Of Animals and Plants

Finally, photos of our "midnight marauder" taken around dusk last week. The critter keeps trying to break into our store of oil sunflower seeds - and it eats the ones that have fallen from the bird feeder.

Lovely stripes, 'eh?

And a nice long bushy tail

Cut flowers are always in order, but it seems strange to be buying live plants at the end of September. The climate supports them year-round, so we're takimg advamtage of that.  Today we drove to Lafayette, CA (about 10 miles away) to buy the "bottle brush" plant we've been looking for. Of course, we found several other plants to take home, plus a nice pot for the new addition to our balcony and deck plant family.

This bouquet has "Fall" written all over it.

Callistemon "Little John" - aka bottle brush plant -
a bush variety rather than the tree one.

A better look at where the nickname comes from.

Pansies purchased today

The second bloom for a carnation that I bought in May

It's nice to have fresh basil in easy reach.

Orchard Nursery where we bought the bottle brush plant is very near the Lafayette Reservoir, a nice area for hiking and picnicing.  We stopped by briefly to check it out.

We were a bit surprised to see the tower.
(The reservoir is on a 925-acre (3.74 km²) site and holds 1.4 billion US gallons (5,300,000 m³) 

The reservoir is stocked with bass (didn't see any).

Were noticing changes in the sky as we move into Fall.

Canyon side the morning after a rain

Evening Mt. Diablo

Bay side during the day

Just Went Live with Our Solar System

Our 18 panel system was installed at the end August. We've been waiting for the City inspection which took place this past week. By Thursday, the installers had finished adjusting the installation and hooked us up to the grid at about 1 PM.

Monitoring station showing production during our first half day live.

For those of you who may be interested in the details of our system, here goes: It's a 4.41 kW system; estimated output in the first year, 7040 kWh. Our contractor, Sungevity, estimates that it will offset our consumption of electricity by 64% and result in an 80% offset on our bills.

We finally discovered a location that gives us a view of our roof and the solar panels

Taken from the cul-de-sac across from our driveway.

Guess what we woke up to the day after the solar system went live...

...yes, rain - much needed - let the season begin.

Cats in high places:

Sunny - I can't believe he cooperated with me on this one.

Ziggy - descending from a favorite indoor high spot.

On a recent walk I spotted this spectacular Pyracantha (Firethorn):

Some scenes from our Friday night out at Jack London Square on the Oakland waterfront - one of our favorite spots for dinner.

Lots going on on a Friday night.

Enjoying the fountain.

Across the water just below the setting sun, a huge Chinese shipping vessel.

The sky continues to enchant:

Rays spreading upward - canyon side.

Foreshadowing the next day's rain - bay side.

By our friend, John - bay side, buildings in the mid-ground, left.

Yesterday, I participated in the monthly Friends of the Montclair Railroad Trail Work Day, and Erick and I helped with the Friends of the Montclair Library's Fall Book Sale.  Too busy to take pictures at either event.

A Block Party and Visitors from Michigan

Every September the Forest Heights neighbor has a block party.  Yesterday was the day.  The event is called Manzanita Madness - but it's definitely family oriented. The coordinator estimated about 80 adults and 20-30 children of various ages attended.

We enjoyed meeting more of our neighbors - some nearly as new as we are, others who have been here 40 years. Grilled meats, ice cream and beer were included in the price of admission.  In addition, everyone was assigned to bring either an appetizer, salad, side dish or dessert.  So there was lots of good food. And for the kids (and young at heart), there was face painting and glitter tatoos.

I helped set up for the event and took some pre-crowd photos.

The block party area is just across the street from our driveway.

Beer tent and tables

Grilling area

Bring a dish area

Ready with time to spare

My glitter tatoo dragon

Our visitors from Michigan (and Erika's in-laws), Carol and John.  They were here for two of the hottest days we've had (highs of ~90 F) but it cooled off and the morning mist returned for the last day of their stay.

Our outdoor project of clearing brush from the front slope is finished. Today I bundled up the remains of the nuisance plant, Broom, that I pulled out (small ones) or cut off.  The City of Oakland offers free collection of brush piles for chipping and mine should be gone within a week.

Of course, it's not all work around here.  Erick caught me doing an online crossword puzzle with Ziggy and Sunny keeping me company.

Update on the "Midnight Marauder":  We have seen a skunk on the back deck and noticed signs of a critter looking for spilled sunflower seeds and digging in plants.  So, it might be that we have a skunk nearby rather than a racoon.  Or perhaps both?

Harvest moon

Bay side sunset

An Outdoor Project & a Midnight Marauder

We are still awaiting the inspection and review of our solar panel system. So, there's nothing new to report on that.

Deciding it was great weather to be outside working, I took on the project of removing three large clumps of dead pampas grass from the hill side in front of the house. Since I'm not part mountain goat, I used a rope line to help me move up and down the slope. Over a couple of afternoons, I ripped out one yard waste cart and five and a half 50 gallon trash bags worth of dead grass and assorted twigs, and piled up dead branches to cut and bundle. Pampas grass looks nice live, but it's a fire hazard when dry like the clumps I removed.

Looking down from the edge of the driveway.
A pampas grass clump in shade at lower right.

Looking up from the road. Rope tether visible above small rake.
Debris from removed grass at lower left.

Suited-up to battle the pampas grass.

Looking down-slope after pampas grass removal.
Manzanitas (burgundy branches) now a bit safer from fire.

Debris awaitng transfer to regulation 30 gal brown bags
for pick up by the yard waste recycling folks.

Can you guess what the midnight marauder was? Here's what our lower deck looked like this morning.

Sunflower seed bag on the left, bag of plaster patch on the right.

The suspect left plenty of prints after tearing open the bag of plaster patch.
For a dose of calcium, perhaps?

On to get a snack of sunflower seeds.

Yep, it was a raccoon alright. But you already guessed that.

Time to wash up after getting all messy.

This week in flowers - if it's colorful and/or temperamental, we're growing it on a deck or balcony.

Roses on the upper deck, canyon side.
Groundcover rose, Happy Chappy in front.

Hybrid tea rose, Paradise Found

Hybrid tea rose, Henry Fonda

Small but mighty mini-Fushia on the front balcony.
I estimated 100 buds on this little plant for it's second bloom.