Spider and Bug

Yesterday, while enjoying an after-lunch cup of coffee on the front deck, I spotted a jumping spider on top of the southeast corner post.  She had a bug of some sort in her “mouth”, or whatever that part of a spider is called.

Be the time I returned from fetching the camera, she had crawled over the edge of the post, keeping the fly firmly in her grasp.  When I was within range for a photo, she turned toward me, then rushed back to the top of the post.  I took a few snapshots of her roaming about on top of the post, as if she was looking for a good spot to have lunch.

After snapping the photos I returned to my chair to continue enjoying my cuppa.  As I was sitting there, I decided to take a look at the photos - only to discover that all the photos of the spider on top of the post had  turned out blurry because I and/or the spider moved just as the photo was being taken.

The best of the lot is shown in the photo, above.

I returned to sipping the cooling coffee, wishing I had gotten better photos of the spider carrying its lunch about on top of the post.

As I set the coffee cup on the railing, I noticed that my little friend was coming to see me, carrying bug in front of her face.

I hastily grabbed the camera and captured the photo, below.

Look carefully and you can see the spider coming toward me , under the yellow leaf resting on the railing.










Perhaps the coffee cup on the rail spooked her.  In any event, she would come no closer than the yellow leaf.  She settled down and preceded to suck the juices out of the unfortunate bug.

Maybe she simply wanted some company while having lunch on the front deck.


I was happy to oblige while finishing my cup of coffee.  It was a very nice day to be sharing a lunchtime break on the deck during this accidental encounter.

Free, at Last

Roots 2" has been fully liberated from the earth, and moved to a temporary resting place for cleaning, bark removal, and drying.

Removing the bark will allow quicker drying, and will also prevent tiny bugs (bark beetles ?)  from attacking the stump and carving small holes in the trunk.

The drying process is the easy part - simply set it out in the weather and let nature take its course.

Judging from the experience gained with Roots 1, Roots 2 will be ready for finishing in about a year, or so.  That's when the labor-intensive tasks of scraping, sanding, varnishing, and waxing will begin.

No need to look for Roots 1 . . .

. . .here is a photo of Roots 1 atop the mantel in the living room.

As a reference of scale, Roots 1 is about one fifth the size of Roots 2.

The Digging is Done

06 August 2010

The Digging is Done . . .

. . .so now the roots and trunk must be taken to a place for "processing". 

The roots are no longer in the earth; they and the trunk to which they are attached are suspended by a couple of pulley arrangements that make it possible to lift them out of the excavation.   The block and tackle shown here were once part of the rigging for a sailboat that was my home for a few years, but that's another story.

The trunk and roots still contain lots of water, which makes them much too heavy to be lifted without some sort of mechanical advantage, such as the two block and tackle arrangements shown in the photo.  The two-tackle arrangement allows for lifting, tilting, and rotating which makes the removal process possible.

Notice the tight quarters in which this evacuation of Roots 2 is taking place.  It is not going to be easy to liberate and move this rather heavy object.  There are nearby storage boxes, shelves, etc. that must be moved out of the way before the whole thing can be fully removed and placed somewhere to be washed and dried.  

It will require several months of drying before the roots and trunk are ready for finishing.  Once the drying is finished, the outer covering on both the roots and trunk will be removed to reveal the wood, which will be sanded, varnished, and waxed before it is ready for display.  I estimate the whole assembly will finished and ready for display in about a year, or so.

The Tree Knows

The tree knows that it is no longer harvesting sunlight in the high branches.  It knows that it must harvest sunlight.  It probably does not know why it must harvest sunlight, but it knows it must.  

The knowledge is in the tree's DNA.

The tree also knows it needs leaves to harvest sunlight; and it knows how to grow leaves.  This knowledge, too, is in the DNA, so the tree begins to grow leaves; it sprouts tiny nubbins of leaves at the point on the trunk where the tree was topped in preparation for removal.

A few days after the tree was topped, this tiny leaf is reaching desperately for the sun in an effort to harvest sunlight to power the photosynthesis that will feed the tree.  The tree also knows how to do photosynthesis; this,too, is part of the ancient knowledge stored in the DNA.

What the tree doesn't know is that the effort is all for naught.  The excavation of the tree will continue, the stump and roots will be laid out to  dry in the sun, and become wood that will be washed, scraped, sanded, and have several coats of the finest spar varnish money can buy applied, then be displayed as 'Roots - 2' for all to enjoy as a piece of natural sculpture.

But, that's not the end of the story.

The tree also doesn't know is that it's offsprings will continue to grow and prosper, producing delicious fruit year after year, just like this tree did for the pass several years.  The tree's "family" not only provides fruit, but also provides privacy in the form of a hedge between the house and the street.  The photo shows part of the hedge with a couple of young palm trees in the foreground.

