Supernatural

Yard Stuff

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Patio Clean-up

I’d like to blame my neighbor the witch. This is her first spring here, and she is apparently a gardener extraordinaire. She has been busy making outdoor seating areas, and garden paths with mulch (which she calls ‘bark dust’) lined with random broken flagstone stepping stones. Then there are the plantings…

I wish I’d taken a before photo. This area was overrun with really nice green weeds. There were three small things that didn’t match the weeds, so I asked her if I should keep them. She said they were worth saving if I could successfully transplant them. They are in three separate pots scattered about, but I don’t know if they are going to make it. I’m lightly watering them every day, so fingers crossed.

But this is really on me; I’ve gotten tired of paying someone to do the weed picking and pine straw laying. Each time they showed up, the price would jump significantly. With the weed killer, mulch, weed blocker, garden shovel, three pots, and a couple of hanging flower baskets. All told, it has cost me under $150, which is less than the cost of the yard guy’s first visit, and a couple weeks of sweat equity one hour at a time.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 36.9%

 

They Showed Me

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I don’t know what has come over me. For the 2 springs I’ve lived here, I have outsourced the weeding and tidying up of the yards surrounding the house. This year I’m doing it myself. Donna was the yard person, and I’d just come in at the end with the whipper-snipper 1 and tidy the edges. Here in Portland, where the winter is nothing but rain, the weeds here are hardy, to say the least. I have spent a couple hours a day starting on Sunday, and I’ve sprayed weed killer over everything that is unsightly and have one half of one side yard done. I’ve yanked out all the dead stuff, and I put down weed-blocking fabric and mulch, so next year it should be easier. The second half is pretty easy because it is more mature; that should be one more day. In the other side yard the previous owners put down a layer of small gravel, which looked really nice, but they didn’t put down any weed block, so it is filled with hundreds of invasive sprouting things. I have got 25 or so thistle plants there. Some are as tall as 4′ high. That side will probably take me all next week…

The Sox did beat the Detroit Tigers today. It’s the first time this year they have won three in a row and swept a series. This weekend is a big test; they are home for a four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa is only a half game behind the Yankees in the division and are 8.5 games ahead of the Sox. The Rays are hot right now; they’ve won 6 in a row and 12 of their last 13 games.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 37.9%

 

Witchy Woman

I think this started after I sent my immediate neighbor to the left a postcard for a thank-you card. She and I have been trading cutesy postcards in a flirty manner since the beginning of the year. This is what I was referencing in the This Is Tricky post from a couple weeks ago. I mailed her a postcard with the following sentiment last Monday.

About 3 or 4 weeks ago, on my way by your house to go check my mail, I sensed movement. I looked up at your left street-side window, and there was a black cat sitting there, watching me. For my next few steps we eyed each other suspiciously. Then the cat winked, not blinked, at me!

How many people in the community know you are a master of the occult and a shape-shifter?

We briefly crossed paths at yesterday’s CCC (community coffee clatch), me leaving and her going to; her first words to me were, “You’re the only one.”

Saturday Night Fever

Northwest Transit Band

My next-door neighbor and I have been trying to arrange an evening out via postcard for several weeks, tonight was the night. There is a place called Celebrities Parkway Grill less than a 1/4 mile away. Neither one of us had been in there, but it was chosen so that we could walk over and home in case any alcohol was consumed.

This is really a glorified bar more than a “grill,” and on Saturday nights they have live music. Tonight’s band du jour was the Northwest Transit Band. We arrived at around 7:00pm, and they were just setting up. We ordered food; she had the Crispy Chicken Salad, and I had the Crispy Chicken Sandwich. I ordered a beer, and she had a vodka lemonade. The food was consumed, and about then the band started up. We ordered a second round and listened to covers of songs we mostly knew. The first thought was after drink number two, when the band took their first break, we would duck out. When the waitress came by and looked at us, we couldn’t exactly hear what she said, so we nodded. Next thing we knew, there was a third drink delivered to the table.

I said that I wasn’t much for dancing, but apparently 2.5 beers is just enough, and with her enthusiasm, the next thing I knew, we were on the dance floor with tens of other people, swishing around and making vague dance-like movements. We danced a couple more songs with a break between and finished off those drinks. About that time the band took its second break, and we settled up and walked home.

She seemed to have a good time, and I did as well; maybe we can make it a monthly-ish thing. I’m off to write another postcard…

This Is Tricky

Devil Girl From Mars

I have a story to tell, but I don’t want to tell it right here, right now; I’m saving it for later. It involves a neighbor who mentioned in a text that they saw on Instagram about an upcoming trip. Thing is, I never said anything about it on Instagram, but I had mentioned it here on this blog. So, was it a misspeak, and they meant my blog? I can’t be sure, so I can’t post the story until I actually tell it somewhere else. In the meantime, please enjoy an old movie poster from the Devil Girl From Mars which opened in the US a mere five months before I was born.