Letting Go of the Bay Leaf: September 2019

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Mosaic Monday #47: Celebrating Josie

January 2019

She was the five-pound cat that thought she was a Doberman. She had gourmet tastes, leading to an obsession with brie and grilled salmon. She abhorred being picked up, but she still wanted to be in the center of the action. That was our Josie. On September 20, we made the tough decision to have Josie put to sleep. She may have been 16 years old, but she still looked like a kitten and she will always be that kitten in my heart.

In 2005, on a visit to Rescue Village in Chesterland, Ohio, we planned to adopt two kittens. But, as we walked the rows of cages, we noticed two adult cats in a single cage. The sign indicated they had been residents there for almost six months; the previous owner had found that her new dog and the cats did not get along, and she gave up the CATS! We knew kittens would quickly find homes, and none of us could abide the thought of these two spending another day in that small space, so after a short visit with Josie and Maggie in a guest room, they joined our family.

2005 - Age 2 - Rescue Village estimated her age

We enjoyed her antics (mostly) for fourteen years. Both kids graduated from high school and one graduated from college. We moved to Troy, Ohio and then to Montana, first in Whitefish and now in Kila. Maggie and Josie have seen it all. As Josie's health began to decline in the last 12 months, we prepared the kids and ourselves for the inevitable. But it was still an emotional event for all of us, and even as I write this the tears are streaming. I certainly could not bring myself to write this post last week. On the day we lost Josie, #1 Daughter paid tribute to her on FaceBook with this post:

November 2017 - in the "spa"

From the moment she stepped into our home, Josie was a grumpy oddball. She did not like to be picked up. She did not want to sit on our lap for pets, but would sit on a kitchen chair and meow her face off 'til Mom stopped what she was doing to pet her.

Josie liked sunny spots on hardwood floors, ribbons as chew toys, holiday decorations and cardboard boxes as beds.

Josie liked to lay under the Christmas tree and collect pine needles in her fur. We would be hard pressed to find a ribbon or bow at Christmas that didn't have little kitty teeth marks on it. Looking back, I think it was her way of showing love.

Christmas 2011

July 21, 2017 - first time she ever sat

on a lap - it only took 12 years!

Josie was by no means a lap cat, but toward the end of her life, we could find her on my Dad's lap more and more. I think she knew her time was coming to an end and Josie wanted us to have those final memories with her.

I miss you already, Josie Cat. I hope there are plenty of catnip toys for you to play with and cardboard boxes for you to sleep in in heaven.

I can't promise to keep dry eyes for the rest of this post, but I am trying to focus on the memories, as our daughter said above. As I gathered over 140 possible photos for this post, I found myself laughing out loud. "Noodle", as I liked to call her when I was slightly exasperated, had the typical cat penchant to be where she shouldn't be.

On the bed, saying "Feed me" with those big eyes

If a kitchen cabinet door was open, she had to be through it, prompting Head Chef to grumble about "Fuzzhead". If we found the downdraft running on the oven in the morning, you knew Josie the Mosie had been mosey-ing about the kitchen counters in the night.

#1 Son sent me this email:

Josie had her own way of showing affection to the family. She may have come off as grumpy but she really did care for us. It showed in her wariness to strangers. She will be dearly missed.

In her lifetime, Josie became legendary with family and regular visitors - she might act all nice and even approach you. And then she would try to take a hand off, or make a swipe at a passing leg. One of our neighbors, who cared for Josie during some of our absences, recounted wearing socks even in the summertime, to safeguard from Miss Cuteness (and more importantly, her teeth and back claws!!!) As our son says, I believe she thought she was protecting us, and our home. Yes, a five-pound cat channeling her inner Doberman.

November 2017 - in the cat tree

Josie has been in many of my posts; one of my favorites depicted her Houdini talents. But no recollection about Josie would be complete without this story. On our way from Ohio to Montana, we were in a Minneapolis hotel for one night. Shortly after carting all of our luggage, two cats and a bird to the room, I looked around to make sure the cats had used the litter box and settled in. No surprise, Maggie was curled up on one of the beds. Josie? Nowhere to be found. After two full circuits of the room, I was convinced she had gotten out. I roamed down two hallways, asking everyone if they had seen a ~~Doberman~~ gray cat. No luck. Returning to the room, I peered again under the beds, and discovered a hole in the box spring. I could just see a gray spot pressed up against the far wall. What was she thinking? "You will never get me back in that cat carrier again". After dismantling the box spring and retrieving Noodle, we blocked up the hole. Egads, the things we do for our furbabies!

