Just like last year, the wild rose I dug up from somewhere on my landlord's property (with her approval of course), is flowering profusely. 
No scent, unfortunately ..

The weather has been very stable, temps in the high 60s, low 70s and no more frosty nights for quite some time now so I decided to buy my summer plants and warm(er) weather vegetables.
It wasn't until I came home with these cute little Million Bells, similar to mini-petunias, that I realized that my big hanging baskets in the front of the RV are actually planted with the same! They're in a different color at least so it's not very obvious. 

 

  

    

 

What were supposed to be my cold-weather vegetables, like lettuces, spinach  and arugula, are finally waking up (after I re-sowed them 3 times!) and are looking almost ready to eat.

 and I added some dill, basil and cilantro to my herb planter:

 

     

 

Those yellow dots by the way are marigolds, of which I planted two in each box. Apparently their strong aroma masks the scent of nearby vegetables, confusing pests like tomato hornworms and whiteflies. 
I can use any help I can get!

And those strawberries I planted so diligently in my 2 large, self-watering planters, raised on a table and covered with chicken wire so the chipmunks couldn't get them?

     

Well ... that didn't work squat! Already the next morning several of them (still green by the way) had a bite or two out of them!
So I took them out of those planters, which freed them up for a butternut squash and a honey-dew melon:

 

 

 

 

... and divided the strawberries over three hanging baskets I'd saved from last year:

  

 

 

Well, wwhaddayaknow? This time the birds started to peck on them! ... sigh ... so I had to bring out the %$#@! bird netting, that sticks to anything but what you want it to, and wrap them all up!
Who's next? Bring it on!

Sadly enough our landlord got a little carried away with his new big mower and mowed down 'our' wild grasses next to the RV.

 

          

Granted, they looked a little unruly but there was the occasional wildflower popping up and I liked the wind rippling through the high stalks ... oh well, we'll probably have a second growth!
Fortunately I picked some of the wildflowers before he did that, and there's a lot more of them in other areas, and brought them inside.

 

                                    

                                                   

The bees have been flying for a while now and my little bee-house has been used already by both the orchard-mason bees as well as the leaf-cutter bees:

 

                                                       

Masons on the left, cutters on the right ..
 

I've been on a shopping spree this week .. which is quite the adventure for me since I'm definitely not a big spender, but my mum had sent me some money for Christmas and I still hadn't done much with it so here it goes ..
First up; new hiking shoes and sandals! 
I've used Merrell's Jungle Mocs for years as my go-to winter shoes, and I love them, but I was looking for something a little more 'hiking' shoe now and found these, the Merrell Crosslander (top right):

 

                                                        
I love them! Very lightweight, very comfortable, surprisingly 'roomy' for the tootsies and with excellent traction!
I also splurged on new hiking sandals, the straps of my previous ones constantly slipped loose and although I added some Velcro to them they kept doing so.
I went for Walmart's Dream Pairs, a lightweight, comfortable sandal. Waterproof and best of all, the strap stays tight!

But wait, there's more ..
My hand-blender, which I used for our morning smoothies, gave up the ghost so I replaced it with a blender, something that has been on my wish-list for a while:

  

It works so much better for said smoothies, although I might still replace my hand-blender for a new one as well because this won't work for pureeing soup (in the pan) of course.

O, I almost forgot (I know, but I said I went on a spree), I got me a cute new reader case for my Kindle since my old one was falling apart:

This one has two nifty upgrades, besides looking so much cuter than my old, boring black one, it has slots for cards (library, etc.) on the inside and two strips there on the left side which create a stand when you want it upright.

 

                                           

So far I'm happy with all I got, everything fit just perfectly, I didn't have to return anything, which is quite a miracle.

To top all this off I'm planning to pick up this silverware set on Wednesday at our local Walmart:

                        

We're sick and tired of our old set, which has very heavy grips that always find a way to slide off the plates when bringing them to the sink after dinner or tip over the bowl or cup your spoon is sitting in, etc. 
These are supposedly well balanced and quite light, so out with the old, in with the new!

So .. thanks again Mum, I think I'm going to enjoy all of this for quite some time!

 
I also finally finished my puzzle. 
I love this one, although it took a long time to finish, which had more to do with how busy we've been of lately ..

This morning another proud mama duck showed up with her little ones! 
I have no clue where she has been hiding, the nest had to be somewhere under the overhanging blackberry bushes or maybe on the right side of the pond where a few trees and shrubs hid it from sight?

                   

 I counted seven babies, lets hope some of them survive! 

 

After the first pink wild roses its now the time for the white ones to make an appearance.
They're even more prolific, they grow in huge masses alongside our road. 

