Motley Monday - July 14, 2025

 Well, this Monday's random things are all various levels of sadness.

First, the saddest, my cat Benny (seen on the left sidebar) had to be euthanized.  I mentioned his vet visit in March.  After another visit about a month ago he started taking medication, but took a turn for the worse Friday, hiding (which cats do when they are in pain), barely able to walk, not eating...  Like Baby Cat (see left sidebar), Benny just showed up one day and moved in, becoming a spoiled house cat.

Benny had recently discovered a flattened paper bag was cooling! 

Lesser, by far, sadnesses are the Pluots, and the fence (next photo).  Lots of them, and the ones I get are delicious (peeled, the skins are sour), however the earwigs are ruining them!  It doesn't look like much, but these breaks in the skin turn into rot.  By then, they've moved on to other fruit.  When I searched "earwig damage to plums," (Pluots are 75% plum, 25% apricot.  Plumcots are 50/50.) the first result is about them in the Pacific North West, my location!  

There was a big storm late last week.  Not so much all rain, but wind with rain for a while.  Loads of thunder.  It made a mess of the yard and blew down part of the half fence.  It was here when I moved in, I think for privacy before the duplexes were built behind me, as you could see right onto the deck and into a bedroom otherwise.  

I already had propped up the right hand part before taking the photo. The weight of the Virginia creeper didn't help.  The herb garden is past that blue arch you can see.  

The wind did do a small favor, brought down a dead branch that broke off a cedar during the winter snow.  

Tomorrow is Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, so my post will be more cheerful then!  Also, it's Tuesday Treasures, with finds from several Goodwill stores, and big news about one of the stores.