September 2017

Spousal Unit recollects that, even after Josie began venturing onto his lap, she was pretty fickle. Unless conditions were "just right", you could just as easily see her perched on the narrow arm of the chair. At times, she would not tolerate Maggie joining in the cuddles, and would jump down. On other occasions, both of them would make a space and settle in.

June 2018

One day, Spousal Unit was listening to a band cover a Bruce Springsteen song, and Josie jumped on his lap. I caught a little on video.

You may be wondering about Maggie - how is she coping? Although they are not related, Maggie and Josie have been together most of their lives. Rescue Village told us Maggie was 4 at the time of the adoption, so that means the "Old Lady" has passed the 18-year mark. She has a little arthritis in her hips, but that doesn't keep her from jumping onto laps or the ottomans. Since Josie's passing, Maggie has begun meowing in the morning, usually at the same time the coffee maker starts brewing. It might be her way of mourning, or of carrying on Josie's fine legacy of the same. Either way, we are making a concerted effort to give her more attention.

May 2017

July 2019

Josie may have had a favorite lap (Dad's) or a favorite dining room chair (near mine), but any craft activity was a friend of hers. If you didn't want her to sit on it, you shouldn't leave it out in the open!!!

Upper left: My current project - a Christmas tree skirt. This picture was taken September 13 - thanks, Josie, for

putting your paw prints on the last project we will do together!

A week passes quickly when you are busy, and occasionally a movement has caught the corner of my eye, and I have looked for Josie, expecting her to be there. Maybe it is these random moments that I will miss the most.

In our family, Christmas is a significant event, full of traditions. My Josie photo collection contains more snaps from the Christmas season than any other time of year - as you already heard from our daughter, Josie joined in with gusto.

Christmas - 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

Christmas 2011 and 2017 - what happened in between? Life?

I have no doubt that Christmas 2019 will not be the same without Josie, but we will raise a glass, and tell our Josie stories, and that may be enough.

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

MM #46: Things that go Harumph in the Night

Western Pasqueflower in seed

It was 9.30 p.m., and I was sound asleep. "Did you hear that?" whispered Spousal Unit. I didn't respond, until a moment later.

"Harumph?" Splash. Splash.

"What is THAT?" I asked, turning to look in his direction. My inflatable mattress crinkled under the shift in my weight, and my sleeping bag rustled, both of which made me cringe.

"I can't see anything," he said, leaning on his left elbow and peering intently into the darkness through the fine mesh of the tent.

Munch. Munch. Splash. "Harumph?" Splash.

Bear grass - a late bloomer!

Yes, folks, the scene is in the midst of the Jewel Basin, the location of our last backcountry camping trip. For 15 minutes, we listened to a random series of grunts, munching and splashes, with only theories about the source.

"Can you tell how far away it is?" By now I had goosebumps all over and I could feel myself trembling slightly, even in the warmth of my bag.

"Maybe 30 yards," he said, shaking the bear spray canister. (Bear spray has to be well-mixed to be effective.)

"Harumph?" Splash. Splash.

"What do you think it is?"

Cow parsnip in seed

"Maybe a moose," he speculated. Of course, the temptation was strong, to turn on our headlamps and identify the creature. Especially knowing that I love moose. But would this simply serve to antagonize it, whatever "it" might be?

Munch. Munch. "Harumph?" Splash. Splash.

"What's the plan?" I am sure that if I had been able to see anything, it would have been an eye roll from Spousal Unit. Yes, in retrospect, a silly question. But it was practically killing me to lie there with no idea what was lurking just 30 yards from our tent. I almost would have preferred to know it was a grizzly bear, if that was the case.

Crash, crash, crash (the sounds of brush breaking under foot, but growing fainter).

And with that, the critter was gone. You can rest assured that I continued to question the wisdom of backcountry camping for the next few hours, as I tried to calm myself enough to return to the land of Nod. Eventually I succeeded, and in the clear light of day, it was as if this mysterious visit never happened!

