Spring Clean up...

Trying to get out every day and do clean up in the planting beds.  

Found this nest, most likely a white crowned sparrow.  

It was built about a foot and a half off the ground in a large sage plant. 

(In trying to figure out what kind of nest this is, 

I discovered that white and golden-crowned sparrows are not true sparrows.  

They are buntings.)

White-crowned sparrow nest 

 Daffodils and other spring flowers are beginning to push through the dirt.

I am anxious to get peas, spinach, other early vegetables in the ground. 

Perhaps this next week.

Although, woke up this morning to a lot of snow in the surrounding foothills.

I just hope it stays up high, and lets this little valley get on with spring.

Beware: post with x-rated word.. FRACK

Obama is considering a frickin' fracking lover as head of the Department of Energy.  Sick and wrong!
Does anybody in this administration or in congress care about the future of the planet and the future of children?

You know there is probably a reason that the word fracking is so close to the word fucking.  Do you think that they (big oil companies, the one that brought us the gulf oil spill, the Exxon Valdez disaster, etc.) started out by saying, "Fuck the earth, what the hell do we care." and that didn't sound very nice, so they changed it.  "Frack the earth."  And they think we are so stupid, that we wouldn't make the connection.

ARGHHHH!!!!

From CREDO:

President Obama keeps saying we need to confront climate change. So why is he going to appoint a major proponent of fracking to lead the Department of Energy? According to Reuters, President Obama has chosen for the job Dr. Ernest Moniz, the director of MIT's Big Oil-sponsored Energy Institute and a big believer in expanding toxic, climate-heating gas fracking.1 At a time when the last thing we should be doing is undermining our progress against climate change, Moniz is the wrong choice to head one of the most important agencies in the fight for a sustainable energy future. Tell President Obama: Stop promoting fracking, and don't appoint Ernest Moniz to head the Department of Energy! Click here to automatically sign the petition. Moniz's Energy Institute at MIT is sponsored by the likes of BP, Chevron and Saudi Aramco. So it is no surprise that the gas industry and pro-fracking groups welcomed the rumor of Moniz's appointment to head the DOE.2 Moniz is a strong backer of the deeply flawed notion that we should expand our fracking infrastructure and development to serve as a "bridge" to low-carbon sources of energy.3 But fracking isn't a bridge to a better future; it's an expressway to climate change and toxic pollution. Expanding fracking will worsen its toxic air pollution and increase its huge volumes of toxic wastewater, will increase incidents of groundwater contamination, and will unleash an absolutely catastrophic amount of greenhouse gas4 — not just from burning gas, but from the tremendous leakage from fracking wells of methane, a greenhouse gas that has 20 times the heat-trapping power of C02 over 100 years, making fracked gas as bad for the climate as burning coal. What's more, heavy reliance on burning gas slows the implementation of the sustainable carbon-free sources of energy that will put a dent in our climate emissions. Tell President Obama: Stop promoting fracking, and don't appoint Ernest Moniz to head the Department of Energy! Click here to automatically sign the petition. Climate change won't be solved by tradeoffs, compromises, or moderate-sounding catchphrases like "all of the above." President Obama cannot make a serious attempt at confronting climate change as long as he is pushing policies to "encourage" fracking and appointing administration officials who will undermine the progress he could be making.

Portland Yard, Garden and Patio Show

Spent yesterday at the Portland Yard, Garden and Patio show.

My favorite display used a lot of natural woodland materials, 

including a downed log with woodpecker cavities.  

We have a downed woodpecker snag up in the woods.

Woodpeckers are no longer using it.

I am thinking we need to drag it down here.

Lots of succulents and sedums.

This chair from Bauman's Farm.

Novel, in that it is a useable chair,not just a crafty one.

Our woodstack does not look like this.

More sedums.

 Tom and Grace from August Cellars.

Nice friends, good wine.

Love the addition of the McCall bumper sticker.

Grace noted that had it not been for Tom McCall and Oregon's land use planning, 

there might not be an August Cellars vineyard or winery.

I didn't buy much, a few metal letters, and a few bulbs,

but lots of great yard and garden ideas.

An old pickup truck used as a garden structure.

Several chicken sheds that make me want to keep chickens.

The "cracked pots" artists were there showcasing the art of garbage.

Lots of recycling of old metal into garden art.

Cold frames to prolong the growing season, made of so many different materials.

I think what I like most is when utilitarian objects..such as the woodpile, 

an old roof covered with soil and plants, interesting storage for garden tools...

are done in such a manner as to be visually attractive and fun.

Elk with breakfast....

Roosevelt Elk

These boys have been hanging around since the first of the year.  In another month or so, they will shed their antlers. Would love to find them on a little stroll up the hill.