginning to shift on the old one...)

 

Sunday, I took a break from reality and went on a hike with Chris. (Reality was waiting for me when I got back though - laundry and house cleaning just don't do themselves...)  We explored the area around Cedar Lake and Gumboot Lake outside of Dunsmuir.  Beautiful area, and the weather was perfect!

Check out this huge cedar tree by - you guessed it - Cedar Lake.

This was the majority of our trail up - a 4-wheel drive road.  (Yes, Chris has 4-wheel drive, but some of the areas would have been too narrow for his Explorer - it was much more of a 'skinny jeep' road....and we went up there for a hike, right???)

This is typical Chris - I stopped to take a picture, and he stopped to look at a rock.....in his defense though, he left the batteries for his good camera home, so had to use his cell phone for any pictures - not nearly as good as his brand new camera!  He is a bigger rock-hound than my brother though, and that says a lot....

Fall is coming, but we are still around 95 degrees in the afternoon, with wind.  Red Flag warnings are still here, but the Zogg Fire is 100% contained.  We don't have rain in the forecast for weeks, either.....

Sunday morning, Alli and I went for a walk around the block.  I can see Autumn...

The new roof is almost done!  It looks done to me, but the workers left a large pile of shingles in the driveway, so they must still have work to do.  I love the dark grey with the new house color too - much better!!

 

Monday was a holiday for AJ and I, and I was DONE with yard work, so...we went for a hike!  We went back up to King's Creek Falls at Lassen - it is such a nice hike (a little over 3 miles round trip).  It was a beautiful day for it too - no smoke, not too hot, not too windy - perfect!

 

Yesterday was a "If you give a mouse a cookie" type of day in the yard.  (For those of you not familiar with the children's book, if you give a mouse a cookie, they'll want a glass of milk, and then they'll want to look in the mirror, then they'll want a napkin to wipe their face, and then....and then....)  I started a small project - adding soil to my raised beds.  Six hours later, I finally quit working in the yard!  (Notice that I didn't say I was finished in the yard, just that I quit...) 

AJ and I had picked up (okay - he picked up - I just drove....) 6 bags of soil, 3 cubic feet in each (which is why he them picked up...) on Saturday afternoon.  Sunday morning, I put them in the beds....and it barely made a dent in what I needed.  Back to the store....

We picked up 9 more bags of soil (and one 6-pack of pansies) and AJ helped me get them out by the garden beds, and his work was done.  I was able to manhandle the bags and get them dumped in the beds, and all of the beds are filled now!  But, as I was working around the beds, I realized I had not cut back the oleander this year (the neighbor has huge bushes that overgrow my fence, limiting my access to my garden).  So...off to cut them back.  You can see some of the foliage and flower in this photo of my filled beds.)

And then there was light!

Just for comparison - here's what I had before:

Much better now!   But, since I had the clippers out, I cut back the oak tree growing by the garden, the crepe myrtle trees by the fountain and by the water spigot....and then...time for that 6-pack of pansies.  I had petunias in a pot by my rose tree, and they were beyond spindly.  

As I started working on them, I noticed that the star jasmine had started to growing on the small greenhouse I have, and then I noticed it was actually taking over the corner of the yard!  It was holding the gate shut into the side yard, growing over the sidewalk to get out to that area, and generally taking over!  Since that area is used to store my generator, it's kind of important to get to.

It was actually growing on and around my generator - not a good thing!  I cut back tons of jasmine (it felt like a ton by this time, I assure you - my arms were tired from clipping the oleander branches over my head!) and hauled it to my dump trailer before I could get back to the pansies.  But - mission accomplished!

 

My helper.....

 

It's official - I need a life!  I am waaaaay too excited that I got a yard tool.....My new leaf vacuum//shredder arrived yesterday, and I couldn't wait to go test it out!

Alex was my model - not a lot of help in the yard though - he has gotten back in to working out, and was too sore to do a lot of leaf shredding!  The vacuum isn't the lightest thing, but it works!

It works great!  I was able to get a lot of the leaves that get trapped in my plants (agapanthus) - they don't want rake out or blow out.  My new solution!  Vacuum them out (and shred them at the same time.)

 

Alli's day care program may be closed for COVID (and her particular site closed completely), but the program is delivering projects twice a week for the clients to do.  One of the helpers that comes in for Alli has started "helping" Alli to do the projects.  Some get more cooperation from Alli than others.  Here's one that obviously Morgan did......Love it!

Another first for me.  Alex has been nagging for me to try making Bibimbap for him, but it was a little intimidating.  I finally showed him the recipe I had - 10 different things to cook, along with the rice.  Turns out I had the 'fancy' recipe.  The normal people eat much simpler - rice, meat, sprouts, maybe one extra veggie, and an egg yolk - all stirred up with gojujang.  That I could do!

 

I did it!  I finished pulling the garden out!  (It helps that it was 60 degrees Sunday morning, and I soaked the ground - much easier!)  I still have weed roots - the adage "a stich in time saves nine" really is true for gardening - if only I'd pulled the weeds out when they came up.....next year I'll have to focus on that, and put in mulch, etc. to keep the weeds down.  I also need to add more soil to my beds, which will help, so that's a project added to the list.

I was so proud of myself for taking "before" pictures this time, but....I pooped out and didn't finish the project.    (In my defense - it was close to 100 degrees yesterday....)  I need to get the garden cleaned out, and a green waste run done before 1) the leaves start falling, and 2) before I can go kayaking, as my kayak trailer doubles as the dump trailer.  At this point, it doesn't look promising for a kayak trip - the Zogg Fire is keeping us at 'unhealthy air quality" levels.

I was a true slacker this year, and pretty much ignored my garden.  The weeds took over, so I have my work cut out for next year....

The before photos:

The after photo:

I got a lot out, but the ground was pretty dry in two of the beds, so I ran some water on them last night in the hopes of loosening up the ground a bit.  Since the high today is supposed to only be 90, I hope I can get some more work done in them.  

I did have a helper while I was working - a very tired helper...