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Kimberly A Cook

To Nap, Perchance To Plant?

June 28, 2016 By Kimberly A. Cook 1 Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                     (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Last weekend we had fabulous sunny weather and I knew the petunias, impatiens and basil had to be planted before they crawled into the house and mugged me. In high hopes once again, I’d bought more plants than I planned. They sat for three weeks due to nutty weather.

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Spec Ops Cat resting after a hard day of supervising  my yard work. He had to sit on the carpet in a sun spot and look out the patio door. Tough job. 

 

It’s always fun to dig in the dirt, whether hunting for rocks or planting posies. Normally all the plants are in by mid-May, but obviously I’m disorganized this year. The tomatos got planted on time, but they don’t look too happy about it. Hot temperatures, cold weathers, rain and hail make for unhappy plants.

The roses just about put up the white flag too but they keep blooming, hardy little souls. Once again I am attempting to make fuchsia starts grow from the plant at my Mom’s house. Transplanted from the huge natural fuchsia at our former beach cabin on the coast, one of these years I am going to make them grow.

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Ready for surgery on the potting table. These glasses are for liquor, but the fuchsias seemed to like them very much.

 

Mom put the starts in water and brought them to me. I carefully transplanted them into the tall shot glasses which look like test tubes and left them in the Southern window for a couple weeks, adding water. Bought special potting soil for them and Saturday was their big day to be transplanted.

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Starts sitting on the back porch waiting for their water shower. Amazing what I find in my garage when I need to. Perfect pink pots. Priceless.

 

Found matching pink plastic starter pots in the garage, because I am sure that helps them take root. Rocks, potting soil, starts planted, then water and back in the house. Stuck them in used cat food cans for coasters to hold the water. Keep your fingers crossed. Maybe this year the magic works.

I love the smell of potting soil in the morning! Got plant starts?

 

 

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Filed Under: Garden Tagged With: back yard, fuchsia, fuchsia starts, garden, Kimberly A Cook, planting, potting soil, Warrior Tales, writer, yard work

It’s Time To Find Dory!

June 24, 2016 By Kimberly A. Cook 2 Comments

by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

It’s been another wacky week in the world. Seems the United Kingdom is divorcing Europe, but Scotland doesn’t want to go along. The ultimate family feud is brewing. The markets are upset, politicians are clueless, so what do the rest of us do?

When the going gets tough, the tough go to the movies! Especially if they’re animated. So let’s catch up on what Dory is up to, let’s enjoy “Finding Dory!” There are three trailers in one in this video.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

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Filed Under: Quirky Fridays Tagged With: animated features, cartoons, Dory, Finding Dory, Finding Nemo, fish, Kimberly A Cook, movies, play, Warrior Tales, writer

Got Projects For The Fourth Of July?

June 21, 2016 By Kimberly A. Cook Leave a Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                 (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

With the long weekend fast approaching, I love to plan projects I am going to get done with all that available time. What this means is I create a list of things to do I couldn’t complete in a month of time off, then with unrealistic high hopes if I manage to get one accomplished it’s a celebration. We all know life, laziness and must-see movies happen.

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Ahoy bark booty! A cache of hidden wood gold on the shoreline. 

 

So one project I will fess up to do next month is to actually get creative with at least one piece of bark I’ve collected. On the May trip to Suttle Lake for bark gathering the official orange bark bucket got filled to the brim.

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My Mom, bark gathering assistant extraordinaire, helped me fill the bark bucket in no time flat. Somehow the pieces seemed to get bigger as we went along. The brisk wind off the lake might have had something to do with that too. 

 

So then I had to dry the pieces out and buy a bigger glass container to store the bark, and before I am overrun, make something.

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My fancy new-fangled bark drying apparatus; paper and banker box lids on the patio table. Check out some of those amazing specimens. Living the dream!

 

In addition, I need to plant the fuchsia starts my Mom gave me since they now have roots. Bought special potting soil, have baby pots to plant them in, but need to actually put them in the dirt. So the project list grows.

But for now I wanted to share some of the latest official bark gathering photos so you can think about your coming projects for the Fourth of July. Got a holiday to do list?

