Category Archives: Nature

Art, Home & Garden, Nature, Vallejo

Vallejo Garden Tour 2024

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Another amazing tour of many Vallejo gardens. It was nice to relax by the pool afterward at my good friends’ house, but I made sure to tackle all ten! I am so glad Shea and Greg were able to join me in the adventures. It was also wonderful to run into Monique Louvigny, Don Osborne, Kevin Zimmer, Brenda Crawford and her wife Tonya, Ward Stewart, Jim Sotiros, Kristen Hannum-Gregory, power siblings David and Helen Cates, Nancy Bennett, and others while out and about (and I’m sure others I’ll recall later).

Pictures that Shea and Greg took:

Audrey THREE?!? Here in Glen Cove (Vallejo) this family noticed that out of this agave plant, a huge “arm” was extended like a dragon which rested on the branches of the tree in front of it. It first started growing in their front yard in December 2023, and has since bloomed, for the bloom to now rest on another branch. How cool is that?

Genius! The homeowner at this Vallejo Garden Tour location constructed this simple but completely animal-proof raised bed protectors that are like a car hood. Super lightweight and easy to open when one needs to work under the (transparent) hood, yet unreachable by the critters that run about.

Nature

Backyard Squirrel Repeatedly Eats out of my Hands

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This squirrel is hesitant at first, but then takes tiny pieces of bread right out of my hand numerous times this morning. I feel blessed to connect with animals like this. Years ago I was called an Alpaca Whisperer and many of you followed the doves nesting my front porch wreath last year.

Nature

Fearless Male Mallard

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Somebody must have been feeding this duck, because he basically walked up to me, and if I had more time on my way to rowing I would have reached out, but I didn’t have anything to offer him (and we’re probably not supposed to feed them). What a beautiful bird and a nice interaction…

Fire, Nature

Disoriented Doves…Maybe

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Some of you may remember from last year that a dove couple nested in the plastic wreath on my front porch and successfully raised two gorgeous chicks there until one day they were gone. That was all documented on my blog. I wonder if they’re the same dove couple that I regularly saw at the back of the house who were wandering on the little sidewalk in my backyard with the absence of dogs as it is scorched.

I wondered recently where they will nest, since the wreath burned in the fire. I wonder if they will have the wherewithal to return in the spring of 2026 if I am able to construct something similar, or will they be so disoriented from the interruption of the fire to be able to resume the one-year tradition?