and today started out so normal...

This past week we have had a visitor- so we have gotten to try out the attached apartment the house came with! djkc's friend visited us from Japan. Hijinks and road trips ensued. Seeing as I live right at the edge of wine country here, our last trip was out to one of my favorite vineyards for wine tasting and grape pie (after an afternoon spent hiking a gorge to see a rather spectacular waterfall).

This morning we took her back to the airport so she can continue on to the next leg of her trip. The general thought is the guest apartment works splendidly and you all should come visit. 

After that I did yard work, housework, was attached by a friend's cat whilst I tried to stop by and check in on it while my friend is out of town, and then did more yard work. A little hummingbird settled on the feeder on my porch for a snack.That is about when my day shifted from suburban to strangely 'April'.

I met up with corvus_animus to poke around for animal parts. This is a thing I very much like to do. Being able to reclaim roadkill and give it some sort of purpose makes a difference to me. I will have some truly impressive deer jawbones, skulls, and the like to share once we get everything cleaned.

I also just started my annual chemical warfare against the rodents and small mammals that plague my beloved vegetation. So I spent the last bit of sunlight today hanging containers of fox urine around by berry bushes and raised beds. Don't knock it til you've tried it. Works better than all the chemicals in the world if your problem is primarily squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits as mine is.

It occurs to me my new neighborhood is full of dogs. I hope none of them get angry about the fox smell. Maybe it will keep them from wandering into my yard to poop. Actually, I think I need coyote or beer urine for that.

Oh, the things I talk about in this journal.