A Big Thank You!!

 One of my regular visitors brought me a

jar of her home made Quince jam.  It was

one of the best jams I have ever had!

Thank You!!

My New Stitching Project

Working on the cat face.

Cat completed with background.

 Second Kitty project arrived so it's time to stitch!!

12/20/2020

Started the second kitty on 12/5/2020

Finished the second kitty on the 6th of Jan. 

Just need to frame and get it sent.

1/22/2021

Kitty has arrived!  Here is the photo that she

sent me.

Onto the next project!!  For Christmas a friend 

sent me this pillow to do.  So I started it on the

6th of Jan.

Just keeping me busy inside while we have all

this rain.  It took just 32 days to complete this 

project.

Keeping Track Of My Time 2020

 11/12/2020

1 1/2 hours vacing up the grave areas, collection

1 1/2 --5 gallon bucks of fir needles.

1/2 hour vacing up leaves twice a day.

Here is how the areas should look.

11/13/2020

3 1/2 hours vacing up leaves-3 times

1/2 vacing up fir needles--1/4 -- 5 gallon bucket.

1/2 hour cleaning up the curb in front of the

house of the leaves that have blown down the 

street--twice

11/14/2020

45 minutes to hand pickup the 

maple leaves -- 2/3 bucket in the rain.

11/15/2020

1/ 1/2 hours to blow off both roofs, and 

to blow off the hosta beds, the peony bed

and the over flow bed of the fir needles.

These were blown to the fence line and

will be picked up when we have bin space,

there is enough to fill one and a half bins.

1/2 hours picking up 1 and 1/3 pickle buckets

of maple leaves in the rain.  

11/16/2020

20 minutes to vac up a full bag of maple leaves

1 1/2 hours to vac up 2 full pickle buckets of 

fir needles from the east.

11/17/2020

The storm has hit and I will have to vac 

up all the leaves from the east that are 

currently blowing into our yard due to

neighbors feel once the leaves drop into

the street it's the County's problem.  

They just don't care where they blow as

long as they don't have to pick them up.

It will be a great day to stay inside and

stitch.

11/18/2020

10 minutes pickup by hand

11/19/2020

45 minutes vac up one full bag

11/20/2020

15 minutes vac up 1/2 bag, thank goodness

the wind didn't blown them all over the yard.

11/21/2020

5 minutes pick up by hand of the north 

leaves 3 hour clean up of the gravel area 

and 5 buckets of fir needles from the east.

1/12 hours pickup of the fir needles from 

the west which added up to 6 buckets.

11/22/2020

10 minutes vac up leaves from the north

1 hour pickup the last of the fir needles 

from the over flow garden bed which 

totaled 1--32 gallon garbage can.

10 minutes blowing of debris from 

the curb after mowing.

I now have 2 -- 96 gallon recycle bins

totally full!!  Only half of the bin is our

stuff and I don't have room to finish up

the fall cleanup due to all the neighbors'

stuff.   These bin cost $7.00 each to 

recycle, tell me my neighbors don't cost

us money!

We are also talking about removing 

our north fence panels due to we have 

issues again on the roots coming from

their trees.   They have removed their 

fence so they can have more land.  We 

have already dealt with one of our north

neighbors about their fence coming 

down and we sent off a letter to the 

Homeowner assoc. management company.  

After two calls that were missed I returned

 their call.  Mind you my husband's letter

didn't have our unlisted phone number

so how did they get it??  They didn't leave

a message and when I picked up the 

second call no one spoke after I said 

hello 4 times.  

That conversation was just priceless, 

all she wanted to talk about was the 

leaves we had returned to the neighbor

to the north.  Excuse me, our fence is 

sent into our property 6 inches so legally

we were dumping on our property not 

the neighbors!  They are the ones that

removed their fence and yes they had to 

put up a fence when the house was built!

Also there has not been any leaves dumped

onto what our attorney states is no man's

land for over a week, so one could say this

is harassment.   She only wanted to talk

about the leave issue.  Threatened to take

legal action but the leaves have been bagged

for over a week.  

We are currently awaiting for their letter to

see what we do next.

11/23/2020

15 minutes to pick up by hand the 2/3 bucket

of leaves

11/24/2020

5 minutes to pick up 109 leaves

45 minutes to pick the southwest garden beds

of the fir trees needles filled 2/3 of a 32 gallons

Cleaned up at the curb, leaves blowing in from 

the other NW 33 Ave. street.  Pick up your leaves!!