The next morning, fortified by a cup of coffee, we ventured down the shore line. Given its rocky nature, it was almost impossible to see any tracks, much less anything identifiable. We could discern divots in the mud of the lake bed, but whether they were made by a moose, elk or bear was anyone's guess. We examined the brushy area, and it was obvious that it is frequented as a route to and from the lake - the bushes have bent branches, and the smaller plants are crushed. But again, no clear tracks. Sigh. No clues to the mystery here.

So we got on with our morning business - I tended the fire and started to pack up small items while Man with Hat plied the lake for fish. It might have been too early for them, and soon enough he was back on shore for breakfast and another cup of coffee.

A second round of fishing resulted in a few nibbles and one catch, but nothing compared to the day before at Wildcat Lake. Yes, you're right, I am telling this story completely out of sequence, but isn't grabbing the attention of your readers one of the keys to great writing? I led with the thrilling part!

Wildcat Lake sits in a cirque surrounded by lush alpine meadow

and dark subalpine fir forest, as well as the crags of the Swan Crest

The day before, we hiked from Camp Misery (no joke - that's its name) to Wildcat Lake. Man with Hat wasted no time in launching his pack raft, and for the next 2.5 hours, made a full circuit of the lake, hooking at least 20 fish. He let them all go; we didn't have a good way to keep them cool for the remainder of our hike. I pottered around the shore, taking pictures (no big shock), making noise and playing Solitaire (I won twice!)

Bottom Center: Huckleberry - leaves turning red!

Upper left - can you see the caterpillar? Bottom left: Mountain Ash

Upper right: Wildcat Lake Middle left: Baneberry fruit Bottom left: Angelica

Bottom middle: Yellow mushroom the size of a grapefruit Bottom right: Jacob's Ladder in seed stage

We climbed out of the basin that contains Wildcat, and the trail led us down one draw (a narrow valley) and up another to stand above Strawberry Lake. Along the way, we spotted a solitary mountain goat high on the cliffs above us.

Upon our descent to Strawberry, we found a few day-hikers, who soon departed to beat the sunset. With the lake to ourselves, we chose a site at the head of the lake, on a spot of grass just the right size for our tent. This "campground" differed from our previous sites (Logging Lake, Ole Creek, Red Eagle/Atlantic Creek) because it did not have pre-defined campsites, cooking area, food hanging pole or pit toilet. In Jewel Basin, you have the freedom to camp where you like, but you have to work a little harder to hang your backpacks, make your own bathroom - well, you get the idea. We followed all the guidelines for separating cooking from the tent, etc., but I wonder if it's just a coincidence that we had a close-to-a-critter encounter here and not at our other locations?

Ramen with re-hydrated vegies

The remaining daylight was quickly consumed setting up camp and making dinner. We retired to the tent, played some Gin, (Spousal Unit won 3 out of 5), and you know the rest of that night's story!!

After we packed up camp, the 3 miles down to Strawberry Lake trailhead was almost an afterthought. I was anxious to get home and start investigating Mr. Harumph. Maybe I could find a similar sound on YouTube, and solve this mystery. But it was not to be. Despite several hours of searching, I have been unable to hear a similar grunt. Maybe Spousal Unit is right - forget the moose, elk or bear - he's going with Sasquatch!

Mosaic Monday

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Mosaic Monday #45: Morning Glory

Do you ever wake up and wonder what the day will bring? You might run through your 'tasks' for the day and form a general expectation for the next 24 hours. And then there are days that take you by surprise, from the very beginning. Today* was one of those days. The morning started easily enough - I had a kayak date with Dear Neighbor Friend. In my mind, I soon labeled it Morning Glory.

Mist skimmed the fields as we navigated 5 farm gates between us and access to the lake. An unfamiliar person could easily become disoriented and lose her way in this fog. Normal objects suddenly loomed and took on mystical proportions.

At one point, Dear Neighbor Friend leaned over and peered at something near the ground. "What is it?" I queried, thinking of the young skunk we had seen not far from this spot on a previous outing. "A spider web," she said. Night-time dew bestowed pearls of water along every angle of the web. I am sure spiders have spun webs in these same locations before, but without the bedazzle, they are readily overlooked.