The hedge was planted several years ago using bird-damaged fruit from the 'parent' tree as seeds.  Planting was a simple process of spreading seeds on the ground, covering them with a thin layer of compost, then giving them an occasional watering.  There are dozens of individual trees in the hedge; I have never counted all of them, but there must be at least forty or fifty.

Notice that the hedge has two levels.  The lower level is a 'solid' barrier.  There are five 'chosen ones' that were allowed to grow to their full height, and these have produced fruit for the past three years.  No fruit is shown here because this photo was make after the fruit had been harvested.

The 'parent' tree for this hedge is being removed, and will be replaced by a slab of concrete on which a storage shed for gardening tools will be built.

What kind of trees are we talking about here?  The loquat, which is an Asian evergreen that produces two crops of delicious fruit each year.  One of my neighbors told me that the loquat would never make a hedge, but I think it has worked out rather nicely.

Hope to have an update on the excavation for Roots-2 soon.  (See previous post for a photo of the excavation.)

Meanwhile, there are more gardening tasks to do.  It is amazing how much work goes into keeping an 'accidental' garden going.

  

W A V

Last Thursday evening, Connie and I attended a Jazz session at the "Place" here in Ventura.  The Jazz sessions are a monthly happening on the first Thursday of each month.  The group this month was made up of trombone, bass, guitar, and drums along with one "guest" singer and a stand-up comedian for entertainment during the breaks. 

What a pleasure to have world-class  Jazz available just five minutes from home, as opposed to having to drive a hour or more to other Jazz venues.

"PLACE" is an acronym for 'Projects Linking Art, Community & Environment" which is a nonprofit organization that builds alternative-energy communities for cities in the US and the UK.  The community here in Ventura (a 60 million dollar project)  was built from the ground up over the past three years, or so.  Our PLACE community is called the "W A V" (Working Arts Ventura) and it is a jewel of a community where artists can live and work - and it's right here in our own neighborhood - just down the street at 175 South Ventura Ave.

Check it out at:

http://www.placeonline.us/projects/overview.html

Or, simply Google:  Working Artists Ventura

Roots

03 July 2010

It has been a while since my last entry here. So many distractions, and so easily distracted. Wow! Where does the time go??

The "June gloom" here in SoCal has spilled over into July this year, so we are enjoying foggy mornings and sunny afternoons with temperatures mostly in the high 60s or low 70s, night and day. Have been getting some much needed garden work done, such as planting bent-grass ground cover in the back yard, and moving some plants from pots to permanent(?) places in the garden, both front and rear. The macadamia nut tree is beginning to flourish with lots of new growth now that it has been liberated from the small pot.

My ongoing "Roots" project is currently taking most of my 'spare' time. This project requires much time in addition to full use of my modest skills with gardening, woodwork, and interior decorating.

A brief history of "Roots": Several years ago, as I was doing a bit of landscaping along our driveway, it occurred to me that the roots of a small trees I was removing might be turned into a 'natural sculpture', or some such thing. I washed the roots thoroughly, let them 'cure' several months atop the garage, sanded and varnished them, and mounted them atop the mantle in the living room.

The excavation of "Roots 2" in currently underway, and it is turning out to be quite a project. The twin-stump of Roots 2 is much larger that the the original "Roots", and the work required to remove the roots intact has already taken several days - with a long way to go before the excavation is completed.

This photo shows the excavation about half completed.  The work is rather tedious, something like an archaeological dig, because the idea is to preserve as many of the roots as possible.  Simply removing a stump is a walk in the park by comparison because the smaller roots are brittle and easily broken.

Think of filling several wheelbarrows full of dirt each day using a tablespoon as a digging tool, and you get some idea of what is involved.  The fact that this particular stump is located between a concrete driveway and a concrete retainer wall (not to mention a redwood post set in concrete) doesn't help.

Why is the tree being removed?  (You might want to know.)  Not because I simply wanted another 'roots' sculpture, but because a concrete slab on which a storage shed will be built will replace the tree.  The Roots 2 project is simply a way to 'recycle' the stump and roots.

Much work remains to be done  (sigh).

That's about it for today - time for Farmer's Market to open, so must go get fresh fruit, veggies, and pastries . . .

Filling the duck pond and taking the plunge

I have (finally) figured out how to put video into a blog (much ceremony involved!). Here are a couple of brief examples . . .

Filling the duck pond for the first time, and ducks taking the plunge.

Filling the pond. Click the "GO" button (>) to view videos.

Taking the Plunge . . .

Happy Ducks !