11/25/2020

45 minutes to vac up the leaves on the north lawn

3/4 bag 

5 minutes to pick up by hand 96 leaves later in the 

day

11/26/2020

Took the day off!!

11/27/2020

10 minutes to pick up 146 leaves

15 minutes to clean off the shed roof.

11/28/2020

Took the day off!

11/29/2020

15 minutes to pickup 209 leaves

20 minutes to finish picking up the fir

needles from the over flow bed,  2 pickle 

buckets.

11/30/2020

5 minutes to pick up 48 then the wind picked

up and the limbs from the west started to pop 

and fly!  Deck is currently covered with needles

and lots of pine came down.  Now it's raining

with winds.  Front sidewalk is covered with needles.

We had limbs clear to the middle fence, over the house

and hit the back windows so you know the winds 

were brisk.

15 minutes to blow off the needles 

20 minutes to pickup 439

5 minutes to pickup 107

12/01/2020

10 minutes  to pick up 132 leaves in the cold.

13 minutes  to pickup 197 leaves this afternoon

15 minutes to vac off the deck and back walkway 

of fir needles from the west.  1/4 bag

10 minutes to vac off the path to the greenhouse

both sides and the front area where the bins sit

1/3 bag of fir needles from the east.

I also spent several hours cleaning up the south

front fence line and filled one bin with all the 

trimming and leaves.  

This leaves two bins half full and I still have a

week to go on the cleanup for the winter.  Dec 1

is the deadline for cleanup but again I have spent

most of my fall cleaning up what our neighbors'

trees drop into our yard.  They say act of God, I

say it's an act of neglect as none of our trees dump

into their yards.  Time to plant trees so that they

have to clean up??

12/02/2020

20 minutes to vac up the 539 leaves blown into

the yard from the north.

25 minutes to vac up the leaves and blow out the

circle to clean up from the leaves coming from 

the east.  1/2 bag of leaves.

12/03/2020

14 minutes to hand pickup 168 leaves.

1 hour and 45 minutes to vac up the east 

gravel areas which ended up to 1 1/3 --

5 gallon pickle bucket of fir needles.

15 minutes to vac up the leaves from NW 33

avenue that blew into the circle and to blow

then back to the top of the circle.  Removed

1/2 bags of leaves.  Then vac the front yard of

the leaves that had blown in since the cleanup.

Rain is coming in so I'll leave the southwest and

west clean up when it dries out again.

12/4 & 5/2020

Taking a break due to allergies.

12/6/2020

69 leaves picked up by hand, 6 minutes.

12/7/2020

15 minutes to pickup 268 leaves by hand.

1 /12 hours to blow off the roof, shed roof,

eagles nest, and to blow off the garden beds

to the west, the pathway close to the house

on the south side.

12/8/2020

Worked from 9 to 11:30 and picked up 

2 buckets from the front and 10 bucks of fir

from the back before running out of room in

the three bins.   Also picked up 314 leaves

from the back.   When the bins are emptied

on Thurs I can finish cleaning up the rest of 

the yard.  Nice to have my yard cleaned, this is 

the fall clean up!!    Two of the bins are filled

with neighbors' stuff that has fallen into the yard.

We currently have 3 bags of leaves from the

north trees.

12/9/2020

15 minutes to pickup 338 leaves.

12/10/2020

5 minutes to pick up 68 leaves

I started at 8:30 to finish up the fall

cleaning up before the rain hits this

afternoon.  I finished raking the 

overflow bed and picked up another

4 - 5 gallon pickle buckets of fir needles.

That is a grand total since Dec. 1 of 

134 gallons of fir needles since I picked

up in Nov. that is just the west garden beds.   

I still have to cut back the strawberries on 

the south bed but they can be done later

after the holidays.  I then will clean out 

that bed again.  Not done cleaning up 

the paths around the garden beds, they 

are full of fir needles.

12/11/2020

Rain day, a good day to stay inside and

take care of the allergies.  Yes, I'm allergic

to fir!!

12/12/2020

131 leaves picked up in 8 minutes.  They are

still coming down out of the trees.  I have been 

picking up since mid Aug.

12/13/2020

Rain Day!!  

12/14/2020

8 minutes to walk the north yard and pick up

89 leaves.