The mist had begun to lift as we launched our kayaks, but there was still enough about to lend a mysterious aspect to the lake.

At a time like this, you can imagine yourself in Loch Ness, Scotland, with the mist swirling, and a lone piper high on the moors. And the Loch Ness monster rising from the deep - but wait, it is only a merganser - yikes - our imaginations are getting the better of us! (Dear Neighbor Friend told me about kayaking with a friend in similar conditions, and encountering the merganser in the mist. I may have embellished the story a little …)

Can you see the wee duck in the top center of the photo?

We greeted the solitary bald eagle roosting at the far end of the lake, and speculated aloud what might have happened to the other half of the pair and the fledgling. We reversed course, and quite soon the sun had burned off the remaining wispy clouds. Dew lingered on the webs, and with the sun piercing the watery prisms, a thousand mini-rainbows colored the landscape.

That's what I call Morning Glory.

*This post was written on Thursday, September 12.

Mosaic Monday

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Mosaic Monday #44: Gardening Galore

Blue flax - from wildflower seed scattered last fall

I have so much to share with you, dear friends. The ongoing transformation of my garden. My burgeoning knowledge about the plants in this region. The challenges of gardening in the woods with critters of all kinds. My embryonic plans for next year’s garden. Are you seated comfortably? Then let’s begin.

In my previous garden posts (June 9 and July 21), I have featured 70% of my formal plantings. Today you will see the remainder, again through collages illustrating their progression since the snow melted! (Click on the collage to make it bigger.)

I always thought of Goldenrod as "common" - but it has

"grown" on me - LOL!

Bee Balm was in my June 9 post, but before blooming

Coreopsis - in the upper middle photo, the plants are

barely visible. They exploded into my most prolific plant,

all by self-seeding. I transplanted many of them just to

make the flower bed look a little more shapely (lower middle

shot is "after"). This is also the plant most plagued by deer.

Aster - far right plant was drastically nibbled by deer

earlier this summer - silver lining? Abundant flowers

on the ends of multiple stems

Prairie coneflower - I love this plant. Began blooming in

mid-July and is still full of color. Knock on wood, deer

don't bother it.

Goodland apple - I wrote about the apple trees in my

June 9 post - at that time, they were still in flower. The

Goodland has 12 apples. We beefed up the protection on

this tree after the 1 small apple on the Honeycrisp

disappeared. Suspect? Chipmunks.

Scarlet Gilia - given its delicate nature last summer, I was surprised it returned at all.

I have since learned by observation that it does not grow back from its base, but only

by self-seeding - we must have over 140 "volunteers". I have also learned from visiting

the nursery that it will not flower this year but next.

Russian Sage - another love. As you can see, it grows back from its base and becomes

this sprawling web of purple. And the deer don't bother it.

Black-eyed Susan: another plant that returns only via self-seeding. It takes a keen eye to spot

these "volunteers", and some patience to see how they develop before deciding to keep or

to pluck. Shortly after the last picture, deer came along and ate this bloom and several of

the buds closest to opening. Grrrr ….

Speaking of deer – perhaps it is obvious that our “deer defense” system has ceased to be effective. I guess those clinking beer/cat food cans are now music to their ears! Few plants have been immune to their affections, but the coreopsis below the mudroom has been nibbled almost every night for the last month. Good thing I have a lot of it – I have deliberately left some sections uncovered in the hopes that the deer will focus on those. Friday we installed an “Animal Repeller” – when it senses an animal, it emits a high-pitched noise, and if at night, flashes a strobe light as well. So far? Mixed results since I do have deer tracks this morning. Might need to move it slightly. This has also taught us that we need to change up the defense system. Cans for a period, then sparkly ribbons, then the repeller, and so on.

Black aphids also returned to the pearly everlasting and the yellow penstemon in mid-August. The good news? The Columbian ground squirrels have gone into hibernation!!! At least one less threat to deal with!

As you can see from some of these pictures, the “formal” landscaping is quickly outgrowing its defined boundaries. I am torn between a desire for “order”, and the joy of nature doing its thing. Just given my personality, this will be an ongoing tussle, but I am determined to encourage a natural garden, so “disorder” is the preferred condition. This means allowing many plants to grow until I can figure out what they are – the benefit is less weeding (at first)! Each time I realize I have a new volunteer, it’s like a instant shot of joy.