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And this is where my special bark pieces come from girls and boys; tree logs fall into the lake, the bark gets soaked off and washes ashore and voila! Naked logs!

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Creativity Tagged With: art projects, crafts, Fourth of July, Kimberly A Cook, long weekends, Oregon, project list, projects, Sisters Oregon, Suttle Lake, tree bark, Warrior Tales

Up For Guinea Pig Hoops?

June 17, 2016 By Kimberly A. Cook Leave a Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook              (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

So the NBA Finals are going to a seventh game on Sunday. Since the Blazers were shut out in the second round I’d rather watch these guineas pigs play hoops right now. Check out these cute little guys who seem to have a pretty good handle on the rules of the game. Well most of the time.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

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Filed Under: Quirky Fridays Tagged With: animals, basketball, Guinea Pigs, humor, Kimberly A Cook, NBA Finals, pets, play, Trailblazers, Warrior Tales

Back To The Rock Shop?

June 14, 2016 By Kimberly A. Cook 4 Comments

by Kimberly A. Cook                     (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

A great joy of my recent vacation was sharing the Richardson Rock Shop and Ranch with my Mom. She’d heard the stories and seen some pictures, but it’s not the same as being there. It was our second stop after driving over Mt. Hood; had to fuel up with pancakes at the Black Bear Diner in Madras first, before heading to the rock shop. Another excuse to carbo load!

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Enough to make a girl swoon, the geode rock pile!

 

Upon arrival at the rock shop what to my wondering eyes appeared ? A virtual mountain of Moroccan geodes, mine for the picking. Before there had been a small pile of these uncut beauties at the end of the rock slab shopping table. Now it was a virtual mountain. Be still my little geode lov’in heart.

After a tour of the premises to show Mom all the great rock areas, it was time to get on with the geode shopping. Ever helpful handsome cutter guy told me the best geodes were lightweight. With his help I then proceeded to hand weigh and compare about half that rock pile. Almost. My Mom enjoyed the serious nature of this geode picking business from the shop.

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Cutter Guy with the pick of the pile. 

 

Cutter guy tried to get me to break protocol by peeking into some of the geodes which had small broken holes so you could look inside. Told him there were no peeking guidelines when it came to picking the perfect geode. Finally decided on three to try for cutting after deciding only one would not do.

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Fabulous geodes on the half shell! And now for the rock glue geode puzzle to put together. 

 

Ended up with three great specimens, except when the largest one was cut in half, part of the geode broke on the final cut. Sweet sea biscuits! I gathered up the pieces anyway so now I have TWO geode halves to try and piece back together with the special rock glue. Which means when Gate Girl and I head back this Fall to do some serious digging, I’m going to have to go for another large geode to cut. Good thing we’re taking her truck next time. I may need to load up the back with geodes.

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Guard rooster defending the petrified wood block. Notice the committed look in his eye.   

 

Orlando: Hugs and prayers to all the families, friends, law enforcement personnel, emergency responders and medical staff in Orlando, Florida and across the United States affected by this tragedy. Let’s all hug our families and friends and make memories today.

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Making rock shopping memories with Mom. Priceless. And she puts up with me!

 

 

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Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: Black Bear Diner, collecting rocks, geodes, Kimberly A Cook, Madras Oregon, Oregon, Richard Rock Ranch, rock hounds, rock shop, rocks, Warrior Tales

Do You Make Toys For Your Lion?

June 10, 2016 By Kimberly A. Cook Leave a Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                      (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Time to check in with the Oregon Zoo and see what’s up. Appears to be the lions! Everybody needs exercise and that includes the big cats. Watch this fabulous behind the scenes video of how zookeepers keep the big guys in shape with toys dangled from the roof. Here kitty, kitty…

I buy tons of toys for Spec Ops Cat, but his favorites are the twist ties off the new power cords and the paper bags and boxes. Just like the big cats.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

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Filed Under: Quirky Fridays Tagged With: big cats, cat, cat toys, exercise, feline, Kimberly A Cook, kittens, lions, Oregon Zoo, play, Warrior Tales, zoos

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