12/15/2020

Rain and Doctor's Orders to rest, no pickup

12/16/2020

Rain and another day of rest, no pickup.

12/17/2020

It took me 4 trips out to get the 106 leaves

picked up with the total of the trips at 11 minutes.

Sorry Doc, I had to get out and pickup!

12/18/2020

Three trips out to pickup 63 leaves 8 minutes 

total.

12/19/2020

10 minutes to pickup 116 leaves in the north

back yard.

13 minutes to pickup 360 leaves blow in 

down the land from the east, front yard.

12/20/2020

Storm day, good day to take off and rest.

12/21/2020

10 minutes to pickup 101 leaves from the

north,  taking the rest of the day off.

12 minutes to pickup 167 leaves from the east

out front

We also dumped 3 huge lawn bags into our

yard waste bin that were moldy instead of

returning them to the north.  Bin 3/4 full.

12/22/2020

67 leaves picked up from the font yard, 

8 minutes

389 leaves picked up from the back yard

on 4 different trips.  2 - 10 minutes, 2- 9 minutes

trips.

Strong winds and rain.  Limbs blew over the house! 

12/23/2020

263 leaves picked up before I mowed.  

Shouldn't have done it but if we get freezing

weather it needed to be done sooner that later.

I'll pay for it tonight!

12/24/ & 25 /2020

Picked up 7 leaves on Christmas day!

12/26/2020

Picked up 136 leaves from the north trees

that flew up over the house to the front 

yard and took me 15 minutes.  We must

of had wind over night, found several

limbs also. 

12/27/2020

Taking the day off!   Well that lasted about

an hour!    Sorry doc,  I spent around 20 min

blowing off the fir needles, tossing down the 

limbs, another 10 minutes to blow off the fir

needles on the hosta bed, circle bed and path

then 8 minutes to blow off the deck and 5

minutes to blow off the west path.  That was

about all I could handle.  Prior to lunch

I had to blow off the fir on the Christmas

palm and vac up the path to the greenhouses 

and two paths in the gravel where Sable goes

to to do her business.  Now the Allergies are

acting up, time to rest!!

12/28/2020

Picked up 63 leaves, 8 minutes.  Was ordered

to take the next few days off and let the hands

heal.

12/29//12/30/2020

Days of rest!

12/31/2020

Day of rest, not!    5 minutes to pick up 48

leaves from the north.

Being a Good Neighbor??

 This past week has really been interesting.  

Ya know your not a good neighbor when 

your neighbor comes to the door and tells 

your not a good neighbor.  Then he tells 

your husband that you wrote a letter to them 

and accused me of writing he was trying to 

kill me?  Say what??  What a liar!!  I haven't 

written then any such letter.  Only letter they 

have gotten from us is about their trees that 

dump in our yard, they hang over our yard 

and the root of their trees cause us issues

with our fence.

Let's talk about being a good neighbor, 

if your trees dump into our yard, is that 

being a good neighbor?  Don't you think

it cost your neighbor money to get rid

of the junk, let alone the disease 

material that drops drops in their yard.  

Our neighbor to the north is a trip!!  

You should see the mess in their yard.

Yes, these are the folks that we had to

 turn into SW WA Air Quality for 

burning in their firepit for a full week

solid and the smoke was so thick!!   

Second hand smoke isn't health at all.

In our letter to our neighbors about 

their trees we suggest that they hire

an arborist to educate them on their

tree issues but none of them feel this is 

needed.  We continue to have damage

to our property due to their neglect.  

We have had our fence fixed over a

half dozen times due to these tree issues.   

None of them have paid for any damages!

Let's talk about the mess!!  It is a daily

task to clean up before I can open the 

up the gardens tell me that is right?? 

I spend some where from 4 to 8 hours

cleaning up the yard daily due to 

my neighbor's trees.

Not only on the ground but the mess

on the roof.   

How can I show the gardens when it's

such a mess? This am the whole north side

was covered with leaves.   

I really have to laugh, when this neighbor

offered to rake my yard.   

Thanks for the laugh, he doesn't even 

do his own yard and he thinks he will

do mine??  

Then I would have to wait for him to

show up to do so, I don't think he 

was serious.....he loves to hear himself

talk.   They have been there 5 years 

and it's a mess over there,  Nor have

they offered to pay for our recycle

bin or get one here so it can be taken

away at their cost.

Nope they call the Sheriff and have 

them come talk to us about illegal dumping.  