It is much easier for me to accept “chaos” in our “prairie”, which you may recall was planted with a grass seed/wildflower seed mix last fall. It’s the gift that keeps on giving – I can almost always find something new out there.

Clockwise from upper left: Larkspur; Coreopsis variant; Lupine; Purple Coneflower; Blue Flax; Black-eyed Susan

I learned that Blue Flax flowers last less than 24 hours. I took the above picture in the morning and I was glad I did!

Yarrow

It seems each day brings new learning for me, and from a variety of sources. Most of it is plain observation. For example, the aster plant that was significantly pruned by deer produced the most flowers. And once a plant is flowering, the deer don’t eat it. And I have been amazed (and pleased) that most of our plants are as advertised – they thrive even in our dry conditions. Of course, the Web is a superb source of information, but sometimes you need a fellow human, and in that case, the Center for Native Plants has been a god-send. While the wildflowers have been easy to identify, the grasses have been much more difficult.

I called Hooper’s Garden Center (which provided the grass/wildflower mix), and they gave me a list of grasses that was included in the mix. I studied each of them, even sketching diagrams in my garden journal, and teaching myself about grass anatomy. Unfortunately, most of them did not seem to match the grasses outside. I reached out to a friend who works for the Forest Service, and he recommended two sources: the book “Plants of the Rocky Mountains” and the Center for Native Plants in Whitefish.

I ordered the book and it was helpful to identify some of the grasses, but I still had gaps. So, on one of my weekly trips to Whitefish, I stopped in the Center and talked with Sarah about my challenge. She referred me to the nursery manager, Hailey. She suggested Hailey might come out to our house (for a fee plus gas), but that she might also be able to identify the grasses just from pictures. Sold! That night I sent off a series of emails to Hailey, and within a few days she had responded. Most importantly, she was able to tell me that only one of the grasses is highly invasive.

Lower middle is Cheatgrass - highly invasive. Fortunately, I only found two small patches of it - pulled it up

carefully - trying not to spread seeds - and threw it away. Only three of these matched the list given to me

by Hooper's. Go figure!

While I am enjoying the plants which are blooming in the garden now, half of me has already turned my attention to next year’s garden. At the end of July, seeds were ready to be harvested from both columbine and blanket flower plants. Since then, I have also collected the following seeds: aspen fleabane, lupine, chives, goldenrod, nodding onion, aster, coreopsis, rocky mountain penstemon, red poppy, bee balm, coneflower and yarrow. It gave me great joy yesterday to give some seeds to a friend who recently moved into her new house.

At least half of my seeds are to be planted in the fall, so I am creating to-scale drawings of each of my flower beds, including all the volunteers. This will allow me to decide where to augment the landscape, taking into account size, color and the time frame for blooming. I would like to make sure that every flower bed has something in bloom at all times.

Red Osier Dogwood

In early August, we transformed the area near our “address rock”. Our neighbor on the hill had previously given us nearly 20 rocks, and had carefully arranged them in a semi-circle using his tractor. After driving by it numerous times, I decided for a different look, and he willingly came down the hill with the tractor and re-arranged them in real time. And gave us a scoop of dirt. And dug a hole for a dogwood we plan to place there. What a pal! The barter system is alive and well in Montana; he was happy to help us out in exchange for the water he has been able to access from our well head throughout the summer!

We will be adding some top soil to the area, and then fall seeding will begin using the design you see below. The Red Osier Dogwood will go in the hole – it is meant to provide some contrast with the pines, and to anchor that end of the flower bed. A few transplants, such as juniper, will complete the fall planting and we will let Mother Nature do her work until it is time for spring planting of the other seeds. I am so excited to see how this develops.

Re-focusing on events closer on the time horizon, I wanted to get a jump on the deer and/or the elk that might take a shine to the apple trees and maples. (You may remember my post from September 29 last year, when elk had seriously pruned one of my maples and also nibbled the apple trees.) Not this year, my friends – we bought taller caging material and put it around both maples and the apple trees.

Soon we will harvest the apples to prevent them from attracting bears. And frost might nip away at my flower pots as early as next week. But in the meantime, I will relish all the beauty that they have to offer.

Mosaic Monday