 

I say white, but the buds are actually a soft pink, so pretty, and they also have a slight sweet smell ...

                                                       

                                                        

My own rose has quite some buds and the first are opening. It's not as happy as when I bought it, two years ago, I probably should put it in a bigger pot.
I bought some new fertilizer as well so this year I'll make a little bit more of an effort and feed those poor plants, something I've not been very good at in previous years.



Fortunately lupines don't need much to feel good and mine send up three beautiful tall spikes:


                                                                 


The logging road I follow into the forest twice a week is lined with Giant Hogweed. 
Those plants grow so fast, I swear, they're like bamboo, shooting up a foot in the blink of an eye!

I also came across these large shrubs covered in round clusters of white flowers. My plant identification app says its a Pacific Ninebark:

                                         

 

                                         

The bees and butterflies love them and me too!

In one of my previous posts I showed a picture of this Oregon Bigroot, growing everywhere in the ditches along the roads:

 

They also go by Manroot, Old-man-in-the-ground and Wild Cucumber. 
Especially that last name is starting to make a lot more sense now those little flowers have grown into this:

  

How cool!

Too bad I came across this little snake, what I think is a Rubber Boa, which unfortunately didn't make it across the road ..

They are completely non-venomous, they are constrictors, and entirely harmless to humans. They are actually very docile and some people have them as pets ..

He might have been killed by one of these big trucks that have been driving up and down our road for a couple of days this week :

They are logging somewhere up the hill and are using several trucks a couple of times in an hour to bring them down. 
I always make sure to be a good way off the road into the berm or ditch but the truck-drivers are very nice and slow down as much as they can for me.
They leave a lot of dust behind though!

Speaking of dust, we've been working hard these last 2 days to clean the RV!

 

 

 

But besides dust, the main thing that we have to get rid off after another wet Oregon winter is mold!
It took us 2.5 hours for the roof alone and another 3 hours to scrub the rest of the thing down!

                                                           

And as I'm writing this James is crawling around on the roof again to treat it with a special rubber-roof coating which protects it against dirt and sun (oxidation).
It has to be done twice a year either on a cloudy day or in the evening when the sun doesn't shine, like right now. 
Fortunately this goes fairly fast .. 'only' an hour or so!

Well, it sounds like he's done, so it's time to finish this post. 
In the past two weeks we cleaned the car, the truck and now the RV is done as well!

                                                   Time for some R&R!

This week felt like summer already. The days were warm, high 70s, and even the nights didn't cool down too much. 
The bullfrogs in the pond are fighting for territory and who's getting a girl ... I wouldn't mind at all but they're making an awful lot of noise doing so, especially at night!

        

        

We went for another 'repeat' hike on Sunday, this time at the Trappist Abbey in Lafayette.

    

Last time we were here we hiked part of the outer Guadeloupe Loop, the Hermit's Trail and the St Juan Diego trail but this time we took the Monk's trail and the rest of the Guadeloupe Loop.

                                       

Just before we took of we came across this sign:

They only strap that sign on the gate of there were actual sightings so we were a little more cautious and on the lookout than previously.

We were early enough for the morning to be still nice and cool and very quiet:

                 

It's a beautiful area and you often see wildlife. We only came across one deer but there were lots of birds everywhere.  
It was a beautiful hike!                          

     

Back at the ranch we'd planned to clean the RV and the car and replace all four of the old, leaking awnings with new ones I'd ordered last year from Sunwave on E-bay.
Priced at $100 they're cheaper than most, where an 18' one usually costs somewhere around $200!

The original ones that came with the RV aren't made anymore and these new ones are slightly different in color and material but they work just fine with the blue and green striping and decals of the RV.
The smaller awnings over the slides were all white and cost even less.

The top picture is the old and the bottom the new one:

                                           

                                               

It was a lot of work though and it took us longer than we thought but we got them all done!
By the time we put the last one up we were pros!
We didn't manage to wash the RV, or the car, but there's always tomorrow ...

I've been reseeding, for the third time, some lettuce, arugula and spinach and finally, finally some are coming up. Third time's a charm!

That weird, tall green stuff growing through the roof of the cage there in the picture on the right is an Egyptian Walking Onion or Tree onion.
Yeah, I hadn't ever heard of it either!                 

         

They grow like normal onions but instead of growing bulbs on the bottom they form small, marble seize bulblets at the top. 
When they get heavy, the stalk bends over and the bulblets grow roots. They can walk almost 3 feet in one season!

You can eat the whole plant, they're like spring/green onions when young and like leek when older, as well as the little onions from the top.

These are my berries, 2 blueberries on the left and 2 raspberries on the right (a red and a yellow one).
They flowered well and I can't wait for the first fresh berries!