Sorry but it's not a citation offence, it's a

code violation.  But again we own 6 inches

on the other side of our fence, they are the 

ones that removed their fence.  Ya know 

those smaller yards and folks want more

space??

His own wife was here for a garage sale

 and she stated  she wanted our property. 

 That he will be taking care  of the

trees........5 years later nothing has been 

done.  She also made the statement that 

this was the only property within the 

boundries of the schools they wanted.  She

 also left with one of my business cards

 so she can't  say they didn't know I have

 a business.  She also stated  she wanted

 our property again and the kids play set.  

I'm sure they didn't look into the property 

fromwhat was stated.  There are so many

 trees on this property, one would ask why??  

More can be stated about this property

 but if you don't do the research why 

should one tell you anything.   

One of the statements last week when 

the male made a visit beside lying 

about the letter I supposed to have 

written was all the other neighbors

 pick up their mess in their yard.  

Sorry but they all have paid yard care 

that come in and clean up their messes.   

He also bitched about me being up on 

the roof cleaning off our roofs, 

excuse me.   I wouldn't be on the roof 

cleaning up the mess because it's not 

our mess, it's from your trees.  

Besides nothing from our trees go 

across the fence into our neighbor's yard.  

Who is a good neighbor?

Then also let's talk about their CC&R

 that require that  they have a fence up

 and 2 years ago they removed theirs.  

There is also the fact that we have our 

fence set into our property 6 inches as 

that is what is required.  

So in reality I'm putting the leaves on 

our property over the fence.  He is the 

one that doesn't have a 

fence up so that is his problem.  I can't 

afford to pay for his leaves.   Let it 

compost between the fences,  

 Oh ya......he took his fence down.   Maybe 

he should read his CC&R??  I bet the 

Homeowner's association would love to 

hear about his lack of fence??

As our attorney stated when he visited,

 our yard isn't the normal Clark County

 yard.   It's breath taking and he was 

stunned when he saw the trees that are on

three sides of our property.   He was told

they do not take care of them, no 

watering or pruning that is why 

they are what you see today.   We have

created a 'Little Garden of Eden'  here 

and when we open the gardens we have  

lots of folks that come to enjoy it.  

We also have regular folks that stop and 

want to see what is new and get ideas.  

Our rain barrels are what catches 

most of the comments as we collect rain water.   

I will also state I have a business license 

and that is why we keep our gardens in the 

shape that they are in.

All you have to do is just look at the 

way these trees are and how much 

they hang over our fence.  We have 

done what we can legally in telling them 

their trees are an issue.   If they do come 

down and damage our home we will take 

them to court.

I love the Deputy that showed up today 

due to me returning their leaves.  He stated 

that we can cut the trees at the fence line.  

 According yo WA State 

Supreme Court case Gostina V. Ryland;

"The overhanging  branches of a tree, 

not poisonous or noxious in its nature, 

are not a nuisance per se. to sustain an

 action for damages.  Some real sensible 

damages must be shown to result there

from....One adjoining owner can not 

maintain an action against another 

for the intrusion of roots or branches 

of a tree which is not poisonous or 

noxious in it's nature.  His remedy 

is such case is to chip or top off the 

branches or cut the roots at the line." 

But in reality, we have 6" of property 

on the north side of the fence to put 

the leaves on and it's their problem 

if they removed their fence.  I wanted

to tell the deputy he needs to get the 

County's information on neighboring

 tree issues as they have a flier or it can 

be found on the county's website.

You cut their trees or branches without

a written doc. you could be charged for 

destroying their trees.  If the tree is on 

their property you need to send them a 

written letter stating their is an issue.  

So don't trim their trees!!

Let's take this a step further, if you 

hire a tree service, make sure they 

have an arborist license and can tell 

you that you are dealing with.   Also  

your adjacent neighbors shouldn't 

have tree debris dumped into their  

property either.  Do not expect your

neighbors to allow them to drop your 

trees into their yard.  One reason for 

folks to post their property that it's 

private, no trespassing.  

Our property is posted and we do call 

the police.  I have it also posted our 

gardens are open by appt. only.  

Please make an appt.  

(All my garden friends, these rules 

do not apply, if we are in the

yard ask first.)

Banded Alder Borer Beetle Rosalia funebris

Found in the yard end of October.  Not a good 

bug and can do a lot of damage.