In the last month, 3-4 young scrub jays have showed up in the garden. We’ve taken to throwing them bits of cracked corn on the ground. Whereas the grownups are very wary and circumspect, these punks squawk their heads off raucously when we go out to feed the chickens. Such noive! (I seem to remember a comment from one of the old Whole Earth publications about blue jays sounding like creaking door hinges.)

 Yesterday I sat still in a chair and got this guy to come to within a few feet. He would eat a bit of corn, then grab another piece, put it down, dig a hole, and bury it. THEN — he would cover the hole with a leaf or twig. How he’s going to remember where he buried all this loot is beyond me.

Went for long walk on beach late this afternoon. Sun still out, with storm coming in from southwest. On behalf of plants in the woods, grass on the hills, and the aquifers, (and myself), am hoping for as much rain as possible in the next few months. Note crow in bottom pic. Two of them were riding wind currents back and forth, horizontal with beach, just holding wings out. As I climbed back up the cliff, the horizon had darkened, and 10 minutes after this photo was shot, fog had drifted from ocean to land.

Our Book World It’s been a busy, people-filled week. We’ve got 44 pages of Tiny Homes on the Move completed (1st pass), and another 30 or so designed, so we’ve got a third of the book scoped out. Two great things right now:

1. High-quality material coming in practically daily.

 2. The design process, with me, Lew, David and Rick, is flowing now. The pages are looking good. Took a while to get going, but now stylin.

Solo Fridays With all this activity, I love the chance to be alone out here in this used-lumber studio, with sun now streaming in, some happy and melodic bird calls out in the garden, the little tin windmill showing a slight onshore breeze, music playing. Seems like rain is coming, we need it. I don’t agree that these bright sunny sharp days are “beautiful.” Give me clouds and a changing sky and pelting rain.

Around Here Photos of a day’s egg production by our Golden Seabright bantams, and my first wooden spoon (crude, but I’m learning fast). Going to start making spoons out of apple wood, all the other pieces of wood I’ve been collecting for years.

Justified This only for fans: Great performances the last episode, when Arlo dies. Raylan, Arlo, especially Boyd. Some terse, highly-polished script writing. In one particular scene (during opening credits) when Raylan is talking to a guy in prison and the dialogue is great, the credit, “Elmore Leonard,” rolls across the screen (series based on his stories).

Music Earlier listening to Dan Bern (“Hooker”). Right now listening to “Sinatra: Best of the Best.” This is a perceptive collection, put together in 2011; they really chose the best stuff. What a rich voice!

I grew up with Sinatra (from the ’40s-on), never paid much attention to him, and then in the 60s, upon discovering Dylan, the Stones and Beatles, I put him in the “square” category. Oh, puhleeze, not Sinatra!

   I overlooked (and misjudged) a bunch of things back then in pursuit of all things hip. In the excitement of the very real cultural revolution, there was the “hipper-than-thou” syndrome, resulting in a less-than-wide outlook on life and culture. So it is with delight that I go back in time and discover such excellence. I must confess, when I heard this version of “MyWay,” I got a chill.

Birds The red-shouldered hawk cruises in and terrifies the chickens once in a while, but they are fenced securely. Yesterday two very perky blue California Scrub Jays in garden. Resourceful, strong, smart (therefore wary) birds. Doves and quail on ground this morning, bunches of small birds. Lots of huge Canadian Geese in yonder flatlands.

He was so intent on the quail scurrying around in the underbrush (where he couldn’t get at them), that he let me get pretty close.

Friends of mine on the coast have a large garden and goats. Two nights ago they found this little barn owl dead in the goat yard. They’re pretty sure it was the work of a Great Horned Owl, a much larger (and territorial) owl. A raccoon got at it last night, and someone had taken the wings, and they were going to bury the remains. So I grabbed it. Look at those claws!

These are beautiful creatures, with a white face mask outlined with a heart-shaped ring of dark feathers (lower part of which you see here). I’m going to render the skull (boiling to remove flesh, immerse in ammonia for 10 days, clean some more, then in strong (35%) hydrogen peroxide to whiten).